Plymstock School
Summer Term 2012
Issue 9
Celebrating the Olympics
Dear Parents,
I really feel that the Olympics have become a reality this
month. We were so proud of Kieran Dyer who was selected
to carry the Olympic Torch on Sunday 20th May and the
pictures (shown right) tell the story. We also had the Big
Dance which had an Olympic theme and involved all of our
Key Stage 3 students. The planning is also complete for our
Festival of Sport which will take place after the half term
break. This will be a great opportunity for students to
compete in a variety of Olympic events and to win points for
Plymstock Pride!
their House. I only hope the weather is fine for the event!
Mr. D.J. Farmer
Headteacher
Year 7 student, Kieran Dyer, proudly carried the Olympic torch through
Chillington on Sunday 20th May. He was chosen because of his tremendous
sporting leadership (e.g. Captain of Plymouth Schoolboy‟s under 11s) and
because his attitude and behaviour is a role model for all students at the
school.
Kieran‟s thoughts on the day were that he was really excited and nervous. He
decided on a slow jog and was accompanied by friends, family and the
inevitable security runners dressed in Olympic kit. Kieran‟s ambitions in life are
to become a professional footballer and to one day play for Arsenal (once he
The Unsung Hero Award is presented each week to the leaves Plymstock United and the Arsenal Development Centre in the city).
member(s) of staff who have been nominated as going
„above and beyond‟.
Mr. Oliver - Deputy Headteacher
The Unsung Hero Award
May‟s winners were:
Mrs. Harris, for her „extra mile„ efforts within Learning Support
and for her co-ordination of the food bank.
Term 6 starts Monday 11th June
Miss. Pelley, nominated by students for her additional support
in Maths.
Open Evening 19th June
Ms. Irons, nominated by service family children for her fund
raising efforts.
Dance Festival 21st June 7-8pm
Mr. Hartridge, nominated by parents for undertaking an
extra 10 week course with primary students.
- early closure
The school website has full
details
All Key Stage 3 students took part in the Big Dance School Pledge 2012 on Friday 18 th May. The dance was a five minute piece of Olympic
themed choreography and the event took place on the same day that the Olympic Torch arrived in the UK and started its journey in Cornwall.
This was an attempt to contribute to a Guinness World Record with as many people dancing the same dance, at the same time, but in
different locations. We are awaiting verification that the record has been broken.
Photo by M. Wilson
Year 9 Geography fieldwork
To finish their unit on how „local actions can have global consequences‟ 9x4 did some research at our local Cooperative in the Broadway. They researched Fairtrade coffee prices, the sources of popular fruit and vegetables,
packaging on selected goods and finished with a shoppers‟ questionnaire.
The questionnaire gave them the following results:
60% shoppers said that price mattered more to them than how far something had travelled
50% of shoppers questioned did buy Fairtrade items
60% still thought that there was too much packaging used
The most popular fruit and vegetables were: apples, bananas, grapes, broccoli, carrots and
potatoes
Thanks to Simon and the staff at the Co-operative.
Mr. Oliver
Left to right (Year 7 students) Sophie Anderson, Emily
Norton, Shannon Thomas (Year 10), Alice Harwood, Lois
Teasdale, Jess Queen, Lily Rose Jenkins
Year 6 primary teachers from Holy Cross, Hooe, Elburton, Pomphlett and Dunstone
Trampolining Round Up by Katie Tooze
recently enjoyed a „catching-up‟ session with our Year 7 students and were able to
Our trampolining club has been running for 10 weeks
see how their former pupils were getting on.
and there are a total of 23 members. All students
completed at least one level. The club follows the
British Trampolining Federation Award Scheme from
awards 1 – 10 (10 being the hardest).
Here is the club list:
Citizenship News
During a recent Citizenship Collapsed Session, Year 7 students focused on „Rights
and Responsibilities‟, learned about child soldiers and watched the „Kony 2012‟
movie. Students were encouraged to write a child soldier diary to demonstrate what
they had learned during the session. Some of the winners of the competition are
pictured below. They won house points for their respective houses. Bryn Connell
Daniels (L7DJW) said: “I learned a lot about child soldiers; why they are used and
what we can do to stop it happening”.
Mr. Willcocks
Year 7
Madeline Allen
Sophie Anderson
Lois Teasdale
Charlie Palmer-Clarke
Jess Queen
Alice Harwood
Lily-Rose Jenkins
Sarah Lannigan
Abi Fisher
Georgia Solomon
Emily Norton
Year 8
Lauren Drew
Cameron White
Amy Reid
Megan Kohler
Abi Law
Hannah Elder
Merryn Rayner-Smith
Year 9
Shannon Thomas
Amber Taylor
Year 10
Mikey Bygrave
Award Completed
6
6
6
6
6 and 7
6 and 7
6 and 7
6,7 and 8
6,7, and 8
6,7,8 and 9
6,7,8,9 and 10
Award Completed
6 and 7
6,7 and 8
6,7,8 and 9
6,7,8 and 9
6,7,8 and 9
6,7,8 and 9
6,7,8,9 and 10
Award Completed
6 and 7
6,7,8,9 and 10
Award Completed
6
The coaches were Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Ellis, Grace
Hine, Steph Dolmore and me (Katie Tooze). We
taught boys and girls of all ability levels.
Trampolining is a great sport to be involved in as it is
very fun and challenging.
It can also be very
dangerous and is much harder than it looks.
Mrs. Campbell said, “There has been a lovely
atmosphere at the club with students working hard to
encourage and coach each other. Well done to all
award winners and I would like to say a big thank you
to all the coaches whose help has been invaluable.”
The club will start again in September
Gifted and Talented Students
As a school we value opportunities to celebrate with our Gifted and Talented students. We have several students who are performing at a
National or International level in a variety of sports. Below is an article on Beth and Jack Worthington and their amazing achievements in
Taekwondo. They, like other students, are constantly looking for sponsors to assist them in achieving their dream of one day becoming a
world champion. If there are any sponsors in our local community who would like to sponsor these students please contact Mrs. Honeywill
thoneywill@plymstockschool.org.uk
Olympic Sport of Taekwondo - Beth and Jack Worthington
In the summer 2011, Beth spent five weeks of her summer holidays based at the Manchester training
camp in preparation for her selection for Team GB at the European Junior Championships in Paphos,
Cyprus, in October 2011. She worked hard, and developed her skills and techniques and proved her
worth by bringing home a bronze medal for Great Britain from the Junior European Championships in
Paphos, Cyprus.
Jack‟s performance representing Great Britain at the Cadet European
Championships 2011 in Tbilisi, Georgia, impressed the team coaches, showing his
potential and commitment to this Olympic sport of Taekwondo.
In 2012, Beth and Jack both competed at the A-Class Swedish Open in Trelleborg.
Beth also competed at the German and Dutch Opens whilst Jack attended the
Belgium Open in March. They have both been selected for the National Talent Squad for their respective age groups and
will have to commit most of their school holidays to training with the national coaches in Manchester.
It is due to Beth‟s continuous success, potential to medal and attitude towards hard work
that has qualified her to represent Great Britain at the World Junior Championships that
took place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, during the Easter holidays. Beth was one of seven athletes chosen for
Team GB. She had a tough draw facing Chinese Taipei in her first fight and has gained a great deal of
experience from this event.
Beth is hoping to travel to Korea in June for a fortnight‟s training with the Korean High School of Taekwondo,
organised by GB Taekwondo for the Junior National Talent Squad, whilst Jack will be competing at the
Capital Cup in London in a fortnight‟s time.
For the rest of this year, they will both have competitions nationally, with the highlight being the British National Championships in
September, where they will be hoping to retain their titles as British National Champions for their respective age and weight categories.
Later in 2012, the siblings will be looking to compete at the Croatian Open (November) and the Paris Open (December), both A-Class
competitions. The training and hard work will place them in a good position to try and represent Great Britain for the European Junior
Championships 2013. Congratulations to Beth and Jack on their fantastic achievements and good luck for the year ahead!
Alex Sprowell
Selected for Briish
Naio al Tra poli e
Cha pio ships
On Sunday 22nd April, Alex
competed in the National
Grade
C
Trampoline
Competition at the Welsh
Institute Of Sport.
After
completing two very good
routines,
a
'set'
and
'voluntary', he got into the final and brought home the
Silver Medal. He was also offered a place at the next
level of trampolining, and will compete at National Fig
B.
The final bit of big news is that Alex secured himself a
place at the British National Trampoline Championships, which will be
held in July over three days at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena.
Well done Alex on such a fantastic achievement and good luck in July!
Dear Parents,
If you or a family member has some sports news please let us know, so
that we can celebrate the results in our school newsletter. Simply email
a short paragraph with the specific details of the achievement with an
accompanying photo, to ncampbell@plymstockschool.org.uk.
We have so many talented students in our school and we would love
more students and parents to be aware of our often hidden talents.
Rugby Talent
Mark Corner (B8KMC) has just found
out that he has made this season‟s
Devon School of Rugby. This is a
great achievement and has been a
stepping stone for some of our
students into county competition. Mark
has captained the Year 8 team this
season and has also played for the
Year 9 team. Well Done, Mark!
Mr. Bellamy
Joe Adams (L10 RAB) and Tom ElliottSmith (S11 SDW) have been selected
for the South West Regional U17
squad, which, after summer training,
leads to representing the South West in
the National U17 championships in
September.
Congratulations to you both!
A Superb Season for the School
Basketball Teams!
2011/2012 has continued Plymstock‟s dominance of the Plymouth
schools basketball leagues. The boys in the five teams have stepped
into every game with the desire and determination to defend their
league champion status. It is excellent to see that not only do we have
a firm grip on the older age groups but the new cohort of year 7
students have continued to strengthen our pool of players. After 33
matches their lists of achievements are as follows:
Year 7 - Plymouth champions
Year 8 - Plymouth league runner up
Year 9 - Plymouth champions
Year 10 - Plymouth champions
Year 11 - Plymouth champions
Thank you to everyone who has come along and supported the boys
in this amazing run of results and a special thank you to Mr. Wookey
for the time he has given up to train and coach some of the teams this
Congratulations to Jacob Elder, Liam Cook, Harry Trump, Ollie Elliott year. I know the boys appreciate it.
-Smith, Dan Dunn, Ciarn Geritie-Poat, James Down, Jess Parkes,
James Cooper, Jaimee Wood, Molly Douglas, Hannah Leonard, Mr. Campbell
George Moss, Sam Foxwell, Jacob Kent, Matthew Philpotts and Josh
Donaghy, who successfully completed a Junior Badminton
Organizers‟ Award. They will be organizing some recreational
badminton and inter-house competitions for our students.
Leadership
Opportunities
Extend to
Breakfast Clubs at
Oreston
Plymstock students have
numerous opportunities to
develop their leadership
skills. We have our newly
formed School Games Organising Committee volunteering and
coaching in Goosewell, Pomphlett, Dunstone, Oreston and Hooe
primary schools at present. Leaders assist with dance clubs, book
English Schools Cross
clubs, target clubs, creative change for life clubs and many more.
Country Championships
Oreston Community Academy has just started a cheer dance
breakfast club which is being led by Lauren Gale, Sharnie Hockeday
A report by Victoria Weir.
and Daisy Tozer. The children arrive at 7.50am and enjoy an action
packed session where they raise their heart rates, learn new routines
th
and create their own sections of choreography. The club is focusing On the 17 March 2012, four students
on the Olympic and Paralympic values of Friendship, Respect, from Plymstock School ran in the 2012
English
Schools‟
Cross
Country
Excellence, Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality.
Championships at Ilton, Somerset. Katie
Burns, Rebecca Rogers, David Weir
Mrs. Honeywill
and Victoria Weir were all selected to
represent Devon in this event after a
good performance at the South West
Schools‟ Cross Country Championships.
The weather was mild and luckily it
didn‟t rain.
To get selected to run is a great achievement. Katie and Rebecca
both ran in the senior girls race, where Katie came 158th and Rebecca
came 259th. David came 13th in the Inter-boys race, just missing out
on the chance to represent England. Victoria Weir ran in the Junior
girls race and came 25th.
Well done to them all!
Community Sports Leaders Award
During this academic year, fifteen students undertook a Level 2 award in Community Sports Leadership. This involved learning to coach,
organise and inspire groups of younger children through the use of sporting activities. They also gained a qualification in first aid and
volunteered a minimum of 10 hours to a sports team out in the community. Congratulations to all the students who devoted over 50 hours to
gaining a very valuable qualification.
Mr. Campbell