A message from the Principal
Welcome to our February Newsletter. It has been an incredibly busy half term for all of our staff and students and one that, unfortunately, has continued to see the impact of Covid19. We started with testing of all students and whilst positive cases in students has remained low, it has affected our staff, meaning absence has been far higher than usual. Thank you to all of our staff for organising and sourcing supply teachers, covering lessons of colleagues and doing additional to ensure our students are not adversely affected. It has been a huge team effort.
We have also seen the pressure increase on our Year 11 students who returned in the year they will definitely sit their GCSE exams. They have responded brilliantly with a noticeable increase in effort and attitude with excellent attendance at the extra sessions put on by subject staff at lunch and after school. Students who study Btec Travel and Btec Health & Social Care have even sat their real exam in the final week of the half term! Well done to all students and staff involved in preparing for this.
Excitingly, 2022 will also see the launch of Redmoor’s new uniform in time for the start of the 2022-23 academic year. Our new uniform pieces are far more environmentally sustainable and distinctive to Redmoor. In summary, these changes will apply to all students from the start of the next academic year in August 2022 apart from the skirt for Year 11 students (current Year 10). Being in their final year of school, students in Year 11 can choose to join the rest of the school in wearing the new skirt or continue with their grey skirt for the remaining time at Redmoor. For all other students;
- The new maroon tie will be provided free of charge for all students
- The new skirt will be compulsory for Years 7-10 from August 2022
- The jumper remains optional
- There is no need to change the blazer as the new, recycled version is identical in appearance
The new uniform items will be available to purchase from our two existing stockists (Hole in the Wall and Swifts) from 25th April 2022.
There are no changes to either our footwear policy (plain black sensible footwear/ no coloured soles or logos) or to our PE uniform.
Despite the challenges of this half term, we have still managed to achieve a great deal and our students continue to participate in fantastic opportunities, including the best music concert we have ever produced and our Year 10 boys football team reaching the County Cup semi-finals.
Best wishes for a lovely half term,
Matt Nicolle - Principal
Creative Writing
In December we were delighted to welcome acclaimed author Bali Rai into Redmoor to lead a Creative Writing workshop. Bali worked with students from across Year 8 and 9 and delivered an assembly to both year groups about his life and work. Bali has written a range of brilliant books over many years, including ‘Rani and Sukh’ and the award winning ‘(Un)arranged Marriage.’ During the workshops, Bali introduced the students to new and exciting ways of approaching creative writing. Phoebe from 8Pop had the following to say: ‘Hearing Bali Rai speak about his life was really inspirational. He encouraged me to write my own stories and go to the creative writing club at school.’
Duke of Edinburgh Award
In February we held our first Expedition training session for the year 9 and 10 Bronze award participants. These sessions aim to supplement the training from our external expedition provider, Mere Lane Outdoor Pursuits. To start, the students were challenged to interview past participants to discover what the expedition involved as well as any highs or lows they might experience during the walking and camping. The Whistle was introduced as a key piece of safety equipment and we discussed injuries and illnesses that could happen on expeditions and how to avoid them.
A big thank you to Emily, Laura, Sam, Imogen, Lani and Mia from year 10 who volunteered their time to support the new DofE cohort!
Many participants have now made a fantastic start on each of their sections and the evidence that is being uploaded is a high standard. If there are any questions regarding what to do for a section or how to use eDofE, please contact Miss F Cassidy at fcassidy@redmooracademy.org
Key dates for DofE:
- Bronze Expedition training evening session: 22nd February (5-7pm at Redmoor).
- Bronze Expedition training weekend: 19th and 20th March (Spring groups).
- Silver Expedition training day: 12th March.
- Deadline for payments:
- Bronze Expedition training weekend: 18th February.
- Silver Expedition training day: 11th February.
Lego League
On January 22nd the Lego League team traveled to Coventry University to compete against schools from across the region with their robot that they had designed to complete this year's challenges and a project presentation, which they had been working on since September, to deliver to a panel of judges. This year's theme was 'Cargo Connect'.
The team was made up of ten students from year 8, 9 and 11 who worked together exceptionally well, earning the 'Core Values' trophy on the day. The judges felt the students demonstrated the best team ethic where students helped each other and worked together well and it was clear that everyone had taken part in all parts of the project with the older and more experienced students mentoring the younger students too. One of the students was unfortunately unable to attend the competition in person on the day due to isolating but the team made sure that he stayed involved throughout the day via video call with him even taking part in the presentation and answering judges questions remotely.
With the season now completed, due to being pipped to the win overall by Coundon Court School in Coventry, the team will look to build towards nexts year's competition with new leaders for the first time in a while as the year 11s will be leaving us. A big well done to Sam, Matt, Alfie and Kai who have taken part in Lego League every year since they were in year 7, showing great dedication and having developed their engineering, leadership and teamwork skills during their time at Redmoor. Together they have built a very successful and competitive Lego League team. During their time in Lego League they have enjoyed trips to the assembly lines at Caterpillar in Desford at the invitation of their professional engineer mentors and have come within a whisker of the overall win and a trip to the national finals several times. They will be missed next season although hopefully they can pop by on occasion to help with next year's team!
Further Maths
Redmoor continues to embed high level challenge in our Mathematics Department. Fifteen year eleven students will be taking the Further Maths examinations this summer and students from year 10 will be invited to participate in this very challenging course, which involves work very close to early A level Maths.
I want to take Further Maths at A Level and this was an opportunity to increase my mathematics knowledge
This course helps with my GCSE maths and I'm likely to improve
This will look really good on my CV and helps with my college applications.
I enjoy learning in a smaller class and though it would be interesting and help my main skills. It did!
Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival
On Thursday 3rd February 21 talented students travelled to the Curve, Leicester to take part in the annual Shakespeare Festival. Having spent 3 weeks creating a performance to be proud of, the students told their 30 minute version of Shakespeare’s ‘The Comedy of Errors’ to an audience of 250 in a professional theatre. Having worked all day in their technical rehearsal and rehearsing in front of another, older school, the students wowed the audience in front of family and friends that evening. The comments made about the performance in their appraisal included how Shakespeare himself ‘would have been proud’ of their performance and that they delivered a ‘clear story’ of two sets of twins finding each other again.
Football
The Year 10 football team have made their way into the semi-final of the County Cup. In the quarter-final they played against South Charnwood winning 2-1. The goals came from Tyler Wilkinson, scoring a well deserved equaliser and Josh Davies grabbed the winner in the final 5 minutes. Man of the Match was awarded to Isaac Rowley for a high energy and battling performance.
Rugby
At the start of term all Key Stage 3 students were fortunate enough in their PE lesson to have a taster rugby session from Leicester Tigers community coaches. Students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions with fun warm up games based on rugby related skills and then onto touch rugby game play. All students were invited and many have continued to attend the KS3 rugby club after school. These students will be going on to take their skills to a competitive level at a Hinckley rugby club for a festival where they will play other teams and schools in the area. Good luck Redmoor and enjoy!
The Brilliant Club
Thank you to all the Year 8 students who applied to participate in Redmoor’s Brilliant Club. We had over 30 applications and can’t wait to announce the successful 12 students!
Redmoor's Music Concert
A huge thank you to all of our students that performed in our music concert on Thursday 10th February. It was a wonderful evening full of musical talent and it was brilliant to finally have a school event take place after a long two years without one.
The Skills Network
The Skills Network provide fully funded, level 2 professional development courses in a wide range of different areas. The courses can be accessed by anyone over 19, living in England and are all Ofqual accredited. The Skills Network have created a Redmoor URL for any member of our school community to easily access and apply for the courses on offer. There are lots of different courses that may be of interest to you and your family. The application process takes less than 15 minutes. To apply you will need your NI number, ID and proof of address.
The courses are all:
- Level 2 qualifications (equivalent to GCSE 9-4 or A*-C)
- Between 8 to 12 weeks
- Delivered online or paper based on request
- Distanced learning completed in your own time
- Tutor led
Visit our website below for more information:
