Senior School Summer Newsletter 2012 - Plymouth College

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations
Summer Newsletter 2012
Spirits were high for the Senior School Diamond Jubilee party. Pupils,
teachers and support staff came together for the afternoon starting
with a sumptuous BBQ and ending with rousing renditions of Land of
Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and The National Anthem. This was
followed by a summer fête, which saw tutor groups running a variety
of fun activities to raise money for charity such as welly-throwing, soak
the teacher, face painting and shoot the duck!
World, European and
British titles for Tom
Sixth former Tom Daley’s preparation for the Olympics goes from
strength to strength after winning the World Series, European
Championships and British Championships. In April, the top GB diver
took the gold medal in Mexico and silver medals in Beijing, Dubai and
Moscow to take the overall World Series title. A few weeks later
Tom recorded a personal best in Eindhoven to become European
Champion. This was closely followed by a strong performance at the
British Championships where he finished more than 100 points ahead
of the second-placed competitor.
Tom’s success in the British Championships officially secured his place in
both the individual and synchro 10m platform events at this summer’s
London Olympic Games.

LAMDA success for talented pupils
Hettie Burrows and Nada Khalil have passed their grade 7 duo acting with distinction
and have been awarded silver medals. The pair had to perform three contrasting scenes
which included Terence Rattigan’s famous ‘Separate Tables’, Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About
Nothing’ and Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy ‘A Small Family Business’. Lizzie Gribble (pictured)
has gained her grade 5 acting with distinction.
Elizabeth Schulz passed grade 8 verse and prose with distinction. She has been awarded
a gold medal. Paul Vallis has secured grade 6 verse and prose with distinction. Hettie and
Nada have lessons with June Pick, Lizzie with Zoe Vigus and Elizabeth and Paul train with
Ann Lethbridge.
Dancer performs in
English Youth Ballet
production
Talented Plymouth College dancer, Harriet Irving, 12, has
performed in the English Youth Ballet’s production of
Giselle at the Princess Theatre in Torquay. Harriet was one
of 100 dancers to audition for a place in the production.
She went on to dance in three performances alongside
some of the best young ballet dancers in the area.
Dancing since she was three years old, Harriet trains with
Helen Hillard. As well as ballet, she is an accomplished tap
dancer and singer – she took the role of young Cosette
in the recent school production of Les Misérables.
Grade 8 achieved by
talented guitarist
Plymouth College musician, James Douie, 15, has passed his grade 8
classical guitar examination. James, who studies guitar with Catherine
Thom, is a member of the school guitar ensemble. He is currently working
towards a Performance Diploma. “James is a very talented musician and
I am delighted with his achievement”, said Plymouth College Director of
Music and Performing Arts, David Green. “A grade 8 pass is particularly
exceptional for someone of his age.”
Devon title for Young
Enterprise team
Within weeks of clinching the Plymouth title, Platform, the Plymouth
College Young Enterprise company, have won the Devon competition.
The product, ‘Railtrails’, is a book of walks designed to support patronage
on the rural branch lines of First Great Western. The team members
researched, designed and published the book themselves and have had
2000 copies printed. To date the book can be purchased on Amazon, both
branches of Waterstones in Plymouth and Plymouth Tourist Information.
Their most famous customer is actor and travel documentarian, Michael
Palin. Platform have agreed an ‘in principle’ deal with Tormark to distribute
the book to National Trust properties and branches of Asda and Tesco
around Devon and Cornwall. The team, who are working on a German
version of the book, now progress to the South West championships.
More information about the school’s business successes, including 11
national competition wins, can be found at the newly-launched Business
School website www.plymouthcollegebusiness.com. Follow Plymouth
College Biz on Twitter.

Young engineers take
part in nation-wide
scheme
Lower Sixth pupils from Plymouth College have designed
an Ultra High-Speed Rate Table for gyroscopes as part of
the Engineering Education Scheme. Starting with mock
job interviews last year, the team have spent the last six
months working with Goodrich Sensor and Systems –
Plymouth College has been linked to the company for
the last ten years and the scheme is part of Goodrich’s
graduate engineer development programme. This year’s
project culminated with a public presentation at Plymouth
University alongside teams from schools across Devon.
During their six-month project phase, students were
encouraged to show industrial enterprise, creativity
and innovation whilst gaining extensive experience of
problem-solving, team-working and project management.
Rock guitarist mentors young musicians
Budding rock stars got to team up with the real thing earlier this term
when former Boomtown Rats lead guitarist, Garry Roberts, hosted a guitar
workshop at Plymouth College. Famous for hits ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’
and ‘Rat Trap’, Garry still tours with fellow band member and drummer,
Simon Crowe. Taking a break from performing, Garry spent the morning
putting young musicians of all abilities and ages through their paces with
a series of one-to-one and group sessions. As well as practical advice and
demonstrations on playing the guitar, he was able to share his extensive
knowledge of the music industry.
Dining hall roof
blossoms into a garden
More than 100 green-fingered pupils and staff at Plymouth College have
helped to create a garden on the roof of the school dining hall.
Called the Gutter Grow Project, a selection of herbs, flowers, vegetables,
fruit and nut trees were planted creating a habitat for insects and birds
where there was none before. The lunchtime and after-school planting
sessions took place on International Biodiversity Day.
The event put Plymouth College on the global map of schools taking part
around the world as part of “Green Wave”, which is run as a schools’
project through United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
(UNCBD).
Swap Shop
The school Swap Shop has donated £1000 to the Prep School Friends’ Association and £1500 to the Senior School Parents’ Association this
year. In addition, £1500 has been given back to parents who have given used uniform, revision books and other equipment to be sold on
their behalf. The Swap Shop is run by a team of volunteers and is located in the basement of the main uniform shop at the Senior School.
It is open in term-time Tuesdays 1 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. and Thursdays 1 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. Also open in holidays as advertised on the school
intranet www.plymouthcollege.net

Sixth Formers live the
American Dream
The UK-US special relationship proved strong as four Plymouth College
Sixth Form students took part in an exchange with Wilbraham & Monson
Academy near Boston. Pieter Loopstra, Julia Schnoor, Ellie Gates and Wes
Foster spent time in classes, playing sports and sightseeing. A visit to
Massachusetts wouldn’t be complete without dropping in at Plymouth
Rock where the Mayflower landed from Plymouth UK with the first
European settlers almost four hundred years ago. Landmarks in Boston
included the Red Sox (baseball) stadium, Harvard University and Quincy
Market.
The Plymouth College group then headed to New York for two days.
Highlights included Times Square, Central Park, the Rockefeller Building,
Staten Island, Brooklyn Bridge, burgers and yellow taxis. The glitz, lights and
tall buildings of New York compared very differently with the relative calm
and understatement of Boston.
Navy cadets take the trophy
in annual rowing event
The annual Geoff Fabian Memorial Trophy Rowing competition took place at
Jupiter Point naval training centre. More than 30 cadets from the Plymouth
College Combined Cadet Force (CCF) took part. The weather and tides were
just right to make the event a challenge for the rowers. The course was over
800m long and it seemed to the rowers that the race would never end. After
a hard-fought competition between the Navy, Army and Airforce sections, the
Navy cadets triumphed and took the trophy from the Army who won last year.
In the cadets vs staff event, the cadets won... enough said!
Servus aus Wien!
A group of 18 dedicated Germanists and 3 staff visited
Vienna during the Easter break, marking the German
Department’s first adventure to the land of Mozart,
Apfelstrudel and Lederhosen! There was only minimal
Sound of Music singing - mostly led by Mrs Chubb with
able assistance from musical star, Miss Sophie Brown.
The week was spent exploring the numerous sights
Vienna has to offer, with the evening at Vienna’s premier
amusement park (Prater) being popular with all. Another
highlight of the trip was Sophie playing the piano in the
foyer of the Haus der Musik (music museum), some of
the students indulging in Sachertorte (traditional Austrian
chocolate cake) and getting to grips with the Viennese
dialect.
In Flanders’ Fields...
The GCSE History trip to the First World War’s Western Front proved both poignant and fascinating.
Starting in Ypres, the focus of British fighting throughout 1915 - 1918, students explored the trench
networks, medical stations and memorials to the soldiers of the Great War. On day two, students headed
to The Somme, the scene of the bloodiest battle in British history. Students walked across No Man’s Land
from the British to German front lines and heard accounts of regiments and individuals at the heart of
the battle. They saw the incredible Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge and explored the underground
communication and supply tunnels used throughout the battle. Day three saw students move on to
Passchendaele to see the different ways in which the British and German soldiers are commemorated.

Prep School enjoys
Jubilee celebrations
Crown-making, a tea party and a special assembly were
just some of the activities taking place at Plymouth
College Preparatory School to celebrate the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee. Children across the year groups got
to come to school for the day dressed as kings and
queens or wearing red, white and blue. Everyone went
to a special assembly in the morning and had a tea
party in the afternoon. During the day some classes
made crowns, some worked on Union Jack art while
others decorated Jubilee cakes for the tea party.
It was a very special day that was enjoyed by all.
Prep children raise £250 for Father Abraham Trust
Pupils at Plymouth College Preparatory School have raised £250 for the Father Abraham Trust.
The Trust for the Motor Neurone Disease Association was set up by Simon Adams after he was
diagnosed with the disease in 2009. He pledged to raise £1 million for the charity. Although
Simon died in October last year, his widow, Maxine, has continued fund-raising and was presented
with the cheque by Freddie and Flossie Postle-Hacon in a special assembly. The school raised the
money at a series of school shows and concerts.
Year 1 release butterflies
into the school garden
Year 1 pupils at Plymouth College Preparatory School have been able to
watch the butterfly lifecycle ‘first hand’ in their classroom this term. They
watched the tiny, painted lady caterpillars grow and change into pupae. Two
weeks later the lovely butterflies emerged and the children were delighted
to be able to release them into the school garden.
Prep girls are national
swimming champions
Plymouth College Preparatory School’s U11 girls’ swimming team have beaten
prep schools from around the county to be crowned IAPS National Swimming
Champions. Tegan Drew, Emma de Jager, Lauren Hession and Sneha Suresh won
both the medley and freestyle relays in the event held at K2 in Crawley.
In the medley, Tegan gave the team a strong lead with the backstroke to give
Sneha the best chance of keeping up with the breast stroke. Emma kept the
team in contention finishing her fly leg in the lead. In the freestyle, Lauren swam
as hard as she could to keep Plymouth College ahead of Millfield Prep and
Guilford High School, bringing the team home in first place in a time of 1.05.13.
In the freestyle, Emma got the team off to an amazing start before Lauren took
over and kept up the pace. The pressure was really on against Sneha on the 3rd
length but Tegan delivered a punishing final leg to give Plymouth College victory
and a new national record of 58.04.
In the individual events, Emma swam 14.96 to become the 25m fly champion
and Tegan Drew smashed the 50m freestyle record to take the title in 28.65.
In other swimming news, Emma de Jager won three gold and two silver medals
in the African Swimming Championships. Swimming for Zambia, she was also
awarded the Victrix Ludorum for the U12 girls’ age group.

All the world’s a
stage for former
Plymouth
College pupil
Former Plymouth College pupil, Len Cook, was never far from
the limelight when he was at school. His intense portrayal of
Macbeth in a school production was particularly memorable.
Len brings us up to date with his life since leaving Plymouth
College... “I gained one of 25 places which 4000 people
auditioned for at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic
Art (LAMDA). I am currently in the last term of my second year
and have just been nominated for a Lawrence Olivier bursary.
Next September I start to go in front of agents and casting
directors whilst doing public performances all over London.
“I valued the experience I gained performing in Plymouth
College productions like Macbeth and appreciate the
confidence it gave me because it all contributed to getting me
to where I am now. I especially value what I learned from
speech and drama teacher, Ann Lethbridge, whose lessons
have proved to be priceless in the world of stage craft.”
OPM Suite
The OPM Suite is open to former pupils and parents of current pupils Tuesday to
Saturday 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. (sometimes from lunchtime on Saturdays when sports
teams are in). The suite, which is above the MK-Hall and has a balcony overlooking
the school playing fields, is also available for private functions. It can cater for up to
60 people for a formal dinner and 80-90 for a more informal gathering.
For more information please contact OPM Suite Manager, Ashley Brown-Williams,
on 01752 293846 or 07779295677. Find OPM Suite on Face Book for the latest
news and up-dates.
OPM serenades Olympians
Former pupil and tenor, David Webb, returned to school recently
with his classical group, Amore. The band were travelling around the
country serenading people for free to help promote their newlyreleased
single (Brindisi from La Traviata) and album (Amore – Stand
Together). The former Plymouth College music scholar was delighted
to be able to sing to Jamila Lunkuse and Ruta Meilutyte, two of the
school’s swimmers taking part in this summer’s Olympics. On leaving
Plymouth College in 2002, David won a choral scholarship to Truro
Cathedral followed by a scholarship to the Royal College of Music.
He has since performed in operas and concerts around the world.
David previously returned to Plymouth College in December 2011
to present the prizes at Senior Awards Evening.
Both the single and the album are available to download from ITunes
Reunion!
Did you start at Plymouth College Senior School in 1962? If so, please get
in touch - there is talk of a reunion! For more information contact Sharon
Lambie on 01752 203245 or email slambie@plymouthcollege.com
Former Plymouth College pupils tackle toughest foot-race on earth
Royal Navy Pilots, James Birchall and André Milne who met as 13-year-olds at Plymouth College, have completed a spectacular charitable
effort by competing in the gruelling Marathon Des Sables race across the Sahara Desert. Described as ‘the toughest foot-race on earth’,
the two 37-year-old Lieutenant Commanders from the Commando Helicopter Force at the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, were
raising money for The Children’s Trust. Plymouth College supported James and André by raising £400 from a cake sale and mufti-day.
During the 154 mile, 6 stage running race, temperatures frequently exceeded 45°C and saw them treasure every drop of the 9-litre daily
water ration particularly during the long stage of 51 miles. The water ration saw no washing for 6 days and self-sufficiency demanded the
pair carry specialist lightweight food and equipment. Luckily the camel walking at the back of the field did not catch them as this would
have meant disqualification. Still keen to reach their target of £20,000, James and André would welcome any further sponsorship through
their Just Giving site www.justgiving.com/DesertMarathon2012

Poppy is double county
athletics champion
Talented Plymouth College athlete, Poppy Tank, 14, has claimed gold in both the U15 1500m
and U15 800m at the Devon County Track and Field Championships. Held at Exeter Arena,
Poppy set personal best times in both races. Her 1500m time of 4min 51.49secs is less than
half a second away from the qualifying time for the English Schools competition that will be
held in Gateshead in July and will hopefully ensure her selection to represent Devon Schools
at that event. Fellow pupil, Emily Ackford, 14, claimed silver in the U15 3000m race also with
a personal best time.
Kerenza is British Tetrathlon Champion
Plymouth College Modern Pentathlon scholar, Kerenza Bryson, 13, has been crowned the
Youth C Girl British Tetrathlon Champion. Competing at the run, swim, shoot, fence event
in Solihul, Kerenza was equal first in the shoot and second in the run, accruing 3944 points.
She also won the team event with fellow Plymouth College pupils Chloe Hamilton (6th)
and Catherine Bishop (7th). Valerie Lim came second in the senior women’s event as a guest
competitor, Kelcey Pillage was 6th in Youth A Girls and Harry Preston was 9th in Youth B Boys.
Just days later Kerenza won the Yorkshire Pentathlon Championships, which included a fifth
discipline of show jumping.
Horse of the Year Show for Freddie
Plymouth College pupil, Freddie Thompson, 14, has qualified for the Horse
of the Year Show, one of the largest equestrian events in the world. Freddie
secured his place at the prestigious show after taking a double win at the
British Show Pony Society’s Winter Championships.
In other equestrian news, Amy Searle, 12, was part of a team of four
Westcountry riders who took a top three spot at the National Pony Society
Dressage Championships. Held at Addington Manor, Buckinghamshire, Amy’s
team Hoskin Hotshots battled it out against 36 teams from all over the UK
as well as visitors from Australia.
Lang and Co sponsor 1st Xl
for second year running
The annual match against MCC seemed a fitting occasion
to formally thank Lang and Co for its continued support and
sponsorship of the Plymouth College 1st Xl. The estate agent is
sponsoring the team for a second season. Lang and Co Director,
Jay Foster, presented this season’s cheque to team members Matt
Kidd and Pasi Mawalage during the match lunch break.
Prestigious cricket club, MCC, visits Plymouth College every year
as part of a tour of Devon and Cornwall. Blighted by rain on the
last couple of encounters, this year the forecasted showers failed
to materialise to the relief of all.
MCC batted first and scored 226-6 with Tim Hughes on 52 and
James Woodrough on 50. Alex Toptani took 2-17. Plymouth
College were 94 all out with Matt Kidd scoring 31. Plymouth
College lost by 132 runs.

Three medals for
swimmers in Monte Carlo
The 30th Monte Carlo Mare Nostrum International Meet saw
Plymouth College athletes return with three medals at what is one
of the most prestigious and competitive swim meets on the annual
international calendar. The medals were presented by Prince Albert II,
Sovereign Prince of Monaco.
Ruta Meilutyte, 15, unrested and still in heavy training for the Olympic
Games, was to win the 50m Breaststroke in a new Lithuanian senior
record of 30.99. The 50m event is competed over five gruelling rounds
across two days, resulting in a two-person head-to-head swim off for
the title. The time is the fifth fastest in the world this year. One day
earlier, she had won the 100m Breaststroke in 1:07.96 to underline
her intentions when London comes around in less than 30 days times.
Joe Patching, 18, who will swim for Great Britain at the European
Junior Championships in Antwerp in July, swam brilliantly in the 200m
Backstroke to take silver in 2:00.60. He made the ‘A’ Final of the 100m
event the day before.
In other swimming news, Jamila Lunkuse, who will swim for Uganda
in the London Olympics, won four medals in the African swimming
Championships.
Zac makes Irish Exiles squad
Talented Plymouth College rugby player, Zac Cinnamond, 17, has made it
into the U19 Irish Exiles squad. Prop forward Zac successfully played his
way through four tough trials, including an inter-regional tournament and a
national assessment camp. Zac, whose father is Irish, is hoping to use this
selection as a route into the main Ireland squad. He has previously played for
Cornwall U18s and is a member of Wadebridge Camels as well as playing for
the Plymouth College 1st XV. His first match for the Exiles will be in August
against Munster.
Tia is British Fencing
Champion for 2nd
year running
Plymouth College fencer, Tia Simms Lymn, 13, has taken
the U14 Girls’ Epeé title at the British Youth Fencing
Championships. She was third in the Foil event.
The U12 Epeé and Foil champion last year, Tia was joined
on the 2012 podium by fellow pupil, Kerenza Bryson, who
took third place in the U14 Girls’ Epeé. Chloe Hamilton was
6th in the same age group while Tim Andrews was 8th in
the U16 Boys’ Epeé. Annie Crocker, Taylor Ashby, Catherine
Bishop and Alice Simmonds also competed.
Earlier this month Tia met Dame Kelly Holmes at an event
for the Fashion and Textile Children’s Trust (FTCT) – the
charity supports the children of people who work in the
UK fashion and textiles industry. Tia, who made a speech at
the event, receives a grant from the Trust to help with her
studies and sport.
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Plymouth College, Ford Park, Plymouth, Devon PL4 6RN Tel: 01752 203300 mail@plymouthcollege.com www.plymouthcollege.com