ACADEMY NEWS 14th OCTOBER 2016 E X P L O R E WE’RE PROUD TO BE SHOWN AS THE BEST SCHOOL IN CORNWALL IN THE TIMES 2015 “BEST SCHOOL NEAR YOU” SURVEY BE YOUR BEST Principal’s Report The Academy has been very busy this week with tours after our very successful Open Day for Year 6 students and their parents. Parents have reported that they have been very impressed with the interesting and very engaged learning they have seen in all subject areas, as well as the very good relationships between staff and students. These tours will be continuing for one more week until half term as the deadline for applications this year is 31st October. The theme of this week’s assembly has been ‘Finding your Hero’. Mr Harvey completed a brilliant assembly showing heroes in all walks of life. Visitors to the Academy will know that my personal hero is Nelson Mandela who is an emblem of racial justice and equality for all. A number of student heroes came to see me last week asking if they could run a charity day for some important and worthy causes. It was agreed that we would run a joint charity day for next Friday 21st October for Sepsis Awareness and Penhaligon’s Friends. The students requested that the non school uniform day on Friday has a Halloween theme which I agreed to as long as the distinctly unpleasant craze for scary clown masks is not incorporated into the event. I would like to invite students to wear appropriate fancy dress costumes or a splash of orange next Friday in exchange for £1 for charity. I would like to invite any budding cake-makers to prepare for a grand Halloween cake sale on Friday. Also this week we have opened two more of our new Science Laboratories. It has transformed the whole atmosphere in the Science block, giving it a university feel and the learning environments will hopefully inspire great scientists of the future. We are hoping to upgrade the final classroom in the next week to finish off the Science labs and also upgrade the Geography classrooms to a similar specification. A huge thank you to the builders and premises staff who have worked to a very tight deadline. See the pictures below for sneak preview. Best wishes Sara Davey - Academy Principal BE COMPETITIVE MBA Victorious in Cornwall School Games Championship Race Mounts Bay Academy has just been announced as this year’s winner of the Cornwall School Games ‘Championship Race’. This is the first year that the new points championship has run and it is named after England Rugby International, and former MBA student, Jack Nowell. The new structure was introduced by organisers to recognise both depth and breadth of performance across all the finals events throughout the year. So, whether you came first or eighth, it all mattered as points were allocated and counted towards the new 'Championship Race' that charts the achievement of schools across each of the sport competitions. Results of the 'Points Race' were only finalised in late September after the Water Sports events had to be rolled over from the summer term due to poor weather conditions. The Cornwall School Games was first piloted in 2011 when 1,000 students from 32 schools competed in a number of sporting events. The Cornwall School Games now sees over 20,000 Cornish Primary and Secondary students from 200 Cornish Schools competing each year in qualifiers from September to June to qualify for the Cornwall School Games Finals. Andy Harvey, Chair of the Local Organising Committee and Vice Principal at Mounts Bay Academy said; "The School Games provides that important balance that all of us involved in sport strive for, the opportunity for huge numbers to take part in sport along with a platform for elite performers to compete against the best countywide. It also provided an opportunity for young adults to experience Sports Leadership with over 200 leaders helping to organise, umpire and marshall the performers to make events run smoothly". Ian Veal, Head of PE at Mounts Bay Academy said: "It was a fantastic opportunity to host the games in 2016 to further promote sport in the area. To then win the Championship Race was hugely exciting, and rewarded our students and PE team for their dedication and sporting success!" Report by Mr N Eddy BE INSPIRED Year 11 Open Day - Plymouth University Thirty nine Year 11 students took advantage of an invitation to visit Plymouth University Year 11 Open Day. They learnt about the vast range of university courses on offer to them including lesser known courses such as Viking Studies and Surf Science, as well as the advantages of a degree such as earning £200,000 on average more than non-graduates. They experienced a campus tour including an insight into student accommodation and learnt the support available to SEN students including free lap-tops and access to a disability fund. The students had a choice of 20 subject sessions to get a flavour of the degree courses on offer. The Engineering workshop highlighted the growth in bio-engineering, nanotechnology and mechanical and marine engineering with strong demand for employment and some of the highest paid graduate salaries on offer. "I learned in order to get into Uni I will have to work hard on my GCSEs and at College for my future. I most enjoyed touring the campus and looking at all the “different buildings to see what uni life is really like. I enjoyed the Geography workshop the most." Zoe Forster Year 11 ” Report by Mrs Masters BE INSPIRED Tassomai Update Year 11 students have recently started using Tassomai, a Science learning quiz. Tassomai tests students knowledge and understanding of the GCSE Sciences through 10-15 minutes of daily quizzing and is an excellent way to prepare for science exams. Student weekly progress is recorded and the top 50 ranked in the table below. These students will be entered for draw to win a £15 iTunes voucher and the top 10 students will be entered for a further draw to win another £15 iTunes voucher. 14th October 2016 1 Hannah James 49.2 19 Jessica Farrell 9.0 37 Shannon Bridgeman 7.1 2 Niema Ahmed 14.2 20 Ellie Booker 9.0 38 Isaac Oliver 7.1 3 Alexandria Hughes 13.3 21 Chris Stevens 8.9 39 Kyra Allen 7.0 4 Will Trenoweth 13.2 22 Charley Clifford 8.8 40 Nicola Enston 7.0 5 Lamorna Tregenza Reid 13.1 23 Olivia Blake 8.5 41 Kyle Hunt 6.9 6 Imogen Wood 12.4 24 Daniel Nowell 8.1 42 Benjamin Wright 6.8 7 Alastair Jones 11.7 25 Renae Caddy 8.0 43 Siena Hoadley 6.8 8 Dylan Picot 11.4 26 Alexander Norona 7.9 44 Jade Moss 6.7 9 Rosie Saddington 11.2 27 Olivia Jenkin 7.7 45 Archie Gendall 6.7 10 Kiera Goddard 11.1 28 Shelly Cade 7.7 46 Joshua May 6.6 11 Jamima Blackbourn 10.6 29 Poppy Burford 7.4 47 Jordan Hosking 6.5 12 Molly Hocking 10.0 30 Kerry Semmens 7.4 48 Ross Bryant 6.5 13 Maia Fashokun 9.8 31 Emma Moss 7.4 49 Tom Seymour 14 Connor Addicoat 9.8 32 Morgan Harvey 7.4 50 Adam Jackson 6.3 15 Ella Tattersall 9.8 33 Dillon Freeman 7.4 16 Charlotte Hornby 9.5 34 Joshua Bainbridge 7.4 17 Harry Doyle 9.4 35 Amber Nethersole 7.3 18 Marcus Baber 9.3 36 Roanisa Lugg 7.2 th Top 50 users ranked by average progress made in the week up to 14 October 2016. All 50 will be entered for a weekly prize draw to win a £15 iTunes voucher. Top 10 will be entered for a second prize draw to win another £15 iTunes Voucher Science Competition Have you had a chance to guess 'What's under the electron microscope?' yet? Email your entries to [email protected]. Closing date is Sunday 16th October at 5pm. There are Vivos to be won! Good Luck. Click here to view the images: mountsbay.fireflycloud.net/science/resources/science-quiz BE CURIOUS Science Experiment Year 10 Triple Scientists have been tackling one of the new GCSE required practicals this week. They have been challenged to follow new practical procedures, whilst recording and analysing data. - Miss Hall During our Triple Science lesson on Thursday we carried out one of the new required practicals. We investigated how changing temperature affects the rate of decay. We used full fat milk and lipase for this practical. We discovered that decay occurs more quickly at certain temperatures, for example 40ºC, than extreme high or low temperatures. We found this by heating a solution of milk, sodium carbonate and creosol red indicator, then we added lipase and recorded the time it took to turn from purple to yellow in colour. - Dylan Tilley BE ADVENTUROUS Duke of Edinburgh SILVER: We have had the largest ever intake onto the Silver programme this year. A total of 47 pupils have signed up for it. Many of those are new to the scheme and didn't do Bronze, so well done to them for putting themselves forward for it. We are in the middle of the Expedition section for the Silvers at the moment. Last weekend was the practice expedition, which involved walking the coastal path between Lamorna, round to Lands End, Sennen and then across the moors and back to school.