The house cup this year was won by the Angles. Well done to the entire house! There were 331,645 house points awarded in total this year, with every point given for a student working hard and producing excellent work in lessons.

The winners in each year group are as follows:

On 9th July, we hosted the first Inspiration Trust Book Awards Ceremony where the winner of 12 books selected by librarians across the Inspiration Trust was announced. Students from Year 7 and Year 10 were excited to be part of the book shadowing group and each chose different books to read and vote on.

The ceremony involved 100 students from the schools taking part and author Mitch Johnson also gave a great presentation on the process of writing books and how he gets his inspiration for his stories.

The two favourite books from Thetford were:

• We Were Liars - e.lockhart (this also won the overall award for best book from all the schools)

• Horrorstor - Grady Hendrix

Please do borrow them from the library as they are both superb books.

We also awarded individual students from each school:

• Star Pupil - Paige L

• Most Read - Ben W

• Reading Ambassador - Liam M

Thetford Academy has, for the third year in a row, been named as a Hegarty Maths Super School. On one of the measures Thetford Academy ranked in the top 16 out of over 1900 schools in the country.

The Hegarty Maths team said:

"We are delighted to say that Thetford Academy is one of the top-performing schools for the third year in a row on HegartyMaths. Only a small number schools make the Super Schools list each year and it can only happen when the students in a school are inspired to apply serious elbow grease on their maths homework. HegartyMaths is now in half the secondary schools in the country, so we are proud to say HegartyMaths Super Schools awards are being associated with some of the best maths departments in the nation."

The following awards go to students who have achieved the following since the end of the lockdown in March.

Highest Number of Correct Answers:

1) Lilly T (Year 9)

2) Benjamin W (Year 7)

3) Dion B (Year 7)

Highest Total Learning Hours:

1) Lucy H (Year 10)

2) Sam B (Year 8)

3) Kethelyn A (Year 10)

Highest Number of MemRi Questions Completed:

1) Shay H (Year 7)

2) James L (Year 8)

3) Alessandra G (Year 7)

Sixth Form Leavers celebrated their time at Thetford Academy Sixth Form with a BBQ and Buffet. In addition there was an Awards Ceremony celebrating Academic, Community and PRIDE awards. Congratulations to all awards winners.

Well done to the Student Union Representatives that supported the organisation of this event. Thank you to staff and students that enabled this event to go ahead. Special Thank you’s go to Mrs Fields, Mr Noble, Jakub, Bruna and Bethany. The buffet was provided by the Yr12 Catering Students, special thanks to Mrs Taylor, Charlotte, Georgia, Tyler and Layla.

Wishing Yr13 all the best for their futures. See you on Results Day!

From Jodie, our Charity and Fundraising Office in the Sixth Form Student Union:

Over the course of ten weeks from the 1st March to the 7th May 2021, the TA6 students and staff took on the challenge to collectively walk, run or cycle over 10,000km in an effort to raise some money to donate to the Benjamin Foundation. I am pleased to say that we achieved a total of 16,180km while simultaneously raising just over £205 that we will be able to donate. A big thank you to all of the staff and students who participated in this challenge, we smashed it!

Well done to all the students in Year 6 who took part in the transition week. At total of 1734 points were awarded over the course of the week. Iceni were the winning house with a stupendous 614 points. We look forward to seeing if they maintain their first place when they are in Year 7.

Angles - 333 Points

Danes - 300 Points

Iceni - 614 Points

Normans - 487 Points

All Year 6 students had a taste of what their singing lessons in Year 7 will be like. After practising their scales, each class put together a rendition of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. We look forward to hearing more of their voices when they arrive in September.

We were also pleased to invite our new Year 6 pupils into the food dept. We learnt about the seasons , seasonal foods and how our food is grown. Each pupil experienced some practical work based around fruit tasting and making a mixed drink using seasonal fruit.

What a fabulous 2 weeks! Great to see such enthusiasm and joy with students embracing the opportunities given to them. Activities included Geocaching, Chinese Cooking, Trips to Colchester Zoo and the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, Sports Leadership, Art Studio Days, Academic Study and Science Lab, finishing with the creation of a Music video in Performing Arts.

The Performing Arts students came together to produce a music video to Alice Cooper's classic hit “School’s out for Summer”. They started the day producing a storyboard for their music video and then split into groups to film the scenes around the school. Meanwhile, music student Adam rehearsed and recorded the bass guitar part - the bass you can hear on the track is actually him playing. At the end of the day, the students all came together to review their footage and start the editing process. Huge thanks to all the staff that took part but a special shout out to Mr Hammond and Ms Latimer for facilitating the project.

Evan in Year 12 said of the History of Computing Trip "‘I felt like the trip was very informative as a tool to use alongside the academic curriculum and the interaction was top notch. The range of different games and activities gave a feeling of the differences of technology over the years."

For offer holders of Thetford Academy sixth form, all transition materials for your subjects can be found here https://sites.google.com/inspirationtrust.org/tta-library/ta6/ta6-subjects and students are required to complete these activities for submission on Induction Day in September 2021. Please also visit www.helpyouchoose.org to access the Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form resources for additional transition support. External Candidates have been given access to transition materials via direct email. Please note that you are not expected to purchase any of the text materials/equipment for your selected courses until you have enrolled with the sixth form on results day.

It has been wonderful to meet some of you as part of our induction programme. We look forward to seeing you on results day. This will be your opportunity to formally enrol with the Sixth Form. Once enrolled you will be given your Starter Kits and Information Pack that will prepare you for September, this will include information such as Bursary Policy and Application Form and the Sixth Form Handbook.

As well as our rising Year 12s undergoing Sixth Form transition, another new member of the sixth-form team undertook his own sixth-form transition this week. Albus, a 9-month-old dachshund owned by Ms Richards in our English department, visited during the week to settle and 'find his feet' in sixth-form life. He will join our current support dog, Lexi, from September.

Albus made an excellent first impression by ensuring that he greeted every student and staff member that entered the study room the moment they arrived. He took his support role very seriously; completing regular laps of the study room to make sure students were working hard. His efforts were successful with one Year 12 student describing Albus' presence as "putting a smile on my soul".

Huge thanks to Mrs Fields and Mr Noble for all their efforts in helping Albus to settle.

The science department took a group of Year 8 students to Redgrave and Lopham Fen, a site of special scientific interest. The very rare Raft Spider has a home here (a protected species) and we managed to see one on Monday! The site is run by Suffolk Wildlife trust and other rare species have made it their home too (Marsh Harrier). The students had a wonderful time and we were very fortunate with the weather. I have attached a link to the photos where you will find photos of them completing their fresh water investigation (pond dipping). We learned about the history of the fen and the role water conservation has played in restoring the fen to its former glory.

As part of our raising literacy programme, 9 of our 6th formers have been volunteering as reading role models with a group of our Year 7 students. This takes place after school every Thursday in the library and has been a huge success. The 6th formers have enjoyed being role models to the Year 7s, helping them with their reading, comprehension and vocabulary skills and the students have responded really well to this. Equally, the Year 7s are enjoying the time spent with the senior students within the school.

A huge thank you and well done to everyone involved.

A huge thank you to Jane and her team at Not Just Books for donating 10 copies of The Great Gatsby ready for our 6th formers to study as part of their English A-level course in September.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to visit the bookshop please do as the team are really knowledgeable about fiction for children/teenagers and young adults and can help you find brilliant books for all members of the family - with the summer holidays approaching it’s a perfect time to pick up a good read.

They are located in the precinct, just near the riverside - the website is:

http://www.notjustbooks.co.uk/

With the Summer holidays fast approaching we would like to suggest some websites where you will be able to continue practising your English as well as read and listen to new stories. Some of them will be found in your language.

http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

https://storylineonline.net/library/

http://a4esl.org/

We are running an optional summer school for any student in Year 10 (going into Year 11) who wants to revise their exam courses. Attendance is strongly encouraged and we are providing rewards for students who are able to attend multiple sessions. Full details can be found in the Year 10 Summer School booklet here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K2uMoediDuOsAskahIO0I22TiX0c8aMjeAr0DymjH2w/edit?usp=sharing.

Ms Johnson (English) would like to give a shout out to Imogen R in 7a2 for an absolutely incredible score in her recent Poetry Assessment. The same for Kayley W in 8b1 who achieved an incredibly high score in her Animal Farm assessment - she must have put in so much work and achieved way above average for her age and year group!

Mr Hogan (History) would like to highlight the success and hard work of Scott B in Year 9, and Holly J and Madison M in Year 8, who produced exceptional essays in their end-of-term tests.

Ms Richards and Mrs Thomas-Jones (Drama) would like to praise the Year 10 Performing Arts students. They have produced two performances over the year, focusing mostly on Theatre Practitioner John Godber and his production of 'Teechers.' The students had to create a piece of theatre facing social distancing challenges, mask wearing and plastic screens! Despite this all being a huge learning curve for everyone involved in the Performing Arts this past year, the year 10s have remained incredibly strong-willed, pragmatic and optimistic. The whole cohort pulled together and have supported each other endlessly. They produced some really incredible and high quality performance work that they should all be really proud of. It has been a real pleasure teaching these students over the academic year and I look forward to watching their talent grow and develop into Year 11.

Mr Moon (geography) has picked the following as Geography Students of the Year:

Y7: Ewan B, Oliver L, Dylan H, Chloe B

Y8: Jack S, Michael D

Y9: Grace B, Jhoni H

Y10: Sam L

Y11: Karolis S

Our art department continues to put out excellent work, including these sculptures created by students in Key Stage 3.

We are very pleased to announce that we shall be returning to in-school instrumental lessons for Years 7, 8 and 9 from September 2021. Students in Years 10-13 will still receive lessons via the Thetford Music Project, but lower years will benefit from Inspiration Trust's new Visiting Music Teacher (VMT) programme.

We hope to have a number of places available in the following instruments:

• Singing

• Clarinet

• Flute

• Saxophone

• Violin

• Guitar

• Bass Guitar

• Piano / Keyboard

Lessons are heavily subsidised by Inspiration Trust and the cost will be £50 for one term of lessons. This will be a weekly lesson, and students will be taught in small groups or 1:1, depending on their level. We are very grateful to Inspiration Trust for this as the lessons are significantly cheaper than normal.

For more information about lessons, please contact our Head of Performing Arts, Laura Hodges (laurahodges@inspirationtrust.org).

To express an interest in instrumental lessons, please complete this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSely_LPhZhV2LqH_YxvHfBIjX7gGQtYcbkdNARXnEvjhClnEQ/viewform?usp=sf_link.

In addition, we would like to ensure that no student who wants to do instrumental lessons is unable to due to concerns about money. If your child would like to do instrumental lessons but you feel that you cannot afford them, then please contact ilonahaye@inspirationtrust.org who can advise on what further financial support we might be able to provide.

Whodunnit!! On Thursday 27th May, the library and study room were turned into crime scenes with 6th form students solving the mystery of ‘Murder at the Manor’ and ‘Murder at the Pizzeria’. The students all took on the role of a character and used their sleuthing skills to solve a murder by interrogating the other suspects and building up a dossier of evidence against the murderer.

Students really threw themselves into character with their dressing up and character portrayals and there was even some Italian singing at the Pizzeria! Each round of questioning was interspersed with food and drinks on the library terrace and the final reveal of the murderers showed how good the students were at hiding their true identity!