Year 11 Prom, D 0f E, Chef Finalist, Field Trip and Glastonbury

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Year 11 Prom

On Tuesday evening we gathered at the Imperial Hotel for our Year 11 Prom.  It was an amazing evening; our boys and girls looked incredible in their outfits and we had a great night celebrating the end of their GCSE exams.  I look forward to seeing them all in a few weeks’ time to get their results.

DofE Qualifying Expedition – 25th-26th June

Last weekend 20 TA Year 9 DofE undertook their Bronze expedition. With the promise of some very heavy rain showers and even the threat of thunderstorms, the students, Mr Brett and Mr Adams were anxiously watching the weather reports and the weather coming in as the kit was packed on the minibuses.

Thankfully the weather held and under sunny, but windy conditions the adventure began. The students were in four expedition teams and set off from Bantham Beach Car Park. The students had planned their own expedition routes, were carrying full rucksacks, and were cooking their own food. Their routes they needed to navigate would take them from Bantham to Higher Rew Farm Camp site near Salcombe on the first day. Along the way they were to ensure they took in checkpoints at South Milton Sands. Hope Cove and Soar Mill Cove. Thanks to Mr Whelan, Miss Brzozowski and Mr Haring for manning those checkpoints. The students were pleased to encounter familiar faces.

All teams successfully made camp and got tents set up and meals cooked on gas stoves. Mr Whelan checked tents were set up properly and that camp admin was to a good standard. Some of the students even had enough energy to play a game of football following some food! The evening at camp was beautiful sunshine, but the night brought heavy winds and rain – luckily the tents survived and the students remained dry!

On the Sunday after a hot breakfast the students prepared for their second day of hiking. After explaining their route to their assessor (Mr Adams) and talking about their experiences so far the teams set off in 20 minute intervals. Their routes today would take them from Salcombe, across the ferry to East Portlemouth, via Gara Rock to East Prawle. Over the whole weekend the students made in excess of 25 kilometres carrying full packs. They had to ensure some of their routes came away from the coastal footpath, testing their navigation skills on local lanes, tracks, paths and bridleways, thus making the journey even longer.

Between 3 and 4pm on Sunday the students arrived wearily, but relieved and proud of their achievement, to be met by Mr Brett and Mr Adams at East Prawle. Having completed the expedition they were allowed at this point to buy a well deserved cold drink or ice cream!

Thanks to Mr Adams, Mr Brett, Mr Whelan, Mis Brzozowski and Mr Haring for making the weekend an amazing experience for the students. Most importantly congratulations to the following students for completing the expedition: Elspeth Herring, Emily Graham, Jake Pettit, Marcus Jenkins, Oliver Boyce, Bella Lester, Jasmine Evans, Sophie Brown, Ruby Donaldson, Aspen Keenan, Megan Sellick, Nina Hocking, Daisy Gibbings, Summer Connolly, Serena Iordache, Joseph Hosking, Elliot Lawton, Riley Batten, Oliver Jackson, Oliver Huxtable

Hopefully on to DofE Silver next year!

Year 5 Activity Days

Over the last 2 weeks it has been our pleasure to invite year 5 students from 6 of our local Primary schools into Torquay Academy. They were all able to experience the fantastic facilities we have here in our Creative Arts, Science, PE and Technology departments. They left with some Torquay Academy Merchandise and a huge smile on their faces. All 4 days were fantastic and the students were a credit to their schools. We look forward to seeing them in the future!

DofE Gold Practice Expedition – 24th-27th June

Mr Cawood and Mr Butler took the DofE Gold team to the Brecon Beacons for their Practice Expedition on Friday 24th June. The plan was to walk the length and breadth of the Brecon Beacons over 3 days, taking in the iconic Pen-y-Fan at 886m above sea level. The team would be carrying all their equipment and food for 3 nights of camping in some of the most beautiful places in Wales. Battling thunderstorms on Saturday necessitated using the emergency shelter for the first time to avoid a heavy hail storm.

As well as practising navigation, the team learnt how to move safely on very steep ground with some challenging ascents and descents. On Sunday and Monday, the team put in the miles carrying heavy bergens to complete the 40km walk and finish their preparation for the 4 days and 3 nights Qualifying expedition in the Lake District in 2 weeks’ time.
A fantastic effort by the following students: Emma Harrison, Josh Poston, Leah Harman, Jema Soby, Felix Houghton and Patrick Handford.

Good luck for the Qualifying Expedition!

SW Junior Chef

Congratulations to Syd Yarde who completed in the Devon heats for SW Junior Chef of the year this week and he won! He was well commended by all the professional chefs there and will now compete for the overall SW Champion in October.

Year 10 Geography Field Trip

The Geography Department and our 6 Year 10 GCSE classes spent a successful 2 days out at Dawlish Warren collecting data for their Physical Fieldwork for AQA Geography Paper 3 that they will sit next Summer.

Students measured sediment size at the groynes along Dawlish Warren and tested the theory behind Longshore Drift, as well as investigating a number of sea defences in action at the coast. A great couple of days was had by all and we look forward to our human geography trip in the Autumn Term.

Year 12 Computing

This week Mr Weaver’s year 12 students have been developing websites. They have designed their website from the ground up and have been putting them together using industry-standard software. Students have learnt how to write client and server scripts using JavaScript and PHP. They have also explored the different ways in which websites can be optimized to meet the requirements of the client. Once their websites had been built students learnt how to upload their finished creations to web hosting and then carried out testing to make sure that everything worked as expected. Students have been engaged in the whole process and were excited to see their finished projects ‘live’ on the web.

Here are some examples:

In the following image Jack Luscombe wrote some PHP code so that the information from a web form was sent to his email address.

In this image Thomas Porter learnt how to use the features of web hosting so that his website could be uploaded successfully.

Rebecca at Glastonbury

Rebecca had the opportunity to perform at Glastonbury last Sunday with the West End Kids Song and Dance Troupe. They performed two 45 minute sets on two different stages. Each set comprised of a number of medleys featuring both current music and musical theatre numbers. This was such a fantastic opportunity and Rebecca loved every minute of the experience. Well done Rebecca!

TA Construction

TA Construction students from Years 9 and 10 are working hard right up to the end of term on projects that will be used as evidence for their BTEC Construction and the Built Environment Award. Year 9 students have been completing the Unit 8 Painting and Decorating, which includes setting out, cutting, fitting and grouting various styles of ceramic tiles. Accurate measuring to find the centre of the area to be tiled and marking tiles to be cut was approached with a “measure twice, cut once” mindset which for most has proved very successful. Year 10 were given the opportunity to break from the theoretical work to repair a brick window sill on the new part of H block. The group has made an outstanding job of this so far, working cleanly and accurately. Mr Waring keeps telling me that I can be expecting an invoice from him soon!

GCSE English Speaking and Listening Assessments

In English, the year 9s have been working very hard over the last few weeks on preparing for their GCSE speaking and listening assessments and this week they have delivered their presentations to an audience. With guidance from their English teachers, the students have each chosen their own topic to independently research and prepare a formal presentation on. The students are then asked to discuss their topic choice and answer questions from their audience in the second part of the assessment. We have been really impressed with the presentations that have addressed a wide variety of topics including the climate crisis, homelessness, animal exploitation, social media and gun laws. Year 9 have shown a really mature approach to the process and many have overcome battles with nerves to do something outside of their comfort zone. We have enjoyed watching students be really successful in a task they have found challenging- many have even said they enjoyed the experience!

Blockbusters’ Final

The final of our Year 7 Blockbusters’ House Competition was held yesterday. Representing Christie were Harry Paull and Anna Pearne ; representing Nearne were Rufus Scrace and Briony Pightling. To get to the final, both teams had already been victorious in two other matches.

Watched by a large crowd consisting of student supporters, house captains and heads of house, the two teams battled to guess the phrases on the Blockbusters’ board.

Although previous heats had been very closely fought, the Christie team shot straight across the board -answering their own questions correctly and stealing answers from the Nearne players. The match was over very quickly with just five questions resulting in the Christie win.

The winners received not only prizes for themselves, but chocolates for their whole house group.The most prestigious of the prizes however is the House Cup which is now decked out in Christie blue ribbons and proudly on display in Mr Hills’ tutorial room.

At the closing of this academic year, I would like to extend a huge well done to every child who has participated in house events. We have seen a real sense of camaraderie, commitment and pride as students have strived to do their best for their team; every effort makes a difference and is appreciated.

We look forward to holding more house events next year, for both our new and current Year 7 students.

Anna Pearn and Harry Paull Christie winners with Mr Hills House Captain.

Year 7 Star Reader certificates

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their bronze Star Reader certificate for tracking their reading for four weeks and attempted one Acclerated Reader book quiz: Grace Halsey 7B, Oliver Welsh 7B, Nicholas Heale 7B, Maks Adach 7C, Maile Beavis 7C, Sophia Burnham 7C, Scarlet Huxtable 7C, Kai Chalmers-Wood 7P and Lucy McMahon 7P.

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their silver Star Reading certificate for tracking their reading for eight weeks and attempting two Accelerated Reader book quizes: Olivia Murr 7P, Lili Budalvolgi 7F, Callum Pile 7C, Kikki Marker 7B, Kelsey Drew 7H, Eden Nelson Minns 7H, Jack Slater 7H, Marlee White 7P and Eliza Brookes 7K.

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their gold Star Reader certificate for tracking their reading for 16 weeks and attempting 4 Accelerated Reader book quizzes.

Open days

It’s lovely to be able to welcome students and their parents and carers into school to look around our incedible facilities and observe lessons in action.

Students of the Week

Year 7 – Thomas Connelly and Aliviya Lawrence

Year 8 – Josh Sandeman and Amy Harrison

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Nicholas Heale

Darwin – Ellie Farthing

Fawcett – Adam Sadlik

Harrison – Daisy Holden

Kitson – Sophia Box

Nearne – Rufus Scrase and Briony Pightling

Year 8

Darwin – Emily Collett

Fawcett – Daniel Eales

Harrison – Leah Hope

Kitson – Oliver Los

Nearne – James Evers

Pengelly – Lyra Bowstead

Year 9

Brunel – Finn Mallen

Darwin – Beatrice Corline

Harrison – Emily Chamberlain

Kitson – Josh Walsh

Nearne – Kevin Vieira

Homework Stars of the Week

Year 7

Brunel – Ella Randall

Darwin – Summer Holmes

Fawcett – Harrison Harkin

Harrison – Hannah Brazier

Kitson – Ethan Lynch

Nearne – Analais Biggs

Year 8

Darwin – Sara Santos Martins

Harrison – Zac Evans

Kitson – Laila Heavens

Pengelly – Charlie Porter

Year 9

Brunel – Iliana Lidstone

Darwin – Serena Iordache

Harrison – Enrika Vasiliauskaite

Kitson – Harvery Thomas

Nearne – Maddy Fairhurst

Sparx Leaderboards

Accelerated Reader Leaderboards