Dear Families,
I hope this update finds you all in the best of health. We have a shorter than usual update after a shorter than usual week at Derby Moor. Today has been a day of professional learning for our staff team with the school closed to students. Our value of aspiration states that we believe all our students and staff can be the best in their field – taking this time to reflect on our practice in school and plan our professional learning for the next 12 months is a key part of fulfilling that aspiration.
Open Evening
We hosted our annual Open Evening for Year 6 students on Thursday this week and saw hundreds of excited, prospective young people come through our doors to explore the academy. There was a genuine buzz throughout the evening with our students and staff showing families what it is that makes our community here so special and unique. Thank you to all who attended and our staff and students for making the event happen.
Rewards Draws
This week the year teams have been doing the rewards prize draws for students who have shown exceptional positivity over the first month back at school. The winners will be contacted in school on Monday and some of the draws can be seen on the links below. Well done to all the students who made it into the draw – each of you has contributed to making our school a wonderful place to work and learn.
Prize draws for Year 8, Year 10 and Year 11.
Sporting Update
A huge thank you to the gallant marshalling team of our Sixth Form Students and Staff who turned out in spite of the awful weather to set up the course and marshal the races last Friday. They braved the true cross country conditions to make the event a huge success. Our Derby Moor runners excelled themselves against the elements. We have some really promising talent in the team this year with FO in Year 10 continuing to represent Derby Moor and new competitors HR in Year 9, IC, PK, JG, MG, ZD, IH and CH in Year 7 whose results are getting better and better, all ably supported by HJ in Year 12. Well done also to the Year 12 support team of RK, JT, AH, SA, J, EW and JG in Yr11. The team couldn’t have done it without you.
Year 11 Mock Examinations
A date for the diary for families with children in Year 11. The first mock examination period will begin immediately after the October half term on Monday 31st October. Students will receive their timetables for this shortly. This is always an important point in the year for the cohort as it gives them an experience of what the exam season will feel like next summer as well as benchmarking their progress to date so that they can plan their revision and attend intervention as necessary. If they need any help with revision or you would like some support in helping to organise their time, please do contact the Year 11 team.
Careers Update
Next week we have the BBC visiting to speak with students in Years 7-9. This is partly to celebrate 100 years of the BBC through storytelling with a focus on ‘inspiring young people to take control of their lives’. We’re confident this is going to be a great experience for our young people to hear from and connect with visitors from the media industry.
Best wishes for the weekend,
Scott Doyle
Principal
