Return to school, world championships & the Lions Barber
Year 7s first full week
Our new Year 7s have had a great week. They have settled in brilliantly and I am being asked less and less where classrooms are!
They spent Period 5 on Monday to Thursday this week with their Heads of House going through their written homework. We have been very impressed with their efforts.
World Table Tennis Youth Championships
But one of our Year 7s is missing! Kacper Piwowar is currently in Croatia playing in the World Table Tennis Youth Championships.
Wins against players from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Andorra placed Kacper into the semi-finals. On Friday morning he beat the Croatian player to place him in the final!
Congratulations, Kacper, on this incredible achievement and good luck in the final.
Lions Barber Collective
On Monday we were very proud to host the founder of the Lions Barber Collective, Tom Chapman, into school. He and his team spent Monday with our 6th Form students talking about mental health and how they can support themselves as well as each other. They gave students haircuts during their talks!
Racing
Even before the new school year began our dedicated Greenpower team leapt back into action with a customary early morning meet, leaving school at 5:30 am on Sunday morning to take part in the Renishaw F24 race at Castle Combe race circuit in Wiltshire.
Both our year 10 and year 11 teams were keen to revitalise the in-house rivalry as well as taking on teams from across the country in this awesome event. Upon arrival both cars, Pugh and Bindon, clocked up some valuable practice laps without incident showing good pace and raising our hopes of performing well in the day’s races.
After the first driver changes, the year 11 car, Pugh, continued to clock up uneventful miles but Bindon, piloted by Redd Benson, began to suffer from severe instability when exiting corners. He duly attracted the attention of the race marshals who accompanied him back to the pits where the car was checked over. No obvious fault was detected so it was agreed with the marshals that the previous driver, Harrison Shaw, would return to the hotseat to see if the problem remained. Without completing a single lap it was very evident that there was a handling issue as the car flipped resulting in day-ending front end damage to the car and a trip to the on-site medical centre for Harrison.
So, with no in-house rivalry for the rest of the event, everyone’s focus turned to Pugh when the actual race began. Pugh duly performed well, recording consistent lap times and securely sitting in an outstanding second place for the first 75 minutes of the 80 minute event before dwindling energy increased our speed resulting in us being pipped for second at the post, finishing a mere 0.02m behind PRT Raptor, a regular competitor of ours, leaving us in a still-impressive 3rd place! To add to our bronze medals and 3rd place trophy, we also won the portfolio award in recognition of our rapid rise from fruition onto regular podium finishers.
Overall, a very eventful day but one from which we learnt a lot, won 2 trophies and gathered some impressive tales to tell. We have grand plans for our Greenpower team over the coming year so watch this space closely!
Return to school
After Year 7 and 12 returned to school last Friday, the rest of the school came back on Monday following their testing day.
TA Olympics
Get ready for the TA mini Olympics that will take place next Friday after school. Mr Jones and the PE team are looking forward to this great event!
After school clubs
The PE & Sport Department are thrilled to be back up and running. There are lots of super curricular opportunities which start on Monday, and we have our first house competition (The TA Olympics!) on Friday.
Here is a photo of Mr Jones’ Year 8 Basketball group who had a great (even if a bit wet!) lesson on our newly painted MUGA!
GCSE Product Design
Great to see our latest cohort of GCSE Product Design students getting stuck in to their first practical of the year. They have listened carefully to instructions and are underway with their box project in which they learn about different wood joints.
Sixth Form
During the sixth forms student conference, Mr Richardson and Miss Pappin ran a resilience workshop as part of the sixth form carousel. The students completed a number of challenges to test and build their resilience. Students ‘got stuck’, challenged themselves, became frustrated, experienced failure and success in equal measure, and essentially achieved through resilience and never giving up. Records from the previous year were broken and all students engaged fantastically well.
Performing Arts Academy
We are looking forward to resuming our Performing Arts Academy for Y8 – Y12 on Thursday 16th September, 3:15 – 5:15pm. Due to the outstanding commitment that all PAA students showed in a very challenging year, members do not need to re audition for their places this year.
Group auditions for our new year 7 students and any other students interested in joining our fabulous PAA this year will be from 3:15 – 5:15pm, Tuesday 21st September.
GCSE Food Technology
A very busy beginning to the academic year in Hospitality and Catering. The year ten students were given challenges to produce the most amazing dishes in the style of Matserchef. They had a list of ingredients and had to then produce innovative meals. The year nines were also asked to produce two different dishes, cheese scones and leek and potato soup in their first lesson and they did exceptionally well. The level of skills and presentation were excellent.
Y12 Parents’ Transition Evening
It was lovely to see so many parents and students turn up for the transition evening with Mrs Hosking and Mrs Dipode. This year group are already building upon their fantastic GCSE results by making an exceptional start to their A-level studies.
Back on the field
It is great to see our boys and girls back on the field this week. They have had a busy summer training schedule and we are looking forward to them starting their games soon.
Fabulous Running!
Before the start of term, Hannah had a visit to family in Wigan & of course it coincided with a race! It was the weekend of the Wigan 10k & Family Mile & Hannah was thrilled to bits to be the 1st female finisher of the mile in 6mins 20 sec (4th finisher overall). Great running Hannah!
Student houses update…
As many may be aware, the vast majority of our new Year 7 cohort attended Summer School from 21st -25th September. This was a brilliant opportunity for the students to become acclimatised to their new surroundings, meet staff, learn our expectations and take part in some entertaining activities. Students were treated to sessions in: cookery, climbing, zorbing, archery, circus skills, animal care, and craft. Additionally ,there were opportunities to learn how to complete the Tassomai homework and to orientate the school site.
All students were introduced to their new tutor groups and houses, the inspirational figures who inspired the naming and the philosophy behind each house. Students very quickly formed an affiliation to their respective houses and were vociferous in letting staff know which was the best in the school. At the end of the week a spokesperson from each of the houses vowed-on behalf of the whole tutor group- to uphold the values of their house. Throughout the week staff notified Miss Risk, Head of Houses and Miss Main -Year 7 HOAP- of students who had excelled in various activities. These individuals were all referenced at the end of the week in a special assembly. Furthermore, two students from each house were selected as the very first Stars of the Week and presented with badges and certificates. I note all the winners are displaying their badges very proudly on their new school uniform! Brunel: India Evans, Toby Waring, Christie: Amelia Lawton, Harry Paull, Darwin: Ruby Sellick, Joe Boyce, Fawcett: Felicity Adams, Harrison Harkin, Harrison: Eden- Mae Nelson-Minns, Olly Whittred, Kitson: Flossie Mills, Adam Copping, Nearne: Nyla Wakefield, Daniel Piper, Pengelly: Marlee White, Luke Horrocks.
Music Theory Success
Congratulations to our Y13 Music Performance students; Eloise Simpson, Izzy Minty and Bronwen Price who all took Associate Board of the Royal School of Music exams in Music Theory before the summer break. The students have been working hard towards these exams and we were delighted to learn this week that they all passed with the highest mark achievable, distinction. Eloise (Grade 2 with distinction), Izzy and Bronwen (Grade 1 with distinction). They are now working hard preparing for Grade 3.
Fun Friday returns…
After our first full week back in school, Fun Friday was back in full swing today with various activities happening across the year groups. Year 7 had a Space Hopper Race, earning as many house points as they could. Year 10 were playing Tennis Ball darts. Year 9 had a Hoopla Challenge and Year 11 faced the Limbo. It was wonderful to see the students having a fun lunch time today.
Year 7 – Space Hopper Race – Winner Maksymilian Adach
Year 9 – Hoopla Challenge – Winner Rhys Phillips
Year 10 – Tennis ball darts competition – Winner Francis Breslan
Year 11 – Limbo competition – Winner Corbyn Gardner
Dancing success!
Phoebe has not performed properly on stage for 18 months due to covid and her training and lessons have been via zoom lessons at home for at least 15 months of the pandemic, so its been really hard for her and all the girls at Buckingham Studios where she dances.
She gave it 100% when getting back on stage last week at the Torbay and South West Dance Festival, and placed in all her solos.
Silver in Lyrical
Silver in Song and Dance
Silver in Tap
Bronze in Modern.
Well done, Phoebe!
Students of the Week
Year 7 – Grace Gibbings
Year 8 – Kodi Wilson
Year 9 – Lexi McLaurin
Year 10 – Shelby Astley-Rubin and Jeb Whatley
Year 11 – Sheldon Brown
House Stars of the week
Year 7
Brunel – Donney Connors
Christie – Lauren Tanton
Darwin – Ellie Farthing
Fawcett – Lincoln Taylor
Harrison – Millie Adamson
Kitson – Faye Cassidy
Nearne – Sienna Painter
Pengelly – Ben Jeffs
Year 8
Brunel – Matt Wadling
Christie – Ashton Wilkinson
Darwin – Summer Faulkes
Fawcett – Connor Howard
Harrison – Albie Baker
Kitson – Daytona Vickers
Nearne – Harrison Davies
Pengelly – Sonny Paton
Year 9
Brunel – Lewis Ralph
Christie – Jonathan Roper
Darwin – Jude Snell
Fawcett – Summer Connolly
Kitson – James Lovell
Pengelly – Alfie Walker-Fenner
Homework Stars of the week
Year 7
Brunel – Grace Halsey
Christie – The whole class
Darwin – Brody O’Neill
Fawcett – Leela Cartwright
Kitson – Ethan Lycnh
Nearne – Imogen Symonds
Pengelly – The whole class
Year 8
Brunel – Eve Cameron
Christie – Oliver Jones
Darwin – Lewis Watt
Fawcett – Niamh Coker
Harrison – Kyla Ridgewell
Kitson – Orlando Maric
Nearne – Lexi Weller
Pengelly – Faith Batham
Year 9
Brunel – Taylor Holton
Christie – Jake Green
Darwin – Gemma Ford
Fawcett – Mya Sharpe
Kitson – Daisy Bond
Pengelly – Alex McDowall
