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USH Newsletter 11th November 2016

Grandparents Open Morning, 11th November 2016

We were delighted to welcome our grandparents for our Grandparents Open Morning and Remembrance Day.  Our Act of Remembrance included observing the two minutes' silence, a performance by our Choir, USH Voices and the Last Post played by Sam Mackenzie.

Grandparents were given a tour of the school and we had tea, sandwiches and cakes.

Many thanks to all the students who conducted themselves beautifully, Miss Shaw for arranging the music and all the staff involved, but most of all to the visiting grandparents who made the morning so special.

Exciting historical discovery at USH!

Found in a cupboard, the Leadership Team were amazed to discover a logbook for the school (Regent’s Park Boys as it was then) that covers the period of the First World War. This exciting find has given our students the opportunity to explore how the school responded to news of the Armistice on 11th November 1918. The recorded minutes are a revealing insight into the impact the four years of World War would have had on the school boys and the patriotic tone of the Headteacher when sharing the news with them. With the gates at USH being opened to the community for our own Remembrance Day commemorations, the logbook has been a timely reminder of the importance of us all coming together to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for us in the armed forces and how these sacrifices are still being made in our local community today. 

Please see the attached Images for more information about how students have been using the logbook this week.

The History Department are looking to use this incredible source to create a series of lessons to enhance our WW1 unit in Year 8. If anyone has information about any of the boys who went to the school during the war, I would be really interested to hear from you.

Kind regards,

Mr Farley
Subject Leader for History


French and Spanish Plays at USH

On Wednesday, 9th November, the Languages Department were delighted to host Onnati Theatre Company who presented French and Spanish plays to our year 8-10 students. Our French students were transported to a quaint café, whilst our Spanish students were taken to hospital [not literally!]. The event was an example of how languages can come alive and a wonderful way of enriching our students’ language experience here at Upper Shirley High.  We look forward to welcoming Onatti back next year, as the plays were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Special praise to following pupils who were eager participants in the plays;

French play - Alex Galu, Shannon Hodgson, Chloe Tsao, Ria Oak, Jodie Parkinson and Aimee Biggs

Spanish play – Luca Russo-Prentice, Amelia Youren and Anson Leung.

Mr Bhardwaj
Subject Leader for MFL



PiXL Maths



The staff and students in the Maths Department are excited to be introducing the PiXL Maths App to aid with maths homework, revision for exams and support the work during lessons. The app gives the students the access to a wealth of video examples and interactive questions which will enhance their understanding and support the progress of each individual. Students have been trialling this app throughout the last few weeks and feedback has been extremely positive. We have seen improvement in the engagement in lessons where the app is involved as well as an increase in confidence.

Each student over the course of the next 2 weeks will be given a personal log on which tracks their progress across all the key areas in mathematics. This gives each student individualised targets and focuses their learning on key areas for development. The app is free to download and is available on all smartphones, tablets and PCs and only requires internet connection to download and log on.

http://mathsapp.pixl.org.uk/

Apple App Store

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pixl-maths-app/id1035180327?mt=8

Google Android Store

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.PiXLMaths&hl=en_GB


USH Student wins the Michael Austin Harlick Award

Isabella Fraser-Corbridge was nominated by the PE Department for the Michael Austin Harlick Award at the Hampshire School Sport Federation Awards this week for Swimming and she won! Isabella is a polite, hardworking and modest student in year 10 who is also a Sports Prefect.  Her achievements this year alone show why she is well deserved winner of this prestigious award.

She went to the Hampshire County Championships and qualified for 12 events; she walked away with 6 medals (2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze), and 7 of these races were for over 16s. She then went to the South East Regionals and qualified for 9 events, made 4 finals and won 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze) She made the qualification time for the British championships in 50m butterfly where she swam in 29.88 seconds and is now ranked 42nd in the UK

Her schedule is around 18 hours of training in the water and weight training, starting most days at 5.30am. She is an inspiration to all students at USH, and we are very proud of her.



History WW1 Centenary Battlefields Trip

The WW1 Battlefields Trip for Year 10 GCSE History students is fast approaching. It has been great to see that there has been high interest again amongst our students and we, in the History department are looking forward to taking them on what will be an amazing and memorable experience.

Students have been given a letter to take home with details of the final, overall payment of £190.00. The deadline for this payment is Monday, November 21st 2016. 

I will be writing to you again soon with details of the itinerary, what they will need to bring and to collect any medical and dietary information.

Kind regards,

Mr Farley
Subject Leader for History

New York

We still have one place on the New York trip for anybody who would like to go! Please contact Mrs Turner on sarah.turner@ushschool.org for enquiries.

Please be aware that students travelling to New York will need to have a passport that is biometric, shown by the symbol on the front:
Please ensure that your child has a valid passport with that symbol on the front in plenty of time for the trip.

The date for the information evening will follow in the next newsletter, and will be towards the end of this term.


PE Extra Curricular Clubs

The PE Department offers a number of extra-curricular activities over the week.  If you are interested in taking part, please see one of the teachers for more details.


School Pastors

School Pastors are volunteers from various churches who offer reassurance, safety and support through listening, caring and helping as appropriate.  You may see them outside the USH school gates, mainly, on a Wednesday afternoon.  Currently, there are four of them, usually in pairs, patrolling around the neighbourhood and St James Park for an hour, or so, after school ends.

As part of Southampton Street Pastors, they are fully trained, uniformed and supported by the school, local authority and police. They try to be a friendly presence, so feel free to say ‘hi!’ and to ask them about the care they are providing for our pupils.