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ACADEMY NEWS
2nd MAY 2014
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Principal’s Report
Thomas Edison once famously quipped " Genius is 1
per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration".
This quotation is particularly apt at the moment as we
have over 300 students preparing for and beginning to
take GCSE’s in the Academy. At Mounts Bay we
believe that all our students can achieve great
success but this is only possible with focused and
sustained effort.
So we are delighted to report that many of them are working incredibly
hard to show off their amazing talents to the full. Our popular and well
attended Masterclass programme has been running during holiday
time and after school each evening and it has required hard work,
dedication and yes, perspiration by students to fulfil potential. Very few are
relying on luck or perceived innate intelligence to get them to the finishing
line so it is looking like the results will be fantastic this year. Thanks to Mr
Finch and his very popular tuck shop that opens at the end of the school day
for keeping energy levels up and to all parents for their support as students
work towards the end game.
The Academy staff can report considerable
success this week from hard work that was
put into a number of bids back in September.
An application to the National College of Teaching and Leadership for Mounts Bay to
become a Teaching School has been successful and I can announce that we join an elite
group of the top schools in the country to be given the opportunity to lead the system of
school improvement. In the last two years, power has been devolved from the centre to the
regions in the belief that local solutions by schools will be better than top down solutions
from Government.
Mounts Bay will be working with other primary, secondary and special schools locally to set
up bespoke and relevant teacher training and development opportunities. We have been
officially designated a National Teaching School, a National Support School and I have also
been designated as a National Leader in Education. This will mean we can recruit the best
staff and provide existing staff with first class training to make teaching and learning better
all the time.
Another great piece of news is our success in
bidding for funds from the Academy Capital
Maintenance Grant. We received funding in April
last year to upgrade our dreadfully outdated and
unpleasant toilets and changing rooms and I am
delighted to say that the refurbishment has just
been completed.
A new changing room
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This year we have received a substantial sum of money to
replace our ageing inflatable Sports Dome with a state of the
art dome that will be a world class facility. This is great news
for the students and the community that will benefit from the
improvement and it is much more environmentally friendly in
terms of energy usage and engine noise. The old dome will be
dismantled over the summer but the new facility should be ready (weather
permitting!!!) in January.
Typical uses for the new
indoor sports arena
To welcome our new Year 7 group we are also creating a new Learning Village with a suite
of new and refurbished classrooms where our eight tutor groups will be based for most of
their learning. The Learning Village will allow for more immersion learning activities and
create an exciting learning space where our youngest students will feel at home.
WELCOME TO THE YEAR 7
LEARNING VILLAGE
Where Learning Happens
Finally, I would like to wish you and your family a really enjoyable Bank
Holiday weekend. The only exception might be for the Year 11 students who
could benefit from a day of focused, hard work for their GCSEs. A day off
timetable could be really useful for creating final plans and getting some
revision done.
Best wishes
Sara Davey
Academy Principal
BE
INSPIRED
Author visit
On the 1st of May Mounts Bay Academy welcomed author Alan Boroughs into school.
He came and talked about his work and the book that he has just published (Ironheart,
which is an action adventure book) to some students from the Year 8 English groups.
The first thing he talked about was meteorites that came to Earth at roughly 20,000 miles
an hour! He then talked about his travels in Siberia and explained that the fastest way to
travel around such a huge country with a small, scattered population was to travel on the
train. In Siberia it is very, very cold in winter but it can get extremely hot in the summer
months. One early morning, whilst on the train, he had a very bad but funny experience.
Let’s just say it involves him in a towel, just out of bed, a metal pole that his hand stuck to in
the snow and freezing cold...
Later on he read some of a chapter from the book and we asked him lots of questions
about his life, career and his books. After that if we wanted to buy a book we could and then
he signed them for us. The event was great and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is the second author that I have had the pleasure to meet whilst at Mounts Bay
Academy and I think it's a great idea for them to come to our school to give talks.... And
also very inspirational as well.
Report by Lauren Hill
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INTERNATIONAL
Spanish Visitors
We had the pleasure of welcoming a group of 45
Spanish students from Málaga. Our Year 9 and Year 8
students enjoyed a full-on question and answer session
with our guests for the first half of their visit when most
of the conversation was in Spanish!
The Spanish students then had the chance to experience learning at Mounts Bay Academy
when they attended a variety of lessons in Year 10, Year 9 and Year 8. They were
welcomed in lessons ranging from Resistant Materials, Photography, PSCE and
Psychology to PE, Drama, Music, Maths and Modern Foreign Languages.
The Spanish students and teachers were overwhelmingly positive about their experience at
the Academy and said how much they enjoyed their short visit. It was lovely to see all our
students getting to know each other and communicating both in Spanish and English.
One MBA student, who had interactions with the Spanish students during the 1st session,
said, "It was really educational to see the different lifestyles from another country and what
they thought of us and what they enjoyed about England." Another student added, "I
thought yesterday's lesson went well because the Spanish students made me change the
way I pronounced words and I then knew that I had to change the accent to make it easier
for them to understand me"
Report by Miss Bazin
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INTERNATIONAL
Danish Visitors
Photography with Mr Cross
This week has been yet another international one for the Academy with twenty Danish
visitors from our partner school, Lille Skole in Helsingør, spending four days with us in
lessons and visiting the area.
The Danish group are always popular with our students
and our welcoming band of Year 10 students hosted them
very well during their visit. Mr Cross ran a whole day’s
mini photography course for the students and Mr Glenville
was our DJ for the final night party on Thursday. The
Danes left the students with a gift of some games which
are very popular in Denmark, Giant Yatzy and Kubb. I
feel a House competition coming on…
Enjoying the disco
Report by Miss Hick
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INSPIRED
Maths Challenge
On Friday 25th April a team of two students from each of Years 8 and 9 took part in the
annual Team Maths Challenge at Truro. Skylar Finch and Stan Roynon represented Year 8
while Aaron Dunkley and Izzy Upton represented Year 9. All the secondary schools in
Cornwall were invited. The teams had to solve a huge range of puzzles and problems to
score points, with speed being very important as well as accuracy. Our team came in the
top ten and impressed their 'adopted' teacher (one from another school who checked all
their answers) with the way they tackled the problems and had fun doing so.
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INSPIRED
This week's Accelerated Reader raffle winner is
Thomas Hendy of 7 Red who chose an iTunes
voucher as his prize. Thomas has read lots of
books this academic year and has achieved
85% or above in six Accelerated Reader
quizzes.
If you have already enjoyed The Hunger Games you will probably like Scott Westerfield's
Series: Uglies, Pretties and Specials. Tally Youngblood is eagerly awaiting her sixteenth
birthday when she will transform from a repellent Ugly into a stunningly attractive Pretty.
However, her best friend Shay risks a life outside this contrived society and Tally faces a
choice which will change her world forever.
If you have any suggestions for new reads for the library please do come in and tell us. You
know what you like and we want you to recommend books for others to enjoy.
Riding and Road Safety Test
Stephanie Sampson, Poppy Burford and Rosie
Tuckett took part in the Riding and Road Safety Test
on the 28/04/14. To do the exam you have to have at
least 60 hours of training with your trainer, formal
practice and revision before you take the exam.
The exam had three phases; the first phase was
theory where you need to know the highway code and
how riding horses on the road can be hazardous.
Stephanie and Rosie scored 19/20 and Poppy scored
18/20. The second phase involved riding the pony
through a simulated enclosed area. All of the girls did
very well and also passed that section!
The last phase was on the open road where we rode along the road to a flared junction
showing courtesy, responding to our pony and applying the rules of the highway code and
we all passed! Well done girls!
Report by Stephanie Sampson.
BE
CURIOUS
American School Visit
Over the Easter holidays I visited America. During my visit I had the privilege of attending
Greene Street Friends School in Germantown Philadelphia for a morning. We were invited
into Beth’s Year 5 class – 10/11 year olds - and Kiri’s Year 6 class, the equivalent to our
Year 7. Greene Street is a middle school (KS2 and KS3) and they have 292 students.
In Beth’s class we arrived just after 8.15 in time for their morning meeting. Students were
given the opportunity to ask us questions about ourselves and about England. We
discussed a variety of topics including school, geography, shopping and TV. It soon became
apparent that a love of Dr Who is a good thing.
Their first lesson that morning was Maths and I have to say how impressed I was by how
very well behaved and focused they were. All students were using plotting to draw a variety
of different sized boats. During this lesson an additional student joined the class from
Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. She is particularly talented in maths and so comes
across for the mainstream lessons. This is an arrangement between the two schools that
works particularly well to both aid the students and further increase the diversity of the
school and its teaching.
When the students finished their classwork they were allowed to play mathematical
battleships. This is great fun, although I did lose 3 times to a 10-year old called Lucy!
I then went to join Year 6 who had literature. They were reading a futuristic book called
“The Ear, The Eye and The Arm” – this book came with mixed reviews, but I was highly
recommended to read “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green (must check if we have this
in the school library). Students were passionate about reading and it was clear there was a
strong culture of it throughout the class.
Another thing this class taught us was the phrase SHIPPING, something I have since had
explained in further detail by my Year 10s.
Finally it was back to Year 5 where they were doing a comparative essay between the film
and the book “Charlie and the Chocolate factory”. A great way to check students haven’t
just watched the film.
A phrase I heard a lot
throughout the morning was “I
love your accent” but I don’t
think I embarrassed myself too
much when I attempted an
American accent. As we left
Taylor gave us both bracelets
that she had made out of
plaited multi-coloured elastic
bands.
Report by Miss Dowrick
BE
CREATIVE
Year 9 Art GCSE
Year 9 Art students are pictured here celebrating the end of their 10 hour Art exam.
Students could not have worked harder throughout the Spring Semester developing their
sketchbook and portfolio of ideas before embarking on their final piece completed over two,
five hour days. There was a great working atmosphere in the Art Department throughout
the exam time with students concentrating and focusing tirelessly. "It was such a long time
to keep quiet and concentrate but we did and we all feel such a sense of achievement"
Students will have to wait until August for their GCSE Art result but we are sure they will be
successful in achieving the results they have been aiming for.
Well done to all of you.
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CREATIVE
Artist of the Week
Joe Twiddy in Year 9 is this week’s Artist of the Week.
He has been ambitious in his choice of scale and
medium, been open to exploring creativity and
processes and taken risks with experimenting with the
quality of dramatic dark and light tone in his final
pieces. He was inspired by how light can appear to
distort shape and form through bones and skulls and
how similar shapes could be seen in caves and rock
formations.
Well done Joe, always thoughtful and analytical.
Arts Award Explore
This term has seen the start of a new chapter in the Arts Award programme at Mounts Bay
Academy. We currently run Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of this national qualification,
making the Academy the biggest mixed Arts Award centre in the South West. Trinity have
now added Discovery and Explore levels of the award, aimed mostly at primary students.
Last week we welcomed 11 students from St Madderns Primary School into the Cube to
launch our Explore Arts Award primary outreach programme. The students were given an
introduction to the Arts Award and handed portfolios to document their experiences over
this term. They then participated very energetically in a taiko drumming workshop to start
their ‘Inspiration in the Arts’ unit. In 2 weeks time Miss Tooby will be running a photography
workshop for them.
St Madderns Headteacher, Mrs Pearce said,“The children were very enthused by the
drumming and the Arts Award. The children took their books home last night and
were really keen to get going with them. A number of them were busy yesterday in
between lessons, a sure sign they are up for it!”
Report by Luke New
BE
CREATIVE
Minack Magic
On Tuesday evening Miss Osborne’s Year 9 Performing Arts students performed their own
take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Minack Theatre. The weather was very different
from the storm referred to in the play’s title and the students rehearsed and performed in
magnificent sunshine. All their hard work paid off and their performance was very
well received by an appreciative audience. Miss Osborne said, “It was a fantastic
afternoon and evening. The students really rose to the challenge and delivered a
knock-out performance that was absolutely stunning. I was so proud of all of them.”
The MBA performance, along with performances from two other Penwith schools, was part
of a Shakespeare Festival organised by John Brolly from Penwith College. Jack Slater said,
“It was great fun performing on a stage that I always wanted to perform on.” Charlotte
Jones added, “It was very nice performing in a different venue rather than just
indoors.”
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CREATIVE
Penwith College Performances
On Thursday 1st May Mounts Bay Academy was invited to perform at the Bernard Williams
Memorial Concert at Penwith College. The evening consisted of a variety of different
musical numbers from Cape Cornwall, GEMS Bolitho, Humphry Davy, Penwith College and
Mounts Bay.
Sammy Dunn, Olivia Stephens, Kerry Semmens, Molly Hocking, Imogen Forster, Emily
Walker, Shania Curnow and Jai New all performed different musical items with the help of
the newly arranged orchestra.
Luke New said, “It was a great evening
organised by the local Rotary Club.
Seeing how young musicians from all
the local schools are developing was
good for me and for our students, both
for relationships between the schools
and individual development. Our
musicians played really well and
participated in all aspects of the
concert.”
Report by Kerry Semmens
BE
COMPETITIVE
Floodlit Rugby Cup
The annual Year 11 Penwith Rugby Floodlit Cup took place on Thursday 24th April after
being postponed in March due to bad weather. It was a round robin tournament of 15
minute games, with added bonus points for scoring four or more tries.The MBA team,
consisting of Year 11 and some Year 10 students, performed excellently on the night. They
picked up wins against Cape Cornwall, Hayle and Humprhy Davy who the Year 11s have
never beaten in their 5 years at Mounts Bay. The team also picked up bonus points in
every match. Going into the last match it meant it all came down to the final game against
St Ives with MBA needing a draw or better to win the tournament. Mounts Bay went into the
last game having just played one match, so with a quick turn around between matches we
went ahead, scoring the first try in a very close fought game. Unfortunately we came up just
short when St Ives scored two tries in the final 5 minutes. This was an extremely excellent
effort by the boys and they should be proud of themselves.
BE
CHAMPIONS!
County Champions
Every schoolboy’s dream is to play in a Final. Not many get to live that dream, and even for
the lucky souls that do, few get to taste victory. However, a team of schoolboys from
Mounts Bay have done exactly that after a pulsating victory over Saltash Community
School in the U15 Cornwall Schools FA County Final on Wednesday 30th April 2014 at
Newquay FC.
This group of players in Year 10 have been on an unprecedented run this year in this
competition that attracts entries from all Secondary Schools in the County. Even to reach
this stage it has taken Mounts Bay to overcome the likes of Falmouth School, Truro School,
Helston and Hayle. But their biggest challenge awaited them in the final, against a Saltash
side who won this competition last season.
The match started brightly with Saltash starting the game sharper than Mounts Bay and
seeing more of the ball in the early spells of the game. Saltash continued to apply pressure
but could not break down the Mounts Bay resilient defence that consisted of Ben Oakes,
Isaac Blackbourn, Dom Willcox and Jed Jones. In particular Eddy Hall in goal for Mounts
Bay made numerous clearances and saves to keep the score at 0 - 0 after a positive spell
of pressure from the Saltash players.
The longer the first half continued, the Mounts Bay midfield began to assert themselves on
the game. Kieran Bowden began to become very influential in Midfield setting up waves of
Mounts Bay attacks, in particular looking dangerous on the counter attack with the pace of
Max Caddy, Morgan Holman and Cameron Ridge.
BE
CHAMPIONS!
The best chance of the half fell to Dom Willcox, a training move corner kick taken by Ben
Oakes found Willcox leaping in the air from 6 yards to only see his bullet header just raise
slightly over the bar.
Half Time: 0 - 0
The second half started and Mounts Bay's progressing confidence throughout the match
started to tell. Mounts Bay were starting to make the opposition’s goal keeper work a lot
more with Francis Pengelly, Max Caddy, Cameron Thomas and Kieran Bowden all going
close to open the final’s goal scoring account.
But it was mere respite, as Saltash looked very dangerous from any free kick or corner and
they went very close mid way through the second half when the ball fell to a Saltash player
in a goal mouth scramble who hit a shot that looked a certain goal. However, Hall in goal
was proving to be unbeatable yet again and pulled off a double reaction save to keep the
score still 0 - 0.
And perhaps that miss was a sign that it was meant to be Mounts Bay's day because on 72
minutes with only 3 minutes to play and the final looking certain of extra time, the boys from
West Cornwall took the lead. The Saltash keeper made a clearance and the ball landed to
Ben Oakes some 40 yards away from goal. Oakes set the shot up with a superb first touch
to then fire a rocket of a shot over the stranded goal keeper's head who was scrambling
back to the goal line only to see the ball bounce into the top corner of the net. It was a strike
worthy of any final, at any level, and sparked wild celebrations from the Mounts Bay squad.
The goal settled Mounts Bay while Saltash searched desperately for an equaliser but in
truth didn’t seriously test Eddy Hall in goal thereafter. Dom Willcox and Issac Blackbourn in
particular were outstanding at the back. And with the agonising minutes of stoppage time
ticking away, the final whistle saw jubilant and emotional scenes from the players, staff and
parents together on the pitch. And the youngsters deserved every accolade, achieving
perhaps the greatest ever feat of any Cornish school boy dream, County Champions, the
best in the County. Not many can say that.
Squad: Eddy Hall, Ben Oakes, Jake Bull, Isaac Blackbourn, Dom Willcox, Jed Jones,
Kieran Bowden, Francis Pengelly, Cameron Ridge, Cameron Thomas, Max Caddy, Morgan
Holman, Stephan Leonard, Marcus O’Connor, Tyler Tonkin, Joel Bick.
Manager: Mr Lawrence
Goalscorer: Ben Oakes (73mins)
Man of the Match: Every player was outstanding, however, Kieran Bowden was awarded
Man of the Match.
Special Thanks: Thanks to Mr Strong, Mr Harvey and Mr Hall for their support at the final.
Also to Mr Veal and Mr Strong for yet again giving up their time to drive the boys in the Mini
Bus throughout the cup journey!
Report by Kevin Lawrence
BE
ADVENTUROUS
DofE Bronze Expedition
This last weekend 80 Mounts Bay students completed their Bronze
expedition. In the pouring rain and howling wind they walked for a
minimum of six hours each day. Some were out for even longer than
that! They were supported by remote supervision, meaning that they
had to make all navigation and team decisions themselves and only
checked in with the expedition assessors and supervisors at specific
check points. Due to the weather it wasn't only the walking and
navigating that provided a challenge. Even the camping and cooking
in the evening and morning was hard work.
All participants did fabulously and tackled it all in good spirits. It was definitely one of those
experiences you enjoy more once it is over! They are all now at the final stages of
completing their Bronze Award - well done!
Special thanks to all
the staff and external
volunteers who gave
up their time in order
to make it all happen.
The next cohort of
DofE enrolments will
be in June - watch
this space.
Report by Mr Fish
BE
A WINNER
Maths Quiz
House Competition
This Week’s Puzzle:
Green: 9 Points
Purple: 8 Points
Orange: 4 Points
Blue: 2 Points
Yellow: 1 Points
Red: 0 Points
It is raining at midnight, will the sun be shining in 72 hours
time?
Extension for Bonus Points:
The ages of three children added together comes to 20
and when multiplied together make 280. If the ages are
multiplied together in ten years time what would the answer
be?
Closing date for Entries: 12.00 Thursday
Last week’s solution: 24kph
Extension: Four times as fast
Click here to submit
your answer
Win an iTunes
voucher
For each correct answer
throughout this semester we will
put your name in the hat for a
chance to win an iTunes voucher –
the more correct answers, the
more chance of winning.
Could you write next week’s puzzle?
If you would like to set the numeracy puzzle for a future week click here. You will win
house points.
MFL Word of the Week!
bijoux
joyería
Last week's answer was ‘rubbish’.
gioielleria
Schmuck
The winner was Holly Miles.
Well done!
Translate the word of the week from either French, German, Spanish or Italian and send
your answer to ktripp@mountsbay.org to be entered into the weekly competition.
Use the word of the week in your Language lesson and get a credit from your teacher!
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A WINNER
This week’s word is: reflection
Definition: Reflection - noun
1. The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected.
2. To give something careful consideration.
Etymology: 1350–1400; Middle English
< Late Latin reflexiōn- (stem of reflexiō)
a bending back, equivalent to Latin reflex( us )
(see reflex) + -iōn- -ion
Competition
Congratulations to
Kenan Hewish who wins a
WH Smith Voucher.
Kenan receives his prize.
To enter, simply write an original sentence correctly using the word reflection. Send in your
sentence using the link below.
All correct entries will receive House points, and the winner will receive a WH Smith gift
card as well as an additional House point. The winner will be chosen from the correct
entries received each week.
Click Here to enter the competition
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CREATIVE
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Mounts Bay, Boscathnoe Lane, Heamoor
Penzance, Cornwall TR18 3JT
T 01736 363240 | F 01736 352326
E enquiries@mountsbay.org
Principal Mrs S Davey B.Sc. M.Ed
www.mounts-bay.cornwall.sch.uk
www.mountsbay.org
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