On Thursday this week, a group of Post-16 Criminology students headed off with Ms Williams, Miss Holton, Mr Sprenkel and myself to Channings Wood Prison. Channings Wood is a Category C training and resettlement prison, which was built on the site of a Ministry of Defence base, near Newton Abbot. The students were given the opportunity to sit face to face with two inmates (one serving two years and the other serving twelve years) to discuss the criminal justice system from their perspective, life and routine in prison, some of their experiences and the crimes they were convicted of. It was an eye opening and sobering experience that gave our students a first hand insight into crime, punishment and rehabilitation. We would like to thank the Channings Wood staff for enabling the visit to happen.

We were delighted to recently participate in the pilot of the SELMA Project. SELMA is a European project to promote mutual awareness, tolerance and respect, in order to tackle online hate. Two of our Life Education classes became focus groups trialling resources from the SELMA toolkit, providing feedback for the researchers. The feedback will further inform the development of the project and the awareness raising tools. As always our students were excellent. They enthusiastically tested the resources and took part in some very insightful discussions about hate and the legal implications of online hate crime.

Three ‘brave’ Year 9 students have just completed a mock interview this week as part of their Life Education careers lessons. Volunteers Tom, Ed and Ronnie were interviewed for a ‘Construction Apprenticeship’ by the rest of the class. It was a ‘pressure cooker’ for the the three pupils, who were put through their paces by some very challenging questions! The class gave eloquent and constructive feedback, discussing each of the students’ performance. If anyone wants to know ‘who got the job’, ask Ed (he’d be happy to tell you!).

Our students often like to show off their creative side. This week was no exception, where one of Mr O’Neill’s science classes built a very large, and very impressive, ‘Jelly Baby Wave Machine’ to analyse wave motion. It worked perfectly. Don’t worry – the students were granted permission to take a photo of their efforts.

Congratulations go to a number of our students who have successfully achieved their trampolining awards at a variety of levels. The successful students were:

• Level 4: Lizzie B, Tegan M, Sophie Y, Megan T, Lilia D, Livvy J, Maddison J, Emily J, Leila A and Joshua K.
• Level 5: Lizzie B, Livvy J, Maddison J, Emily J, Leila A and Joshua K.
• Level 6: Oliver G, Maddi O, Lucy J, Owen H, Freya H, Bronwyn L, Lucie F and Olivia D.
• Level 7: Maddi O, Owen H, Josephine W, Lucie F, Olivia D and Katie L.
• Level 9: Keira H and Carmen O’N.
• Level 10: Keira H and Immy S.

Well done everyone. A big thank you goes to Mrs Campbell and our student coaches – Kate, Holly, Lauren and Immy.

A big well done goes to Alfie in Year 7. He has just been to compete in the Newport Open Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Competition (age 12-13 category). This was Alfie’s first competition and he came away with a Bronze Medal – something he should be really proud of and is a reflection of his hard work and determination.

We finish the blog with our wonderful students of the week. I am pleased to say that our winners are:

• Trinity and Katie – in recognition of all the hours they have put in supporting our Year 11 students who are preparing for their GCSE Drama performances. I know the students really appreciate all you are doing for them – thank you.
• Alfie – who stepped in at the eleventh hour to play in goal to support Mr Bellamy’s football team’s training. Alfie spent the whole evening preventing Mr Bellamy from scoring with some exceptional goalkeeping acrobatics!
• Freddie – in recognition of the support and help he provides for other students during the Period 6 support sessions for Year 10.
• Josh and Kyle – to acknowledge their improved effort and hard work across a number of subject areas. They have both really impressed their Head of Year.
• Jess – for being a really positive and supportive Plymstock student, not just in class, but also in her wide engagement in extra-curricular activities.