Welcome to our final newsletter of the school year.
We finish this academic year having started it by celebrating our best ever set of GCSE results where students made better progress because they were educated at Redmoor than they would have at the majority of other secondary schools across the UK. We were quite rightly incredibly proud and have high hopes for our current Year 11 who receive their results in August. However, this year more than any has reinforced how important our values are to us and the need to look after ourselves and each other. As a community we have experienced the death of both a student and a member of staff. Both are fortunately very rare occurrences and as a school community we have pulled together and supported each other throughout and that makes me just as proud as when our students achieve fantastic outcomes. Our love and prayers remain with the families of Lexi-Mae Dowell and Miss Cassie.
We continue to work hard on maintaining and improving our site and facilities for students. This academic year we have refurbished two new English rooms, moved music to a larger room and relocated and upgraded one of our main ICT rooms .Over the summer we will be creating a new behaviour support room and moving our History, PE and two of our Science teaching rooms. This will pave the way in the next academic year for development of the Art & Design area and phase two of improving our music teaching resources.
We are committed to providing an excellent education to all our students and are relentless in continually improving everything we do. I often mention how proud I am of what we do at Redmoor and this could not be achieved without our entire staff team who, as I said to new parents on induction evening, genuinely care about our students and continuously go above and beyond in what they do. Please join me in saying a simple but very heartfelt, “Thank You.”
Please enjoy your summer break, be safe and look after each other and we look forward to welcoming all students back into school in late August.
Kindest regards,
Matt Nicolle
Principal
Dates for Your Diary
Dropping off & Collecting Students by Car
For the benefit of new parents to Redmoor and as a reminder to our current families, please abide by the following if you plan to use your car to drop off or collect students;
- Only parents/carers of students with mobility issues have permission to enter the school site to drop off and collect in designated areas. This permission must be sought in advance.
- It is not permitted to drop off or collect at the top of our drive (in front of the gates) as this creates a serious risk to pedestrians and other road users. We have had some very near misses.
- Please be courteous to local residents and do not block drives or use private roads
- Please remind your children about road safety, including the importance of not riding bikes and scooters along paths and across drives, putting themselves and other users at risk.
Uniform & Expectations
We continue to have the highest expectations of our students at all times, whether in lessons, at social time or on their way to and from school. These expectations cover their attitudes and efforts, their interactions with staff and each other and of course, their uniform and appearance. Our fantastic second hand uniform sale will take place on the Thursday 3rd August (10am - 12pm) and contains lots of items in outstanding condition at really low prices. Other reminders include;
Piercings: If students are planning new piercings, especially if in addition to our policy of allowing 1 small stud earring in each ear, they need to be done in the first days of the holiday as they must be removed for PE for the child’s safety
Mobile Phones: we continue to monitor the impact of mobile phones in school and currently we believe the benefits outweigh any disadvantages we experience at Redmoor. However, we will continue to evaluate this. Phones should only be visible at break or lunch. Students must not use their phones at all when moving between lessons. Only on rare occasions will permission be given for phones to be used in a lesson as part of a learning activity.
Staffing Changes
Unlike most secondary schools, our staffing remains relatively stable but we do have a small number of people joining and leaving Redmoor. Leaving are;
- Mrs Westaway (Head of RE/ PSHCE & SLT)
- Mrs Nemeth Purkis (Specialist English Teaching Assistant)
- Mr Tomkins (Premises Team)
- Miss Glover (Sports Apprentice)
Joining us we have;
- Mrs O’Shea (Maths)
- Mr Tillin (Maths)
- Miss Bale (English/Literacy Lead)
- Miss Allcock (Drama)
- Miss Griffiths (English)
- Mr Angafor (Head of RE)
- Mr Sawyer (Assistant Year Manager)
- Mrs Wheatcroft (Assistant Year Manager)
- Mrs Horton (Cover teacher)
- Mr Sheppard (Sports Apprentice)
- Mrs Moore (Teaching Assistant)
- Miss Littlehales (Teaching Assistant)
In addition, the following, existing staff have new roles;
- Mr Duggins (Associate Assistant Vice Principal & Head of MFL)
- Mrs Jenkins (Assistant Year Manager)
- Miss Clements (Assistant Year Manager)
Summer Holiday Reading
Here are the links for 2023-2024’s recommended reading for KS3, KS4 and a list of dyslexia friendly titles. These links can also be found on our website.
KS4 Recommended Reading List 2023-24
KS3 Recommended Reading List 2022-23
The Summer Reading Challenge is a great way to keep motivated about reading during the holiday. It could earn students up to 60 house points if all challenges are completed! If you haven’t managed to get a printed copy from the library, never fear! Just look on our website for a digital version.
REC 2023
What an amazing time our students (and staff!) have had on REC this year. We have seen students climbing to the summit of mountains, negotiating the waters of the English Channel, creating beautiful handmade clothing, facing their fear of heights and so much more. We are very proud of the way that our students conducted themselves whilst taking part in the activities. We want to thank parents/carers for supporting the school in this unique opportunity and also the staff for leading and participating in the activities - none of it would happen without you.
We wish you all a great summer and look forward to REC 2024!
Fundraising Success
Sam in year 10 spent his Saturday at Dorothy Goodman's summer fayre selling his plushies-each one hand sewn by himself. As well as a variety of resin items he has created.
Sam decided to give 20% of the day's takings to Mermaids-a charity which supports transgender, non-binary and gender diverse young people and their families.
What an amazing achievement!
Fundraising - House Charities
Following a student vote, each house was allocated a charity and there have been various fundraising events, which have taken place throughout the year, including bake sales and non-uniform days. The incredible donations we received for the Christmas food collection for The Hinckley Area Food Bank was given an estimated value of £1091.15. The remaining total of £509.08 raised will be split between the following charities:
- The Air Ambulance
- British Heart Foundation
- Loros
- Cancer Research UK
- Salvation Army
Thank you to all our students and their families for their continued generosity and support.
Cancer Research Support
On of our Year 7 students, Harry Burgess will be running to raise money for the amazing charity, Cancer Research with his Mum in memory of a close family friend. If you know Harry and would like to support him, he would love some contribution to this good cause.
Year 10 Sports Leaders
This year we have taken 34 students through the Level 1 Sports Leaders course. These students have helped and supported school events such as house games and sports day. They have also helped with many Primary events throughout the year, acting as great role models whilst developing their leadership skills.
Some students have had great success and will now go on to coach or have leadership roles. They have had personal successes and feel much more confident with their communication skills and feel confident looking ahead to work experience or college applications.
Fingers crossed all will pass after the quality assurance - well done!
Year 7 Rounders
This term saw our year 7 rounders team compete in their first tournament. The students played extremely well and came 3rd overall, drawing to Market Bosworth and winning against Winstanley in the groups then winning against Brookvale Groby in the 3rd/4th place play offs. Well done to all involved.
Sports Day
Congratulations to our winning house - ELM! Another brilliant year of team building, competitive and fun sporting activities.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Updates
This term 32 year 8 students were invited to a careers talk, hosted by three STEM ambassadors from Rolls-Royce Submarines. They gave a brief history of the company and the products that they make. Year 8 learned about the different STEM careers within Rolls-Royce and the different career paths taken by each of the engineers including A levels and an engineering degree, vocational qualifications and engineering apprenticeships, as well as the new Rolls-Royce Nuclear Skills Academy in Derby for post-GCSE and post-A Level students wishing to embark on a career in engineering and the nuclear sector.
23 year 10 students and one year 9 student also took part in a Rolls-Royce workshop, where they experienced the challenges of designing a boat, following customer requirements. They learned about selecting and purchasing materials, whilst managing a budget, staying within tight time constraints and responding to the ever changing requirements of a customer. Our students enjoyed testing their designs and then improving their designs to make their final product.
Another group of students attended a STEAM Day at NWSLC. They had the opportunity to spend time learning about opportunities and careers when taking qualifications in Science, Technology, Engineering the Arts and Mathematics. They were able to talk to professionals in a wide range of jobs and get up close to many different sectors. All students had a fantastic time and unique experiences that have hopefully fuelled their ambitions for future careers in STEAM.
Progress Assemblies
It was fantastic to see so many of our students achieving their progress certificates this year. These are significant in showing that hard works pays off, whether this is in school or when our students leave Redmoor. A big thank you to all parents/carers that also attended and made these assemblies so special!
Redmoor Allotment
Students have been working very hard in gardening club growing a wide variety of veggies growing.Including sweetcorn, yellow french beans, runner beans, lettuce, beetroot, broad beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins etc and students cannot wait to present their produce to the school canteen once grown.
As it is a courtyard, they are very few pests so this means that all produce is pesticide and chemical free and safe from slugs and snails
We aim to install a sensory garden next year as well as some outdoor artwork-including a green wall which will be worked on collaboratively with Eco-Club.
We cannot wait to see these installed!
Music Department Concerts
It's been a very busy half term. Well done to the year 9 and the Big Little Band for performing at their first festival at Pop in the Park. A big thank you to the Junior Academy of Music for our end of term showcase, well done to all the students involved. The 1st July our Steel Pan groups performed at Dorothy Goodman for their summer fayre, here is a testimony from them:
What an amazing atmosphere the Redmoor Steel Pan Band added to the Dorothy Goodman summer fayre. They created a relaxed, celebratory vibe that was enjoyed by all of the visitors drawing in a large audience who struggled to move away. The tone of the music was perfect for the event and movement between groups was seamless. The visitors to the fayre were blown away to hear that the group came from the one of the local schools and it was lovely to have their support. Thank you for creating such a feel-good atmosphere.
On the 6th July we had our end of year concert mainly from our ensembles and some solo acts as well. Every act was well received and rightly so as the level of musicianship was very high. A big thank you to all the staff involved in prepping the music acts and contributing to the department for this half term.
Work Experience
Work experience was a real success this year, we had 105 students find their own placements so they really got the most out of their week. The students got a real taste of what being in a workplace and speaking to adults and members of the community is like. We had fantastic feedback and glowing reports from so many of the placements and we are so proud of the maturity and work ethic our students had. It was lovely to go out and see some of the students in their work placements and some have even been offered summer work, weekend jobs and future apprenticeships following their work experience places. We hope this experience has motivated our students to continue to do well in their studies to give them the best chance to find the perfect careers for them once they leave school.
Mrs Westaway and Ms Davey