Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

1st March 2019Issue No 189

Dear Parents,

Last year’s class of 2018 were one of our strongest ever academic year groups and there was excellent news this week for Kate Wray, who received an unconditional offer to study Medicine at Bristol. Kate has been making the most of her Gap Year and has already spent a fair amount of time in Nepal. Kate will join fellow 2018 graduates Rob Temple (Medicine) and Angus Cunningham (Vet Science) on the pathway to these much sought after careers - a great effort by them and our Careers team.

We have been enjoying reports from our netball tour to Dubai over Half Term. The girls acquitted themselves very well against some of the strongest netball teams in the UAE. They probably weren’t expecting the weather to be so lovely when they returned to the UK.

Two other returning travellers this weekend are Harry and Jolyon who have spent the last two months in South Africa as part of our

exchange programme - we look forward to catching up with them.

This is a big weekend for sport with netball fixtures against our old rivals Mount Kelly and our first U11 rugby festival which will dominate proceedings at school - see you on the touchline.

Simon Weale

Our Sixth Form Creative Media students undertook an ‘Urban Youth’ photo shoot in Bideford this week.

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

1st March 2019Issue No 189

Prep School NewsDear Parents,

It certainly seems as though everyone enjoyed the half-term break, and coming back to a week of mostly sunshine has been the icing on the cake.

Our House Captains led their House assemblies on Tuesday morning, with Albert talking to Ruddle about technology, Lottie talking to Thorne about Morse code, and Isobel spoke about the RSPCA to Way. As always, they did an excellent job, with some very interesting subjects.

The swim team headed to West Buckland this week, to take part in a gala. There were some terrific performances, including a large handful of first and second places. Our U11 footballers also took part in our own 6-a-side tournament on Wednesday, as we welcomed St. Joseph’s, St. Petroc’s and Shebbear Primary to the Prep School. With three wins, the Prep’s team came away as overall tournament winners.

Other events this week include the latest School Council meeting and the Inter-House Quiz this afternoon.Congratulations to our golden sticker winners: Sonny-Beau, Dixie-Belle, Angus, Theo and Joseph. Our BAFTA winner was Emily, and Albert won the Manners Medals. Well done to them all.

I hope you have a good weekend and the best of luck to our U11 rugby squad taking part in tomorrow’s festival here at Shebbear.

Matthew Foale

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

1st March 2019Issue No 189

Spanish Play On Wednesday afternoon this week all of Forms 1 – 4 who study a modern foreign language were treated to a play completely in Spanish. Entitled ‘El Viejo Saloon’ (The Old Saloon), and set in the Wild West of 1882, it was a very clever and hilarious play which featured 13 different characters.

Scenes ranged from a hold up at gunpoint, to a bride trying to find her errant groom, to a ridiculously bad talent show. The play covered much of the language taught in school and some new words and phrases. It was all made intelligible to even the youngest learners by the two Spanish actors who used a wide range of gestures and expressions to help with the understanding.

What was really impressive was that the language content was approachable by the Form 1 students but at the same time, challenged the more advanced learners. Four students were chosen to take part in the play and real credit must go to Mikey, who convincingly played the part of the barman and who was on stage throughout the play with the actors.

Feedback afterwards was superb. All the students said they really enjoyed themselves and found it funny. They also realised that you don’t need to understand everything that is said to know what is going on in a given situation which was a really positive lesson for them. Many thanks to the Onatti Productions Ltd and the two actors Alberto and Lucia.

Judith Aliberti

Visit to West Heanton.As part of Global to Local we again took a dozen pupils to visit the residents of West Heanton. This time round we played games with them, attempting to throw balls at a stack of tin cans, a simple putting game, throwing sticky darts and trying to throw bean bags into nets, as well as the finale, the Birdie Song, which the children seem to like dancing to as much as the residents! This is our second visit to the care home and already it is obvious to see how both young and old are relaxing more in each other’s company, allowing conversation and laughter to flow.

A few of our pupils were reticent at first, some were reluctant to return as they felt awkward around the old people. However, they were brave and came with us under their own volition and I am so proud of them for doing so. All our pupils seemed more relaxed, and the care they used when they played games with the residents was wonderful to watch and you could see that the heartfelt interaction between the generations was lifting everybody’s spirits.

Thank you to West Heanton for allowing us to come and visit and well done Shebbear pupils for being caring, kind and sensitive to the older generations of our community. We look forward to our next visit so that we can carry on strengthening our friendships.

Rev. Nightingale

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

1st March 2019Issue No 189

BTEC Photo Shoot in BidefordIn glorious sunshine on Wednesday afternoon our Sixth Form BTEC Creative Media students went to Bideford to do their ‘Urban Youth’ themed photo shoot. Working to a specific brief within the digital photography unit of the course, they directed their models at locations they selected on a recce trip before half term.

After a quick lunch at McDonald’s they set to work and spent the afternoon considering camera angles, lighting, depth of field and other photographic methods to add drama and interest to their images. We look forward to seeing the results.

Mark Charman

Youth Speaks competition

This term Six students represented Shebbear College in the Rotary Club’s annual Youth Speaks Competition. During the evening, Rotarians were treated to a fascinating range of topics, ranging from the destructive effects of consumerism to the negative qualities of social media.

The English department were astounded by the quality of the teams this year who displayed outstanding commitment to rehearsals and excellent resilience. The English department would also like to formally thank the following students for their contributions in this competition.

Senior Team: Niall, Luke and Alexander.

Intermediate Team: Willow, Jonah and Adam

The standard of the content and delivery was outstanding, making the judges’ jobs very difficult. We are pleased to announce that our Senior team were successful in qualifying for the next round of the competition.

We wish them luck for the next stage of the competition this weekend.

Laura Davey

Coming up in the Senior School:Tuesday 5th March15:00-16:00 - U14A, U15A Netball v Budehaven (H)15:30-17:00 - U12 Football v Plymouth College (H)

Wednesday 6th March07:00-20:00 - U18 Society of Heads Rugby 7s Competition, London Irish Training Ground11:30-15:30 - VII Netball v Budehaven (A) 14:30-16:00 - First XI Football v Plymouth College (H)17:15-19:30 - Form 3 Parents Evening, Assembly Hall

Thursday 7th March13:00-17:30 - U13 Football v Plymouth College (A)14:30-15:30 - U12A, U13A Netball v Budehaven (A)

Friday 8th MarchAll Day - AMSP Maths Feast (Selected Members of Form 4) Exeter Met Office08:30-12:40 - Life Beyond 18 event for Form 5 and L6, Assembly Hall09:45-10:50 - Year 10 Police Workshop

Sunday 10th March08:00-18:00 - U18 Rugby 7s Competition at Milton Abbey School10:00-16:00 - Fiddler on the Roof - dress rehearsal

Coming up in the Prep SchoolMonday 4th March9:30-15:00 - Year 5 to Rosemoor14:15-15:30 - U9 Mixed Football v Kingsley

Wednesday 6th March08:45-10:15 - Year 6 Poetry Recitial Competiton14:00-15:00 - Year 6 swimming

Thursday 7th MarchAll Day World Book Day14:15-15:30 - U11 Mixed Football v Kingsley (H) 17:15-18:15 - Lower School Chamber Concert , Assembly Hall

Friday 8th March14:30-15:30 - U9 Inter-House Mixed Hockey

Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster www.shebbearcollege.co.uk

1st March 2019Issue No 189

Willow made a beautiful polar bear cake to share with her tutor group on Wednesday.

Harriett has been reading the weather all week on ‘The Voice’ radio.

Puff the Bearded Dragon arrived on Thursday and enjoyed his first bath!

Form 2 enjoyed their Outdoor Education class in the glorious sunshine.

Students sat their Trinity Music Exams this week and should be very proud of their results.

SHEBBEAR COLLEGE

CHARITYFASHION

SHOWFairtrade, ethical and

recycled clothingand accessories

FRIDAY 29th MARCH 7.00pmin the Assembly Hall

Tickets:Standard £5.00 VIP £10.00

VIP Tickets include refreshments on the table. Tickets in advance or on the door.

Please contact Fran Lovettfor tickets or further information:flovett@shebbearcollege.co.uk

Entertainment and RefreshmentsRaising money for Young Minds

and Alzheimer’s Society

Shebbear College: Internet Safety

First I’d like to introduce myself as a new point of contact for Internet Safety at Shebbear College. Mrs Lovett has given me the opportunity to talk to you directly about what I know about how to keep children safe online and ensure we, as a community, are aware of any risks to our safety.

With this in mind, thank you to all the parents who have already made us aware of a risk posed by ‘Momo’ which some may have heard their children mention. I have attached the official guidance below:

Momo has been around for the last 18 months and is not new. It was previously known as the ‘Blue Whale Game’. The media have managed to whip up a bit of a frenzy amongst parents. It was originally an app but that has been removed and it is now scary videos that are being distributed via WhatsApp, YouTube and online gaming (live streaming). It is scary. Even I was sitting on the edge of my seat watching it, and for a 7-year-old? - yes, it would scare them. A simple tip is to turn off ‘auto play’ on YouTube and ensure that your contact details are hidden on WhatsApp. Make sure the ‘no fill’ option is ‘on’ within Fortnite and all settings within your Xbox and PlayStation are closed. Although MOMO is not nice, I agree with the article linked below, that the media have over-dramatised it. You should be aware that there are much worse things on YouTube than this - child porn within Peppa Pig, attacks, muggings, shootings and hard porn. Don’t spread the panic about Momo – get involved and supervise what your young children are watching, whatever it may be. https://inews.co.uk/opinion/momo-challenge-game-deaths-suicide-moral-panic/?fbclid=IwAR2VmsP59BOWfZYNPeOkQuk5V7UdnO_Lnzztl_BhyQrqlGtLBT4Z4CN07as

From a Shebbear perspective, I think that I would like to strongly advise you to be aware of what your children are watching. Ask them. Discuss what they think about what they are seeing and ensure that they are not exposed to risks online.

The Internet and social media will be part of their future and we need to help them to use it effectively and safely, and to be able to trust their judgement on what their choices are.

Please let me know if you have any queries or concerns or would simply like to discuss this, or any other internet safety issue further. Kind regards