South Devon Champions, Dragons Den prize and DofE Bronze expedition

Dragons Den prize winners

A huge congratulations to our incredible student team who won the recent Dragons’ Den competition with their creative and well-pitched ideas! As part of their prize, the team visited the Epic Centre in Paignton, a cutting-edge hub for videography, media production, and presentation skills.

During their visit, they got a taste of life in front of and behind the camera — experiencing what it’s like to host their very own TV show. From presenting on set to exploring the behind-the-scenes tech, it was an inspiring day that brought their ideas to life in a whole new way. As a result - we will receive a fully edited podcast to share far and wide, with a ‘call to action’ to any app developers or AI content designers.

The Epic team were brilliant hosts, offering our students a real insight into media careers and helping them build confidence and new skills along the way. We’re proud of how our students represented the school and can’t wait to see where their creativity takes them next!

Online Art Club Celebration

Our recent online art competition entitled, 'Colour', was a vibrant celebration of creativity and imagination. Students explored bold palettes, subtle tones, and innovative techniques across a wide range of media, including painting, pattern making, digital art and photography.
The entries were full of energy, expression, and individuality, making the judging process both challenging and inspiring.
1st prize: Daisy Bond for her amazing short movie
2nd prize: Serina James for her super digital art painting
3rd prize: Ellie Bowden for her delicate painting of a jellyfish, exploring a limited but subtle colour palette.
Runners up:
Joel Cotton for his super colourful puzzle design.
Issabelle Cassidy: For her super pointillism tree design.
Well done to all who took part! The winners visited Mrs Lynch's art room last Monday to collect their certificates and prizes.

DofE Bronze Practice Expedition

After weeks of classroom and school-based training sessions, the weekend finally arrived to put all their training to the test. Last weekend 53 Year 9 students were attending their DofE Bronze Practice Expedition. The weekend threatened to be a wash out and it did result in the start on Saturday being delayed as there were weather warnings for thunderstorms and lightning. Thankfully, the worst of it passed by mid-afternoon, and with revised start times, the teams were taken to an alternative start point and were able to commence their challenge.

Instead of starting from Ashprington the teams started at the start of a bridleway on the edge of Totnes. The original plan was that many of the teams would be accompanied by a member of staff. With the later start times, this was not possible, and with some trepidation, the teams began their trek. They were reassured by the fact there were staff along the route and many of the teams carried trackers. The route on Saturday was only 4km but it did mean the students got some initial experience of walking with full rucksacks on their backs. A big test of whether they had packed too much kit! After some rucksack adjustments by staff, the teams set off in staggered starts. With the mix of hiking experience (some of the students had done Ten Tors training) the route was expected to take anywhere between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. It was mostly along bridleways, tracks and lanes but there were some navigation challenges along the way.

Each of the teams acquitted themselves well on this first test, and all arrived into the campsite, at Broadleigh Farm Park, near Stoke Gabriel, safely. Although some did take more scenic routes! Some of the teams wanted to just sit and rest after their exertions, but staff ensured they got tents set up as soon as possible and stoves set up to cook their evening meals. Then they could rest. The tents were set up effectively and efficiently and cooking commenced. Some teams went for the pasta, sauce and cheese options, some brought boil in a bag camping meals, and some were more creative. One team even boiled up some fresh vegetables to go with their pasta and sauce dish. A very healthy team!

The next day was a bit of a slow start in terms of getting fed and packed - despite one team having a lively chat in their tents at 4.30am! Although it was a slow start all teams were away by 10.30 having cooked their own hot breakfasts. With staff positioned at various points along their route the teams had to walk from the campsite, towards Galmpton, through the Green Way House area and then through Churston, and along the coast to Brixham. Brixham breakwater was the end point, but with DofE as long as the team is on expedition for 6 hours each day then they are successful.

Each of the teams practised navigation skills and, for the most part, navigated successfully. The Greenway area is a maze of footpaths and bridleways so difficult to navigate through. Some did locate themselves after a few wrong turns. All part of the fun of DofE expeditions. All teams made it to Hill Head, near to the Kingswear Ferry road, despite some students feeling poorly, having very heavy packs and feeling very tired, and some teams getting a bit lost! One team made it to Brixham Breakwater and two teams made it to Churston. All teams acquitted themselves admirably. And some important learning points came up from this experience, which will stand the students in good stead for the challenge of the Qualifying Expedition in a couple of weeks' time!

Botanical Bliss!

This week, students took part in creating mini cauliflower plants! The process and sterile conditions needed to clone very small pieces of plants is used in real life conservation to help protect and save rare plant species from extinction! To do this they had to ensure that themselves and the work areas were clean and sterile before cutting off small pieces of cauliflower and soaking them in Milton for ten minutes. Once the pieces were disinfected, they were placed in a special nutrient agar to encourage them to grow. Hopefully, in two weeks, we will have a host of tiny cauliflower plantlets!

Alongside this, the student made their own closed mini-ecosystem or 'terrarium', learning how to ensure that the moisture, soil and light levels are kept perfect in a closed jar for moisture-loving species such as mosses, ferns and tropical creepers! The science club members then got to take them home, ready to care for them and watch them thrive!

year 11 maths with mrs aplin

Both Mrs Aplin’s Year 11 classes have been preparing for their final maths GCSE paper this week. They’ve looked at predicted topics, likely to come up and now feel more prepared for paper 3. Mrs Aplin has taught some of these students since Year 7 (and even Year 6) and she is very excited to see what they can achieve in their maths exam.

year 10 french with mrs berry

Mrs Berry's Year 10 have French class have been learning to talk about the environment, saying we do as individuals and what we should do as a collective to protect our planet. They have also been using this context to revise tenses and talk about what they used to do when they were younger, what they have done recently, what they do now and their plans for the future.

Year 7 Clay Sea Creatures Project

Mrs Lithgow's talented Year 7 students have been diving into the world of ceramics with an exciting clay project themed around sea creatures. Using their imagination and developing hand-building skills, they’ve created a vibrant range of marine life — from playful octopuses to detailed starfish and fearsome sharks.

The project encouraged creativity, texture work, and careful attention to form. Each piece is unique and showcases the students’ growing confidence in working with clay. Well done Year 7!

fun friday

Year 7 - Ruben Tidball and Sienna Hunter

Year 8 - Madison Wood and Ayden Quarshie

Year 9 - Saket Raj and Halle Walker

Year 9 finish on a high

On Wednesday, our Year 9 Team took on TBGS in the final of the Torbay and District Cup — and delivered a commanding performance from the first whistle to the last.
Led by Captain Noah Margetts, the team set the tone early. After just ten minutes, set-piece specialist Lee Stevens opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, curling a 25-yard free kick into the top corner. Moments later, it was 2–0, as Alex Moss reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box following another dangerous Stevens corner.
TA continued to dominate, and a slick team move saw wing-back Stan Austin finish calmly to make it 3–0. TBGS pulled one back just before half time, but it was little more than a consolation.
In the second half, TA showed their maturity with a composed and professional display — keeping possession, controlling the tempo, and limiting TBGS to very few chances. The final word went to Alex Moss, who added his second of the game after excellent build-up play from Zak Haridi.
The final score: 4–1 to TA — a result that reflects the hard work, talent, and teamwork shown throughout a brilliant season. Well done to every player who has contributed. The future looks very bright for next year!

football festival

SEN team went over to The Devon FA, Coach Road to compete in the SEND Football Festival. They did amazing and worked super hard together as a team. Every player in the squad took charge each of picking the team and they also challenged themselves by playing different positions. We came out with 3rd place against 14 teams that entered the tournament which was exceptional standard to set with this being our only second tournament. They are all looking forward to there next match which is in July.