Events coming up
15th December Year 9 Festive Lunch 15th December Young Carers trip to Paultons Park 16th December Christmas Concert starting at 6pm 18th December Redwood Panto trip 19th December Celebration Assemblies then school closure at 12:30pm
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families, As we move into our penultimate week of school, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what a wonderful end-of-term period we are enjoying. I have really enjoyed all the festive lunches so far - full of warmth, laughter and community spirit. A huge thank you to our canteen staff, year leaders and all staff involved for making these events special. Opportunities like these to come together, strengthen our sense of belonging and help us all finish the term with positivity and shared celebration, no matter the tiredness. Well done to all our Year 11 students on completing their mock examinations — they have shown real determination and resilience throughout this important period. Whilst some students may receive marks and feedback before the Christmas holidays, we will hold a special Mock Exam Results Assembly during Period 5 on Wednesday 7th January, where each student will receive a results-day style sheet reflecting their grades just as they would in August.
As we say to the students all the time, the purpose of the mock exams is to provide a realistic experience of the summer series, helping students understand their current strengths, identify areas for development, and refine their revision strategies as we move into the crucial months ahead. There is still time – huge gains are often made between now and the summer series year on year by young people who use the mock outcomes as really good diagnostic tools about what still needs to be improved upon. All students will be given a physical print out of their results, but these will also be uploaded to Arbor for families to view. Please note that predicted grades on December progress reports may differ from the mock grades given in January because predictions are based on how a student has been working throughout the term, while mock exams provide a realistic picture of performance under exam conditions in the now.
Make Everyone a Reader This Christmas – A Quick Reminder If you're someone who chooses to donate to charity instead of sending Christmas cards, we wanted to remind you about our “Make Everyone a Reader This Christmas” initiative, created with Darling Reads. You can purchase book vouchers that go directly towards new books for our school library here: Noadswood School – Darling Reads If you have a book recommendation for our shelves, please share it with us: https://forms.office.com/e/LueP3wwCeM
End of Term Arrangements- A quick Reminder
We would also like to remind you that on Friday 19th December, we will be holding our usual end-of-term assemblies. On this day, the school will close at approximately 12:30pm (though celebrations may mean we finish just a few minutes later). Please see the schedule for the day below:
End-of-Term Schedule – Friday 19th December 08:45 – 09:00 Tutor Time 09:00 – 09:45 Period 1 09:45 – 10:30 Period 2 10:30 – 10:45 Break Time 10:50 – 11:10 Year 7 Assembly 11:10 – 11:30 Year 8 Assembly 11:30 – 11:50 Year 9 Assembly 11:50 – 12:10 Year 10 Assembly 12:10 – 12:30 Year 11 Assembly If any families require their child to remain on site until 2:50pm, please email erollett@noadswood.hants.sch.uk.
The ends of our school term can be bitter-sweet for us when some of our colleagues move on to new chapters in their lives, and this one hits the bitter-sweet jackpot, as we say goodbye to two absolute legends of this Noadswood family. Firstly, we say a very fond farewell and all our best to Mrs Loveday, Deputy Headteacher and our Designated Safeguarding Lead for these past six years. What a six years it has been – she arrived in the September that preceded the lockdowns and the rest has, literally, been history. I know that so many of us and so many of you will miss her phenomenal care, support, time and humour through it all, in a role that is as intense as it can be life affirming. She has been just a joy to have on our team, with a level of vast professional and personal insight, instinct and energy, no matter the intensity of the day, week or episode that we will miss so very much. There has never been a moment during which I could not rely on her to wade in, step up, sort out, help resolve and provide the wisest of counsel to me and so many of us. In truth, she anticipated so much of what needed doing, and how, before it had even become ‘a thing’. She goes on to an exciting new role with the Local Authority as Strategic Inclusion Officer, which makes me very proud. In that role she will be able to come back here to put us through our paces! Thank you, Helen, it has been just an incredible adventure for me. and us, with you by our sides, and we all send our love and best for all your future adventures, too. We are very pleased to say that we will be welcoming Mrs Pearce currently at the Blue Coat School in Basingstoke to join us as Assistant Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, from January. We will give her a very warm Noadswood welcome, and we will all be alongside her to support her as she steps into this important work for us and you all. Secondly, we say an equally fond farewell to someone who really defines being a Noadswood legend; it’s so incredibly sad and almost unbelievable to think that this person won’t be rejoining us come January. I am talking about Mrs Dossett, whose Noadswood career has spanned in excess of twenty years, and, in all of them, she has had the most terrific impact. Whether we alight on her huge impact in all things PE and sport, both in school and beyond, or her work as an invaluable member of the Maths Department, or her ten-year incredible and tireless stint as Assistant Headteacher, we have always seen rock-solid dependability, talent, skill, wisdom and a sharp grasp of what needs to be done, as well as logistical wit and a boundless energy and drive. I told her, when she stepped back from the Leadership Team, what an absolute privilege it was to have her as a total linchpin of it; I was so lucky to walk in here to people like her who ‘get’ this place the way she does, and who give it their all. That feeling and so much more is true for so many colleagues, students and parents down the years. Thank you so much for all you have done, Nicci, and our love and best for the future in every way. To chicane massively, I do just want to flag that we will be writing to everyone early next term regarding the installation of the lockers for our refreshed Digital Detox that will kick off sometime in January, depending on the installation process. As you know, we and our local school friends are all uniting to ensure that young people and adults have a meaningful breather from their phones during school times, and that they will never need a SmartPhone during their school days at Noadswood. Having a locker each to put the phones in will allow that to happen. We understand that those young people with medical needs must have access to their phones and will also support those with worries once we roll it all out. But providing a meaningful Digital Detox is as important to us as it is in all the other schools, so the moment is coming soon to put this into place. If you have any questions about this, please get in touch with your child’s year leader or tutor; we will work through concerns together when we return to school, and, please note, nothing will happen until we write to you solely about this matter in the new term with dates and clarity about how it will all work. I hope to see lots of you at our Christmas Concert next Tuesday 16th December, 6pm. It’s going to be festive and fabulous! In the meantime, here’s to a happy weekend for us all as we continue to prepare for and hurtle towards the end of term and Christmas. Best wishes, Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
Progress Reports
Students will be able to have a preview of their school progress reports at the beginning of the week ahead with their tutors. The reports themselves will be published to parents and carers on the 18th. Year 9 reports will contain a little more information about students’ approach, while the rest of the school will see the usual attitude and learning scores.
Parking on our local roads around the school
Could we please remind parents and carers to park considerately around our local roads in the morning before school and again on collection time by making sure you are not blocking any driveways or parking on zig zag lines? Although our exit gate remains shut for 20 minutes at the end of the school day to allow all our students to exit safely, the layby is not a place to stop and wait for your child to leave school. These gates will be opened in an emergency, and there are also literally hundreds of people dispersing from our and the other schools so any cars parking there will be not only in the way but also a real hazard. A couple of young people have also written to me about Oaklands Way. They tell me that since the beginning of the 2024/25 academic year, there has been a large increase in the number of cars waiting on Oaklands Way to pick students up from school, causing disruption on a typically quiet road that is not wide enough and built for this amount of traffic. It has created congestion for residents; people are sometimes driving too fast and up onto verges to make room, and so they are also concerned for the safety of pedestrians. We understand that we are all trying to find somewhere safe to collect our children, and that the congestion is hard for everyone, but we want to flag the need to park in roads where there is definitely space for you to do so, leaving room for the road to be navigable, without blocking residents’ ways, and to keep speed down. The school cannot legislate over this, so it’s pulling together as a whole community that we need.
Student Voice: Corridor Safety and Solutions
As a school, we always do our best to listen to our students—the things they enjoy about school and the areas where they feel we could improve things. When something is not working as well as it should, we work together to find a better solution. Recently, students have shared that the corridors feel overcrowded during lesson changeovers, with movement flowing in both directions. From January, we will introduce changes to help reduce congestion and ensure students feel safe and comfortable when moving around school. We would appreciate your support in sharing this information with your child so they can play their part. New signs will be placed around the site to guide students, and tutors will of course discuss these changes on the first day back – but the more we all pull together to share the information, the better. We will monitor this throughout the spring term and gather student feedback on how the corridors feel.
The main changes are as follows: Main Block (Downstairs – English Corridor) This corridor will become one-way. Students will leave classrooms and exit either via the emergency door at the bottom of the stairs or the door by M18. Science Block Students will walk up the stairs on the right and down on the right. At the bottom of the stairs, they will turn right and leave through the back doors. These doors will become ‘No Entry’ from outside so that movement flows in one direction. Entry to the Science block will be through the main doors in the Admin corridor. Technology Classrooms (Downstairs) Students in Mrs Western’s and Mr Abbott’s classes will enter and exit via the emergency doors. All other downstairs classes will line up outside under the walkway. This will ease congestion by ensuring students move through the Tech building in a single direction rather than through a narrow doorway from both sides
Hythe Huddle
Our heartfelt thanks go out to Families Matter at Hythe URC who allowed us to perform at their annual Hythe Huddle event - our pupils graced Cornerstone Church with some festive carolling and Christmas tunes last Wednesday, representing the talent we have in the Noadswood Performing Arts department. We even got to meet Santa!
STRANGER SAGAS – Literacy Writing Competition
A strange noise... a normal day that gets turned upside down... a mystery waiting to be solved... What will our students write about? Stranger Sagas invites our students to unleash their imagination by writing a mini saga, a story told in up to 100 words. The short format means every word counts. Students can write in any genre and on any topic, so whether they write a thrilling mystery, a creepy encounter or a funny twist, the only limit is their imagination (...and the word limit). Closing Date: Thursday 18th December 2025 The top 5 entries will receive a £100 Amazon gift card and trophy. The winning school will receive a £1000 Amazon gift card and an award.
For more information, please see the Young Writers website Stranger Sagas - a creative writing competition for 11-18 year olds | Young Writers or watch the video for more inspiration: https://youtu.be/qpDH-eM8RYY Please see Mrs Eldridge or Miss Dixon for an entry form and planning sheet.
Library Competitions
As mentioned last week, the library is feeling festive with Mrs Eldridge’s beautiful decorations, the Winter Bookmark Competition and the Winter Raffle. Students will receive a raffle ticket for every book they borrow, giving them the chance to win chocolate prizes. We will also be entering every student who has been awarded a Noadswood Book Buck into a special Tutor Reading festive raffle, as a big well done for their enthusiasm in their morning reading. All winners will be announced during the final week of term.
AWESOME ALUMNI
Simon Giles A Noadswood Student 1982-1987
I now work at Noadswood on the site team, which is a varied role when no day is the same. Before this I worked as emergency ambulance crew for ten years with South Central Ambulance Service, dealing with life threatening medical emergencies and driving on blue lights. Prior to that I was both a retained (on call) firefighter and ambulance co responder for 19 years with Hampshire Fire And Rescue and alongside this, I worked on a chemical plant as an operator/firefighter, ending up as a shift team leader before redundancy in 2014. In my time at Noadswood, which I remember with a smile, I was taught a sense of responsibility and understanding, and I feel this turned me towards a career involving helping people.