Student Letter - 03/02/2021

Dear all,

Hope everyone had a weekend with some good bits to it – hold on to those and remember them as you read this, right now - and I equally hope that the week has begun as well as possible for you all.

I want to start by holding in our hearts Captain Tom Moore who sadly died this week, at the incredible age of 100, after a life well lived. You’ll remember his impact for positivity and smashing it out of the park tenacity during lockdown 1 and since, stimulating the raising of an incredible £32 million for NHS Charities Together through his initial walks round his garden, but actually through the power of his indomitable spirit.

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His well-known phrase, ‘Tomorrow will be a good day’ isn’t some kind of fluffy cliché, guys. It comes from a fervent belief he had that he, and each of us, determine if tomorrow will be great – we can be great by choice, another phrase I love. Step away from anyone on social media who winds you up, don’t doom scroll through negatives on the news or other places you browse the web. Don’t pile on to someone or a situation that isn’t going to uplift you or someone else, and take a breather and some time outdoors, in the fresh air, or pursuing something you love for a few minutes every day. If you get behind that thinking, tomorrow WILL be a good day.

 

I am sure Captain Tom will have had tough times and challenging experiences, but you see, because he believed tomorrow would again be good, he will have set about creating it from the minute he got up again. So do your best to craft your day, don’t let it just happen to you, and when you need help with that, reach out to someone. We’re all here with you and for you, and we can help you get to your good day.

 

On the subject of reaching out, this is Children’s Mental Health Week as you will know from Mrs Loveday’s videos.

We know that ‘reaching out’ when we feel our mental health needs a boost and some support can take many forms. Sometimes it’s talking about it as you do with your families and friends, maybe with our ELSA, Miss Harwood, or our counsellor, your LSAs, tutors and House Leaders, or people outside of school. You can also let me know how you’re feeling or if something is on your mind over ePraise or at headteacher@noadswood.hants.sch.uk

 

But sometimes it’s about doing what you enjoy and showing what matters to you through creativity – we feel so much better when we produce something or perform something or draw/paint/colour/bake something, and it’s a brilliant way of showing what’s important to us. Think about clicking on the link below to find out more about how you can express yourself this week, prompted by the videos you’ll find on the Children’s Mental Health Week website (click link)

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When you hit the site, you’ll see virtual sessions available to you in Art, Dance, Creating Content, Writing and Acting – something for most of us. I would love to see what it prompts you to do, so do let me know if you enjoy one of the sessions and produce something at headteacher@noadswood.hants.sch.uk


Now let’s get straight on with some of the week’s fantastic work, starting with this ridiculously yummy pie that Danny baked! It’s deliciousness is leaping off the page at me!

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Ruby and Isha have also delighted us with their baking and cooking – you really are a talented bunch:

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It’s been a superb week with respect to the D and T work I have seen that you guys have produced – thank you for sending it all across to me, Mr Abbott, I love it!

First up, it’s a TinkerCAD Alien by Mia and Bird House by Charlotte:

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Next a Bird Feeder by Zach and Bug Hotel by William:

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More Bird Feeders by George and Livi

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Then we’ve got mobile phone stands by Erin, Alex, Summer and Giulia:

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Finally, we’ve got Ewan’s fantastic work, including his 3D printing of his CAD design, done at home – well played, that lad!

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Issy and Jess have been working hard at their History and Geography:

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Issy’s understanding of the causes of the Korean War is so thorough, and helps us to understand exactly how what happened then informs the landscape over there now. And Jess has thought hard about social, economic and environmental impacts, which are important for all of us to consider, now more than ever.

 

Grace hits us with strong, compelling writing about black people’s experiences in Tudor England:

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Finally for this week, I want to congratulate Vincent and Evan for their top quality art work that Mr Wilkinson couldn’t wait to share with me, and I don’t blame him! You should both be really proud:

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To return now to creativity for a moment, it’s time to talk Noadswood Read-Aloud! If you enjoy reading, or even if you think you don’t, there’s something for everyone on this site, and it’s getting better all the time.

Have a look here (click link)

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There’s me reading our fabulous Build a Book Day text, Flaming Vengeance, which has made me happy to do during the dark, rainy January weeks! And then there’s a host of other people reading texts that mean a lot to them, and even a couple of brave students reading their own written work.

 

At the end of this week, I will be reading a fantastic story by Olivia who I spoke to over Teams on Monday afternoon – she is a super powerful writer, using her creativity to help her get through the strangeness of these times. You are going to love her story so much.

 

Linked to all this top work, there’s now a competition you can enter about which Mrs Rollett ePraised you earlier this week:

 

We are now launching a competition that is open to all pupils to listen to Miss Marshall read chapters 1-8 of our ‘Build a Book’ story, ‘Flaming Vengeance’

https://www.noadswood.hants.sch.uk/school-life/noadswood-read-aloud

We would then like to invite you to write the next chapter taking the story and our characters, Lena, Scott and Lateus wherever you’d like them to go, getting up to what ever you like! (The rest of the book is on our dedicated website if you'd like to see where the original story goes!)

Once you’ve written your story, all you need to do is submit this to Mrs Rollett on our dedicated email address: readaloud@noadswood.hants.sch.uk by no later than Monday 8th February.

Please ensure all entries include your full name and tutor group.

Mrs Rollett will then forward these to award winning author and "Build a Book" extraordinaire Stewart Ross who will select the winner.

 

We already received one entry today and it made our day! So check it out and send your entry to readaloud@noadswood.hants.sch.uk

I can’t wait to read them 😊.

 

We’ve also heard, via Mrs Maitland, from Noadswood friend, author Chris Bradford who sent the information and the link you can click on below to all the schools he works with, offering a gift from him to all of us because he, like us, knows the power of reading aloud together:

As part of my quest to Get Kids Reading and help support teachers and parents with home schooling I have pre-recorded a FREE Lockdown Author Visit* for all the schools that have supported me and my books.

The virtual visit is my gift to you & celebrates the launch of my new action-packed thriller…

 

THE SOUL HUNTERS

http://www.thesoulprophecy.co.uk/lockdown-visit.html

 

I will end, as I often do, with the inclusion of some of the wonderful pets in the Noadswood family – Will you check out Chloe’s fantastic cats? I have been waiting to see these guys for some time now, so thank you for sending them through! 😊

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I was also pleased to see the way Archie’s cat is helping him out with his work – I find my cat, George, so very useful during meetings and other parts of my working day when I am working from home!

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I want to finish this reach out by telling you a really uplifting story that Mrs Sullivan drew my attention to – some of your tutors might have shared it with you too, but here’s my take.

It’s about Kurt Vonnegut, a celebrated writer, well known for 14 novels, 3 short story collections, 5 plays and 5 works of non-fiction. He recounts a conversation he had with an archaeologist on a dig he was part of, and specifically the words the archaeologist said to him that changed his life which were: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them.”

 

I love this story so much because it reminds us that, as we work remotely, in ways we find really tough at worst and unusual at best, we’re gaining skills and having experiences that are making us strong and brave in new ways. We’re having experiences that we will grow from (and not just from eating extra baking!) and times we will learn from for the whole of our lives. Living, learning and hanging on in there during this pandemic is something to be truly proud of – good at it or not, you’ve adapted to it, you’re doing your best and you got through this day, giving it a go. Tomorrow, make your day great by choice, be proud of the interesting, unique person you are. I sure am proud of you.

 

Back with you again next week sometime, so keep the pictures of pets, the work, maybe some stories, anything you like coming my way!

 

Miss M 😊

headteacher@noadswood.hants.sch.uk