The Accolade

February 2015

Dear parents, students, staff and governors,

Mrs V Neale

The Monthly Celebratory Newsletter from County Upper

As well as getting outstanding results at both GCSE and ‘A’ level and being recognised as one of the top performing departments in Suffolk, extra-curricular success goes on. Creative writing, journalism and book club remain popular. This half term the club had a lively discussion on ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ and chose ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ for this half term. Our Patron of Reading, Pat Ryan, continues to work with the Trust and we are pleased to help the local authority raise standards in English departments across Suffolk.

More success for our English Department

Over a hundred students from all five year groups have benefited from a residential journey this month. They have all learned a great deal from their experiences and returned with memories which will last a lifetime. In congratulating them for representing their school, county and country so well, I also thank the large number of staff who gave up their time to make these trips possible.

Our success in and out of the classroom continues and we were delighted to be accredited by the Department for Education as a Teaching School this month. We were already part of a Teaching School Alliance led by Barrow Primary and which involves all our

All-Through Trust partners. Our new status will allow the Trust to play an even bigger role in training new teachers and providing ongoing professional develop-ment for teachers across Suffolk and the Eastern Region. Such is the demand that we are pleased to be able to expand and meet all the requests made to us.

In the last few days, we have learned the names of the students who will fill our new year nine in September and we give you and your families a special welcome. Many of you are well known to us already and we look forward to working with you all.

Debating - the good news goes on!Our weekly debates continue to be extremely well represented with students from all years taking part. As ever, our most senior debaters compete in national events and we are delighted that our first team of Paul Anders and Roderick Mansel have made it through to the final of the Oxford Union Schools Debating Competition, the biggest schools debating competi-tion in the UK. Well done!

Book Mastermind competitionThis month saw the internal round of this year’s competition. In a very close final, Phoenix Girardi answered questions on ‘Born to Run’ by Michael Morpurgo to emerge as our entrant to the Western Area Final. The runner-up, losing by just one and half points, was Pearl Liao whose chosen book was ‘Snakehead’ by Anthony Horowitz. We congratulate both girls and thank Miss Johnson, Mrs Lay, Miss Rhodes and Mrs Bumstead for organising it.

Overseas travellers exceln Sixth formers in Paris‘A’ level Art, Design Technology and History students spent half term in Paris. Students saw Opera Bastille, the National Assembly, the Chateau de Versailles, La Conciergerie, Saint Chapelle, Musée Rodin, the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre Museum and the D’Orsay Museum ending with a meal at the Hard Rock Café in Montmartre. The students made the very most of the whole experience and were a pleasure to be with throughout. We congratulate them and thank Mr Hodgson, Miss Barran and Mr Taylor for providing this opportunity.

n Our annual ski tripTogether with the biennial sports tours to Barcelona and South Africa, the ski trip is a highlight of our sporting calendar. This year’s party enjoyed excellent snow in Passo Tonale, Italy. Students from all five year groups got on extremely well and participated fully in both the skiing and a full programme of evening activities. Yet another party of students represented our school exceed-ingly well. Well done to all who took part and we thank Mr Marshall, Miss Clayden, Miss Codling, Mr Golding, Mr Hamill and Mr Snelling for accompanying them.

n The German ExchangeA group of students from years nine, ten and twelve enjoyed their time as guests of the Amos Comenius Gymnasium in Bad Godesberg, Bonn. This is the oldest state school partnership in the country and is now in its forty-eighth year. Students visited well known tourist attractions, spent time in our partner school, enjoyed a range of fun activities and, of course, practised their German! This opportunity to experience family life in another culture was fully embraced by the entire group and already the students are looking forward to hosting their partners in the summer. The outstanding behav-iour and attitude of all the participants was widely commented upon. We congratulate them all and thank Mrs Sauvage and Mr Coleman for leading the Exchange.

n The musicians tour to the United StatesOnce again our swing band and some of our choristers were the guests of the Sister Cities organisation in Suffolk Virginia. We were proud to represent Suffolk England, once again and grateful to the Mayor of St Edmundsbury, Robert Everitt and local Councillor, David Nettleton, who contributed to the costs from their locality budgets.

The group enjoyed a lot of sightseeing in Washington before transferring to Virginia. Here, the programme was dramatically disrupted by the coldest weather for a hundred years and school closures due to the amount of snow. Undeterred, alternative rehearsal venues were found and concerts rearranged so that the students had a fantastic experience and were welcomed wherever they went. Their exemplary behaviour and superb musicianship were acknowledged everywhere and we congratulate the entire group which comprised musicians from all five year groups. We thank Mr Jenkins for organising the tour, together with Mr Jarvis, Mrs Browning and Mrs Rossi for accompanying him and the students.

n The Theatre Performances go onThis month’s evening of drama followed on from sixth form students’ study of the work and techniques of Steven Berkoff. The audience was treated to four original pieces devised by the students in Berkoff’s style. We enjoyed ‘Last Man Standing’ performed by Emma Bradley, Harry Cowper, Jordan Harris and Sidi Welton, a piece based on the concept of the ‘game show of life’. This was followed by a piece entitled ‘Hell is not a place for me’ which was based on the idea that you should treat others how you would want to be treated and was performed to a very high standard by Rumana Akhtar, Ellie Bainbridge and Liam Halls. Eloise Burrows, Megan Feetham, Isabella Graves-Haylock and Jacob Pank contributed a physical piece exploring the Seven Deadly Sins and called ‘The Puppet Master’. The final piece in an excellent evening, ‘The Chickfield Annual Dinner Party’, was a comedy which parodied ‘Hell is Other People’, performed by Luke Gardiner, Toby Jeffery, Niamh O’Donoghue and Beth Watchman. We congratulate all who took part and thank them for an entertaining evening.

n Ellie is a superb AladdinWe congratulate Ellie Bainbridge in year twelve who stepped in to play the lead role in Southgate Com-munity Partnership’s production of ‘Aladdin’. As Tim Sheppard, Chairman, wrote, “Ellie was hard-working, professional, is extremely talented and has a lovely singing voice. More than all of these qualities, however, is her pleasant nature, warmth, willing-ness to work with a team and her interaction with nervous children.”

More Performing Arts success

n Tomaso meets Dracula!We congratulate Tomaso Luongo in year nine who was selected to play a young victim of a vampire in Conservatoire EAST’s production of Bram Stoker’sclassic gothic tale, ‘Dracula’. Tomaso’s performance was much complimented upon; well done!

n This month, our programme of theatre visits continued with a visit to John Godber’s ‘Teechers’ for year ten and to a special day in Camden for year twelve with Steven Berkoff.

n The West Suffolk Young Musician of the YearOnce again, we were pleased to host the heats for this annual event. We congratulate all our musicians who took part and, especially, those who won their heats;

Level 1 woodwind: Isabella Scott (flute)Level 2 woodwind: Sarah Burns (alto saxophone)Level 2 piano: Sarah BurnsLevel 3 voice: Riona SnellingLevel 3 woodwind: Liliana Luongo (clarinet)

We look forward to seeing them in the final in July.

n Individual SuccessWe were pleased to learn of the success of the following students in their grade examinations:

Katie Austin Grade 4 Voice MeritJack Emmerson Grade 5 Bass guitar PassCameron Mitchell Grade 4 Bass guitar Merit Harry Myhill Grade 4 Electric guitar Merit

n We are very proud of Jack Davis in year twelve who was selected for the annual percussion day at the Royal Northern College of Music. After lectures by the Principal Percussionists of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Jack participated in masterclasses on the Snare Drum, Marimba and Timpani. Well done, Jack

n The Sudbury Dance FestivalWith many of our senior dancers on school trips, we especially commend the performance of Jess Carnegie, Ella Price and Amethyst Stenson-Pickles who were placed in a number of classes and especially Jess who won the Character Cup. We particularly congratulate Sasha Campbell in year nine who took first place in The Character Ballet Duet, Own Choreography Solo, Own Choreography Duet and the Modern Dance. Her duet partner Keziah Farrow is at Horringer Court. Well done to all who took part.

Calligraphy, Japanese style!The Japan Foundation spent a day working at Tollgate before treating our students to a very special calligraphy workshop with a Japanese artist looking at traditional characters. The group then produced their own pieces.

More Statistics success We congratulate Florence Miller and Cameron Mitchell in year nine who both obtained their GCSE statistics whilst at Beyton Middle school. We were pleased to catch up with their success this month and both continue to perform very highly in mathematics.

Geographer of the monthCongratulations to Pearl Liao in year nine who is this month’s winner

Another six Suffolk finals!This month has seen us compete in four more Suffolk championships and qualify for a further two:

n BasketballWe were delighted to make the county finals in all four championships. We congratulate our U16 boys’ team and U14 boys’ and girls’ teams who finished third. We especially congratulate our U16 girls’ team who emerged as Suffolk Champions for 2015. Well done to:

n Girls’ CricketWe congratulate our team in the U14 Lady Taverners Girls’ Cricket competition who, yet again, emerged as group champions to qualify for the Suffolk Championship. Well done to: Tooba Ahmed, Suzi Brawn, Zara Brooks, Steph Greening, Lottie Kent, Amy Mitchell, Chloe Mitchell, Ellie Steggles and Fiona Stokes. We thank Mr Bishop for coaching them.

n TrampoliningFebruary also saw the Western Area U16 trampolining competition and we were pleased to finish as runners-up out of the eleven teams. The top two teams go through to the Suffolk final and we wish Tom Ford, Ollie Pyle, Jake Robinson and Wes Roper every success.

Regional Success across the sportsn U14 NetballWe were proud that, yet again, our team represented Suffolk in the Eastern Region tournament where netball and County Upper are always linked together. This is the last round before the national finals and the girls acquitted themselves very well. Well done!

n Cross CountryWe congratulate Katrina Kemp in year nine and Mikayela Sealby in year ten who competed in the Anglian round of this year’s cross-country competition. We also congratulate Jacob Freeborough and Christy Williams in year eleven who were selected as reserves for the English Schools Championship and especially Holly Davies in year eleven and Michael Bartram in year thirteen who were selected to compete in the All-England Final. Michael won the Senior Boys’ out of a field of fifty-three athletes. Well done!

n BasketballWe congratulate our U15 girls’, U16 girls’ and U17 boys’ teams who have reached the East of England finals.

Sports Personalities of the MonthWe congratulate the recipients for February:

This Month’s Sport Report

Susie Brawn, Skye Dawes, Ruby Doherty, Shinai Hollands, Elena Holloway, Maya Price, Mikayela Sealby, Bryony, Sinnot, Jasmine Tebbit, Hattie Whitbread and Jess Yallop.

Year 9 Zara Brooks andOliver Ransome

Year 10 Sarah Lockyear and Jamie Reid

Year 11 Lydia Miranda andChristy Williams

Leadership takes many forms!One of the many advantages for our students of our all-through working is the myriad opportunities it

provides for student leadership. This month was no exception and our students were commended for their help with the following activities.

n The Magna Carta DayThis day was part of our year-long work across the Trust which began with visits to see the exhibition at the Cathedral last year. Year eight students from across the Trust spent a day here exploring five key issues that were debated eight hundred years ago and related them to how they want our country to be run today. Working in small groups, they wrote their manifestos and created party political broadcasts which were presented at the end of the day.

We especially congratulate Gideon Blake, Dylan Elomri, Toby French, Luke Gardiner and Jessica Sansom who worked with the year eight pupils throughout the day and did an excellent job.

n The music composition dayIn preparation for next month’s Trust concert at The Apex, over a hundred pupils spent a day at County composing pieces based on Roald Dahl’s ‘Revolting Nursery Rhymes’. Our own musicians worked with the pupils and our senior musicians led some of the groups. The day simply would not have worked without them and they were congratulated by the music staff from all the schools.

We congratulate:Year 13: Paul Anders, Louise Chartron, Evie Courtier, Lili Luongo, Riona Snelling

Year 10: Ben Amroota, Marcus Clifton, Sam Hill, Olivia Humphreys, Katrina Miller, Rebecca Severy

Year 9: Nell Allum, Chloe Ashman, Sophie Aris, Anna Carnegie, Holly Davis, Krystina Davis, Amy Davies, Tim Hill, Hannah Harrison, Tomaso Luongo

n Modern Foreign Languages and Mathematics MasterclassesThis month saw another day for both Languages and Mathematics. Year seven pupils in the Trust were joined by pupils from Hardwick and St Louis for advanced French, Japanese and Spanish. Meanwhile, the year eight group selected for this year’s maths masterclass-es spent a morning looking at the relationship between mathematics and computer coding. We thank Mr Goodchild, Mrs Browning, Mrs Griffin, Mr Balaam and Mr Penn for running these activities and congratulate our senior linguists who helped prepare the materials together with Sophie Aris and Gemma Welbourn who worked on the CoSpace mathematics activity for the year eights.

n Sports Leaders in action againAll month, our sports leaders have helped with different activities. We particularly commend James Wappett in year twelve, who ran a martial arts festival for years five and six across the Trust as part of his level three Sports Leadership course. We also congratulate Maya Price, Matthew Spurling, Jasmine Tebbit and Lewis Tebbit who officiated at the Suffolk Basketball finals where teams from all our middle phase schools and County competed.

n Stargazing Live EventWe were pleased to be selected as an official BBC site for this national event and were joined by astrono-mers from the University of Hertfordshire. A hundred families with at least one child in Key Stage Two across the Trust joined us for an evening which included a pop-up planetarium, hands-on activities, making craters, rockets, orreries, star maps and lego quarks, a quiz, telling the time with the big dipper, and using remote telescopes. Our astronomy students helped throughout the evening with all the activities. Well done to:Peter Barron Hollie BowdenGabrielle DeoraPatrick DohertyDaniel FoulshamLaurence Grant

who did an excellent job together with Elliot Potter, Jack Routledge and Dominique Scoles who provided a media team and our 2016 Costa Rica expedition team who provided astronomy themed refreshments.

Jack McGaleyBen PamplinBilly RiddickOliver RiddickBryony Smith

The Oxbridge programme continuesThis month twelve students from year twelve visited St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. The day included a presentation on the university application process, an interview workshop, tour of the college and a taster lecture focusing on Physical Natural Sciences. Our students participated enthusiastically in all the activities. We thank Mr Kemp for organising it

Historians in NorwichThis month two groups visited Norwich. Our year eleven students spent a day at the annual conference which focuses on the two examination topics of medicine through time and Germany between the wars. The students participated in a range of discussions, talks and scene workshops which enabled them to consolidate their knowledge and formulate their views. The whole group was commended for their contribution and represented our school very well. We thank Mrs Allan, Miss Barran and Mrs Middleditch for arranging it.

A group of year nine students who produced excellent war diaries before Christmas joined Bethan Bradshaw and Rosie Grant in year eleven to attend the launch of the ITN school reports at The Forum in Norwich. They watched the winning films, including Rosie’s, heard a detailed and emotive account of key events and experiences of the First World War and visited Norwich Castle.Well done to all who took part.

Tutor Group SuccessAttendance Certificates of Merit Quiz9T 10J 11N

9K 6BD / KG/DU 10J11N/O

We congratulate this month’s winners

9S 10K 11J

Certificates of MeritYear 9 Tooba Ahmed Maddie Albon Sam Amroota Lucy Atkins Leah Baker Jake Baldwin Meg Bartholomew 3Cameron Bird Mia Boswell Sasha Campbell 3

Anna Carnegie 2James Carter Ella Chaplin Ross Dalton Alexander Doye Ellis Edwards Philip Ennis-Bugg Christopher Foulds Sophie Frost Zach Giles Phoenix Girardi

Jessica Gottgens 2Stephanie Greening Charlee Harris Hannah Harrison 3Thomas Hart Timothy Hill Caitlin Howland Matthew Jiggins Katrina Kemp William Kent Lucy Kingston

James Kirby-Green 2Cochese Leath-ers-Fuller 2Pearl Liao Nathaniel Lowis Tomaso Luongo Daniel Manning Freya McBain 2Inez McKenna Jack Miller Cameron Mitchell

Ryan Moore Fran Parslow 3Thomas Pettitt Oliver Radley Peter Ramsbottom Harry Reed Cameron Reid 2Harvey Sandry Andrew Smith Eleanor Steggles Ben Stevens

Fraser Stewart Joe Sturgeon Connor Suckley Eleanor Suter 4Aislyng Thrower Heather Watts

We congratulate the recipients for February

Year 10 Maisy Allen Alex Ames Louisa Baker 2Harry Barker William Belcher Jade-Louise Boddy 3Molly Bonnett Jonathon Bourne Susanna Brawn Rhianna-Jo Burns Adam Calver Charlotte Casson

Trevor Cheek Ebony Chilver Christopher Cogan Jack Collins Samuel Creed 4Lauren Curry Peter Davies Jake Davies Skye Dawes Ivan Dragovic Letia Eaton 2Alana Edgeworth Matthew Exell

Alexander Fayers 2Megan Fletcher Drew Gillespy Elleigh Griggs Ethan Hall Joshua Hall Katherine Halliday 2Charlotte Haston-Winter Kieran Hayden 2Ashley Hibbert Lottie Kent 2Meghan Lark

Sarah Lawrence- Moye Suzanne Lee Joshua Ling 2Joshua Macrow Kye Marchment Katrina Miller Aidan Mott Izabella O’Farrell Yasmin O’Farrell Rhys Owen Benjamin Pamplin Ellie Park-Elliott

Elliott Parr Rosie Patrick Oliver Pyle Jade Roshier Mikayela Sealby 2Hollie Setchell 3Rebecca Severy Emily Sinden Cara Singleton 2Bryony Smith 5Maya Smith 3Ruby Smith Emily Smith

Amelia Sparks- Shepherd Jessica Tansley Ameli Taylor Jasmine Tebbit 2Thomas Waldock 2Harry Wicks Ben Wilkinson

Year 11 Daisy BrownSarah BurnsTom Chaplin (2)Courtney-Jade Coleman (3)

William Cooke WhartonSophie cooper (2)Hannah CornishHolly DaviesLauren Emms

William Farrant (2)Emily FisherJacob FreeboroughGabriel GelezauskaiteAmilia Graham

Jacob KerseySamual Machen-Turner (2)Bronwen Mansel (2)Georgie PailesWilliam Selfe

Aaron Taylor (2)Katie TilyardCharlotte TitcombeEmily Wilding Smith (2)Christy Williams

Geographers in DocklandsOur A’ Level Geography students spent a day in the Docklands area as part of their urban studies and produced some excellent work. We congratulate them and thank Mr O’Leary, Mrs Bradbury and Mr Fisher for taking the group.