Community Action to help others
I am delighted to again this week highlight an act of charitable work within our local community by another student and her family.
Jess is a student in Year 9 and her mum contacted me to explain that Jess and her family have been collecting donations for the food bank, as they are desperate for supplies.
“My Mum had put a food bag together for the food bank after finding out they are desperate for donations, so I suggested that we try and get donations from other people so we can help the wider community. We posted in several Facebook groups and the response has been fantastic. Mum & I dropped a carload to the bank yesterday
Thank you for your help, the food bank is in need of tinned meals (curries, stews), long life fruit juice, tinned pies, toiletries, baby toiletries and woman’s sanitary products.”
Jess and her mum would be happy to take any donations from parents. We hope to be able to establish a safe way we can facilitate this working with Jess’ mum. Mrs Wilkins and the family will update you next week on how we can support them.
We are very proud of Jess’ outstanding work and she has been nominated as a student of the week for her work.
Our second story of community action
During distance learning from school, Louise has spent some of her time helping to make protective face visors for health care workers. She has helped at her grandad’s window film company, which has closed due to the current situation. They have switched their production to making visors, which are being distributed free to health care organisations, around Devon and Cornwall, who are struggling to get PPE.
Louise feels proud of her positive contribution during the COVID pandemic, and knowing she has potentially helped to save some lives has made her very happy. We are also incredibly proud of her too and she has been nominated as a student of the week for her work.
75th Anniversary of VE Day – My time during lockdown.
In our school blog on Friday 24 April, we featured an article about two of our Year 11 students, Rebecca and Nathan, who have both been nominated as Young Person of the Year finalists for the Plymouth Armed Services Awards.
This week Rebecca, pictured below, describes how she found a way through our current situation to play her part in celebrating VE Day
“I am a member of the Military Kids Club heroes’ children’s choir; I am an ambassador for MKC and a member of the Armed Forces covenant. I also participate in events as a standard-bearer carrying the National MKC Standard.
The last seven weeks has been very hard, unable to see my extended family and friends.
I am a very active member of MKC and to have many events cancelled due to covid19 has made me realise how much I contribute towards it.
I felt I wanted to still honour our veterans on VE Day with 2 minutes silence even though the main event had been cancelled.
Not only do we have time to reflect on those who served back then, but also to those who have since and who continue to serve our country now. This is for those that have sadly lost their lives, have physical or mental illness, our veterans and those still serving.
My Dad served in the Falklands war on HMS Argonaut, which was sent to support and protect our amphibious vessels but unfortunately took two hits, which badly damaged the engine room. They also lost two crew when the strikes happened. HMS Argonaut was able to make it back to a Plymouth under its own steam. My Dad still recalls that day as if it was yesterday and does struggle at times with the loss of two of his fellow colleagues who were young men only just starting out in their careers.
Stay safe everyone.”
Becca
VE 75th Anniversary report – Mrs Wilkins
Please find below a summary of some of the articles and information submitted to Mrs Wilkins. In addition, some other photographs we have received from your celebrations within our community. Thank you for sending these in, it is appreciated and allows us to all see we found an appropriate socially distanced way to come together on an important day.
Library Competition
All work and no play! Our students’ messages from lockdown
Working and Learning at home
Mrs Swan has nominated Megan in Year 9 for showing her thoughtful nature and initiative in creating a superb quiz presented in a presentation format with music and scoresheets for her whole family to enjoy. Well done Megan.
In Year 7, Joel has just completed building a Hawker Hurricane and has been nominated as Student of the Week by Mrs Summers, Mrs Pearsall and Miss Pring for his superb resilience and practical skills. Those oat cookies look amazing and the model has super detailing. Well done Joel.
Butterflies
This week Abi in Year 10 shares a personal quest from something she never quite finished at primary school. It is a lovely story and I hope you enjoy her pictures and explanation as much as I did.
There should always be a love of learning, learning for its own sake and driven by an enquiring and independent mind.
We really miss seeing our students, the daily interactions and moments like these. The positivity of this story for me is that seed sown many years ago by a teacher that led to Abi wanting to ‘find out’!
“When I was at primary school I raised some caterpillars but we went on holiday before they became butterflies and I handed them over my Granny, so I never saw what happened! Over lockdown, I tried again and I have seen five tiny caterpillars go through metamorphosis to become painted lady butterflies, released into the garden today.
It has been interesting seeing the whole process from minuscule caterpillar to fat caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.”
This is my student of the week nomination for Year 10 and I know her pastoral team and teachers, particularly her science teachers will be very proud of her.
Distance Learning
Art completed at home
We start with a whole gallery of work and contributions this week from Ms Wakeham.
“I set the challenge to all my students to create an isolation portrait of a person or pet that is important to the students during lockdown. “
Year 7
“So here goes with the Year 7 isolation portraits” There were also loads of brilliant ones in Year 7. Lots of students chose to do portraits of their pets. These are some of my favourites” commented Ms Wakeham.
Ms Wakeham has nominated Grace and Sophie for students of the week. They approached the task with creativity and care by making collages. Lily also receives a nomination for her tapestry, which was also a novel response to the brief.
Pictured below is the work of: Charlotte, Crystal, Finlay, Finleigh, Grace, Isabella, Jake, Joe, Lara, Ruben, Lily, Lyla , Olivia, Poppy, Samuel, Sam, Sophie and Sophie
Here are the best ones from Year 8 and 9. All the best portraits will now be submitted to the Devon Guild of Craftsmen to go in their exhibition. They will also be sent to Grayson Perry’s Art Club (which is currently being shown on Channel Four and I highly recommend.)
Year 8
“Sorry there’s so many! I tried to leave these out, but then I just couldn’t! There’s just so many that are really good”, I hope people enjoy the work of our students”
Pictured below is the work of: Aydin, Charlotte, Louise, Daniel, Ed, Emilia, Esme, Felix, George, Isabel, Jessie, Katie, Kyle, Lauren, Maisie, Megan, Sam and Tom
Ms Wakehan has nominated Aydin for the most creative response to the task. “Aydin made a delicious looking cake which I am very much looking forward to eating!!”
Year 9
Pictured below is the work of:Caitlin, Jemima, Aimee, Mel and Ellie
Ms Wakeham has nominated Aimee for consistently sending in high quality work every week during lockdown and Caitlin for the lovely drawing of her dog!
Mr Hurd-Thomas’ classes
Students from Years 7 and 8 have submitted the following work. The Year 7’s are responding to Richard Long’s Mud drawings. Year 8 are learning how to respond to the Cubists, and their still life paintings using musical instruments. And Robert who has been working on his own projects and ‘just doing his own thing!”
Pictured below is the work of: Daisy, Isabelle, Lucy, Nell and Robert
Mr Hurd-Thomas
It has been a delight to receive and view this work and we very much hope you enjoy viewing all the portraits the students have created. Some wonderful work and I hope they found the work both enjoyable but it also offered them an opportunity for some much-needed self-absorption!
And finally…
Covid-19 Commissions: State of Emergency
Local art project the Box have promoted this week
https://www.theboxplymouth.com/blog/press-release/covid-19-art-commissions
Science
Mr Farrant has nominated Mya in Year 9 for student of the week for the standard of the work. Mr Farrant commented, “The work that Mya is producing for me in Biology is exceptional and has been for the whole of the distanced learning period. I have attached an example of her latest piece of work which was a revision based task covering what we have done in our latest topic in Biology.”
Fantastic Mya, well done.
Design and Technology
Mrs Worley has nominated the following students for their work in D&T as Students of the Week:
Billy in Year 7 – has really impressed me with his commitment to learning, submitting every piece of work so far and showing real passion for cooking by also doing the optional extra of the practical task
Hawkeye in Year 7 – I made him my star baker last week by going over and above my expectations – he translated the recipe for cheese scones into French, then filmed himself making them with his instructions being spoken in French and sent me the video – very impressive!
Kiela in Year 10 – has submitted every single piece of work set so far for food preparation and nutrition, she is always the first to submit her work on the day I have set it, showing a real commitment to her learning
Exceptional effort, well done to these three students for their continued resilience and effort.
Humanities
Mrs Wilkins has highlighted the work of the following students in her History and EPiC classes. Her nominations for students of the week are: Caitlin and Jess in Year 9 for their work in EPiC, Ella Y7, Sam Y8 and Ben Y10 all for outstanding and exceptional history work.
In response to a ‘be inspiring – be a light’ task for EPiC.
Caitlin Y9 decided to get creative during her time at home and painted her friends as favourite characters. I am sure you will agree that they are just great. What an amazing way to stay in contact. Well done Caitlin.
Geography
Mr Schindler has nominated Isaac in Year 9 this week. He is working independently at home as both his parents are key workers. He is completing all tasks ahead of schedule each week and enjoying the work.
Fantastic work and effort Isaac. Well done
ICT and Computing
Miss Reeves has nominated Jessica and Jessica both in her Year 8 Computing classes.
“They had a task this week to design two logos for a theme park and I think their logos are absolutely wonderful. They have both shown true artistic talent and I am extremely proud of their hard work and the total dedication that they have shown throughout their distance learning.”
Students of the week
All our winners have demonstrated Endeavour, Resilience and Empathy; Plymstock School students striving to “Be the best you can be”
The following students mentioned in the blog have received nominations as Year 7 students of the week:
Joel, Grace, Sophie, Lily, Billy, Hawkeye and Ella
The following students mentioned in the blog have received nominations as Year 8 students of the week:
Aydin, Sam, Jessica and Jessica
The following students mentioned in the blog have received nominations as Year 9 students of the week:
Jess, Megan, Aimee, Caitlin, Mya and Isaac
The following students mentioned in the blog have received nominations as Year 10 students of the week:
Abi, Kiela and Ben
In Year 11, Rebecca
Careers Insight – 2020 #CrisisCareersHeroes
This week we will focus on the workers who are keeping us fed!
See the image below.
10 BENEFITS OF WORKING IN RETAIL:
- Interpersonal Skills- From managers and colleagues to customers, salespeople interact with a variety of people.
- Goal Setting- Once you know how to set and meet your sales goals, setting personal goals becomes that much easier. Achieving goals, even small ones, can create a sense of accomplishme
- Positivity- Customers don’t buy from negative salespeople! Maintaining a smile and cheery disposition can bring a multitude of rewards.
- Exercise- Walking the floor, stocking shelves, and moving merchandise all require us to keep moving.
- Belonging- A good company and good team members can give you a sense of purpose and belonging that is usually reserved for families. There’s no better feeling than walking into work and knowing that people are happy you’re there.
- Teamwork– Retail sales training will teach you to work with other people as a team, even if you don’t see eye to eye. This skill will translate to your life as a whole.
- Problem Solving– Whether it’s a merchandise problem, a customer problem, or a team problem, you’ll be involved in finding and implementing the solution. The more your brain is confronted with change, the more flexible you can be as life throws challenges at you.
- Time Management– A skill to last a lifetime. Retail teaches you what your time is worth, and how to use it. Show up on time, do your work, and be productive – managing your time will carry on no matter what else you do in your personal or professional life.
- Diversity Training– No matter what you do, you’re going to encounter people of all cultures, sexual orientations, and attitudes. Retail helps you meet all types of people who may not be like you and find common ground.
- Financial reward/ progression – If you strive to be the best you can be, develop your strengths and weaknesses and work for great employers, you can make a fantastic living and climb up the ladder!
Many thanks
The Careers Team
Forthcoming Events and important announcement
Next week is Mental Health Awareness week. The theme from the Mental Health Foundation this year is Kindness.
Why kindness?
One thing that we have seen all over the world is that kindness is prevailing in uncertain times. We have learnt that amid the fear, there is also community, support and hope. The added benefit of helping others is that it is good for our own mental health and wellbeing. It can help reduce stress and improve emotional wellbeing. Beyond ourselves, our research reveals that inequality is rising in our society and that this has harmful effects on our health.
Life expectancy is falling for the poorest for the first time in 100 years. As child poverty rises, children and young people in the poorest parts of our country are two to three times more likely to experience poor mental health than those in the richest.
Kindness could transform our schools, places of work, communities and families. Let us shape a society that tips the balance in favour of good mental health, for all of us, but especially for those who are most vulnerable.
The Mental Health Foundation has suggested the following ways to get involved, spread some kindness and raise awareness:-
Acts of Kindness
We want to get the nation talking about kindness and mental health. By joining us online, you can even reach people from around the world. During the week, we would like you to carry out or reflect on an act of kindness. Take a photo or video (with permission!) and use the hashtags #KindnessMatters and #MentalHealth AwarenessWeek You can also share your ideas on how you think we could build a kinder society that would support our mental health using the same hashtags above.
Before you start, please remember the tips below: Keep others in mind .Although carrying out good deeds for other people can make you feel good, don’t forget to keep in mind why you’re doing it – for their benefit not yours.
Here are some acts of kindness to inspire you. Don’t overdo it. If you find that you are giving too much of yourself or have gone beyond your personal resources, think about taking a step back. We recommend starting small so that you don’t become overwhelmed or give more than you are emotionally or in other ways able to give.
Mrs Rebecca Littler
Stay Strong
In a week that has seen us have to adjust to the ‘new normal’ and take on new challenges and stay strong in fighting this virus together, I was reminded about a poem that a member of staff sent me. The poem is from her father which reminded her to stay strong and that we will get through this together and come out the other side, stronger.
We are working together so all our hardships now are for a better and happier tomorrow.
Thank you to Mr Hill (Saturday Morning looking over the River Tamar to Saltash and a photo taken from Jennycliff of the sunset on Wednesday evening. Looking across Plymouth Sound ) and Mrs Kirk (Sunsets) for their photographs used in this week’s blog from their daily exercise walks.
