Buckingham Palace, National Champion and I get cold and wet

TA Students at Buckingham Palace

Over the last two weeks, we have had students travelling up to London to attend garden parties at Buckingham Palace. This has been in recognition of their fantastic achievement of completing their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards.

Blessed with wonderful weather, four of our current Year 13s and one of our former students, and now CCF volunteer staff member, made the trip up last Friday 9th May. And another two of our current Year 13 students attended the garden party on Monday this week.

At the Garden Party on the Friday 9th May were Kole Gjikolaj, Hannah Carr, Lauren Carr, Will Reed (all Year 13) and Alex Green (Year 13 last year and currently CCF Volunteer Staff)

On Monday 12th May Will Harrison and Arren Button from Year 13 were in attendance. Our warmest congratulations to all of them and hoping they had the most amazing experience at the Palace.

With the Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince Edward, and a whole host of dignitaries and celebrities in attendance, our students, looking very smart, mixed with many other successful DofE participants and their families, soaking up the atmosphere at the royal residence. There were talks from some of the dignitaries, including presenter and former footballer Alex Scott, paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, journalist Victoria Derbyshire and Strictly star Amy Dowden MBE.

It has been such a pleasure and an honour to see and support our students to get to this prestigious event and their attendance is testament to their commitment, hard work, resilience, enthusiasm and drive to succeed. This achievement is the highest level of the world's most acclaimed young persons character development award and will help our students with university and future job applications, giving them an advantage over others with similar qualifications.

Farewell to Cadet Flight Sergeant Crushcov & A Huge Well Done to All Our Cadets!

This week marks the end of an era for our Combined Cadet Force (CCF) at Torquay Academy as we say a fond farewell to Cadet Flight Sergeant Crushcov. An exceptional role model and leader, Flt Sgt Crushcov has shown commitment, integrity, and professionalism throughout their time in the cadets. We thank them for their incredible service and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.

It’s also been another action-packed and rewarding week for all our cadets. From teamwork to resilience, the cadets have been developing a wide range of valuable life skills through a host of challenging and exciting activities.

They’ve taken part in:

Patrolling exercises that tested their awareness, communication, and tactical planning.
Radio communication drills, building confidence in transmitting clear, concise messages under pressure.
Camouflage and concealment sessions, where they learned how to blend into the natural environment and move undetected.
Drill practice, sharpening their discipline, timing, and precision as a team.
Coasteering, which pushed their physical limits and strengthened teamwork while navigating rugged coastal terrain.
St John’s Ambulance First Aid training, equipping them with essential life-saving knowledge and practical emergency response skills.
And so much more!

Our cadets continue to make us proud with their enthusiasm, determination, and ability to support one another. Every session brings growth, and every challenge brings out the best in them.

We look forward to seeing what the future holds for all our young cadets—and once again, thank you to Flt Sgt Crushcov for leading by example. You’ll always be part of the CCF family at Torquay Academy

Sparx Reader

This week we celebrated our first Year 7 to achieve 25,000 Sparx Reader Points and earnt himself the Sparx Reader Bronze badge. Oliver has shown a huge commitment to reading and his love of books is evident. He has read over 156000 words and spent over 49 hours reading! A huge well done to Oliver for an incredible achievement.

Year 9 History!

In History we have been studying Medicine in Britain. They have learnt all about the medieval period and are now studying how what changed or continued into the Renaissance period. They have been working really hard to improve their written work and explanations. Here you can see where they have studied an individual, William Harvey, and are explaining what factors influenced his work. You can see how they are pushing their explanation by using our very loved 'So what?' rule where they are fully explaining their answers by using three 'So's'. They are working so hard and taking a lot of pride in their work. I am very proud of them! Well done.

Last ever Tudor lesson for year 13!

Miss Essam-Wood had her last lessons with year 13 this week. Miss Essam-Wood is so incredibly proud of each and every one of them and wishes them the best of luck on their futures. They had their Tudors exam on the 23rd May and have their final History exam on the 6th June. Good luck!!

A big birthday

I was hoping that my big birthday would sneak by unnoticed. No such luck for me! The day started with a lovely cake and, somewhat embarrassingly, Happy Birthday being sung to me.

Then I am not quite sure how I was pressured into doing the Ice Bucket Challenge. Instead of it being a bucket, it was three bins!

We had a big Fun Friday and an outdoor karaoke as well.

Year 7 - Eden Zaple and Poppy Pope

Year 8 - Poppy Haslett and Ted Dudley

Year 9 - Milan Ujj and Holly Nunn

National Champion

In March, Kacper Piwowar won four silver national medals in the U15 and U17 categories – but that wasn’t the end of his success.

Last weekend, Kacper and his brother Jakub, our former student, both members of the Great Britain Squad, competed in the U19 and U21 National Championships in Kettering. Kacper performed exceptionally well against older players, winning a bronze medal in the U19 Singles and another bronze in the U21 Doubles. In the U19 quarter-finals, he triumphed in a thrilling 3–2 match against the current U21 champion, coming back from 8–10 down in the deciding set to win 16–14.

Jakub truly shone at the event, becoming National Champion in both the U19 Boys’ Singles and Doubles, and also securing bronze medals in the U21 Singles and Doubles.

Congratulations to both boys, and best of luck in your upcoming competitions.

year 8 rounders

This week, Mrs Abraham's 8T10 class were focussing on batting in Rounders. The students have been having lots of deliberate practice time on perfecting their technique of using the correct body positioning and methods to swing and hit the ball. We had some very good batters today, so those feilding were kept busy! We then implemented this into a game, focussing on the rules around batting, and what happens in a game when you hit the ball backwards.

Y8 & Y9 Rounders match

On Wednesday, a team of Year 8 and Year 9 girls attended a friendly Rounders fixture at St. Cuthbert Mayne. The year 8 girls had a strong start, finishing their first innings with a 9-9 draw, but unfortunately lost the lead in the second innings. The Year 9s also came away with a loss but a lot of lessons learnt! Well done to all those involved and a big shout out to Belle and Anastasia for getting player of the match!

prestigious diamond award

Year 7 - Archie Kershaw, Amelia Woodland, Oliver Finley-Squires, Lexi Walker, Zenna Venter, Laila Stuttaford, Mimi Skelly, Lydia Shetliffe, Arthur Gaughan, Chloe Eales, Willow-Mae Calland, Mollianne Potter, Archie Payne-Stanbury, Maddie Mack, Zafirah Faryal, Josiah Addai and Jacob Hicks

governors' platinum certificates

Year 7 - Beni Paplogo, Gracie Ritson, Jack O'Connor, Alex Nicholson, Sienna Hunter, Peyton Wilkin, Kaiden Ilhan, Rhia Holding, Louie Gribbin, Skye Beasley, Ruby Rose, Corah Luscombe, Cody Butler, Samuel McDonald, George Davies, Elliot Holmes-Inch, Darcy Gibbings, Evan Jones, Lilah Dallow, Liv Andrews, Ela Uven, Chloe Bastow and Isla Parsons

governors' gold certificates

Year 7 - Sara Szewczuk, Isla Parsons, Braxton Biggs, Dee Davies, Libby Pell, Ryu Cutts, Tyler Moss, Jake Jolly, Jack Jackson, Sophia Houghton, Mia Fellows, Joe Matthews, Bailey Clements, Beau-Angel Talbot, Tehya Quennell, Mia Kost, Oliver Beamish, Frederick Sintim, Kamile Degutyte, Cian McHugh, Lexi Nicholson, Bailey Jones, Abigail Harkin, Maddox Findlay-Peers, Joel Cotton, Kai Parton, Amelia Palla, Colby Craig, Mason Beardsley, Rocco D'Alessandro, Teddy Shobbrook, Caelan O'Gorman, Georgina Morton, Zofia Bocianowska, Finley Thompson, Lilly Jones, Gabriele Stadalninkaite, Amaris Quennell, Lucy Matthews, Tyler Fudge, Ava Wiggins, George Ballance, Jacob Purdie, Maja Kokoszka, Charlie Courtier, Jude Brodie, Jude Nwachukwu, Ella Batten, Tallulah Owen, Heath Slater-Saunt, Max Bovey, Brooke Dennett, Jacob Caldwell, Hayley Steenkamp, Riley House, Jasmine Craig and Sienna Frost

governors' silver certificates

Year 7 - Eryn Stafford-Summers, Charlie Skinner, Riley Piercy, Isaac Hodge, Theo Mason, Olivia Fisher, Kieran Truong, Sophia Hill, Oscar Josey, Cole Washington, Joe McDonough, Cole Barton, Toby Roadnight, Oscar Manley, Alex Oleksy, Zack Jeneway, Lilly-May Lee, Lexi Kenneford, Lottie Hutcheson, Molly Caulfield, Jaycie Kennedy-Taylor, Emilie Cutmore, Kobe Laker, Maya Campineanu, Josie Cotton, Vinnie Driscoll-Hayes, Mabel Clatworthy, Erin Ayres, Kai Cornish, Toby Young, Gabriel Talbot-Powner, Jude Storey, Ethan Halliday, Luca Guppy, Kiera Chivers, Zac Austin, Mya Bishop, Abi Allen, Oscar Hall, Nouh Haridi and Charlie Williams-Powell

governors' bronze certificates

Year 7 - Laura Mercer, Bella Cassidy, Freddie Brabon, Poppy Pope, Gracie Ritson, Lincoln Trapp, Annabella Hodge, Achara Edmund, Nancy Wheeler, Oscar Anderson, George Tonks, Theo Eaton-Liley, Scarlett Slater, Lexi Johnson, Chloe Hornsby, Poppy Cosh, Luka Hingley and Achilles Richards

principal's gold certificates

Year 7 - Eve Truscott, Alfie Carpenter-Sorton, Ava Harrison, Finley Elliott, Zac Retter, Shay Holden, Elise Leven-Browne, Nicholas Robinson, Tommy Fairey and Eden Zaple