Message from the Executive Principal, Alastair O'Connor
Although this has been a really short term, it has been packed with exams, assessments, music and sports events, a DofE expedition and parents evenings. Thank you for your support.
We have now had 10 days of exams for the Year 11s and Year 13s and I am so proud of the way our students are conducting themselves and embracing the wonderful support staff are providing for them. The exam season will continue after the half term break until Friday 20th June.
We have a few trips scheduled in for next term and also our end of year celebrations. Further details of trips and arrangements for Charnfest will be sent out to parents in due course.
On behalf of the Senior Leadership Team I would like to wish you all a relaxing half term break
GCSEs, A Levels and Assessment Update – A Message of Pride and Progress
As we move through a very important time of the academic year, we want to take a moment to share how immensely proud we are of our students' conduct, focus, and dedication during the recent examination period.
Our Year 11 and Year 13 students have shown tremendous maturity and resilience as they continue their GCSE and A Level exams. Their punctuality, calm demeanour, and positive attitude have been a credit to themselves, their families, and the school. It has been genuinely heartening to see how seriously they are taking these crucial steps in their academic journeys.
This week, our Year 12 students have also been sitting their internal assessments. These have taken place under full exam conditions in the Sports Centre to mirror the environment of formal examinations. This experience not only allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and progress so far, but also provides essential preparation for next year’s mock exams and final A Level assessments.
Looking ahead, our Year 10 students will begin their assessment period straight after the half-term break. These assessments will also be conducted in the Sports Centre, and like their Year 12 peers, they will benefit from experiencing the discipline and routine of an official exam setting. We hope this will help to build their confidence and exam technique as they move into the final year of their GCSE courses.
Key Stage 3 students (Years 7–9) will also be undertaking assessments across all subjects in the coming weeks. These are an important part of their learning journey, giving them the opportunity to reflect on their progress and develop their revision and study skills. In core subjects, these assessments will play a key role in determining sets and teaching groups for the next academic year.
To support our students, we strongly encourage the continued use of knowledge organisers, and regular homework completion. These tools have already been proven to make a real difference in students' understanding and retention of knowledge.
Thank you for your continued support. We are incredibly proud of the determination and commitment our students are showing across all year groups, and we look forward to seeing them continue to grow and achieve.
South DRET Schools Paris Football Tour 2025
During the Easter break 14 boys from Charnwood College (Years 7 and 8) attended the DRET Paris Football Tour.
After a long journey the boys attended Urban Soccer, an amazing indoor football facility where PSG community is hosted. We also had a stadium tour of the Parc Des Princes, PSG's stadium. This was a brilliant experience where the boys got to take a penalty kick on the grounds, visited the changing rooms and had a photo pitch side.
We then travelled to Auxerre to watch a League 1 match against LEON, which had an incredible atmosphere.
Later in the week we attended a training session with Paris FC coaches, at their training ground. We then went sightseeing around Paris including a walk around the Eiffel Tower.
The boys also enjoyed a full day at Disneyland, going on lots of rides as well as experiencing the spectacular fireworks at the end of the day.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and the boys thoroughly enjoyed their trip.
Attendance Challenge
Our latest attendance challenge has been running from the 12th May 2025. All students with absences of two days or less between this date and the end of term will be entered into our Take your Pick Competition on the last day of term (exceptions will be made for medical appointments and exceptional circumstances).
There are lots of prizes for students to choose from if their name is picked out on the day.
UKMT Junior Mathematical Challenge and UKMT Pink Kangaroo
This year we have had great success with the UKMT Mathematical Challenges.
In January, the Year 10 students took part in the Intermediate challenge. This is for students in Years 9 and 10 and is taken by thousands of students across the world.
On the day 62 students took part in the challenge and our students achieved 2 Gold, 9 Silver and 14 Bronze. A brilliant achievement from our students.
The students who received the two gold certificates then went on to the follow-on round called the Pink Kangaroo. Just taking part is a massive achievement. Well done Jai who achieved a merit.
Most recently Years 7 and 8 took part in the Junior Mathematical Challenge and we achieved two Golds, five Silver and 15 Bronze awards in Year 7 and three Gold, six Silver and 11 Bronze awards in Year 8. Two students have also qualified for the next round - Junior Kangaroo which will take place on the 10th June.
Well done to all the students who took part.
Discover The Organ - All Saints, Loughborough, 12th May 2025
On Monday 12th May, eight keyboard players from Charnwood College in Loughborough spent the morning discovering the organ at All Saints Church, with Simon Headley (Director of Music at All Saints) and John Gull (Musician-in-Residence at Charnwood College).
Students were thrilled to hear Bach's mighty Toccata in D minor before Simon sneakily turned the organ off and then explained the various steps (or stops?!) necessary to generate the organ's sound. Built in the 1960s, the two-manual organ at All Saints was never enclosed in casework, so it is easy to see the wind reservoirs rising as the air arrives from the blower. The students all brought pieces to play (most brought along graded piano pieces that they are learning), and gained some insight into the process of 'orchestrating' music at the organ. Students were encouraged to explore the instrument's rich variety of tone colours and learned how to contrast loud and quiet sounds on different manuals. They found how the expression pedal controls the opening and closing of the shutters enclosing the Swell division, and of course delighted in making the entire building shake with a few thunderous pedal notes.
Simon and John performed a few pieces by Franck, Vierne, and Elgar to show off the organ, as well as a movement of a Handel organ concerto featuring the church's Peter Collins chamber organ. Students also heard the chamber organ accompanying Asha Bishop (Director of Music at Charnwood College) playing a Baroque violin sonata, to illustrate its crucial role as a supporting instrument in instrumental and orchestral music. The children left clearly enthused and inspired by the 'king of instruments'.
It is hoped that more organ discovery workshops will take place at All Saints, which proved an excellent venue for this project. This event was a nice little collaboration between All Saints Church and Charnwood College, supported by Leicester MusicFest.
U13s Rugby Spring Cup
Congratulations and well done to our U13s Rugby Team for being undefeated and winning the DRET Spring U13s Rugby Cup in May.
Well done to all the Charnwood College students who competed in the Spring Cup this year as we were Sporting Progress Winners!
The Summer Cup will take place on Thursday 3rd July.
Details and pictures from all our sporting fixtures can be found in the next Sports Newsletter out soon!
Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expedition
Report from Mrs Kitching (Duke of Edinburgh Co-ordinator)
This was our first Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expedition, since we started the programme at Charnwood at the start of the academic year.
We met up Groby Pool with our partners Karos adventure and our 36 enthusiastic students ready for two days and a night of adventure.
The six teams set off on three different routes, where they were able to put into practice the skills, they had learnt on the training days in April.
Once at Beaumanor, they set up tents and played games, at 5pm they started cooking there dinner using Trangia’s and once dinner was done and washed up, they went back to playing, late into the evening. They bonded very well in their teams and as a whole group.
After a short night they were mostly up at 6am to cook breakfast and strike camp before heading out on another hike of 8 -10km.
They completed their expedition back at the Outwoods, they left exhausted but with a sense of pride on having completed this challenge and will be reflecting on to for years to come, I am sure.
Art and Textiles Exhibition
We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting an exhibition of all students' art and textiles work on Thursday 19th June from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. A personal invitation will be sent out to parents, staff and students after half term.
Art / Designer of the Month
This month's winner of the Art/Designer of the Month is Roxanne in Year 11 - congratulations.
Collection of Art and Textiles coursework
Please note that we are required, by the exam boards, to keep all items of exam coursework until 27th October 2025 and you will not be able to collect any work before this time.
Therefore, we have arranged the following period and times when you will be able to come into the faculty to collect your work.
Monday 27th October 2025 to Friday 31st October 2025 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Celebrating Staff Success NPQ Achievements
We are delighted to congratulate several members of our dedicated teaching team on successfully completing their National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), a significant milestone in professional development and educational leadership.
Katrina Rodrigues and Pete Gillespie have completed the NPQ in Leading Teaching, equipping them with advanced skills to drive high-quality teaching and learning across the school.
Sophie English and Emily Brewin have earned the NPQ in Leading Behaviour and Culture, enhancing their expertise in creating positive, supportive learning environments for all students.
Emma Littlewood has completed the NPQ in Leading Literacy, strengthening her ability to lead literacy improvement and support students' reading and writing across the curriculum.
Their achievements reflect our Academy’s ongoing commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. These staff members now join the 15 other colleagues who have previously completed NPQs, collectively enriching our Academy's professional learning culture and strengthening the education we provide every day.
Well done to all!
Meet the Charnwood Admin Team
Whether it's a forgotten PE kit, reporting a concern or a grazed knee, our Admin Team are the central hub that connects our school community.
Our reassuring team are on hand to support with parental and student queries alike from 8:15am to 4:00pm (3:30pm on a Friday).
The office is home to Main Reception and our Student Hatch where students can visit for in house support and First Aid assistance during the day.
As we move into the summer term, please ensure all contact and medical details are updated using your My Child at School app.
We also welcome you to contact us on 01509 554 400 or office@charnwoodcollege.org.
Miss Hamilton, Mrs Katona, Mrs Shah and Mrs Woodfield.
We would be very grateful if you could support us with any of the following:-
We are always looking for unwanted items of Charnwood College uniform to sell in our Pre-Loved Sales which take place throughout the year. If you have any good quality items please could you drop them off to the reception during term time - thank you.
Our Head of Year 11, Miss Anderson, is asking if you have any second hand prom dresses or any suits that you can donate to our Year 11s for their prom which is taking place on the 26th June - thank you.
We are in the process of upgrading our Library and sorting through the books into reading ages. We would be very grateful if you have any good quality books you would consider donating to the Library for the students to read. Also if you have any spare time in the mornings (8:35 a.m. to 9:05 a.m.) on either Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and you would like to support with one to one reading with our students, please register here https://forms.office.com/e/eezmeiiFQa
SEXTORTION
This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.
The Young Minds website has lots of useful information for you to access including the meaning of the emojis children use in their messages to each other.
Exciting Changes to the School Day and Curriculum for 2025–26
We are pleased to share an important update about changes to the school day and curriculum that will take effect from the start of the next academic year. As part of our ongoing commitment to improving outcomes and enriching the learning experience for all our students, we will be moving from our current structure of five 1-hour lessons per day to six 50-minute lessons.
This adjustment will create a 30-period week and allows us to maximise learning time while offering even greater flexibility and depth within our curriculum.
At Key Stage 3 (Years 7–9), this change means we can continue to offer a broad and balanced curriculum, with even more opportunities for students to engage in a wide range of subjects and enrichment activities. We believe this is vital for sparking curiosity, developing a love of learning, and helping students discover new interests and talents.
For Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Key Stage 5 (A Level) students, the new structure provides the space to deepen learning in core subjects, particularly English and maths, and to offer enhanced provision in the sciences, including the opportunity for more students to study separate sciences. This change is designed to strengthen our academic offer and better prepare students for further study, training, or employment.
We are also pleased to confirm that the Year 9 options process is now complete, and we are delighted to report that over 90% of students have secured their top three subject choices. This outcome reflects the careful planning that went into building a curriculum that is both broad and responsive to students’ interests and aspirations. Thank you to all parents and carers who supported students through this important stage of their journey.
We’re confident that these changes will not only improve outcomes but also provide a more enriching and inspiring experience for all students.
KING'S BIRTHDAY PROM AT NEVILL HOLT
The Nevill Holt Festival 2025 will be celebrating the King's Birthday with a series of festivals between the 30th May and 22nd June and the Trust are delighted to pass on some amazing ticket offers for family shows.
If you are interested in attending any of the shows please see the letter below on how to buy your ticket(s) and use the code on the flyer.
The Charnwood College choir will be performing on Saturday 14th June.
Dates for the diary
- 26th May to 30th May - May Half Term.
- 2nd June - Year 10 Geography Trip
- 3rd and 4th June - Year 8 and 9 Geography Field Trips
- 6th June - Year 12 LEBC careers meetings
- 10th June - Maths Junior Kangaroo competition
- 11th June - Royal Opera House Trip - Carmen
- 13th June - Loughborough University Degree Show trip
- 13th June - Opera North Concert Rehearsal at Corby Cube
- 14th June - Concert at Nevill Holt
- 20th June - PD Drop Down Day and Culture Day
- 27th June - Year 10 Geography Trip to Coventry
- 27th June - Paris Music Tour
Follow us on @CharnwoodCol
Safeguarding during the May Half Term Break
When the Academy is closed there is always someone who can help you.
If you are concerned that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm, you should contact your local authority safeguarding partnership directly.
Please go to our website www.charnwoodcollege.org for the relevant contact information if you have any welfare concerns.
In an emergency, call 999.
For any other queries, please contact us via cip@dret.co.uk.
If you have a general enquiry during the half term break please contact the office on office@charnwoodcollege.org There is limited access so it may take a few days to respond.