USH Newsletter 15th July 2016

As I introduce the last newsletter of the Academic year, I wish everyone a safe and happy summer.  Thank you for your support this year.

Stuart Woods and all the Staff at Upper Shirley High School

The purpose of awards evening is to celebrate our students personal successes, recognise achievement and acknowledge those whom embody the USH values of teamwork, pride, ambition, trust, respect and independence.  This year has been a great demonstration of our student’s determination to learn beyond limits with the highest number of nominees ever, over a third of the student population. 

When the student receives the award, no mean feat in front of so many people, it acknowledges those whom have supported them over the year.  I am extremely grateful to the parents who have supported and motivated their children when needed and for the professionalism of the USH staff for spotting the brilliance within all of our students.  For some students this was their first taste of Awards Evening and for our Y11s, it marked the end of an era before taking the next step in the journey towards their career aspiration. 

The opening speech from our new Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl, Tom Hayter and Katherine Brocklesby began the evening with a very mature insight into what it is like to be a hard working student at USH.  This was illustrated in the faces of the awardees and the enthusiasm of the audience.  The greatest part of the evening for me is the sense of pride and humility that each student demonstrated whilst receiving their award, a true life skill.

2016 going into 2017 will prove to be even more productive for our students and I wish them the best in their ambitious pursuit of personal greatness.  The closing words from Kitty Clarke and Joseph Parkes, former Head Girl and Deputy Head Boy, offered a wonderful reflection of value in receiving a reward.  We wish them all the best and success in the journey ahead of them at college.

Richard Corser, Assistant Headteacher

Monday 11th July saw the grand finale to the school’s sporting calendar with the annual School Sports Day. The weather was indifferent at times but the wind and some light rain could not spoil the level of effort and performance shown by the students.

The field events saw almost 200 students from years 7-9 produce some excellent distances in throwing and jumping events before the rest of the school joined them for the afternoon’s track events and relays. Following on from the school’s yet again outstanding performance in the city athletics competition a week earlier, the students were keen to impress and put on a show for their house groups.

A huge thank you to all students who performed with pride and to all the staff who helped out with scoring, officiating and looking after the students for the day.

The final results were as follows (inclusive of the year 10 sports day from the 5th July):

Year 7 Boys Champions – Aviators
Year 7 Girls Champions – Mariners
Year 7 Victor Ludorum – Leo Dobbs
Year 7 Victrix Ludorum – Anna Prudnikova
Year 8 Boys Champions – Aviators
Year 8 Girls Champions – Aviators
Year 8 Victor Ludorum – Sam Bowan
Year 8 Victrix Ludorum – Eleanor Marshall-Cox
Year 9 Boys Champions – Aviators
Year 9 Girls Champions – Aviators
Year 9 Victor Ludorum – Luke Halford
Year 9 Victrix Ludorum – Freya Barfoot
Year 10 Boys Champions – Venturers
Year 10 Girls Champions – Venturers
Year 10 Victor Ludorum – Daniils Stankanovs
Year 10 Victrix Ludorum – Olivia O’Mahoney

Overall
1st – Aviators
2nd – Venturers
3rd – Mariners
4th – Engineers

Mr Hall

Upper Shirley High School were invited to attend the Restorative Justice Council's Conference at the head offices of Amnesty International UK.  We were invited to present on Restorative Practice within schools and had the opportunity to do this in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal. 

Two students attended the Conference with Miss Fox and Mr Hughes.  Our students, Shannon and Robbie, were both fantastic representatives of the school getting to meet Princess Anne and speak with her at some length about their involvement with Restorative Practice.  They impressed everyone who met them and we received lots of positive feedback from other attendees about the way they presented themselves.  They were a real credit to USH. 

Friday 8th July saw the launch of our first ever Spelling Bee here at USH. In the same week of America celebrating her Independence Day, and with the contest having American roots, we decided to make the theme of the day the USA, with themed decoration, food and music throughout the competition.

The Contestants
So how did we nominate our contestants? The process began when all students were provided with a spellings booklet some weeks ago, that contained both words that are suitable for their key stage of learning, as well as some challenging subject-specific vocabulary that they will need to become familiar with as they progress towards their GCSEs. (With the increase of SPaG marks at GCSE, it is vital that we provide students with opportunities to keep their literacy skills in top condition.) Throughout the mock exam period, tutor activities have centred around revising both subject content and spellings. With this in mind, tutors were set a task to nominate a champion speller from years 7, 8 and 9 within their tutor groups who would go forward and compete within the Spelling Bee, for a chance at the title of Spelling Champion of the Year, 2016.

The Rounds
Throughout the day, there was held a Year 7 round, a Year 8 round and a Year 9 round of spellings for the contestants. Each round was held in the hall on the stage, with students each going up individually for a ‘knock-out’ chance to beat their fellow year-group peers, and move forwards into the final round at the end of the day. After up to 7 intense heats (in some cases), we managed to identify three proud winners from each year group who would move forward.

The Final
After the 3 challenging rounds, 9 students were able to wear their medals with pride as they sat in the final contestants’ seats, ready to begin the toughest round yet: the final.

Gruelling, rigorous and suspenseful… the heats of the final moved forwards, as the words increased in challenge. Competitors were slowly but surely lost in the action until we were down to a final 3, at which point we had identified our year 7, 8 and 9 champion, Becky R, Hubert N and Jude C. Now all that was left was to battle it out in order to find our overall Spelling Bee Champion of the year, 2016.

After some of the most phenomenal live spelling this school has ever seen, it was extremely close but Year 9’s Jude C just managed to secure the top position, with a fantastic battle fought by Year 7’s Becky R in the process! The first Spelling Champion of the Year was crowned…

Thanks
With a special thank you to the catering staff in the canteen for getting on board and serving American food during lunch time, all those staff who had a hand in organising the event, and the class of year 10 students who showed brilliant teamwork and pride throughout the day by supporting the set-up of the hall, serving refreshments to the contestants after each round and their very professional reading of the spellings throughout the heats of each round.

May this be the first of an annual event for this school that will become bigger and better each year!

I really enjoyed going to Sounds from the Stadium because it was a great experience to play and sing with over 2000 other people.  As a string player, I was inspired by Chordelectra and the skill and talent they have as a String Trio.  I had fun playing “I Got Bills” and singing “Rather Be” because of the celebrity talents playing and singing with us which included CJ Edwards who appeared on The Voice. I was stunned by the a cappella group, Restless Symphony (who appeared in Gareth Malone’s Naked Choir tv programme), who sang a medley for us, as they pushed farther than I thought possible with the human voice.  No instruments played along with them, just their voices creating all the sounds.

Harry P, Year 8

We had our sports awards evening 2 weeks ago and here are the pictures of the winners. Fantastic efforts from all winners, their commitment and hard work as obviously paid off.

City Athletics Winners for:
Year 7 BOYS
Year 8 GIRLS
Year 9 GIRLS
Year 9 BOYS
Year 10 GIRLS
Year 10 BOYS

Ed Whale County Rowing Champion 2016
Overall Field events Champion GIRLS
Overall Field events Champion BOYS
Overall Track events Champions GIRLS
Overall Track events Champions BOYS
OVERALL City Athletics Champion
Year 11 Football Cup and Shield winners 2016
U15 Rounders winners 2016
U15 football Cup and League winners 2016
U14 Netball Cup and League winners 2016
U13 football Cup and Shield winners 2016
Toby Hale Cross Country Junior Boys Champion 2016
Oli Cook Cross Country Champion Year 7 2016
Junior boys cross country champions 2016 Years 7, 8, 9

Miss Marks

It has been quite a busy time for Maths Department this year, not only due to the exams, but also competitions, our students participated in.
Students at Upper Shirley High achieved 4 Silver, 2 Bronze Certificates in this year UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge. Over 200 000 pupils across the UK sat the Intermediate Maths Challenge, and nationally, the top 6% were awarded a gold certificate, the next 13% silver, and the next 21% bronze.

Our highest achievers are:
Lu Tianshu and Alex Sanders– Silver-Best in the Year, Best in the school
Bastin Punneliparambi and Lara Clements – Silver Certificate
Justin Basham and Reuven Manore – Bronze Certificate.

Lower school students ( year 7 and 8) achieved 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze Certificates in this year UKMT Junior Maths Challenge. Over 250 000 pupils across the UK sat the Junior Challenge with the top 6% reciving a gold certificate, the next 13% silver and the next 21% bronze.

Our highest achievers are:
Thomas Gilbert – Best in the Year 8, Best in the School, Gold Certificate
Benjamin Graf – Gold Certificate
Sophie Fay – Best in the Year 7, Silver Certificate
Harry Price, Maria Willsher, Rebecca Crawley, Emma Blankley – Silver Certificate
Ben Baker, Matthew Wellman, Ethan Munday, Andrew Carr, Eleanor Marshall-Cox, Jacky Li, Peter Abboud, Tamsin Mittoo, Victor Savage, Lewis Clark, Jonathan Blunt, Tom Goldstraw, Max Vyze – Bronze Certificate
Approximately 5400 of the top students were invited to sit a follow-on competition, the Junior Mathematical Olympiad or Kangaroo. The top 25% of scorers received a Certificate of Merit and  I am pleased to announce that Benjamin Graf and Thomas Gilbert were among them.

Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the events, especially to the highest achievers. 

The UK Mathematics Trust is a registered charity whose aim is to advance the education of children and young people in Mathematics. It organises national mathematics competitions and other mathematical enrichment activities for UK secondary school pupils. Further information about the Trust and its activities is available at www.ukmt.org.uk

Here are sample questions from this year’s Intermediate Maths Challenge:
1) One third of the animals in Jacob’s flock are goats, the rest are sheep. There are twelve more sheep than goats. How many animals are there altogether in Jacob’s flock?
  A  12  B 24  C 36  D 48  E 60
2)  The angles of a quadrilateral taken in order are x⁰, 5x⁰, 2x⁰, 4x⁰. Which of the following is the quadrilateral?
  A kite  B parallelogram  C rhombus  D arrowhead  E trapezium
Sample questions from this year’s Junior Maths Challenge are:
1) Which of the following is closest to zero?
  A 6+5+4  B 6+5-4  C 6+5x4  D 6-5x4  E 6x5÷4
2) In a group of 48 children, the ratio of boys to girls is 3 : 5. How many boys must join the group to make the ratio of boys to girls 5 : 3 ?
  A 48  B 40  C 32  D 24  E 8
You can find the answers to these questions on their website.

Also this year Maths team encouraged our students to participate in the University of Southampton Mathematics Challenges. The Maths Challenge was aimed at students from Year 8 or below, and the Senior Challenge was aimed at students from Year 10 or below. The competitions consisted of interesting and challenging mathematical questions which the students attempt in their own time. There were over 1200 entries to the competitions from around 40 schools.  Both the Maths Challenge and the Senior Maths Challenge were extremely competitive this year, making the winning pupils achievements even more impressive. I am pleased to say that Tianshu Lu was awarded Merit for Senior Maths Challenge and attended a very special ceremony at the University of Southampton. I would like to thank to all of our students who took part in this challenge and I would like to encourage more students to make an effort next year.

Ms Adamou

Last week Mr Woods met with Sam Momber, one of our Year 10 boys, who took part in a commemoration of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 2016 staged by the Nuffield Theatre and Salisbury Playhouse.  The work was conceived and created by the Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller in collaboration with Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre. 

Sam spoke eloquently about his experiences; he was dressed in a World War One uniform and spent time in various parts of the City Centre with other volunteers.  When approached, they were allowed some interaction with the public and Sam heard many stories from members of the public who approached him to share stories of members of their own family involved in the Great War.  In return, when he felt that it was "right", Sam handed members of the public a card which had the name of one of the victims of The Somme.

It was extraordinarily powerful to hear Sam's feedback on his experience, how he interacted with the public and his comments on how this affected his view of the war and how it related to his own studies in History.

We are so proud of Sam – if you would like more information on the project and to see photographs, please follow this link:

On Friday 24th June, in the glorious sunshine, 28 Year 9 Art and Music students took part in the Southampton Street Jam Festival. This event, run by Solent University’s Showcase Gallery brought together street artists, illustrators and musicians to the Guildhall Square to create art and music in response to the city environment. Creating temporary art and music, the students learnt from street artists and DJs. They thoroughly enjoyed the creative challenge outside of the classroom.

Mrs Cadle

Students doing their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award have worked really hard this year and are well on the way to not only completing the expedition section of the award, but all the other sections required to gain their Bronze Award.

The students have attended the afterschool meetings every Friday and practised their map reading, route planning and compass bearing skills. Each of these skills will help them navigate through the New Forest safely when they do the assessed expedition in July. The students have been out on both a Training and Practice Weekends to develop these skills. The students formed groups early on and worked together to produce a kit list, menu, route, and an activity which they needed to do while out in the new forest. 

We have been very impressed with the students and the work they have put in, not only during the afterschool meetings, but in starting the other sections and, in some cases, completing them. It would be really good to see all of these students come back in September having completed all the other sections of their DofE and gain the Bronze Award.

If any students need help completing the various sections of the award, please don’t hesitate to contact me either by email or by coming in to see me in the General Office during the school day.

Any students who have not logged into their eDofE account in the last 6 months may find their account has become inactive, if this is the case they will need to speak to me and I will arrange for your account to be reactivated.

Mrs Murphy

8 students were selected to represent Southampton at the Hampshire Athletics Championships. The following people were involved: Sam Bowan, Ewan Haylor, Eleanor Marshall-Cox, Molly Kenna, Ethan Holmes, Kristina Manalova, Anna Prudnikova and Michael Wolski

Congratulations for your selection, and well done for your efforts!

Miss Marks

On Thursday 7th July, 35 Year 7 students attended the Odeon cinema in Southampton, to watch the Kenneth Branagh Live Theatre Company production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It was a compelling, two and a half hour performance that brought the play to life and enhanced the experience Year 7 have had of reading the play this year in their English lessons. The students were a delight and a credit to themselves and to USH.

Charlotte M has reviewed the play and given her own opinion of what she thought of the performance:

‘The performance of Romeo and Juliet, shown as a live recording at the Odeon on Thursday night, was very vivid and emotional. The casting of Lily James as Juliet was very good, as she impersonated the girlish, innocent persona perfectly. A lot about the film/play was like an Italian film from the 1950s. Juliet’s hair, for instance, reflected the look of some famous Italian actresses from that era and the entire film was in black and white. Although Romeo (Richard Madden) had suffered a foot injury, he still put on a lively performance. In this interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio was portrayed as an older man and less sinister than in other versions, such as Baz Luhrmann’s movie adaptation. Overall, I think it was engaging, funny and a really good thing to have seen.’

‘I enjoyed the staging of the prologue and the way the echo effect made it seem surreal.’ - Rosie K
‘The families fighting was dramatic.’ – Kitty M
‘The black and white made it feel more historical.’ – Evie O’D
‘It was good and inspiring.’ – Kailen M
‘The actors improvisation was impressive.’ – James S

Miss Cox

The Smallpeice Trust was founded in 1966 by Dr Cosby D P Smallpeice who was an engineer and designed the Smallpeice Lathe. Following his success, Dr Smallpeice ploughed £1.6m of his personal fortune into setting up the Trust to give young people the support they need to bring their big ideas to life through science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

Year 9 students worked in groups and had to design a water filtration system for a ‘smart’ building. The task was to design a system that collected and filtered rain water and when full activated a pump that sent the water to feed indoor plants.

Students met the challenge brilliantly; they were enthusiastic and produced some great designs. The winning team was Abigail G, Ellie K, Leigh C, Saffron S,  Lidia N and Sophia W.

On Thursday 16th June, there was a real buzz in the English corridor. All Year 9 students took part in a day-long masterclass in developing their ability to present effectively and confidently. The sessions were led by expert trainers and provided students with helpful tips on how to stand, make eye-contact, express themselves and structure their speech effectively. The students excelled themselves throughout the day with many being pushed out of their comfort zone to present to their peers without the use of any notes. It was a really memorable experience in confident communication; a key skill necessary not just for English but for success in future employment.  Thank you to everyone involved for making it such a triumph. Below are the names of students that the trainers felt had made the most progress over the day, and those that they felt were the most effective speakers in their group.

Most improvement in their communication:
Sam McKenzie, Toby Miles, Maisie Bolton, Shaheer Atai, Joseph Neale, Naomi Gulliver, Stuart Argent, Albi Asimi, Michael Crabb and Katie Mason

Most effective speakers overall:
Phoebe Baldwin, Luke Duncombe, Toby Budd, Phoebe Hatton, Callum Matthews, Isobel Singh, Erin Brookmier, Luke Halford

Reading is big part of life at Upper Shirley High. We understand how important reading is for success in all subjects, and  we encourage students to develop and maintain good reading habits. We all Drop Everything And Read for 20 minutes each day, and Years 7 and 8 students take part in the Accelerated Reader scheme, which enables us to monitor and track student reading. Since September, Year 7 and 8 students have passed 3,627 quizzes and read an amazing 149 million words! This is a fantastic achievement. This term, 97 students met or exceeded their Accelerated Reader targets and were awarded certificates and prizes.  This term we are especially proud of: 

Josh Bigwood
Hayden Bussell
Andrew Carr
Mason Coster
Ben Farmer
Ollie Gale
Chloe Gordon
Justyna Guzowska
Finbar Harvey-O’Keefe
Veronica Hughes
Jacky Li
Damian Oczachowski
Sam Paget
Aleks Ptaszynski
Becky Rees
Leah Wildschut
Bartosz Wolinski

Lower School Book Group sprang into being in September, in response to a request from a group of keen readers.  We meet once every fortnight after school, and we discuss what we are currently reading, while enjoying a biscuit.  Each half term, we also all read a book chosen by one member of the group.  This year we have read:  Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman; Skellig, by David Almond; The Escape, by Robert Muchamore; The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams; and The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster.  We have had a lot of very lively discussion about what we like, and what we don’t like about a particular book, and about why we enjoy reading so much.  We would welcome new members, so if you like reading, and if you like talking about books, please see Dr Dutton about joining the group.

On Tuesday 5th of July, three Year 7 students, Tom G, Hugh B and Jonathan B took part in the first University Challenge competition at Southampton University for Year 7 students.

Despite being a team of just 3 they succeeded in getting through to the semi-finals, but unfortunately lost out to the eventual winners.

Well done to the team and we look forward to the entering next year and building on this year’s success!

Mr Clench

On Monday 4th of July the first GCSE Photography Exhibition took place in the Dance Studio. It was well attended by students, teachers and parents with many people commenting on the high standard of work on display from the Year 10 and 11 students.

Visitors were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite photographer. The winners were Amy Renfrew in Year 11 and Parmjeet Taak in Year 10. Congratulations to the both.

Year 7 students visited the Winchester Science Centre on Thursday 23rd June to take part in the Squashed Tomato Challenge. This was a free event hosted and organised by Women in Engineering. The day allowed students to see the advantages of a career in a STEM subject and involved some hands on engineering. Upper Shirley High students were shown how tomato farmers in Nepal carry tomatoes down the mountain side on their backs and were asked to design a transport system to help.

Students were tasked to transport tomatoes from the table top to the floor without them being squashed or broken. Upper Shirley High did an amazing job and came up with some ingenious working models.

Students also got the chance to see a planetarium show and visit all the interactive exhibitions.

Thank you to Emma Mason, Lara Clements and Juliana Fonseca who have shown creativity and dedication running the weekly Holly brook Infants art club this term. The Year 2 children have enjoyed their art and craft sessions and would like to thank the Year 10 students for working hard for them.

We had a great time on the Red Funnel, participating in "Imagine the Future 2016".  Altogether, we took part in three workshops, identifying mental illnesses and how technology affects our lives.  It was great fun and we had the chance to go above deck with other schools and the guide dogs from Ability Dogs 4 Young People.  I had a brilliant time and would love to participate in the event again!

Phoebe H, Year 7

Just to remind you the Parent Action Group button is still available if you have any queries directly for the group.

Next year we plan to look at the following issues:

• Tuesday 29th November: Home/School partnership supporting independent, student centred learning
• Tuesday 7th February: New tutor system 6 months on - reflection and future developments
• Tuesday 11th July: USH Steps and the new report format – reflection and future developments to support parental understanding and support of progress.

Please note these dates in your diary and if you are unable to attend we’d still like to hear feedback via the PAG button or email.

Julie Prince, School Business Manager

A quick reminder that we will be requesting passport and EHIC cards in early October.  If you have recently renewed a passport, please let me know over the summer or when we return in September.

EHIC cards are free and must be applied for by the parents on behalf of the children.  Go to https://www.ehic.org.uk/Internet/startApplication.do

Please ensure you order the EHIC card and that passports will be valid for our dates of travel in plenty of time.

Details of the itinerary and emergency contact numbers will follow in September.

Thank you

Mr Perry
Martin.Perry@ushschool.org

Overseas visits are proving very popular at Upper Shirley High – there are 89 students going to Paris in October and over 30 students are going to New York next Easter.  Information about the popular Battlefields visit to Belgium will come out in September along with the Opal Coast and London trips planned for later in the academic year.

Here is a reminder of what is available:

2016/2017
October 2016 – Paris trip open to Year 8 £310.
February 2017 – Battlefields visit to Belgium run by Mr Farley for Year 10 History students (£180).
March 2017 – London visit open to all Year 7 students, run by Miss Simpson (£200).
Easter 2017 – New York City visit open to all Year 10 students, run by Miss Turner £959.
June 2017– The Opal Coast, France for Year 9 and 10 students studying French (£250).

2017/2018
October 2017 – Paris trip for Year 8 (£350).
February 2018 – Battlefields visit to Belgium run by Mr Farley for Year 10 History students (£180).
March 2018 – London visit open to all Year 7 students, run by Miss Simpson (£200).
Easter 2018 – Barcelona visit for Years 9 and 10 students studying Spanish run by the Languages department (£500).
Easter Holidays 2018 – Years 7, 8 and 9 Ski trip, this is a new venture we are currently exploring (price to be confirmed).

All visits are subject to minimum numbers and participation is based on a positive attitude to learning in school.  The prices indicated in brackets are a guide only.  Prices not in brackets are the actual cost.

The year group refers to where students will be during the academic year stated.

Mrs Laybourne (Teacher of Geography) retires at the end of this Academic Year and we asked her to share a few words:

As the term comes to its close it is hardly conceivable that I will be retiring.  Having been at Upper Shirley High since 1990 I have taught thousands of students, worked with 6 Head Teachers  and many wonderful and dedicated colleagues.

There have been many highlights in my career here which have included being Head of History, Head of Humanities and Head of Geography as well as taking it  a bit easier for the last few years as a  part timer. Yes, I’ve taught celebrities like Craig David and the ITV political editor Chris Ship and while heading the History department we achieved the second highest exam results in Hampshire and a few years later the Geography Department  was classed as a centre of excellence by the GCSE exam board. Representing the school at ceremonies with the Her Majesty the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Cambridge was an honour and the memories will stay with me forever.

The Laybourne family have been at the school since it opened in 1966.  My husband Steve taught here and both my children, William and Lizzie enjoyed 5 fantastic years here so we have strong connections with the school and the locality.  It is the end of an era and we all wish both staff and students all the best for the future. 

Jo Laybourne

For all parents/carers: Mrs Floyd has updated our guidance on School Uniform, so please look at the letter in the Parents section of our website (under "Whole School Letters") or click the link below to view the letter online.  If you require a print out of the letter, please contact the school and we will arrange to have one sent out to you.

Thank you.

http://uppershirleyhigh.org/letters_and_forms