Summer Term Newsletter 2019/2020
Dear Landmark Community
We are drawing to the end of our summer term and Landmark’s fourth academic year. It has been a very different term to the one we planned!
The lockdown and the ensuing challenges caused by distance learning have been huge and I am very proud of how well our school community has tackled these. Our students, teachers and parents alike have faced a steep learning curve in terms of digital learning, with Google meets, Google classroom and videos becoming a part of their daily learning routine.
Despite the challenges of remote learning and partial reopening, there have been some memorable moments and plenty of commendable achievements to celebrate.
Kingfisher Class enjoyed a scavenger hunt, bingo and show and tell, all via google classroom. During the half term holiday they all received a ‘Mini Mrs Bennett’ by post and took her on their adventures with them. Robin class engaged with the gods and mythology, writing wonderful poems. Toucan explored their use of language through some really spectacular wanted posters. Eagle Class’ topic was ‘Mighty Mountains’. They researched the location of a variety of mountain ranges in the UK and the rest of the world. They analysed the positive and negative impacts of tourism and studied a mountain of their choice. They continued with the mountain theme in art, focussing on the work of Hokusai and Georgia O’Keefe. They studied a video unit based around ‘The Lighthouse’ and a story called ‘The Promise’. They also created some amazing Jabberwocky performance videos based on the famous poem.
The weekly assemblies have been well attended and students have enjoyed sharing their interests and learning with the school community. At the height of the assemblies we would have over seventy participants attend via google meet. The secondary students wrote some beautifully crafted poems in French, which Mr Lord read out to the assembled students. One of our Toucan students wrote an insightful and absorbing blog on life during lockdown and a range of students demonstrated their musical expertise during the weekly assembly.
The children of our Key Worker parents have been in school throughout lockdown and have coped well with the intensity of working within a small group. They worked as a team to assemble a rainbow made of toys from the hall and built a raft using materials from the playground. They also enjoyed building lego zip wires and making volcanoes.
After half term we were able to gradually welcome the primary students back into school. It was rewarding to witness their delight at being back in school with their friends and teachers. In addition to the regular class work our students have engaged in a number of activities. Since their return, Kingfisher students have been working hard on their ‘Under the Sea’ project. They have learned about the history of the seaside and have created some colourful paintings of beach huts. Robin class engaged in the making of ice lollies and catching up with their friends whilst Toucan class enjoyed a sports day and the tending of tomato plants. Eagle have taken part in a mini-sports day, team games and ice-lolly making.
On Tuesday we were able to welcome back our secondary students for a well-being session, followed by a socially distanced gathering and presentation to two students who are leaving us. The students' excitement at seeing one another in person was palpable and they were impressively conscientious about maintaining social distancing and hand washing. The students and the staff thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.
As always, we are sad to say goodbye to our Year 11 students, whilst being proud of how they have matured and how much they have achieved during their time at Landmark. They have all achieved places at the further education settings of their choice and we are confident that they have bright futures ahead. We plan to invite them back in the autumn term so we can give them a proper send off from Landmark. We will stay in touch with them and look forward to hearing all about the next stage in their educational journey.
We were fortunate to have a student from the first Year 11 Landmark cohort spend last year with us as a Teaching Assistant in the secondary school as part of her gap year. She will attend the prestigious art college, Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design from this September. Here is an excerpt from the letter she wrote to us about her time as a TA at Landmark: “It has been very interesting seeing the other side of school, from the teachers’ perspective - new level of respect to all members of staff, the teachers, admin staff, bus drivers, cleaners and everyone else. Gareth, Mary and Deb, you’ve done a magical job in turning what was a humble, family size school into a thriving, hustling, bustling hub for creativity and learning. Landmark really is a dream school. Thank you for everything. I’ll be back!”
We will be carefully observing Department of Education Guidelines throughout the break to ensure we have the school prepared to safely accommodate our students in September. We are looking forward to welcoming our first cohort of reception age students this September - some of these children have been enjoying some taster days this half term and have settled in beautifully. We are also looking forward to welcoming Jayne Pearce-Slade, who will support a student in the secondary department and Rosalba Silvestro, who will teach Spanish. Greg Townsend will be joining us as the Toucan class teacher. Most importantly, we are eagerly anticipating the return to school of all our wonderful students!
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all our parents. Your loyalty and dedication to the Landmark community is unfailing and we are grateful for the way you have adapted to having to support your children in their distance learning, in many cases whilst having to meet the demands of your own careers.
I wish you all a very restful, peaceful and healthy summer break.
Gareth Turnbull-Jones and the Landmark Team
