1 Issue No 27/2015-2016 Thetford Grammar School The small, friendly school that gets results for individuals. 6 th May 2016 Dear Pupils and Parents, The arrival of the warmer spring weather has been delightful for us all this week. I do hope that the higher temperatures provide us all with even more splashes of vibrant colour in our already beautiful school gardens. As part of our involvement in the Breaking New Ground project, we have recently installed a Bee and Butterfly Garden, near Fulmerston Hall, and a Heathland area, on the top sports field. These will be part of the outdoor, experiential learning opportunities for children across the school phases. We had two major events that concluded last week’s activities at the school. The first was a presentation to the Sixth Form by Professor Richard Scase, TGS Patron and former President of the Old Thetfordian Association, and Mayor Robert Kybird, Chair of the OTA, where they provided a warm welcome to the OTA’s newest members. The second, in the evening, was the official launch of David Seymour’s ‘Thetford Grammar School, Fourteen Centuries of Education’. Almost seventy people attended the event including former and current pupils, members of staff, notable friends of TGS and prominent members of Thetford and the county. The audience were fascinated by the informative and detailed presentation about the school and its long history. My thanks to Mr David Seymour for allowing us further insight into our school and signing many copies of his book, and to Mr Phil McGahan, School Bursar, for organising the evening. The Preparatory School visited the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, earlier this week. By all accounts the children and staff had a wonderful time exploring and enjoying the exhibits and artefacts. My appreciation to all the staff who escorted the children and particularly to Mrs Nicki Peace, Head of Prep School, and Mrs Lucy Perry for coordinating the trip for the benefit of the children. I am certain that Year 8 will enjoy their trip to the Houses of Parliament today. I shall wish them a safe, fun and informative trip to learn more about politics and citizenship, under the guidance of Mrs Heather Pringle, Head of KS 3, and Mrs Juliet Boyce, Head of Drama. If you are available, do come along to visit Thetford Grammar School’s stand and say hello at the South Suffolk Show at Ampton Racecourse on Sunday 8 th May. It was particularly nice to see and speak to so many friends of TGS at the recent East Anglian Game and Country Fair, held at the Norfolk Showground. I do wish you and your families a happy and restful weekend. Mr Mark S. Bedford Headmaster
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1 Issue No 27/2015-2016
Thetford Grammar School
The small, friendly school that gets results for individuals.
6th May 2016
Dear Pupils and Parents,
The arrival of the warmer spring weather has
been delightful for us all this week. I do hope
that the higher temperatures provide us all
with even more splashes of vibrant colour in
our already beautiful school gardens. As part
of our involvement in the Breaking New
Ground project, we have recently installed a
Bee and Butterfly Garden, near Fulmerston
Hall, and a Heathland area, on the top sports field. These will be part of the outdoor,
experiential learning opportunities for children across the school phases.
We had two major events that concluded last week’s activities at the school. The first was a
presentation to the Sixth Form by Professor Richard Scase, TGS Patron and former President
of the Old Thetfordian Association, and Mayor Robert Kybird, Chair of the OTA, where they
provided a warm welcome to the OTA’s newest members. The second, in the evening, was
the official launch of David Seymour’s ‘Thetford Grammar School, Fourteen Centuries of
Education’. Almost seventy people attended the event including former and current pupils,
members of staff, notable friends of TGS and prominent members of Thetford and the
county. The audience were fascinated by the informative and detailed presentation about
the school and its long history. My thanks to Mr David Seymour for allowing us further
insight into our school and signing many copies of his book, and to Mr Phil McGahan,
School Bursar, for organising the evening.
The Preparatory School visited the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, earlier this week. By
all accounts the children and staff had a wonderful time exploring and enjoying the exhibits
and artefacts. My appreciation to all the staff who escorted the children and particularly to
Mrs Nicki Peace, Head of Prep School, and Mrs Lucy Perry for coordinating the trip for the
benefit of the children.
I am certain that Year 8 will enjoy their trip to the Houses of Parliament today. I shall wish
them a safe, fun and informative trip to learn more about politics and citizenship, under the
guidance of Mrs Heather Pringle, Head of KS 3, and Mrs Juliet Boyce, Head of Drama.
If you are available, do come along to visit Thetford Grammar School’s stand and say hello
at the South Suffolk Show at Ampton Racecourse on Sunday 8th May. It was particularly nice
to see and speak to so many friends of TGS at the recent East Anglian Game and Country
Fair, held at the Norfolk Showground.
I do wish you and your families a happy and restful weekend.
Mr Mark S. Bedford
Headmaster
2 Issue No 27/2015-2016
MOBILE PHONE & ICT POLICIES
Earlier in the school year we sent out updated mobile phone and ICT policies to parents for
completion. If you have not yet returned the signed forms of agreement on the policies could
you please do so as soon as possible. Forms will be sent out with the half term reports for
those that are still outstanding.
Mrs Cathie Reynolds
School Secretary
BOOK LAUNCH
To commemorate the 450th anniversary of the refoundation
of the school under the terms of Sir Richard Fulmerston’s
Will, Thetford Grammar School Patrons, Lady Kay Fisher
and Professor Richard Scase joined the Chairman of
Governors and more than 60 other guests at the official
launch of David Seymour’s new book on the History of
Thetford Grammar School. The Chairman of Breckland
Council together with the Mayor of Thetford, current and
former members of staff and current parents heard David
give a fascinating talk on early 20th century life at Thetford Grammar School in what is
hoped to be the first of an annual series of Richard Fulmerston lectures. At the drinks
reception, David was kept busy signing copies of the book which is now on sale from the
School Office.
Mr Philip McGahan
Bursar
BREAKING NEW GROUND Last Friday Mia Witham from the Breaking New Ground
project was back in school to complete the next phase of our
joint project with Y6 and Y12.
On the previous Wednesday Mia
had cleared the grass from 2 areas
in our school grounds; one over on
the sports field and one near the
DT room where half the
group planted 74 perennial plants
and scattered wildflower seeds to create a bee and butterfly
garden. Over on the field 10 turf strips from Breckland Heath were
planted which will hopefully spread to fill the cleared area over the
next few months. We are all looking forward to seeing how our
seeds will grow over the next year as well as looking forward to
our trip to a heathland in a few weeks’ time.
Mrs Tracy Granger Mrs Philippa Weyers Miss Kim Fitch
Head of Science Y6 Science Teacher Teaching Assistant
3 Issue No 27/2015-2016
PRE-PREP LITERACY
As part of our Pre-Prep literacy scheme, phonic sounds are taught in their purest form. Each
week we focus on a different letter which we refer to as our ‘Sound of the Week’; this week
Pre-Prep are focussing on ‘L’. Pupils have been learning to sound out the letter and are
beginning to write it. Continuing on with our emphasis on ‘L’ Pre-Prep children have been
making their very own ‘Lovely Lollies’. How summery and delicious!
Miss Franchesca Atkins
Teaching Assistant
PRE-PREP PUPILS IN THE SUN!
The sun has got his hat on and so have we! Our little ones
have been learning about the importance of sun cream, hats
and drinking plenty of H2O! On Thursday we had a
beautiful day exploring our outdoor areas safely in the
lovely warm sunshine. To help our active pre-schoolers cool
down after a morning of zooming around outdoors we have
also enjoyed lovely lollies, linking to our sound of the week
– a delicious treat on a warm summers day whilst listening
to the story of ‘How to Hide a Lion’, the story of a lion who
went into town to buy a hat to keep the hot sun off his head.
Please remember to put sun cream on your children before school if it continues to be sunny.
Miss Julie Blakemore
Pre-Prep Class Teacher
4 Issue No 27/2015-2016
EUROPEAN DRAMA TEACHERS’ VISIT
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the Drama
department was delighted to welcome two Slovakian
visitors to our school; Lubica Bekeniova, a Drama
advisor and Renata Kopcekova, a Headteacher. Their
visit was part of an EU funded project to learn more
about how Drama is delivered as a discrete subject.
They spent two mornings being spellbound by the
talents of our students! It was a fascinating opportunity
to share experiences and to appreciate differences. Lubica is hoping to introduce Drama as a
subject in its own right in Slovakia where at the moment it is used as a tool for other
curriculum subjects. Renata’s school will be the pilot for it. They both had lots of questions
and we had some stimulating discussions about what a versatile and engaging subject
Drama is – not that I am biased, of course! They rounded off their visit with a shooting
session at the rifle range with Mr Spencer which was something they had definitely not
come across in schools before! Thanks also to Mr Young for providing a brilliant example of
Drama in English at Thetford Grammar – with a little help from Mr William Shakespeare!
Mrs Juliet Boyce
Head of Drama
YEAR 2 – YEAR 6 VISIT TO FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM IN CAMBRIDGE
Feeling inquisitive and intrepid, Years 2 to 6 ventured to
the Fitzwilliam Museum on Tuesday 3rd May in search of
Animals in Art. Our day was split into two halves – one
spent in the Museum galleries and the other in the
Museum studio. Exploring the Fitzwilliam galleries is an
inspiring and fascinating process where works of Art
from all around the world, from ancient civilisations to
modern times, are displayed to intrigue and to educate.
We were lucky to have a museum teacher lead us
through this exciting maze with animated stories of
animals and gods in Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and
Ancient Egyptian Art.
Pupils were keen to engage and the teacher was
delighted by their thoughtful and eager participation.
Pupils sketched in the galleries and played games of
animal picture consequences to create their own
mythical hybrid animals. This theme of hybrid
animals was developed further in the studio
workshop.
5 Issue No 27/2015-2016
Presented with a wealth of art and collage materials pupils worked in small groups to create
curious and playful mythical
animals inspired by what they
had seen in the galleries. They
have brought these shadow
puppets back to school to
experiment with animating them
and to create some exciting
displays in Prep School.
Some pupils’ thoughts on the day:
“I would like to go back because I would like to see the rest of their collection!”
Hamish Y6
“After lunch, we went on another tour of the galleries. We played a
game called Consequences and went to see the original entrance, before
visiting the gift shop. I bought an Ankh for protection. I loved the trip
as a whole and would love to do it again.”
Cathy Y6
“The most fascinating thing I saw was
the Ancient Egyptian coffins, and how
they were decorated on the outside and
inside, and the eyes of Horus on the side for the dead people
to see through. I would like to go back to the museum to see
all of the fascinating objects again.”
Maia Y6
“At the museum we made a hybrid collage animal. We cut
up our strange and unique shadow puppets. We took other people’s body parts of their
shadow puppets and put them together with one of our own. They turned out to be
beautiful and unique. We also took a look at the Art Gallery. It was amazing.”
Cassidy Y6
“My favourite part was looking round the galleries of paintings
and china pieces because they were all very
finely detailed.” Emily Y6
“We started in Ancient Greece and Rome and
then moved on to the Egyptians. We were able
to see all the mummies and animals that were
sacrificed to the Gods.” Max Y6
6 Issue No 27/2015-2016
“We toured round the museum seeing a wide range of animal hybrids like Griffins, Cyclops,
Centaurs and Satyrs.” Freddie Y6
“We went to an Art room where we talked about hybrids. We selected an animal from some
pictures and drew a big version of one. We decorated our animal with tissue paper or
cellophane then we cut them into three parts and after that we went round and picked
another tail or body or head.”
Ethan Y6
Mrs Lucy Perry
Art Teacher
TOMORROW’S ACHIEVERS
Tomorrow’s Achievers are holding another day of exciting classes here
at Thetford Grammar School on Sunday 26th June from 10.30am –
3.30pm. There are three classes to choose from:
Animal World Learn more about the world of animals, different species and
habitats. Compare animal and human behaviour. Do you agree
with Darwin’s Theory of Evolution? And lots of other exciting
and interesting games and quizzes.
Year
Groups
1 -3
Botanical Dissection
& Illustration
Discover how plants flourish by dissecting stems, leaves and
flowers, working with a magnifying glass. Learn about plant life
cycles and then learn how to illustrate your own findings from
dissection. All drawings will be available to be taken home.
Year
Groups
4 - 6
Exciting Egyptians,
Groovy Greeks and
Roving Romans
An amazing day of language discovery and fun. Starting with the
Egyptians, exploring their culture and system of writing; then
moving on to the Greeks to practise recognising and writing
Greek letters; then a Latin taster session honing your English and
literacy skills by identifying and explaining the origins of words
from Latin. Finally you can become a Roman soldier and compete
to become the Soldier Superstar.
Year
Groups
7 - 8
7 Issue No 27/2015-2016
All classes cost £38 and bookings can be made online at www.tomorrowsachievers.org
Please see the information sheet giving more details attached to this newsletter.
Mrs Cathie Reynolds
School Secretary
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THE GREAT BRITISH DOG WALK
On Sunday 22nd May Ickworth Park, Bury St Edmunds, is hosting The
Great British Dog Walk to raise funds for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
For an online entry fee of £10 per adult (children go free) you can choose
to take part in a 3km or 8km walk with your canine companion. Dogs
can be sponsored to help raise extra funds if you choose and there will
be a variety of stalls there on the day including a BBQ.
Pre-registered walkers will receive a limited edition bandana for their dog and there is a free
souvenir for the owners. There will also be the opportunity to meet some trained hearing
dogs and the adorable in-training puppies.
For more information visit www.greatbritishdogwalk.org or contact Rachel Clarke at