1 Issue No 29/2015-2016

Thetford Grammar School

The small, friendly school that gets results for individuals.

20th May 2016

Dear Pupils and Parents,

A respectful hush has fallen across great swathes of the school for many hours at a time as

many pupils and students are now formally engaged in public examinations. This will

continue now until the end of June. Good luck to all candidates over the coming days and

weeks.

Over the weekend many of our youngsters in the Senior School enjoyed their qualifying

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award in South Suffolk. This is a physically demanding

adventurous journey that requires teamwork, leadership, planning and perseverance. Many

thanks to Mr Stuart Simpson, DofE Supervisor, Mrs Alison Alecock, Head of Girls’ Games,

and Miss Karen Humphrey, DofE Assessor, for accompanying and supporting all pupils to

achieve a very successful outcome.

Year 9 and 10 pupils, escorted by Mr Maringue, Head of French, and Miss Daniella

Dunsmore, RS Subject Leader, departed on Tuesday for their annual French Exchange to

Compiègne in northern France. The children have arrived safely and are enjoying many

aspects of French culture, language and cuisine. We shall look forward to their safe return

next week.

On Thursday, Preparatory School pupils and staff provided a very warm welcome to a

number of prospective pupils and their parents for our TGS Open Morning. Many of the

new parents commented very positively on our school and our very able pupil guides in

Year 6. My appreciation is extended to all teachers and to Mrs Peace, Head of Prep School,

for coordinating the event.

Over this week and last week, ten members

of staff from across the school phases

successfully underwent ‘First Aid at School

training’ provided by St John’s Ambulance

here at Thetford Grammar School. As you

can see from the photo, we learnt a great

deal and refreshed our knowledge on many

practical and theoretical aspects that are

important for our school community. Can

you identify any member of TGS staff?

I do wish you and your families a happy and restful weekend. Good luck with the revision.

Mr Mark S. Bedford

Headmaster

2 Issue No 29/2015-2016

OVERVIEW

PSA Meeting Pre-Prep Reading Club

UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge Y6 DT

Bronze Qualifying Expedition Nearly New Uniform Shop Opening Times

Ardèche 2017 Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers

Pre-Prep Caterpillars - Butterflies Congratulations

Towels for Seals Match Results

Lidice Children’s Art Competition Next Week’s Fixtures

Lessons in Kindness Lost Property

Non-Uniform Day Attachments

Flu Vaccinations Y1-3 Forthcoming letters/Letters sent home

Y2 DT

PSA MEETING

We are holding a PSA meeting on Thursday 26th May at 4.15pm. We

will be discussing the plans for the forthcoming Summer Fayre so

please come along and give your support.

All parents are welcome and if you are able to help on the day – Saturday 2nd July - we

would be very grateful.

Mrs Elaine Brooks

PSA Secretary

UKMT INTERMEDIATE MATHEMATICAL CHALLENGE

Almost 44 pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 took part in the Intermediate

challenge this year. Over 200,000 pupils from across the UK participated.

Of these only 6% were awarded the Gold certificate, the next 13% Silver

and the next 21% Bronze. This means only the top 40% of pupils in the UK

qualified for certificates.

23 of our pupils have been awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze certificates. One of our pupils,

Stefan Richer, qualified for the next round, called the Grey Kangaroo. Congratulations to all

of our pupils who participated.

Mrs Tania Beukes

Head of Mathematics

3 Issue No 29/2015-2016

BRONZE QUALIFYING EXPEDITION

The expedition took place over last weekend in South Suffolk

with some very pleasant weather conditions.

Day 1: groups started at Felsham and navigated South

through a maze of footpaths to the campsite at Edwardstone.

A few minor navigational errors from 2 of the 3 groups

extended their venture but all arrived safely.

The next day saw all

groups travel to the finish point at Long Melford, where

our Assessor, Miss Humphrey, was pleased to

announce that they had all successfully fulfilled the 20

conditions required to pass the expedition. We returned

to TGS tired but pleased to have achieved a demanding

expedition.

Mr Stuart Simpson,

DofE Co-ordinator

ARDECHE 2017

There are still places available on the Ardèche 2017 trip

for our current Y8 – 9 pupils. The trip, from the 10th –

18th July 2017, involves travelling to the Ardèche River

by coach. The pupils then descend this extraordinary

river in two person canoes, negotiating rapids and

taking part in group activities along the way. We then

spend a day at Aqualand

waterpark before setting off

to the South of France, where

the pupils will take part in a wide range of activities, including

sailing, windsurfing and snorkelling.

If you would like any more information regarding the trip please

contact the office on 01842 752840.

Mr Mark Foreman

Trip Organiser

4 Issue No 29/2015-2016

PRE-PREP

CATERPILLARS TO BUTTERFLIES

When asked the name of their

favourite insect or bug, the butterfly

was the most popular with Pre-Prep

pupils. They’re beautiful, gentle bugs, and their metamorphosis

is simply spectacular. Over the last couple of weeks pupils in Pre-Prep have been observing

the amazing life cycle of the ‘Painted Lady Butterflies’.

Our little caterpillar friends arrived by post and after a week the

caterpillars had filled themselves up on the nutritious food they

needed to grow ready to turn into

chrysalides.

The pupils waited eagerly over the

following week for the ‘Painted Lady

Butterflies’ to emerge. After a few days of

love and care from the Pre-Prep pupils the

butterflies were ready to be released into

the rose garden of Thetford Grammar

School. This true wonder was a life lasting

lesson that brought smiles to all pupils’ faces!

Miss Julie Blakemore

Pre-Prep Class Teacher

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S ART COMPETITION,

LIDICE

Ben Trowell and Elliott Sanders have both been given

honourable mentions for their artwork which was

submitted to the competition earlier this year. Up to 20,000

children from across

the world enter the

competition so to

achieve this award is a fantastic achievement. The theme

this year was ‘School? Education!’

5 Issue No 29/2015-2016

Tying in nicely with Lidice, Mr Spencer will be awarded

the Commemorative Medal of the Lidice Memorial on

June 11th in the Czech Republic for his ten years of work

with the village, which was destroyed by the Nazis in

1942. Over the years he has organized trips for pupils,

translated pages from their memorial website into

English and raised awareness of the Arts Competition as

mentioned above. Mr Spencer said he was humbled by

the award. ‘It’s a big surprise and a proud moment. I

have done this work to educate children in the bigger

sense of the word; to show them something outside their normal lessons and curriculum.’

Mrs Cathie Reynolds

School Secretary

LESSONS IN KINDNESS

Following on from the story told by Mrs Elders in our whole

school assembly today, pupils in Y4 and Y5 spent time

discussing simple ways in which they could show kindness to

others.

Oscar Foreman said ‘You can make a difference by listening to

somebody.’

Albert Ballard suggested that ‘You can make a difference by

making sure that everyone is included.’

Henry Elmer said ‘Be nice to another person because everyone

is equal.’

The children thought very carefully about ways in which to be

kind and how to make a difference to someone’s day. May the

thoughts remain with them!

Mrs Nicki Peace

Head of Prep School

6 Issue No 29/2015-2016

NON-UNIFORM DAY

Thank you for coming into school today in non-uniform and donating your money to our

Sponsored Child, Jesca. At the first count we have raised in excess of £200 which is brilliant.

Miss Daniella Dunsmore

Head of Charities

FLU VACCINATIONS Y1-Y3

In 2015/2016 the influenza vaccination was offered to children in school Y1 and Y2 in

Primary Schools in England. This year the vaccine will be offered to Y1 and Y2 and will be

extended to include children in Year 3. Consent forms will be sent out at the beginning of

the Autumn term.

Mrs Cathie Reynolds

School Secretary

YEAR 2 DT

This term we are making ‘Moving Monsters’ and we have

started to investigate different parts of the body that could move

using a pneumatic system.

This week we concentrated on making a tongue that would

uncurl when air was blown into

it.

We used a thin plastic coated

paper and rolled and glued this

into a cylinder. This cylinder was then curled up and

attached to the end of a plastic tube using an elastic band.

The fun part was blowing it up and watching it uncurl!

Miss Kim Fitch

Prep School Teaching Assistant

PRE-PREP READING CLUB

Developing a love for reading in children lays the

groundwork for reading success in the future and extends

their imagination through different stories heard. Adhering

7 Issue No 29/2015-2016

to this Ryan Bourne and Cassidy Goodwin from Y6 came up with an impressive proposal of a

‘Reading Club’ which they requested takes place once a week. Every Thursday Pre-Prep pupils

are treated to stories which are read by pupils in Y6. Miss Blakemore and I were thoroughly

impressed by Ryan and Cassidy’s enthusiasm for the younger pupils of the school; what a great

way to enhance pupils’ communication, language and literacy skills.

Miss Franchesca Atkins

Pre-Prep Teaching Assistant

TOWELS FOR SEALS

A big thank you to one of our Y10 parents Ms Clark who very kindly

delivered a bag of towels, donated by generous parents, to the East

Winch Wildlife Centre for the seals on the Norfolk Coast. It was very

much appreciated.

Mrs Cathie Reynolds

School Secretary

YEAR 6 DT

Y6 are concentrating on Food Technology this term and we are

looking at ‘Smoothies’. First we discussed the origin of

smoothies, and then we looked at the ingredients that go into a

smoothie.

This week the children tasted a

variety of flavours from different manufacturers. This

provoked a number of different reactions from positive to

negative.

Mrs Renate Dimminger

Year 6 Teacher

NEARLY NEW UNIFORM SHOP OPENING TIMES

We now have a fairly extensive range of uniform in the Nearly New Uniform

shop ranging from Blazers to PE kit being sold for up to half the

recommended selling price. If there is any uniform you need to replace then

come in and have a look. The shop will be open on Monday and Wednesday

afternoons from 3.45pm – 4.15pm manned by volunteers. If you feel you

8 Issue No 29/2015-2016

could spare some time to help in the shop it would be very much appreciated.

Also if you have any unwanted uniform in good condition that you would like to sell on a

50/50 basis then please hand it in to me in the office and I will put it up for sale in the shop.

You can contact me on 01842 752840 or by email scsec@thetgram.norfolk.sch.uk

Cathie Reynolds

School Secretary

SAINSBURY’S ACTIVE KIDS VOUCHERS

Sainsbury’s have now stopped giving out the vouchers but we are still able to accept them in

the office until the end of term so please continue to send them in if you have any.

Last year we received some new sports equipment, games and cooking equipment for the

children to use during their break, lunchtimes and cookery lessons. Thank you for your

support in this venture.

Mrs Issy Cracknell

Prep School Secretary

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all the pupils who have been awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze certificates

in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge.

The Bronze Award went to Alex Ackerman, Laurie Hyde-Parker, Emily Neary, Henry

Bittleston, Eleanor Dickens, Max Elders, Kudzi Garikayi, Brynmor Jenkins, Clarissa

Katsikides and Angus Russell.

The Silver Award went to Max Albury, Jemimah Bedford, Jack Bercovici, Owen Bradfield,

Liam Dargan, Tomàs Morgan, Will Pollard, Stefan Richer, James Sibley, Chloë Sorrell

and Jacob Wright.

The Gold Award went to Matthew Ruddy.

Additional Awards went to Matthew Ruddy – Best in School and Year, Stefan Richer – Best

in Year and qualification for the next round the Grey Kangaroo and Jacob Wright – Best in

Year.

Congratulations to the following pupils who received certificates from Mrs Peace in Monday

morning’s Preparatory School assembly.

Sophie Codd Sam Sidery Tom Hayden

Maia Foreman Max Ladell Cathy

Elliot Bedford Cassidy Goodwin Arlo Greenwood

9 Issue No 29/2015-2016

The following pupils were awarded certificates in assembly this morning:

George Hammond MEP participation certificate

Jacob Dunn MEP participation certificate

George Rupp MEP participation certificate

Sam Bercovici Grade 1 Piano with Merit

Well done to Alana Wilson who was presented with a Gold medal for achieving first place

in the U15 Girls Shot Putt at the Suffolk County Athletics on Sunday 15th May.

MATCH RESULTS

Friday 13th May U11 Rounders v Downham Prep Lost 13 – 17 ½

U11 Kwik Cricket v Downham Prep Won 229 - 218

NEXT WEEK’S FIXTURES

Wednesday 25th May U12 & U13 Rounders v Finborough (A) 2.30pm. Pick up 4.30pm.

U13 Cricket v Glebe House (H) 1.00pm. Pick up 5.00pm.

Friday 27th May U11 Rounders v Downham Prep (A) 2.00pm. Pick up 4.15pm.

U9/10 Kwik Cricket v Downham Prep (A) 2.00pm. Pick up 4.15pm.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Monday 23rd May Y11 Study Leave begins

A Level Drama Exam Performance 6.00pm WH

Tuesday 24th May A Level Art/Photography Exam

Wednesday 25th May A Level Art/Photography Exam

Y10 Dual Science Exam

Thursday 26th May A Level Art/Photography Exam

PSA Meeting 4.15pm

Friday 27th May Y13 Leavers’ Day

Y11 Leavers’ Celebration Afternoon

Last day of half term

Monday 6th June Back to school

Tuesday 7th June Art/DT Exhibition private view 4.00pm-7.00pm

Y6 visit to Duxford

Y10 Music Controlled Assessment

Wednesday 8th June Art/Dt Exhibition WH all day until 5pm

Thursday 9th June Pre-Prep Teddy Bears’ Picnic 10.15am -12.00pm

10 Issue No 29/2015-2016

LOST PROPERTY

Aria MacFarlane-Kubota Y8 V neck school jumper – named

Harry Lyes Y2 Blazer - named

ATTACHMENTS

None

FORTHCOMING LETTERS/LETTERS SENT HOME

Y4/5 Tudor Visit to Kentwell Hall, Long Melford

Y6 History Visit to IWM, Duxford

If you would like a printed copy of this newsletter please contact the office