RICHARD LANDER SCHOOL

WEEKLY BULLETIN

16th May 2014

Important Dates for your Diary

MAY

MONDAY 12TH MAY - TUESDAY 24TH JUNE GCSE Summer 2014 Exams All students have been given individual timetables. Skeleton timetable available on the school website. TUESDAY 20TH 15:30 - 16:30 Slacklining Club WEDNESDAY 21ST Year 6 & Year 8 G&T Science Detective Day WEDNESDAY 21ST 18:30 - 19:30 Ardeche Parent’s Meeting in the School Canteen THURSDAY 22ND 19:00 –20:00 Maths Family Learning in the Community Lounge FRIDAY 23RD Vinspired Trip to Blackwater School and Kenwyn Nursing Home MONDAY 26TH May Bank Holiday MONDAY 26TH—SUNDAY 1ST JUNE Half Term Break TUESDAY 27TH 9:30 - 12:30 Year 11 English Revision Session WEDNESDAY 28TH 9:00 - 13:00 Year 11 Maths Revision Session THURSDAY 29TH 9:00 - 13:00 Year 11 Business Studies Revision Session

JUNE TUESDAY 3RD Year 8 Boys Cricket Festival on Perranporth Beach SUNDAY 8TH Greenpower Central Southern Heat MONDAY 9TH Year 10 STEM Engineering Challenge at Culdrose MONDAY 9TH Year 8 Girls Cricket Festival

Dear Parents,

A few issues for your consideration this week: RLS Archive Richard Lander School has a long and proud history, pre-dating even the days when the school was called Penweathers School, when Truro County School for Girls was located on the site that is now a Sainsbury’s Superstore. Over the summer months, we are going to begin putting much of our archive material on our Richard Lander School Facebook page and also our school website. We will begin with some of our old school photographs and after this, sift through some of our archive records and put what we can online too. We have already begun putting photos of some of the school’s sports teams from the 1980s and 1990s onto our Facebook page and it is so heartening to see comments being posted from former students. If you were a former student or have relatives who went to Richard Lander School – do check this out. Some of our records go back to the early part of the last Century. Athletics Congratulations to our athletics teams for their excellent performances in this week’s county athletics tournament. In the combined Year 7 & 8 teams, both our girls and boys teams came first and will progress to the regional finals. In the combined Year 9 & 10 teams, both our boys and girls teams came second. This is a fine achievement with many notable performances. Uniform May I remind parents that school uniform rules apply equally to all students. There is currently a rise of students wearing shoes which are not ‘all black’ and additionally, a rise in skinny fit trousers or trousers which are of denim-like material. We can only have a sense of uniformity with the support of parents and we continue to ask for this. Thank you to the majority of our parents who continue to support the school in this respect. Steve Mulcahy Headteacher

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Ten Tors - Not for the Faint Hearted Report by Eliza Ladd and Jessie Holman – Year 10

N ever ending bogs, blistering feet, gale force winds .The Ten Tors weekend was one to remember. As we sit here in our comfortable clothes, we will never again take being warm and dry for granted. The Ten Tors expedition was something we didn’t think we’d see the end of but with 3 and half hours to spare we completed the challenge. 6 months ago, 40 students all thought they were up for the challenge as we started with a series of day walks, the first of which was on Bodmin Moor. Looking back now this was so easy in comparison to the real challenge. Small rucksacks, long lunch breaks and little mileage, yet the bogs were too much for some. After the first day walk the teachers started bringing in the 15 kilo bags, each one of us took turns carrying to carry one, trying to avoid our turn as the notion of carrying a 15 kilo bag around the moors seemed insane.

The teachers needed to get the numbers down to 12, so scheduled a weekend walk - a task they thought would be challenging. We both realised how cold the nights got when we forgot our sleeping mats and resorted to breathing heavily down our sleeping bags to gather warmth. If that wasn’t bad enough, I mistook my nice dry socks for the soaking wet ones I’d been walking in all day which resulted in a sleepless night. After this experience, 14 students remained keen and sadly we had to lose 2 of these. This was a tense moment, but happily we made it through. For our

next walk we had a glorious weekend of sunshine, as we climbed tors pointlessly carrying waterproofs which made us naïve to the hail storm filled weekends that lay ahead. The months of training and the sheer determination of our Richard Lander team finally paid off with the arrival of the Ten Tors challenge. We set up our home for the following 2 days at Oakhampton Army Camp on Thursday 8th May. Attempting to put up a marquee in high winds made us realise how much of a challenge Ten Tors was going to be. Looking at the weather forecast for the weekend, all we could see was hurricane winds and non-stop hail storms. There was a level of trepidation within our team as we stood at the start line with helicopters at the ready and then the cannons sent us off. One of our biggest problems throughout the 6 months of training was rivers, with the British winter providing overflowing rivers all over the moorland. It was just our luck to hit our first river of the weekend in the first ten minutes. Searching up and down the river for a crossing point took up precious time but we managed to find a narrow point, one of us leapt over first, the rest of us swung our 15 kg rucksacks over and then jumped . Getting to the first Tor was reassuring and we collected our first stamp and

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set the tracker so the teachers could relax. We progressed with a minor detour which meant having to cross two very wet and windy bogs on our way to Higher White Tor. The 55 milers had more energy than us and were dancing and singing their way around the moor, when we misread our route they kindly put us back on track and before we knew it we at 5th Tor - halfway! Putting up our tents on top of Tor 6 was one of the biggest challenges, there were tents blowing around everywhere and pouring rain but soon enough we had pitched, cooked our pasta and got into our dry clothes . Day 2 began at 4 am with porridge for breakfast and then then off to Lynch Tor. A river crossing caused a bit of a detour but soon enough we were getting through the tors at a decent pace. Sitting at Tor 9 looking across the valley at the biggest tor in Dartmoor - Higher Willows Tor - was quite daunting and we had to descend before ploughing up ‘death valley ‘to reach Tor 10. We had finally done it and were on the nice easy rocky path back to Oakhampton. As we got further along the path the crowds started growing and the cheering got louder and we couldn’t seem to get the smiles off our faces. We had completed the ten tors

challenge at 2:08pm and were congratulated by with a big pasty, a cup of squash and a nice chair! Ten Tors - an exposure never to forget. Pictured on first page: Top Left: Ten Tors RLS Team Jessie Holman (Team Captain), Eliza Ladd, Harvey Ryan, Jamie Barton, Toby Blanks and Miguel Richmond. Bottom Right :The Team with Saffron Blake, Olivia Byass-Smithies and Hatti Sydenham who also took part with a

local cadet team This Page: Above: The team were fitted with a tracking device so that anxious parents and teachers could follow their route. The map above shows all of the K-teams. The straight lines indicate teams being taken off the moor by helicopter having retired early.

Free Cakes for Kids

S tudents have had their first referral for the Free Cakes for Kids programme. Free Cakes for Kids is a community service to families who find it difficult to provide a birthday cake for their child. The network has groups in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The cakes are baked by volunteers with the child’s favourite theme or style. We are part of Free Cakes for Kids UK and our student’s first cake was requested to have a Doctor Who

theme. The students have really enjoyed baking for the child and hope the cake will be enjoyed. I am sure you will agree the finished result looks fantastic! Well done Tiahna, Rosie, Zak and Becky.

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Who Killed Mr Dominey? By Zak Minett – Year 8

L ast week, 12 keen science enthusiasts from year 8 were off time-table planning the school's annual murder mystery, the victim - Mr Dominey. The students were taken to a crime scene outside the school, before spending the morning in Lab 213, where they carried out a number of experiments to solve last year's case. The students learnt how to carry out forensic experiments in order to pass on their knowledge to a group of year six students from local primaries who will be following in their footprints later on this month. The experiments included testing for toxins in the 'stomach contents' of the victim, examining a mix of foods such as seeds and tomatoes, using litmus paper, testing for fingerprints, and even looking at pollen samples under a microscope. After break, the students decided that last year's killer

was, Jimmy Rellik. Notice his surname spells killer backwards? After they had discovered who the murderer was, it was time for them to set about making their very own murder mystery. First things first, the group set about creating their very own characters - two police officers, 2 witnesses to the crime, and 8 suspects including Sammy Sweeps, a 90 year old ex-caretaker who was sacked by Mr Dominey, Skater Steve, who suffered a terrible accident while skate-boarding, and Katie Redrum, who had no love for Mr Dominey who had given her lots of detentions. Chanell Sellers, eye-witness, aka 'Cocoa Chanell' said '' The day was very interesting, but i didn't enjoy the guts''. The final part of the day was spent putting the finishing touches on the crime and assigning tasks, photographing the suspects for the day and creating a presentation. The day was facilitated by Mrs Silverthorn,

Mrs Bond, and Miss Davies. We look forward to welcoming the group of year sixes to take part in the murder mystery, which will finish with an imaginary court case to determine this year’s killer. Will they solve the crime?

Hobbycraft Trip Report by Year 8 Student

S ome of the many students that have Dyspraxia and A.D.H.D went on a trip to Hobbycraft. Hobbycraft is a shop that sells lots of arts and crafts things. Organized by Mrs Clarke, the trip was aimed to give the children an

opportunity to learn something new, to support our concentration and fine motor skills. On the trip we learnt how to knit! It was hard work and involved lots of focus, but towards the end we had all learnt the basic skill of knitting. We then completed the knitting in

school and it is now displayed as a

group square in Mrs Clarke’s room.

Intermediate Maths Challenge 2014

I n the Spring term year 11 student Harrison Moore qualified for the extension stage of a National Maths Competition run by the UK Mathematics Trust by gaining an excellent score in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Consequently he sat an hour long “Kangaroo” paper which

contained 25 multiple choice questions testing mathematical thinking, problem solving and mental agility. Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF) is an independent association, whose purpose is to organise the annual Kangaroo contest with the aim of promoting mathematics among young people around the world. The name sounds strange, but recognises the

fact that the organisation was inspired by the Australian Mathematics Trust. It is impressive to be invited to sit the Kangaroo papers and Certificates of Merit are only awarded to the top 25%, which makes it doubly exciting that Harrison did indeed receive a Merit. Well done Harrison!

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Learning Community Swimming Gala 2013 Rame win the Community Swimming Gala again!

O n Friday 9th May students from Richard Lander School visited Truro School to take part in our annual swimming gala. Once again students were representing their Learning Communities and as with previous years this proved to be an outstanding event, which really ‘show-cased’ the swimming talent which we have in the school. Prior to the event team captains selected their teams with students being able to swim one individual race and two relays. The races were, 25 and 50m front crawl, 25m backstroke, 25m breastroke, 25m butterfly as well as a medley and freestyle relay. This is the seventh year that this event has taken place and once again it was a tightly fought event, both individually and in the team

competition. All students who took part performed brilliantly for themselves and their communities, with the rivalry between the teams being a very positive and healthy feature. On the day 10 new records were set. Here is a list of the new record holders and their outstanding performances. Year 7 Girls – 50m Freestyle – Megan Smith (Rame) – 33.07 sec 4x25m Freestyle Relay – Godrevy – 1.09.81min/sec Year 7 Boys – 25m Backstroke – Tom Parker (Godrevy) – 17.28 sec 50m Freestyle – Robert Brittle (Pentire) – 33.35 sec 4x25m Freestyle Relay – Rame – 1.12.49 min/sec 4x25m Medley Relay – Pentire – 1.22.38 min/sec Year 8 Girls – 25m Backstroke – Josephine Cowley (Pentire) – 17.28sec 4x25m Freestyle Relay – Pentire – 1.98.47 min/sec

4x25m Medley Relay – Pentire – 1.19.96 min/sec Year 9 & 10 Boys – 4x25m Freestyle Relay – Rame – 57.87 sec In the community team event Rame dominated a number of age groups and finally ‘swam out’ winners. This victory was a popular result with Miss Meek and congratulations to Mr Gibson and his community on this achievement. Can I offer my congratulations to all the students who took part, they once again represented the school brilliantly. Truro school staff commented on what a great swimming gala our school runs and how well our students behave and perform. Also thanks to all the staff who supported the event and our year 10 student leaders who helped with the running of this event, without these people so many students wouldn’t have had such a positive experience. Mr N. Stoddard

Sports Report

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Competition Time—The Languages Department Presents

Word of the Week!

Congratulations!

To the following students who were awarded Young College ‘Student of the Week’ over the last few weeks: Thursday 1st May Harry Spurrier - Construction Wednesday 7th May Jamie Wilson – Construction Teudor Tremaine – Motor Vehicles Thursday 8th May Josh Caddy and Anthony Gallagher – Motor Vehicles Harry Spurrier and Harry Koller - Construction

Year 10 Work Experience Monday 14th to 18th July Now less than 2 months, could those students who have not yet returned their Approval and Consent forms please make every effort to do so before half term.

SlackSlack--lining event here at RLS next lining event here at RLS next

Tuesday with ‘The SlackTuesday with ‘The Slack--Line School’ Line School’

coming into run the session. 20 coming into run the session. 20

students will take part from all year students will take part from all year

groups.groups.

Thank You!

An enormous thank you to Rabart Decorators Mer-chants, Redruth and Travis Perkins at Penryn who have generously donated a large number of tools and building supplies to the Lander to Uganda project. These tools will be taken to the country in July, where the school will use them to improve the conditions in the school, they will then be donated to the caretakers in our partner schools who will be able to use them to maintain the buildings. Thank you!

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Well Done!

To Courtney Vincent in Year 11 who did a charity sky dive at the weekend.

Medical Office

The new medical office is situated next to old exams office, opposite Room 104. Richard Lander School welcomes Mrs Brooke who has taken over from Mrs Webb as Medical Officer. She can be reached on extension 219. If students are feeling unwell they should visit the Medical Office before going to the Medical Room. If Mrs Brooke is not there, the can try the Medical Room before going to Reprographics to see Mrs Shelley. Epipens are kept in plain view in the Medical Office, for use in an emergency.

We only have until Tuesday 20th May to collect Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers. So far we have 6500, but we would really like some more! Please can you check behind the clock, in your pockets and wallets for any vouchers you may have. Last year we managed to get lots of fantastic equipment. Many thanks! Mr Burley

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Richard Lander School Notice Board

Richard Lander School is very proud to be hosting the Cornwall School Games this year and to celebrate this we are holding 3 creative competitions!

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Richard Lander School Notice Board

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Community Notice Board

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Community Notice Board

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Community Notice Board

Activities brochures available online or from Miss Wright in the DT Base

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Community Notice Board