Events coming up 20th GCSE PE Moderation 21st Year 11 Progress Event 28th Intermediate Maths Challenge 28th Rwanda Parent Information Meeting 29th Year 7, 11 & Prefect Photos
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families, We hope it’s been a decent week for you all, despite so much rain! We’d like to thank the vast majority of our students who’ve continued to conduct themselves so well in these circumstances at breaks and lunchtimes when we become a really busy site. Mr Cross and the prefect teams have worked hard to provide more activities for Key Stage 3 students to enjoy in their allocated rooms for wet lunchtimes. We hope the students enjoy these and we look forward to brighter days ahead when we will also run outdoor based activities. It’s been great to hear about the enjoyment our students and colleagues have had, visiting the Harry Potter Studio Tour over the course of two visits this, past week. With a further trip to come, we can guarantee the students are in for a treat. Not only experiencing the tour as all visitors do, but also having the chance to enjoy a workshop on what happens behind the scenes of the films. They’ve learnt about all the careers available to them in film and media, that contribute to massively successful movies like these. It’s incredible just how many roles there are – something for everybody, I would say.
We also look forward to hearing about the trip some Year 10s went on yesterday with Mr Chilton and Dr Shaw at Southampton University. We know how much it broadens horizons and ambitions when the students can get out and see the world and learn from it, first hand. It was good to be back with my This is Me choir on Wednesday afternoon. We look forward to sharing with you our plans for performing this term and also the other exciting plans that are starting to come together for a summer fair to include stalls, music from right across our Noadswood family talent, and the wider Waterside we very much hope, and, of course loads of sunshine. We will order that in! Date to follow soon but we are super excited. Meantime, in terms of the performing arts, you know it’s all systems go for our brilliant annual Gym and Dance Show and Oliver! We are so thankful for the energies and talents of the colleagues and students involved and all the parental and carer support out there too. It’s been equally great to welcome Key Stage 2 children to Noadswood for a Gymnastics Festival the past couple of days, and a lovely opportunity for 17 of our terrific PE Champions to support the event. The children really look up to their example and their leadership. Some of us are off out to other schools for a few days this year to join a team reviewing their practice via the school improvement organisation, Challenge Partners. As part of this a review team of other school leaders and experienced reviewers, that include people with Ofsted experience, will come and do the same for us. We are so pleased to have the chance to have high-quality external quality assurance carried out in our school and look forward to being able to share the successes, the learning, and the identified areas for development with you in due course. In case you want to know more about Challenge Partners, you can read about their work here: https://www.challengepartners.org/ We would like to finish this week by reminding you of the upcoming Year 11 Progress Event, taking place on Wednesday 21st January. This is a key opportunity for students, families, and staff to come together at a crucial point in the GCSE year. With the final examinations fast approaching, it is essential that we work together to discuss and agree on specific next steps to help everyone to achieve their full potential. These conversations are particularly important now, as there is still so much time for targeted support and focused revision to make a significant difference to results and to next steps for the students. We want to help support anyone feeling anxious about their final months in school - it’s such a big milestone. We hope that our progress event will help to ensure that our students, your children, feel supported, motivated, and confident, knowing that home and school are working closely together. Your involvement plays such a vital role in supporting your child through this important and challenging year, even though some of the young people don’t always say so! Best wishes, Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
AWESOME Alumni Darcey Rollett Class of 2022
Currently studying Sociology at the University of Bristol, with plans to go on to a further Masters degree, I am particularly interested in how social inequalities, education and public institutions shape individual life chances. My experience at university has been extremely valuable in helping me to think critically about the world around me, providing me with the tools and knowledge to research society and contribute to real change in the future. Although I did not study Sociology at secondary school, my time at Noadswood played an integral role in building my confidence and interest in social issues, with emphasis on discussion and independent thinking later sparking my interest in my chosen degree. Thank you in particular to Miss Ebblewhite and Mr Cox, who made every lesson engaging and insightful, and to Miss Harwood, who made school a safe and nurturing environment. I encourage current students to keep your options open and embrace the subjects and topics that encourage you to think differently about the world!
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