Dear Landmark Community

We hope you are well. We are now coming to the end of our sixth year at Landmark. We finish the term with 100 students on roll and feel grateful to be part of such a vibrant and unique community.

It has been a busy term; we have very much enjoyed the opportunities that are now available to us again and have made sure the students have enjoyed a range of trips and activities to celebrate this.

Trips and excursions

A real highlight of the term has been the opportunity to run plenty of trips and to have our first opportunity since the pandemic to run residentials, including Landmark’s first overseas residential trip.

We had our first trip week in June this year, a tradition that we will look to continue into the future (more details in September!). Our students from Year 8, 9 and 10 enjoyed a fantastic four day trip to Normandy in France. They packed a range of activities into the trip, including a trip to Bayeux Market, a visit to the beaches at Arromanches, a snail farm and an afternoon of baking French style.

Landmark Secondary Students enjoying the Normandy Beaches

During the same week Toucan and Eagle went on a residential trip to Eaton Vale. They took part in a range of exciting activities including flying high on the trapeze, pioneering, being blindfolded on the low ropes and canoeing on the river. They rewarded themselves for their bravery with toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate in the evenings.

Our year 7 group had the opportunity to enjoy a range of local trips including Royston Caves, the Synagogue, Wicken Fen and a trip to Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford to celebrate our successes in the Young Engineers Competition.

Throughout the term we have had a range of other trips for the students to enjoy including year 7 and 8 visited the Cambridge Central Mosque in Cambridge to learn more about Islam; year 9 and 10 students visited Bletchley Park, the home of the code breakers during the second World War; and Toucan and Eagle travelled to London to watch a production of Frozen at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane.

Curriculum Developments

There has been significant work to develop our curriculum in both the primary and secondary as we seek to gain accreditation for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) and are putting into place all of the requirements to deliver ASDAN courses in our secondary.

Our candidacy for the IB PYP has continued to progress very well. Our PYP Consultant visited us in June and was delighted with our progress. We are now proceeding with our application for authorisation and we expect to have our accreditation visit in the Autumn term, and, all being well, we shall look forward to full accreditation to the programme soon after. The students are thoroughly enjoying the programme and the meetings with parents have helped them to understand and support their children’s learning. It has been incredible to see the range of inquiry based learning happening in the classrooms including Eagle’s inquiry into Music and Mood and Kingfisher’s inquiry into under the sea.

Throughout May and June our Year 11 students (and a number of Year 10 students) have been sitting their I/GCSE examinations. Thank you to Mrs Gibbs, Mrs Elliott and Mrs Hilton-Taylor for ensuring the smooth running and detailed time-tabling of rooms during this period.

Competition Success

Our Year 7 and 8 classes took part in the ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ - Engineer Competition by Anglia Ruskin University for the East of England. Their task was to look into the roles of different engineers in society and to then design a solution to a problem they had identified. Designs included an electrostatic device to remove cat hair from the home; a portable water wheel that can be put down a plug hole to generate electricity to charge a battery; devices to make medical treatments more comfortable and less stressful and a jacket to protect vulnerable people when they fall. Those students awarded a Distinction (Giulia, Jake, Kyra, Vivian and Oliver) and Distinction Shortlisted (Charlie) had their work displayed at the final exhibition in Chelmsford on June 22nd. Florian was a winner in the Year 8 category and was invited to the awards ceremony in Chelmsford on the 22nd June.

We continued our track record of success in UKMT competitions and we are looking forward to finding out the results of the year 7 and 8 students who qualified for the Kangaroo and Olympiad rounds.

Events and Community

Robin Class Perform a flute piece at the primary music performance — Robin class perform a flute piece at the primary music performance

Throughout the term we have had a number of exciting events on site. In May we were able to invite Primary parents into school for a Celebration of Learning. It was wonderful to have parents in school again and for them to see their children’s work and learning in the classroom.

We have been busy throughout June with Toucan and Eagle Classes completing their Level 2 Bikeability course. They pedalled on despite some very wet weather and all the students were awarded Level 2 status. In June all primary students experienced ‘Move up Mornings’ to allow them to see how life would be in their new class in September. Our Year 6 students spent time planning for their transition to secondary school. To do this the students put their IB Approaches to Learning skills into action. They researched the secondary department, interviewed teachers and students and collated the information to make an incredible transition booklet.

Students enjoyed competing in a range of events at sports day

On Friday the 24th June we held our annual Careers Day for our secondary students. During the morning the students listened to speakers including a Radiologist, a Research Psychiatrist, a Social Worker, a Banker, an Entrepreneur, a Psychotherapist, a Software Designer and a Physicist. During the afternoon students participated in a ‘Young Apprentice’ competition: to design, build, market and sell a chair. Each group presented their complete product to a team of buyers and a prize was awarded to the group which made the largest net profit and to the group who worked together in a way that reflected the Landmark values most strongly.

We finished off the year with two fantastic events. First on July 1st the Primary Music Performance, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the full house that attended the event. The students produced wonderful pieces as individuals, class groups and a whole primary school choir. Then on July 4th we held our Sports Day. Students from both primary and secondary participated in a range of exciting track and field events. The PTA kindly provided refreshments and Year 9 arranged a pre-order facility for lollies and ice-creams for students to enjoy after the event. Proceeds from this will go towards the purchase of a picnic bench in the playground.

Goodbyes and welcomes

On June 30th we held an assembly to say goodbye to our Year 11 students. We presented them with their ‘Landmark Leaver Hoodies’ and a copy of ‘Oh, the places you'll go!’ signed by their teachers. We wish our Year 11 students every success in the next step of their educational journey. We also say goodbye to Iris and Albertine, Clara, Aarti, Lydia, Ben, Jasper and Turner in our Primary Department and Elijah, Bernard and Harrison in our Secondary Department. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours. We also say goodbye to staff members Caterina Fitzgerald, Hannah Mosteller and Jayne Pearce-Slade, thank you for all you have given to Landmark and we wish you all the best in the future.

Year 10 students giving a reading from 'Oh, the places you'll go!' to our leaving year 11 students

We are opening with a full roll of students in September and we look forward to welcoming the new students to our community. We also look forward to welcoming back Jen Ferri and our two new secondary teachers Hannah Jones (Science) and Jacky Hulett (Geography).

Finally, we say an emotional goodbye to our deputy head Paula Elliott. Paula was the founding headteacher at Landmark and a key figure in the school’s growth and success. A number of our secondary students interviewed Paula for National Writing Day, a fitting way to celebrate her and her many contributions to the Landmark community. Please take time to read the blog post here. Paula will be sorely missed by all in our community. She always makes time for students, parents and colleagues and we are truly thankful to her for all she has done. We wish her all the best in her new endeavours and look forward to hearing about all of her adventures.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back in September for another exciting academic year. For now, we wish you an enjoyable, safe and relaxing summer break and thank you for all your support.

With warmest regards

Gareth and the team