For the attention of Year 7 Parents/Carer, regarding the impact of next Tuesday’s Industrial Action.

saltash.net student, Kieran Marley, has been named the ‘Most employable 17 year old in the Plymouth area’ after winning the city’s ‘You’re Hired!’ competition.

Kieran had already been named ‘Best Future Design Engineer’, going on to claim the award for ‘Most Employable’.

Whilst saltash.net students have entered the competition and finished as category winners in the past, 2016 marks the first year that the school has had a winner claim the top prize and be named the most employable in the area.

Kieran had to work with a group of students from other schools, making a physical product (vibrating insoles for navigating for Blind & Visually Impaired People) and a non-physical product (a website), and participate in a ‘purchasing challenge’.

Following the production phase, Kieran had to present in front of a large audience in a lecture theatre and take a grilling from a Dragons’ Den style panel.

After accepting his award, Kieran said:

“It was great to work with lots of new people, which helped to improve my problem solving skills, my ability to speak in front of a large audience of strangers, and to think on my feet. I’m really pleased to have won as I am hoping to follow a career in Medicine!”

Huge congratulations to Kieran on this great news.

Year 12 student Michael Spencer was recently presented with an Ogden Trust award due to his fantastic progress, hard work and achievements in A-Level Physics. He is a promising student who is extremely keen to continue his studies in Physics at university after completing his A-levels.

On Monday 20^th June he attended a prestigious awards evening hosted by the University of Exeter where he was presented with his Ogden Schools’ Physicist of the Year Award by Dr Alison Rivett from the Ogden Trust and Peter Vukusic, Professor of Biophotonics, at the University of Exeter.

The award is given to a small number of talented Physics students from across the south west region and is intended to inspire and encourage the study of Physics, particularly through the Ogden scholarship scheme.

Head of Physics at saltash.net community school, Sonia Cooper said:

“Mike has always been an enthusiastic student, ready to debate many aspects of physics and is quick to grasp the multiple abstract concepts and nuances of physics. As well as having an innate talent for Physics he is cheerful, keen and hard-working and I very pleased that this award will open up opportunities for Mike in his further studies in Physics”

It was with immense sadness and shock that our school community learnt today that one of our Year 13 students, Charlie Pitcher, had died on Tuesday evening. Charlie was a courteous, bright and determined young man with a very promising future ahead of him. He had secured excellent AS results and was a particularly gifted mathematician. He was also an extremely popular student with a large circle of friends; he will be very sorely missed.

Our deepest sympathy is extended to Charlie’s family and friends. Mrs Bryce and Mr Killeya have spent time with the family this morning and have offered any support required at this most difficult time.

A Book of Condolence will be set up in our 6^th Form Day Room. Any Year 13 students or students who were in Year 13 last year are very welcome to come back into school to add their messages and memories of Charlie. The book will be given to Charlie’s family at the end of this term.

Support is available to any members of our school community who feel they require it at this tragic time. Please contact either Mr Skelton or Mrs Griffin in order to make the necessary arrangements.

You can download our Summer Term edition of Community News by clicking on the link below.

Summer Term Community News

Below are the official timings for the upcoming A Level and GCSE results days. All results are to be collected from our Sixth Form day room.

18^th August – 6^th form results

Year 13 results – 9.30am

Year 12 results – 11am

25^th August – GCSE results

10am

saltash.net’s annual Sports Day had an Olympic feel to it this year, as is only appropriate during an Olympic year.

Sports Day 2016 was a tremendous event, featuring students from Years 7 to 9 competing in a range of track and field events. All tutor groups represented an Olympic country for the day, and the traditional Olympic parade of nations took place before the competition began.

The countries chosen were China, Great Britain, Greece, the United States, Australia, Spain, Brazil and South Korea.

There were also events for Year 10 to participate in, as tutor groups competed against one another in a number of sports, including a World Cup Mixed football tournament on the All Weather Pitch.

A number of individual awards were also handed out to students who had excelled during Sports Day, and the top tutor group from each year was also recognised.

Dawn Couch and her catering team cooked up a Brazilian BBQ on the field, whilst Miss Noble ran a yummy healthy eating stall which included Rio-style fruit kebabs and other options. This year a number of Year 10 GCSE Catering students got involved during the recent Theme Day to help prepare all the snacks for Sports Day, visiting Tamar Fruiterers for an educational trip. The Healthy Snack stand made a profit of £200.68, which will be donated to Cancer Research.

Students were encouraged to have their faces painted with the colours and flags of their nation, and to learn as much about their countries as possible before Sports Day.

As is tradition, Mr Romain acted as MC for the day, whilst Mr Henderson played a diverse range of songs in his role as DJ.

Students had been competing for their tutor group and country during PE lessons throughout the year, with boys playing rugby and football, and the girls football and netball.

Points were allocated based on performances during this inter tutor competition, and were added to the Sports Day results to determine the final standings.

Leading into Sports Day, the official standings were extremely close, with Greece leading in 1st on 86 points, with Spain just trailing on 80 points.

Mr Hawkins, Head of PE at saltash.net, praised all students and staff for helping to make the day such an outstanding success: “On behalf of the PE department I would like to thank everyone who played a role in the success of Olympic Sports Day 2016. It was a brilliant all round effort.

“Our ambitious plans for the day were only successfully executed because we have an amazing team of teaching and support staff that are always ‘up for it’ and really embraced the day! I am sure this reflected on the students’ performances who themselves were outstanding in their efforts and achievements when competing and supporting their team mates. A fantastic day to remember.”

Congratulations to all involved on their part in a fantastic day.

Sports Day rankings

Ranking	Country
1st	Spain
2nd	Great Britain
3rd	Greece

New Sports Day records

There was much to celebrate at saltash.net community school when students arrived on the morning of Thursday August 18^th to collect their long awaited A Level and AS Level results. The months of hard work and effort had definitely paid off with almost 50% of all grades achieved at A Level being A*, A and B. With a cohort of 98 students, making it one of the largest A Level groups across schools in Cornwall, these results demonstrate the ongoing success of post 16 provision at saltash.net. Very pleasingly, alongside the very high proportion of top grades, the average points score per student also increased in 2016, reflecting excellent progress across the entire ability range.

There were many outstanding individual performances, including those of the school’s Head Student team for 2015 – 16. Between them, Georgina Curtis, Paul Gerry, Ellen Hambly and Hannah Paull clocked up a remarkable 4 A*s, 4 As and 5Bs, whilst at the same time having made an exemplary contribution to the school and local community throughout their time at saltash.net.

Also deserving of special individual praise was Ellie Spencer who faced extreme adversity throughout the duration of her A Levels, which included her ongoing battle with the cancer she was diagnosed with during her GCSEs. Despite everything, Ellie still managed to secure an A* grade in Psychology, an A grade in Sociology, B grades in Maths and Biology and an A* for her Extended Project Qualification.

The following fifteen students all achieved at least two A* or A grades overall:

Lauren Armstrong:  A* (Business Studies), A (Geography), B (Maths), A* (Extended Project)

Gemma Bennett:     A* (Sociology), Distinction (Applied Science), B (Geography)

Sam Cooke:            A (Art and Design), A (Design and Technology), C (Geography)

Georgina Curtis:      A* (Maths), A (English Language), A (Media)

James Duff:            A* (P.E.), A (French). A (Maths), B (History)

Paul Gerry:             A* (Maths), A (Further Maths), B (Computer Science), C Physics)

Nathan Gilchrist:     A* (Sociology), A (Business Studies), Distinction* (Applied Science)

Andrew Grech:        A* (Fine Art), A (Design and Technology), C (History)

Mark Hall:              A* (Sociology), A (German), B (Business Studies)

Ellen Hambly:         A* (Psychology), A (French), B (History)

Jessica Jones:         A (Theatre Studies), A (English Language), B (Media)

Tim Pook:              A (Physics), A (Maths), B (Chemistry), B (German)

Matthew Seymour:  A (Chemistry), A (Physics), A (Maths)

Ellie Spencer:      A* (Psychology), A (Sociology), B (Biology), B (Maths), A*(Extended Project)

Molly Stubbs:    A* (Art and Design), A (English Language), A (History)

These superb results now mean that the majority of students are able to progress to their first choice universities or apprenticeships, which include the prestigious Glasgow School of Art for Molly Stubbs, a place at London University (Royal Holloway) to study Film, Television and Media Production for Georgina Curtis, Exeter University’s Mathematics with International Study for Matt Seymour and Law with French at Bristol University for Ellen Hambly. For Gabriel Crocombe, who secured three B grades in Maths, Further Maths and Physics, a place to study Maths with Education awaits at the highly regarded Texas A & M University in the United States of America.

For Year 12 students collecting their results, there was also a great deal to celebrate with more outstanding achievements, including those of Ed Gilford who, alongside attaining A grades in Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry and an A* in the Extended Project, also managed to gain an A* in A Level Maths a year early, with a terrific final result of 594 marks out of 600 across all of his papers.

Head of Sixth Form, Adam Killeya, praised all of the outcomes, saying, ‘We are really proud of what the students have achieved with the strong support of their teachers, family and friends: their hard work really has paid off.’

Inevitably, for staff and students at saltash.net, this year’s A Level Results were tinged with sadness and poignancy following the tragic death of year 13 student, Charlie Pitcher, back in July. Speaking on results’ day, Headteacher, Isobel Bryce, said, ‘The whole school community continues to be greatly saddened by Charlie’s untimely death. I am certain, however, that his family will be feeling an element of pride today knowing that Charlie was among the school’s top performers, gaining, alongside other very good results, an A grade in Maths, the subject he was most passionate about.’

In tribute to Charlie, a group of year 13 students who are part of a band called Helvellyn will be playing a concert in his memory at a local pub on results’ day night.

saltash.net community school would like to congratulate all students in Year 11 on achieving a very pleasing set of results today against a backdrop of significant GCSE change and reform. A fantastic 92 students out of the 231 strong cohort secured at least one A* or A grade, with a fifth of them achieving at least 3A* or A grades.

Students and staff rose to the challenge of a revised curriculum and many syllabus changes, with the year group as a whole performing well on the new Progress 8 Measure. As the new measure is a national comparator, the final outcome will not be known until all of the results have been verified in the Autumn Term, but initial indications show, pleasingly, that saltash.net students across the ability range are making better than the expected progress based on their prior attainment.

There were many superb individual performances, including the following twelve students who all achieved at least 9 A* and A grades:

Charlotte Berry:      5 A* and 4 A grades

Niamh Cameron:     5 A* and 5 A grades

Tori Carter:            6 A*and 5 A grades

George Duff:           4 A* and 5 A grades

Matthew Higgins:    4 A* and 5 A grades

Rowenna Hoskin:    1 A* and 9 A grades

Lucy Kevern:           3 A* and 7 A grades

James Lancaster:     6 A* and 3 A grades

Harry Lockley:        7 A* and 2 A grades

Kari Summers:        2 A* and 8 A grades

Josh Tennant:         4 A* and 7 A grades

Eleanor Williams:    9 A grades

Charlotte Berry also deserves an extra special commendation as one of the school’s top performing students as she managed to achieve 100% attendance across years 7 to 11 whilst at saltash.net, demonstrating a fantastic commitment to her learning and education!

Another Charlotte deserving of an extra special mention from this Year 11 cohort is Charlotte Barriball, who in the summer term of her year 10 GCSE course was diagnosed with Pre B Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, a type of cancer treated as Leukaemia. Charlotte was placed on a two year treatment plan which included major back operations to remove her tumour and regular courses of chemotherapy and blood transfusions.

With ongoing support from her family, Bristol Children’s Hospital, and saltash.net, Charlotte achieved the remarkable feat of still gaining 6 A* – C grades in her GCSEs. A hugely talented sportswoman, Charlotte’s GCSE in PE was particularly special to her. The PE department at saltash.net paid tribute to her efforts, saying, ‘Charlotte is a true warrior. She is one of the most inspiring students we have known, completing the entire year 11 course in just six weeks, most of it over the Easter holidays when she attended revision and catch up sessions every single day. She is so deserving of every accolade going her way!’

In an extremely inclusive school, saltash.net is also very proud of the results of those students for whom learning itself has been a major challenge. Alongside students who joined the school at the start of Year 11 having previously encountered major disruption to their education, students from the school’s Trematon Zone also performed exceptionally well, with Beth Hackworthy securing a GCSE in Art as well as Entry Level Qualifications in English, Maths and ICT.

Speaking on results’ day, Headteacher, Mrs Bryce, applauded the efforts of students and staff during a ‘turbulent’ time in education: ‘Everyone has worked very hard over the past two years to get the best results possible. The Class of 2016 has made us very proud, not just because of their academic success, but because of how they have developed as capable and caring young people. We all wish them every success in the future and look forward to welcoming a large number back into our 6^th Form at the start of the Autumn Term.’

Year 12

Wednesday 7th September – in for their individual tutor appointment that they received at induction only.
Thursday 8th September – in all day from 0845 (assembly in the day room).

Year 13

Wednesday 7th September – in all day from 0840 (assembly in the day room).
Thursday 8th September – in for tutorial period 1 (from 0900 in the form rooms), then for normal lessons from periods 2-5.

A group of Year 6 students at Landulph Primary School recently stormed the seas, winning the annual Cardboard Boat Race, organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The race, which took place on the morning of September 11 and started at the Mayflower Steps, saw Landulph Year 6s, Charlie Bennett and Rowan Windrum, blow all other teams out of the water. The pair finished with a fantastic time of 5 minutes and 31 seconds, with the 2^nd place team coming in over a minute and a half later!

Landulph’s captains, along with crew mates Olivia Worden, Henry Sheardown, Daniel Sissons and Ethan Hutchinson, excelled with terrific team spirit and communication skills, alongside the traditional Landulph competitiveness and talent.

The race was held to mark the start of Plymouth’s Ocean City Festival 2016 and allowed the students, assisted by teacher, Miss Phillips, and their TA, Mrs Grainger, to use only cardboard and sticky tape to design, engineer and decorate their boats. Despite these restrictions, it seems the crew managed brilliantly.

Mrs Bryce, Executive Headteacher of SMART (Saltash Multi Academy Regional Trust) said, ‘This is an incredible achievement.  Landulph may be a small school but it certainly has big ambitions!  I congratulate all of the students and staff involved – they did us proud.’

saltash.net joined people around the world in celebrating 100 years of Roald Dahl this past Tuesday.

Organised by Library Manager, Mr. Coot, the day was part of #RoaldDahl100, marking 100 years since the birth of the children’s novelist.

Students were invited to play a number of Dahl-themed puzzles, games and activities in the library at lunchtime, whilst Mr. Coot dressed as one of Dahl’s most famous characters, Willy Wonka, for the day.

Screenings of Roald Dahl films also took place each day, with students who reserved their seats being presented with a Golden Ticket to commemorate the occasion.

Mr. Coot hailed the enthusiasm the children had for the celebrations.

He said: “Tuesday was a great success. We had so many students wanting to take part in the Golden Ticket Treasure Hunt that this had to be repeated on Thursday lunchtime (to allow us to get more chocolate rewards!) as well as the wordsearches, crosswords, and arty competitions.

Of course, it wasn’t just about the chocolate, but reading as well! I had lovely conversations with several students, including one Year 8 boy who was reading Esio Trot whilst the celebrations were going on around him, and a Year 9 boy reading through the Roald Dahl Treasury book who took delight in telling me all of the Roald Dahl books he had read, as well as that Dahl’s books encouraged him to read more.

It was also a true mix of year groups with some nervous and shy Year 7s popping in to see what it was all about (and enjoying the many puzzles, games and chocolate!) and students all the way up to Year 13 wanting to take part in the games.”

Billy Elliot, Tuesday 29 November to Friday 2 December, 7pm.

Tickets available at school reception: £6/£4 Concession

A Level Biology students at saltash.net recently visited the unique Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre at Plymouth University.

The main aim of the trip, which took place on Friday 16^th September, was to aid understanding of how the electron microscopes work and their uses within scientific research and medicine, which is a fundamental part of the A Level biology course.

The 17 students in attendance were given a talk on the range of specimen preparation techniques used, and got to see the process of ‘freeze-drying’ using liquid nitrogen – which was a highlight of the trip!

Students were shown both the TEM and SEM microscopes with a couple of students taking the chance to operate the SEM system. A tour of the university campus, which was very busy with the start of Freshers week, also gave students a taste of university life.

Head of Biology Miss Newberry was delighted with how the visit went.

She said: “The day was a great success, providing students with the opportunity to see just how diverse a career in microscopy can be, and for some, it inspired and reinforced their aspirations to go onto university and pursue a degree in this area.”

You can now download the latest school newsletter at the link below.

Interim Newsletter September ’16

School Governor Vacancies

Saltash Multi Academy Regional Trust (SMART) is looking to appoint parent governors to join the saltash.net Local Governing Board.

The roles, which are voluntary positions, are to contribute to the work of the Governing Board in ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the school by:

• Setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

We are particularly keen to appoint governors who have experience of premises management and/or health and safety.  If you would like to make a positive contribution to the education students receive at our community school, please complete an application form which can be obtained from the Clerk to Governors (contact details below).  Further information on the role of a governor can be found at http://www.nga.org.uk/Be-a-Governor.aspx or from the Chair of Governors, Kate Waghorn who can be contacted through the Clerk.

The completed application form should be returned to the Clerk, Debbie Stoneman by email to debbiestoneman@trailerland.co.uk or post at ‘Flerswell’, Trehunist, Liskeard PL14 3SD by Monday 17^th October 2016.  All applicants will be contacted in due course.

saltash.net Open Evening video – Be Inspired

21,000 miles to share a SECRET (Self-Manager, Effective Participator, Creative Thinker, Reflective Learner, Enquirer, Team Worker)

Jeff Davis, CEO of the fastest growing Primary and Secondary Multi Academy Trust in the Gold Coast, Australia, confirmed that visiting saltash.net last Friday was the highlight of his 21,000 mile round trip of ‘world class schools’, a view which was endorsed by fellow visitors, Head of Primary, Joy Geyer and Chair of the Board, Len Oldfield.

The visitors met Jack, Holly and Becky from the Year 7 Tech Team; Matt from the Year 8 Student Ambassador team; Alex from Year 13 coding team and Cort, Becky, Ben and Sarah who, between them, have been involved in most of the student leadership programmes available to KS3.

They visited lessons and talked with teachers and students from eight different subject areas but were particularly interested in Integrated Learning and how we develop the SECRET skills.

Jeff asked, “If SECRET skills are so important, why do you think the school stops teaching Integrated Learning in Year 9?”

He was completely bowled over by the answers from the students.

“Teachers set the spark, then it is up to the students to keep the flame burning,” explained Cort.

“We need to become independent learners. The Teachers in Integrated Learning really help us but it’s our responsibility,” suggested Sarah.

Becky added, “In Year 9 most teachers use SECRET skills all the time; Miss Sayer, for example, includes them in every RE lesson.”

On returning to Australia Jeff plans to introduce the SECRET skills across his schools, taught through an Integrated Learning style approach and assessed using the Zappr praise and reward software written by Alex in Year 13.  They wish to spread the model to other schools and share the remarkable work of the students at saltash.net.

Deputy Head and author of the SECRET skills, Dan Buckley, commented:

“It was such a joy to spend the morning hearing our ‘world class’ students inspiring and amazing our Australian guests.  Integrated Learning is such a success story; this is one SECRET we are very happy to share.”