Celebrating Success at the Year 11 Graduation Prom
Year 11 Graduation Prom
Pictured: Pictures throughout the evening
Wednesday evening saw our Year 11 Graduation Prom at the Livermead Cliff Hotel. Our students arrived, looking truly wonderful, in a wide variety of vehicles. It was a great end to their exam season and I enjoyed speaking to so many students. I am delighted that so many of them are coming back to join our new Sixth Form.
I look forward to seeing Year 11 again in August for their results day.
Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly
Pictured: My last assembly with our current Year 11’s
Our Year 11s continued with a full timetable until their final Maths paper last Friday; this, combined with all of the extra revision sessions, led to our students being well-prepared for all of their exams.
On Monday they returned for their leavers’ assembly that was organised by Miss Bowden-Williams and Miss Powell. It was a lovely event that looked back on their first five years at the Academy. The school seems very quiet without them…
Year 5 Taster Days
Pictured: Students from Shiphay Learning Academy enjoying an Art lesson during one of the Year 5 taster days
I was delighted to see so many Year 5 students in school this week as they sampled a typical day as a student at our school.
The year 5’s took part in Digital Learning, PE, Performing Arts and Science lessons and had lunch served from our Dining Hall. They spent the rest of their lunch break on our astro; I had to make a quick dash to Asda to pick buy bottles of water. Apologies if you tried to buy water after I visited on Thursday!
We have had wonderful feedback from staff and students of the Primary Schools and look forward to hosting even more schools next week.
Carnegie Event Success
Pictured: Mrs Tanner, with this year’s Carnegie group
Mrs Tanner took our Canegie group to Stover School this week to take part in this year’s Carnegie Shadowing event. Here is what she had to say about the day:
This year’s 2014 Carnegie Shadowing event was held at Stover School on Tuesday 17th June and was held in the Jubilee Hall. I arrived with an eager group of 7 students from Years 8 & 9. They were taking part in the presentations of our Carnegie nominated novel Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell.
The guest author, Anthony McGowan, spoke to the schools at the start of the day and delighted us all with a reading of a chapter from one of his novels. He also offered the students advice and feedback on how to get into writing, and how to be a successful novelist like himself.
We were on in the later part of the day so it was nice to be able to sit back and relax and watch some of the other performances from the other schools. In between every 3 shows, Anthony McGowan, the guest author, gave some feedback on the performances. This was useful for us as we prepared for our show.
When our turn came, we set up the music and PPT and we were off! The students were amazing. All of their stage nerves went, their confidence over took them and they delivered an outstanding rendition of the 5 key scenes from the play. Anthony McGowan praised them as they came off the stage and his feedback at the end of the show was “like watching a play at the theatre”, “brought the book to life” and “brilliant acting”. This was a delight and a pleasure to hear. The 7 students have been rehearsing; every Monday lunchtime, after school and even at home practicing their scripts with family members; all of their hard work paid off. They really put their hearts and souls into it and are already excited for next year’s event!
At the end of all of the presentations, the novel we presented was awarded in 3rd place of being the novel most likely to win the Carnegie Award. We will find out on Monday 23rd June the actual winner of the Carnegie Award 2014.
Year 7 Opening Minds Recycling Project
Pictured: Some of our Year 7 students and their recycled products
Mrs Gibbs and her Year 7 Opening Minds class have been very creative this week. With nothing more than tin cans, bottle tops, cardboard, newspapers and other materials that would otherwise be thrown away, the Year 7’s were able to make a multitude of different and useful products.
The scrap challenge has really opened their eyes to how ordinary ‘rubbish’ can be reused and put to good use. The Year 7s were really creative; my favourite items were a dress made from wallpaper and a guitar made from an old tissue box (pictured).
Students Organise Charity Coffee Morning for Staff
Pictured: Year 10 Student, Warren Ellis, serving homemade cakes earlier this week
The Year 10 Health and Social Care students have been busy organising a charity coffee morning, which was held for staff earlier this week.
The coffee morning was in aid of Rowcroft Hospice and knowing our staff, the students decided a cake sale would be a good way of parting them with their pennies!
They were right, and managed to raise £92.00 by selling a selection of homemade cakes.
Health and Social care teacher, Mrs Haines said “The coffee morning was a great success and we hope to do it again in the future.”
Year 9 Design & Technology
Pictured: (left) Alessandro Lloyd and (right) Bailey Crews with their clock designs
Our Year 9 Students have been busy with their current Design and Technology project entitled ‘Retro Clocks’.
In a society where we are more frequently ‘upcycling’, students have been taking influences from products of the past. Clock designs included cassettes, old signs, record players and much more.
Students had to make sure that the clocks were of a marketable quality and by using a range of CAD/CAM and hand tools to make their products, the overall quality was an extremely high standard!
Visit from Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME)
Ten Year 10 students were invited to attend a 1.5 hour session with five members of the REME Core Engagement Team. These were all students who are considering joining the Army when they leave school.
They were given a short presentation about careers in the Army, followed by team tasks which involved using the students’ skills and team working abilities to engineer various models.
It was a very successful visit, which the students enjoyed and offered them a glimpse of life in the Army.
Cockington Visit to Learn Important Library Skills
We have enjoyed hosting many local primary schools in recent weeks for Library skills workshops; this week we welcomed the Cockington Primary students into school.
Literacy Coordinator, Mr Withers, set various tasks for the students to complete in small teams, putting their library skills to the test.
Many of the primary school students were not used to being in a library with such a wide selection of resources and were able to learn lots of new skills.
Palm FM Visit to Promote Cycling to Work
Pictured: Year 7 Student Nathan Wright (centre) with Palm FM Presenter Matt Rogan, Tracey Fay from Torbay Council and our staff.
As part of National Bike Week, Palm FM presenter Matt Rogan accompanied by Tracey Fay, from Torbay Council visited us earlier in the week to talk about the benefits of cycling to school/work.
As well as bringing us some tasty treats, they also explained the benefits of cycling to and from school and offered personalised travel plans for anyone who does cycle to work.
24 Hours to Make a Change – SkillForce
Pictured: Transformed: Before and after
The following report was kindly provided by Terry Casey of SkillForce and demonstrates how willing our students are to take on a challenge.
“24 Hours to Make a Difference” that was the challenge set out by HRH the Duke of Cambridge to students: Cain Lewis-John, Dan Mealing, Adam Dixon, Lewis Heathman and Damian Coates agreed to take up this challenge. The task was to repaint the external walls of the 11th Torbay Sea Scout unit in Barton; it was important that the Sea Scout unit would be in mint condition and ready for its up and coming annual inspection in July. The Sea Scout leader Paul BaIliss wanted the whole unit to look like a warship which included a colour scheme of battleship grey and black. Battleship grey!! Where on earth do we get battleship grey? To the rescue come Vikki and Paul from the Dulux Decorator Centre in Newton Abbot who, when they heard about the project, donated not only the paint for free but also paint brushes, rollers, trays, brushes and tape.
The 5 boys set to the task and they worked hard. Weeding the surrounding area of unwanted plants, wire brushing the outside walls, taping up the windows and getting the paint on. The Sea Scout unit was transformed, ship shape for the up and coming inspection.
As you can see from the before and after photographs of the Scout Hut the Duke of Cambridge’s challenge had well and truly been met, under budget and within the allocated timescale.
Ten Educational Apps for Teens
Pictured: Year 8 Student Alessandro Lloyd in our Learning Cafe
I am always on the lookout for ways to make learning easier. There are many free apps that can help our students in a variety of areas. Click HERE to see 10 educational apps that you may find to be useful.
Sports Round Up
Pictured: Elyse in action on the running track
Year 9 student Elyse Leech received a Gold medal in the 200m sprint on Saturday in the Devon Schools Championships and has been selected for the Devon team in the South West Schools Championship in Yeovil next Saturday.
Elyse ran the race of her life in the junior girls’ 200m sprint, beating her previous personal best and producing the fastest time in the South West with an impressive time of 26.02 seconds.
A confident Elyse and the rest of the Devon athletes are now waiting to find out whether their efforts are enough to qualify them to compete in the English Schools’ Championships in Birmingham next month.
Well done Elyse!
Devon Games to Inspire
Pictured: George Fenn, Kieran Bailey and Cameron Knowles
Three of our students Kieran Bailey, George Fenn and Cameron Knowles travelled to Exeter University on Saturday to represent Torbay at Badminton in an annual sporting event.
Over 1000 young athletes aged from 8-16 years took part in this Olympic style games, having teams in various sports compete for an overall local authority trophy.
The boys played brilliantly and made it through the group stages with ease. Next came the quarter and semi-finals against East Devon and Teignbridge which saw them and a very strong Plymouth team successfully through to the final.
The boys knew it was going to be tough and raised their game to meet the challenge. Cameron won the first singles match in a close fought battle putting Torbay 1-0 ahead. Jake Dommett (St Cuthbert Mayne ) then unfortunately lost his singles bringing Plymouth level. The last match now depended on George and Kieran winning their doubles – no pressure!!
The match was a real nail biter with both Torbay and Plymouth matching each other point for point. There was so little in it, unfortunately after a couple of good shots by Plymouth, the boys ended up narrowly losing 15- 12, ensuring a silver medal.
The boys played some brilliant Badminton throughout the day and I’m very proud that Torquay Academy had 3 out of the 4 players in the team. Well Done, boys.
Year 7 Rounders Team
Pictured: The Year 7 Rounders Team
Our Year 7s played in their first rounders tournament of the year at Forches Cross.
Their first match was against Churston who had a strong team who caught 4 of our team out in the first round of batting. The score was Churston 7 TA 3 ½. Sana, Elizabeth and Georgia kept the hopes of a TA win going in the next game. They were the only three in after 4 minutes of batting and very nearly got a win against Coombeshead. We narrowly lost by half a rounder.
After a narrow loss the girls were determined to get a win. Batting first Georigia Harvey started the innings with a rounder, followed by Kacie Milton, Kayleigh Perrow, Kasey Lyon and Kacie Dickson all getting one. Half’s were added by Sana Shah, Jess Mitchell, Elizabeth Cook and Jasmine Cressor. Some good catching and fielding skills meant the team got a 7 ½ to 6 win against Dawlish.
Congratulations to all the girls that played and represented the school.
Year 10 Rounders
Pictured: Our Year 10 Rounders team
Rounders review, written by Abbie Powell:
On Thursday 5th June the Year 10 rounders team travelled to Stover to play in a tournament. We were due to play against 6 different schools but 2 pulled out. We ended up playing against Stover, Stoodley Knowle, Trinity and Coombeshead.
Out of the four games we played, we unfortunately lost all of them, but only by 1 1/2 rounders, except our last game. In our first game, our team managed to get out all of the opponents, except for the two players who didn’t get round the whole pitch and stuck on a base. However as two of the teams that we were supposed to play failed to show up we automatically won those matches by default. Despite the loss our team played exceptionally well and should be very proud of themselves.
Year 8 Athletics
Pictured: Our year 8 athletics team
16 students went over to Churston to compete in the Torbay Atheltics competition. All students displayed a great attitude and eagerness to do well. Some of the main highlights were, Harvey Parchment won both his high jump and 100m events, Ben Tolman also won his 100m event, Ocea Jackson Graves came 2nd in the Hurdles and Concordia Levitia came 4th in Long jump.
The Week in Weather
Pictured: Perfect weather for growing strawberries in our allotment
This week’s weather summary comes from Miss Cape:
This week has been a glorious week of sunshine. There has been no rainfall so our monthly total still remains at 12.8mm. We recorded Thursday as being the hottest day of the year so far at 260C.
Fine weather looks set to stay this weekend with full sunshine; a light coastal breeze will keep temperatures in the low 200Cs. I will most certainly making the most of the weather and enjoying a BBQ on the beach. Have a nice weekend and don’t forget your sun cream.
