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A selection of Year 10 students were invited to Brockenhurst College to take part in their science week activities. Students experienced cutting edge VR technology, talks from Exxon Mobil around local apprenticeship opportunities, talks from Brockenhurst college around what they offer and a talk from part of the Red Bull F1 engineering team alongside one of the Red Bull F1 cars.

NFA hosts party of Chinese students

In another first for New Forest Academy we were delighted to host a party of Chinese students from Suzhou for two days while they were on an educational tour of Britain.

The students fully embraced academy life, joining a range of lessons and eating with our students in the bistro. In some lessons they led a presentation about their own school and local area, which was a cultural experience for our students.

Anatomy Labs Live

A number of our Year 10 students were invited to Brockenhurst College to take part in an Anatomy Labs live dissection. The presenter engaged with students as he explained the rationale behind learning through dissections.

Students were first tasked with calculating the required amount of anaesthetic needed to place a motorbike crash victim unconscious. Next they began a brain and eye dissection before moving onto a dissection of the respiratory and circulatory system. After this students observed a digestive system dissection.

World Book Day

Thursday 7th March was an important day as we celebrated reading across the academy. Reading is a vital skill and we wanted to promote the love of reading through a number of different activities.

We generated conversations by teachers and support staff bringing their favourite/current books they are reading into school. Students spoke to staff about their interests and we modelled reading. In tutor time we completed a quiz and every KS3 student received a book token. In English all students had an opportunity to read openings to novels and just talk about books.

Unlocking Musical Talents: Olivia Inspires Funds Instrumental Lessons for Students 

At NFA a number of pupils have been given an amazing opportunity to have instrumental lessons thanks to the generosity of the local charity Olivia Inspires. The support from Olivia Inspires has allowed 17 students to access instrumental lessons and explore their musical potential regardless of their background. On Wednesday 6th March pupils met with the founders of the charity, Nigel and Paula, to showcase some of what they have

learned so far.    

Red Nose Day 2024

This year we celebrated Red Nose Day with a non-uniform day. We raised £396 to support ending child poverty globally. The student parliament met and everyone made posters which we then put around the school. It was brilliant to see some students wearing their Red Noses too!   

New Forest students winners of IET Faraday Challenge Day

This month, a group of Year 8 students became real-life engineers for the day as part of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s ‘IET Faraday Challenge’.  The Challenge Day was hosted by the Beaulieu National Motor Museum, with students from two schools taking part. At the end of the day a winning team was announced, with New Forest receiving the winning trophy!  

Year 10 3D Trip to the John Hansard Gallery

Our Year 10 3D classes were fortunate enough to have been offered the opportunity to attend the John Hansard Gallery and take part in workshops linked with the 'Standing on the Edge' exhibition by Koestler Arts, who work to rehabilitate people who have been incarcerated. Their strapline: ‘Unlock the Talent Inside’.  

Apprenticeship Fair

It was with great pleasure that we held our Apprenticeships Fair for students in Years 9 - 11 and their parents/carers this month. This is part of our academy vision to enable the most ambitious futures for all of our students. The event provided a great opportunity to find out about apprenticeships - something that our students are increasingly interested in applying for. 

Bath University Trip

We took a group of Year 8 pupils to Bath University to watch three Super League netball teams play. The girls met the former England captain and centre Jade Clarke and had a photo with her. For many, this was the first opportunity to watch a live super league netball game and they were amazed by the athleticism and skill levels of the females they were watching. 

A Christmas Welcome

On Tuesday, 12th of December, a group of talented musicians and dancers were joined by students from Year 5 at Cadland Primary school to perform in our Christmas concert: A Christmas Welcome. A huge well done to all the pupils involved who have shown such commitment in their own time. 

Student Christmas Lunch

On Thursday 14th December, over 300 students from Year 7-11 enjoyed this year's amazing Christmas lunch. All of the students that attended had a traditional turkey dinner and pudding provided by our fantastic Aspen's catering team. To top off the festivities our local branch of Tesco's donated Christmas crackers and we had a live musical performance of carols and songs by some of our talented Key Stage 4 students. It was a great way to celebrate the end of a brilliant Term. 

Year 8 Southampton University Trip

A group of Year 8 students had the opportunity to visit the University of Southampton to experience a day in the life of a student. The purpose of the Learn with US (University of Southampton) is to raise the aspirations of  students who perhaps had not considered that university is a destination open to them. 

Save The Children - Christmas Jumper Day

On the 7th December the New Forest Academy took part in the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day. Students were encouraged to wear a Christmas jumper and donate a pound to help support the Save the Children charity.

Thank you to all of our staff, students and parents that took part and donated to the charity. We raised over £200 for the charity.

Food Bank Donation

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to our food bank collection. We were pleased to be able to take 4 students to represent New Forest Academy and drop off a huge amount of food to support out local community. 

Children In Need

On the 17th November the New Forest Academy supported the Children in Need charity by running a non-school uniform day. Thank you to all of our students and parents that donated and participated in the day collectively raising over £400.

Ofsted praises NFA for "ambitious ethos"

We are delighted to be celebrating a clean sweep of “GOOD” ratings across all categories following the most recent Ofsted inspection, which took place at the end of September.

The inspection report reflects the school’s noticeable development over the last few years, and praises its inclusive and ambitious ethos.

Exxon Mobil Day of Caring

New Forest Academy has been very fortunate to be supported by Exxon Mobil for their ‘Day of Caring’ aimed at helping renovate the new bike compound.  The motivation behind the new compound is to inspire and encourage more students to embrace a healthy lifestyle by riding their bicycles or scooters to school. We are very grateful for their support. 

Lights Camera Action Screen Acting

All Year 7 students experienced an hour screen acting workshop recently. The workshops were run by Lights Camera Action Screen Acting. Students began by playing a series of warm up exercises designed to help them to relax and warm up their vocal chords. Groups of students then began designing and improvising scenes ready for the camera.

Great fun was had by all involved and some fantastic actors of the future may have had their thespian fuse lit.

Insight into STEM Careers Workshop

As part of their careers programme, Years 9 and 10 participated in a busy ‘Insight into STEM careers’ workshop provided by the Engineering Development Trust. 

The main outcome for students was to work as a team in the STEM Den: a hands-on engineering challenge in which students learned about design engineering and designed a new product for the health industry, pitching their ideas "Dragons Den" style to their peers.

It was most heartening to see the enthusiasm students had both in creating and presenting their ideas with confidence.

Reading Plus

We have seen huge gains in our students' reading progress since September. At least 70% of our students at New Forest Academy are secure readers and the students have made

exceptional individual gains.

Reading Plus is our reading platform that we use at New Forest Academy to track, assess and monitor each student’s progress in reading. The programme is like no other, in that it adapts immediately to the needs of the individual student and their reading barrier.

Inter Tutor Football Tournament

We had a fantastic inter-tutor football tournament for our KS3 pupils. The conditions were difficult with a lot of wind and rain but the pupils were fantastic and some great football skills were on display. 

PE Rewards Schemes

We have two new reward schemes in PE this half term; sporting colours and sports ambassadors. Sporting colours are given to pupils who show commitment to their team by playing in more than 3 games and attending training sessions. Each pupil who is given their sporting colour gets a badge to put onto their blazer. Each PE teacher has nominated two KS3 pupils who they feel have outstanding behaviour and contribute positively to both lessons and extra curricular activities. These are our sports ambassadors and will have the opportunity to continue to develop their leadership skills by helping at PE events. 

Royal Geographical Society - Young Geographer of the Year Competition

Students at New Forest Academy were given the opportunity to take part in the Young Geographer of the Year Competition. The theme this year was ‘Your Blueprint for the Future’. Students had to create an A3 sized poster that addressed how they would solve two of the greatest problems facing the world today.  The top ten entries will be entered into the national competition run by the Royal Geographical Society. 

Year 10 & 11 Careers Fair

To launch this year’s open event and application season, we hosted a careers fair for our Year 10 and 11 students and their parents, attended by local further and higher education

providers as well as independent apprenticeship training providers and the uniformed services. 

Year 11 Employer Encounter - Berthon Boat Company

It was our absolute pleasure to welcome representatives of Berthon Boat Company based in Lymington to present to our Year 11 students this month.

Students met the Director of the company, Dominic May, and two of his current Apprentices, Chris and Isaac, our own ex- students who left in 2021.

Students were informed about the Marine Apprenticeship offer at Berthon as well as about Apprenticeships in general as an alternative to college and university.

PE & Sports update

September has been an extremely busy month for the PE department. Our fixtures kicked off on Monday 11th September and since then we will have played 13 fixtures in 15 school days. We’ve also had 77 different pupils attend our badminton, netball and football after school clubs. All pupils that attend clubs or fixtures are awarded with 2 reward points per session. 

ICTS deliver a range of assemblies

As part of the New Forest Academy's commitment to preparing our students for life in modern Britain we invited a team from ICTS into the academy to deliver a range of assemblies. The team also brought in two sniffer dogs that visited all students' lessons throughout the day. Students witnessed the sniffer dogs in action and had opportunities to ask the handler questions about their job and the dogs.  

Seawork Careers Fair

A group of Year 9 students with a keen interest in finding out more about careers in the commercial maritime industry had a fantastic day out at the Seawork Careers Fair in Southampton.

The day began with a careers conference presented by leading employers in the industry. This involved both seasoned professionals and young apprentices which helped the students to imagine themselves in the roles.

Year 9 Sports Captains lead the Fawley Cricket event 

This week our Year 9 Sports Captains lead the Fawley Cricket event featuring primary school from the local area. Our captains ran small cricket activities for the younger students; instructing and supported them throughout the activities. They did us proud and really inspired the students to be ambitious and successful in cricket. 

Mechanix Course Celebration 

Three of our pupils - Jay M, Charlie G and Morgan S - have recently completed the Mechanix Course. This course is run and supported by St Andrew's Church and Shawfix garage and enables pupils to gain valuable mechanical experience whilst incorporating employment skills. The pupils help to rebuild and repair a vehicle in order for it to pass its MOT. The course ended in a small celebratory presentation at Beaulieu Motor Museum where the pupils showed off their hard work.

An Incredible Sailing Experience for NFA Students with Ocean Youth Trust South

A group of New Forest students were lucky enough to take part in a four day sailing trip with Ocean Youth Trust South. They completed 102 nautical miles, with a maximum wind of Force 6. You can see the complete voyage track here. 

GCSE Geography Physical Fieldwork 

On Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th June the Year 10 Geographers ventured into the New Forest to complete their physical geography fieldwork. The students travelled along the length of the River Darkwater in order to answer the enquiry question: How does the River Darkwater’s characteristics change from source to mouth? 

Celebrating the King Charles Coronation

Mrs McCarthy led an assembly on the coronation of his Royal Highness King Charles III. Pupils learned about what a coronation was, the historical significance of the event along with the old and new traditions of the coronation service including those which are reflective of our King's wishes to represent a new and changing society.  

Police Assembly 

PC Paul Richards from the Police Education Partnership team visited the academy to deliver assemblies to all year groups. The assemblies covered a range of important topics including the issues with social media, the legalities of taking and sharing photos of people without their knowledge or consent and the law with regards to the taking and sharing of explicit photos as children (under 18 year olds). 

Samba Drum Workshop 

On Tuesday 18th of April we were delighted to welcome Luke Jones and Greg Walker from Hampshire Music Service back to the Academy. This time the purpose of their visit was to lead another amazing session of Samba Drumming for all students in Year 8. After the Easter break it was a great opportunity to bring students back together to participate in a collaborative task and everyone was fully involved throughout. 

Year 7 ‘Who Goes to University?’ Workshop 

Students from the University of Southampton recently visited a group of Year 7 students and engaged them in a workshop exploring university study and life with the aim that these students might consider going to university themselves.  

Year 9 Skills for Future Pathways 

A group of Year 9 students recently visited the University of Southampton as part of the Learn with Us programme. The aim of the programme is to inform and inspire students who would be capable of University study but who might not have previously considered it. Four other regional schools also took part that day.  

Exxon Tour

26 curious students received a detailed presentation from Steve, the ex lead fireman for the Exxon Fawley Site. Following the presentation the group embarked on a coach tour of the site, witnessing first hand the vast size of the refinery site and the huge scale of the pieces of plant. 

STEAM Club

STEAM Club has started at the New Forest Academy! A determined group of Year 10 Students are currently building a

remote controlled, combustion engine powered plane. 

Students are working to complete the build project before they can add the solenoids, electrics and power up and run in the engine before they can take the plane for its first test flight.

Pasta Making Workshop

Year 10 Catering students enjoyed a pasta making and shaping workshop this month. Students learned how to make fresh pasta from scratch and then how to make an array of different Italian pasta shapes. 

Totton College Careers Fair for New Forest students

Totton College held a careers fair for Years 9-11 students and their parents from New Forest schools. This was an opportunity for students and parents to encounter employers from the local area who provide Apprenticeship training and to ask questions, as well as to collect goody bags!

Year 10 Global Challenge

We are delighted to announce that a group of our Year 10 students have won the University of Southampton Global Challenge; a prestigious competition involving many local secondary schools.

Apprenticeship Show

As part of our celebrations for National Careers Week 2023 we held our first ever careers fair where a number of local apprenticeship employers and apprenticeship training providers interacted with Years 9-11 students and their parents/carers. The event was very well attended and opened people’s minds to the varied opportunities available. 

Year 11 Geography Fieldtrip

Year 11 Geographers travelled to Centenary Quay in Southampton to carry out their Human Geography fieldwork. The students were aiming to collect primary data which could be used to answer the enquiry question ‘Does urban regeneration on brownfield sites improve the quality of life for local people?’ 

Girls Football

Our New Forest Football girls have been enjoying a change of pace by transitioning to indoor football on Fridays. This is developing their skills further as they aim to control the ball in smaller spaces. As usual a lot of healthy competition between all of the girls and a lot of Southampton shirts! 

Year 8 Taster Day at University of Southampton

A group of Year 8 students attended ‘A day in the life of a student’ at the University of Southampton as part of the 'Learn

With Us' programme.

During the day the students had a tour of the social areas of the university and were given a presentation on the accommodation at the university. 

Year 11 Elevate Sessions

All Year 11s were involved in a session run by Elevate on Thursday 19th January. The hour long session is delivered by a university student and was titled ‘Ace Your Exams’. It was an engaging, interesting session that supported the students preparation for the upcoming mock exams. 

Dance Showcase 

A huge thank you to all who took part and assisted in the Dance Showcase on the 1st December. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to welcome an audience back into school after not being able to do so for the past few years. Thank you to all the families who came along to support. 

Children In Need

We would like to thank you for all the kind donations made in support of our non-uniform day to raise money for this year’s Children in Need event which was held on the 18th November.

We raised an exceptional £526.50 which, in the current economic climate, shows your generosity and willingness to help others in need. 

Drumming Workshop

On Tuesday 13th December we were delighted to welcome Luke Jones and Greg Walker from Hampshire Music Service to the Academy. The purpose of their visit was to lead an amazing session of Samba drumming for all students in Year 7. The students learnt briefly about the Rio Carnival before being given a chance to play together in their own mini version. 

Careers in Space

Selected Year 9 students spent an hour attending a live broadcast conference, ‘Careers in Space’, from Rutherford

Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Space. Students heard from a range of engineers and scientists currently working in the space industry.

Christmas Jumper Day

We would like to thank you for all the donations made to help raise money for the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day. We raised an incredible £188 which the Government has pledged to give the same amount as you give. 

Cipher Club

This term we have been able to run a new cipher club. Students were able to test their skills in cracking codes weekly through the National Cipher Challenge run by the University of Southampton. Well done to those students who have taken part this term.