Events coming up
12th-23 GCSE Exams all week
12th Parliament Trip
14th Year 8 Progress event
19th -23rd Walk to School week
20th Geography Field Trip to Lepe
20th New Forest Athletics Competition
22nd Geography field trip – Marchwood River
23rd Wear something Different day
26th – MAY HALF TERM HOLIDAY
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood Families,
We hope everyone enjoyed the latest bank holiday, and I would like to thank the students and staff for getting straight back into things so productively after then the INSET day, too. Much as the bank holidays are a joy, and the INSET day was really valuable for us, we know that repeated change and interruptions to what we expect as humans genuinely plays havoc with some of us.
On that note, I would like to wish the best of luck to all of our Year 11 students as exam season is now fully underway. Your hard work, dedication and qualities as people have brought you to this point, and we are confident in you and believe in you.
Three highlights for me this week then: firstly, seeing the joy on student and staff’s faces as some of us marked VE Day with our brilliant friends at Carpathia Nursing Home. We would like to thank all the staff and residents there for their partnership with our school – we love these sorts of connections so much.
Secondly, learning about how well our Dance and PE students acquitted themselves in important days in the last week for their qualifications, as they demonstrated their practical skills under that ‘exam pressure’. They should feel ever so proud.
And finally, for this week, a highlight for me has been all the young people in Year 9 who are working with Applemore Year 9 students on our Pride and Ambition in the Waterside project. In its second year, we are so chuffed with the way the students have embraced being trained as mentors and about how to be ‘brain best’ for thriving in school and, in fact, in life.
They are now carrying out some mentoring of Year 7s they have been paired up with, with a joint celebration event lined up for next half term. We are delighted to be part of the Waterside, not just part of Noadswood, and these Year 9 students are showing they believe in that, too, when given the chance to shine.
Hope it’s a good weekend for you, when we get there, and looking forward to a full week together next week!
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
Walk to School and Cycle to School Week in Collaboration with Orchard Infant and Junior School
We have joined forces with both Orchard Infant and Junior school to get all our Active Travel Ambassadors working together on a Clean Air Project. This will mean all three schools will be asking families that use both ends of Water Lane and the surrounding roads to park responsibly or park further away from our schools and then walk to school.
Students from all three schools are working on ways to promote more people walking to school or park and stride.
The Walk to school week will be from Monday 19th May to Friday 23rd May. At Noadswood, students can use their Fitbit, download Strava, use Apple Health or Android equivalent. All we ask is that if students usually travel to school by car that they try and walk, or if they get the bus that they get off at an earlier stop, but not one that will make them late for school.
If Students are not able to walk to school, they will have the opportunity to meet Mrs Wyse by the Tennis courts every day at 1.30pm so that we can walk laps of the school field. There will be an inter-house competition being run all week to see which House walks the furthest distance with prizes being drawn at random for all students taking part. Prizes available will be Pens, Re-useable water bottles, back-pack covers and umbrellas. All prizes have been bought with the prize money our Active Travel Ambassadors won back in March for the presentation they gave at Southampton City Council.
Further details about the cycle to school week in June will be given nearer the time. The dates for this event will be Friday 13th June to Friday 20th June
Year 8 Subject Progress Evening
Just a reminder to all parents and carers of Year 8 students that our Subject Progress Evening will take place on Wednesday 14th May, from 4pm through the school's online platform.
This event is a great opportunity for you to meet with your child’s subject teachers to discuss their academic progress and how best to support their continued development.
Appointment bookings can be made via SchoolCloud. We encourage all Year 8 families to attend and engage in these important conversations.
If you have any questions, please contact the Year 8 team.
POPPY GARDEN
A huge thank you to Waterside Veterans Coffee Club who very kindly donated our new bench and plaque, and Fairweathers Garden Centre in Beaulieu who donated our new weeping cherry tree, both of which can be viewed in our Poppy Garden area. We have had the pleasure of recently seeing the first blossom on our cherry tree.
Awesome Alumni
I'm a journalist within the Financial Times, where I write about financial markets and the economy. The job has also allowed me to report for the paper from abroad, which has been a fantastic experience. I'd always dreamed of becoming a journalist and it was thanks to Mr Cox, my English teacher in year 11, for introducing me to literature and helping to foster my love for reading and writing. It's still early days in my career, but I often look back fondly upon that time spent studying To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men.
Credits:
Credit to Simon Giles for the image of Hythe Pier