Open Evening, Devon rugby triumph & music success

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Open Evening

On Thursday and Friday this week we welcomed prospective parents and their children into school for our open days.   All visitors were taken on tours around the different departments of the school to see the fantastic things that we can offer their children.   I also gave a presentation to give more in depth information about what we do as a school, and how we ensure all students are given the best education to enable them to leave us equipped with the best outcomes possible.

In what seem is to becoming a bit of an annual ritual, the science department found another way to try and injure me…

Rugby News

Year 13 Selected to represent Devon in Cardiff

Year 13 student Will Sanders played for Devon Sharks in the South West Rugby League Grand Final at Launceston Rugby Club in July.

The Sharks were narrowly defeated by the Cornish Rebels. Will was playing on the wing and not only did he not miss a single tackle, he also scored a try. Will is one of only two school-age players in the team and has also played against the Army Veterans and semi-professional side West Wales Raiders this season. He also plays rugby union at Newton Abbot.  In addition Will has been picked to play for Devon against the Wales Intentional A Team next weekend in Cardiff.  A fantastic achievement, Will.

RFU Referee Course

On Wednesday the RFU hosted a Level 1 rugby refereeing course at Torquay Academy. 6th form students from all over South Devon were invited to participate. Will Saunders from TA completed the course and is now regularly involved in all years TA rugby. Thank you to the RFU for funding the course and Gary Kingdom delivering it.

Year 11 Student selected for Devon County Rugby

Year 11 student Jacob Brady has been selected to play Rugby for Devon County.  He has been playing rugby for Torquay Rugby Club for the last 6 years . He was selected to play for South Devon when he was 14. He mostly plays on the wing or outside centre.  He trains every week with his Torquay Club and then every 3rd week he goes up to Exeter Chiefs and is coached by the DPP and Exeter Chief coaches.   80 players from all over Devon were invited to try out for the team . It was an amazing achievement and we are very proud of him.   He played last weekend for Devon against Cornwall and they beat them 82 -17 Jacob scored a try and put in some great defence .

Football News

Year 8 Football Team  too strong for Cuthbert Mayne

On Monday night the year 8 football team took on Cuthbert Mayne in the first round of the national cup. TA proved far too strong for Cuthbert Mayne on the evening running out a convincing 8-0 winners. The goals came from Tyler Stuckey x2, Jacob Thomas x2, Rylee Steele, Charlie Cuss and Josh Watt.   Well done to the team.  ​Year 8 now face Brixham Community College in round 2. ​

Checkpoint in Torquay Academy

We have welcomed a checkpoint worker, Helene Chandler to the school, she has kindly written this for the blog:

:My name is Helene Chandler and I work for Checkpoint in Torquay and am going to be based at TA for the next year.  I am here working with the school on healthy relationships, consent, child sexual exploitation and helping advise and provide information on services at Checkpoint.  This includes : drugs and alcohol, family support, counselling and generally working with young people to make things a bit better when it gets tough or things feels too much.

My background is as an English Teacher and although I still love teaching and English- I decided I really wanted to work with young people to help when things were difficult for them. Checkpoint is based in Ellacombe opposite the park and is part of the Children’s Society.   We have a great team of people who work with young people, for young people. I feel very lucky to work where I do and I hope you will pop in to see me in the Safeguarding hub on Monday or Tuesday, or visit our facebook page (see link below), or even call in to see us- we offer a drop in Monday- Friday 12.30- 5.00pm. We will make you a cup of tea and we will always listen!”

https://www.facebook.com/checkpointtorbay/

Year 11 Music Success

Ashley Stott has recently passed his Grade 7 in Musical Theatre with the highest Distinction grade given on the day of the exam. He was awarded 95 points out of 100, achieved 16 Ucas points, and an AS level in Musical Theatre, Grade B, by the University of West London. He was quite the hit with his examiner (the chief examiner of the board) who said quite confidently that Ashley was ‘destined for a fine career within the performing arts sector’.    Ashley is now working towards his final Grade 8, which our music department are sure he will also pass with flying colours. Well done for all your hard work, Ashley!

Joshua Thomas

Whilst walking around this week, i was lucky enough to have a chat with Year 11 student Joshua Thomas who has been working hard on his piece of music.  The level of understanding and his expertise of both a variety of musical instruments and software was quite amazing.  He was kind enough to allow me to share his latest creation.

Reading Records

All Year 7 & 8 students have now been given their personalised ‘Reading Records’. Each student has a table of books which they need to read throughout the school year, as well as a number of ability appropriate free choices and non-fiction texts. The books are chosen based on the reading age of each student, though there is an emphasis on texts which will challenge the pupils and expose them to styles of writing they may not have previously come across. Last year we saw the vast majority of pupils complete all the books on their table and many of their free choices. Once they finish a book they submit a review and this stays as part of their record. This year, as well as reading recent releases, every student will have to read a pre-1914 classic, a text from another culture, and a contemporary classic. Every class gets a fortnightly reading lesson in our wonderful library and students are asked to take their book home and read each night.

Students of the Week

Students of the week pictured with me this week are : Liam Doris, Mateusz Baczynski, Brad Mellish, Sana Shah and Ellis Knowles