Dear Landmark Community

We have now reached the end of our Spring Term. It has been an eventful and exciting one with many activities and achievements to celebrate.

IGCSE and Competition Success

A number of our secondary students sat their IGCSE Maths exams in January following some additional revision sessions provided by Mrs Hilton-Taylor during the break. We were delighted with the results, which were outstanding. Three students achieved a 9, the highest possible grade; the results exceeded the grades predicted for the students.

Our students and Mr Lord deserve huge congratulations for their achievements in Latin this term. Florian won the Gold prize in the Cambridge Individual Latin Reading Competition and Bernard was awarded the Bronze prize. Our Year 8 were the winners in the Latin Play Competition Team Section. In the 2022 National Latin Reading Competition all three of our Landmark Year 9 candidates distinguished themselves - Kai won first place and Rosie and Maisie were highly commended.

Our spring term began in January with a competition organised by UKMT (UK Maths Challenges) to mark its 25 years of maths challenges. Each of the students received a certificate of participation. Students who did particularly well in the competition and who were commended for their achievements in the celebratory assembly included the following students: Ben Year 6, Henry Year 7, Elijah Year 8, Florian Year 8 and Bernard Year 9.

In February, the annual UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge took place. Students in Years 7 to 11 were encouraged to participate. We were extremely pleased to see so many students being awarded the following certificates: Bronze: Rosie Year 9, Victor Year 10, Lola Year 10, Silver: Henry Year 7, Andrew Year 8, Haiwu Year 9, Kai Year 9, Westcott Year 11 Gold: Bernard Year 8, Tom Year 11. Of those receiving the certificates, a number of students were invited to participate in the next level of the challenge: the Grey Kangaroo competition. Those invited were Henry, Andrew, Bernard, Haiwu and Kai. Tom also qualified for the more senior challenge: the Pink Kangaroo. Andrew, Bernard and Tom have each received a Certificate of Merit showing that they were in the top-scoring 25% of participants in their respective kangaroo competitions. This is wonderful news and a tremendous achievement for each of them. In addition Tom’s excellent results have earned him an invitation to go to the National Mathematics Summer School.

This year we had two students compete in the Oxford University Computing Competition, this is for students who scored in the top 10% in the country in the Bebras competition. Hilm in year 9 got a participation certificate and did very well to be invited to compete. Tom in year 11 got a distinction, to give this some context, in his age range 1772 students competed in the UK, but only 112 got distinctions so he is in the top few percent of the top top 10%!

Collectively year 9 won The Institute of Engineering and Technology 150 Anniversary: My Sustainable Community Competition. This was a national competition which involved the development of a model and report for a sustainable community of 150 homes.

We are very proud of all the incredible achievements we have seen across a wide range of subjects.

Curriculum Developments

Our candidacy for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) has continued to progress very well. The students are thoroughly enjoying the programme and the meetings with parents have helped them to understand and support their children’s learning. The Primary students continue to enjoy our expanded forest school programme at Abington each week and their swimming lessons at the Fulbourn pool.

In Secondary it has been good to see the continued development of our key stage 4 PE programme which utilises the facilities at Cambridge University Sports Ground. Sessions have included squash, badminton and rugby skills.

Landmark students enjoying squash at Cambridge University

In February for Children’s Mental Health Week the whole school developed their knowledge of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing: Take Notice, Connect, Be Active, Keep Learning and Give. These form an integral part to our whole school wellbeing approach.

Exploring Cambridge and Beyond

It has been great to be able to plan a range of trips for our students this term.

In January Robin class trip visited Technology Museum. They were learning about the Evolution of Communication and learnt how the printing press revolutionised how information could be shared. Our Eagle Class students enjoyed a trip to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as part of their study of the Mayan civilisation. The Year 9 students had an excellent time watching Animal Farm at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in February. Years 7 and 8 enjoyed a visit to Ely Cathedral as part of their RS course on Christianity. In March the Year 10 students enjoyed a trip to Shakespeare's Globe in London to watch a production of Hamlet; they were helped to understand the play by a workshop earlier in the day; they had a fascinating chat with the actor who was playing Polonius and a tour of the Globe. Robin Class learned about portraiture at the Fitzwilliam Museum and visited Oliver Cromwell’s house in Ely as part of their unit on royalty and people in power.

Events, Community and Charity

We had a wonderful whole school celebration for World Book Day in March. Our Students sported an array of colourful and creative costumes and enjoyed a book swap and a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party! Well done to Connie, our librarian, for all the hard work she put into organising this event.

The Landmark Primary Team in the World Book Day spirit!

Our student council has begun to produce the Landmark Gazette, a monthly magazine containing articles, stories, poetry and puzzles. The student run publication is available to read on our blog.

To finish the term, today we had Jayne’s Big Hair Chop and Bake Sale, which was supported by the student council. The big hair chop involved Jayne’s hair being cut at school and donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust. The money from the bake sale will go towards making the wig from the hair, which costs £550, it is also possible to donate on Just Giving.

We are looking forward to welcoming Sabine Kite, our new Bursar, to Landmark. Sabine will join us at the beginning of the summer term. We are also looking forward to welcoming Hannah Mosteller back to work as a TA in Eagle Class for the summer term and to seeing Laura Monk return to teach Robin Class. We would like to thank Tara Leeson for providing such excellent cover during Laura’s absence and to send our best wishes to Jen Ferri during her leave of absence.

As always, the Landmark team is grateful to you for the support you offer to our community. We wish you a relaxing, healthy and enjoyable break and look forward to welcoming your children back for the summer term.

With warm regards

Gareth and the team