Question of the week

For whole school discussion at both Primary and Secondary phases and at home.

(Come to your conclusion by next Friday!)

Should everybody be encouraged to sing? At any age? If not, why not?

The Bird’s the Word 12h June 2015 e-mail: office@litcham.norfolk.sch.uk

School uniform

We are continuing to work through our final thoughts on school uniform. I have invited parents to let me have their views before Monday’s Senior Leadership Team meeting when we will make our final decision and arrangements around uniform. Of particular concern is the PE kit for next academic year at the Primary phase. We will inform you of our decision next week. In the meantime please feel able to share your views with me or with the Primary phase link governor. Mr Simington

Primary phase trip to Caythorpe Hall

Mrs Dennis and I visited Caythorpe Hall last Friday afternoon, where our Primary phase pupils will be experiencing a wonderful week of activities starting next Monday. What a truly exciting week they are in for. There have been some queries about rooms and who sleeps where. Please leave this to staff to sort out when they arrive. It is all under control and I have never been on a trip like this where the room arrangements did not work. Pupils therefore will know their rooms when they arrive next Monday, and you as parents must not worry. There will be lots of adventurous activities on site including, ropes, swings and rafting as well as wonderful food! Thank you to the brilliant staff in the Primary phase who are giving up their own time to make this happen. Mr Simington

Baby Adcock has arrived!! We are thrilled to tell you that Lisa Adcock had her baby on Sunday 31st May. It was a little boy – Joshua George. Family are happily settling into their new way of life and Lisa is already doing work related things! Not for long I think!! Below is a bonny picture of the boy himself!

Mr Simington

Swimming success

Joshua Carter in Kingfisher class had fabulous success with his swimming last month. He went off to swim for a long distance certificate and came back with three certificates, the best of which was for 1000 metres. I am not sure I can walk that far! Well done Joshua. Mr Simington

Lost jumper George Harrison in Golden Eagles has lost his blue Litcham School jumper (age 9 – 10). The jumper is labelled with his name. Please could we ask parents/carers to double check their child’s belongings to see if it has been picked up by mistake. Thank you.

Mrs Skipper

Message from Mr Tyler

Dear parents/carers and students, Many students have been asking if I am leaving this year. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that it is my intention to retire at the end of the current term, as there are many roads, here and abroad, to cycle and many mountains to ski while I can. I joined Litcham School in January 1985 as Head of PE with the intention of staying a few years to build my career! I had already taught for nine years at Costessey High School in Norwich. Opportunities came along within the school to move into pastoral work and management and it became a passion to help make this school the best in Norfolk. Over the last three years I am grateful to have had the chance to get out of management and go back to my roots and spend all my time teaching Physical Education, which has always been at the heart of my love for teaching. Litcham School has always been a special place with its own family feel where staff and students have felt we are in this education game together. Everywhere I go in Norfolk and often beyond, I meet ex-students who are always happy to fondly reminisce about their days at Litcham. Whatever they achieved academically, Litcham clearly means so much more to them than exam results and I share those sentiments. As I look forward to retirement and Litcham School moves forward, I wish every success in the future to staff and students present and future.

Bill Tyler

Duke of Edinburgh request

If there any parents/carers/ex-students who would be interested in supporting Miss Green with any aspect of the Duke of Edinburgh Award next year, could you please contact the school. This scheme is extremely beneficial to our students. However, I do need to rely on the support of staff and other volunteers to make this happen. Miss Green

The sun is our plug The long wait is over, the hard work is done, now we’re tapping into our sun! For ten weeks we have been working with Duncan (from Renewable Technologies) to make a plan for harnessing the energy of the sun. Governors agreed to our proposal for a 92KW system for the Secondary site and a 20KW system for the Primary site. This will benefit us by £9000 per year and reduce are carbon footprint. It also taught us useful skills to take to our dream jobs and helped us with our science, geography, maths and ICT. We are hoping for the whole school to help save energy and money and we will as sharing our story with all of you in assembly.

Alex Busby 9S, Georgia Hunt 9C, Clarissa Milkowski 9B and Callum Gordon 9S Georgia Hunt switching on the system at the Secondary site

For several months, a small group of our students have concentrated on a project to install solar panels at the school sites in order to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce costs for the school. Following their hard work, solar panels were installed at the Primary site during the Easter holidays and more recently during the May half term at the Secondary site. The students worked hard with outside contractors, staff from the CITB, school governors and school staff to ensure that the school got optimum benefit from the best investment. Both systems are fully working and to date we have produced 4309 kilowatts at the primary site, and 3178 at the Secondary site. This self-produced electricity will be mainly used by the school, hence reducing our electricity bills, but some will also be sold back to our electricity provider, producing extra income for the school. My thanks go out to the student team who contributed to this installation. I enjoyed working with you all and I hope this inspires you and points you towards a great career! Long may the sun shine! Mrs Robertson, Business Manager

Maths mock exam

A mention for John Gibson 9S, Fraser Ryan 9B and Tom Codman 9W who recently achieved an A* in their GCSE maths mock exam. The three pupils are aiming to complete their GCSE in Year 10 rather than in Year 11, so to achieve such a result in Year 9 is a fantastic achievement!

Mr Howell

School production 2016 - The Wind in the Willows

A reminder that auditions for next year’s school production are the week after next, on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th June. Auditions are open to anyone in current Years 7 - 10. There will be a meeting about the auditions this coming Monday (15th June) in the music room at 12.10pm. Anyone considering auditioning should come to this. At the meeting I will go through the parts, answer questions and give out sections of script to read in the auditions. Students will not be committing themselves to anything, but neither will they be guaranteeing anything at this stage either. If students have any questions they should see Mr McEvansoneya.  

Year 10 revision guides for AQA English

We are able to offer revision guides for AQA GCSE English at a cost of £1.99. These guides relate closely to the workbook they will be using and so help support extra homework and revision. Please send payment in a named and clearly labelled envelope to the school office by 30th June if you would like to purchase one of these guides. Mrs Wright

Robot Club fundraising – be ready with your customised Lego mini-figure!

The Robot Club members are running some fundraising activities during lunchtime on Friday 19th June, in the playground close to reception. They are raising money to buy sensors for the old robot to help it compete against the new robot that the Friends of Litcham School have recently bought for the group. This will mean that the group can work as two competing teams to challenge each other and build greater skills for the First Lego League competition next winter. All the activities will be Lego-based, for example; ‘Guess how many Lego bricks are in the jar’ and Lego –themed cookies. Enter the mini-figure competition! Open to all years. A prize will be given for the most inventive customised mini-figure, made using only Lego parts. See you there! Ms Dalton

History congratulations

Well done to Year 8 students; George Bates, Jack Ashford, Eleanor Bould, Corbyn Estop, Abbie Hudson, Vid Jomantus and Kane Horne for good effort. Mr Tucker

Primary Phase Calendar Dates

Spring Term 2015

June Monday 15th Caythorpe Court residential trip for Years 5 & 6 Friday 19th Years 5 & 6 return from Caythorpe Court Saturday 20th Litcham Community Fete Monday 22nd Norfolk Children’s Book Centre, storytelling for all pupils. Book sale @ 3.00pm for parents Tuesday 23rd Guest assembly, string ensemble from Secondary

phase Wednesday 24th Sports morning 9.00 – 11.00am

July Thursday 2nd Year 6 evening meal 6.00 – 8.30pm Friday 3rd Year 6 leaver’s assembly @2.30pm Camp over (tbc) Monday 6th Transition assembly 9.00 – 9.30am

Opera introduction day, parents of Kingfisher class opera meeting @3.15pm

Cluster sports at Great Dunham Primary, 3.40 – 5.00pm (no rounders club)

Wednesday 8th Pupil reports sent home Thursday 9th Parents’ evening 3.30 – 6.00pm Friday 10th New prefects and head boy/girl assembly Wednesday 15th All through school sports afternoon, Secondary phase Thursday 16th Litcham Cluster music day Monday 20th All through sports day (tbc) Tuesday 21st School closes at 3.25pm for the summer break Secondary Phase Calendar Dates

Spring Term 2015 June Wednesday 17th Governors’ resources and personnel meeting Friday 19th GCSE examinations end Thursday 18th Year 9 Greener Britain Centre visit tbc Monday 22nd Year 10 mock exams end Wednesday 24th Full governors’ meeting Friday 26th Year 11 prom Tuesday 30th Year 10 RS visit to Walsingham July Friday 3rd Impact day Monday 6th Year 6 induction (to the end of term) Wednesday 8th Summer Concert rehearsal SEN induction afternoon Thursday 9th Summer Concert Friday 10th Year 10 stock exchange day

Monday 13th Year 10 work experience Starts Tuesday 14th Year 6 induction disco, 6.30 – 9.00pm Wednesday 15th Sports day – all through Friday 17th Year 10 work experience ends Monday 20th Sports day Tuesday 21st School closes at 3.30pm for the summer break

LITCHAM

COMMUNITY FETE & CAR

BOOT

SATURDAY 20TH JUNE 2015 12.00 PM — 4.00 PM

LITCHAM SCHOOL FIELD -

SECONDARY PHASE (MILEHAM ROAD)

TO BOOK A CAR BOOT OR STALL CALL DIANA COLLEN - 01328 701401