USH Newsletter 15th February 2019

Welcome to the final newsletter of this half term. Thanks to all stakeholders for your support of our community. We hope everyone has a safe and restful week.

Mr Woods

This evening sees the final performance of the USH production of Aladdin Jr.

The cast and crew have worked tirelessly to ensure the performances have been as good as they could be and they haven't disappointed.

Yesterday afternoon pupils from our feeder schools were invited to a private viewing of the show -  'Just been to watch the USH production of Aladdin at The Point. What an amazing talented inspiring group of students, staff and crew. If you haven't already, go and see it. Thank you to the cast for greeting, signing autographs and chatting with the audience. All the kids were thrilled!!!!'

On Tuesday 12th February, the History department rewarded fifteen Year 8 and 9 High Flyers for having the best ATLs and progress in History by taking them to watch the Shadow Factory at Nuffield Theatre. The show was brilliant in telling the story of an important part of our local History – how Southampton was home to Spitfire production during the Second World War and the impact this had on the community.

The feedback from the students was extremely positive; they absolutely loved the play and thought it was a great experience overall. It’s fantastic to seem them so inspired by the production and enthused about local history. They were a credit to the school - as the only children in a packed audience, they were very well behaved and respectful of others.

I would like to congratulate the students for earning their place on the trip and thank them for making it such a positive experience. I would also like to thank Mr Bhardwaj for attending the trip.

Mr Farley

The Duke of Edinburgh award is a leading youth achievement award and has inspired and helped transform the lives of many young people from all walks of life. There are four sections to the award, volunteering, physical activities, life skills and expeditions.

The school has been offering students the opportunity to take part in the award for a number of years. This year we are working with an Approved Activity Provider called BXM, they will be providing the training and support during the expedition section of the award.

Regular meetings take place in school to talk over any issues participants may be having or to help them upload any evidence they need to add to their account. The DofE co-ordinator is also on hand daily in the general office if participants need extra support or parents have questions. All participants should attend these meetings so they can keep the co-ordinator up to date with how they are progressing.

This year’s cohort of students are off to a good start and many of them have already started the three independent sections. It is very important that they log into their DofE account and complete all the necessary information required for the different sections of the award. I have found that once students have completed this paperwork they are much more likely to achieve their award.

On Saturday 9^th February we held a training day in school for participants who have just started their DofE award. The students learnt how to read a map, use a compass and the kinds of foods they will need to think about bringing on their practice and assessed expeditions. In smaller groups, students planned their assessed expeditions. The day went really well and the student behaved brilliantly.

Participants will be going out on their practice expedition on the 6^th to 7^th April and will do their qualifying expedition on the 27^th to 28^th April.

With the Battlefields trip rapidly approaching, I wanted to update you with the final itinerary and some important information. Please click here and read through this letter carefully and let me know if you have any questions, or concerns.

Mr Farley

Stuart.Farley@ushschool.org

This week saw the annual Citizenship marketplace where the year 10 GCSE students created a showcase to share their campaigns to improve elements of the local community.  Groups choose to look at issues such as the use of derogatory language, the impact of anti-social behaviour on others and the impact of parking outside the school. With guests such as the police, street pastors and parents, the students were able to show their findings with others and bring about real change in the community. 

Read on for each groups summary: 

Our campaign ‘A.S.B awareness’ surrounds the topic of antisocial behaviour. 

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is actions that harm or lack consideration for the wellbeing of others, and causes alarm, harassment or distress. 

We chose this topic because of the increasing amount of anti-social behaviour in the Shirley area recently, 41% of 14-16 year olds will commit an anti-social act and 213 ASB crimes were committed in September in Southampton. 

To decrease this we wanted to make people more aware of the negative effects anti-social behaviour has on our community,  as there is also a stereo type in society that the majority of young people are badly behaved and are the main people committing ASB. 

We wanted to build a campaign to raise awareness for this issue and to break the stereotypes of it. To begin with, we gave surveys out in tutor time to find out how much the students knew about it already. 

To do this we set up a lesson for a year 9 class where we ran quizzes and presentations to educate them about anti-social behaviour. To raise whole school awareness, we made a display board about ASB in the Humanities corridor and interviewed the Head of Year 10 Mrs Fortune about the topic.

Emmeli Whitehouse

Our campaign group is called Anti-social agents; we are trying to reduce anti-social behaviour in Shirley. 

This campaign involves doing various types of research such as online, posters, surveys and more, also we have to complete an action to go with our research e.g. PowerPoint, presentation, displays etc. As a group we have communicated about how we should approach our action and we have done research appropriate to the campaign.

My group and I have had to communicate to many different people such as Southampton police and Southampton council regarding anti-social behaviour. Not only have our communicating skills been used but also our creative skills such a creating a logo, slogans, posters, PowerPoints and quizzes.

We have given a PowerPoint to tutors, and are hoping they will become informed about anti-social behaviour. In addition to the PowerPoint in tutor, a PowerPoint is being displayed in the pavilion for all students, teachers and visitors to see. We are hoping this will influence people to think when they see anti-social behaviour, or are being anti-social.

Kenzie Matthews

P.A.L  is a campaign focused upon reducing the use of offensive and derogatory language amongst young people, or preventing  antisocial language. This campaign aims to draw attention to the detrimental effects and negative ramifications of aggressive language use amongst teens, highlighting the importance of positive communication to a healthy community.

 Language use is a really key part of the welcoming learning environment we have here at USH, but this atmosphere of respect and care is not always extended outside of school hours. As young people ourselves, we understand that there is often a contrast between behaviour within and outside of school, but we feel that thought and kindness should be a constant of USH pupils, no matter where they are.  

This is not to say that students at our school are disrespectful or careless; students at USH are known to be hardworking and gracious, qualities usually displayed by thoughtful and considerate language. We are simply trying to make sure that this care and respect is recognised outside of the school grounds. 

Our research has shown us that negative language use can have long lasting obstructive effects in both professional and social endeavours. This is why we are highlighting the importance of self-awareness when it comes to students interacting with each other and members of the public. So far our group has presented an assembly to years 7,9,10 and 11, alongside organising meetings with leading figures in our school and members of the local community. In our assembly we aimed to emphasise how influential the words we use can be in representing ourselves, especially when it is in a negative way. Our points were well received by the pupils, some of whom shared their own views on our campaign, and are willing to work with us to make sure everyone can see how caring they really are.

This campaign has already given us a chance to have some really interesting discussions, and to learn more about the way language helps to create such a great environment at our school. 

Written by Charlotte Morris 

P.A.L

Our campaign Behaviour Busters is about helping to solve and/or prevent antisocial/bad behaviour in school environments. We have gathered evidence of disruptive behaviour by examining multiple year 7/8 lessons. 

Some of the most common issues in lessons are,  calling out; not following instructions the first time being told; and rudeness. 

In our campaign, we hope to eradicate this bad behaviour by raising awareness of the effects of anti-social behaviour in the classroom, examples of those being; decreased grades, others being affected, consequences, teacher feeling disheartened. 

We are doing lessons to raise awareness.  In these lessons we are going to do things like questionnaires, handing around information sheets and doing PowerPoints. We hope you choose to agree with our campaign and do your part in eradicating anti-social behaviour in the classroom

Mabel Gledhill-Gilvarry and Ethan Mullane

As a part of the year 10 Citizenship curriculum we have all created a campaign to do with issues our group shares a passion for and wish to fix or give a better reputation to. We have become an association called ‘Bellemoor Walkers’. 

Particularly we have decided to base ours on the growing epidemic of pollution and the overall dangers of it, specifically on Bellemoor Road. We all believed this was something that needed to be publicised before it goes too far. 

Primarily, our main issue we wish to talk about is the increasing amount of pollution forming outside our school and how it can affect us all greatly. A school in London has recently been found to have more pollution actually in the classroom than outside the local surrounding area- we never wish for Upper Shirley to have the same dreadful report on the news. 

Unfortunately, the thing that causes this pollution increase the most is parents dropping children off directly outside the school, moreover specifically on the yellow area indicating no parking. Not only that but there is also a sign saying no parking between 8am-6pm. 

How is this creating mass pollution? Well, due to cars dropping off, yet leaving their cars on, for the minute they let the pupil out releases pollution at various yet still large amounts which will travel directly into the school and also pollute the whole of Bellemoor Road, including the Shirley Juniors and Richard Taunton college. 

Furthermore, another issue with cars parked directly outside is how it can create an unsafe environment for students who walk to school and even affecting the residents of Bellemoor as they try to go to work and/or wherever they need to go at the time of which everyone begins to stack up. I myself, for the campaign, have observed multiple times a substantial amount of traffic congregate, this then resulting in students finding it hard to cross.   

So what are the solutions? Though there is no true way to stop this horrific pollution epidemic and we truly understand that sometimes children need aiding getting into school and have to be dropped directly, our campaign has thought that the best way to solve this is: Walking! 

Hence our slogan being Walk More for Bellemoor. By walking we create a safer environment for pupils and also increase healthier lifestyles too. Consequently there’ll be no more issues for residents either. We believe that walking has so many more advantages than not and should be really considered if in a sizeable distance. However if not even parking outside Bellemoor Road and walking for a few minutes will still benefit the pollution levels in many ways as our school is currently in one of the increasing pollution zones! 

Overall, our goal as Bellemoor walkers is to encourage walking and produce a decrease in pollution around Upper Shirley and Bellemoor road as a whole. We hope you consider helping us in this pollution epidemic and help create safer roads for the pupils. 

Please continue to spread awareness!

-Megan Wylde

Today Team Spirit came in with 3 feeder school students to play ‘Capture The Flag’ in our gym. There were 6 teams playing and they were happy and loud! They had to run around and capture the flag without getting caught by the other players. If they got caught they had to go to prison. There were 3 Team Spirit Coaches and members of staff from their school with the help of USH sports prefects.

World Book Day is nearly here!Here at USH we love books and reading, so we are planning a series of exciting events to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 7th March. To start the day, there will be a book quiz for tutor groups, with prizes for the winning group. Part of the Library will be transformed into a special Book Stall for the day. Students in Years 7 and 8 will each be given a free £1 book token which they will be able to exchange for a specially-published World Book Day book at our Book Stall. Of course, students may choose to spend their token at any participating Book Shop, where they can use it in part-payment for any book.

All week, there will be a scavenger hunt around school based around teachers’ book choices. There will be prizes for competition winners, so don’t forget to enter for a chance to win. Also, on World Book Day itself, look out for staff dressed a little differently from usual!

Later in the month, on Wednesday 20th March, we are excited to welcome the award-winning children’s author Tom Palmer, who will be working with students in Years 7 and 8. Tom is the author of 45 fiction books featuring football, rugby, spies, history, the RAF, ghosts and detectives. There is a selection of his books available in the Library, so we are encouraging students to read one before they meet him. During his visit, there will also be a chance to buy one of Tom’s books and get it signed by him.

We have been made aware of a free film workshops open to 12 to 16 year olds being held on Thursday 21st & Friday 22nd February, 10am-4pm at City Eye & John Hansard Gallery Studio 144, 142-144 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7DU.

Be part of the cast and crew and make your own short film inspired by the Anya Lewin exhibition at John Hansard Gallery.
Using professional filmmaking equipment you will learn all aspects of the filmmaking process, including script ideas, camera work and editing.

This 2 day workshop is free but places must be booked by a parent/guardian/carer.

To book email v.rolf@soton.ac.uk

There has been a surge in availability of inexpensive multi-tools in shops around the city and USH would like to clarify the following:

Multi-tools, designed for active pursuits such as fishing and Scouts, are not allowed in school. Please see below for examples of utility tools (sometimes called gentleman’s tools) all of which are not suitable to be carried around by children in school.

For clarity, Hex (or Alan) keys, for the purpose of scooter and cycle maintenance, can be purchased on their own and do not need to be part of the general multi-tool as referenced here.

With regard general safety, we also ask that parents:

1. Regularly assess your child’s scooter or cycle for safety checks at home.

2. Support the school’s safety message about helmet use.

3. Remind children to take care on their way to and from school as traffic gets very busy around Bellemoor Road.

Thank you for your support in helping our children stay safe.