Dear Members of the Landmark Community

The holiday season is here. We hope you’re having and looking forward to some relaxing and enjoyable times with family and friends. It has been another vibrant and successful term packed with events, exams and celebrations.

Getting out and about!

The students have enjoyed some exciting and memorable trips and excursions this term, here is a recap of a few of the highlights.

In September Landmark key stage 4 students enjoyed their yearly team building trip, this year they went to Thetford Forest. This was an opportunity to get all of our Year 10 and 11 students together to challenge themselves and develop their leadership, communication and collaborative skills. This year we took the students to Go Ape at Thetford and all of the students took on the high ropes challenge. This was followed by team games with the students out on the field at Thetford High Lodge.

Throughout the term there have been a number of trips including Robin class visiting the Fulbourn Historical Society, Year 7 and 8 visiting the Reformed Synagogue and Year 9 visiting the recycling plant. On the 23rd of November our students had the opportunity to visit Abbey College and attend a leadership conference, where they delved into a day filled with inspiration, learning, and forging connections with students from around the globe.

Community Events

Students enjoyed the creative process during poetry day.

There have been a number of events this term. Back in September we started off with the European Day of Languages. Our Year 9 and Year 11 students were given the chance to take part in a webinar organised by the British Council and in partnership with GCHQ. They listened to four speakers who explained the importance of languages within their jobs, and were given the chance to ask questions afterwards. Those who worked at GCHQ had to have their cameras turned off, but we enjoyed hearing about some of the exciting things they do for work!

National Poetry Day 2023 focused on the theme of refuge. To celebrate, groups of Landmark students rotated around a range of staff members, who read a range of refuge themed poetry to their groups and had discussions around the poems chosen. After listening to poetry all students took part in a poetry workshop around the idea of refuge. Students focused on four areas: home, school, the community and the world and wrote a poem using the sentence starter of ‘My safe space is …..’ .

In October we enjoyed a visit from our friends in Japan with Year 10 and 11 students, and their teachers, from Kaetsu School joining us for an afternoon. The Japanese students enjoyed a range of cultural and sporting activities with our Year 10 and 11 students; the afternoon was a very rewarding experience for all involved.

Secondary students enjoyed learning from our friends from Kaetsu School, Japan.

In November, our students celebrated Maths Week England. They were given a range of puzzles to solve, enrichment problems to explore and some creative mathematical tasks to complete, all with the aim of encouraging the pupils to pursue and enjoy mathematics, whilst promoting a positive attitude to the subject too.

Also in November we had the pleasure of inviting the parents of our Year 5 and 6 students into school to learn about life in the Secondary School. Parents had the opportunity to visit classes, speak to Year 7 students and ask the head teacher questions. For those who missed it or anybody interested in Landmark for secondary school, please take a look at our blog. The Eagle Class students also enjoyed an opportunity to experience life in the secondary school; they spent the morning as Year 7 students and attended lessons in the art room and science laboratory.

Fabulous Fundraising

It has been wonderful to see an influx of student led action this term with bake sales and discos! Students have done a fantastic job of raising funds for charities such as the IUCN Red List, Cancer Research UK and The Red Panda Network.

We hosted the scholastic book fair for three days in November with parents spending £608.69 on books, which provided the school with about £250 in Scholastic Book credits.

The annual book fair was a great success!

On Children in Need Day a bake sale was held and proved to be very successful; this was followed by a wonderful community Teddy Bear Fun Run organised by the Student Council. In total we raised £183.61 for Children in Need.

Landmark Primary Choir perform at the Rotary Carol Concert.

On the 6th December the primary students took part in the Rotary Carol Concert at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge. This was a magical event and we were very proud of the children’s wonderful performance. The last update we received from the Rotary Club was that the concert had raised in excess of £15,000 for the four Cambridgeshire based children's charities. This is an incredible event that we are delighted to participate in.

Celebrating Successes

This term we had the delight of forging a relationship with Fulbourn Primary school as two teams from Eagle Class took part in two successful netball fixtures at their school. We look forward to future fixtures and building our sporting friendship. On the 11th December a group of our secondary students enjoyed taking part in a wet and muddy District Cross Country Competition.

In Year 6, the children took part in the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge, which is a multiple-choice task encouraging mathematical reasoning, precise thinking, and the ability to use techniques to solve basic problems. Here they are proudly receiving their certificates on Friday. Congratulations to Marta who received a bronze award, to Jensito and Dorothy for achieving a silver award and to Nieve who achieved a gold award. Nieve has been invited to take part in the bonus round!

Our secondary mathematics students received results for the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge, this challenge is targeted at sixth form students so our younger students did exceptionally well. Here are some notable achievements Andrew in Year 10 achieved a Silver Award and Haruko, Jan, Haiwu and Kai all received Bronze Awards. Additionally, two of our Year 11 students took their mathematics IGCSE early and we look forward to hearing how they did in the new year.

School Lunches for all!

On the 8th of December Landmark students and staff enjoyed a celebratory end of term lunch. They tucked into a fantastic spread prepared and served by Gemma and Jack.

The students and staff have been enjoying the wonderful lunches prepared in our new kitchen by Gemma and Jack. Starting in January 2024, we are delighted to announce that school lunches will be included in the price of the fees and available for all students. A three week rotating menu (below), from which students can choose on the day can be found here. Students may bring a packed lunch if they prefer. Parents do not need to order a meal for their son or daughter. Here is a form requesting up to date dietary requirements. This is to ensure our Catering Department has the most up to date information and must be completed for all students.

Goodbyes and Welcomes

During the Autumn Term we said goodbye to Tess and Emily from secondary school and to Ottilie in our primary department. We wish them all the best in their new schools. We also say goodbye to Duncan who will be moving to a new job at the start of next year. We are excited to welcome students from Japan, China and South Korea in January.

As always, we are grateful to you for entrusting your children to us and for being such valued contributors to our school community. We wish you a fantastic holiday and very much look forward to welcoming your children back to school on the 4th January.

With very warm regards

Gareth and the team