Greenpower international finals, Houses and dessert
Greenpower international finals
On Sunday our team left school at 3.30am, arriving at Goodwood racetrack at 7am. It was an incredible day for the students and throughout the day we tried our hardest to beat some of the best teams in the country. Our car, Bindon, spent most of the day in second place with our risky racing strategy, however it just didn’t quite pay off in the end as Bindon ran out of power and ended up 9th. Our second car, Pugh, held firm for 6th place. It is an incredible achievement for us to have two cars placed in the top 10 in the country. Well done!
Greenpower challenge
As part of their Design & Technology curriculum, all students in Year 8 have been having a go at designing and making the fastest air powered rocket cars. Team work, problem solving, time management and design development have all played a part in this exciting project. These are the same principles as demonstrated by our Greenpower electric car team which they are welcome to join if they study Automotive Engineering or Product Design in Year 9.
House News of The Week
Team Christie : Lauren Tanton, Anna Pearn, Miko Piasecki, Harry Paull.
Over the past two weeks, we have been running the Battle of the Brains inter-house competition for our Year 7 students. The house captains of each tutor group selected a team of two boys and two girls; there was then a draw in assembly to see who would play whom.
The ‘Battle of the Brains’ consists of a series of general knowledge questions designed to highlight the information our students can recall. Teams are currently competing for the new house cup which will be decorated with coloured ribbons and displayed in the winning group’s tutor room. Additionally, there are medals for the first and second place teams.
In the first heat, Christie was victorious over Brunel and in the second Fawcett lost to Nearne. The most nail-biting moment came in heat three in which Harrison beat Darwin on a tie-break question. Finally, Pengelly gained a win over Kitson in heat four.
At the time of writing, Christie has gained a place in the final, having snatched a win from Nearne in the semi-final. They will face either Harrison or Pengelly.
It has been wonderful to see the competitive spirit of the house teams and each event has been packed with supporters cheering for their respective houses. Heads of houses and house captains have also attended to give their support.
I would like to send my congratulations to all students who have put themselves forward to represent their house and my thanks to all those who have attended and made the event such a success.
Team Nearne: Abigail Yao, Bella Kerr, Kyron Connor, Mason Mitchell.
House assemblies
This week students in Years 7 to 9 have been having their house assemblies.
Year 9 Food Technology
Well done to our Hospitality and catering students who have shown a vast variety of complex skills. They made bacon and cheese ravioli from scratch which looked incredible. They used their pastry skills again in making cheese and bacon quiche and then the wonderful presentational skills in piping the icing on the top of the carrot cake.
CCF new recruits
The first of two taster sessions saw over 30 Year 9 potential cadets taking part in RAF training activities. Every year the Torquay Academy RAF CCF Contingent provides 2 taster sessions that showcase some of the training elements carried out in the RAF Cadets Training Syllabus.
We opened the application process to the Year 9s who embraced every task put to them. It was an amazing effort by the year 9s who showed great enthusiasm.
The established Year 10 Cadets offered support to the year 9s and showed great discipline in enabling the younger students to give the best they could. In addition to the taster session, eight of the year 10 cadets took part in mountain biking at Haldon Hills.
The evening’s success was thanks to the Year 11 students who used their organisational and discipline skills to run the activities. The senior cadets are well established in the RAF CCF Training Program which enables them to provide the best experience to the younger ones; offering training tips, discipline, enthusiasm and communication skills to name a few.
The cadets are looking forward to the Gliding experience this weekend and also a two-day Military camp during the half term break.
It’s not too late to take part in Torquay Academy’s RAF CCF section. If you are in year 9, 10 or 11 and want to be a part of an amazing experience, please let us know at CCF@tqacademy.co.uk
Chantilly presentation to Hospitality and Catering
Our Hospitality and Catering students in year nine and ten were very fortunate to have a presentation delivered to them by two very skilled and experienced Pastry Chefs this week. They spoke passionately about the catering and hospitality industry and motivated our students to become budding Pastry chefs. They were also very lucky to be able to sample some of the tasty and indulgent treats that are produced by Chantilly.
Thank you so much to Charles and Eugen, we are very grateful to you both.
Star Readers
Students are asked to track their reading every day and to complete a minimum of one quiz per month. The following students have been tracked for four weeks and have completed the first quiz: Oliver Cocker 7F, Ellie-Jayne Scott 8B, Agata Sadlik 8F, Greg Hindom 8P and Connor Howard 8F. Well done everyone.
University applications
We talk a great deal about climbing the mountain to university. Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial are the hardest universities in the country to get into and I could not be more proud of our students who have made their applications there this year. We wish them the very best as they embark on this journey.
Benjamin Woodward – Mechanical Engineering
Ben Harris – Physics
Owen Mahoney – Compute Science
Caitlin Holmes – English Literature (not pictured)
Team TA round up
This week we have launched our inter-house sports competitions in Rugby, Netball and Football during lessons in Year 7-10. It has been great to see all of the students in each year group participating to try and earn points for their house. The matches in each sport have been really competitive and the house teams have worked together so well regardless of whether they won, lost or drew. The results for the Cycle 1 matches will be in next week’s blog and we are already looking forward to the Cycle 2 event!
Inter house climbing
Over the last 2 weeks we have been hosting the Year 7 and Year 8 climbing trials for the TA annual house climbing competition. This year has shown a record turnout with over 60 year 7’s and over 50 year 8’s competing on our own climbing wall. Congratulations to all students who competed.
The following 8 boys and 8 girls from both year 7 and 8 have qualified for the Exeter Clip and Climb finals to be held in November:
Finalists year 7 Girls: Bella Blatchford, Bella Williams, Ellen Scott, Millie Routeledge, Maddie Kenyen, Leah Clements, Jos Full, Faye Cassidy
Finalist year 7 Boys: Toby Waring, Oliver Welsh, Maks Adach, Adam Sadlik, Oliver Cocker, Edward Evers, Kacper Piwowar, Louis Tillen
Finalists year 8 Girls: Jemima Jones, Ivy Hodgson-Hunt, Lizy Colderoy, Lyra Bowstead, Emma Kestell, Lydia Bevan, Brooke Tulley, Amelie Beriman
Finalist year 8 Boys: Kye Gifford, Tomastz Kowalski, Noah Butler, Charlie Porter, Austin White, Seth Margetts, Oscar Hughs, Greg Hindon
Year 8 Netball
The Year 8 Netball Academy travelled to Paignton Hub on Tuesday to play in the Central Venue League. Team TA played against four other teams, winning two games and losing two games. The girls played extremely well considering this was their first time playing in a tournament together and we look forward to seeing them having a very positive season. Congratulations to Lydia Bevan, who was voted our player of the tournament.
The team of 13 were: Amber Dicken, Eve Cameron, Millie Sneap, Katie Rowe, Brooke Tully, Amara Phillips, Olivia Riches, Amy Harrison, Poppii Marshall, Ivy Hodgson-Hunt, Summer Thompson, Jemimah Jones and Lydia Bevan
Netball training
It is wonderful to see so many girls taking part in netball training this week.
Year 8 Football
Our year 8 boys team played against a very strong and physical Eggbuckland team this week, it was a big learning curve for them having to deal with a more direct style of play. Thankfully due to our games being recorded via our VEO camera we were able to watch the game back and analyse our good and bad points as a team, this was really beneficial for everyone and has given us some points to work on in training.
Year 11 Girls Football
Our girls put in a great performance against a strong Launceston team, this was their first game for nearly 2 years so it was great to see so many putting the Team TA kit on and representing the school again.
On the day the result didn’t go our way but I was super proud of all of them putting a great shift in and competing for the whole game.
Table Tennis
Eurotalents
Good luck to Kacper who is taking part in the final Eurotalents Under 13 Selection Camp which commenced in Otocec (Slovenia) this week with a total of 41 players and 24 of their coaches from 19 European countries.
Tumbling
Many congratulations to Eve Cameron, in Year 8, who this weekend won gold in her tumbling event.
Marathon Festival
Last weekend was Bournemouth Marathon Festival 2021. Hannah did incredibly well finishing 14th female, in the highly competitive Supersonic 5k. Ran a time of 23:13, a 5k PB. 315 ran in total. It was the sixth year running at Bournemouth but this year she moved into the adult races & under 35 age group! Great work Hannah!
And a fire drill
We held the first fire drill of the year today. Usually, the Chemistry department obliges, but today’s was planned.
Students of the week
Year 7 – Hamish Herring and Briony Pightling
Year 8 – Jaden Morris and Amelie McCaul
Year 9 – Shaun Pinto and Bella Lester
Year 10 – Nadia Wisnik and Kole Gjikolaj
Year 11 – Maddison Watt and Max Grimley
Sixth form – Tom Burt and Tilly Skeffington
House Stars of the week
Year 7
Brunel – Ella Randall
Christie – Scarlett Lacey
Darwin – Grace Green
Fawcett – Connie Kinghorn
Harrison – Sunny Long
Kitson – Evie May Howell
Nearne – Mason Bryant
Pengelly – Maisie Sandercock
Year 8
Christie – Seth Margetts
Darwin – Charlie Green
Fawcett – Agata Sadlik
Harrison – Zac Evans
Kitson – Phoebe Denbow
Nearne – Samuel Alcock
Pengelly – Ruby Donaldson
Year 9
Brunel – Ollie Clarke
Christie – Riley Skinner
Darwin – Matt Oborn
Fawcett – Ashton Lindow
Harrison – Marissa Farrington
Kitson – Tammy Westacott
Nearne – James Ferris
Pengelly – Shanice Rees
Homework Stars of the week
Year 7
Christie – Callum Pile
Darwin – Hayden Halsey
Fawcett – Kaiden Mclaren
Harrison – Emilee Payne
Kitson – Maddison Ginley
Nearne – Abigail Yau
Pengelly – Orley Copeland
Year 8
Christie – Dean Conway
Darwin – Will Denega
Fawcett – Jess Silvester
Harrison – Lana Northcott
Kitson – Billy Botten
Nearne – Colby Britton
Pengelly – Charlie Pettit
Year 9
Brunel – Isabelle Davies
Christie – Jay Jay Henderson
Darwin – Luca Cronje
Fawcett – Daisy Gibbings
Harrison – Ryan Hooper
Kitson – Bella Lester
Nearne – Lily Lewis-Shermer
Pengelly – Cameron Sturtridge
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