The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College NEWSLETTER

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Dear Parents/Carers

It is difficult to comprehend how quickly the Spring term has passed. Once again it has been a very busy and productive one as this newsletter and our website celebrates.

We received our Year 7 numbers for our new intake for September 2019 and we are delighted that once again we will be full and for the first time in a number of years we have a significant waiting list for Year 7 places in September. Whilst it will be unsettling for parents who currently have been unable to secure a place at the school we are very happy that our reputation to provide happy, safe and high quality learning is at such a point with the local community.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Martin Coulson Headteacher

Iceland Trip - February 2019 Students were able to visit a number of famous landmarks in Iceland, and were fortunate to visit them in the snow, which made them even more impressive than normal. They were able to go in a lava tube where once lava flowed to see the layers and experience what total darkness is really like, before going to visit the southern coast of Iceland. We passed the volcano Eyjafjallajokull that erupted in 2010 and saw a couple of impressive waterfalls, a black sand beach with basalt columns and a glacier that has been rapidly retreating in the last 20 years. Students were also able to swim in a geothermal pool, visit the original Geysir and have an Icelandic ice cream whilst the weather outside was -8 degrees! (and see the cows’ that the milk came from).

The students really appreciated their experience and enjoyed seeing the spectacular country and geographical features of Iceland.

School Dates For Your Diary! Easter Term

Students finish on: Friday 5th April 2019 @ 2.50pm

Students return on: Tuesday 23rd April 2019 @ 8.30am

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The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College achieve Essex Language and Communication Award

The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College are very proud to have become the first secondary school in Essex to achieve the ‘Essex Language and Communication Award, Bronze Level’. It is a fantastic reflection of the superb support given to our students from our Speech & Language Therapy Team, SEND and teaching staff, who work tirelessly to provide high quality intervention and enhanced learning experiences. Our target now becomes the accreditation of the Silver Award Standards which will further highlight our commitment to removing barriers to learning experienced by our students.

District Swimming Gala 2019 On 13th February, a number of our students took part in the district swimming gala at Basildon Sporting Village. The students put on a fantastic performance and showed great determination in their events. Well done to all students that took part and congratulations to our medallists:

Gold Medallists Sophie Thickbroom

Silver Medallists Aimee Armsden Yasemin Aydin

Kelis Green Luke Hegarty

Thomas Kurtulan Rebecca Omer

Bronze Medallists Finlay Beaven Thomas Ford Bailey Stead

Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge Thirty Year 10 students were involved in the 2019 Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge. This challenge enabled students to develop their public speaking and presentation skills. Throughout the day students discussed topics that they are passionate about and put together presentations which they delivered to their peers at the close of the day. This was an incredible opportunity for students to develop their confidence in the art of public speaking.

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Beauty and The Beast Production Staff and students of The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College participated in rehearsals for this year’s annual school play of the amazing Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast.

Since November 2018 the cast and crew have been working tirelessly by attending weekly rehearsals to create, refine and polish their acting and singing skills to ensure the show they created was the best it could be. At every point along this process the level of enthusiasm, dedication and excellence applied was evident.

On Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th March the cast and crew did not disappoint by delivering the performances of their life time and wowed the audiences who gave standing ovations.

World Book Day To honour ‘World Book Day’, students in Years 7, 8 and 9 were able to participate in a book swap. Students brought in old books from home that they no longer read and swapped them for some pre-loved books to refresh their home libraries. Ms Holland from the English department did a fantastic job organising this event and lots of students went away happy with their new reads!

DON’T FORGET!

Year 9 Parents’ Consultation Evening Thursday 2nd May 2019

4.00pm to 7.00pm

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The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College Gymnastic Success Congratulations to the Bromfords Gymnastic Squad who participated in two competitions this term. They competed in the District Competition and then the BSGA East Region Secondary Floor and Vault Gymnastics Competition. The whole Squad were amazing and have worked really hard

in training. The Under 14 girls came 4th, the Under 19 Girls came 3rd and the boys are District champions. Well done to you all! Here is to another great set of results next year.

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Student Interview with BBC Radio Essex We were delighted that one of our Gold DofE students, Niamh Moran, was selected to take part in an interview with BBC Radio Essex about her experience of DofE that will air later this year. Tim Dedman, BBC Radio Essex Operations Officer, was impressed with the way that Niamh was able to speak about her experiences, both as a participant and as part of the DofE Future Leaders program that she is undertaking.

High 5 January and February once again saw The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College Mathematics Department run the High 5 cryptology sessions. Another group of Year 5 students from across the Wickford primary schools tackled a range of codes from Pig Pen cipher to the more challenging Transposition cipher. Mr Wilson, who led the sessions, was impressed with the way the students approached the tasks stating that like previous groups, “the students really engaged with the programme, showing excellent problem solving skills and mathematical knowledge”. The final session saw students using the ciphers they had learnt to create their own messages for family members to decipher.

The summer term will see more High 5 sessions beginning with an Introduction to Literature Studies.

Mrs G Power Primary Liaison

DON’T FORGET!

Year 7 Parents’ Consultation Evening Thursday 16th May 2019

4.00pm to 7.00pm

Year 11 & Sixth Form Celebration of Achievement Evening

Thursday 9th May 2019 5.00pm - 8.00pm

(Invitation letters to follow shortly)