EF Academy Torbay – A walk around at clubs time

Students at Torbay are learning all manner of skills that many of them would never have expected to have been involved in but which may add real value to their lives. Clubs at Torbay are not just about having fun they are about being able to develop interests and skills that will remain part of their lives and in some cases may just be their passion or even their careers. This is a snap shot of a clubs night in Torbay.

Photography, or click club, is held twice a week now because the attendance was so high and because everyone got so involved in the longer projects that the teacher sets. The club is run by a professional photographer but to the surprise of many it’s not necessarily about learning what a lens is or how the camera works. We of course learn about this but we are set projects each week and are often sent off around school or the local area with a brief to complete. Projects have included ‘mini me’, portraits, light and shade. All of this will culminate in a photography exhibition which will be held before the Christmas break

Torbay has always had a strong connection to music and we have great student bands that have performed at a number of whole school events. We are now able to produce our own music and we have help from a professional music producer and some fantastic equipment. This is much more difficult that we imagined but it’s a fascinating process to be involved in with great rewards when you hear the end result. Our aim is to put together 3 songs with multiple instruments to produce them, record them and to put them onto CD for sale in the school.

In all of the clubs we have in school we are learning valuable skills and developing real passions and interests and this is what really makes us individuals and it can add real value to our university applications.