NewsletterHalf Term 3 Parent Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you and your family have had a peaceful and productive start to 2025. It is incredible to think that we will return to school with the spring season just around the corner. 

As always, our wonderful teachers have delivered hundreds of engaging and transformational lessons during the half term. Over and above this, are the many amazing opportunities and achievements that they have facilitated for our children. To name but a few:

• Year 10 educational visit to Barcelona
• Year 12 visit to the Browne Jacobson law firm
• Year 10 visit to see Blood Brothers at Derby Theatre 
• Girls football team reaching the quarter final of the National Cup (WOW!)
• Year 7/8 Junior NBA competition (midway through with 3 out of 4 wins)
• UKMT Maths Challenges
• Lunchtime Enrichment Clubs

Also, a big well done to Year 11 and 13 students for completing their second round of GCSE/A-Level mock exams. A grueling challenge for them. I am very confident that their hard work and dedication will pay off. 

I hope you find the following articles interesting and informative. Please note the opportunity for parents/carers to be involved in our July Culture Day. I hope this is something that you might consider. 

Wishing you and your family a peaceful week and we all look forward to seeing your child(ren) on Monday 24 February. 

Yours faithfully, 

Dr J Simpson

What's happening in Half Term 4?

• Tue 25 Feb: Year 7 Waleby Information Evening (6-7pm) with Miss Weston and Mr Tomasevic
• Wed 26 Feb: Year 9 Vaccinations in school (AM)
• Mon 3 Mar: Year 7 PSHE Workshop with 'Equation'
• Wed 5 Mar: Year 7 SEND Bookable Reviews
• Tue 11 Mar: Year 9 Options Evening (5:30-7:00pm)
• Mon 17 Mar: Year 7 PSHE Workshop with 'Equation'
• Mon 17 Mar: Bronze DofE Parent Information Evening (4:30-5:30) with Mr Garnham
• Tue 18 Mar: Year 13 Geography Residential Field Visit (until Fri 21 Mar)
• Wed 19 Mar: Year 9 Parent-Teacher Meetings (4-7pm)
• Thu 20 Mar: Maths Challenges (Year 9 and 10) organised by Miss Wignall
• Tue 25 Mar: Year 11 Parent-Teacher Meetings (4-7pm)
• Thu 27 Mar: Year 7 Walesby Educational Visit (residential) with Miss Weston
• Thu 27 Mar: Year 11 SEND Drop-Ins
• Fri 28 Mar: Year 7 Walesby Educational Visit (residential) with Miss Weston
• Mon 31 Mar: Year 8 PSHE Workshop with 'Equation'
• Tue 1 Apr: Parent Internet Safety Workshop (4-5pm) with Mrs Gray
• Wed 2 April: Year 9 Options deadline
• Thu 3 April: Year 9 Ambition Educational Visit with Miss Cockayne
• Fri 4 April: SEND Coffee Drop In Morning

Every year, NFS holds a fabulous Culture Day. 

NFS Culture Day aims to:

• Express our diversity and inclusivity, by putting every culture on a pedestal.​

• Celebrate our diversity including our beliefs, cultures, interests and differences.​

• Unite and better understand each other.​

In the afternoon, the school congregates on the school sports field to engage in cultural activities. 

This year, we would love parents/carers to help us celebrate Culture Day by offering stalls or activities that celebrate different cultural heritages. 

If you would like to help, please register your interest here: https://forms.office.com/e/A0K3RqVxCT

Well done to all of the Year 9 & 10 pupils that took part in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge and congratulations to those that gained awards.  A total of 13 bronze awards, 8 silver awards and 1 gold award.  Also a fantastic achievement from one of our Year 10 students who has made it through to the Hamilton Olympiad follow-on round.

• Bronze awards:  Jack, George, Kourosh, Isabella, Max, Caleb, Hugo, Henry (Year 9) and Miles, Rainan, Mohammad, Elijah and Kyriese (Year 10)
• Silver awards:  Zain, Marlow, Haseem (Year 9) and Jimmy, Goerge, Beatrix, Katie and Valerie (Year 10)
• Gold award and qualifying for the next round:  Sam (Year 10)

Miss C Wignall (Teacher of Maths)

Our year 10 Barcelona trip was a true success! 

The 28 young people represented themselves and the school impeccably and threw them themselves into the variety of activities planned. For many, the highlight was making friends with students of Ap.peles Mestres secondary school.  

The Spanish students will visit us in July.  Please get in touch with Mrs Barrett if you would be interested in hosting a Spanish young person. pbarrett@nottinghamfreeschool.co.uk (below is a picture of the group on Barcelona's beachfront)

Mrs P Barrett

• The PD Dance group have made it through to the Regional Finals of the Great Big Dance-Off, following in the footsteps of last year's group who became runners-up of the Regional Round and consequently progressed to the National Finals (Cheltenham).
• Let's wish them luck for their performance at the Albert Hall, Nottingham on Thursday 27th Feb and congratulate them on getting this far!

Miss K Singleton

• During Half Term 3, Year 10 Drama students had a fantastic afternoon at Derby Theatre to watch Blood Brothers.
• The students behaved fantastically and were a real credit to the school. They engaged very well with the production, asking lots of brilliant, thought provoking questions; and it was great to see how impressed they were with all elements of the production including the set design, acting, costume design, lighting and sound design.
• Blood Brothers is our set text for GCSE Drama and it was brilliant to see the benefits of watching a live production of the play, as this really added to the students' knowledge and understanding of the how theatre is made and performed. A very enjoyable afternoon. 

Mrs A Clarke

These are the topics that your child will be covering in the next half term to help facilitate your conversations at home:

• Year 7: FGM, Exploitation and trafficking including gangs, Finance
• Year 8: FGM & HBV recap, exploitation and trafficking with a focus on county lines and criminal gangs, Finance
• Year 9: Mental health, Knife crime and British Citizenship
• Year 10: Religion and relationships including marriage
• Year 11: Taking risks, drugs and alcohol

In other PD news...

• Our fantastic team of Educate Against Hate ambassadors worked hard to prepare resources for Holocaust Memorial day. They created some fantastic, thought provoking resources that were delivered in tutor time on modern day genocides and five of our ambassadors bravely presented assemblies on Holocaust Memorial day to all years- they talked about their trip to Beth Shalom last year and the impact that it had on them. Their next job will be to find their replacement ambassadors so watch this space!

Mrs S Wilken and Mrs B Inglis

• Nuestra Escuela is a Sunday school for families with Hispanic heritage who want to offer their children Spanish lessons. It also serves as a gathering point to promote Hispanic culture and connect with other families. The school meets every Sunday at Nottingham High School, offering lessons for children aged 1 to 11. Lessons for older students may be offered if there is interest, and they currently offer lessons for non-Hispanic partners who want to learn the language.
• The association is a charity, and none of the organizers are paid. The £20 registration fee and £5 per lesson are entirely invested in renting the facilities and compensating the teachers.
• If you are interested, please visit the website at https://nuestraescuela.co.uk/, check out the active Facebook page, or send an email to hola@nuestraescuela.co.uk

Mr M Prats