Achievements

Even though COVID has taken its toll by creating a mass of restrictions on activities, it still hasn’t stopped our Plymouth College pupils from achieving great successes from music, to sports, to writing!

Josh Cann (Lower Sixth) This term, Lower Sixth pupil Josh has been shortlisted for the BBC Young Reporter of the Year Awards; a competition for budding journalists aged 11-18 to write about a current issue that is affecting the world around us. Josh chose the topic of ‘Coronavirus’, more specifically, how sanitising hands has had a long term effect on overall health.

Ethan Roberts (Year 8) A huge congratulations to Year 8 pupil, Ethan, who this term achieved a Distinction in his Level 1 Solo Acting with LAMDA! Alice Northey (Year 8) Our LAMDA success continues with Year 8 pupil, Alice, who achieved a Distinction in Level 1 in her Speaking Verse and Prose this term. Well done Alice!

Keeley-Rose Magill (Year 9) Last, but by no means least, congratulations to our Year 9 pupil Keeley, who has furthered our LAMDA success by flying through her Grade 3 Acting and scoring 90, achieving Distinction!

Martha Miles (Year 11) At the beginning of term, Year 11 pupil, Martha, was selected to compete for Devon in the British Dressage U25 Regional Championships and was selected on her horses Father Ted III, for the team championships, and Mack (pictured), for the individual championships. A huge well done! Kevin Lau (Lower Sixth) A huge well done to Lower Sixth pupil, Kevin, who alongside former Plymouth College student Ann Mok, won the mixed doubles Plymouth and District restricted tournament last year. Unfortunately due to COVID, Kevin had to wait until this term to receive his trophy!

Matilda James (Year 7) This term, Year 7 pupil, Matilda, has passed her Grade 5 Theory of Music with a Distinction! Matilda has worked incredibly hard to achieve this and is currently working towards getting her Grade 6 in piano and Grade 5 in violin.

PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Harvest This year’s Harvest celebration was a tad different, with the school assembly being delivered virtually. We had some beautiful songs, poems and prayers from pupils throughout the Prep School.

Anti-Bullying Week For Anti-Bullying Week this term, our Prep pupils had fun completing different activities and learning about the Plymouth College Principle of Communication.

Children in Need Our Children in Need fundraising this year took place on the field as all children took part in a socially distanced exercise, led by Joe Wicks.

Freddie Lown (Year 4) Spent the summer playing cricket for Plymouth Cricket Club U11s (Peverell) cricket team. This was his first year playing hard ball cricket and he loved every minute. Freddie performed well in batting and bowling and was quick in the field taking some great catches. Freddie was awarded Player of the Year. We are extremely proud of him.

Joe Roberts (Year 6) A huge well done to Joe, who this year took part in the Virtual Remembrance Service and sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables.

PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Year 1 Assembly Year 1 pupils were fantastic in their seaside themed assembly. To stand up and deliver words, read poems and sing and create artwork on the same theme was a lovely treat. Well done to them all! Mrs Manuel, Mrs Hanvey and Mrs Smith would like to commend the children in Year 1 for presenting a very enjoyable assembly.

Origami Club Take a look at the photos below to see the festive goings on in our Origami Club!

Year 6 Science Year 6 have had a fun time in Science this term learning about light with Mrs Burnman, including light refraction through a prism that projected onto Lucas!

PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Freya Wynne A massive well done to Year 3 pupil, Freya, for winning the ‘Guess the Weight’ competition for the giant pumpkin that was grown and donated by our Governor, Chris Morton. The weight was a whopping 24.7kg!!

Pre-School Our pre-school pupils have been learning all about story mapping. They have listened to the story of ’ The Gingerbread Man’ and used this to order numbers as well as re-tell the story using pictures. Year 3 Roman Day It was Roman Day for Year 3 during this term and everybody had tremendous fun! We started the day writing Roman numerals on scrolls and making analogue clocks. It was then time to sample Mrs Bales’ home-baked honey cake, made from an original Roman recipe. It wasn’t to everyone’s liking but some children did ask for the recipe! Year 3 then learnt lots of interesting facts about the Roman Army and practised marching with their shields in straight lines and using different military formations. After lunch, the children had a chance to get creative and make a clay pinch pot. Finally, after all that excitement, the children enjoyed a story based on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. Of course, the best part was seeing the children all dressed up in their fabulous

Roman costumes.

PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Moving the current Prep School up to Ford Park not only allows pupils of prep school age to access and benefit from the facilities and staff on the Ford Park site, but it also realises the vision of one school on one site.

The new prep building will, in effect, be ‘a school within a school’, enclosed within secure fencing with access controlled by a series of key-pads and electronic locks. Car parking will be available as well as a dedicated drop off and collection point. In terms of outdoor space, not only will children have direct access to a dedicated, multizoned outside area that has been designed exclusively for their needs but they will also have access to the large playing fields and astroturf already on the Ford Park site. Part of the Prep outdoor space will also incorporate a Forest School area, benefiting from existing expertise amongst the teaching staff.

We are all excited about the enhanced provision and endless opportunities this move will give to the younger members of the Plymouth College community.

EVENTS

This term saw the Remembrance Service presented a little differently, but nevertheless we were able to commemorate the day and bring both the Prep and Senior School ‘together’ in their year group bubbles to watch the service that was created using a mixture of pre-recorded footage and a live ceremony of Mrs Hayward and our Head Boy and Head Girl laying wreaths to remember the fallen. Pre-recorded videos included readings of poems by our Deputy Heads of School, Naomi and Zion, and Year 8 pupils, Ethan and Aviva and we also had music performances from our Senior School choir and Prep pupil Joe. Thank you to everybody that took part in the virtual Remembrance Service - you represented Plymouth College incredibly to the wider community that were able to join in and watch as well. We’re very proud to have been able to provide a Remembrance Service to those who weren’t able to attend one in person.

EVENTS

Yellow Socks Day World Mental Health Day was marked on 10th October 2020 and was deemed to have been one of ‘the most important to date’. Given the months of lockdown, and enforced isolation we have all experienced as a result of COVID, the #lonelynotalone campaign felt a particularly relevant one for our school to support. The initiative was conceived by young people, for young people and aims to highlight the impact of loneliness amongst this group.

This campaign encouraged the wearing of brightly coloured socks, to show a sense of solidarity and awareness for those who may be struggling with a sense of loneliness. It was wonderful to see so many staff and students involved in this, a subtle but powerful way to say ‘it’s hard being lonely, but we’re in this together’. Wear It Pink Day To celebrate the end of the first half term and to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Now, we had a fabulous mufti day at both the Prep and Senior School and held a socially-distant bake sale in year group bubbles.

We are delighted to be able to announce that we raised a whopping £1072 at the Senior School (which has been matched by a very generous parent) and an amazing £214.40 at the Prep School. Thank you to all who took part and who donated.