Events Coming Up
8th Nasal Flu vaccinations - all day
8th Year 7 meet the Tutor Evening (appointments now live to book in SchoolCloud)
9th Year 10 Work Experience Information Evening
10th World Mental Health Day
13th Year 9 Williams F1 Racing STEM Day
16th Restart a Heart day with British Heart Foundation
16th 17:00-18:30 Prom Dress Shop open
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families,
We hope that this message finds you well. As you’ll be reading this, the PSA and I, along with members of the Year and Tutor team will be getting disco ready with our Year 7 students. The PSA will be selling tuck, so don’t forget to bring cash!
Staying with Year 7, bravo to the sixteen wonderful Year 7 students who came along to the first rehearsal with me for our ‘This is Me’ Choir. They powered out our choir fave, Rolling in the Deep, as well as Year 7 challenge song, Never Gonna Give You Up! They will soon be joining with their Year 8-10 new friends in our Wednesday period 5 slots – dates to follow to them.
As you’ll read, we have lots of thanks to give in our newsletter. We had a really uplifting evening on Wednesday celebrating our students for their character and academic efforts and achievements across all subjects and in wider school family life. It is always such a privilege to spend time and celebrate our young people! A huge thanks to the year leaders for their brilliant organisation and very heartfelt words about their year groups throughout this evening, and to two of our Trustees, our Chair, Alison Munden, and Noadswood Alumni, Tom Weeks, for coming to celebrate with us.
Pictured are just some of the KS3 Special Award Winners, all our KS4 Winners and this year’s Y11 winner of the Di Ward shield, in memory of our lvery treasured colleague.
Thank you, too, to Mrs Hobbs and the History team, and all accompanying staff for a superb and enjoyable visit this week to Fort Nelson- more to follow in our end of term newsletter but we know how important these experiences are.
Thanks are due, too, to Miss Rawlinson and to Miss Ferry for taking some students to their induction sessions over at Totton College this week; this practical, hands-on learning is an important part of the KS4 curriculum for some of our young people, and feeling welcome there, still part of our Noadswood family is equally important.
To the more operational but still important matters, we are all, I know, always very conscious that the streets around the school are very busy in the morning and in the afternoon. We would love us all to mitigate the impact this may have on our local neighbours by encouraging walking, cycling or using public transport to come to school.
Inevitably there will always be a significant number of cars which causes congestion and risks to manage. Please may we remind you to be sensitive to our neighbours and not use their driveway to turn your vehicle around. This causes distress and at times accidental damage which we would wish to avoid. Thank you for your support in this matter.
We are committed to working proactively with our families and communities in promoting sustainable travel, and on that note, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that our school has been nominated for the prestigious 2025 National STARS School Travel Awards! This follows our success in earning Modeshift STARS accreditation for our efforts in promoting walking, cycling, and other forms of sustainable travel on the journey to school. There is a rigorous process to be followed to achieve this – you can’t just make a declaration, and what you state is checked on. Out of all the schools across the country, we are one of only 160 schools selected for this national honor. We thank Mrs Debbage, Mrs Wyse and our Active Travel Ambassadors for their work within this area that we know can never stop in the interests of health and safety.
As you know we are keen to have a full menu of support for our young people, including those within Year 11 who are fast approaching their next set of mocks. A full calendar of after school revision sessions can be found on our school website here: Year 11 Revision Plan Autumn 2025.pdf Please do reach out to your child’s year leader team, Mr Wilkinson or Miss Fitzgerald, or to class teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
Remember you can find contact details on our website here:
To further support your Y11 child’s academic achievements, a reminder that Personal Learning Reviews (PLRs) are running for the next fortnight. Each student will have a 10min appointment with their tutor to discuss their mock exam results from last summer. Students do not need to attend regular tutor time during this fortnight, unless they are meeting their tutor for their PLR, but all students are expected to be in school each day at 08:55 for registration. If for any reason your student needs to be in school at the normal time of 08:45, they can still go to their tutor room and use this as an opportunity to read or revise.
PLRs will come for the rest of the school as the year unfolds.
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
World Mental Health Day – 10th October 2025
In assemblies this week, Mrs Loveday has been talking to all students about World Mental Health Day which takes place on 10th October. The theme for this year is ensuring everyone has access to services and support when they need it. We’ll be thinking about what it means to look after your Mental Health, reminding students of all of the support available to them and reminding them of our pledge to work to ensure that every person in our school, child or adult, has at least one person they feel they could reach out and connect with, should they need to.
If you think this isn’t the case for your child(ren) please contact your child’s year team on ClassCharts or ping a mail to info@noadswood.hants.sch.uk and we will point you in the right direction to discuss this with the right people. We all need someone to feel we connect with and to feel a sense of belonging with, but we also recognise that it’s not easy for everyone to make those links – we want to help.
Year 7 Team Building Day
On Thursday Year 7 had a day of Team Building activities provided by The Problem Solving Company. This day has become a Noadswood tradition over the years and has proved useful in helping students to continue to bond with their new tutor group.
Activities included giant hand held ball mazes, ski walks, stepping stones and tower building. It was great to see the Year 7 students communicating and working together to complete the tasks and battle it out for the winner’s trophy. Congratulations to 7D2 who came 3rd, 7A1 who came in 2nd and 7D1 for grabbing the top spot. Just the Year 7 Disco tonight to finish off another great week.
Prom Donations
The school is seeking donations of gently used prom dresses, suits, and other items of formal attire. These contributions will support our Year 11 students in preparing for their prom, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate fully in this important occasion.
We welcome donations in all sizes and styles. Items may be delivered to the school office during school hours.
Your generosity will help us create a memorable and inclusive experience for all of our Year 11 students.
Prom Wear Hire Evening
We are hosting a Promwear Hire Evening on Thursday 16th October, 5.00–6.30pm in the School Hall.
A fantastic selection of dresses, shirts and suits will be available to hire, helping Year 11 get ready for prom in style.
If you’d like to attend, please sign up in S21.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Careers
A reminder that we are holding a Work Experience Information Evening in the school hall next week on Thursday 9th October at 5.30pm-6.30pm for Year 10 parents and carers. We will be sharing all the information you need to know about Work Experience and how students can also prepare for their mock interviews. All information will be shared after the event.
College applications are open for Year 11 students. Please continue to check college websites for their upcoming events. You may need to register for some of these. Open event dates are also listed on the Year 11 calendar.
Christmas Craft Fayre
Tickets Now on Sale – Festive Pottery Event!
Tickets for our Christmas pottery event are now available!
Everyone who attends will have the chance to decorate their own ceramic tree decoration. Each piece will be glazed and fired, then returned to school for collection. We’ll confirm the turnaround time as soon as possible.
Tickets
Tickets will be sent out nearer the time.
Not part of the Noadswood family but would like to join us?
Please complete this form to request tickets:
https://forms.office.com/e/NstA05rUHk
We can’t wait to see everyone getting creative and festive!
Awesome Alumni
Max Cater
A Noadswood student 2009-2014
After leaving school, I was scouted to join the Team GB Taekwondo squad and relocated to Manchester, where they spent five years competing internationally as a high-performance athlete. Following a successful career on the mat, I transitioned into coaching and founded the LMC High Performance Centre in Southampton, which celebrates its sixth year in 2025. Under their leadership, the club has become one of the most successful in the country, ranked 5th in the UK, and has developed athletes who have progressed into both the Team GB squad and national development teams.
In May 2025, I was appointed Head Coach of the German Female Olympic Taekwondo Team and is set to lead the squad into the 2026 Los Angeles Olympics.
If I could say something to the children at Noadswood it would be:
Everyone has something they’re good at, but sometimes it takes time to discover it. Don’t worry if you’re not the best at everything — focus on your strengths and keep building on them. There will be tough days when things don’t go your way, but that’s when you grow the most. If you don’t give up, every challenge becomes a stepping stone to something greater. Believe in yourself, keep working hard, and remember — your strengths are what make you special also everything happens for a reason.