Happy New Year! News from the Junior School. Issue No 58 9th January Weekly Newsletter from the Headmaster

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1 Happy New Year! Dear Parents, Happy new year! Although we have only been back a few days much has already happened at school. You may well have seen that one of the good news national stories over the holiday period revolved around the expert actions of David Williams (below), an Old Shebbearian who works as a pilot for Virgin Atlantic. Calling upon both extensive training and coolness under extreme pressure, David managed to land his Vegas-bound plane (which had a faulty landing gear) safely at Gatwick. I did note that he had circled Devon first. I am a big fan of pilots who land the plane as well as they fly it and we will endeavour to get David back to the school so that he can tell us more about his career path from North Devon to national hero! As you know we were expecting to receive some national press coverage over the holidays for more difficult reasons relating to the ongoing trial of Simon Harris. This has more or less finished (barring sentencing) in the way which we expected, but if there is anything you wish to discuss about this please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at school. Weather permitting, the College and the OSA are sponsoring Bideford RFC s match against Bridgwater and Albion tomorrow. The day starts with a warm-up match between our First XV and Bideford Colts at 1130hrs, whilst the main game kicks off at 1430hrs. Parents and pupils are invited to enjoy both matches either from the warm and spacious club house or the pitchside (genuine fans). There will be a reception with some food from 1230hrs onwards. It would be nice to see you there. If you have any doubt about the weather please consult the latest news ticker tape on our website. Please note that the Form Five Parents Evening will now be held on Thursday 15th January (not Monday as previously stated) from 1715hrs in the Junior School Assembly Hall. We had to move the Winter Concert from last term because two of our star performers, Edward Tai and Jimmy So, were on the audition trail, and both were successful in being awarded places at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. So you are warmly invited to the Winter Concert which is on Tuesday 13th January at 1800hrs in the Memorial Hall (starring of course, Jimmy Taff So and Edward Tai Jones and a host of others). Simon Weale News from the Junior School Dear Parents, For those of you that I haven t seen in person this week, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may I take this opportunity to wish you a all very happy new year. It has been great seeing all the children back in school this week and catching up on all their news, especially hearing about all those wonderful gifts they have received. They are certainly very lucky children. For me, it was mostly socks from Santa this year, which does suggest that my name is still firmly etched on his naughty list. I will just have to try harder in 2015! After a much needed rest, we are all looking forward to this new term, which is made all the more exciting with the arrival of our two new pupils in the Junior School; James Fenwick (left) in Year 1 and Tiggs MacDougall (right) in Year 6. I am

2 sure they will be quick to settle into life here at Shebbear. At the end of last term a number of our Year 5 and 6 pupils took part in a National Primary Mathematics Challenge (see photo on front page). This challenge is targeted at the most gifted young mathematicians and involves a number of quite difficult problem solving tasks. Once again, our pupils did us proud. Eliza Stenning, Poppy Lazenbury, Matthew Honey, Harry Brown, Luke Maxa, Tom Nethacott, Sophie Templeton, Timothy Parker, Harrison Mitchell and Oliver Temple all tackled the challenge and received certificates while Flyn Hartman achieved the ultimate gold award. Congratulations to you all. Old Shebbearian Pilot Hailed a Hero Ex-pupil and Old Shebbearian David Williams made international headlines last week after he calmly brought his Virgin Atlantic 747 jet to the ground at Gatwick Airport after its landing gear failed. David, 47-year-old father of three says he was just doing his job. The pilot saved hundreds of lives by landing the stricken Virgin jumbo jet. He accepted he carried out an extraordinary emergency landing but only did what any other pilot would have done. Friends and neighbours said he was a hero and were proud of his actions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Edge family for kindly donating two wonderful puppets for our Key Stage 1 class (above). Mrs Jones already uses puppets for teaching in both English lessons and in Maths sessions, and so these will be a welcomed addition. If the Michaelmas Term has a particularly sporty feel to it, then the Lent Term always seems to me to be a more musical and theatrical time in the Junior School. This is the term when we host the North Devon Performing Arts Festival here at the College and in the coming weeks many of our pupils will start to prepare for the event, learning poems and prose or rehearsing various pieces on the many different instruments that they are learning to play here at school. Our Junior School Choir will also be busy learning a repertoire of new songs for the competition and for further performances at the end of term, including our Spring Music Concert. However, that doesn t mean to say that there isn t plenty of sport also going on in the coming weeks. On Sunday our cross country team will be taking part in the final Gliddon and Squire races of the season. This last event, to be held at West Buckland School, will end with a presentation ceremony in which our runners will receive their well earned medals for all their efforts in this series of races. We wish them the very best of luck in this final race. With a number of other sporting fixtures coming up in the weeks ahead, as well as various educational visits, we look forward to another busy and productive term. Mike Furber The plane, bound for Las Vegas, was packed with more than 450 passengers and crew, including David s 12-year-old daughter, but had to turn back shortly after take-off after the fault was detected. Dramatic photographs and film footage showed the jumbo jet with the right side wing landing gear not deployed despite frantic attempts to release the mechanism. David stated All of our pilots at Virgin Atlantic are trained to the highest standards and we go through regular testing to deal with any scenario that may arise. Clearly this was an out of the ordinary landing but I was just doing my job and any one of our pilots would have taken the same actions. I m really proud of my colleagues on the ground and in the air and the support they gave me during this event, everyone worked really hard in a difficult situation. David has over 20 years flying experience. Also a keen cyclist, he has raised more than 3,000 for charities through sponsored events, including the University of Liverpool Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and the Down s Syndrome Association. Fairtrade Fashion Show Urgent Request for Second Hand Clothes If you have any used ladies, mens or childrens clothes in good condition that you could donate for use in our Fairtrade Fashion Show we would be very grateful. Any excess clothes will be sent to Uganda to be put to good use. Please bring anything you can spare to Fran Lovett as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your support!

3 Rosie Garnett BBO Scholarship Congratulations to 5th Form student Rosie Garnett who has been awarded a Senior Ballet Scholarship by the British Ballet Organisation. Rosie auditioned with students from all over the country last autumn and was delighted to be awarded one of the few coveted places offered by the BBO as part of its outreach scheme to talented students. Starting later this month, Rosie will attend monthly ballet classes in London, and take part in intensive residential courses during the holidays. Over the next three years, she will receive tuition from some of the organisation s most experienced and distinguished teachers. Rosie, who studies dance at the Sarah Anne Westcott Dance Studios in Bideford, was also successful at the North Devon Dance Festival in which she achieved First Place in Ballet Duet and in Tap Dance in her age group. Request for Volunteers Once again we are hosting the music section of the very successful North Devon Performing Arts Festival. In order for this to run smoothly we need volunteers to help steward the Festival over the two days of Tuesday 10th February and Wednesday 11th February. If you can help please contact Mrs Goode: fgoode@shebbearcollege.co.uk or tel: Year 5s On The Throne Year 5 have been researching and learning about ancient Egypt and King Tutankhamun. The class were given the challenge of creating a model of the king s throne from reference photos in history books using chairs decorated with lots of coloured papers and gold foil. Julie Burnett Request for Welly Boots and Beanbags If you have any old or spare Wellington Boots (all sizes) that are still waterproof that you no longer need we would be very grateful for these as we are planning a mass tree planting event in the near future and there is likely to be some mud involved. Also, any old beanbags (the type you sit on) would also be greatly appreciated and put to good use in the Learning Support department in order to make this facility more colourful and comfortable. Please contact Lucy Body by at lbody@shebbearcollege.co.uk if you are able to assist. Thank you. We would be very grateful for all offers, even if you can only spare a couple of hours. Thank you.

4 SHEBBEAR COLLEGE and the Old Shebbearians Association are sponsoring the South West 1 League Match between Bideford v Bridgewater & Albion on Saturday 10th January 2015 at Bideford Rugby Club Refreshments from 12.30pm Kick-off at 2.30pm Prior to the match Shebbear 1st XV will play Bideford Colts Kick-off at 11.30am You are invited to enjoy the rugby and refreshments between the games

5 Picture this... Shebbear College, Shebbear, Beaworthy, Devon EX21 5HJ Telephone:

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7 Start the week with a WIGGLE!!! 10.00am 11.00am Shebbear Village Hall Starting Monday 12 th January and 5.15pm 6.15pm Shebbear College Memorial Hall Starting Tuesday 20 th January 5 a class (after 10 classes you get one free!) Zumba is AMAZING FUN and suitable for ALL! If you have any questions or would like more information please me at lizlazenbury@gmail.com or call