Author: Sharon Fitzpatrick

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On Thursday 7th April fifteen of our Year 10 Food Preparation and Nutrition students were visited by two members of personnel from the Royal Navy; LCS Emmanuel Craig and CS Matt Forfar. They began their visit by explaining a bit about the role of the Royal Navy and in particular their role as Chefs. This was followed by a Cooking Challenge, Ready Steady Cook style where students cooked a two course meal of Lasagne and Chocolate Brownie from the ingredients and instructions provided in 45 minutes. Students had a great time creating their meals and proudly showed them off at the end to the judging panel, which included Mr Earley.

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After much deliberation the winning team of; Aaliyah, Charlotte and Darcy was announced. This was a really fun and engaging event that students took a lot away from. I would like to thank the Royal Navy Careers team for putting on this event for our students and opening their eyes to future possible careers in the food industry.

Sarah Mires
Acting Head of Food Preparation and Nutrition

Staff and students at Churston Ferrers Grammar School have been raising funds to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Wednesday 9th May was ‘Wear it Blue and Yellow’ day at Churston, with students donating whilst visually showing their support for the people of Ukraine by dressing in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. There was also a cake sale at lunch to raise further funds.

In addition a parent of two Churston Students is driving donations to a collection centre in France to be taken to the Ukraine; and members of the school community are bringing in items that will be of most use including toys, sanitary products, nappies, sleeping bags etc.

Head of Sixth Form Adam Killeya said, “The idea for these efforts came directly from the students; they care about the world around them and wanted to show their support for the people of Ukraine whilst also doing something practical to raise money. This is a credit to them and reflects our values of Active Citizenship and Social Justice – that our students get involved and support those in need.”

Student Vice President (Enrichment and Charity) Abigail said, “In December we supported a UK charity helping poorer families at Christmas and it’s important for us to help people facing crisis abroad too. It was great how many people wore blue and yellow and helped by bringing or buying cake!”

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The final total raised is still being calculated, but will be well into the thousands of pounds.

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Year 10 GCSE Drama student’s have just finished two workshops with theatre practitioner Katy from Paddleboat Theatre Company. This was organised through Erin at Doorstep Arts as part of their Devising Discovery Platform. Students have explored different ways to effectively devise around different stimuli. This will be really beneficial to the students, as they are just starting to work on their devised pieces for their exam in the Summer.

Nicholas Bright ( y 12) and James Bright ( y8) recently took part in the South West of England Karate championship ( KUGB Karate) in Exmouth. Nicholas won the gold medal and cup for the South West of England kumite, free fighting, in the sixteen to nineteen year old category. James won the silver medal for the under five foot four category, Kumite, free fighting .

Congratulations to them both!

Huge congratulations to our students for winning the South-West heat of a national Chemistry competition – the RSC ‘Top of the Bench’ devised by the University of Plymouth.  This demanding challenge required our team to analyse the results of online experiments on saponification (soap-making) to decide which product to recommend as the best candidate for mass production.  In addition to understanding some very tricky Chemistry, they had to balance a range of other factors such as cost, pollution and sustainability.  The judges praised our students for the depth of their discussion in choosing their preferred soap (made from coconut oil) and awarded our students an incredible 97% for their final report.

Alex (Y9), Abigail (Y9), Archie (Y10) and Freya (Y11) demonstrated incredible intelligence and first-class teamwork skills. We wish them the very best of luck when they represent the South-West of England at the national final.

Dr Chris Hall

Head of Chemistry

Despite the lockdowns, Churston students have achieved further success in the Chemistry Olympiad competition. Organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry, this is a challenge open to the top A-level students in the UK. Four of our Year 13 Chemists tackled a number of perplexing problems, including the total synthesis of hydroxychloroquine and the role of phosphine (PH3) in recent reports regarding the possibility of life on Venus.

Edward and Bradley attained bronze awards, with Ola and Anna scoring in the top 20% of participants to achieve silver certificates. Ola remarked “The Olympiad was very challenging, but I really enjoyed preparing for the competition and using my knowledge of Chemistry to solve complex problems”.