Mounts Bay Academy has been involved in a project where they have changed the nature of learning by giving all students an iPad to bridge the digital divide. All students are issued iPads and the school has a team dedicated to their use and maintenance. The school's digital use extends to MacBooks, airplay to screen, iPads for a range of uses, including eBooks and with adapters as microscopes. Mounts Bay Academy holds the 'Apple Distinguished School' title.
Students have seen an increase in the pace of learning at Mounts Bay as a result, enabling them to study a more in-depth curriculum with learning at a deeper level. Subjects such as PE and Drama are now coached through state of the art apps to engage students in relevant feedback for improvement.
Students are engaged in media rich learning experiences on a daily basis, as their understanding can be checked through a variety of different ways. This includes the use of simple presentations, animations and online questionnaires. It is a project that has changed the way that students experience school, and has improved and enhanced the learning experience.
Maths Department
The Mathematics department have been developing opportunities for students to explore the subject of mathematics both outside and inside the classroom. Students have been offered many events that allow them to engage in the subject and delve deeper into understanding mathematics. Students from Year 7 and Year 8 have attended master-classes at Plymouth University and been given the chance to explore shapes in greater detail in a master-class titled “Polygons, Polyhedrons, Flexagons and Topology”.
Students are also keen to take on a more competitive edge and get involved in many mathematics competitions. Our Year 8 students are pictured here working together to try and beat the competition of the other KS3 groups. As one of the youngest groups there, they were a credit to the school and themselves and gained an impressive 100% in the relay race.
A group of Year 9 students were also involved with the IFS Student Investor Challenge. Given £100,000 (virtual money), they had to invest in the stock market to gain the biggest return in a three month period. Again, one of the youngest teams in the competition, they managed to have a return of over £20,000 putting them top of the schools in Cornwall, 14th in the South West of England and South Wales region and 74th out of the 9000 plus teams that registered.
History Department
In addition to this, the History departments have been developing international links for the study of history. Pupils at Mounts Bay School went to Aarhus in Denmark to visit the sites of Tollund Man and Grauballe Man. Ten pupils visited Mollevangskolen, a school in Aarhus, and many thanks must be given to the Head, Majbritt Jensen.
Apart from a brilliant cultural exchange between Danish and British pupils, it provided the opportunity to visit the museums and sites associated with the peat bogs of Denmark. Our pupils looked at Iron Age and Viking culture, and also used GPS to discover the Danish countryside. Mounts Bay pupils are eager to see our Danish friends again next year.
Each year Mounts Bay visits the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme. For pupils, this annual pilgrimage is a memorable experience, especially when finding relatives in these areas. As a mark of remembrance, students have also laid wreaths at Tyne Cot and Thiepval, as well as taking part in Remembrance Sunday services at Ludgvan and Madron parish churches near to the school.
History at Mounts Bay endeavours to bring the subject alive by visiting local sites of interest, as well as those abroad. The aim of the department is to give pupils a first-hand experience of their surroundings and an appreciation and love of history.
Recently the History department has introduced iBooks. This has been a great way of engaging students with History in and outside of the classroom. It enables students to access resources, expanding their subject knowledge.
Music Department
Mounts Bay has a lively and rapidly developing music department where the staff are building a culture of performance across all year groups. There are several exciting projects that are running currently. Over a quarter of our students take part in instrumental lessons or out of lesson music making and this number is always increasing.
Record Label
All students have been given the opportunity to write their own songs and have these recorded on the school record label; Qube Records. These songs are performed to the public at our album launch and are then released on iTunes, Amazon music and Spotify. Students then have the opportunity to perform on a local radio station in a BBC Introducing slot as well as being interviewed by a local radio presenter. In the summer semester, the artists featured on the album will be going on tour to Europe to perform their songs to a wider audience as well as having the opportunity to experience life on the road as a professional musician. This has proved a really popular venture leading to the record label releasing one album in the first year and 6 last year. It gives our young people a taste of what life would be like as a professional musician; touring, recording and releasing songs as well as business and finance aspect including royalties and copyright.
Brass Workshops
There has been a historical shortage of brass instruments at the school. To combat this, every student in year 7 will have to opportunity to learn to play a trumpet or trombone in a group lesson over 10 weeks. This will culminate in a performance to the rest of the year group at the end of the 10 weeks. By the end of this year, 230 pupils will have learnt to play a brass instrument and we will have a brass band rehearsing every week.
Performance Opportunities
We have integrated musical performances in a large number of our assemblies giving students the opportunity to perform in front of their year group and their house. These performances have been as soloists and ensembles and students are now very keen to be involved in these performances. Students now expect a musical performance at every school event and this is becoming part of the school routine.
We are also hosting a 24hr Gig in which students are invited to perform in a constant 24hour long performance along with local bands and artists from the wider community.
Mounts Bay Academy is a comprehensive school for about 900 students aged 11-16, situated to the north of Penzance in Cornwall. It is a Teaching School with 12 local schools. In 2003, the school became a Specialist Community Sports College. In 2008, it gained High Performing School status and obtained an additional specialism in Vocational Education. Their Science, Music, MFL, Maths, History, Art, English and leadership departments have all been awarded the PTI mark.