USH Newsletters

• End of Term Arrangements

  We thought it would be useful to give you details of some of our Christmas/end of term activities.

  Tuesday 18th December – Practice rehearsal day for those students and staff involved in our annual Christmas Carol Concert. More details to follow for parents with students taking part in this event. Students will return to school in order to have Christmas Lunch if they wish.

  Tuesday 18th December (daytime) – Christmas Lunch in School. All students should have already brought a letter home; the deadline for ordering a meal is Thursday 13th December. A copy of this letter is available on our school website under the Parents/Letters & Forms/Whole school letters tab.

  There will be no break service on this day, and no other food will be served at lunchtime. If students have not ordered a Christmas meal by 13th December they will need to bring a packed lunch into school. Sadly, the kitchen will not be able to accommodate last minute orders on the day.

  A Christmas meal will be provided to those students eligible for free school meals, but they must be ordered in the normal way. If a student on free school meals does not wish to have a Christmas meal, they will need to bring in a packed lunch, as no other meals will be supplied on the day.

  Wednesday 19th December (evening) - Christmas Carol Concert at St James’ Church, starting at 6:30pm.  This is a very special community event for our staff and students; we are planning a wonderful festive event to showcase our musical talent. All parents are welcome.

  Thursday 20th December – Last day of term. This will be a non-uniform day and we ask students to bring in a charitable donation of 50p. We would encourage students to come into school wearing sensible clothing with a festive theme; I know many students will enjoy the opportunity to wear their Christmas jumper. This year we are supporting Jean's House and Clic Sargent.

  The Talent Show will take place today along with a variety of seasonal activities in tutor bases.

  Students will be leaving school early, at 1.05pm – there will be no lunch service on this day.

  Friday 21st December – INSET (School closed for students)

  If you have any questions about any of these events please call the school office or email our general address: info@uppershirleyhigh.org

  
  

• Class of 2018 Graduation Evening

  Last week we held our graduation event for the class of 2018.  In a change to previous years we decided to make the evening more of a celebration and social event.  Students received their GCSE certificates and enjoyed an evening of food and drink, music and chat.  It was a fantastic evening, enjoyed by all.
  This group of students worked so hard towards their exams and with the support of their teachers and families have achieved the best results ever.  Well done all. 

  For those students who were not able to attend the evening your certificates are available from school reception.  Please come in to collect them personally.  If you wish to send a representative to collect them on your behalf you will need to provide them with a signed letter to that effect.
  

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• Year 10 Journey

  The Year 10s have been working really hard on their journeys in tutor time this half term in order to get prepared for their mock interviews. In PSHE lessons they have made CV’s and covering letters and had to apply for a job; they then were interviewed by guest interviewers and gained feedback.

  Congratulations to Thomas Goldstraw, Finbar Harvey-O’Leefe, Kenzie Matthews and Myleta Wilkins who all received a Platinum award for getting 20/20.

  We have also been working hard with students to identify their learning style so that they can benefit much more when revising at home or in lessons. All students with identified learning styles have attended a workshop run by Solent University that gave them ideas for revising and working in one of the 3 learning styles. Students said ‘it was useful’ and it helped ‘give them ideas to go and practise’.

  I hope that students can continue to thrive with their work, following on from a very positive Year 10 parents evening last night. Keep up the hard work Year 10!

  Mrs Fortune.

  
  

• Pixl Edge Award Programme

  This month has seen the Year 7 and 8 students beginning their Pixl Edge award programme.  Designed in conjunction with Business and Industry experts, the programme aims for the students build their skills in 5 key areas: Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication (known collectively as LORIC) by completing 2 tasks for each area.

  Students have chosen from a range of activities including pledging to teach new skills to family members, bake at home, run sporting events and organise activities for their tutor group. It’s great to see the students taking on new challenges which will push them to develop their skills and I am looking forward to seeing the fantastic work they produce to give them the Edge!

  Mrs Dibden

  
  

• Are you a winner on the PIXL Maths App?

  The PIXL Math app is gradually being introduced to all students and is an excellent app to help revise GCSE maths. All of Year 11 are on it!   
  PIXL timetable app is a brilliant app to make sure your times tables and mental maths skills are up to scratch. This is coming to all year groups soon.

  Some students are already using the apps and the highest scores are: 

  Highest Score on the PIXL maths app Year 11: Rebecca Crawley
  Highest Score on PIXL Timestable app: Rhys Weaver
  

• School Library – Book Amnesty

  Calling all Parents! Does your son/daughter have any overdue books at home that they borrowed from the School Library? Maybe they’ve been hanging around for so long that they’ve become part of the scenery? Or maybe they’re so late that they’re simply embarrassed to return them.
  If the answer is yes, don’t worry!  The Library is holding a Book Amnesty from Monday 17th December until the end of term. Just drop the books off in the box by the Library door, or hand in at Reception, and their Library record will be cleared with NO QUESTIONS ASKED !
  

  

• Digital Distinction

  Two hundred Computer Science students from across the school took part in the ‘Bebras Computing Challenge’ in November. Bebras is designed to introduce computational thinking to students and excite their interest in computer science. Bebras is organised and sponsored by Oxford University and Google in over 40 countries.
  Certificates of Distinction are awarded to the top 25% of Bebras entrants. 38 boys and 16 girls achieved this. ‘Best in School’ (in their age group) awards went to Oliver Norris (Juniors), Taeyoung Kim (Intermediate) and Ethan Munday (Seniors).
  The top 10% of Bebras entrants in their age groups nationally are invited to take part in the TCS Oxford Computing Challenge which has been created by TCS (who employ 389,000 computer scientists in 46 countries including 30 hubs in the UK) and Oxford University.
  23 USH students have been invited to take part in the ‘TCS OCC’ in March 2019. They will be challenged to develop their skills further and produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems.

  
  

• Maths Solution 4 and Challenge 5

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• £98.34 Raised for the Poppy Appeal

  The school raised £98.34 for the poppy appeal this year. Thank you to everyone who donated.
  

• Are you interested in training to become a teacher?

  Dear Parents and Families

  Are you interested in training to become a primary school teacher?

  Hamwic SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) has vacancies now to start training from September 2019 and we would be very interested to hear from you if you are thinking of becoming a teacher, or know someone who is. We’re looking for people who have (or will have) a degree, and GCSE (or equivalent) C/ grade 4 or above in English, Maths and Science. You also need to have a passion for teaching and want to inspire young people to fulfil their potential.

  We’d love you to come in and have a chat with us about the exciting teacher training opportunities available. Our Programme Director Lucy Phillips can be contacted by email at info@hamwicscitt.org  to arrange a date and time. We can also provide you with support and guidance on your application form and offer you school experience if you just want a taster of what teaching could be like.

  We will be holding a Train to Teach event on Tuesday 11th December @ 5pm at Weston Park Primary School, where you can come into school and find out more about our programme and the schools in which you can train in. 

  For further information please see our website www.hamwicscitt.org

  For further information on what becoming a teacher might involve more generally, you can also visit www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching.

  We look forward to hearing from you.

  Yours sincerely

  
  Lucy Phillips
  Programme Director

  
  

• Admissions Policy for 2020 Consultation

  Upper Shirley High School are now consulting on their admissions policy for 2020.  If you have any comments on the policy please email them to the school’s admissions consultant, Mrs Jo Glenton, at the following email address: info@jgconsultancyservice.co.uk.  Alternatively you can send your comments into the school office marked for the attention of Mrs Jo Glenton.  The consultation will close on 31st January 2019.

  The policy can be viewed here.
  

• Solent University Privacy Notice

  Solent University have been working with some USH students. Please click here if you wish to view their privacy notice.