The weekend before last, our HMS Heroes members attended a residential to develop their social skills, encourage team working and support resilience development. They all really put the HMS Heroes motto ‘Together as One’ fully into action!

Over the stay, the students took part in many challenging activities, including a zip wire, abseiling, vertical challenges, survivor training, challenge courses, aeroball and buggy building. In the evenings the students took part in quiz competitions and a disco. They all managed to survive without social media and got involved in some traditional activities including Top Trumps, Uno, colouring, and bubble blowing.

Over the weekend, our Group Leaders selected a number of young people to be our ‘students of the weekend’. The winners were:

• Morgan A (Year 7) was a positive participator throughout and really supported others.
• Reggie O-M (Year 7) was enthusiastic and took part in everything.
• Maddie E (Year 8) faced her fears and pushed herself to do things that she was really afraid to do. She was a real pleasure to spend time with. Maddie also won the overall weekend award.
• Harrison B (Year 8) was a model student and highly supportive to others throughout the weekend.
• Joe C (Year 9) supported others and went beyond his own comfort zone to tackle new challenges.
• Emma C (Year 9) was a very positive and helpful force throughout the weekend.

The students who attended particularly want to say a big thank you to all the staff for their hard work and support (as well as giving up their weekend). A special thank you also goes to Lauren and Kiera in Year 11, who were honorary members of staff the whole weekend – they were brilliant.

Last week, a group of Year 8 students visited City College Plymouth to take part in the ‘Bridges to Schools’ event. The morning was run by representatives from the Institute of Civil Engineers and the challenge was to build a 15 metre long suspension bridge capable of carrying the students across a gap. Plymstock School were in competition with Eggbuckland Community College, as each school raced to build their side of the bridge and get to the middle first, ready to join up with the other team.

Max P took the initiative and volunteered to be Project Manager for the task, and led the team as they worked out how to assemble the various components into a working bridge. The Plymstock team got off to a flying start and made it to the middle first. Once they had joined the two sides of the bridge together, both schools had to work as a team to adjust the steel ropes to make sure the bridge was safe and level. Once complete, the students each walked across the bridge, proving it was safe for use.

The event was a brilliant opportunity for some of our students to experience the type of tasks undertaken by civil engineers and to see how lessons taught in our STEM subjects, can be related to the wider world.

Our Year 7 students have been learning all about static electricity in Science this week. Obviously the best way to learn, is to experience it first hand – so out came the Van de Graaf Generator – much to the amusement of the students! Here are a few photos of our students in action.

We were delighted to see two of our ex-students in the local press, sisters Molly and Sophie Chiswell, who have just set up their own business. They have just converted a 1960s trailer van into a modern and sophisticated cafe and called it ‘Rise and Grind’. They specialise in coffee, cakes, healthy alternatives and hot/cold home-made food. The quirky mobile cafe can be hired for various events, from weddings to fundraisers, as well as festivals. A really unique feature is that the van can also double up as a cocktail or prosecco bar by night. We wish Molly and Sophie the very best in their business venture. You can view their website HERE for more information.

Now we have reached our students of the week section.

First up is Finley W, our Year 7 winner. Finley is a keen fisherman and recently competed at a festival in Dartmouth. Finley won this competition last year and I am delighted to say that the defending champion won again. Well done Finley.

We have two Year 8 winners this week. First up is River S, for being a really kind and caring individual. River has gone out of her way to support one of our more vulnerable students, which is lovely to see. On top of that she’s really hard working and a pleasure to have in class.

Our second Year 8 winner is Kezia H. Kezia has only recently joined Plymstock School. Last week she was awarded the Ted Osmond Award for 2018 by Plympton Rotary Club. This is for her tireless fundraising for the charity ‘Hugs from Henry’ and for helping homeless people within the city.

Destine B is our Year 9 winner. Destine is a fantastic member of our school community. She enters many of our competitions, works in the library on a Thursday lunchtime where she supports and encourages the younger students, and is also published poet.

In Year 10, Michelle M is our student of the week. This is in recognition of her consistently strong work ethic, positive attitude and polite/friendly manner.

Finally, Maisie P has won the Year 11 award. This is for her extraordinary grace under pressure. She helped save a family member’s life last week by recognising that they were seriously ill, got them taken in to hospital, and then came to school and coped phenomenally well with her MFL speaking and listening assessment. Wow!