Two teams in last 8 in England, University trip and lots more

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Year 11 Trip to Plymouth University

TA RAF Air cadets take to the skies

Last Thursday 24th November, Flying Officer Adams (Mr Adams) took four lucky RAF air cadets to MoD Boscombe Down base for an air experience flight. With a very early 5.30am start, all a bit bleary-eyed, Mr Adams and the students set off, aiming to arrive at 8.00am for an 8.30am flight. With the A303 being very quiet at that time of day, they made it to Boscombe Down base promptly, and even had time for a much needed pit stop and coffee before driving to the gates.

On arrival at reception, the cadets and Mr Adams were impressed by the historic planes on display, seeing a Lightning and a Spitfire just beyond the entrance. After checking in at reception a member of staff drove down to escort them to the briefing room further into the base. Driving through the base the cadets were blown away by the scale of the site, despite this being one of the smaller bases from which the RAF operate. Cadets Pightling, Churchward, Cruschcov and Corporal Furze were feeling excited and a little nervous as they were led into the briefing room. Here they were met by Flt Lt Cooper who went through the safety briefing, which included a video, being fitted with mock parachute packs, and sitting in replica cockpit chairs and going through the relevant procedures and safety protocol.

After the paperwork was checked and all were passed fit to fly by the Flight Lieutenant, another officer led us to the equipment room. On the walk across they could see the Grob Tutor planes they would be flying. And I do mean the planes the cadets would be flying! After being fitted for their flying suit, helmet and gloves by one of the ground crew Cadets Pightling and Crushcov were led by Mr Adams to the apron where the planes were and were met by another ground crew who then led them to their respective aircraft. Here they were met by their pilots, Flt Lt Coombes and Flt Lt Marrison, and the ground crew ensured the cadets were safely seated in the cockpits. Unfortunately Mr Adams was unable to take photos outside by the hangars and on the apron of the airstrip due to Ministry of Defence regulations.

Both planes took off safely and the cadets proceeded to have one of the best experiences of their lives. Cadets Pightling and Crushcov both took control of their planes for approximately 10 minutes each, and were able to perform various manoeuvers, including banking and climbing. The flying conditions weren’t the best as the wind was gusting, but luckily it was still below the 25 knots safety limit. Our cadets were lucky to fly as the afternoon group had been cancelled as the wind speed was due to get up to 45knots later in the day. Cadets Pightling and Crushcov had 45minutes airborne although they said it felt more like 10 minutes as they were loving it so much!

The cadets experienced aerial views over much of Salisbury Plain, the base and even flew above Stonehenge! Apparently the pilots have to radio advance warning before they fly over the World Heritage Site. Corporal Furze and Cadet Churchward also got to have an amazing experience, but, unluckily for them the gusting wind speed was getting stronger so their pilots could not fly for as long, or let the cadets take control of the planes. Despite this both of them got 30minutes flying time and each of them said it was the most amazing experience!

All in all such an amazing day that each of the cadets said they would love to repeat soon!

Biology with Dr Hocking

In A level Biology Dr Hocking and his class have been studying the topic Enzymes. In this lesson the students were following the breakdown of Starch into the sugar Maltose by the enzyme amylase. Iodine gives a blue / black colour in starch but the mixture remains orange when the starch has been completely broken down by the amylase enzyme. You can see that the contents of the spotting tiles started blue/black when the starch was present but remained orange after several minutes because the amylase had broken down all of the starch. At this point their judgement was needed to decide in which well had the blue/black colour disappeared!

House News

This week Miss Risk has had the pleasure of interviewing students from Darwin house. The excitement in Darwin is rife as the group are the current holders of the house cup and Mrs Lynch already has her eyes on victory in the next competition. The four students selected to be interviewed were: Caelum Bowness, Leon Snell, Charlotte Holmes- Vittles and Daisy Board. As with all our previous houses, the students had plenty to say about why their group was the best in the school.

‘For a start, we won the Battle of the Brains which proves we must be the most intelligent class. The best thing about it was all the support we had from the rest of the group. We will definitely win the Bake Off. (Caelum)

‘Everyone in our group is really friendly; people like each other. I think I am probably the class clown as I am a very cheerful type. We always behave well in tutor time. Mrs Lynch is really nice. She is very competitive and always wants us to win. (Leon)

‘Mrs Lynch always wants us to win at Sparx and she gets mad if we come last. She always gives us sweets if we come first so we always aim to win. Darwin is a really fun group, everyone is happy. Doctor Hocking and Felix dress up in red every Friday. Doctor Hocking wears a red suit and Felix wears a bow tie and a hat.‘ (Charlotte)

‘Lots of people in the group have high numbers of house-points and we often win either the top house in Year 7 or the top house over-all. We all love the colour red and our motto Be Industrious. Our advice to next year’s Year 7 is, be in Darwin; it is the best house and Mrs Lynch is a very caring person. (Daisy)

Dragons Den Event

Last week, four students in year 8 went head to head with their counterparts from the other schools in the Bay inside the Dragon’s Den. Having been charged with creating an original business idea to help one of the four big sectors in the area (construction, healthcare, photonics and tourism), Grace, Scarlett, Briony and George researched, planned and presented their idea to four dragons taken from the local business community. In front of BBC Spotlight cameras and an audience of some 200, the team explained their new concept, an app that brought together all of the different sources of help for the elderly and vulnerable, answered some tough questions from the dragons and then got to meet a range of people from the business world. Organised by the Heart of the South West Careers Hub, and hosted by the Royal Lyceum Theatre, we hope this challenge will be run again in the future.

Maths with Mr Henwood

This week in Maths Mr Henwood’s Year 7 class have starting exploring area. There have been lots of excellent discussions around what area is and how we would calculate it. The students have worked incredibly hard and have produced some excellent work. Here are some examples of the work produced by Emmy Warren and Poppy Fieldhouse. We are looking forward to continuing studying area and discovering how to find the area of more shapes.

U15 Netball Academy

Our U15 Netball Academy travelled to Blundell’s School on Tuesday to play in the next round of the Sisters in Sport competition. The end of the first quarter finished on a close scoreline, at just 9-7 to TA. However, the girls grew in confidence and began to find their rhythm, going up 17-9 in the second quarter. Well-executed shooting from Ema Kestell and Brooke Tully ensured that Team TA stayed ahead, finishing the third quarter 28-14. The girls dug deep in the final quarter, with Summer Conolly and Tammy Westacott proving to be too strong of a defensive pair which ensured that our girls took the win, finishing the game at 35-20. Well done to Isabelle Moxham who was voted player of the match and to our captain Tammy Westacott who was voted the opposition’s player of the match!
Well done to Lydia Bevan, Tammy Westacott, Amara Phillips, Ema Kestell, Brooke Tully, Summer Connolly, Isabelle Moxham and Millie Sneap.

Year 10 CVL Netball

A mixture of our Year 9 and 10 Netball Academy players travelled to Paignton Hub on Monday to play in a Central Venue League tournament. The girls were placed in a tough pool but still managed to win two of their games which was very impressive considering that this was the first time some of them had played together. Congratulations to Maisy Green who was voted player of the tournament!
Well done to Elspeth Herring, Ella McLachlan, Emily Graham, Elise Pile, Evie Reece, Maisy Green, Cerys Lowe, Amelie McCaul and Sophie Nicholson.

U13 & U15 Girls Football Success

On Monday, an U13 and an U15 team from the Girls Football Academy attended a School Games Tournament run by the Devon FA at PCSA.

Representing the U13 team were Tallulah Houlahan, Farah Ambrose, Leela Cartwright, Neeve Thompson, Kayla Hadley, Ava Mills, Poppy Bettridge and Maria Nihtyanova. They had four games, winning against St. Cuthbert Mayne, Paignton Academy and Dawlish, with one loss to TGGS, losing 1-0. The team did amazingly well, and only conceded one goal across four games! Their success meant that they placed 1st in their pool and have gone through to the next round in the tournament.

Playing for the U15 team were Lydia Bevan, Lana Northcott, Ava Shobrook, Amara Phillips, Chloe Hollis, Lizzie Blackmore, Bella Giffard, Maisy Green and Willow Kendall. The U15’s had five matches, winning three to TGGS, Spires and St. Cuthbert Mayne, and drew two games against Paignton and Dawlish both finishing 0-0. The U15 team also placed 1st and will be going through to the next round of the tournament, in April.

Year 7 in the last 8 in the country!

Our year 7s travelled to Watford on Tuesday to take on Aldenham School in the Elite National Cup, this was the first long away trip for the boys so it was an experience for them all that I’m sure they will remember for a long time. After nearly a 4 hour trip we arrived with a spring in our step, we were quietly confident that if we all played our part, we would have a great chance of victory.

We started off really well and had lots of early chances but didn’t break the deadlock, Aldenham then had a few chances before taking the lead through a good finish from their lively forward. Lee Stevens then put us level with a great finish, giving us the confidence we needed to push on again. Max Murphy then pulled out a wonder finish from our side to put us 2-1 going into the halftime break.

The second half saw some outstanding individual performances that really helped cement the win, with everyone, in the end, playing their part of getting the win. Jamie Tully settled all the nerves with the third goal to take us through.

Year 9 in the last 8 in the country as well!

On Monday, our boys put in a spirited performance and showed great togetherness by coming from behind against a strong Ivybridge team to win the game taking us into the last 8 teams in the country.

It was a tough start going 2 goals down and 3 players coming off injured in the first 25 minutes but after a good talk and a change of game plan for the second half the boys were amazing and fought back to take the lead in the last 3 minutes. It was fantastic to watch the team deal with adversity and we are now all looking forward to who’s next.

The final score on the day was a 4-3 win. Our goals were scored by: Josh Sandeman, Greg Hindom and Toby Lee x2.

Year 9 Boys v Holsworthy

Last week our year 9s started their county cup tournament, they put in a fantastic performance, winning 11-0 on the day.  The boys looked great in our new away kit!

The squad on the day: Seth Margetts, Jim Billingham, Harrison Hogg, Diego Zulhayir, Austin White, Colby Britton, Sam Alcock, Tom Thorner, Bastian Johns-Kouadio, Charlie Green, Charlie Porter, Lucas Berry, Gregg Hindon and Albie Baker

Goal scorers: Albie Baker x2, Charlie Porter x2, Harrison Hogg x2, Charlie Green x2, Bastian Johns-Kouadio x1, Lucas Berry x1 and Sam Alcock x1

Students of the Week

Year 7 – Poppy Sanderson and Alfie Speed

Year 9 – Poppy Hedworth and Liam Trapp

Year 10 – Jude Snell and Emily Chamberlain

Year 11 – Charlie Fox and Freya Tripp

Sixth Form – Flynn Brown and Azize Isufi

House Students of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Logan Clotworthy

Christie – Chloe-Mae Jones

Darwin – Lewis Graham

Fawcett – Halle Walker

Harrison – Mollie Longthorpe

Kitson – Jessie Mountstevens

Nearne – Hayden Quadling

Pengelly – Millie Russell

Year 8

Christie – Connor Dean

Darwin – Phoenix Furse

Fawcett – Amelia Winniewska

Harrison – Blayre Holden

Kitson – Chloe Burton

Nearne – Mason Mitchell

Pengelly – Maisie Sandercock

Year 9

Brunel – Ryan Bridgman

Christie – Seth Margetts

Darwin – Charlie Frankum

Fawcett – Billy Wilcox

Kitson – George Peart

Nearne – Charlie Hope

Pengelly – Austin White

Homework Students of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Teddy Watson

Christie – Lola Reece

Darwin – Sunny Weedon

Fawcett – Sean Canham

Harrison – Kordian Wisnik

Kitson – Vaughn Heavens

Nearne – Jonathan Siuchninski

Pengelly – Isabella Allen

Year 8

Christie – Amelia Lawton

Darwin – Hayden Halsey

Fawcett – Diogo Pestana

Harrison – Ava Storey

Kitson – Jade Cook

Nearne – Rufus Scrase

Pengelly – Millie-Ann Wigston

Year 9

Brunel – Oliver Drinkwater

Christie – Callum Jackson

Darwin – Emma Matthews

Fawcett – Connor Howard

Kitson – Leon Oldham

Nearne – Diego Zulhayir

Pengelly – Ruby Donaldson

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