Summer Term Newsletter 2025-2026
The community getting ready to celebrate International Day and our 10th Anniversary
Dear Landmark Community,
As we come to the end of our landmark 10th year at Landmark International School, there is an immense amount to celebrate! The summer term has, as always, flown by in a whirlwind of energy, and concluding this special milestone year has given us all cause to reflect on the incredible, diverse, and supportive community we have built together over the last decade.
It has been a truly successful, busy, and exciting term packed full of events, trips, and major student achievements.
A Culmination of Learning
The summer term is traditionally a very intensive period for academics, and our upper secondary students met the challenges of their GCSE exams throughout May and June with fantastic purpose, focus, and resilience. We are incredibly proud of the dedication they displayed during this crucial exam period.
Our Primary school also celebrated a massive milestone of academic inquiry. Our Year 6 students spent the final half of the term working tirelessly on their Primary Years Programme (PYP) Exhibition projects, which culminated in brilliant presentations to students, staff, and families. One group deeply explored the concept of peace and conflict through their central idea: ‘The sacrifices people make during conflicts can impact peace processes.’ The second group investigated crucial environmental issues, focusing on: ‘The legacy of unsustainable production and consumption impacts ecosystems.’ The confidence, maturity, and outstanding research skills shown by all of our Year 6 students during these presentations were deeply moving and a true testament to their development as self-directed learners.
Getting Out and About
Extending learning beyond the classroom remains a core pillar of life at Landmark. Our students have been out and about contextualising their studies with a fantastic range of trips. Our lower primary enjoyed a day at Shepreth, our Year 4 students visited the Raptor Foundation as part of their Unit of Inquiry on animals and their habitats, discovering first hand how different species adapt to survive in their environments. Meanwhile, our Year 7 and 8 groups enjoyed a fascinating visit to the Cambridge Central Mosque, where they explored the stunning architecture.
We have also seen the return of our highly anticipated summer residentials! Our Secondary students packed their bags for an unforgettable adventure at Ogwen Cottage in Wales. They embraced the Welsh countryside by trekking through the hills, scrambling up mountains, abseiling down rock faces with immense courage, and even braving a night of camping under the stars. Despite the unpredictable weather, their teamwork and high spirits never wavered and were thoroughly rewarded with well-earned ice creams in the sunshine!
Not to be outdone, our Year 5 and 6 primary students headed to Eaton Vale for their own action-packed residential. They threw themselves into a range of thrilling challenges, including rock climbing, an obstacle course, clout archery, the trapeze, raft building, backwoods cooking, and the legendary 'Eggbert Escapades', rounding off their evenings with a lively game of bingo.
Community, Action, and Fundraising
Being a caring, collaborative community is at the heart of everything we do. It was wonderful to see so many families turn out to cheer on our students for Sports Day. Under glorious sunshine, the children participated in traditional events like the egg and spoon race, the welly toss, and the ever-popular sack race with fantastic sportsmanship.
Creativity was also on full display on the stage. Our Secondary drama students put on an exceptional performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest. After weeks of intense rehearsals, costume checks, and backstage buzz, they delivered a spectacular show to a highly appreciative audience of families, teachers, and peers.
Our community's generosity and passion for action have shone brighter than ever this term. Our student-led Environmental Group achieved a major milestone by earning the Silver Accreditation through the Hedgehog Friendly Campus programme! To celebrate and support local biodiversity, one of our fantastic students organised a brilliant bake sale featuring adorable hedgehog-themed treats. This single event raised an impressive £194.30 for the SWCC Shepreth Hedgehog Hospital.
Furthermore, our annual International Day celebration was a massive success. The PTA excelled in supporting the event, the Student Council worked tirelessly selling raffle tickets throughout the afternoon's vibrant marketplace, and thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we raised over £1,000! Half of these proceeds will be proudly donated to UNICEF to support children globally.
Voices from the Wider Community
We love welcoming external voices to enrich our students' perspectives. This term, our Year 9 and 10 students had the fantastic opportunity to attend a special screening of ‘The YouTube Effect’ at the Cambridge Judge Business School. This was followed by an engaging, live Q&A discussion with filmmaker Alex Winter, which sparked incredibly thoughtful conversations regarding online influence, digital citizenship, and misinformation in the modern world.
We also want to extend a massive thank you to our phenomenal PTA. Through their continued fundraising and support, they funded wonderful new outdoor play equipment for our Primary students. The new colourful building slates and wooden building blocks have already been a massive hit, prompting brilliant moments of collaboration, problem-solving, and imaginative den-building during break times.
Internationalism Thriving
As an international school, sharing and celebrating global citizenship is woven into our daily life. We were delighted to welcome back our friends from the Kaetsu Ariake School in Tokyo for our annual afternoon of cultural exchange. Our students thoroughly enjoyed sharing traditions, playing cultural games, introducing some classic British sports, and forging global friendships.
Our grand finale for the year was our spectacular International Day 2026, which perfectly coincided with Landmark’s 10th anniversary. The day kicked off with parents generously leading cultural workshops with students, followed by our traditional afternoon international marketplace. Despite the soaring temperatures, the atmosphere was filled with music, dancing, laughter, and an abundance of delicious traditional foods from across the globe, beautifully capturing the spirit of diversity and friendship that defines Landmark.
Goodbyes
At the end of the term, we came together for a poignant Leavers' Assembly to say a formal goodbye to our graduating Year 11 students. While some of our leavers joined us just last year, others have grown up within our walls, including one student who has been part of our community for ten wonderful years. Each and every one of them has made a lasting contribution to school life, and we are incredibly proud of the mature, confident young people they have become. We wish them the absolute best as they step into their next chapters.
We also say a fond farewell to our students who are moving on to new adventures elsewhere or returning to their home countries: Ellen, Henryk and Henry who are returning to the US and Kosuke and Kokoro who are returning to Japan. Leila, Robert, Nieve and Razi who are moving on to other schools locally.
In addition, we bid farewell to some of our dedicated staff members who are moving on to new chapters: Andrea and Clem who have contributed so much to supporting students one to one throughout the whole school. We thank you all for your hard work and the care you have poured into our students. We also say farewell to our Chair of Trustees, Martin, who is retiring and standing down from the trustee board after 8 years of volunteering for and supporting the school.
As always, we are incredibly grateful to you for entrusting your children to us and for being such wonderfully loyal, supportive members of this family. We wish you a beautiful, relaxing, and well-deserved summer break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to school to kick start our next decade on Thursday, September 3rd!
With warmest regards,
Gareth and the team
