Current News
TDA Reach the National Hockey Finals
The boys are a credit to the school at the National Hockey finals
Reports from the boys.
Thomas Deacon Academy 1 - 3 Millfield
Well of all the schools to make your national finals debut against it has to be Millfield acknowledged for their sporting excellence.
Thomas Deacon 1 - 3 Millfield
Thomas Deacons opening game saw them play Millfield, the west regions runners up. TDA started the game well, keeping possession and putting Millfield on the back foot. This possession led to TDA creating some good chances, with a number of near misses. These chances culminated in M.Howard capitalising on a good cross, deflecting the ball into the left hand side of the goal, in the 8th minute of play. TDA continued this pressure on the Millfield defence, creating some more very near misses, with deflections going just wide of the post. TDA having pushed so high up the pitch were vulnerable to counter attacks, which allowed the Millfield forwards to break and test the keeper. In the final 2 minutes of the half, the Millfield team broke past the defence and managed to wrong-foot the keeper to equalise just before the half.
HT: Thomas Deacon 1 - 1 Millfield
The second half continued as the first finished, with Millfield putting pressure on the TDA defence. They scored a goal putting them in the lead within the first two minutes of the second half, whilst TDA hadn't settled into it. As TDA settled into the second half, however, they still couldn't break the Millfield's defence in the mid section of the second half. Chances came from both teams, but ultimately both goalkeepers came out on top, with some particularly fine saves from M. Kowalski. As the game came into the final 15 minutes, TDA had to push to equalise. As an attacking play broke down, TDA were once again caught on a counter attack, which Millfield got a third goal from. TDA were once again unfortunate to score as they continued to press high and intercepted a pass in the D and ultimately hit the post from a deflected shot.
FT: Thomas Deacon 1 - 3 Millfield
TDA had a number of good chances and were somewhat unlucky not to have scored. Despite the loss, TDA had to take the positives and learn from the negatives and take that into the next game against QEGS.
Thomas Deacon Academy 4 - 3 Queen Elizabeth Grammar School
Cam Heald (3)
Fraser Sturgess (1)
The TDA boys came into this game disappointed after a close defeat against Millfield School and felt like they wanted to prove they can compete at this level.
The game started quickly with the ball flying from end to end with chances for both sides. Then a fast passing move from QEGS caught TDA off guard and they found themselves behind with only 8 minutes on the clock. 0-1.
QEGS had a very strong and fast midfield who were proving very hard to contain. After a period of great play from the TDA boys with good chances to level the game, a QEGS forward broke away from the TDA back line on the counter attack and manage to scramble the ball past Michal in goal after a great original save. 0-2.
The half time hooter went and the TDA lads went in to the dugout disheartened to be behind after playing so well. But an uplifting speech from Coach Mike Yeoman got the boys going again.
A tactical change in formation to move Cam Heald to play upfront, swap Chris Pepper into defence and move David Fisher into midfield gave TDA a new lease of life.
Early on in the second half, Cam Heald was looking dangerous and making the defenders worry with Ben Newman and Marcus Howard trying all they could to find him. Then a slick piece of skill down the right hand side from Cam Heald opened up some space for him to get a shot away and the ball hit the back of the QEGS goal, putting the boys back in the game, 1-2.
Two minutes later, a great long ball down the line from Henry Ricketts found Cam and he then had the two defenders isolated from the rest of their team, he then quickly dribbled past them and hit a low shot hard past the QEGS keeper into the corner of the goal, getting his and TDA's 2nd goal of the game, but more importantly, levelling the score, 2-2.During this passage of play Marcus had taken the full force of an oppositions stick on his right thumb (which we later found out had been broken)but continued to play his part in the fight back.
The balance of the game was shifting and with every passing minute TDA looked dangerous, then a brilliant pass from midfield through Marcus Howard put Cam through against the defence once more, after weaving into the D in a similar fashion he threaded the ball passed the keeper toward the goal then Fraser Sturgess put it away to avoid all doubt of the recovering defender saving it, 3-2. Fraser has only been playing hockey a matter of weeks and to score in the National finals is a massive achievement for any player, let alone a player new to the sport.
The boys were in full flow now and they were dominating play, after a spell of QEGS possession, David Fisher made a brilliant tackle in midfield and broke away into the opposition half then threaded a ball through to Cam Heald, a recovering defender tried to push him wide to narrow his angle, Cam then unleashed a cracking reverse which fired past the goalkeeper into the QEGS goal to complete his hat-trick!
The boys celebrated immensely as they knew what an achievement it had been to come from 2-0 down at half time. 4-2.
There was not long left on the clock and the team defended brilliantly under a lot of pressure from the strong QEGS side, a mistake from one of the TDA defenders gave the opposition a penalty corner which was very clinically converted. 4-3.
There were seconds left on the clock and Cam Heald and David Fisher held the ball in the corner to run out the time, the game ended and the TDA boys had won!
All round a great team performance from the boys all the defenders played their part and Marcus Howard and Ben Newman were very solid and distributed well, David Fisher and Cam Heald did brilliantly well to break down the QEGS defence with all of the forwards playing their part in the defensive work as well as the attacking.
4-3 win well deserved and the brilliant tactical change from coach Mike Yeoman swung the game in Thomas Deacons favour.
TDA 1 - 7 Cranleigh
TDA had a very slow start, conceding 3 within the first 10 minutes, lapses in the defences concentration due to the fast introduction to a team of such quality caused the goals, 2 came from very well practiced short corner routines.
The next 15 minutes up until half time were a lot stronger from TDA with a number of short corners and chances created by a number of players incuding Marcus and his broken thumb.
The goal from TDA was created by some intricate dribbling past the Cranleigh defence from Cam Heald, a neat pass through to Sam Anderson and he slipped it behind him back to Cam Heald who coolly flicked it into the top left corner.
The score could have been a lot closer and deserved to be after the efforts of all of the players.
Cranleigh scored a fourth after Ainsley Augustine had been yellow carded and sent off for five minutes for a stick above the shoulder and TDA entered the second half 4 - 1 down. A score which flattered the opposition after the final 15 minutes of the half.
The start of the second half saw substitute keeper Cameron Goodey make his first appearance of the tournament and did so very well making numerous saves. The best of which was an attempted lob from an England player which was no match for Cam!
Ainsley Augustine came back on after a few minutes of the second half. This resulted in a change in tdas line up in an effort to get more moving forward.
Further on in the second half, Ainsley received his second yellow (off for 10 minutes this time), luckily for a different offence so it wasn't a red. After a solid 12 minutes with a good defensive display, TDA finally broke and conceded a few again while Ainsley was off the pitch.
Cranleigh went on to reach the final and there was no shame at all in losing to them. A great team performance throughout the whole game.
P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Whitgift School U18 Boys 3 3 0 0 1 1 3 8 9
2 Canford School Boys 1st X1 3 1 1 1 8 8 0 4
3 Repton School 1st XI 3 1 0 2 4 8 -4 3
4 Watford GS Boys U18 3 0 1 2 4 8 -4 1
P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Cranleigh School U18 Boys 3 3 0 0 16 5 11 9
2 Millfield School Boys U18 3 2 0 1 12 5 7 6
3 Thomas Deacons Academy Boys U18 3 1 0 2 6 13 -7 3
4 QEGS Wakefield Boys U18 3 0 0 3 4 15 -11 0
Sixth Form Charity Events Raise Cash for Comic Relief
We are very proud of the college captains and prefects in Maths College who put on two events to raise money for comic relief last term.
Their all day bike riding marathon raised £190.86 and their cake sale raised £102.43, a fantastic achievement.
A big thank you to everyone who took part and made the event such a success.
Thomas Deacon Academy young Enterprise Team Achieve 'Best Product'
Four young entrepreneurs of the Thomas Deacon Academy were in Peterborough’s Queensgate Shopping Centre last Saturday (March 9th) as part of the Peterborough Trade Fair. Their company, ‘Babies First’ was fronted by Micael Goncalves, Shakir Mahmud, Matthew Clark and Daniel Mothis (all pictured above). They proudly represented our Academy and excelled by winning the award for ‘Best Product’, overwhelming both state and private schools from across the rest of the county of Cambridgeshire. This achievement carries our talented young businessmen into the next round of the award, the East of England Area Final. Most excitingly however, is the fact that the final itself is to be held here at the Thomas Deacon Academy on April 23rd. Good luck!
Sixth Form Student Gains Work Experience at 'The Day'
We have been using the fantastic “The DAY” website here at the Thomas Deacon Academy since March of this year. The DAY is the world’s first daily news site for students focussing on the big news stories that are transforming our world. Staff and students alike have responded brilliantly to The DAY. So much so that we were asked to host the filming of a new video that was to be made showing how The DAY works in schools. Through our strong link with The DAY one of our Year 13 students Ross Copping was given the opportunity of a week of work experience (during half term) at The DAY’s office in Notting Hill, London. Ross impressed everyone at The DAY and has even had 2 articles published on their site which will be read by schools around the country and internationally. Ross has written a short account about his week at The DAY below. Be sure to watch out for his name in the newspapers and news sites of the future...
My Week at The DAY
Making the two hour commute to London everyday over half-term was an expensive yet extremely enjoyable experience! I felt that after my week at The Day I had certainly gained a great amount of worth from the internship. Not only was this sort of experience particularly valuable for my UCAS application but it also gave me an insight into a career path I was very interested in.
During the week I was asked to complete a variety of tasks including; independent research, reviewing and editing articles, re-categorising stories, finding graphics from image databases as well as the most enjoyable aspect of any placement, producing something of your own. I am fortunate enough to be getting two of my own articles published on the site, becoming the company’s first student contributor.
In addition, I had the opportunity to work with many highly qualified and experienced individuals. The editor of The Day is experienced in writing about both national and international news. She also used to be the education and political correspondent of the Financial Times and so to just sit down and talk journalism over lunch together was a quality experience for me personally. She gave me loads of suggestions for ways of getting into the industry and I have no doubt that this will prove to be valuable knowledge for the future.
Anybody interested in journalism, creative writing or research based jobs in the future would have found an opportunity like this extremely beneficial. I am very grateful to have been able to go down to somewhere as amazing as Notting Hill in London to gain experience in something that I enjoy.
Ross's blog can be viewed at: http://www.theday.co.uk/blog
Charity Experience in Morocco
We were delighted to get this great report from a current student about her recent trip to Morocco with the Care and Community with French project with ProjectsAbroad
Volunteering Experience 2012 – Morocco
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
- Lao-tzu
Firstly I feel it’s necessary to thank the Thomas Deacon Academy for the support in being able to take this first step.
The opportunity to volunteer in Morocco for two weeks last Summer has definitely changed my life in ways I could never imagine. Where to begin...
I took part in the Care and Community with French project with ProjectsAbroad. A specialised programme for 16-19 year olds allowed young people from around the world to volunteer in two centres near the capital of Morocco. The other volunteers, all 16 or 17 years old, came from a range of different areas; as well as the UK; volunteers came from the US, Spain and France.
The two centres are called AMESIP and ANOUR both located in the less developed area of Salé.
AMESIP (association marocaine d'aide aux enfants en situation précaire) is a Moroccan organisation which helps children of all ages who are in precarious situations. The children I worked with had been victims of awful circumstances such as rape, abuse, homelessness and poverty. However, it shocked me to see such bright, beautiful smiles on their faces all day. I knew from the moment I spoke to the children, that I would never forget their smiles and laughter. We spent afternoons under the hot, African sun playing Basketball and Football. When the Adhaan, the Muslim call to prayer was announced from the minarets, the children stopped their games completely and stood in silence, smiles still plastered on their faces. A child volunteered to recite a prayer before the games continued. Other days consisted of singing and playground games. The centre also offered counselling for the children and helped to resolve family issues to make life better for the young people. We worked together as a team, volunteers and some of the older children alike, cleaning up a vast wasteland next to the centre to make space for an area where the children can play. It was a truly humbling experience to be on my hands and knees picking up glass and litter and watering barren land for plants to grow. The children were enthusiastically helping and didn’t complain once.
ANOUR which means ‘light’ in Arabic is a centre for the disabled. The centre aims to integrate the disabled in the local community and offer physiotherapy as well as counselling and generally a safe atmosphere where they can be happy. We painted a mural after clearing up another wasteland next to the centre. I designed the mural based on the theme of Unity.
Thomas Deacon Academy vs The Perse School 7-4
Following a celebratory trip to the AMF bowling alley (where Sam Barlow defied the odds to come out as winner with a huge 188) TDA played their last game of the season versus a strong Perse School team, in a somewhat exhibition match. The biggest crowd seen at the astro this year assembled to watch the match and the boys didn’t disappoint.
TDA started brightly and looked menacing going forward. TDA camped in the Perse’s half, trying to force an early goal. However, it was the Perse who struck first, after a counter attack found Nathan Stephenson exposed to the Perse forward. Against the run of play, Perse had taken the lead, and only 2 minutes later, Ben Newman righted the scoreline with a chip over the sprawling Perse keeper. With the score 1-1, TDA tightened up at the back, keeping good possession. A short corner awarded to TDA, which allowed Marcus Howard to dispatch a drag flick bottom left to give TDA the lead. Joe Houghton and David Fisher made some last minute tackles to save TDA, and a superb tackle from Fisher followed by a long distance pass to Newman gave Ben the chance to double his tally, which he did with a reverse shot that fizzed into the corner. However, on the stroke of half time, Perse won a short corner, which they dispatched powerfully, closing TDA’s lead to just 1 goal.
After the half time break, TDA hit Perse hard, with flowing, attacking hockey. Nathan Foad collecting the ball after a fantastic passing move led to him clinically placing it into the corner to make the score 4-2. Ben Newman completed his hat-trick with a cheeky deflection over the Perse keeper from Sam Barlow’s pass to give TDA a 3 goal lead. The Perse responded, showing their usefulness as a side, isolating Stephenson after a string of fantastic saves, which eventually led to them turning in the ball for a goal. With the score at 5-3, TDA’s hockey started to flow even further and a surging run from Marcus Howard opened up a gap to run into, making it into the D, he slotted it past the keeper. But Perse weren’t content to let TDA storm to victory, battling through the defence to pass it around the advancing keeper, making the score 6-4. However, it was Chris Pepper who finished off the game with a pin point accurate flick into the bottom corner following a short corner. 7-4 reflected TDA’s dominance going forward, where they opened up gaps throughout the whole pitch all game.
This was the last game for many of the TDA players that have been so successful this year. For Nathan Stephenson, Matt Porter, Jordan Heald, Nathan Foad, Joe Houghton and Alex Vardaro hockey at TDA is over, but it has been fantastic! For everyone else, good luck for next year! Thank you for all of the support from the brilliant coach Mike Yeoman, Manager Mr. Meadows, Mr. Hinch and from the school who allowed the success to keep on going over both this year and before.
Current Student Interviewed by the BBC!
Current Sixth Form Student, Junaid Ahmed, was interviewed on the BBC Asian Network on Tuesday 6th March.
The interview was around the subject of Muslims taking up modelling as a career.
You can hear the interview at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cz84b
Junaid says:
“The Evening Telegraph Peterborough contacted me about my modelling success with the work I’ve completed in commercials and photo shoots, and featured me in a whole page interview on the success I had. Since the release of the Evening Telegraph, I was contacted by a TV Show called the Sporah Show who also wanted to interview me about my success in the modelling industry and what’s next in my life. After the release of the show which aired on Sky TV, I was contacted by BBC Asian Network and BBC Cambridgeshire. The radio interview focussed on the reaction I’ve had from my peers about my success and my future plans. I’m currently in talks with TV Producers of a Soap programme so very exciting things coming up.”
The 1st XV rugby team visited Leicester for the day on Saturday to play South Leicester Rugby Club Colts team. They then watched Leicester Tigers in the afternoon.
Overall it was a good day for staff and students and a good closure to the most successful season in Thomas Deacon Academy history.
The boys conducted themselves extremely well on and off the field, looked very smart in their new kit and were a credit to the Academy.
Match Result:
The boys pulled out the season’s best performance which resulted in a fantastic 29-5 win.
Try scorers: Adam Kimber x2, George Stuffins, Curtis Mason and Joe Andresen.
Conversions: Joe Andresen x 2
Man of the Match: There were stand out performances in the forwards and backs but man of the match, voted for by the team was Adam Kimber.