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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.
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