Ofsted report, women in Marine Engineering and a murder

Listen

Ofsted report published

2020 Torquay Academy Ofsted Report

I am delighted to be able to share our latest report with the school community today.

The full report that shows Torquay Academy continues to be a good school. Whilst you will be aware of the exceptional results our students achieve at both GCSE and A level, the Ofsted process is a deep dive into the running of the school.

Ofsted introduced a new, tougher inspection regime last September which makes this report all the more impressive. The new inspection is focused upon the Quality of Education and safeguarding; these are described as areas that inspectors put the ‘floodlight’ on. In addition to this, they put ‘spotlights’ on behaviour, students’ wider development and staff wellbeing.

The report highlights the wide range of wonderful things that happen here every day; the opening paragraph of the report is:

“Pupils are proud to attend Torquay Academy. The school has high ambitions for pupils, who say they feel inspired to do their best.”

The report recognises all the hard work of the staff, students and governors.

Mr Chadwick murdered for World Book Day…

After my savage murder last year, it was the turn of Mr Chadwick this year.  Our students got to watch a series of videos in order to solve whodunnit?

The Murder

The investigation

Mr Christophers

Miss Smale

Mrs Mortimore

Mr Jones

The arrest!

World Book day

Miss Smale and Miss Weir organised a fun-filled day for World Book that included another hugely successful, whole school murder mystery!

Students from Y7 to Y11, had to detect clues from 6 videos shown across the day, and use these to solve the mystery of ‘Who Killed Mr Chadwick?’. Students fully embraced this challenge and hundreds of students submitted their theory sheets with the correct culprit identified: Mr Jones!

Other activities included a ‘Shelfie’ quiz in the atrium and a Big Fat Book Swap in the Study Centre. Thank you to all students who participated; the staff who supported the day in various ways and to Emily Johns in Year 10, for her brilliant assistance in the Study Centre. Finally, a big well done to our winners: Holly Smith, AJ Alexander and Sophie George!

The winners were:

Holly Smith 9P
Winner of the Murder Mystery activity

AJ Alexander 7K
Winner of the ‘Shelfie Quiz’

Sophie George 8H
For outstanding detective skills

Amazing Art

I had the pleasure of seeing our Year 11s preparing their final portfolios.  I was so impressed by both the quality of work and the care and effort that all of the students put into their work.  This pencil drawing by Shannon Banks really caught my eye.

Fun Friday

Last week we had a Grease and High School Musical Singalong.  Well, that is how it started, but it soon turned in a Sing and Dancealong!  Another great Fun Friday!

All Aboard!

A group of year nine girls recently went on a trip to South Devon College to attend a Women in Marine Engineering Conference. The trip was organized by Mr Foulds but taken by Mr Beswetherick.

Throughout the day they met various women who work in the Marine Engineering sector and who gave presentations on the various aspects and opportunities available to them in the industry. The girls were given in-depth information about potential job roles both at sea, in dry dock and office-based careers.

There were also many ‘hands-on’ things to try too. They had a go at using a Computer Aided Design package, the girls were great (but Mr Bez was the best!) and the girls also got to experience a virtual reality training program too.

The highlight of the day was probably the last session which was model boat building. The aim was to transport cargo from one port to another. Points were awarded for cargo carrying and speed. I am happy to report that Mya, Tee and Olivia opted for a design which could carry lots of cargo (albeit slowly) which not only won the TA competition but had the highest score all day!

It was a really interesting day that the girls got a lot out of.

World cup winner

A number of our girls play for Torquay Athletic’s Under 14 girls’ team.  Their training session this week was led by World Cup winning Red Rose, Ceri Large. Ceri joined the girls to help promote women’s rugby at the club.  This was a wonderful experience for our girls.

Committing to memory

Mr Pugh spent this morning’s assembly helping our Year 9 students⁩ to see the difference between ‘doing’ their homework and making sure they’re committing facts to long term memory.  This is an area we plan to focus upon more over the next year.

Exam Prep

Another extremely successful exam preparation hour for the year 11s English Language exam. All students fully engaged and focusing hard. All staff are very proud of you all and how hard you are all working – Keep it up!. Mr Grinsill, Mr Christophers, Mrs Lancaster and all your English teachers

Athletic Club Award

Hannah was thrilled to receive awards at the South Devon Athletic Club annual awards night on Saturday. She was recognised for competing in all 10 junior Grand Prix events and finishing as the 3rd Under 13 girl. Her proudest achievement was the Junior Trailblazer Award for completion of the 5k series of trail night runs & SDAC Coleton Footacher mile trail run last Summer.

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week are : Sam Cooper, Callum Moore, Mya Green, BenPuddicombe

Principal Certificates

Bronze, Alfie Porter, Enrika Vasiliauskiate, Grace Dicken, Libby Green, Michalina Jarosz, Bobby McAllister, Isabelle Davis, Luca Cronje, Libby Davies, Tammy Westacott, Jacob Tarr, James Ferris, Leo Webley, Elloitt Lawton, Harry Watt, Lilly-May Bond, Tim Corbett, Owen Woodcock,Kai Alexander, Coral Rogers, William Green, Aidan Stapleton, Mia Denby, Matylda Bednarska, Jasper Dommett, Matt Budavolgyi, Phoebe Parker, Shannon Adamson, Redd Benson, Evie Sutton, Katie Harris, Bobby Western, Maddison Watt, Belle Giles, Bethany Jones, Libby-Marie Marshall, Jack Howlett, Harry Bowden, Olivia Kenyon, Ellis Kendall, George Nelson, Chloe Sillis, Lila Nyari, Honey Evans, Madelyn Palmer-Kerslake, Lucia Aguado-Georgian, Holly Bastow, Emily Griffiths, Keira Davies, Ben Eales, Grace Cayford, Rebecca Lovegrove, Marcus Griffiths, Finley Last, Ewan Zaple-Contreras, Archie Hughes, Michael Brooker, Xavier Rodwell, Tamla Wells

Silver: Bailey Wright, Amalia Mihai, Phoebe Hewings, Lee Ross, Beatrice Corline, Tyrone Ross, Jayden Gardner, Nina Hocking, Kevin Vieira, Ellie Denby, Gabriel Prior, Madison Lovegrove, Mason McCarthy-Payne, Sonny Houlahan, Holly Smith, Adam Pac, Cody Furze, Diego Amado

Gold : Tyler Silvester, Archie Cox, Kezia Stanley

Governor Certificate

Bronze : Lexi Silvester, Esme Brabon, Summer Connolly, Maja Davies

Silver : Finley Herbert

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel –

Christie – Lucy Bailey

Darwin – Warren Spink

Fawcett –  Liam Cartwright

Harrison – Lucy  Smyth

Kitson – AJ Alexander

Nearne – Olliver Keating

Pengelly – Ollie Sillis

Year 8

Brunel – Jessica Hutchison

Christie – Max Beer

Darwin –

Fawcett –  Ed Fogarty

Harrison – Anya Griffith

Kitson – Freya Hawkins

Nearne – Erin Pound

Pengelly – AJ Sims

Year 9

Brunel – Aurora Rosser

Christie – Archie Hughes

Darwin – Xander Tostevin

Fawcett –

Harrison – Amelia Barrett

Kitson –

Nearne – Jessica Smith

Pengelly – Ena Brett-Wilson

Homework Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel –

Christie – Rosie Mahoney-Billis

Darwin – Jakub Piwowar

Fawcett – Rose Phillips

Harrison – Calen Thomas-Tyrer

Kitson – Daniel Thomas

Nearne – igor  Piewiszko

Pengelly – Harry Russel

Year 8

Brunel – Lucas Washbrook

Christie – Lily-Rae Hooper

Darwin –

Fawcett – Georgia Smith

Harrison –  Lily Hammacott

Kitson – Milly Watt

Nearne – Alana Mitchell

Pengelly – Harrison Horrell

Year 9

Brunel – Toby Leaver

Christie – Maddison Watt

Darwin –

Fawcett –

Harrison – Lola Green

Kitson –

Nearne – Charlie Trapp

Pengelly – Holly Smith