Gold Sports Ambassadors

Last week 15 students from Plymstock School’s Leadership Academy supported both the Plymouth School Sports Partnership team and the children taking part in the 2020 Primary and Secondary Indoor Rowing Championships. The PSSP team, parents and children taking part were all impressed by our sports leaders’ support throughout the day and the encouragement they gave to the students taking part. They even stayed late into the evening to help clear up and tidy away.

Thank you to Mrs Hughes for organising the Leaders.

Lauren, one of our Year 11 Ambassadors wrote the following

“On Tuesday 28 January, leaders from Year 10 and Year 11 were asked to participate in an in-school event that would play host to this year’s Plymouth Rowing Championships that welcomed many different primary and secondary schools throughout the day. The primary schools started arriving as soon as 11.30am. As many as 10 to 15 different primary schools attended the event and after school hours many different secondary school attended also.

During this event all leadership ambassadors were on hand to help make the day run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The leadership group was split into two; one group was in charge of the rowing/competition side of things in the main hall and the other group took care of taster activities, such as Dance Mats, combined with rowing machines and kayak machines. Both groups then swapped roles so the younger ambassadors could get an experience of both sides of the event.”

Molly, Lauren, Lotty, Kate, Betsie, Charlotte, Holly, Beth, Iris, Natalie, Leah, Carmen, Imogen, Hollie, and Elouise.

Well done to you all! Each of you were incredibly helpful and supportive and should be very proud of what you achieved.

Lab Rats

‘firewriting’

This week Lab Rats enjoyed using sodium nitrate solution to create secret messages, which ‘wrote by themselves in fire’, in a Harry Potter–esque manner…. There were more Neville Longbottom moments than Hermione Grainger successes but when it worked well letters burned across the paper in a magical way.

Lab Rats is on for all students, Years 7 – 13, every Tuesday from 3.15-4.10pm in Sc1 with Ms Birchnall and Mr Cooper.

Great news – more sporting success

Year 8 boys’ football team

The Year 8 boys beat DHSB and Coombe Dean and drew with Eggbuckland, on Tuesday evening in the Plymouth Central Venue League.

Devon Table Tennis Champions

We have two new Devon Table Tennis Champions. They are, Olly U16 boys’ winner (he was playing in the age group above too!) and Chloe U13 girls winner (beating her sister Molly in the final!).

In the championships, Plymstock School had the highest number of players and continue to grow their reputation in the sport. The students played with determination and put in some great performances against pupils with far more experience than themselves.
The future is looking bright for our Table Tennis players thanks to their efforts, and Mr Taylor’s dedication.

The following were part of the team too, just in case they managed to hide in the photograph! Tom, Matthew, Ross, Joe, Hobson (U16B) Danny, Ollie, Charlie, Jacob, Brendan, Cory (U13B) Kinga and Maria (U16G) Annie, Isabella, Nell and Phoebe (U13G)

Ethics and Philosophy in Cultures EPIC

The Year 9 students in EPiC have been engaged in a programme of study that has been investigating extremism and racism delivered through a variety of different teaching styles. These included watching a film (A long walk to freedom); listening to visiting speakers; and taking part in workshops. Our students have gained knowledge and understanding in the first instance, but this series of different “lessons” has enabled them to gain so much more than that. It has built up relationships and challenged thinking, as well as enabling our students to have the confidence and ability to think for themselves and to act upon situations that otherwise might have gone unnoticed. For a school that has less than the average diversity of students, it has been truly inspiring to see students gain an understanding of racism and extremism and the damaging effects that these views can engender. Many of these students have begun to recognise the potential links between extreme ideology and impact upon behaviour. In particular, how deep-seated racial intolerance has an impact in our communities, both at school or within the local area. The understanding of the power of language to be both a positive and a negative force has resonated with many who had not thought about the consequences of “banter” before.

Overall I think that this has been effective for the students as the delivery of these important ideas has been put across in a variety of different styles.

Indeed. the resulting work created by the students has been exceptional. Have a look and see if you agree.

Well done Year 9, I am proud of you.

‘Improvement and Correction Time’ – IaCT

Last week Mrs Duff and Mrs Kent carried out a work scrutiny to look at the quality of the IaCT responses that Year 9 has produced following the Year 9 exams. IaCT refers to ‘Improvement and Correction Time’ which is an approach to marking and feedback that improves the quality of students’ work by giving them time in lessons to think, respond to teacher comments and improve their work. Mrs Duff and Mrs Kent invited some students to meet with them to discuss their responses. This was an opportunity for the students to consider aspects of their exam preparation, the exams themselves and the follow up that had been done in class.

I joined the group for the discussions and was very impressed by how our students were able to provide helpful feedback about what they had found useful. Students were very positive about their experience but were able to come up with a few suggestions as to how some aspects of the exam process could be improved.

As Director of Learning, Mrs Duff will be passing this information back to departments in order to improve the Exam Week experience for years 7 and 8 later this year.

Many thanks to the students involved for their contribution to improving the student experience at Plymstock School.

‘The Prevent Strategy’

In light of the terrible events that occurred over the weekend in London, it is pertinent that Plymstock School is focusing the assemblies for all year groups this week on British Values (Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance).

Plymstock School have produced a leaflet, ‘The Prevent Strategy’ in line with the Department of Education guidance for parents, raising the awareness of extremist views and terrorism. We have a duty to safeguard the students from such risks.

Leeshia Walton
Designated Safeguarding Lead
Plymstock School

Careers at Plymstock School

This week our Careers Insight focuses on the world of Health and Social Care.

True or false? The only way to work in health and social care is to be a nurse, doctor, dentist or social worker. False.

True or false? If you’re not a doctor or a dentist, then it’s hard to earn much money in health and social care. False.

Every year we have a huge interest in this employment sector!

Careers in health and social care are undoubtedly amongst the most challenging, but they can also be the most satisfying. They require empathy, responsibility, perseverance and, above all, a strong desire to help others.

Interested in finding out more? Try these links:

https://www.allaboutcareers.com/careers/industry/health-social-care

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/working-health/working-social-care

https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/medical

Many thanks
The Careers Team

Aggies – Monday Makes!

Something new in Plymstock
Aggies – Monday Makes! Is a group being run by Jenn Collings, at Café Vision, Plymstock United Church. This is for Service or Ex Service veteran families or individuals.

Concert invite

On behalf of the Military Kids Club Heroes and the Plymouth Youth Concert Band, I am pleased to provide you with the invitation below. Please come and join the audience for a wonderful evening of music provided by the young people.
The Military Kids Club Heroes Choir, with The Plymouth Youth Concert Band, invite you to their:
Poppy Concert in aid of The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal

The Roman Catholic Cathedral, Plymouth
March 18th from 7pm to 8pm

Entrance is free. There will be a collection at the end of the performance.

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:

In Year 9 Fraser and Maddy have been nominated for their enterprise presentation in Life Education with Mrs Dover. They presented an idea for the majestic adaptive caterpillar, it was an excellent product! A soft toy with segments which Velcro together with the potential to have a 5-metre long caterpillar! Despite some of their group being absent on the day they gave a fantastic presentation and are to be commended for their resilience and effort. There will be more in next week’s blog about our budding entrepreneurs.

In Year 10, Thaila and Joe have been nominated for their contribution to last night’s Year 9 options evening. They talked to parents about their Options choices last year and were just awesome given, the large audience. They were real ambassadors for the school.

In Year 11, Lauren has been nominated for writing this week’s piece on the Sports Leaders.

In Year 13 Lucy has just been notified that she has been offered a place at Plymouth University to study medicine. It is extremely competitive to achieve an offer to read Medicine and we congratulated Lucy on this achievement and her hard work in preparing for her recent interview. She has superb interpersonal skills and I’m sure she will be successful in her chosen career.

Arts centre update

Progress continues on the build of our new Arts Centre, with the roof construction nearing completion, the team are beginning work on the inside.

Forthcoming Events

Year 9 Parents’ Evening
February 12 @ 3:45 pm – 6:15 pm

Year 7 Normandy Trip – February 6 – February 11

Non – Pupil Day, Friday 14 February 2020(School closed to students)
Staff ‘Curriculum Development Training’

As part of our work to further improve on the successful outcomes of 2019 and to address the challenging demands students face in learning the new secondary curriculum, Plymstock staff will be joining colleagues from across WeST Schools, working together to share our best teaching ideas and resources to further strengthen and improve teaching. Research shows that the best way to accelerate improvement is through collaboration and support between colleagues, departments and other schools.

This sharing of teaching ideas and resources will take place on Friday 14 February 2020 and will mean that students will have an extra non-pupil day in order to facilitate this.

Plymstock School is committed to ensuring that in every classroom our students experience consistent and highly effective teaching and learning.