Debating Champions, fieldtrip and countdown...
Year 12 Geography Fieldtrip
The Year 12 Geographers had a successful day in Plymouth conducting their Human Fieldwork. They visited the City Centre to look at the regeneration of Drake Circus, followed by a visit to Royal William Yard to investigate the restoration that had taken place in the area. Students were brilliant and successfully collected a range of fieldwork data techniques that will go towards their exams next year.
Torbay Debating Champions
This week, members of the Torbay Rotary Club came into school to crown our Year 11 debating team Torbay champions in the national Youth Speaks public speaking competition. The team members Penny Richards, Evie Heron and Kole Gjikolaj are currently through to the third round of the competition and will be delivering their speeches on whether recycling should be mandatory at the South West finals in Bodmin on 25th February. We wish them best of luck!
Ten Tors Training
Ten Tors Training continues to go from strength to strength. The teams are progressing well under an increased level of map reading. Meeting at school, kit check complete and off to Dartmoor on the school minibusses.
Willsworthy ranges was the navigation area for the day. The teams were taking in the views of the military ranges. With no cloud base, the tops of the hills and scenery were amazing.
As the teams set off and spirits were higher than ever. Great pace and map reading skills were certainly put to the test as they navigate through Nodden Gate. The river stepping stones were met with a smile. Some of the students found it easier than others, but the teams worked so hard together, which made for a great team experience.
The next time out will be under canvas for the night. Camping on the school grounds for the night and then an early up in the morning to head to the Mooor for a long day walk with full Ten Tors kit. The evening at school will be an opportunity to home in on some key skills, cooking, tents and kit packing, to name a few.
House Countdown
On Wednesday, the grand Countdown final took place, featuring Kitson -represented by: Tyler Evans, Vaughn Heavens, Naomi Szyszke and Amy Cooper versus Fawcett – represented by Jenson Gorin, Toby Hamilton, Talia Street and Saskia Cooper. The match was neck and neck as each team battled to solve maths and literacy challenges. Both teams edged ahead but in the last minute Jenson Gorin stole the match by guessing the anagram ‘momentary’ and Fawcett emerged victorious!
This win is extremely significant as it is the first-ever Fawcett victory! Mr Gale, head of Fawcett, was exultant and celebrated with the team. Both the winners and runners-up received prizes and there were sweets for the whole of 7F. Most importantly, however, is the fact that the house-cup is decorated with yellow ribbons for the very first time.
House assemblies and mufti
Every day this week, students from years 7,8 and 9 have met with their heads of house for a special assembly. This has allowed students to integrate with other house members beyond their year group, bond as a house and share in a healthy sense of camaraderie. Subjects discussed included the ethos behind our house system, the support it provides and the values it instils.
Additionally, on Wednesday we had a non-uniform day organised by the Year 7 members of our Student Voice Committee. All students in the school were asked to bring in a £1 donation for the privilege of choosing their own outfit for the day. As always, this event is eagerly received by our students who all delight in wearing their favourite clothes whilst contributing beneficially to the local community. The house charities are: The Children’s Society, Rowcroft Hospice, Animals in Distress, The Premature Baby Unit at Torbay Hospital, The Royal British Legion, Torbay Coast and Countryside, The Red Cross and Stroke Support.
Devon Air Ambulance
Alongside Barton Cricket Club, we have granted the Devon Air Ambulance access to the Cricketfield playing grounds. This has included providing access to provide landing lighting so the field can be used 24 hours a day in the event of an emergency. This week the helicopter made a practice landing. We are proud to be able to support such an incredibly worthwhile charity and service to our community.
Cadet Training
Both the Army and RAF sections have been taking part in key elements of the cadet training syllabus.
The RAF section brings an amazing team together with the RAF RAST competition and the Army section rotating through Weapons handling and leadership skills.
The senior cadets have been very fortunate to host the Contingent Commander of 200 Sqn ATC who has assessed 3 of the seniors in Method Of Instruction (MOI) Course. Well done to CSgt Josh Furze, CCpl Cody Furze and CCpl Dimitar Dinev who have successfully passed and have been awarded the Cadet Instructor Gold Lanyard. A big thank you to 200 Sqn for taking time out to work with us.
CCpl Harvey Bates has successfully passed the Army equivalent course (CFIT) and is now also a member of the cadet instructor team. It has been a very busy 18 months for them to achieve these results. An absolute credit to them for persevering and producing some amazing lessons for the junior cadets. Well done all.
We welcome aboard new Cadet Force Adult Volunteers, Mr Simon Thacker, Miss Stoyle, Miss Jelbert, Mr Bez and Dr Jones. Very exciting times ahead as we intensify the training program to include mountaineering, water sports, climbing, shoot camp, flying, military tactic camps and so so much more.
Effort Boards
We unveiled the latest effort boards this week and, as ever, students were very keen to see their latest position!
Word Millionaire
Congratulations to Izzy Goldsbrough 7P who has become a word millionaire. Accruing an amazing 1,067,964 words read since September!
Geography with Miss Nash
Year 8
Year 8 are learning about the coastal process this cycle and Miss Nash is really pleased with the effort that her classes are making with the presentation of their work.
Year 10
Year 10 have recently sat their PPEs (pre-public exams) and 10C worked really hard on their revision and got great results. Olivia Woods got the highest grade in 10C. Miss Nash was thrilled with everyone’s efforts and says that the class is a joy to teach.
Golden Top 10 in Year 8 for Effort
Top Ten Most Improved Effort for Cycle 2 Year 8
U13 Football Match
On Monday, the U13 Girls Football team took on St. Cuthbert Mayne at home. The girls took an early lead of 5-1 at half time and finished the game 13-1. They played an excellent game and held their positions and space really well on the pitch. Many positives and a couple of things to work on in training, but we already can’t wait for the next match to see these girls go from strength to strength! Well done to Kayla Hadley, Leela Cartwright, Maria Nihtyanova, Frankie Skelly, Poppy Bettridge, Neeve Thomson, Evie Ford, Ava Mills, Gracie-May Tolley! Fantastic game all!
Beep Test
Mr Welsh has been putting his Year 9s to the test this week with the very demanding beep test.
TA Netball Academy Leaders
Throughout this term, our U14 Netball Academy players have been coaching and umpiring our Year 7 and 8 academy sessions in order to work towards their netball qualifications or D of E bronze award. It is great to see our younger pupils being inspired to take their netball further and watch our older pupils turn into young leaders.
Year 7 Football CVL
On Wednesday a team of Year 7 Footballers took part in a central venue league at Paignton Academy. The girls played brilliantly and worked so well together. Lots of great defensive work from the defenders and se big clear outs from Ellie! Some cracking goals from Poppy and Maria also. We are all very excited for the next one – well done girls!
Those involved: Maria Nihtyanova, Poppy Bettridge, Adalynn Abraham, Bella Kendall, Dolly Gagg, Sophie Peryer, Katie Peryer, Ellie Bowden.
Year 7 v Boys Grammar School
This week we travelled to TBGS to play an A and B team fixture, it was great to see all our players involved and showing continued progress and development. The B team put on a solid display and came away with a 1-1 draw with our goal coming from Will Wrathall. The A team came back from 2 goals down to put in a real strong second half to eventually win the game 4-2.
Individual Table Tennis Championships
Well done to all of our students at today’s individual table tennis championships. All of the players competed brilliantly and huge congratulations to our 3 medalists, Kacper (gold) Aleksandra (gold) and Lydia (bronze) Kacper and Aleksandra will now progress to the National Finals in Birmingham.
Squad: Kacper Piwowar, Aleksandra Treder, Lydia Bevan, Ben Jeffs, Thomas Connolly, Lee Stevens, Sonny Cayford, Kai Fowler, Caleb Harford-Brown, Norbert Tomsia, Gustaw Adamczak, Elliott Baines.
Year 10 v Boys Grammar School
Also this week our year 10s played TBGS in a game arranged to give both teams a good run out before the Torbay cups starts after half term. It was a very even game with both teams having to deal with minimal space and a few bobbles reducing the passing game for each team.
The deadlock was broken in the end, a corner for TA into the box dropped for Sean Crawford to put us in the lead, a second goal was scored by a calm penalty from Josh Walsh to cap off the 2-0 win.
6th Form Football
This week the boys faced a strong team from Cardiff & Vale College, our last few performances have been much better and we have seen a huge improvement in what we are learning in training transitioning into our games. This was evident to see on Wednesday as we performed really well and secured a 3-1 win with a strong performance. Goals on the day came from Ollie Dowell, Tor Swann and Tom Burt.
Students of the Week
Year 7 – Oscar Rogers and Izzy Goldsbrough
Year 8 – Ava Storey and Callum Pile
Year 9 – Oliver Drinkwater and Ema Kestel
Year 10 – Josh Walsh and Abbie Dodd
Sixth Form – Maddy Brewer and Alfie Fenn
House Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Monica Wanstall
Christie – Lola Reece
Darwin – Emir Zorel
Fawcett – Jenson Gorin
Harrison – Toby Howell
Kitson – Tristan Ellis
Nearne – Lacey Redhead
Pengelly – Paris Read
Year 8
Christie – Zak Turner
Darwin – Phoenix Furse
Fawcett – Nevin Vithayathil
Harrison – Kelsey Drew
Kitson – Thomas Ross
Nearne – Kacper Drygiel
Pengelly – Carla Lawrence
Year 9
Brunel – Matt Wadling
Christie – Joshua Rogers
Darwin – Lucas West
Fawcett – Emily Banks
Kitson – Gideon Prowse
Nearne – Ben Phillips
Pengelly – Charlie Porter
Homework Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Oscar McLaughlan
Christie – Oscar Rogers
Darwin – Evie Ford
Fawcett – Emilia Warner
Kitson – Summer Pallant
Nearne – Finley Corderoy
Pengelly – Samuel Sanders
Year 8
Christie – Scarlett Lacey
Darwin – Leon O’Connor
Fawcett – Benjamin Houghton
Harrison – Barnaby George
Kitson – Bella Blatchford
Nearne – Gracie-May Tolley
Pengelly – Alex Nagy
Year 9
Brunel – Buster Watson
Christie – Amara Phillips
Darwin – Lewis Watt
Fawcett – Daniel Eales
Kitson – Oliver Los
Nearne – Sam Alcock
Pengelly – Ethan Lane
University Offers this week..
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