Noadswood Weekly Bulletin week commencing 9th june 2025

My two other highlights are, firstly, speaking to three super successful historians nominated for a hot choc today – it was lovely to hear them able to tell me all about the topics they’ve studied and the impact they have had on history, as well as have a chuckle together about various pets. Everyone would be more than happy to have a pet snake except me!

And secondly, it was an absolute joy to visit Jane West, Headteacher, at Orchard Infants School and talk all things creative thinking and curriculum. At our peril we think that what goes on in an Infants School has nothing to do with what goes on in a school like Noadswood – we have so much to learn from each other about and be inspired by. It was also so lovely to see her before she leaves at the end of term – she's a ray of sunshine in my opinion, and will be much missed this end of Water Lane.

The end of the current exam season for Year 11 is in sight now and we’d like to congratulate the Year group on the exemplary way in which they have conducted themselves throughout this time. Their attitude and maturity have been exceptional. As I strolled amongst them before this morning’s Science exam I felt nothing but pride, honestly.

We’ll be celebrating this milestone of the end of their time here with us in a number of ways and would like to draw families’ attention to the events below.

Leavers’ Assembly

On Wednesday 18th June the last GCSE will take place at 9am for those students studying DT.

The remainder of Year 11 are invited to come in for 11am to enjoy one final breaktime with their peers with the traditional shirt signing before their Leavers’ Assembly.

Students should wear school uniform to this event.

Prom 2025

The final preparations are underway for the Class of 2025’s Prom and I’m sure excitement for this event is growing. The Prom is on Tuesday 1st July at Elmers Court in Lymington.

Parents, carers, relatives and friends are of course welcome to watch the arrivals which are due to commence at around 6pm.

A letter containing more specific details about both of these events has been emailed to Year 11 parents and carers.

As you know, we are always keen to spotlight the success and achievements of our school community. Please check out our new section on the Noadswood Website, under Menus, Curriculum, Celebrating Success where you can now look at curriculum achievements. Currently Geography and History are highlighted due to HIAS visits. However, please check in regularly to hear about other exciting news. A little exert from our HIAS visits can be found here:

“The Hampshire Improvement and Advisory Service (HIAS) approached Miss Skinner Department Lead Geography and Mrs Groom Department Lead History to feature in their HIAS publications for good practice in schools. We welcomed both Kate Broadribb for Geography and Sarah Herrity for History to Noadswood in the Autumn Term 2024, to look at the work we do at Noadswood. The inspectors spent time prior to coming in asking for information on several areas identified by themselves as good practice. Both then visited us for a day, and met with Miss Marshall, Lead Practitioners and ourselves before going on to look at our schemes of work. They watched several lessons and spoke to members of staff from both departments as well as speaking to students across all year groups. The school were delighted to be asked to contribute to the HIAS publications”

We would also like to thank all year 7 families who joined us for our year 7 progress event: the opportunity to talk with you to best support your child is something we really value. If you have any questions following the event, do not hesitate to get in touch with your child’s tutor or the Year Team on Class Charts or at our Contact page on our website

We are excited to share this week that Miss Pidgley has welcomed her beautiful baby into the world! We extend our warmest congratulations to her and her family during this special time. Additionally, Mrs. Eldridge will be departing on maternity leave this week. We wish her all the best as she embarks on this wonderful journey, and we look forward to welcoming her back in the future.

Finally, we communicate regularly about safe travel within our local community, and we would like to remind everyone, once more, about the importance of road safety.

We are actively involved in working with local schools and our councillors regarding how we can ensure that all members of the community are able to travel safely within our local community. This includes ensuring we park considerately, drive at the appropriate speed limit and interact considerately with one another.

As the weather improves, we’ve seen a steady increase in those cycling to school, which is great news! We are pleased to see that lots of students have helmets, but we note that a number of students choose then not to wear them. As I’m sure you’d agree, it's crucial not only to have helmets but to wear them properly and consistently while riding. We’ll be having these conversations within school but ask that you reinforce these at home too. Did you know that wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by up to 70%?

Staying with transport for one more point, we would be grateful for you saying to any of your young people who sit right at the back of the bus on the way to school, if they’re aware of any swearing through the back window, please can they not join in, and to let us know if there is anyone not showing up the way they should on there: there are eyes everywhere and people tell us in our community when students let us down. We will not hesitate to speak to anyone who repeatedly does this, and we know we can count on you reinforcing messages to any of our students who gets the bus to and from school.

Excited to see lots of you at our production of Beauty and the Beast Jr next week – it's not too late to grab your ticket!

Best wishes, and hope we can enjoy some sunshine over the weekend,

Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team

Cycle to School Week Monday 16th – Friday 20th June

This is the second part of our collaboration with both Orchard Infant and Orchard Junior school where we are asking as many students as possible to take part. The miles we walked in our walk to school week was amazing. Today we handed out the stamp cards to all students that cycled to school. If they achieve 5 stamps on their card by cycling every day, they will be invited to a biker’s breakfast on Friday 20th June. All students that cycle even if it is for one day will be entered into a prize draw to win one of several reusable water bottles, back pack covers, puncture repair kits, lights and bike locks.

Cycling is just as important as walking to school as the air quality around the school and surrounding roads improves as we have seen by completing our Clean Air Project and taking air samples before the event and during.

All cyclists should wear a helmet especially when cycling on the road. There are still spaces for your child to take part in either the L2 or L3 Bikeability course on 29th July or 27th August. For more information on this please contact Mrs Wyse on mwyse@noadswood.hants.sch.uk

Geography Fieldwork

The year 10s have had some fantastic fieldwork days this week. We have been really impressed with the commitment they have shown to collecting accurate and reliable data both at the beach and in Lyndhurst. They have worked really well in their teams, helping each other to measure the groynes, count the waves and taking lots of photos to remember their day. They even demonstrated courage in Lyndhurst when asking members of the public to take part in their surveys! Well done year 10!