A number of our boys in Year 11 play for the local rugby team, Plymstock Albion Oaks RFC. Recently they had the opportunity to make an unforgettable trip to the home of English rugby at Twickenham.
They were honoured to be able to train with some of the England community coaches and even play a game on the pitch. They used the England team changing rooms, they were served lunch in the England International Suite, had a tour of the Rugby museum and, as a real surprise, were presented with an signed England Rugby shirt. A really amazing experience for all involved.
As you will all know, Plymstock School tries to be as outward facing as possible. We have always offered a broad and balanced curriculum, including keeping foreign languages as a key part of our learning experience. I am therefore delighted to report that Plymstock School has just been awarded the foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious ‘International School Award’, in recognition of our work to bring the real world into the classroom.
The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.
Stephen Hull, Senior Project Manager at the British Council, said “Plymstock School’s international work has earned the school a well-deserved recognition in the form of this British Council International School Award. The school’s dedication to internationalism is enriching education for its pupils by bringing an essential global dimension to learning and encourage the development of skills children need to be global citizens of the future”.
Well done to our Modern Foreign Languages department – a great achievement.
The week before last was National Girls Football week. This is a week focused on introducing as many girls as possible to the game, with the aim of inspiring more of them to participate.
Our PE department, headed by Mrs Tyrrell, took the opportunity to invite Plymouth Argyle Ladies goalkeeper, and community trust coach, Michaela Phillips, in to run some taster sessions with each of our KS3 girl groups. At the same time Cloe Baker, an ex-student and now the Plymouth Argyle Disability Football coach, also ran some sessions within PE lessons.
Unsurprisingly the weather did not want to ‘play ball’ but despite the typical April showers, the girls fully embraced the sessions. In addition, during lunchtimes we ran some alternative football sessions to engage new participants and dispel the belief that football is a game for boys! These sessions included Foot-Tennis, Soccercise and Foot-Rounders. The week was lots of fun and it has been successful in encouraging more students to take an interest in the sport. Our weekly Argyle girls football sessions have seen a dramatic increase.
We hope to continue to build on the success of this week. The Argyle Football sessions will continue to run throughout May. If you would like to be involved, they run from 3:15 – 4:15pm on the 3G Pitch. A huge thank you goes to Mrs Tyrrell and the PE department for organising this opportunity.
One of our Year 8 students, Caitlin W, really impressed her Art teacher with the quality of her homework. The students were asked to produce a piece in response to their study of William Morris. Below is a photo of Caitlin’s work. A brilliant effort and a fantastic piece.
This week we were visited by the Bishop of Plymouth, Nick McKinnel. The Bishop came to talk to the students in our Christian Union group about the launch of a global wave of prayer called ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ which started on Thursday 10 May. The Bishop was joined by Mark Oliver (Pastor of Plymstock Chapel), the Reverend Jennie Appleby (Plymstock St Mary’s and All Saints) and the Reverend Barry Dugmor.
In addition, Nick stayed with us to talk to our Year 10 and Post-16 Religious Studies students about his experiences as Bishop of Plymouth and Christianity in general. As ever, our students were great and asked some really challenging questions about religion.
It was a really enjoyable and informative afternoon and we thank Nick and his team for taking the time to visit
Finally we reach the point where we can acknowledge just a few of our great students here at the school.
First up is our Year 7 students of the week – Abbie M. This young lady shows all the characteristics we respect here at the school. Abbie is polite, friendly, hard working and looks out for other people. She’s made a great start to Plymstock School.
We have two Year 8 winners this week – Katie L and Livvy J. These two great students received ‘Ambassadors of the Day Awards’ this week at the Diana Awards Anti Bullying Training Day. They were awarded these out of 60 other students, in recognition of their amazing contributions throughout the day and excellent ideas on raising anti bullying awareness. Well done girls. A write up on the event will appear in next week’s blog.
In Year 9, Tia C has won this week’s award. Tia is always polite, well mannered and consistently tries her hardest in all subjects, never giving up, even when faced with difficulty.
Luke H is this week’s winner in Year 10. Luke has been nominated for his continuing hard work, dedication and positive attitude. Luke is a real credit to his year group.
Our Year 11 winner is Mercedes T, for modelling a really positive, resilient and hardworking approach to the approaching exam season. She’s really impressed her Head of Year, Mr Wyatt (and that’s never easy!).
