The Update

The Update
The Axe Valley Community College Newsletter: Friday 5th December 2014 - Issue 6
Axe Valley students competing in the East Devon Cross Country Championships
Congratulations to Flamingo Pool
We were delighted to hear that The Flamingo Pool
were successful in their campaign to win £50,000
through ITV’s The People’s Millions. Centre
manager Steve Buxton has asked me to pass on
their thanks for the tremendous support provided
by the college, which helped them secure 13,000
votes and comfortably scoop this lucrative prize.
Head teacher’s message
Celebrating success—’Proud to Achieve’
A week-long series of Celebration Assemblies start
next Friday and provide a platform to highlight the
fantastic achievements of students across the year
groups. Awards will be presented to students with
the highest positives and, using our traditional
raffle system where students are allocated a ticket
for every five positives they have earned, a draw
will be made for four further prizes in each year
group. We are introducing a range of new awards:
Tutee of the Term, Year Leader’s Award and Head
of Key Stage Award. There will also be certificates
for the top-ten attendance records in each year
group. Details of award winners will be published in
the next Update.
Safeguarding notice to parents / carers visiting site
Please could we remind parents / carers visiting site
that they MUST report to reception on arrival to
sign in. You will be issued with a visitor i/d badge. A
member of staff will escort you to your meeting/
appointment. On departure, visitors must sign out
and return badge. Please note that all staff are
required to ask visitors on site that are
unaccompanied to establish their purpose and
escort them to reception if they have not signed in.
Thanks in advance for your support.
On January 9th Year 11 will be invited to a new
‘Results Day Celebration’. This will be a high profile
event to present students with their mock exam
results. Students who achieve their target grades in
English, Maths and three other subjects will qualify
for a 25% discount off their prom ticket and
students exceeding target can earn 50% off. This
event is designed to highlight the importance of
exam preparation. I will be challenging every
student to plan for their ‘Next 10 Grades’ - how
they are going to improve their performance by a
grade in every subject between January and the
finals in May.
Diary Dates:
9th Dec - REACH induction event
10th Dec - Year 9 Parent’s Evening
12th Dec - Christmas Jumper Day
17th Dec - Carol Concert—7pm
19th Dec - Last day of term
5th January - Start of Spring Term
15th January - Year 7 Meet the Tutor Day
15th January - PSHE Day
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The approach to Christmas
There is a great deal happening over the next
two weeks to get everyone in the Christmas
spirit. Please check this issue for details of the
Christmas Lunch, Jumper Day and Carol
Service. In particular our traditional Carol
Service at The Minster Church of St Mary the
Virgin gives the whole college community a
wonderful opportunity to come together and
celebrate the life of the college, its people and
focus on the traditional values of Christmas. I
would strongly encourage parents / carers to
join us at 7pm on 17th December where you
can sample the wonderful music (and a few
mince pies too).
Martin Smith - Head teacher
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Primary Technology Day
On November 26th six
teams
of
primary
students came to spend
the
day
in
our
Technology Department.
The
schools
that
participated
were
Colyton Primary, Seaton
Primary,
St
Mary’s
Axminster,
Kilmington
Primary, Beer Primary
and Shute Primary.
contributions to their favourite charities.
The students worked hard to calculate their
finances and created posters for their
marketing. At the end of the day each team
gave a presentation to the panel of expert
judges.
All the cookies were delicious and every team
made a fantastic effort to impress with their
confident
and
well
thought-through
presentations. It was a very hard decision to
choose a winning team. The winning team was
Shute Primary School whose ginger and apricot
cookies were truly scrumptious! St Mary’s
came second. Well done to all the pupils
involved.
The students’ challenge
was to design, bake,
package and promote
their
own
special
cookies. The students
were
fantastically
creative and designed
beautiful cookies with a
variety
of
flavours
including pink Smarties,
chocolate, oats, dried
fruits, cinnamon and
ginger. Their packaging
had visibility windows
and
details
of
Mrs S Stone - Subject Leader Technology
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Student News
Year 7 Opera Trip - The Finta of the Opera
Posing, costume, and make-up were gradually
stripped away to reveal the truth that lies
beneath, in La Finta Giardiniera (The False
Gardener); the comedy-opera composed by
Mozart when he was just eighteen years old. Mr
Otty and his Year 7 English group, plus a handful
of culturally-curious Year 11s, one sixth former,
and Ms Gribler, saw the latest production in
Plymouth on the 27th November.
the
characters
deliberately
destroyed the props
and
scenery,
revealing the ‘false’
nature of the opera
itself. This provoked
riotous laughter from
some of the Year 7
boys, whose attention
had
admittedly
flagged slightly in the
preceding scene (an
extended,
lovesick
aria). It provoked
admiration in Mr Otty
who was excitedly gibbering something
pretentious about it being “a textbook example
of Derridean deconstruction in action, pulling at
the thread of ambiguity in the title ‘finta’”… Or,
in Samidi’s words; “It amused me and I thought
it was fabulous.”
As expressed perfectly by Dan Rowe in Y7, the
plot is “brain-achingly complicated”, following a
small group of characters who, in the words of
Olive Fitzgerald (Y7) “fancy, hate, and love each
other, which then introduces confusion into the
story to mix things up and cause chaos.”
However, as Saffie Fraser (Y11) explained; “I
didn’t need to understand it to enjoy it.”
Many of the students were impressed by the
visual spectacle. Caitlin Sutherland (Y11)
described the opera as a “beautiful and
interesting way of displaying a dramatic piece of
theatre” and Olive enjoyed seeing the
“gorgeously embroidered clothing”. We were
lucky enough to have a fully-costumed member
of the cast join us for a photo at the end of the
performance.
Impressed members of the audience
commended the students for their engagement
with the opera. Faith Rowley (Y11) led an
interval commentary on how the staging could
have been improved and afterwards said, “I
genuinely thought it was going to be a nap-fest,
but it was actually incredible. I would love to go
again!”
The climax of the opera supported the clever
interpretation of the production overall, as a
comment on falsehood. “My favourite part was
when the ex-lovers tore up the pretend house,”
Samidi Nanayakkara tells us, referring to when
Mr A Otty - English Department
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Sixth Form News
Good Luck to Annabel Jackson
Former Head Girl, Annabel Jackson has secured an
interview at Oxford University, following her UCAS
application and test. Annabel has applied to study
History. We wish her the best of luck in securing
her place.
Sixth Form Volunteering
Our Sixth Form have been taking a very active part
in school life. In addition to their studies, many
have volunteered their time, knowledge and
enthusiasm to a range of subjects and activities.
Four of our Sixth Formers helped recently with the
Bicton Cross Country Event. They were kept very
busy helping to marshall, record placement and
finish times, ensure runners kept hydrated and
warm. Chloe Loveridge said ”It was nice to take on
the different role of helping others after
participating myself for five years. Alex Palmer
added, “You get a sense or responsibility from
doing this and helping others”.
Subject Ambassadors
Quite a few of our 6th Form subject ambassadors
were present at the 6th Form Taster Day and
Open Evening. They were able to talk to parents
and current Year 11 about A Level and BTEC
subjects and provide the student perspective. Sam
Harris, one of the ambassadors for Sport said that
most people he spoke to wanted to know how
enjoyable the course was and he was able to tell
them about the great range of practical activities
and residentials offered.
Sixth Form Panto
Scripted by Ben Brake, this “Interesting Take on
Christmas” will be performed for the juniors at the
end of term. A closely guarded secret, we are
informed it will be long on talent and short on
rehearsal time. Those interested in showcasing
their performance skills or sheer natural comedic
flair, talk to Jonny House this week!
Mr R Carr - Sixth Form
Annabel Jackson, Rosie Hawkins and Emma
Griffiths have been helping to coach Year 7 &
Year10 Football, they all said it was rewarding and
helped developed leadership skills and was great
fun, especially when their team won!
The sixth form boys football team are also
involved in coaching activities with the younger
year groups.
Finally, it is great to see so many of the students
helping others throughout the school with their
work. Volunteering as a tutor or TA can have a
huge impact on younger students’ learning.
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eSafety Advice
Teach them about safe use of passwords and
other login details. It’s very commonplace for
children’s pages to be hacked into, their
profiles being changed either for fun or
maliciously, or harmful comments to be posted
by someone else in their name. This can also
happen if they leave their computer or mobile
device on and walk away from it without
logging off the site.
Your Child and
Social Networking
Social networking has been –
and still is – one of the
revolutions of the online age
and when used correctly is an
excellent way of keeping in touch
with friends and family. But it can
also be a source of harm for your child (or for
you and other family members, via your child).
Most social networking sites set a lower age
limit for membership (13 years old is
commonplace), but it’s easy for children to get
around it and get online at an earlier age.
Encourage your child to tell you which sites
they’re using, and ask them to show you how
they work.
Above all, assure them that it’s OK to come to
you or another trusted adult if they feel
threatened by or uncomfortable about
something they have seen or done on a social
networking site.
All of the above information and advice applies
to instant messaging services too.
(Source: https://www.getsafeonline.org)
The main risks are associated with your child
befriending or talking with a stranger who may
be stalking them, cyberbullying from either
strangers or people they already know, being
scammed by downloading or linking to hoax
content, and identity theft by revealing private
information in profiles and posts. And though
it may seem unthinkable, you child could be
bullying or saying inappropriate things about
somebody else, rather than being the target.
More detailed information can be found online
at http://bit.ly/1ghnqWD
Teach your child to be very careful to befriend
and communicate with only trusted people
that they know. Tell them that revealing
personal details such as their birth date,
address, pet’s name or teacher could give
someone all the information they know to
harm them. Teach them not to click on links or
download from sites they have linked to.
What parents need to know about popular
social media sites overview: http://
bit.ly/1k4li8V
Additional eSafety guidance can be found on
the weblinks listed on:
http://axevalley.devon.sch.uk/parent/esafety/
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College Notices
Christmas Card Competition
There were so many beautiful entries to this
year’s competition—well done everyone who
entered.
not have informed us, please let us know as
soon as possible.
We are delighted to announce that this year’s
winners are: Louise Tyne 7RS and Jessie
Holmes 7RS
Mrs Benita White - SIMS Manager
Many thanks for your help in keeping our
database up to date.
Christmas Lunches in the Canteen
The canteen will be serving their delicious
Christmas lunches in school on Tuesday 9th,
Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th December.
The menu will be:
Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce
Piggy in blanket
Or
Homemade Vegetarian Loaf
All with sage and onion stuffing, roast
potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots,
peas and sprouts
Christmas pudding and custard
Or Ice Cream
100% Attendance
Is your name on the notice board near
reception? Or check the school website.
£2.20 (or £1.95 main only)
Well done to all of the students that had 100%
attendance from September to October half
term. The top tutor groups were 7CM and 9AO.
Mrs Steggall - Attendance
Contact Details for Parents / Carers
Thank you to all parents who have returned the
Data Collection Sheet for their son/daughter
which was issued in November. We use our
Call Parents system both mobile and email, on
a regular basis to inform parents about school
events, newsletter, detentions, etc. and in the
event of an emergency closure, such as snow,
we would like to be able to contact you as early
as possible if a decision is taken to close the
college.
If you have recently changed your contact
numbers or your address but believe you may
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REACH Update
Study Skills Tutorials
Monday 24th November
Study Skills Kick Start for Key Stage 3
This tutorial was a real eye-opener for some of
the students. The Elevate presenter was young
and dynamic and spoke their language, starting
off with jokes that put them at ease. The
students practised their dynamic reading skills
and new note taking techniques on an article
about the famous rapper Eminem.
history, which was interesting and had lots of
biscuits and coke. Then we had a site tour. We
saw the founder’s tracked off-road wheelchair,
the RNLI boat catcher, bomb proof trucks and a
converted land rover. Then we went to the test
track to ride on a Jackal and the 6x6. I was
taken to 40mph in the 6x6 and must have been
taken 50-60mph in the Jackal. It was better
than any roller-coaster. It was a very good
experience and has made me consider a career
with them.
Jed Holmes 9LS
Memory and Mnemonics for Key Stage 4
The Year 10 and 11 students learnt about these
useful skills that will stand them in good stead
for their exams.
It
was
really
interesting when we
climbed into a truck
that had extreme
blast protection at
the
Supacat
workshop. At the test
site we had so much
FUN!! Adrenalin was
high and the rides are
unforgettable despite
the bad weather, it
actually made me feel
like I was in the army.
The first thing their attention was drawn to was
the importance of removing distractions whilst
studying; to turn the TV off, not listen to music
and put their phones on flight mode. It didn’t
sound like fun, but once they realised how
much time they could save as well as improve
their results they seemed to be convinced.
They then practised a variety of simple
techniques and strategies to will help them
increase the amount of information they can
commit to memory, and most importantly
increase the amount they can recall in the
exam room.
Henrich Hofrats 9RF
The Supacat trip was one of the most
interesting experiences I have ever had, we
learnt about the history of the vehicles, how
they were made and it was really fun when we
drove around in them I got to go in an army
troop transporter.
Ethan Ford 9RF
Engineering visit to Supacat - 27th November
Ten REACH and ASPIRE students were invited
to visit Supacat at Dunkerswell airfield.
I really liked going to Supacat. It was supacool!
First we had a presentation of the company
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spaces available, so please return your form if
you are interested in joining in.
Events coming up soon...
Festive Creative REACH Induction Evening
Key Stage 3—9th December 3.30-5.30pm
We have invited all the REACH Year 7, 8 and 9
students to sign up for this event.
Mentors
We are currently recruiting mentors for the
REACH programme. If you think you might be a
suitable person to encourage and boost the
confidence and motivation of a young person
please
contact Kate Pemberton on
[email protected]
We will be making cards, decorations,
gingerbread cookies and boxes of goodies for
charity. The students will fully immerse in the
Christmas spirit with refreshments and music
whilst creating gifts and treats for those less
fortunate in our community.
All mentors will be trained and supported by
the college. The programme would involve one
evening (2 hours) per half term.
A REACH Christmas stall will be set up in
Reception offering some of these charming
items for sale. All the proceeds will be used to
fill gift boxes for local food banks.
Ten Tours and Talks
Next term we will be offering a series of talks
and tours with professionals in a variety of
industries from the NHS to Dockyards, from
Law to Hospitality and Computing to
Dancewear. We hope that all the talks will add
an inspiring dimension to the students’ views
and that the tours will add a reality that will
help them find their direction.
There is still time to sign up in Reception.
Wood Turning Workshops at Axminster Tools
and Machinery
10th, 11th, 15th, 16th, and 17th December
3.30pm to 6pm
Key Stage 3 REACH students have been invited
to attend one of these five workshops in
December. Each workshop can only
accommodate six students so these will be
allocated on a first come first served basis.
The events will be held on Wednesdays after
school and in most cases will finish in time for
students to catch the 5pm bus home. Sign-up
sheets will be available on the new REACH
notice board opposite the Student Office.
We know that these workshops are very
popular so we will organise more in the new
year for any students that are disappointed this
time. At the moment there are still several
Mrs K Pemberton - REACH Co-ordinator
P.S. The NEW REACH noticeboard will be a
checkpoint for all events with an updated
timetable and news of recent events. The
board will be just outside the Student Office,
by the steps to the language department.
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ASPIRE Update
Double Elephant Printing Workshop
Upper and lower school ASPIRE Artists were
treated to some expert tuition on Monday 24th
November when Double Elephant Printing
spent the day helping students create some
fantastic printed works of art. During the
morning session, Simon Ripley and Paula
Youens helped students from Years 9 – 13
learn how to produce collagraphs linked with
their GCSE and A level topic ‘Land, Sea and
Sky’. The afternoon session saw students from
years 5 to 8 get bold with their printing and
experiment
with
printed words and
contrasting colours.
It was also a great
pleasure to have Mr
Sinclair back in the
art rooms for the
day to join in the
fun.
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South West Water Energy Challenge
The SWW team continued their Energy Challenge
workshops with their modules on Energy and
Behavioural Change. ASPIRE students looked at the
energy needed to eat a Jaffa Cake and worked out
how many Jaffa Cakes they would need to run a
power station for a day.
DNA, take the taste test and see how your taste
buds differ from others.
The students also looked at infrared image cameras
to see where energy is lost in our homes and the
importance of the chosen wording in ad campaigns
to get the strongest message across to a chosen
audience.
War Horse – from Page to Stage
Wednesday 28th January - Bristol
50 ASPIRE Arts and ASPIRE General students will be
travelling to Bristol Hippodrome to take part in a
schools workshop, War Horse – from Page to
Stage. Students will have the unique experience of
interacting with members of the War Horse
Creative and Acting Company and the National
Theatre’s Learning Team to explore some of the
background principles of puppetry.
Letters and emails were sent out last week so
please remember to send your replies to Reception
or via email.
The next workshop is Tuesday January 13th 3:30 –
5pm, when Paul Merchant and Chris Groves from
SWW will be looking at water efficiency.
Mathemagical
Students in Years 7 and 8 had a magical time with
their maths last week. On Tuesday 2nd December
Ms Cleare from our Maths department had fun
explaining the maths behind magic tricks during
her after school maths workshop. Thanks to exstudent magician Jack Ward who recorded some
card tricks on you tube for us to master and
explain.
Students will then get the chance to see the
matinee performance of the show. Invitations for
this event have been emailed to parents and
students today and payments for tickets (£25 each)
can be made via the school online GATEWAY
payment system. There are only 50 places for this
trip and it will be allocated on a first come first
served basis.
The next after school maths event will be on
Wednesday 7th January, 3:30 – 5pm in C3.
Invitations will be issued soon via school email.
Exeter University Extended Coaching – Year 11s
Letters and emails have been sent out to students
who took part in the Exeter University Extended
Coaching sessions whilst in year 10.
These
coaching sessions will continue this year and Ollie is
looking forward to meeting with you all again on
the following dates:
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY……
Exeter Medical School - Tuesday 9th December
for ASPIRE years 7, 8 and 9 plus one parent.
Next Tuesday Exeter Medical School will be coming
to run some parent and student workshops after
school. The event starts at 3:30pm and runs until
5:30pm in the Sixth Form Centre. There will be five
areas where students and parents can have some
hands on interactive fun e.g. find out about your
Wednesday 10th December 3:30 – 4:30 in R block
Wednesday 14th January 3:30 – 4:30 in R block
Wednesday 11th February 3:30 – 4:30 in R block
If you are unable to attend any of these dates
please email me on [email protected]
and I will let Ollie know.
Mrs Slade - ASPIRE Co-ordinator
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TAVCC PTFA Update
Advent is so much fun! The BIG Advent Raffle has started with three prizes every day so far
thanks to the generosity of the PTFA members and the following local businesses:
Sweet Heaven in Seaton
Woody’s Gift Shop in Seaton
Steve’s Printers and Stationers in Seaton
Itemdrop in Seaton
Tower Services in Seaton
Just Flowers in Seaton
Abbotts DIY in Seaton
Archway Bookshop in Axminster
And The Flamingo Pool, Axminster
It’s not too late to join in the fun - Tickets are available on Reception at £1.00 each
Each ticket will give you lots of chances to win prizes every school day in December.
The prize draws will be held in Reception at 1.30pm every day
and announced by phone and on the student bulletin at tutor time.
If you are doing some Christmas shopping
online please don’t forget to register. If you
already use The Giving Machine and donate
towards another charity, you can even split the
proceeds—The Giving Machine makes it easy!
Jumble Sale
The PTFA and Year 9 students will be holding a
jumble sale on the 31st January 2.00pm –
3.30pm in the Main Hall. There will be Jumble,
Bric-a-Brac, books, teas & coffees, cakes and
raffle all to raise funds for the PTFA and the
Year 9 chosen charity. We would appreciate
your donations of jumble that can be dropped
off in Reception.
Hopefully many of you will be familiar to The
Giving Machine which is a fantastic online
shopping fundraising tool used by many PTFAs
and Charities across the country. TAVCC have
registered and all you have to do is click on
their link though our website, register yourself
as a shopper and start shopping. Every time
you shop a small percentage will be donated to
our fund and will cost you nothing. In fact they
often have discounts and promotions that will
mean you will even pay less!
The next PTFA meeting will be held on:
19th January at 7pm.
Everyone is welcome!
12
Sports Update
Badminton
U13 Badminton tournament - qualifying round:
The boys will now be able to assist with Mr
Brookman's Futsal league after Christmas and
widen the opportunities for the younger years
at lunch time.
On Thursday 27th November 5 boys and 5 girls
took part in the qualifying round of the U13
East Devon Badminton tournament.
The boys (Alex Ball, Will Hellier, Lewis Burridge,
Marc Paloma and Bradley Conway) faced
Colyton and Honiton. The Colyton boys team
consisted of two Devon squad members so
they were facing formidable opponents and
although they all worked hard to outwit the
other players the strength and finesse of
Colyton won through. The games against
Honiton were much closer with 2 games only
being lost 21-14 and Lewis Burridge winning his
21-20, unfortunately this was not enough to
see the boys through.
The girls (Sophie Sharp, Charlotte Vigurs,
Megan Herbert, Maia Booth and Millie
DeBono) also had to face Colyton and this was
a very close game
Cross Country Running
Following their efforts at the East Devon Cross
Country in November, 9 Axe Valley students
took part in the East Devon vs Exeter
championships at Haldon Forest on Wednesday
3rd December. It was a cold start to the
morning but by the time the team had walked
the course the sun was out and the sky was
blue - great running conditions.
After the first 4 games (two double and two
singles) it was tied 2 games each meaning the
final doubles match would decide if we
qualified in first or second place. The girls kept
their nerve and beat Colyton sending them
through to the finals on Tuesday 16th Dec well done and good luck.
Thank you also to Maia for standing in at the
last minute.
Megan Herbert (Yr8) had made it through,
despite being a year young in her category, and
worked hard to gain a very creditable 27th
position. Next up was Ethan Day (Yr9) - Ethan
powered round to achieve an excellent 15th
Futsal
Year 11 boys attended a Futsal refereeing /
leaders course at The King’s School last week.
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position which may see him through to the
Devon round. Both of these athletes qualified
as reserves so deserve huge praise for their
final positions.
High 5s Netball League
Thanks must go to our dedicated student
sports leaders who have been completing a
unit of sports leadership in curriculum time and
run the high 5s primary netball league this
term. St Mary and All Saints Primary teams
May Wood (Yr10), Kim Croton (Yr11) and Becky
Griffiths (Yr10) were next to run in the inter
girls race. They worked hard and gained 12th,
22nd and 25th positions respectively. This
means May has qualified for the Devon round
for the second year running.
have both qualified to play in the East Devon
Finals in February 2015 at The Kings school.
All of the sports leaders have improved in
confidence and have enjoyed helping the
younger children.
The inter boys - Tony Pinder (Yr11), Max
Richardson (Yr11) and Ben Franklin (Yr10) had a
strong field to contend with. They finished in
5th, 17th and 24th. This secures Tony's
appearance at the county round for the 3rd
year in a row.
Mrs H Oxley - School Sports Coordinator
Last to run for the senior boys race was Jacob
Clode (Yr12) and he faced two laps of the long
fast paced course. After his 4 miles Jacob
finished in 14th and he will need to wait to see
if this is enough to get him through - fingers
crossed!
Well done to all athletes who showed
commitment and positive attitudes in a very
competitive arena.
Mrs T Moran—Subject Leader P.E.
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Community Noticeboard
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ld like to b
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st please
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s
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nd a
ith your e
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