The time has come… Your NGF25 programme is here 
We’re back for double the time this year – six days of celebrating all things gaming Mon 26 – Sat 31 May 2025.
Get ready for industry talks, interactive workshops, impressive shows, free hands-on gameplay, physical gaming activities, tournaments, and a new Trader & Collector Day!
We’ve had a busy few weeks since the beginning of the Spring Term. In outdoor learning we’ve been climbing trees, clearing the woods and making bird feeders.
In Topic we’ve been learning about the Middle Ages and we’ve tried our hands at weaving our own Rag Rugs. We’ve also been helping to show Felix – our French trainee teacher – how we work as a team. He has played his first game of cricket and shared his handball skills with us! In art we have enjoyed exploring the work of abstract artists including Jackson Pollock.
Once again Mars Day has an out-of-this-world programme of live link-ups, activities and resources, talks and live Q&As with space stars, as well as career discussions with hidden heroes of the UK space industry.
A few highlights for Mars Day 2025 include:
So, get ready to plan your own Mars Day mission – touchdown on favourite topics, book on to sessions and get ready to take part in Mars Hour activities. You can check in with your class or the whole school, as well as friends, family or embark on a solo mission.
Encourage young people to see the value of STEM subjects, by registering for your place on the next mission and prepare to land on Mars with us this March.
What a busy half term Chestnut has had! Well done to Chestnut class for a great few months.
We’ve had another busy and exciting few weeks in Pine class. We’ve been learning about the contribution to WW2 by our own family members and the family of staff at school. We also had Winston Churchill come to talk with us and share his experiences of leading the country at war. We also really enjoyed our trip to Norwich Aviation Museum where we saw lots of different aircraft and got to sit in the cockpit of a Jaguar aeroplane.
We loved the snow that briefly came and made the school look so pretty and we’ve had a lovely time getting the classroom ready for Christmas with lots of craft activities.
Above photos taken by John Bull
We held another successful Illuminate walk and Christmas Fayre with over £2000 being raised during the evening. A big thank you to those families and friends of Sidestrand that attended, it was great to see so many attend despite the weather! Once again, our Site team and Mr Coates and Sixth Form students did a great job of creating a little bit of winter land magic on our school site. This year as well as Marshmallows we had Chestnuts being roasted by Mrs Claus and her helpers. It was great to see a range of external stall holders come along and support our event. We are really fortunate to have some amazing staff who help to support the event. Thank you to everyone who helped play a part in ensuring its success.
”We went shopping in Cromer. We went to the Co-op. We got ingredients to make pizza. We wrote a
written by Lily
shopping list. We paid for the ingredients using money. It was Fun!
”Bay Class went to the About with Friends Café. I had a sausage roll and a hot chocolate. I like going to the café.
written by Archie
Ho ho ho! This week Fig wrote letters to Father Christmas as part of their Topic work on communication. They practised writing addresses on envelopes, writing letters and used traditional wax seals to secure their letters. We also had a go at using quills and ink.They are now on their way to Father Christmas!
Fig enjoyed a visit to Gressenhall this week where they experienced a Victorian Christmas. The pupils made candy canes, paper chains and a Victoiran peg doll whilst learning about traditions from that time. Merry Christmas!
Wow what a busy half term we have had! We have managed to fit so much fun stuff in to the last 8 weeks. We started our swimming lessons which we have loved and have been to Cromer to visit the About with Friends café. We will be incorporating some more trips into Cromer over the next half term which fits in with our unit on staying safe in the community. We welcomed our new member of Bay Class—Maverick the dog and he is currently visiting us each week. A big congratulations to Bay Class new student council Representative—Lily-Rose.
A safe space for disabled children aged 5 – 11 to kickstart their football journey.
