Sixth Form Open evening, PSHE Day and some excellent drama!

Listen

Sixth Form Open Evening

We were delighted to welcome so many students and their parents to TA last night for our 6th Form Open Evening.  Mrs Hosking gave a presentation to a packed hall and then students and parents had an opportunity to speak to our wonderful team of A level teachers.  Thank you to everyone for coming out and braving the elements!

PSHE Day

This week was the second of our 3 PSHE days. As always students studied a wide range of different topics.

Year 7 students worked with Proud2be and explored the different sexual orientations and issues that this may cause. Students also looked at various ways of keeping healthy including the misuse of cannabis, the pressure social media puts on our view of our body and the role of families. The Samaritans ran sessions explaining their role and ways to keep mentally healthy. Students also identified how best to react in the case of an emergency such as a terrorist attack.

Alterego Theatre Group brought us their production of ‘money matters’ and presented to the Year 8, 10 and 11 students.   Year 8 students furthered their knowledge about relationships by identifying their values, parenting and discrimination. The idea of consent was introduced. Students also looked at how to use modern technology safely, particularly concerns relating to cyberbullying and sexting and strategies to deal with these. Students also looked at ways to manage impulses and influences to gamble and how to seek help.

Steven Seki, who grew up in poverty in Uganda but is now a successful pharmacist and motivational speaker, spoke to the year 9 and 10 students about his route to success. He explained how working hard and being determined were fundamental to success. Year 9 students also took part in MADE training which introduced students to the technique of using: 1) learn 2) demonstrate 3) apply 4) reflect to turn situations into a positive learning experience. Students also looked at the dangers of running away and how others may entice them into becoming money mules. The theme of relationships was further explored by looking at how to negotiate the use of condoms within a relationship, sexually transmitted infections and the issues relating to porn.

Year 10 students looked at keeping safeonlinee and how to protect their identities from fraud. We looked at the impact lifestyle choices may have on their ability to perform well in school. Students looked at the options of apprentices as a future career option. The final session looked at what it means to be a parent and how to form positive relationships.   The year 11 students had a curriculum day and the theatre session

GCSE Drama

Congratulations to the GCSE Drama students for their first performance exam. They performed to an audience of family, friends and to the Year 9 and 10 Drama students who they were great role-models for. Their devised performances showed mature and thought provoking material with delivery that was highly engaging and dynamic. Well done to everyone who took part!

Maths Blitz Tests

Simon Singh, famous author of “The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets”, has been working with our Top Top sets since September. To celebrate Year 7 and Year 8’s participation in a series of “Blitz Tests” this term, Simon has donated two of his books to the two classes, which will be used as prizes for the most successful students later this term. The Year 7 and Year 8 Top Top sets are pictured here with their books!

Team TA Sports Roundup

The weather has put the dampers on much of the sporting activity this week, however, we were able to get to play some football.  Sadly the rugby fell victim to the weather and there were not any indoor matches to report on. The football has been relatively successful.  As you will see from the reports below, highlights have been the 6-0 win for our Year 7 boys in the Devon Cup v South Dartmoor Community College and the 12-0 victory for our 1st team v Tavistock College in the National Schools Cup.  Alongside that, our 3rd XI drew 0-0 with the 1st team at South Dartmoor and our Year 10 boys had a great 6-0 win over Churston Grammar School.  Sadly as this blog is being written, our 2nd team have just bowed out of their last 16 National Cup match, 3-2 to a very strong John Madjeski Academy from Reading.  What is great about this fixture however is that now we are able to be very competitive against schools with National reputations at football. Next week we have more football in the form of girls National Cup Under 12s and Under 15s,  the usual sixth form games as well as netball rugby and basketball. I look forward to sharing more of the successes of our fantastic student athletes again next week.

Football

The Third XI remain unbeaten after 3 games in the South Devon League, but were disappointed at 2 points dropped against South Dartmoor 1sts on Wednesday.  To say that the conditions were challenging is an understatement but at times, despite this, we played some good football. In the first half we dominated the game with some good passing moves creating a number of openings, although clear chances were at a premium on a day when football was not the winner! Our best chances came through a Jamie Tomlinson header before Adam Kenyon and Ben Tolman inexplicably tackled each other when destined to score! After the break, South Dartmoor were much more effective, and we were indebted to goalkeeper Bailey Clarke for keeping us in the game in the end. We had one final good chance with 5 minutes remaining when the ever-reliable Jordan Bastow was teed up from 15 yards, only to see his shot end up closer to the corner flag than the goal! Just one of those games where, not for lack of effort we just couldn’t put the ball in the net. Man of the Match – Bailey Clarke

Under 15’s too strong for Churston

On Thursday the under 15 team took on Churston in the first round of the Devon Cup. This was a rematch of the game played a month ago where we ran out winners 10-9 on penalties. This time round TA proved to be far too strong dominating from start to finish and we won 6-0 winners. The goals came from Reece Shaw x2, Josh Watt, Charlie Clarke, Will Makinson and Rylee Steele.

Dancing Success

Madison Sturrock, in Year 7, was very successful in a national dance competition recently where she competed in Swindon with thousands of fellow young dancers.   Madison impressed the judges with her Street Dance routine and she won her category against 38 other competitors. Madison will be competing again at other competitions over the next year.  Well done and good luck Madison!

Enterprise Twitter Update

Please have a look at the highlights from this week. You can see the latest robotics club achievements with a speedy little creation caught on film, A Level Product Design students working hard putting the finishing touches to laminated salad servers, glorious greetings cards and Automotive Engineering practical experiences. There’s also been plenty of action and happy faces in Food & Cookery including having our tweets liked by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver himself!

If you haven’t already, I recommend you follow https://twitter.com/enterprise_TA  for all the latest activities!

Students of the Week

Students to the Week this week with me are: Azize Isufi, Jasmine Winterton, Pheobe Lown, Jess Mitchell, Silbury Peakman, Joe Croft, Oliver Waring

Principal Certificates

Bronze 

Y7 : Ava Mitchell, Jasper Dommett, Benjamin Gosnell, Aleasha Dunford, Phoebe Lown, Ava Sams, Josh Thompson, Matida Bindon, Penny Richards, Ellie Mae Mitchell, Shelby Astley-Rubin, Shannon Adamson, William Harrison, Sophie Caton, William Reed, William Howard, Faith Barnett

Y8 : Elizabeth Cameron, Harley Sneap, Boris Pugh, William Bevan, Riccardo Lordache, Tyler Silvester, Adam Pac, Cody Furze, Jemima Staples, Joshua Furze,, Katie Packer, William Hall

Y9 : Ocean Latto

Y10 : Linda Aspbuy, Mateusz Baczynski

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Jessica Hutchison

Christie –

Darwin – Jack Darke

Fawcett – Billy Smith

Harrison – Bobbie Royal

Kitson – Anna Brailsford-Dunn

Nearne – Evie Sutton

Pengelly – William Reed

Year 8

Brunel – Niamh Dolan

Christie – Dean Lynch

Darwin – Gareth Mufford

Fawcett – Lila-May Harrington

Harrison – Ayleisha Moseley

Kitson – Stephen McMullen

Nearne –

Pengelly – Sebastian Grute

Year 9

Brunel – Joshua Wilkey-Arnold

Christie –

Darwin – Taylor Ford

Fawcett –

Harrison – Tilly Stacey

Kitson – Ellis Knowles

Nearne – Billy-Jay Taylor

Pengelly – Archie Hodgson-Hunt