Gymnastics, dance, buddies & Succeeding Together

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U12 Devon Gymnastics Champion

Year 7 Tammy Westacott competed in a four-piece Gymnastics competition in Barnstaple at the weekend and won.  She is now 2020 U12’s Devon Champion.  This is a massive achievement especially as it is only 7 months since she dislocated her elbow!  Such a great example of what resilience, dedication and hard work can achieve.  Well done, Tammy.

Year 8 students dance to success

Olivia Painter took part in the Exeter Dance Festival over the half term.  She achieved great success overall, but it was her ballet performances that really shone through.  Olivia‘s passion is Ballet she trains very hard and is at the studio every night of the week after school and every weekend. Olivia placed 1st out of 31 girls in her championship section for her age group from around the country.  She should be very proud of this achievement as she works so hard.

Junior Champion

Charlotte Sweeney  is the current Junior Torbay and Southwest of England Song and Dance Champion. Through the half term Charlotte successfully competed in Exeter dance competitions.

GSUS Live

Our students have had the benefit of having GSUS Live visit us this week. It is a multi-media classroom in a lorry trailer and it tells the story of three teenagers facing real-life issues in their lives, and how they get inspiration from the Bible to deal with their problems.   Students use touch-screen computers to interact with fictional characters through animations, instant chat, short educational films and music videos. They explore the themes of fear, forgiveness and rejection.

Bales Buddies

We were really lucky before half term to get a visit in the SEND department from Bales Buddies. We met the dog Bale with his handler. We wanted to find out more about having a therapy dog in schools and look at how they support young people in an educational setting.   Bales Buddies provide 1:1 Family Therapy Dogs, School Therapy Dogs  and Animal Assisted Therapy. They support areas of:

• – enhancing communication
• – behaviour intervention
• – inspire independence

Their training:

• – Dogs training starts from around 12 weeks and continues until the dog turns 2 years
• – De-sensitisation
• – Socialisation
• – Emotional support
• – Assistance tasks
• – Learning through play
• -Certain breeds respond better to training/great temperament

Research from National Institutes of Health shows that Therapy Dog programs provide significant benefits for students – both physical and emotional.  Dogs are friendly, great companions, good listeners that make no judgements – children bond easily with them helping them feel more connected and confident.   Having a dog present in the classroom promotes a positive mood and provides significant anti stress effects on the body, reducing anxiety and depression which in turn enables the children to focus on learning.  Improves cognitive development – reading skills, memory and problem-solving skills. “The presence of a dog in an educational setting seems to support concentration, attention, motivation, and relaxation reflecting reduction of high stress levels which inhibit effective learning and performance”.

VX3 videos

VX3 have produced two more videos showing off our amazing new kit.  Enjoy!

Year 9 Succeeding Together Evening

Miss Risk and Mr Littler hosted Year 9s and their parents on Wednesday evening.  The purpose of the evening was to give parents an opportunity to fully familiarise themselves with all aspects of the KS4 curriculum, including the exam syllabi, grade predictions, target setting, homework requirements, effort grades and managing challenge.

Careers posters

I have been impressed to see these new posters on display in our careers hub in the study centre. They show our boys and girls the wide range of future pathways open to them, with details of the qualifications required and the different routes into each career.

Greenpower display

Visitors and students can’t miss our amazing Greenpower display at the front of school.  It’s not long now until the season starts with the first race at Goodwood on 10th May.

Jenna got to deliver her larger than life motorsport cardboard printout to it’s new home!

Cereal bars

It was cereal bars on the menu this week for our Year 7s during their Food Technology lessons.

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week are : Jak Partridge, Rebecca Lovegrove, Charlotte Sweeney, Olivia Painter, Cain Lees, Nick Turner (not pictured Tammy Westacott

Principal Certificates

Bronze : Amelia Read, Aleah Coombes, Summer Hapgood, Curtin Poynton, Jayjay Henderson, Skye Williams, Taylor Holton, Cleo Fry, Riley Batten, Lacie Bensen, Maddison Rees, Dylan Nock, Lilly John, Kara Wills, Lily Lewis-Shermer, Elspeth Herring, Elise Pile, Harrison Horrell, Bogdam Pamfile, Georgia Jones, Melissa Piper, Ava Mitchell, Steve Fitzpatrick, Taylor-Ann Floyd, Ellie Mae Mitchell, Alana Mitchell, Jazz Povey, Erin Loader, Fin Gaisford, Lily Unsworth, Heidi Wright, Nikita Howells, Lacee Kiff, Rowen Poulain, Ella Ryan. Bradley Russ, Stevie Wright, Millie Rendall, Rachel Breach, Livvy Tysall, Katie Williams, Lily-Anne Winterton, Jasmine Huxtable, Jade Taylor, Elisha Perrow, Zoe Manley, Danny Stevens, Gareth Mufford, Alex Green,Belle Giles, Max Grimley, Jess Roberts

 

Silver : Mia Keenan, Ella McLachlan, Lucy Mangan-Smale, Harry Hollomby, Shaun Pinto, Olivia Kirby, Bella Lester, Lauren Catt, Sophie Packer, Liam Cartwright, Raquib Shamim, Shania Blades, Matilda Bindon, Ben Puddicombe, Kole Gjikolaj, Sophie Bastow, Codie James, Harley Sneap, Olivia Walker, Elizabeth Cameron, Emily Coates

Gold : Ashton Lindow. Oriana McCaul

Governor Certificates

Bronze : Rebecca Glasson

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel –

Christie – Finley Anderson

Darwin – Jude Snell

Fawcett –  Harby, Fearne

Harrison – Kian George

Kitson –  Lee Ross

Nearne – Sajor Camara

Pengelly – Dylan Nock

Year 8

Brunel –  Ellie Denby

Christie – Mia Bewers

Darwin – Ben German

Fawcett – Lewis Dewar

Harrison – Lilly Ella Passmore

Kitson – Skye Warner

Nearne – Taylor, Elsie

Pengelly – Josh Nagy

Year 9

Brunel – Kieran Towell

Christie – Luke Gerry-O’Connor

Darwin –

Fawcett –

Harrison – Erin Colclough

Kitson –  Kieran Johnson

Nearne – Curtis Hancox

Pengelly – Lorenzo De Paoli

Homework Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel –

Christie –

Darwin – Thomas Harrison

Fawcett – Ashton Jeffs,

Harrison –

Kitson – Tammy Westacott

Nearne – Skye Williams

Pengelly – Alfie Walker-Fenner

Year 8

Brunel – Lucas Washbrook

Christie – Robbie Wright

Darwin – Erin Loader

Fawcett – Abigail Bridges

Harrison – Ella Breheny

Kitson – Oliver Phillips

Nearne – William Hemus

Pengelly – Joshua Batham

Year 9

Brunel – Jaymie Smith

Christie – Luke Gerry O’Connor

Darwin – Finlay McClements

Fawcett – Jess Roberts

Harrison – Indi Johnson

Kitson –  Milla Schwarz

Nearne – Sheldon Brown

Pengelly – Mason McCarthy Payne