Events coming up
SEPTEMBER
11th Yellow Photography for years 7, 9, 11
13th This is Me Choir performing at Rock the Pier
16th Open Morning for Hythe & Wildground
16th Year 11 Meet the Mentor evening
17th Open Morning for Orchard School
18th Open Morning for Orchard School
18th Careers Fair
19th Open Morning for Blackfield, Beaulieu, Cadland
19th Year 7 Deadline for Bude
29th September Date for your diary - Security Bike marking by the police
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this letter finds you well and that you have all enjoyed a restful break. It gives us immense pleasure to welcome all our students back for another exciting academic year at Noadswood School. As we embark on this new journey, I would like to remind you that you can find our term dates here.
New beginnings are always filled with opportunities for growth and discovery, and this year is no exception. For our Year 7 students, this transition into secondary school is a significant milestone. We are committed to making this experience as smooth as possible, understanding of what a huge undertaking it can often feel.
To support their adjustment, Year 7s will be enjoying early lunch times. This will allow them to find their feet and socialise for longer with their peers, making it a fantastic opportunity for building new friendships. In terms of academic workload, we have a gradual approach in place there, too. Year 7 students will not be assigned any homework until the week commencing 22nd September. This phased introduction to home learning will enable them to adjust to the new timetable without feeling overwhelmed. Our aim is to have all subjects setting home learning by Christmas, allowing each child to fully immerse themselves in school life first.
We strongly believe in the importance of enrichment activities at Noadswood. Our extracurricular clubs and activities are designed to cater to a wide array of interests, fostering personal growth, fun and teamwork outside the classroom. We would love to see everyone getting involved in these enriching opportunities, which you can explore here. We’d especially love to see year 7 making the most of all that's on offer!
We understand that starting a new school year can sometimes bring about worries or concerns and that things on our minds don’t suddenly disappear with the start of a new term. If you or your child have any questions or need support, please do not hesitate to reach out to us using the contact information available here Or do make use of info@noadswood.hants.sch.uk and we can pass messages along for you. We are here to help and ensure that every student receives the support they need throughout the year – don't wait for a problem, a worry or a thought to get big.
We are incredibly proud of our Class of 2025, who achieved remarkable results. A fantastic 48% of pupils gained strong passes in both English and Maths, and 69% secured standard passes in these key subjects, both significantly above the national and local scores. Specifically, 76% of students achieved a standard pass in English (9-4), 78% in Mathematics (9-4), and 81% secured a standard pass in at least two Science qualifications (9-4). We look forward to supporting our new Y11s, knowing they are so capable of making such good choices, and building on positive habits during this important year for them.
I am excited to have launched a couple of activities this week already for some students; Year 7 and 8 parents/carers will have received a letter about a Shakespeare performance aimed at this age group at the Mayflower Studio in November which I would love to see your child come along to with me, and my This is Me Choir will be at Rock the Pier in Hythe a week tomorrow, Saturday 13th September, so letters are pinging out to them later today. This remains the best job in the world for me because of being able to work with and support your young people.
We welcome a number of new colleagues to our school family:
Mrs Von Moltke - Teacher of Science
Mrs Welsh - Teacher of Science
Mr Burton - Subject Leader Music
Mr Williams - Subject Leader Maths
Mr Cross - Teacher of PE & Business
Mr Rehman - Teacher of English
Mrs Haig - Trainee Teacher English
Mrs Dack - SEMH LSA
I was delighted to see them all on our INSET day on Wednesday, and we feel very thankful to have recruited so well at a time of a lot of ‘noise’ around the recruitment crisis in education. People are keen to come and work here, again, because of your amazing young people, and because of what we strive for every day in terms of partnership, steadiness, stickability and success.
Once again, a warm welcome back! Let’s make this academic year a memorable one filled with learning and growth, fun and adventure.
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
School Reports for Yrs 8-11
These have now been published through Arbor for you to read and to congratulate your children on their hard work last academic year. We have delayed publication to give extra emphasis to the start of term. Students will be provided with opportunities to discuss their reports and plans for this coming year with their tutors in the next few weeks.
Trips from September
From this month onwards, we will be asking parents to order packed lunches for their child who is currently receiving Free School Meals when they are going on any school trips or events where a lunch is needed. There will be a link in the letter that you will need to click on. Your child will then pick their lunch up from the canteen on the morning of the trip.
We are also asking parents and carers to make sure all medical information on your child is as up to date as possible. To add new medical conditions, please go to Arbor and click on your child’s profile, scroll down to the Medical Section and click on the +Add in the top righthand corner. Once finished, please click the update button. If you need to update what we already have on file, click on your child’s profile and scroll down to the Medical Section. Click on the existing condition to update. Any submissions for medical conditions will take a few days to appear on Arbor as they will be reviewed by the medical team.
We would like to thank you in advance for helping us to keep our system up to date and be able to help your child in an emergency.
Security Bike Marking
We have been very fortunate to get the Waterside Police team in during the afternoon of Monday 29th September to security mark all bikes and scooters. This is a free service provided by them, so please feel free to pop along any when from 2pm to get any bikes or scooters in your household marked. Students in school that are to have their bikes marked will be able to leave class slightly earlier so that they can get them out of the bike shelter. Further information will be sent home in the next couple of weeks.
Careers
As we look forward to all things Careers this academic year, we would like to wish all last year’s Year 11s the very best of luck as they begin their next steps in post 16 education. Should any alumni wish to come back into school in the future to share their successes with current students, please do get in touch, as it would be wonderful to welcome you back!
Please make a note of this half term’s upcoming key dates for Careers events:
Careers Fair - Thursday 18th September 2025 2.50pm-6pm.
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 and various local businesses and employers. This is an invaluable opportunity to get Careers advice and to find out more about post 16 education courses.
Thursday 9th October 2025 5.30pm-6.30pm – Year 10 Work Experience Information Evening
All Year 10 Parents and Carers are invited to attend an information evening where we will be sharing everything you need to know about the Year 10 work experience week which will be taking place on the week commencing Monday 6th July 2026. We will also explain how students will prepare for the mock interview evening which takes place on Thursday 5th March 2026. All information will then be sent out in a PDF for your records and in case you cannot make it.
Year 11 College Applications
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. Gordon Lewis, our Careers Advisor, will also meet each 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