Chemistry Olympiad

Churston students have achieved great success in the national Chemistry Olympiad competition this year. Organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry, this is a challenge open to the top A-level Chemistry students in the UK. Seven students from Year 13 tackled a number of fiendish problems, including the analysis of an unlikely compound of helium and a chemical explanation of exploding mobile phones!

The standards are so high that certificates are only awarded to the top two thirds of entrants, yet all our students were successful. Liz Raine, Matt Wills and Tom Andrews attained bronze awards. Luca Quinci, Tom Davey and Oliver Biggs were in the top third of participants and were rewarded with silver certificates. Particular congratulations go to Hugo Edwards who was in the top 7% of candidates and achieved a Gold certificate. Hugo remarked “The Chemistry Olympiad was extremely difficult, so I’m very proud to have achieved a Gold certificate. I have really enjoyed preparing for the competition and using my knowledge of Chemistry to solve complex problems”. Chemistry teacher Dr Hall is very proud of their achievements and said “They are great students and their results place them amongst the top Chemists in the country”.

Jessica Jobson attends RYA Youth National 2018 championships

Year 11 student Jessica Jobson, recently attended the RYA Youth National 2018l championships in Largs, Scotland.

She sailed amazingly well, in extreme conditions coming sixth overall with a silver medal as second female team in the 29er skiff. Jessica also had the opportunity to meet Princess Anne who was on the water as patron of the RYA.

As a result of her excellent showing, Jessica has been selected for the British Youth Sailing team for the international events this summer and has been offered a place next autumn training alongside the Olympic Podium Potential Squad.

Well done Jessica!

‘Aspirations Presentation’

On 9th March 2018, Churston was lucky enough to have four ex students visit the school to present to a group of year 9 boys. The purpose of the visit was for the alumni to share their experiences of school and offer revision and careers advice. The visit was a success and the year 9 boys enjoyed being able to share experiences with ex-students who had been in the same position as themselves.

The visit was arranged through the school’s ‘Future First’ network. Sam Dodge, Sam Titcombe, Darren Hartland and Joe Burton each presented with enthusiasm and charisma to thirteen year 9 boys about their experiences at Churston, how they revised effectively and what they are doing in their lives now. The thirteen boys listened attentively and offered a plethora of questions to their guests, expressing some of the difficulties they face currently in school. The visit was educational and enlightening to students and provided staff with feedback of how we can help reduce the barriers in education to boys.

Happy International Women’s Day 2018

On Thursday 8th May, Churston Ferrers Grammar School joined the ranks of women, and men,  all over the world in #PressForProgress this year’s campaign for International Women’s Day.  In a quest to promote gender parity and highlight possibility, students were invited to talks and workshops given by a number of successful and inspiring women.  The message was clear: ‘we will press for progress and celebrate women’s achievements’.

Ex-student, now BBC Introducing presenter and freelance journalist Sarah Gosling gave a practical and frank talk discussing her career path, her feminist stance and how she has dealt with sexism in the workplace. Students left feeling empowered and increasingly confident in standing up for what they believe in and how to make the next steps in their career.

Award-winning, television commercial producer Sally Humphries enthralled year 8 explaining the importance of budgeting and technical accuracy when making a commercial recreating one of the most famous moments of WW1 – the Christmas truce –  for supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.  They were also given an insight into the making of ‘The Switch’,  the 2016 world cup advert starring none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Finally, Churston was delighted to welcome Astro to Atlantic  –  the four female teammates from Kingsbridge and Salcombe Hockey club who are planning to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic to raise money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust.  The women spoke about their friendship and the hardships they will endure – rowing around the clock, two hours on and two hours off while facing sleep deprivation, 60ft waves, salt sores, exhaustion and seasickness in the hope of breaking the current female fours world record. In order to raise money for their endeavours, several staff and students pitted themselves against another ex-student, gold medallist, Giselle Ansley, in a 500m  row sprint challenge.

It was an incredibly positive and uplifting day as students gained an understanding of their capabilities to bring change and that greater gender equality will have enormous benefits for everyone. It was even more poignant as we looked back  100 years at the achievements of the courageous suffragettes and suffragists; change can happen –  we can make it happen.

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SWAT Challenge Event

A  team of four Churston students, Hannah Gorman, Megan Caunter, Connor Cornish and Ben Lavers, and Churston’s SWAT ambassadors went to Colyton Grammar School to participate in a SWAT challenge. The challenge consisted of the teams from different schools giving presentations on the question “How can Britain sustain its economic prosperity, social harmony and international standing in a post-Brexit world?”. Each team had 10 minutes to give their presentation to 9 other schools and a panel of judges explaining what they would do and why. Additionally they were given an unknown challenge on the day which they had to figure out what they would do in their situation and add it to the end of their presentation.

The Churston team were magnificent – they spoke clearly and articulately and came up with some interesting, innovative and well-thought out ideas, composing their argument expertly. However despite their very positive feedback from the judging panel, the field was tremendously strong and the Churston Team were pipped to the post by Torquay Girls Grammar School. A fantastic effort all round, and a great experience for all students involved.

Trialling New Technology in the Classroom

Churston has been lucky enough to take part in a trial of some fantastic new technology – a 75inch Interactive Multitouch Whiteboard. We are one of the first schools in the South West to trial this state-of-the-art learning tool.

The board is being used by many different subject areas during the trial period – to see how it engages students to be more interactive when learning within the current curriculum, and allows staff to teach concepts in new and exciting ways.

In this morning’s Year 7 maths class on 3D shapes, students could spin, move and turn the shapes bringing the usual 2D shapes we see on a normal screen or within pages of a book, to life. And as a result the students were able to grasp the concept of surfaces, edges and vertices in an alternative way.

The students then went on to take part in an interactive quiz game with multiple users, challenging and testing what they had just learnt.

As a school we are always looking for new technology that benefits students’ learning and is compatible with our current systems and to take part in a trial like this is beneficial for all.