Excellent Student Conduct, PSHE Day & Fame Auditions Begin

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Students Praised for their Conduct

Pictured: An assembly I gave earlier this week

Since the beginning of the new term, behaviour and the general conduct of students has been very impressive.

This week I have held a number of student assemblies to thank our students for the effort they are making but also remind them the benefits of their hard work. It is a pleasure that I so often receive comments from visitors complementing our students on how smart they look, how friendly they are and how good their behaviour is in the school.

Let’s keep it up and continue the good work I see on a daily basis.

Trinity Visit TA as part of World Tour

Video: Students during their performance with Trinity earlier today

Creative Arts students in Years 11, 12 and 13 had a fantastic treat today as they were visited by a band called Trinity, as part of their UK tour.

As described on their YouTube Channel, Trinity is a Worldbeat band consisting of four Dutch guys. Their mix of South American and Irish folk with African beats and Pop grooves creates an exciting sound. When put in front of a crowd their passionate live performance is bound to end up in one big party.

As part of their world tour, Trinity are performing at the Princess Theatre this Sunday and wanted to visit a local school for one very special performance. We were successful in our bid and were lucky enough for Trinity to select our school!

As well as a live performance, students enjoyed a music workshop with the band, where they learnt more about their unique style of music and even got to perform side by side with the band members. The above video is the finished product of their workshop.

Creative Arts Progress Leader, Miss Pappin said “This really helped our Year 11 students in particular as they have their formal GCSE Music performances in one week’s time. It has been hugely beneficial for the students to perform alongside a professional band and pick up tips from them first hand. On top of this the band perform with authentic world music instruments which the students need to be able to identify as part of their final listening exam. Today they have been able to see, hear and even perform on them. The experience has been invaluable and will contribute a huge amount towards their continued progress on the course.

Lead singer of Trinity, Elbert said “We have really enjoyed ourselves especially the spontaneity of the students. I like how the school invests in creativity, which is really important.”

At the end of the group performance, our students were invited to the Trinity concert this Sunday, at the Princess Theatre to perform on stage with the band. Lots of our students were keen to take them up on this offer. Year 13 student Jasmine Bradshaw said “It was such good fun performing with Trinity being invited to perform with them”.

If you would like to watch them, you can get tickets on the door or by calling 08448713023.

PSHE Day

Pictured: Students during their various sessions throughout the day

This week students across the whole school took part in a PSHE day, in which students learnt about a host of different subjects including, enterprise, self-esteem, road safety, sexual health, drugs, careers, CV writing and interview techniques.

The day was made possible by the kind contributions of the local fire service, PSCO Martin Rushworth, TA staff, Mrs Paddon of Education Business Partnership (EBP) South West who helped to organise the event with Miss Martin, bringing in over 20 employers from various different business sectors, who offered their time and expertise to make the day such a great success.

Mrs Paddon of the EBP said “The students were a real credit to themselves and the school. They embraced the day, listened and worked well, many of them performing out of their comfort zone. Many employers commented to me on how great they were, attentive, hardworking and looking smart. One employer said they were the best students she had ever worked with.”

Year 11 student, Ethan Hooper summarised the event for me, saying: “The most important thing I learnt on PSHE day was how easy it is to be distracted whilst driving and that it is vital to pay attention to the road and what you are doing so that it keeps you and the others in the vehicle safe. If you are not always paying attention you could be involved in a serious crash. The thing that I most enjoyed on PSHE day was learning about all the different things that banks do and how they help with peoples financial troubles. This is because it will be important for me to know about these sorts of things when I’m older.”

PSHE Day Sixth Form

Pictured: (left) winners of the cook off and (right) winners of the debate team judging the final dishes.

As part of the PSHE day, Sixth Form students took part in a Ready Steady Cook style cook off in order for them to enhance their practical life skills.

Three classes, made up of teams of 2-3 students, each put forward a recipe using only a selection of ingredients. The recipes were then judged by Mrs Ball and Mrs Fortune, with the winners from each class having the opportunity to create their recipes in a final cook off.

Whilst the cook off was underway, Year 13 students were participating in a class debating session with Mr Heartford. Students had to research a topic and debate their opinions on the topic in a succinct manner. The winners were Jerry Ovenden, Matt Mason and Connor Bolton who then judged the cook off in front of the Sixth Form students (pictured right).

Other subjects studied during the PSHE day included Study Skills, Revision, Organisation, Managing Money, Introduction to Applying for University and Basic Household Skills. The students enjoyed the variety of the day and learnt lots of new skills.

Electric Car Project Impresses Mr Bindon

Pictured: Martina Smith with Mr Bindon during a Science lesson this week

Assistant Principal, Mr Bindon, was really impressed this week by Year 9 student Martina Smith and the work she completed during the PSHE day on an electric cars project.

The task encouraged students to be enterprising and required Martina to research electric cars on behalf of the local council and produce a marketing plan to encourage the local community to consider opting into the ‘green’ mode of transport.

Martina had lots of great ideas on how she could promote the car within the local community, including community talks, informative leaflets, press releases, radio interviews and produced a fantastic poster to explain how her plan would work.

Students Keen to Impress during Fame Auditions

Pictured: Students in the Creative Arts Drama studio during their audition

Auditions have begun this week for the school production of Fame. The waiting area was full of nervous students who were all keen to impress. Year 7 student Zasha Qureshi said “It’s nice to complete things in front of other people. Singing in front of other students builds my confidence.”

Fame will be performed over 3 nights in March, with tickets going on sale at the beginning of March.

After the success of last year’s show, I look forward to another fantastic evening.

Year 11 Health & Social Care Enjoy Lesson in Communication

Pictured: Counsellor Jayne Meek with our Year 11 Health & Social Care class

Our Year 11 Health & Social Care (HSC) students were visited by experienced Counsellor Jayne Meek this week to discuss methods of Effective Communication.

Students discussed how to be empathetic, sympathetic and how to communicate in their personal and professional lives. The session helped students understand the ways in which to communicate in order to maintain and improve relationships with others.

Students then put their newly learnt communication techniques to the test during a role play activity, where in pairs, one student acted as a counsellor whilst the other spoke about their pros and cons of their summer holiday.

HSC teacher, Mrs Wallace-Stanley said “The students showed real maturity when listening to one another and embraced the communication techniques taught by Jayne in a really rewarding session.”

Year 5 Visit Library and Science Labs

Pictured: Shiphay Learning Academy students during their visit today

Students from Shiphay Learning Academy were invited into school today to experience our Library and Science Labs for an afternoon of skill building sessions.

Literacy Coordinator, Mr Withers, delivered Library Skills lessons with activities aiming to teach students how to use a library effectively, whilst highlighting the wide range of amazing information on offer in our school library.

Mrs Hammond led the session in the Science Lab where students learned how to use a Bunsen burner to gain their ‘Bunsen Burner License’. Students were burning magnesium and testing for hydrogen, listening for a squeaky Pop (the tell tale sign that hydrogen is present).

It was great to see the students enjoying the sessions today and enjoying using our top class facilities.

Extra! Extra! Read all About it…

Pictured: The new Journalism Club poster

Dr Jones and Miss Elson have started a brand new journalism club and are looking for students that are willing to sink their teeth into the world of news reporting.

The club aims to let students write about the issues that interest them. News, reviews, magazine articles, opinion columns… the club is ready for students to step up and write about the world as they see it. With links to local newspapers, students also have the potential for their stories to be published.

If anyone is interested in learning the skills needed to become a news reporter, reviewer or something similar, then this club is for them. Join us every week from 3:00 – 4:00 pm in room H12.

Shakespeare Schools Festival Rehearsals Workshop

Pictured: (left) on stage at the Princess Theatre during rehearsals (right) Theatrical poses on the sea front

Mr Miller enjoyed rehearsing with his cast at the Princess Theatre, for this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival. Here’s what he said about the visit:

As a cast we had our first opportunity to experience rehearsing and performing on stage at the Princess Theatre on Thursday. We arrived early and had time to work on lines on the stage, the students quickly adapting to the space and looking like seasoned professionals in minutes. Once the workshop began the cast were working alongside students from Shiphay Academy and really engaged with the activities designed to develop each of them as performers. We then had a chance to show an excerpt of the play and then develop it with help from the workshop leaders. There is now a real sense of excitement among the company about the upcoming production and the chance to perform the whole play to the public!

The performance is on the 10th November and tickets can be pre-ordered from the school for £7 or bought direct from the theatre for £10. Please speak to Mr Miller if you would like to pre-order a ticket.

Year 11 Geography use Cake to Highlight Coastal Erosion

Pictured: (left) Mr Toorneini with some of our Year 11 students and (right) a diagram of how coastal erosion takes place

This week in Geography, Year 11 have been creating coastal features from cake. The students carved through Angel Layer cakes to re-create the features of Torbay, Orcombe Rocks at Exmouth and Langstone Rock at Dawlish to help them understand the role of coastal processes in forming them.

Year 11 student, said “Using cake helped to grab my attention and made it easier to understand the layer formations of rock.”

Year 9 Students get Creative with Science Homework

Video: Oli and Macey’s homework video

Year 9 student Oli Cawood and Macey Harvey, sent me their Science homework this week to show off their handy movie making skills.

Oli and Macey chose their homework task from the ‘Take away’ homework menu in Mrs Hammond’s Science class and produced a video about figs, which you can see above.

Here’s what Oli said about their project:

“As part of our Science lesson we had to pick one of the tasks from the take away homework menu. Macy Harvey and I (Oli Cawood) combined two tasks together, to make an IMovie about living organisms! We both chose figs as a topic, located in my garden! From this we learnt lots about their order, family history and kingdom, which we didn’t know before.”

Learning Café and Period 6

Pictured: (left) Students in our Learning Café and (right) a busy period 6 class

Year 11 students are attending period 6 sessions in a range of subjects to provide extra support to ensure they are fully prepared for the GCSE examinations. Miss Cape had over 50 students for her History session this week which shows the dedication of our students.

The Learning Cafe has also been in full swing since the beginning of term. Open from 7.30 am in the morning, students are provided with breakfast and spend the time completing homework or extra studies for 45 minutes before school. Also open after school, the learning cafe is always full and open until 4.00 pm. Students from all year groups have been working side by side with hot drinks and snacks. There is buzz of learning every day in the learning cafe.

Year 7 Football Academy

Pictured: Year 7 Football Academy students in training this week with Mr Jones

The Year 7s recently underwent trials for selection into the Football Academy. A squad was selected from over 50 students who attended trials and will train every Monday and Wednesday after school.

This year, the Year 7s will be playing 7-a-side competitions and will represent the school in the South Devon, County and National Cup competitions, looking to build upon the recent success of the football teams.

The boys have been training as a team now for 3 weeks and have already shown a good improvement both individually and collectively. A match report for their fixture this week against ISCA College can be read below.

Year 8 Rugby

Pictured: The Year 8 rugby team ready for action

The Year 8 Rugby team were unable to build on last week’s win at KEVICS. They lost 20-10 to an experienced St Cuthbert Mayne side on Tuesday.

The team is showing good progression each game with an excellent work ethic evident throughout the team.

Year 7 Football

Pictured: Our Year 7 team before their fixture against ISCA College

Year 7 kicked off their football season with a game against ISCA College, in Exeter this week.

ISCA were a very big physical side and to begin with, TA struggled to deal with this and soon found themselves 3-0 down. TA kept it to 3-0 until half time where they were able to reshuffle and re-organise as well as take on some words of advice and plenty of encouragement.

TA soon found themselves level at 3-3 thanks to a quick fire hat-trick from substitute Alex Dale. TA had all the moment at this point and pushed on to try and clinch a winner with ten minutes remaining, however TA were caught on the counter attack twice before the final whistle blew to end 5-3.

A super effort from the team. Well done boys!