RAF Review, Outdoor Education and Classics Club...

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CCF REF Section Review

The Torquay Academy RAF Cadets have completed our first official RAF review of cadet training.

This was the cadets’ first official inspection from the Cadet Headquarters which is designed to allow the cadets to showcase their development through the cadet system.

Meeting the visiting Officers in the car park, LCpl Hidi Wright and Cadet Lovell set the first of many high standards. Directing the Officers to the School Reception area where Cpl Furze and Cadet Weaver-Snarey welcomed them to Torquay Academy’s Cadet force.

First up was a meeting with the myself and Cadet Staff followed by a formal Parade led by Cpl Josh Furze. On Parade in the Platform at 1400hrs, the contingent cadets formed up and awaited an inspection from the RAF and Army visiting Officers.

An outstanding effort by Cpl Furze leading the way from the front of the parade. The inspecting Officers walked through the ranks asking lots of questions about their cadet experiences.

To follow can only be described as AMAZING. Cadet Cody Furze and LCpl Kieran Towell took to the stage and presented to the audience. With the use of a PowerPoint presentation and the outstanding support of all the cadets showcasing skills learnt during cadet training. Drill, Weapons, Field Craft, Mountain Biking, Climbing, D Of E, Ten Tors, Flying and Camps to name a few….

With a short break in the program, the senior cadets (Year 11) delivered cadet lessons to the younger cadets. Being a cadet not only enables you to learn new skills but gives you the opportunity to learn more about your own capabilities, leading and inspiring others. The Year 11 senior cadets embraced the whole experience and all delivered great cadet lessons enabling the inspecting Officers to see how great the cadets are.

We all look forward to continuing the Cadet experience at Torquay Academy.

Duke of Edinburgh Gold

The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award team had their first expedition training day on Dartmoor last Saturday, completing a 12km circular route around the reservoir at Shipley Bridge on a cold, sunny, spring day. The day was spent refreshing map navigation skills, learning how to cross streams safely and enjoying the natural beauty of Dartmoor at its best. Mr Butler and Mr Whelan were on hand to provide guidance and support.

An Early Start on the North Moor

Ten Tors Training continues to go from strength to strength. The 35 and 45 Miles cadet teams pushed aside the fears of a cold night camping out on Dartmoor.

Embracing the challenge for the first time, the 35 Mile Ten Tors Team headed to the North Moor for a night under the stars. Turning up at the campsite in the dark was a new experience for some. Head torches on the cadets sprung into action putting tents up and preparing an evening meal. With bellies full and turning in for the night, the cadets prepared for the arduous day’s walk to follow.

Hardened to the Ten Tors experience, the cadet 45 Mile Team walked from the luxury of the campsite, navigating in the dark, and wild camping a few miles away from civilization.

LCpl Gareth (nav man) Mufford, navigated the team and identified a suitable location to camp down for the night. Taking the lead, Cpl Harvey Bates allocated roles and responsibilities to his team members. LCpl Kieran (chef) Towell, set to work on preparing the food.

Settling down for the night was top of the agenda for most, but Cadet Cody (chatta) Mack ensured camp morale was high. First up on Saturday morning was Cadet Dimitar (I don’t sleep) Dinev. Still dark but full of enthusiasm, the 45 Mile team prepared for the long day.

Heading south through an authorised military training range area, saw the team bumping into a British Army Section simulating mine clearance. An opportunity not missed, the British Army section gave a brief to the cadets. Explaining what they were doing and how the Military use the area to train on. The cadets relished the experience by asking lots of questions before setting off on route for the rest of the walk.

Both cadet teams completed the mission for the night out and training walk. As the training intensifies, we all look forward to the Brecon Beacons next weekend for another solid training session.

Sponsored Walk for Emica’s Family

On Saturday during half term, several year 7 students completed a sponsored walk from Torquay to Brixham Harbour (8.5 miles) in memory of their friend Emica.  The sponsored walk, set up by friends, was to raise money for Emica’s family to take a holiday or break away and create a lasting memory of their precious daughter.

Almost £3,000 has already been raised. You can find more details here.

They have also been fundraising for the Wallace and Gromit Grand appeal at Bristol Children’s hospital.  You can find more details on the appeal by visiting https://emicaloraliejackson-miller.muchloved.com/.

Technology Bug Boxes

Some amazing designs and construction of bug boxes taking place this week in year 7 technology lessons. One of the top designs is from Hope Bratcher from 7D who has gone for a design full of bees! Well done, Hope.

Dancing Success

During half term, three of our students took part in Exeter Dance Festival.  Rebecca Glasson in Year 9, gained gold medals in National and Greek, Silver in Modern, Bronze in Character and Ballet.  She also performed at North Cornwall Dance Festival, winning Gold medals for Modern, Song & Dance, Lyrical and Greek, Silver in Character and National and Bronze in Ballet.  Rebecca has qualified for 8 solo dances for the All England Dance Semi Finals. She now needs to decide which 5 to perform.

Phoebe Denbow in Year 8, gained a gold medal in Modern Improvisation, and a Bronze in her Song & Dance, which she sang acapella, as her backing CD did not play on the day. A very brave and amazing thing to do, she gained 88 marks, and is through to The All England Dance Semi Finals in Cheltenham this May. She also received Distinctions in her Modern and Tap solos also in Classical and Tap Improvisation.

Aliyah Smith in Year 8, gained a Bronze medal in her Tap Duet, and distinctions in her Modern, Tap and Song & Dance solos.

All three girls, who dance at Buckingham Dance Studios in Paignton, competed in various groups which gained silver and bronze medals.  Well Done Girls!

Mr Crow’s Classics Club

The TA Classics Club began in January with the aim of providing the opportunity for the students of TA to learn about the wild and wonderful ancient world.  They are currently focusing on some basic Latin, Roman culture and Roman history, but we will eventually look at myths, literature and possibly some ancient Greek.  Their most recent lesson focused on the way in which Latin nouns change their endings depending on their role in a sentence. The group were full of enthusiasm and humour on Monday, and they tackled a translation with impressive determination (and accuracy!).

The club runs after-school every Monday week B. Monday week A involves some online study. If your child loves the ancient world (Greeks! Romans! Persians! Egyptians! Mesopotamians!) and is keen to learn more, they have only just started and would love to see more faces. Students can find Mr Crow in H108 during break time if they have any questions.  Their next session is on Monday 21st March – no experience is necessary and all materials are provided.

Year 7 Science

Mrs Astle’s Year 7 class were carrying out experiments on food in their Science lesson this week to see how much energy is in each type of food. They had to make a prediction first and decide whether Tortilla chips lightly salted, Tortilla chips Cheese, Mini savouries or Iced Gems had the most. You can see the look of concentration on the students’ faces as they had to take the temperature of the water at the start, burn the food and hold it under the boiling tube and then take the temperature at the end to work out the difference. I was so proud of how well they worked and they got some great results.

KS3 Online Art Club

This week’s Year 7 Assembly, gave Mrs Lynch the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing artwork produced by members of her KS3 on-line Art Club.  The work displayed was in response to the theme ‘Small Worlds’ Students were given free rein to produce a piece of art in any medium. Photography, painting, drawing, 3D ART and fashion designs were submitted in the competition.  Certificates were given to many of the artclubbers.  Ellie Farthing, Emelie Hunt, Archie Lawson and Summer Faukes were awarded prizes for their superb work.  We now have 102 members enrolled at the art club, new members are always welcome, contact Mrs Lynch for details.

Miss Martin’s Science Class

Miss Martin’s Year 7 class have been evaporating copper sulfate solution and made some amazing crystals.

House Hobbies

This week, Miss Risk has been talking to Darwin students about their extra-curricular hobbies and achievements. Once again, we have a really diverse range of interests.  Jason Mewett has been teaching himself the art of animation. It is an interest he has developed since September when he first started to animate one of his computer games. He put the animation on his own Youtube channel where it received 1,800 views. Jason is currently working on drawing different frames to bring a range of characters to life and is very much anticipating furthering this interest when he chooses his pathways at the end of KS3.

Sam Johns is an experienced race skier. He has been training at Barton Hall dry ski slope for the past four years and has entered competitions all over the country in the “under twelve” age bracket. His greatest accolade is that he is the fastest under- twelve skier in Devon which is incredibly impressive.

Hamish Herring loves sewing which he has indulged in over the past three years. He has made many different items such as pillows and pencil cases, bags and clothing. Hamish has even started his own business, selling cushion covers and plans to bring in some to sell for our upcoming Spring Fayre. As a career, he may well become a fashion designer so we will all watch this space!

Tegan Ross has developed an interest in photography and whilst she does not have a particularly favourite subject, always snaps something which catches her interest. She sometimes takes photos on her phone but also has a camera and enjoys experimenting with different lenses and filters. We have seen some of Tegan’s beautiful creations and she has promised to send some through so I can share them here.

Amelia Hunt is a champion swimmer and belongs to Torquay Leander Swimming Club. She has achieved a number of prestigious awards and prizes in her time. She is the 13th fastest swimmer in Devon for her age and has won trophies for her Butterfly and Front Crawl strokes. Last year, on top of her trophies, Amelia also won four medals. I am sure we will all be hearing about her sporting achievements in the future.

Finally, Grace Green enjoys outdoor climbing. This started as a bit of a recreational activity where she and her friends would scale boulders and trees but since joining Torquay Academy, Grace has been able to engage in proper rock- climbing sessions. Grace has been given past opportunities to climb on Dartmoor and at Meadfoot. Whilst she does not have a particular obstacle to conquer, Grace would like to improve her climbing times.

This week we were very excited to launch our new Basketball Academy. Following the hugely popular recreational session, Mr Funnell and Mr Chant have selected a range of students in Years 7-9 for additional coaching from 4.15-5.15pm.

Post 16 vs Exeter College

The team put in an outstanding performance on Wednesday to beat Exeter College 6-2 with goals from Tor Swann (2), Will Hall, Charlie White, Sean Brown and Ben Hopkins. The goals will be featured in next week’s blog

Year 10 Boys vs Stoke Dameral

On Thursday, the Year 10 boys football team travelled to Plymouth to take on Stoke Dameral in the Devon Cup Quarter Final.

The game started very competitively and both teams struggled to get the ball down and play with any quality on a difficult surface. TA clearly had the better of the first half but went in to the break level at 0-0.

In the second half TA dominated and took complete control of the game. We adapted our game and got to grips with the pitch. Goals came thick and fast with some quality finishing.
TA ran out 6-1 winners with the goals coming from Zac Rowland-Steele x3. Will Green, Charlie Stevens and Charlie Pope.

Year 8 Boys Football vs Paignton

On Thursday the Year 8s put in a fantastic performance in the County Cup v Paignton.  The boys have been really gelling over the last couple of games and relationships between the players keep improving.
The game started off well and for the first 20 minutes we looked strong, trying to implement what they have been covering in training over the past two weeks. Midway through, Paignton grew into the game so we tweaked the personnel to push on again and it worked.  Two minutes after the change we took the lead through a calm finish by Charlie Green. Our second goal was an unbelievable strike on the half volley from outside the box by Charlie Porter taking us into half time 2-1.

The second half started well with Charlie Green pouncing on a loose ball to score his second of the game putting us 3-1 up, this was then followed by a well taken free kick by Austin White to make it 4-1.

Paignton had a real push and scored 2 goals within 5 minutes to make it exciting but thankfully we continued to work well and secured the win into the next round with 2 goals from Diego Zulhayir to finish the game 6-3 winners.

All the goals will be uploaded for next week’s blog

Squad: Toby Lee, Charlie Green, Austin White, Harrison Hogg, Seth Margetts, Bastian Johns-Kouadio, Sam Alcock, Tom Thorner, Gregg Hindom, Charlie Porter, Albie Baker, Colby Britton, Diego Zulhayir, Finley Allnutt, William Jackson.

Students of the Week

Year 7 – Taniesha Hippolyte and Joshua Henderson

Year 8 – Leah Hope and JJ Cosey

Year 9 – Isabella Aguado-Georgian and Finn Mallen

Year 10 – Elsie Taylor and Joel Copping

Year 11 – Bradley Thomas and Caitlin Kirby

House Stars of the Week

Year 7

Christie – Harry Paull

Darwin – Ruby Sellick

Fawcett – Lili Budavolgyi

Harrison – Logan Hammacott

Kitson – Libbie Grindling

Nearne – Cody Cave

Pengelly – Ben Jeffs

Year 8

Brunel – Grace Milloy

Christie – Amara Phillips

Darwin – Adam Wright

Fawcett – Amy Harrison

Harrison – Larna Northcott

Kitson – Leigha Smith

Nearne – Oliwia Tuczynska

Pengelly – Charlie Porter

Year 9

Brunel – Illiana Lidstone

Christie – Coral Stewart

Darwin – Elspeth Herring

Fawcett – Sean Crawford

Harrison – Lexy McLaurin

Kitson – Syd Yarde

Nearne – Igor Piewiszko

Pengelly – Clara Gooderham

Homework Stars of the Week

Year 7

Christie – Millie Routledge

Darwin – Lily Hawkings

Fawcett – Cody Jones

Harrison – Eunan Campbell

Kitson – Nikkita Hookway

Nearne – Rufus Scrase

Pengelly – Julia Tatarynowicz

Year 8

Brunel – Leon Mugliston

Christie – Oliver Jones

Darwin – Will Denega

Fawcett – Simon Drost

Harrison – Kowen Essiful

Kitson – William Jackson

Nearne – Tessa White

Year 9

Brunel – Finn Mallen

Christie – Cleo Fry

Darwin – Jayden Langhorn

Fawcett – Rose Phillips

Harrison – Sophie Packer

Kitson – Joshua Walsh

Nearne – Sophie Brown

Pengelly – Isla Howarth

University offers this week

Surname	Forename	Provider name	Course name
Burns	Mia	University of Bristol	English
Hobson	Anna	The University of Edinburgh	Philosophy and Mathematics
Holmes	Lizzy	University of Plymouth	Nursing (Adult Health)
Willcocks	Jasmine	University of Bath	Chemistry for Drug Discovery with Industrial Placement
Davies	Georgia	University of Bath	MBiol Biology
Rick	Sophie	University of Exeter	Geography (Science)
Shaw	Reece	Solent University (Southampton)	Sport and Exercise Therapy
Rawles	Elias	Bath Spa University	Product and Furniture Design (Professional Placement Year)
Reshad	Elena	Solent University (Southampton)	Sport and Exercise Therapy with Sport Foundation

Sparx Leaderboards – top 10 most improved students over the week

Tassomai Leaderboards

Accelerated Reader Leaderboards

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