US universities, assessments and lemon meringue pies...
US Sports Scholarships
On Sunday we hosted a morning where players were able to find out more about applying to US universities and then they had an opportunity to showcase their skills.
During the showcase, Will Hall scored this wonder goal!
A wonderful example set by two of our students
Bella Kerr and Lexi Weller found a mobile phone on the way to school. They called a number on it and found whose phone it belonged to. The member of the public, who is battling cancer. collected their phone and was so grateful, he rewarded them with £5 each.
My Year 12 Economics class
We were privileged to have hosted a visit from a Bank of England Market Intelligence Manager. By sheer coincidence, the manager who visited us, Iain Ramsay, was somebody I had taught A level Economics to in years gone by! Iain gave a brilliant presentation on the Bank and the economy and answered many questions. The students also took part in a quiz and the two winners won over £1,000 each; unfortunately, the notes were used and had been shredded! Unfortunately, half of the class was on our Oxford University visit (see next week’s blog for more about that), but we videoed the presentation and Iain has agreed to do another Q&A session with them.
House Update
This week has seen the first round of the house Countdown competition. The Year 7 students have enthusiastically taken part in their heats with a real desire to make it through to the semi-finals and knock out a rival house into the bargain.
On Monday, Christie were victorious over Nearne, on Tuesday, Fawcett eliminated Harrison and on Thursday -in a nail-biting match-Darwin emerged as the winners over Pengelly. Brunel and Kitson are yet to play.
In other house news, the Student Voice Committee met on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming charity events-designed to raise funds for deserving causes in the local area.
Our first event of the Spring Term will be a non-uniform day held on Wednesday 8th February. Students will wear their own clothes in order to raise money for their respective house charities: Brunel-The Children’s Society, Christie- Rowcroft Hospice, Darwin-Animals in Distress, Fawcett- Torbay Premature Baby Unit, Harrison- The Royal British Legion, Kitson-Torbay Coast and Countryside. Nearne- The Red Cross and Pengelly-Stroke Support.
The committee is currently excitedly planning the logistics of the day; they have decided that -whilst everyone’s outfit choice is entirely their own-anybody who makes a special effort in terms of house colours will be awarded a special prize.
Spanish with Mrs May
In Spanish Mrs May has been developing he class’s language skills in a number of interactive ways. The Year 7s were revising for their end of cycle assessments using a version of snakes and ladders. All teams were very competitive and very chatty!
Year 9 students had great fun taking part in a running dictation. Teams of 3 had to memorise a sentence in Spanish, run back to their team and then recall what they had just read on the wall outside, whilst someone else in the group checked for accuracy. Ruben, our Spanish Foreign Language Assistant, was helping them and was nearly run over a couple of times in the break out area!
PAA
Our show for this year, Fame, is really starting to come together. I look forward to welcoming so many of you into school for the show after the half term break.
Hospitality and Catering
The Hospitality and Catering students have had an amazing few weeks. Firstly, in using our new pasta-making machines we have acquired and secondly in the making and creation of pastry dishes.The year 9s and 10s began by creating spaghetti with a roasted vegetable sauce. This involved preparing and cooking of pasta and then improving their knife skills through cutting/cooking the vegetables for a delicious sauce. They made the pasta dough and then used the pasta machine to produce thin sheets of pasta which were then placed through the spaghetti shape cutter. They all did very well and we are very proud of their achievements.
The Year 11s had the more challenging and complex task of making a lemon meringue pie. This involved keeping a very careful eye on the timings and the construction of the pastry, making lemon curd filling and the meringue, once again a very high skill that can be utilised in their forthcoming practical exams
Finally, in Assessment week, they have been focusing on developing the pastry techniques and perfecting the presentation in the creation of bacon and cheese savoury tarts and Caramel apple tarts. All the students have risen to the challenge by producing some beautifully presented pastry triumphs.
Cold mornings…
Last Wednesday’s snowy morning was followed this week by a very frosty morning.
Year 7 Boys Football
On Monday, our year 7s stayed in the hat for the next round of the Devon Cup with a 3-2 victory over Paignton with a confident performance.
Goals on the day coming from Lee Stevens ⚽️ and Zak Haridi ⚽️⚽️
Year 8 Football
On Wednesday, our year 8s put in a fantastic performance to comfortably move into the next round with a 5-1 win against Newton Abbot College. Some of the football on show was a joy to watch, many spectators and staff were really impressed with the team as a whole. Our goals on the day came from – Jamie Tully ⚽️ Thomas Ross ⚽️⚽️ Ben Jolly ⚽️⚽️
U13 Girls’ Football
This week the U13 Girls Football team played a 9 a side match against Kingsbridge and came away with a strong win. The girls used the space very well and stuck to their positions which they came up with independently. Farah and Leela led the girls through their warm up and drills before the opposition arrived. The highlight goal was a cross from Farah followed in with a header from Kayla – brilliant goal!
Well done to the following girls for taking part! Tallulah, Farah, Leela, Neeve, Evie, Kayla, Ava, Poppy, Maria, Frankie and Amelia. Great effort from all, we are very proud!!
Devon cross country trials
Before Christmas, TA travelled to Stover to compete for places in the South Devon cross country squad. As always with this event the qualifying standards are extremely high and we did incredibly well to have 5 students make the South Devon team.
On Saturday we took Dolly Gagg, Penny Richard’s, Jamie Tully and Leon Snell to Exeter Arena to compete for places in the Devon squad. Unfortunately our other qualifier Austin White had previous football commitments he needed to fulfil. Leon was our highest finisher with 18th place with Jamie Tully just 2 places behind him. These were solid results when running against the best in Devon.
Well done to all involved.
Indoor Cricket Tournament
This week the year 8 boys headed to the sub zero temperatures of the Paignton Hub for the area Indoor Cricket tournament. The boys played some outstanding cricket in some extremely cold weather (the pictures really do not fully convey how cold it was!). The team finished second in their group losing only one game by a couple of runs. A great day out and a wonderful introduction to cricket for some of the boys. We hope for more success as we properly enter the cricket season in the summer with hopefully some warmer weather.
Team (l-r): Ben Jolly, Mason Bryant, Olly Payne, Charlie Wise, Josh Parkinson, Nick Heale, Riley Calland, Thomas Ross.
U15 Netball Academy
Two squads from TA U15 Netball Academy played against Torquay Girls Grammar School on Thursday. Both teams were a mixture of Year 9 and 10 pupils and proved that they are gaining in confidence with each match that they play. Whilst each team only lost by 9 and 5 goals, the girls showed that they are beginning to get used to each other’s game styles and will continue to improve with each training session that they come to. Well done girls!
TA U15 Netball Academy: Ella McLachlan, Elspeth Herring, Elise Pile, Emily Graham, Maisy Green, Lydia Bevan, Brooke Tully, Millie Sneap, Katie Rowe, Olivia Riches, Cerys Lowe, Amelie McCaul, Gabrielle Buys, Ivy Hodgson-Hunt and Amy Harrison
Principal’s Silver Certificates
Year 7 – Lilly-Rose Garbett, George Evans, Sean Canham, Riain Leal and Charlotte Holmes-Vittles
Principal’s Bronze Certificates
Year 7 – George Viediernikov, Katie Peryer, Lewis Graham, Sean Canham, Riain Leal, Lilly-Rose Garbett, George Evans, Charlotte Holmes-Vittles, Ella Lake, Harry Pitman and Millie Russell
Year 8 – Laurentiu Mihai, Oliver Welsh, Grace Gibbings, Amelia Rose and Lauren Tanton
Students of the Week
Year 7 – Mollie Peters and George Viediernikov
Year 8 – Oliver Welsh and Amy Rogers
Year 9 – Erin Giffard and Ben Phillips
Year 11 – Klara Cornforth and Will Reed
Sixth Form – Oscar Yelland and Grace Hallett
House Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Melissa Page
Christie – Dawson Bickford
Darwin – Ottie Cole-Harper
Fawcett – Saskia Cooper
Harrison – Brandon Callow
Kitson – Jack Forte
Nearne – Jonathan Oleksy
Pengelly – Finley O’Leary-Black
Year 8
Brunel – Grace Gibbings
Christie – Halle Wooton
Darwin – Daisy Hellier
Fawcett – Adam Sadlik
Harrison – Shannon Clark
Kitson – Olly Payne
Nearne – Rufus Scrase
Pengelly – Chloe German
Year 9
Brunel – Leah Jones
Christie – Dean Conway
Darwin – Emma Matthews
Fawcett – Jamie John Palmer
Kitson – Harvey Cooper
Nearne – Tyler Hunter
Homework Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Allanna Butler
Christie – Ollie Payne-Stanbury
Darwin – Harry Pitman
Fawcett – Anya Cosslett
Harrison – Harry Hutchings
Kitson – Brodi Docherty
Nearne – Oscar Read
Pengelly – Jack Hornbrook
Year 8
Brunel – Summer Lawson
Christie – Anna Pearn
Darwin – Leo Maasz
Fawcett – Aliviya Lawrence
Harrison – Fredi Tuci
Kitson – Sam Bowden
Nearne – Nyla Wakefield
Pengelly – Amy Rogers
Year 9
Christie – George Scrimgeour
Darwin – Erin Wiseall
Fawcett – Simon Drost
Kitson – George Peart
Nearne – Rayan Nafin
Pengelly – Erin Bond
Sparx Leaderboards
Tassomai Leaderboards
Reading Plus
Power Up!
