Continuing Success at Youth Speaks Competition

On Saturday 24th March three students from Tavistock College won the RIBI Youth Speaks Regional Final at St Luke’s Science and Sports College in Exeter.

The team comprised of three Year 9 students; Marianne Quinn, Freya Chambers and Millie Kelly speaking on the topic ‘Superheroes – the real villains?’ The girls had already won through 3 previous rounds and seen off strong competition from a total of 16 teams in order to reach the Regional Finals which cover an area from Cornwall up to Bristol and across as far as Hampshire.

The judges were full of praise for their team work, the quality of their speech and even commented that Freya (main speaker) could put many A’ Level students to shame with her well structured argument.

There were many supporters from Tavistock with a number of members of the Rotary Club travelling to offer their support as well as teachers and fellow students.

Having won the Regional Finals, the team will now compete at the National Finals being held at Glyndwr University in Wrexham, North Wales on Saturday 29th April.

Ann Morgan

Year 9 Students Learn about Child Poverty with PLAN UK

On Thursday 8th March 2011, Year 9 pupils at Tavistock College were given the opportunity to hear a guest speaker from PLAN UK, a global charitable organisation working to eradicate child poverty. The guest speaker, Chris Gall, spoke passionately about his experiences of building, working in and financing schools and supporting individual pupils in India. Photographs, videos and practical activities were used to portray the Indian children's stories. Our students had to carry a water basket around the school hall, for example and work out how a family of twelve would live in a slum house...a 10 foot enclosure represented by chairs!

PLAN hopes to raise awareness and funding to support their ambitions of

• giving children a healthy start in life, including access to safe drinking water;
• securing the education of girls and boys;
• working with communities to prepare for and survive disasters;
• inspiring children to take a lead in decisions that affect their lives;
• enabling families to earn a living and plan for their children’s future.

PLAN's Head Office in London thanked the Tavistock College students for being so responsive and supportive of the talk and the work that PLAN do.

Tori Froud, Geography Teacher said "Year 9 Geography students have been studying the UN Millennium Development Goals, eight of which were established to improve the lives of the less fortunate, in the context of this term's work on Globalisation. They have also focused on sweatshops, “banana wars”, fair-trade and Chinese produced textiles, as part of this unit. Having a guest speaker in allowed the students to hear first hand the positive impact that an individual can have on a community in a less developed country. It was an inspiring, interactive and thoughtful talk".

More information on PLAN can be obtained through their website www.plan-uk.org/

Year Seven Students Welcome Geoffrey Cox

Year 7 students at Tavistock College were delighted to welcome Geoffrey Cox to start their next extension project on politics. Following on from the highly successful astronomy project, the selected able and interested students heard about how democracy in Britain works. Students listened intently to Geoffrey Cox as he explained how to be selected as an MP, what kind of work an MP does and how Parliament functions. The session finished with some penetrating questions from the students, who said afterwards that they had really enjoyed it. Katelin Goodbourn said it had been a 'rare and exciting opportunity' to question their MP. Another student, Molly Bolding, described the session as ' a brilliant insight to the world of politics'.

Next term students are looking forward to learning more about local democracy in action and in due course to go to Parliament themselves, in the footsteps of the sixth form students Geoffrey Cox met next. The year 12 and 13 students, many studying A level Law, were treated to anecdotes about Geoffrey Cox's work as a barrister working on high profile cases involving the Privy Council and highly political court cases from his time as a QC, as well as descriptions of his work as an MP.

Overall it was a very thought provoking afternoon for the students.

Helen Harris

Half Term Spent on the Slopes in Sunny Italy

After the massive disappointment of last minute cancellation of the Snowsports trip 2011 , it was with all fingers and toes crossed on 10th February when 42 students and 6 members of staff headed off to Bardoneccia in Italy. A week of skiing and snowboarding was organised for us by Halsbury Travel.

The journey was smooth and our coach drivers, Marcus and John, were great company. Our hotel was HUGE but ran like a well oiled machine; the food and service were excellent. Divided into ability groups according for skiing and snowboarding, each group developed its own personality and had a fantastic week with their instructor, especially Catherine’s Ladies who skied, drank hot chocolate, skied, drank hot chocolate all week! We all had such a great week that some of the instructors have asked to accompany our trip in 2013!

The snow conditions were favourable and the weather was beautiful all week, so on 18th February all 48 tanned but weary students and staff returned to Tavistock with new friendship groups, great memories, far too many photos and videos and a determination to do it all again in 2013!

Umberto Bergonzini Trip leader

Windsurfing Success at Weymouth

Saskia and Imogen Sills have had a busy start to the year and the weekend of the 10th and 11th of March saw them off to Weymouth for another weekend on the water. The girls had two full days on the water where they found themselves up against some very tough competition. Competing in the Under 19 National Ranker category, the girls raced against a field of sailors who are all part of the GBR Youth Development Squad.

Day 1 saw surprising warm temperatures for this time of year which made 3 hours on the water more pleasant. Day 2 had more light winds which meant lots of hard pumping with more than four hours on the water.

The girls didn't have high expectations as they were still getting used to new kit and bad weather conditions meant the odds were against them. However, against the odds Saskia managed to take first place!

Saskia said she couldn't believe she got first place and she was so pleased with her performance - it makes her even more determined as most of her competitors were four years older than her!

Congratulations girls on another great win! Keep up the hard work!
Mrs Doyle

Year 8 Rugby Report

The year rugby team had a great afternoon out in the sun at Mount House School. This tournament was an invitational event where Tavistock played against other private schools and colleges in Devon.

After a touch opening match against Mount House A (eventual Cup winners), Tavistock were out played and lost 26-0, although this performance helped to focus the players for the next game.

The next game in the group stages was against Plymouth College B and Tavistock showed how well they can play with creative play from Ben Milligan and Ethan Lamerton who scored 2 tries each and with Tei Daratsa adding a third try later on. Final score: Tavistock 27-7 Plymouth College B.

In the final game of the group, Tavistock played West Buckland in the game which would decide which team progressed into the Cup or Plate Knockout phase. Tavistock took a half-time lead with a try each from Ben Milligan and Ethan Lamerton. Unfortunately, the boys then tired in the second half as West Buckland had the 'fresher legs' from having an extra game’s rest. This resulted in 4 tries and the final score was 26-14 to West Buckland.

After the group stages, Tavistock was given a ‘by’ into the Final of the Plate competition where they played Mount House B who beat Plymouth College B in their semi final. Tavistock were clearly the better team and were comfortable winners with 4 more tries for Ben Milligan and 1 for Ethan Lamerton. Final score: Tavistock 28-0 Mount House B.

The Squad: Ben Milligan (Vice Captain) - Man of the Tournament, Ethan Lamerton, Laurence Berridge, Alex Berridge, Richard Cann, Harry Jeans, Tom Cotter, Will Gardner (Captain), Rhys Bould-Lynch and Tei Daratsa

Indoor Rowing Club In West Region Championships

The newly formed Tavistock College Indoor Rowing Club competed at Marjon’s in the West Region Schools’ Championships. This is a fantastic achievement by a group that have only been rowing since January.

To even qualify for this championship the athletes had to be within 15% of British Rowing Gold standard and the winners of the groups are invited to the GB Rowing team quick start team.

The team which consisted of Will (11DA), Harry Birt, Anya Anstey, Tim (10F), Georgina Cousins, Tara Twine and Fen Eastaugh all had hard races in their age groups but finished high up the tables, some also achieving new PBs.

The outstanding results of Fen Eastaugh who came 14 out of 37 and Anya Anstey 13 out of 34 set the standard which was followed by the rest of the team.

Tavistock College Indoor Rowing Club is an after school club run on Mondays between15.20-16.20 and supported by British Rowing, Tamar & Tavy and Caradon Gig Club. The club contact at the College is Miss Stacey Best. All are very welcome.

The Great Tavistock Bake Off

Over the last two weeks students have been battling it out to be crowned as Tavistock’s Best Baker.

Students have had the task of creating and baking a cake or cup cakes of their choice to show creativity and skill. After two tough rounds involving over 40 students they made it to the final where local celebrity chef Peter Gorton and his Sous Chef Alex kindly came into judge the master pieces. They were very supportive and encouraging to the students, even giving some of them pointers when piping and presenting.

The atmosphere in the room was electric with all students involved determined to make a creation to be proud of and the watching parents willing their budding bakers to succeed!

The judges had an extremely hard job to decide as the standard was so high.

The two overall winners were Becky Breeze with her Chocolate Iced Cupcakes and Holly with a Meringue Chocolate Brownie Cake. Both students have won a morning baking at Gorton’s Restaurant which is a fantastic opportunity to look forward to. Runners up also received prizes kindly donated by Morrison’s.

Our thanks go to Peter Gorton and Alex for their time and expertise and to the many parents who supported the students.

Stacey Best

Another Successful Round of Youth Speaks

Once again our students performed brilliantly in Youth Speaks and returned from a very difficult and hard fought competition as winners!

Our Year 9 team (Marianne Quinn, Freya Chambers and Millie Kelly) won the Intermediate competition with Marianne and Millie winning individual prizes for best chairperson and best vote of thanks respectively. There was stiff competition from 6 other teams including a Grammar and a Public school.

Our Year 7 team (Darcey Hepworth, Molly Bolding & Emma Sampson), also in the Intermediate section, sadly did not go through but were fantastic and really did give the other teams a run for their money despite being the only Year 7s and by far the youngest competitors.

Shockingly, our Senior team (Flo Rodgers, Joe Way & Jed Coiley) did not win through even though I was convinced that this year they could get to the National Finals. This disappointing result was just down to the competition being so amazingly high from the other 4 teams. Nevertheless Joe Way won an individual prize for overall best chairperson despite all the other teams being made up entirely of 6th Formers. Truro High School for Girls won this section.

As always, Tavistock had by far the greatest number of supporters with many parents, grandparents, siblings returning from University just for the occasion and members of Tavistock Rotary travelling to support the students.

Special thanks must go to Jess Giles and her mum for giving up their Saturday to come and support, Liz Rowe for stepping in to help and drive me and of course Sally Hubbard who had to miss today but stayed in touch by phone and was offering the students advice and support right up until the last minute - literally!

The next round is on Saturday 24th March at St Luke's Science and Sports College in Exeter starting at 12.00 noon. We are hoping to take the teams who were knocked out as supporters and would welcome any other support - we can guarantee an awe inspiring afternoon.

Ann Morgan

Year 10 Rugby, Through to Top Eight County Showdown!!!

Following a fantastic set of results the Year 10 Rugby Seven’s squad secured a County Final showdown with 7 other top rugby playing schools from across Devon. Only Rugby Academy Ivybridge Community College could stop Tavistock’s Heros in a West Devon Final that included 7 well taken tries.

Tavistock were drawn in a pool against 3 teams that they had never beaten. The lads kicked off with an imposing victory over the County Finalists Devonport High for Boys beating the grammar school by 7 points to 5 following one of 6 tries of the day by team captain Luke Northmore and a conversion from Man of the Tournament Zak Brinkhurst.

They continued their impressive form with a crushing 43 points to 5 victory over Plympton-based Ridgeway with Jordan, Jed Coiley, Gavin, Jon Cole and Jacob adding their names to the try tally for the day. These two results meant that Tavistock had already set up a semi final meeting with public school, Plymouth College but they also had to play Ivybridge in their last group game.

With one eye on the semi final, Ivybridge found themselves tested in a game that saw some changes to the Tavistock team: Jacob took the captaincy reins but although tries from the captain and Adam helped the Tavistock cause they were beaten 27 – 12.

The Semi Final saw Luke Northmore lead his side into an amazing game of open running rugby in which the lead changed several times. There were scores from all over the park. Just as Plymouth College thought they had taken the advantage however, a Northmore hat trick and a try from playmaker Charlie Carter were enough to see Tavistock through to the Final and with it earn themselves a place at the County Finals a week later.

The Final was a carbon copy of the group game between Ivybridge and Tavistock where Tavistock again scored 2 tries, this time both from Jon Cole. Unfortunately this time Ivybridge had enough in the tank to out score them by 31 – 14. But by then the objective had been met, the euphoria set in and the realisation hit that this Tavistock College Rugby Side were one of the top eight in Devon and would play again to decide their place amongst the county’s elite rugby playing schools.

The Full Squad are: Luke Northmore, Jacob (10T), Jordan (10T), Charlie Carter, Rhys Hughes, Zak Brinkhurst, Jon Cole, Adam (10GA), Will (10T), Cameron McGurk, Jed Coiley and Gavin (10FA)

Coaches: Lez Deves, Tristan Muller-Forster

Olympic Rowing Hopeful

Sam Twine (13GM) continues his training within the GB programme and, if all continues well, hopes to be selected to represent GB in the Under 18 Olympic Rowing squad this summer.

On 8th February this year, Sam represented Tavistock College in the Plymouth Schools Indoor Rowing Championships and won taking the Gold medal and achieving a new Personal Best over 2km of 6 minutes 21 seconds.

The South West Regional Schools Championships took place at Marjon’s on 6th March and Tavistock College took a team from several year groups, including Sam, who was hoping for another PB!

Mathematics Challenge

On 30th January, Sophie (11DA), Rosie Fillan (11D), and Lizzie Jones (10BA), took part in a Team Mathematics Challenge at South Dartmoor College. They competed against teams from South Dartmoor, King Edward VI College in Totnes and two teams from Ivybridge. There were four rounds of questions to work on as a team, including a relay event. Between the rounds there were 'Countdown' problems based on the Channel 4 programme. The teams had to answer questions on probability using something called the 'Binomial Expansion' which is not on the GCSE syllabus which they had had to learn about outside of lessons before the competition.

The girls enjoyed the evening and did really well to finish in second place, especially since the other teams each had four students. It was a very cold night. As Mr. White drove back across the moor, the snow began to fall, but he had a warm feeling inside: he felt very proud of the manner in which the team had represented the College. Well done girls!

Detectives for a Day

Tavistock Area Learning Community (TALC) has sponsored two ‘Tavi Cat Detectives Days’ at Tavistock College for over 70 of the most able Year 4 and 5 pupils from local primary schools. During the days pupils were introduced to forensic science to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a well-known character. They had to study historical sources to further their investigation and the days were rounded off with parents enjoying watching their children perform a Pink Panther routine in dance and drama. This was followed by a presentation of certificates and awards to the hard-working and talented group. It was a great experience for all involved.

One pupil remarked: “It was all such fun that I couldn’t choose the best bit.” Others said “It must be hard to be a good detective,” and another that “detectives are rich because they must earn a lot of money!” The College Principal, Helen Salmon, added: "This event demonstrates the commitment of the College to exciting and challenging learning experiences for students. We believe that it is vital for all students to aim for excellence."

The day was made possible by TALC, which enables our local schools to share resources and work together in partnership.

View photos from the event (this opens in a new window and may require you to install macromedia flash player)

College Teachers Run the Bath Half Marathon!

Last Sunday 11th March two teachers from Tavistock College took part in the Bath Half Marathon to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Head of Music Sarah Pappin and Assistant Principal Carolyn Tossell ran the 13.2 mile course with over ten thousand other runners on a beautiful spring day.

Although a seasoned half marathon runner, this was Sarah’s first since undergoing major surgery in September and she finished just a few minutes outside her PB of 1 hour 32. The furthest Carolyn has ever run before training commenced in October was 400m around the track at the age of 14 and then 5k on the Reindeer Run for St Luke’s Hospice just before Christmas. Carolyn managed to complete the course running all the way and finished in just over 2 ½ hours. 965 people finished after her so this was quite an achievement!

They chose to raise money for Cancer Research as cancer affects so many people’s lives. Several colleagues in the College have lost a family relative or close friend to cancer, some know someone battling the disease right now and others have had or are having firsthand experience. The diagnosis of cancer is a devastating experience for most people but through the work carried out by Cancer Research UK millions of lives are being saved every year.

If you would like to sponsor either Sarah or Carolyn follow the links below to their sponsorship homepages. Whatever you donate here will go directly to Cancer Research UK - every penny really does count.

http://www.runningsponsorme.org/sarahpappin
http://www.runningsponsorme.org/carolyntossell

History Trip to Russia

In the very early hours of the morning on Friday 3rd February, Mr Wilson, Mrs Edwards and I set off from the College with twenty-three Year 12 and 13 History students to head to Heathrow to start our amazing trip to Russia. We flew to St Petersburg and were immediately met with the -20 temperatures which was a little bit of a shock to the system! (Despite us all 'layering up' as we departed the aeroplane!)

However, we were very soon overcome with some breath-taking sights and stories as we began our six day stay in Russia. In St Petersburg we experienced wonderful excursions which included exploring the Peter and Paul Fortress (where the remains of some of the Tsars of Russia are buried) and the Winter Palace (which is truly the most fabulous building, both inside and out, that I have ever visited). We also went to see the world famous Kirov ballet perform at the Mariinsky theatre and experienced a traditional Russian folk show among many other things.

After two days sightseeing in St Petersburg we took the overnight sleeper train to Moscow where we stayed for the rest of the duration of the trip. We all found it very surreal to be standing in Red Square in front of St Basil's Cathedral - a sight we have all seen on TV news reports but maybe never imagined we would actually experience ourselves! We had a tour inside the Kremlin walls, visited Lenin's tomb and explored some of the metro stations where we were all amazed by how decorative they were with their marble and chandeliers! In Moscow there was also the chance to visit the 'Statue Park', Space Park and to go bowling.

After this once in a lifetime trip we arrived back at Tavistock College (and what felt like the tropical heat of Britain!) at 4:30am on Thursday 9th February. It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of this trip as the students were fantastic and a credit to Tavistock College. A special thank you must go to Mr Wilson for arranging such an incredible experience for the students, a memory of their time at Tavistock College which they will have with them forever.

Read student quotes and view photos from the trip (this opens in a new window and may require you to install macromedia flash player).

Miss Gilbert

A Wonderful Night for Tavistock Youth Speaks!

All three teams who competed at the District semi final have won through to the District Final to be held on 10th March at Bodmin College. The event was held at Callington College and attended by all those teams who had also won their first round. The audience was full of teachers, parents, members of the Rotary and former Youth Speakers from across the area who were full of praise for our teams. We felt enormously proud of our students and we know they made a considerable impact competing, in the main, against teams much older than themselves.

The teams were eloquent, poised and a credit to the College in every way possible. Part of the competition involves answering questions from the floor and our speakers excelled in this area, conjuring quick-witted and insightful arguments on the spot.

So, onward and upward. Bring on the next round!!

Women in Sport
Chair: Darcy Hepworth
Speaker: Molly Bolding
Proposer of Vote of Thanks: Emma Sampson

Superheroes - the true villains?
Chair Marianne Quinn
Speaker: Freya Chambers
Proposer of Vote of Thanks: Millie Kelly

Do we need a back-up planet?
Chair: Joe way
Speaker: Flo Rodgers
Proposer of Vote of Thanks: Jed Coiley

Sally Hubbard & Ann Morgan

Talk from Local Architect

Product Design students received an insightful talk and workshop from successful local architect Robin McCaren. The group of ten students ranging from Year 8 up to Year 13 already had an interest in architecture but left with a far more thorough understanding. Students were inspired by spectacular design work for a wide range of buildings and were able to understand in greater depth the role of an architect in the community. Students were also fascinated by the wonderfully intricate architectural models that Mr McCaren brought with him and were in awe of the Computer Aided Design work that represented some of the designs.

This led perfectly to a workshop using 'Google Sketch Up', a fantastically useable 3D modelling package which students can download for free at home. Students created some wonderfully contemporary building using this software and were delighted by their achievements in a relatively short space of time.

Becky Edmonds commented "It was an amazing experience. It has really opened up my eyes to the option of studying architecture at university". Emily in Year 10 added "It was really interesting and rewarding to se this great software".

The visit was part of the Department and College's drive to further develop links with the community and create opportunities for the students with work related learning. A big thank you to Robin McCaren for being so generous with his time and expertise.

Pete Keegan

Artist in Residence

The Performance Studies Department are working with Natasha Buckley as their Performing Artist in Residence.

Natasha has worked all over the world, taking a production of Caucasian Chalk Circle to China and running productions in Greece. She has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Kneehigh Theatre Company and currently is rewriting the Community Theatre Course at Plymouth University. Her performance, directorial and industry experience are invaluable to students and will certainly give them an 'edge' in their work.

Natasha has been working with Sixth Form students on their forthcoming devising projects and John Godber script work, holding audition sessions for students about to audition for National Youth Theatre, Drama Schools and Performing Arts courses at university and she is about to embark on some physical theatre work with Year 9.

Other practitioners we are working with are Andi Higginson who is running a 6th form G and T group preparing a performance for the Edinburgh Festival and Jeremiah Krage (currently on ZinZillas as Zak) who will be introducing Year 12 to ‘high octane’ physical theatre work and working through devising options with Year 13 for their final practical performance.

Eva Pearson

Young Technologists Introduced to the World of Engineering

The Design and Technology Department at Tavistock College took a group of thirteen Year 8 Gifted and Talented students to visit the new Gem Bridge near Grenofen. The purpose of the trip was to introduce this group of enthusiastic young technologists to the world of Engineering.

The students were given an inspirational talk from the chief engineer and bridge designer Ben Naylor who explained how the bridge had been designed, manufactured in parts, transported to the site and finally put together. This fascinated the students especially as in class they are currently designing and making their own bridges. It was great to see the students applying what they had learnt in class to the Gem Bridge. The students were able to see the links between the materials they were using, which consists of 12 candyfloss sticks and an A5 piece of card and the steel of the real bridge!

With their knowledge of triangulation and the effect of different forces on a structure our students were able to impress the engineer and site staff with their excellent questions.

Liz Holloway from Devon County Council who coordinated the visit and engineer Ben Naylor set the students a very important challenge to design an area of public space adjacent to the entrance of the bridge. The students who enthusiastically accepted the challenge will be incorporating some of the original granite bocks from the Brunel Bridge which once stood spanning the same river.

This trip was part of the Design and Technology Department's Gifted and Talented programme which will see students being academically stretched in and out of the classroom setting.

Peter Keegan