House Charity, Cardboard faces, climbing and lots of certificates
Harrison House Charity -The Royal British Legion
As I reported last week, the Student Voice Committee have selected an appropriate charity for each house. This week of course, it is important to feature our Harrison students who are supporting The Royal British Legion.
Millions of people across the country participated in Remembrance Sunday services or fell silent last Thursday at eleven o’clock as a mark of respect to all those who have fallen in combat. At Torquay Academy, we had our own remembrance service and our cadets from years 9-11 took part in a special assembly.
In the run up to November 11th, our Harrison students have been selling poppies to their year group and many students have been wearing this symbol of respect. Harrison students in Years 7-9 believe that it is very important for them to be wearing poppies: as a mark of respect to those who have fallen – in particular Arthur Leyland Harrison, to support their chosen charity – The Royal British Legion and to honour their house motto – Be Courageous.
Our picture is of the students in 7H all of whom are sporting poppies. Many thanks to these students and their house captain, Miss Felton, for their sense of decency and respect towards others.
Effort Boards
This week our effort boards were updated around the school as we end the first quarter of the year. They are a great opportunity to celebrate all of the incredible work of our students so far this year.
Business taster session
In enterprise this week students received a taster session for GCSE Business Studies by taking part in an enterprise exercise.
Visiting Artist to The Creative Arts Department
Our students benefitted greatly from the visit of our visiting artist, Mr James Lake. James is an amazing 3D artist who works exclusively with cardboard as his art medium. Year 10 art students spent a whole day exploring how to work, manipulate and form cardboard into a number of self-portraits. The resulting sculptures are really very impressive, and marry well with the students current project on ‘Identity’ and exploring reusable and recyclable art materials.
Gymnastics Success
In her first compression back, Lizzie Cameron, year 11, won a silver medal in the over 14s for piece competition. A great result, well done Lizzie.
Star Readers
Congratulations to the following year 8 students who have successfully tracked their reading and quizzed to achieve their bronze and silver Star Reading certificates. Charlie Porter 8P has achieved his bronze. Will Jackson 8K and Ben Phillips 8N have got their bronze and silver. Well done boys!
Literacy Halloween Challenge
We recently set the students in years 7, 8 and 9 a Literacy Halloween Challenge. They were asked if they were brave enough to read a spooky book and write a review about it.
This promoted lots of great conversations in school as to what type of book would count as a spooky read, and after making their selections a number of students rose to the challenge. Pictured are the year 7’s with their certificates of completion and prizes. Kallie Stewart, Amelia Lawton, Ellie Farthing, Riley Callard, Matilda Stevens, Felicity Adams, Evie-May Howell, Chloe Burton, Imogen Symonds and Isabelle Voisey.
Year 7 Star Readers
The following year 7 students have achieved their bronze Star Reader certificates for tracking their reading for four weeks and quizzing once: Ruby Sellick 7D, Summer Holmes 7D, Hope Bratcher 7D, Joe Boyce 7D, Ellie Farthing 7D, Mihai Marin 7H, Eden Nelson-Minns 7H, Oscar Mills 7N, Joselyn Full 7N, Kyron Connor 7N, Ella Randall 7B, Eliza Brookes 7K, Adam Copping 7K, Olivia Fordrey 7C, Mikolaj Piasecki 7C, Ollie Neale 7C, Lucas Quaintance 7P, George O’Hanlon 7P.
The following year 7 students have achieved their silver Star Reader certificates for tracking their reading for eight weeks and quizzing twice: Matilda Stevens 7D, Oliver Cocker 7F, Joselyn Full 7N and Ella Randall 7B.
Congratulations to Ella Randall 7B and Oliver Cocker who have achieved their gold Star Reader certificates for tracking their reading for twelve weeks and quizzed at least three times.
First Principal’s Bronze certificate
Congratulations to Millie Sneap who was the first student in the school to reach 300 House Points and earn her Principal’s Bronze certificate. Well done, Millie!
Sixth Form University offers this week…
Year 13 students are starting to see offers arrive from the universities they have applied to. We couldn’t be more proud of all of the students who have received offers already.
Surname |
Forename |
Provider name |
Course name |
| Billing | Evie | University of Leeds | Electronic and Electrical Engineering |
| Giles | Beau | University of Southampton | Politics and Economics |
| Holmes | Peter | Goldsmiths, University of London | Popular Music |
| Hodgson | Poppy | Bristol, University of the West of England | Business Management and Leadership |
| Hodgson | Poppy | University of Exeter | Business and Management |
| Hodgson | Poppy | Manchester Metropolitan University | Business Management |
| Hodgson | Poppy | University of Plymouth | Business Management |
| Simpson | Eloise | BIMM Institute | Popular Music Performance |
| Simpson | Eloise | Falmouth University | Popular Music |
| Simpson | Eloise | Goldsmiths, University of London | Popular Music |
| Simpson | Eloise | Leeds Arts University | Popular Music Performance |
| Simpson | Eloise | Leeds Conservatoire | Music (Popular Music) |
Six Nations success
Kacper and Jakub Piwowar have been competing in the Six Nations table tennis competition. They both performed very strongly with Kacper walking away with a win in the doubles. An amazing achievement.
Sunset
Tuesday evening brought a beautiful sunset over the school.
Maths
The end of Cycle 1 marks the end of a successful first cycle of Maths tutoring for many of our Y7, Y8 and Y9 students. These additional maths sessions have taken place in either Period 1 or Period 5 and have supported our students in consolidating the core objectives and fundamentals from their year group. The following have been a delight to support and work with during Cycle 1.
It has been a phenomenal first quarter for PE & Sport. Thank you to all students for your participation and engagement with lessons, house competitions and clubs so far this year. It has been great to see you all participating, competing and enjoying various different sports this year. There is so much more to come in Cycle 2, check out the Super-Curricular timetable below…
Recreational Sport Programme
For those who do not want to participate competitively, just for fun!
Competitive Sport Programme
For those who would like to participate in one of our teams and compete against other schools!
Year 10 Football vs Devonport
On Monday the Year 10 football team played their round 4 national cup fixture against Devonport High School for Boys. TA went into the game clear under dogs as DHSB have been Devon cup winners previously. The game started at a frantic pace and did not let up until the final whistle. Both teams were creating chances throughout the first half but none of them were clear cut and the score at half time was 0-0. TA clearly had to work hard to keep the scores level. We started the second half brightly and we were forced into a substitution after Josh Thompson broke his wrist. Shortly after, substitute, Harrison Shaw, slid a pass to Zac Rowland-Steele who was fouled in the box resulting in TA being awarded a penalty. Charlie Pope stepped up and coolly slotted the ball into the side netting. The second half continued to be played at a frantic pace with chances continually being created. However, 5 minutes from time a mis-hit cross from the DHSB left midfielder floated over TA goalkeeper, Will Hemus, into the net at the back post. Neither side gave anything away in the final few minutes. The game then went straight to penalties. This was incredibly dramatic with the first 19 penalties all being successful before the final outfield player for DHSB stepped up only to fire the ball over the bar.
We will now play the winners of Richard Lander or Redruth in round five at home.
Year 9 Netball
The Year 8 and 9 Netball Academy played against Brixham School on Monday. The girls have played several games together now and this was shown through their convincing win of 21-0. The girls have made the PE department and school extremely proud and we look forward to seeing them produce more positive results!
The team of 11 were: Eve Cameron, Millie Sneap, Ema Kestell, Summer Connolly, Tammy Westacott, Elspeth Herring, Evie Reece, Rosie-Mahoney Billis, Elise Pile, Ella McLachlan and Maisy Green
Year 10 Netball
The Year 10 Netball Academy played in the first round of the U16 National Schools Tournament. The girls played against Year 11 teams and had some very close results, winning one game and losing three games. Overall, it was a brilliant learning experience for the team who continue to positively develop.
The team of 14 were: Ellie Denby, Mia Denby, Evie Sutton, Ellie Chammings, Emily Tucker, Lily-Anne Winterton, Lauren Major, Penny Richards, Freya Davies, Heidi Wright, Letia Moseley, Skye Warner, Lily Unsworth and Grace Povey
South West selection
Congratulations to our first team forward, Tor Swann, for being picked for the stage 2 trials for the Southwest team.
House Climbing
TA’s House climbing competition resumed this year with our biggest ever turn out. Over 120 year 7 and year 8’s competed on our own climbing wall for places in the final at Exeter clip and climb. 8 boys and 8 girls from each year could qualify so only the fastest were students representing their houses in this event. Congratulations to all that made the finals and all 120 who entered the competition and won house points.
Year 7 Boys: 1st Adam Sadlik, 2nd Louis Tillen, 3rd Edward Evers
Year 7 Girls: 1st Bella Williams, 2nd Bella Blatchford, 3rd Faye Cassidy
Year 8 Boys: 1st Tomasz Kowalski, 2nd Oscar Hughs, 3rd Noah Butler
Year 8 Girls: 1st Jemimah Jones, 2nd Lily Corderoy, 3rd Lyra Bowstead
Year 7 Football
Our year 7s put on an outstanding performance against South Dartmoor in the national cup, they showed again that they are an exciting group to watch.
We now play Uffculme in the next round before Christmas. The goals on the day were different class, well done to the whole team for a great win. Goal Scorers – Thomas Ross x4, Charlie Wise x3, Oscar Mills 1, Mikolaj Piaseki 1
PE Stars of the Term
Student of the week
Year 7 – Logan Hammacott and Ella Randall
Year 8 – Emma Matthews and William Denega
Year 9 – Gemma Ford and Oliver Keating
Year 10 – James Scrimgeour and Ava Sams
Year 11 – Emily Griffiths and Boris Pugh
Sixth Form – Lottie Denning and Noah Handford
House Stars of the week
Year 7
Christie – Francesca Skelly
Darwin – Matila Stevens
Fawcett – Alana Livermore
Harrison – Grace Cartland
Kitson – Jade Cook
Nearne – Gracie-Mai Tolley
Pengelly – Charlotte Little
Year 8
Brunel – Christian Cornforth
Christie – Norbert Tomsia
Darwin – Alfie Jeneway
Fawcett – Jamie John Palmer
Harrison – Poppy Hedworth
Kitson – Aliyah Smith
Nearne – Louis Rowe
Pengelly – Isabelle Roberts
Year 9
Brunel – Ivan Vaplak
Christie – Jake Green
Darwin – Olivia McCormack
Fawcett – Ashton Lindow
Harrison – Olivia Kirby
Kitson – Harry Hollomby
Nearne – Aleah Coombes
Pengelly – Emma Roadnight
Homework Stars of the week
Year 7
Christie – Ollie Neale
Darwin – Tegan Ross
Fawcett – Diogo Pestana
Harrison – The whole tutor group
Kitson – Bella Blatchford
Nearne – Edward Evers
Pengelly – William Kelly
Year 8
Christie – Isaac Knowles
Darwin – Jessica Nicholson
Fawcett – Amy Harrison
Kitson – Ollie Coleman
Nearne – Diego Zulhayir
Pengelly – Gregg Hindom
Year 9
Christie –Rosie Mahoney-Billis
Fawcett – Nisha Cosslett
Kitson – Syd Yarde
Nearne – Kevin Vieira
Pengelly – Tayler Reynolds
Sparx Leaderboards
Tassomai Leaderboards
Accelerated Reader Leaderboards
