Events Coming Up
26th Ordnance survey trip
27th Year 11 (2024 leavers) Presentation Evening
28th Year 10 BTEC Child Development trip (as per letter)
29th Lille Christmas Market
30th November Christmas themed Craft Fayre - Tickets available through Arbor for Adults and children. The doors will open at 11am with songs being sung by Miss Marshall’s choir to welcome you all in. A majority of stalls will be taking card and cash, some are cash only.
December
3rd KS1 Gym Competition
5th Year 10 BTEC Child Development trip (as per letter)
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families,
We hope this newsletter finds you well. Firstly, thank you to all the families who have been in touch with us regarding financial support: we are in the process of actioning the vouchers now. If you didn’t complete the form, please contact your child's year team directly and they’ll be happy to arrange this for you.
You can do this via Class Charts or by finding their email address on our website here
I would also like to thank sincerely everyone who joined us for our ‘Prepare to Perform’ evening on Wednesday. The partnerships between home and school are so important and we really do value the opportunity to work with you. As promised, all resources from the event can be found here: Prepare to Perform 2024. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do make contact with your child's teacher or their year leader. You don’t need to wait for a special event – if something is on your mind, please let us know.
It's that time of year again when, ready or not, we’re going to be starting to ‘Step into Christmas’! Each year, we know that some families prefer to give to charity rather than send the customary Christmas cards. One way you could do this, if it sounds good to you, is by donating a text to our lovely library! We have created a list of books based on student and staff wishes and an independent bookstore, Darling Reads, has then created an online wish list for anyone who would like to purchase a book for our students this Christmas. No pressure whatsoever, but if you like the idea, the link is below:
If there's a book you’d love to see in the library and it's not on the list right now, please do complete the form below and we’ll add it on.
We like backing this initiative because we know how important reading is to all areas of our children's lives. A report by the National Literacy Trust based on 76,131 responses showed that the number of children and young people who say they enjoy reading and read daily in their free time continues, sadly, to decline.
If you have any concerns about your child's reading or want to know more about support on offer, please do reach out to Miss Walker- ewalker@noadswood.hants.sch.uk - our Lead Practitioner with responsibility for literacy interventions. If your child has a SEND need please reach out to Mrs Preston - cpreston@noadswood.hants.sch.uk.
To end, I would like to share just a few of my highlights of the week. Firstly, it’s been great joining a range of History lessons this week, as we also welcomed Sarah Herrity, from the Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service to the department. Sarah joined us for a ‘best practice’ visit because of how well our Historians and our History Team have been doing in learning, enrichment and outcomes alike.
I enjoyed reading work about toilets in Roman Times (!) in Y7 books, their excellent carefully crafted assessments on life for peasants plus hearing discussions with them about what happened in our very own area back in the time of the Domesday Book; I equally loved hearing Y11 comparing education here with that under the Nazis in the 1940s. Fascinating stuff, writing and talking like authentic Historians!
Secondly, it was incredible to be with so many of you and our talented choir at the Hampshire Music Service Festival at Thornden Hall on Wednesday evening. Mrs Rees and Mr Watkins will say more about this in future weeks, but as ever, I was blown away with our choir’s musicality, professionalism and commitment. Biased I may be, but I really did feel we were pick of the crop, and I am proud to be part of the Music Department Entourage!
My own choir are getting revved up for their festive performances – letters to follow very soon. Snowman by Sia is sounding particularly beautiful by all of us!
Finally, my Hot Choc breaktimes with our younger students and my time spent on duties with your children are increasingly looked forward to parts of my days. They are friendly and often entertaining, in the huge majority of cases, and if something goes wrong, they are straightforward about putting things right. This means as much to me as all the excellence across our school.
Wishing you all a good weekend, and with all our best,
Kathryn Marshall and the Leadership Team
Kindness Hampers
Following the assemblies last week and the information we shared in the Newsletter, a reminder that we’re asking for donations of dry food and toiletries items to build our Noadswood Kindness Hampers. Many students and families have already donated, and we will begin distributing these in our local community later in the month.
Science
Year 7 Book of the Term
Do you love to read? This term, the Science department are inviting all avid readers to enjoy THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND
How to enter
Read the book. Copies of the book are available in the library. An audiobook version is also available on Audible.
Write a short book review. There is an example template on the science frog page to help. Deadline – December 15th
Hand your book review into your teacher or Miss Hill
Prizes
You will be awarded 3 golden tickets for your book review
A prize will be awarded for the best review
Book reviews can also contribute towards science leader status
Marchwood Buses
As referenced previously, we have been in contact with local councillors regarding Marchwood buses. We would like to share with you Councillor Richard Young’s most recent update to his constituents:
*** Better Buses For Marchwood ***
Earlier this week I met with Mrs Rollett, Assistant Headteacher to explore ways in which we as a community might collectively seek to bring about better bus services in the area, for everyone.
An increasing number of young people from Marchwood are electing to attend Noadswood School for secondary education. This is in addition to those attending Applemore (the catchment school), and Hounsdown (in some cases the nearest school). Hampshire County Councils adopted school transport policy reflects the legal requirements upon HCC under the Education Act 1996 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006, defining “eligible children” for school transport provision as those attending their catchment or nearest school (subject to minimum walking distances).
After my meeting with Mrs Rollett this week I decided to take a new “outside the box” approach in writing to my contacts at Hampshire County Council to formally propose that consideration be given on enabling Marchwood residents to access the number 9 bus service. A bus service which at present travels straight through Marchwood on the A326 at up to three times an hour but frustratingly does not currently stop anywhere within Marchwood.
My outline proposal, subject to highways engineers qualified views, is to construct bus stops just off the highway at a point either side of the A326, north of its junctions with Twiggs Lane. These stops could safely be linked back to Twiggs Lane with new pavements and the existing pedestrian crossing. Importantly, funding would not appear to be an issue if the monies allocated to the now shelved Junction Road scheme in Totton remain available. In summary, this would open up already existing bus services to thousands more potential customers and provide far greater sustainable transport connectivity for our community.
In tandem I am of course also exploring ways in which BlueStar might be able to provide further timetabling tweaks to existing services like the number 8 so that services best serve the needs of residents, including those travelling to schools that sit outside of the education authorities transport policies. I shall happily provide further updates with any progress that I am able to make on this.’
We will continue to keep you updated on our progress. In addition to this we have also been in contact with Waterside Changemakers regarding this issue. We’d like to thank both Councillor Young and Waterside Changemakers for their engagement in this matter.
Year 7 Netball
It was fantastic to take the Year 7 netball team to the New Forest tournament at Ringwood school.
Both teams were fantastic! 9 teams entered and we came 4th and 2nd!! Great effort!!
U13 Girls Football
U13 girls had a fantastic road trip to Petersfield school in the Hampshire Cup. On a beautiful but freezing day, we were victorious with a 5-1 win. Goals from:
⚽️ Hettie
⚽️⚽️ Ruby
⚽️ Elena
⚽️ Jess
Music
We're very proud of our wonderful choir who were invited to sing at Hampshire Music Services West End to Broadway concert. Our choir stunned the crowd with a beautiful rendition of 'Heart of Stone' from SIX the Musical, and then joined forces with Hampshire youth choir to sing songs from Rent, West Side Story and Hamilton.
Dates for your diary:
Weds 4th Dec - Choir at Hythe Dementia Huddle Christmas Concert
Weds 11th Dec - Choir at Oakhaven Hospice fundraiser, at AFC Totton - Free to attend - Tickets
Thurs 12th Dec - Christmas concert at Noadswood (free to attend)
We have a busy month ahead, and wouldn't change a thing.
We are also thrilled to confirm that we will be performing Beauty and the Beast Jr. in June next year... Auditions 27th Nov 2024
Art
We are delighted to announce Noadswood Art does it again- we are Light Up Trail winners once more. We can’t thank Mrs Brown, Mrs Mansbridge, Mr Wilkinson and Mrs Powell enough for all they do to nurture and promote Art at Noadswood. There’s a lot of talk in the media about the decline of Arts within schools and as always, we are proud to provide our community with a broad and balanced curriculum. The email below says it best about our wonderful team and department, as well as what an accolade it is for our students work to be recognised- we couldn’t be prouder!
“Congratulations again!! We tried not to choose your school but in the end your student's talent, won us over!
We are delighted to inform you that Freya L has secured the winning place for the Light Up Trails creative schools Bauble competition and third place is Abigail L. Their artworks truly stood out among the thousands of entries, showcasing their incredible talent and creativity. Millie E and Isabelle D.W was a runner up too.