Saturday 13 May saw the start of this years Duke of Edinburgh expeditions at Nottingham Free School. Thirty-nine Bronze participants, as well as two of our Silver Direct entrants, set out to Beaumanor Hall in Loughborough for their training.
It was fantastic to see our Bronze cohort take to the countryside and represent the school in such a positive way. Karos Adventure staff, as well as members of the public, were impressed with the behaviour displayed by our students. For the majority, this was the first time camping without parents, and certainly the first time walking long distances with a heavy load. Despite this challenge, our students fared exceptionally well, and have all been signed off for progression to the qualifying stage in June. NFS is proud to recognise this achievement.
Naturally, there were some funny moments. The stand out of which being when students returned from their first day of walking to find that their food supplies had been set upon by a rogue squirrel. The stolen goods amounted to two porridge pots, two sandwiches, some corn snacks, and an entire jam roly-poly. Fortunately, Mrs. Gray was able to stop off en-route in order to replace the missing items. The lesson for next time: do not leave your food in the front compartment of the tent!
Squirrels aside, a big congratulations to NFS students for their achievement.
As always, I would like to say a huge thank you to parents/carers for dropping off and picking up, and a monumental thank you to all NFS staff who selflessly gave up their time in order to volunteer. Without this, it would not be possible to facilitate this experience for our students.
Mr N Mee - Trips and Duke of Edinburgh Coodinator
The safeguarding team has expanded this year to now include 7 members.
The team consists of:
As highlighted by our recent OFSTED inspection, we work tirelessly to ensure every student in our building is safe. We have developed a culture in our school where students and staff are confident to report concerns about student safety and well-being. In order to maintain our safeguarding culture, parents play a big part in the safeguarding of their child and other children. If you have any concerns or worries, please do contact the team above and we will endeavour to support.
Mrs Gray - Deputy Headteacher
Students in Design and Technology have been working incredibly hard over the last term.
Year 8 students have been casting pewter with Miss Cockayne, designing, and cutting their own mould, then finishing their pewter. The results have been fantastic, and we cannot wait to see the ones which are in progress now, to be finished after half term.
Year 10 having been busy learning about different wood joints and how to work with timbers. We are really pleased with the results where lap and finger joints have been used. Year 10 Design and Technology students should be very proud of themselves.
Year 7 students have been learning how to solder safely and have soldered their own circuit. Students have then learnt how to assemble the acrylic parts to make a LED light. The determination shown to make their circuit work has been amazing. Well done all.
Any students who are yet to collect their apron made in the first unit can pop and see Miss Cockayne to collect.
Miss Cockayne - Teacher of Design Technology
Curriculum
In order to support conversations at home we wanted to let you know what students will be covering next half term.
Year 7 - Mental Health and Self Esteem, Gambling and Gaming and Sun and Water Safety.
Year 8 - Gender Identity, Mental Health and Eating Disorders
Year 9 - Domestic Violence, Micro-agressions and Racism and Careers (How to write a C.V.)
Year 10 - Gangs and Drugs, Human Rights and Social Justice including freedom of religious expression and sexism
Extra Curricular
Duke of Edinburgh
The next expeditions are
Culture Day
Our annual NFS culture day is coming up next half term. On this day students will be invited to wear any clothing with represents their culture. This could be any thing from national clothing, flags, colours, sports teams, musical or art interests and national/local role models. We will ask for a voluntary £1 donation which will be donated to a charity of the students’ choice. We will also have cultural music, henna patterns and an ice-cream van on the day. Have fun planning outfits!
More information will follow after the holidays.
Mrs Wilken and Mrs Inglis - Heads of Personal Development
Year 11 Fundraising
This half term the Year 11 Prom Committee organised a cake sale to help raise funds for their Year 11 Prom. They raised £77 and would like to thank all who contributed to this success.
Miss Harmer-Weston - Head of Year 11
The Year 10 GCSE Art students were kindly invited to attend a private viewing of the Graphics and Illustration degree shows at Nottingham Contemporary, followed by a visit of the Photography degree show at the Bonington gallery. The students saw a variety of work in different mediums, they gained inspiration for their own GCSE work but also were able to see what a degree path might look like in the art sector.
Our next Art trip will be the second week back after half term, where our Year 9 students will head to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which we are looking forward to!
Mrs Wilken - Head of Art
Nottingham Free School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT