Dear Families
I hope this update finds you and those closest to you in the best of health. It’s been another action packed week at the academy but this week has been anything but typical as you’ll see form the information below. Our Year 11 mocks have drawn to a close with just catch-up exams remaining, Year 13 will now begin their period of testing, we have the Year 9 pathways coming up, an exciting announcement bout China as well as a range of visitors, trips and fixtures.
China – International Exchange Trip
As part of our Partnership with schools in Hefei, China, we will be running an International Exchange Trip in April 2025. This is an opportunity for 40 students from Derby Moor to visit our partner school, Hefei No.8. Students will spend 3 days in their school as well as visiting Hefei city itself, and nearby Shanghai. This opportunity is available to current year groups 8 to 11 (Years 9 to 12 in academic year 2024-25) and assemblies sharing information regarding the international trip are currently underway.
For students interested in taking part in this opportunity, there will be a Parents Information Evening on Thursday 21st March 2024, 6 to 7 pm. This meeting will give further details regarding the itinerary of the trip, the costs and the student selection process. Application forms for the trip will be available at this meeting as well as a chance to ask Mr Hall any questions that you may have.
Year 11 Update
Mock Exams: Year 11 students have now completed two weeks of mock exams and we are really pleased with how they have approached these assessments. As you will know, we are now approaching Parents Evening and students will receive results in an enclosed letter to confirm grades achieved during their mock examinations. Parents Evening will be held on Wednesday 27th March.
Holiday Intervention: We will again be inviting students in throughout the two-week Easter break, to take up additional and crucial intervention with subject teachers. Please expect further information about this shortly, which will include subjects and the times students will be required.
Summer Exam Timetables: Students will receive their summer exam timetables in the last week of this half term. Please note that this year’s exams are slightly earlier than in previous years.
Graduation: We now have a proposed date for this year’s graduation. Students and parents will receive notification of this date shortly, alongside arrangements and invitations.
Year 9 Parents Evening & Pathways Support
Year 9 Parents Evening takes place next week, on Wednesday 13th March 2024. This is an important opportunity to talk to subject staff about your child’s progress this year but to also look forward to the end of year exams which then lead into Year 10 & Year 11. On this evening there will also be support around the Pathways Choices that Year 9 are currently working through. Mr Wragg will be available on the Learning Hub to address any queries and offer support around the choices that students have to make. There is a tight deadline after Parents Evening for students to return their preferences.
Mr Wragg will give all students a final pathway form on Friday 15th March from which students, together with parents, can identify their subject preferences. This form must be returned to students by the following Tuesday, 19th March 2024. If there are any queries after Tuesday 19th March 2024, these should be addressed with Mr Wragg who will manage the allocation process over the next few months until choices are finalised.
In addition, we will also have a number of external providers in attendance at the Year 9 Parents Evening who can support students in making these choices:
- Luminate Careers – these are our independent and impartial careers advisers who work at Derby Moor weekly. They will be available to answer any Pathways or careers related questions.
- Derby University – available to discuss pathways into higher education and answer any questions regarding qualifications and entry routes or more general questions about university.
- Derby College – available to discuss pathways into further education and answer any questions regarding qualifications and entry routes or more general questions about colleges.
- DHL – available to discuss pathways into apprenticeships and answer any questions regarding qualifications and entry routes or more general questions about apprenticeships.
All of our visitors will be based on the Learning Hub and are looking forward to meeting you on Wednesday 13th March 2024.
World Book Day – Thursday 7th March 2024
A number of staff supported World Book day by dressing up as their favourite literary characters. Amongst the staff who dressed up, there were a bunch of Wallys; Luigi; Eeyore; a Coven of Witches; Hermione and Luna from Harry Potter; Woody; a Mr Men character, the Gruffalo, Mad Hatter, Scream and an oversized Oompa Loompa! In addition to this, at the start of each KS3 lesson, students listened to a chapter of a book from the Reading Rampage collection.
The aim of World Book day, and the reason that staff get dressed up, is to encourage the students to engage with reading for pleasure. We know that reading is a gateway skill and so the better students are at reading, the more effectively they will be able to access information for the remainder of their time in education and beyond.
Careers for Women Take Off at DHL on International Women’s Day
Twenty two young ladies from Year 10 visited DHL at East Midlands Airport today, networking with a wide range of female employees who do very diverse jobs there. After an enlightening talk about how to make your career choices, students participated in a DHL problem solving selection task, presenting solutions in a Dragons’ Den style pitch, proving they have the capability to be employed there. They relished the opportunity to manage all stages of passenger processing through an airport, using training simulators for all airline roles, including pilots. In the afternoon after passing through security, they were shown how the emergency services work together to answer calls , with detailed hands on exploration of all aspects of the specialised fire engines. The highlight of the visit for many was the airside tour of the cargo and passenger departure stands, showing behind the scenes operations and the trip down the runway during which the logistics of getting flights airborne were thoroughly explained. It was an amazing day, full of memorable experiences, giving a true insight into potential careers for ambitious young women.
Half Term 3 – Purely Positive Reward
This week saw the third reward for those students who did not accrue any B or C points during Half Term 3. This reward was to see a Magic Show by Mr Paul Brown a.k.a ‘Magical Mayehm’. He had been charged with bending and baffling their brains and he didn’t fail to deliver on this. There were a huge number of students taking part in this over 2 days and it certainly brought comments of ‘no way!’ and ‘how did he do that?’ from the students.
We will shortly be distributing a range badges for students in relation to the Purely Positive Points, which will be given out each Half Term. The badges are Platinum (Zero points); Gold (-1 point); Silver (-2 points) and Bronze (-3 points) lapel badges. These will be given out asap to the students starting with the Half Term 3 results, then each Half Term moving forward.
Student Voice
Students completed a very similar survey to the Parents Survey. Some of the key points from this include that students felt happy and safe at school; students said that if they work hard, they will be recognised and rewarded; they knew that they get rewarded after each half term and most students said that they had received some half termly reward.
Student Librarians
There are now 15 student librarians, who are taking responsibility for helping in the library at lunchtime. Please could you encourage students to come and use the library at lunchtime. The reading Rampage books are available to read, rate and then pass on.
Principals Coffee Morning
The next Principals Coffee Morning is scheduled for Wednesday 20th March 2024, 9.40 – 10.40 am. An item for discussion during this session will be the process of Year 8 Soft Options. Therefore, we would particularly encourage Year 8 Parents to attend, if possible.
Sports Update
Year 8 Football Tournament at John Port: The Year 8 team went to John Port this week to compete in their first tournament of the year. We played 5 games competing against schools across Derby. The first game we played Littleover school, a very tight game but an amazing finish from IM hitting the top right-hand corner of the goal and confirming the win. The second game we played Bemrose, who put up a strong defence and took a lot to get through. It took 2 last minute goals from LM and TH to secure 2 wins out of 2. The third game we played John Taylor and again it was a strong display from the team with LM getting the only goal of the game. The 4th game we played Murray Park and both teams went in undefeated. A great battle with some outstanding displays from both teams saw the game go end to end, but an amazing volley from a corner for Murray Park saw them edge the game. The final game was against Derby High where a 1-1 draw was a fair result. Overall, an amazing effort from everybody in the team. Having only won a handful of games in Year 7 the team have really progressed this year and should be really proud of what they’ve achieved. The next tournament is on the 19th March again at John Port.
Year 10 Tournament at John Port: 1 win, 3 draws, 1 loss. Only one goal conceded and a massive improvement from the tournament last week. Players of the tournament – RKM for some great saves made at point blank range and MH for constant running and battling during all 5 games. Huge effort and resilience shown from the whole squad against some really good sides. Last tournament will be held at John Port next Thursday.
Year 9 Tournament at John Port: The Year 9 boys football team took part in a City tournament held at John Port School. Despite losing to Chellaston 4-0 last week, we battled to earn a draw in the first game. We then played Woodlands and John Port but both games unfortunately ended in narrow defeats. The team are looking forward to getting back onto grass and playing 11-a-side!
Extra-Curricular Timetable: Please find attached the extra-curricular timetable for next week.
Careers Update
Career of the Week: This week’s job of the week is a ‘Radio Producer’.
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.
East Midlands Airport
On Friday, 22 Year 10 girls were invited by our partners at DHL to take part in a visit to East Midlands Airport to mark International Women’s Day. The students experienced a wide range of job roles that take place at the airport including the operation of the Fire Station , Operations, Talent Management and the Cargo staff. They got to go onto the runway on an operations bus and see an aircraft take off. The students expressed surprise to see just how many traditional male jobs were being undertaking by young, talented women. It was a truly inspirational visit.
Virtual Careers Expo 2024
On Thursday a group of Year 12 students took part in a Virtual Careers Expo the aim of which is to give students a taste of a variety of different industries and to highlight the range of roles available. Goldman Sachs; Zurich; BNPP; Siemens, DHL & Bettys and Taylors all took part. Students were able to find out about the variety of job roles, entry requirements and the skills required to be successful as well as ask questions to apprentices and graduates within the organisations.
Future Skills Questionnaire
Next week learners Year 9 students will be completing the Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ) during their IT lessons. This will help us evaluate the school’s careers programme, plan future careers activities and target learners who may need additional support. Students will complete the 15-minute questionnaire which asks questions on their career related knowledge and skills. This should be an enjoyable activity and encourage them to begin thinking about future careers and next steps after school. We use a third-party tool called Compass+ to administer the questionnaire. All learner data is processed in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Staff Spotlight
This week, we shine the Staff Spotlight on Miss Russell:
- Q) How long have you worked at Derby Moor Spencer Academy?
- A) I started in July 2022 (on the first day of the summer holidays so the first few weeks were very quiet!)
- Q) What is your role and what does it entail?
- A) Data and Exams Administrator. I work with both the Exams Officer and Data Manager on a variety of things including mock exams, GCSE and A-Level exams, results days, school reports, student admissions, and maintaining student data.
- Q) What is your favourite thing about working here?
- A) I work with a great team of people and every day is a different. Working in exams means I get to see students from the start of their qualifications right through to results day and it’s very satisfying to see students achieving their goals.
- Q) What other interesting roles or experiences have you had?
- A) I have a degree in drama and trained as a drama teacher – I worked as a teacher for about a year before becoming a cover teacher at a school in Burton, then moving into working in exams. In my spare time I run a Brownies and Guides group.
Our Year 11’s have hit the ground running this week with their mock examinations and will continue these into next week. We also have the Year 13 exams coming up and the pathways/options processes for Year 9 and 8. Plenty to look forward to in what is a short but busy half term ahead.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Scott Doyle
Principal