Dear Families
I hope this update finds you and those closest to you in the very best of health. After a couple of shorter weeks, we have two full length and packed weeks ahead of us before the end of Half Term 2. I have some updates on upcoming events as well as a review of what’s been happening across the academy this week.
Student Punctuality and Road Safety
From time to time we understand that the weather conditions can impact travel to school. Additionally, the roads around our site are always busy at the start of the day but become even more congested during inclement weather (heavy rain/frost/snow) or when the refuse lorries are doing their collections. During these times, please allow additional journey time so students are able to arrive onsite before our doors close at 8.40. If due to exceptional circumstances you are aware they are going to be late please phone our attendance team, as soon as possible. In these cases, we will still ask students to sign in but will not issue a correction.
Can I also remind you that Moorway Lane and the surrounding areas can be very busy at the start and end of day, students travelling on bikes should be aware of the road users and take good care when crossing in front of parked or stationary cars. Pedestrians should also take great care as visibility is often poor during these busy times, and we have seen a couple of incidents where students have narrowly escaped injury.
Purchasing items in school
You will be aware that our school is cashless with ParentPay being our main medium for transactions at present. If you or your child need to purchase items such as equipment, ties or lanyards, please pay for these via ParentPay and you will be notified when they can be collected at student services.
Year 11 Parents’ evening
We would like to thank you all for your attendance at our first Year 11 Parents Evening this week. We hope this evening provided all of the information you require to support your child moving forward post November Mocks, but should you require any further support or help, please do contact Miss A Hill.
Please also be aware that we will be sharing a revision planner booklet with skills and techniques students can use for revision shortly. This will be sent to both Parent and Student Emails. Please encourage your child to utilise this over the coming weeks and months.
Key Stage 3 Update
As we approach the end of the year, we want to remind all families of the importance of excellent attendance. Our school target is 97% attendance, and every day in school counts towards your child’s learning and progress.
Research from the Department for Education shows a strong link between attendance and attainment:
Pupils with 95–100% attendance are 1.3 times more likely to achieve expected standards at Key Stage 3 and 1.9 times more likely to achieve a Grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE compared to those attending 90–95% of the time. Even small improvements in attendance can significantly boost academic outcomes. Beyond academic success, regular attendance supports social development, emotional well-being, and future life chances. Studies show that each additional day of absence can negatively impact future earnings and employment prospects.
Reporting Absences: If your child is unable to attend, please notify the school on a daily basis. This is essential for safeguarding and accurate records.
Year 7 – CATs Tests: Year 7 students will be completing their CATs tests starting this week. These assessments do not require any revision and will take place during tutor time and period 1. Your child’s tutor will provide more information and guidance about the process.
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Program
Did you know that if your child receives benefit-related free school meals, they are entitled to free holiday activities over the winter holiday. Holiday clubs are available across Derby where your child can take part in a wide range of activities including sport, dance, drama, arts and crafts, as well as enjoying a meal each day. If your child is eligible, you should have received an email from HolidayActivities.com. Just follow the instructions in this email to book. Bookings for winter activities will open now. Further details can be found at: www.derby.gov.uk/derbyHAF.
Student Leadership Update
This week, our Student Leadership Team has been busy gathering Student Voice from across the academy—and the excitement for the festive season is already building! Students from all year groups have shared their ideas for how they would like to celebrate Christmas during the final week of term, and the creativity has been fantastic.
A number of popular suggestions emerged, including:
- Competitions to bring out some friendly festive rivalry
- Fun, festive music to be played across the academy
- Kindness candy canes to promote positivity and appreciation
- Lunchtime games to get everyone involved and having fun
- Hot chocolate treats to add a cosy winter touch
We are now working together to explore how we can bring these ideas to life in a way that includes everyone and helps end the term on a high.
Watch this space for more details on how we’ll be celebrating during the last week of term—we can’t wait to share our plans with you!
Awards Evening: Looking ahead, we are excited to host the Awards Evening on Thursday, 11th December, where we will celebrate the achievements of our students for the 2024-25 academic year. This event is a wonderful opportunity to recognize and celebrate the hard work and achievements of our students. We very much look forward to welcoming our winners and their families for this special celebration.
Sports Update
We are delighted to share some fantastic news about one of our students, KT Y10, who has achieved remarkable success in national-level climbing.
KT currently trains three times a week at Alter Rock and has already demonstrated impressive talent in previous competitions. She placed 3rd in the local Under-16 competition at the Climbing Unit in Derby and finished 11th overall in last year’s Midlands Youth Climbing Series, achieving a best result of 3rd place across the six events.
Last weekend, KT took part in the BMC Youth Climbing Competition, competing against the best young climbers from across the country. We are incredibly proud to share that she finished 7th nationally out of 30 finalists—an outstanding achievement.
Her performance included:
- 8th in bouldering
- 8th in lead climbing
- Resulting in an exceptional 7th place overall
Congratulations on this fantastic accomplishment.
Year 9 Boys Basketball Tournament: The Year 9 boys team made their second outing this academic year representing the school in basketball. We saw a couple of debuts too, during a round robin tournament this week.
Derby Moor were competitive in all games and professional, but also showed great sportsmanship throughout all five games, shaking hands with opponents and referees at the end of each game, regardless of result. Winning several games made the trip a memorable experience and made the accompanying staff, very proud. Well done all.
Year 8 Boys Basketball Tournament: The Year 8 Boys team all made their second outing representing the school in this sport, during a round robin tournament held at Allestree Woodlands School this week. Two players were making their debuts.
As with our Year 9 pupils above, this tournament had age-appropriate adapted rules but with more emphasis on giving pupils the chance to play rather than focussing on the score or winning and losing. Derby Moor were competitive in all games and showed an improvement in offensive and defensive play from when they participated in the last tournament two weeks ago. When they won their first game, the smiles on their faces were a great picture. They all continued to show great sportsmanship throughout all four games and even celebrated the achievements of opponents when they demonstrated outstanding skills. They too, were a credit to the school and made accompanying staff very proud.
KS3 and KS4 badminton tournament: Over the last two weeks, 15 students represented Derby Moor in the Derby City badminton tournament, held at Noel Baker Academy. In the KS3 tournament, the students performed well, with many not knowing each other beforehand. We fielded an inexperienced team including a number of Year 7 students, competing against mainly year 9s. Everyone worked hard and, although we didn’t advance to the regional round, they should be very proud of themselves. At the KS4 tournament the following week, there was again some great successes for the team. Despite only having three girls, and therefore not being able to qualify for the next round, they were able to tie with the eventual winners, which was a huge achievement. In the boy’s competition, they competed valiantly, eventually finishing in 4th out of 6 teams.
Careers update
This week’s job of the week is a ‘“Electrician”.
Derby Moor Dispatch: The Dispatch is emailed to the students’ school email address, so it is important that they check this regularly. 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.
Luminate Careers: Our independent and impartial Careers Advisers from Luminate Careers have an excellent website with a wealth of useful information Please have a look at these links designed for parents/carers about careers conversation starters and Post 16 Options. All Year 11 students will be receiving a helpful booklet produced by Luminate Careers about Post 16 Options shortly.
Christmas Lunch
A reminder that the annual Christmas Lunch will be served on Wednesday 17th December and must have been pre-ordered and paid for via ParentPay by 5th December. There will be no other hot food served on this day, but students are able to purchase sandwiches at break time. Alternatively, students are free to bring in their own lunch from home for that day.
Final notes
As we enter the final couple of weeks of term it is likely that we will face further instances of inclement weather. It is vital that students are prepared for this with warm, waterproof coats over their normal uniform. This should be big enough to wear over their blazers, so they are not needing to take blazers off during the day and it allows it to act as a further layer for warmth.
For the next week, we are very much looking forward to hosting our annual Awards Evening and celebrating success from the past academic year. We will also be visited by representatives from George Spencer Academy next week, they will be talking to students about their experience at Derby Moor. This follows on from a visit from Farnborough Academy last week who met with leaders and students on Thursday, visited lessons and looked at how we have developed a range of internal processes and our model for Teaching and Learning. It is always nice to share our practice and learning with others. Our students always excel in these situations too, showing their pride and communicating to our visitors with confidence.
Finally, we will soon be sharing details about the end of term arrangements for the 19th of December. School will finish slightly earlier than normal on that day meaning that alternative arrangements for travel will need to be made. Please look out for the notification on Class Charts.
Best wishes,
Scott Doyle
Principal