Festive cheer with a concert, carol tour and a loud suit!

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Stars Shine at Christmas Concert

On Wednesday evening TA celebrated it’s annual Christmas Concert put on by our outstanding Music department. The thing that makes this evening so special is the fact that a Christmas Concert at TA isn’t your average Christmas Concert… Instead it’s an absolute celebration of all the phenomenal talent displayed in our music department, as well as a few special effects including the famous snow machine hired in just for this concert each year! Only the absolute best is chosen to perform in the Christmas Concert and the students see it as an absolute privilege to be chosen and are extremely proud of their achievements in the process.

This year the concert consisted of a staggering 120 students from Year 7 all the way up to Year 13. Amongst these students there were all sorts of performances ranging from the stunning solos of Year 11 student Jessica Mitchell and Year 7 student Poppy Rodgers, to incredible harmonies of the TA Choir, all the way to a heavy rock performance by one of our Year 10 bands who go by the name of Risen Soldiers. As well as these we had a whole number of acts such as our Year 7 and 8 bands, Year 9, 10 and 11 NCFE Music Performance students and our Year 12 and 13 BTEC Music Performance students.

Our music team is made up of Head of Creative Arts, Miss. Pappin, as well as her team: Mr. Brinson, Mr. Mathew and Mr. Tame. This year they set out to make this evening the most mind-blowing concert the school has ever witnessed and this was a huge expectation for the students to meet, but they truly outdid themselves in spectacular fashion. Miss. Pappin expressed how insanely proud she is of every single one of our Music students and promises next year will be even more spectacular!

Congratulations to every single student involved and we already can’t wait for next year’s concert.

All the pictures from the evening can be found on our Facebook page

Carols on Tour

Still buzzing from the amazing Christmas Concert the evening before,  the Academy Choir jumped on their tour bus and hit the road to begin the annual Carols On Tour event. This year’s much anticipated tour began at one of the Academy’s favourite stops, Warberries Nursing Home. The choir positioned themselves up the stunning staircase and sang beautifully to the residents below.

Stop 2 resulted in a last minute change of plan due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’… not to be deterred the choir put on a flash mob performance outside Debenhams in the town! The Christmas shoppers were treated to some beautifully sung carols with many stopping to enjoy the performance.

After a quick stop for lunch it was time get back on the tour bus and head to Torbay Hospital for the final leg of the tour. Performing in the main hospital entrance the choir immediately drew a crowd of patients, visitors and staff who described their singing as ‘superb’.

The Academy Choir have certainly brought a smile to many a face this Christmas. Well done to all involved.

Our beautiful Christmas Card

I am very grateful to Kacey Kenyon who took the photograph for this year’s Christmas card.  I have many positive comments about the picture.  Many thanks, Kacey.

Year 7s Make Parachutes

Many of our Year 7 students have been learning about forces, including balanced and unbalanced forces and in this lesson, air resistance. They were tasked with making a parachute for a plasticine figure using a specific set of resources. With the aim of being the last to land, the winning team reduced their downwards force of weight by making their plasticine figure very small!

Year 7s Walk to School

The Year 7s were set a challenge by the Youth Sport Trust to walk to school for 15 days minimum over the course of the winter half term. To achieve this task, 125 pupils had to successfully hand in their forms signed and dated from each day. Incredibly 138 students decided to take this challenge and run with it meaning that Year 7s went above and beyond to achieve their target!  Congratulations to every single student who took part, Miss Walklin and the Year 7 team are very proud of each of you.

Gold Maths Whizz Certificate for Ben

Ben Paddon is a year 7 student who has gained a gold certificate for his Maths Whizz progress. Maths Whizz is a numeracy intervention aiding students in their understanding of maths at their individual levels.

Lexia

Congratulations to our second Lexia finisher of the year, Megan Swift in year 8 (pictured) managed to work her way through the five levels of Lexia. Over the course of the last 18 months, Megan has worked really hard during her intervention sessions to complete activities that taught her English skills from vowels and c.p.d words to Anglo-Saxon and prefixes.   Completing Lexia is a massive achievement and will really help Megan meet her future targets as she continues through Torquay Academy.

AS/A Level Photography Display

Mrs Lynch was delighted to put on a display of photographic artwork created by the GCSE, AS & A Level Photography students.  The exhibition has been very well received with lots of complementary and encouraging comments from both students and staff alike. The work on display shows how diverse contemporary photography can be. Featured works show a variety of different photographic genres from Landscape, Portraiture, abstract and of course black and white.  This body of work illustrates why last years photography exam results were the best they have ever been, with 86% of GCSE students getting A* to C and A Level achieving 100% pass rate.

Mufti Day provide food for the Salvation Army’s food bank

Our annual Food Bank drive, organised by the Sixth Form Student Leadership Team, was a huge success this week. In return of wearing a festive jumper or mufti clothing, students and staff donated non-perishable food items that were to be donated to the Salvation Army in Torquay. The Torquay centre operate their own food bank to provide the basics for people and families who have hit hard times.  As a school, we are very proud and humbled to be a part of this worthwhile and necessary cause.

Citizenship Awards

I was delighted to see awards go to Saoirse Murphy & Rory Deakin, both in Yr 9, pictured with Miss Cape and Mrs Gibbons.  Saoirse found a mobile phone on the way to school which happened to belong to another student in the school, this has been passed back.   Rory found a wallet on his way to school which  contained a large amount of cash.  As a result we were able to reunite the wallet with extremely grateful owner.   Thank you to Saoirse and Rory for their acts of great honesty.

Artwork for my office

I was delighted this week when Abi Jones Year 7 came to see me with a canvas that she had drawn over the weekend. I was very grateful for the gift and it will take pride of place in my office!

Principal Certificates

Bronze Certificate : George Nelson – Yr 7 ,  Ena Brett-Wilson – Yr 7, Aimee Evans – Yr 7 

 Silver : Boris Pugh – Year 7

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week with me, Mr Chadwick, Dr Hocking and Mr Jones :  Rhyanna Lewis – Yr 8, Poppy Rogers – Yr 7, Rory Deakin – Yr 9, Hannah Mabbutt – Yr 10, Jessica Mitchell – Yr 11

Team TA Sports Roundup

Cricket

An exciting afternoon of hardball cricket playing St Cuthbert Mayne, Torquay Boys and Paignton. The TEAMTA U13s led by Sean Andrews had a nervous start and struggled to take advantage from some wayward bowling when at bat. Highlights of the day was Harrison Lee’s full length stop and improved running between the wickets.

The TEAMTA U15s were strong and hopes were high, an easy victory against SCMS bowling them all out for 12. TBGS scores well and put on a tricky total. Excellent batting by Captain Sonny Prior meant we came close but unfortunately could not get across the line. Against Paignton the boys had real belief. Wickets tumbled but TA couldn’t get Ward out who finished with successive 6s. The chase was on and a good batting performance kept us close but good fast bowling by Ward meant Paignton took the spoils. Well done to all that took part.

Football

On Monday, the Year 7 boys football team progressed in the County Cup after a hard-fought 4-1 win over a useful Newton Abbot College team.  As has become customary now, the boys dominated possession for large periods. Their short, sharp passing game created numerous opportunities although the opening goal remained elusive. That was until a pinpoint corner delivery found the head of Harley Sneap to give TA a slender 1-0 lead at half time.

The second half started with TA under pressure, but we were given a two goal cushion when Harley curled in a sublime second. This was shortly added to by Issac Astpury for 3-0. Newton Abbot rallied as they looked for a way back into the game and scored a goal of their own with five minutes to go, before Harley Sneap saved his best until last, a neat little turn followed by a left footed effort that curled into the far corner for his hat trick.

And finally…….there’s that suit again !!

Dr Hocking looking dapper in his Christmas suit for Mufti Day!