NEWSLETTER
CHRISTMAS 2010
Accountancy Masterclass at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Mr Fay writes......... As we are coming to the end of the first term in 2010/2011 it seems an age since I wrote to you in our newsletter last Summer. As an economy measure we did not produce a half termly newsplash and I guess by now you will have heard of or read about the brilliant success of the last academic year. Your school has achieved record examination results for the last three years! Last year’s examination success represented a bumper crop. We have achieved our attendance targets, been awarded Inclusion Gold, as a symbol to our dedication to all students (well done Mrs Hutchinson, Mrs Slater and the team!) and at the time of writing we are just about to be given a Healthy Schools Award due to the work of Mrs Allen, Mrs Jones and others. Over the last few weeks lots of prospective parents have toured our school and they have been universally delighted in the behaviour and attitudes to learning of your children. Ulverston Town Councillors have also enjoyed visiting and, in fact, our school is quite simply a good place to be. The vast majority of our students look really smart in their uniforms whether they are in the new uniform or retained the traditional version. The new uniform has received many complements and we feel that it gives the school a crisp business‐like ethos. In the future we are planning to introduce a new “Wolf Tie” for students who become Leading Students at the end of Year 10. You will have all noticed the wolf head on the school crest. I really enjoy being your Headteacher. By all measures the school’s progress has been fantastic and I find UVHS a very stimulating environment. Yet we are not complacent. We look forward to further improvements and we are all prepared to do our utmost to make this school the best it can possibly be. Our school is based on simple sustainable truths of respect, good behaviour, positive attitudes to learning, consistency and care. The future is bright for UVHS.
Ulverston Victoria High School Sixth Form Business Studies students returned home from a very enjoyable and successful master class event at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in their Manchester office recently. The event was organised by Young Enterprise North West who invited applications from across the region to take part. UVHS applied for two places and were successful. Teams selected came from across the region ranging from Carlisle to Cheshire. Each team consisted of 4 students and they were required to work together through a range of activities during the day. The activities centred on the theme of ‘So you think you want to be an Accountant’ and involved students preparing PowerPoint presentations and practical problem solving activities which included taxation issues and forensic accounting (fraud). These activities were designed, prepared and involved PWC staff overseeing and guiding students through these scenarios. Students had to really work hard moving from one activity to the next. However the students enjoyed these challenges and found them very rewarding.
PWC and the Institute of Chartered Accountants also prepared presentations for students on various routes and career opportunities available in the Accountancy profession. At the end of the day two presentations were made. PWC staff had marked each team’s performance on each of the activities and announced UVHS (boys’ team) as joint runners up. The overall winners were UVHS (girls’ team). The PWC organiser of the event Fran Smith describing UVHS performance said ‘PWC staff were impressed by their levels of enthusiasm and their professional approach throughout the day.’ The photograph shows the official presentation to the winners. Governors’ Corner Governors are delighted with the fantastic results the school The team (from left to right) is Anna Jones; Tanith Marron, Paige has achieved, our best ever once again. Well done to students, Akister and Caron Rigg. staff and parents. It is clear everyone has worked very hard to Attendance Matters achieve some fantastic outcomes. Governors recently worked with Impact International, whose 80 % attendance expertise is in developing people’s potential in organisations. = 1 day off every week Following this we have put together the Governors Action Plan. = 1 year off out of the 5 compulsory secondary Our biggest worry continues to be our finances and we would years like to acknowledge the excellent job the school does with = exam grades which are between ½ and 1 full limited resources. We are looking for ways in which we could grade down against your targets across the board generate additional funds to support the school’s many and = problems with friendship groups varied ambitious plans. If you have any money raising ideas we = reduced job prospects would very much like to hear from you via the school e‐mail Excellent punctuality and attendance records are highly prized by employers and colleges so make sure you are ahead of the game. address. Finally we wish your son or daughter a successful year of Get to school on time and aim for at least 97 % attendance over the year. learning and look forward to our best ever results once again.
New Faces in our Library
Music’s in Full Swing!
In September we welcomed Ms Wolfe our new Librarian. Ms Wolfe hails from Connecticut, USA and is enjoying working at UVHS. One of her many successful ideas has been to appoint Student Librarians to work in the Library. After completing application forms and going through an interview process, we now have 30 enthusiastic and helpful Student Librarians, who will be rewarded with a certificate of achievement next year.
As usual, UVHS Music Department is in full swing over the Christmas period. Following the immensely successful and enjoyable 10‐day Wind Band Tour to Austria in July, where 74 students performed as part of the Salzburg International Music Festival, this year’s performance diary kicked off in style with the annual visit of the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, Scotland. During the visit we held a joint Band Night at The Coot featuring UVHS Swing Band and the Marines’ Dance Band, a couple of wind band masterclasses and performed a sell‐out concert massed bands concert at the Coronation Hall ‐ indeed, demand for tickets was so high that the event was sold out over 4 weeks prior to the concert on 19th November. To see what you missed, check out the school website! The Wind Band was amazing and really showed what a centre of excellence UVHS has become for music, not just in this region but throughout the country ‐ congratulations to all the musicians involved. The Marines’ visit began a marathon run of 14 performances over the 5 weeks running up to Christmas: the choir performed at Booths to welcome Santa on
My School by Arlen Year 9
My school is an enormous fairground. Go to the Maths Department and discover algebra, fractions and decimals. Go to the PE department and take part in the new games that you’ll be learning about, such as danish longball, rugby and dodgeball. Go to the BPE department, and meet different cultures, debate about topics such as the Aegean War and what the perfect world would look like. Voyage to the Geography department and learn about places as near as Coniston or as far as Bangladesh. Experiment with the explosive science department to form new 26th November, the Swing Band substances and make water with Hydrogen and Oxygen. Travel starred in the finale to the to another world in the English department, where you’ll Dickensian Festival on the 27th and discover about Prose, Drama and Poetry. Tingle your taste buds then gave a fundraising concert for in Food and Textiles, where you’ll learn how to make salads, pizza the Methodist Church on 3rd and curries, as well as learning to make craft hats with sewing December. If you want to see any machines. Design and make CD holders, fridge magnets and of the groups over the next few tangrams using expert technology, then take them home to use weeks the main spectacle will be yourself. the ever‐popular UVHS Christmas This school leaves nobody out, and anybody who needs support Festival at the Coronation Hall on gets it. Pupils enjoy learning here, and that is why I think that 14th December (tickets on the Ulverston Victoria High School is brilliant. door, £6 adults and £3 students), So come and see for yourself what an outstanding school starring the Wind Band and Choir, Ulverston Victoria High School is. At Ulverston Victoria High along with Flute and Clarinet School the pupils’ hard work is celebrated, and every room in the Choirs, Brass and Sax Ensembles, String Orchestra, Junior Band school is decorated by students work. and the Ulverston Primary Orchestra ‐ it really is an event not I am proud to be part of this school’s community. to be missed! Other public events include a music day at Booths (all small ensembles and choir) on 11th December, Senior Prizegiving Community News (Little Big Band) on 15th December at the Coronation Hall, the Eight Sandside Lodge School 6th Form Students have begun to launch of HMS Ambush (Choir and/or Senior Wind Band) at BAE access UVHS 6th Form lessons in Maths, English, ICT and Cookery on 16th December, a ‘choir tour’ of local nursing homes on the and are benefitting from forging new friendships with their peers 16th & 17th December, ‘Carols on the Green’ events at Baycliff in UVHS. (17th) and Lindal (22nd) and several other local fundraising A number of UVHS 6th Form Students have volunteered to help events. The Jazz Combo will also be fulfilling several private and with a variety of activities taking place with Sandside Lodge corporate engagements. students; from movement classes to swimming lessons. On a final note, the Wind Band would like to thank Stollers Local primary schools continue to enjoy the benefits of bringing Furniture World for their fantastic sponsorship and financial their pupils and parents into UVHS to take part in the Champion support over the last four years ‐ they have been fantastic in Chef scheme. their partnership with both the Band and the Music UVHS has been chosen by the Specialist Schools and Academies Department as a whole. However, we would also like to Trust to host a London 2012 Student Leader Event, to take place welcome The Ward Group as the new sponsors of the Wind in February 2011, involving delegates from outside school taking Band for the next four years and hope that this new relationship part in activities based on Olympic/Paralympic themes. can prove just as successful, if not more so!
News from History
It’s a Revelation!
This term has been a busy one for the History department. We have been pleased to welcome 3 new GCSE groups, 2 new A level groups and of course year 7. All have shown a real enthusiasm for the subject and are settling in well. Things have been particularly interesting for Miss Woof’s year 9 class as they had the opportunity to access the archives to the Guardian and Independent newspapers. This allowed them to see every issue between 1800 and 2001. The class used this fantastic resource to enter a competition for the Historical Association. Pupils chose an event between 1800 and 2001 and re‐created a newspaper front page to cover the story in a new and unique way. Pupils chose to cover events from the Poor Law Reform Act 1834 to the death of John Lennon in 1980 to the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Pupils enjoyed the freedom to choose the History they studied and are looking forward to the winners being announced.
The A level dance students together with Christine Jamieson (dance teacher) and Denise Robson (parent governor) went on an overnight visit to Edinburgh in October to see the American Dance Company Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theatre. They performed ‘Revelations’ which the students need to study for their A level exam. The performance was amazing and the dancers
It’s Panto Season Again (Oh Yes It Is!) Ulverston Victoria students produced another glittering annual pantomime for over 400 primary pupils at the Coronation Hall on Friday 10th December. This year it was their own original version of “Beauty and the Beast”, written, developed and choreographed by sixth formers Lucy Moses and James Farrow and starring a large cast of talented Drama students from Year 8 to Year 13 all of whom had rehearsed very hard as an extra‐ curricular Drama activity. The audience thrilled to the sound of the Beast and laughed when characters as diverse as Harry Potter ( played by Max O’Hara), Galinda the good fairy ( Hannah Cooper, Year 12) Inspector Gadget ( Steph Cole) and Little Beast (Hannah, Year 8) entered the magic land of Ulverstonia! There was a superb dance chorus whose energetic routine had all the children singing along and participating in the performance. Of course, everything was resolved in the traditional happy ending. Miss Hicks would like to congratulate the cast and crew and wish them all – and all our feeder school pupils and their families – a very happy Christmas!
rightly deserved the standing ovation they received. Our students were stunned by the skill and beauty of the dance company. We sneaked around to the
stage door after the performance and met some dancers coming out and managed to get a photo with Judith Jamieson, the Artistic Director and former soloist with the company. Together with a visit to the Museum of Childhood, tea in Pizza Hut, a night in the Travelodge and even some time for shopping resulted in a really enjoyable and worthwhile visit.
Vic’s Got Anglers ‐ Fishing Competition After the recent UVHS fishing competition, which took place at Ulverston Canal in July, three lucky winners were treated to a days fishing tuition by Fox Fishing International Rep, Steve Akeroyd. Sam Stephenson (pictured below with Mr Akeroyd) and Josh Bell tell us about their day: Mrs Allen collected us early on a Saturday morning and took us to Grasmere to meet with Steve for our days fishing. Along with another winner Jamie we were advised on the latest fishing techniques and equipment and treated to a BBQ. We finished the day with one catch, a 10 lb Pike, and a bag of free Fox International goodies each from Steve. We would like to thank Mrs Allen and her brother Steve for such a great day out. Mrs Allen writes, “The boys were a credit to the school and I thoroughly enjoyed my day with them. My brother, Steve Akeroyd, was extremely impressed with the boys and he said: “I thought the lads showed a lot of enthusiasm and interest, not just in the fishing but in the surroundings and the wild life we saw on the day. It was a pleasure to see them take on board a lot of what I personally get out of fishing and I would gladly take them again”. Steve, although based in Leeds, does business with Rods and Sods in Ulverston who were one of the sponsors of our Fishing Competition and also sell Fox International products along with other well known brands. As Steve is a regular visitor to the area he is keen to help the boys set up a Fishing Club at school and also to give a slide presentation to any keen fisherman and women out there. If you are interested in being involved in such a venture please contact Mrs Allen at school.
Does Charity Work Always Start at Home? Sixth Former Hannah Turner was recently given the opportunity to go to Romania to do some charity work in an orphanage with a group of students from Furness College. Here Hannah shares some of her experience with us. “At first I couldn’t decide if I really wanted to go, and although I did know it would be a life changing experience, some things I was told didn’t make my decision easy. My mum who had taken some students for a similar activity last year told me about how Romania was a quite a basic country and how it was definitely less economically developed than the UK, she also had to tell us to be careful with things like our bags and personal belonging as some people could be tempted to try and take them off us and we would also be very noticeable as it would be obvious we were from another country. She did tell me that even with all this, I would really get a lot out of the trip but I still didn't really know what to expect. However I put aside those concerns and thought ‘what if I didn't get an opportunity to make a difference like this again’. So as you can tell I chose to go! On Thursday 21st October, a very cold a windy morning, me and nine other people from Furness College (pictured right with some of the Romanian children) started our long journey to Romania. This was certainly a day of travelling. If we weren't on a bus, we were on a plane! We travelled to Manchester airport and from there we got on the plane to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Then from Amsterdam we travelled on yet another plane to Bucharest in Romania. From Bucharest it was then another three and a half hour long hours by bus to Constanta right on the Black Sea, where we would be staying and working. The next day we went to the orphanage (pictured left), to see what work needed to be done. The rooms were very basic, the paint was peeling off the walls and the cur‐ tains had holes in. There was certainly lots for us to do, so we measured all the walls and windows to see how much paint and other materials we would need to make the rooms look like proper children's bedrooms, in the hope that we could make them a bit more cosy and welcoming. We went straight to ‘Bricas’ Store to get everything we needed. We had some help from a girl from the local school who had helped out last year. We did quite well but were glad of Claudia's help with translation. There's a limit to the miming you have to do if you don't know the words in Romanian. Before we could start doing the decorative work we had to make sure that all the walls were clean and sanded down before we could get any of the paint out. Then, alongside my mum, I helped on the outside of the orphanage by scraping some walls, where we were going to paint some murals to brighten up the children’s playground. (It was harder than it looked!) After tackling the walls I needed a change of scenery so I moved onto the night watchman’s cabin which was also in a bit of a state, we started to paint it in bright colours, green and red to match the other outbuildings. However I soon had to stop and leave it to the other others whilst I distracted a mischievous boy, who had caught a glimpse of the paint. To keep him distracted I played football with him. I didn’t understand what he was saying so just had to smile a lot and hope we understood each other! Over the next couple of days we completed the shed and the rooms, moving the furniture back and cleaning up all the rooms. In the afternoon my mum and I painted the children’s faces, altogether there were 70 children. They loved this and they were all running around excitedly with smiles beaming across their faces. It was lovely to see! With all the main work done on the rooms we then turned our attention to creating fun murals for the children’s room, characters such as Winnie The Pooh, Nemo and Baloo from the ‘Jungle Book’ were designed and painted. We had one day off and were able to do some sightseeing and visited a museum, mosque and the Romanian Orthodox Church. We walked along the edge of the Black Sea where the tourists would visit and all the time in the background was the huge port area where the huge cranes and container ships were working. It was important really for us to get a bigger picture of the place where the children lived and helped us understand the differences in our cultures. On our final day in Romania we visited the supermarket and bought lots of food and goodies for a big party at the orphanage. When we got there the children had created a production for us full of singing, dancing and poem readings. It was so emotional and I have to admit to crying. They couldn’t stop saying thank you for all of the work we had done. Then the bit I had been dreading came only too quickly, saying goodbye was really hard. We had achieved a lot during our stay, re‐decorating the girls dormitories, creating murals both inside and out, and making sure the night‐watchman's hut was also nice and newly painted, they were such lovely children and one day I hope to go back and see them all. If anyone ever gets the chance to do something like this don’t hesitate! It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to go back in the future.”
News from Design Technology
Girls’ Sports Round‐Up
Working through the Barrow Engineering Partnership, the school has once again gained significant sponsorship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. The successful bid will allow us to further develop our curriculum to include “Smart Materials” (materials whose shape and colour can alter as light or temperature levels change). We will also be able to purchase resources that will allow us to design and make products by laminating timber. Impressed by our bid, the RAE has also offered the services of one of their consultants, free of charge, to assist us with the development of both project work and course development. In November, 25 students had the opportunity to attend a careers awareness day at Forum 28. Engineering Your Future ‐ was a free one day event that aimed to provide Year 9 students with a practical introduction to Careers in Engineering. The event was organised by some of the largest institutions in the UK, including the ICE, IET, IOP and IMechE and supported by Cumbria STEM Centre and the Barrow Engineering Project. Also in November, 50 Year 8 students had the opportunity to be involved in a Young Engineers STEM Challenge Day – sponsored by the Barrow Engineering Project. Students competed in groups to raise a large amount of water from one side of a room to another using various mechanical components and mechanisms. This task stretched students as they raced against the clock to be the first team to complete the task. Students had to: o Brainstorm ideas and share thoughts between each other. o Budget components to complete this task. o Construct a prototype and trial it. o Carry out the task and present their findings to their peers. An excellent day enjoyed by all students.
Our netball teams have got off to a good start to the season, fielding teams in all four age groups. The year 7 teams played Furness Academy, St Bernards and Dowdales in the friendly tournament – and came away with 2 wins and a draw. The year 8 girls lost narrowly 3‐2 to Furness Academy South in their opening league game. The year 9 girls have started really well and show huge promise for the season ahead. They beat St Bernards in their opening game. The team consists of Amy, Hannah, Beth, Molly, April, Yasmin, Megan, and Louisa. Well done to Beth for being selected in the U14 Girls Barrow Netball Team. The Under 16 girls (below) have also had a brilliant start to the season. The team consists of year 9, 10 and 11 pupils Rebecca, Kate, Rosie, Steph, Tasha, Amy, Beth and Hannah. Well done to Rosie, Steph and Tasha for being selected in the U16 Girls Barrow Netball Team. Good luck for the season girls. Well done to Jenny for representing North of England in U15 hockey. Well done to Lucy (year 9) and Faye (year 10) for being selected to represent Cumbria for football. They will be playing every Saturday for Cumbria in an inter‐counties league.
Bollendorf 2010 On Sunday 12th September 42 year 10 and 11 students (pictured below) set off for Bollendorf in Germany for a week of culture and an opportunity to improve their spoken German. The next few days were a whirlwind of visits and excursions to nearby Luxembourg to visit the pretty little town of Ecternach, the Bitburger Brewery, the city of Trier (the Bishop’s Palace in Trier is pictured left) and Cascade, a swimming complex. The highlight of the trip had to be the trip into the Simon‐Salomon Realschule, our partner school, where the pupils finally got to meet their German pen‐friends. After a little bit of gentle persuasion they were soon all chatting together and showing the German students how to play rounders. We decided that both games were a draw! All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes but at that stage we were not aware of what was in store for us on the return journey. Unfortunately the bus broke down in Belgium and there was just no way we were going to make our ferry home. Eventually after a delay of several hours we got on the move again and all credit must be given to the students who were very, very patient with no air conditioning and getting very hungry. They say all’s well that ends well and finally we arrived back in Ulverston at 4:30 in the morning having changed coaches 4 times! Thanks to Mrs Hewson, Miss Woof and Mr Green for joining us. What did the pupils think? Here are some of their comments. It was a fantastic experience and I would definitely recommend it. I enjoyed meeting new friends in Germany, I learnt a lot. Fantastisch! Germany was a great experience and it really helped me with my speaking and listening.
Maths and the Community In August the UVHS maths department achieved its best ever GCSE and A level maths results and the best results in the Furness area. Well done to all our students and thank you to the teachers and parents who supported the students on their road to success. The maths department welcomed a new member of staff in September. Mrs Sheila Hirst joined us as the Key Stage 4 coordinator. She is an extremely experienced teacher, having worked as an advanced skills teacher, a head of department and latterly as a local authority advisor. In the United Kingdom Maths Trust Senior Maths Challenge competition, entered by sixth formers from schools across the country, we have had outstanding success. Not only have our students achieved 6 Gold awards, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze but also 4 of them have won a place in the next round. Only 1000 students across the country get through to the British Mathematical Olympiad so to get 4 in one school is an exceptional achievement. They will now face a 3.5 hour exam designed to test their problem solving skills to a high level and demanding an exacting level of mathematical communication. Our primary schools maths club remains as popular as ever with students from many of your primary partner schools taking the opportunity to enjoy fun maths sessions. We are keen to work more closely with the community and to this end Mrs. Desbottes ran a maths for parents evening at the Ulverston Children’s Centre Centre. We intend to move this on by inviting parents and their children to attend early evening sessions here at UVHS and also to observe maths lessons during the school day if they would be interested in doing so. As part of our specialism work in the community, at the end of last term we invited a group of senior citizens from Ulverston to a ‘back to school day’. They were given the opportunity to see what lessons look like in school today with the extensive use of ICT in lessons. They also enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by our talented year 10 catering students under the supervision of Mrs. Lister. The day was rounded off by a drama performance and a musical performance by our wonderful musicians. Both our guests and the students paired up with them had a truly memorable day and were able to learn a lot from each other.
We Plough the Fields and Scatter Our Harvest Festival celebration was held at school on 6th October. Donations of food were received from parents and made into packages to be given to the local community. Year 7 and 8 students joined in the harvest assembly with Reverend Wells. Thank you to all who donated to this worthy cause.
Science Bursary for Holly Each year, lower sixth physics students are given the opportunity to apply for the Nuffield Physics Bursary which allows the successful applicant to work for four weeks during the Summer break with a local professional engineering or physics related company. During August 2010 Holly Furness spent four paid weeks working at Expro (Tronic) Ltd in Ulverston during which time she gained tremendously valuable experience working alongside professional engineers. Holly was given the task of investigating new designs for a section of deep sea electrical cable connector. She learned the use of the CAD software at Tronic, designed and evaluated possible solutions before presenting her findings to Senior Engineers at the Company. At a nerve wracking presentation Holly was also asked questions by Tony Gill, the Managing Director of Cumbria STEM Centre (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) who decided that her work was of such a high standard she should receive a coveted Gold Crest Award. As if that was not enough, Holly was also nominated by the school for the Barrow and District Association of Engineers 'Young Engineers' Bursary. Along with students from other sixth form centres in the area, Holly was presented with this award at Forum 28 where it was announced that she had also jointly received the 'Best of the Best' award. This has been a fantastic experience for Holly and gives her a significant advantage over similar students as far as her C.V. is concerned. We would like to congratulate Holly and wish her every (continued) success in year 13 and beyond.
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You can help the school raise much needed funds by using the ‘buy at’ facility on the school’s website. Just look for the symbol at the top of the website’s home page and click on it to open. This will take you directly to a huge number of outlets such as Amazon, Asda, JJB Sports and Marks and Spencer. Just place your order in the usual way and the school will receive up to 10% of the purchase price on any order placed in this way at no extra cost to you!
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Ulverston Victoria High School Springfield Road Ulverston Cumbria LA12 0EB
Telephone: 01229 483900 Email: uvhs@ulverstonvictoria.cumbria.sch.uk Website: www.ulverstonvictoria.cumbria.sch.uk Learning is at the heart of everything we do