USH Newsletter 27th March 2020

Dear Year 11

I
hope you are keeping well after the unexpected early departure last week. I
hope you have managed to get some rest. Difficult I know when you must be
feeling quite unsettled.

USH
staff send you their best and are working behind the scenes to move things
forward for you and we are aiming to communicate weekly (excluding Easter) on
the following matters:

1.
College applications and transition: update below

2.
Exam grade update: update below. More to follow.

3.
Advice and guidance on how to best spend your time between now and college: In
addition to our existing advice on continuing to study subjects linked to your
college courses, we are looking at various options for you including additional
short courses and The Extended Project. News to follow soon.

Firstly,
I want to forward the message I have received from the colleges; they want to
reassure you that they will honour their offer of a place for you to study.

It
is unlikely that welcome events will take place in June, however, the colleges are
planning for the enrolment interviews in August.  It is at this stage you
will be offered advice on exactly which subjects and courses to study.

If
you have applied to a college but haven’t had an interview, you will be called
to have a telephone interview.

If
you haven’t accepted your offer of a place, please do so as soon as possible.

Richard
Taunton’s, Itchen and City College are still taking applications so if you
haven’t yet applied, do so as soon as possible.

Please
let the colleges know of any changes to your contact details (email, phone
number or address) so that they can keep you updated or if you prefer contact
me and I’ll let them know.

Keep
monitoring your emails for information.  If you have any concerns or
queries please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Anderson on carey.anderson@ushschool.org and
she will do her best to help. Please do remember, everyone is going through
this situation and you are not going to be disadvantaged for a situation beyond
your control.

 Year
11 Grades 

- OFQUAL and exam boards will work with teachers to
provide grades to students whose exams have been cancelled this summer

- You will receive a ‘calculated grade’

- The aim is to provide these calculated grades to
you before the end of July

- If you do not feel that your grades are ‘correct’,
you will be allowed to appeal.  If you feel that your calculated grade
does not reflect your performance, you will have the opportunity to sit the
exam at the earliest reasonable opportunity, once schools/colleges are open
again. You will also have the option to sit your exams in summer 2021.

Finally
from me, we are thinking of you and send you our collective good wishes at this
difficult time. I know you will be using some of your time productively helping
loved-ones at home. A good deed goes a long well to help everyone feel better.

Beyond
the practical arrangements, please do feel free, (if you are ever at a loose
end) to tell me your thoughts or feelings.

I’ll
be checking this dedicated inbox every week Mr.Woods@ushschool.org 

This
Newsletter is dedicated to you by your staff. Enjoy!

Best
wishes

Mr
Woods 

Hi
Year 11,

I am
sorry that you didn’t get the send off you deserved today but I hope you understand
the difficult and challenging situation we are all in.

I hope
you have enjoyed year 11 and remember you will forever be known as being part
of that group who sacrificed their exams to help protect and save lives in the
fight against this virus.

I look
forward to seeing you all when it is safe for us to get together again. Please
enjoy your time away from school but stay safe and look after each other and
your families!

Love
and best wishes,

Mr
Hall

We just wanted to say a massive well done and thank you, for all
the amazing work that you have created over your time in GCSE art. We have
loved watching you develop as artists and as people.

We have so many happy memories made from our time with you, and
are incredibly proud of you and the incredible work that you have produced.

We know that the last few days have not been what any of us have
been expecting, however what we need to remember is that your Art careers at
USH were never going to be defined by a 10hour exam; they come from the
experiences you have had, the skills you have developed and the love you have
found for your own individual way of working. We have loved being a part of it
all with you and appreciate the efforts that each and every one of you have put
into your course and for the dedication that you have shown.

We are so proud of you all. Well
done year 11, you should be very proud of what you have achieved.

Mrs de Ruiter Hough and Miss Field

To the interesting bunch of Citizenship students, remember to always follow the news and be aware that there are very few issues that can be seen as purely black and white. You have worked hard to develop the skills to question, now use them to find the truth that is out there. 

Your obsession with everything crime related does worry me, but I am assured by your awareness of the wider world and the injustice seen within it. I know that some of you are hoping to pursue careers in law, crime and public services, the knowledge you have will help you to make your mark in the world. Make sure you keep fighting to make a difference. 

I have asked via google classroom that each of you creates a page about your experiences from the course, which will serve as my memento of your time at USH.  I want to know what you become and look forward to hearing about your next few months and move from one course to another. 

Mrs Dibden

This is so surreal. It feels like we’re living in a John
Wyndham novel. John’s apocalyptic books (Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes)
often imagined what would happen if humanity came under attack. You might want
to read them so I won’t spoil the plots, they’re really good. The point is that
we are all having to adapt to circumstances beyond our control. I think young
people are better at this than adults. For instance, today we marked a series
of two metre spaces (with sticky tape) in the dining hall. The students (who
are in school) were using them to queue without any fuss (like they did it
every day) while the teachers were trying to jump from one to the other and
mucking around.

The end of school was really abrupt. Everyone was really disappointed and sad
that you were unable to enjoy the hastily arranged party and say goodbye. I am
sure that we will organise an event for you after isolation.

Thank you 11Z Computer Science for three great years. You have explored strange new codes, sought out
new bytes and new representations and boldly gone where no class has gone
before. Many of you were also involved in Robot Wars in Y8 which remains
a stand out occasion for me at USH. You will find the thinking skills involved
in Computer Science are totally transferable in fact the whole course has set
you up to succeed. You also know how to change a car wheel.

Social media actually is ‘Social Media’, finally. I know that you’re using it
really effectively and that is great. You don’t need me to tell you (but I will
anyway) to keep a healthy balance between screen time and physical exercise.
Don’t let your brains ‘atrophy’ (waste away) in the coming weeks. Use whatever
resources that you have (revision guides, Seneca) that are applicable to what
you’re doing at college (or whatever your next step is) to keep that grey
muscle in shape.

What cheese can you use to disguise a small horse?

Answers on a postcard to Mr Harvey.

I am so proud of all of you and I will truly miss teaching
you all.

I feel extremely lucky and grateful to have been your Drama
teacher; watching you grow in confidence and into the amazing young people that
you are today.

I wish you the best of luck in the future.

We have so many great memories and I loved watching you all
perform your monologues to the examiner.

You always made me feel very proud.

Take care of yourselves.

You will be missed,

Mrs Lambert

Dear Year 11,

Let me start by saying that it has been an absolute joy – for all of us in the department – to teach you English! When I started at USH in September 2018, I was immediately struck by how much fun I was having teaching your year group – a feeling that was shared, and continues to be shared, by everyone in the English team.

Individually, you will be feeling all sorts of different emotions right now: uncertainty, relief, frustration, shock; but collectively, you should be feeling proud. Your learning in English cannot simply be measured in the work that you have done since September, or indeed the work that you would have done in an exam room in May. It is so much more than that. During your 5 years studying English at USH, you have developed many valuable skills and qualities which will serve you well throughout your future lives, studies and careers. To name just a few of these, you have:

• Stood up in front of a class of your peers and delivered a speech about an issue that is important to you – this is never easy to do!
• Explored, questioned and empathised with the moral and immoral (!) decisions that human beings choose to make
• Developed an understanding of your culture, and how it is shaped by history, religion and politics
• Challenged the meaning of words, refusing to just accept one meaning and instead looking for multiple meanings in the things that people write and say – so, so important in this world that we currently find ourselves in
• Let others share their thoughts, and taken the time to listen
• Learnt to be good storytellers

I’m sure you’ll agree that this is an impressive list. As English teachers, this is exactly what we hoped you would get from our lessons and while an exam wouldn't have given you the opportunity to show all of these skills, that doesn't mean you don't possess them. 

And let’s not forget vocabulary! I very much hope that you will continue to get some fantastic words like ‘tyrant’, ‘cacophony’, ‘cataclysmic’, ‘myriad’ and ‘epitome’ into your conversations – even if it means getting a few funny looks from the people you’re talking to!

Like I said, you should be feeling proud of your learning in English - it belongs to you and you should take every opportunity to show it off.   

Although these are challenging times, please try to enjoy the next few months – rest, relax and look forward. You’ve earned it!

Take care,

Miss Goldman J

p.s. I hope I’ve impressed you with my range of punctuation!

Hey my lovelies,

What a week! I cannot believe that we went from revising Rebel on
Wednesday, to no exams anymore today. I do not know how each of you must be
feeling, but I am really hoping that you are able to still take some amazing
memories, skills and knowledge away with you.

You probably do not know this, but my vision for the Film Department
and for you guys is: 'All students will emotionally respond to moving images,
appraise filmmaking craft, and connect with the world from an empowered
position.'

My vision to equip you guys does not relate to exams or the exam board
syllabus. My hope for you was to help develop your emotional connection to the
world around you, and do that through the ever-growing medium of film. To teach
you the art of communicating a message through a moving image. To be able to
critique another piece of work, and to recognise how it positions you to feel
certain things and respond in certain ways. To empower you as members of
society, to recognise when the media is trying to sway you to feel or think one
thing or another, and to be able to step back and really think about it first.
My vision was to equip you to take on the world. Not to pass an exam.

So I really hope that you feel that you are in a stronger position to
do that. To watch films and be able to see how directors, and editors, and screenwriters
have conveyed subtle meanings through the choices that they have made. And
maybe, I hope, to one day be one of those filmmakers yourself, telling your
stories to the world.

It has been so amazing working with you all over the past 3 years. From
the gruelling moments to the great, from the slog of homework to the laughs
we've had over the funny moments in some of the films you've made, you have all
been such wonderful individuals to teach. When I think about the quality of
your films and screenplays in year 9, to the phenomenal work that each and
every one of you has produced over the past 6 months, I get a huge sense of
pride. Your work is your legacy. Be proud.

Take care, please stay in touch.

Mrs O'Halloran

Both classes have really embraced the food course and have
been engaged throughout all the challenges and sensory experiences it had to
offer. It has been a real pleasure to see them progress into fantastic cooks with
great underlying nutritional knowledge and food science understanding. We all
feel grateful that the food practical exams were before the shutdown and we got
to see (and taste) the incredible culmination of all of their endeavour. The
students really showed their love of food through the food of love. We are
making a mural of all of their brilliant work and we know it will inspire many
more future students to follow in their culinary footsteps. We also know
they'll take their marvellous cooking skills onwards into their future lives
and we like to think that when they cook we will always be there with
them. 

Team Food USH 

Hi Geographers,

What a fabulous 3 years we have had together! And for some
of you, 5 years with me! I have been at USH as long as you have and it has been
an absolute pleasure to get to know you. You are the reason we do what we do.
You have been an incredible cohort of Geographers. Your dedication, commitment
and passion you have shown for the subject has been inspiring and I hope you
felt that was reciprocated from myself, Mrs Rendall and Mrs Ndupuechi. We feel
very fortunate to teach our subject; to open the eyes of our students to this
amazing, albeit challenging world we live in.

We’re sorry our time together was cut short but this doesn’t
take away your knowledge, understanding and the diverse range of skills you
have learnt with us.  Your questions and inquisitive minds has shown us
that you appreciate Geography exists beyond the classroom.

Whatever path you choose, wherever life takes you please
remember that Geography is everywhere. Take time to appreciate the world around
you, even in these tough times. You are so much more informed and are now able
to apply your learning to real life situations. We all wish you well for the
future. Stay safe and please stay in touch!

Mrs Hyslop

Dear
Year 11 historians,

You have
been a brilliant cohort, we have really enjoyed teaching you History and
amazing memories, such as the Battlefields Trip, which will stay with us for a
long time. Thank you for all your curiosity, engagement and hard work!

Mr
Farley – 11X:

It has
been an absolute pleasure to see you all grow and develop over the last 5 years
into the amazing young people you have become. You have had such an impact on
my journey at USH and capture why I love teaching here. I will miss engaging in
historical enquiries with you all and hearing/reading your well analysed and
supported arguments, but I am excited for what the future holds for you all and
all the great things you are going to achieve. All the very best for the future
and stay in touch.

Mrs
Mahoney - 11Y:

I just want to say how it has
been an absolutely incredible journey to teach each of you. Each of you are
unique in your own way and I am so proud to have seen you grow academically and
personally. Although your GCSE journey ends here, your future awaits and they
are bright for all of you. You will be greatly missed in History. I know you
will go on to do great things and I hope you keep in touch with us.

Miss Clay – 11Z:

It has been fantastic and a
pleasure seeing you grow and become such caring and wonderful young people over
the past 2 years. I will miss you all so much and teaching you was something I
always looked forward to. I wish you all the best in college and your futures
and I know that your passion will do you well for whatever you do. 

Hi year 11, I hope you are all
well!

Obviously it was a real
disappointment to us to have your year cut short – we’ve all felt like you were
such a lovely year group to work with and we were really looking forward to
working through the booklets with you and seeing how you did! But honestly that’s
not really the point of what we’ve been doing.

On one hand you’ve all been
learning some fantastic Maths and are now far more capable with it than you
were when you joined us. This means whenever Maths comes up in life, like
working out how many tables you need to seat guests at your wedding, or working
out how much paint you need for your house or how your repayments for your
mortgage work, you are now more able to deal with this. Just as relevant is
that when younger family members, or even your future kids, come to you for
help with their Pythagoras homework hopefully you will remember your Maths
lessons fondly as you help them out.

But more to the point, I’ve seen
you grow in confidence, independence and self-belief! One of the reasons I most
love being a Maths teacher is watching the journey students take – I’ve seen
students who didn’t believe they would ever achieve in Maths and who gave up
whenever they saw something new or difficult, morph into these brilliant
problems solvers who know that even if it takes them a while they can do
anything. And that is the point – you can improve at anything.

Other things that will stay with
me include; your brilliant attitude during the walking talking mocks, the hard
work of students at revision sessions, including early morning Friday sessions,
and on a personal note the awesome people that came to Frisbee last Summer. Not
to forget some brutal pirate games!

Thanks for being awesome year
11, we will miss you and we hope to see you when everything calms down.

Mrs Eyre and the Maths team.

To the amazing Year 11 French/Spanish/Italian classes,

We really wanted to see you all during the lunch on Friday,
but fate meant that we were unable to round off the year in the way you
deserved it to be; we are going to miss you all. I hope you read this and can
find closure from it.

We know there have been mixed feelings about the
announcement last week and the cancelling of the exams, but your four and a
half years at USH were not just about tests; it was about so much more! We have
had the pleasure of teaching you for three years and some of you for your whole
time at USH. Learning a language is not about a GCSE exam and a grade; it’s
about enriching your life with another culture and opening up a whole new world
of possibilities.

We have seen you all become more and more confident in your
foreign language and that is worth so much more than grades to us. Our wish is
that you use these skills in the future; for work, holidays or use the odd word
you have learnt to talk in Spanglish/Franglais/ Itanglese! You have developed
so many skills in your time learning languages at USH; you can adapt,
manipulate and problem solve, but more importantly, you are so resilient. No
other year group at the school could have handled what you did with so much
maturity.

Mr Perry’s highlights were; “Ben breaking my hole punch,
Connor stealing my thunder, the Colonel… 
Hard to choose a single moment, but those of you that overcame your
fears to have a crack at the mock speaking exam, I salute you.  Just don’t bowl there, son”.

Mrs Connolly (so weird writing in the third person!) has
really enjoyed being a small part of your language journey. When we started
out, many of you were shy and lacking in confidence. To see you blossom and
start to believe in yourselves has been an absolute pleasure. Your responses in
lessons have shown deep understanding and an ability to manipulate language,
which I hope you will use long into the future. I genuinely will miss you.

Ms Calamelli’s highlights were playing ‘Macedonia’ with you
this year, seeing how much progress you have all made and how much more
confident and creative you are with your Italian. “I am very proud of you and
wish you all the best for the future!”

Mr Bhardwaj’s absolute highlight was the way you were so
amazing with the pass the parcel surprise questions; it showed how much you had
progressed, being able to handle such spontaneity.  He felt so proud of you all that day! He will
never forget the number of students who kept falling asleep in his lessons, as
he ‘talks too much’, forming Spanish romances in the class and being able to
bully you all so much!

We will miss our lessons, our connections, our banter, but
we won’t miss the number of pens we had to give out EVERY lesson!

This is definitely not ‘au revoir/ciao/adiós’… please keep
in touch and we cannot wait to hear about all your successes. We will see each
other again.

¡Buena
suerte! Bonne chance! In bocca al lupo!

We thought we would show a blast from the past with the Boys football team and the Girls Netball teams and remember their success throughout their time at USH school.

Good luck to all of you and as a department we wish you all the success in the future.

Hi Photographers,

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster for all of us.
We started with the final preparations for our exam, with amazing ideas being
discussed, only to be told that that our exam wouldn’t happen. Having had 2
days to think about this I hope, like me, you have come to realise that you
don’t need an exam to become a photographer. Looking back through your work has
made me realise just how much hard work and dedication you have all put into
the course. You have all spent 3 years learning how to see the world through a
lens; how to show the viewer of your photography what you want them to see. The
skills and confidence that you have developed will be of great benefit when you
go to college, even if you don’t follow a creative path. But most of all it has
been great fun teaching you. I am immensely proud of all of you and I hope that
you keep in touch.   Mrs Cadle

When I reflect on the RS students in Year 9, I was confronted by a class who were curious, but most of you had a clear idea of how religion related to your life. I want to say sorry at this point for coming along and challenging those ideas, but my job is get you to think about what people think and what might be out there. 

I hope you have enjoyed studying RS, and I have always tried to ensure that you hear from a range of views and get the freedom to make your own choices about what you believe.

I know many of you have chosen courses which focus on people and the motives behind their actions and I hope that your RS knowledge will continue to help you in this.

You will always be the class who love to learn by songs and actions, and I'm not sure I'll miss hunting children's songs to help you learn key ideas.

Like the Citizenship group, I hope that you will leave a page for me about you and what the impact the course had had on you, I plan on creating a display book about you all and look forward to seeing how you move on.

We explored the world around us, we laughed, we learned

You ploughed through past paper questions. You attended
interventions and after-school revision classes, despite feeling exhausted and
just wanting to go home and relax

Please remember: just because there are now no exams, it
doesn’t mean that it was all for nothing.

So please, stay safe. And know that, whatever happens, we
will weather this storm together. We are proud of you – exam results or
not. 

Andrei Stanescu

Good luck 11E1!

I am so glad that I was your tutor.  I really will miss seeing you all every day.

One of my favourite memories was our final Christmas tutor and we had the Christmas wrapping paper fashion show.

Please take care and keep in touch.

You will be missed,

Mrs Lambert

A cocoon,

Enveloped and sheltered, wrapping us in warmth and safety,

A place to call home, a place to rest and a place to grow.



Our cocoon was threatened by an outside force,

An invisible force, which cracked it open too soon,

With us feeling vulnerable to the elements outside.



We weren’t ready for this,

Unprepared for life out of our cocoon,

Rushed, confused, saddened, frightened,

Feeling tiny in a strange new world,

How will we succeed?



We stop now and notice our reflection,

We have grown, in size and character,

We are stronger, in mind and body,

We are wiser, we are braver.



We have developed wings,

And each lesson learned has added to their beauty,

Unique patterns and colours developed over time,

And as we stretch out those wings for the very first time,

We realise we were ready to fly.