USH Newsletter 12th November 2019

USH were delighted to welcome Dean Coady to Southampton for a Meet the Professional Event held at USH yesterday.  

Prior to his retirement from the Police in October
2014,  Dean was one of the highest decorated officers in the United
Kingdom, receiving numerous police and judges awards.  He was also
presented with an ‘Unsung Hero’ Award in 2014, by the NWG (CSE specialist) and
the Order of the British Empire, O.B.E in the Millenium Honors List.  Dean
has researched and designed a series of unique
interactive training packages for young learners and supporting
Safeguarders, as well as parents and carers.  Each training strand
endeavours to address some specific threats, risks and vulnerabilities facing
children and young adults that live in our communities.  

During the day Dean ran several workshops for some of our Year 10 students in PSHE.  His presentations were well received, informative and gave students a clear understanding of the current pressures of society and strategies of how to deal with them safely.

The Meet the Professional event proved successful for the staff who attended, many of whom left with a range of practical tips to use to when supporting their students.

Thank you to all of the staff and students for their kind
donations for Children in Need last Friday. Many students brought in baked
goods to be sold in the cake sale and many more volunteered to help sell the
goodies.

Combined with the non-school uniform donations, we are proud to announce £939 was raised.

Last week we hosted the GCSE Graduation Celebration Evening.  This provided one last time to see our students who left in the summer.  After a short presentation in which students were presented with their GCSE certificates, amidst a flurry of confetti - expertly guided by Mr Staples and Mr Hall, students, parents and staff mingled whilst enjoying a full buffet and drinks. 

Although they only left us a matter of months ago the students have already grown up in so many ways and it was a delight to hear how they are all doing in their new settings.

Well done Class of 2019 and good luck in your future plans.

On the 14^th and 21^st November Year 9
Photography students braved the cold and damp to try out their newly learnt
photography skills. Looking for interesting shots in nature they explored the
bushes, pond and fallen tree trunks. These enthusiastic photographers noticed
reflections in puddles, water droplets on leaves and tiny fungi growing on tree
bark. Although the Common is familiar to them all, they saw it in a new light, through
a camera lens.

On Thursday 14^th November a group of year 8
students visited the Ordnance Survey to take part in various activities. First
students had a talk about how the OS produce maps and the different ways in
which the maps are used for, from deciding where to locate a new housing
development to knowing where important services are such as fire and police.
Students then went outside to collect grid references using an app on their
phones. Some were looking at where all the picnic benches were and others were
looking at the location of security cameras. This data was then added to a
spreadsheet and uploaded onto Digimaps, where the students could then see the
location of findings. We talked about how we can use this back at school and
students suggested to record any hotspots of litter so that we could add more
bins or recycling points around the school. It was a really successful trip and
the students involved used a variety of skills and all thoroughly enjoyed the
experience.

Mrs Hyslop

Last week and the week before, our 2 Year 10 Film Studies
cohorts took a trip to the Solent University, Southampton to take part in a
workshop around the more technical elements of lighting within moving image
i.e. film, an area that they will need to be able to show an in depth
understanding of within their responses to the Film Studies exam papers.

A huge thank you for the staff in the Film, Television and
Sound Departments at the Solent University (in particular, Graeme Herwig, Technical Instructor, Solent University Southampton) for not only accommodating
us, but providing us with a great session on how light is used for different
effects throughout film with specific exploration of the film we are currently
studying, Attack the Block (2011,
Cornish), as well as allowing us to have a go at recreating some of the film’s
effects ourselves using their impressive equipment. A huge thank you to Mr
Hall, Mr Marsh and Mr Osment for supporting us with transport.

Sarah O’Halloran, Subject Lead for Film

A group of 20 Year 9's are currently having the
opportunity to attend mentoring sessions with students from Southampton
University. The aim is to harness the students' interests and ambitions, and to
gain support and advice on how to achieve and succeed both at USH and once they
leave to pursue future endeavours. This includes how to handle stress,
discussions on how to balance school life and extra curriculars, strategies for
staying organised, and building a network between USH and Southampton
University. 

Thank you to Sophie Ford, Jordan Common and
the mentors from Southampton Hub for providing a wealth of knowledge, advice,
and experience for these students! 

Mrs A Mahoney, Head of Year 9

Congratulations to Zach who has qualified to a Level 1 BTEC from his Cadets.   What a great achievement.

Congratulations to Dainton D, Maths Whizz winner for two weeks in a row!  Well done!

The year 9 girl’s netball team have performed fantastically throughout the whole of the netball league, not losing a single match and winning by a minimum of 6 points difference in each game. The girls have worked amazingly as a team, and represented Upper Shirley High in the best possible light. Working together and motivating one another throughout each match, they have displayed fantastic attitudes towards one another and continuously supportied the opposition.”

In our first newsletter of this academic year we introduced 'The Peaks'.  Following our first data captures of Year 10 and 11 we are thrilled to announce the following students have made it into the Aspire group (they have the best attitude and the best progress:

“Ski Trip 2020 – The fourth
instalment of £150 is due Friday 29^th November 2019.

Battlefields 2020 – The
remaining balance of £159 is due Monday 9^th December 2019.

Payments can be made by cash,
cheque (made payable to “Upper Shirley High School”) or using our online
payments system. If you are experiencing any difficulties keeping in line with
the scheduled payments, please do not hesitate to contact the trip lead or the
Finance Team.”

Data Sharing

Your
son/daughter has been issued with a letter regarding the sharing of data with
Solent University.  Please complete the
slip at the bottom of the letter indicating whether or not you agree to the
specified data being shared and return it to school as soon as possible.

A copy of the
letter can be found on the school website: Information – Letters & Forms –
Whole School Letters

Year 10 Mock Interviews

The mock
interviews have been rescheduled from December to January. They will take place
on Wednesday 22^nd, Monday 27^th, Tuesday 28^th
and Wednesday 29^th January.  If you would like to get involved;
interviewing students and providing feedback or would like more information
please contact Mrs Anderson.

Apprenticeships – Key Facts

·        
Apprenticeships
are real jobs and you will earn a real wage

·        
Apprenticeships
are available to anyone over the age of 16, living in England and have no upper
age limit

·        
Apprenticeships
have four levels, intermediate, advanced, higher and degree

·        
An
apprentice will spend 20% of their time off-the-job training

·        
Up
to 20,000 apprenticeship vacancies are advertised on Find an apprenticeship,
the government portal

For more information about
apprenticeships, visit apprenticehips.gov.uk

As you are aware we are working hard behind the scenes to improve the profile of road safety at USH, working with planners, developers and the City leaders to overcome the challenges of Bellemoor Road traffic.

We have all been noticing the challenges to traffic and road
safety immediately after school. As have members of our community.

For around 10 mins after school the blind-bend on Bellemoor
Road is becoming blocked with cars parked up and those attempting to pass.  Road safety is further compromised by students crossing on
the bend and riding out of the school on bikes and scooters.

At the end of the school day the school gates will be shut, students asked to walk bicycles out and for these reasons the leadership have decided that the older students are not permitted to ride mopeds to school.  We have taken this decision based on all the factors related to this issue.

We are asking parents and carers to reinforce our message of road safety and please do not drop off and pick up on the Bellemoor bend.  Your co-operation and commitment to this is very much appreciated.

The Rose Road Association are delighted to announce our annual, accessible Christmas Fayre on December 1^st!

With stalls, crafts and Santa’s Grotto, this is a great chance to grab a Christmas bargain with all proceeds supporting local families. The site has parking close to the building and our fully equipped changing rooms have hoists for full accessibility.