Diary Dates

Half term

12 – 16 February

Year 11 History Trip

19 February

SENCO Surgery

21 February

Year 8 Parents Evening

22 February

KS4 Battlefields trip

8-9 March

Year 8 Options Evening

15 March

Year 10 Work Experience

23 – 29 March

Easter Holidays

30 March – 13 April

KS4 Geography trip

13-16 April

PD Day

16 April

Start of Summer Term

17 April

Year 10 Parents Evening

26 April

May Day Bank Holiday

7 May

Year 8 Geography Trip

9 May

Year 9 Parents Evening

24 April

IES Breckland Newsletter

2018 February

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

We are now half way through the academic year and students and staff are

looking forward to a well-deserved half term break. Our year 11 students are

focussed on their GCSE’s and will be sitting mock examinations after half term.

We held a Revision session for parents earlier this term to support their children in

years 10 and 11. If you were unable to attend the guidance information is

available from our website.

Also after half term we have the year 8 parents evening and parents and carers

can make online appointments for the 22 February. It is a busy time for our year

8 students as they will start to consider their GCSE options. We are holding an

Options Evening on 15 March and our Faculty Heads and teachers will be

available to discuss the subjects and specifications of both mandatory and

option subjects. This year students will be able to have a “Taster Session” of the

option subjects to give them a greater understanding of the subject to support

them in their choices. Year 8 reports went home yesterday to parents and carers

and are available to view on Go 4 Schools.

As you are aware we had to close the school on 18 January following the very

heavy winds. There was no power to the school for several hours and the roads

were unpassable in some places. I never take the decision to close the school

lightly and in this case it was completely justified. We will keep you informed via

our website, Facebook and the Suffolk County Council school closures website

page if needed.

In January we had a one day Safeguarding inspection from Ofsted. Their

findings corroborated that from our September inspection which found

Safeguarding effective at IES Breckland. The Inspector was very positive about

the Safeguarding culture here at IES Breckland – “The school is a welcoming

place in which people can be themselves. Pupils feel safe.” You can read this

report from our website on the Ofsted page.

Have a restful break and I look forward to welcoming all of the students back to

school on 19 February.

Kindest regards

Mrs Tilbrook, Principal, IES Breckland

Year 11 Prom

This year, we will be celebrating our year 11s leaving us

and moving onto their post 16 destination at Hockwold

Hall, on Friday 29 June. We are very much looking forward

to celebrating the evening with all of them. Tickets are on

sale now, please see Mrs Dicks for a letter.

Year 10 student Tyler recently took part in a relay.

CEIAG My name is Ellen Alexander and I am a Level 6 qualified independent Careers Adviser. Every Tuesday I come in to school and see pupils on a 1:1 basis, to discuss their career ideas and help them plan their next steps after Year 11. Recently I have been helping some Year 10 pupils find work experience placements by contacting some local employers on their behalf. If you would like me to see your son or daughter in school please email me at ealexander@beacon-east.co.uk or request an appointment through Miss Mather.

Student Focus

Morgan is one of our students who loves to Go Kart. She has

put many hours into this sport and has wrote a little bit about

what she does -

I race junior TKM’s at a professional level with 16 year olds.

2017 was my first year in that class and I have achieved the

following –

11th out of approximately 40 drivers in my first ever

TKM festival making it straight through to the elite

final. I raced with the best drivers in Britain.

I am Lincolnshire kart race club junior TKM champion

2017

I am also Hunts kart race club junior TKM vice

champion 2017

Then this year I will be taking part in Super One which is the

British Championship.

Well done Morgan!

Science revision for Y11 is available On Monday or Friday lunchtime and

also Wednesday/Thursday after school.

We will be having lots of Science week activities from the 8th to the 16th

March including a Family Science Fair after school on Thursday 8th

March , from 6-8 with a science show and then activities in the Harry

Potter, Planet Earth and Not All Scientists Wear White Coats rooms! There

will also be a scavenger hunt with prizes. Some local primary schools will

be using the planetarium that will be based at IES for a week and our Y7s

will also be using this to find out about Space and the Solar System. The

planetarium will also be open to students at lunchtime for the w/c 12th

March. In KS3 science students will be completing Science challenges

and also Y8 will be completing the squashed tomato challenge! We will

also be having some STEM Ambassadors to help us run these activities.

Science update

Year 10 student Tyler recently took part in a relay.

Student Focus

Tommy is one of our students who loves to

box. He puts a lot of hours and hard work

into this sport and was recently crowned

champion at the National development

finals in Birmingham!

Congratulations and well done Tommy!

On Wednesday and Thursday 24th and 25th January, five IESB

students decorated and sold cupcakes during their social

time in the school hall.

The event was a huge success and a total of £86.00 was

raised. As part of the purchasing process, the students were

asked to nominate where they would like there purchase fee

to go, IESB or to a chosen charity. By a ratio of 2:1 the charity

choice won. The charity chosen by the group was Cancer

Research UK.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who

donated baking goods and who purchased items on the day,

the event was a huge success.

Regards

Miss Dransfield

Anrijs

Behaviour and Attendance Community Rewards Assemblies

School Uniform Expectations

PE Update

Year 7, 8 and 9 rugby teams have all participated in rugby festivals this 1/2 term. Year 8 rugby team were the most successful, winning 6 drawing 2 and losing 1. Year 7s also do very well in winning 5 drawing 2 and losing 2. But all year groups did fantastic.

Both the Year 8 and Year 10 Athletics teams participated in the Indoor Athletics event at Newmarket Leisure Centre. First time IES Breckland has attended this fixture and both year groups did well and should be very proud of the legacy they have started.

Year 9 GCSE VCERT and GCSE pupils travelled to Loughborough University for the day to learn and understand GCSE content and university life. Firstly the pupils got a tour of the university, show casing the facilities on offer. Pupils then participated in a nutrition lecture, making their own energy drinks. The pupils finished the day off by playing an ultimate frisbee game and carrying out fitness tests.

Year 10 student Tyler recently took part in a relay.

Inter-community points currently.

Inter community indoor athletics this week ball points goes towards sports day. You can contribute to your totals by just turning up to Extra-Curricular.

Please could your son/daughter fill out this very short survey to what they would like to see more of

within PE https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LQ8ZRPZ

Student Focus

Well done to Charlie who has passed his Referee course and is now refereeing every Sunday. Last Sunday he was refereeing at Thetford, were I got the chance to watch him. He refereed the game brilliantly, with such maturity.

Well done Charlie, keep it up.

Extra-Curricular has been very

successful this half term. Can

we make it even more

successful next half term?

Remember you get points for

when you turn up to each

session.

Car Park

Just a reminder to all parents/carers to please park outside the gates when

dropping off or collecting students from school.

Dinner cards

All students must use their dinner cards to purchase food. Dinner money must be put

on via cash loader or by ParentPay. Catering are no longer accepting cash at the

till.

Breakfast Club With the cold weather please come and get a free bowl of porridge from the

Breakfast Club. This is available from 7.45am in the Hall. Students can also buy toast,

cereal, yoghurt and fruit. Mrs Kidd is also serving hot chocolate shortly too!

Free school meals At IES Breckland, we are committed to working with pupils and their families to

ensure that they are fully supported in their learning. We recognise that this extends

beyond the classroom and we want to make sure that the health, well-being and

opportunities for learning for all of our pupils is the best that it can be. One of the

ways that we can do this is to make sure that everyone who is eligible for free school

meals completes an application, whether they wish to eat ‘on the house’ or not. You

can apply for free school meals online from the Suffolk County Council Website, if

you go to www.suffolk.gov.uk. If you do not have access to a suitable device to

complete an online form please contact the office for support.

In-Touch

It is a requirement for all schools to communicate with parents/carers on the first day of a

child’s absence to establish the reason for the absence. From January 2018, we

introduced an automated system (In-Touch) to contact you if your child is marked

absent during morning registration (this will not be activated if we have received a

phone call from you by 8.40am). Not only does this enable us to establish the reason for

the absence, but it will also alert you if your child has not arrived at school. Once the

automated service is activated, you will receive a text message from 07860 095391.

Please reply to the text message.

ParentPay ParentPay is an ideal way for Parents and Carers to pay online for

school lunches, trips and uniform. All parents and carers have been

sent login details for the system but if you have any problems or queries

regarding ParentPay please call our Finance Officer Miss Jackson. The

school no longer accepts cheques. ParentPay is a quick and easy

method for all parents and carers to make payments.

ParentMail A large proportion of our communications is via ParentMail and this

software enables us to email parents and carers with updates including

school news, trips, reports and parents evenings. If you have not

received a registration email or text it may be because your details

have recently changed. Contact the school office to confirm your

details and a registration email/text will be issued.