NewsletterHalf Term 2 Parent Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope this newsletter finds you well and your child is looking forward to the Christmas school holidays. 

Over and above the thousands of excellent lessons that have been delivered, there have been many things to celebrate in the second half-term:

• Year 11 and 13 successfully completing their first mock exams
• Year 13 university applications being successfully sent off to UCAS
• A number of excellent educational visits, including A Christmas Carol theatre visit and the Year 9 ambition visit to Nottingham University
• Children in Need bake sales that raised hundreds of £s for the charity
• The Reverse Advent initiative

I continue to be very proud of our whole school attendance this term.  As always, strong attendance is the direct result of our Attendance Team, Tutors, Heads of Year and many more staff working in partnership with you, to ensure your child is accessing school whenever possible. 

I will also reflect on the enormous success of Nottingham Free School at the annual Nova Education Trust Awards Evening held on Thursday 28 November. Nova were delighted to take this opportunity to celebrate the student engagement work that happens within our school. This broad range of work includes, strong attendance, student leadership, curriculum engagement and extra-curricular opportunities. Our whole community should feel very proud of this recognition.  

I will finish by wishing your child and you a peaceful Christmas holidays and we all look forward to reconnecting with students and their families on Monday 6 January 2025. 

Yours faithfully, 

Dr J Simpson

What's happening in Half Term 3?

• Monday 6 January - All students return to school
• Thursday 9 January - Year 7 Parent-Teacher Meetings (4-7pm)

• Thursday 9 January - Ambition Nottingham Trip Year 10 

• Tuesday 21 January - Barcelona Exchange Parent Meeting (5pm)

• Wednesday 22 January - Year 12/13 Parent-Teacher Meetings (4-7pm)

• Thursday 23 January - Year 11 Parent Engagement Session (6-7pm)

• Wednesday 29 January - Year 13 UCAS Final Application Deadline

• Friday 31 January - NFS Sixth Form Applications Deadline

• Monday 3 February - Year 11 and 13 Mock Exams (until 14 February)

• Tuesday 4 February - Year 10 SEND Drop Ins (3-6pm)

• Tuesday 11 February - Bronze DofE Parent Information Evening (5-6pm)

• Thursday 13 February - Yr8 SEND Bookable Reviews (4-6pm)

• Friday 14 February - SEND Parent Workshop (9-10am) 

• Friday 14 February - Last day of the half term!

A sincere thank you to all the families that were able to donate food bank items for the Reverse Advent charity initiative. 

The volume of donations this year was phenomenal and reflects the kindness of our school community.

Congratulations to tutor group 10P for the most creative donation box (see the Grinch donation box picture). 

Volunteers from The Trussell Trust were astounded by the number of boxes that Mr Coppack and Mr Tomasevic dropped off and thanked our school community for its continued kindness. 

On Thursday 28 November, Nova Education Trust recognised NFS for its outstanding engagement of students to affect and bring about positive change in their school community.

It was highlighted that at Nottingham Free School, student voice is at the heart of decision making.

The belief is that students 'cannot be what they cannot see'. Therefore, their curriculum is enriched with content that reflects the many cultures within their diverse community.

We were delighted that the award came with a donation of £1,000 from the trust's contracted catering company, Aspens.

When we return in January, we will begin speaking with a wide range of students to agree on how we best spend this money. We are confident that students will have some fantastic ideas on how the money can be put to good use!

• NFS sixth formers proudly dropped off a donation of books and toys at Cancer Research in Sherwood today (Friday 13 December).
• Thanks to all those families that donated new and good-as-new books and toys, etc. What a wonderful way to give back to our community. 
• The representative from Cancer Research said, "Thank you for all the kindness from the students at NFS."

• The Year 8 Co-Ed Basketball team made a solid start to the 2024/25 Jr. NBA basketball campaign with 1 win and 1 loss in two games played at Arnold Hill Spencer Academy on Thursday 16th December. In the first game NFS Houston Rockets took an 8-point win (13-21) over Arnold Hill Academy. In the second game of the night NFS fell to Christ the King (4-12).
• Well done to all students who represented the school in great fashion and have been committed to attending practice on a weekly basis to improve their skills and understanding of the game.
• We look forward to the next round of games in January and would like to encourage any year 8 girls interested in playing to join us for practice on Tuesdays after school.

• The NFS library is one of our school's most treasured places
• We have a large number of overdue library books at the moment!
• Please can parents/carers have a big push on getting their child(ren) to return any overdue books, when we return in January
• Thanks for your support