Dear Families,
I hope this update finds you and those closest to you in the best of health. I write to you following our second Drop Down Day of the year on Friday. Students have engaged with a range of employers and taken part in a variety of enrichment and statutory sessions facilitated by external speakers today. It’s always hard to capture the atmosphere during these days in words but there was clearly a buzz of excitement, particularly amongst Year 7 and a genuine feel of positivity and purpose. There is a brief summary of the day below amongst other updates.
Drop Down Day
Drop Down Day 2 was another huge success. Young people in Year 12 visited Loughborough University to experience university life whilst Year 13 have been hearing from local guest speakers about independent living and a range of social issues. Year 11 Geographers collected data from Birmingham City Centre for the fieldwork element of their studies whilst the rest of the Year Group considered how to stay safe in social situations, what effective revision looks like and how to manage stress. Our Year 10 historians visited the Thackery museum whilst others took part in challenging workshops helping them to deal with issues around cancer, suicide and money management. Year 9 were inspired by the author, Kimba, who helped them to think on how to use words more creatively. Some of our Year 8 students learned to cycle today whilst others refined or tackled new circus skills in workshops. Year 7 took part in their Inspiration Day where they worked with a range of employers and alumni who assessed them on their employability skills during the ‘flight’ project.
Year 13 Parents Evening
Thank you to all families who attended the parents evening for Year 13 on Wednesday night. Whilst we know our Year 13 students are capable and independent, it is always nice to connect with families, share success and set targets together for the remaining time before the final examinations. If you feel your child needs any further support in the run up to the final examinations, please do not hesitate to contact the Sixth Form Team.
Student Leadership Update
This week our student leaders are focusing on encouraging all students to take part in extra-curricular activities: We feel extra-curricular activities offer a well-rounded experience that enhances students’ personal, social, and academic development. They provide a platform for students to discover new interests, improve their skills, and build lasting friendships. By engaging in these activities, students learn valuable life skills that contribute to their growth, success, and well-being.
You can find a summary table of our extra-curricular activities on offer for the students this half term on our website.
Music Tuition
Our Performing Arts team are excited to be working in partnership with MLC to provide music tuition at Derby Moor. They are now taking enquiries for instrumental music lessons that will take place during the school day. If you would like to sign your child up for lessons, please use this link and fill out the short online enquiry form.
Careers Update
This week’s job of the week is a Charity Fundraiser.
Derby Moor Dispatch: The Derby Moor Dispatch goes out weekly 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.
Year 13 virtual mock interviews: Many thanks to all of our volunteers from a wide range of businesses including: Cooper Parry; Flint Bishop; DJH; Alstom; DHL; Leidos; Huws Gray; Squire Patton Boggs and the NHS. Our Year 13 students had the experience of completing an online interview with an employer, replicating the experience that they will have when applying for employment or even many university interviews in the future. The students also received valuable feedback and tips on how to improve.
Maths in the world of work: On Monday, one of our former students, Sam Packham gave a virtual presentation after school to a group of Year 11 Maths students about the importance and relevance of applying skills developed in Maths in the workplace. Sam works for a consultancy, based in London. If anyone wants to learn more about consultancy, you can follow this link.
Year 7 Inspiration Day employability and the 4Rs: Another exciting ‘Inspiration Day’ for Year 7 where the students were introduced to the importance of our 4Rs employability skills. Throughout the day, students were assessed on their skills of Respect (speaking & listening); Resilience (problem – solving & staying positive); Responsibility (leadership & aiming high) and Resourcefulness (creativity & teamwork). Our assessors were all from the world of work and included volunteers from Alstom; Rolls Royce; DHL; JN Bentley & The University of Nottingham. Some of our volunteers were also former students of Derby Moor.
Luminate Careers: Our independent and impartial Careers Advisers from Luminate Careers have an excellent website with a wealth of useful information: https://luminatecareersandcoaching.co.uk/
Sports Update
There were some sterling performances at County Cross Country Championships at Moorways this week from each of our students who had been selected to represent Derby City. Each runner paced themselves well and showed the value of training. EM from Year 7, in her first championships, ran a strategically good race to finish 32nd out of 66. JG powered through against stiff competition to finish 9th and SR stoically persevered to achieve a personal best in Junior Boys. KO and DR both pushed themselves hard to gain valuable points for the Derby City team. It’s a great honour to be selected for the City squad and all our runners should be really proud of the way they took advantage of this opportunity. Mr Budd and Mrs Ezis were proud to be there to watch our athletes’ performances.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Scott Doyle
Principal