National School Equestrian
Natasha has a horse and competes in pony club and at local shows; she asked if she could compete at the National School Equestrian Association (NSEA) and represent Plymstock School. Last Sunday Natasha competed in her first (NSEA) competition for the school at Bicton Arena in the 70/75cm show jumping class.
Natasha and Pedro had a clear round coming 11th in the Devon category and 15th out of 30 overall. A fantastic achievement and we are proud of Natasha.
Rugby news
The Year 11s played Devonport High School for Boys last night eventually losing 15-5. It was an open, fast-paced game and the boys equipped themselves well against a far more drilled and experienced opponent. Thanks to OPMs for loaning the kit. I was proud to be part of it and the spirit that the boys demonstrated was highly commendable.
Well done all. Mr Bellamy
Literacy Leader Awards
Literacy Leaders has been running successfully for the past five years. The club centres around peer on peer learning and runs twice a week, on Monday and Thursday after school. During the sessions, students in Year 10, 11 and 12 support younger students with their reading and literacy skills.
Recently, three of our Year 10 and one of our Year 11 leaders, Tom, Kinga, Maria and Destine, reached their BRONZE AWARD, which is awarded for volunteering 25 hours and for dedicating time to the learning of others. Further to this, Leah, Caitlin, Kassandra, Emily, Max, Prentice, Amber, Max and Dedan passed their introduction phase.
If you would like further information regarding this club, please contact Miss Hogben at rhogben@plymstockschool.org.uk
World Book Day
Last week we had the chance to celebrate one of our favourite days – World Book Day. Now more than ever, reading is a crucial life skill that we should be encouraging our children to engage in. Reading for pleasure is not just something we teach to support personal development, but it can also have important positive mental health and well-being benefits. World Book Day is a unique opportunity to highlight the joy that reading can bring into our lives, and show how much reading for pleasure is essential to life at Plymstock School. With the help of many of our students, we decorated the library with our interpretation of ‘Elfhame’ the magical fairy world created by author Holly Black, in her brilliant novel ‘The Cruel Prince’. As well as our usual fancy dress competition, we ran a challenge for students to guess the book using clues, found on tiny fairy doors, hidden secretly round the library.
Students involved with the making and displaying decorations include
Year 8 book group: Ewa, Amelie, Molly, Rhiannon, Jess, Ruby, Lucy and Grace.
Students from our Positive Impact Programme: Noel, Ed, Oliver, Sam, Maria, Tom, and Kinga.
Students from our reading mentor programme: Will, Fraser, Michael
With special thanks to Claire’s sister Anna, my brother Michael (for making the chair!) my lovely niece Tabitha, and various other Hogbens, Year 10 student Maria, Mrs Hordern, Miss Grainger, Mrs Elliott, Mr Bellamy, Mrs Sherwood, and the whole of the MFL department for their fantastic contributions.
Student fancy dress winners include: Robert, Amelie, Poppy, Grace
The overall winner of the fancy dress: Darcy and Sofia in Year 7 and photo of them out of their costumes.
Staff fancy dress winners: The whole of the MFL department who dressed up as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Geography – 7yGeYealm
As part of our ‘Moor to Sea’ topic, the students are investigating the different ways of showing height on maps. Last lesson they used play-dough to create 3D models of 2D contour patterns and today they worked collaboratively to create 3D relief maps using cardboard. A student who particularly shone today was Luke, who showed good leadership skills and teamwork.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Recently, I had the privilege to congratulate our students have completed their Bronze and Silver DoE awards. Mrs Tyrell hosted a breakfast for the students in our Galley and the students reminisced on their time completing the award through photographs. It is a tremendous achievement, one not to be overlooked; due to the personal challenges this programme creates which makes this a highly valued award. A fantastic achievement for all involved.
The award recognises the hard work, commitment and resilience of those who complete the programme. My thanks go to the staff, students and parents/families as well who played their parts along the way, in particular thanks to Mr Steward, Mr Wright and Mr Roberts.
Well done to everyone, including those who are not pictured.
Ocean City Half Marathon!
In May, Mrs Johns from our Science Department will be running the Ocean City Half Marathon! She has written a piece for this week’s blog about her reasons behind this personal challenge and if you wish to support her, there are some details at the end.
“I have never run this far before, but wanted to set myself a challenge, and do it for a good cause. Before having my little boy, I used to run quite often and have completed the Ocean City 10k, and I’m pleased I’ve been able to get back into running again.
I have been doing lots of training, with some guidance from Mr Bellamy, and have entered some shorter races to help with my training. Here is a picture of me running the Stroke Association Resolution Run last weekend, which was 9 miles around Saltram – three times up the big hill wasn’t much fun!
I am raising money for the Children’s Hospice South West. This centre helps families who have children with life limiting conditions. They provide specialist palliative care, respite for the whole family, a sibling service for brothers and sisters, emergency support, end of life care and a bereavement service for as long as is needed. The charity help to make the children as comfortable as possible during their hospice care, give them some enjoyment by enriching lives and offering support for families in what must be some of the most difficult times. Here is a link to their website: https://www.chsw.org.uk/
If you could support me, I would be so grateful. Here is a link to my JustGiving page if you would like to.
But if you could just wish me ‘Good Luck’, that would be amazing!”
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/claire-johns1
Students of the week
All our winners have demonstrated Endeavour, Resilience and Empathy; Plymstock School students striving to “Be the best you can be”
Our winners include:
The Year 7 team have nominated Timas for student of the week. Timas tries his very best in all lessons, this shows in his recent school report. On top of that, Timas is a kind and thoughtful young man who always has a smile – he is very popular amongst staff.
In Year 8 congratulations go to Ollie who plays at No. 10 Fly Half as he has just gone through to the next stage of Devon trials for rugby. Ollie plays for Devonport and has been playing rugby since Under 6’s. Ollie is hoping he may go on to be selected and attend the Exeter Chiefs player development programme.
In year 9 Natasha mentioned at the start of this blog for representing the school with Pedro and coming 11th in the Devon category and 15th out of 30 overall. Well done
Ellie in year 11 has been nominated for being such a well-mannered student and respectful to staff. Ellie has recently achieved a grade higher in one of her examinations for I media and her teachers always comment on her enthusiasm, hard work and resilience. Well done Ellie
Joy in Year 11 only joined us a few weeks ago from Nigeria. She has had to pick up several new subjects and curriculums and the level of dedication she has shown is just staggering. Joy is one of the hardest working student Mrs Robb have ever had the pleasure to meet.
Forthcoming Events
In the light of the current Coronavirus situation, we will be making a decision on Monday 16 March to as to whether these Parents’ Evenings will take place as planned or will be postponed until a later date. Thank you for your cooperation during this time.
Year 7 Parents’ Evening
March 18 @ 3:45 pm – 6:15 pm
Post 16 Parents’ Evening
March 25 @ 3:45 pm – 6:15 pm
And finally…
Careers@PlymstockSchool
This week our Careers Insight focuses on Careers in Retail!
Have you ever thought about what really goes into running a shop or a sales business? Who decides what goes in the window displays? Who decides to put the shoes downstairs and the jeans upstairs? Where does all the stock come from?
Every time you buy something, your experience is subconsciously affected by the decisions that have been made by the many different people working in retail and sales careers.
Careers in retail and sales are not only about selling and boosting profits; they are all about providing excellent customer service.
People don’t enjoy buying things because they like handing over their hard earned money. Commonly, we do it because we enjoy the whole experience: the conversation with the person at the till, the enthusiastic discussion with an estate agent about the amount of space in a new house, and the haggling involved in getting a really, really good deal!
Excellent communication and customer service skills are key.
Many thanks
The Careers Team
