Latest News

World Book Day

Wed 20 Mar 2024

To celebrate World Book Day on 7th March students were taken out to swap their World Book Day vouchers for a free book. While we were out we collected lots of new books for our library. In the morning the whole school also took part in a fun interactive live quiz during their reading lessons. Group B were the triumphant winners with a score of 18 out 20!

Budding journalists: Marland students take on BBC Young Reporter!

Wed 20 Mar 2024

Students in Key Stage 3 have had the opportunity to experience being journalists in their English lessons this term. We have been taking part in BBC Young Reporter and they have each chosen topics which interest them and written news story proposals to send to the BBC. They have conducted surveys, staff and student interviews and internet research. We have had some really interesting and varied topics including: Skate Molton, movies and why people are not going to the cinema as much, youth vaping and racism. This has been a really valuable experience and many students have really risen to the challenge.

PSHE and Outdoor Ed collaboration – Careers in Nature!

Wed 28 Feb 2024 V Collinge

Before half term a group of our year 8 and 9 boys had the brilliant opportunity to find out about career opportunities with the National Trust. The National Trust carry out work all over the UK in maintaining our areas of national beauty and heritage, and in finding chances for the public to engage with nature. The boys met two rangers – Amy and Finley – at Headon Mouth Valley, where they had a brilliant careers talk all about a day in the life of a ranger. The boys had the chance to look at some pictures of the work National Trust rangers do, learn about how they carry out their conservation work and discussed ways into this career after school. They looked around the visitors centre and went for a walk down the Headon Valley, and even managed to have a stone skimming competition! Our boys were exceptionally well behaved, and both rangers were impressed with their maturity and engagement. Well done!

Dental Health Visit

Wed 17 Jan 2024

This week we had Lorraine (Lolly) Bradley from Torrs Park Dental Practice visit the school. She delivered three sessions on dental health and how to look after our teeth, and both staff and students learned a lot. The sessions were really hands-on, giving the boys chances to identify different types of teeth, brush some giant “teeth”, and feel the sensation of both electric and sonic toothbrushes! We discussed the importance of flossing and brushing, how to look after our gums, and what happens when our teeth come into contact with sugars and acids. The boys were really engaged and asked lots of questions – meaning we discussed everything from brushing our tongues, to what braces would be like, and even how in the old days poor people would sell their teeth to the rich! A fantastic morning – thanks Lolly!

North Devon Football Tournament Winners!

Thu 02 Nov 2023 A Bright

In the first annual football tournament at Sandymere, a squad of pupils went to represent the school.

Having had success in other tournaments, the boys were feeling confident. During the tournament the boys competed in 4 competitive group matches, winning 3 and drawing the other, this took the boys into the semi-finals as group runners-up (on goal difference!). In the semi-finals the boys battled hard and came through with a 3-1 success, taking them into the final against On Track - the team they drew against in the group stages. This was a fiercely contested game, with both sides creating chances, and it was Marland that came out on top, with a fine 2-0 win.

Marland Captain Henley Jackson was awarded the Player of the Tournament trophy.

All credit to the lads that participated, they were respectful and worked hard for each other throughout the day, representing the school superbly.

London Trip 2023

Fri 13 Oct 2023 V Collinge

London Trip 2023

6 of our boys had an amazing opportunity to visit London for the day this half term, to see some historical sites before heading out for dinner.

We caught the train from Tiverton Parkway to London Paddington, and from there we hopped on a tube over to the Tower of London. At the Tower of London, we were lucky enough to have a private educational tour of some of the most famous sights – including the castle that William the Conqueror built, and the spot where the famous Anne Boleyn had her head chopped off! We heard some fascinating facts and ghastly ghost stories and then went to take a look at the crown jewels.

After visiting the Tower of London we walked past the London Eye to the waterfront, where we had a spooky interactive experience at the London Dungeons. The boys were fascinated by the storytelling and scary experiences and were able to link our learning from the Tower to the stories being told in the dungeons. We witnessed witchcraft trials, had a close shave with Sweeny Todd and even spotted the infamous Jack the Ripper before eventually being ‘hung’ for treason!

With the cries of prisoners still ringing in our ears, we then caught the bus over to a Japanese BBQ restaurant, where the boys were able to cook their own dinner. Alongside some tasty rice and noodle dishes, a selection of marinated meats were brought to the table for us, and the boys were able to BBQ these over grills in the middle of each table. The boys did us proud with their manners and social skills towards each other and the restaurant staff.

After dinner, we walked back to Covent Garden. We watched an amazing street performance of a man juggling knives on a series of balance boards and then headed back to Paddington Station for the return train home.

All the boys were engaged, polite and wonderfully well-behaved throughout the whole day, and they did themselves and the school proud.

Thanks From Fremington Community Pantry

Fri 21 Jul 2023

Thanks to Sally, our spare lunches have been taken and donated to the Fremington Community Pantry. Below is a screen grab from the pantry thanking the school. Well Done Sal

Holsworthy Food Hub Leaflet

Wed 19 Jul 2023

For your Information: Holsworthy Food Hub Leaflet

Mason Maloney Boxing competition

Wed 19 Apr 2023

Over the Easter Break, Mason Maloney took part in an Exhibition Fight. Mason's mum says

"just wanted to share that Mason had an amazing fight today in Bristol and thought I'd share the last 2 fights' pictures! He smashed it! So proud and his opponent was bigger and much more experienced but still gave it his all and came home with the trophy!!"

Well done Mason!

Logo'ed photographs by CR Photography

Giant whale mural created on Croyde beach

Fri 13 May 2022

Ruda Holiday Park, in Croyde, has joined forces with local artists, charities and school children, to create a temporary art installation on Croyde beach, to highlight the amount of unwanted beach tents, chairs and windbreakers left on the beach every year.

With the help of Sarah Jellard, Director of Community Environmental Educational Therapy (CEET) CIC, the team at Ruda brought together pupils from Pilton College, Pilton Bluecoats and Marland School, with local beach artists, Karen Atkinson and Jill Burley, to create a giant, temporary mural of a whale to highlight the scale of rubbish left at Croyde Beach each year. Measuring in excess of 45 metres in length – even longer than a Blue Whale – the mural comprised more than 120 beach tents and chairs, over 40 windbreaks, and countless broken beach toys, shoes, goggles and much more.

Ruda Holiday Park is owned by Parkdean Resorts, one the UK’s leading holiday park operators. Parkdean says it is committed to responsibly managing the beach to keep it fun, inviting and clean for the community as well as the many holidaymakers who visit each year, with teams from the park carrying out regular beach cleans alongside volunteers from the local community, to ensure it remains safe for swimmers, surfers and walkers, as well as the diverse flora and fauna which inhabit the beach and nearby sand dunes.

Measuring in excess of 45 metres in length – even longer than a Blue Whale – the mural comprised more than 120 beach tents and chairs, over 40 windbreaks, and countless broken beach toys, shoes, goggles and much more.

The unwanted or broken beach tents, camping chairs, beach toys, and other similar items, were left by beachgoers at a single collection box installed by the park at the entrance to the beach. Many of the items cannot be recycled or reused, and go to landfill, however, the tents are donated to the 2 Minute Foundation, which repurposes the material into beach clean bags.

Holly Robertson, Beach Manager, Parkdean Resorts’ Ruda Holiday Park, said: “Many of the items left on our beach cannot be recycled or reused, and go direct to landfill, so we want to highlight the amount of unwanted beach tents, chairs and windbreakers left on the beach every year. We have a regular programme of beach cleans throughout the year, as well as educational sessions for local schools, but we wanted to do something on a large scale to show just how much rubbish is left on the beach, and the harm it causes.”

Sarah Jellard, Director of Community Environmental Educational Therapy (CEET) CIC, commented: “I’ve worked with Holly on a number of educational initiatives and I know how hard the team at Ruda work to keep the beach clean and safe. I’m passionate about helping young people to understand about caring for our beaches, and being able to bring lots of young people to Croyde with our talented artists is a fun way to communicate a really important message.”

Beach artists, Jill Burley and Karen Atkinson, added: “We’re used to creating pieces of art using whatever we find lying around on a beach, but usually it’s stones and shells, not tents and camping chairs! The scale of the mural we’ve been able to create really does demonstrate the challenge that we all face to keep our beaches clean, and hopefully we’ve been able to inspire the next generation to take pride in the local area care for the community.”

The mural was created to highlight the growing beach waste problem on North Devon's beaches

Nicky Green, CEO of the 2 Minute Foundation, said: “It’s so important to highlight just how many unwanted and broken items are left on beaches every year. All this has come just from Croyde beach, so the amount across the nation’s beaches is staggering. Fortunately, we are able to repurpose the beach tents, so all of the tents used to create this amazing whale will be recycled through our partners at Rooted Ocean Ltd.”

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