Events coming up
13th Rock the Pier, Hythe, choir performing
16th Open Morning for Hythe and Wildground
17th Open Morning for Orchard
18th Open Morning for Orchard
18th 15:00 Careers Fair
19th Open Morning for Blackfield, Beaulieu & Cadland
23rd Open Morning for Waterside and Marchwood
25th Early Finish for students (12.20 finish)
25th 18:00 Open Evening
26th INSET DAY
29th Security bike marking by the Police – by our bike shelter in Water Lane
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this letter finds you well. I would like to congratulate everyone on a successful first full week here – energy and commitment have been in full supply. It has been a pleasure to see our new students settling in and engaging enthusiastically with their new environment, as well as seeing our returning students show up as their best selves in so many ways. It’s also been wonderful to see so many students make the most of our afterschool clubs offer - an overview of lots of our enrichment can be found here
We will soon be starting our Music Clubs, including my good old rock choir, the This is Me Choir, some of whom will be singing tomorrow with me at Rock the Pier, 11.15am. There’s a good forecast now, so we would love to see you there! The brass ensemble will also be starting, as well as a return of our Close Harmony choir. A lovely time to get involved with Music.
Before I go any further this week, we would like to apologise – sincerely - for the inconvenience caused by the issues with our Catering Payment System since we came back to school.
During the summer we’ve been migrating to a new catering system, to upgrade the facilities for the catering team. During this process, the ability to top-up meal balances had been removed from Arbor to ensure the catering and Arbor pay systems could align correctly. Unfortunately, we were then let down by our third-party supplier with all sorts of delays ensuing, and the full migration took longer than expected.
However, we are pleased to let you know that the top up facility in Arbor has been opened up today and the balance of your account will show, taking into account the purchases of this week and last week. Please note that top-ups are not instant and so a short time delay may occur.
If there are any questions or concerns, or further hassles with this at all, please do not hesitate to contact Carla Bradshaw, our CFOO, on cbradshaw@noadswood.hants.sch.uk for assistance. Thanks so much for your patience – I do not take it for granted.
We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the Gold School Games Mark for the 2024/25 academic year. The School Games Mark is a government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. We are proud to have been recognised for our success. With lots of our young people competing in local inter-school competitions this year, we would like to give them a huge shout out for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including the young volunteers, leaders, and officials who made our competitions possible. As part of our application, we fulfilled criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce, and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone paid off. We look forward to applying once again in 2026! A special thank you goes to our PE team for their incredible efforts in achieving this accolade.
This week, The Year 7 team have had the lovely opportunity to visit Year 6 students at Blackfield, Orchard, and Wildground Primary Schools.
We thoroughly enjoyed discussing life at Noadswood and helping the children navigate what is a significant decision in choosing their secondary school. We can’t wait to continue our visits to our other local schools in the coming weeks, helping every child to feel as confident and excited as possible about this important milestone – we know it seems such a long way off, but with application deadline always falling at the end of October, we want to do what we can to talk about our school, but also about how best to make a good decision: visit and ask lots of questions everywhere!
As part of these visits, each school has been or will be gifted a book for each Year 6 child. We do this because of our strong belief that reading is fundamental to a life of thriving; it not only enhances literacy skills but also opens the door to endless worlds of imagination and knowledge, and we also know, sadly, that it can be something that falls away in secondary school life, as local and national stats show us.
Our open events, which provide a wonderful opportunity for Year 6 families to experience the school and meet our dedicated staff, are coming up and we warmly welcome families from specific primary schools on the following dates:
• Tuesday 16th September (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – Hythe & Wildground pupils
• Wednesday 17th September (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – Orchard pupils
• Thursday 18th September (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – Orchard pupils
• Friday 19th September (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – Blackfield, Beaulieu & Cadland pupils
• Tuesday 23rd September (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – Waterside & Marchwood pupils
• Wednesday 1st October and Thursday 2nd October (sessions 9.15am – 10.45am) – SEND and additional visits sessions
We kindly ask that any families attending arrive at Noadswood by 9am, with tours commencing between 9.15am and 9.30am. During these tours, everyone can explore our school – as it is each day - alongside a Year 9 Junior Prefect and a Year 11 Prefect. Lots of us are then available to answer questions. While we have suggested dates based on primary schools, please do inform us if you require flexibility, and we will do our utmost to accommodate your needs.
If your child is helping at one of these open events, Mrs Wyse has emailed them with their schedule. I am so thankful for all they do to share their authentic take on the school with all our visitors.
Our Annual Open Evening will be taking place on Thursday 25th September from 6.00pm to 8.00pm. Please note that Noadswood will close early, as usual, on this date to allow for preparations and students will be leaving the site by around 12.30pm. Should you require your child to remain on school premises until the Open Evening, please contact us and let Mrs Rollett know- erollett@noadswood.hants.sch.uk.
Colleagues may approach your children to help out in their departments – big thanks in advance, they always do an incredible, warm and friendly job. We will let you know for your consent in the usual ways.
Then, as a reminder, Friday 26th September is then our next INSET day, so there will be no school for students on this day.
Finally, for this week, we would like to extend our gratitude to all families for their continued support in adhering to our uniform policy. Your commitment to maintaining our school's identity and standards is greatly appreciated. We understand that the beginning of the school year can be a particularly challenging time re financial resources. While we have made efforts to reduce uniform costs, we recognise that these expenses can still place a significant burden on household budgets. Should you find yourself uncertain about our uniform requirements, please refer to our website at https://www.noadswood.hants.sch.uk/uniform-and-equipment, or feel free to reach out to us directly for clarification.
To assist our families, we encourage you to connect with our Parents' Support Association (PSA) for access to our pre-loved uniform. They can be reached at psa@noadswood.hants.sch.uk. Additionally, we are pleased to offer a number of vouchers aimed at supporting families. These vouchers are not means-tested and are available to anyone who may benefit from them; for further information, please contact your child’s year leaders.
If your child has outgrown any items of uniform, we kindly ask you to consider donating these to the PSA via the school office. Your contributions will help other families within our school community.
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
New Bin System around the school
All schools and businesses are required to separate recycling and food waste from general waste.
We now have new bins in school that we are asking students to always use when disposing of rubbish, but especially at break and lunchtime. We would ask for your support in encouraging your child to use the correct bin so that we as a school can do our bit to help the environment. Here is a look at the bins that students will see around the school site:
Literacy
Year 7 Lost
When our new Year 7 students joined us for their transition day in the summer, they each received a copy of Lost by Ele Fountain to enjoy over the holiday. Alongside this, they were invited to take part in our Library competition by writing a book review of the novel.
We’d like to remind all Year 7 students that if they have completed a book review, it should be handed in to the library so we can select our lucky winners.
Students are also reminded that their copy of Lost should be returned to their tutor.
The deadline for both the competition and returning Lost is Friday 22nd September.
We can’t wait to read your reviews and see the fantastic work you’ve produced!
Year 7 Communications and Points of Contact
Now that the new Year 7s have started with us and are settling into life at Noadswood we understand there maybe issues and queries that parents and carers may have. We’d like to take this opportunity to share with you who the Year 7 team are and the different ways you can contact them.
Mrs Way – Year Leader for Year 7
Mr Payne – Assistant Year Leader for Year 7
• Call the school and select Year 7 team from the options, this will direct your call through to Mr Payne, Assistant Year Leader. If he is unavailable, then there is an option to leave a voicemail.
• Call reception and ask if the relevant member of staff is available.
• Email the Year 7 team using year7@noadswood.hants.sch.uk.
• Send a message on ClassCharts
Please note: The Moving Up email you may have used previously is now for current year 6 families.
Careers
Careers Fair
Next week, we will be holding our annual Careers Fair on Thursday 18th September 2025.
All students in Years 9, 10 and 11 are invited to attend the annual Careers Fair along with parents and careers. Here, you will be able to speak to local colleges, apprenticeship and T-Level providers as well as various local businesses and employers. This is an invaluable opportunity to get Careers advice and to find out more about post 16 education courses.
Year 10 Work Experience
We are inviting parents and carers of students in Year 10 to attend a Work Experience briefing on Thursday 9th October 2025 at 5.30pm-6.30pm in the hall. During this, you will be informed about Noadswood’s Work Experience programme for Year 10 students. This includes what work experience is, how to find a placement and information about parental forms that will need to be completed before a placement can commence. Although work experience week will be taking place towards the end of the year, beginning on Monday 6th July 2026, it is vital to provide students with enough time to find, and confirm, a placement. Work experience applications are due in by February half term. Therefore, attending this briefing can help you in supporting your child when considering where they would like to go on placement.
As well as this, at the information evening, we will also share information about the mock interview evening, which will be taking place on Thursday 5th March 2026. We will explain how students can best prepare for their mock interview, including information about cover letter and CV writing which students will also focus on in their Life Skills lesson. After the event, all information will be sent to you for your records and in case you cannot attend.
College Applications and Open Events
Applications will soon be opening for colleges. To best prepare students for this, they will be hearing from our local colleges in assemblies over the upcoming weeks. We also strongly encourage students to attend college open events to see the campuses, speak with college staff and students and to ask questions about the route or courses they are considering taking. College open events dates can be found on their websites and registration for some open events are now live. Gordon Lewis, our Careers Advisor, has also sent out a list of college open events to all Year 10 and 11 parents and carers. He will also meet each Year 11 student throughout the year to provide Careers support. Students are also welcome to email him, or go to the Careers office, if they need help in the meantime.
As always, we are very interested in hearing from people in our community who wish to take part in our Careers events. For example, you could be a mock interviewer or have a table at our Careers Fair. We will also soon be planning this year’s Careers Day. If these events sound like something you would like to be involved in, please contact Miss Clews at jclews@noadswood.hants.sch.uk.