New Staff, New Names, Inspiring Teaching & Green Fingers

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Welcome to New Staff

Pictured Left to Right: Miss Cann (KS4 Coordinator Science), Mrs Nock (Teaching Assistant), Mrs Mortimore (Lead Practitioner English), Mrs Langler (Head of Religious Studies), Mrs Artlett (Fairfields), Mr Clark-Ridealgh (HOLA MFL), Mr Pike (Science), Mr French (Head Key Stage 4 History), Mr Beswetherick (Lead Practitioner Maths)

I am delighted to welcome these brilliant teachers to our community.  They are all brilliant practitioners who we are lucky to have in our school.  They are all already having a great impact with the classes they teach and in the wider school.

University names for learning areas

We passionately believe that all of our students have the ability to go onto university.  To help students understand the options available to them after 6th Form we have renamed each of our Learning Areas.  At the entrance there is information about each of the university towns along with details of the courses on offer.  The names of each of the areas are:

• Plymouth
• Bournemouth
• Warwick
• Exeter
• Oxford
• Harvard
• Bristol
• Birmingham
• Manchester
• UCL

We have also have each of our Year 7s picture taken in a graduation picture in a cap and gown with a certificate to set those aspirations – they are our university graduation class of 2025!

Inspiring Science Teaching

We have welcomed several new science teachers to the Academy over the last few months and they are delivering inspiring lessons to all our students. I have been pleased to go into a large number of science lessons and have seen for myself the progress the students are making. They have spoken to me about how much they are enjoying their lessons, especially our Year 7 students and our new A-level science students.

Our Year 11 science students have been working particularly hard and are achieving great levels of understanding. One of the lessons was about enzymes and you can see here some of the plasticine models the students made to represent the “lock and key” mechanism.

Healthy Eating in the Classroom

Year 7 are currently doing a module of work about healthy eating and trying to have a balanced diet. In the lesson this week they were cooking Quesadillas. A quesadilla is a flour or corn tortilla filled with a savoury mixture containing a variety of ingredients, then folded in half to form a half-moon shape. This dish originated in Mexico   Whilst doing this, the students have learned knife skills and how to use the cooker.

Rehearsals for “We Will Rock You”

Wednesday after school saw over 80 students from Years 7 – 12 turn up for auditions to gain a place in this year’s major school production ‘We Will Rock You’. The auditions began with some ensemble workshopping events which saw the students rehearse sections from from Radio Gaga. At 4.30pm auditions for the principle roles began and the heat really got turned up. An overwhelming amount of talent was displayed making the casting extremely difficult. Discussions went on well into the night and the following day before finally a decision had been made… The final cast list will be displayed in F block at 3pm today. Congratulations to everyone who auditioned, each and everyone of you were brilliant. It’s going to be a huge cast for a huge show! Rehearsals start in earnest next Wednesday after school until 4.30pm.

Year 7 Rugby

The Year 7 rugby squad traveled to Paignton Rugby club on Wednesday to play Spires and Paignton Sports College in their first game of the season. It was a great opportunity for a lot of the players to enjoy their first experience in competitive rugby. All the games were closely contested with real passion and commitment. Torquay Academy’s first 12 beat Paignton 5 tries to 3 in an enthralling game of rugby with some stand out performances. The squad travels to Torquay Rugby Club next Wednesday for the 2nd game of the season.

Busy Week of Football

Year 8 Football Team

Another busy week on the football scene at TA. Wednesday saw the 6th form football team kick off their league campaign with a game against South Devon College at TA’s home ground of Liverton United. TA started
slowly and were on the back foot for the first 20 mins. TA took a surprise lead when captain Owen Stockton attacked a Jamie Down corner to volley home. South Devon college soon levelled through a penalty
and the teams went in level at half time. The second half was a much more even contest with both sides cresting chances but neither managing to capitalise.   SDC took the lead with 20 minutes to go when the TA defense switched off at SDC corner. TA took this in their stride and then dominated for the final 20 minutes creating many chances before Louis Roberts struck home a volley from 20 yards past the SDC goalkeeper. TA managed to create one more chance after this to win the game but unfortunately man of the match,  Nathan Hebbes shot just wide from an acute angle after beating 3 men in the box. TA were unhappy with the result but it’s the first point on the board for what is a new challenge.

Thursday was a busy day with both year 8 and 10 having to travel some distance to play their first round fixture in the ESFA National Cup.

Year 8 travelled to Exmouth with Mr Jones to take on a very strong  Exmouth side. TA played well in the first half battling away and making life hard for Exmouth. The teams went in level at half-time at 0-0. TA continued to battle away in the second half keeping Exmouth at arms length. Unfortunately with 10 minutes to go, Exmouth’s pressure finally told and they took the lead. TA then decided to have a real go as it was all or nothing now. Unfortunately they were punished twice more,  the final whistle losing 3-0 in the end. Brandon Ford was named man of the match for his outstanding performance at the back.

Year 11 had a 180 mile round trip having to travel to Penryn College for their game. TA started slowly and found themselves 1-0 down due to a Penryn College goal. What happened next can only be described as one of the best, if not the best individual performances both myself and Chris Hogg have seen in schools football.  Striker Callum Morton  delivered a master class in not only how to score goals but how to play as a lone striker.  Callum then scored five goals in the space of 40 mins before being substituted.  Each one of his goals were so different and showed finishing well beyond his years. It was a strong team performance as well and eventually saw TA running out 6-4 winners.

Well done to all three teams and thanks to Mr Grinsill, Mr Jones and Mr Hogg.

Callum Morton pictured with myself and Mr Grinsill

Netball News

On Tuesday,  Torquay Academy hosted the first of 4 Year 8 Central Venue Netball tournaments. With a total of 11 schools from around Torbay arriving to take part in the netball tournament, it saw almost 100 year 8 girls playing netball. The atmosphere was amazing and there certainly was a great buzz around the courts as well as some fantastic netball performances. Our year 8 girls played some good netball however were unable to secure a win, lots to work on for the next tournament.  Special well done goes to Ellie Mae Peterson and Cassie Seal for some great performances. If anyone is interested in joining the team, please attend training on a Tuesday after school 3.10pm – 4.10pm.

Stars of the Week

Stars of the week pictured with myself and Mrs Smith this week are:  Jordan Watkins, Nafesah Nowshin, Brandon Ford, Tierney Leaver, Josh Nicol.

Green Glove Society

The Year 7 “Green Glove Society” has begun it’s task of looking after the allotments in the Year 7 Playground. 17 students have signed up to care for the area, taking it in turns to weed, hoe, rake and sow new seeds! They have a wonderful assortment of fruit and vegetables to plant once the ground has been prepared. The students are looking forward to taking home all of the vegetables once fully grown. First, they have the very hard task of sorting out the knee-high weeds!

Watch this space for an update on the progress of the allotments…..