HEADTEACHER’S BLOG

Friday 25 November Two activities are dominating our time at the moment – coursework catch up and 5:1 tutoring sessions for Year 11 students who need them, and observing lessons taught by every member of the teaching staff, which we do three times each year. These activities are part of two of the most important things that we do (along with making sure our students are safe): fighting for every grade for every student in every subject with every resource at our disposal, and making sure that the effectiveness of our teaching remains at an exceptionally high level, and continually improves. These things ask a great deal of our staff, as they give of their time far beyond anything we could demand of them to realise the first, and are held rigorously to account for the quality of their work by the second. I am pleased to say that we have an exceptionally talented and committed group of teachers, who know that the monitoring of their work is a recognition of its importance, and that lesson observations are valuable to them in helping them to do their job even better. I have to say, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to see lessons this week full of inspiration, enjoyment and real, genuine, authentic progress and achievement. As parents, we should never underestimate how fortunate we are to have such a strong teaching team working with and for our children every single day. MAS Bacon Headteacher

Merit Roll of Honour

Yr 7 Zoe Smith

Yr 8 Amie Rosser

Yr 9 Chloe Harris

Yr 10 Connie Norton

Yr 11 Tabitha Hall

Achieve More Belong More Be More

Thurstable

SCHOOL

Newsletter

25 November 2016

Tutor Group Merit Table Week 11 & 12

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

1st AFR TGO RBU MBS/MBR KHU

2nd SPA FWA SCA/CUP KPR LCA

3rd MWB EBO KMC MWA RTH

4th EHA PLA DYU PBI JBE

Tutor Group Attendance Table Week 11 &12

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

1st MWI EBO RHE MBS/MBR KSE

2nd CGA FWA DYU LMA LCA

3rd RCO ETU KMC KPR KHU

4th RST SCR NWI PBI RTH

MOBILE VIRTUAL DEMENTIA TOUR

The Mobile Virtual Dementia Tour visited the school recently to offer innovative dementia training for Sixth Form students studying Health & Social Care. In pairs the students participated in various tasks within the mobile unit through innovative training which gave them the opportunity to e x p e r i e n c e w h a t dementia might be like. The Virtual training is currently used for Healthcare professionals to increase awareness of Dementia and help improve practice. At the end of the sessions the trainer gave very useful and comprehensive feedback to the students to assist and support them in their studies. Mrs Swan

BATTLEFIELDS TRIP - YEAR 9

On the 1st and 2nd of October the year 9s went on the Battlefields trip. Despite the early start, we had a fantastic Saturday visiting Essex Farm, Sanctuary Wood, Langemark Cemetery and Tyne Cot Cemetery. After we had unpacked, met with the youth hostel staff and had dinner, we made our way to Menin Gate to watch the Last Post ceremony.

Jasmine Edwards, Lewis Martin and Lara Bryant laid a wreath in remembrance. The last post ceremony has been held every night since 1929, except for the period during WWII, when the town was occupied by Nazi forces. In the gateway, there are 54896 names engraved of those that died in Ypres. We walked through the town to the Belgian Chocolate Shop where we all bought lots of chocolate in many shapes and sizes.

Following a delicious breakfast on Sunday morning, we headed off to the Somme Yomp Memorial where 19240 c r o s s e s l a y i n remembrance of all the British soldiers who died on the 1st July 1916. At Newfoundland Park, which was extremely interesting, we could walk through one of the trenches and from the Caribou memorial we could still see where the bombs had exploded and the barbed wire still lays. The Danger Tree is the only tree to survive the 1914-1918 war in the park.

Making our way home, having had lunch at Ulster Memorial tower, we moved onto the Theipval Memorial, dedicated to the soldiers who died at the Somme. There are 73000 names on the memorial. Our last stop was the Lochnagar crator, which was the most breath-taking part of our trip. This is a huge area where the names of 60,000 men, who lost their lives on the first day, are displayed on every step around the crator.

The 2016 Year 9 trip to Battlefields was a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting experience, however it was also, at times, very emotional. On behalf of the GCSE history students, I would like to thank the teachers for the organisation and parents and guardians for their financial contributions. LaurenJade Ahearn 9RBU

Subject Stars Graphics Stars Grace Halloran De’shay Westfield de Cortez Holly Cox Ella Fowler Nathan Hey Ellie Giles

9CUP/SCA 9DYU 9NWI 11RTH 11RTH 13KHO

All for excellent coursework.

ICT Stars Toby Booty Brandon Cook Harry Epsom Callum Melville Aidan O’Hara Rory Blowers Josh Clark

11KSE 11LCA 11RTH 11KSE 11RTH 11RTH 11CDO

Bobby Holland Aidan Kent Maisie Leavett Alfie Perry Aaron Smith Hannah Terry

11JBE 11LCA 11KSE 11KHU 11JBE 11KHU

All for achieving a distinction* for their ECDL exam.

MFL Stars Sophie Lipton Connor Doyle Ovldiu Diaconu

7CGA 7RST 8SST

For consistent hard work and effort in German. For consistent hard work and effort in German. For consistent hard work and effort in French.

Textiles Stars Chloe Harris Ella Biagioni Emily Upton

9RBU 9CUP/SCA 9CUP/SCA

All for fantastic work since September.

Calendar Dates 2016-2017 term dates and proposed non pupil days can be found on our website

Thurs 5 Jan 2017 - First day of term Wed 25 - Fri 27 Jan - Bugsy Malone School Production Thurs 2 Feb - Year 7 Parents Evening Thurs 9 Feb - Year 10 Parents Evening Fri 10 Feb - Last day of term Thurs 6 July 2017 - Year 11 Prom

Tues 29 Nov - Winter Concert Thurs 1 Dec - Yrs 12/13 Parents Evening Mon 5 - Fri 16 December - Year 11 PPE Exams Thurs 8 Dec - Careers Fair 5.30-7.30pm Tues 20 Dec - Student Christmas Lunch Wed 21 Dec - Last day of term - Early close 2.00pm

Trips and visits now booking and about to depart 24 November - Westfields Stratford Trip - Yr 12/13 26 November- Twickenham Rugby Trip - All Yrs 20 December - Big Bang Science Course Trip - Yr 9 13 January 2017 - English Trip - An Inspector Calls - Yr 10 20 January 2017 - English Trip - An Inspector Calls - Yr 11 11-18 February 2017 - Italy Ski Trip - All Years

23 February 2017 - The Iron Man Drama Trip London - Yr7 2 March 2017 - Bletchley Park Computer Trip - Yr 9 1 April 2017 - French Day Trip -Yr 7 10-14 April 2017 - Geography Wales Trip - Yrs 10/11 17-19 July 2017 - Kingswood Camp - Yr 7 18-21 July 2017 - Germany Eifel Trip - Yr 8

28 Nov Year 8 Boys Basketball vs. St Helena (A)

29 Nov U14 Girls Football EFL Cup Tournament (A) 30 Nov Year 11 Girls Basketball vs. PMS (H)

6 Dec Year 8 Girls Basketball vs. Gilberd (A)

7 Dec Year 7 Netball vs. Helena Romanas (A)

8 Dec Year 8 Boys Basketball vs. Gilberd (A) Year 10 Boys Basketball vs. Gilberd (A)

16 Nov Year 7 Netball vs. Stanway Won 6-12

16 Nov Year 10 Netball vs. Stanway Lost

16 Nov Year 11 Netball vs. Stanway Lost 16 Nov Year 8 Netball vs. Stanway Lost

16 Nov Year 9 Netball vs. Stanway Lost

22 Nov Year 8 Girls Basketball vs. TLA Won 34-11

Sporting Results Sporting Fixtures

ADHD+ SUPPORT ADHD+ Support is based in Chelmsford. They are a charitable organisation with a primary aim of providing information, support and services to those with ADHD and its many associated and co-existing conditions. For more information go to:

www.adhd-support.org.uk/

REMEMBRANCE SERVICE

We are immensely proud of all our students who took part in numerous remembrance services all over the county. We were also exceptionally impressed to hear that Luke Diss 9EBR took part in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London. The photo shows Luke with Lima Company Royal Marines Cadets at St Pauls Cathedral. Lima company were lining the route for the procession for 3hrs in the pouring rain. Luke is front row 3rd from left. Well done Luke. Mrs Brunner - LRC Year 9

PTFA NEWS

Annual Firework Display It was a very, very wet evening. Thurstable PTFA and Tiptree Scouts would like to thank to say a BIG thank you to everyone that helped out at this event. A special thank you to Tiptree Fire Service, without them we could not hold this event.

Last, but not least a very BIG thank you to all the people that turned out to support this event in such awful weather. Carol Hultquist - Chair Thurstable PTFA

* COMING SOON - Christmas Hampers *

EMMANUEL COLLEGE A group of Year 10 students and our Sixth Form Head Boy, recently experienced an inspiring opportunity to visit Emmanuel College; one of the 31 colleges which make up The University of Cambridge. The students participated in an interactive presentation about general university options and also what the university could offer them. We were given a tour of the campus and finished the day with a delicious lunch provided by Emmanuel College. It was an inspirational experience for all! Mrs Swan