voiceSAXMUNDHAM

The newsletter for Saxmundham Free School | “Providing a foundation for life”

SAXMUNDHAMFREE SCHOOL

> New Student Leadership

> A world of Enrichment

> Trips & Events

> Judo at Saxmundham Free School

> Forthcoming Events

“Providing a foundation for life.”

Special Open Evening Edition

It is with great pleasure that I write to you

at the start of our third school year at

Saxmundham Free School. As a school so

much has been achieved in such a short

space of time, with an excellent Ofsted

Inspection in May and this term we have

welcomed 70 Year 7 students, we now

have over 250 students and for the first

time we have students in Year 7 to Year 11.

It really is an exciting time, yet there is still

much more to do as we use the 6Cs to

success of Community, Co-operation,

Commitment, Challenge, Confidence and

Celebration to prepare all students to

achieve their very best.

We have also launched our new school website

at www.saxmundhamfreeschool.org.uk

please have a look and tell me your

thoughts. We are also tweeting about all the

things we do at Saxmundham Free School.

Please follow us on Twitter

@SaxmundhamFS.

Headteacher’sWelcome

A glimpse insidelessons atSaxmundhamFree School

www.saxmundhamfreeschool.org.ukSaxmundham Free School,

Seaman Avenue, Saxmundham IP17 1DZ

David LeesHeadteacher

voiceSAXMUNDHAM

SAXMUNDHAMFREE SCHOOL

“Providing a foundation for life.”

A Focus on our 6Cs –This time it is CelebrationEach newsletter I would like to focus on one of our 6Cs to success. For this edition I would

like to start with ‘Celebration’. At Saxmundham Free School students are expected to:

• celebrate the successes they have experienced in school and out;

• support others to be successful and celebrate when they do achieve and make progress;

• display behaviour that encourages themselves and others to strive to achieve

more success;

• have pride in the achievements of the staff, fellow students, school and wider community.

In school students are rewarded in numerous ways; this could be from

our in-house rewards system, to receiving a praise postcard or

achieving a Saxmundham Hero badge in assembly. We feel that it is

really important to recognise success and celebrate with students at

every opportunity. I hope you like the new ‘Praise Postcards’ and will

join with me in celebrating with your son / daughter. Please also keep

staff at school informed of any achievements outside of school, so

that we can celebrate this in-school.

Thank you for reading the Saxmundham Voice.

Mr D Lees

Headteacher

For the first Saxmundham Voice ofthe new school year I thought itwas really important to give you aglimpse into lessons and theexciting ways in which students arelearning at Saxmundham FreeSchool. All students now haveaccess to mobile devices to supporttheir learning. In Year 7 and 8students have an iPod touch and inYears 9, 10 and 11 students have aChromebook. These devices are anexcellent resource to supportlearning, helping to achieve theTrust vision for students to have an‘anytime, anywhere’ access to ICT.

I am pleased to introduce our student leadership team for the

coming year. These students have been

selected by their peers to represent the

school and to make a difference

through their leadership roles. Their

high profile role will see them

demonstrating the “6Cs to

Success” and being a role

model to the rest of the

students on a daily basis. Well

done to Abigail Clarkson –

Head Girl; Tommy Smith –

Head Boy; Sophia Harris –

Deputy Head Girl; George

Pastor – Deputy Head Boy and

our Prefects – Katie Lee, Aeryn

Jeffrey, Emma Green, Millie

Cartwright Jones, Sam Grooms,

Anastazia Ruffles, Jade McAllan, Natasha

Brown, Harry Thompson, Kyle Hewett,

Mollie Gates, Jorden Bagstaff, Imogen Clements,

Alex Paulley, Max King, Tyler Webster, Alice Nichols and Jordan

Skye Howe. I look forward to working with these students as

they look to fulfil their role by:

• communicating effectively with all students and adults;

• upholding the values and ethos of Saxmundham Free

School at all times;

• acting as a role model for all students;

• being an approachable person to whom students can come

for assistance or support.

New Student Leadership

Team for

Abigail Clarkson - Head GirlTommy Smith - Head Boy

George Pastor - Deputy Head Boy Sophia Harris - Deputy Head Girl

On Wednesday 8 October we invite Year 5 and 6 students from all over Suffolk to join us at our Open

Evening. This is an opportunity for parents / carers and students to experience life at Saxmundham Free

School, engage in a whole host of learning activities and to see why Ofsted gave the school outstanding for

leadership and management, and behaviour and safety, with a good judgement overall. There is also the

opportunity for parent / carers and students in Year 6 to join us on one of our

Open Days that run from 10am – 12pm on Monday 13 – 19 October 2014.

I really would urge prospective parent / carers and students to come and see the school running on a normal day and

experience a school focusing on every student achieving their potential through a culture of high academic, personal and social

expectations and aspirations.

Open Evening and OpenDays

2014/2015

A look at our EnrichmentWow! Enrichment at Saxmundham Free School has just got even better in 2014/2015. This element of the school day

provides a fantastic learning experience beyond the traditional and allows opportunities to further spark interests in

students, discover their talents and develop a love of learning for life. This term students are engaged in CCF (combined

cadets force), DoE (Duke of Edinburgh Scheme), Creating Literacy games using Top Trumps, Film Club, Dance, Young

Enterprise, Art, Sports of the World, Computer Science, Horse Riding, Grow it, Cook it, Eat it and the school production.

Offer…

Even though we are only one month into the new school

year students at Saxmundham Free School have been

involved in a whole host of trips and events. These started

on the 10 September with the GCSE Music Trip to the

Theatre Royal Norwich to see Westside Story. A fantastic

performance by the cast and a re-tweet by the show saw

the students receive a poster signed by the whole cast and

an invite to come back any time!

Students in Year 11 have also been to Minsmere and to

Framlingham Castle as part of their Geography and

History controlled assessment.

Students in Years 7 to 10 had the privilege of hearing J-Sol

sing live in the school, as part of a cyber-bullying

presentation to help make students more aware of the

internet and how to keep themselves safe.

Students in Year 7, 8 and 9 have been involved with local

primary schools as we celebrated the European Day of

Languages on 26 September 2014 and our transition

‘Bake-Off ’ day on Tuesday 30 September 2014.

Next up is our first ‘CTC’ Cross Trust Challenge as

students from all years compete against students from

Ixworth and Beccles in a whole host of competitions. The

first of these on 3 October 2014 is a poetry competition.

I will bring you the results next time…

Trips & Events

Tuesday 30 September was our first Kitchens of the

Globe for this year, when we celebrated the National

Day of Australia. An amazing array of food saw

students from all year groups and over 30 parents

enjoy a platter of Australian delights!

Please come and join us for our next Kitchens of the

Globe which is in December and focuses on Portugal.

Kitchens of the Globe

Australia

StudentFocus JudoAt Saxmundham Free School we are really

privileged to have a Judo club operating from the

school on Tuesday evenings and at weekends.

Hollesley Judo club has a large student

membership from the school with Millie, Matt,

Tom, Luke, Harry, Barney, Emma, Zac, Dylan, Aidan,

Liam, Jack and Dudley all regularly training and

competing for the club. Keith is the main instructor

and a fantastic advocate for Judo and the school,

hence the high number of students involved.

Judo is a type of martial art and the club enters

lots of competitions both locally and nationally.

The club is also very fortunate to have Sam

Dunkley, ex Great Britain international and now

British Judo Association Eastern Area Technical

Officer who works with the club. Students of all

ages, some as young as 8 years old, attend Judo and

from the pictures you can see that everyone enjoys

taking part. Thank you to Millie Cartwright-Jones

and Matt Elias for writing this article.

Forthcoming events

8 October 2014Open Evening 5:30pm – 8:30pm

9 October 2014Year 11 Geography CA

10 October 2014Year 11 Geography CA

13 October 2014Open Morning 10am onwardsall prospective parents welcomeYear 11 Geography CA

14 October 2014Open Morning 10am onwardsall prospective parents welcomeYear 10 English CAAn Inspector Calls

15 October 2014Open Morning 10am onwardsall prospective parents welcomeYear 10 English CA‘An Inspector Calls’

16 October 2014Open Morning 10am onwardsall prospective parents welcomeYear 10 English CA‘An Inspector Calls’

‘Friends of Saxmundham FreeSchool’ Meeting 5pm – 6:30pm(all welcome)

17 October 2014Open Morning 10am onwardsall prospective parents welcomeYears 7, 8, 9 and 10 –Champions' Challenge

SAXMUNDHAMFREE SCHOOL“Providing a foundation for life.”

14 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams Week

17 November 2014National Anti-Bullying Week

18 November 2014Year 10 English CA SpokenLanguage Study

19 November 2014Year 10 English CA SpokenLanguage Study

20 November 2014Year 10 English CA SpokenLanguage Study

21 November 2014Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 –Champions' Challenge

24 November 2014Year 10 GCSE Art students toAnna Airy Exhibition

25 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams ResultsPublished

26 November 2014Year 10 Geography Trip toThe Crystal

Key Stage 3 Science E.onEnergy Day at Snape Maltings

28 November 2014Big Sing! at Snape Maltings withthe Saxmundham Free SchoolChoir

www.saxmundhamfreeschool.org.uk

Saxmundham Free School, Seaman Avenue,

Saxmundham, Suffolk. IP17 1DZ

20 October 2014French CA week Year 10/11Post-16 Evening 4:30pm

21 October 2014CTC – Christmas CardCompetition Launched Parents’Open Forum 9:30am – 10:30am

22 October 2014Tutor Evening (Year 7 Settling-in/Underachievement) –4:15pm – 6:15pm Year 10 SkillsEvent at Trinity Park

23 October 2014Parents’ Focus Group – 5:30pm

24 October 2014Year 10 & 11 Revision DayParent /carers – helping yourson/daughter to prepare fortheir GCSE exams –4:00pm – 5:15pm

7 November 2014Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 –Champions' Challenge

10 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams Week

11 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams WeekRemembrance Day Events –The 100 Year Centenaryof WW1

12 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams Week

13 November 2014Year 10 Mock Exams Week