Events coming up
9th - 18th GCSE exams continue all week
9th - 16th Year 9 mock exams continue all week
9th Year 8 HPV Vaccinations
9th, 10th, 13th, 16th Year 10 Geography Fieldwork
11th Year 7 Progress Event
16th Scoot/cycle to school week
17- 20th Beauty and the Beast production
18th Year 11 Leavers assembly
Message from the Leadership Team
Dear Noadswood families,
We always love to shout about the achievements of our students, in or out of school, so we are thrilled to start this newsletter by highlighting the achievements of Alexis in Year 10. For those who don’t know, she is a dedicated and talented athlete. Alexis has made remarkable strides in the world of grappling, showcasing her skills and determination on numerous competitive stages. Her impressive track record has earned the prestigious title of European Champion, along with victories as an International Champion and twice as the Cardiff Champion. These accolades speak volumes about her commitment and prowess as a competitor but also as a person, who balances training and competing with school life in an honestly admirable way.
This weekend, Alexis is set to compete in the UK's largest all-women grappling show, Enyo, which will take place in Southampton. This event aims to elevate women's grappling on a national stage. Alexis will be competing for the third time at Enyo, where she has previously secured gold medals in her last two appearances. For more details about the event, you can read about it here: Southampton host UKs largest all women grappling show
We are incredibly proud of Alexis and look forward to witnessing her continued success both in and out of the arena.
We spoke in our last newsletter about a visit from Challenge Partners. Challenge Partners is a national network of school and Trust leaders dedicated to improving educational outcomes through collaboration and peer review. Challenge Partners promotes sharing best practices and identifying areas for growth, ensuring that we take seriously the views of other experienced leaders, and not just of ourselves, when considering our strengths and areas for development. We were fortunate to have a consultancy visit this time, which focused on some key areas we are working on, and since we last wrote to you, we have received the report and would like to highlight some areas of strength:
1. **Ambitious Leadership and Curriculum Strength**: The school’s leaders have demonstrated a clear ambition to provide a high-quality education for all students. With a wide-ranging curriculum at Key Stage 3 and diverse GCSE and BTEC options at Key Stage 4, students are positively impacted by their learning experiences.
2. **Positive Ethos and Relationships**: (A) focus on self-discipline over compliance encourages students to reflect on their behaviour, promoting a respectful and disciplined learning atmosphere.
3. **Support for All Learners**: Noadswood has implemented specialised provisions such as the Learning Reset and Flexible Learning Provision, which cater to support our students with additional social and emotional mental health needs. The Resource Provision, known as Redwood, offers tailored programs, showcasing the school’s commitment to inclusive education.
4. **Engaging and Effective Teaching Practices**: Teachers employ effective strategies to manage low-level disruption and maintain engagement, ensuring that students are focused on their learning.
5. **Commitment to Continuous Improvement**: Noadswood School prioritises professional development for staff, focusing on key teaching concepts and curriculum implementation.
There are also importantly areas for us to reflect and improve on, which I began to share with staff at our staff meeting on Wednesday; we are looking forward to doing this in partnership with all within the school family. Your and your children’s insights as to what goes well and when something goes wrong is valued by us, so if something they are experiencing seems out of alignment with the points made above, or you would like us to look into more or different support or challenge for your child(ren) please let us know.
You can reach your child’s Year Leaders on Class Charts or by consulting the Contact list on the website where you will also find other key staff:
You can also reach me at headteacher@noadswood.hants.sch.uk or you can mail info@noadswood.hants.sch.uk and we will direct your concern, question or thought to the right person.
We would like just to remind all parents and carers of Year 7 students that our Subject Progress Evening will take place on Wednesday 11th June, 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 7 families to attend and engage in these important conversations. If you have any questions, please contact the Year 7 team- Year7@noadswood.hants.sch.uk
Three quick highlights to finish this week, then:
- The Beauty and the Beast rehearsals have made my heart soar along with the students’ voices – so good, so committed, so brave. Have you booked your tickets yet?
- Mrs Sullivan’s Disco/TableTennis club has morphed into all sorts of other fun activities of late – great to see some of our youngest enjoying genuine play, table football, spacehoppers, blowing bubbles, even a bit of gladiators (with safe accessories, never fear).
- I have been fortunate to visit Hounsdown School this week to see their ‘Smartphones in mini lockers for the day’ in action and to go to Barton Primary School to see incredible creative thinking skills and play in action – lots to follow about these visits soon, in terms of impact for here at Noadswood, but it’s a huge privilege to view others’ practice. I am thankful for colleagues’ time in sharing with me.
Have a good weekend when we get there,
Best wishes,
Kathryn Marshall and the Noadswood Leadership Team
Active Travel Ambassadors
This wonderful group of students are always looking at ways we can travel to school more actively through walking and cycling. We had arranged for students to take part in Bikeability courses during the May half term break. We would like to congratulate the following students on passing their Level 2 or Level 3 Bikeability course.
Oliver L
Fin H
Millie F
Bethany M
Blossom I
Casper M-S
Declan D
Reuben W
Sophie W
Harvey B
Jack B
Charlotte N
Edward B
Sofia D
Toby G
Marcus S-S
Joshua K
Evelyn H
Bikeability will be running some more courses during the summer break. If you would like your child to take part, please email Mrs Wyse, School Business Manager on mwyse@noadswood.hants.sch.uk
Cycle to School Week 16th – 20th June
Our next venture is to get as many people cycling to school during our Cycle to School week that both Orchard Infant and Junior schools are taking part in. All students taking part will be issued a stamp card on Friday 13th June and then for every day they cycle the following week, they will receive a stamp. For all students that have 5 stamps on their card, they will be invited to a bikers breakfast on Friday 20th June. All students that take part will be entered into a prize draw to win either a water bottle, bike lock, puncture repair kit, lights or back pack covers.
Careers
Year 10 Work Experience
Work experience is almost here and will take place in the week commencing Monday, 7 July. The majority of students have successfully found placements, but there are still some placement forms outstanding. All forms must be returned to either Miss Clews or Mr Lewis NO LATER than Friday 13th June, so the necessary health and safety checks can be completed. Forms received after this day may not be processed in time, meaning your child’s placement will be cancelled and they will have to attend school. In this case, different tasks will be allocated to them. Anyone not completing work experience and not attending school that week, will be marked as having unauthorised absence. If there is a genuine reason why the student will be absent, the school must be notified.
Royal Navy Workshop
On Wednesday, the Royal Navy delivered a workshop to a group of year 9 students. They talked about varied job roles within the Navy and how people can join. The students also participated in team building challenges which developed their skills such as leadership, communication, listening, and problem solving. It was a great opportunity for the students to explore Careers in the Navy and to hear first-hand from members of the Royal Navy.
Awesome Alumni
I travel the world as a professional singer. I currently live in Phoenix, AZ with my wife, son and three dogs. Mostly I sing on cruise ships with my solo show, but I also work all over the States in various shows. I was a Las Vegas headliner for five years with my band Tenors of Rock; I played Jean Valjean in London’s Les Mis before that and it all started from the passion I found for performing while in Mrs Chamberlain’s Drama class back in the early 90’s