Aim, Believe, Achieve

Diary Dates

4th January

PD Day

7th January

Spring Term Commences

15th January

Yr 10 Careers Speed

Dating

16th January

Yr 8 Duxford Trip

22nd January

Yr10/Yr11Parents revision

morning

18th – 22nd February

Half Term

28th February

Year 11 Parents Evening

7th March

Year 9 Parents Evening

13th – 15th March

Auschwitz trip

21st March

Year 8 Options Evening

1st – 5th April

Work Experience

5th April

Last Day of term

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

It has been a long term and with the dark mornings and

evenings we are all ready for a well-deserved break! The end

of term sees the celebrations of our students successes in our

Learning Award Assemblies. It is so nice to have parents and

carers join us for these occasions to see their children receiving

their awards. Last week we had Year 10 and 11 assemblies and

this week we have Years 7-9. We held our Year 7 assembly at

St Peters Church which has really put us into the festive spirit.

On Thursday 13 December Mr Willgress hosted the annual

Sports Awards. It was a spectacular evening enjoyed by all

and you can read more about the evening in the newsletter.

Academic checks for all year groups have now gone home

with the students, you can also view your child’s Academic

Check on Go 4 Schools, together with details on their

academic achievement, home learning, attendance and

behaviour. If you have any issues accessing this please

contact us.

Our Year 11 students have been focussing on their GCSE’s and

will be sitting a full set of mock exams in January in preparation

for Summer. We are fortunate to have Miss Alexander, Careers

Advisor, working with the students to support them in their

future academic and career choices. At the end of November

they participated in mock interviews and our interviewers were

very impressed with the way our students handled themselves,

showing real direction and maturity.

At the end of this term we sadly say goodbye to two members

of staff - Mr Carnaby and Miss Irvine-Bird. We wish them both

luck in their new ventures!

On behalf of the staff, Governors and Sabres Trust may I wish

you all a Merry Christmas and New Year and we look forward

to seeing all the students on Monday 7 January 2019 for the

start of the Spring Term.

Kindest regards

Jon Winn, Acting Principal

IES Breckland Newsletter

2018 December

For the second year running the IES Breckland Singers have performed as part of the Christmas Fayre

celebrations in Brandon. Wrapped up warm and cosy, the singers took to the small stage

immediately following the switching-on of the Christmas lights. Holly-Marie, Ellen, Ellie, Lexie-Mae,

Abigail, Aeryn, Freya and Toran sounded wonderful together, accompanied by Mr Gedge on the

guitar. Performing outdoors is never easy, and the Shoestring sound engineer Graeme did his best to

make the students heard over the festive excitement. Well done to our small-but-perfectly-elite choir,

they did themselves proud once again!

Mr Gedge - Music and Performing Arts

Finance Update

As from 25 October 2018 IES Breckland has been cashless.

All payments need to be made on ParentPay.

No cash payments will be accepted.

If you require a ParentPay activation letter please email

finance@breckland.iesschools.co.uk

Once your ParentPay account has been activated you can pay on

ParentPay via credit/debit card or alternatively we can print you a Paypoint

letter which you can take to a local PayPoint shop and pay with cash.

If you have any queries relating to this please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you to everyone that has already activated their ParentPay accounts.

Thank you to everyone who helped support the school with the Year 11 mock interviews. The

event was very successful and it will help the students for when they have an interview in the

future. We would just like to say thank you to the following people who attended –

Andy Woodcock

Clive Johnson

Dawn Lewis-Samuels

Jed Brooke-Williams

James Fitzgerald

Darian Vomund

Mock Interviews

Children In Need

A big thank you to

everyone who

helped raise

money towards

Children in Need.

The school

managed to raise

over £500!!

Before School

Students are not to be on site

before 8am. Breakfast club

will begin at 8am. Due to

safeguarding, students do not

need to be here any earlier

as staff supervision duties do not start until 8am.

Christmas Fayre

Shalini Narayan

Belmiro Mungongo

George Pitt

Tony Amis

Rick Bhatt

IES Remembrance Day

The school dinners at IES Breckland are prepared daily with fresh ingredients sourced locally,

where possible. Our caterers, Vertas, ensure that all of our meals are healthy, enticing and

provide a wide range of options suitable for all requirements.

Your child may be able to eat ‘on the house’! You could be saving about £11 per week. That’s

around £400 over the school year and £2,000 over 5 years!!

At IES Breckland, we are committed to working with Students 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 Students 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 a form whether they wish to eat ‘on

the house’ or not.

Your child will be eligible if you receive any of the following:

Income Support (IS)

Employment and Support Allowance (income related)

Child Tax Credit (without Working Tax Credit) and an annual income (as assessed by HM

Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190

Income based Jobseeker’s Allowance (IBJSA)

Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit

Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

You can apply for free school meals online from the Suffolk County Council Website, if you go

to https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-

and-trips/apply-for-free-school-meals

At IES Breckland we commemorated the Centenary of the end of WW1 on Friday 9th

November with a series of activities in school to help remember those who fought and died in

conflict. In Mentor students explored in depth a new word that is connected to remembrance,

by looking at where it comes from, what it means and the synonyms and antonyms it has. In

lessons all day there was a remembrance theme across all subject areas, where students were

immersed in an integrated focus for their education on this day. At 11 am all staff and students

engaged in a 2 minute silence to allow students to reflect fully on the sacrifices made, and

during the final lesson of the day all Year 7 and 8 students were immersed in a hour long

Remembrance event ranging from Poetry readings, looking at Brandon in WW1 and the laying

of student made poppies. IES Breckland remembers the sacrifices made by those of the past

and present to protect the future.

Free School Meals

PE Update

GCSE certificates are now ready to be

collected from reception. If you are unable

to collect these yourself then please send in

written permission with the person who is

collecting them on your behalf.

The School Car Park can get very congested at the start and end of the day. Parents and carers

are reminded that students are not to be picked up in the car park, this includes picking up from

afterschool clubs or detentions.

Thank you for your cooperation

Parking

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from

all of us in Science.

Here are some of the things we have done in

Science Club (Monday lunchtime Lab 2) and

Imagineering Club (Friday lunchtime Lab 1) If

you would like to come along to enjoy the fun

see Mrs Bannister for more information.

GCSE Certificates

If your child signs up to the late bus please be

aware that this sometimes runs later than

expected due to ongoing road works in

Norfolk and Suffolk. If you have any concerns

please contact Mrs Ashley at the school.

Late Bus

Merry Christmas from the Science Department

Football Having won the league, the Year 7 and 8 team look to progress further in the Suffolk FA

Schools Cup. They won the first against Ormiston Sudbury 8-1 and we hosted Westley Middle

School in the second round. This was the biggest test for this team so far. The U13 team

found themselves 2-0 down (conceding two penalties) early on in the first half. In the

second half the boys came back and won 3-2. The game was a fantastic, classic cup

match. We look forward to who we get in round 3.

Rugby Year 7 and Year 9 Rugby teams have recently attended their first Rugby event, playing 6

games against other schools from the local area. For some, this was their first ever

competitive game of rugby. The boys played some lovely Rugby at times, implementing all

the skills and techniques learnt during lessons, into a game situation. There will be more

tournaments coming up soon for all year groups.

PE Update

PE Update

Netball Miss Keel and Miss Rumsey took a group of 14 students to watch England V Uganda Vitality

Netball at the Copper Box London, on Friday 30 November. The trip was a complete

success with the students watching England beat Uganda 66 – 37. The students after the

game had the chance to get autographs and photos before departing back to school.

PE Kit Update: We would like to thank everyone for their patience with the ordering process of the new PE

kit. We understand the frustration shared by some with the delivery times, we did not expect

such a high volume of orders from students that the kit had not been made compulsory to.

As all Year 7 and 9 students now have their kit, we would like to open the opportunity for any

year group to order the kit, if you wish. To order the new kit, please follow the instructions

below:

Year 7, 8 and non-GCSE PE students to order Aqua Blue and shorts

GCSE PE students to order Purple and shorts.

*Please be aware that branded shorts are compulsory with the new kit.

On Thursday 13 December, we hosted the second Sports Awards Dinner. The dinner is aimed

at celebrating all the sporting success in 2018. There were 15 awards that students were

nominated for. These awards are most dedicated to sport male/female; unsung hero

male/female; most improved male/female; volunteer of the year male/female; sports team

of the year; the WORLDCLASS award; and year 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 sports personality of year.

Students were firstly nominated for the above awards, receiving certificates via their mentor.

From the nominations winning students, for each award, were chosen with a letter being

sent home informing parents and carers of the decision. All winners were invited, with their

parents, to attend the dinner.

The winners of the awards are as follows:

Most dedicated to sport – male was won by Will M.

Most dedicated to sport – female was won by Freya B.

Unsung hero of the year – male was won by Josh G.

Unsung hero of the year – female was won by Eli D.

Most improved student 2018 – male was won by Connor B.

Most improved student 2018 – female was won by Rebecca D.

Volunteer of the year – male was won by Owen M.

Volunteer of the year – female was won by Beth L.

Sports team of the year – was won by the U13 Football Team.

Sports personality of the year (7) – was won by Oliver L.

Unsung hero of the year – male was won by Josh G.

Unsung hero of the year – female was won by Eli D

Sports personality of the year (8) – was won by Bobby B.

Sports personality of the year (9) – was won by Sophie W.

Sports personality of the year (10) – was won by Charlotte A.

Sports personality of the year (11) – was won by Rosie H.

The WORLDCLASS award – was won by Jed M.

With the dinner being such a success, we look forward to all seeing all the sport success in 2019.

Sports Awards

The setting was perfect: brooding skies, heavy rain and a chill wind creeping amongst us. It was

time for twenty Year 10s and Year 11s to visit Norwich’s Theatre Royal to see the National

Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.

Part of the GCSE Drama course requires that pupils write a review of a theatre performance

and this was an interesting interpretation for the pupils to watch and evaluate. The production

was a popular choice: almost all of the audience was schools.

The production used the traditional setting of the play, in the hills and castles of eleventh century

Scotland, and used many props which Shakespeare would have employed, but had the cast

dressed in modern attire, including jeans and bomber jackets. The King’s attire was particularly

striking: vivid scarlet in order to signify his status and superiority. This interpretation also saw some

of the roles previously designated as male characters, such Fleance and Macduff’s son, now

being transformed into female roles, giving the play a more gender-balanced twist.

The students saw the relevance of Shakespeare in our modern world. Despite the speed of

modern life with all of its technology, science and education, we are still the same human

characters that Shakespeare was writing about. We still love and hate, cry and fight, just as

people did in the sixteenth century and further back into the depths of time.

The afternoon was a great success with our students brilliantly behaved, a credit to IES

Breckland. The return journey was full of animated discussions about the production’s cast and

staging, all crucial for developing their evaluation skills for their GCSE Drama course. The school’s

thanks go to Ms. Saunders for organising the trip, to Mrs. Leech and Mr. Allen, a supportive

grandfather, who accompanied Miss Myers-Hall, giving up their evenings to do so.

Macbeth Trip

Student Welfare

Christmas Collection for the Homeless

Thank you to Molly in Year 11 who has made the star for our Christmas tree. Molly has

personalised the star and we hope to use it for many years to come.

Thank you so much for the recent donation of clothing and toiletries you recently brought into

Jimmy’s. It is so generous of you and your support to us is so appreciated.

With Christmas coming, your donation is more important than ever. Coupled with the colder

weather, Christmas can be a real strain on our guests both emotionally and physically. As

Jimmy’s we aim to provide a homely and festive Christmas for those who are with us at this

time. Your donation goes a long way to helping that happen and provide our guests with

support, kindness and understanding over the winter and festive seasons.

These challenges would not be overcome without your kindness and donations and we will

ensure that your donation goes towards a significant improvement to the fortunes of the

homeless community in Cambridge. Thank you once again.

With all good festive wishes.

Sara Dunn

For Jimmy’s Cambridge

A massive thank you to all who contributed to the Homeless Christmas appeal this year. With

your help we have collected a range of items from sleeping bags and winter boots to

shampoos and toothbrushes. The distribution of goods has already started and this year will be

covering Thetford, Cambridge and Norwich which is incredible! These small things really do

make a difference.

Students from all Houses made such great contributions:

1st Sinclair

2nd Edison 4th Branson

We have received the following message of thanks:

IES Breckland Christmas Tree

Year 11 Mock Timetable

Walking and cycling to school is good for children’s health and fitness and we support parents who

encourage their children to exercise as much as possible.

However, we are aware that not all students are observing the following basic road safety procedures:

Crossing the road

(1) Find the safest place to cross

If possible, cross the road at a designated crossing (i.e. zebra crossing)

In the absence of a designated crossing, choose a place where you can see clearly in all

directions, and where drivers can see you

Try to avoid crossing between parked cars and on sharp bends or close to the top of a hill - move

to a space where drivers and riders can see you clearly

There should be space to reach the pavement on the other side

(2) Stop just before you get to the kerb

Do not get too close to the traffic - if there is no pavement, keep back from the edge of the road

but make sure you can still see approaching traffic

Give yourself lots of time to have a good look all around

(3) Look all around for traffic and listen

Look all around for traffic and listen

Look in every direction

Listen carefully because you can sometimes hear traffic before you can see it

(4) If traffic is coming, let it pass

Look all around again and listen

Do not cross until there is a safe gap in the traffic and you are certain that there is plenty of time

Remember, even if traffic is a long way off, it may be approaching very quickly

(5) When it is safe, go straight across the road – do not run

Keep looking and listening for traffic while you cross, in case there is any traffic you did not see, or

in case other traffic appears suddenly

Look out for cyclists and motorcyclists traveling between lanes of traffic

Do not cross diagonally

Crossing between parked cars

Try not to cross between parked cars, but if there is nowhere else to cross:

Choose a place where there is a space between two cars and make sure that it is easy to get to

the pavement on the other side of the road

Make sure neither car is about to move off – look for drivers in the cars, lights and listen for engines

Don’t cross near large vehicles

You could be standing in a blind spot, where the driver cannot see you

Walk to the outside edge of the cars and stop - here you can be seen by drivers and you can look

all around for traffic

When the road is clear, cross, still looking and listening as you go

The basics of cycling safety

Be seen in the dark – wear a high visibility jacket and fix lights to your cycle

Wear a cycle helmet – although this is not law, it is certainly good practice and could save your life

Look behind before you turn, overtake or stop

Use arm signals before you turn right or left

Obey traffic lights and road signs

Do not ride on the pavement unless there is a sign saying that you can

On busy or narrow roads do not cycle next to another person

When overtaking parked cars, watch out for car doors opening suddenly

Do not listen to a personal stereo while cycling

Road Safety

IES Breckland - Crown Street – Brandon Suffolk - IP27 0PE

Telephone: 01842 819501

E: office@breckland.iesschools.co.uk, W: http://breckland.iesschools.co.uk/