Girls rugby, coasteering, final assembly and gigging...

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TA Go Coasteering

TA students are getting the opportunity to go Coasteering this half term.  We are delighted to be able to offer even more free extra curricular opportunities for our girls and boys.  For those not in the know, Coasteering is a combination of open water/wild swimming, climbing and jumping into the sea.  Not only is it very fun but it teaches participants to work with the prevailing swell and water conditions as well as giving ‘literally & metaphorically’ a different perspective to the natural coastline around us.  In the Adventurous Activities world this might be termed “Type 2 fun” as the sea is still pretty cold but the students (and staff) have persevered and embraced the bracing conditions coming out with smiles all around.

 

Year 11 Final Assembly before exams…

The Year 11s had their final assembly before their exams where they opened good luck messages from parents and staff. We wish them all the best for their upcoming examinations which start with RS on Monday.

More Silver and Bronze DofE Success at TA

Eight more students were awarded their DofE certificates this week. Seven students successfully completed their Silver awards – making this group of students our most successful DofE Silver cohort ever – and one student successfully completed their Bronze award.

It is a fantastic achievement by the students and recognises their efforts in learning or developing Skills, giving up their time to do a Volunteering activity, and their time in undertaking a sport or similar Physical activity and of course undertaking the gruelling expedition: at Silver hiking and camping over 3 days and 2 nights, and at Bronze 2 days and 1 night.

Once again, the activities the students participated in were extremely diverse. In the Physical section, students were undertaking activities such as gym fitness, cycling, athletics and dance. In the Skills section, students were developing skills in learning musical instruments, drill and marching in cadets, navigation, and acting. In the Volunteering section, students coached younger students in athletics and gymnastics, helped younger students in the after school club develop their cookery skills, assisted in teaching dance – and one student (Jasmine Evans at Bronze level) worked with the charity Shekinah on raising awareness of and campaigning against hate crime. Some amazing activities are undertaken by TA students that really help and support their local community with positive action.

At Silver and Gold level of the DofE participants have to have an aim to their expedition and complete a presentation in order to achieve the award. These can be very varied in their subject matter, for example photos and a presentation on the nature or geology they encountered on the expedition, a litter pick and survey, or designing a tshirt reflecting their expedition experience, etc. One of our Silver teams this year – including Penny Richards, Phoebe Lown, Heidi Wright, Oriana McCaul and Hannah Carr – put together song lyrics to the tune of Mr Brightside by the Killers, that reflected their expedition experience. Mr Adams, Mrs Schwarz and Mr Brett all said it is the best DofE Expedition presentation they have observed!

Congratulations to the following students: Jasmine Evans – Bronze Award
Penny Richards, Phoebe Lown, Heidi Wright, Bogdan Pamfile, Will Harrison, Bobbie Royal, Kole Gjikolaj – Silver Award

Most of the students have already enrolled or expressed an interest in completing the next level award, which is commendable and shows ambition and a level of maturity in the fact they are seriously considering their future prospects in university, college applications and future employment. Well done!

Sixth Form Music Gig

Last Thursday, the TA Music Department sixth form entertained a large audience at Molloy’s St Marychurch.

Three bands from both year 12 and 13 performed classic covers spanning all eras of popular music, from The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival to more modern numbers from Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles.

First to the stage was a year 12 band consisting of Lorenzo De Paoli, Rose Hoyte, Poppy Rogers, Lucia Aguardo Georgian and Alfie Sams, ran through an upbeat set of pop bangers. Opening with Kaiser Chiefs ‘I Predict a Riot’ on a chilly evening this band certainly warmed the audience up nicely. Florence and the Machine’s ‘Dog days are over’ had the crowd clapping along, making this band a hard act to follow.

Our second-year 12 band brought a more rock-edged feast to the table, rattling through The Kooks’ ‘Naive’ and Jet’s ‘Are you gonna be my girl’ at a breakneck pace. With Aimee Evans, Abi Jones and Kelsey Hawkins on vocals, Freddie Kingdon on drums, Aaron Cox on bass and Dylan Weatherburn-Bird on guitar, this band got Molloy’s singing and whipped the Molloy’s atmosphere to a fever pitch. Wrapping up their set with Royal Blood and Muse’s ‘Reaper’, this group left everything on the stage.

Closing the night our year 13’s Lottie Prowse, Luke Howard, Alfie Sams, Rhyanna Lewis and Ben Arscott played one of the best sets we have seen from them. Encouraged by both fantastic year 12 bands, maintaining the high octane energy through ‘Timewarp’ and ‘Walking on Sunshine’ before increasing an already blistering pace with ‘Proud Mary’ and an epic version of Goo Goo Dolls ‘Iris’. This set may be the last time the 13s will perform in public together and they absolutely smashed their final gig. With so much talent on display, audience members were heard commenting that they had no idea that this was a school event, we are so proud of all of the students who performed and helped on the night.

New PE Kit

We are introducing a brand new PE Kit in September which our current students are very excited about, the new supplier will be VX3. As a school, we have decided to buy every student in Years 7 – 10 a House Tee Shirt and a Half Zip Sweat Top.

Boys Compulsory Kit:

Girls Compulsory Kit:

There will also be a range of optional extras for purchase. The optional extras for boys and girls are shown below:

English with Mrs Mortimore

Year 11 have been busy revising for their English exams this week. Some students have been receiving 1.1 tuition in tutor time and the whole year group have had a series of walk through mocks in the Platform.

 

LAMDA Exam Success

It’s distinctions all around for Ellie-Jayne Scott and Millie-Ann Wigston who have passed LAMDA Grade 4 and Grade 2 in Solo Acting respectively. Both students had to travel to Plymouth to be examined and perform two contrasting scenes from different plays. They were assessed on their ability to demonstrate an understanding of the situation, the characters, and their ability to sustain vocal control and speak with clarity of diction. Furthermore, they were tested on their knowledge of the characters and the rationale behind their physical characterisation of the characters. Congratulations Ellie-Jayne and Millie-Ann!

House News

Brunel House has been consistently at the top of the house-points board over the past three years -with at least one year group coming first each week. Several weeks ago, Brunel even topped the leader board in Year7, 8 and 9 simultaneously -a feat which has never before been achieved by any house!

What is the secret of Brunel’s success? Perhaps it is the encouragement of Mr Pugh -head of house as he visits the Brunel tutor groups each week sporting his top hat as seen in the pictures of Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself. Maybe it is the support of the house-captains Boris and Rae, the energy of the tutors: Mrs Haines, Ms Brzozowski and Mr Spittle or the enthusiasm of the students themselves.
I have spoken to several members of staff abut Brunel’s success and here are their reports.
‘My tutor group earn points for homework completion (They are excellent at getting their on-line homework done and we rarely have anyone who hasn’t done it, and for bringing their equipment. They are always smart and follow instructions. They are a particularly polite tutor group. When Mr Margetts comes in, and when they see him at line-up they make sure to say good morning and be welcoming to him when he comes into our lesson. Students in Brunel are active within the TA community. Many of the tutor group are involved in extra-curricular activities such as sports and cadets and performing arts. I feel very fortunate to work with such a lovely group of people.’
Ms Brzozowski Year 8

‘Year 9 Brunel has some of the most polite and hard-working students in year 9! Over the term we have worked on our routines in the morning, which Brunel are now brilliant at: as a result, they consistently gain extra house points every morning. To cap it off they have adopted the magic phrase of ‘is it worth a house point’ to encourage the good nature of their teachers!’

Mr Spittle Year 9

7 B are awesome in every way, they are super polite and kind. They are fantastic in completing their homework and always bringing the right equipment to school. They are great at showing kindness to one another, offering advice and support to one another when things may be challenging

Mrs Haines Year 7

I am proud to be Head of Brunel, the students in Brunel are some of the hardest-working students in the school. They are supportive of each other and have a great team spirit.
The two student leaders have performed their roles well this year and are consistently the best ambassadors for a house. Our charity work culminated in donating to the Children’s Society.

Mr Pugh -Head of Brunel House

BTEC Dance

On Thursday the year 9 BTEC dance students took part in the first part of their course by delivering a session to the year 8s that they had to plan independently. The girls did a fantastic job and Miss Walklin was very impressed with their efforts.

Another rainbow over TA

 

Girls Rugby

New Fitness Suite Equipment

Due to the ever-increasing popularity of our fitness suite, this week, we were excited to receive a range of new cardiovascular equipment, including treadmills, rowing machines and air bikes. The fitness suite is open to all students from Monday to Friday until 4.15pm.

New dugouts

Our new dugouts received the TA treatment this week and are looking great!

 

Governor’s Bronze Certificates

Year 8 – George O’Hanlon, Ella Randall and Oliver Welsh

Principal’s Gold Certificates

Year 7 – Logan Watt, Zakariyah Haridi and Matthew Campan

Year 8 – Nya Bettridge

Principal’s Silver Certificates

Year 7 – Louise Porter, Sonny Cayford, Ellie Simpson, Halle Walker, Emily Colclogh, Lily Campbell, Brandon Callow, Trent Blackmore, Maria Nihtyanova, Gracie Sandercock, Ethan Lewis, Olivia Pope, Riley Gilmour, Daisy Humphreys, and Oscar McLaughlin

Year 8 – Emma Giles, Lena Galazkiewicz, Lili Budavolgyi, Lily Phillips, Bailey Heaward and Farrah Ambrose

Principal’s Bronze Certificates

Year 7 – Brooke Giles, Amy Cooper, Jack Forte, Olivia Williams, Heston Hart, Brandon Callow, Sanije Hoxha, Reg Richmond and Tristan Ellis

Year 8 – Connor Dean, Sunny Long, Daniel Piper Olivia Fordrey, Callum Pile, Connie Kinghorn and Halayna Hussain

Students of the Week

Year 7 – Harry Hutchings and Charlotte Holmes-Vittles

Year 9 – Joe Taylor and Naomi Redmond

Year 11 – Melissa Piper and Hayden Gibson-Roche

House Students of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Allana Butler

Christie – Oscar Rogers

Darwin – Charlotte Holmes Vittles

Harrison – Layla Meek

Kitson – Ava Keenan

Nearne – Joanathan Oleksy

Pengelly – Finley Dawson

Year 8

Christie – Kiel Mortimer

Darwin – Leah McClements

Fawcett – Aliviya Lawrence

Harrison – Fredi Tuci

Kitson – Thomas Ross

Nearne – Thomas Connelly

Pengelly – Julia Tatarynowicz

Year 9

Christie – Dean Conway

Darwin – Cerys Lowe

Fawcett – Ryan Williams

Kitson – Ava Shobbrook

Pengelly – Millie Sneal

Homework Students of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Cohen Andrews

Christie – Riain Leal

Fawcett – Max Weston

Harrison – Mollie Longthorpe

Nearne – Bodhi Williams

Pengelly – Izzy Goldsbrough

Year 8

Brunel –

Christie – Miko Piasecki

Darwin – Emilia Hunt

Fawcett – Chelsea Milton

Harrison – Emilee Payne

Kitson – Susie Lester

Nearne – Rufus Scrase

Pengelly – Marlee White

Year 9

Christie – Amelia Rogers

Darwin – Sara Santos Martins

Fawcett – Jayden Field

Kitson – Dylan Bresland

Pengelly – Faith Batham

Sparx Leaderboards

Tassomai Leaderboards

Accelerated Reader Leaderboards

Reading Plus

Power Up!