Christmas Card Competition

The winning card was a difficult choice after so many lovely Key Stage 3 designs. Beth Elder of 9F was eventually chosen because of her careful and mature use of media and wintery local scene. Her design will be used as the official Christmas Card for Tavistock College this year. Runners up were Ellie Eveleigh (9FA), Megan Williams (7GA), Elysia (7GX) and Niki Waters (8BA), with fantastic effort from Margaret Pavlatova (7G), Alice Glanville (7G) to name a few.

Well done to all involved and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all at Tavistock College.

Inter Galactic Explorers

On Friday 9th December 25 Year 7s who had previously spent a day studying the basics of GCSE Astronomy with Clive Purchase earlier on in the term spent the night in College, gazing at the stars!

Astronomer Clive Purchase, teachers Helen Harris, James O’Connell and Sally Hubbard and the students learnt how to use powerful telescopes to see the stars and planets. The frosty night led to superb images being seen of Jupiter and its four main moons. They were so bright - it seemed remarkable that they could not be seen with the naked eye! Students also saw Orion's nebula and the surface of the moon through the telescopes and many stars could be identified with the naked eye.

Students slept in classrooms (although ‘slept’ is not necessarily the word) and the Octagon was used as a base where hot chocolate, cream and marshmallows were on supply and scrambled eggs were served to very sleepy children in the morning.

It was a very different but thoroughly enjoyable night and the students have produced stunning written work and drawings which have stretched and provided them with fascinating challenges.

Danescombe River Field Trip

130 Year 10 Geography students recently visited the River Danescombe at Calstock to experience some fieldwork techniques and aid their understanding of the river processes and landforms that have been studied in lessons.

Students worked in groups where teamwork was of paramount importance to collect sufficient data and observations on the river characteristics and how it changed from source to mouth. The students were a credit to the College and provided many memorable moments for staff and students alike. Alexander Humphreys’ tireless struggle with his wellington boots proved a fitting end to a successful week of fieldwork! Mr Ruse

Young Sporting Star Receives Top Award

Saskia Sills from Launceston has received a £1,500 OCS Young Sports Person Award in recognition of her outstanding sporting ability. In the awards scheme, run in partnership with the charity SportsAid, windsurfer Saskia beat stiff competition to scoop the prize for the South West region for the second time in two years.

15 year old Saskia is currently ranked the world champion in her sport in the U17 category, having been U15 World Champion in 2009. She won this recent title in July, at the 2011 Techno 293 Windsurfing World Championships in San Francisco, USA. Since winning the regional OCS Young Sports Person Award in 2010, she has been working hard to build her strength and fitness with a local expert.

Saskia believes the money from the 2010 OCS award has helped her become the champion she is today: “The money helped pay for strength and conditioning coaching with James Owen and his techniques have definitely helped me become a stronger competitor. The cost of competition this year alone is nearly £5,000, so it’s great to know that OCS is supporting me again.”