Dear families,
I'm really looking forward to welcoming your children back to school next week.
The last couple of months have been challenging for the whole school community, but overall I believe together we have stood up to those challenges well. I pay tribute to the hard work of both our children and our teachers during the period of remote learning. I thank you for the support you have provided for your children while they have learned at home.
We are well prepared for our children returning to school and, as before Christmas, we are focused on making sure the school is both as safe and as normal as possible. Our children have demonstrated they are very flexible and resilient. Any talk of a 'lost generation' of children 'left behind by COVID' underestimates both what they and our teachers are capable of. We will be keeping our standards and expectations high, so families should expect the usual rules and routines to be in place. Anything else would be letting our children down.
Although there will naturally be some apprehension, we're aware that the vast majority of our pupils are excited to be back in school and we are certainly very pleased to be welcoming them back.
Mr Dan Carter
Principal
We have been asked to support and promote a survey by Breckland District Council. Have your say on what you think about Thetford. Just go to talkthetford.co.uk and complete a short survey.
Why do we need you? Well, your answers will help steer Thetford’s development and create an honest and exciting future story for this great place. Your views and experiences of Thetford are essential and we want the whole community to get involved and share their views - including local residents, businesses and visitors. Just go to talkthetford.co.uk to complete it. Thetford is your town – have your say.
At Thetford Academy we are really getting behind this and encouraging everyone we know to fill in the survey and have their voices heard. You can do the same by completing the survey and also sharing this information far and wide through your own channels and networks.
This activity has been commissioned by Breckland District Council.
Well done to TJ in Year 9 for this tasty-looking entry to the Spanish food competition.
Mr Brown writes:
The following students have answered the most questions correctly on Hegarty Maths during lockdown:
Year 7 - Dion B
Year 8 - Mitchel A
Year 9 - Charlie W
Year 10 - Sarah-Louise R
Year 11 - Wellen A
During this lockdown students at The Thetford Academy answered a massive 144,159 questions on Hegarty Maths and have put in a total amount of 5694 hours of learning. Great work everyone!
Mr Moon writes:
On the evening of Wednesday 3rd March, 15 keen Thetford Academy Geography students joined the Geography department to attend The Royal Geographical Society's 'Hazardous Earth' event hosted online by Prof. Iain Stewart and involving talks from Dr Rebecca Williams, Dr Solmasz Mohadjer, Prof. Bruce Malamud and Prof. Peter Stott. It was a fascinating trip around the world looking at the latest research into hazard events, specifically pyroclastic flows from volcanoes, earthquakes in Central Asia, multihazard events and the impact of climate change on the likelihood of extreme heatwaves and extreme rainfall.
Mr Moon writes:
This week's 'Geographers of the Week' are:
Y7 Aston W, Ryan D
Y8 Jessica H-P, Hannah B-G
Y9 TJ C, Polly S,
Y10 Natalia J, Sam L, Reuben W, Sarah-Louise R
Y11 - Benjamin P-Y
Ms Flynn writes:
The following pupils have worked exceptionally hard during lockdown and their history teachers are very impressed.
Year 7- Lexi B (Mr Robinson), Owen J (Mr Karim), Jasmine R, Alfie P (Mr Bellotti) and Tasha C (Ms Flynn)
Year 8- Imogen B (Mr Robinson), Matthew C (Mr Karim), Claudio R F, Kristers A T, Sophie A P, Holly Rose C (Mr Bellotti) and Sam F (Ms Flynn)
Year 9- Katherine G (Mr Robinson). Martyna M (Mr Karim), Abbie J-P (Ms Flynn) Victoria W, Bobby V (Mr Bellotti) and Erin B, Teddy O (Ms Flynn)
Year 10- Tialei H (Mr Robinson), Holly S (Mr Robinson), Kamile G (Mr Karim), Jessica S (Ms Flynn) and Thomas C (Ms Flynn)
Year 11- Josh F (Mr Robinson), Paige L (Ms Flynn) and Logan L (Ms Flynn)
Mrs Rednall writes:
Fatma R has produced fantastic work during remote learning. She has displayed excellent resilience and problems solving skills to overcome any obstacles in her way and complete all work to the best she can.
‘10000K in 10 Weeks - Charity Challenge’
Thetford Academy Sixth Form (TA6) and Staff are aiming to collectively, walk or run the distance of 10,000k in 10 weeks to raise money for their chosen charity, The Benjamin Foundation. All our activities will be recorded in our 'Strava TA6 Challenge - Walking and Running Club'. This challenge will start on 1st March 21 and end on 7th May 21.
For over 25 years’ children, young people and families across Norfolk and Suffolk have been supported by The Benjamin Foundation to overcome big challenges in their lives.
This includes:
Accommodating vulnerable young people, working in partnership with the End Youth Homelessness Campaign
Providing emotional wellbeing support
Providing opportunities to develop life skills
Creating possibilities and hope for a better future
The Benjamin Foundation are deeply connected to the local community, employing over 220 people in Norfolk and Suffolk
“We are thrilled to hear that your students would like to support us with their 10k challenge! Thank you again to you all – wishing everyone taking part the very best of luck in your ten week challenge!”
Rachel at The Benjamin Foundation
You can donate here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TA6Challenge-ThetfordAcademySixthForm
The event will cover the following areas of interest: Higher Education Opportunities / Why Choose University? / Why Choose Apprenticeships/Internships? Competitive Applications /Oxbridge / Study at Home or Abroad / Super Curricular Activities / Personal Statements /Student Finance.
National Careers Weeks, 1st-6th March 2021
As we were unable to celebrate Careers Week in the same way as usual, students have been receiving various information electronically daily. This includes lots of helpful links and the Compass survey mentioned in last week's piece, where we are hoping to create a record of students area of interest for future events. This has culminated with a fun quiz asking students to guess staff members previous job roles. This is to help demonstrate that people often have a non conventional route into their career and that you normally have to work your way up! It will hopefully also give the students an insight into their teachers careers, and they may even be able to ask for help in specific areas. For example, who would’ve guessed we had staff who had worked at Crufts Dog Show and even been a Children's Entertainer!
Although we were not available to do our traditional events, we still had an online WBD with students taking part in competitions and activities. It’s too soon to share with you our WBD photos but I will put these together for next week so that you can see how it was celebrated at TTA. In the meantime, I am sharing the official WBD song and a video from authors supporting WBD to advise why it is so important to celebrate WBD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpTkjssrL4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgLAfk8Ck1M
We have a large supply of sanitary products available in school, including pads, reusable pads, tampons and moon cups. These are available free of charge to any student in the school. We shall be placing some items in a box in the main entrance by Reception (please sanitise your hands before taking anything). We are also able to provide you with several months' worth of items and, if you would like to make a larger collection, then please email Mrs Haye (ilonahaye@inspirationtrust.org).
38,580 Points
36,622 Points
33,565 Points
39,070 Points
We continue to be bowled over by the quality of the art work produced by pupils at Thetford Academy. The Art department have set up the following Virtual Exhibition to showcase the work of our students.
https://sites.google.com/inspirationtrust.org/ks3-art-virtual-exhibition-202