IES Breckland Newsletter 2018 February Diary Dates Half term 12 16 February Year 11 History Trip 19 February SENCO Surgery 21 February Year 8 Parents Evening 22 February KS4 Battlefields trip 8-9 March Year 8 Options Evening 15 March Year 10 Work Experience 23 29 March Easter Holidays 30 March 13 April KS4 Geography trip 13-16 April PD Day 16 April Start of Summer Term 17 April Year 10 Parents Evening 26 April May Day Bank Holiday 7 May Year 8 Geography Trip 9 May Year 9 Parents Evening 24 April Dear Parents, Carers and Students, We are now half way through the academic year and students and staff are looking forward to a well-deserved half term break. Our year 11 students are focussed on their GCSE s and will be sitting mock examinations after half term. We held a Revision session for parents earlier this term to support their children in years 10 and 11. If you were unable to attend the guidance information is available from our website. Also after half term we have the year 8 parents evening and parents and carers can make online appointments for the 22 February. It is a busy time for our year 8 students as they will start to consider their GCSE options. We are holding an Options Evening on 15 March and our Faculty Heads and teachers will be available to discuss the subjects and specifications of both mandatory and option subjects. This year students will be able to have a Taster Session of the option subjects to give them a greater understanding of the subject to support them in their choices. Year 8 reports went home yesterday to parents and carers and are available to view on Go 4 Schools. As you are aware we had to close the school on 18 January following the very heavy winds. There was no power to the school for several hours and the roads were unpassable in some places. I never take the decision to close the school lightly and in this case it was completely justified. We will keep you informed via our website, Facebook and the Suffolk County Council school closures website page if needed. In January we had a one day Safeguarding inspection from Ofsted. Their findings corroborated that from our September inspection which found Safeguarding effective at IES Breckland. The Inspector was very positive about the Safeguarding culture here at IES Breckland The school is a welcoming place in which people can be themselves. Pupils feel safe. You can read this report from our website on the Ofsted page. Have a restful break and I look forward to welcoming all of the students back to school on 19 February. Kindest regards Mrs Tilbrook, Principal, IES Breckland
Year 11 Prom This year, we will be celebrating our year 11s leaving us and moving onto their post 16 destination at Hockwold Hall, on Friday 29 June. We are very much looking forward to celebrating the evening with all of them. Tickets are on sale now, please see Mrs Dicks for a letter.
CEIAG My name is Ellen Alexander and I am a Level 6 qualified independent Careers Adviser. Every Tuesday I come in to school and see pupils on a 1:1 basis, to discuss their career ideas and help them plan their next steps after Year 11. Recently I have been helping some Year 10 pupils find work experience placements by contacting some local employers on their behalf. If you would like me to see your son or daughter in school please email me at ealexander@beacon-east.co.uk or request an appointment through Miss Mather. Science update Science revision for Y11 is available On Monday or Friday lunchtime and also Wednesday/Thursday after school. We will be having lots of Science week activities from the 8 th to the 16 th March including a Family Science Fair after school on Thursday 8 th March, from 6-8 with a science show and then activities in the Harry Potter, Planet Earth and Not All Scientists Wear White Coats rooms! There will also be a scavenger hunt with prizes. Some local primary schools will be using the planetarium that will be based at IES for a week and our Y7s will also be using this to find out about Space and the Solar System. The planetarium will also be open to students at lunchtime for the w/c 12 th March. In KS3 science students will be completing Science challenges and also Y8 will be completing the squashed tomato challenge! We will also be having some STEM Ambassadors to help us run these activities. Student Focus Year 10 student Tyler recently took part in a relay. Morgan is one of our students who loves to Go Kart. She has put many hours into this sport and has wrote a little bit about what she does - I race junior TKM s at a professional level with 16 year olds. 2017 was my first year in that class and I have achieved the following 11 th out of approximately 40 drivers in my first ever TKM festival making it straight through to the elite final. I raced with the best drivers in Britain. I am Lincolnshire kart race club junior TKM champion 2017 I am also Hunts kart race club junior TKM vice champion 2017 Then this year I will be taking part in Super One which is the British Championship. Well done Morgan!
On Wednesday and Thursday 24 th and 25 th January, five IESB students decorated and sold cupcakes during their social time in the school hall. The event was a huge success and a total of 86.00 was raised. As part of the purchasing process, the students were asked to nominate where they would like there purchase fee to go, IESB or to a chosen charity. By a ratio of 2:1 the charity choice won. The charity chosen by the group was Cancer Research UK. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who donated baking goods and who purchased items on the day, the event was a huge success. Regards Miss Dransfield Student Year 10 student Focus Tyler recently took part in a relay. Tommy is one of our students who loves to box. He puts a lot of hours and hard work into this sport and was recently crowned champion at the National development finals in Birmingham! Congratulations and well done Tommy!
Behaviour and Attendance Community Rewards Assemblies Anrijs
School Uniform Expectations
PE Update Both the Year 8 and Year 10 Athletics teams participated in the Indoor Athletics event at Newmarket Leisure Centre. First time IES Breckland has attended this fixture and both year groups did well and should be very proud of the legacy they have started. Year 7, 8 and 9 rugby teams have all participated in rugby festivals this 1/2 term. Year 8 rugby team were the most successful, winning 6 drawing 2 and losing 1. Year 7s also do very well in winning 5 drawing 2 and losing 2. But all year groups did fantastic. Year 9 GCSE VCERT and GCSE pupils travelled to Loughborough University for the day to learn and understand GCSE content and university life. Firstly the pupils got a tour of the university, show casing the facilities on offer. Pupils then participated in a nutrition lecture, making their own energy drinks. The pupils finished the day off by playing an ultimate frisbee game and carrying out fitness tests.
Student Focus Year 10 student Tyler recently took part in a relay. Well done to Charlie who has passed his Referee course and is now refereeing every Sunday. Last Sunday he was refereeing at Thetford, were I got the chance to watch him. He refereed the game brilliantly, with such maturity. Well done Charlie, keep it up. Extra-Curricular has been very successful this half term. Can we make it even more successful next half term? Remember you get points for when you turn up to each session. Inter-community points currently. Inter community indoor athletics this week ball points goes towards sports day. You can contribute to your totals by just turning up to Extra-Curricular. Please could your son/daughter fill out this very short survey to what they would like to see more of within PE https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/lq8zrpz
In-Touch It is a requirement for all schools to communicate with parents/carers on the first day of a child s absence to establish the reason for the absence. From January 2018, we introduced an automated system (In-Touch) to contact you if your child is marked absent during morning registration (this will not be activated if we have received a phone call from you by 8.40am). Not only does this enable us to establish the reason for the absence, but it will also alert you if your child has not arrived at school. Once the automated service is activated, you will receive a text message from 07860 095391. Please reply to the text message. Car Park Just a reminder to all parents/carers to please park outside the gates when dropping off or collecting students from school. Dinner cards All students must use their dinner cards to purchase food. Dinner money must be put on via cash loader or by ParentPay. Catering are no longer accepting cash at the till. Breakfast Club With the cold weather please come and get a free bowl of porridge from the Breakfast Club. This is available from 7.45am in the Hall. Students can also buy toast, cereal, yoghurt and fruit. Mrs Kidd is also serving hot chocolate shortly too! Free school meals At IES Breckland, we are committed to working with pupils and their families to ensure that they are fully supported in their learning. We recognise that this extends beyond the classroom and we want to make sure that the health, well-being and opportunities for learning for all of our pupils is the best that it can be. One of the ways that we can do this is to make sure that everyone who is eligible for free school meals completes an application, whether they wish to eat on the house or not. You can apply for free school meals online from the Suffolk County Council Website, if you go to www.suffolk.gov.uk. If you do not have access to a suitable device to complete an online form please contact the office for support. ParentPay ParentPay is an ideal way for Parents and Carers to pay online for school lunches, trips and uniform. All parents and carers have been sent login details for the system but if you have any problems or queries regarding ParentPay please call our Finance Officer Miss Jackson. The school no longer accepts cheques. ParentPay is a quick and easy method for all parents and carers to make payments. ParentMail A large proportion of our communications is via ParentMail and this software enables us to email parents and carers with updates including school news, trips, reports and parents evenings. If you have not received a registration email or text it may be because your details have recently changed. Contact the school office to confirm your details and a registration email/text will be issued.