USH Newsletters

16th May 2014

  • Headteacher's News

    Dear Parents

    Our senior student leadership recruitment 2014-15 is now complete and I am pleased to announce that Grace Robinson and Finley Talbot-Jones will become our new Head Girl and Head Boy.  Emily Yeates will be Deputy Head Girl and Kim Alipio our Deputy Head Boy. I am recommending Alice Wheatley, Abraham Orekan and James Wareham for House Captain positions.


    I am sure this team will have a very positive impact and influence on the school over the next year.  Congratulations to everyone and thank you to all the students who applied; we had a record number this year.

    Good luck to our Year 10 and 11 students who are well into the exam season; your maturity and consideration for each other is tremendous at this testing time.

    Stuart Woods, Headteacher

  • Tutor Time and Lunchtime at USH

    We are considering moving tutor time to first thing in the morning and establishing a single (staggered) lunch at USH to provide more opportunities for clubs from September.


    Students and staff will be exploring this in the coming weeks for a potential trial at the end of term. We welcome parent feedback, so if you have strong views please email Mr Wilding, david.wilding@ushschool.org.  

  • Cashless Catering Updates

    Cashless Catering: Are you Ready?
    We only have three weeks before the 'go live' date for our cashless catering system on Monday 9th June.

    Student Recognition (Students Year 7-10)
    We require parent consent to use this system. We have sent home a biometric opt in/out for every student. This must be returned to advise us if you are happy for us to use biometrics or wish us to use the alternative identification of a PIN device. Blank forms can be obtained from the General Office or from a link on the front of our website. We cannot register a pupil without parental permission so please act now. We need this form returned ASAP as the deadline has passed.

    Year 11 Students
    Year 11 students will still need to use the cashless catering system but will use a PIN device for identification and not biometrics. We therefore do not require return of a biometric form for Year 11 students but need to register on line and credit the student account.

    Registration of Online Payments
    If anyone has mislaid our letter explaining how to register please contact the finance office for a duplicate: finance@ushschool.org. These letters were personalised and sent home by post as they contained a unique student code to link parent logins with the financial information for their child.

    Making Payments
    Parents can now see 'cashless catering' as a payment option after logging into our internet payments system. Please don’t use this at the moment as the system is still being configured and tested. Please wait for a confirmation text from USH to start making payments. Students will not be able to make purchases on 9th June unless funds have been paid into their online cashless catering account.

    If you are not sure what to do please give us a call and we will talk you through the process.

    Julie Prince, Business Manager

  • Year 11 Payment for Prom

    Year 11 parents

    The deadline for students paying for tickets is next Thursday, 22nd May.  Over the last two terms we have been running a rewards scheme where students are given points for different aspects of their learning and behaviour, for example for progress in lessons or for being on target in their subjects.

    We will be issuing students with a letter this week telling them whether they are eligible for a discount  on their Prom ticket.

    Sian Roberts, Head of Year 11

  • Year 10 Mock Interview Week

    Whether applying for further education, higher education or employment, an interview can be a daunting experience.  To help prepare our students for this process, a range of professionals from Capita kindly gave up their valuable time to carry out ‘mock’ interviews.


    Covering letters and CVs were critiqued and each student received feedback on their interview technique.  Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze Certificates will be issued accordingly.  Special  congratulations to Kim Alipio, Jack Coster, Tom Kitcher, James Wareham and Alice Wheatley who have been awarded Platinum Certificates .  Well done!

    The photos show how smart our students looked in preparation for their interviews.

    Carey Anderson, Careers Adviser

  • Lifelab

    Last month our 9G science group went over to the LifeLab at the General Hospital. This is an education unit that works with groups of Year 9 students across the south to research ideas as to how young people’s own health and lifestyle choices may affect their own children in the future.

    Finley said: “ It was a very good experience. We did many experiments and worked in groups. I really enjoyed it.”
    Nadia: “I loved it! Everyone was so friendly and I learnt many things about measuring health and its possible effects.”
    Tina: “Everyone took part in many activities throughout the day. We got to meet real research scientists and question them about their work. It was very interesting."

    One startling discovery is relatively new: how young people live their lives seems to affect their own DNA so that later on their own children can be affected. Something to reflect on…..

    Tina Jardim, Nadia Arahji, Finley Gordon-Smith and Mr Laybourne

  • Tutor Group Dragsters Competition

    Before the Easter break we launched the first of a serious of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) related challenges.  Each tutor group was provided with essential materials to build dragsters. The students were inspired by the Bloodhound SSC (Super Sonic Car) project to design and build the fastest car in the world.  Bloodhound SSC is a jet and rocket powered car designed to go at 1,000 mph (just over 1,600 kph).  It has a slender body 14m long with two front wheels within the body and two rear wheels mounted externally within wheel fairings.  It weighs over seven tonnes and the engines produce more than 135,000 horsepower - more than six times the power of all the Formula 1 cars on a starting grid put together!  The car is a mix of car and aircraft technology, with the front half being a carbon fibre monocoque like a racing car and the back half being a metallic framework with panels like an aircraft.

    The aim of our project was to engage students within their tutor group to work as a team to make their dragster as fast as possible (carrying a plastic egg instead of a driver).  The cars were raced using the compressed air dragster launcher shown in the photograph.  Over a period of time the teams tested their cars, improving on their designs to try to make the winner. 

    The final round was exciting: the dragsters were racing against each other and despite a few problems on the day, the winning M2 dragster was the fastest I have ever seen (after running this activity with different groups for a few years!)  Well done M2 - you are the engineers of the future! 

    More challenges coming soon......

    Aggie Adamou, Maths/Community teacher

    M2 were really excited to be representing Mariners in the final and even more thrilled that they won! The competition was a great way for the different year groups to work together on a project in tutor time. I was really impressed with how the tutor group got involved and also particularly impressed with the Year 11s, in particular Callum Knight, who worked with the Year 8 pupils to design the winning car, well done M2! 

    Victoria O’Sullivan, M2 tutor

    “It was really good for everyone to take part and help out and it was exciting to watch!" (Finlay Forder, Year 8)
    “I liked making the dragster but it was tense and nerve-wrecking watching it race. I’m glad that M2 actually won something.”  (Charlie Carter-Banks, Year 8)
    “It was really good to make and really exciting to watch; however it was fun to see everyone in the competition."  (Ethan Kimber, Year 8)
    “I was amazed our car won!!” (Stanley Blunt, Year 8)


  • Well Done Year 11 Football Team!

    Upper Shirley High Year 11 football finished a very successful season by winning the City of Southampton Cup Final to complete a Schools FA Under-16 League and Cup double!

    They won the Cup Final by beating Lymington's Priestlands School 6-0 at Colden Common.  A headed goal by Travis Lodge and a fine goal by Damian Slawkowski gave them a half-time lead.

    Priestlands came out for the second half desperate to get back into the game but their hopes were ended when Slawkowski was brought down in the penalty box and Ellis Roy scored from the spot.  Two goals from Omar Mohamad either side of one by Emlyn Jones completed the thrashing.

    Congratulations to all the team from everyone at USH!

  • Southampton Schools Annual Swimming Gala

    On Thursday 1st May the USH Swim Team competed at the Annual Swim Gala hosted by The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex in Southampton.  Eight Southampton schools took part and USH was able to fill every position in all fifty events.  We were represented by thirty-four swimmers from all year groups.


    The results for our teams were as follows
    • Year 7 – 2nd position
    • Year 8 – 3rd position
    • Year 9 – 2nd position
    • Years 10/11 – 1st position
    • Boys overall – 2nd position
    • Girls overall – 3rd position.

    Overall USH achieved 2nd place!  A massive thank you and well done to all the swimmers who took part: this was a terrific result.  USH Swim Team will start to train again in September.  Details will follow at the end of the summer term.

    Sophie Dunne, PE department

  • Hampshire Athletics Track Knock-Out

    The athletics season has started with our Year 7 and 9 track teams performing well in the Hampshire Track Knock-Out, with both the girls' and boys' teams progressing to the semi-finals. 

    Well done to the following for representing the school: Ella Dodd, Freya Barfoot, Millie Clark, Isabella Fraser-Corbridge, Abigail Goldstraw, Lily Lavin, Sophia Westcott, Ben Bowles, Tom Brokenshire, Toby Hale, Luke Halford, Leon Longhurst, Toby Phillips, Sam May, Gemma Carr, Lily Thorne, Lara Hicks, Georgia O'Dell, Alice Orr, Isabelle Bennett, Adele Walker, Callum Read, Jake Powell, Jamie Halford, Sebastian Szymula, Bastin Punneliparambil, Harry Jones, Reece Reed, Lewis Hill and Charlie Carter-Banks.

    Mr Hadfield, Head of PE department

  • Rounders Results

    The U13 team endured a very wet rounders game on Tuesday after school but they did very well considering the weather conditions, beating St Anne's 6 ½ -5 ½.

    Claire Marks, PE department

    The U15 rounders team have had a great start to the league. They played very well in two away fixtures defeating Bitterne Park School 6 ½ - 3 and Greggs 6 ½ - 4. Following that we had a home victory against Woodlands, winning 6-2.  Finally, playing through a deluge of rain and wind they narrowly missed out and lost 5 ½ to 2 ½ to St Anne's. However they played in great spirit despite the horrific weather and having to bat second on a slippery field. The team are currently joint top of the league and are looking forward to their next home fixtures against Regents Park and Redbridge.

    The squad: Charlotte Franklin (Captain), Gemma Carr, Kelly Barlow, Grace Robinson, Emily Neale, Anna Hotston, Lily Thorne, Angel Sumajit, Kaitlan Brown, Shannon Harding and Georgia Basham.

    Well done to all.

    Claire Sidney, PE department

  • Visits to France

    We have two visits to France lined up in the coming months for the current Years 7 and 10.

    Paris 

    Following the hugely successful visit to Paris last March, we are offering current Year 7s the chance to go in October this year.  The visit will include a day in Paris looking around some of the sites and a day at Disneyland.  Proposed dates are Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th October 2014.  A £50 deposit is required to secure a place with the deadline extended to Wednesday 21st May.  We took sixty students last time: let’s take more in October!  Please see Mr Perry or Mr Tanihatu for a letter.

    Boulogne

    We plan to take our French students in Year 10 to Boulogne for a day trip to practise their language skills.  We will be leaving very early in the morning and returning very late on Friday 11th July.  Students have been told of the trip and the deposit deadline has passed.  However, we may still be able to accommodate students and aim to take as many as possible.  It’s a long day, but well worth it!  Please see Mr Perry or Miss Bousseau for a letter.

    Martin.Perry@ushschool.org

  • Catering Club

    Catering club is really fun and we have made so many yummy things, including honeycomb cheesecake, spaghetti carbonara, sausage rolls and Easter eggs.  Our favourite things to make were our gingerbread village and our rainbow cake which tasted delicious.


    Catering club has taught us some new recipes and has helped us to cook independently at home and in our catering lesson.  Mrs Naylor is awesome!


    by Erin, Charlotte and Adrianne (Year 7)

  • Donation of Clothes for PTA Fashion Show

    Are you having a clear out now that Spring is here?  The PTA would be very grateful for donations of clothes for the 'Worn Again Fashion Show'.  This will be held at the Ladies Night on Thursday 10th July (please see poster under the PTA button).

    If you have any good quality clothes, shoes or accessories which you would be prepared to donate to raise funds for the school mini-bus appeal please bring them to the school office.  Any unsold clothes will be given to charity.

    The PTA

  • When your Child is Unwell

    It is very important to ring the school if your child is going to be absent.  Please
    report any absence directly to the Attendance Officer, Alison Small, on 023 8052 2721, Alison.small@ushschool.org.

  • Dates for Your Diaries

    Dates to note for this academic year:
    Tuesday 20th May - 4-7.30pm, Year 8 parents' evening
    Friday 23rd May - Staff training (Inset) day
    Monday 26th-Friday 30th May - Half term
    Tuesday 10th June - 7-8.30pm, Parent Action Group
    Thursday 19th June - 4-7.30pm, Year 7 parents' evening
    Monday 30th June - Community Learning day for all staff and students
    Wednesday 2nd-Friday 4th July – 7pm School production: Starlight Express at The Point, Eastleigh
    Wednesday 2nd, Thursday 3rd July – Year 6 induction days
    Tuesday 8th July – Year 10 Sports Day
    Tuesday 8th July - Year 11 Prom
    Thursday 10th July – PTA Ladies Night
    Friday 18th July – Years 7-9 Sports Day
    Wednesday 23rd July - School breaks up for Summer holidays