Sackville plays its part in the town Remembrance ceremony

Headteacher Julian Grant was joined by senior students Will Roberts-Percy and Grace de Souza to lay a wreath at the town war memorial on Sunday November 11th.

This ceremony was particularly poignant, taking place exactly one hundred years after the signing of the Armistice in a railway carriage north of Paris. The wreath bore a message of thanks to those who sacrificed their lives in the Great War and conflicts since.

Many Sackville students were present at the ceremony, as individuals and members of participating organisations.

The ceremony comes at the end of a week in which the school held its own two minutes’ silence, and also created the human poppy on the playground. This was pictured on the big screen before the wreath-laying began.

Sackville remembers

The Sackville Community marked the centenary of the Armistice this week by creating an enormous ‘human poppy‘ on the school playground. For this important anniversary, every student and member of staff held up a coloured sheet to be part of the commemoration. The aerial photo shows how effective the event was.

This is one aspect of the way we have been remembering those affected by conflict this week. Every year group has listened to Mr Grant’s assembly on why this commemoration is so important. Students have also been invited to think about the fragility of the peace after the Great War, especially relevant in the week of the eightieth anniversary of Kristallnacht. 

We have also been considering those who are caught in conflict zones today.

Remembrance Week at Sackville

Sackville students have been marking the centenary of the Armistice in different ways this autumn. Our librarian, Mrs Rose, created a silhouette soldier onto which students and staff have been invited to write the name of a relative lost or injured in conflict. Year 7s and 8s have also been invited to the library during registration to discuss the Great War and remembrance. Space on the soldier has filled up, and students are now writing the names of loved ones on cardboard poppies.

During the week Mr Grant has been giving assemblies on the importance of this centenary. He has talked about his own family’s involvement in the First World War and invited students to think about what the legacy of the war is today.

On Thursday to mark this special anniversary, the whole school took to the playground to create a giant human poppy. Images of this will be shared after our two minutes’ silence on Friday

Sixth form open evening

There was a great turn out at our sixth form options evening. Many students reported being spoilt for choice.

Remember if you are having difficulties making a choice, come and talk to the sixth form team. Narrowing down your choices at the age of 16 can be a real challenge, and for the first time the choices you make now will have an impact on what choices are open to you in the future. Make sure you are aware of any particular requirements for any pathway you may already have in mind.

If you are not a Sackville student, and still want advice, please email our sixth form team.

Year 11s climb to success

What better way to spend such a sunny Friday? Well done to our year 11 PE students for such a successful rock-climbing assessment.

Ex-student Joe Boyce leads Balfour Beatty workshops at Sackville

We were delighted to welcome a team from Balfour Beatty to lead a series of engineering workshops on Thursday November 1st. The team was led by ex Sackville student Joe Boyce, accompanied by colleagues Amy Goodwin, Rebecca Davis, Hassan Mirza and Krish Barot.

The team began with an assembly to year 8, at which introduced some of the amazing projects the company are involved with. They also promoted the role of women in science and engineering, challenging what can be a stereotypical view of an engineer.

Throughout the day, the engineers visited lessons showing how the skills learned in science and maths are clearly needed in the world of work.

Joe, pictured on the far left of this montage, is graduate materials engineer currently working on Hinkley Point C Power Station. We would like to thank the team for giving up a day and helping us meet one of our careers’ ‘Gatsby benchmarks‘, encounters with employers and employees.

Mr Bush goes to Westminster

Our Leader of Professional Learning, Steve Bush, was recently invited by Baroness Onora O’Neill to represent Sackville at the House of Lords, as one of the founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. The fellows attended a reception before being addressed by Baroness O’Neill as she considered building trust and trustworthiness in the profession, to support the College’s work in building a deeper professional culture whereby teachers lead their own profession.

It was inspiring to hear such a distinguished speaker talk so passionately about the value of teaching, particularly on such a nice day!

Government confirms Sackville’s excellent exam results

The government has confirmed how well our year 11 students performed last year with the first release of its performance tables. These show we have achieved the the much sought-after ‘above average‘ classification, placing us in the top 15% of schools. 

This is based on our ‘Progress 8‘ score of 0.39, showing that nearly one in every two GCSE grades last summer was a full grade higher than those achieved by similar students in other schools.

We knew how hard our 16 year-olds worked last year; we are delighted to see this confirmed by these official figures.

You can see more details of our achievements on the Department for Education website.

U14 netballers taste success

Our U14 netball team is shaping up to become one of the strongest we have had. The promise shown in years 7 and 8 is now coming to fruition. On Friday October 19th, the team were invited to celebrate their extraordinary success at the Sussex pool of the netball nationals the previous weekend. Enjoying juice and a snack with Mr Grant, they told of how they they finished third at the competition, the highest placing for a state school. 

A lovely way to finish the half term – well done girls! 

For more news, sports and other, please see our latest newsletter.

Well done to our gymnasts and dancers!

Our gymnasts and dancers, mainly from years 7-9, but with some elite performers from year 10, did us proud at our annual gym and dance display. This always shows Sackville at its best, with so many young people happy to get onto the floor and give it a go. 

There was real talent on display, and originality too in the routines and dances the students themselves had choreographed. A great way to round off the end of an energetic first half term of the year. Well done to everyone and thank-you to the parents and carers who came along to support.