Open day, Performing Arts Academy and lots of sport...

Open Evening

It was lovely to be able to welcome hundreds of prospective students and their families into school this week. They left wowed by our incredible facilities, but even more impressed by the quality of education that we are able to offer and the amazing range of clubs that our girls and boys take part in. It had also been a few years since the science department had been able to set fire to me…!

PAA Auditions

It’s been a busy week for the Performing Arts Academy with year 8 – 13 auditions on Tuesday after school and year 7 on Thursday. The PAA staff have been hugely impressed by the enthusiasm and talent on display from every student that auditioned and as a result, we are delighted to offer the highest number of places ever!

Congratulations to all students that have been offered a place. I am super excited about this year’s production of Fame and look forward to popping into rehearsals when they begin next week!

Look out for the PAA class of 2022/2023 which will feature in next week’s blog.

Update on the Astro…

The carpet has now arrived and they have started the process of laying it. I am hopeful that within a couple of weeks it will be ready for us to use. I know the students can’t wait!

RAF Air Cadets

Our first visit to an RAF Air Cadet training camp took place over the weekend at Chickerell Camp near Weymouth. The nine chosen cadets met after school and travelled to Chickerell by coach with 200 Squadron Air Training Corps, based on the Boys Grammar School campus – their first new experience meeting and travelling with other cadets. On arrival, each cadet signed into their course in the main hall and after finding their allocated accommodation quickly unpacked and met their roommates before the first course of the camp on dealing with “Climatic Injuries”. By 2130 they were ready for bed and their first night on camp.

Breakfast in the Mess started at 7am with the cadets individually responsible for being there at their allotted time, dressed in the right rig and ready to go to their chosen course location. For a cadet who has never been to camp before this was a really good start. 3 of our senior cadets were on a Methods of Instruction course. 1 Cadet on the Air Weapons Trained Shot course and 5 on the Field Craft Course.

With over 200 cadets from all over Devon, Somerset and Bristol, on a dozen different courses with 25 course instructors and adult volunteers (including 3 from our CCF), Chickerell Camp opened the eyes of our cadets to the opportunities on offer through the CCF structure. We will be back at Chickerell for another weekend in early October.

Hospitality and Catering

A wonderfully busy and productive start to cycle one of the academic year. Students in year 10 and 11 had to produce some dishes from some ingredients that involved being imaginative and creative for a vegetarian customer in our bistro. They began the project in writing the plan for the menu which included timings and a variety of technical skills they were going to use . After that they began the practical and were able to show case their skills and presentational techniques in the production of their dishes. Some included lentil curry, samosas, three bean chilli, stuffed peppers and then many types of apple puddings.
The open evening this Thursday was also very successful and I am super great full to our students for helping and supporting in making pizzas, brownies and shortbreads from scratch. They were delicious and again a testament to our students. Well done all.

Fitness suite

It has been great to see so many students taking advantage of our fitness suite after school.

Mrs Pidwell’s A Level Chemistry

The year 12’s have started their journey in A level Chemistry with a practical about the energy transferred between different fuels and water. Students worked in pairs to set up the equipment and measure the temperature change of the water being heated. The experiment is the first of many assessed practicals they must complete to show they are competent chemists. The skills they demonstrated in this practical were being able to measure mass, volume and temperature and also being able to safely handle flammable liquids.

Students used the results to carry out a series of complex calculations to work out the energy change, the number of moles of fuel burned and the enthalpy change per mole. This allows them to be able to make direct comparisons between the different fuels and which one produces the most energy.

Miss Cape’s History lessons

Year 9s have started their GCSE course by studying Anglo-Saxon England. They have been considering the Power of Kings and why the Godwin family were so influential.

Year 10 students have been developing their exam technique over the last few lessons. The particular focus has been on analysis of interpretations for their Paper 3 exam which focuses on Weimar and Nazi Germany. We have been following the I do, We do, You do process to ensure all students are confidently able to tackle the 28 marks these questions carry. Thank you to Joe Hosking for allowing me to share some of his work.

Miss Cape’s year 11 class were excited to receive their revision guides and homework task books this week. These books have been written by the History department to accompany the revision guide and ensure that students are gaining the most from their independent study. The first book focuses on the topic of Crime and Punishment ready for their November PPE.

Fun Friday was back for all year groups this week!

Year 7 took on the Buzz Wire, seeing who could complete it.
Year 8 played the classic game of Higher or Lower with Miss Cape.

Year 9 challenged Mr Webber to a basketball shoot out on the MUGA.

Year 10 spent break time trying to earn as many points as they could with a bean bag toss.

Year 11 students are still trying to figure out how many sweets are in the jar in Mr Grinsill’s office.

House Update

With the start of another academic year comes the start of the weekly challenge for each house group to achieve the most house points. House points are awarded daily for: excellent homework completion, meeting tutor group expectations, hard work in lessons, answering challenging questions, being a good citizen and a variety of other positive contributions to school life.

This week Pengelly house are the victors, being not only the highest achievers in terms of house-points but also the highest attenders as a house overall. Mr Chadwick as head of Pengelly is basking in the victory but believes this is only to be expected from Pengelly students. 7P alone managed to achieve a huge 916 house-points in one week; this is almost a school record-a slightly higher score having been achieved by 7P last year. Mrs Lancaster -tutor and house-captain is absolutely delighted.

Miss Risk was fortunate enough to interview some students from 7P who told her how they achieved such positive results. Lewis Collett has made a very successful start with Tassomai , one of our online homework tasks. He has achieved not only excellent completion but also a very high level of accuracy. The advice Lewis has given for anybody to complete their homework is to give oneself plenty of time and to take breaks in the middle. Poppy Sanderson has also achieved many house-points for her homework completion but additionally has also been rewarded for her enthusiasm-a quality we really admire here at Torquay Academy. Poppy told me how 7P is a really nice group where everybody works well and are supportive of one another. Millie Russell tells me that she really enjoys homework and that one of the things she has noticed is that Pengelly people are really helpful-particularly Mrs Lancaster and Mr Chadwick. According to Millie, Pengelly is a very competitive group and they will definitely win the first house competition. Finally Noah Kirby states that he has done so well on his homework due to the homework help sessions that were run at the start of the year; this has enabled him to a chieve a high number of house-points. He would also like to praise Mr Chadwick and Mrs Lancaster for the help they have given their students.

It will be very interesting to see if Pengelly achieve the most house points again next week.

Wow! What an incredible start to the year for our supercurricular clubs. It has been great to see students back into their after-school sports. Whilst we have not yet started most of our fixture schedule, we have held trials, taster sessions and got training up and running. We are delighted to have started a number of new sports clubs this year and as always we are looking to provide as diverse and varied opportunities for our students to experience, enjoy and excel in. I have included a few photos of what students have been up to.

U16 Netball Academy

Our U16 TA Netball Academy have made a superb start to the season, winning their pool in the U16 Central Venue League Tournament. A squad of 15 players travelled to Churston Grammar School on Thursday and were placed in a pool with Teign, Teignmouth and St. Cuthbert Mayne School. The girls won their first game against Teign School 10-4, followed by another win against St Cuthbert Mayne School 7-0 and they finished strongly with a 7-3 win against Teignmouth School. Every player represented the school to a high standard and Miss Lewis is proud to see how much they have all come on together as a squad.
U16 TA Netball Academy Squad: Mia Denby ( C ), Evie Sutton, Ellie Chammings, Ellie Denby, Freya Davies, Grace Povey, Penny Richards, Lauren Major, Emily Tucker, Lily Unsworth, Charlotte Sweeney, Tammy Westacott, Summer Connoly, Skye Warner, Lily-Anne Winterton

Pierce Gerring

Pierce competed in the British Teen Championships in Southampton at the weekend against a field from all over the country. He took part in five cross fit events and eventually ended up winning the competition. He is now ranked number one in the country at under 16 level. He is another step closer to reaching his dream of competing in the Nobull Cross-Fit Games held in the USA.

TA Netball Academy

Our TA Netball Academy teams have been training hard over the past two weeks in readiness for their first National Schools games and County tournaments. Keep your eyes peeled on the blog and our ‘Team Torquay Academy’ Instagram for updates on their upcoming fixtures and results!