Autumn Term Newsletter 2021/2022

Dear Landmark Community

We are coming to the end of our Autumn Term; it has been a busy and eventful one. We hope you are looking forward to a peaceful and relaxing break with your family and friends.

We commenced the term in September with LFD testing for all our secondary students. We were grateful to you parents for supporting this need and to our students for their mature and sensible behaviour during the testing. Testing for secondary students will take place on the morning of the 5th January and we thank you in advance for your support.

Trips and onsite activities

It has been particularly exciting to have a range of trips up and running again this term. In September we were able to take the Year 10 and 11 students to Grafham Water for the day. The students enjoyed a range of activities including raft building and sailing, archery and climbing. It was fantastic to see everyone enjoying outside adventures together after the constraints of the pandemic.

Landmark students enjoy raft building at Grafham Water

Throughout the term there have been a number of other trips with groups utilising the wealth of learning opportunities around us by visiting our local church and mosque, heading to the Scott Polar Institute and Fitzwilliam Museum. It is fantastic to see the curriculum being enriched by these trips.

Curriculum developments

This term has seen a number of curriculum developments throughout the school. We started our first term as an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme candidate school. This is the first step to developing the Primary into an International Baccalaureate World School. The programme has been implemented in Robin and Toucan Classes this term and has proved to be a great success. The learning in the classes has focused on a new programme of inquiry and has included Robin class holding a mini assembly inviting children to share a special traditional object with the class. We were so impressed with their knowledge of their special family heritage and traditions, and also with the level of questioning and response the rest of the class have had with their presentations.

We have expanded our Forest School programme so all the classes in the primary school get to experience this great outdoor learning opportunity. Our new location at Great Abington has been a hit with the students, who have enjoyed chopping wood, building fires and toasting sourdough lollies, to name a few of their exciting activities.

Landmark Student learning to make a camp fire safely at forest school

Throughout the school there have been changes in PE provision, with the Primary classes now accessing swimming lessons at the pool in Fulbourn; each primary class will have an opportunity to enjoy swimming lessons during the academic year. In the upper secondary we have adapted our PE sessions to include an exploration of new sports, to do this we have started using the sporting facilities at the University Of Cambridge.  The students started with coach-led sessions of Eton and Rugby Fives.

We ran a successful mock exam series for our year 11 group. A number of our year 11 students will be taking maths IGCSE in January and we wish them the best of luck with their examination.

Events and competitions

Landmark has been involved in a number of events this term. In October the whole school gathered together in the hall to celebrate National Poetry Day. Students from the age of 4 to 16 worked collaboratively to develop their poetry skills during a whole school poetry picnic. The day gave an opportunity to celebrate our secondary students who had previously taken part in a The Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition. It was run by Routes into Languages East, a Cambridge University organisation, which supports language learning throughout the East of England. The panel chose four winners from Landmark, whose poems are now published in an anthology. Congratulations to Maisie, Max, Sara and Alicia!

This year, Landmark participated in Maths Week England, which ran from 8th-12th  November. The aim behind this special week was to promote a positive image of mathematics. Daily puzzles were given to the students, along with maths stories for younger students and collaborative tasks. Year 7 students finished the week with an exciting maths challenge encouraging them to reason mathematically and to problem-solve using their fluency skills. In addition, we organised a fun estimation challenge for all the students to participate in, from Foundation Stage right through to those in upper key stage three. 

Landmark Mathematics competition students with certificates for the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge and estimation challenge

During maths week some of our students participated in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Senior Maths Challenge, a competition targeted at post 16s. Despite all of our students being younger than this we had incredible results with three bronze awards for Lola, Leo and Westcott, a silver award for Bernard and a gold award for Westcott. We also had success in the Landmark senior computer scientists participated in the UK Bebras Challenge 2021 in early November. All students were awarded certificates for their participation in this national challenge based on problem solving and computational thinking. Bernard, Hilm and Tom all got Gold Awards, meaning that they finished in the top 10% nationally and have been invited to take part in the Oxford University Computing Competition in February. The following students also got distinctions: Roman, Max, Evan and Lydia.

Christmas Tree at Jimmy’s Cambridge with decorations hand made by Landmark students

Community and Charity

Over the term we have been involved in a range of community and charity events. It was fantastic to see the student council release the first edition of the Landmark Gazette, a student written publication. 

The whole school community was involved in raising money for Children In Need this year. Students dressed in spotty clothes, baked and sold cakes and enjoyed a Pudsey treasure hunt. £311.43 was raised for the charity. 

After receiving a talk during assembly from Jimmy’s Cambridge students made decorations to donate to Jimmy’s, these have been used to decorate their christmas tree at the homelessness charity.

To finish the term a large number of our primary school students attended the Fulbourn Winter Festival organised by Fulbourn Arts. The students sang songs to the residents of Home Close Care Home and took part in a community lantern walk through the village.

We sadly were unable to perform at Great St Mary’s Church for the Rotary Club Cambridge’s Charity Christmas Concert due to the concert being cancelled. However, the students' preparations have been used to create a video for you to all enjoy and we hope that we will be able to perform live for you next year. 

After a fun filled term last week we enjoyed our end of term celebratory lunch. Students and staff enjoyed a delicious lunch with dessert and a special treat for every student.  It was lovely to see the students enjoying the opportunity to chat with their friends whilst enjoying their special meal.  

We would like to say goodbye to three members of staff who are sadly leaving us at the end of this term. Deb our bursar who has worked tirelessly over the past three years transforming much of the school site and the processes we use at school. Heidi who has led our inclusion department as the school has grown and supported so many of our families. Mark who has such a great way with the students and has been a wonderful bus driver. We will miss you all and we wish you the best of luck.

We would like to say thank you for your continued support, particularly during these challenging times. We wish you a very happy and healthy holiday and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

With very warm regards

Gareth and the Landmark Team.