USH Newsletter 22nd January 2016

Hello

Congratulations to the Student Leadership team and Mr Hughes for their hard work in gaining the Discovering Democracy Award.  This is a worthy addition to our PSHE and Citizenship programmes (ably led by Ms Dibden) and further demonstrates our commitment to the values of British Society.  Look out in future Newsletters for events stemming from this achievement. 

I applaud our “Word Millionaires” for their dedication to reading through the USH Accelerated Reader programme. 

Here’s to a successful term; as ever, thanks for your support of our School.

Stuart Woods

We are delighted to announce that Upper Shirley High has been awarded the Discovering Democracy Award. The Discovering Democracy Award is an award for secondary schools that create a positive culture of citizenship and democracy, and help develop youth participation in society. It is critically important that young people begin to engage with democracy from a young age, whether that is voting for their representatives on the school council or getting involved in social action campaigns. Overseen by members of the youth council and sector experts USH was judged against 4 themes and 11 different criteria. We are extremely pleased with this acknowledgment and are looking forward to continued development of this important work here at USH.

Mr Hughes

The Languages Department has GCSE revision workbooks for sale at £3 each and can be bought from your child’s French/Spanish teacher. These books are offered alongside the resources given to your child by their teacher. The range of revision materials contained in the packs is tailored to cover all the topics included in the listening and reading exams in May (both at foundation and higher levels). We believe that these revision workbooks can make a substantial difference to your child’s opportunity to achieve success in their chosen language.

Students in Year 7 and 8 have been enthusiastically reading books and taking Accelerated Reader quizzes since September and there has been some excellent progress made. Last term, 113 students met or exceeded their Accelerated Reader targets, and the following students read at least a million words and became ‘Word Millionaires’:
Jonathan Blunt 
Andrew Carr 
Molly Eillis 
Ollie Gale 
Thomas Gilbert 
Benji Graf 
Finbar Harvey-OKeefe 
Ema Rafiu
Becky Rees 
Yasmin Sinha 
Joe Stacey 

Congratulations to them all. Keep reading everyone!

Please find attached an invitation to a Social Group for Young People with Autism that is taking place at St James Park Community Room.  If your son/daughter would like to attend, please contact Jane at Community Access Autism Hampshire: 023 8063 3951 or email communityaccess@autismhampshire.org.uk

Several coats and PE bags have been handed in to Lost Property.  If your child has lost any items, please encourage them to come to the Guidance and Achievement Office to collect them. 

We also ask that parents ensure that all of their children's clothing has name tags - this makes it much easier to return lost items!

Thank you.

Many thanks to those of you who have sent in your used postage stamps. Four packages of them have already been sent to the RNIB to fund Guide Dogs for the Blind.  Please continue to give your stamps to Reception in order for us to continue helping in this way.  A 1cm border should be left around the stamps when they are removed from the envelopes.