Pinetree Matters Issue 4 Summer 2016 Message from the Head

My final newsletter of the year is written at the end of what seems to

have been an extraordinarily busy term. Students in Year 10 and 11

have completed examinations towards GCSEs and other courses and

Her Majesty’s Inspectors came for their second monitoring visit.

In no particular order, the following should give you a flavour of the

many activities in which our pupils have been involved over the second

half of the term:

Transition visits for our Year 11 students; this offered them a good

introduction to what life will be like in college next year, col-

lege expectations and opportunities, and getting a taste of

college life;

Sports Day was a resounding success! There was a high level of

participation, a good competitive spirit between the groups,

and increased parental attendance. Congratulations to every-

one who took part;

New Year 7 students’ induction week – our new Year 7 students

were in school for a programme of induction activities. Other

activities include

High Lodge reward trip;

High Altitude reward trip;

Year 10s visit to Thetford Fire Station;

Paint balling reward trip;

Bowling reward trip;

English Market research trip;

End of Year Thorpe Park reward trip

Well done to all the pupils who have taken advantage of lunchtime and

after school clubs and a huge congratulations to the boxing club pupils

who were assessed and passed the British International Kick Boxing

and Martial Association Qualification (BIKMA)

You will recall I wrote to you at the start of the spring term asking for

your support in upholding good standards of behaviour, mobile phones

are a concern with a minority of pupils, these must be switched off or

handed into the school office during lesson times. Please reinforce to

your son/daughter the rules regarding smoking, behaviour and mobile

phones in school. Your support in these matters is

greatly appreciated.

Finally, school closes for the summer holidays on

Wednesday 20th July 2016 at 2.15pm. School re-

opens to students on Monday 5th September. I

would like to take this opportunity to wish you all

a restful summer break and thank you for your

continued support throughout the year.

Dates for your diary

Autumn term Starts 5th September

Staff appointments We would like to welcome Mrs Van Kleek

and Miss Byrne who have both joined us as

teaching assistants this term.

Reward Trip On 19th July a group of 7 pupils went to

Thorpe Park for the end of year reward trip

as a result of earning over 100 credits per

week for the last 5 weeks. Pupils left at

7am and arrived at Thorpe Park just after

10:30. Pupils then started deciding what

rides they wanted to go on first. The big-

gest attraction was the water rides as it

was the hottest day of the year so far. The

highlight for most was the water rapids

and the Derren Brown Ghost train. It was

great to see pupils interacting with others

maturely and making friends. Pupils were

impeccably behaved throughout the whole

trip and represented the school wonderful-

ly throughout the day. Even when we en-

countered a delay on the journey home

they were still in good spirits. It was a fan-

tastically successful day. Start earning

credits for next years trip.

On Friday 8th July, Pinetree School hosted their 3rd annual sports day.

Pupils were put into teams to compete across 9 different sporting activities

over the course of the day. Pupils worked extremely hard all day. This year

saw some additions to the activities with Badminton and Boxing added to

the day. The first 3 events were boxing badminton and archery. After the

first 3 events the Green team had a 2 point lead over the Gold team. This

made the Gold team more determined to gain extra points. What was

particularly pleasing this year, was to see so many bonus points awarded

for encouragement and good sportsmanship.

After break pupils resumed their efforts and the events were hugely

competitive. The next 3 events were long jump, volleyball and cricket.

Pupils were able throughout this time to show their skills in 3 sports that

required completely different skill sets. It was good to see pupils of all

abilities trying really hard to earn points for their teams. After the second

round of events the scores were still extremely close and the Gold team

had been able to overturn the deficit and were now holding a very slender

3 point lead over the Green.

After lunch pupils were joined by parents. Pupils continued to show

commitment to their teams and continued earning points. The Green

team were very determined to grab as many the points as they could

and were encouraging their parents to help them score points. It was

great to see parents taking such an active part on that day. The 3

afternoon events were football, basketball, discus and shot put. Pu-

pils were giving every inch they had to earn points. After the 7th

event the Green team had closed the gap and the scores were now

timed. After the 9th event, pupils, staff and parents took part in a

relay race over 100m. It was a fiercely competitive race where 5

teams battled it out to be champions. The staff team were really de-

termined to correct last year’s 4th place. So they put their 4 best

runners together. Unfortunately this did not pay off as the pupil

team featuring Joe Fitch, Dylan Field, Paige Winfield and Mitchell

Noller won. One of the staff teams came second. Then came the tro-

phy presentation where it was announced that Green Team won by

an impressive 22 points. Gold team I hope you want your crown

back.

The whole day was excellent and pupils competed in great spirit

throughout the whole day. A huge thank you is owed to the pupils

for their effort, parents for their goodwill and support in and staff for

their constant support and encouragement. A big thank you as well

to Mr Manington who gave up his time to help us. Gold I hope you

are ready to win next year.

For more pictures from sports day please turn to back page.

Credits!!! Creeeeeeeedits!! Get your lovely credits here!!

The summer term has seen the new system of reward credits take hold across the

school, with pupils working to achieve prizes through their effort in the classroom

and around the building. This term’s prizes have mostly come in the form of trips

out to various fun-filled locations, and pupils are currently hard at work accruing

those all important points to secure their place on the big one: a day out at Thorpe

Park, one of the UK’s largest theme parks, on Tuesday 19th July. Other reward

trips this term have included:

Bowling in Bury

Barbecue at High Lodge

Trampolining in Norwich

Paintballing in Thetford Forest

The autumn term will see us seek to refine the reward

system still further, with pupils being given the opportuni-

ty to earn personalised prizes, as we do understand that a

theme park is not everybody’s idea of fun (me included!

Rollercoasters??!! Don’t think so!). So watch this space.

In the meantime, here is a reminder of how 5 credits can

be comfortably earned every lesson, and used towards

gaining tangible rewards for your efforts. Please support

us in encouraging your son or daughter to push them-

selves to achieve rewards on a lesson by lesson basis.

Arrive at lesson on time – 1 credit

Stay in lesson for the whole period – 1 credit

Attempt work set – 1 credit

Complete all work set – 1 credit

Follow the school behaviour policy – 1 credit

This year has seen the introduction of the Pinetree Schools first school council. It has been a very productive year, where pupils

have made active changes in the school which have benefited our school community.

All pupils on the school council has to be elected by their peers and teachers. Students had to perform a 1-2 minute speech

about why they believed they would be a good school councillor and give examples of some ideas. 1 councillor was chosen

from each class group. These were:

Darren Dixey - Year 7

Dylan Wilson - Year 9

Kyle Deamer - Year 9

Harry Tyas, Year - 10

Corey Mason - Year 11

I would also like to thank all the pupils who went for nomination as they all put forward a good case as to why they should be

elected

The school council have already made changes in the school such as new sports clubs being created, extra break activities and

reviewing the behaviour policy. The biggest change implemented by the help of the school council has been the introduction of

the credit system. The school council worked for weeks to iron out issues so it could be embedded in the school. This system is

now helping to go towards trips and enrichment for the pupils. It is pleasing the still see the school council brining ideas about

the credit system to the table. Other achievements the school council has achieved this year include:

In September pupils will be asked whether they want to be elected onto the school council, so get your speeches ready.

Mr Rice

Changes made to break time clubs

Games and Lego ordered

New lunch time clubs implemented

Changes to staff roles at lunch time

Organised sport relief fundraising ideas

Helped organise Sport relief walk on 18th

February

Toilet cubicle changes in process of changing

Detention system implemented

Credit system brought in

Code of conduct reformed

Classroom expectations formed

Homework, rewards changes

Credit system display implemented

Helped in selection process for a caretaker

This term boxing club has started during lunch times

and after school on Tuesdays. Pupils are learning the

art of boxing and kickboxing which will help with dis-

cipline, self esteem and overall fitness.

Barry Palmer a 6th Dan in kickboxing, came to school

for grading. The following students successfully

passed and have their first certificates. Louis Probitts,

Dillon Howton-Green, Harry Tyas and Adam Syme.

Well done.

Barry said that he was really impressed with their

efforts and he would like to come again to run some

training sessions with the group.

Old CDs were given new life in Art Club at lunch with glass

paints to produce beautiful sun catchers. Hopefully with

the weather we’ve been having they’ll work some magic

over the holidays and catch as much sun for us as possible!

Key Stage 3

Students have made a wooden box and learning about different

joining methods, each corner of the box had a different wood

joint, including lap joints, finger joints, dowel joint and butt

joints.

They are now currently working on night lights and creating a

circuit using soldering irons for their lights.

ICT

Key Stage 3

This term key stage 3 students have been learning about databases and Microsoft

Access. They have listed all members of staff and given them all superhero names

and superpowers. Obviously, I was Mr Perfect!

Key Stage 4

Year 11 have taken their Functional Skills exams and have now left school, hope-

fully with knowledge of ICT to help them with the next stage.

Year 10s have have been working hard towards their exams next year and

have so far covered most of Microsoft Office, Internet and e-safety.

ICT

Design Technology

Art

Summer term has been full of fun in the art class room. Years 7 and 8 learnt about the weird and wonder-

ful works of famous artist Pablo Picasso. After studying abstract art, drawing without looking at the paper

and creating strange characters from magazine cuttings they produced their own final pieces. All abstract

and fabulous in their own ways.

Years 9 and 10 focused on the art of printing. We looked at prints created by Angie Lewin and Edward

Bawden before engraving our own designs into soft cut lino with special tools. Thankfully everyone has

their fingers still intact and the results are great!

Over the last term, the KS3 students have had the opportunity to explore a variety of

poetry such as: Haiku, Ballad and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. In doing so, they have famil-

iarised themselves with the different devices used within poetry including: simile, met-

aphor and enjambment. Students have also looked at the varied structures and formats

of poetry.

KS4s have been analysing a selection of WWI poetry in preparation for their GCSE. The

students have been introduced to the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Wilfred Owen

and Owen Sheers to name but a few. They have had the op-

portunity to explore and contextualise war zones and battle-

fields from the past. Students have also been familiarising

themselves with the poets’ point of view and structures that

have been used to convey ideas. Students have focussed on

the imagery created by the poets and the lan-

guage and tone that the poets used to

convey meaning.

Mrs Karim

P.E.

This term in Maths pupils have been working on

Graphs and Functions and Construction, loci,

measures and mensuration. This has seen pupils finding plotting graphs and coordinates to finding the gradient and pe-

rimeter of shapes to the area and circumference of circles. Pupils in Key Stage 3 have shown they have knowledge of the

graphs basic concepts of plotting. Pupils have also been able to find the area and perimeter of basic shapes, while identify-

ing what the shapes are. Pupils have engaged creditably across the Topic and have shown that they can solve problems

using the skills they have learnt.

Pupils in Key Stage 4 have been looking at finding the gradient of a line and the area and circumference of a circle. In or-

der to do this they have needed to have a basic understanding of PI and what number it represents. Pupils across Key

Stage 4 have shown they are capable of using PI in Maths and they can recall this to the decimal place required.

Mr Rice

Maths

Pupils have seen a good engagement level in PE over the course of the

summer term, this was in no small part due to the excitement and deter-

mination to improve their ability before sports day arrived. In the summer

term pupils have been focusing on cricket and athletics. Pupils in Key

Stage 3 have looked at the correct bowling technique and hitting basic

cricket shots whilst improving ground fielding and basic catching. In Key

Stage 4 they are looking at bowling area and why we bowl to these. Pupils

have also been looking at placing their shots into gaps in the field, whilst

looking at more advanced fielding skills.

In athletics pupils have been focusing on track and field sports from

sprinting, to throwing such as shot put and discus to jumping events such

as long jump. Pupils have been looking at improving their personal best’s

scores in each event whilst preparing for sports day. Pupils have continued

to show good commitment to their learning in PE. And this was demon-

strated on sports day.

English

Science

During the summer term a selection of students from across years 7-11 have been working towards qualifi-

cations in science including an Entry Level Certificate and GCSE, which has included practical coursework

investigations and tests. It has been very pleasing to see the hard work, motivation and determination from

these students whilst working towards these!

Number of challenges to improve skills such as team work, resilience, patience and communication have

been undertaken by students this term including building water rockets that can move in a particular way,

structures made out of spaghetti and marshmallows, toothbrush head mini robots, and ballista structures.

It has been very pleasing to see students focusing on these challenges and developing important life skills.

And just in case you missed it, here is another reminder of how to earn

those credits.