ACADEMY NEWS4th December 2015

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Artwork by Maisey May

BE YOURBEST

Best wishes

It was lovely to be in town last weekend to see our students performing at various locations during the day. The festive season is always one to look forward to, it always starts with the switching on of the Christmas lights and our own Mr Eddy and Kiera Graham were the guests of honour for the big event.

It’s also been another busy week here in the Academy with many guests coming into school to both visit and talk to our students. At the start of the week we had a surprise visit of the team from Apple who have been following our progress for some time and had decided to come down and see the Academy for themselves.

Penzance is a long way from their offices and so they must have really wanted to come! As ever it was with enormous pride that I was able to show them around the campus and it was particularly pleasing that they praised our students for their friendly attitude and willingness to talk about themselves and their learning in an engaging manner.

On Tuesday Mr Johns and his Amnesty International group organised a very successful and informative Gender Equality day, with our teaching teams providing lessons that focussed on what that might mean in the coursework they are currently engaged in, including a fascinating debate in French about banning the French rule which makes masculine nouns have preference over feminine ones!

Thank you to all the parents who came in to the meeting organised by Miss Wearne to discuss Dyslexia. We had a very strong turnout and looked at some of the strategies we can use to help including the use of iPads for students who need assistance. We have conducted a survey which we will be analysing over the next week and we look forward to publishing the outcome.

Also, a little reminder of some of the great competitions we are running at the moment: there is something for everyone, ranging from designing the cover of our forthcoming Carol Service at Madron Church to spending time watching the first British astronaut launch into space on his mission aboard the International Space Station.

Finally Media Club students have been busy too, making a video version of last week’s newsletter, look out for their work here, you never know, you might be on MBTV!

Principal’s Report

Sara DaveyAcademy Principal Sports News on MBTV

BEINSPIRED

Saturday saw Mounts Bay involved in a full day of activities around the town to celebrate the start of the festive season and the switching on of the Christmas lights. We started at the Humphry Davy statue with some great performances from our talented musicians and then our Drama Club did an amazing performance to help advertise the pop-up shops that have been appearing on the high street in the run up to Christmas.

Our own Kiera Graham and Mr Eddy were invited to officially switch on the Christmas lights. Kiera, one of Mounts Bay’s Year 11 leavers, was rewarded for her charity work and for raising over £2,000 and Mr Eddy, Cornishman Sportsman of the Year for his triathlon success, were formally invited by the Mayor of Penzance. They joined the Mayor travelling in a special Victorian horse-drawn cart in a parade starting at the bottom of town travelling through Market Jew Street past the Humphry Davy statue ending up at Chapel Street for the official switch on. This is just the start of the festive events at the Academy which will culminate in our annual Carol Service in Madron Church on 17th December. We look forward to seeing you there.

Christmas Lights Switch On

BEINSPIRED

On Tuesday 1st December Mounts Bay Academy held its first ‘Gender Equality Day’. The day was the brainchild of the Mounts Bay Amnesty International Club – a group of over 30 students from Years 8 to 11 – who felt that our students, and society at large, should do more to tackle the social injustice of gender inequality.

The day had two aims: to raise awareness about gender inequality and to raise funds for Amnesty International.

To help raise awareness most teachers agreed to include a ‘gender equality’ twist in their lessons on Tuesday, whether as a starter activity or as a main theme for the entire lesson. On Wednesday morning students offered some great reflections of the excellent learning opportunities they had experienced.

In Maths lessons some Year 8 students explored the statistics of gender inequality in the UK. A student in my tutor group was horrified to learn that there are more men called John running top businesses in London than the total of women in similar positions.

In English Years 9 and 10 students spent their lesson learning about Emmeline Pankhurst, while some Year 11 students examined the patriarchal society in Romeo and Juliet.

In PE some students learned about the gender inequality present in the world of professional sport. In History, students explored the horrible ingredients and medical consequences of Elizabethan make-up, and in RE Year 10 students explored the issue of abortion, and the relating women’s rights issues.

There were great reports from some of the Creative Arts subjects as students had opportunities to explore a variety of gender equality issues in the worlds of art, industry and technology. Students in MFL lessons were exploring protests against the male bias present in some gendered languages like French. Finally, Year 7 students used their REAL projects lessons to consider reasons for the lack of female explorers in history, and the impact of the few female explorers who were able to make their mark.

To help raise funds for Amnesty International the Academy held a non-uniform day; this helped raise over £800 and there is still some outstanding money to collect! The Amnesty International Club also ran a cake sale during both break times and lunchtime – this was an incredible success and managed to raise a whopping £154.09!

Gender Equality Day

BEINSPIRED

I feel that the day was a great success. Gender inequality is a complete injustice, and I feel it is an incredibly important and relevant issue that our students should appreciate. Despite the fact there is almost a 1:1 global ratio of males to females, more often than not girls/women are treated as minorities. Even here in the UK, a country that prides itself on promoting the British value of equality, gender stereotypes and discrimination still abound.

My hope is that our students have had a glimpse of some of these issues, and are impassioned, enraged and inspired to make a difference. My sincere thanks go to all the students who brought in donations for Amnesty International, and all students and members of staff who contributed to the cake sale.

Thanks also go to all the members of staff who embraced the spirit of the day by including the theme in their lessons as well as Sarah Eddy, Janet Davies, and Rachel Fisher for all their ‘behind the scenes’ help, and Sara Davey for offering so much support for the day to proceed.

Finally, I would like to thank the Amnesty International student team. In truth I cannot thank them enough. They are an eclectic, enthusiastic and warm-hearted bunch, with a passion to make a real difference. It is a genuine pleasure to work with a group of students who are willing to give up so much of their free time in support of worthy causes, and with no selfish desires for rewards or recognition.

I look forward to our continued work in the new year as the group aims to raise more awareness about LGBTQIA issues.

Interested in joining our successful group?

We now meet every Monday lunchtime in room 51 between 1:30 and 2pm. New members are welcome!

Mr Floyd’s Year 8 History students recently spent assessment week creating news broadcasts exploring the infamous Black Death, which ravaged the UK in 1348. The students investigated the causes, symptoms and cures of the pandemic. There was a busy atmosphere as teams used the Media Suite to record their performances. The green screen technology allowed students to step back in time and present reports and scenes from the plague-ravaged past.

Green Screen Black Death

Tracking the Black DeathReporting ‘live’ from the scene

Report by Mr Johns

BECURIOUS

Amnesty International Day - Gender Equality Day

Mounts Bay ran a gender equality day to raise money for Amnesty International on 1st December. Gender equality is not an issue dealt with in the past, but is still an issue in our modern day society. Gender inequality is still very present - even in this country and certainly around the world.

25% of women in England and Wales will experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetimes. That statistic rises to 70% in India where a ‘bride burning’ occurs every two hours because the woman had too small a dowry or simply to allow the man to remarry.

51% of the population of Earth is female. Women are in the majority and yet are often treated as a minority. Over half of the world's population are women yet less than a quarter of MPs in the UK are female.

These are just some of the gender inequality issues that affect women, but there are some that affect men too. The aim of our gender equality day was to celebrate equal opportunities for both genders and raise awareness of some of the issues surrounding these shocking statistics.

“

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The student Amnesty International group organised the non-uniform day and the cake sale. They explained why the event was held:

Miss Dowrick’s Year 10 class were working on their coursework, looking at persuasive language. The lesson incorporated the gender equality argument.

We watched Emma Watson's speech to the UN from last year about feminism, equal rights and 'HeForShe'. Students analysed how she used different persuasive techniques to get her point across.

“In the Art Room we looked into the statistics on how many artists are female. Many sources state that the top ten most famous artists are male and if there were an eleventh, it would be female. We also looked at how women represent themselves in art compared to the past.”- Harvey Hewett

“In the Real Project we were finding out about adventurers. We found out that many more men then woman are well known adventurers and it made me realise how unequal we are.” - Kelci Prowse

BEADVENTUROUS

Year 11 students, Kyle Daley, Connor Moseley, Tom Rowlands, Lauren Tesdale and Jaycee Thomas have all successfully secured an extended work experience placement to support their vocational courses in construction and engineering at Cornwall College with the support of Lindsay Masters, their Careers Adviser at Mounts Bay.

Their placements range from Marine Engineering to Motor Mechanics. The students gain much needed industry skills as well as employment skills in teamwork, communication, problem-solving and health and safety awareness. Lindsay visited them all on 1st December and observed them all in the workplace. Employers gave excellent feedback on their progress and all the students were enjoying this exciting opportunity. Connor even volunteered to work one day over half term as a token of his commitment to the job.

We would like to thank W Stevenson & Sons Ltd, MR Autos, Kwik Fit, Travis Perkins and Crossroads Garage for giving up their time to support students with their vocational learning.

Careers Insight - Work Experience Placements

Report by Mrs Masters

BEINSPIRED

On Tuesday, we had a bit of an unusual lesson. We did... ice cream tasting! In the Graphics course, the aim is to design our own brand of ice cream. We have been researching different illustrators to help us with our designing, but we needed some primary research too.

We were asked to bring in a tub of ice cream each for us all to share. In total we had 11 tubs. We were all given spoons and then we were ready to begin! A tub of ice cream was passed around the table, and we all had a mouthful. We did the same for all the ice creams. Once we had tried one, we had to write down our thoughts as to the packaging and, of course, the taste!

As it was Gender Equality day, we decided that we should look at how the brands package the ice creams and how they chose their flavourings for different genders.Once all the ice creams had been tasted, we added to our notes. This research will help us with our flavour choices for the ice creams and our choice of packaging.

We really enjoyed ourselves and even managed to learn about different brands through the ice cream eating fun!

Ice Cream Tasting

BECREATIVE

Report by Kate Matthew 8 Green

The deadline for enrolment this year has passed and we have a record-breaking number of participants: 226 Bronze and 22 Silver participants. This is a huge number and credit should be given to all students who have shown that they are keen to get involved.

Luckily we have a large group of staff 'Leaders' who help to facilitate their participants’ progress through the scheme.

BEADVENTUROUS

Duke of Edinburgh Update:

Report by Mr Fish

Recent Bronze Award recipients are: Esmee Campbell, Conner George, Erin Billington, Ellie Brown, Charis Watson, Melanie Pettitt, Adam Edwards, Lauren Jenkin, Olivia Hewett, Jenna Buzza, Pema Bradley Peer, Lauren Davies, Aaron Dunkley, Jessica Ellwood, Alice Pritchard, Kaitlyn Terry, Sancha Chappell. Well done to all!

BECREATIVE

Do you want to be a singing star?

Mr Payne is forming a High Performance Choir and looking for students who have a particular interest in singing, have a hardworking attitude and the desire to excel. He will be holding auditions next week. The choir will be created from the best singers that Mounts Bay Academy has to offer and places will be limited.

There is no age limit for applications and he would welcome singers from Years 7 through to Year 11. It is essential that you are available and can commit to regular rehearsals. So, if you think that you would like to be a part of this development programme then you must express an interest through the audition process.

Our first performance as a group will be at the Music for Youth Festival 2016 in Truro. This event is taking place at the beginning of March, so rehearsals will need to begin immediately post auditions. This is a regional heat that, if successful, leads to a national competition, culminating in a performance at the MFY Proms in London’s famous Royal Albert Hall.

What happens at the audition?

You need to prepare a short piece of music that is no longer than 1 minute that demonstrates your vocal ability and range.

You will be asked to sing from a simple score, to ascertain your music reading skills

You will be asked to complete a range of basic aural tests (singing back simple tunes etc)

It is important to note that it is not essential to be able to read music, but it will be an advantage.

How do I apply?

Please collect an application form from Mr Payne and return it giving your details, the song you will be performing and a short statement outlining why you think you should be selected to join.

Applications to be returned to Mr W Payne by Monday 7th December

BECREATIVE

Maisey May is our Artist of the Week. Maisy has been influenced by the Chinese artist Wang Lian who creates fine line illustrations with pen and ink on autumnal leaves.

Artist of the Week

Report by Mrs Dale

Using Wang Lian’s ideas as a starting point, Maisey has created her own watercolour pencil illustrations and is now working towards her final composition. Well done, Maisey.

BECREATIVE

Maria McEwen, Pop Up Penzance Director and Old Father Frost's Grotto Producer said:“I would like to thank the Mounts Bay Arts Award students for their lovely creative ideas and execution of them. The girls were focused, and had come prepared with pieces made for the set, a plan of how they worked together and everything necessary to create a magical Elves workshop. Very impressed.”

Pop Up Arts Award

Report by The Arts Award Team

Silver Arts Award students Amy, Cathy, Jenny and Azura meanwhile have been helping to create the Grotto. Working with Pop Up organiser Maria Mc Ewan, they have transformed the Christmas card making room into an international post office where the workforce are all birds! They were able to do this with the aid of Miles Kilby’s DT team who had created a whole wall of birdhouses and provided wooden clocks and cupboards to be inhabited by the birds the girls had created.

Over the last five weeks, a group of Years 7 and 8 students have been meeting in the Qube to create and perform a piece of street theatre to promote the Penzance Pop-Up Shop's Christmas event, centred on the theme of 'Old Father Frost'. As a group we created a story, adapted a classic Christmas song and made a chant. We met with Kneehigh Theatre actor and director Steve Jacobs who was working with the Pop-Up Shop and he informed us of the stories and inspired us to create the piece.

Katy Roberts, Chloe Way and I led the group as part of our Gold Arts Award and we would like to thank all the students who participated for being dedicated and prepared as well as the Tech team and Shelley for all the help with organising the whole process.

Report by Lewis Empson

The Grotto is in the old furniture shop opposite the cinema in Causewayhead and is well worth a visit.

BECOMPETITIVE

Year 7 Rugby

Congratulations to the Year 7 rugby squad who have had a great season! There have been over 30 players attending training and almost as many representing the Academy at different fixtures. We have only lost one match all season, which was against Truro School in the quarter-finals of the County Cup.

The Year 7 Netball Team and the Year 8 Netball Team both won their fixtures this week. 

Netball Wins

Report by Mrs Crowle

Year 8 SquadScarlet Archer-Scott, Hollie Prodger, Chloe Hosking, Millie Matthews, Isabelle Markham, Ellie Clarke, Amber Sanders, Molly Haines, Mel Roberts and Ella Smith.

Year 7 Squad Katie Fear, Ismay Cornish-Murphy, Beau Cowan-Dickie Daisy Leiworthy, Isabelle Graham , Libby Terry,  Morgan Bain, Bethany Jenkin, Ellie Dash, Edith Willett-Green and Morgan Bain.

Both teams played really well. Again thanks go out to Louisa Matthews, Esme Dale, Olivia Jenkin and Ella Leiworthy for officiating.

BEA WINNER

To enter, simply write an original sentence correctly using the word blustery. Send in your sentence using the link below.

Competition

Congratulations to Ricky Holden who wins an Edge of the World Voucher.

Click Here to enter the competition

Ricky receives his prize

This week’s word is: blustery

Definition:

Of weather - characterised by strong winds: a gusty, blustery day. To roar and be tumultuous, as the wind.

Noisily domineering - a tendency to dominate others.

Etymology:

1520-30; perhaps Low German blustern, blüstern toblow violently; compare Old Norse blāstr blowing,hissing.

BEA WINNER

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle:

How many triangles are hidden in this puzzle?

Last week’s solution: 78

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.

Win an iTunes voucher

Whoever submits the most correct answers over a semester will win an iTunes voucher – prizes are also awarded to the top scoring parent/carer/staff.

House Competition

Green: 56 PointsBlue: 48 Points

Yellow: 36 PointsPurple: 23 PointsOrange: 19 Points

Red: 18 Points

Click here to submit your answer

Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00

This Week’s House Totals