Students enjoy the Prom, graduation and Aladdin

Year 11 Prom

After an incredible year of hard work and dedication, our wonderful year 11s were able to enjoy their prom on Wednesday evening. It has been such a privilege to work with this group of students over the past five years and I hope they get the results they so richly deserve in the summer.

It was a lovely evening with our students looking so glamorous and smart. I wish them all a well-deserved and relaxing summer break.

You can find a full gallery of images on our Facebook page.

Key Stage 3 Graduation

As part of the HPA this year, we have introduced a university style element to Torquay Academy. We wanted students to really experience what it would be like to be part of lectures, learn how to take notes, propose an essay title and then complete a substantial piece of work (between 1500 and 1700 words) with referencing. This is the first year we have tried this, and so we invited students along. The topic was Crime and Punishment and students from Years 7 and 8 attended three lectures, before embarking on the independent piece of work.

The work the students produced was absolutely phenomenal and we were so proud of their commitment and resilience throughout the project. As part of the reward, students were invited to experience life at University and on Monday, we took 80 students to Exeter University. They had presentations about university life, a campus tour and a session on the truths and myths of what it is like to be a student. We ended the day with a graduation event where students were presented with certificates by Mr Gale, whilst all wearing mortar boards, so they could start to appreciate the feeling they will have upon graduation.

We are immensely proud of the students and hope to see many more take part next year.

Sixth Form celebration evening

On Tuesday evening we celebrated the achievements and successes of our wonderful Sixth Form students, whilst enjoying music from our talented music students who provided the entertainment for the evening.

Students from both Year 12 and Year 13 were voted for by their teachers to be awarded Subject Awards and by their tutors for a Form Superstar Award.

In addition, Special Awards were presented to some of our fabulous Year 13 students for their contributions to the school. These awards are in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the school that these students have made since their time in the Sixth Form. In the Sixth Form, and in the whole of the school, we really value our Student Leadership Team. As a team, they work together in order to build a true sense of community – they are the ones responsible for many of the charity fund-raising events that the school puts on, they act as hosts on many evening functions such as Parents’ Evenings, Year 5 days, Induction days for Year 6 and Open Evenings. They also provide an invaluable support network for the lower school – mentoring students, helping out at intervention clubs and providing a platform for student voice. To isolate and individual student is too difficult but a special mention should be made of our Head Boy, Jack Bell, and Head Girl, Maia Crook, and our Head of Student Voice, Georgia Large. Each of these students were outstanding ambassadors for our school and acted as great role models for the younger students at Torquay Academy.

The evening was well attended by family and friends who shared in my delight in celebrating these truly exceptional young adults.

Year 13 leavers’ assembly

On Wednesday, we said our ‘goodbyes’ to our current Year 13 students in the Sixth Form. The event was hosted by their Head of Academic Progress, Mrs Holmes and it was incredibly well attended by both staff and students. It was a wonderful event full of laughter, shared memories and a few tears. After sharing some ‘embarrassing’ photos of them from when they were in the lower school and sharing some memorable moments from the last few years, several ‘special’ awards were given to the characters of the Sixth Form student body who have definitely left their mark; from the Mr Bump Award, for the student who is often causing accidents to the Miss Sparkle Award for the student whose fashion choices always make a statement! They were all well-received in good humour.

The students have been a fabulous cohort who have been a credit to the school by embracing the last two years of their learning journey with such maturity, dedication and resilience. They have all done so tremendously well during their time here at Torquay Academy. I wish them the very best for the future and look forward to sharing in their successes come results day in August! We will miss them so very much.

Performing Arts Academy do Aladdin

After the incredible performances of High School Musical last week, on Thursday our Performing Arts Academy (PAA) travelled to London for what students have described as “an experience of a lifetime” and “a day I will never forget!”

The PAA students and set off from TA at 4:45am on Thursday morning en route for London. Although the journey took almost 7 hours, the students’ spirits were not dampened in the slightest, as they literally bounced off the coach with excitement when I met them in London! Miss Pappin and I then walked the students to Covent Garden where they gazed in awe at numerous street theatre acts and soaked up the atmosphere of London’s creative hub. Before we knew it, it was time to leave Covent Garden and it’s various magicians and statue artists and make our way to the iconic, world-renowned Pineapple studios in the West End. Here our students were lucky enough to take part in a Music and Movement workshop led by Disney’s very own Teaching Artists. During the workshop, the PAA members actually got to perform material from Aladdin! They spent almost 2 hours exploring one-of-a-kind choreography and music – inspired by the evocative rhythms of the Middle East – from the award-winning show which culminated in a mind-blowing performance from our students!

After all of that singing and dancing there was just enough time for us to get some lunch before we made our way across the West End to the Prince Edward Theatre to watch the award-winning Aladdin show live on stage. From the minute the opening curtain went up you could hear the students’ catch their breath… it was clear from that moment on this show was going to be like nothing they’ve ever experienced before! From one jaw-dropping moment to the next the show was out of this world. One of the PAA student summed it up as “the most totally epic, awesome experience of my life!”

The Performing Arts Academy is one of two academies within the Creative Arts department, the other being the Music Academy. A major focus of both academies, Miss Pappin tells me, is to raise the aspirations of our most able students by providing them with opportunities and experiences beyond that of the classroom to learn from the best. This follows the Music Academy workshop/concert last month with professional duo Sound of the Sirens.

This is what hard work looks like…

I was speaking to our Head of Physics today and he was telling me how impressed he has been with his Year 13 A level group this year. Harvey Denning has sent him a picture of all the physics work he has completed over the last two years.

I just think its such a powerful representation of what success (hopefully) looks like in a science A level. It’s not a set of pretty revision notes and neat mind maps; it’s hour after hour of exam question practice and applying all of your knowledge to as many different contexts as possible.

Mr Broome will be using this picture for the first lesson of year 12 and first lesson back for year 13!

Baby food!

Our year 9 child play, learning and development students have been making baby food from scratch and comparing it to the shop bought versions!

An insight into a professional footballer’s life

I would like to thank Daniel Butler and Winners 2000 Gym owner Simon Jeffrey for talking to our Team TA football programme students this week on what life is like as a footballer and what it takes to achieve your goals. It was a great experience for our boys to be a part of and I hope they are able to take away lots of valuable lessons on how to help with their progress. Our football programme is excited to be working alongside Winners 2000 next season which I’m positive will help us continue to improve us as a team and the players’ individual performance. Our boys will also get a fantastic insight from current professional and ex-professional players and managers through presentations like this through our work with Simon over the years. Exciting times for the 2019/20 season

Team TA Sports Roundup

Rounders

On Monday the Year 7 Rounders team took part in a tournament at Stover. After plenty of games being cancelled due to the weather it was a good opportunity for the girls to go out and play against many different teams. Our first game was again PCSA who put up a tough fight for our first game but the girls managed to field exceptionally well leading to us winning by a rounder. We then went on to lose against two strong teams again South Dartmoor and TGGS. After a pep talk we went on the draw against Trinity which was a fantastic result and we managed to hold on by amazing decision making and fielding. We finished on a high by beating Teign in our very last couple bats. Amazing day and progression from this season, well done girls you should be extremely proud.

Athletics

Emma Harrison had an amazing 800m run as part of the Devon team on Saturday in the South West District Junior race. She came 4th in her heat, achieving another Personal Best at 2.24.49. She did not quite make the team for the Nationals finals but was up against very strong competition and had a had a brilliant day. Well done Emma

Searches lead to trees

Our students make a big impact in so many ways. Lauren Lloyd in year 13 emailed me last weekend with a suggestion about the search engine Ecosia, a search engine that uses its profits to plant trees. She wrote in her email “my request and idea are whether you would be able to change the search engines within the school to Ecosia and maybe educate everybody on the impact it can have on this world. It is just an idea and I am sure there is a way to do it, it may require a bit of work but it will have such a positive impact. We need more people from the younger generation aware of the crisis our world is in and that when they litter they are ruining it slowly”

I was delighted to be able to let Lauren know at the Year 13 leavers’ assembly that the school would be switching over to Ecosia from September thanks to the work of Mr Boak, our ICT manager. Thank you, Lauren!

Rise and Read

It is with great sadness that our Year 7 Rise and Read students bid farewell to our outgoing 6th form reading champions, Georgia Large and Aston Hutchins. Georgia and Aston have worked tirelessly over the last 2 years in supporting our Rise and Read provision. It has been wonderful to watch them grow into the role, take ownership of the group and inspire in their fellow students a real love of reading. If you would like to sign up to our Year 7 or 8 rise and read programme for next year please look out for the letter and if you have a son or daughter in 6th form, or year 11 and feel this would be of benefit to them in the future then ask them to speak to Mr White or Miss Rowan.

Year 5 Days

We have been delighted to welcome so many students from local primary schools this week to give them a taste of life in a secondary school. I have pleased to hear how they enjoyed their experience of being in a larger school with a variety of different lessons during the day.

Sparx Maths Level 2

Students with me and Mr Spencer are:

Level 2 : (not in order) Charlie Stevens, Oliver Lucas, Lily-Anne Winter, Evan Kinghorn, Sophie Caton, Matt Budavolgyi, Erin Loader, Benjamin McCarthy,

Level 1: Ben Puddicombe,

Students of the Week

Students of the week this week are :Lila May Harrington, Jazz Povey, Charlie Clarke, Nathan Wells

Principal Certificates

Bronze : (not in order) Jamie Dyer, Kane Adamson, Jack Bicknell, Cameron Smith, Benjamin Burgoyne, Kacper Tatarynowicz, Declan Lewis, Callum Saint, Grace Prew

Silver (not in order) Amelia Washbrook, William Hemus, Preston Scanlan, Joshua Hawkings, Harrison Horrwll, Harrison Stevens, Emily Tucker, Thomas Collings, Joseph Oborn, Oliver Lucas, Honey Darke, Fraya Hyde, Olivia Simpson-Lewis, Kieran Towell, Kyle Spence, Bethany Jones, Fox Toghill, Jade Taylor, Harry Goodwin, Kayleigh Ullah, Aaliyah Hardoyal,Molly Stimpson

Gold (not in order) Ellie Chammings, Ed Fogarty, Pierce Gerring, Alana Mitchell, Toby Morris, Thomas Beaxley, Charlie Pope, Gabrielle Jeneway, Angel McKenna, Maddie Hele, Caitlin Kirby, Hannah Moxhay, Milla Schwarz, Madeleine Reeve

Governor Certificates

Bronze : (not in order) Joel Copping , Gabriel Prior, Bogdan Pamfile, Rowen Poulain, Oscar Bidmead, Max Grimley

Silver: Chloe Dance, Adam Pac,William Hall, Katie Packer

Gold: Melissa Arscott, Penny Richard, William Reed, Josh Thompson, Riccardo Iordache

Platinum : Harley Sneap

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Tyler Bayliss

Christie – Zak Berryman

Darwin – Josh Thompson

Fawcett – Phoebe Lown

Harrison – Orlando Tuci

Kitson – Kai Alexander

Nearne – Olivia Painter

Pengelly – Harrison Horrell

Year 8

Brunel –

Christie – Grace Cayford

Darwin –

Fawcett – Kezia Stanley

Harrison – Alfie Summerfield

Kitson – Umeiko Melodious

Nearne – Oscar Yelland

Pengelly – Holly Smith

Year 9