USH Newsletter 21st July 2017

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

On 11th July our school community came together at Central Hall to celebrate the many successes of the year with students, parents and staff.  Another very successful year for USH students and we congratulate all the winners.

We had our last "split" Sports Days this year...more about that soon...

This year, the overall winners in the House Competition were Mariners with 549 points overall.  2nd place went to Venturers with 515 points followed by Engineers with 481 points and Aviators on 409 points.

The Victor Ludorum and Victrix Ludorum for each year group are as follows:

Year 7: Luke Norton and Olivia Austin
Year 8: Oliver Cook and Anna Obara
Year 9: Ewan Haylor and Eleanor Marshall-Cox
Year 10: Luke Halford and Freya Barfoot

Well done all of you, you are a credit to your houses and to the school.

Miss Wright-Davies
Subject Lead, PE

Thank you to all the students and staff who took part in our Bake Off this year.  The finals saw an incredibly high standard, the highest we have ever seen and it was a very special and enjoyable experience for all involved.  It was very hard to choose between our top three, there being only a half mark out of 50 that separated first and second place!

Thank you to the "backroom" staff that made it possible, especially Mrs Naylor and Mr Hall who worked tirelessly throughout the competition and showed an incredible commitment to the bakers and the event.

First Place: Emma Blankley and Sophie Fay

Second Place: Molly Ellis and Ema Rafiu

Third Place: Harvey Whyte and Alfie Naylor

We really enjoyed participating in the bake off this year and the atmosphere was really good. It was great to see everybodys designs for the summer showstopper evolve over the 3 hours.Our inspiration for the cake was pink lemonade as we both really love it, especially in summer. This has been a really fun experience and we would definitely recommend it to others!  (Emma Blankley and Sophie Fay, Winners)

It was an amazing experience and we got to make our favourite deserts and had fun presenting our showstoppers. Everyone should get involved as it was great! (Ema Rafiu and Molly Ellis, 2nd Place)

We were really happy to be in the bake off final. We practised alot and really enjoyed the day. We are looking forward to next year already! (Harvey Whyte and Alfie Naylor, 3rd Place)

Joseph Davies

Subject Lead, Food and Nutrition

This half term in English, our Year 7 and 8 students have been working on a project to create a children’s book that teaches the reader a lesson.  Our students have worked really hard on these projects and produced some outstanding work.  This made it very difficult for us to choose a winner from each class to go and read their stories to the year 1 and 2 students at Shirley Infant School.  All students’ books will be used to create a reading corner during our Open Morning in October to be read by the younger siblings of prospective students.

The students whose books were chosen to be read at Shirley Infant School are:

Leila C

Jess T

Amelie H

Tasia B

Eddie P

Taylor H

Kyle B

Liam A

Isaac R

Callum C

Hannah J

Ellie T-J

Ruby H

Anna M

Rosie K

Josh B

Charlotte M

Mario J

Well done!

Issac R and Callum C – we really enjoyed this whole project because it meant we could be creative and target a certain audience which I haven’t done before.  In the end everything went together really well, which meant the book was great.  Also, to go to the infants meant we could really test our book out and see if it was interesting enough for the year 2s.  Working in a pair was challenging sometimes if you disagreed on something but overall it was really helpful.

Ruby H – I really enjoyed this topic.  Though we have had a much younger target audience, I still have found some bits challenging, such as creating a story with a moral.  I really enjoyed going on the trip to Shirley Infant School as I’ve received honest feedback from people who have read my book.  I realised that 6-7 year old’s vocabulary range was much wider than I originally thought.  I hope to get some more trips like this soon.

Leila C – I enjoyed the project of making a children’s book because I like writing stories in general.  Also, because I like working with people and Mali and I had some great ideas.  I enjoyed going down to the infants because they were a great audience and although Mali wasn’t there with me, I had a great experience.

Liam A – I enjoyed it today, it was really fin and I liked reading to the year 2s.

Mario – I really liked going to the infant school, it was a nice experience reading your own book.

Josh B – I thought that this was a great project.  It was a good lesson to teach the infants.

Here’s what some of the infants had to say about our stories:

I liked the rhyming words! – Georgia, aged 6

I loved how it sounds like a song. – Maisy, aged 7

I liked the words they chose. – Mylo, aged 7

I liked how they went to different places in the story. – William, aged 7

I liked how it teaches you to never give up and to keep tying. – Ted, aged 7

Thank you for all your hard work!

The English Department

Since May, Year 8 students have been working USH TV to make a documentary about the Outdoor Learning Area at Wordsworth School. Film crews visited Wordsworth on 4 occasions in May and June to shoot footage of pupils in years R, 1, 3 and 6 as they engaged in a range of activities including den building, fire lighting and pond dipping. 

The USH TV students shot a range of footage of the primary school children taking part in the activities and also conducted interviews with them on camera to allow them to talk about their experiences. The footage was then edited into a 10 minute film which you can see on the USH TV Youtube page at the following address:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AckhIiJWAgg

Director of USH TV, Mr Hind said, “I was really impressed with the professionalism shown by the UH TV students. They engaged really well with the Wordsworth pupils, putting them at their ease during the interviews and filming effectively but discretely during the activities. Everyone involved is really pleased with how the film turned out and I hope we will get the opportunity to work with more schools on projects like this in the future.”

The USH TV students who were involved were: Finlay A, Elija D, Ben F, Joseph N, Ria O, Jodie P, Vlad P, Matthew S, Tia S and Emmeli W. All the students involved graduated from the USH TV Academy thanks to their excellent work on the project. Some of them are pictured after receiving their badges following a screening of the completed film. 

Thank you to everybody who had an involvement in organising the competitors, allowed students out of their lessons and overall just helped to make it run smoothly. A special thanks to those staff who came down to support in their available time, I know the students appreciated your being there for them.

It was a very successful day with the overall winners being:

1st- Spencer Vaughn - Year 8
2nd - Thomas Gilbert - Year 9
3rd - Ivan Lianh - Year 7

All students who took part did tremendously well and deserve a huge congratulations for their bravery and ambition throughout the heats. 

Mrs Turner

Subject Lead, Film Studies

Life in the Library has been especially busy over the past few weeks. Last Wednesday and Thursday, we welcomed all of the Year 6 students who will be coming up to USH in September. They had fun exploring all the Library has to offer, and had some time to relax while listening to a story read by the Librarians. The book we chose was a childhood favourite of Dr Dutton – The Paper Bag Princess – a quirky Canadian ‘fairy tale’.

They also had a chance to experience for the first time how to take an Accelerated Reader quiz. We  took the quiz as a group….and scored 100% every time!

All Year 6 children have been asked to read at least one book over the holiday to prepare them for life at USH, where reading is such a big part of our school day. Suggested titles were given out to parents at the Year 6 Parents’ Evening, and are also available on the USH website. Children may also like to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge, which they can join at Shirley Public Library or any other Public Library.

The Librarians have also been busy preparing for the end of term Accelerated Reader awards, which will be given to those students who have met their targets this term. Year 7 students have had record levels of success with their reading progress this year, and have made a huge effort to embrace the USH reading culture. We also have a staggering 44 Word Millionaires in Years 7 and 8 this year. These are students who have read a million words or more over the year – quite an achievement!

Finally, both the Library Book Groups celebrated the end of the year with a tea party in the Library – lots of cake was eaten!

Dr Mount and Dr Dutton.

On Tuesday 4th July, a group of talented athletes from USH took part in the Southampton City Athletics meet.  Everyone did really well and USH came second overall, just behind King Edward's School.

Well done to everyone involved!

On Wednesday 12th July the Drama department took fifty five students to The Mayflower Theatre to see the comedy show ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. The show was absolutely fantastic and very funny. Our students behaved impeccably and were a real credit to the school. We all laughed from start to finish during the slapstick performance that revealed everything that could possibly go wrong in a performance. I want to thank Mr Bhardwaj, Ms Turner, Miss Williams and Miss Simpson for supervising the trip that became a great night out at the theatre.

Miss Kirk
Subject Lead, Theatre Arts

Tracey Cruickshank the Connect Manger from The Nuffield Theatre was in school on Tuesday 11th July to lead a workshop with Year 8 students that have opted to do GCSE Drama.  The workshop was based on the Hampshire’s county youth theatre’s latest production of ‘Brainstorm’ and students explored techniques that will be used during the devising process of this performance. The students that participated within this workshop enjoyed the session and responded well to each task. At the end of the workshop Tracey held a question and answer session all about the arts industry and possible careers. The students asked some insightful questions and gained a great understanding of the options available and realities of the industry. Tracey was impressed with the talent of our students and would love for students to audition and get involved in the Hampshire County Youth Theatre.

If we do have any students interested in getting involved within this project they can register and read more about it using the link below:

https://www.nstheatres.co.uk/get-involved/youth-theatre 

Miss Kirk
Subject Lead, Theatre Arts

A huge thank you to all the volunteers from Upper Shirley High who have given up their own time to come and run the Art Club at Hollybrook Infant School on Tuesdays after school this year.

The infant children have really appreciated their enthusiasm and creative ideas and all the teachers at Hollybrook have noticed the mature and friendly manner of the USH girls.

We would also like to thank Helen Cadle, your Art and Photography teacher, who co-ordinates this cross-school initiative. 

Well done and thank you to;

Millie Clark
Shannon Hodgeson
Abi White
Molly Ellis
Ema Rafu
Livvy Willis
Mikaela Swain

But especially to Abi Jackopson and Lydia Nutting who went above and beyond expectations, volunteering at our school for over two terms and displaying exceptional commitment and skill in working with our young children. They are a huge credit to Upper Shirley High. 

Miranda Boakes-Clark
Hollybrook Infant School

Despite the weather being very warm this week and the day after some of the Year 7s recovering from the Camping Trip, students came along to complete their Flip Flop Beach Bags.  It was also a great pleasure to have a boy in the Craft Club.

Mrs Kelly

*** SAVE THE DATE ***

The PTFA are going to be hosting a Quiz Night at USH on Friday 22nd September.  

All parents / staff welcome!