Ulverston Victoria High School April 2009
NEWSLETTER
UVHS Celebrates Being Out of Special Measures! Mr Fay writes............... Well it only seems a few moments ago that I joined UVHS on loan! Believe it or not it is over twelve months since I first walked through the door into your world. What a year it has been! I have really enjoyed working with such a determined staff team, a first class leadership team and, of course, your children. They have been brilliant. You tell me you have noticed lots of improvements in the school and that was finally recognised by Ofsted when the school was taken out of Special Measures on 11th March 2009. When you read the report, which is on our web site, there are lots of “goods” within and the comment on satisfactory progress is based on the achievement in value added which was low in comparison to the school’s potential. We have taken a lot of steps to improve that weakness and we know that they will come into fruition. Ofsted agreed! Yet whilst we can celebrate beating the great challenge of Ofsted Special Measures we can’t be complacent. Really we are just returning to normality and getting back onto the path of being a good and then outstanding school. Being satisfactory is not an accolade I seek. Outstanding is the only measure with which I feel comfortable. Hang onto your hats!
Library News We have a wonderful Library at UVHS which many of you will have seen at Open Day or Parents’ Evenings. We would like to give you the opportunity to see the Library during the School day, to loan books on a parents’ ticket and to volunteer to help in the Library. We shall be in touch with more details about this soon. We are planning to run a series of informal 30 minute careers sessions in the Library at lunchtimes; each session to be given by people representing their profession. Please contact Mrs Holman, School Librarian if you are able to offer your services! Thank you.
Talented Students Jump on the “Carousel”! On Saturday 28th February, the curtain came down, to rapturous applause, on the last night of a four night run of this year’s school production : “Carousel”. This popular show, by the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein, had been directed and produced by Miss Hicks, Head of Drama as an extra-curricular activity for keen Drama students from Year 7 to Year 13. Leading ladies Laura and Leanne (both Year 13) both gave winning performances as did Lewis as the comedic “Mr Snow” and Robert as carnival boy “Billy Bigelow”. The boys chorus gave an awe-inspiring display of athleticism and circus skills and the lively girls’ dance chorus sent audiences away singing “June is bustin’ out all over!” The picture above shows Dan as Jigger Craigin and Laura as Carrie Pipperedge. Mr Butler’s stage band, led by Hannah, was excellent as ever (and if the audience looked carefully, Mrs Heginbotham could be seen on her flute!). Lighting and sound were provided by Year 10 students, Lucy and Hannah. The beautiful costumes had been made and fitted by parent helper Mrs Bellman, while Miss Thomason and her stage crew ensured set changes went smoothly backstage. Miss Hicks said “I am incredibly proud of each and every one of the talented cast and band. They have worked so hard to make this such a successful production............ I would like to thank all the staff, students, parents and friends who have helped in any way.” If any students would like to take part in next year’s production, Miss Hicks and Mr Butler will be holding auditions in September........... watch this space!
History Students Visit Poland Thirty five pupils from Years 12 & 13 had a fantastic trip to Poland just before February half-term. We flew to Krakow which we all decided was a very beautiful city – a very historic city full of gorgeous buildings, lovely people and amazing sites. The pupils really enjoyed the free time they had there, exploring the city, shops and wonderful hot chocolate cafes! We also visited the Wielickza Salt Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which was extremely impressive – huge, deep chambers with everything made of salt, including floors, statues, carvings and even chandeliers. Our guides encouraged the pupils to lick the walls just to check it was pure salt and it definitely was! Another highlight of the trip was the wonderful evening spent in a Jewish restaurant listening (and dancing) to traditional Jewish Kletzmer music which was a real experience and much fun was had by all. Without doubt though the most moving and memorable part of the week was the visit to the largest and most notorious Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The pupils have described it since as a “life changing day”; “an incredible experience” and “something I will never forget”. It is difficult to describe in words the enormity and huge sadness of the place. The students will have memories of it for a very long time to come. The trip was a huge success and a very memorable experience. Many thanks again to all the parents for their support. A more detailed account and some more photos can be seen on the school web site.
A Special Thanks to the Governors When the school went into Special Measures it was a very traumatic time in the lives of our governors. Julie Wilkinson, our Chair of Governors, and her team are all volunteers and they could have opted out of the challenge and left their posts. However, they are made of sterner stuff. Building on their experience in the past and learning new skills they have been a vital support to the improvement process at UVHS. I would like to thank them for their support and allowing me to lead their school. Mr Fay.
Valuing Learning! I hope you like our new merit system which shows the students how much the school values learning and celebrates it. Now we have also introduced an Attitude to Learning (ATL) League which is a competition for all year groups in the 11-16 school based on how the students have performed in their Progress Reviews and Reports. The form group’s average ATL is its score. The first winners, at the time of writing, for the spring term are 7.6, 8.1, 10.5 and 11.6. There will be an overall winner at the end of the year. There is nothing wrong with healthy competition! Also we have introduced Lead Learner status for those students in a year group (initially in the lower school) who achieve all “ones” in their ATL’s. Our first winners in Year 7 (pictured above with Mr Fay) are Bethany, Hannah, Millie, Lorna and Freya. Congratulations to them! (but where are the boys?) Each term will have a different colour badge so it will be obvious who has achieved Lead Learner status throughout the year. There will be Lead Learners in other years and “Achievers of the Term”. Our improvement journey continues.
Calling all Cyclists! A sponsored mountain bike race is being organised for Sunday 26th April to raise funds for the Physical Education Department. It will be a 6 hour team event taking place from 10am - 4pm on the school grounds. I have had some queries from parents asking if they could enter a team, and I thought “why not!” If you think you could be up to it and know three friends who would also be keen, please let me know and I will arrange for an entry form to be sent to you. If perhaps you don’t feel like exerting yourself that much, but do feel that you could help out on the day, again please let me know. I can be contacted through school. Thank you : Mr A Pierce : PE Department
Thank you! A very big thank you from all at UVHS to the: LA Learning Consultants: Ms Thompson, Ms Scott and Ms Todd. The South Lakes Federation: Mr Houghton and Mr Wilkinson. The Barrow Excellence Cluster Partnership: Ms Buxton, Ms Wall and Mr Wood. Various colleagues from various schools: Hodgson High School in Poulton Le Fylde and Dowdales School. All were a great support in helping UVHS come out of Special Measures. I would personally like to thank Mrs Moffatt, the Headteacher at Dowdales, as she has allowed me to work with Ulverston Victoria High School and on four occasions extended my secondment. Ulverston Victoria is the third school which has been supported at leadership and management level by Dowdales during special measures. It takes a visionary and principled Headteacher to be prepared to make that commitment to others without any gain to her school. Mr Fay.
Fashion Show Meets ABBA!
Year 7’s in County Cup Rugby Final
The school hall was transformed on 6th March as, once again, Congratulations to Year 7 rugby for being runners up in the the Textile students at UVHS were strutting their stuff on the County Cup Final. catwalk at the annual fashion show. As ever the event was a In the semi-final sell out with tickets selling out they defeated Nethwithin 24 hours of going on sale! erall from Maryport The theme for the show this year 22-8. In the final was the fashions and music of they came across a Abba, the inspiration coming very strong team in from the film Mama Mia. There St. Benedict’s of and was lots of glitter and glam with Whitehaven students modelling garments lost 34-0. A very good performance they where the boys never gave up. We are very proud of they way had made at family learning they played. sessions. Students from Year 10 upwards modelled garments that they had made during the year as part of March is a busy time for the History department with two their coursework. Garments ranged significant events taking place. The first is the Year 10 visit to from the elegant to the outrageous the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, next to St. James’ but all of them stunning. Proceedhospital, on Monday March 23rd. This is to support the GCSE ings were rounded off with a pupils in their study of the History of Medicine through Time and performance by UVHS’ very pupils will have a chance to experience a very smelly street own Abba tribute band, com- scene in 19th Century Leeds, as well as displays and videos on prising of Mr Fay, Mr Cubiss, surgery, anatomy and disease. Mrs Birch and Mrs Desbottes, The second event coming up is the Holocaust Day for Year 9 doing something funny for pupils on Monday March 30th. This is a day when all Year 9 money. pupils will hear accounts of what happened to Jewish families The evening was again a runa- in the Holocaust as well as having the opportunity to listen to way success and students are a survivor from an extermination camp tell his story and answer already talking about what the pupils’ questions. This is a very moving event and as the they are going to do for the fashion show for next year! years pass, the chance to meet and listen to a survivor is becoming an increasingly rare one. As well as Year 9 pupils, the Year 12 and 13 historians will also be attending this day, to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust which they study Congratulations to Liam (pictured right) at A2. who has just signed professional terms with Blackpool FC on a 2 year contract. A thoroughly deserved achievement through lots of hard work and The Physical Education department is collecting Tesco vouchers commitment. We wish him every luck to put towards the purchasing of new equipment. and success in the future. Any donations of vouchers will be gratefully received and can
History Students Visit Thackray
Shoot to Fame!
Tesco Vouchers
be left at UVHS Reception.
Work Related Learning : Students Learn Firefighting Skills and Visit Expro All Year 10 students carried out their work placements as part of Work Experience Week from 9th to 13th March. ASDAN students and the Society Health and Development Diploma students are required to do two placements and have already embarked on this learning experience.
The ASDAN group in Year 10 are completing the Young Firefighters award as part of their course. They have attended seven sessions at Ulverston Fire Station on a Thursday afternoon.
The Year 10 vocational studies students have been busy improving areas of the school, preparing the verges for planting. Our Victoria Outreach students are successfully developing their WRL skills through work placements.
The students in Year 11 who are interested in an apprenticeship have undertaken training with Mr Ridyard from Connexions. We have extra application forms available from Woodgarth office as well as the web address for BAE Systems aptitude test.
Interested students from Year 11 went on an apprenticeship awareness day to Expro (formerly Tronic). 16 students attended over two days. The largest number we have ever taken. After initial introductions, Brian McKinley discussed the work and showed examples of the very expensive undersea
connectors that the students, if successful applicants for apprenticeships, would be producing and working on. They completed various practical tasks including the 3 metre egg drop.
Year 8 and Year 12 Visit Normandy 52 Year 8 students and five Year 12 students have just completed a week-long intensive language visit to Normandy, accompanied by six members of staff. We set off early and bleary-eyed at 6 am on Sunday 1st March but this was nothing compared to the exhaustion felt on our return the following Saturday at 3.30 am! It's hard work speaking French all week and learning how to make bread, fence and climb at the same time, but everyone got on well together and with our animateur, Martin.
The visit linked in well with the Key Stage 3 History and Biology curriculum as we visited the Bayeux Tapestry, Mont St Michel and a cidrerie where we learned about fermentation. Students enjoyed a French soirée where they appeared in many disguises and sampled the French delicacy of escargots (snails - Ugh!) In the evenings we enjoyed initiative exercises, games and a quiz in French culminating in an awards ceremony. Each student had a journal to complete which often involved asking questions of local shopkeepers. Being thrown in at the deep end meant that everyone made great progress in their French and increased in confidence. The 6th Form had a different programme which involved visits to the court, fire station and market to interview local residents and lots of individual speaking practice with their French animatrice, Amélie, as well as visits to a crêperie, and une soirée du vin et du fromage.
School Uniform Our school uniform is vastly improved. Your children look great! I still need more support on plain coats, though! Sorry to keep harping on and I know the situation is a lot better but it isn’t outstanding. I will introduce a preferred coat idea soon but not a compulsory one which, perhaps, might help the problem.
Year 5 Taster Week Over 220 local Year 5 students experienced their first taste of life at a secondary school during the week of March 9th. Nine of our feeder schools sent their Year 5 classes to UVHS and they followed a full day’s timetable as well as sampling school dinners, which seemed to go down very well! In science, which was very popular, some students carried out varied experiments, either incinerating jelly-babies, burning different metals or investigating cell formation. In Technology, some of the classes made their own Perspex photo frames to take home whereas others helped make some pizzas, carried out taste tests and also discussed fashion design whilst watching excerpts from the Department’s highly successful Fashion Show the previous week. Other practical sessions included mime workshops in Drama, performing a mini-concert in Music, art work influenced by Vincent van Gogh and team sports in PE. In other lessons students enjoyed a variety of activities from designing geometric shapes in maths and creating poetry in English to joining in a philosophical discussion in BPE. Comments from Year 5 students have been fantastic, including “the best day ever spent in a school” and “can we miss out Year 6 and come to UVHS now?” This is the first of many visits we hope to be leading and we look forward to seeing all of the pupils both in their school and at UVHS over the next 18 months and eventually welcoming them into the UVHS community in September 2011. Many thanks go out to all the teachers who delivered such inspiring lessons as well as all the Year 7 and Sixth Form students who acted as mentors and teaching assistants throughout the week.
Work Experience Year 10 students have just completed their Work Experience week. This is a daunting prospect for many students and with few exceptions all rose to the challenge. Work experience allows students to experience different aspects of a job and the skills required for the world of work.. This was a great opportunity for Year 10 students to spend a period of time outside the classroom, learning about a particular job or area of work.. Students chose to visit a range of work places, from haulage hire firms to veterinary practices to retail shops to mention but a few. The pictures show Lori at Duddon Hire and Haulage (above) and Megan at R&T Music (right). Many thanks to all the local employers who assisted us, without their help we wouldn’t be able to offer this experience to our students.
Cross Country Championships Congratulations to Ellie, Tom, Kim and Jenny who have all been selected to represent the county cross country team at the forthcoming national cross country championships in Loughborough. All finished in the top 10 in their county races. Also congratulations to Rebecca, Jemma and Mari from the sixth form who are reserves for their county team. We wish them every luck in their races.