To Our Meden Families
As I write this final message to you as Headteacher of Meden School, I find myself reflecting on the extraordinary journey we have taken together over the past seven years, especially the transformation we’ve seen over the past six.
Meden School has changed significantly in that time. We have been through a period of rapid and sustained improvement, and I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a community. From a successful Ofsted inspection to several years of consistently above-average exam results, Meden is now oversubscribed and firmly established as the local school of choice.
We have invested in our environment too, with building renovations that reflect the pride we take in creating a space where students feel safe, inspired, and ambitious and we’ve embedded oracy at the heart of our curriculum, so much so that last year, we became a Voice 21 Oracy Centre of Excellence. The ability to speak confidently, listen actively, and express ideas clearly has become a powerful driver of student success, and I am incredibly proud of how far we’ve come in this area.
But above all, the greatest asset Meden has, and will always have, is its students. Their energy, resilience, ambition, and kindness have inspired me every single day. They are the reason we do what we do, and it has been an honour to serve them.
To you, our parents, and carers, a massive and heartfelt thank you. Thank you for your support, your encouragement, and your partnership throughout my time as Headteacher. You have trusted us with your children, stood with us through challenge and change, and played a vital role in everything we have achieved together. I am deeply grateful.
It has been the privilege of my career to lead Meden School. This place has not only shaped me as a leader, but it has also shaped me as a person. Meden has played an incredibly important part in both my professional journey and my life and leaving it behind is something I do with real emotion and pride.
Although I am stepping down, I leave confident in the strength of the team leading Meden forward. This school is in excellent hands, and the future is bright.
Please take a moment to watch my short farewell video message below, where I share more about what Meden, and your children, have meant to me.
With heartfelt thanks and absolute best wishes for the future,
Warm regards,
As our parents know, we always take every opportunity to celebrate our students' achievements inside and outside of school.
MEDEN SCHOOL SPORTS LEADERS
On Friday, several Y9 students helped Birklands Primary School with their sports day on the top Meden field.
Students involved.
Some wonderful feedback from the staff at Birklands School about the students....
"Just wanted to drop you a quick message to say how brilliant the Sports Leaders were today. They were so helpful and really supportive of all the children during the races – honestly, they were amazing!
They were a real credit to Meden, and it would be lovely if they could be recognised in some way for how well they did".
"I would like to echo Emily’s words - your pupils really did display great leadership skills today".
Well done to all the students who took part!
FREYA PERCIVAL Y12
Winter National Dressage Championships 2025 at Addington Manor Equestrian.
Freya & Happy competed in the Elementary Silver and Novice Silver championship classes and achieved sixth in the Elementary category and just outside of the top 10 in the Novice category. They gained 67% in the Elementary category and 67% yet again in the Novice category.
The winter national championships is a prestigious event; it is the best of the best in the UK that have qualified to get there. This meant that Freya and Happy, were riding among professionals. As a result of this competition, they have now qualified for the summer version of this competition, which is much more popular among British dressage competitors, making it even more difficult for Freya to qualify for the Summer National Championships. We would like to wish Freya all the best, it is admirable to see her riding at such a high level.
CHARLOTTE CROSSLAND 10A
C
Charlotte is a talented dancer, and her preferred styles are Tap, Jass & Music Theatre with Jazz being her favourite. Charlotte started dancing around 7 or 8 years ago, initially enrolling at Spotlight studios but more recently a member of The Triple Threat Dance Academy based in Clipstone where the dancers range from age 3 to 10.
She has always loved to dance, and her mum told me that she is always making up new dance routines and this helps her to improve her skills. Charlotte told me that as well as working towards grades in dance, being a dancer helps her deal with stress and has a positive effect on her mood and mental health. It makes her feel good!
Dancing, as well as being her favourite pass time, is clearly something Charlotte has natural talent for. Last year she was moved into the top senior group, for both Tap and Jazz. She talks to me with huge passion and is clearly dedicated. She loves to perform in the show and recently her Dance Academy celebrated 10 years with a Disney themed performance of all their previous dances, with a twist. Charlotte intends to keep dancing, maybe one day she will run her own Dance Academy but she has promised to come and let me know about her shows and performances so we can celebrate her achievements with her.
Well done, Charlotte, you are amazing and a true inspiration!
LACIE HANDLEY 10A
Of all the activities and sports our students become involved in outside of school, I would never have imagined that one of them would be polo. Lacie Handley plays competitive polo and is utterly amazing! Showing me her scoring a goal recently I was amazed by her natural ability and fascinated to hear more.
As someone who has always loved horses and owns her own Clover, her everyday horse and Chucker her polo pony, she explained that polo ponies are often thoroughbreds that are fast but not fast enough to race.
Lacie has only played polo for a couple of years, but the last 6 months has move higher and played in more tournaments. As a member of Dart Polo Club in Lincolnshire, Lacey explained that the season for polo runs April to September. She told me how she first got into polo by joining a club just across the road for fun. Clearly Lacey never imagined what an impact the sport would have on her and that this fun activity would turn into a great passion, something in which she would love to further her career. I asked her how she even managed to stay on her horse she described the adrenalin she felt and how once she got on the pitch she become totally focused on the task in hand. She is now looking forward to competing increasingly more and has the ability to take it to the highest level.
I look forward to hearing more from Lacie who has promised to share more of her achievements. Amazing Lacie, well done!
SEA CADETS ROWING TEAM - OFF TO NATIONALS!
Three Y9 girls, who are part of the rowing team for Worksop Sea Cadets, were successful in winning the North West district rowing competition in May, and won the Eastern Area in July which means they're off to the Nationals in London on 30th August.
A big shout out to Chloe Turton, Abbie Shaw & Myla Ward are part of the rowing team that is made up by 2 students from Worksop schools.
They have put a lot of effort into training and work so well together as a team on weekends and Wednesday nights.
The Worksop Sea Cadets have expressed their immense pride in their achievements, dedication to training and overall commitment to a team sport. Well done girls, we look forward to hearing how you get on!
CULTURE CODE REWARDS
Students from across all the year groups were identified to take part in this half term's reward event which was Bowling & McDonalds.
Students had great fun and it was a great end to the academic year.
CULTURE CODE SCORE TOP ACHIEVERS
As the academic year comes to an end, we would like to give a special shout out the top 10 Culture score achievers for this academic year.
YEAR 7 TOP 10 ACHIEVERS
YEAR 8 TOP 10 ACHIEVERS
YEAR 9 TOP ACHIEVERS
YEAR 10 TOP 10 ACHIEVERS
This half term has been massive for Sporting Events; so many different sports with so many achievements. Here is a round up of the main events
CRICKET
Wednesday 9th July
On Wednesday 9th July, some Y7&8 boys attended Welbeck cricket club to take part in a cricket fixture v Selston school.
The game was played so that every player had the chance to bat, bowl and field. Any 'outs' resulted in -5 runs being deducted from overall team score, rather than not being able to continue batting if they got out.
Meden's team proved to be very strong and dominated the game from start to finish!
Students involved
Students batted in pairs and faced 16 balls in total from 2 x extended overs.
Scores were...
Our team then bowled and fielded. I am not sure quite how many wickets were taken in total (meaning that Selston lost 5 runs each time)- but after 80 balls being bowled; Selston had managed less than 15 runs in total.
Superb effort, behaviour and attitude shown by all players.
Wednesday 16th July
On Wednesday 16th July, some Y7&8 students attended Welbeck cricket club to take part in a second cricket fixture v Selston school.
Meden's team faced an all boys team this time from Selston and relished the challenge!
The game was played so that every player had the chance to bat, bowl and field. Any 'outs' resulted in -5 runs being deducted from overall team score, rather than not being able to continue batting if they got out.
Students involved
Y7
Y8
ROUNDERS
Tuesday 8th July
On Tuesday 8th July, Meden had 2 teams competing in a rounders competition v local schools. (Jo Whit school x2 teams as well, Sutton and Samworth)
This was a Y7&8 mixed rounders event. 6 teams entered in total and all schools played each others in a 24 ball innings.
The tournament was a great success, with students showing great teamwork and determination against some really strong teams.
Meden's Y7 team finished 5th and Meden's Y8 team finished 6th (an extra win for each team would have really changed the results though!)
Students involved
Year 7
Year 8
Monday 14th July
On Monday 14th July, Meden had 2 teams competing in another rounders competition v local schools. (Jo Whit school, Sutton and Kirkby)
This was a Y9&10 mixed rounders event. 5 teams entered in total and all schools played each other in a '15 ball game'.
The tournament was a great success, with students representing the school amazingly! They two Meden teams absolutely loved competing against each other.
Results were very tight; all 5 times separated by 4 points after all playing 4 games in total.
1st- Jo Whit on 10 points
2nd- Meden Y10's on 9 points (21.5 rounders scored in total)
3rd- Kirkby on 9 points (21 rounders scored in total)
4th Meden Y9's 6 points (14.5 rounder scored in total)
5th- Sutton 6 points (10 rounders scored in total)
Y9 team
Y10 team
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SCHOOLS SUMMER GAMES.
12 year 7 students have been to Harvey Hadden to take part in the Nottinghamshire Schools Summer Games.
Schools from all over Nottinghamshire were in attendance and Meden were grouped against the schools within the Mansfield & Bassetlaw districts.
The morning saw the students take part in Dodgeball, Indoor Rowing and Golf. After lunch as the temperatures rose, we were set to take part in some athletics. Students competed in a Howler Throw, Standing Long Jump, 80m Spring and 2 x 200m relay.
The students worked amazingly well together throughout the day, they were supportive of each other, got on with the tasks at hand and did the best that they could. The students finished the day in 2nd place and all of the students left with a Silver Medal.
Students who took part are:
RUGBY
On Tuesday 1st July, a group of Y8&9 girls attended Mansfield rugby club for a 'touch rugby' event being hosted by the club.
The aim of the event was to promote girls rugby and engage students in a growing sport within our local community.
Ourselves and Manor school attended the session and the girls really enjoyed the experience. And majorly got stuck in!
They looked at some passing and defending specific drills before developing into small sided games of touch rugby.
The event finished with a larger game of 'touch' between Meden students v Manor students.
The RFU then provided all girls who attended the session with a rugby ball to thanks the girls for their participation.
On the minibus on the way home- a few of the students who don't already play for the Mansfield were asking for details to potentially involved, which was amazing to hear.
Students attending
"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." - Margaret Fuller
BIG READ
Each half term, students take part in the Big Read. The big read sessions allow students to have the opportunity to read and listen to staff read while they follow the text. They will then be given the opportunity, via the big read sessions to explore the big ideas in the text and learn more about what it can teach us about the world.
This half terms big read focus was on toxic masculinity - specifically how we can challenge any misconceptions about damaging and harmful masculine stereotypes.
Fiction: Students read a short extract from the modern fiction by Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Non-Fiction: Students then read and discussed recent news articles focused on toxic masculinity within the UK.
The students had some discussions about how they can make a difference.
NEW READING CANON COMING SOON
Sneek preview at a NEW and improved reading canon for library lessons next year:
At Meden, we aim to equip learners with knowledge, skills, and attributes to be able to do something about the injustices of the world. We aim to ensure our learners develop life-long reading, writing and oracy skills that allow them to communicate effectively in school, in the wider community and beyond.
Therefore, it is vital that we ensure students are exposed to a variety of different books during their time at Meden. The Library Reading Canon has been adapted so that all KS3 students will enter KS4 having read at least 2 modern prose and 2 classic prose. The books have been carefully selected and planned to not only foster a love of reading, but to also support students with their academic learning across the curriculum.
Year 7:
All students: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Year 8:
All students: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
9M7:
RECOMMENDED SUMMER READS
Summer is the perfect time to get outside and delve into a new book. Here is some we recommend:
Holes by Louis Sachar
Theme: Friendship, justice, mystery
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Theme: Good vs. evil, fantasy, faith
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Theme: Kindness, inclusion, self-acceptance
Once you have read these books you can even watch the films!
From all of the reading team - we hope you all have a lovely summer and we cannot wait to share our new and exciting ideas for the new academic year!
SPONSOR A SHELF SCHEME 2024/2025
We have received some extremely generous donations this year after launching our ‘Sponsor a Shelf’ scheme. A heartfelt thank you goes to Malcolm Purvis, Women of Welbeck, Warsop United Charities, Mrs J Sipson on behalf of the late Joan Sipson and B Jephson Mansfield Ltd.
Thanks to their support, our new fiction books are now in the library for students to enjoy. We would also like to thank our year 9 students Alice Sipson and Jessica Leedham for their fantastic help in ordering new titles and preparing the stock for the library shelves.
Our team of Student Librarians will be working through our non-fiction books from September and choosing some exciting new titles to fill the gaps in our stock.
If you’re interested in supporting our school library through our ‘Sponsor a Shelf’ scheme or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
THE MALCOLM PURVIS LIBRARY AWARD 2025
We had the pleasure of announcing the winner of the very first ‘Malcolm Purvis Library Award’ at our annual Awards Evening in June.
The award was inspired by Mr Purvis’ generosity to our school library. Mr Purvis is passionate about education and has a deep appreciation for the transformative power of books. He has spent decades in the field of engineering and has witnessed firsthand how knowledge and access to information can shape lives.
Year 8, Student Librarian Jack Buck was our very worthy winner for his exceptional dedication to improving our school library. Jack’s organisation skills and passion for the library has ensured we have a thriving environment to promote reading for pleasure and for learning, growth and connections to flourish. His enthusiasm and commitment to promoting the importance of our library is greatly appreciated by the whole school.
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
If you were lucky enough to watch our talented students perform in this year's school production, you will agree that they were absolutely amazing! Performing in the show in front of parents, family members and friends takes great courage and was a massive achievement for all the students. Many months of hard work, rehearsing their lines, their songs and their dance moves proved worthwhile. Thank you to everyone who played a part whether in the cast, behind the scenes or part of the operational team that helped put together such a great show.
Here are some pictures.
CAREERS
A big thank you to Major Steve Goodwin for attending Meden School this week to deliver a workshop with students interested in careers in the army. Our students were so engaged throughout.
GIRLS BELIEVE
It was great to see students represent Meden School so well during the Girls Believe Project organised by Equans. 15 of our girls were able to see engineering in practice through what goes into construction behind the scenes. The final day, (Phase 3), that formed part of a bigger program, gave the girls a unique opportunity to see behind the scenes of a real-life STEM workplace and to meet professionals in the industry.
Here are some pictures from the day
The girls had a wonderful day and have learned so much from the whole experience, giving some of them the insight they need to consider a career in engineering! Thank you to Equans for giving our students such a wonderful experience!
YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY FIELDWORK
As part of the Geography course our Y10 students visited Castleton, in the Peak District, to conduct a fieldwork investigation involving measuring the river at different sites and the impact of tourism on the town.
It was a great trip, the weather was perfect and lots of data was collected by the students to be analysed, as part of their class room studies
Here are some pictures from the day!
YEAR 12 BIOLOGY FIELD TRIP
Friday the 18th July, Year 12 Biology students took to Clumber park to complete their required practical 12.
They were investigating how Abiotic factors within the park impacted species distribution.
All students worked hard in the build up to the practical to ensure they knew what they were doing and were able to successfully execute the practical.
Here are some pictures
THE CREST AWARD
Just a little update on the progression of the Crest Award Club. Students have worked really hard installing new plants, a pump and even a few fish in to the pond at Meden and we are already seeing a plethora of visitors to the newly created habitat including lots of birds, bees and other insects as well as some unusual dragonflys. It is a really lovely place to see and enjoy the sound of the newly install fountain. What this space for more updates!
We were truly humbled to receive a certificate from the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme, to congratulate us on the number of volunteering hours achieved by our students this academic year.
1356 Hours in total and as more and more students join the scheme, this will only improve year on year.
At the moment , Meden students have the option of joining 2 different schemes, Bronze and Silver. Students start with bronze before progressing on to their silver award.
The Duke of Edinburgh scheme is such a great achievement because it offers a young person
- the chance to make new friends,
- to follow their passions, l
- to learn new skills and
- to make a difference in our community.
Gaining a DofE Award is a great way to impress employers too. It’s also non-competitive and a powerful way for every young person to build belief in themselves, whatever their background, interests and abilities.
Here are some pictures looking back over the expeditions this year
If you require any more information about Duke of Edinburgh contact Miss Woodfield on lwoodfield@medenschool.co.uk
It is great to see the majority of our parents have signed up to the Parent Portal and Parentpay.
There is so much information at your fingertips, that you can view without the need to contact the school.
Mychildatschool www.mychildatschool.com
Every parent/carer has access to the parent portal. We use Mychildatschool or MCAS.
There is an app available for this portal. use google play or App store to download.
On the portal you can see so many things
An example of what a parent dashboard will look like is
Down the left hand side you have your menu
Click on any of the sub heading to look at that topic.
Where a box has the MORE heading in the top right you can click to expand the topic
EVENTS
Under events you can see positive, Negative( conduct) and Neutral Events.
You can see the details of an event by clicking on a date,
Please explore the webpage/app and you will soon see the value of having the app to keep you informed about your child.
If you haven't ever used the app, it is simple to get set up...
Type in www.mychildatschool.com and use your registered email to reset your password.
Please contact office@medenschool.co.uk for further assistance.
USING PARENTPAY
Parentpay was introduced to replace SQUID in March and so far over 85% of parents are signed up.
We use parentpay for the following functions
There is no app for parentpay, instead you type in www.parentpay.com
We will provide you with a username and password that is unique to you and your child. Please contact school if you do not know this.
Use the unique details to log in
When you log in you will see your home screen (it may look different on a mobile phone)
To top up meals use PAY FOR MEALS
For anything else use PAY FOR OTHER ITEMS
From here you can add additional children using the unique details we provide on request.
HOW TO VIEW WHAT MY CHILD EATS/ OTHER TRANSACTIONS
In the notes you can see details of any transactions.
OTHER HELP & SUPPORT
There are many topics to help you navigate the website that can be accessed from the top of the page. Here is a link
The end of term often means we have to say goodbye to some of our wonderful staff and this term is no different.
As you all know the biggest farewell goes to our much loved and well respected headteacher, Mr Smith, who starts a new chapter in his career in September, at Silverdale School in Sheffield. It has been an emotional few days for us all but we wish him the very best.
Staff joined together yesterday to say our goodbyes with messages from members of our student leaders (pictured above) and staff. Good Luck Mr Smith- we will all miss you!
GOODBYE & GOOD LUCK
Fond Farewells also to the following staff who are leaving us for pastures new.
Miss Haynes - Teacher of Social Sciences/Humanities
Mrs Owen - SEND Team
Mr Knox - Teacher of Business & Enterprise
WELCOME TO...
We are excited to welcome the follow new staff to the Team
Mr Knox - Assistant Headteacher
Miss Mann - Teacher of DT
Mr Fuller - Teacher of Humanities
Mrs Rowley - Teacher of Science
Miss Parkes - Teacher of Social Sciences/ Humanities
Mr Sisson - Teacher of Maths
Miss Hodgkinson - TA
Miss Booth - TA (Maternity Cover)
Miss Rudd - Teacher
Mr Wade
Meden School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT