Dear Families,
I hope this update finds you in good health and enjoying the fine spring weather we have had over the last couple of days. Growth and flourishing are synonymous with spring and this is what we are seeing in a lot of our young people at present, none more so than those in examination years. I think the return to normality has helped many of our students find their feet again, focus on their end goals and begin making confident strides towards them. Their work in careers interviews, mock examinations, engagements with employers and their general approach to lessons and learning are all evidence of feeling more settled and assured in themselves.
Covid Update
Cases amongst students remain low in school but we are aware of an increase in cases locally, both across our catchment and the city. We are not currently changing our position on restrictions but must remain vigilant.
Year 11 Parents Evening
We are aiming to run the Year 11 Parents Evening Wednesday 30th as a face to face event in school, with bookings taking place on our SchoolCloud software. The evening will run from 16.20 – 19.00 and each appointment will be 5 minutes long, with a 5 minute gap in between appointments to give families ample time to move around the building. We will be distributing the mock examination grades to Year 11 on the same evening. Our intention is to replicate the ‘Results Day’ experience as closely as we can alongside some reflection time for our students to plan their next steps. Please support your child in making appointments and attending the evening. If you have any enquiries, please contact Mrs Hrncic as identified on the letter you should have received inviting you to the evening.
Mock Examinations
Our Year 13s have completed a gruelling spring mock examination session this week. Please pass on a huge well done to them from us. They have taken the series very seriously and understand that it all serves as preparation for the real thing in May and June of this year. Their teachers are now busily marking scripts and will prepare feedback over the coming weeks.
Sporting Update
On Monday, the Yr9 Football team played their final league game of the season, beating Woodlands 5-2. This means they have now qualified for the play-offs, where they will play Leesbrook in the semi-finals, as they look for promotion to the A League.
Wednesday saw our Y9 & 10 girls football leaders embrace a new challenge of supporting a primary school rugby festival. The girls were brilliant all day, refereeing matches and supporting the event and were a real credit to the school. Well done girls.
On Tuesday, the Yr11’s were involved in a 7-a-side tournament at John Port. They played some great football, winning all three games against Littleover, Chellaston and Murray Park, without conceding a goal. Following on from this, they played Landau Forte in the County Cup on Thursday evening, winning 5-0, setting up a game against West Park in the next round.
Our Year 9 and 10 Sports Leaders helped out at the Derby County Community Trust Tag Rugby Festival this week. They proved themselves to be exceptional role models for younger students and outstanding ambassadors for the school. To quote the organiser of the event “They all did a fantastic job, and acted professionally for the whole day, even during the heavy rain. All the students acted as assistant referees and helped with the running of the festival. They did a great job making decisions in a high pressure environment with some very competitive primary schools in attendance.”
Careers Update
This week’s the job of the week is a Chef: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw69NUAr0o4
On Thursday we had another successful morning of virtual mock interviews with volunteers DHL and HS2. The feedback from the employers was tremendous with comments such as: “It was a really rewarding morning and the students were an absolute delight”. Next week our Year 10 students will be visiting Derby University with presentations from DHL and Alstom as part of the drop down day. They will be exploring the opportunities from going to university or taking an apprenticeship, or even combing both. Our Year 11 students will be attending our Derby Moor Careers Fair on Tuesday with a wide range of businesses in attendance.
Year 7 students have begun taking part in workshops with our Careers Advisers from Luminate Careers. These have included:
- understanding of the word career and what it means to them
- talking about stereotypes in the workplace – e.g., imagine a CEO what do they look like, imagine a nurse, what do they look like
- looking at jobs / careers related to creating products
- a game of career top-trumps
Year 12 students have also started their workshops with a focus on looking at their options post 18 including university, apprenticeships and employment.
We have updated our Careers section of the school website and would invite you to have a look. In particular, our ‘Careers Programme Overview’ provides an outline of the careers activity covered in each key stage from 3-5. This can be found at the bottom of the home page or on this link.
Communications
We have been made aware that some email providers automatically reject messages from the school and categorise them as spam. To avoid missing out on communication please add 8314178@capita-intouch.co.uk to your safe senders list.
Leaders Unlocked
We were contacted this week by Gabrielle who works for the Police and Crime Commissioner and Derbyshire Police. She leads on a project called Leaders Unlocked which aims to provide youth voice in relation to Policing and Crime alongside the Derbyshire Youth Commission. Students have been given information on how to apply to take part during form time and can email Gabrielle for further information using this link. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 23rd March.
Ukraine/Russia Crisis
This week we have started our donation collections for the Ukraine/Russia humanitarian crisis. It has been wonderful to see so many staff and students actively involved in working together to support this cause and pulling together to support those in need. A reminder that the deadline for all donations to be handed in is 4th April to allow us enough time to get these packaged up and sent off. All donations should be left outside the English hub.
Anti-Bullying Ambassadors
This week our student leaders have been interviewing candidates to become anti-bullying ambassadors. This has been an invaluable experience for both sets of students; it has allowed student leaders to further develop their leadership skills as well as allow younger students to experience an interview setting. This is helping students to prepare for life beyond Derby Moor and we are really proud of how our students engage with all the valuable developmental opportunities we provide for them.
PTFA meeting
Our next PTFA meeting is on Monday 28th March at 4pm at Derby Moor Academy. Please attend if you are interested in joining the team or volunteering to support with ideas/events. If you missed one of our launch meetings, please accept this as an extended invite!
Recruitment Fair
Our colleagues at the Spencer Academies Trust are running two recruitment fairs for anyone looking to get into jobs relating to education. If you or someone you know is interested, please follow this link. There is one event at Chellaston Fields Academy on the 31st March and one at George Spencer Academy on the 26th March.
Uniform
Now that a semblance of normality has returned to our routines in school we need to remind students about our expectations around uniform. Please see our website for the guide to uniform and support us by ensuring students are appropriately dressed each day. Points to note are around piercings, jewellery and footwear. If you are having any difficulty in purchasing uniform, please contact your child’s Year Manager to see how we can support.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Scott Doyle
Principal
