Sporting Success, Photography Competition & Pathways
Another action packed and success filled week at Torquay Academy….
Sports Roundup
Football
Year 10 football team win ten goal thriller to reach last sixteen in the country
On Tuesday the year 10 football team took on Mangotsfield School (Bristol) in the last 32 of the national cup.
TA started the game brightly and found themselves one nil up after 6 minutes when Olaf Koszella scored what can only be described as a screamer with a goal that would not look out of place in the Premier League. TA where then 2-0 up after 10 minutes when Olaf scored again. Mangotsfield then took control of the game and put TA under serious pressure and within twenty minutes found themselves 3-2 up. At this point TA were really up against it and were really on the ropes but right on the stroke of half time a neat turn and finish from Lewis Eaton pulled TA level at 3-3.
With the words of encouragement and motivation ringing in their ears, TA took to the field and within ten minutes of the second half TA found themselves 4-3 up when Cole Harford broke through and placed the ball past the Mangotsfield goalkeeper. Mangotsfield managed to get back on level terms at 4-4 within in a minute. TA bounced back again and went 5-4 up when good work down the left by Lewis Eaton saw him square the ball for Ollie Mason to slot home from close range. With TA on top they soon made it 6-4 when Lewis Eaton broke through and finished cooly to make it 6-4. TA manged to defend gallantly as a team and to see the remainder of the game.
The draw for the next round will be done on Monday the team are eagerly await to find out who they have to play against. The closest teams in left in the draw are from Coventry and Reading – we are hoping for a home tie!
Year 7
On Monday Mr Jones took 2 teams of Year 7 footballers to the South Devon 5 a side tournament. With the opportunity to progress to the County and then National finals, this is a competition we have done well at in the past. This time was to be no different, with both teams, the A team in particular performing well.
The B Team, drawn in a tough group with St Cuthbert Mayne, Churston and Coombeshead (all A teams) more than held their own but just fell short in their matches. In game one, the boys drew 3-3 with Cuthbert in a game that was end to end, and really a game we deserved to win. In the second game, again the boys managed to score 3 goals, but lost by a score of 5-3 against Churston – whereby we gave away 3 penalties for infringements! We then lost Charlie Charlesworth through injury and Charlie had been outstanding up front in the first two games. We lost the final group match 3-0 to Coombeshead, after again having more than our fair share of chances.
The A Team, comfortably won their group, beating TBGS B Team 4-0, KEVICC 4-0 and Kingsbridge 5-0. The boys played with outstanding energy, intensity and quality to resoundingly win these games. Qualifying as group winners pitted us against Teignmouth in the Quarter Finals, who we beat 3-1.
Our semi-final match against a very good Paignton team was close and tense, but good distribution from Harry Lee set Sean Brown on his way and he cooly scored to win us the game late on 1-0. This performance typified the commitment and determination these boys showed all day.
The final vs TBGS A was our only disappointment of the tournament. We put in a tired display in the final and lost some of the energy and intensity that we had displayed so brilliantly in the 5 prior games. We quickly fell 2 goals down, and then saw a penalty by skipper Ryan Johns-Kouadio (who was absolutely magnificent) saved before we conceded a third, to lose the game 3-0.
A Team Man of the Tournament – Ryan Johns-Kouadio
B Team Man of the Tournament – Charlie Swiderski
Squads
A – Harrison Lee, Taylor Benefer, Caine Lee, Ryan Johns-Kouadio, Ben Aldous, Sean Brown
B – Charlie Swiderski, Jay Rich, Finn Beer, Cody Bose, Charlie Charlesworth, Finley Paull, Cody Bratcher.
Silver Medal Winner at County Badminton Tournament
Year 7 pupil Ellis Knowles travelled to North Devon to compete in the Devon Badminton Tournament. Having played the sport since he was 6 and competed at all county age groups, he now represents the Devon Under 14 age group, playing against boys who are much older than himself. Despite this, he reached the semi finals of the Singles Tournament, and with his doubles partner, managed to win the Silver medal in this event. Well done, Ellis.
Year 8 Pathways Evening
On Thursday evening we hosted our Year 8 Pathways Evening. This was an extremely well attended event with students and parents visiting subject stands and discussing the options that are available from Year 9 onwards. It was a very positive evening and I enjoyed speaking with so many parents and students about their GCSE choices.
Year 8 Music Exam Success
The music department is celebrating another huge achievement this week by Year 8 student, Jake Mitchell. You may remember before Christmas we had Jake’s younger sister, Ellie, featured in the blog for passing her Grade 6 Rockschool Vocal exam, and now Jake himself has received the results for his own Grade 6 Vocal exam which he has also passed. As Mr. Brinson, Jake’s tutor, said the fact that we have younger students sitting grade exams in the first place is amazing, but to be entering a Grade 6 exam at such a young age is almost unheard of! We’re extremely impressed and proud of both Jake and Ellie and we’re looking to seeing how they both do at Grade 7 and 8.
New food outlet
One of the downsides of the school’s popularity is that we have far more pupils than three years ago. This has meant that some of our students have to queue at break time for longer than we would like. We have now opened a hot baguette bar which has helped reduce the queues and enable students to enjoy more of their free time.
Early Success in the National RIBI Young Photographer Competition
Tuesday afternoon saw Mrs. Lynch welcoming a panel of judges to Torquay Academy, who came along to choose a winner in the first round of the ‘National RIBI Young Photographer Competition’.
All year groups entered the competition , with Esther Cox in Year 7 being the youngest competitor and Szulamit Kana being the eldest student, representing Year 13. The judges were impressed with the variety of images submitted and the individual creativity shown in the photographic work. The RIBI panel were full of praise and admiration for the student’s hard work and creativity.
Mrs. Lynch said, “I am extremely proud of the students who have jointly produced a fantastic response to the challenge of representing the theme of ‘Reflection’. Their individual talents and technical skills shine through their photographic artwork”. Szulamit Kana was chosen as the overall winner and will now go through to the next stage in this national competition. Katy Pickburn was highly commended for her work and came a close second place.
Pal / Pat
The new term has seen the return of our Pal / Pat reading scheme. Pupils as Learners / Pupils as Teachers is a scheme where a group of Year 10 students act as mentors and listen to some of our Year 7 students reading, helping them improve their confidence and reading skills. Year 10 students applied for the role of mentor, writing personal statements explaining why they felt they would be good for the role of Reading Mentor. The groups meet every week and all involved are enjoying the chance to work together improving their skills.
Pictured are two of our mentors Jessica Mitchell and Sana Shah listening to some of our Year 7 students.
Principal’s Bronze Certificate
I was very pleased to hand out Bronze Principal Certificates and badges to; Tia Alcock-Burness, Jayde McAllister, Madeline Reeve and Sophie Davis for achieving 100 praise points.
Students of the Week
The students of the week this week with me, Mr Pugh and Mr Withers are; Olivia Moth, Ryan Lovegrove, Luke Giffard, Emily Johns, Jacob Rook.