ACADEMY NEWS

Students organise a cake sale and non-uniform day to raise money for the Invictus Trust

9th DECEMBER 2016

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BE YOURBEST

Best wishes

Principal’s Report

Sara Davey - Academy Principal

Once again we have had a busy week at the Academy. During the week we have hosted the Challenge Partners review team as pictured, who analyse all aspects of the Academy using the OFSTED criteria. The team observed 35 lessons from all faculty areas over the three day assessment period. We are pleased to confirm that we were judged to be still Outstanding in all areas. As you are aware, there have been changes in many aspects of education, and at Mounts Bay we choose to be assessed every year to ensure that we are still providing the best education for our students. We have also chosen to undertake an external safeguarding audit this term, which has ensured that all our systems to safeguard students are in place. This also went very well.

At this time of year we are always kept busy with events that lead us to the Christmas break. This year is no exception and we started the festive activities with the annual Christmas Tree competition when six trees are delivered to the Academy for each House to decorate. They are in reception and are looking great as students add the finishing touches on a daily basis.

Today we have the non-school-uniform day to raise money for the Invictus Trust as advertised in last week’s newsletter. You will be aware from the letter that came home yesterday that we have a number of events next week beginning on Wednesday with the Academy Christmas Lunch. On Thursday we have the annual Carol Concert at Madron Church which is looking to be one of the finest yet. You are all welcome to attend the service at 7pm . Friday is our last day of term when we will have a festive end to the term with a Santa Run in the morning prior to the end of year assemblies. The proceeds will be donated to the RNLI, a charity that is close to our hearts at this time of year. The Academy closes at 1.15pm and we will return on Tuesday 3rd January fresh and ready for the New Year with added fervour and high aspirations for all our students.

BEINFORMED

Dates For Your Diary

Next week is the last week of the Autumn term.

On Thursday 15th we will be holding our annual Carol Service at Madron Church at 7pm. All students and their parents/carers are warmly invited to attend this very pleasant annual event.

Friday 16th December is the last day of term and the Academy will finish at 1.15pm.

Normal contract buses will be running on that day as well as Academy mini-buses. Those students who travel via ‘First’ buses will need to make alternative arrangements. Please let us know if this causes any particular issues.

Tuesday 3rd January - New term begins.

On Friday 16th there will be a Santa Run, an optional charity event which students were informed of in their House Assemblies this week.

Students have donated £5 for a Santa suit, and will run around the school field. The proceeds will be donated to the RNLI and students will be allowed to keep their Santa Suit. Although normal school uniform is required for the day, those who have taken part in the run will be allowed to wear their Santa Suit for the rest of the day after they have completed the run.

Year 10 took some well earned time out of the Geography classroom and took the opportunity to get across the border to visit Plymouth on Thursday. Students are currently investigating the 'winners and losers of the Drakes Circus Re-development Project in the heart of the city, as a part of the new Geography GCSE.

Students conducted footfall surveys, environmental quality surveys and clone street surveys, in their efforts to collect data that will enable them to answer their investigative question moving forward. All students were well engaged and hard-working and worked as geographers should in the field.

We had a fantastic time and the data collected was strong, with the techniques proving challenging and stretching many involved. There was a lot of very positive work conducted and the students were a real joy to be around all day. As you can see we even bumped into Simon Weston who enjoyed a chat with a few of our students.

What was really nice was being asked as a member of staff to pass along commendations to the Academy for having such polite and friendly students. Well done to the geographers for a brilliant and productive day.

BECURIOUS

Geography Field Trip

Report by Mr Hopper

To take part in this year's Gingerbread House competition, simply translate the recipe from German, construct the house and decorate. There will be a prize for each entry as well as prizes for Best Decorated, Best Taste and Star Baker. Any questions, please come to the MFL office!

BECURIOUS

ZubereitungArbeitszeit: ca. 1 Std. / Koch-/Backzeit: ca. 15 Min. Honig, Margarine oder Butter und Zucker in einem Topf unter Rühren zerlassen, bis der Zucker gelöst ist. Abkühlen lassen. Eier und Gewürze unter die Honigmasse rühren. Mehl, Backpulver, Kakao mischen, sieben, 2/3 davon nach und nach zufügen, den Rest auf der Arbeitsfläche mit der Hand unterkneten. Den glatten Teig etwa 1 Stunde ruhen lassen.

Den Teig auf einer bemehlten Arbeitsfläche knapp 1 cm dick ausrollen. Zwei Dreiecke (19 x 23 cm) und zwei Dachplatten (16 x 23 cm) ausschneiden. Eine Dachfristrolle (2 cm Durchmesser, 16 cm lang) rollen.

Die Teile auf ein Backblech mit Backpapier legen. Fenster und Türen ausschneiden. Aus dem Rest Teig Sterne oder Bäumchen usw. ausstechen. Im Backofen bei 175°C 10 - 15 min. backen. Die Teile müssen gut abkühlen. Am besten eine Nacht liegen lassen und erst am anderen Tag weiter verarbeiten.

Das Eiweiß schaumig schlagen und nach gesiebten Puderzucker zugeben, bis eine zähflüssige Masse entsteht. Das Häuschen mit dem Guss zusammenkleben und mind. 2 Stunden trocknen lassen. Dann kann man es nach Belieben verzieren.

Gingerbread House Competition

Nikolaushaus, Lebkuchenhaus

Zutaten400 g Honig150 g Butter oder Margarine200 g Zucker2 Ei(er)1 Pck. Lebkuchengewürz (Pfefferkuchengewürz)1 Prise(n) Salz800 g Mehl4 TL, gestr. Backpulver20 g Kakao1 Eiweiß100 g Puderzucker Mehl für die Arbeitsfläche

BEINSPIRED

Book ClubThere are two books up for discussion on the first Friday of January 2017: ‘Terror Kid’ by Benjamin Zephaniah and ‘My Brother is a Superhero’ by David Solomons. Come in and grab one or the other, or both, to read this month.

‘My Brother is a Superhero’ by David Solomons

Luke is a comic-mad eleven-year old who shares a treehouse with his geeky older brother, Zack. Luke's only mistake is to go for a wee right at the wrong time. While he's gone, an alien gives his undeserving, never-read-a-comic-in-his-life brother superpowers and then tells him to save the universe. Luke is massively annoyed about this, but when Zack is kidnapped by his arch-nemesis, Luke and his friends have only five days to find him and save the world...

‘Terror Kid’ by Benjamin Zephaniah

Rico knows trouble. He knows the look of it and the sound of it. He also knows to stay away from it as best as he can. Because if there's one thing his Romany background has taught him, it's that he will always be a suspect. Despite his best efforts to stay on the right side of the law, Rico is angry and frustrated at the injustices he sees happening at home and around the world. He wants to do something - but what? When he is approached by Speech, a mysterious man who shares Rico's hacktivist interests, Rico is given the perfect opportunity to speak out about injustice. After all, what harm can a peaceful cyber protest do...From the bestselling author of Refugee Boy comes a powerful

Report by Mrs Marsden

Book Club will meet in the Library at3.15 pm on January 6th.

BEINSPIRED

Word Millionaire

Congratulations to Rose Hammond, 7 Orange, who is our newest Word Millionaire. Currently, Rose is reading the Cherub series and has passed accelerated reader quizzes on The Recruit, The Killing and Maximum Security. She has just finished reading the sixth book in the series, Man vs Beast and is moving on to The Fall. Rose has received her Word Millionaire badge, her certificate and a pair of Merlin cinema tickets.

Report by Mrs Marsden

Cake Sale and Non-Uniform Day for Invictus Trust

Today there was a Christmas themed non-uniform day and a cake sale organised by a group of Year 11 students to raise money for the Invictus Trust.

The Invictus Trust is a small charity which aims to support and offer services to local teenagers who are suffering from poor mental health and associated issues.

Their current project is the Anchor Fund which gives financial support to the families of children who are being cared for in mental health units outside Cornwall.

The Invictus Trust is dedicated to the memory of Ben Cowburn, a wonderfully vibrant young man whose struggle with mental health issues had tragic consequences. The Invictus Trust is named after the poem that inspired Ben.

BEINSPIRED

The PiXL Maths App is a great revision app and website we are using with Year 11 during registration time each week.

It has proven results with students across the country and includes a combination of questions, videos and help sheets.

All students have the app on their iPad automatically. They can get their login details and more information from:

https://mountsbay.fireflycloud.net/mathematics/revision/pixl-app

PiXL Maths App

Report by Mr Kent

Engagement

FREEMAN DillonFINCH SkylarSTEVENS ChrisENSTON NicolaSEMMENS KerenzaCLACKWORTHY MyaFARRELL SeanBOOKER EllieBRIDGEMAN ShannonLUGG Roanisa

BUTTERFIELD ImogenDAVY JessicaHOADLEY SienaFARRELL JessicaROW HenrySHARP JackWOOD ImogenDOYLE HarryJENKIN OliviaVINGOE Archie

Each week the top students using the app will be awarded a prize. This is not a prize for the students who get the most questions correct; it is an engagement score as we want students to be challenging themselves.

The top 20 students are listed below.

Keep up the great work Year 11.

BECREATIVE

Last Friday, the Art Department set off from MBA at the rather early time of 4am to make the journey to Birmingham’s NEC ‘CLOTHES SHOW LIVE’ event. This was a perfect opportunity for our Art and Design students to see and understand how the Creative industries work collaboratively together, not just in the world of fashion but in the wider fields of graphics, advertising, product and packaging/branding design, performance and music, fashion and beauty, stage management, photography and film. We arrived nice and early and made our way straight to the exhibition halls where we were treated to a plethora of design, colour, lighting and merchandise beautifully presented and promoted through a variety of unusual and enticing exhibition stands.

Most of the students made straight for the beauty products where we were all able to pick up some bargains and early Christmas presents but also to gather ideas and research for, in particular, the GCSE Graphics projects on product design and advertising. There were some great eye catching examples of Design including the packaging and bags of Barry M and ‘fabbrows’ so it was useful to see how the retail world relies on great design to promote and sell a product.

At 12:30 we joined the queues to watch the music and fashion performance. It was a fabulous production of music from a range of genres supported by amazing dancers and performers as well as the mandatory catwalk shows of bizarre fashion trends of the season!

We had a last look around the exhibition halls before leaving but not before one of our lovely students was ‘scouted’ by a modelling agency! All the students who took part in the trip were, as always, absolutely amazing, perfectly behaved, courteous and a real credit to the Academy. Thank you all for being great company!

Clothes Show Trip

Report by Mrs Dale

BECREATIVE

On Tuesday night we held our annual Year 10 and 11 MixXjam concert at the Acorn Theatre. It’s a great opportunity for our performers to go out into the professional world and play in front of the paying public in a commercial venue.

The first half of the show featured solo performances and duos, covering everything from show tunes to country ballads. Of course with so many brilliant songwriters on the bill, we were also treated to brand new original songs from Demelza Jones, Renae Caddy, Ellie Sawbridge and Amber Symons, who closed the first portion of the show with an absolutely stellar set. The second half was focussed on bands and groups, and was kicked off by another brand new original song, this time by Alice Thacker. A set of songs from groups put together on the RSL performance course followed, ending with a thunderous rendition of the Animals classic “House Of The Rising Sun”.

The show was rounded up by Primouva, who made me very happy by dropping in one of my all time favourite songs, Outshined by Soundgarden, and the final word went to new “super group” Standard Procedure who absolutely smashed it with a brilliant closing set.A huge thank you as ever to the Acorn, to Steve for running the sound and lights, and to all the parents and friends who came to support the show.

MixXjam

Report by Darren RobertsPhotos by Azura McSally

BECREATIVE

I’ve been hard at work over the last few weeks, running round some of our local Primary Schools recording their various choirs singing Christmas songs, which we’re going to release next week on Qube Records as a Christmas album to raise money for music in all the schools! I’ve had a great time visiting Pensans, Heamoor and Alverton and have a last minute trip to St Madderns to cram in to get it all finished! We also had the pleasure of welcoming Nancealverne school up to our studio to record 2 lovely carols! All the schools are sounding amazing. If you would like to preorder a copy of the CD please email me on droberts@mountsbay.org

Primary Christmas Album

BECOMPETITIVE

BEADVENTUROUS

Last week three Marines visited Mounts Bay to run teamwork workshops, and give us an insight into what to expect if we were going to join the army.

First of all we had a small introduction from Dan about the Marines, where they were from and what was going to happen.

Next we did a warm-up which involved running around in an organised circle and doing different actions like high knees, side steps, press ups, sit ups and squats etc. This was to make sure our muscles were warm and wouldn't get hurt during the main activity.

Royal Marines Visit

BEADVENTUROUS

The next activity was very amusing, as students had to go through each others legs and then run round and hop on each others backs. It was cool and different and everyone seemed to enjoy the race; there was a lot of giggling, screaming and smiles throughout and after doing it all.

The best activity involved team work, trust and most importantly concentration. It was an activity in which the teams had to make a stretcher and then carry a team member on the stretcher across the sports hall and back again before dismantling it. All teams were competing against one another to see who could do it in the quickest time. First we made two different knots in a long black rope, one knot was to the chin and one to the knee. Next we had to make a ladder type link between the knots, giving it enough strength to carry one person from the team.

All the girls did a great job and did the task very well. It seemed harder to do it with the taller girls but everyone managed and all the groups finished rather quickly. All students had a go on getting carried from one side of the hall to the other, with all the other team mates holding the handles they made by tying the knots. Everyone did very well and nobody got dropped, all knots were done tightly and efficiently.

"I’m not sure if you noticed whilst you were doing the activity as you were concentrating but everyone did amazing team work, talking and communicating to each other while doing the stretcher array, well done to you all!" said Dan, one of the Royal Marines

Report by Kiah-Jade OConnor

Two boys and two girls teams of four from KS3 took part in the Penrith School Games qualifier recently. This was a team event consisting of both singles and doubles matches, with players taking a ranking position for the entire event.

There were some excellent matches played with some going to sudden-death point. MBA performed extremely well with the boys A team qualifying for the Winter Games finals on 12th December. The B team were runners-up and the girls teams finished 2nd and 3rd.

The KS4 teams did really well as well, with the MBA boys qualifying for the Winter Games finals.

BECOMPETITIVE

School Games Badminton

Report by Mr N Eddy

On Monday 5th December Mounts Bay Academy's HPP (High Performance Programme) went to The University of St Mark and St John, Marjons, for a gifted and talented day.

We took part in four different activity workshops: physical, social, personal and cognitive. We were split up into four groups to do each activity, working alongside other schools. In ‘Physical’ we were trying to develop good reaction, stamina, core strength and conditioning. This was held in the Marjon Sport Science Labs, their reaction machine was great fun. In ‘Social’ we had to use different ways to communicate as a team to complete the task ahead of us. In ‘Personal’ we had £1,000,000 to ‘spend’ on equipment that we had to use to perform a gymnastic routine in order to win the competition. In ‘Cognitive’ we were playing a game called Y-ball. We got into two teams and had conditions as to how we play our game and tactics. We also had to throw a vortex and catch it in a square to score a point.

BECOMPETITIVE

Report by Jacob Pengelly and HPP students

Marjon Trip

Frankie Nowell - "The day was really fun and enjoyable." Jacob Pengelly - "I thought the workshops today were quite good and they showed all of the elements of playing sport." James Swan - "I am really happy with myself for the physical activity as I was able to plank for 8mins 45 seconds and the day was really enjoyable!"

James Midgley-Payne - "I found all the activities really fun but I wish I landed my front flip."

“”

BEA WINNER

Maths Quiz

This Week’s Puzzle:

What does this funny rebus riddle mean?

Last week’s solution:

129 - these are the prime numbers with a suffix of 1

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 Amazon voucher

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

Click here to submit your answer

Closing date for Entries: Thursday 12:00

This Week’s House Totals

House Competition

Blue: 42 PointsGreen: 5 Points

Orange: 4 PointsRed: 3 Points

Yellow: 2 PointsPurple: 1 Points

BEA WINNER

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

Competition

Congratulations to Daisy Perry who wins 10 VIVO points.

Click here to enter the competition

This week’s word is: textspeak

Definition: Textspeak (n): Language regarded as characteristic of text messages, consisting of abbreviations, acronyms, initials, emoticons.

Etymology: textspeak is a modern word which combines text and speak.

Origin: text - late 14th century "wording of anything written" from old french text.

LOL

BEADVENTUROUS

Young Enterprise at Lemon Quay

The Young Enterprise team are making their way to Truro's Lemon Quay on Sunday for the annual Young Enterprise Christmas Trade Fair. They will compete against other schools and colleges in categories such as 'Best Trade Stand' and 'Mystery Shopper Award'. Along with the judging they will also be selling driftwood Christmas trees to shoppers and conducting market research. If you are visiting Truro on Sunday come and see the team at Lemon Quay, inside the large marquee, from 10am until 4pm.

Report by Miss Walters