USH Newsletters

• Headteacher's Message

  Dear Parents and Carers

  A standout remark by Ofsted, ‘The school’s good reputation and increasing popularity is well deserved.' sums up all the hard work from our community as a collective.  Well done everyone.

  Following our recent Ofsted Inspection the final report has now been published.  You can view it here and I hope you find it informative.

  As a school we have noted the strengths and areas to develop and will be working on these in the coming years.  Once again thank you for your support during this time and for those of you who gave feedback during the inspection. 

  As Head of Upper Shirley High I am proud of our achievements to date, many of which are featured in the report.  I remain dedicated to our further improvements, committed to our community and passionate about children’s learning.

  Mr Woods, Headteacher

   

• Paris 2019

  After months and months of anticipation, we embarked on our long weekend trip to Paris with our lovely group of 60 Year 8 students in the week before half term (18^th to 21^st of October). We had a groaningly early morning (imagine the disdain of students having to be at school for 5:45am!) but the students were in fantastic spirits as we left for our 10 hour trip to our accommodation. We had a quick smooth trip over on the ferry and arrived to a great boarding school in Ozoir-La-Ferrière where we would spend our next four days. There was a huge playing field where students (and teachers!) played a huge game of ball and thoroughly tired ourselves out before dinner and an early night.

  Saturday morning, we were up early and ready for a day exploring the French capital. Students purchased their own tickets to ascend the Eiffel Tower (some even did so in perfect French!) and we went up all three levels to see the view from the top. Everyone enjoyed themselves and got to see sights they never even imagined! Next, we crossed to the River Seine where we took an hour-long river cruise to see the sights – the Notre Dame de Paris Cathédrale, the Ile Saint-Jacques in the middle of the river, the Musée d’Orsay, the golden Pont Alexandre III and the outsides of the Louvre museum. Then, en route to our accommodation we stopped off at what can only be described as a gargantuan shopping centre where our students got to experience buying food, toys and gifts in a French hypermarché. Followed by an early night – everyone was exhausted!

  Sunday was the day everyone was waiting for – and even in the grey and the rain, we had 60 very excited students descending upon Disneyland Paris to try the rides (over and over and over again, even with the long queues!), the food (a lot of chips were consumed) and the atmosphere of the most magical place in the World. We spent a full 9-hour day in both Disneyland and Universal Studios, before making our way back to the accommodation for a late dinner and to frantically pack before our journey home.

  Students were fantastic – a particular shout-out to Evan in 8E2 for making a French friend in the queue at Disneyland, by starting up a conversation with a boy entirely in French, amazing! Hopefully all students will have made memories for a lifetime, and I personally really enjoyed the whole experience. Here’s looking forward to another fantastic trip next year!

  Mr J Smith

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• BFI Global Film Study Day

  On Wednesday last week, the year 9 Film Studies cohort, accompanied by myself and Mr. Hayward, attended a GCSE Film Study Day at the British Film Institute in Southbank, London.

  We made our way to Richmond, London in our school minibus and then proceeded to ‘hop on’ the train into London Waterloo, just a short (albeit windy!) walk from the BFI central hub.

  Once there, we were shown into one of their many fantastically kitted-out film-screening rooms, where we listened to an interesting lecture that took students through the key principles of studying films and writing about key sequences effectively. To support the teaching, we watched some key film sequences on their marvellously sized cinema screen, from films that were from a variety of different eras and varied in genres, which really helped to illustrate some of the key aspects of the film language that the directors had chosen to use in order to create certain impacts on the audiences of the time. (These sequences taught students some vital concepts that they will need to be able to discuss later on the course in their exam responses.)

  In all, it was a very useful day shared by a large number of GCSE Film students from across the country.

   

  Mrs O’Halloran, Head of Film

• Yr 11 Elevate Education sessions

  On Thursday 24^th October Elevate Education were back at USH running sessions for the students all about improving their memory skills and offering useful tips for how to revise effectively.

  Over 70 students benefitted from this opportunity and the feedback from the students was excellent. We look forward to welcoming Elevate back in March and their Ace your exams sessions.

   

   

• Yr 11 Mock Exams

  Monday 11^th November sees the start of the mock exam period for Year 11’s. We wish all of the students the very best of luck and advise them to remember three key things over the next few weeks:

   ·  Eat well

    · Sleep well

    · Talk to family and friends during this period of time

• Maths Whizz - Winner This Week

  Maths whizz is an interactive Maths tutoring platform that we are using in Year 7 this year.

  Each week we will be announcing the student who has made the most progressions.

  Congratulations to our winner this week : Andrei N!

   

  

• Reminder of Procedure for Illness During the School Day

  Dear Parent/Guardian

  I thought it would be useful to remind parents and students about our procedures in terms of illness during the school day.

   

  Please be reminded that students are encouraged to see one of our first-aiders when they are feeling unwell. If parents receive a text, or call from their child, please encourage them to go to the General Office to be assessed by our Student Welfare Officer, or another member of our first-aid team.

   

  If a decision is made that a child is too poorly to remain in school, a parent will be called straight away. Increasingly, we are being asked by parents to allow students to walk home. Please be advised, if a child is too unwell to remain in school, they must be collected either by a parent (or another nominated adult such as a Grandparent). A recent review has identified the need to tighten up on this procedure.

   

  This decision is based upon our duty of care for students throughout the school day and the need to ensure they are adequately supervised when they are unwell. Through collection, the responsibility for care can be passed from the school to the parent.

   

  Thank you for your help and co-operation in keeping our students safe at all times.

   

  Julie Prince, Business Manager