Football & Basketball News and Climbing the Maths Mountain
Shiphay Year 4 Primary Visit
Shiphay Year 4 pupils came to visit last week for an afternoon of science and enterprise.
Year 4 pupils took part in a product creation, branding and marketing exercise with Mr Honey. They went through some different examples of product creation and branding which they really understood and enjoyed. The pupils were then set the task of creating their own brand of ice cream and drawing it. They were asked to include a name for their ice cream, logo, the price, flavours and where it could be bought, essentially the 4P’s of the marketing mix. The pupils really engaged in the task and came up with some fantastically creative products and brand names. There were some weird and wonderful flavour combinations with many partial to including ‘bubblegum’. The most bizarre flavour of the day was the chicken nugget inspired ice cream! Once pupils had completed this part of the task they undertook some market research to see if their product would sell by creating a tally chart of who would and wouldn’t buy their ice cream. Mr Honey said that he had a great 2 hours with the Year 4 pupils from Shiphay.
In Science the pupils learnt that the raw material of plastics was crude oil and that plastics are made up of long chains called ‘polymers’. They looked at how we can change the properties of plastics by adding ‘cross-links’ and ‘plasticisers’ to these polymer chains by doing a rather messy experiment with PVA glue!
As always it was a pleasure to see them and we look forward to future visits.
Year Group Photographs
Students lining up in the newly decorated Sports Hall for the Year 7 and Year 11 photographs that were taken on Tuesday.
Maths Whizz Mountain
This is the Maths Whizz Progress Mountain which shows students’ progress on their journey to improve their Maths skills. Maths Whizz is an online program that has just won the 2016 BETT Award for best International Digital Education Resource. Torquay Academy has invested in this resource to allow our students to gain enthusiasm for Numeracy. The program is tailored to the individual student, challenging and rewarding the students with stickers and certificates . This program can be accessed from home so that parents can view their child’s progress and involve them in their learning. The students enjoy the Maths Whizz content which has visual as well as auditory learning.
Football Roundup
Year 8
TA team beat a strong Year 8 team from TBGS on Thursday in the South Devon Cup.
TA started brightly, and set their stall out to work hard from the outset, by pressing TBGS all over the pitch. This made for a tight first half, with few goal scoring opportunities for either side; the back 3 of Jack Cumston, Dan Rivers and Krisjanis Rumnieks showed some outstanding defending.
The second half couldn’t have started any better, as Josh Haydock capitalised on some hesitancy in the TBGS defence and drove the ball home from the edge of the area. The second half then became very much about who wanted to win it more, with TBGS pushing forward in numbers, and creating a couple of well worked chances. However, Harvey Lee in goal was in magnificent form, and pulled off a string of fantastic saves to keep our noses in front, and TA defended stoically as a unit to preserve the lead.
TA continued to dig deep, and we created chances of our own towards the end of the second half. The boys’ endeavour was eventually awarded when Haydock demonstrated good skill and strength to ride three challenges, then good poise to pick out Lennon Berryman who slotted calmly past the goalkeeper for 2-0.
In response, TBGS managed to finally find a way past Harvey with a minute remaining to make it a nervy last few moments. But TA held on, and now progress to the Semi Final. Fantastic effort.
Year 8 next stage
The Year 8 football team bowed out of the South Devon Cup despite a resounding effort against South Dartmoor on Thursday. The first half was a game of 2 penalties, first Dan Rivers felled the SDCC striker to which they then scored. Then on the stroke of half time, a well struck free kick from Spencer Davis was spilled by the goalkeeper who then fouled Lennon Berryman, as he reacted quickest. Spencer duly dispatched the resulting penalty.
The second half was similar to the first, with chances at a premium and despite some long range efforts, Harvey Lee in goal was not really troubled. The game appeared to be drifting towards Extra Time when with 7 minutes remaining South Dartmoor created an opportunity which was finished well past Harvey.
At Full Time, whilst obviously despondent we reflected on a real season of improvement from the team, collectively and individually and for that myself, Mr Grinsill and Mr Hogg are very proud of them. Further commitment to training and continuing to take feedback on board next year, will see the boys look to push on and hopefully reach the final.
Year 9 Reach Devon Cup Final
On Monday year 9 beat lasts years runners up Uffculme to reach the Devon Cup Final. Both teams started brightly with chances at a premium. However just before half time Uffculme took the lead with a well worked move. TA knew that the second half was going to be easier as they had the wind behind them and eventually got back on level terms through a 20 yard strike from Ollie Mason. Both teams were going at each other with TA having the better chances. But it was Uffculme who took the lead again. TA continued to pile on pressure and eventually it told when Cole Harford worked his magic on the right wing and delivered a cross that left their defender only able to put it in his own goal. The decisive moment came 5 minutes from the end when a Joe Whitehead corner was not cleared and the ball was played back into the box for Ollie Mason to head home at the far post.
A great win boys well done! Year 9 now have two finals to look forward too!
Year 10 lose to Torquay Boys’ Grammar School
On Tuesday the Year 10 football team played TBGS in the semi-final of the South Devon Cup. The game was a repeat of lasts years final that TA won on penalties. The wind played a massive part in the game and TA lost 2-1 after Joe Belsten had scored a fantastic free kick to level the scores only for TA to concede 5 minutes from the end.
6th Form Football Trials
On Thursday night over 25 boys took part in the football trial at Plainmoor home of Torquay United. The boys were split into two teams and given the experience of playing at Plainmoor home of our first team. The boys were then managed and led by our two first team coaches and got a feel for what it would be like for them next year if they broke into the first team. The game was of a good standard and the boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience with the red team running out 4-3 winners.
Basketball
The Year 8’s basketball house tournament was held on Thursday after school. It was the first tournament to be held in our excellent, upgraded sports hall. The Year 8’s turned up in good numbers to represent their houses with some brilliant individual performances. The competition was played with great spirit and determination throughout the evening. Harrison extended their points at the top of the house table with another win. Darwin were runners up, narrowly missing out by 1 basket in the final. Fawcett finished in 3rd place and Pengelly 4th.
Well done to all who participated!
Students of the Week
Students of the Week with Mr Withers and Mr Penrice: Bill Robson, Tamla Wells, Brandon Bridge, Spencer Davis, Shannon Brown