iPad Giveaway, Primary School Visit and Elyse Excels
Cockington Year 4 Visit Library and Science Labs
Pictured: Cockington Students during their visit with us today
Continuing to develop our Primary school links, students from Cockington Primary School visited our Library and Science labs for an afternoon of enrichment activities.
Here is what Cockington LSA Michelle Stephens said about their visit:
The year 4 students were excited and curious about their trip to Torquay Academy. It was clear to see that they were not disappointed. “Wow this is amazing!” said a group of students as they experienced using a Bunsen burner in the Science lab. “This Library is cool” said several children from class 4W”.
The students were enthusiastic and were a pleasure to have in school.
GCSEPod – Ipad Give Away
Pictured: Leigh with her brand new iPad mini
Year 11 students are already gearing up for their GCSE examinations. The Academy has invested in an online revision resource called GCSEPOD, it contains podcasts for most subjects and students can download these to their computers, tablets and phones. It enables them to revise at school, home and on the move. Teachers are setting assignments so that students listen to the podcasts and then use the knowledge gained to answer a series of questions.
This was launched at the end of last half term, all students who registered and have begun to use GCSEPOD were put into a draw for an iPad mini. The lucky winner was Leigh Bowen (pictured).
Leigh will be able to use the iPad mini to access not only GCSEPOD but other online resources we provide such as Doddle, Fronter, MyMaths and Mathswatch VLE. In a few weeks time Year 11’s are sitting their first series of Pre-Public Examinations to prepare them for the summer series of exams and GCSEPOD will be an extremely useful resource to help prepare our students.
‘Legal Highs’
Video: The dangers of ‘Legal Highs’
PCSO Martin Rushworth has recommended the video above to inform parents and young people of the dangers of using ‘Legal Highs’.
The video has been featured on the BBC News to highlight the dangers of ‘legal highs’ focussing particularly on the deaths of 60 people in the last 12 months due to substance abuse.
For lots of useful and information and resources including a parent’s handbook, click on the link below:
Christmas Cancelled in aid of the Stacey Mowle Appeal
Pictured: Year 8 student, Sarah Farrell, with her broken Smartphone
Year 8 student, Sarah Farrell, has effectively cancelled her own Christmas this year in order to help cancer sufferer Stacey Mowle.
Sarah was inspired to help after hearing of Stacey’s plight. At the age of four, Stacey was diagnosed with a cancer called Neuroblastoma, stage 4 (the final stage). This devastated the family but after treatment in the UK and enduring a course of Chemotherapy Stacey reached remission in 2011. This was great news but with an 80% relapse rate, the reality of what may lie ahead was frightening for Stacey’s family.
With such a high risk of the cancer returning and the only option then being a very expensive treatment abroad, the family began to fundraise, creating The Stacey Mowle Appeal.
In December 2012, the devastating news that Stacey and her family had been dreading finally came; the cancer had returned, even more aggressive than before.
Sarah (pictured), despite recently breaking her phone, has asked her mum not to buy her anything for Christmas this year and is donating the £200 that would have been spent on presents to the Stacey Mowle Appeal.
Video: Stacey’s story and links to ways to help
Sarah’s mum, Mrs Mitchell said “Stacey is a lovely little girl and an inspiration! Sarah’s phone means a lot to her but she really wants Stacey to be able to get the treatment she desperately needs. If you would like to support the appeal you can befriend Stacey on Facebook or by giving a couple minutes of your life and watching the YouTube clip and sharing the links, you could help save Stacey’s.”
Sarah felt compelled to help. She said “I am honoured to be able to give our donation to Stacey in person when we visit her hometown of Gravesend in December at her fundraising birthday party. I will feel really good for donating the money, even though I will have no phone. Stacey needs it more than I do and I really hope that enough money is raised for the treatment that Stacey needs.”
Students Enjoy Creative Writing Workshop in Exeter
Thirty four year 7 students and Sixth Formers were invited to attend a Creative Writing workshop at the Mercure Southgate hotel in Exeter today.
Led by the author and poet Phillip Gross, the workshop was an exciting joint initiative organised by Exeter University and Torquay Academy to our students an experience they would remember for a long time.
Mrs Radford, Second in English and trip leader, said, ‘This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to work with a professional author and have their eyes opened to the wider world of creative writing.’
Remembrance Day Assemblies
Pictured: Students during assembly this week learning about Remembrance Day
In preparation for the upcoming Remembrance Day, poppies have been on sale in school and students have been learning about the reasons for Remembrance Day, during themed assemblies.
Our Year 11’s were shocked to hear that people serving during the war were a similar age to them and had to sacrifice a lot in order for us to live the lives we do today.
We are proud to help raise money for such a worthy cause. Money raised goes to help ex-servicemen and women and their families.
Visitors from Mayfield Teach Students about Communication
Pictured: Ros with Mayfield student Conner, talking to our Year 11 Health & Social Care class
Two visitors from Mayfield School were kind enough to visit our Year 11 Health & Social care class to talk about communication techniques when dealing with children and adults who are functioning at the early stages of development.
The session was very informative and students took lots of notes on a range of topics; they included why we communicate, what to communicate and how to communicate. Students found specific terms covered such as Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), an umbrella term that encompasses methods used to supplement or replace writing, extremely useful and will benefit when writing their upcoming coursework assignment.
Year 7 Science Homework
Pictured: Year 7’s with their homework this week
Year 7 students have impressed Science teachers Mr Harrity and Mrs Hammond this week with the high quality homework projects that have been handed in.
Tasked with creating an animal or plant cell, students used their imaginations and created models using modelling clay, Lego, jelly, made cakes and used a variety of other materials to create their models.
As you can see from the pictures, a lot of care went into making the models, with many of the students spending their half term holiday making them.
Photography Competition
Pictured: An example of a wintery photo
Year 7 students have launched a winter themed photography competition and are calling for students to get creative and submit their photos.
The photos can be taken using any camera and must be submitted, in print, at the student reception by Monday 1st December, complete with name and tutor group written on the back.
Year 7 judges, Cody Marker, Lucie Taylor, Josh Phillips and Silbury Peakman will then award prizes for the best photograph in each year group.
I look forward to seeing the entries and will post the winners on my blog in December.
Anti-Bullying Month
November is Anti-Bullying Month and throughout the month students will be involved in activities themed around dealing creatively with bullying and Lets stop bullying for all.
Students will be continuing to campaign on anti-bullying through assemblies, competitions and tutor group activities. Older students will be working with tutor groups to sign the anti-bullying contract. We will document our activities through my blog, so watch this space.
For advice and guidance on bullying issues contact the school or visit www.antibullyingweek.co.uk
Year 13 Parents’ Evening
Pictured: Miss Cape during one of her Parents’ Evening appointments
Year 13 parents and students met with teachers this week to discuss progress and set targets for the rest of term.
Head of Sixth Form, Mr Harries, said “Year 13 is an extremely important stage of their education, as our Sixth Formers prepare for their final exams and higher education. The Parents’ Evening provided a great opportunity to gain some important feedback and set targets to work towards.”
Elyse Awarded for Outstanding Performance
Pictured: Elyse after a competition earlier this year
Year 10 students, Elyse Leech, recently won an award at the Torbay Athletic club’s award evening.
We have been sharing Elyse’s success over the past few month’s which included competing at national level and the Francis Cup, awarded for oustanding performance, caps off an impressive athletics season.
Well done Elyse.
Exciting New Table Tennis Partnership
Pictured: Our sports centre set up and ready for action
We are pleased to announce an exciting partnership with Torbay Table Tennis Club who will now be training at Torquay Academy on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings.
They are starting a six week after school club on Friday 14th of November for boys and girls that want to give it a go or for any players that we may have already in the school. To register please leave your details with a member of the sportscentre as we can only allow 16 pupils at a time.
For more information on the club please have a look at the notice board in the sportscentre.
