Nelson Mandela's bodyguard, Silverstone and Europe

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Inspirational visit by Chris Lubbe bodyguard to Nelson Mandela

We were privileged to welcome Chris Lubbe, Nelson Mandela’s bodyguard, to TA on Wednesday. His talk was truly inspirational and gave our young people an insight and understanding into not only the evils and injustice of apartheid, but also the powerful message of forgiveness and hope which sprang from Nelson Mandela’s presidency.

Mr Lubbe began his talk by dropping a few names of the ‘minor’ celebrities he met whilst working for Mr Mandela: Beyoncé, JZ, Chris Martin, Matt Damon. Too many to mention, but he certainly gained the audience’s attention.

He went on to talk powerfully about his childhood growing up in a shanty town with no electricity, no running water, and no hope. He was taught in a classroom with no books in a class of 60 with one teacher, learning to read and having to search through rubbish dumps to find books which he cleaned up and treasured. As someone who also loved reading as a child it was immensely moving to hear of the lengths he went to in order to find what we take for granted is freely available in our libraries. The first book he found was Romeo and Juliet which our young people study in year 7.

He went on to talk about his experiences of apartheid; stories of injustice, violence, discrimination and hopelessness. You could hear a pin drop as our young people absorbed these horrifying events, and clearly drew parallels with their own privileged life of freedom and democracy sat in a school which Mr Lubbe described as being one of the most amazing he had ever seen.

But Mandela’s release changed everything in South Africa, and Mr Lubbe was fortunate to witness first hand the forgiveness Mandela showed for those responsible for his twenty-seven year long imprisonment. He showed a clip from the film ‘Invictus’ in which he was played by an actor who looked nothing like him! He worked with the writer of the film to ensure its accuracy, and confirmed that it was indeed 99.9% accurate. An incredible film which demonstrates how Mandela united the nation.

He ended his speech with some of the lessons Mandela taught him.

Chris was inundated at lunchtime with students wanting to shake his hands, ask questions, take photographs and get his signature. Despite the fact he had already spoken pretty much solidly for four hours, he was welcoming and gracious to them all, overwhelmed by their interest and respect.

Quotes from the day below;

Thank you Torquay Academy and for inviting me to the beautiful . It was such an honour to spend the day speaking to all the students who were impeccably behaved. I am so impressed by the positive responses of the students to the key messages of #Forgiveness #Resilience #Determination #Hope & #Courage. So many students gave up their lunch time to come and speak to me and ask questions. I had a wonderful day #InspiringHopeAndCourage #NeverGiveUp #EducationIsTheKey

Mrs Mortimore said ‘It was an absolute privilege to welcome Chris Lubbe, Nelson Mandela’s bodyguard, to Torquay Academy today. His message was one of forgiveness, hope, determination and the power of education to transform lives. Not only did he speak for five hours to all of our students, he also gave up his lunch break to greet all of the young people who were so keen to meet him personally. An experience we will never forget.’

Miss Cape said ‘I’m so grateful we had the chance to hear such an amazing story from such a truly incredible man. The students gained so much – it was brilliant to see their reaction but also hear the conversations they had afterwards.’

Mr Roberts said ‘It was a real privilege and inspiring.’

4th in the UK!

The school’s very own motorsport team travelled up to Silverstone this week to compete in the International Formula 24 Finals for which they had qualified. The event would see the top 100 ranked cars from as far afield as Singapore and China battle it out is a 90 minute qualifying session, followed by the grand final: a 90 minute endurance event where the cars are limited to matching motors and one set of batteries.

This was by far their biggest test as every team was there on merit and many there had competed in all 20 seasons of the championship, whereas this was to be our very first.

We had practised tirelessly to hone our strategies, driving and pit stop routines.   In qualifying we shone, with flawless reliability and mature driving putting us fifth in class. This would ensure that we would be well away from any slower cars for the start, an issue that had been our downfall with our second car a the previous race.

In the main event we had a great start with Ollie Westwood at the helm, although he dropped to twelfth we had faith in our strategy and felt that others who had a strong start would fall away as the event unfolded. We aimed to pit early to avoid any congestion, a strategy which nearly let us down as our enthusiasm earned us a 30 second stop-go penalty for running in the pit lane!

Angus Graham followed on for the second stint and produced a series of stable laps as he always seems able to do. He steadily made his way up to 8th before our final driver swap took place. Eager to avoid any further penalties, the team performed a near perfect pit stop setting Adam off before any of our main competitors had their third and final driver in position.

Adam Clark applied the instincts that make hi a competitive motor-cross rider to produce consistently quick laps whilst steering clear of any competitors who had begun suffering from detrimental issues. Towards the end of the race others fell away as predicted and we held on for a staggering fourth place, truly remarkable when considering our limited provenance.

Next year we aim to consolidate Pugh’s place as a top ten international competitor whilst aiming to go even higher with our new lightweight car ‘Bindon’.

They managed to qualify in 5th place and moved into the finals with confidence.  With some skilful driving and effective changeovers, our team managed to secure 4th place!  This is an amazing achievement and I am so proud of their efforts this year.  I can’t wait to see what they achieve next year.  Well done to everyone!

Table Tennis Performance Programme player, Jakub selected for Top Euro Squad!

Jakub Piwowar, who is currently No.1 in the English Table Tennis Rankings, has been selected to join the Eurotalents Under-13 group.  This means that he will receive coaching support from the European Table Tennis Union for the next year, attending numbers of camps in Europe.  Jakub, who is in year 7, has been working towards this for the last two years. He had participated in numerous Pre-Selection EuroTalents Camps and Mini Euro Championships.  He was the only English player to be invited to the week-long final EuroTalent Selection Camp in Slovenia which, formed the basis of selection.  Now he will be attending the European camps, where he will train with top European players under the supervision of the best coaches from Europe and Asia.

His Torbay Table Tennis Academy Head Coach, said: Jakub’s hard work and dedication has been rewarded. Now he opens a new chapter in his table tennis career and we wish him all the best in this journey”.  Table Tennis England Director of Sport Simon Mills said: “Congratulations to Jakub on being selected for this programme, we look forward to seeing him progress as a player as a result.”

Jakub is a member of the Torquay Academy Table Tennis Performance Programme and receives extra coaching during his PE lessons which has helped him train for the required number of hours a week. Currently, there are 9 students that take part in our Performance Programme, we are always on the lookout for new talent so if you feel you want to be part of the programme please speak to Mr Harries.

CCF update

Our cadets received their uniforms last Friday and they are really looking the part.  I was very impressed to watch them practising their marching.  This evening they will be taking part in their passing in parade where they will receive their berets.

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards

A further eleven students, mostly from Year 10, have successfully completed their DofE Bronze awards! To fulfil the demands of the award the students have undertaken, for at least an hour per week for between 3 and 6 months, a physical activity, learning a new or developing an existing skill, completing some volunteering within the school and local community and attended a gruelling 2 day 1 night expedition! Instilling in the students a sense of determination, resilience and independence, achieving this most prestigious young persons character development award will provide huge advantage in their future applications for Sixth Form, college, university and jobs/careers.

So warmest congratulations to the following:  Taylor Ford, Kailan Franklin, Emma Harrison, Felix Houghton, Emily Johns, Harvey Kendall, Emanuel Korolyk-Markiewicz, Jack Luscombe, Ellie Mitchell, Nathan Wells, Ben Woodward, Finley Tocknell

Sixth Form Health Day Visit

On Tuesday Dr Hocking took a group of 6th formers to Plymouth university for their Health day. During the day the students were able to sample a number of different health related careers and see the pathways available to them when the complete their courses in TA 6th form. Highlights included Willow putting the organs back into the body in record time, an experiment to see how much eye sight effects balance and a psychology experiment that made you feel that a rubber hand was actually attached to your body. However the robot seal stole the show! Our students left the show inspired and loaded down with booklets outlining the numerous degrees offered at Plymouth university.

Child Development

Year 9 child development students are currently learning the benefits of antenatal care , including the importance of attending classes which give basic skills to new parents in a variety of areas. One practical task they had to undertake was changing a baby s nappy then producing ” an idiots guide ” from start to finish. A lot of fun ensued .

LAMDA Acting Success

Congratulations to Lila-May Harrington and Kole Gjikolaj for successfully passing their Grade 1 LAMDA Solo Acting exams. Both Lila-May and Kole passed with the highest grade possible, a pass with distinction! Lila-May and Kole had to perform two drama pieces to a visiting examiner and were marked on their use of voice, stage presence and ability to create and sustain characters. The students were presented for their exam by our visiting acting coach, Anthony Chamberlain, who was particularly impressed with how quickly both students have progressed, taking their grade with only 5 months of lessons! Both Lila-May and Kole our members of our Performing Arts Academy and we look forward to following their progress towards further exams this year.

Team TA Sports Roundup

Netball

On Monday two year 7 teams went to Paignton to participate in the first CVL of the year. Our girls had a mixture of results and we were very happy with the results. Winning a total of 5 games between the two teams we are confident going into the next round that we can win a few more. The girls played well and are excited about the next fixture. Player of the day was Elspeth Herring for scoring some fabulous goals.

On Wednesday two year 7 teams travelled to Dawlish for a netball fixture. The girls were in high spirits after a successful Monday CVL and this was evident during the match. They played some lovely netball and managed one win and one loss. The girls showed great resilience by continuing to fight back even when they were down. Well done to both teams. Players of the day were Evie Reece and Evie Parsons for their fabulous shooting and brilliant defence.

6th form girls football

Our 6th Form girls who are able to benefit from our own expert coaching during the week, this week took part in a training session with Buckland Athletic Ladies team. It was a great opportunity for our students to see how this highly successful team operate and train.

Taekwondo – National Success

Following on from the table tennis report it is my pleasure to also let you know that Nick Turner Year 11, who happens to be a member of our Table Tennis Programme, excels in the Taekwondo world as well. Last week saw Nick finish with an excellent Silver medal in the National Tae Kwon Do Championships.

Harley plays at Manchester United

Harley Sneap, who plays for Plymouth Argyle, made the trip to Manchester last weekend to play against Manchester United.  It was an incredible opportunity for Harley is such a role model in his approach to his sport and academic studies.

Cole and Joe are Men of the Match

Cole Harford, year 13, is a key player for our table-topping first team, but he also plays a key role playing for Stoke Gabriel’s men’s team.  He was awarded man of the match after their 3 – 2 victory over Axminster Town in the SWPL Premier East Division.

Meanwhile Joe Belston was awarded man of the match for his performance for Buckland Athletic’s men’s team.

Year 11 crash out of National Cup

On Tuesday the year 11 team crashed out of the national cup after a 4-3 defeat to West Exe. TA struggled to play the game the way they liked to on a very old fashioned sand based astro and found themselves always chasing the game. It was a disappointing performance and not one that Mr Grinsill has come to expect from the team. The goalscorers were Josh Watt, Harry Denby and Ryan Wilson. The score would have been far worse if it was not for the heroics of Man of the Match Goalkeeper Cody Ironside.

Year 10 scrape past West Exe after late drama.

It was the first game of the season for the ever enthusiastic year 10 team and it started incredibly with them taking the lead after 17 seconds when an Ellis Knowles cross was turned in to their own goal by a West Exe defender. TA dominated the game for the rest of the half creating numerous chances without being clinical. However just on the stroke of half time West Exe found themselves level after a penalty was saved by Harry Lee only for the same player to score from the rebound. TA started the second half brightly creating chances when good work down the right by Jay Rich resulted in Ben Aldous tucking the ball in from close range. The score stayed 2-1 right up to the last minute when West Exe were given a second penalty but this time the ball struck the crossbar and was cleared safely. This was a fantastic result for the boys!
Man of the match – Ryan Johns-Kuadio

Year 7 Football Teams start with wins

This week we saw the start of the year seven national cup competition are A team started their campaign versus Exmouth and our B team also started their cup campaign against Exmouth community college away.
Our first team put on a dominant performance with some outstanding individual and team football, the result ended up being 6-0 to Torquay Academy. The goals came from Amari Hadley with a hat-trick Liam Cartwright with one Finley Herbert with one and the final goal scored by Igor Piewiszko.

Our B team travelled away to Exmouth community college to start their cup campaign and after a very close game Torquay Academy came away with a 3-2 win with goals coming from Mason Jessop, Frankie Garvey and Jacob Piwowar.   2 wins in two days, what a great start for our year 7’s

Post 16 Girls train with Buckland Athletic Womans 1st Team

Our girls post 16 football education program visited Buckland Athletic women’s first team on Wednesday evening to join in with their training session. We are excited to have created a partnership with Buckland to give our girls a pathway into women’s football and support the transition from U18s into the adult game. Buckland Athletic Woman’s are a fantastic club and are fully behind the opportunity to get more girls involved in football and to give players the chance they need to show they can compete at this level. We are really excited about the partnership and are looking forward to how this will grow in the future.

 Rugby

The year 8 rugby team travelled to Forches Cross on Thursday amidst high winds and the threat of torrential rain to play a rugby 7s tournament, normally reserved for the more sunnier months and harder pitches. The boys left in good spirits and after a thorough warm up they began with a 20-0 win against St. Cuthbert Mayne. The boys then faced Teignmouth winning comfortably 25-5. Next up were Newton Abbot College. After taking a 10-0 lead the boys allowed the opposition back into the game with their speedy winger grabbing three late tries to seal the win. Disappointed, but not dejected the boys learnt a very valuable lesson about the importance of possession in 7s. Next up were TBGS who were sweeping aside every team so far in the tournament. The boys dug deep and started well. The inexperience of the boys showed as they were beaten to the break down twice resulting in turnover ball and two quick tries. The game was closer than the 20-0 deficit might suggest. Two crushing loses but some outstanding rugby played so far. Next up were Churston Grammar School. With some tired legs out there by now and the pitch deteriorating in the driving rain the boys started well with some aggressive tackling and some expert running with the ball in hand. The lads eased to victory with a 25-0 score to match. Every single player contributed in their own way. Most outstanding performances from Harry Clarke (6 tries) and Aiden Bovey (3 tries) on his rugby debut along with Will Harrison (a terrier at the ruck, and stealing ball for fun off boys twice his size), Will Green (commanded the back line well with some intelligent play and lovely running), Tommy Aldous (doing the hard yards that no one sees, carried well and tackled like a demon), Steve Fitpatrick (with the off load of the day- with three defenders hanging off him he managed to pass the ball before hitting the deck to Charlie Stevens who caught and sprinted to the line from 50 metres out), Charlie Stevens (another debutante ran well with the ball and tackled well in the wider channels). Francis Breslan, Peirce Gerring, Robin Pightling and Danny Frankum all ran hard with the ball and put their tackles in when needed and were a great asset to the side. A special mention must go out to the three rugby debutantes; Aiden Bovey, Danny Frankum and Charlie Stevens who each have not played any rugby before the tournament and should be proud of their achievements. Well done to all involved. Training continues on a Wednesday after school and there are 15 a side games coming up straight after half term.

Science Club

Science club has been off to a great start this year. The focus for the first few weeks has been chemistry; How do we know a reaction has taken place?, Catalysts and enzymes, food chemistry.  For the next few weeks, our mini scientists and I will be looking at ‘Is there witchcraft and wizardry in the real world?’ and hopefully discover that with a little bit of science know-how, there is indeed some magic!

Accelerated Reading

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed to help develop a student’s independent reading skills.   Students pick a book from their pre-set reading level and read it at their own pace. Once finished students will then take a short online quiz all about the book they have just completed. When a student passes a quiz it shows that they have understood the book they have just read. The students pictured all started Accelerated Reader in September and in just a short amount of time they have managed to read at least one book and successfully pass the accompanying quiz. This is a massive achievement for these students and a great start to their Accelerated Reader journey at Torquay Academy.

Pictured are – (not in order) Lucy Smyth, Emily Green, Mia Keenan, Jarad Silk, Samuel Cooper, Oliver Huxtable, Harry Lawler, Alfie Walker-Fenner, Sophie Brown, Beatrice Corline, Samuel Eaton, Lilliah John, Megan Sellick, Ruby Denison, Aliyah Davey, Coral Stewart, Olivia Wood

Students of the Week

Students of the week with me this week are : Maggie Foulds, Aaliyah Harford-Brown, Pheobe Lown, Jakub Piwowar, Alex Roberts, Jack Shirlow, Harley Sneap

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Henry McManus

Christie – Isabella Aguado-Georgian

Darwin – Serena Lordache

Fawcett – Sam Cooper

Harrison – Ryan Hooper

Kitson – Chloe Rae

Nearne – Immi Festorazzi

Pengelly – Shanice Rees

Year 8

Brunel – Klara Konforth

Christie – Charlotte Sweeney

Darwin – Mia Denby

Fawcett –  Bradlee Tarrant

Harrison – Abigail Taylor

Kitson – Fin Gaisford

Nearne – Oriana McCaul

Pengelly – Sophie Bastow

Year 9

Brunel – Bobby Western

Christie – Kai Fowler

Darwin – Daniel Green

Fawcett – Adam Clark & Angus Graham

Harrison – Caitlin Kirby

Kitson – Fox Toghill

Nearne – Jonathan Woodward

Pengelly – Holly Smith

Homework Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Ruby Dennison

Christie – Cleo Fry

Darwin – Leah Scott

Fawcett – Fearne Harby

Harrison – Merissa Farrington

Kitson –  Marcus Jenkins

Nearne –  Wiktoria Pacholska,

Pengelly – Kasha-Lily Borge

Year 8

Brunel –  Harrison Clarke

Christie – Phoebe Asplen

Darwin – Sophie Denison

Fawcett – Sophie Denison

Harrison – Madison Sturrock

Kitson – Evie Heron

Nearne – Heidi Wright

Pengelly – Jamie Nunn

Year 9

Brunel – Chloe Dance

Christie – Jemima Staples

Darwin – Katie Bowyer

Fawcett – Danny Stanners

Harrison – Milly Treleaven

Kitson – Teah Gaisford

Nearne – Olivia Simpson-Lewis

Pengelly –  Lily Cooper