Events coming up
NOVEMBER
30th Christmas Craft Fayre 11-1pm
DECEMBER
4th Year 10 BTEC child Development trip
9th Year 11 Brockenhurst College Interviews
9th Year 9 Festive Lunch
9th Year 11 Brockenhurst College Interviews
10th Year 7 Festive Lunch
11th Year 10 Festive Lunch
11th Light up a life Service @ AFC for Oakhaven
12th Year 11 Festive Lunch
12th Christmas Concert
13th Year 8 festive lunch
13th Year 10 Food Practical
13th Wear Something Different Day
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families,
We hope this newsletter finds you well. We have had the pleasure of welcoming our year 11 alumni back to receive their awards this week at our annual Presentation Evening. It was such a pleasure to hear all that they are now going onto achieve in life beyond Noadswood as well as to recognise their many and varied successes in their time with us. We are proud of them and thankful to you, as I said on the night, for all parents and carers did to support them. The atmosphere was as if they’d never been away!
As you read this many of our students have also truly stepped into Christmas and are experiencing the Lille Christmas Market. We’ll write more about this in our end of term newsletter but a huge thank you to Miss Fitzgerald for organising this excellent opportunity, and to all our colleagues accompanying the visit. For now a sneak preview from the crepe making – no doubt a delicious time had by all.
We were treated this week to a Christmas preview of the ‘Light Up Trail’ which Noadswood students won once more! We are so proud of our Art department and students. For those wanting to see our students’ fantastic work, tickets are available here: https://www.lightuptrails.com/events/light-up-hillier-gardens
I couldn’t make it to the preview this year, but I will be there on one of the nights ahead for sure – warmest congratulations to all our artists and the staff, too
We are all excitedly preparing for tomorrow’s Christmas Fayre – Saturday 30th November 11-1 here at school. As I write, there are student elves dashing about with boxes of decorations and Christmas trees are going up all over the place, whilst the rest of the school is at work. All credit to Mrs Wyse and the student helpers, and I hope my choir will add a jolly, festive feel to proceedings, too. I am privileged every week to work with people so talented and with such a sense of fun.
My thanks, too, to the members of the Noadswood Parent Staff Association who came along to our AGM this week – a bit of a PSA rebrand and lots of funding of brilliant projects for our students and our school were discussed by this committed team, along with future event planning. Discos and bingo .. winners every time. We’d love you to become part of things, too – all you need to is email psa@noadswood.hants.sch.uk
Thanks so much for your support today in response to our message regarding the heating being off, following the work done here overnight and today pertaining to our gas supply. We are grateful to the prompt work by our premises team on this one, and I doubt too many students groaned at the chance to wear a non-school hoodie or sweatshirt today! Back to normal for Monday.
Finally, and as mentioned in previous communications we have a number of Skool Kit and Supermarket vouchers available. These are not means tested. If your family would benefit from this please reach out to your child’s year team using their email addresses or on Class Charts. We don’t think we can overdo the reminders here as we know how helpful these vouchers can be to any of us.
Wishing you a peaceful weekend ahead,
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
International Success
Our music event last summer, as you may recall, was organised to help some of our students continue to excel when representing themselves, their club, and the school at international level. We proudly supported Zach, who represented Team GB at the European Gymnastics Championships in Azerbaijan, and Flo, who travelled to teach in a school and coach in Zanzibar. As a school, we remain committed to help supporting any of our students who achieve international success within their sporting groups.
The Craft Fayre on Saturday 30 November is another event where funds will be raised to help support students be their best.
Here is an update as to how they both got on:
Zach Year 11– Azerbaijan Championships
"Following on from my teammate Max and I being selected to represent Team Great Britain at the TeamGym European Championships 2024 hosted in the capital of Azerbaijan, life is now returning back to normal. Although we worked incredibly hard attending multiple training camps all over the country, showing our skills to the GBR coaches, whilst being taught by them, it has been an unforgettable experience. As well as meeting lots of incredible people, who I have formed lifetime friendships with along the way, it has taught me to enjoy the sport I do even more and has motivated me to push on to learn new skills back at Waterside Gymnastics Club. Our team competed in the Championships in Baku at the National Gymnastics arena alongside 14 other European countries. It was a tough competition with some amazing skills being shown, and after 4 days of training and competing we were overjoyed to finish in 3rd place with a bronze medal just behind Sweden and Iceland. We are European medallists and that is awesome to be able to say! I cannot wait to re-trial for the next Team Gym Europeans in 2026, which is due to be held in Finland, and I am so excited to see what the future holds. Thank you to all of my school community for all the support and kindness you have shown me during this exciting part of my life."
Flo Year 10 – Zanzibar
During October half term, Flo joined 17 other Girlguiding members and five leaders on a volunteering trip to Zanzibar. She spent several days working with young girls at Fuoni School - a government-run primary school which provides a free education to 3,240 students between the ages of seven and 15. The school is severely underfunded and overcrowded with 16 classrooms, averaging a class size of 100 students.
The team spent their time painting classrooms and teaching. Flo used lots of tried and tested methods to make learning fun for the children, including the Hokey Cokey for teaching the names of different parts of the body and the Macarena for counting! In return some of the girls taught her some Swahili.
Whilst in Zanzibar, Flo learned first-hand how fortunate we are to have such things as clean drinking water, flushing toilets, a reliable power supply and broadband. She had the chance to enjoy the tourist experience with a brief trip to a resort hotel, which contrasted sharply with the levels of poverty witnessed in other areas of the island.