Dear Families,
I hope this update finds you all in the best of health having enjoyed some down time with friends and family this summer. I have a number of reminders this week in the first update of the year.
Results Days
You may have read our updates over the holidays about results days. We had two joyful days with our students in the examination years celebrating some fantastic achievements. For us, it is always about students fulfilling their potential and achieving what they need to move onto the next stage of their lives. That was certainly the flavour of this year’s results with the vast majority of students securing the places they wanted for post 16 study, apprenticeships and university. You can find our press releases on our website for Post 16 and GCSE results. Overall we are pleased with our headlines as a school, with more students than ever achieving the national benchmarks and improvements upon our results in 2019 at both GCSE and Post 16.
Staggered Start
Students will return to school next week but the start dates have been staggered as in previous years. This is to allow time for each Year Group to settle in, learn some new routines and adapt to the pace of working and learning at Derby Moor. We are introducing some new systems for students that will aid communication between home and school and will give you greater clarity around your child’s day to day performance in school. We will be walking students through how things will work this year with an assembly and a number of tutorial sessions over the first few days to help them understand the rationale behind the changes.
For new students in Year 7, this will be their first experience of Derby Moor and will be the next phase in their transition to secondary school. They can expect a lot of orientation work and team building activities to help them settle in to their new form groups.
The staggered start runs as follows:
Monday 5th September – Years 7, 12 and 13 start.
Tuesday 6th September – Years 9 and 11 begin.
Wednesday 7th September – Years 8 and 10 start.
Each day will begin at the normal time of 8.40. Students should not arrive on site any earlier that 8.30 as there will not be supervision outside until that point. The school day will end at the normal time of 3.05 each day and 2.45 on Wednesdays. We will ask families who are collecting students on foot to wait on Moorway Lane and not come onto site as this slows down the exit for students. For those using motor vehicles we ask that you use the turning circle and do not park on Moorway Lane as it causes a hazard for our children and other road users.
We will have school photographers onsite throughout Tuesday to update student photographs on our systems.
Parent Meetings
There are parent information evenings next week which we encourage you to attend as it will share key information about the year ahead and the app we will be using to communicate with you in the next academic year. The dates for parents events are as follows:
- Year 7 Monday 5th September 2:15pm & 5:00pm
- Year 8 Tuesday 6th September 2:15pm & 5:00pm
- Year 9 Monday 5th September 3:30pm & 5:45pm
- Year 10 Tuesday 6th September 3:30pm & 5:45pm
- Year 11 Monday 5th September 4:15pm & 6:30pm
- Sixth Form Tuesday 6th September 4:15pm & 6:30pm
Families can attend either of the two sessions outlined for their child’s year group. If you use a smart phone, please bring it with you to the event.
Uniform
There are no changes to our uniform expectations this year and you can find our parents’ guide on the website. If you have had difficulty sourcing uniform, please contact your child’s Year Manager in advance of the start of school so we can assist where possible. It is important that students start the year on the right footing with everything in place for a positive start to term and having uniform and appearance right is good step towards that.
Final thoughts
We are really excited about what the next year holds for our community at Derby Moor. Whilst the last few years have posed a range of unpredictable challenges for everyone in education and the wider society, our school community has been resilient and has grown stronger as a result. In the last academic year we have not only seen a really positive outcome from our Ofsted inspection but have also celebrated some excellent examination results for our young people. We have had more students apply for our Sixth Form than ever before, have seen Year 13 students move onto a range of impressive destinations and continue to receive many more applications for places in main school than we can accommodate. Our school and our community are in a strong position. For me, this is not the time to accept plaudits and rest. It is a time to move forward again. We have spent the summer evaluating and planning the next stage of development for our school and there are a number of improvements that we look forward to sharing with you around how school works and how we will help your child develop into a highly employable young person throughout their time with us. This starts with getting the basics right and building good learning habits. Then developing the skills that employers are looking for through a range of experiences and activities designed to challenge and build confidence in our youngsters.
We have exciting times ahead of us at Derby Moor and extend a warm welcome for you and your children to join us in the new term as we collectively move our young people towards greatness. Together We Succeed.
Best wishes,
Scott Doyle
Principal
