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Edition 21 October 2014 Issue 22 December 2014

Following St James’ best ever GCSE results this year, we held our GCSE Celebration evening on Thursday 20th November. We were joined by guest speaker, Professor Debra Myhill from Exeter University and enjoyed a musical performance by Plastic Avenue. Guests were also invited to visit the Saxon Spence Gallery to view pupils’ work. The evening finished with drinks and canapés organised by our current pupils.

Headteacher, Mrs Moira Marder said: “It has been a joy and a privilege to have worked at St James with this group of students. Not in my 21 years of being in teaching have I experienced a year group who were so committed to learning and who cared about one another and their community as much as this year group. We are so proud of all of them and cannot wait to hear about their successes in the future.”

Head of Learning Year 11, Key Stage 4 Manager, Mrs Angela Webb said: “It was brilliant to be able to meet up again and celebrate the truly excellent success of this fabulous year group. I was very privileged to be able to work with them and wish them all every success in what, I am sure, will be their very bright futures!”

YEAR 12 GCSE CELEBRATION

EVENING

ASTELLAS STEM INNOVATION

CHALLENGE

Following a STEM challenge day in school, where the brief was to design a mobile phone app designed at promoting healthy lifestyles, a group of five year 10 students, Kofi Ajavon, Dom Walsh, Emily Jiggens, Caitlin Duke and Miles Clayton-Foster were selected to represent the South West at the National Astellas innovation STEM finals. These took place in London on Tuesday Nov 25th. The team travelled up by train with Kelly Avery (Science TA) and Susie Adams (Head of Science) and stayed overnight in 4* luxury accommodation paid for by the pharmaceutical company Astellas who set up the whole STEM challenge. The team presented their mobile phone app design called Gympact to the 10 other teams representing schools from across Britain and the panel of 6 judges: the Chief Executive Officer of Astellas - Ken Jones, Rachel Riley, Dr Kevin Fong, the consultant editor of New Scientist - Justin Mullins, Experience Director of Emotive - Andy Hastle and the Chief Executive of the National Schools partnership - Mark Fawcett. The presentations were all delivered in the Michael Faraday Lecture Theatre. This is the very same lecture theatre which has been used for the Christmas Science Lectures since they were first established by Michael Faraday in 1856. After all the presentations had been completed the judges left the theatre and after a long period of deliberation returned to announce the winners. Unfortunately this time it was not to be our team. After the event we were asked to take part in some additional filmed interviews for media coverage. We were also lucky to be invited into a separate room to have more photos taken with Dr Kevin Fong and Ken Jones. This resulted in some really good discussions about a whole range of topics from the cost of Levis to why students should study science subjects up to degree level.

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ST JAMES WIN COMMUNITY AWARD AT EXCELLENCE IN

EXETER

Polar explorer and University of Exeter honorary graduate Ann Daniels congratulated pupils from schools in Exeter by recognising their achievements at the annual Excellence in Exeter awards evening on Thursday 27 November.

The celebrations were organised by the University of Exeter in an awards evening designed to help forge closer links between the University of Exeter and local schools and colleges as a way of encouraging young people to engage with higher education. Pupils’ achievements, whether academic, in the sports, the arts or the community, were recognised and heralded by parents, staff and fellow students.

Over 180 young people were nominated from all five Exeter secondary schools, local special schools and Exeter College. Pupils in years 7, 10, 12 and 13 were nominated by their schools, tying in with each key stage.

Ann Daniels’ motivational talk reflected on her polar expeditions which are often about learning something new and being part of a world so different from most peoples’ everyday world. She said: “That nervous energy that taking yourself out of your comfortable and familiar surroundings brings, such as a polar expedition, is one of the many exciting aspects of going somewhere that you’ve never been to.”

Ann’s first major move took place in her childhood when her parents relocated halfway through her school years, which meant changing schools. The experience turned out to be positive with the help of an inspirational teacher.

Ann added: “Seeing what was being achieved by other pupils who were no different from me taught me what belief in yourself and hard work could achieve. Before I began to apply myself, a maths teacher pulled me to one side and gave me a good talking to. He told me I was one of his brightest pupils and I was wasting my talents, which wasn’t acceptable. His belief in me gave me the impetus to change my attitude and my fortune at school and beyond.”

Emma Stephenson, Head of Widening Participation and UK Student Recruitment at the University of Exeter said: “Recognising that education is a good thing and that excellence is something which we should be proud of, makes hosting this annual award ceremony so special. By working in partnership the University hopes to contribute to this message and encourage young people to keep on learning.”

St James won this year’s Community Award for school based projects that have a direct benefit to the local community through their involvement with a local care home. The ‘Kissing it Better’ project involved a small group of 15 – 16year olds reading, playing music or doing puzzles with elderly members of the Jack Simpson Care Home in Exeter on a regular basis throughout term time. Head Teacher, Moira Marder said: “The Community Award is a true recognition of all the hard work put into the ‘Kissing it Better’ project over a significant period of time. The impact on the residents of the Care Home as well as developing our students’ life skills has been positive. We are really pleased with the outcome of this important project and delighted that this has been recognised with the Excellence in Exeter Community Award.”

The audience of teachers, community representatives and proud families celebrated pupils’ achievements and were entertained by drama, music and dance performances from each of the schools. Each winner received a certificate

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ST JAMES STUDENTS TAKE PART

IN SHAKESPEARE SCHOOL FESTIVAL

On Monday 3rd November the Year 10 GCSE

drama group (plus Kyler from Year 9) took part in

the Shakespeare Schools Festival at the Phoenix

Arts Centre in Exeter. The Shakespeare Schools

Festival is an annual event which is open to both

primary and secondary schools and is the UK's

largest youth drama festival; offering students

from all backgrounds the opportunity to perform

Shakespeare on their local professional stage.

This year over 1000 students took part.

Each night three schools perform a 30 minute

play which has been specially adapted for the

festival. There was a range of plays to choose

from but it was decided that the play which

would best suit our cast was “Much Ado About

Nothing”. In their drama lessons, the cast took

part in workshops (and also went to a workshop

organised by the SSF at the Phoenix), researched

the play and previous productions before moving

on to staging their own performance. The set was

kept to a minimum which meant the focus could

be on characters and language.

First to perform on the night was Willowbrook

Primary School who performed “A Midsummer

Night’s Dream”. Next came Coombeshead

Academy who performed “A Comedy of Errors”.

After the interval, we performed ours. Although

the cast knew it was a comedy, it was only when

the audience started to laugh that they truly

realised there were some really funny moments

and the cast visibly relaxed and enjoyed

themselves. “Much Ado About Nothing” is a play

about love, honour, death, friendship, intrigue and

deception and the cast did a fantastic job of telling

the story to the audience. All too soon it was over.

One audience member remarked, “The students

were all fantastic and all spoke their lines clearly

with expression. I didn't see a single mistake and

their confidence was fantastic. The set was great

but most of all they worked as a proper team,

interacting and truly being their Shakespearean

characters. It was such a polished and accessible

performance. Everyone I spoke to was thrilled with

the play and it brought a lot of pleasure to a lot of

people and has given all the students an

experience they will remember forever.”

Isla Simpson who played the part of Beatrice had

this to say about the experience. “As this was my

first time performing one of Shakespeare’s plays, I

struggled at first to understand the complex

language. However, with a lot of practice I grasped

the text and the feelings behind my character’s

actions. It was a lot of hard work but I am sure that

everyone who took part in the process will agree

that the end result was fantastic and really

enjoyable. The set and costumes looked brilliant in

a professional theatre.”

and an ‘Excellence in Exeter’ pin to wear on their uniform in the graduation style ceremony.

The schools involved were:

Southbrook School – A specialist centre for cognition & learning

West Exe School

St Luke’s Science and Sports College Isca Academy

St Peter’s Church of England Aided School St James School

Exeter College

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PARENTS FOR ST JAMES WINE EVENING 2014

As part of the 2014 St James Literary Festival

students from primary and secondary schools

ST JAMES LITERARY FESTIVAL

On Thursday 6th November, St James opened its doors for the 2nd annual PSJ Wine Evening. Hosted by the fabulous Claire O’Keefe who works for Christopher Piper Wines, parents had the opportunity to sample six hand-picked wines and learn all about their origins and history. With over 20 parents in attendance, the evening was fantastic fun and very informative.

Once the wine had been sampled, parents were treated to a supper of handmade Spaghetti Bolognaise prepared by Caz Brown and Paula and Jess Dowden (special thanks to Whipton Village Butcher who donated the mince).

All of this for £12 each ensured that those in attendance had a wonderful, culturally rich evening and PSJ were able to raise just over £100 for the PSJ Reward fund. If you were unable to make it this time, keep an eye open for next year’s Wine Evening or come and join us at the Valentines Bingo (Thurs 12th Feb) or the Spring Quiz (Thurs 23rd April).

within the Beacon Learning Community were

treated to some fantastic author events and

workshops.

Students from St Peters and St James schools were

invited to listen to Mal Peet talk about his teenage

fiction. Mal inspired students by talking about his

life as an author and gave readings from his books.

Additionally, the famous children’s author and

illustrator, Babette Cole, performed readings in

front of an audience of primary school children.

Children from Whipton Barton Infant School,

Ladysmith Infant School and Stoke Hill Infant really

enjoyed this event and they were also given the

chance to draw one of Babette’s characters. Year 9

and 10 students from St James and St Lukes were

also given the rare opportunity to work with

Babette to create a storyboard and create the

ideas which Babette then brought to life with her

illustrations. Babette also spoke about her career

and the publishing industry.

Clive Nevill, Learning Resources Manager, said,

“The 2014 St James Literary Festival is developing

every year and 2014 is no exception. We were

able to secure two very high profile authors that

the audiences loved. For the first time this year we

have also been working with the Crediton

Community Bookshop who provided a pop-up

shop at Mal Peet’s performance. I’m looking

forward to securing some further high profile

authors again for next year’s festival to celebrate

reading, writing and all things literary.”

These events were all hosted by St James and were

kindly joint-funded by the schools within the

Beacon Learning Community.

Visit our website:

http://www.stjamesexeter.co.uk/

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U15 BOYS FOOTBALL TEAM

THROUGH TO ROUND 4 IN THE

ESFA CUP

The U15 football team played QE Crediton on a

very wet and windy evening. The boys initially

went down 1-0 but battled hard and remained

composed to equalise before half time through a

smooth finish from Tom Purrington. After a

thorough half time talk from Mr Hyde the boys

regained their shape and started to play some

inventive football resulting in Matt Smith diving in

the winning header. St James continued to

concentrate and play easy football to hold on to

Year 7 played their second match of the season

against St Peters who fielded a very strong team.

Unfortunately we were defeated but the boys did

not give up, despite facing defeat. Strong

performances from Dan, Tyler and Aaron.

ST JAMES V ST PETERS YEAR 7

FOOTBALL REPORT

ST JAMES SUPER SATURDAY AT

SANDY PARK

Fifteen students made the trip to Sandy Park on

Saturday 8th November to participate in an Exeter

Chiefs Super Saturday. When the curtains opened

in the morning it was looking more like a ‘soaking’

Saturday as the rain lashed down. Thankfully by

the time everybody arrived the sun was out and

the fun began. The day involved a two hour

training session run by some of the Exeter Chiefs

players, a tour of the Sandy Park facilities from

Brett Sturgess and a match day ticket for the LV

Cup match between ‘The Chiefs’ and Bath Rugby.

The entire group ran, tackled and crashed their

way through the training session resulting in

Aaron Spragg collecting a signed match ball for

‘player of the morning’.

Ellen Day produced the biggest smile of the day

when she was able to sit in Jack Nowell’s seat in

the changing rooms and goosebumps were on

everybody’s arms when hands were plunged into

the team ice bath!!

The match itself was exciting and eventually the

Chiefs beat Bath 18-6!

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On Weds 12th November the PE Dept took 37 students to the first round of the English Schools cross country championships at Haldon Forest. For some students this was the very first time they had raced in an event of this type.

The year 7 girls were the first to compete in the 1.5 mile course which was extremely challenging. Coco Jordan competing for the first time put in an excellent run coming 4th out of 60+ students and will now go through to the second round.

The year 7 boys were next to race and they ran the two mile course in an exceptionally fast time. Bailey Steadman was placed 6th and he too will be through to the next round.

The junior boys put in the best performance of the day with five out of the six team members placed in the top 16. As a result of this the following have also been selected for the next stage of the cross country championships: Gareth Pollard, Jacob Phillips, Elliot Groombridge, Harry Walford and Tom Purrington.

The junior girls also ran a fast race and the following made the top 16 cut: Caitlin Traynor and Erin Romanowski. The Intermediate boys ran the 3.5 mile course in horrendous conditions with Matt Smith coming third and Aidan King 16th in the year 10 and 11 race.

A fantastic day with 11 out of our 37 students selected for the second round of the English schools cross country championships.

ST JAMES CROSS COUNTRY

RESULTS

MOOR CHALLENGE TRAINING DAY 1 REPORT

On Saturday 8th November, 27 intrepid adventurers set off for the wilds of South Dartmoor on the first journey of the Moor Challenge 2014-2015

programme.

The early start was all part of the fun, with the vast majority arriving at school by 7.30am on Saturday morning – true grit indeed. After a pleasant journey up to Princetown peering through the murk, we set out in truly awful weather; high winds and driving rain testing the mettle of our intrepid lot. Much perseverance was required while being sand-blasted by horizontal rain during the first hour! However, despite the appalling conditions, the whole group remained in remarkably high spirits, with many a comment on what jolly fun it all was.

The aim of the day was to complete a decent route on good tracks, with a few surprise bogs and puddles thrown in for good measure. Bearing in mind that this was the group’s first major foray onto Dartmoor, coupled with the atrocious morning weather, an 11 mile route completed in about six hours was a thoroughly splendid effort. Some introductory navigation skills were also introduced, along with a range of other ‘hill skills’ that will serve the group well during the tougher challenges that lie ahead.

By early afternoon we were basking in the warm sunshine, the horrors of the morning’s rain but a distant memory, and a weary but very happy bunch finished off the route at about 3.30 in the afternoon. Well done everybody! I must also pass on my sincere thanks to the staff who came along on a precious Saturday: Mr Milverton, Mrs Thornton, and Miss Collick. We also had guest appearances from Miss Milverton and Mr Smallwood, whose generous supply of pork pies over lunch made the day all the more enjoyable!

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ST JAMES NEWSPAPER CLUB

ARE YOU A BUDDING JOURNALIST? LIKE SWEETS, FIZZY DRINKS, CHOCOLATE & GAMES? My name is Steve, I am one of the group leaders for the St James School Newspaper Club. We are looking for students who would like to take part in the after school newspaper club on Monday’s from 3pm- 4pm starting in January. If you want to have fun and use laptops and cameras but also be creative then this is the club for you. You don’t have to be the best at writing because there are endless possibilities of things to do. If you like to play games, have a chat, have a drink and some sweet then come along to because there will be time for that too! Look forward to seeing you there! Ask Mr Farmer or Mrs Brown For Further Details.

On Monday the 27th of November budding reporters and journalists of St James got the opportunity to interview one of the teachers, Miss Palmer to ask her a set of various questions, to help them develop their skills in using conver-sations to help get information they need for a story they might be covering.

In interviewing Miss Palmer they found out that she is heading up an interesting project that is going on in the school at the moment, an initiative that happens in schools and work places all around the country at this time. It’s called Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child is a project run by ‘Samaritans Purse’ in which people from countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, wrap shoe box-es in Christmas paper and fill them with essential presents such as hats and gloves and socks, as well as sweets and toys.

These shoeboxes are then sent to third world countries and given out to children in need of them. These shoeboxes can change people’s lives and have a huge impact on them. If you are interested why not have a look on the Samaritans purse website and there you can read various stories from people who have received shoe boxes and had their lives changed. For example, one story on the website talks about how one boy sent a shoe box when he was seven years old and now fifteen years later he and the girl who received it have just got married. They really can be life-changing box-es.

Some of the other information they found out was why does Miss Palmer like teaching? “ Because the kids are nice and friendly”

Why did she become a teacher? “ I wasn’t that good at Eng-lish but then my teacher gave me a book to read and then I decided I wanted to study English.”

THE GREATEST JOURNEY... My name is Aaliyah Telford, I play football for the St James girls football team. My favourite position and the position that I play in, is Central Defence. My favourite football team is Liverpool Football Club and my favourite player is Steven Gerrard this is because he is a very good captain and team leader and always scores goals for Liverpool when they need them. He’s a really good role model. The St James girls football team is doing really well at the moment. We are working really hard individually but also as a team. We train on a Wednesday evening at St James school on the astroturf pitch or the sports hall at 3:30pm. The Exeter City coaches come in and help us with our training. We start by doing a warm up like stretching and passing drills and then we get put into teams. When we are in teams we play mini matches against each other with halves of fifteen minutes each. We then practice our skills and tackles again. We then do a warm down with some more stretches and jogging around cones. We have about 25 people go to St James Girls football training and they are from all different age groups from Year 7 – Year 11. By Aaliyah Telford

On Monday 8th of December we went up to the top field of St James and watched the boys play rugby. There are about sixteen different boys who go along to play rugby all of different sizes and ability’s. Before the coach got there one person split everyone into teams and did a mini match of touch rugby for their warm up.

We interviewed Bailey Steadman and Max Coats to see what their opinion was of the rugby team. And they said that ‘the sport of rugby is an easy sport to play and they are coming on to be a really good rugby team. ”On Monday nights they said that they “practise skills, tackles and prepare for tournaments”

For their matches they have a kit to wear which is new and smart. They have played two tournaments, which went really well.

Ellie May & Aaliyah

GIRLS FOOTBALL CLUB

BOY’S RUGBY UNDER 12 AND 13

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For more information please visit:

www.stjamesexeter.co.uk

If you have any queries regarding the articles in this issue, please contact Stephen Farmer on SLF@st-james.devon.sch.uk

Important Dates To Remember!

Last Day of Autumn Term First Day of Spring Term Year 11 Awards Evening Year 7 Parents Evening Year 8 Parents Evening Ski Trip Half Term

Friday 19th December *School Day Finishes at 1:20PM Monday 5th January *School Starts at 8:35AM

Thursday 22nd January Thursday 29th January Thursday 5th February

Monday 9th—Friday 13th February Monday 16th—Friday 20th February