12th September 2025
Dear Parent Carers,
Weekly Update: 12/09/25
I am delighted to welcome all students and staff back to St Martins School for the new academic year. I hope that you have all had a good summer and feel refreshed and ready for the year ahead. I am really excited to start my journey as Headteacher at St Martins.
For those of you who are new to St Martins, we compile a ‘weekly update’ to share news, information and updates from across the school, Post-16 and Project SEARCH. We hope that you find them useful. Term dates for the year are included with every update to support with planning, and key dates are shared every half term too.
Staffing Updates
In addition to my new role as Headteacher at St Martins, there have been some other staffing and leadership changes to support our ever growing and developing school.
Rachel Cooper is remaining as Assistant Headteacher, but will also deputise as Headteacher in my absence. Leigh Bradder, our Design Technology teacher has taken on the role of Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, and his teaching role is being covered by supply teacher, Jo Woodhall.
Our Post-16 team is now being led by new Assistant Headteacher, Liz Sanger. Liz previously worked for the Respect Schools as a Headteacher for their Kingsmead site. We are excited for Liz to join us and establish our new Post-16 site, Friar Gate Studios.
We are joined by two new teachers – Sarah Cavell and Hannah Parkes. Sarah is also our new Cultural Capital Faculty Lead. Our Learning Mentor team has been strengthened by two new Learning Mentors, William Fell and Morgan Stanley. The Classroom support team has one new Teaching Assistant – Sarah Beatty, and two new Classroom Assistants – Paul Nelson and Virginia Wong Last but not least, our Admin Team has been joined by Joanna Whittle who works closely alongside Heather, our SENCO, to help administrate the Annual Review process.
I hope that you will join me in extending a warm welcome to all of our new team members!
Toni Beardmore Headteacher
St Martins School, The Derwent Campus, Bracknell Drive, Alvaston, Derby, DE24 0BT Tel: 01332 571151 Email: admin@stmartins.set.org Online: www.stmartinsschoolderby.co.uk
Student Health and Vaccinations
One of our students is currently receiving medical treatment for an illness that puts them at risk if they are exposed to measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), chickenpox or shingles.
The best way to protect this young person from measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) is for all students to be immunised against these common childhood diseases. You can discuss immunisations with your GP if your child has not already received them If your child is suspected of having measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), or chicken pox, please inform the school so that we can help support this vulnerable young person. It is also important to let us know if there is shingles in your household.
Your child is not at risk from this situation, however, the health and wellbeing of our young people is always a priority. We hope that you are able to support our school community in this way.
Drop-Off and Pick-Up at St Martins
We have gates in place as a safeguarding measure to help keep our school site safe. The gates will be open in the morning until 9:15am. The gates will open at 2:10pm for the end of the day, before closing at 2:45pm for Noel Baker students to safely depart the site. If you are visiting the school during the day, you will need to press the buzzer and identify yourself before being admitted onto the school site.
Please do not try to enter the school site before 2:10pm to collect your child, or follow vehicles onto the site before this time. It is vital that the entrance to the site remains clear for vehicles which need access, including staff, visitors and emergency services. Once the gates open at 2:10pm, traffic is able to move onto the school site freely.
Once on the school site, please do not park in the main car park. This car park is for staff use only. Instead, please turn left and park in the overflow parking next to the Sports Hall. When walking across the site, please ensure that you remain on the foot paths and don’t cross in front of vehicles.
To ensure the safety of all of our young people and a smooth transition into school, please can you make sure that your child/young person has been left with a member of staff when dropping them off.
We appreciate that these measures may impact on your overall experience of drop-off/pick-up, however they are essential to the safe control and management of both schools on site.
Toni Beardmore Headteacher
St Martins School, The Derwent Campus, Bracknell Drive, Alvaston, Derby, DE24 0BT Tel: 01332 571151 Email: admin@stmartins.set.org Online: www.stmartinsschoolderby.co.uk
Online Safety
A ‘back to school’ online safety poster has been included with this update as a resource to support your young person with safely managing their devices and online presence. We hope you find this useful.
Dates for your Diaries:
Date Event Information
Tuesday 23rd September Parent Carer Evening from 3pm-6pm Letter has been sent home.
Thursday 9th October Next Steps Event at Noel Baker – time TBC Letter will be sent home.
Tuesday 14th October Flu Vaccinations in school Information has been sent home today via email to all students in Years 7-11.
Thursday 16th October Tempest Photography in school to take student portraits Letter will be sent home.
Wednesday 22nd October Mini Monster Marathon Letter will be sent home.
With best wishes,
Toni Beardmore Headteacher
Toni Beardmore Headteacher
St Martins School, The Derwent Campus, Bracknell Drive, Alvaston, Derby, DE24 0BT Tel: 01332 571151 Email: admin@stmartins.set.org Online: www.stmartinsschoolderby.co.uk
