Sixth Form Charity Week

Our Post-16 Charity Week was a great success this week and saw various events take place during the week ranging from cake sales, raffles, penalty shoot-out, Mario Kart, along with the old firm favourites of doughnut eating and ‘sponge a teacher’. The doughnut speed eating challenge of how quickly you can eat 2 doughnuts is always a popular event. This year the winner was Ethan P in Year 11 with 42 seconds, closely followed by Mr Chick whose time was just less than 44 seconds (Mr Sprenkel still holds the record of 34 seconds from last year but was unable to defend his title this year)!

The sponge a teacher saw students getting their own back on teachers with ‘sponges’ and later on it became soak the teacher with entire buckets of water, kindly facilitated by Mr Sprenkel. Nice to know your Deputy has your back!

Mr Willcocks, myself and Mr Johnson bravely sat in the chairs and faced the student onslaught! Mr Johnson, whose tutor group organised the event, was a particularly popular choice for students.

Students also showed their brute strength by taking on the teachers in a tug of war; and were able to demonstrate their goal scoring skills in a penalty shoot-out.

The week concluded today with a Year 12 & 13 Fancy Dress day with an 80/90s theme.

Every year the sixth form senate vote for a nominated charity, last years were NSPCC and local charities St Luke’s Hospice and SALT and a total of £260 was raised. This year the Sixth Form Senate have nominated the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) as their chosen charity.

The total raised so far is already over £260 however, there is still more money pouring in which is fantastic. Well done to all the staff and students involved. A fantastic team effort and a great week.

Bristol Street Art Trip

On Friday 1st November Miss Hogben, alongside Mrs Elliott and Mr Taylor took a group of 10 students to Bristol for a tour of the street art (www.wherethewall.com). They were guided around some of Bristol’s most famous street art images; including the renowned and controversial graffiti artist Banksy. During the tour, the students were given a constant stream of information about the historical and political background behind Bristol’s prolific graffiti art and shown some incredible works of art painted onto a myriad of different buildings – most of which is now legal. The students who are involved in the Positive Impact Programme at school have been tasked with painting a mural, in the school library, and have been working on ideas to enable them to create a work inspired by their own experiences of school life.

‘It was a brilliant day and the students were a credit to the school.’ Miss Hogben

The students who were involved in the Positive Impact Programme and who attended the trip were Tom, Maria, Olly, Kinga, Jamie, Oli, Max, Ed, Kiara and Sam.

St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth

On 13th October Ethan who is in Year 10, took part in the St Luke’s Tour De Moor cycle challenge. He featured in our blog with Mr Johnson on Friday 18th October. Wayne Marshall, Community Fundraiser and Open Garden Coordinator from St Luke’s contacted me to explain their huge achievement.

Ethan and five of his friends from Devonport High School for Boys, (DHSB) braved the wind, rain and hail to tackle the 52 Km off road route which saw grown men drop out before completion. All six lads managed to finish the gruelling course to raise funds for their local hospice, an amazing achievement and a real test of teamwork, stamina and skill. In total they raised a total of £805 in sponsor money for end of life care in their local community.

This circle of friends is bonded together by their enjoyment of cycling and rugby (OPM team). Their achievement really does seem to embody both the core values of our schools and the core values of rugby: Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.

This morning Wayne held a formal cheque presentation at DHSB with the six boys. Ethan raised £320 in sponsor money in addition to the £30 registration fee, a substantial contribution to the total raised.

“It was inspiring to see these lads complete the challenge. We had over 1,300 participants on the day but hardly any teenagers took part in the 52km distance!” Wayne Marshall

We are very proud of Ethan and his friends from DHSB for both their resilience and hard work.
A truly fantastic achievement and having spoken with Ethan I know like so many of us how he has seen first-hand the amazing work St Luke’s do. This is a very modest young man and it is just something he wanted to do to give back.

REMEMBRANCE – ‘Lest We Forget’

This week our assembly programme has been led by Mrs Wilkins, who leads our MKC Heroes Group, which supports our students with service family links in the school.

The assemblies focussed on the D Day landings and the Polish Squadron with Mrs Wilkins highlighting the event, REMEMBRANCE – ‘Lest We Forget’ in Exeter

307 Squadron Project invites you to Exeter’s Guildhall for the special event ‘Lest We Forget’. It will take place between 15-16 November 2019, 10:00-16:00 to remember the Polish 307 Squadron.

This event also marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, by commemorating Poles who took part in D-Day.

The ‘Lest We Forget’ includes:
• The story of the Polish 307 Squadron.
• The History of Exeter Airport where 307 Squadron were based from 1941-1943.
• ‘The Polish D-Day Story’ exhibition which shows the role of the Polish military during D-Day.
• Meeting with authors of the graphic novel ‘Dog Fight: Airdogs’ and much more.
On Friday 15 November at 10:00, ‘307 Squadron Day’, the Polish flag will be raised over the Guildhall by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Exeter.

For more information – info@307squadron.com

Channel 4 documentary Call the Cops Mark Senior

We were delighted to welcome ex- student and star of Channel 4 documentary Call the Cops, Mark Senior. Mark came in and spoke to our Year 12 Criminology students this week to discuss the realities facing police on the front line and highlighted the many different aspects of his role as a First Response Officer. We really appreciate him giving up his time to come and chat to our students especially because he didn’t finish his shift until 4.30am and was returning straight to work after speaking with our students.

Here he is in his promotional shots for the Call the Cops and in school pictured with Maddie W, Anya C, Megan G, Ryan E, Daniel R and Caitlin J

We now reach our student of the week section.

Our winners include:

Phoenix found a purse full of money and cards in a classroom and handed it in to the HUB. The owner is highly relieved.

Oscar and Bethany represented the school today at the inaugural Plymstock Area Children and Young People’s Community Group, the group has been set up by Caroline Chapman, Community and Families Worker at the Plymstock United Church. She is working with Jon Stephens, UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador. They want to give children and young people who live in the Plymstock area the opportunity to be key contributors to democratic processes in their local community; to provide opportunities for children and young people to voice their ideas, thoughts and feelings so that their opinions can be listened to and included in the life and development of their community.

Ethan for raising £320 in sponsor money for St Luke’s by completing the Tour de Moor.

Last Friday Sammi came to the rescue and offered to help one of our Meal time Assistants (MTA) with an injured year 8 student on the tennis courts. Whilst they waited for First Aid to arrive, Sammi was a real star reassuring the student and helping the MTA ensure he was well cared for. I’m pleased to report the injured Year 8 was fine.

‘Get into Teaching’

We currently have 15 trainees based in secondary schools all over the South West (5 currently training at Plymstock School). If you are thinking of a career in teaching, or know someone who is, please join us for our ‘Get into Teaching’ open morning on Saturday 30th November in the Galley, 10:00 – 12:00. The team from The Learning Institute South West will be on hand to discuss the Primary/Secondary Initial Teacher Training course and can answer questions on funding, entry requirements, PGCE qualifications and routes into the teaching profession.
To sign up for this event, please register here – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/get-into-teaching-information-session-plymstock-school-tickets-80672767419?ref=estw

We are looking forward to meeting you.

Mr Kris Chick
Associate Assistant Head Teacher
Initial Teacher Training

And finally…

Careers@Plymstock

Our second week of Careers Insight focuses on Careers in Hospitality #Gatsby Benchmark 2