Dear Families
I hope this update finds you and those closest to you in the best of health. We have had a week which started and ended in unusual circumstances this week but, sandwiched between these two events, we have seen the usual positivity and energy that I have become accustomed to at the academy. I am of course referring to Monday morning when we had some challenges with the heating and then Friday afternoon where the fire alarm was triggered. Both events posed challenges to our community and, unfortunately impacted upon learning time. They did demonstrate how important our routines are to our students and how quickly our young people can bounce back from unexpected events.
Spencer Superstars
Spencer Superstars is a charitable foundation run by our trust. The aim of the foundation is to support children and young people, attending Spencer Academies, to pursue their passions and follow their dreams. The Foundation provides financial gifts directly to children and young people, to support opportunities in one of the following disciplines:
- The Arts
- Sports
- Science & Technology
- Entrepreneurship
- Conservation
- Wellbeing & Healthy Lifestyles
- Community Projects
It may be that a student is passionate about portraiture, fashion or music. They may be a promising athlete, or have an idea to create a new App to help learning. Perhaps the young person has a blueprint for an ethical start up business for protecting the environment, or for making a contribution to healthy living and volunteering. Whichever discipline a child is passionate about, we would like to support their passion by gifting the funds raised to our children and young people to help them fulfil their aspiration. If you think your child may be a potential Spencer Superstar, please contact their Year Team to explore eligibility and how to apply. We will need a brief summary of their achievements to date and their ambitions going forwards alongside ideas about how a little funding could help them on their way. We are looking to process applications over half term. If you are interested in this, please do make contact with the year teams ahead of Friday 2nd February so they can submit the necessary information.
Cross Country County Championships
Three of our students represented Derby City in the County Championships at Moorways Stadium on Saturday. All showed true grit and determination on a tough course and contributed to the Derby City winning three of the six age group categories. Well done to JC Yr11, HR Yr10 and JG Yr8 for their impressive performances.
Year 13 Parents Evening
A reminder that Year 13 Parents Evening will take place in school, on Wednesday 31st January 2024.
Appointments can be made with class teachers using school cloud. The evening starts at 4.20 pm and runs through to 6.50 pm. All Year 13 students and Parents have been emailed login details. If you have any queries, please contact your child’s form tutor or Mrs Ingleby on the main school reception. We look forward to seeing you then.
Youth Mayor Elections
Throughout this week and into next week students across the school will have the opportunity to listen to the speeches of the 4 candidates shortlisted to become Derby Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor. They will then complete their ballot forms to ensure they have a say about who should represent the voice of youth at the City Council. This is an annual event that gives our students insight into the voting process and how democracy works.
Year 9 Pathways
The Year 9 Pathways process will begin after the February half term. Year 9 will have an assembly on March 1st to outline the programme. Following this, they will then use tutor time and Personal Development lessons to look at subjects, especially those that are new and not taught in Years 7 to 9. More details will be emailed to Parents before half term with our weblinks to enable you to look at the subject videos made by class teachers. These describe the GCSE and BTEC courses that we offer, giving information on content and assessment. Year 9 Parents Evening on Wednesday 13th March is an important opportunity to talk to subject staff but also to speak to employers about what they are looking for. Mr Wragg, who leads this process, will also be available to give more guidance and answer any questions that you may have.
Lost Property
We would like to remind parents to ensure items of clothing are clearly labelled with their child’s name and form group, you would be surprised by the amount of lost property we acquire at school which we are unable to return because it isn’t labelled. We appreciate how expensive it is to replace missing school uniform, bags, coats and equipment so please do ask your child to check the lost property if they have missing items.
QUAD Visit
Mrs Calvert and students in Year 10 visited QUAD in Derby on Thursday 25th January to view the photography exhibition they took part in. The exhibition was called ‘Journey’ and had several local schools take part. Despite not all students work making the final exhibition, it was a fantastic experience for them to visit a local art gallery and be immersed in the work of their peers. Miss Oliver and Mrs Calvert are already busy planning an exciting exhibition later this year which will showcase the current work students in Art and Textiles Year 10 have been working on – watch this space.
Parents Forum and Survey
Thanks to all our parents who contributed to our Parents’ Forum on Wednesday. It’s always a joy to connect and to hear about school life from a different perspective.
As we approach the mid-point of the school year, we would like to gather feedback from families about their experience this year. Please use this link to a short questionnaire of 22 questions. This will take 2-3 minutes to complete and gives families an opportunity to respond and give feedback as to how we as a school are doing. The feedback helps us to identify areas of strength to build on and areas for further development.
Sports Update
DCCT Match Report: The first game back of the year for the Derby County team was a local derby against Nottingham Forest in a home game here at Derby Moor. The lads started the game slowly and conceded early on but showed real character for the rest of the half, battling hard and restricting a strong Nottingham side to very few chances. In the second half the lads carried this on but unfortunately the game opened up as fatigue crept in allowing Nottingham to create more chances and eventually take them. The team gave their all for the whole game and put in a real positive performance, despite the result, which we can hopefully take into the next game.
Careers Update
Career if the Week: This week’s job of the week is a ‘Magazine Journalist’.
Derby Moor Dispatch: The Derby Moor Dispatch goes out every Monday to all students in Year 11, 12 and 13. The Dispatch contains a wide range of opportunities for work experience, summer schools, careers related webinars and so on. Please do have a look at the latest edition. The Dispatch is emailed to the students’ school email address, so it is important that they check this regularly on a Monday. You can also view the Dispatch via the Careers page of the Derby Moor website. Please take a look at the website as there is a wealth of useful information including a specific page for parents.
Staff Spotlight
This week, we shine the Staff Spotlight on Mr Brown:
Q) How long have you worked at Derby Moor Spencer Academy?
A) I have worked at Derby Moor since June 2021.
Q) What is your role and what does it entail?
A) My role is Assistant Principal – Director of Inclusion. There are many facets to the role, but the main aspects are being the schools named Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), the schools designated teacher for children who are looked after, strategic oversight of the schools use of internal and external provision as well as teaching both Maths and PE. The SEN and Inclusion provision at Derby Moor are exceptional and I am very proud to be able to lead such a wonderful team of dedicated and skilled staff. Within my role, no 2 days are the same and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Q) What is your favourite thing about working here?
A) Derby Moor is a unique school, I haven’t worked or seen anywhere else like it. It’s really refreshing to be able to work in a school were inclusion is at the heart of every decision that is made. I love the diversity of the school. The children and their families are a pleasure to work with.
Q) Tell us a fact about yourself.
A) I was born in Toronto, Canada. I can juggle and I love to read (when I get a spare 5 minutes!).
Q) Who is the person who inspires you most?
A) Within my role, I work with a range of pupils with varying needs – what I find genuinely inspirational is the ongoing resilience, commitment and positive attitudes of the young people at our school. Seeing them leave school, having made significant and substantial holistic progress is both humbling and inspiring.
Q) What other interesting roles or experiences have you had?
A) I have taught in a range of schools, but one particular provided a very unique experience.
I worked at a school in Malawi, in Africa. It was such a life changing experience that upon returning to the UK to teach I have taken numerous school trips to allow students the opportunity to complete voluntary charitable work in various countries in Africa.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for your understanding around the heating and fire alarm this week. We know that, for some of our students, change can be very difficult to deal with. With regards to the heating, we made the decision to keep school open because know that a school closure has significant impacts upon our families. So, whilst we were prepared for that eventuality and held students in form groups, we were doing everything we could to re-establish the pressure in the heating system and bring the temperature back up to normal. I thank you for your support with this and thank our site team for working through some challenging conditions to ensure that learning was able to continue from 10am.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Scott Doyle
Principal