Dear Families,
I hope you and those closest to you are in good health and that our students have made good use of the Inset Day today. After a wonderful Open Evening last night, today has been a much quieter affair with our staff focusing on their professional development and training. We know that this is time well invested as the high quality support our students receive inside and outside of the classroom comes from our dedicated staff team. Giving them time to reflect on their practice means we can continue growing our expertise and supporting our young people to become well-rounded, happy and healthy citizens. Together We Succeed.
Open Evening
Last night’s Open Evening was wonderful. It was great to see the school bustling with so many families in attendance and was refreshing to have visitors back on site, seeing what it is that makes our school so special. I would like to publicly say thank you to our staff and student helpers who did a fantastic job in showcasing Derby Moor through performances, presentations, displays, tours and so on. We enjoyed a really positive evening and look forward to welcoming our new Year 7s to the school in July for their transition days. The link to the Derby Schools Admissions Portal can be found here.
Half Term
A reminder that the last day of this half term is Friday 22nd October with students returning to school on Monday 1st November.
Weather
Whilst things have been a lot dryer and warmer again this week I must still remind families that students need to be prepared for the colder, wetter weather. It is much harder for them to concentrate if they arrive to school wet so we ask that they check the forecast and come prepared with a waterproof or umbrella when necessary. If you require support with this, please do contact your child’s Year Manager.
Mental Health Awareness Week
As part of Mental Health Awareness, our Student Leadership Team ran a cooking therapy session on Monday. This proved to be incredibly popular, with students and staff taking time to unwind and eat their creations! As one member of staff pointed out, ‘its so lovely to see people so happy’ a quote that I feel really embodies what the week was about here at Derby Moor. Students also had the chance to learn about and enjoy some sand and art therapy. It was the perfect way to end the week and has certainly given us food for thought about adopting some of these strategies throughout the year.
Careers and Employability
Last week, our Year 11 students learned out about Labour Market Information (LMI). They have been watching a video in form time, made by Lisa Vernon, an Enterprise and Skills Co-ordinator from D2N2. Lisa has expertise in looking at Labour Market Information and her video gives an insight into employment opportunities in the local area. Please do take a look at the video here.
We are keen to have all of our Year 11 students using Unifrog regularly and have been encouraging them to register this week. All Y11 students have a Unifrog account and have been sent an email to their school email address that will help them to register. They will need to check their ‘junk’ if it does not appear in their inbox. Unifrog holds the world’s biggest database of Post 16 and Post 18 opportunities. Every pathway is covered – from Traineeships, apprenticeships and higher education. You can find out more at: https://www.unifrog.org/about
Finally, our Year 11 students continue to work with our Careers advisers Kat Garland or Jessica Townsend from Luminate Careers, either as part of a group workshop on post 16 choices or in 1:1 sessions. This will carry on throughout the term as students start to make decisions about their future. Luminate also have an excellent website with a wealth of useful information which can be found here.
Extra-Curricular
It has been great to see our extensive extra-curricular offer come back to life this academic year with so many clubs and fixtures taking place at the academy after hours. You can find the guide to this term’s activities on our website here.
Mock Examinations
Our Year 11s are counting down the last two weeks of lessons before their mock examinations start on the 1st November. Targeted intervention sessions are well underway and families should have received a letter detailing the interventions your child is required to attend. We will aim to share mock examination results with families at our Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 1st December.
Wishing you all a relaxing weekend,
Scott Doyle
Principal
