Poetry Workshop, Maths Revision, Amazing Artwork & Healthy Eating

Poet Nels Rodwell Visits Year 7 High Performance Academy

Before half term, members of our High Performance Academy in Year 7 were invited to a poetry workshop with a professional local poet: Nels Rodwell. Our Year 7s gained an insight into the life of a professional poet through discussion and collaborative writing. Students also embraced the challenge of independently writing a poem over three stages about a personal experience using inspiration and advice from Nels. Year 7 HPA students are now continuing to work on these in their own time to submit into a poetry competition.

A huge thank you to Nels for a fantastic day. It was so wonderful for our students to engage with writing in a wider context and channelling their creativity.

Maths GCSE and A Level Revision Continues

Last Saturday 7 members of the Maths department were in again helping the students with their revision for the upcoming exams. Over 80 students were in revising hard for their GCSE Maths exams, this week was really focused on non-calculator skills ready for Thursdays Paper 1. The Year 13 A Level Maths class were also in on Saturday morning, working hard for their exams.

Over the half term Maths staff were also in on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8.30-10.30 doing GCSE revision for paper 2 & 3, the two calculator papers. These sessions were open to all students from TA who are taking their GCSE this summer and undoubtedly have made a big difference to their final grades. There was also an A level revision session on the Thursday from 9.00 till 12.00.

A big well done to all the students who have attended the sessions and similarly a big thank you to all the staff who have been in giving up their weekends and holiday time to come in and help the students in their exam preparation

MathsWhizz

Five students from Year 7 took the long and arduous trip to London Paddington to visit MathsWhizz Headquarters. The students conducted themselves in a fantastic manner throughout the whole day in unfamiliar surroundings. As you can see from the images above, Peter Sarang, Lilyella Monk, Dakota Robinson, Clayton Gagg and Faye Runciman, took part in market research and development to improve MathsWhizz as a product. Mr Jenner and Mrs Watson were particularly impressed with how involved the whole group were throughout the session with the MathsWhizz experts. We look forward to seeing the finished product in September.

Team TA Sports Roundup

Triathlon

Year 7 student, Angus Graham, recently competed in the Tri Team Gloucester Young Triathletes Triathlon (TTGYTT) against stiff competition from many students in his age group competing in the South West Series. He came a very creditable second place. Well done Angus.

Tumbling

Well done to Elizabeth Cameron, Year 7 who on Sunday 13th May competed in the English Silver Tumbling Championships. For age group 10-12 Level 5. Elizabeth came 4th with 78.000 points, she competed against 11 others missing bronze by only 0.9 points. She is now ranked 4th in England and it has given her a real confidence boast for Team Nationals next month when she will represent the South West in her age and level. We wish her all the best for these Championships.

Football

Some of our Year 8 girls have had a fantastic season playing for their Sunday league club. Ocean Latto, Ellie Mitchell, Taylor Ford and Kelsey Cresser have worn the badge of Buckland Ladies with pride this season and given everything they have for the team, this has resulted them being crowned both league and cup winners in their league.

In addition to this Ocean and Ellie travelled with 6 of the team to compete in a tournament at The King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City. They played against some real talented players, some teams were from Regional Talent Centres. Their record speaks for itself, Won 5 drew 2 and lost 1 only conceding 1 goal. An amazing effort, and they came away as overall winners. Well done to all 4 girls, you have not only made your club proud but you have also represented Team TA throughout the season with a great attitude and some outstanding play.

Athletics

Good luck to Isaac Astbury Year 7, Emma Harrison Year 8, Georgia Davies Year 9 and Elyse Leech Year 13 who all compete for South Devon in this weekend’s Devon trials with a place in the National finals at stake.

TA’s year 8 athletics team travelled to Churston for their first Torbay schools meet of the season. They competed against some high quality competition from 8 other schools in track and field events. The squad is looking very strong this season with some excellent individual and team performances in the relays. Their next meeting is at KEVICS on the 21st June followed by the South Devon Championships at Exeter Arena on 26th June.

Results

100m
Oliver Foster 1st
Tayor Ford 1st

200m
Ellis Knowles 2nd
Kelsey Cresser 2nd
Harry Lee 1st
Caitlin Graham 2nd

800m
Emma Harrison 1st
Caitlin Graham 3rd
Ben Auldous 3rd

1500m
Ryan Johns-Kouadio 4th

Girls Relay 1st

Rounders

On Wednesday afternoon the year 10 girls rounders team travelled to Stover to compete in the South Devon rounders tournament. The team competed in their pool against 6 other schools to try and secure a place in the finals. After some great fielding against South Dartmoor, the team suffered a defeat after they were unable to connect with the ball. However, the team remained positive and with some exceptional batting and fielding they achieved a convincing win against Paignton. The girls grew in confidence and secured another win against Torquay Girls Grammar School. The girls continued to field well and after an extremely close game against Teign they narrowly suffered a defeat. With Stover next they maintained their fighting spirit to achieve a draw. Finally the girls finished the afternoon with another win against Spires.

Overall the team finished 3rd in their pool, only 1 point behind Teign! There were so many outstanding moments throughout the afternoon. Every member of the team played their part in scoring rounders and the girls worked so well together as a team, not only with their outstanding fielding skills, but also to motivate and encourage each other. It was an absolute pleasure to accompany the girls and congratulations on some excellent results!

Mrs Kirby

Team
Ella Squibb
Poppy Bell
Sam Gourlay
Erica Garcia
Hannah Mabbutt
Cassie Seal
Shannon Crawford
Zane Sibiya
Ella Walker
Chloe Fisher
Lauren Courtney

Results
TA v South Dartmoor 3 1/2 – 6 1/2
TA v Paignton 8 – 2
TA v TGGS 6 1/2 – 3 1/2
TA v Teign 4 1/2 – 5
TA v Stover 3 1/2 – 3 1/2
TA v Spires 4 – 3 1/2

Horse riding Success for Olivia & Bouncer

On Monday 7th May, Year 8 student Olivia Foster, was busy competing at a horse riding event on her horse Bouncer. She was part of the team Longwood Hopefuls.

The event consisted of 4 different riders on 4 different horses. Competitors were expected to compete in two rounds. On the first round you had to go clear which included no falls or knocking any poles down and no refusals. Round two has the same rules but it is a timed event and the quickest team wins.

This was an exceptionally long day for Olivia. Olivia woke at 6am, left the stables at 7.45am and was at the event by 9am. That being said she thoroughly enjoyed the event. The team won a sash, a rosette and a cup for what the team had accomplished.

It was such a successful day and a very proud day for those that took part in the event.

Making products that support healthy eating

Students in GCSE Product Design have been designing and making laminated wooden salad servers to encourage healthy eating. They have researched a number of famous designers who take inspiration from nature such as Ross Lovegrove, Thomas Hetherwick and Zaha Hadid and used this to inform the structure of their own designs. Sketch work has been developed into foam moulds which (as you can see from the photos) have now been moulded in thin flexible plywood using our specialist vacuum bag press. Next week, the products will be shaped and oiled – ready just in time for barbecue season!

Fantastic Artwork

The pictures below are some of the work from our students in our brilliant Creative Arts Department. I never cease to be amazed by the quality of the work produced. Lilly O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Cook and Courtney McElhinney are the artists responsible for these works.

Physics Students Waving Hello to Summer!

Year 12 physics students were investigating properties of waves using the ripple tank. When a wave passed through a narrow gap or around an obstruction, it forms a semi-circular pattern. This is called diffraction and is one of the phenomena which lead to the modern theory of Quantum Mechanics.

Pictured are Ben Tolman, Kyle Farrell, Harvey Denning, Trung Van Nguyen and Jacob Johnson.

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week : Yr 7 – Aimee Evans, Yr 8 – Lucas Macfie-Jones, Yr 10 – Alex Robertsr, Y9 – Saoirse Murphy – not in photo. Year 11 Leigh Skeffington

Principal Certificates

Bronze : (not in order) Charlie Trapp, Oliver Stoneman, Tyler Potter, Ethan Hewett, Skye Milton-Jones, Emma Harrison, Bradley Satterley, Poppy Holloway, Chloe Giffard, Dylan Weather-Bird, George Woolacott, Katie Harris, Euan Smith, Lewis Vinson, Connor Leonard, Jas Stone, Maddison Harvey, Toby Clark, William Hall, Oscar Yelland, Holly Bastow, Chloe Nickels, Rosie Barnes, Molly Farley, Abby Shannon, Dom Bragg-Latremouille, Patrick Handford, Rosie-May Vaughn, Sam Griffiths, Lizzy Holmes, Gessaley Gutteridge, Aaron Johnson, Rebecca Willis, Gracie Bradbury, Lauren Howells, Daisy Poole-Crampton

Silver : (not in order) Luke Howard, Tia Alcock-Burness, Fin Beer, Kai Fowler, Cody Furze, Angel Fox, Jake Dakin, Dimitar Dinev, Jade Taylor, Bradley Thomas, David Waddington, Mason McCarthy-Payne, Kelan Stanners, Harriet Ellis-Burn, Leilah Poulain, Lacee Borge