Humphry Davy School, Coombe Road, Penzance, TR18 2TG

Tel: 01736 363559

Web: www.humphry-davy.cornwall.sch.uk Twitter: @HDSPenzance

Year 7 Performance Evening

Year 7 took to the stage and wowed the audience with their

impressive confidence and talent.

Their first half term here at Humphry Davy School has flown

by! It is incredible to see how much our newest students

have grown in confidence in such a short time.

Performance Evening took place in the gym in front of a

maximum capacity audience; if the students were nervous

they did not show it!

Songs performed included: a rousing „mash-up‟ of The Beatles‟ “Let It Be”, Jason Mraz‟s “I‟m Yours”, “Where Is The

Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas, and “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga; followed by “Don‟t Stop Believing” by Journey,

and the grand finale: “Another Brick in the Wall” by rock legends Pink Floyd. We were also treated to a wonderful

solo performance by Year 7 Music Scholar Eve Mitchell who played a piano piece with great finesse.

Already we know we can expect great things from this year group; we look forward to watching them progress!

Huge thanks to the parents, carers and friends of the school who came to show support to the students; see you at

the Christmas Concerts and Panto, “The Pied Piper”, in December!

Interact Group Raise Funds

Student charity group raised a significant amount of money

to help fund their ongoing projects to aid good causes.

The Humphry Davy School Interact Group was delighted

to be able to take part in the Rotary Ramble on Sunday

27th September. Their kind sponsors were very generous

and donated around £200 to the group for their efforts.

The weather was pleasant, the sea looked beautiful and

the hills were steep! It's fair to say that the Interacters

were very tired that Sunday afternoon!

In addition, they collected a further £160 from our kind

audience at Performance Evening. Well done team!

Community Matters, November 2015

Audience participation reached a whole new level!

Make Some Noise

Local Year 6 pupils were definitely the right people to ask to help us

'Make Some Noise!’

A huge thank you to all of the amazing Year 6 pupils who joined our

Year 7 students to perform George Ezra's 'Budapest' as part of

Global's 'Make Some Noise' campaign on Thursday 8th October.

The excited children arrived at midday, having had no previous

rehearsal time or in depth knowledge of the song they were to

perform. By 2.30pm, however, the pupils were confident and

organised into sections in the HDS gym: guitarists, percussion, keys,

vocalists. When it came to the live recording for Heart FM the volume

was set to full and the participants gave the performance of their

lives. The song was delivered in a polished and energetic style with

everyone fully delivering on the brief to make some noise!

To help raise funds for Global's chosen charity, Penhaligon's Friends,

our students had also been allowed to dress 'loudly' for the price of

£1.

Penhaligon's Friends is a very worthy cause indeed. Our Attendance

Officer, Mrs Johnston, has personal experience of the charity:

"Penhaligon‟s Friends came into our lives when Dale, our amazing

Husband and Dad, got Meningitis and died very suddenly at

Christmas four years ago. Our lives went into meltdown but

Penhaligon‟s Friends have held our hands, supported us and helped us

through so much of the grieving process! They are like an extension of

our family, allow my boys the space to share their worries and spend

time with families who are going through the same hard times.

Penhaligon‟s Friends is a remarkable charity and really help families

to deal with very sad times, making life bearable again."

So far the total money raised for Penhaligon's Friends stands at

around £460.

If you would like to support the charity please visit their

website: www.penhaligonsfriends.org.uk

Community...

Year 7 Camp 2015

Year 7 students have really found their feet!

Our annual Year 7 Camp recently took place. The trip is always popular, helping students to quickly feel 'one of

the team' and has become an integral part of the students' bonding and confidence building process. More

importantly though: Year 7 Camp is FUN!

The students are away for one night and two days. On the first day we visit the Eden Project to underpin our

commitment to learning about the environment and sustainability and from there we go to our base: Treyarnon

Bay Youth Hostel. Once the students have got over the excitement of sorting out their beds for the night we have

our hearty evening meal and enjoy a number of different activities – games, puzzles and reading (for those who

like a quieter life!) and usually a challenge involving making something from basic materials; this really gets the

students working together.

Day two starts with a good breakfast before we head for the beach for games and activities for all, then a

healthy packed lunch ahead of climbing aboard the minibuses to go home.

The activities are designed to encourage all our Year 7 students to have the confidence to join in and mix with

their new classmates, get to know staff better, and make new friends.

"I had a brilliant time and made lots of new friends!" said one happy Year 7 girl.

In the next couple of weeks we will have a brand new blog starting on our website that will be written entirely by

Year 7 students. They will document day to day life as a HDS student and we hope you will enjoy learning more

about our school and the transition from primary to secondary.

Confidence...

Cambridge Trip

Ten of our most academic Year 11 students took part in a trip to experience life as Cambridge University

undergraduates.

Our excited students were given tours of two of the University's prestigious colleges, Downing and Emmanuel, and

had the unique opportunity to stay in the stunning grounds of Downing College in the first year accommodation.

Students were able to sample the life of a Cambridge University undergraduate, attending a seminar to discuss

important admission decisions and experiencing the spectacular campus dining hall and food! The students were

also able to explore the city of Cambridge and even tried their hand at punting down the river Cam in the pouring

rain!

Overall the trip has provided the students with a greater insight into degree level education and encouraged them

to have higher aspirations for their future lives. We now look forward to our next visits to other universities as part

of our „Aspire‟ programme of encouragement for our most able students.

Succeed...

Future Chef

Humphry Davy School is very pleased to announce that our students are taking part in the Springboard Future

Chef 2016 competition. It‟s an exciting and interactive programme that provides students aged 12-16 years with

access to, and direct support from, chefs & other hospitality professionals, bringing the industry alive in the

classroom and getting the classroom out into industry.

The competition is a great opportunity for our students and, along with our ongoing School Food Champions

scheme, the perfect way to further promote innovative and peer-led healthy ideas in our student community.

Ambition...

Young Enterprise Launch 2015

With the continued success of „H‟Art & Soles‟ it was not hard to find eager

students keen to partake in this year‟s Young Enterprise competition. The

official launch took place at Kingsley Village on 13th October and was an

„Apprentice‟ style workshop that gave our students many ideas.

Pictured is H‟art & Soles at the Young Enterprise Spring Trade Fair in

Falmouth back in April.

Year 5 & 6 Pupils Join Us For Maths Morning

Humphry Davy School was transformed into „Willy Wonka‟s Chocolate Factory‟ to

help pupils grasp the concepts of area and volume. With puzzles, games, and a

chocolate box making challenge, great fun was had by all!

Ad Maths: Beyond A*

Further Mathematics GCSE course for our most able students going from strength to strength.

For the second year running we are offering a Further Mathematics GCSE for our most able mathematicians,

in addition to their Mathematics GCSE. This extra GCSE is a further step towards A level Mathematics, so is great

for those wishing to study A Level maths, or those who are even just considering it as a possibility.

Further Mathematics focuses on manipulation of algebra, matrices, calculus and coordinate geometry, so it supports

and extends topics studied in the core Mathematics GCSE. We run the additional course for an hour a week after

school during Year 11 and students taking part are enjoying the challenge. In 2015 our students gained 100% A*

to C, with 54% achieving a fantastic A* or A. Students who have gone on to study A level mathematics say this

course prepared them well for their first year at college.

This year there are over twenty students attending the extra lessons and we are confident that they will do very

well in the exams next June!

Young Engineers STEM Energy Quest Event p

A perfect opportunity to learn more about STEM Careers. p

Our Year 8 students had the exciting opportunity to undertake a series of fun and engaging engineering challenges

throughout the day during our STEM Energy Quest event. Pupils designed their own wind turbines, tested the output

voltage produced, and also participated in a solar car challenge which involved designing and racing solar

powered cars of the future! Amongst the exciting team based events pupils discovered the vast Science and

Engineering opportunities and career options available to them.

Humphry Davy School is now a member of the Young Engineers Network and there will be many more fun-packed

and inspirational activities to follow!

Opportunity...

Lord of The Flies at HFC

On the 20th and 21st October, Year 10 and 11 students headed to the Hall for Cornwall to see William

Golding‟s „Lord of the Flies‟ which has been adapted for the stage. The production has been described by The

Independent as “Tremendous” and the Sunday Express describes it as “A riveting stage version of William

Golding‟s still shattering novel”. Some of our students said that they found the production “gripping”,

“particularly disturbing” and “very memorable”.

Students in both year groups will be examined on the novel in their English Literature GCSE exams at the end of

Year 11. Seeing a live performance on stage is sure to bring the novel to life, and assist students with their

understanding of the text.

Science Busking

HDS Science Ambassadors recently learned exciting and engaging practical physics demonstrations as part of

The Ogden Trust‟s initiative. They will now enjoy sharing their knowledge of Cartesian divers and the effects of

pressure when they „busk‟ on the plinth for other HDS students!

Prederi

Prederi is a Cornish word meaning consider, ponder, concentrate or

reflect.

The Gallery was transformed into a phenomenal thinking space for

students this week by the volunteers of Churches Together.

The space was divided up into separate areas, allowing for students to

visit each area to reflect upon and learn about different issues. There

were audio and visual instalments that really helped to immerse visitors

in a tranquil atmosphere conducive to deep thinking.

The peace and quiet gave students a break from the fast pace of school

life and gave them the opportunity to look at identity, international injustice, hopes and dreams, grief and loss,

saying sorry, and pause for thought about every day situations.

Event organiser, Howard Peskett, said that he was impressed by how respectful and enthusiastic our students

were, with over 200 HDS students taking time out to visit the space.

"It was nice just to be able to stop and think about different situations;" said one Year 9 student, "I spent quite

some time in the Shelterbox corner, thinking about refugees and what their lives must be like. I then thought about

my own life and what I would do if I was in their situation."

"The Big Question sheet was very interesting;" said

another student, "I wrote down some of the more

difficult questions that bother me and found reading

other students' questions quite comforting. It is good to

know that I am not the only one!"

Many thanks to Howard and his Churches Together

team for organising such a worthwhile and useful

event. We now look forward to welcoming the

interactive Gsuslive Trailer to our school in February

and hope students will find this as helpful and

interesting as Prederi.

Enrichment...

Big Winners at HDS!

Congratulations to Alverton Primary School for winning our Pirate FM radio advert competition. Lucky pupils will

now have the chance to tour the Pirate FM studios and find out more about broadcasting live radio.

The winner of our Open Evening iPod competition has also been chosen: Alistair won the iPod after correctly

guessing that the secret sound was people fencing. Well done Alistair!

Head’s Reflections My thanks to all the staff, students, parents and carers that help make Humphry Davy School the great place that it is! The range of

enrichment and extra-curricular activities has been fantastic but there is even more to come after half term – keep your eyes open for the

Kit Car Racing, Christmas Cake and Duke of Edinburgh clubs.

Parents and students will recognise my saying, “Miss a day, miss a lot!” and with so much to experience and enjoy at Humphry Davy School

there is much to miss out on. Everyone knows that attendance is vital if students are to be successful and research currently shows that an

improvement of just 1% on your attendance is likely to have a 5-6% improvement in your exam results in Year 11. Mentors are currently

working hard to raise student awareness that 90% attendance throughout their time at Humphry Davy (which might sound very high) is the

equivalent of being one and a half whole terms behind other students by the end of Year 11!

Talk to any member of the Student Services Team if you would like us to

support you in improving attendance. When the clocks go back and the

weather gets colder, days can seem tougher and some are certainly harder than

others but it is still essential that school is attended.

Enjoy a fabulous half term which I hope leaves you well rested and motivated to

get involved in all aspects of wonderful school life when you return.

Key Dates

05.11.2015 Primary Schools’ Dodgeball Tournament

11.11.2015 Remembrance Day & Year 9 Parents’ Evening

16.11.2015 Inset Day: school closed to students

27.11.2015 Inset Day: school closed to students

03.12.2015 GCSE Presentation Evening

Governors’ News School Vision Consultation: You will have received notification that the School Vision, Aims and the Strategy to take them forward have

been reviewed and the revised draft documents are currently available on the school website for your comments – click on the „Vision‟

icon on the home page. The purpose of these documents is to set out the overall direction and approach for the school over the next five

years or so and we would very much welcome your views. The closing date for responses is Friday November 6th.

Parent Governor Vacancy: The term of office of one of our Parent Governors has come to an end and the resulting vacancy has just

been advertised. If you would like to know more about the work of the governors you can email me:

kuren@humphry-davy.cornwall.sch.uk or the Clerk: gswallow@humphry-davy.cornwall.sch.uk

Information about being a governor is also available on Cornwall Council website, or ask anyone on the Governing Body. Governors

contribute a wide range of skills and experience gained from their working, volunteering or parenting lives and we welcome anyone

with commitment and enthusiasm for contributing to the positive development of the school. A list of all governors is on the school website

including details of Committees and Link roles that Governors undertake.

An annual Governance Report is planned to be published this term which will give more information about our work over the past year.

Finally, and importantly, we were again delighted to hear that the summer GCSE results were so good – „Thank You‟ to all the staff who

have worked so hard to try and ensure all students are on track to achieve their best.

With best wishes,

Katherine Uren - Chair of Governors