National Success, Careers Fair & Flying a plane

flying high

Two of our students got to fly a plane this weekend, Harrison said "I just landed after flying, very very enjoyable, got to take control of the aircraft and do some maneuvers, also did some zero-G stuff so I was weightless and floating for a few seconds!". What an experience for them.

University of Plymouth Enterprise Challenge - Year 12 Winners

Year 12 Business students recently represented the school at the University of Plymouth’s Enterprise at Plymouth event and came away as overall winners in a highly competitive enterprise challenge.

The outreach event, hosted by Plymouth Business School, brought together students from schools across the South West for a fast-paced, Apprentice-style enterprise challenge. Working in teams, students were tasked with designing a mental health support app, developing a viable business concept and presenting their ideas to a panel of expert judges.

Throughout the day, students took part in workshops focusing on PESTLE analysis, product development, branding, pricing and financial planning, before pitching their final ideas in a competitive presentation round.

Our Year 12 Business students impressed judges with their creativity, teamwork and entrepreneurial thinking, ultimately winning the competition against other top schools from the area.

This was a fantastic achievement and a proud moment for the department. The students represented the school exceptionally well and demonstrated skills, confidence and innovation.

careers fair

On Wednesday 25th March, as part of our Personal Development Day 3, we also hosted our annual Careers Fair. This was our biggest and best yet!

Over 65 local employers, colleges, universities and training providers attended, and every student from Y7 up to our Sixth Students attended.

The morning provided a fantastic opportunity for our students to ask questions, find out more about a variety of businesses and careers, and even try out some of the roles and responsibilities of different sectors. Our students left the fair with lots of freebies and merchandise! Every student represented Torquay Academy brilliantly.

A huge thank you needs to go to all the attendees of our Careers Fair, as without them this highlight of the Torquay Academy calendar would not happen.

british championships

We are incredibly proud of Willow following a series of outstanding performances at both the 2026 British Championships and the English Championships.

At the British Championships, Willow delivered an exceptional all-around performance, finishing 4th overall and qualifying for two apparatus finals. This is a significant achievement at national level and reflects her consistency and quality across all disciplines. In the finals, Willow continued to impress, finishing 4th on bars and securing a fantastic silver medal on floor.

These results build on her recent success at the English Championships, where Willow was crowned Aspire English All-Around Champion as well as Bars Champion. This is an outstanding accomplishment and highlights her strength across multiple events.

As a result of these performances, Willow now goes into national squad selection week as one of the top-ranked Aspire gymnasts from across the Home Nations and the British Championships. This is a remarkable position to be in and a testament to her dedication, resilience and talent.

Well done, Willow. These are truly fantastic achievements, and we are incredibly proud of you.

DofE Volunteering day at Berry Head Country Park

Last Saturday seven of our DofE Bronze, and two of our DofE Silver students attended the second of their Conservation days at Berry Head Country Park. The students are involved in an ecologically important project, called Life on the Edge, with the South Devon National Landscape organisation and Taleblazers that aims to improve habitats for various invertebrates and insects in coastal areas, thus increasing biodiversity of natural grassland. As well as being involved in a project that has conservation and environmental benefits, the students will fulfill their DofE Volunteering and/or Skills sections.

The Life on the Edge (LotE) project, affectionately known as Lottie, has various aims, including habitat creation in a 3km strip of the South Devon coastline, and engaging local people with the project. Our DofE students have been learning about the project, have built bug boxes and created a wild flower meadow here at school, and attended two days at Berry Head.

This latest visit to Berry Head was blessed with beautiful sunshine - and dolphins! The first part of the visit was a chance to spot dolphins, with the expert help of Sarah Matthews, the Managing Director of the Community Interest Company (CIC), DolphinZone. The students were blessed to see a pod of Common Dolphins, the focus species of DolphinZone's studies. Sarah gave a talk to the students whilst they continued to spot them from the cliff top. They were fascinated to hear about Sarah's studies of the common dolphin, and amazed to hear that she is the only person solely studying this beautiful species of Dolphin in the UK, and indeed in the whole northern hemisphere! As well as hearing information about the behaviour and habits of these amazing marine mammals, the students also heard about the challenges these iconic creatures are facing, including how their habitats are being damaged, and how numbers of dolphins in pods are declining in UK coastal waters. Whilst we were watching the dolphins and listening to Sarah, two jet skiers started approaching the dolphin pod. Sarah informed us that it is an offence to approach a pod of any cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and people should stay at least 100m from them. Sarah and the students tried to alert the jet skiers but they proceeded to slowly drive towards the pod. The coastguard were alerted, and the jet skiers were reported along with another vessel that had entered a section of the coastline that is designated a marine protection zone where any vessels are prohibited. Sarah informed the group that this was the most important aspect of her job - to educate people about how to respect the natural environment and protect endangered species.

Our students were enthralled by the whole experience, and some of them were even keen to accompany Sarah later in the day to a dolphin stranding she had been alerted about at Broadsands! The students certainly experienced all the highs and lows of marine conservation!

For anyone who is interested in this conservation topic, or indeed has any pictures (recent or older) of common dolphins taken around the SouthDevon coastline, please get in touch with DolphinZone (www.dolphinzone.org) as they need to compile as much data on the species as possible to further their important research. There are certainly nine budding ecologists here at TA that will be doing just that in the future!

After a well earned hot chocolate, the students got back to the main focus of the LotE project. The afternoon involved some invertebrate identification and logging/monitoring with Amy, from Life on the Edge, followed by some wild flower identification and logging with Eva, from Life on the Edge. Both of these activities involved using an app, iRecord. This app is used for biological monitoring and can be used by both scientists and members of the public alike. The app builds up a database of all species, plants, invertebrates, animals, birds and reptiles. The data is checked by scientists and is extremely helpful in nature conservation, planning, research and education. For Lottie it is essential to use in order to monitor invertebrate populations, such as the black oil beetle, which is key to promoting the biodiversity of the South Devon coastline.

Our students managed to find a number of this key invertebrate species, as well as other butterfly and insect species. Apparently the larvae of the black oil beetle are uniquely adapted to climb up stems, hook on to pollinating bee species and "hitchhike" to the bees nest where they will feed on the bees eggs or larvae. This species is a key indicator of a healthy grassland ecosystem, and whilst the beetle does not directly benefit bees, it does indicate an abundance of wildflowers and a healthy ecosystem for bees. The students found and recorded several of these beetles and other invertebrates. And along with recording the presence of some important wildflowers have, in effect, contributed data to a nationally important conservation program.

Both Amy and Eva explained to the students how to identify butterfly and insect, and wildflower species and showed them how to use guide books and identify characteristics of the species that would lead to successful identification. Skills the students may find useful in their lives and careers.

Overall an amazing day of conservation and developing new skills and teamwork - and a day that will impact the students lives and will be remembered for years to come. A huge thank you to Rich Blagden, Taleblazers, for arranging the day, and to Eva and Amy from LotE, and Sarah from DolphinZone, for their expert guidance and tuition. Well done to the following students: Lily-Jo Prior, Ava Macardle, Freddie Blagden, Elena Bolton, Dion Maharajan, George Garbett, Emelia Wood, Tanya Neil, Naomi Szyszka.

Art Club: Screen Printing Workshop

Year 7 and 8 Art Club students enjoyed a creative screen printing workshop focused on animal designs. Students explored preparing stencils and printing bold animal images using a range of colours. The workshop was a great opportunity to develop printmaking skills and creativity, with fantastic final results from all students. Mrs Lithgow's art club is for all year groups and takes place afterschool in F104 on Wednesdays of B week.

Success at grade 1 for Oakley

We are hugely proud of young pianist Oakley Johnson in year 7, who recently passed his grade 1 piano exam with merit. This fantastic achievement is no small feat due to the associated board’s rigorous examining and incredibly high standard. Well done Oakley, we can’t wait to see what you do next.

personal development day

For our final Personal Development day of the year we had our careers fair for all years to attend. We also had visitors from ‘Children and family health Devon’who ran sessions on Sleep hygiene to the lower school and how to cope with exam stress to the upper school.

Year 7 students finished off the series of sessions on First Aid, looking at how to control bleeding and how to perform CPR. We also had a new visitor to the school, Joshua Chisling, who described his experiences as a child, his life in care and how his involvement with County Lines led to time in prison. Students also looked at the harms connected to tobacco use and alcohol. Students also looked at how to improve their diet. Other sessions included the impact on their present and future lives related to their digital footprint and also gender identity.

The year 8 students had sessions on growing up and puberty, an introduction to issues connected to consent, inappropriate sexual behaviour and finally, the issues surrounding sending sexual images.

Year 9 students looked at several topics connected to relationships- contraception, unplanned pregnancies, parenting and marriage. Further sessions include Domestic Abuse and Exploitation.

Year 10 students also further sessions on first aid. Earlier in the year, they had a reminder about how to do CPR and this time sessions looked at injuries and illnesses. Further sessions looked at where to get help relating to alcohol misuse and their rights as a consumer.

The sessions for year 11 once again aimed to help them with their independent living as adults. Sessions included those on managing medicines and other substances, how to keep safe when using alcohol, how to identify risks and challenges someone might encounter after leaving home, and assess strategies to manage these.

The year 10 and 11 students also had a theatre production by the ‘Upfront Theatre Company’ called ‘Before anyone else’, which aims to clarify some of the facts, figures and myths surrounding sexual health, contraception and LGBTQ+ topics.

Fun Friday

Another brilliant Fun Friday brought music, competition and plenty of laughter across the year groups.

Year 7 and Year 8 both took centre stage with Karaoke, as students grabbed the microphone and performed in front of their peers. From confident solo acts to enthusiastic group performances, there were some fantastic moments and plenty of support from the crowd as students showed real confidence and creativity.

Year 9 took on the classic Sweets in the Jar challenge, carefully studying the jar and debating their estimates. There were some very confident guesses, with students trying to balance logic and instinct to land as close as possible to the correct number.

Year 10 brought energy and excitement with a fast-paced tournament of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Students went head-to-head in quick-fire rounds, with tension building as competitors progressed through to the later stages and the final showdown.

Year 11 tested their judgement with Higher or Lower, making predictions and taking risks as they decided whether the next number would rise or fall. It was a great mix of strategy and luck, with some bold calls keeping everyone on edge.

A fantastic way to end the week, with students across the school enjoying the opportunity to take part, support each other and have fun together. We are already looking forward to next week’s challenges.

Year 10 Art Mock Exam Review – Identity Project

Our Year 10 students recently completed their two-day Art mock examination, working to the theme of Identity. Over the course of the two days, students explored a wide range of outcomes including painting, collage, photography, and mixed media. The diversity of materials and techniques used was a real strength of the exam, allowing students to express their ideas in highly individual and personal ways.

Students were given the freedom to interpret the theme in their own way, and they embraced this opportunity with originality, creativity, and confidence. It was wonderful to see such a wide range of thoughtful and imaginative responses, with many students producing deeply personal and meaningful work.

Throughout the exam, students demonstrated excellent discipline, focus, and independence. They managed their time well, worked with commitment and maturity, and showed real self-assurance in their creative decisions. The atmosphere in the art room over the two days was calm, purposeful, and highly productive.

Mrs Lynch and Mrs Lithgow were extremely impressed with both the standard of work produced and the professional attitude shown by the students. It was a fantastic couple of days, and the outcomes produced should make students very proud as they move forward into their GCSE Art coursework.

Well done, Year 10.

Year 7 Bake Sale Success

On Friday this week, the wonderful students of 7B organised a brilliant bake sale in support of their house charity, The Children's Society. With tables full of homemade treats and plenty of enthusiasm, they played a key role in raising funds and awareness for an important cause.

Their efforts are helping their Head of House, Miss Pappin, work towards her £2500 fundraising target as she prepares to run the London Marathon. The group showed real initiative and teamwork, demonstrating leadership well beyond their years.

7 Brunel have truly done their bit and made Brunel proud. Now, it’s over to Miss Pappin to take on the marathon and bring it home for the team!

year 9 english

Year 9 have been working really hard on our cycle 3 unit of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Miss Turner's 9T7 have been looking closely at the portrayal of the female characters this week and thinking about the Elizabethen patriarchy and misogyny of the time. Miss Turner has been so impressed by 9T7's 'We don't fear Shakespeare' approach to some of the really challenging language and ideas- they have shown lots of independent thought and confidence in their own ideas. They will be writing their own GCSE style Literature essay for their final assessment of the cycle next week.

Students of the Week

Year 7 - Tommy Stevens, Deanna Clarke and Amber Dillon

Year 9 - Ava McArdle and Lucas Vesely

Year 11 - Isabelle Bentley and Ben Jeffs

sixth Form netball trip to Wales

A combination of our Year 11 and Sixth Form students enjoyed a netball trip to Wales last weekend. The squads were incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to watch a live superleague netball match, where they were able to watch some of the very best netball talent in the game, including some England Netball players performing at the highest level. It was a fantastic experience to watch the players, and to be a part of the amazing atmosphere! It really did give us something to strive towards!

Inspired by what we had seen, the squads took to the court the following morning to showcase our own talent! Our combined A team went out today and managed to win convincingly! Although it was a slow start being that they were losing 6-5 they were able to push through their fatigue and gain some much needed goals through their hard work and determination! There were some amazing interceptions at crucial moments and overall great team work throughout the match from all the players, well done girls. Another great win!! To reward all our hard work on court, the squads went to a water park for an afternoon of fun and team building! What a fantastic weekend, and a memorable experience for all involved!

Write Up By Tammy Westacott (A Team Captain)

Last weekend TA took 2 year 11 teams up to Wales to play a netball match. All the girls showed courage and pride representing team TA perfectly. They played with determination and displayed team work on and off the court. The improvement in skills and courage of both teams were outstanding receiving external praises from the opposition. Both teams connected on court, defended throughout, applied pressure to the opposition and working hard to take the ball to goal. It was an overall fantastic performance from everyone. Well done girls!!

Write Up By Matilda Stevens (B Team Captain)

Year 7 & 8 Netball vs St Cuthbert Mayne

Our Year 7 B team travelled to StCM on Tuesday for what proved to be a closely contested and competitive match. The girls took some time to settle into their rhythm, which allowed StCM to build an early lead and limit our scoring opportunities.

Following a positive and focused quarter-time team talk, the squad returned to court with determination. They began to implement the coaching points effectively, taking their time in possession, offering strong ball-side support, and working the ball carefully through the court. This improved flow enabled our shooters to convert some excellent goals.

Defensively, every player stepped up, applying tight marking and creating valuable turnovers that kept us in the game. The remainder of the match was an exciting end-to-end battle, with both teams competing fiercely.

Despite a narrow two-goal loss, the girls demonstrated fantastic resilience, teamwork, and progress throughout the match. A great effort by all—well done, girls!

Our Year 8 B team also delivered a fantastic performance in a well-contested match against StCM. After the opposition established an early lead, TA showed great adaptability, making changes to combinations and steadily working to close the gap.

The players demonstrated excellent effort off the ball, driving forward with purpose and using a variety of movements to create space and provide strong options in attack.

When possession was lost, the team reacted quickly, transitioning with intensity into defence and applying pressure to disrupt StCM’s flow. Despite making it challenging for the opposition, StCM’s accurate shooting meant they were able to maintain their advantage.

Although the result didn’t go in TA’s favour, this was a match full of determination, teamwork, and promising development. A great effort from all players—well done!

A - Ava Medway, Dolly Peart, Maddison Pearse, Zara Isede, Isabella Hughes, Ayda Snell (C), Izzy Beer
B - Amelia Drew, Katie Hornbrook, Ella Austin (C), Indie Kenyon, Amelia Garvey, Mia Carter, Sienna Stanbury

Year 7 Netball Vs Spires

Our Year 7 squads travelled to Spires on Wednesday to enjoy some more netball action!

Team TA’s A Team took to the court against Spires A with enthusiasm, applying excellent defensive pressure from the first whistle. Despite the excellent play, Spires managed to defend equally well, and broke through our defense to take a 3-0 lead after the first quarter. After a quick chat, the team returned to the court with determination, tried different combinations, and worked hard at spacing out and balancing the court when in possession of the ball. This change saw TA edge ahead, going into the final quarter leading by one goal,6-5! Both teams continued to work hard both defensively and in attack, and despite TA’s best efforts to stay ahead, the match ended in a 7-7 draw! Well done everyone!

A Squad: Ava Medway, Dolly Peart, Maddison Pearse, Zara Isede, Isabella Hughes, Ayda Snell (C), Izzy Beer

Opposition's Player of the Match: Ayda Snell

Players' Player of the Match: Ava Medway

Coach's Player of the Match: Isabella Hughes

Team TA’s B Team took to the court with equal enthusiasm, winning lots of interceptions and trying hard to use these opportunities to take the ball through court to our shooters. It took a little time to settle into their rhythm, but with patience, everyone soon settled, began to space out and take their time. This patience was rewarded with a well earned goal, going into half time with a 1-1 draw. The match continued to be closely contested throughout with everyone defending tirelessly to challenge every ball. Despite their best efforts, the team narrowly missed out on a win, losing by one goal, 2-3. Well done everyone!

B Squad: Amelia Drew, Katie Hornbrook, Ella Austin (C), Indie Kenyon, Amelia Garvey, Mia Carter, Sienna Stanbury

Opposition's Player of the Match: Ella Austin

Players' Player of the Match: Ella Austin

Coach's Player of the Match: Amelia Drew

prestigious Diamond Award

Year 7 - Oakley Johnson, Charlie Pearson, Annabelle Mountstevens, Issac Churchill, Lincoln Weston, Mila O'Connell, Evie Voisey, Lucy-May Stevens, Alya al Ali and Scarlet Seton

Year 8 - Myla Thomas

Governors' Platinum certificates

Year 7 - Lewis Tandy, Scarlett Paton, Frankie Tait, Damon Reen, Ellie Peters, Daniel Ibell, Alfie King, Amelia Syms and Aimee Byrne

Year 8 - Isla Parsons and Karen Shaju

Year 9 - Immy Shaw, Oceana Furse, Christopher Csapo, Jessica Stoyle, Catherine Ramesh Mani, George Garbett, Logan Payne and Alexa McCarthy

Governors' Gold certificates

Year 7 - Izzy Beer, Grace Sampson, Annie Reece, Nathan Cameron, George Bailey, Archie West, Nathan Hooper, Macey Horsted, Sienna Tucker, Zara Isemede, James Rackley, Hugo Harding-Beattie, Lorenz Hodgson, Mason Bond, Callan Woodward, Kayleigh Norgaard-Welsh, Max Newman and Isla Copping

Year 8 - Frederick Sintim, Amaris Quennell, Ajay Squires, Sara Szewczuk, Poppy Pope and Tyler Fudge

Year 9 - Harry Rowlands, Luke Moran, Ava McArdle, Max Kapusta, Daisy Dorman, Lily-Jo Prior, Florence Botten and Jax Biagott

Governors' Silver certificates

Year 7 - Crystal Anning-Bragg, Lilly Conley, Chloe Leese, Soraya Underhill, Riley Holmes, Daisy Prior, Freddie Gaggini, Luna Furse, Harry Barrett, Tommy Stevens, Marlie Coussell, Katie Hornbrook and James Broom

Year 8 - Emilia Hedgecock, Simeon Manners, Olivia Fisher, Chloe Bastow, Ethan Halliday, Ava Broughton, Sophia Houghton and Cole Washington

Year 9 - Riley Johnson, Harry Austin, Aaron Pinto, Phoebe Grindling, Oktawian Siennicki and Nanma John

Governors' Bronze certificates

Year 7 - Summer Young, Jax O'Connor, Gregori Masliakovas, Alfie Clark, Chloe Sanderson, Archer Burton, Layla Selley-Dillon, Lenon Villiers, April Corbett and Ella-Rose Woodgates

Year 8 - Milly Skelly, Brooke Harding, Freyja Mobbs, Jude Storey, Colby Craig, Kiera Chivers, Joel Cotton, Caiden Edmonds, Achilles Richards, George Davies, Luca Guppy, Paisley Taylor, Kaiden Ilhan and Myles Bonnici

Year 9 - Tyler Davis, Katie Tonks, Jelani Ondo-Chamielec, Bradley Wright, Flo Evans, Seren Panther-Glinn, Harlow Bown, Jack Crabb, Mila Cairney, Tyler Jackson, Ellie-Mae Burton, Haydon Coatesworth and Charlie O'Connor

Principal’s Gold certificates

Year 7 - Esme White, Libby Nolan, Cassia Harman, Asia Knight, Caleb Abbott, Oliver Evans, Diana Pestana, Jazz Morris, Amber Dillon, Brock Last and Jasmine Oakley

Year 8 - Lincoln Trapp, Bailey Clements, Corah Luscombe, Abigail Harkin, Mollianne Potter, Jack O'Connor, Elliot Holmes-Inch, Eryn Stafford-Summers, Zac Austin, Alfie Carpenter-Sorton, Kai Parton, Samuel McDonald, Bailey Jones, Ruby Treadaway, Myah Bishop, Blake Hawkes, Nicholas Robinson and Beni Paplogo

Year 9 - Tia Woodward, James Costello, Gabriela Piasta, Ocean Brant, Lucas Vesely, Levi Jones, Corey Davies, Kara Breach, Maisy Hart, Chloe Taylor, Khalid Al-Ajrami, Samuel Kuc, Elias Jeffery, Eric Montague, George Giles and Madeline Woodger

Year 11 -Liam Anthony

Principal’s Silver certificates

Year 7 - Ava Medway, Jake Anyon, Ivy Howell, Evie Wallis, Jasper Dawson and Jake Warner

Year 8 - Lilly-May Lee, Cody Butler, Oscar Manley, Amelia Palla, Harley Bayliss, Lexi Nicholson, Maddox Findlay-Peers, Nailah Barnett, Oliver Finley-Squires and Gracie Harvey

Year 9 - Kumar Hopton, Mia Wilkins, Treesa Telson, Jorgie-Jayne Barnett, Rosa Murray, William Schmiedinghofer, Annalise Little, Poppy Evely, Mason Dur, Tyler-Joseph Broadley, Alex Iftode, Hiba Zafar, Ollie Hallett, Marcus Findlay-Peers, Maddie Smith and Brogan Holmes-Inch

Year 10 - Sophia Peryer, Cohen Andrews and Daisy Board