Noadswood Bulletin week commencing 12th may 2025

Events Coming Up

19th GCSE Exams continue

19th Walk to school Week

20th New Forest Athletics – Bournemouth

20th Geography Fieldwork – Lepe Beach

21th Paris 2025 Information Evening

22th ATA’s Clean Air Project

23th Wear Something Different Day

24th Half Term Holiday – Bikeability running L2 and L3 courses as well as Learn to Ride for Yr3 and above students

JUNE

2nd All Students Return to School

2nd GCSE Exams continue

4th Bude Information Evening

Message from the Leadership Team

Dear Noadswood families,

I’d like to start, as I try to do, with my three highlights of the week. My first is how much I enjoyed stepping into Music and Drama lessons this week, with Y7 and 8 respectively. I loved the creativity of the raps with Y7, and the skilful way the Y8s were involving in the improvisation game they were playing. Their enthusiasm and use of the language of Music and Drama were two standouts. As well as the warm welcome from them all and from Miss Costa and Mr Watkinson.

Secondly, I was blown away thrilled to hear about Noadswood alumni, Ella Morris, who has been called up to the Senior Lionesses for their forthcoming games against Portugal and Spain. Congratulations, Ella. Your school family is soooo proud of you.

Finally for this week, I had a brilliant Hot Choc Friday today at break with three Y10 students, nominated for their brilliant skills at sports captaincy, maths competitions at a seriously challenging level and grade 8 piano. They were also an absolute joy – warm, friendly and open hearted. Thank you, Cam, Erin and Hazel for spending your time with me.

We are differently proud to congratulate our Year 11 students on completing their first full week of exams! This is a significant milestone, and we are proud of their hard work and dedication. As they navigate this demanding time, we encourage them to implement the positive revision strategies that our year 11 newsletters have signposted. Regular breaks, a focused study environment, and utilising past papers can significantly enhance their retention of information and boost confidence. Even now!

The Department for Education has also released guidance for families regarding how to cope with exam pressure which we think you may find helpful coping with exam pressure a guide for students

If you have any questions or queries, please do reach out to us. We know that this can feel like a very overwhelming time for some and we have lots of in school support. Mrs. Way has reached out to families regarding attendance in lessons after the May half-term and about appropriate dress code for the exam on 23rd May if your child decides to join in with the Wear Something Different day. Please note: there are formal regulations about appropriate dress, not just school ones so adhering to that letter’s requirements is vital.

. You’ll note from the events coming up that we have a number featuring year 11 and Mrs Way will be in contact directly regarding the specific details of these, too, in due course.

We would like to extend our thanks to Year 8 families and staff for attending our Year 8 Progress Event. These opportunities to talk are something that we really value. Your involvement plays a vital role in your child’s education and well-being, and we are grateful for your support.

As you know, this is a short half term. We would like to remind families that, the end of term is Friday, 23rd May. Please note that there is no early closure; students will finish at their usual time. Our term dates including INSET days for the academic year 2025-2026 can be found here:

Term Dates - Noadswood School

We would also like to remind families once again about the financial support available to all Noadswood families. We have vouchers available from supermarkets and Skool Kit to assist with uniform costs and ease the burden of the cost-of-living crisis. There are no eligibility criteria for these vouchers, and all requests are treated with complete confidentiality. If you are in need of support, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s year team.

As we conclude our message for this week, I’m delighted to say, hold the date of the 15th July for the Summer Concert, alongside getting your tickets for our fantastic Beauty and the Beast production, 17th-20th June. I can’t wait to see loads of you there. My choir sang Stand by Me and Rewrite the Stars beautifully today!

Thank you for your continued support, partnership and concerns raised when you need us – all this is vital.

Best wishes,

Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team

Walk to School Week – Monday 19th May – Friday 23rd May

As you will have read from the letter sent to you all on Wednesday 7th May, we are working in collaboration with Orchard Infant and Junior school on a Clean Air project. This involves all three schools coming together and working on ways we can improve the air quality around all three sites as well as encouraging as many people as possible to find more sustainable ways to travel to school.

We are asking all students to walk to school for the week, or park and stride and record their distance. If students catch the bus to school, we are encouraging them to get off a stop earlier and then record their walk (by getting off a stop earlier, they must not be late for school). Students can use Strava (if they are over 13 years old and have parental permission), Apple Health on iPhone or Health Connect for Android users or their Fitbit.

Their distance will be recorded every morning when in House time so that we can have some friendly inter-house competition. All students who record a walk every day for the week will be entered into a prize draw to win one of the following:

• Umbrella

• Re-useable water bottle

• Backpack covers

• Pens

• Lights to go on rucksacks

For students that are not able to walk to school, we will meet at 1.30pm by the tennis courts so that we can walk the school field at lunchtime so that they can still add to their house total.

London trip

On Monday 12th May, some Year 10s had a fabulous day in London. We had a very early start but it was worth it when we had a fabulous tour of The Houses of Parliament and met our local MP. We were fascinated to visit Westminster hall, the chambers of the House of Lords and of Commons and leant some amazing facts.....Did you know there are 650 MPs but only 427 seats in the House of Commons! After lunch we headed over to Tower Bridge, we walked up a mighty 260 steps in order to get to the main floor some of which is made of glass which we could walk across! We then saw the bridge open below whilst a boat went through.

A fabulous day!