Noadswood News Week Commencing 2nd February 2026

Beyond the classroom, we, like many of you in the audiences, were completely blown away by both nights of the Gym and Dance Show. The talent, confidence and commitment shown by our students was exceptional, and the performances were a real celebration of creativity, teamwork and hard work. A special thank you must go to Mrs Smith and Mrs Martin for everything they have done to make this event such a success, and for all the other events I have been so proud to watch through the year, too. It made my week to honour the half and full colours earned by the performers, and to celebrate, cheer and thank everyone at the end of last night’s show. It was particularly poignant for our Year 11 students, who have a very special place in our hearts. I felt privileged to read aloud for them a reminder of all they have done in gym and dance performance from Year 7, and about the spirit with which they have done it all. As Mrs Smith herself put it, this has all happened because: ‘of your talent, your amazing commitment and because you are such lovely people to be around, and so we enjoy working with you and feel so proud when we watch you perform... Remember, ‘Dancers don’t need wings to fly’. Just carry on being the people that you are, and you’ll be amazing’.  And I echo every word of that. Bravo Year 11 Gymnasts and Dancers.

One further highlight of my week was meeting some Y8 students to congratulate them on their work in Design and Technology. One was a particular joy to meet at breaktime today, talking about her incredible ideas for a book series, with which she is well underway, her hard work in Maths and Science, her athletics training in the rain... all that in addition to her success with her D and T self-devised game before Christmas. Very proud of you and well played. Thank you, as always, for your continued support and challenge – do please let us know of things on your children’s minds before we finish for the half term. You can make use of Class Charts, or the info@ email address and of course you can use the contact page on our website: Contact us | Noadswood school Best wishes for a decent weekend all round, Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team

INSET DAY Friday 13th February

A reminder to all of the Noadswood family that Friday 13th February is an INSET day, and the school will be closed to all students. We would also like to remind families that our 2026–2027 term dates can be found on our website here: https://www.noadswood.hants.sch.uk/term-dates

Nut-free site reminder

Finally, we would like to remind everyone that our school is a nut-free school. This means that foods containing nuts, or products that may contain nuts, should not be brought into school at any time. This includes packed lunches, snacks, and food brought in for birthdays or special events. This policy is in place to help keep all members of our school community safe. Some children and staff have severe nut allergies, and even small traces of nuts can cause serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.  We understand that this requires extra care when preparing food, and we appreciate your continued support and cooperation.

Digital Detox Relaunch: From after the February half term break

Whilst we understand it’s anxious-making for some, we genuinely look forward to our Digi Detox Relaunch after half term and to our site being phone-free throughout the school day. A phrase from researcher and campaigner in this field, Jonathan Haidt, captures how we see this at Noadswood: “(Young people) need to be strong, competent and in control of their attention.” So, to ensure a smooth start after half term to all of us ‘regaining that control of our attention’, not sharing it with our phones, we are asking for your support in getting students ready to use the now fully installed mobile phone lockers, (not pouches here, remember). The locker will be our expectation for more or less every young person* to use from after the break to ensure a meaningful detox from SmartPhones and social media right across the school day. *NB: If you have made an arrangement with us on medical/additional needs grounds, you will already know what that is – if you believe you still need to do so, please get in touch with your child(ren)’s year leader team or by emailing phonelockers@noadswood.hants.sch.uk Staff who currently make use of their phones for platforms such as Teams and Outlook when they are busy around the site have been provided with a device for those platforms only – we want to model a Digital Detox too. Please encourage students to begin bringing in their padlocks now and to secure them to their lockers before the break. This will prevent delays and issues when we return. We want students to take personal responsibility for the safe storage of their phone in their locker – we hope not to need to ‘police’ matters, but we are not naive to the fact we will have to with some; we will work through our usual behaviour policy when/if that is the case and liaise with you.

Key reminders to share with students

• If they are using a combination lock, they must write the code in their planner in case they forget it. • If they are using a key lock, they should keep the spare key in a safe and accessible place, and not with the other key or a bag or a pocket from which it can tumble! If your child(ren) are eligible for the Pupil Premium, they can come down to the Finance Office to collect a padlock and then they can attach it to one of the lockers in their base according to the following schedule: House Time with their tutor groups in the morning: Week beginning Monday 9th February Monday 9th        Year 11 & Year 10 Tuesday 10th       Year 9 Wednesday 11th    Year 8 Thursday 12th      Year 7

To place Noadswood’s work on this in a local and national context

Local context: As you know, our neighbour schools have implemented mobile phone lockers or pouches already – some have included in their policy, staff checking that every single person puts their phone in their locker or pouch. For now, at least, we will be encouraging and reminding – we do think that the healthiest of all Digital Detoxes is the one we equip students and ourselves to manage for ourselves, with clear expectations and reminders given. If this doesn’t work, we can enforce checks, and so, as always here, we will keep things under review. National context: As many of you will have heard or read, ironically, on social media, all Headteachers were written to on January 26th by the Secretary of State for Education as the Government elected to issue updated guidance to all schools regarding Mobile Phone Policy, an extract of which for you is here: ... we have strengthened (the guidance) to be explicit - all schools should be phone-free environments for the entire school day. That includes lessons, time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime. It means, for example, it is not appropriate for phones to be used as calculators, or for research during lessons. This guidance is intended to remove ambiguity and support firm, confident leadership. Schools should not only have clear policies but should make sure those policies are applied consistently across classes and at all times, and we want parents to back these policies too. This is a clear national reset on mobile phone use in schools. We must watch carefully – as we relaunch our Digital Detox - that our policy is, indeed, robust enough to be applied consistently by all members of the Noadswood family, whilst we also foster other positive aspects of our culture: personal responsibility, mutual encouragement and coaching of each other for what we believe in. We shall keep in touch about this as we go, and we know you will, too; please do so via the Year Leader teams or the phonelockers@noadswood.hants.sch.uk email address, please.

Year 9 KS4 Courses Evening

A reminder that we would like to invite you and your child to attend our Year 9 KS4 Courses Event on Wednesday 11th February which will be held at school. I will send confirmation of timings for the event soon, but I wanted you to be able to save the date in advance. This event is an important part of moving into Key Stage 4. It is designed to give both students, and parents and carers, all the information needed to make informed choices about the subjects your child might study in Key Stage 4. During the evening you will:

• Receive clear guidance on the options blocks and how the pupils submit their preferences.
• Have the opportunity to meet subject teachers and discuss the content and demands of each course.
• Learn more about the new subjects your child may have the opportunity to study.
• Ask any questions you may have to help support your child’s decision‑making.

Staff will be available throughout the evening to offer advice and guidance, and we strongly encourage all Year 9 students to attend. Please note, space is very limited at this event, so we ask that pupils attend with only one adult if possible. The event is split into two sessions to allow two houses to come at a time. We look forward to welcoming you on Wednesday 11th February and supporting you and your child through this important stage of their education. Mr Hewitt – Deputy Headteacher

Gym and Dance Show – a word from Mrs Smith and Mrs Martin

As described above, this year’s Gym & Dance show took place on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th of February in the School Gymnasium. The show involved over 100 students of all abilities and from all five-year groups. Some of the items were created at after school clubs, some of them are examples of BTEC Dance work or GCSE PE work, some were competition routines and many had been created by the students themselves. We would like to congratulate all the amazing students that took part. The were amazing and really showed Noadswood at its very best! Thank you to the friends and family who came along and supported the students.