NewsletterDecember 2023

At the Nova Transformational Awards Evening, Nottingham Free School were awarded Secondary School of the Year, with judges expressing that the school had demonstrated the most transformational overall performance during the last academic year.

The Trust recognised Nottingham Free School in their kind words about our community:

Staff and young people in this school take great pride in learning. Their uniform and behaviour standards, and expectations are exceptional. It is one of the highest performing schools in the city and a community which is inclusive and where diversity is celebrated.

The Student Leadership Group meet regularly with senior leaders and work on termly action plans to drive school improvement.  The school extended its student leadership opportunities with Equality and Diversity Leaders. The group aims to ensure that all students know that the school belongs to them. 

The support for SEND students has been transformed with data showing the school has seen a 75% reduction in negative behaviour points for SEND students. Pupils are proud of their school and leaders have high expectations of all pupils’ achievements and behaviour.

The curriculum is ambitious, and strong student engagement is being recognised by visits from other trusts schools to observe their 'Ethos of Excellence'.

Dr Simpson - Head Teacher

Year 10 Parent Meetings - Thursday 10 January 2024 (16:00-19:00)

Year 11 and 13 Mock Exams - Monday 15 January until Friday 02 February 2024

Year 12 and 13 Parent Meetings - Tuesday 06 February 2024 (16:00-19:00)

SEND Coffee Morning focus on Year 11 Transition - Friday 09 February 2024 (09:00-10:00)

Mr Tomasevic - Assistant Headteacher

There was some very exciting news in Nottingham Free School's Sixth Form this half term. Anum Hamed's first published book hit the shelves of Waterstones. Anum is our first published writer here at Nottingham Free School and we are incredibly proud of her achievement. She is a gifted writer and has been writing creatively from a young age. 

Her first novel is a science fiction story aimed at a young adult audience. Anum is studying English literature, psychology and history and hopes to attend university next year to study English.  And, of course, write another book.

You can find a link to Anum's book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/9781800748569 

Ms Dirrane - Associate Assistant Headteacher

Safeguarding

On Wednesday 30 November, Nottingham Free School welcomed Alison Cope.  Alison is the mother of Joshua Ribera who was murdered in 2013.  She now works tirelessly to help prevent youth violence by sharing her son's unique life to help educate young people on the realities and consequences of youth violence.  Her assemblies are focused on the importance of prevention, the emotive realisation of how choices affect loved ones, and how young people retain hope for the future.  The aim is to change young peoples' attitude to knife crime, challenging the myth that carrying a knife will protect you.  

Whilst Alison's story is sad, our students were truly inspired by her.  They understood the meaning of the assembly and related to her in a way that I have not seen before.  It was a very special day for Nottingham Free School and was made possible by the support of Nottinghamshire Police who provided the funding for the day.  We endeavour to invite Alison to Nottingham Free School again so that other students have the opportunity to listen to her message. 

Online Safety Parents Information Evening

We delivered our first online safety session for parents.  We were focused on:

1. What young people are doing online including at Nottingham Free School
2. New apps and what to be aware of
3. How popular apps work (Snapchat and TikTok)
4. How to track your child's online activity
5. How school supports students and families
6. How parents can engage with conversations

Feedback on the evening was really positive and we will look to run this again after Christmas. 

Mrs Gray - Deputy Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Cockayne - Teacher of Design Technology

At Nottingham Free School we work hard to maintain excellent attendance. Regular school attendance is essential for all of our students to make good progress, achieve their academic potential, and consequently have better opportunities in life.

We aim for all students to have 97% attendance or higher for the year.

Recently, there have been a few changes to the regulations for school attendance that you may need to be aware of:

• U codes: If students arrive 30 minutes after our registers have closed, they must now be issued with a U code. For the morning session this will be 9am and for the afternoon session this will be 30 minutes after their lunch has ended. This will affect their overall attendance percentage and they will be marked as absent for the whole morning or afternoon session. If a student arrives after 9am due to a medical appointment, this will be marked with an M code. Although this is authorised, they will still be marked as absent for the whole morning session.
• R codes: Students were previously permitted to have 3 days per year authorised absence for religious observance. New guidance from the government has reduced this allowance to 1-day authorised absence per year.
• Leave of Absence: If you require a leave of absence for your child, you will need to complete a leave of absence form which can be downloaded from our website or collected from reception. We do not authorise leave of absence, except in exceptional circumstances. Any unauthorised leave taken will be referred for a fixed penalty notice which is set at £60 per parent, per child.

If you have any concerns about your child's attendance please don't hesitate to contact the attendance team.

Mrs Seymour and Mrs Mills - Attendance Team

Students have been working hard in their Personal Development lessons this half term. Year 9 pupils have taken part in some external workshops, including learning basic First Aid - a skill we believe all students should have. 

As an ongoing response to the tensions in Palestine and Israel, we have continued to educate our students about the history and also support discussions about this. We have set up a focus group in school including students from the Student Leadership Group, Equality and Diversity Group and other students who are very worried about the situation. The consensus from this group was that they would like to help in some way.

Students decided they wanted to organise a bake sale, and we raised £148.20 for Children in Need and £241.93 for children affected bv the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Our focus group has discussed further action and would like to create a display to help educate people on the situation. They also want to raise more money to help and are currently investigating ways we can raise funds but also which charities we should support - watch this space!

There have been other coordinated charitable acts, such as students wearing odd socks on the Monday of Anti-Bullying Week for the Anti-Bullying Alliance.

In addition to this, in the last weeks of term, we have been collecting for the Trussell trust food bank in Daybrook to support families over the festive break. Our students have worked hard to decorate their tutor boxes and our sixth formers have helped us load the minibus. We felt privileged to drop off the donations off at the Trussell Trust. Thank you for all your kind donation and support with this.

Mrs Inglis and Mrs Wilken - Heads of Personal Development

We are so proud of our students for earning so many REACH superstars and badges, in and out of lessons. Below shows how many superstars and badges have been awarded in Term 1.  

For Term 2: 

Your child’s Head of Year will be setting personalised REACH targets for their respective year group (details of these targets will be in our Weekly Parent Bulletin). 

We will be talking to all children about how they can show the trait of honesty in school, to earn more superstars and badges for this REACH characteristic.  

Mr Tomasevic - Assistant Headteacher

British Values, SMSC, RSHE Curriculum (PSHE) Next Half-Term

In order to support your conversations at home, the topics that will be covered in PSHE next half term will be:

Year 7

• RSE - Child on child abuse
• British citizenship - communities
• Smoking and Vaping

Year 8

• Vaping and Laughing gas - the dangers
• Drugs and Alcohol

Year 9

• Students will continue with First Aid workshops if they haven't received it yet.
• FGM, HBV and Forced marriage
• Careers and Options
• Finance- budgeting, banking and managing a budget

Year 10

• Internet safety
• RSE: Recap on consent and managing expectations

Year 11

• Exploitation of the poor
• Micro aggressions, body talk and body positivity
• Radicalisation & Extremism
• Internet safety

As always if you have any concerns or would like to discuss the topics further then please contact the school.

Mrs Inglis and Mrs Wilken - Heads of Personal Development

Year 11 had a taste of the outdoors at the end of last half term and have been on two field trips to complete their enquiries for one of their Geography exams in the summer. For the first outing, we visited sites in and around the Lace Market area of Nottingham, Sneinton Market and Broadmarsh; investigating the success of urban regeneration. They carried out land use surveys, pedestrian counts, environmental quality surveys and questionnaires, interviewing members of the public (including some willing police officers) asking their opinions on what they thought of the area. The new tally counters used for pedestrian counts were a roaring success. Year 11 then spent time writing up their findings and presenting their data in lesson. 

The Year 11 cohort then journeyed further afield for their physical Geography data collection. To investigate the effectiveness of coastal management, they met bright and early before school and travelled to Hornsea, a town on the Holderness Coast in East Yorkshire. This coast is of great significance as it is one of fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, and students investigated the rate of longshore drift and how well the coastal management is protecting valuable areas. They carried out beach profiles, longshore drift surveys, groyne profiles (as shown in the photo) and environmental impact assessments to collect data to answer their hypothesis. Students collected lots of data which they have been busy writing up in lessons. The favourite part for many was having fish and chips on the beach for lunch.

Miss Payne - Head of Geography

On Wednesday 13th December, Nottingham Free School hosted its annual Christmas Showcase. Many students performed Music, Drama and Dancing for an audience of friends and family, and it was a huge success. The Craft club provided the decorations and the baking Club provided the refreshments. Overall, the show was led by the students and they have all worked really hard to prepare for the performance.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Miss Wilson - Head of Music; and Mrs Clarke - Head of Drama

Eco-club have been focussing on how, as a school community, we can reduce our environmental impact. We have reviewed the biodiversity in our school grounds, how much energy we use and how much waste is produced. We completed a biodiversity count of plants and animals in the playground earlier this half term, and have carried out litter picking towards the end of the half term, to consider how we can promote awareness about our environment in school.

Miss Payne - Head of Geography

Following feedback from parents requesting additional resources for learning Spanish at home, the Modern Foreign Languages department would like to highlight the online learning platform, OYE.

OYE is a comprehensive website designed for secondary students learning Spanish. The website includes fun and interactive activities for students to use at home to further consolidate the learning done in lessons. There are sections for all year groups from Year 7 up to Year 13.

OYE does offer a paid subscription, however it is not necessary to pay to enjoy the full range of resources; because the website is free to use after 4pm on weekdays and all day at weekends.

https://oye.languageskills.co.uk/

Mr Hall - Teacher of Languages

You're not alone - Kooth is still available to access during the Winter holiday period.

If you or someone you know needs extra mental wellbeing support during the holiday season, Kooth are here.

Visit www.kooth.com to find out more.