NoadswoodBlazer

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

Welcome to the Spring edition of the Blazer. This has been another really exciting term at Noadswood with so much going on. We were all disappointed when our play had to be postponed before Christmas and it was fantastic that Mr Wyatt and the team were able, and willing, to reschedule it in February; it was a triumph! The Rock Challenge group performed brilliantly to win their heat in Southampton and we are all looking forward to the Regional Final in June. Well done to all involved in these two events, and indeed to everyone involved in the dozens of other challenges and events that have taken place this term. I am so proud of them all.

www.noadswood.hants.sch.uk

MR BERNARD

SPRING 2016NEWSLETTER#08

An Inspector CallsPupils from all year groups, and all houses, performed in and supported this year’s school play, An Inspector Calls. Wonderful acting performances from the main cast, including Katie-Ann Miles as the Inspector, together with a minimalist, theatre-in-the-round set created an emotional and intimate atmosphere. Audiences at the two performances were held spellbound by its intensity and deeply impressed by the professionalism and high-standards of our young actors’ performances.

At the end of the final performance, a very proud Mr Wyatt, directing with support from with Mr Cox, Miss Daniels and Mrs Maitland, awarded the main cast with garlands of roses to celebrate their success. Well done to everyone involved and now the school looks forward to the summer term staging of Noadswood’s first ever Shakespeare performance, The Tempest!

Noadswood SportThis term, Noadswood Sport has had a term to remember! We continue to be a force in Hampshire Basket-ball and our U13 girls team have made it through to the last 16 of the National Cup! The U14 boys team have made it to the Southampton City Final and the Hampshire Cup Final but the games are in the final week of the term. The U16 team were runners up in a close encounter in the Final of the Southampton City league and both teams once again dominated the New Forest League. Our rugby has also been fantastic with our U15 girls rugby team coming third in Hampshire for the second tournament in a row and the U13 boys team were 4th in the county, a result which demonstrates their commitment to the Friday morning breakfast club. Our biggest achievement on the rugby field this season was making it to the Hampshire Cup Final for the first time. Despite making history as the first Noadswood Rugby team to make it to this final we were runners up in this prestigeous tournament with England inter-nationals in attendance.

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Rock Challenge 2016

On Tuesday 23rd February, 78 Noadswood students set off to Southampton Guildhall to compete in the 2016 Rock Challenge event. Rock Challenge is a dance/drama competition where schools have to produce an eight minute piece of choreography portraying a positive message.

Our theme this year was ‘Autism’ and to help us, we collaborated with ‘Clayhill School’ which caters for children with severe autism to help us learn more about the condition and its effect on children and adults. Both teachers and students learnt about how those affected by autism struggle with social and communication issues, the different types of emotions they experience and also the ‘gifts’ that autism can bring. We then used these four key aspects to create the four sections of our dance.

There were 58 performers in our dance group, supported by a crew of 20 backstage helpers who were responsible for the set, the lighting, the costumes and the hair and make-up. Schools are judged on all these areas, along with the dance itself.

On the day of the competition there were numerous schools from across Hampshire taking part which gave our students the opportunity to meet other pupils and watch their rehearsals. The conduct of our students was exemplary; they were polite and respectful to everyone that they met and they were friendly and supportive to all the other staff and students. After a long day of rehearsing it came to the evening show. It was great to see so many parents and teachers who came along to cheer us on and watch the show.

After a long ‘nail biting’ wait the results were revealed. Noadswood won numerous awards these included; excellence in set design and excellence is set function, excellence in visual design, excellence in entertainment, excellence in drama, excellence in video direction, best stage crew, best concept, and best soundtrack. Then to top it off, we achieved FIRST PLACE over all!

We now go on to the regional finals which take place on 21st June at the Portsmouth Guildhall where we will meet with all the other winners and perform our piece all over again!

USA TRIP 2016

best in your upcoming exams.

At this time of the year, as Year 11 prepare for the last few months of life at Noadswood, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Wilverley prefects, ably led by Caitlin, Liam and Ali. These last few weeks, we have undertaken prefect interviews with Year 10, we look forward to Prefect training after Easter and hearing your ideas about the year ahead.

Finally may we wish you all the best for the Easter break.

HOUSE NEWSAs we approach Easter, already a term of 2016 complete, there are so many achievements by Wilverley pupils. With the launch of E Praise, pupils have been involved in many extra curricular activities enabling Wilverley to be in the lead a number of times over the last month, we look forward to hearing about the House Cup results at the end of term.

Congratulations to Jacob, Ali, Seb, Ben, Dylan and Lewis in Year 11, a hard fought county rugby final, you did the school proud this year in the competition. The fantastic victory in Rock Challenge; well done to so many girls in Wilverley performing and taking part, good luck with the next stage in June. The new girls rugby and basketball teams have had great success this term, well done to each of you. STEM has been developing this term, in the BART project with Exxon, great presentations from Emily, Amelia, Joe and Harvey whilst Mia was a part of the SciTech Challenge in Year 10, congratulations on your 2nd place.

In lessons, Year 7 are busy on their Navig8 community projects, we are looking forward to your presentations after Easter. Year 8 and 9 have been busy this term, considering their GCSE courses for the future whilst a busy Easter of revision is ahead for GCSE pupils; we wish you all the

24/03 Last Day of Term 1:00pm Finish25/03 - 08/04 Easter Holiday 11/04 Start of Summer Term

KEYDATES12/04 ,15/04, 21/04 & 22/04Year10 Geography Field Work13/04 YR10 Prefect Training Day

02/05 Bank Holiday04/05 Year 7 Parents Evening30/05-03/06 Summer Half Term

MRS WARD MISS RAWLINSON

On February 13th a small number of lucky Noadswood pupils jetted off to the USA with our first stop being inNew York. When we arrived it wasn’t warm to say the least; however, everyone was still up for a trip to Times Square that evening. The next day was the coldest Valentine’s Day, in New York, on record (-22C) for the last 100 years! It was a busy day; in the morning we were lucky enough to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. After, we visited New York’s immigration museum. Then we went to Grand Central Station and took the metro to New York’s famous Rockefel-ler Center! At the top we were able to see the Empire State Building, on a beautiful bright day! We ended the day with a quick shopping trip in Macy’s and dinner at Planet Hollywood!

Monday was our last full day in New York. We paid a visit to the 9/11 memorial and museum, where everyone was very appreciative and understanding. Later on, after the picturesque snow had started to fall, we explored Central Park, seeing John Lennon’s memorial. We also had snowball fights, even the teachers joined in! That night, after dinner at Applebee’s, we were able to take a trip up the Empire State Building, but unfortunately, due to the snow, there was 0% visibility.

The second part of our trip was in the USA’s capital itself- Washington D.C. It’s the home of many important historical and political structures: The most notable being The White House. Our hotel was in a perfect location- a place where

we could easily walk to and from different places that we wanted to visit. During our time in D.C, we took the opportunity to visit the nearby state of Virginia, where we had a tour around the Pentagon. It was a very interesting visit. We also took time to visit the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial, as well as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Holocaust Museum. Washington, much like New York, was an extremely enjoyable experi-ence for everyone, we all learnt a lot and had fun at the same time!

New York- by Hannah Ranger & Kathryn Brooks Washington DC- by Mia King