newsletter PCS Presents A Christmas Carol Welcome Dear parents, carers and friends of PCS! Welcome to our Autumn newsletter. We have had a busy term, with the start of Forest Schools, a dance competition, sporting successes, the International Day of Peace, a visit from a Paralympian, lunchtime music concerts, our own Remembrance Day commemoration and the start of a volunteering project in the local community. Every Autumn the national data on school performance is released. This year PCS has moved into the top 25% of schools for progress, which has led to the school being designated as a category 2, or good school, by East Sussex County Council. Many of our departments have made Jacob Marley outstanding progress compared to other schools, especially Modern Foreign Languages, English, Art and Textiles. Our focus now is turning to Christmas. Our Christmas charity is the Clocktower Sanctuary, which supports homeless young people in Brighton and Hove. All of our Christmas events will be raising money to support their Christmas appeal. The main event, as always, is our whole school production, which this year is A Christmas Carol. Tickets are selling fast, so please contact the main office if you haven t yet bought yours. As always, the production will include a Christmas Market, which should keep you and your family entertained before the show begins. We also have our Christmas concert on 15th December. The talent on display at the lunchtime concerts is stunning, so please come and support the performers. We would like, for the first time, to celebrate Christmas as a whole school by having Christmas lunch together on 20th December. We will be decorating the main hall for a Hogwarts style meal, and students and adults will all eat together in their tutor groups. We are asking for a donation of 2.50 per meal, which includes a donation to our charity. Best wishes, Austen.
sports news Paralympian Visit On Monday 17th October Paralympian Simon Munn visited students at PCS. Simon won a bronze medal in wheelchair basketball at Rio 2016. He gave an inspiring talk to the students and showed them his medal. This was followed by our students asking Simon lots of questions about his training programme. With over two decades on the world stage Simon Munn made his seventh appearance for ParalympicsGB at the Rio 2016 Games. Since his debut for Great Britain at the 1992 Paralympic Games, Simon has represented the nation at every major championship, winning three Paralympic medals (one silver, two bronze), two silvers at World Championships, and 11 European medals (four gold, four silver, three bronze). PCS Swim Team On the 20th October the PCS swim team attended the partnerships annual Swimming Gala. The team did extremely well with all students working hard in their events. Many year 7s competed against students in years 8 and 9 in their KS3 gala. I believe that there is a very exciting future in PCS swimming. A special mention goes to Charlotte who after months out of the pool won both her races by miles. More impressive was her leadership as captain. She organised, inspired and supported the entire team so well. It was a very proud moment. Written by Mr Clarke.
sports news Y8 Rugby Report The Year 8 rugby team played Blatchington Mill School in the Sussex County Cup. We started the game with some amazing defending from the pack and the backs. Unfortunately our opponents broke through our defence and scored two tries. However, Arthur scored a scintillating try in the corner. The first half finished 12-5 to Blatchington Mill. In the second half, we started to really play with the ball in hand and exploited space in their backline. Then, Linden scored an amazing individual try, where he side-stepped four defenders to score under the posts. Finally, we lost 27-22 but the team played really well. Well done to Archie for being a tackling beast, who deservedly achieved man of the match for his performance. Written by Seb District Partnership On Tuesday 11th October, the cross country team competed at the District Partnership Competition. The event was held at Eastbourne Sports Park. It was a competition for all year groups from 7-11. It started with a very good result for year 7 Joshua, coming in 3rd place. This was followed by Grace in 13th out of year 8 and 9 girls. Other results came from Harvey who came 6th in his race and Kirsty who came 5th. Billy then came 9th, Morgan L took 11th place and 17th was claimed by Morgan T. Overall, a very good performance from all year groups and fantastic sportsmanship and support when other competitors were racing. Written by Harvey.
sports news Trampolining Success Dan Jackson has been selected to compete at the English Championships in Trampoline this November. Football & Rugby For Peace Day Wednesday 21st September was International World Peace day. So, to celebrate this special event, PCS were lucky enough to be invited to take part in a Football/ Rugby4Peace day held at the University of Brighton. We were all so thrilled when Mr Broadbent asked us to take part in this special event. Once we all got to the University of Brighton, we were put into different football and rugby teams with names such as Arsenal and Brazil, so we would feel as if we were actually part of the team. During our training, we were introduced to the five values of peace. These five values were; Trust Respect Inclusion Equality Fairness We were taught to use these values in not just football and rugby, but in everyday life and tasks. Finally, after taking part in team building activities throughout the morning we played our selected tournaments, using the five values. Fortunately Gracie's team, Brazil, won the Football4Peace event! We would like to give a big thank you to Mr Broadbent and Miss Taylor for taking us to Football/Rugby4Peace, but also to Brighton University and the coaches for having us and teaching the five values that we will all use in everyday life. Written by Gracie and Katie. This means he is one of the top 12 boys in the 15-16 age group in England. The opportunity to be selected in Gold for both disciplines is a another highlight to his trampolining success. This is credit to Dan for all of the commitment and effort he puts into his training, day in, day out. Dan regularly volunteers to demonstrate his amazing trampoline ability in assemblies. Everyone at PCS wishes Dan Good luck in the English Championships!
news Sleeping Trees On 19th October the renowned physical theatre group Sleeping Trees performed their version of Treasure Island to 80 KS4 drama students. The show was hilariously funny and was performed without any props, costumes or set. All characters and sets were created using the voice and the body. PCS students were completely enthralled with the performance and have already asked to see them again in the Brighton Festival next year. 35 students then participated in a workshop with the theatre group and were very keen to try out new skills and techniques. All students involved had impeccable behaviour and threw themselves into the workshop with gusto; creating lively and entertaining pieces of theatre. Blind Football Jay in Year 8 was asked to attend the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford to try out for the England Blind Football development squad, B1 Blind Football Paralympic team. They were very impressed with him and asked Jay to move to Hereford so that he could train with them more often. Fortunately, Jay has decided to stay here and continue his training in Brighton with the occasional trip up to Hereford to join his squad. Jay met the whole of the England squad whilst he was there and scored a goal against them. They are very pleased with their new addition to the squad and we expect to see Jay at Tokyo in 2020 for the next Paralympics. His family are incredibly proud of him, as are we. Dash of Colour Congratulations to Florence for completing the 'Dash of Colour' fun run for Blind Veterans and Help for Heroes. She raised 98 and wants to thank everyone at school who sponsored her.
sports news skilled Dancers with an obvious passion and enthusiasm for Dance. Bikeability On the first day of the course, we rode along the Roderick Avenue. We then cycled down to the roundabout near the Arundel Road and then practised how to safely turn right and left whilst dealing with traffic. On the second day of the course, we practiced how to safely ride around roundabouts. We did this near the main roundabout at the Dell. On the final day of the course, we cycled along Arundel Road and we went down to Telscombe Cliffs primary school and practised. We were then assessed on the skills we had learnt over the past. All four riders have now passed the level 3 bikeability course. It was a really good course and we all had so much fun. Written by Callum and Stanley. PCS Dancers On 15th November our PCS Dancers were invited to perform at a showcase event for Dance and PE students attending the University of Brighton. 12 months ago our students attended the same showcase and arrived at the University very nervous and unsure of what they were about to experience. A year later they entered as confident and well It was a pleasure to see them so inspired by other Dance pieces, not to mention their energy and determination to make Ms Tomlinson proud of their performance. They demonstrated that PCS has a strong, growing Dance culture which sets high expectations of its performers and also provides amazing opportunities for all students to thrive. Huge congratulations to Ms Tomlinson who put the piece together in just two weeks, rehearsing at all sorts of silly hours! Most pieces were put together over five weeks or more and our Dancers looked some of the strongest. A testament to the effort and commitment in both lessons and rehearsals after school. They were very professional in their approach and delivery. Well done to all. Written by Mr Clarke
news Y7 Cup Match On the 2nd November PCS played in a cup match at home against Downlands School. Both teams started strong, putting pressure on each other but soon our defence were compromised and Downlands were 1-0 up. PCS remained focused and continued to push forward and attack. Nobby then scored with a drilled shot into the middle of the goal with their goalkeeper caught off guard, making it 1-1 by half time. The second half started with both teams continuing to press and go for goal. PCS made some substitutions due to injury; Alex came on for Ethan and Lewis came on for Jake. Downlands went on to score a second goal after an unfortunate mistake from Ciaran (our keeper) who dropped the ball. PCS refused to give up and continued to try to find a break in the Downlands' defence. With not long left of the game, Nobby put in a fantastic through ball to Charlie who took a touch and buried the ball into the back of the net giving us the equaliser we needed to stay in the game. The final whistle blew three minutes later, 2-2. A very intense penalty shootout followed but PCS remained composed. After five penalties each the score was 4-4. It went to sudden death with a total of 9 penalties being taken. Ciaran remained calm under pressure not only in goal but to step up to take the final penalty and win us the match 7-6 on penalties. Man of the match was Harvey. Starting 9 - Ciaran, Ethan, Jimmy, Jake, Nobby, Ryan, Harvey, Charlie, Josh Substitutions - Lewis, Billy, Leo, Ben, Harley, Alex Match Report by Charlie (Captain). Remembrance Day On Friday, November 11, 2016 PCS held a Remembrance Day ceremony where we paid our respect and remembered those who were involved in war. We read out names of staff and student's families who were involved in conflict, read poems and an ex PCS student Alexandra played the Last Post on her bugle. PCS students showed great respect and presented themselves as fine role models to everyone. Written by Georgia Yr 10.
calendar Christmas Music Concert 6.30pm, Thursday 15 th December Tickets 3 Adults, 1.50 students. Performances from all year groups. Tuesday 20th December School Christmas Lunch Anti-Bullying What to do Walk away from any unpleasant or bullying behaviour in the corridors or communal areas or tell the teacher if it is in class. Keep a record of when, where and what has been happening. This might include screenshots of anything said or posted on social media. Talk to your tutor about any issues, showing them all evidence. Talk to your Head of Year or Assistant Head of Year. If you find it difficult to talk to anyone email Antibullying@pcs.e-sussex.sch.uk College Applications The Year 11 College Application Deadline is at the end of the school day on the 28th November and applications need to be handed to Ms Newman in the library. Calendar GCSE Certificate Evening (Last year's Year 11) 7pm, Thursday 24 th November Year 11 Parents' Evening 3.45-6.45 Thursday 1 st December 'A Christmas Carol' School production 6.30pm, Wednesday 7 th, Thursday 8 th, Friday 9 th December Tickets 5 Adults, 2.50 Students Available from reception Wednesday 21st December, 12.25pm - term ends. We return to school at 8.40 on Tuesday 3rd January 2017. Inset Dates Tuesday 21st March Friday 28th April Friday 30th June www.phcs.org.uk 01273 581100 enquiries@pcs.e-sussex.sch.uk @PCS_Peacehaven The Schools Co-operative Society