Â鶹´«Ã½

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious, and marvellous!

Torquay Boys’ Grammar School cast an outstanding spell of spooky delights over audiences recently with their rendition of The Addams Family. The collaboration from students at Â鶹´«Ã½ and TGGS spanned over a 4-night run with the performances receiving well-deserved standing ovations on the final few nights.

Inspired by the characters created by Charles Addams, the book written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice utilises the lyrics and music of Andrew Lippa to create a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family. The story follows the extended Addams Family as they navigate their way through the things that spook them the most…growing up, love and normality!

Over 74 Addams Ancestors, Monsters and Ghosts gave terrifying performances as they helped and hindered the Addams family through their troubles. They were “guided’ through this by Piran Wills who gave an extravagant and genius performance as the deranged Uncle Fester. These family troubles stemmed from convincing performances from Evie Perkins and Reuben Tomlinson who portrayed a grown-up Wednesday Addams and her husband to be, Lucas Beineke, who are trying to bring their families together to announce their plans to marry. A planned dinner provides the perfect opportunity for Mal and Alice Beineke to meet the extended Addams Family; Barnaby Moules and Charlotte Key showed exceptional skill in the portrayal of the journey these parental characters go on and the changes they make to become an Addams. Hosting the dinner, Gomez and Morticia Addams, as played by Ed Butler-Cole and Hermione Whetton, are forced to make their own adjustments as their family and marriage are pulled to the absolute limit. Ed showed incredible versatility and leadership as the Addams matriarch, complimented by the un-nerving calmness and sultriness within Hermione’s performance. Combined with some excellent comical enactments from Seb Mabin and Keegan Weston as Pugsley, Rose Butler-Cole as Grandma and Elliott Hunt as the Addams Family butler, Lurch, the performance was Spooktacular!

Since the beginning of the process in September, students and staff have shown incredible commitment and creativity through a whole range of extended skills in costumes, props, set design, lighting, sound, music, and make-up to name a few. This year also sees one of the youngest orchestras in recent Â鶹´«Ã½ shows, who did an outstanding job of tackling the deceptively tricky score. Fundamentally, they have gelled as an incredible group of talented, evolving, and supportive individuals of different age groups who all share the same passion; being on stage doing what they love.

Dr Hunt, Â鶹´«Ã½ Headteacher, said, ‘this term’s performance of The Addams Family was a testament to the incredible dedication and talent within our school community. With over 1100 coming to see it over the 4-night run, it was truly a spellbinding showcase of six months of hard work by the 90 Â鶹´«Ã½ students, 45 TGGS students, and countless staff and parents. This collaboration highlights the essence of our school family, where generosity and creativity come together to create something magical. Our community’s support and shared commitment is what makes events like this exceed expectations!’

If you were unfortunate to have missed this incredible show, the production team are already hard at work for the 2026 production which will be announced later this academic year. Keep an eye on /whats-on/ and our social media pages for this exciting next chapter of our story.

It’s been a great first week back, and hopefully that’s been the feeling for you at home too.

We welcomed our new year 7 on Tuesday, along with year 12, and both year groups experienced a special day of activities including music, problem-solving and discussion to get to know their new class mates, and become familiar with the school and year ahead.

The rest of the school returned on Wednesday, looking well-presented and willing to learn. Thank you to those at home that help get students here on time and in the right mindset to make the most of the opportunities at Â鶹´«Ã½.

I am sure we are all looking forward to the many events of the term ahead. Students should watch out for the the upcoming clubs and societies showcase, where they can find new things to get involved with, whilst you at home will be able to join us for celebration evenings, the Autumn Concert and Carol Service. Details will come home in due course, but I’ll take this opportunity to plug our Mistletoe Ball: encourage your friends and colleagues along to what promises to be the ultimate Christmas party of the season.

As ever, if you have any problems or questions, please get in touch with us at school using the contacts on our website, and we’ll do our best to help you.

Dr James Hunt

Yesterday, the second half of our year 13 students received their exam results. At Â鶹´«Ã½, students can choose to study A Levels or International Baccalaureate, meaning a wide range and combination of subjects is on offer. Across IB results (issued in May), and A Levels yesterday, 77% of all grades were A* to B (7 to 5 at IB). This is a phenomenal achievement and testament to the triad of students’ dedication to succeed, committed staff, and the support you provide as parents.

At the time of writing this, 92% of students have achieved their first or insurance choice of university. Popular degree courses include medicine, engineering, business and economics, sciences, and geography, whilst some students will be pursuing different pathways, including Alex Nicholls who has secured a competitive apprenticeship with Airbus.

Mr Lawrence was delighted with his final cohort’s achievements and commented, ‘With 77% of students achieving A* to B – or equivalent – we are delighted they’ve been rewarded for their hard work over the last 2 years and are set for the next stages in their lives’.

For those who have not made the grade, please don’t panic; get in touch with the sixth-form staff who can support you with remarks, retakes or finding courses through clearing.

If you are reading this as a year 13 family, this may well be the end of your formal relationship with Â鶹´«Ã½. However, please do stay in touch, and remember that you will always be welcome at any of our community events, from the school musical to the old grammarians dinner.

Congratulations to all our sixth formers and good luck for your bright futures!

Dr James Hunt

Congratulations to all students collecting GCSE results yesterday!

Half the grades awarded across all GCSEs were grades 9-7, with the average overall grade between 6 and 7. This is a superb achievement for the year group affected by the lockdowns in years 7 and 8, which significantly disrupted the start of their secondary education.

There are many individual success stories, and I look forward to congratulating the cohort in person when school returns and at the autumn celebration evening. However, having published the sixth-form success of twins Josh and Will Powles last week (Will studying the International Baccalaureate and Josh A levels, and both achieving places to study medicine at Exeter), it seems fitting celebrate twins Sam and Nathan Beattie’s GCSE achievement today, as Nathan will now be pursuing A levels and Sam the IB. They studied 21 GCSEs between them, 14 of which were grade 9s.

For those who may be experiencing some disappointment, remember that there are staff here to talk to. Please see the information about retakes and remarks attached to your results, and keep in mind this is just one milestone in your ongoing learning journey.

We welcome most students back to continue their studies at Â鶹´«Ã½ in the sixth form, choosing either the A-level or International Baccalaureate route. However, if you are moving on at this point to pursue a different type of course elsewhere, we wish you well with the next steps of your studies, and hope you look back fondly on your time at Â鶹´«Ã½.

Enjoy the last part of summer.

Dr James Hunt

For the past two years the Languages Department has been using This is School (previously called This is Language) for Spanish and German. This is School gives students the opportunity to practise their Listening skills with a range of videos and activities, as well as learning vocabulary and watching short videos about all the key grammatical points and practising the grammar with activities.

Torquay Boys’ Grammar School is one of the top 10 highest ranking schools in the UK for the academic year 23/24. It’s incredible! Just look at the data:
• Our students have answered an impressive 247,507 questions correctly
• Our students have successfully received instant feedback on 27,990 assignments
• Based on the benchmark research, continued usage by students at this level will lead to demonstrable increase in attainment at GCSE or equivalent.
• Judging by their funky avatars, our students have been putting the 371,260 peanuts they’ve earned to good use. We love to see that creativity!
This is an amazing achievement by our students and really demonstrates the huge value and fun that Torquay Boys’ Grammar School is getting from your partnership with This is School. We are very proud.

Congratulations to all the cast, crew and orchestra who took part in this year’s show. The production was a magical retelling of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast; with 135 students and dozens of staff and parents involved, not only did the show reach it’s usual professional standard, but achieved a palpable sense of community. The fairy tale is about the power of others to influence a positive changes on individuals. No more true is that through the team work and collaboration achieved through the shared endeavour of the show, which allowed so many people to achieve something excellent.

Sports Day 2023 was a success on so many levels. From the high quality athletics to the feverish support of their peers, all students were involved in creating a wonderful atmosphere at Torre Valley North last Friday.  It is not often you see one record broken in a year but this year we had 10 broken, 3 of these by one individual Toby Moxham, 7B.

Toby broke both the Year 7 100m and 200m individual records, whilst being part of the Burgh house relay team that broke the Year 7 4x100m record (an event in which the top 3 teams broke the previous best).

Alongside this Ise Aworinde broke 2 records, Year 9 Long Jump and was part of the Year 9 Rougemont relay team that broke the record.  Mention should also go to Ruben O’Neil Cutipa who broke the Year 7 High Jump record, the Year 8, 9 and 12 Goodrington ‘B’ Relay Teams and the Year 12 Burgh team for breaking the relay records.

Overall at the end of an excellent day the standing were as follows, with Rougemont being crowned winners of Sports Day 2023.
1. Rougemont
2. Burgh
3. Goodrington
4. Fox Tor
5. Haldon
6. Dart

It is with huge delight that I am able to report all of our six teams, thirty-six students in all, successfully completed Ten Tors 2023. A huge congratulations to all students who engaged with the event but also the training process. We have trained about eighty different students this year and each will have gained something from the experience so well done to all of them. Also, a big thank you to staff for volunteering huge amounts of their personal time and their commitment to Â鶹´«Ã½ students. The same goes to our colleagues from the National Trust, in particular Pete Davies, without whose expertise the programme in its current form would not be possible.

Torquay Boys’ Grammar School is reaching for the heights, preparing this year’s musical, In The Heights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students from both Â鶹´«Ã½ and TGGS have joined forces, as is annual tradition, and have been busily preparing the spring spectacular, since September. This year’s show is an upbeat homage to life in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighbourhood of modern-day New York.

Imagined by Lin Manuel Miranda, who brought us Hamilton and Encanto, this story is full of toe-tapping Salsa and hip-hop infused rhythms that are sure to be crowd pleasers. The story follows the characters balancing their hopes and dreams against the pull of finding a sense of home and belonging amongst their local community.

The cast have learnt many new skills with adapting to a very different style of music, and the 70 cast have worked really hard on perfecting the choral harmonies that make this show so uplifting, especially when accompanied by the talented 20+ strong orchestra.

The story is narrated by Usnavi (Jono Chant-Stevens), who runs a small bodega with his nephew Sonny (Charlie Baker). The shop sits alongside a cab company run by the Kevin and Camila Rosario (Josh Escott and Chloe Firrell) and Daniella and Carla’s (Grace Williams and Evie Perkins) salon. The community that interact within this small district of shops witnesses the blossoming relationships of Benny (Piran Wills) and Nina (Charlotte Key), and Vanessa (Hermoine Whetton) and Usnavi, alongside the daily struggles of Carla (Evie Perkins), a street seller, Piragua Guy (David Cooper) and local vandal, Graffiti Pete (Fin Gribbin), and all held together by the matriarchal figurehead of Abuela Claudia (Ellie Schaefer Davis).

With so many students involved, this is sure to be a powerful and uplifting production with something for everyone. Tickets are available now: . The production is often sold out by the end of the week, so book in advance to avoid disappointment.