Noadswood Termly Newsletter December 2024

Pastoral News – Year 10

As we come to the end of a busy and rewarding term, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the fantastic achievements and memorable moments we’ve shared as a year group.

This term began with great enthusiasm as Year 10 embarked on their first term of GCSE studies. I have been thoroughly impressed by the focus, determination, and maturity they have demonstrated as they transition into this important phase of their education. The dedication to their studies and the active participation in lessons by so many of the year group, sets a solid foundation for future success. Keep up the excellent work!

One of the highlights of this term was our thrilling trip to Thorpe Park. The excitement and camaraderie among the students were truly heart-warming to see. The day not only offered a well-deserved break from the classroom but also strengthened friendships and created memories that will last a lifetime. It was great to see a number of pupils face their fears. I for one will never forget George A screaming in my ear during an “invigorating” roller coaster ride! Well-done to Neve and Elena for “encouraging” him. A big thank you to the staff who supported the trip and made it such a safe and enjoyable experience.

I would also like to celebrate the outstanding work of our PE Champions. These student leaders have gone above and beyond in supporting PE events for primary school pupils. From organizing activities to providing encouragement, they have been excellent role models and have demonstrated the spirit of community that makes our school so special.

It was an honour to attend the celebration evening this term and to see many the cohort recognised by subjects for their hard work, effort and progress. So, congratulations again to: Dylan A, Ella J, Rhys B-H, Imogen C, Cameron T, Emmy W, Evan J, Erin O, Daisy W, Lily W, Logan H, Divine A, Ollie J, Daniel K, Sofia D, Isaac W, Erin O, Kelsie F, Amber N, Toby E, Chloe A, Lacey K, Zoe H, Lucy T, Layla D, Archie B, Esme W, Alex W, Nika C, Rebecca C, Seren C, Izzy B-M, Jacob G, Clover S, and Mac W. As well as the subject awards, I’d like to congratulate the recipients of some special awards: Lacey K winner of the Mathematics Progress Shield, Holly W for the Farrant Science Cup, Noah M winner of the Headteacher’s Noadswood Family Award, and in particular for me, to Jack E, this year’s recipient of the Year Leader’s Award. All worthy of such recognition.

As we approach the Christmas break it has been wonderful seeing so many involve themselves in festive events including the Christmas concert, Christmas jumper day, preparation for Dance Live in the New Year, and to all those who participated in the festive lunch – who knew pass the parcel would be so popular?! A special shout out to the DT Food folks who prepped, cooked and enjoyed a fantastic roast dinner with all the trimmings, and for feeding me (twice).

As we wrap up this term, I encourage all students to take some time over the break to reflect on their achievements and set goals for the term ahead. Whether it’s continuing to excel in GCSE subjects, representing the school in sports, or contributing to the wider school community, I have no doubt they will continue to make us proud.

Thank you to all parents and carers for your ongoing support, especially when things are challenging. I wish you all a restful and joyful holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready for the challenges and opportunities of the new term.

Pastoral News – Year 11

Wow what a busy term it has been for Year 11 returning from the Summer break for the last time at Noadswood. We started the term with our trip to Thorpe Park to celebrate all the successes and achievements of Year 10 and with non-existent queues, a great time was had by all those who attended.

September also saw our Prefect Team spring into action, assisting with Open Mornings and then Open Evening, conducting tours with parents/carers and prospective students. They were an absolute credit to themselves and the school and we received such a huge amount of positive feedback. Well done to all involved!

The Autumn term is always a busy one for all things Post 16 and this year was no different. Students have had the opportunity to hear from all the major colleges and Post 16 providers via a number of assemblies and they also had the chance to visit our annual Careers Fair which was very well attended. Numerous college Open Days and Evenings have also been available during this term which has definitely helped with those all important choices. It has been great to speak to students about the courses they have applied for and their dreams and hopes for life after Noadswood.

In October we had the pleasure of celebrating more successes and achievements from Year 10 at our Key Stage 4 Awards Evening. This is always an amazing evening and there were some very deserving recipients.

All of Year 11 have had the opportunity to meet with their tutor for a Personal Learning Review, the purpose of these meetings was to review the Year 10 exams and set some targets for this academic year and the Mock exams in January. Hopefully they have been able to action some of those targets and will see the benefits come January.

It was great to see so many parents and students at the Key Stage 4 support evening and we hope you found this informative and helpful. Revision classes have been well attended, and this just demonstrates how maturely Year 11 are approaching their Mock exams.

Last week we enjoyed our Festive Lunch as a year group, students enjoyed a delicious festive meal prepared by our wonderful kitchen team or their own snacks and treats. Congratulations to anyone who won a prize.

As we go into the break it is important for Year 11 to keep their upcoming mock exams in their minds and make sure they use some of their time to prepare for these but of equal importance is to also allow themselves time to switch off, relax and recharge.

Wishing all of Year 11 and their families a restful break.

Redwood

It has been a busy Autumn term at Redwood.

Firstly, we have had some changes to our buildings. The Redwood house is now our Regulation zone, which is used for pupils to unwind, reset and check-in. Each room offers the pupils different ways to regulate, dependent on how they are feeling. We are very lucky to have our new build Learning Zone which has given us a large working space for academic and social interventions, learning pods for independent learning, tests and 1:1 sessions, and our Life Skills’ kitchen. The expanded space has already made a huge impact to our pupil's wellbeing and learning. We now look forward to the Spring when our Forest School area and sensory herb garden are created.

The pupils have really got into their cooking this term and have chosen projects or skills to work on. Mrs Lee is cooking up a storm with her outdoor learning group. They have made: crumble with wild berries, mini apple pies, Mediterranean vegetables, potato wedges and much more. This term, they focused on cooking things they can grow in a garden or allotment. The pupils are looking forward to cooking things on an open fire (hopefully in spring).

In Art we have been creating graffiti tags. The pupils worked hard to design and create their own tags using a range of different media from water colours to pencils. They are now starting to design a gargoyle that they will later turn into a 3D sculpture.

Our Year 10 pupils have had the opportunity to visit some local colleges recently as we start to think about their post 16 provision. We have so far visited Totton College, Brockenhurst College and have a visit booked in at Sparsholt in the New Year.

As part of the Key Stage 4 provision, some of our pupils have started working towards some AQA Awards at Crazy Creatures. So far this term, they have been focusing on Equine Care and developing a Business Enterprise project. In the Spring, we look forward to a module on Reptiles and Exotics. Check out these photos taken by Freddie.

The pupils this term have shown a lot of resilience and independence, and we are very proud of them. They certainly deserve a treat, so we are looking forward to our Christmas celebrations including a Christmas dinner and crafts as well as a trip to the Mayflower to see Jack and the Beanstalk.

Fundraising

Student Voice

The Student Voice group continues to create fundraising initiatives to help make improvements around the school site for all students. They are in the process of putting a plan together to show our Senior Leadership Team in the New Year. We had a very successful first Christmas themed craft fayre, where we had 17 stalls selling their wonderful goods and a hall filled with wonderful customers. Miss Marshall’s choir sang their hearts out twice during the event, giving us all some wonderful Christmas spirit. The event was a huge success and will return next year, with all vendors saying they would like to come back again.

If you or your child have any ideas on fundraising events, please do ask your child to speak with their Student Voice rep in their tutor group, so that it can be discussed in our next meeting. Meetings are held every 3 weeks.

Wear Something Different Day & Coffee and Cake morning 25 October 2024

On 25th October 2024, we proudly raised an incredible total of £1,245.10 for Air Ambulance and Oakhaven Hospice! This amazing achievement was made possible by our students donating £1 to wear non-uniform, generous contributions from grandparents at the coffee and cake morning, and students eagerly buying cakes during break and lunchtime. Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this wonderful cause!

All students who pay their £1.00 contribution are entered into a prize draw to win various prizes. These are the winners from the 25 October 2024

For the Wear Something different day on Friday 13 December, we were able to raise £815 which will be split between the PSA and Student voice so that we can continue to make improvements around the school site. These are the prize winners from the 13 December 2024

Safeguarding matters

As we head into the Christmas holidays, we know that many of our students will increase their screen time on phones, tablets and gaming consoles. We know that some children might also be receiving these items for the first time. Internet Matters have produced this brief article with help and guidance for how to manage these devices safely. If you're unsure of how to manage settings, set up social media accounts safely or have any other worries or concerns, do reach out to us: we're more than happy to help.

https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/press-release/set-up-online-safety-this-christmas/

Subject News

Maths

Every year GCHQ issue a Christmas Challenge. It is designed to get people thinking, using logic and reasoning. It can be completed individually or as a team. Each of the seven puzzles when solved leads you to a landmark in the UK. Pupils in the Maths club will be having a look at this, but I thought it might be nice to open it up to all. If you love a bit of Sherlock Holmes or solving puzzles this might be right up your street! I have attached a copy or you can access this via https://www.gchq.gov.uk/xmas2024. Happy Christmas

English

Students had an assembly on the life of one of Britain's most distinguished authors, Jane Austen, as we celebrate 250 years of her birth in the coming year. Known for her six completed novels which characterise life amongst the landed gentry at the end of the 18th century, Austen had many connections to Hampshire: she was born in Steventon, educated in Southampton and lived in Chawton. Austen's 250-year celebrations were kick-started in November with an exhibition of the writer's travelling desk, which is running until the 23rd of February 2025, at God's House Tower in Southampton. There will also be workshops, dance and music performances and a host of other events right across Southampton in the coming year.

Well done to Year 11 who completed their Literature Paper 1 mock in November. We were really impressed with how you conducted yourselves.

With January mocks round the corner, it's important to take some time over the Christmas Holidays to do some revision. Do contact your teacher this week if you need any guidance with this.

In English this term, 10A were given an object and they had to write a story about that one object. Their writing was amazing. We had staplers, Christmas baubles, room diffusers, bars of chocolate and even a tiara. Superb effort from all - even if some of the stories had an unsettling plot!

MFL

Well done to all those pupils who have been attending the Duolingo club, run by Mr D'Arcy, on a Monday after school. It is a popular event and it's lovely to see all year groups taking part. Pupils have chosen to learn a range of languages including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Welsh, Polish and Japanese.

Looking forward to the mocks, we would like to wish the Year 11s bonne chance!/ viel Glück!/

¡buena suerte! for their upcoming exams.

Joyeux Noël!/ Frohe Weihnachten!/ ¡Feliz Navidad!

The Religion, Philosophy & Ethics Department

It’s been a busy term….

Year 7s have been learning about the 7 Dimensions of Religion—what makes a religion what it is.

Year 8s have learned about the World religion of Buddhism.

Year 9s started the academic year looking back at the news that hit the headlines in the Summer—the riots some areas of the country experienced and what led to them. The topic of ‘Multiculturalism’ was then introduced and used to acknowledge November, which was Islamophobia Awareness Month, a time to learn about the impact of Islamophobia and find out how you can help challenge stereotypes and prejudices. Finally, students have had a brief insight into the religion of Islam.

Year 10s have looked at Crime & Punishment, comparing the UK’s justice system with that of the USA and discussing whether or not reintroducing capital punishment to the UK would act as a suitable deterrent to help relieve the pressures currently felt by the prison service.

A definite highlight of the term was the visit of Mr. Chris Lubbe – the former bodyguard of Nelson Mandela – what an inspirational man! So many students have fed back with such positive comments after listening to Chris speak, we are sure it will be something that our students remember for a long time

Geography

Geography Department Visit to Ordnance Survey

On Tuesday 26th November, our Year 9 Geography Ambassadors were invited to visit the Ordnance Survey in Southampton for a GIS (Geographical information Systems) workshop. During the afternoon, the students were given the opportunity to see how various data is presented on digital maps and how this is used in a variety of ways, from deciding the location of housing developments, to providing information for emergency planning. The students were then given the chance to use the ‘gridpoint gb’ app to explore the grounds and collect data. After, they were shown how this data could be presented in Excel and imported into Digi maps, which is the digital version of OS maps. The students also played a game of Pictionary to refresh their knowledge of OS map symbols. During the year, these ambassadors will use their knowledge of Digi maps to support other year groups and other schools.

I would like to thank all students for their excellent behaviour and engagement in all the activities. They were particularly great at answering plenty of questions and earning themselves an OS pen.

Media Studies

Well done to 11T who have finished their Media coursework. The pictures, editing and creative skills that have been shown are amazing. It's been excellent to see how confident students now are when using Affinity Photo!

10U have been thrown into the world of Media Studies this term with their GCSE options underway. We finished the term with James Bond, which has been both exciting and tense at the same time. Students have really grasped how stereotypes are portrayed in the media, looking at magazines and newspapers, advertisements and film posters. There is a lot more still to come! Well done Year 10!

Literacy

We have had an excellent term for literacy across Noadswood. The reading program is in full swing with all our students enjoying a different text during tutor time. Miss Stanley's tutor group were the first to finish their first book, The Giver, and have now moved on to their next read: My Story Suffragette. We hope to see some more tutor groups follow suit soon and claim their prize for being the first to finish in their year group.

We were very happy to welcome Year 10 and 11 parents to our Key Stage 4 support evening. We ran a session on supporting your child with reading and writing across the curriculum. If you were unable to attend the event and would like some support with this, please contact Mrs Eldridge: jeldridge@noadswood.hants.sch.uk

Following the literacy testing that was rolled out across the school at the end of the summer term, we have been able to put the necessary interventions in place for those who need it. Well done to those involved in Peer Reading and those taking part in our new Literacy Breakfast Club. It's amazing to see so many students building their resilience and tackling something they find difficult head on.

Computer Science

Year 10 and 11 Computer Scientists entered the Bebras Challenge, which is an international competition run in 30 countries hosted by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It is a computational thinking challenge with various online puzzles to solve. The students worked diligently for 45 minutes and it was impressive to see how conscientious they were.

The top students from juniors (10-12) and seniors (14-16) category were Rose F and Finn M respectively, who both achieved a gold award. This is only awarded to the top 10% of entries. Half of the students entered from Noadswood either achieved a merit (top 50%) or distinction(top 25%).

Music

What a half term! We have been at Hythe Dementia Huddle Christmas Party, Oakhaven Hospice Light Up a Light Service, Carpathia Care Home and then rounding things off at our own incredible Noadswood Christmas Concert.

We have had a very busy few weeks in Team Music. We are lucky enough to have been invited back to perform for the Hythe Dementia Huddle's Christmas Party. Close Harmony Choir performed traditional carols alongside the song 'Heart of Stone' for the guests, and we had an incredible time. We even brought some members of the audience to tears! We always love performing here and truly feel in the Christmas Spirit now.

We were also lucky enough, along with Mrs Marshall's This is Me Choir, to join together at AFC Totton for the Oakhaven Hospice Light Up a Life Service. It was a beautiful evening enjoyed by all.

Talking of Christmas spirit... Thursday 12th December was our annual Christmas Performance. We had the biggest number of items in a concert that Mrs Rees had ever seen, with a whopping 32 different artists showing off their talents. There were tears, laughter and as ever, Christmas cheer. We love this event so much and are so glad to be raising the profile of Team Music more and more every half term at Noadswood and across the community.

In June, we are going to be performing Beauty and the Beast Jr. as our school production. The cast have been announced and we're looking forward to kicking off rehearsals after Christmas.

We would like to wish everyone a restful break, and a very happy new year.

Mrs Rees and Mr Watkins

BTEC Dance

As part of the Year 10 coursework the class has been busy studying various professional pieces. At the start of the year, they learnt a section of one of Matthew Bourne’s modern ballets, they also learnt a commercial routine performed to ‘This is Me’ from the Greatest Showman. Next, they tackled a piece from Chorus Line where they had to perform with top hats and stay in perfect time. (See images below.) Currently, they are learning a contemporary routine from a Billie Eilish pop video.

Food Tech

Team Food desperately need your help. We have completely run out of plastic containers. All students that take Food are asked each lesson to bring in their own plastic containers to take food home in but so many students are not doing this. It is NOT the Food departments responsibility to provide these, however we do what we can to support. If anyone has any takeaway containers, sweet tubs, biscuit tins etc that they no longer want, we will happily take them off your hands. Also, if students have borrowed any containers that are not theirs, please can they be returned to the Food department. Many thanks all.

Cooking Up a Storm: A Term of Culinary Creativity

A delicious journey through the world of food

This term, the DT food classrooms have been transformed into a vibrant hub of culinary activity. Students have been rolling up their sleeves, donning their aprons, and embarking on a delicious journey through the world of food.

Key Highlights:.

Healthy Eating Habits: We've emphasised the importance of nutrition and balanced diets, encouraging students to make informed food choices.

Kitchen Safety First: Safety has been a top priority as students learned essential kitchen skills and techniques while adhering to strict safety guidelines.

Year 10 roast dinner: The students stepped up to the challenge of preparing a roast dinner. From peeling vegetables, safely preparing ballantines and pigs in blankets to making yorkshire puddings, stuffing, brownies, onion gravy and custard. Lots of hard work with a delicious result! Very well done.

Science Year 7

Miss Hill's Year 7s carried out a Harry Potter Potions lesson in the weeks leading up to Christmas

DT

In Design and Technology, 10S/Dt2 have been working extremely hard to design and make personalised 3-piece boxes over the past few weeks.

The focus for this project was to learn about different classifications of wood, whilst applying them to a practical outcome and ensuring that a high-quality finish was achieved simultaneously.

Pupils sketched their boxes in 3D initially, practising important skills that will also feature in their NEA projects later this year. They then made their boxes using a variety of hand tools and machinery before taking the time to sand their work to an incredibly smooth finish and designing a motif to be laser engraved on the lid using 2D Design.

Once their boxes were made and assembled, they applied a protective finish using wax before drawing their final piece using technical drawing techniques such as 3rd Angle Orthographic and Isometric Projection.

We are very proud of how well their boxes turned out and look forward to seeing how the rest of our GCSE Design and Technology classes do in the coming months, when they rotate through this project.

History

In November the History department welcomed Sarah Herrity from HIAS (Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service) for a good practice KS3 visit.

In summary the HIAS inspector identified the keys to success at KS3 as:

1. A shared vision and policies including a consistent knowledge of what good history teaching looks like.

2. Building disciplinary knowledge through the second order concepts.

3. High expectations, encouraging and supporting hard thinking and rich reading. Pupils appreciate being given ‘grown up texts’. In student voice, children describe history as ‘hard, but they enjoy it.’

4. Enriching the history curriculum with visitors including historians, writers of historical fiction, trips including the History Festival which has raised the profile of history in school and relevance of the subject.

5. A strong focus on literacy: putting terms into context, try using it in a sentence, scaffolding writing.

6. Strong systems: meaningful homework, pre-resourced cover lessons, regular knowledge retrieval.

7. Strong culture around passion for learning and knowledge building

8. Subject specific based training

The adviser added that experienced subject leadership, working with a stable, passionate group of strong specialist history teachers in shared physical spaces (such as the history corridor of neighbouring classrooms and a shared history office), with the support effective school leadership has led to a KS3 history curriculum where children can thrive and build strong foundations for future learning in history.

We are delighted with this feedback and look forward to the report being shared in the Spring edition of History Matters

Art

As the Christmas festivities set in, we celebrated our students Christmas designs at Hiller’s light up Trail. Freya has secured the winning place for the Light Up Trails creative schools Bauble competition with her ice kingdom design and third place is Abigail with her winter wonderland snow scene. Millie with her deer and Isabelle with her Bethlehem night scene were runners up too. We are incredibly proud of all their art work and achievements.

The Light Up Trail at Hilliers is magical, as night falls, the path will glow with vibrant works, illuminating the landscape and inviting people to connect with both the art and each other. We highly recommend you go and see this year’s light up trail and of course the Student’s Christmas baubles!

Another competition Students may be interested in, is Furzey gardens are looking for designs to be entered to decorate giant dinosaurs and eggs. Please see the website for more information. If you would like to take part, please come up to the Art Department to collect the template. The deadline is January 13th 2025. https://www.furzey-gardens.org/jurassic-furzey/

Art Club have been continuing with the festive theme and have painted watercolour wreaths.

Year 7 and 8 have been working hard on their drawings this term and are ready for their assessments. Year 7 have been drawing still life fruit and veg and Year 8 have been drawing flowers and plants. Please do take a look at some of our student’s incredible work and talent. The Art Department look forward to seeing what they produce and are excited to be stating a new topic in the New Year.

Year 9 has been in the height of activity this week and just started making their gargoyle and grotesques heads in clay. What fantastically gruesome drawings they have produced!

Year 10 and 11 continue to develop and work hard on their BTEC artwork and GCSE Art Coursework.

A reminder that Year 11 GCSE Fine Art, Photography and Textile Design will be starting their exam in January.

Well done to all Students on their efforts and hard work this term! The Art Department wishes everybody a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

LRC

Our Lovely Library

This term has seen the Library loan a massive 985 books to students, with lunch and breaktimes getting so busy with students reading, playing chess, doing homework or colouring, that we have had to turn students away for the first time ever!

Our 'Teen Plus ' range has moved to a new location, allowing more room for new and exciting fiction aimed at out Yr 10 and Year 11s ( proficient readers in younger year groups may also access the Teen Plus range with parental permission through our Arbour platform).

We have moved more Literacy classes into the Library, which encourages students to browse the books and maybe try new genres. We have a dedicated section of 'Quick Reads' aimed at more reluctant readers, or those that just like a shorter book.

Huge amounts of chocolate were won with our Library competitions (I would love to give books as prizes, but the students tell me that they NEED chocolate!)

Winners of the Bookmark Competition were:

Will G. Year 11 (1st prize)

Riley F. Year 8

Rose F. Year 7

Anna-Marie T. Year 7

Miylah N. Year 8

Autumn Raffle winners (one raffle ticket each time you borrow or return a book)

Alfie G. Year 8

Zak S. Year 8

Chris G. Year7

The New Year will see another of our ever-popular raffles, 'Love Your Library ' bookmark competition and a 'Design a Badge for World Book Day' competition in the run-up to World Book Day on 6th March.

Careers

Year 10:

A reminder that students should be exploring options for their work experience placement if they have not already started doing so. All completed forms must be returned to the school by 21st February 2025, please.

Mock Interview evening will be held on 6th March 2025. All CVs and cover letters should be uploaded, as one file, using the file drop on the Mock Interviews tab, on the Careers Frog page, by the end of Autumn term.

A huge thank you for your support with this and a big well done to all students who have found work experience placements already and to those who have submitted their completed CV and cover letter.

Year 11:

Please note that applications for Peter Symonds have now closed. All other college applications should be made as soon as possible and no later than mid-January as some courses will be already filling up.

If your child is interested in doing an apprenticeship, either they or yourselves should email Gordon Lewis, our Careers Advisor, at glewis@noadswood.hnats.sch.uk with the student’s name and tutor group. They can then be included in the apprenticeships workshop that will be held next term.

Reaching out to the community:

Our Year 10 mock interview evening will be held on 6th March 2025 and our Careers Day will be on 2nd April 2025. If you, or anybody you know, are interested in either being a mock interviewer at the mock interview evening or would like to support the Careers Day by delivering a one hour talk to students about your job role, please get in touch with me, Miss Clews, at: jclews@noadswood.hants.sch.uk. Many members of our community have already offered their time and support at these events, and we would like to thank you again for this. Likewise, if you are a Noadswood School alumnus and would be interested in coming in to talk about your achievements since leaving school, we would love to hear from you!

Kindness Week/Month

Noadswood Kindness Week - A Heartfelt Thank You!

We are thrilled to share our wonderful experiences during Noadswood Kindness Week/Month and express our heartfelt gratitude to all who contributed. Your generous contributions have made a remarkable difference in our efforts to spread kindness within our community.

Thanks to your thoughtful donations, we have been able to prepare kindness hampers that will be distributed to The Waterside Food Bank, The Horill Care & Wellbeing Centre, Carpathia Grange Care Home, and The Hythe Men's Shed. These organisations do invaluable work in supporting individuals and families in need, and your support ensures they can continue to provide essential services.

Additionally, we have created special 'THANK YOU' hampers for the dedicated staff and volunteers who tirelessly work within our local community. It is a small gesture to show our appreciation for their commitment and hard work.

As we reflect on the success of Kindness Week/Month, we encourage you to continue promoting acts of kindness at home. Simple gestures, whether it's helping a neighbour or sharing encouraging words, can greatly uplift spirits and strengthen our community bonds.

Once again, thank you for your generosity and support. It is inspiring to witness our Noadswood community coming together with such warmth and compassion. Let's keep the spirit of kindness alive!