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St James Newsletter“Sharing the experiences and achievementsof students within the community”
Edition 12 - July/September 2012
St James Celebrates Best Ever GCSE Results
Subject GCSE only % A/A* 2012 Maths 19 English 7 English Literature 6 Geography 12.5 History 14.8 Resistant Materials 40 French 8.5 Music N/A Drama N/A Art 14.3 Food Technology N/A Chemistry 40 Physics 41.7 Biology 30.4 Religious Studies (FC) 23.7 Average 21.4
GCSE’s National Average 2011 St James Actual 2012 English 68% 60% Maths 63% 72% Chemistry 92.8% 100% Core Science 63.2% 83% Physics 93.5% 97% Biology 93.5% 97.2% French 68.7% 81% Spanish 70.7% 100% Art 75% 76% History 68.1% 63% Geography 67.4% 75% Resistant Materials 61.5% 100% PE – full course 70% 39.5%
2011 National Average
St James Target 2012
St James Actual 2012
5AC 75 70 82 5ACEM 57 49 58 5AGEM 94 96 100 Ebacc 16 20 29 Maths AC 63 58 72 English AC 68 63 60* Science 2 quals 61 60 97 Maths 3 levels of progress
65 61 78
English 3 levels of progress
72 68 69*
We are particularly pleased with the superb performance of the academic GCSE’s which as you can see compared very well to national averages. For us the most important and impressive aspect of
these result is to see how well students of all abilities have performed overall making progress well beyond expected levels form the time they join St James to the time they leave in Year 11.
Keeley Cummings Shines At Festival4Stars
Keeley Cummings of year ten is to represent the south of England against nine other regions of the U.K. in a prestige’s talent contest called festival4stars in the solo singing category, the heats took place back in June and July and attracted over a thousand entrants. Keeley had to compete in two stages the last of which was held in Poole
where she sang a song called Concrete Angel. The �nale will be held in Runcorn near Liverpool on the 18th Novem-ber and will �nish with a black tie charity meal and concert, top prize for this event is a record contract and the release of an original single, as you can imagine the standard of competition is very high, previous winners have
included Little Mix’s Jade and Faryl Smith who recently signed a 2.3 million pound deal with Universal and in the dance category George Samp-son.
Written By Mark Cummings
Parent of Keeley Cummings
We are so proud of our class of 2012 and we look forward to seeing their continued excellent progress at Exeter College. A signi�cant number of St James students have been a�ected by the change to English GCSE boundary grades (as seen in the national news). This has led to an 8% reduction in
what was expected for our English GCSE A-C results. The school is appealing along with many other schools in the South west. Any amendments to headline exam results will be reported on our web-site as soon as possible.
Written By Moira MarderHeadteacher
* A signi�cant amount of students were a�ected by the change in English mark boundaries.St James is currently appealing with many other south west schools against this change.
Conor Foakes – 7A* 4A’s Lewis Moore – 6A* 7A’s Taylor Cooper – 5A* 6 A’s Ben Purrington – 5A* 2A’s Lauren Westcott 4A* 5A’s Jannie Baldevieso 4A* 5A’s Abbie Fleming 4A* 3A’s Hannah Michel Bowman 2A* 8A’s Rachel Muxlow 2A* 6A’s
Some Wonderful Individual Successes
St James Links Up With Sri Lanka For Exchange
Students and sta� at St James School, Exeter and St Joseph’s School, Sri Lanka have been swapping lifestyles for a week. In an exchange, funded by the Department for International Development and with support from local MP Ben Bradshaw, three students and two sta� from each school are staying with hosts from their partner schools.This week (17th-21st Septem-ber) two sta� and three students from St Joseph’s College, Negombo have been staying with host families and experiencing life in St James and at Stoke Hill Junior Schools. They have shared their experi-ences of life in Sri Lanka and helped develop the geography work which is the focus of this visit. Through the project, students learn more about global issues such as sustain-ability and the international
competition for jobs and resources.The three Sri Lankan students, 12 year olds Lakshani, Milandu and Dihan, have been in lessons and on �eld trips to learn more about Exeter and the local region. They have had a wonderful, if chilly time!Next week, three students from St James will visit St Joseph’s College. Year 11 students Lizzie Grapes, Mary Wilkins and Callum Dickinson will spend time in their partner school in Negombo and will make visits to the local town and also to Kandy, home of the famous Buddhist Temple of the Tooth. On their return they will share their experiences with their peers and add a new dimen-sion to their geography GCSE course.St Joseph’s College was built after the tsunami which devas-tated the region and now
caters for 1,000 students aged between 5 and 12. It is in the town of Negombo, a �shing port near the capital Colombo, and is situated on a lagoon and on the coast. The partnership between the schools is now well-established and this is the third visit made between the schools although the �rst to involve students.Mrs Marder, Headteacher at St James said, “This has been a superb experience for both sta� and students. Our relation-ship with St Josephs has given our students di�erent academic and cultural insights that will help to develop them as global citizens of the future.”
Written ByTamar Busby
Assistant Head teacher
Work Experience 2012
What a fantastic year we have had, the feedback from employ-ers has highlighted some outstanding students who are developing the skills required to be a success in the world of work.
Highlights have been the team spirit developed with the Royal Marines, a career in mechanics unfolding at Stagecoach Devon and many future teachers work-ing in our local nurseries and primary schools.
Family bonds have been strengthened by some wonder-ful parent / grandparent and child pairings in the work place where students have been able to teach their employers many things whilst learning so much from them.
The demands placed on employ-ers to take work experience students are huge and within the current �nancial climate this can sometimes be very challenging.
Nevertheless the value placed on these weeks by parents, sta�, students and employers make the work experience programme entirely worthwhile.
Written By
Anna Lane-ClarkeWork Experience Co-Ordinator
If you have any questions about any of the articles in this newsletter, or have an item for submission,please contact Stephen-Lee Farmer, Acting Senior Leader, on [email protected] or 01392 209922.
Year 9 Girls Step Up To Support Exeter’s Homeless
A group of 20 year 9 students braved the elements a couple of weeks ago to spend the night sleeping out. They set up camp in the form of a card-board city in the grounds of St Luke’s college. This also included students from St
Peters and St Luke’s schools, for a night to experience sleeping rough. The event was organized by the YMCA and residents from the center came to talk to students about their experiences of being homeless. This was an excel-
lent e�ort on the part of all of the girls and over £1400 was raised which is truly brilliant! Well done year 9!
U-14 Rugby VS St Wilfreds. Final Score 74-69
The current crop of Year 8 youngsters had their �rst rugby match of the year, eventually losing an entertaining game against St Wilfreds. It was a pleasing display, especially as Ethan Matthews and Krystian Struminski were playing their �rst ever games. The match started with St Wilfred's scoring 3 quick tries due to poor defence and organisation from St James. The home side then began to settle and Aidan King scored a solo try to reduce the de�cit, the same player also converted to add the extras. King then scored 2 further tries before being forced o� with injury and after 15 minutes, St James were narrowly losing. The next 10 minutes saw some outstanding
rugby being played by the home side, with Joe Balkwill tearing the defence to shreds, and Ethan Matthews making some forceful runs. Balkwill scored a hatrick to �re St James into the lead. A few missed tackles then let St Wilfred's back into the game, only for substitutes Haytham Hanna and Krystian Struminski to use their blistering pace to score 2 converted tries. The last 5 minutes was end to end stu�, some good defence by Matt Smith and Ethan Matthews denying the visitors time and time again, until eventually the resistance was broken and the visitors scored a try. With St James having the upper hand now in the scrum thanks to hooker Tim Brown, and Charlie
Saunders providing lots of possession, they went all out for the winning score but fell ago-nisingly short, but this was a highly encouraging display from the new team. Captain Tom "Oggy" Ogg led the team superbly and I am sure under his guidance, the team will be a big success. Well done!
Written By
Dan Chalmers Team Manager & Teacher of PE
Team Line-up: Matthews/Brown/Ogg/Saunders/King/Smith/Balkwill/Struminski/Hanna
A Start Of A New Hockey Season
Children Of The Blitz School Production
Last summer, the junior drama club put on a production of Children of the Blitz by Chris Owen. Chris is based in the south-west and worked as a Head of Drama at a secondary school before deciding to spend all his time writing and producing plays. The production coincided with the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Exeter and as we wanted to make the play �t our local area, we wrote to Chris Owen and asked if we could change the character names and place names and also write a few extra scenes. He agreed and so we started rehearsing our play. We adapted the story based on the memories of a resident at Whipton Barton residential home who had been evacuated from London to Devon during the war and had not returned.
The set which consisted of scaf-folding and planks enabled us to change from one place to another without lengthy scene changes and the slide and �lm projections and music added atmosphere to the scenes. The cast were split into three groups: one group of evacuees from North London, one group of
evacuees from the East End of London and a group of local children from Devon. The story follows the evacuees arriving in Devon and trying to �t in with the locals with varying degrees of success.
Written By Jula Thornton
Teacher of English and Stage Director for COTB
St James & The Exeter Consortium
St James School is a member of the Exeter Consortium which is a group of 34 schools across the city which was formed with the aim of “Raising standards and outcomes for children through collaboration.” The schools work together through better procurement, sharing experi-ence, developing a�ordable sta� training and development opportunities and adopt a sustainable approach to educa-tion. So far it has been hugely successful, particularly giving our sta� access to high quality training at a fraction of the cost.
Written By Moira MarderHeadteacher
Parents for St JamesWe Have Our Own Web Page!
QR Scan Me!
Visit Us At:http://www.st-james.devon.sch.uk/parents-for-st-james/
If you have any questions about any of the articles in this newsletter, or have an item for submission,please contact Stephen-Lee Farmer, Acting Senior Leader, on [email protected] or 01392 209922.
For more stories and pictures. Check our website out @
www.st-james.devon.sch.uk
Important Dates To Remember!
For more important dates and info please go to: http://www.st-james.devon.sch.uk/calendar
Ten Tors TrainingSWLTCScience TripYear 11 Public Services ExpeditionHalf Term
29th Sept4th Oct10th Oct25 & 26th Oct29 - 2nd Nov