Biology club, Athletics and Netball successes...

Year 8 CCF

We are delighted that we now have an Army section in addition to our RAF section in the school’s CCF (Combined Cadet Force). Over 50 Year 8s have signed up to the CCF in the past week and they have really enjoyed their first couple of sessions.

Molloys Gig

On Thursday sixth form music students took over Molloys in St Marychurch for a raucous night of Rock and Roll. Two bands, Altitude and Bed Head each performed a half hour set for their BTEC level 3 qualification but those in attendance would have thought they were watching seasoned pros.

Altitude kicked off the night in style with Sixx:AM’s This is Gonna hurt and closed with Bon Jovi’s You Give Love A Bad Name. The band performed a set of classic riffs and interplay between guitarists Luke Howard and Ellis Knowles, with Olisi O’Malley summoning her inner Keith Moon. Rhyanna Lewis expertly led the line for Altitude displaying her impressive range.

Ben Arscott, Kelsey Cresser and Alfie Sams of Bed Head, took to the stage in matching checked shirts. The band ripped through a set of Royal Blood’s Little Monster, The Kooks Naive, Greenday’s Holiday and Basket Case, Royal Blood’s Figure It Out and The Wombats Moving To New York.

Bed Head recently changed their lineup due to the loss of their lead singer with illness, sharing vocals between Rhyanna, Ben and Alfie. The band did amazingly well and showed incredible skill to cover at such a late stage, performing confidently with intricate harmonies.

The St Marychurch audience would not let the bands finish without one more song, demanding an encore from both bands to cap off an excellent night.

Congratulations to all of our talented performers and to Molloys for hosting such a great event:

Luke Howard, Ellis Knowles, Olisi O’Malley, Rhyanna Lewis, Jack Johns, Kelsey Cresser, Ben Arscott and Alfie Sams

Jubilee Cake Finalists Year 9

We have been selected as finalists in a Jubilee Cake Competition. Sophie Packer and Bella Lester from year nine will be representing TA in the competition on 27th May at Exeter College. They are very much looking forward to meeting chef Michael Caine MBE who will be judging the competition. We wish them the best of luck and will keep you posted on the results.

Year 10 Construction Visit

On Thursday morning the Yr10 Construction group visited the National Construction Industry Skills Build competition at South Devon College. During the morning they had the opportunity to view some of the competitors from the bricklaying competition and participate in tasks set by some of the large construction companies such as Kier, BAM and Build Torbay which is a Council funded initiative. All the students were exemplary with their behaviour and the way they engaged with the tasks set. Kian Chadwick in particular showed some prowess with the bridge structures task which was commented on by the engineering team who delivered the session. Afterwards, the students listened to a presentation regarding apprenticeships and other pathways in the construction industry.

Hospitality & Catering

As always, the students have had a fabulous time in Hospitality and Catering as students have created many dishes in the last few weeks including Bakewell tarts, chicken en croute and chicken drumsticks with spicy coating and coleslaw. They have had a focus on deboning chicken, numerous knife techniques including julienning and presenting them as aesthetically as possible.

Breakfast before the Year 11 Exams

GCSE and A level exams began in earnest this week and every day starts with a hearty free breakfast! It has been so pleasing to hear the students speak so positively after their exams. Good luck to all of our students as they continue with their external exams.

English walking talking mock the day before English language

To help prepare our students they do what we call a walking talking mock. During this exam, students are guided through an exam paper by a teacher who helps to ensure they are fully prepared for each question type.

Kitson House Hobbies

Students: Jett-Phoenix Butler, Ethan Lunch and Darcey Mellish

This week Miss Risk has been speaking to four students from Kitson House about their outside interests and passions.

Jett Pheonix Butler enjoys gaming as a way to relax and calm down after a busy day at school . Jett tells me that after a period of time-each session-one becomes shut off from the outside world and can really focus. Currently Jett Pheonix is obsessed with Star Wars and is working his way through games such as The Skywalker Saga and The Force Awakens. His advice for anyone who wants to take up gaming is to start with the basics and not go on-line straight away. He also advises that internet safety is really important.

Ethan Lynch spends some of his free time trampolining- a hobby that he developed during lockdown. This active hobby both keeps him fit physically but increases his sense of well-being- due to the adrenaline rush it provides. I was really impressed to hear how he is able to perform back, front and side flips! One of the things that Ethan really likes about trampolining is its accessibility. If he wants some exercise after completing his homework, he can just go outside to the trampoline. Ethan’s advice to anyone taking up trampolining is that it is a building process; start off with easy tricks such a knee drop and then build up your confidence.

Darcey Mellish also developed a Lockdown hobby which will stand her in good stead for later life. An old rock guitar was gathering dust in Darcey’s bedroom and she decided that Lockdown would be the perfect opportunity to learn new skills.To teach herself, Darcey initially used Youtube videos but them she progressed onto imitating songs by herself. Interestingly, she loves to play tracks by rock bands such as ACDC-even though her mum sometimes complains about the noise. Darcey’s advice for a complete beginner is: realise that skills take time to build and don’t expect to just be able to play a song straight off.

Finally,Taylor Moore has fun spending time with friends outside of school. He spoke enthusiastically about the benefits of social interaction and the positive impact this has on his mental health. Taylor says that after school and homework are completed being with his friends makes him feel happy and relaxed. He advised that everyone needs some social time where they are with others and that this increases one’s confidence and sociability. For anyone who might be feeling a little isolated in the evenings, Taylor suggests to make connections in school first and then starting off with an hour of social time in the afternoon.

Year 7 Science Club

In Science club this week, Miss Foster and Miss Scawn demonstrated how to dissect two types of fish – a red gurnard and a squid. The Year 7s worked meticulously to carefully investigate each type of fish, discovering the swim bladder and lens from the gurnard to the squid’s beak and even its ink sac! George O’Hanlon also showed us all how to remove the squid’s backbone – which looks like a piece of plastic!

Both Miss Foster and Miss Scawn were super impressed with how well everyone worked and despite the smell (and some grossed out faces!), we all had a great time. Many thanks to Mike Cornish for providing the red gurnards – the students and staff really appreciate your generosity!

Science club is open to all Year 7s and runs every Friday in Mrs Carpenter-Kay’s room in upper G.

Music Technology

Year 11

A busy term for Year 11 Music Technology has culminated with full compositions responding to the theme of ‘borders, boundaries and barriers. Students were able to interpret the theme in whatever way they chose and stepped up to the challenge producing work of the highest standard.

Original compositions include work in a range of genres and styles through; Hip-Hop, Techno, House, Jazz and Indie.

We could not be prouder of what the students have achieved over the last three years.

Year 10

This term year 10 Music Technology students have been practising and applying their keyboard skills for Technology. The modern producer needs a wide range of musical skills and increasingly keyboard skills are important as the pupils begin to develop their individual creative identity. This video of Lewis Dewar and Robin Pightling performing a short extract of music is a result of the learning over this task, Lewis is a pianist as his first instrument, while Robin transfers his musicality from guitar to the keys.

Year 9

The year 9’s are continuing their development in Music Technology learning advanced sequencing skills including use of modifiers such as arpeggiators, low frequency oscillators and chord triggers. It is a credit to the students that this class has taken on such advanced content as these techniques are more usually introduced at Key Stage 5. We look forward to sharing some of the pupils’ music when it is nearer completion.

PE with Mr Richardson

This week in their P.E. lessons the boys have been working on improving their batting technique and learning about the drive shot in cricket. This type of shot is played to hit the ball straight back in the direction of the bowler and not across the line of the ball. All boys have had a great go at attempting to ‘beat the fielder’ by hitting the ball past them to win points. They progressed from hitting off a yellow tee, to a bouncing ball and eventually hitting a ball being fed or bowled towards them. It is not the easiest shot to play and there were some frustrations, plenty of air shots and the occasional absolute corker of a straight drive all mixed together with an abundance of hard work, determination and plenty of enjoyment to match. A great lesson to kick off the cricket season. Keep up the hard work boys.

Full Marks for Ava!

Following on from last week’s LAMDA exam success we were delighted to learn this week that Year 7 student, Ava Storey, has passed her Grade 3 Musical Theatre LAMDA exam with Distinction. Ava achieved an impressive overall score of 100/100 for the exam, full marks! To add to this, Ava recently got to the final of a Musical Theatre singing competition held in Exeter at the Cygnet Theatre and is looking forward to attending a summer school at Laine Theatre Arts School in London. Good luck with the final next Saturday, Ava!

History with Miss Piggott

In year 7, classes have been demonstrating their brilliant knowledge they have acquired from their enquiry about how far religion changed under the Tudors and the impact that it had upon England. They had to demonstrate they had understood the causes of religious change, the consequences and to argue which monarch had made the most change. Some year 7 classes have now begun to look at their new topic for this cycle, the British Empire. They began to understand how large the British Empire was and why Britain desired an empire in the first place. They have asked some really impressive and inciteful questions so far and I look forward to seeing them engage with this topic in the next few weeks.

In year 8, classes have been tackling their end of scheme assessment answering the enquiry question of why did the slave trade end in Britain. Students demonstrated the three main reasons involved inspiration abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano who was a former slave, the fact it became less profitable and the impact of slave rebellions on the slave owners’ involvement. Some classes have begun to look at their new topic, the Civil Rights Movement. Many students have already been shocked to learn how Black Americans were treated despite being freed and are eager to find out how they improved their rights.

In year 9, they have been cementing their knowledge about how Germany was impacted after World War One. They have been following how Germany tried to reform itself under a new style of government and have been considering what threats the new Germany faced. They assessed how threatened Germany was by looking at two examples of revolts. They are building their understanding of why the new Germany was so unpopular, ultimately so that later they can grasp why an individual like Hitler would be able to gain support to take over Germany as a dictator.

TA Netball

Several of Team TA’s Netball Academy players attended the Riviera Netball League presentation last week. The number of individuals who attended and received awards shows how much the players and netball at TA is going from strength to strength. A special mention goes to Amelia Batten and Elisha Perrow in Year 11, who are part of Team Dart Lightning and were awarded ‘Most Sporting Team’ of the 2021/22 season. Furthermore, three of our academy players also received individual awards. This included Summer Connolly, who was presented with the ‘Excellence in Netball’ award, Tammy Westacott, who was presented with the ‘Most Improved Junior Player’ award and Mia Denby, who was presented with the ‘U16’s Division 2 Player of the Year’ Award.

Congratulations to all of our Dart Netball players, Miss Lewis and Team TA are very proud of you.

Year 10 netball Tour

The Year 10s arrived in Wales on Friday afternoon. There will be a full report next week on their tour.

South Devon Cup Winners

On Monday year 10 bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Devon Cup and beat Dawlish to become South Devon champions.

TA put in a dominant display dominating the game from start to finish running out 7-0 winners. We played some good fast, free flowing football which Dawlish had no answer to. The TA goal scorers were Josh Thompson x3, Harry Clarke, Will Green, Tommy Aldous and Charlie Pope.

Mr Grinsill and the school are exceptionally proud of all this team have achieved this year and the way they have all conducted themselves both in the classroom and on the field. This has since been recognised also by a lovely email received from the manager of the Dawlish team which read

“Just wanted to congratulate you and the Year 10 boys again for the game yesterday but also to say how impressive your boys were both in ability but also their respectful attitude during and after the game. They gave our lads a footballing lesson but did so with respect and in many ways a professionalism to remain disciplined in their performance. We are very proud of our Year 10 boys who despite the loss, have remained upbeat and realistic in their assessment of the game. They too were under no illusions as to the reason for your dominance of the game”

The boys have been led by an outstanding Captain this year in Danny Frankum who has shown that he is a real leader and leads by example. Well done to Danny and all the year 10 boys this season on your incredible achievements and a MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE STUDENTS AND PARENTS WHO HAVE TRAVELLED IN NUMBERS TO SUPPORT THE BOYS AT EVERY GAME!

Frankie Skelly and Keeley Little

Congratulations to Frankie Skelly (Year 7) and Keeley Little (Year 8) on their athletics successes last Sunday at the Devon County Championship at Exeter Arena. Frankie placed 3rd in both the 100m and 200m sprints, picking up two bronze medals whilst Keeley won gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m. Well done on your fantastic achievements girls!

Devon Athletic Championships

Last Sunday, four Year 10 athletes attended the Devon Championships at Exeter Arena. They gave stellar performances in their chosen track & field events, facing strong headwinds on the track. Ava achieved personal bests in 100m & shotput and a season’s best in 200m. Penny ran strongly and was so close to a personal best in 300m. Grace gained personal bests in 200m and long jump, and also threw well in the shotput. Hannah matched her personal best in 300m, and threw well in the shotput but her greatest achievement was matching her personal best and a bronze medal in high jump. These girls are going from strength to strength!

Governor’s Platinum Certificates

Year 8 – Jayden Trevelyan

Governor’s Gold Certificates

Year 8 – Ellie-Jayne Scott and Leon Mugliston

Governor’s Bronze Certificates

Year 8 – Charlie Pettit, Lyra Bowstead, James Evers, Amy Harrison, Caitlin Cornish, Phoebe Denbow, Jessica Mitchell, Leon O’Connor, Aliyah Smith, Sophie Nicholson,George Peart and Albie Baker

Principal’s Gold Certificates

Year 8 – Scott Knight, Amara Phillips, Olivia Riches, Oliver Nunn, Lisa-Marie Szewczuk, Oliver Jones, Sonny Paton, Liam Baillie-Hogan, Summer Faulkes, Brooke Tully, Callum Jackson, Emily Meloy, Dolce Zulhayir, Ivy Hodgson-Hunt, Gabrielle Buys, Samuel Alcock, Rayan Nafim,Ema Kestell,Gregg Hindom, Olivia Walters, Austin White, Charlie Hope and Filip Frankiewicz

Principal’s Silver Certificates

Year 8 – Lexi Waller, Charlie Green, Nelly Siuchninski, Jaccob Tripp, Isaac Knowles, Charlie Frankum, Daisy Faulkner, Jayden Field, Austen Bradshaw, Owen Waller, Austin Howell, Rhys Phillips, Kye Giffard, Evie Hambleton, Callum Jackson, Sara Mills, Jessica Nicholson, Amelia Rogers,Toby Lee, Kodi Wilson, Nebil Zorel, Katie Rowe, Adam Wright, Isabelle Roberts and Simon Drost

Principal’s Bronze Certificates

Year 8 – Shelby Spencer, Poppy Hedworth, Chloe Hollis, Oliver Drinkwater, Zack Shaw, Marley Drew, Alex Coates, Alex Hilton,Oliwia Tuczynska,Orlando Maric, Madi Chandler, Charlie Knight, Letoja Hoxha, Charlie Dudley, Callum Jackson, Finley Allnutt, Charlie Frankum, Cerys Lowe, Poppii Marshall,Ethan Lan and Billy Wilcox

Students of the Week

Year 7 – Sunny Long

Year 8 – Lottie Davie and Buster Watson

Year 9 – Lily Lewis-Shermer and Igor Piewiszko

Year 10 – Will Harrison and Sophie George

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Lola Grace Thomas

Christie – Freya Coatesworth

Darwin – Layla Loizides

Fawcett – Felicity Adams

Harrison – Larna Waller

Kitson – George Watt

Nearne – Rufus Scrase

Pengelly – Ayden Goldsbrough