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ACADEMY NEWS

Photo by Mr Elliott

1st JULY 2016

BE YOURBEST

Principal’s ReportOn Tuesday, the class of 2016 celebrated the end of the GCSE exam season with an amusing and enjoyable Leavers’ Assembly, led by the inimitable Mr Raggett, the Director of Progress for Year 11. Many awards were handed out and embarrassing photos from the very early years were displayed to the amusement of the audience. I am also delighted to report that the Year group decided to produce a Year Book as a memento of their time at the Academy. I am looking forward to seeing all the students dressed in formal attire for the Graduation Prom at Tregenna Castle this evening. This Year group were born on the cusp of the Millennium and have been exceptional during their time with us. We have therefore decided to bid them a final farewell with a burst of fireworks at the end of the evening.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of welcoming a delightful group of students who will be joining us as the new Year 7 from September. Throughout the day these new students showed exemplary manners and engagement in the variety of activities that they took part in. The students were developing fitness skills in PE, making pizza in Food Technology, solving murders as Forensic Scientists and learning about Photography and Art using our wonderful school grounds. Parents were welcomed in the evening where they met tutors and a strawberry and cream tea was provided after a busy schedule of form-filling, uniform-buying and information gathering. I would like to thank all the staff who attended during the evening to showcase the hundreds of clubs and trips that are on offer at the Academy.

BE YOURBEST

Today we have had the honour of co-hosting the Cornwall School Games in Penzance. We welcomed schools from across Cornwall competing in a multitude of sports and the campus was buzzing with activity and music creating a wonderful atmosphere. I had the honour of opening the Games and chose to honour the life and sporting inspiration of Mohammad Ali who recently passed away but left a huge legacy helping to promote equality throughout the world. The Academy also had the honour of providing lunch for our VIPs including former Olympians and the CEO of the Youth Sports Trust. It was a great honour to show the rest of the county how brilliant the sporting facilities are in Penzance. Thank you to everyone who has been involved from Junior Sports Leaders to our very own Mr Harvey who has Chaired the organising committee ably assisted by Mr Eddy and other School Games Organisers.

Best wishes

Sara Davey - Academy Principal

Victoria Leigh from Heart FM and cricketer Gary Smith celebrate the opening of the Cornwall School Games

BEINSPIRED

Amazing Mazey Day

MBA put on a stunning, colourful display at this year’s Mazey Day. Staff and students looked spectacular in their Day of the Dead costumes during the parades. This year’s sculpture was a truly spectacular skeleton made by MBA students with the help of Graham Jobbins.

BEINSPIRED

Photographs by Mr Elliott

BEINSPIRED

Russian Club

Russian Club is for students who are interested in learning the Russian language. At the club students learn basic words and phrases and progress in basic conversation. They also discover Russia as a country and learn about Russian culture.

Every week between three and six students attend. Anyone interested in learning a new language is very welcome to come along and join in.

The club runs every Monday lunchtime between 13:15 and13:50 in the back room of the Library.

Report by Mr Abdullayev

BECREATIVE

Mazey Day Music Performances

We had some stellar performances from students at the Humphry Davy statue on Mazey afternoon. Ebony Maddock, Grace Powley, Alice Thacker, Brody Barden, Emma Eddy, Kerry Semmens, Ellie Sawbridge, Amber Symons, Demelza Jones, and Nina Micciche and Kyle Hunt from the band Primouva took to the makeshift stage in the midday sun to deliver an amazing set of songs, ranging from well known covers to brand new original songs that will be out next month on the new Qube Records releases! They were ably supported as ever by our brilliant tech team of Lewis Williams and Seth Arthur who set up and ran the sound for the show. We had lots of great comments from the public, and it was a great hour of music!

BECREATIVE

Report by Darren Roberts

BECURIOUS

Looking Forward to University

On Tuesday 28th June, Mr Jack took a small group of Year 9 and 10 students to Penwith College to work with Mike Stevens, the Programme Team Leader for ‘A’ levels at the College. Mr Stevens reviews all the university applications from the students at the college and is therefore ideally placed to give advice and guidance to our students who should be considering applying for university in a few short years. The purpose of the session was to give these ambitious students a deeper understanding of the university application process and how the decisions they make on courses to follow at GCSE and ‘A’ level now will have an impact on their choices at the end of Year 13.

One of the first questions the students were asked to think about was what would they do if they knew they couldn’t fail? The answers ranged from being a vet, taking a grade 8 music exam that afternoon, climbing Mount Everest or doing a tightrope walk over a city at night. The purpose of this activity was to help the students to understand that all of these things were possible if they were prepared to make the necessary efforts and sacrifices along the way. Climbing Everest has been done before so it is possible as the student is fit and healthy but success would also take a significant effort, they might not be successful the first time but if persistent then it could be achieved.

The next discussion was focussed on what was meant by the term “Best University”. The students identified that the best might mean different things to different people and groups and this needed to be considered when they identified which universities they apply for. Mr Stevens then demonstrated the UCAS website which is used to both advertise the thousands of undergraduate courses that are available from the 160 universities across the UK and through which applications are submitted. The group were reminded that they should make sure they pick a course that they are passionate about first and then decide on the best place to study it and not the other way round.

The final part of the session focussed on the personal statement which is arguably the most important part of any application be it for education or employment. Mr Stevens was able to explain to the students that the writing of a personal statement was what the majority of students found most difficult and redrafting was an important part of the process. The students were asked to reflect on what their own strengths were before sharing and discussing them with the rest of the group. They then went on to review what a good personal statement might look like focussing particularly on the language it used and its content. Finally, students were encouraged to think how they might create their own personal statement to celebrate their strengths, what makes them unique and what additional activities they could or should be engaged in now to add more power to their statement and give it a wow factor.

Over our pasty lunch students had the chance to reflect on what they had learnt and discussed and all thought they were now better prepared for college and university. One student reported feeling more confident now they had seen the support that college can give them in the process and another as she felt passionate about what career she has in mind. We look forward to seeing what they do next.

Report by Mr Jack

BEADVENTUROUS

On Tuesday the Royal Marines visited Mounts Bay Academy. They put groups of Year 9 and Year 10 students through their paces with a range of fitness and teamwork challenges. The students used and developed a range of transferable life skills including communication, teamwork, motivation and leadership.

“It was great to see students outside their comfort zones and showing resilience when under pressure to complete the team challenges" - Mr Veal

Report by Mr Strong

Marines Visit

BECREATIVE

Last week Falmouth University hosted their annual CreatEd exhibition featuring some of the best work from the GCSE and A level courses across Cornwall. Mounts Bay were represented with work by:

The private view and awards ceremony for exhibitors, their teachers and families was held last Thursday evening.

Rose ChristopherHolly MilesShea CornishJessica ThompsonPhoebe GartsideIsobel EmpsonLouisa MatthewsJamie Gibney

Andrew QuaifeMolly GordonHarry SimmondsEsme CampbellEsme DaleApril BroadbentZoe PyneAlice Thacker

Sophie TembyPema Bradley PeerJasmine BerwickMatthew ThatcherJames HerbertWill RundellConner George

Issy Empson (Year 9) won the GCSE Photography prize.

BECREATIVE

Harry Simmonds was Highly Commended/runner-up for his GCSE Photography.

Matthew Thatcher (Year 9) came Highly Commended for his Graphic Design work.

BECREATIVE

Pema Bradley Peer, Rose Christopher, Matthew Thatcher and Zoe Pyne all had their work featured prominently in the catalogue. Huge congratulations to all who were selected and in particular the winners. There has been some amazing work produced since the list of entrants was submitted however, so next year’s exhibition is already looking good!

Report by Mr Cross

BECREATIVE

The Trench performance trip to Levant Mine.

Experience what it would be like to be in a trench and support our six actors from Mounts Bay.

Friday 8th July

Leaving school at 12.40pm back by 5.00pm

Free entry

Amazing Opportunity to see WW1 Drama

This theatrical experience will simulate life in the trenches using an area of ‘No Man’s Land’ landscape at Levant Mine. Audience members will become participants who ‘enlist’ and are given a real identity, taken to the trenches and discover for themselves the realities of life on the Western Front and the build-up to going over the top.

The experience will culminate in the mess tent, where participants will discover the real-life fate of their assigned character in a fascinating exhibition.

The replica trench at Levant.See Miss Osborne or email: cosborne@mountsbay.org

BECREATIVE

Dance Film in a Day

This week 76 Year 7 students opted to be part of an all day dance workshop funded by the Arts Award Access programme. The group was split into two, one using contemporary dance led by Suzi and Lauren from Spindrift Dance Company and the other using street and hip hop led by Kyle and Robyn from Big Dance Company. They each worked on their own ideas of Tribe through dance, then both groups came together to film the whole event in the Hall.

Music provided throughout by the Year 7 members of the Taiko drummers really added to the whole impact. Ian Kingsnorth, the professional filmmaker on the day, said how much he enjoyed the experience of trying to capture so much action by so many students. A big thank you as well to the Year 7 tech team Lewis and Kai who provided the lighting and effects.

Report by Shelley Claxton

BECREATIVE

Speakeasy Preparations

Speakeasy preparations are underway, with students from Alverton, Gulval, Nancealverne, St Maddern’s and Trythall, getting 'in the mood' for the evening of jazz and dance on Tuesday 5th July 7pm in the hall at MBA.

Here they are rehearsing their dance piece with Suzie West from Spindrift Dance Company. Suzie has been employed by the Arts Award team from their Arts Award Access fund to offer these free workshops to local primary students. They've been having a ball!

Congratulations to Ryan Barrass, 7 Purple, who passed his grade 1 Drumming exam at Truro College on 18th June. Ryan passed with 87%, which is a distinction, a fantastic achievement for his first music exam. Well done Ryan!

Drumming with Distinction

Report by Shelley Claxton

Cricket Win

Mounts Bay Academy played Cape Cornwall School away this week. It was a six-a-side, seven over match. Cape Cornwall batted first and Ben Durrant and Harry Edwards opened the bowling, with Noah Brunsdon, Thomas Stephan and Xavier Jenkins bowling the rest of the overs. Fletcher Stevenson was wicket keeper.

Cape Cornwall finished their innings with a score of 58 runs and the loss of only two wickets. Ben Durrant and Harry Edwards opened the batting for Mounts Bay. Cape took an early wicket losing Harry and Tom Stephan came in to bat. This didn't last long as Ben made a silly decision and ran him out. Mounts Bay needed some runs. Fletcher came in to bat and between the two of them they managed to get the majority of the runs and beat Cape with two overs still left to play. Mounts Bay came home victorious!

BECOMPETITIVE

Report by Ben Durrrant

Betsy Peters travelled to Preston Beach, Weymouth on Saturday 25th June to take part in the ASA South West Regional Open Water Championships.

She swam a tough race over 1500m (without a wetsuit). She came third in her age group for the 13 year old girls and also third in the open category.

Betsy has now qualified for the ASA National Open Water Championships to be held at Rother Valley in Sheffield on 24th July. We'll keep you posted with how she does!

Open Water Swimming Success

BECOMPETITIVE

Recently 34 Year 8 and 9 Sports Leaders ran a very successful infants sports day at Heamoor School.

They either led a sporting activity, or assisted the class teacher with scoring and supporting the younger students. They were all absolutely fabulous and worked hard all morning. I just want to say publicly how proud the PE Department are of all of our young leaders. They really are exceptional.

They are due to lead another few sports days before the end of term.

Sports Leaders in Action

Report by Mrs Crowle

BEA WINNER

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle:

Can you find three numbers that meet the following conditions:

• When we multiply the three numbers together we get a prime number.

• The difference between the second and the first number is equal to the difference between the third and second.

Last week’s solution:

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

Blue: 8 PointsYellow: 6 PointsRed: 3 Points

Green: 3 PointsOrange: 1 PointsPurple: 0 Points

Click here to submit your answer

This Week’s House Totals

Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00

BEA WINNER

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

Competition

Congratulations to Logan who wins an Edge of the World Bookshop Voucher.

Click Here to enter the competition

Logan receives his prize

This week’s word is: chaos

Definition: complete disorder and confusion.

Etymology: late 15th century (denoting a gaping void or chasm, later formless primordial matter): via French and Latin from Greek khaos ‘vast chasm, void’.

AUDITIONS

Thursday 7th July 3.30pm

Drama Studio

Learn a song of the character you wish to play.

You will read some dialogue from the script.

2017