The AccoladeJune 2017

Mrs V Neale

The Monthly Celebratory Newsletter from County Upper

Dear parents, students, staff and governors,

June always features our Art and Design Exhibition and this year’s was as exceptional as ever with one visiting artist commenting that ‘it is better than many degree shows’. I am particularly grateful to architect’s, Pick Everard, for their generous sponsorship of the event. Alongside our regular activities, we also said our farewells to year eleven this month. Although the majority will return for sixth form, we marked the end of their compulsory schooling with a mix of formal and informal events on their final day, culminating in their prom at the Athenaeum.

Our sports tour to Barcelona heads the list of extra-curricular highlights this month from across the age and ability range. They span all areas of the curriculum, reflect our core values and our commitment to service and the community.

During June, students from all five year groups have impressed us with their unfailingly excellent conduct and determination to do their best in this summer’s examinations. As we move into the final month of the academic year, we still have a lot to celebrate and enjoy.

The Barcelona Sports TourForty students from across years nine and ten were very fortunate to enjoy a week at Platja D’Aro. The tour comprised sports fixtures, sightseeing and a visit to the water park. Timed to coincide with National Sports Week, our basketball and football squads made the very most of this biennial tour and both the hotel manager and the coach driver said they were the best school party they had encountered. We congratulate them onbeing such excellent ambassadors for County Upper. We thank Mr Snelling for organising the trip, together with Mr Hamill, Mr Stewart and Miss Vincent whomade it possible.

Language Perfect 2017Once again we participated in the annual World Championships with considerable success. For our size of school, we finished 4th in England overall. In individual languages we were first for Japanese in England and fourth in the world. We were also sixth and twenty-fifth respectively for German. We congratulate those students who gained individual awards:

Credit: Daniel Garcia-Leon, Lorcan Portway, Hannah Stevens and Theo Williams

Bronze: Pearl Liao

Silver: Naomi Brighty and Emily Waller

We especially congratulate Wilf Harvey in year ten who was our top student and who gained an elite award. We thank Mrs Browning for making our entry possible.

Music Successesn We are extremely proud of Samuel Hill in year twelve who passed the Royal School of Church Music’s prestigious Gold Award with Honours this month. The citation on the certificate reads, “Samuel Hill has attained the highest possible standards in loyalty, industry and musicianship as a chorister. In recognition of his exemplary conduct and outstanding work, the RSCM has pleasure in presenting him with the Gold Award with Honours.”

n We congratulate Rebecca Severy in year twelve who was selected for the Cambridge Choral Experience this month. Rebecca attended the course at St John’s College, Cambridge which included full choir singing, small-group sectionals, a tour

of the colleges and time with current scholars. The course ended with a performance in the college chapel.

The annual visit to AuschwitzEach year, two of our ‘A’ level history students visit Auschwitz as the culmination of our work on the holocaust. At the end of their visit, they lead lessons and assemblies as well as providing learning material to be used in classes. This year Rajan Chohan-Jones and Rosie Grant represented us on the Holocaust Educational Trust programme and were excellent ambassadors for County. We thank Miss Barran for making it possible. Below is the students’ account of the visit:

“During the Auschwitz tour we were shown the brutal conditions that Jews, Soviet POWs, Roma Gypsies and political prisoners amongst others endured while at Auschwitz and the deadly methods of torture they were subjected to. We were also shown exhibitions of glasses, shoes and human hair recovered by the liberating Soviet forces in 1945, which humanised the ‘6 million’ statis-tic. We were led into the last surviving gas chamber in Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was an experience that we can’t really explain. We felt numb as we stood in the spot where up to 1.5 million people were killed. Birkenau was a pur-pose built death camp, many times larger than Auschwitz. The scale of it is quite simply awesome. A train track runs through the middle of a watch tower overhead, this would have been one of the last sights of up to 1.5 million people. The living conditions in Birkenau were too bad for animals, let alone humans. From the watch tower, you could see the vast size of the camp. The Nazis cleared 8 villages in order to build the camp. Many of the buildings still survive today, but many were destroyed in the days before the Soviet liberation or in some cases, on the same day. However, the ruins are preserved and are exactly how they found them in 1945. This includes the many gas chambers scattered around the camp, as well as ‘sheds’ that the working men lived in. One of the hardest hitting things at Auschwitz-Birkenau was the ability to see photos of either the platform selection process or the women stripping down getting ready to enter the gas chambers and then seeing the exact same location today where the photo was taken. Many of the features were the same; this reinforces one of the ‘shock’ elements of somewhere like this; how was something like this allowed to happen in the lifetime of people still alive today?”

The Jankyn Smyth serviceJankyn Smyth is our town’s most famous benefactor and each year there is a service to honour him and all those who have contributed to the welfare of our town through the centuries. The service is held in St Mary’s Church and is organised by the Guildhall Feoffment Trust. It is attended by the Mayor, other civic dignitaries and a large congregation. Once again our chamber choir led the service and we were proud and privileged to sing the anthem and the blessing as well as leading the hymns. We thank and congratulate Mr Jarvis and our chamber choir who were widely complimented on the standard of their singing.

In addition to the Jankyn Smyth service, our musicians have been pleased to continue to respond to requests to support charity and civic events this summer and to be the mainstay of the West Suffolk Youth ensembles that performed in Newmarket and at the Bury Festival and in All Saints Church, Bury.

Our Intake EveningsService within our school community is also very im-portant and we are especially grateful to the team of year nine students who helped our new pupils and their parents across the series of evenings. They did an excellent job and we thank: Rose Bainbridge, Isobel Dolby, Caroline Hibbert, Ellie Miller, Stella Pusterla, Millie Scott, Harriet Thomas and especially this year’s co-ordinator, Shannon Brinkley.

It was a pleasure to meet our year nine with their parents and carers. The majority, of course, are known to us through our All-Through Trust and we look forward to working with the whole year group.

Also present were representatives of our Parent Teacher Association who helped our new families to help them order their uniform and answer any questions. This month the PTA also presented us with £5000 to spend on extras for our students. We are very fortunate to have a strong PTA committee and we are grateful to them for their excellent service again this year. We thank: Mrs L Burns (Chairman), Mrs C Emerson (Secretary), Mrs M Rose (Treasurer), Mrs S Amroota, Mrs K Aris, Mrs G Austin, Mrs R Baxter, Mrs L Brown, Mrs S Cawdron, Mrs S Ellis, Mrs J Emmerson, Mrs J Ford, Mrs T Hudson, Mrs A Huggins, Mrs C Gillespy, Mrs L Graham, Mrs A Jiggins, Mrs K Lillistone, Mrs D McGaley, Mrs C Scrim, Mrs L Smith, Mrs K Wicks and Dr S White.

Tilly at ‘The Raising the Bar’ AwardsWe are very proud of Tilly Watts in year eleven who was nominated as the Inspirational Student of the Year across the whole of Suffolk. She was nominated by YOPEY (Young People of the Year) for her work befriending dementia patients which she started as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award. Tilly is also prominent in the air cadets and gives great service within County whilst maintaining an excellent academic record.

Josh wins the Dr Damian Kershaw AwardThe Dr Damian Kershaw Award is named after a former West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust volunteer who went onto a successful career in medicine but sadly died aged twenty eight. Having completed the trust’s six month student volunteer programme at the hospital, Joshua Hayden in year twelve was joint winner of the award for 2017. Well done Josh we are very proud of you.

We also congratulate our ICT Technician, Mr McClean who was given an award for his service to hospital radio.

Service is recognised

A glorious month for sport!AthleticsOur winter training programme with our athletics coach, Mr McNeill, has continued to reap dividends at Western Area and County level.

Our U15 girls, U14 girls and U14 boys all took first place in the Western Area year nine and ten team athletics competitions and have made the County finals. The year ten boys came fourth. We congratulate all four teams.

Year 9 girls: Naomi Brighty, Shannon Brinkley, Elli Carroll, Ruby Cooper, Emily Daltrey, Ceri Flye, Jaya Godwin, Ella Hale, Abi Hobbs, Charlotte Hudson, Hannah O’Connor, Lizzie Sanders, Mollie Smith, Hannah Turpie, Olivia Underhill and Jess Utting

Year 9 boys: Elliot Bonas, Fin Bonas, Noah Boreham, Isaac Campbell, Will De’Ath, Liam Foreman, Liam Gibbs, James Larder, Sammy Markwick, Jai Narayan, Ethan Peploe, Matt Prendergast, Alfie Roberts, Cameron Singh, Tyger Smalls and Isaac Wallace

At the year 9 County finals both teams finished third in Suffolk. Well done to all our athletes!

Year 10 girls: Pippa Batty, Alex Cotton, Tia Coulson, Jessie Daniels, Natasha Gadstone, Ella Harris, Tilly Leighton, Cathy McKeag, Abi Miller, Francesca Murrell, Lucie Murrell, Hannah Pamplin, Suzie Reid, Antonia Stephenson and Ella Watkins

Year 10 boys: Luca Beadle, Zak Brook, Connor Everitt, George Farmer, Cameron Gibson, Archie Harris, Oscar Hedge, George Johnson, Luke Murfet, Ethan Price, Robson Stanton, Joe Swane, Sam Swane, Kian Utley, Jayjay Vince and Harvey Williams

GolfAll our work with our Academy golf programme in conjunction with the Suffolk golf club continues and we were delighted that our two teams were winners and runners-up in the Suffolk Supersixes Street Golf competition and travel to the national final in Liverpool next month. Well done to: George Bedford, Alex Cotton, Patrick Davis, Owen Keighley, Naveena Khanna, Sam Thomas, Charlie Wicks and Daniel Wilson.

We thank Miss Holton for all she does for golf across the Trust.

TennisIt was just reward for our extensive tennis programme this term that our U15 girls’ team finished third in the county after a narrow defeat to Ipswich High. We congratulate: Grace Allan, Kate Bastow, Jess Konrath and Suzie Reid

Other FixturesCricketU14 boys v Thurston Won 100 declared – 40U14 boys v Thomas Gainsborough Won by 9 wickets

RoundersU14A v Mildenhall Won 10.5 – 2U14A v Castle Manor Won 4 – 2.5U14 v Castle Manor Won 4 – 3U15 v St Benedict’s Won 6 – 3.5U15B v Stowmarket Won 5 – 3U15 v Ixworth Free Won 11.5 – 4U15 v Stowmarket Won 7 - 2

Girls’ TennisU15A v King Edward VI Won 10 - 2U15A v Debenham Won 10 - 2U15B v Stour Valley Drew 3 - 3

Equestrian Successn We congratulate our team who made the National Schools Equestrian Association’s (NSEA) national finals at Hickstead. The team, comprised of Emily Sambrook (year ten), Zara Brooks (year eleven), Annabel Jackson (year twelve) and this year’s Captain of Equestrian, Ruth Hole. In the showjumping class, all four girls competed well with Annabel and Emily coming second and third respectively in the 1.10m class. In the eventer challenge finals classs, Annabel had a clear round and in the Jump with Style Class on the final day, Ruth also had a clear round. We thank the team for representing us so well.

n We also congratulate Clare Hole in year ten who competed for Great Britain at the Hickstead Premier League and Dressage Masters Championships this month and finished second in her class.

Ella makes the NationalsElla Hale in year nine competed in eleven of the swimming events at the Eastern Regional Championships, having qualified for fourteen of the sixteen possible. In the 200m intermediate medley she took gold, making her East Region Champion. In the 50m freestyle she took bronze. Both times means she has qualified for the National Swimming Championships in August. Well done Ella.

Rounders TournamentWe congratulate our year 9 mixed team who travel to the national finals next month and to our girls’ team who finished third in Suffolk. Well done to: Grace Allan, Shannon Brinkley, Emily Daltrey, Polly Davis, Ceri Flye, Hannah Jiggins, Jess Konrath, Rachel Lucas, Lizzie Sanders, Hannah Turpie, Olivia Underhill and Jess Utting.

Year 9 Noah Boreham andOlivia Underhill

Sports Personalities of the MonthWe congratulate the recipients for June:

Year 10 Ellie Fairweatherand Daniel Wilson

We were delighted to welcome civic guests, and representatives of local companies together with former, current and prospective students, their families, governors and many members of the community, including professional artists. Our Art and Design exhibition is always one of the highlights of the County calendar reflecting, as it does, the phenomenal standard of work achieved throughout the academic year, and this

year was no exception. It was a splendid show and the photographs here represent a very small selection of the outstanding work which was displayed. Every GCSE and ‘A’ level students’ work was featured and we congratulate them all. We also thank and congratulate Mr Hodgson, Mrs Larwood, Mrs Masterman, Mrs Sayer, Mrs Taylor, Mr Taylor, Mr Walker, Mrs Aldous and Mr Goldsmith on the culmination of an excellent year’s work.

Our Annual Art and Design Exhibition

The STEM experiences go on This month our students were involved in three further STEM activities, involving pupils from years nine, ten and twelve.

Women into engineeringA group of Year 9 and 10 girls attended the Women in Engineering Event, held at Wherstead Park near Ipswich this month. There were many exhibitors from local and national industries and also inspirational speakers who talked about their journey into the world of engineering. All the students enjoyed the experience of hands-on activities combined with hearing about the many and varied aspects of careers in engineering. Year 10 student, Cheyenne Wilkinson summed up the feeling of the group when she said, “Engineering isn’t just about creating things or wearing overalls, it’s about being part of a team, working together and solving problems.” All the girls made the very most of the opportunity and we thank Mrs Walker for accompanying them.

The Big Bang Fair Eastern 2017Forty year ten scientists were fortunate to visit the fair at the Chelmsford Campus of Anglia Ruskin University. The day featured a great range of activities including sirius astronomy, renewable energy superheroes, the ugly animal show, paleoquest, affinity water, bio-chemis-try experiments, engineering challenges, robotics, 3D virtual reality and a very special vehicle used by our armed forces. All the students were a real credit to our school. We congratulate them and thank Mrs Payne, Mrs Tunstill and Mrs Whitbread for making it possible.

Year Twelve Student Physicists of the YearWe congratulate Daniel Foulsham and Bryony Smith in year twelve who attended Churchill College, Cambridge this month to be presented with their awards from the Ogden Trust. They were selected as the top boy and top girl at the Eastern Region presentation. We thank Mr Randé for accompanying them.

The Bronze Qualifying DofEExpeditionsThis year eighty year ten students are on the Bronze Duke of Edinbugh Award Scheme, This month the students were divided into two groups to undertake their final qualifying expedition in the Suffolk countryside. Both groups camped at Shimpling and were highly commended by the landowners. Every pupil passed the expedition section and enjoyed the experience. We congratulate all the pupils and they join us in thanking Mrs Bradbury, Mrs Fletcher, Dr Hanfrey, Mr O’Leary, Miss Phillips and Mr Price who make it possible for so many students to participate.

Students at the Palace!We are very proud of Jodie Ashman, Liam Halls and Alex Slater from last year’s year thirteen who received their Gold Awards at Buckingham Palace this month. Well done!

OUR TRIBUTE TO YEAR ELEVENThe end of the GCSE examinations this month marked the end of compulsory schooling, but not education or train-ing. We celebrated all that year eleven have contributed to County with a special day of formal and informal events, concluding with their ‘prom’ at the Athenaeum. Our Chair of Governors, Mr Ian Cox, was our guest of honour for

the formal assembly with other members of the governing body as we reviewed the students’ three years with us and presented their Records of Achievements. Molly Smith thanked the office staff, on behalf of the year group, for

preparing all the Records of Achievement and Tomaso Luongo gave the vote of thanks to Mr Cox. Those chosen to represent their tutor groups were:

J Mollie Gray Andrew SmithK Eva Allan Sam DayL Amy Davies Ben StevensM Krystina Davis Eddie WilkinsonN Jess Gottgens Ellis EdwardsO Chloe Ashman Matthew WordleyP Stephanie Greening Timothy HillR Abigail Kettle Thomas GreevesS Sasha Campbell Sam AmrootaT Pearl Liao Charlie Cook

Tutor Group SuccessDuring our formal assembly, the overall tutor group results from the last three years were announced. Well done to:

Attendance: 11L led by Mr Taecke • Certificates of Merit: 11L led by Mr TaeckeThe Quiz: 11P led by Mrs Tunstill and Mrs Griffin

The Year BookOn their special day, whilst enjoying their refreshments, students received their year books. The team of:

together with Mr Bishop were thanked for all the work which had gone into preparing it.

The Design Skills PresentationThis year’s group has made excellent progress and all have places at West Suffolk College. Their formal presentation was attended by staff and governors and the group as a whole was congratulated. It was difficult to choose the student of the year and so we especially congratulate Jack Bonnett who received his certificate in his Record of Achievement.

The PromYear eleven’s special day ended with their prom at the Athenaeum. Once again, the staff there complimented them on their behaviour and the whole year group had an excellent evening. They thank the forty-nine staff who gave up their time to join them.

Chloe AshmanMia BarkerElla ChaplinDaniel Cook

Jess GottgensDeanna HollingsCallum HouseNat Lowis

Amy MalajkaKatie PaskLauren RogersWill Rolfe

Ellie StegglesRebecca StevenFiona StokesEmily Walters

Year Eleven Colours Certificates

DANCE Chloe AshmanNell AllumSasha CampbellAnna CarnegieChloe JefferyMolly Smith

DRAMAEva AllenNell AllumChloe AshmanSasha CampbellAnna CarnegieMolly GrayThomas GreevesCallum HouseChloe JefferyAbigail KettleEmma Le PoidevinPearl LiaoTomaso LuongoGeorge MavroghenisJack NewburyMatthew Wordley

SPORTMaddie AlbonMeg BartholomewCharlie BoseleyZara BrooksSasha CampbellCharlie CookSam CornishSam CunninghamAmy DaviesHolly DavisEstelle De JonghEllis EdwardsPhilip Ennis-BuggOwen FordeTom GardinerStephanie GreeningTom HallidayHannah HarrisonDeanna HollingsMatthew JigginsAmy MitchellGeorgia NunnHarry NunnJames NunnFran ParslowOscar PortwayCameron ReidWill RolfeOllie SelfeAndrew SmithMolly SmithMatt SpurlingMegan StablerEllie StegglesRebecca StevenBen StevensFiona StokesJack StoneConnor SuckleyLewis TebbitGemma Welbourn

Central to our ethos is the belief that students should get involved and give something back to our community. Colours are awarded to those students who show outstanding commit-ment, teamwork, loyalty and service to our extra-curricular programme and year eleven received them as part of their special assembly. We congratulate and thank all the recipients for 2017.

SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Tooba AhmedNell AllumSophie ArisChloe AshmanMeg BartholomewMax Bateman-SandyMegan BrownAnna CarnegieAmy DaviesBethany DiverJorge Draycott TorrecillasJessica GottgensBenjamin HartickTimothy HillCallum HouseChloe JefferyAbigail KettleIsabel KybirdEmma Le PoidevinAmber LennoxPearl LiaoTomaso LuongoGeorge MavroghenisFlorence MillerHarry MyhillAlex ShingletonMolly SmithBen StevensEleanor SuterGemma WelbournEdwin Wilkinson

MUSICSam AmrootaChloe AshmanJoe BramleyMegan BrownSasha CampbellAnna CarnegieAmy DaviesHolly DavisKrystina DavisBethany DiverJorge Draycott-TorrecillasJessica GottgensMollie GrayThomas GreevesBenjamin HartickTimothy HillLouis JohnsonIsabel KybirdEmma Le PoidevinTomaso Luongo

Tutor Group SuccessAttendance Certificates of MeritMonth 9H10P

We congratulate this month’s winners

Month 9H10N

Year 9

Alysha Kemp Amy Aris Rose Bainbridge 3Phoebe Bartlett George Bedford Rees Boddy Noah Boreham Ben Davis 2

Isobel Dolby Tommy Edwards Natasha Fordham Rebecca Francis 3Ethan Gibney Lily Gillings 2Beth Goldman Lauren Gronow Caroline Hibbert 2Louis Holdcroft

Joseph Holland Emily Hudson Frederick Hunt Marla Ind Abigail Knowler 3Grace Marks Eloise Miller Alana Murkin Jai Narayan Zoe Pearce 2

Jodie Phillips 2Stella Pusterla 2Kiah Raggatt Kimmi Reeve Alexandra Rice 2Hannah Rouhaud-Keutgen Jake Saunders 2Libby Sawyer Emilia Scott Hollie Stevens

Hannah Stevens Anatacia Taylor-Anderson Harriet Thomas Megan Tuffen Emily Waller 3Holly Waters - McShane Laura Wilkes 2

Certificates of Merit We congratulate the recipients for June:

The History Society Challenge This month the Society challenged staff and students to work out the use of a range of artefacts from the Victorian era. Students from years nine, ten and twelve organised and supervised the event which attracted a lot of interest and intelligent deduction. Well done to everyone who took part.

GCSE Food Technology is Highly CommendedWe had a senior examiner to look at the work of our GCSE Food Technology students this month. Very experienced and having looked at the work of many schools, she was, in her own words, “bowled over” by the standard she saw here and requested that some of the material be made available to the examination board to help other schools. This is the seventh consecutive year when different examiners have been hugely complimentary about the work done and have taken materials away to use as exemplar material. In congratulating our year eleven students, we also congratulate and thank Mrs Kelsey and Mrs McMahon for their contribution to the undoubted success of our food department.

Year 10

Ben Banham Cameron Beedie-Green

Cerys Brown Sofia Charalambous Rowan Gibb Nancy Griffith

Jack Hailstone Rowan Harris Tommy Lovering Abigail Miller 2

James Pickard Anastasia Shulgina Lauren Slade India Warren

Charlie Wilson Rhianna Woods

The Quiz returns next month after this

month’s examinations