As we approach the end of the year and the Christmas break, I want to thank you for your support over the course of the school year to date. This year, so far, has been very much as ‘back to normal’ as possible and our students have been working hard in their lessons and fully accessing our extra-curricular and enrichment programmes.
I have been particularly impressed by Year 11 and Y13 who are beginning to show signs of great dedication and resilience in their preparation for their final examinations in the summer. We will continue to support them in the best way that we can so they are fully prepared and confident. As a school we hope to build on last years amazing GCSE and A Level results.
Year 7 have made an extremely positive start to their time at Meden; it is great to see so many Golden Tickets and ATL points being awarded to them which shows the positive impact they are having, in and out of lessons.
A highlight this term, as always, is the school’s contribution to Remembrance Day. At the front of school, 122 Poppies were displayed, made by our students, to represent each of the Warsop residents who sadly lost their lives in service. Complementing these a stunning mural and remembrance pebbles which were produced by our students in art lessons. Remembrance Day is such a community event in Warsop and I cannot describe how proud I was to see the Student Leadership Team and many other students, some in uniform, playing an active role in the Remembrance Parade.
Our extra-curricular programme continues to grow, with an extended timetable of sports after school this year, as well as a variety of other clubs. I am excited to inform you that the school has been accepted to deliver the Duke of Edinburgh Award. We have already had 40 pupils sign up to take part in the award and we hope to extend the offer to other year groups as the scheme grows. Thank you once again for your support as parents and carers.
Christmastime is the perfect opportunity for us to showcase some of the amazing musical talent we are fortunate to have at our school and this year's Christmas concert was brilliant. It was great to see so many of you enjoying the festivities. Well done to Mrs Archdale and all the students who performed.
Please follow the links below to listen to Julia Major and Megan Bingley, both in Year 9, play some festive tunes on the piano. They are both very talented pianists and it will help you get into the festive spirit.
Julia Major playing 'A Christmas Melody'
Megan Bingley playing 'Carol of the Bells'
Finally thank you to all parents and carers who continue to work in partnership with the school, to support our young people achieve their full potential.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Meden School.
Each year Meden students learn about the importance of Remembrance Day and the reasons why we should not only remember but pay our respects to those who fought in, and sadly lost their lives in conflict since World War 1. Special assemblies are held through out the week and students in Years 7 & 8 have themed lessons in art, creating some fabulous work.
To compliment the amazing poppies created in previous years, students painted Poppy Pebbles which were displayed outside the War Memorial at Warsop Church as part of the Forces Employment Charity. #PoppyPebbles22
This years painting was created by a group of Year 8 students; Marina, Jayne, Freya, Lucy, Ruby, Hoson, Tyler, Joss, Nikita, Victory, Gracie and Morgan. All the students' work was proudly displayed at the front of the school outside of the main entrance.
The whole school marked the event with a 2 minute silence followed by the last post. 
Many of our Meden students are members of the Army Cadets, Police Cadets, St Johns Ambulance, Scouts and Brownies outside of school. It is tradition that on Remembrance Day, students come to school in their military uniform, which is always a very proud moment.
Each year on Remembrance Sunday, the whole community come together to pay their respects by way of a special parade enjoyed by everyone.
Student Ambassadors representing the school played their own part in the parade and had the honour of placing a special wreath from everyone at Meden School.
Student Wyatt honoured the moment by performing a poem reading to the whole community. What a very proud moment!
Here are a couple of video links from the Parade.
Ambassadors laying the wreath
Well done to all those students involved. It was a proud day not only for the school but the whole community!
At Meden School we strongly believe that Everyone Matters. Regardless of who they are or how they identify themselves, each and every member of the community are equally as important as the other and we strive for inclusivity.
We are a school community where we do not tolerate derogatory language and where 'banter' is not accepted and where we raise awareness and encourage acceptance of all people.
At the heart of our work on 'Everyone at Meden Matters' is our newly refurbished inclusion centre who work closely with some of our most vulnerable students. The Inclusion Centre offers a safe space for students throughout the school day as well as a dedicated team of staff, led by our SENDco Miss Hickinbotham, who work tirelessly supporting students in and out of the classroom to feel valued and part of the school community.
In addition to the weekly Personal Development sessions, students across all key stages have taken part in our 2nd Big Conversation day this half term, using their voices to explore protected characteristics, challenge stereotypes and to equip themselves with vocabulary to advocate for inclusion and diversity. We were blown away with their engagement and participation to explore the topic of gender and sexuality with maturity and curiosity. Let's continue to speak up and speak out!
At Meden School we promote Social, Moral, Spiritual and cultural development of our students through our Personal Development sessions and Curriculum for Life.
We are proud to have achieved a Gold SMSC Award for our work with our students.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development is the over-arching umbrella that encompasses personal development across Meden School’s Curriculum for Life.
We want all members of our school community to think about the kind of people we aspire to be, the kind of world we aspire to create.
Click here to read the full report from the verification panel.
It was a pleasure to hold our very first Inclusion Coffee Morning this half term.
Families of our SEND students were invited in to school to have a look at our facilities, to meet the team and for a Q & A session during the first of what will be a termly event.
How lovely it was to see so many of you join us for drinks and cakes and an informal chat. Such events are so important to enable us to build stronger relationships so that we can better support you and your children.
We look forward to the next meeting. Date to be confirmed.
The Year 9s had a fab day at University of Nottingham taking part in the ambition day!
The students were grouped with pupils from other schools and took part in an Apprentice style presentation.
They had a tour of the student union, conducted market research and developed an idea.
Once they had agreed on their idea they were tasked with 'pitching' this to the 'dragons' with the best pitch winning a prize.
3 of our students came in at second place!
All students had an amazing experience with many opportunities to improve both their oracy skills and their confidence presenting in front of others.
On 18th November a group of Year 9 students visited the National Mining Musuem in Wakefield to take part in an artist workshop. Students got the chance to view the Face-to-Face Exhibition before developing their own drawings skills with quick, gestural drawings in charcoal leading to a more sustained portrait using charcoal, conte crayon and a putty rubber.
The students got to meet and work with 2 practicing artists: Harry Malkin and David Wilders.
The visit linked in well to their current topic in Art which is using the heritage of the local area as inspiration for their artwork.
The students involved enjoyed an amazing day produced some great artwork following the visit.
This term has been a successful one for sport at Meden School. Here is a run down of just some of the events.
Year 9 Football
The Y9 Team played QE school in the first round of the Mansfield Town cup. Despite going behind twice, the team showed grit and determination to come from behind and eventually win 4-2. Goals scored by George D x2, Lukas R and Jack S.
On Monday 28th November our Y9 Boys football team played their second round fixture against Sutton Academy. Upon arriving at Sutton Lawn astroturf- the players soon realised just how big the pitch was and worries over fitness levels of some members of the team started!
After a fairly equal 10 minutes, we took the lead and then doubled our advantage with two superbly taken goals. Sutton hit back just before half time though and we went into the break winning 2-1.
The second half was like watching a different team. The boys grew in confidence and started to use the size of the pitch and full size goals to their advantage- running away with a 8-1 victory in the end.
Year 10 Football
The Y10 students travelled to Selston for a Mansfield Town cup football fixture. Having not played a fixture for school since Y7, due to COVID, excitement was high. A very tight and physical match then followed with both teams having limited chances due to some some very effective defending. With 3 minutes to go, Selston scored to go 1-0. Within about 40 seconds, a mixture of Fin H and Tristan P had the ball in the back of the net to equalise and it looked like we had taken to game to penalties but then suddenly the referee ruled the goal out for offside- which was actually decided by a Selston student standing on the sidelines!!!!
Absolutely gutted, but each and every player worked so hard and conducted themselves so well. Player of the match: Sam Lynam
Cross Country
Meden students competed in the District Cross Country Event at Sherwood Pines (29th November). Schools countywide battled to be in the fastest 12 positions. 19 of our Meden students, will now represent Mansfield Schools in a competition in Feb 2023
U13 Girls Football
Excellent result for our girls football team, who competed in the local EFL cup for u13 girls, a tournament run by Mansfield Town FC. They finished 2nd out of 8 schools! Well done to Myla, Erica, Alexia, Connie, Victory, Scarlett & Poppy
Well done to all our Meden Sports Teams!
This half term saw the launch of what will become regular family activities held at Meden School.
We'd love to see more of our families coming in to school to use our facilities and hope that the events will become more popular as word spreads. The first event was an opportunity to play Badminton with family and friends followed by a festive movie night during the last week of term.
Any donations raised by the events will be collected for 'Save the Children'.
Watch out for future events next half term that will be publicised on our website and on twitter.
It is always so pleasing to see so many of our students receiving recognition for all their hard work as part of their end of term ATL awards.
The number of Golden Tickets awarded grows every half term as students are praised for their positive ATL both in and out of the classroom.
Each year group holds their awards assembly where students receive prizes for individual subjects, for outstanding attendance and for both the highest ATL scores and the most improved students.
A group of ATL award winners were given the opportunity to attend the reward trip this half term, which was a trip to see the pantomime Sleeping Beauty.
Congratulations to all our hard working students. Keep up the good work, we are very proud of you all!
Every year we invite students to enter a competition to design our school Christmas Card. The lucky winner's design is then digitalised and sent to every family in our school community, all governors and local schools.
Some great designs were submitted but 2 designs stood out above all the others.
Chloe King Year 10 submitted the winning design capturing Santa's journey through the midnight sky.
Runner up was Ella Howarth in Year 7 with her portrait of Mr Smith. This design was sent to and enjoyed by all the staff at Meden School.
Congratulations to both winners, both received a prize and a copy of their winning design.
This week we were thrilled to be able to deliver all of the donations collected from our Meden Families in support of the local food bank, situated at The Plough in Warsop.
Despite difficult times, we were blown away for the amount of donations received, despite the fact that so many of our families find times difficult themselves.
The Food Bank effort is an annual tradition at Meden School and our way of giving back to our wonderfully supportive community.
Meden College students organise the efforts each year and helped us yesterday to load the mini-bus and deliver our haul.
Thank you so much to everyone who donated items to the appeal however large or small.
Your kindness and generosity will make such a difference to so many this Christmas.
Meden School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT