CCF cadets presentation, TA's got talent and a cake sale
CCF cadets’ presentation evening
On Wednesday evening we had an incredible evening celebrating the work of our CCF. The evening involved a number of demonstrations from the cadets where they showed off some of the skills they had been learning to their parents and carers. This was followed by the awarding of a number of different certificates and trophies as well as giving promotions to some exceptionally well deserving cadets.
It was a lovely event with so many families attending to share this special evening. One of our leading cadets, Sam Foley, is pictured here with his Grandad who proudly served in the RAF
You can watch the full event below.
TA’s got talent
On Thursday afternoon Miss Risk, our Head of Houses, hosted an amazing TA’s got talent event. Each house selected one act to represent their house in The Platform in front of an audience waving banners and cheering very loudly! We had our very own applaus-o-meter to register these cheers! Some of the students were very nervous, but they all performed brilliantly. The winning house was Harrison, but congratulations to everyone who took part in this fun event.
Super Dooper Cake Sale for our Young Carers
A superb effort from all the students that take Hospitality and Catering at Torquay Academy. All students from year nine to eleven have worked tirelessly to produce some wonderful yummy creations for the Christmas Cup Cake Charity for TA’s Young Carers that took place on Thursday 9th December. They baked mince pies, cupcakes and chocolate cakes to sell at break and lunch and some students very kindly gave up their time to help sell them. A wonderful effort!
A massive thank you for the support that all our students and staff gave in purchasing and consuming the goodies, in fact we raised a whopping £260 for Young Carers so it was a huge success!
Christmas Concert 2021 – SOLD OUT!
We are delighted to be holding our annual Christmas Concert on Wednesday 15th December, 6pm – 7:45pm in The Platform. It’s been two years since our last Christmas Concert and I know that students and music staff alike are so excited that our concert can go ahead this year! The concert is packed with performances from every year group, year 7 through to year 13, plus our Music and Performing Arts Academies. The concert will see over 120 of our students take to the stage, performing a range of traditional and contemporary festive material. I can’t wait for what I know will be an incredible evening!
Year 11 dance
This week our Year 11 dance class performed their dance routines in front of their teacher Miss Felton and Miss Walklin who is currently on maternity leave. I was very impressed with the quality of the performances and I have no doubt they will be very successful this summer.
Year 10 Netball Devon Central League
The Year 10 Netball Academy travelled to Paignton Hub again on Tuesday to play in the Devon Central Netball League. The girls played exceptionally well, winning four games and losing one game, showing how well they have developed as a team over the season. Well done to Skye Warner, who was nominated as our player of the tournament! The team of 10 were: Mia Denby (C), Ellie Denby, Evie Sutton, Heidi Wright, Lily Unsworth, Grace Povey, Skye Warner, Ellie Chammings, Tammy Westacott, Summer Connolly.
Year 7 Rugby
The year 7 rugby team travelled to Paignton on Monday in place of the postponed TBGS tournament. We had two separate games and played excellently. Every game we are seeing massive improvements as individuals and as a team. Our on-pitch communication is really developing and our defensive coordination is greatly improved.
Well done to all the boys on two wins. We travel to TBGS on Monday.
Goodbye to Miss Nixon
It is with a heavy heart that we have to say farewell to our extremely talented and inspiring trainee Art teacher Miss Nixon. Miss Nixon was a former pupil of TA and in possession of an extraordinary and natural artistic talent. We are left with no doubt that she will continue her artistic journey inspiring young people and sharing her expertise and knowledge; she has worked closely with both Mr Haring and Mrs Lynch. She has made a huge impact on those students she worked with and in particular, her work with Year 9s helped them develop their ceramic skills and further their artistic endeavours. We would like to take this opportunity to wish her all the very best at her second work placement in Exeter. Hopefully one day she might return to us as a fully qualified teacher of Art and Design.
A Christmas Carol
Mrs Mortimore has been finishing reading A Christmas Carol with her year 10 group this week, with a fire burning in the background. As well as creating the ideal atmosphere for sharing a ghost story, the fire is an important symbol within the story, signifying the amount of love within each of the households depicted.
Sixth Form Period 1
Here at TA, year 12 and year 13 students are mixed together into subject specific tutor groups. We make use of the daily 50 minute period 1 lesson to revise and consolidate student’s knowledge and skills in a particular part of the course. In these pictures you can see Mr Broome’s A level physics tutor group attempting, then marking, some exam questions relating to: radioactive decay, the principle of the conservation of energy and conducting a practical to determine the Young Modulus of a metal.
House News – Year 7- first term in
Our Year 7 students have now been with us for a whole term and most will agree that the time has rushed by in a whirlwind of lessons, activities, homework and new friendships. It seems fitting therefore to hear from some individuals to discover what their house groups mean to them.
George, Abigail, Grace and Ella from BRUNEL tell me: We stick to our motto-Be Inventive. We come up with inventive ideas such as our talent show act. We are supportive, kind and like a family to each other. Our tutor, Mrs Haines, is nice because she is a food technology teacher and we love attending Pudding Club.
Miko and Isabella from CHRISTIE report: We are all very creative in Christie. Our posters for the talent show will be the best in the year. Our group is very intelligent; we came second in the Battle of the Brains. We have a very good idea for TA’s Got Talent and Mr Hills is the best tutor for Christie because he is very dramatic.
Ellie, Joe, Ruby, Summer and Ethan had lots to say about DARWIN: We love being in Darwin-everybody in our group is great fun. The best person in the group is our tutor Mrs Lynch-she is great fun, She is an Art teacher and is very competitive; we get sweets and chocolate when we win events.
Rebecca, Oliver, Leela and Lili said of FAWCETT. Yellow is a happy colour and we are a very cheerful group. Tutor time is always good fun with Miss Piggot. Our act for the talent contest will be the best because we have two guitarists and a singer.
Freddi from HARRISON relayed: Our tutor, Miss Felton, has lately become really competitive; she has been rehearsing with our group for the talent contest and is determined to win. Our motto is Be Courageous and to show this we sold poppies for The Royal British Legion for Remembrance Day.
Faye, Darcy and Millie stated: KITSON has a really friendly environment. It’s a good house to be in because people are really good natured and very sporty. Our tutor, Mr Yao is very funny, cheerful and supportive.
Cody, Briony and Joss were strident in their praises of Mr Prestoe, NEARNE house captain. Our tutor is nice, funny , encouraging and can make silly voices when he reads to us. All the people in our house are nice and funny. We have a really good combination of different acts for the talent show.
And finally, from Millie, Ben, Olivia and Mia of PENGELLY: Two words, Mr Chadwick-no five words, Mr Chadwick and Mrs Lancaster. They are the best and always wear brilliant costumes. We always win and people really get along in the group. We have an amazing talent show act.
I hope these words help you to understand just how much being in a house means to our students.
A Level Chemistry
Mr Gale’s A-level chemistry classes have been working hard on two topics in recent weeks. Year 12 have been studying ”Developing Fuels” where they have been learning about the hydrocarbon molecules in petrol and diesel, and about measuring energy changes when fuels burn. The topic goes on to discuss how chemists can modify molecules to improve the efficiency of energy output, and to look at alternatives to fossil fuels.
Year 13 have been studying the “Oceans” topic which involves practical work looking at the solubility of different substances in water. It also looks in detail about how the oceans play a role in controlling climate change, as carbon dioxide dissolves in the sea. This reduces the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, but risks the oceans becoming acidified. The students are investigating the impact that these changes could have on our environment.
Tassomai
Tassomai is a very important part of our work with students. It helps them build up their knowledge across many different subjects by completing simple quizzes. Here is the fantastic year 10 Tassomai club getting their Tassomai done!
Sixth Form University Offers this week…
Principal’s Silver Certificates
Year 7 – Hamish Herring
Year 8 – Millie Sneap
Principal’s Bronze Certificates
Year 7 – Oskar Demkowski, Harry Newman, Ella Hylton, Grace Halsey, William Kelly, Rufus Scrase and Matilda Stevens
Year 8 – JJ Cossey ,Ruby Donaldson, Jemimah Jones and Lyra Bowstead
Students of the week
Year 7 – Charlotte Little and Joe Boyce
Year 9 – Mia Weston and Luke Le Huray
Year 10 – Phoebe Staples and Ed Fogarty
Year 11 – Maddie Hele and Archie Hughes
House Stars of the week
Year 7
Brunel – Amelia Rose
Christie – Amelia Lawton & Maddie Kenyon
Darwin – Sonny Bond & Summer Holmes
Fawcett – Aliviya Lawrence & Lewis Philips
Harrison – Barnaby George & Daisy Holden
Kitson – Ollie Cooper & Daisy Cosh
Nearne – Jos Full & Maja de Carvalho
Pengelly – Serina James
Year 8
Brunel – Ellie Jayne Scott & Tomasz Kowalski
Christie – Callum Jackson & Daisy Faulkner
Darwin – Cerys Lowe
Fawcett – Simon Drost
Harrison – Kyla Ridgewell & Zac Evans
Kitson – Liam Trapp & Emily Meloy
Nearne – Millie Edwards & Rayan Nafim
Pengelly – Kye Giffard
Year 9
Brunel – Ruby Denison
Christie – Oliver Huxtable & Rosie Mahoney-Billis
Darwin –
Fawcett – Sean Crawford & Daisy Gibbings
Harrison – Jayden Mallon
Kitson – Harry Watt & Joshua Walsh
Nearne – Oliver Keating & Isaac Jacobs
Pengelly – Isla Howarth & Dylan Nock
Homework Stars of the week
Year 7
Brunel – Ellen Scott
Christie – Lucas Chappell & Mikolaj Piasecki
Darwin – Jason Mewitt & Summer Holmes
Fawcett – Oliver Cocker & Amelia Wisniewska
Harrison – Ava Storey & Sunny Long
Kitson – Thomas Ross & Louis Tillen
Nearne – Nancy Brown & Sienna Painter
Pengelly –
Year 8
Brunel – Buster Watson & Harry Marsden
Christie – Harrison Hogg & Liam Baillie-Hogan
Darwin – Emma Matthews
Fawcett – Jaccob Tripp
Harrison – Will Godfrey Wil Godfrey & Tom Thorner
Kitson – Laila Heavens & Oliver Los
Nearne – Millie Edwards & Bartosz Mitula
Pengelly – Millie Sneap
Year 9
Brunel –
Christie – Elliott Lawton & Milo Marshall
Darwin –
Fawcett – Emily McCondichie & Olivia Wood
Harrison – Lacie Benson
Kitson – Harvey Thomas & James Lovell
Nearne – Mitchell Watkins & Oliver Keating
Pengelly – Jake Pettit
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