Brilliant club, winning photos, celebrations and £1 lunches

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Brilliant Club Graduation Ceremony

A number of our Year 10 and 12 students have successfully completed their Brilliant Club assignments, marking the culmination of a programme which has involved a series of seminars with a university tutor over the last six weeks. We are very excited about their graduation ceremony, which will take place at Wadham College, University of Oxford, on Tuesday 12th February.

The following Year 12 students have successfully passed the Brilliant Club course in Climate Change and Oceanography. They are pictured with Dr Freya Garry of the School of Geography at the University of Exeter.
Sarah Farrell
Tom Gabl
Hayden Gibbings
Hannah Dale

The following Year 10 students successfully passed a course in Constitutional Politics with Nick Dickinson of the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at Exeter University, pictured here with some of them in their final tutorial this week.
Rebecca Willis
Tom Norman
Lacee Borge
Lauren Howells
Shannon Banks
Jacob Almond-Abraham
Ben Harris

We are grateful to Freya and Nick for putting on such a fascinating and challenging programme for our students. It has really opened their eyes to the possibilities open to them beyond TA.

Prom dresses

A couple of weeks ago we put out this plea on to Facebook.  The response was overwhelming with over 20,000 people seeing this post thanks to numerous comments and shares.  We now have almost 50 dresses and we are looking forward to showing them off to our girls.  I would like to thank the many people who so generously have donated a dress to the school.

If you have a dress that you no longer need, but hate the thought of it going to waste please consider donating it to Torquay Academy so one of our students could benefit from wearing it to their prom!  If you can help, please bring the dress to Torquay Academy’s reception or pass it to one of our staff or students who will be able to bring it in.

Walking talking mocks

Our Year 11s are in the final run in to their GCSE exams.  They have lessons in the sports hall where they undertake walking, talking mocks.  These are opportunities for them to sit exam questions whilst being supported by their teachers.  Here you can see our Head or Science, Mr Mellitt, taking students through some of the key maths skills that they will need to answer their science GCSE questions.

Winning Photos from Year 11 Student

Year 11 student, Jordan Stewart, has got through to the regional stage of the The Rotary Clubs Photography Competition after winning the local area with these pictures and the featured image.  Fantastic achievement Jordan, we are keeping our fingers crossed for you.

Enterprise Learning Area

Highlights from the Enterprise Learning Area this week include the big build up to our forthcoming Lego Robotics competition which is next week! You can also see how our concrete moulding is developing in A Level Product Design, quality cooking for less than one pound a head in Food & Cookery and more delicious breakfast wraps! It’s great to see so many happy faces!

Lego Robotics Team get competition ready

In this short video we can see time lapse footage of our dedicated lunchtime practice session in readiness for our Tomorrow’s Engineers Robotics Competition next week! 5 days to go and counting!!

One Pound Meals

Keira and our other Year 9 food students had a wonderful time this week rustling up stunning one pound meals. On Monday it was potato rosti, prosciutto, tomato and spinach… all topped with a poached egg. It looked wonderful!

TA from above

Whilst our students have been getting to grips with our own drone, we were contacted by local resident and alumni, Stephen Payne, who has shared this shot of the school.  You can see more of Stephen’ work on his YouTube channel.

Effort Boards

It has been the end of another cycle, which means the effort boards have been updated. Congratulations, to so many of our students who have worked so hard over the past nine weeks.

Celebratory Lunches

This week almost 100 students from years 7-11 have had lunch laid on for them. All of the children invited to lunch had received a letter of commendation from their Head of Academic Progress based upon their performance in Cycle 2. Pictured are the students who achieved 100% in their knowledge assessments (demonstrating they have been working extremely hard and effectively on their homework) and those who achieved the Gold standard for their effort. Well done to all of you!

Lexonik

Our Lexonik intervention is now well established and the current cohort of students working their way through the program are thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Lexonik is designed to develop a student’s vocabulary, as well as their confidence in spelling, enabling them to be able to read and decode new vocabulary much faster. Ultimately helping them to achieve greater results in all of their subjects.  Since we started teaching Lexonik as part of our detailed Literacy intervention program, all the students who have taken part have not only enjoyed their time but have also made incredible progress with their reading levels, with some students making a massive 4-year improvement over the course of the program.

Miles continues to shine for England

I have previously shared our almuni, Miles Cawood’s incredible successes whilst representing Great Britain in the biathlon.  Miles is continuing his training abroad and we wish great success for this season.  The video above was filmed by his army regiment and give a wonderful insight into the commitment and determination he has shown.

Team TA Sports Roundup

The week had started off so promising in terms of fixtures it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment with the school closing early on Tuesday and a number other schools cancelling fixtures.  It was left to the Under 12 basketball team to be the sole representatives for this report. They travelled up to Bristol on Monday to take on two powerhouses in school basketball in the form of Bristol Met Academy and Bohunt School, Hampshire. It was a daunting task considering that for many of our boys this was the first time that they had played in a basketball tournament.  However, they acquitted themselves very well. Indeed in both games, we were level with our opponents at the end of the first half only to see them pull away in the second.  We eventually lost by 8 points to Bristol Met and 10 points to Bohunt.  The results were irrelevant when you compare them to the experience the boys had and the enthusiasm they now have to get better and train harder. These boys can be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Well done: Owen Woodcock, Josh Thompson, Harry Clarke, Pierce Gerring, Zak Steele, Tom Aldous, Josh Robinson, Cole Shobrook, William Harrison, Robin Pightling, Evan Kinghorn and Lucas Washbrook.

Health in Schools Project

Mr Harries and Mr Gale together with some of our students met with Camilla McHugh from the Health Research Department at Exeter University this week to discuss a research project concerning health in schools. They have asked for our support with the research and you can see in the photograpgh our students at the first meeting working hard putting questions for a survey together. Judging by the insightful comments and observations made by the students this promises to be an excellent project in which both the students and Exeter University will gain much from. The students involved are: Year 9 Ellie Mitchell, Noah Handford, Tom Brown, Year 8 Milla Schwarz, Kelsey Hawkins, Year 7 Pheobe Lown, Josh Batham, Charlotte Sweeney, Evan Kinghorn, Kole Gjikolaj

Cross country

On Saturday 19th January, 5 of our student-athletes represented South Devon in the Devon Championships held at Stover School. They qualified for the event by finishing in the top ten in the South Devon Championships, which was also held in Stover. There is a massive step up from South Devon to Devon in terms of quality of opposition, many of the athletes present at the event have already gained experience of National standard competition. All of our students did very well and wore the Team TA tee shirts with pride. Each race had a minimum of 60 runners and all of our runners finished in the top 30 of their respective age groups. Well done to Year 9 Emma Harrison and Caitlyn Graham, Year 7 Hannah Carr, William Harrison and Reef Beer. You were a credit to the school.

PE Clubs

Please have a look at the revised PE Clubs’ timetable below as there are some changes to note.

Mindset for Learning

Mindset for Learning students pictured with Mr Jones and myself are : (not in order) Penny Richards,  Maddy Brewer, Michael Brooker,  Mateusz Baczynksi,  Noah Johnson, Sofia Evans,  Tom Brown,  Leilah Poulain,  Hannah Mabbutt, Elizabeth Cameron,  Kelsey Cresser, Dominic Locke,  Zane Sibiya, Azize Isufi,  Evie Billing, Toby Leaver,  Anthony Brooking,  Thomas Huitema,  Paige Godwin,  Hassan Hussain,  Krisjanis Rumnieks, Harvey Kendall,  Ella Squibb, Ellis Knowles,  Maddie Wannell, Ocean Latto, Ellie Mitchell

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week are : Jack Manley, Pierce Gerring (from last week),  Elizabeth Cameron, Melissa Piper, Jordan Stewart, Millie Bastow, Nathalie Klein

Principal Certificates

Bronze : (not in order) Riley Houlahan, Francis Breslan, Jack Darke, Oliver Sutton, Felicity Chapman, Darcy Thomson-Wade, Joshua Batham, Bradlee Tarrant, Summer Bayliss, Mia Burton, Oakley Manning, Freddie Kingdon, Amelie Wallace-Fisher, Maddison Watt, Jacob Mason, Aaron Cox, Marcus Griffiths, Corbyn Gardner, Aimee Evans, Josi White, Dean Lynch, Xander Tostevin, Mia Sharman, Leah Chappell, Luis Elliott, Grace Hallett, Lizzie Harris, Reece Shaw, Jacob Rooke, Sean Roddy, Ben Dowen, Liam Mugliston

Silver : (not in order) Ena Brett-Wilson, Chloe Dance, Jessica Breach, Emilie Cartwright-Lomax, Matt Budavolgyi, Anya Page-Dove, Hollie Hand, Bogdan Pamfile, Rose Bradley, Cameron Sengupta, Matilda Bindon

Gold: Boris Pugh, Elizabeth Cameron, Alesha Dunford, Jemima Staples, Jasper Dommett

Sparx Level 1 Certificates

Congratulations to Jasper Dommett, Abigail Bridges and James Scrimgeour.  They have reached 10,000 XP on Sparx and have earned their first badge!

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Jazz Povey

Christie – Penny Richards

Darwin – Honey Stevens

Fawcett – Rachel Breach

Harrison – Kye Wren

Kitson – Madison Lovegrove

Nearne – Elsie Taylor

Pengelly – Sophie Bastow

Year 8

Brunel – Lilyella Monk

Christie – Beth Jones

Darwin –

Fawcett – Ellie Holloway

Harrison – Finn Drew

Kitson – Dakota Robinson

Nearne – Deanna Rowe

Pengelly – Holly Bastow

Year 9

Brunel –

Christie – Oliver Stone

Darwin – Ellie Mitchell

Fawcett – Seth Bastow

Harrison – Keana Pather

Kitson – Emily Hunt

Nearne – Molly Carter

Pengelly – Aaliyah Hardoyal

Building update

Theatre

The final stages of the block work were completed as we await the giant concrete slabs that will be delivered next week for the flooring.

Dining Room

With just three weeks to go until we are handed over this new space, it is now ready for decoration.  Students have been tasting some of the new dishes that we will be offering in there, they include:

• Chorizo & Cheese Panini
• Chicken & Bacon Panini
• BBQ Pulled Pork Panini
• Cheese & Bacon Panini
• Garlic, Ginger & Chilli Chicken Rice Pot
• Thai Red Curry Chicken Rice Pot
• BBQ Meatball Pasta Pot
• Piri Piri Chicken Pasta Pot
• Beef & Black Bean Sauce Noodles
• Teriyaki Chicken Noodles
• Chilli & Chicken Salad