Science club awards, photography & national success
Science club
This year we started Science Club with a bang! Literally! Members were treated to a hydrogen balloon explosion, fire was used to light the hydrogen, creating water and releasing lots of energy in the process. This reaction is similar to the reactions happening inside hydrogen powered vehicles!
Afterwards, our budding young scientists were able to change the colour of flames by using different metals and have learned how this gives us the fantastic colours found in fireworks. Finally, to finish off our show of combustion, Mr Spittle said goodbye to a Jelly Baby by adding it to hot potassium chlorate, releasing lots of oxygen which reacted perfectly with the sugary jelly baby. The result: enough heat and light to boil a cup of water!
Our second session focussed on polymers and plastics. The team created some amazing products using household apparatus and ingredients. First the students created some stretchy slime using only PVA glue, bicarbonate of soda and saline solution and then they created some fantastic plastic treasures using nothing more than milk and vinegar!
Next session, hovercrafts and rockets!!
crest awards
This week the members of Science Club 2023 were awarded their well earned Bronze CREST Award certificates by Mr Margetts. Each of the students could explain their results in detail to Mr Margetts as they received their award, proving their hard work in completing their project. I am very proud of their accomplishment- well done!!
The year 9 students are: Daniel Manners, Logan Clatworthy, Edi Ferencz-Csibi, Jonathan Oleksy and Gustaw Adamczak.
Year 8 students are: Olivier Szyszka and Rosie Bevan.
Photography Workshop Review: Creating Surreal Worlds Through a Lens Ball
Our recent A Level Photography workshop saw students delve into the fascinating world of lens ball photography, exploring how this simple yet powerful tool can transform everyday scenes into extraordinary, otherworldly compositions. Using DSLR cameras, students experimented with the unique perspectives the lens ball offers, capturing warped reflections and spherical distortions that turned familiar surroundings into surreal landscapes.
The workshop began in the classroom, where students were introduced to the concept of lens ball photography and how to manipulate camera settings to enhance its effects. They explored manual settings such as aperture, shutter speed, and focus to create clarity and depth in their images. As students grew more confident, they took their creativity beyond the classroom, venturing through different parts of the school to capture more diverse environments.
The results were truly impressive. Whether shooting in corridors, stairwells, or outdoor spaces, students demonstrated a keen eye for detail and composition. Mrs Lynch was delighted with the students enthusiasm and curiosity to explore this strange and exciting photographic concept.
Year 7 Art Lesson Review: Stunning Coloured Pencil Studies of Bugs
This week, Mrs. Lynch’s Year 7 classes produced some truly exciting coloured pencil studies of bugs. The students embraced the challenge of mark making and colour blending to create vibrant, detailed drawings that brought these tiny creatures to life.
Throughout the lesson, students experimented with various techniques to achieve texture and depth in their work. By focusing on layering colours and exploring how different marks could represent the intricate patterns of wings, shells, and antennae, they managed to capture the beauty and uniqueness of each bug. Well done Year 7.
Fire Drill
On Thursday morning we had a fire drill. I am always so impressed with the calmness and urgency displayed by all of our staff and students.
Year 11 Walking Talking Mock
As part of the preparation for the upcoming year 11 mocks, all year 11 students had a walking talking mock in English language Paper 1 this week in the Platform. Students were ‘walked through’ the paper and the exam strategy the English team have developed to ensure absolute success in their first set of mocks of this year. Miss Turner guided the students through each question on the paper with a focus on keeping to tight timings and writing clear answers to every question on the paper. Miss Elson and Mr Dickin were modelling perfect answers on the screen to support students to write their own in real time. We were delighted that every year 11 student left the session with a completed exam paper of exemplar answers to help them in their revision for the real mock. The English team were really impressed with all of year 11 for their excellent behaviour and effort until the end. Well done year 11!
Lexonik Returns
As we head towards the end of our first half-term, intervention across all year groups is well underway in the English Department. One of these regular interventions is Lexonik and this year we can target and support so many more students as Miss Risk has completed her Lexonik training and will soon be fully qualified to deliver this effective intervention.
For those who have never heard of Lexonik, it is an intervention that is designed to help students reach their potential in all subjects – not just English. It is a training programme that coaches students to process sounds at speed and develop their vocabulary – which as result improves their reading speeds and understanding.
Lexonik teaches students how to accurately and rapidly process sound chunks and once they acquire this skill, their reading and spelling dramatically improve and is actually most successful with students of average and above average ability. By taking part in these sessions, students boost their literacy skills and are better equipped to achieve better grades.
We also practice ‘suffixes and prefixes at speed’ as well as explore a range of vocabulary from a full range of subjects. With this we discuss root words and their forms. This helps provide students with ways they can access and decode unfamiliar language which is so important in an exam environment.
The beauty of this intervention is in its speed: 1 hour per week over a 6-week period.
As a school intervention, Lexonik is not new. We have been using this intervention since 2018 but as you can imagine COVID has had an impact. It is very difficult to run 6 back to back weekly sessions for the same group of four students when you are coming up against, lock-downs, isolations and illness.
This intervention is suitable for all year groups, and now we have enough fully trained experts we are able to have Lexonik groups this year in every year group for the first time! My first target group is Year 9 as they start their chosen option subjects ready for GCSE.
Lexonik promise that a 6-week course, delivered effectively, can improve a student’s reading age by an average of 24 months. The important bit here is the ‘6’ bit. It is really important that students attend all timetabled sessions to maximise the benefits. Our data for the sessions that we have run over the past few years have, on average, improved individual reading ages by 37 months. But that is the average overall. The average for last year’s cohort was 44.5 months for each student which equals 3.7 years added on average to each of their reading ages! So many students added 60+ months with a couple of students adding 80 to 90 months to their reading age. We are looking forward to our next cohorts of ‘Lexoniks’. It is always fun – even for those bemused ‘doubters’! May the reading fun begin!
ccf update
It’s been an action-packed week for the Torquay Academy Cadets full of preparation for an exciting line-up of upcoming events. Our cadets continue to push themselves, and the buzz around all that’s ahead is truly inspiring.
We’re gearing up for some major events, including the Three Peaks Challenge, JNCO Battle Camp, flying, and a Royal Navy base visit. Ten Tors training is well underway, with cadets honing their endurance skills for the famous expedition.
We’re also planning additional coasteering adventures, guaranteed to test the cadets’ resilience in a whole new environment. On top of that, preparations for the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) are in full swing, with cadets engaging in both planning and training for this prestigious program.
This weeks DCCT ranges experience allowed our cadets to showcase their discipline whilst operating the weapon system on the indoor electronic range. Some amazing skills and group sizes.
Wednesday’s cadets session saw all cadets come together for a cadet fitness challenge, followed by some essential mandatory training. The teamwork and effort were impressive, with special recognition going to our new Year 8 cadets, who are getting stuck in and showing fantastic spirit right from the start!
Our Year 10 cadets are working hard as they embark on the JNCO Promotional Course, a vital step toward leadership roles within the cadet force, and one that will help them achieve future promotions.
A huge well done to all the cadets for their dedication and hard work this week. With so many amazing opportunities on the horizon, your commitment is sure to lead to great achievements!
Draculin update
I have some exciting news for all you lovers of rock/metal music. The band Draculin are performing a two-hour concert on Sunday 3rd November at 7.00pm at the Palace Theatre, Paignton. The band consists of Year 10 students Will Candy, Oliver Attwood and Emilee Payne, and Bartosz Mitula from Year 11.
Some of you will have heard them perform at our Christmas and Summer music events, so you will know how talented the band is and what a great night of music it promises to be.
I am very proud that four of our students are progressing so well with their music careers that they can produce and perform their own concerts at one of Torbay’s main theatres. Tickets are £8.00 and can be purchased on-line from the Palace Theatre website.
History with Mr Baker
This week Mr Baker’s year 9 class have been working on improving their answers to a recent mid cycle assessment on the uprising against Tostig Godwinson. Students had to take multiple factors and explain why the people of Northumbria decided to rid themselves of the hated brother of Harold Godwinson! You can see a few wonderful examples of work from Kira Fedotova, Charlotte Holmes-Vittles and Ella Weeks, who not only achieved some of the highest scores in the class but did some excellent work improving their answers further. The class is pictured using mini whiteboards to feedback answers to questions at the start of every lesson before we move onto corrections and improvements.
Maths with Miss Clarke
In Miss Clarke’s maths we have been using mini whiteboards to improve how we add and subtract mixed numbers! Miss Clarke is very impressed with both of her year 8 classes this year and how they have tackled this challenging topic! We love to see their smiley faces proudly holding up their whiteboards here at Team TA Maths – keep it up year 8!
Students of the Week
Year 7 – Jasmine Roberts and Joe Matthews
Year 8 – Esme Poole and Ben Cowie
Year 9 – Ed Rackley and Ruby Chamberlain
Year 10 – Daniel Piper and Alba Fogarty
Year 11 – Ben Phillips and Lily-Mae McCarthy
Year 9 Football
On Monday the year 9 boys football team took on Exmouth in round two of the national cup.
It was yet another dominant display by the team running out 5-0 winners. The goals came from Zak Haridi, Alex Moss x2, Keane O’Neil and a Lee Stevens penalty. That is now three wins on the bounce for the team scoring an impressive 20 goals and conceding just one. The side now waits to see who they play next. Attention for now though switches to the Elite cup and the game against Penair from Truro.
Table Tennis After School Club
Our after-school club is growing stronger every week! The club is open to all students, regardless of their table tennis skill level.
Just bring your PE kit and join us in the sports hall every Monday at 15:15.
Successful debut in the South Devon and Torbay Table Tennis League!
We are delighted to share the great news about our students, who have reached a high level of play and were ready to join the local league.
Our team is the only junior team in the league, consisting of 6 players, 5 of whom are our own TeamTA students: Harrison, Aleksandra, Gustaw, Ben, and Oliver.
They played their first two matches and won both, 6:4.
The pathway is clear: play table tennis at school, join your local club to enhance your skills, and get into a team. If you’d like to develop your table tennis further, please speak to our table tennis coach, Jo.
Well done, Team!
U14 Netball National Schools
Poppi Jones, Seren Chadwick, Maddy Wood, Alexa Lyons ©, Scarlett Connolly, Molly Hollomby, Elena Bolton, Isla Bryant, Rosie Bevan, Matilda Thorner, Alana Houlihan
A mixture of our Year 8 and Year 9 netball academy students competed in the National Schools competition on Tuesday. The girls all represented Torquay Academy to a very high level, and whilst it wasn’t the result the girls wanted, they built up lots of resilience and positivity especially as a majority of the girls were playing up an age group. Well done, girls!
Oppositions Player: Poppi Jones/Maddy Wood
Players Player: Alexa Lyons
Coaches Player: Poppi Jones
U16 Netball Academy
Team TA’s U16 Netball Academy have successfully made it through to the next round of the U16 SIS National Netball Competition after beating Truro School 49-36. A special mention goes to Phoebe Smith for playing a year above, Brooke Tully for receiving Coach’s and Opposition’s Player and Isabelle Moxham for receiving Players’ Player. Well done, girls; we can’t wait to see how you get on in the next round!
House Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Jack O’Connor
Christie – Archie Hudson
Darwin – Amaris Quennell
Fawcett – Freddie Brabon
Harrison – Oscar Josey
Kitson – Darcey Partridge
Nearne – Georgie Morton
Pengelly – Millie Porter
Year 8
Brunel – Xanthe Tyson
Christie – Seren Chadwick
Darwin – Jesse Isemede
Harrison – Tilly Longthorpe
Kitson – Max Kapusta
Nearne – Cayden Castle
Pengelly – Esme Poole
Year 9
Brunel – Olivia Stewart
Christie – Elijah Addai
Darwin – Leon Snell
Fawcett – Saphi Byers
Kitson – Brodi Docherty
Nearne – Leah Hollis
Homework Students of the Week
Year 7
Brunel – Darcy Gibbings
Christie – Rhia Holding
Darwin – Ruby Ross
Fawcett – Bella Stevenson
Harrison – Samuel McDonald
Kitson – Alfie Carpenter-Sorton
Nearne – Fynlay Dever
Pengelly – Brandon Wright
Year 8
Brunel – Elliott Hytche
Christie – Lily Langler
Darwin – Charlotte Townsend
Harrison – Seren Stephenson
Kitson – Jessica Stoyle
Nearne – Olivier Szyszka
Pengelly – Morley Villiers
Year 9
Brunel – Alfie Speed
Christie – Oscar Rogers
Darwin – Logan Watt
Fawcett – Scarlett Connolly
Kitson – Annie Aldous
Nearne – Finley Corderoy
Pengelly – Anastasiia Tukilush
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