Dartmouth Academy Sixth Form firemen inspire others

Two Dartmouth Academy Sixth Form students who hope to become fully-fledged firemen soon, have been inspiring others in special presentations.

Callum Beardsley and Michael Greeley, both 17, have been part of the “999 Cadets” in Totnes for the last four years, and have both been inspired to apply to become fire fighters at their local station.

The pair have so impressed Dartmouth Academy Vice Principal Nick Bowles and Sixth Form teacher Mandy Piggott that they asked them to make presentations to other children at the Academy describing the life of firemen and how they save lives every day.

The pair jumped at the chance and gave a number of presentations to children from across the all-through Academy last week.

“We talked to the children about the fire service, the equipment it uses and safety tips around the home,” said Callum. “I really enjoyed it, it is great experience.”

“The presentations went down well,” said Michael. “We got a lot of questions afterwards, so I think we made a good impression. I think it’s a great thing to try and help children of all ages understand the role of the fire service and the importance of fire safety at home.”

Mr Bowles said: “These are two young men who are really impressive in their dedication and hard work ethic. The fact that two students are doing so much for their community and are prepared to put themselves in harms way for others made a big impression on those who heard them speak this week. I’m very proud of them and am delighted at how well their presentations have gone.”

Dartmouth Academy’s Sports Leaders create winning indoor Athletics event for young school children

Pupils from Dartmouth Academy, St John the Baptist RC Primary, Blackawton Primary and Stoke Fleming Primary with the Sports Leaders at the back before the Athletics event began.

Dartmouth Academy’s team of ‘Sports Leaders’ has created an exciting and successful indoor athletics event for local primary schools.

The event, held in Dartmouth Leisure Centre on Thursday January 17, saw the Dartmouth Academy, Stoke Fleming Primary, St John the Baptist Primary School, Dartmouth and Blackawton School children competing in a number of different sports events.

The children all got to try at least one track and field event at the day, and the results were very close right up until the end.

The Sports Leaders were on hand to measure the efforts of the children, look out for their safety and collect all the results together. They had taken on a large amount of the organisation of the event and did their teachers proud.

The ‘Leaders’ are a group of young people who applied for the roles, as part of a special scheme set up by the Academy’s sports department. The idea behind it is that older students teach younger children sports at least once a week, and take on positions of responsibility in the Academy’s sports events.

The results were so close it required a recount – but Stoke Fleming was proclaimed victorious with Dartmouth Academy a close second.

The Sports Leaders scheme has been very successful since it was launched in 2011, and Academy sports teacher Luke Clement said he felt the young people did very well at the indoor athletics event.

“It was a great day, and the Sports Leaders did exceptionally,” he said. “Every child from every school gave their all and their parents and teachers can be very proud of them. The Sports Leaders scheme has been brilliant, with these young people taking on a large amount of responsibility, working hard outside of lesson time, and they are learning many new skills that will help them as learners and in their future careers. Well done to them all.”