The show goes on, year 7 enterprise and food
The Show Must (and does) Go On!
It’s fair to say that our Music Department, in particular, is finding the current lockdown and suspension of all live music events extremely challenging. At TA our music students are introduced to performing in front of, often large scale, audiences from very earlier on in their school careers. This helps tremendously in developing their self-confidence and self-discipline. Miss Pappin tells me that it is the final live performance that gives all musicians an ‘end goal’ to motivate and direct their hard work during rehearsals, “It is the final performance that everyone looks forward to, that’s what all the hard work in rehearsals in for”.
In the absence of being able to mix year groups or invite parents in for a concert, the Music Department went all out in an effort to create a special performance opportunity for the end of cycle assessment performances for our Y9, Y10 and Y13 students by rigging up The Platform for them to perform in. One student described the experience as “insane!” and another as, “definitely the highlight of my year so far!”.
I look forward to filling The Platform to the rafters when it is safe to do so sometime in the future, but in the meantime I leave you with the highlights of our wonderful musicians’ performances.
Fish and chip celebration of effort
Those students in year 7 who finished in the top ‘gold’ zone for their effort this last quarter had fish and chips for lunch to say ‘well done’. We had 42 students join us today, I’m looking forward to an even bigger number at the end of cycle 2!
Food Technology
There has been a very successful series of practical and theory assessments in Food Technology. Over the last two weeks all classes have been involved in some competitive baking. Year 10 and 11s have been creating innovative Victoria sponges and the Year 7s made tasty breakfast flatbreads. To cap it all, Year 9 have been simply amazing in focusing on their cycle one written assessments. Well done, all!
InvestIN careers programme
We have been delighted to offer a place on the prestigious InvestIN careers programme to four of our sixth formers. Shannon Banks, Clelia Cucco, Dylan Gale and Yuliyana Zhelyazkova will be taking part in an innovative careers experience over a weekend between now and Christmas.
The programmes aim to create the ‘ultimate work experience’ for students, with the intention of giving them the knowledge, experience, advantage and network they need to have a head-start in their dream career.
The programmes contain a blend of interactive simulations, company visits, seminars, networking sessions and career coaching advice, all carefully curated and delivered by experts from those industries who want to help the next generation of talent succeed.
We will feature the students again in the blog after they’ve taken part in the programme.
Year 7 Enterprise
Mr Hadley has been delighted with the progress of his Year 7 students this year. They have performed very well in their end of quarter assessments. This week they have been working on a variety of different Christmas gifts. They had to design them and then produce them.
Women’s Football Weekend
Last weekend was Women’s Football Weekend and many events here held physically and virtually all over the country. Year 12, Lolly Foulds, was featured as part of the celebration of women’s football. In addition to being part of our Girls’ Football Academy, Lolly also plays for Buckland Athletic.
Effort Boards
Year 9 Library
Our year 9 library has been up and running for a few weeks now and it has been brilliant to see them coming in and exchanging books. Our premises team and Mrs Aitken have done a brilliant job creating these spaces within the bubble areas.
Fun Friday
This week’s Fun Friday involved students having to identify staff from the school in their teenage years. Some were easier to work out than others. There were lots of laughs, not sure if the students were laughing with or at us…
Rainbows keep appearing over TA!
Students of the Week
Year 7 – Lyra Bowstead
Year 8 – Kevin Viera
Year 9 – Ellie Denby
Year 10 – Dakota Robinson
Year 11 – Felix Houghton
Year 12 & Year 13 – Courtney Rogers and George McCaffrey
House Stars of the Week
Year 7
Brunel –
Christie – Mya Hoskin
Darwin – Alfie Jenaway
Fawcett – Madison Findlay-Peers
Harrison – Tom Thorner
Kitson – Daytona Vickers
Nearne – Lia Marie Szewczuk
Pengelly – Charlie Porter
Year 8
Brunel – Jude Medworth
Christie – Elliot Lawton
Darwin – Thomas Harrison
Fawcett – Esme Brabon
Harrison – Ryan Hooper
Kitson – Elliot Mills
Nearne – Tyrone Ross
Pengelly – Alex McDowall
Year 9
Brunel – Reef Beer
Christie – Robbie Wright
Darwin – Robyn Mitchell
Fawcett – Phoebe Lown
Harrison – Nadia Wisnik
Kitson – Evie Heron
Nearne – Ollie Hill
Pengelly – Coral Rogers
Homework Stars of the Week
Year 7
Brunel –
Christie – Callum Jackson
Darwin – Erin Wiseall
Fawcett – Liam Wellington
Harrison – Austin Howell
Kitson – David Lewis
Nearne – Lexi Weller
Pengelly – Liam Woodward
Year 8
Brunel – Lewis Ralph
Christie – Riley Batten
Darwin – Jude Snell
Fawcett – Alex Thomas
Harrison –
Kitson – Daisy Bond
Nearne – Kara Wills
Pengelly – Jake Petit
Year 9
Brunel – Oliver Sutton
Christie –
Darwin – Megan Dorling
Fawcett – Charlotte Long
Harrison – Bobbie Royal
Kitson – Francis Breslan
Nearne – Rowen Poulain
Pengelly – Ella Ryan
SPARX Leader boards
Tassomai Leader boards
TA students continue to push the boundaries of Tassomai completion each and every week. with a record 317,366 questions attempted over the past 7 days. Particular highlights include Keryn Giffard (Y9) and Tallulah Robson (Y11) for achieving the top position for both questions completed and accuracy in their year groups respectively.
Over the next week, new content will be added in all subjects as we enter a new cycle of learning. Tassomai will keep testing previous learning as well as allowing students to get a step ahead of the content that will come up in their lessons… Happy Quizzing!
