Ulverston Victoria High School JULY 2009
NEWSLETTER
It’s Prom Time for Cinderellas and their Prince Charmings! Mr Fay writes............... It has been an amazing experience at Ulverston Victoria! I write this piece for the Newsletter having just attended a heart warming Year 11 Leavers’ Ceremony. The occasion was well attended by students and parents and the warmth of the day was only eclipsed by the extreme warmth of feeling that existed and was evident to all. I think I saw an extra smile on the faces of Stan and Ollie and I believe one of them was wearing a UVHS sweatshirt, but only for a short, and very respectful, time. As I mentioned in the last Newsplash, of May 2009, our target is to become “Outstanding” and with children like yours it should be a probability not a possibility! Lots has been done to build the foundations for that success. The capacity to manage change amongst the staff and the students has amazed me as has the pace of our improvement so far. Yet I am not complacent. Some things need to be monitored, revisited and developed. Some things, homework for instance, need a major focus. We are building our capacity. Rest assured though the capacity is there and growing! Next year we will be looking at what makes the school a special place and how we all; governors, students, parents and teachers create the “reality of outstanding”. It will be an exciting year, despite the challenges of our financial situation. As you will know the school has been badly hit by falling rolls and, despite having paid off one major deficit, is building another one. I have had to take decisions that have led to sleepless nights on many occasions as I try with the help of Mr Waple and Mr Griffiths, to steady the “financial boat”. It is the nature of the beast that whilst people will agree that universally difficult decisions have to be made, when people are effected individually they are less tolerant. It is a Catch 22 situation but I have to be courageous and take what I consider to be the right decision for the long term health of the school. I know I can rely upon your understanding and good will. I will always try my best. - Mr Fay.
On Tuesday 23rd June Year 11 celebrated the culmination of 5 years at Ulverston Victoria High School. The day started with a special assembly for students and family at the Coronation Hall. Mr Fay opened the proceedings welcoming the guests and setting the tone for the morning. Mr Ford delivered an illustrated tour of major national and international events from when the eldest year 11 student was born to the present day. This was followed by a moving poem read by Mrs Allen and then, much to the amusement of those present, there followed a filmstrip presentation of all the students contrasting how they were when they came to us with how they are now. Mr Fay closed proceedings and many of the guests availed themselves of the refreshments laid on by our delightful office staff. The traditional signing of shirts took place outside the Coronation Hall in a wonderful atmosphere of happiness.
The evening saw the arrival of the students in all their finery for the celebratory dinner and dance. This was overseen with a sense of pride by family and friends. This year the event was hosted at the Netherwood Hotel in Grange-over-Sands. The spectacular setting and glorious weather complimented mature celebrations of the students. Formal photographs and dancing followed a 3 course meal. Light refreshments were taken in the gardens as both staff and students enjoyed the occasion. An example of how to dance to Blue Suede Shoes was given by eight members of staff and humorous prizes were awarded by senior student representatives. The whole day was testimony to the quality of the young people in our Year 11. We look forward to seeing many of them next year as they join our sixth form and wish good luck and fair fortune to those that have chosen a direction other than one offered by UVHS.
Flavours of the East for Asdan Students Sports News A fantastic multi-cultural meal was prepared recently by the year 10 students studying ASDAN. Everyone worked brilliantly as a team to prepare and serve Chicken Korma, Vegetable Jalfrezi, Basmati Rice, Naan Bread, Popadoms, Mango and Spiced chutney. The main course was followed with Chocolate Raspberry Slice with Mango and Lime Ice Cream. This meal was an important piece of work and both the group and special guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
UVHS had a number of athletes representing South Lakes at Carlisle on Saturday 13th June. All pupils put in good performances but special mention must be given to: Ellie – Winner Intermediate Girls 3000m and personal best time. Julia – Second in Intermediate girls 1500m. Jarek – Second in Intermediate boys Triple Jump. Dan – Third in intermediate boys Triple Jump. All four will be representing Cumbria on 20th June in the 4 Counties Athletics Competition.
School Buildings Our campaign to improve the school buildings and school site continues. We hope to be able to announce some major maintenance over 2010/2011 soon. Over the summer our plan is to : Create a new performance space in Music and Drama, and revamp a music room. Re-decorate and refurbish the hall. Re-decorate (already underway) and re-furbish the dining room. Finish the re-decoration of the sports hall. Finish the fencing of the school site which was planned and funded before I came to the school. We are still working with the Local Authority to identify other means of improving the buildings and remodelling the site. I am more optimistic of success than ever before.
PE Information
The PE department has decided to change the kit policy on socks. Some students find it difficult to remember to change from the socks they wear all day or get confused whether they should be wearing football socks or white socks. We have therefore decided that the FOOTBALL SOCKS SHOULD BE WORN IN ALL PE LESSONS. KIT- Many thanks to all students and parents for supporting the policy that all students get changed for their PE lesson, even if injured. If any students no longer require their PE kit, especially year 11, or have out grown it, donations would be kindly accepted by the PE department. We need to ensure that anyone who forgets kit can be given some to wear. It is our policy that, ALL STUDENTS, WHETHER PARTICIPATING OR INJURED, SHOULD BE CHANGED FOR THEIR PE LESSONS. Thank you for your help.
Merit Systems We are continuing to improve our merit system and I am aware that some students appear to be missing out. Yet I know you will be pleased to know that we have awarded 2,549 Merits since January and 152 Headteacher’s Wows and Mega Wows. This is surely an indication of the health of the school! NB A Headteacher’s Wow can be earned for achievement in all sorts of areas of school or community life. We have received some sponsorship to help us with our postage costs, and I have applied for some more, however if anyone can offer sponsorship (no matter how small the amount) or knows a potential sponsor, please let us know?
The year 8 boys Tennis team, Peter, Patrick , William and Angus had a very good summer winning their local league. They beat Thorncliffe, Dowdales, Windermere St Anne’s, Chetwynde and Cartmel without dropping a game. They then played QEGS Penrith in the semi-final of the county cup in a very exciting game which eventually came down to one point. We lost 4-2 but 2 games went down to tie-breaks in which we had match points. If we had got one of these we would have gone through by virtue of the fact that we won more actual games than QEGS. The boys were a credit to themselves and the school showing a great deal of talent,
PTA (Parent Teachers Association)
We are really keen to re-launch the PTA at UVHS. If you are an existing parent, or indeed, a new parent of a child starting in September, and would like to become involved, please let us know via School Reception on 01229 894140. - Thanks!
Languages Enrichment Day at UCLAN Year 11 Revision Session Success On 17th June 20 Year 9 students travelled to the Preston campus of the University of Central Lancashire to attend a Language Enrichment Day. This was arranged by “Routes into Languages” to promote the take-up of languages from school to university. What a fantastic day and what a lot of hidden talent our students have! Although initially a little shy, all the students soon engaged fully in all of the activities which are too numerous to mention. We all learned to greet each other and introduce ourselves in Arabic and Chinese. In 2 minutes we learned to count up 100 in Chinese although Mrs Cooper and Mrs English were put on the spot in the number games. The students were much quicker! The boys excelled themselves in Arabic dancing - especially Chris . Henry was definitely the chopsticks champion! Connor was beaten by Malachy in round two of the same challenge. Nathan Chinese pronunciation was praised as “excellent”. Elliot , Rebecca and Lucy tried out the Indian national costumes. However poor Collette was a bit upset that she couldn’t have a henna tattoo! I’m not sure that we would win Britain’s Got Talent for our Italian rendition of “O Sole Mio” but our student ambassador who was looking after us remarked on the fantastic behaviour of the group. On the coach on the way home everyone agreed that it had been an amazing day and wanted to know when we could go back. Now all we need to do is win the competition by writing our reviews of the day. We are hoping to be able to repeat the day next year to give more students a taster for Foreign Language Learning and show them what studying at a university feels like! Thanks go Mrs Hokari and Mrs English for helping on the day, but perhaps most of all to the students who participated so well and represented UVHS in such a mature and responsible manner! Well done everyone!
Our Year 11 students spent three weekends of intensive revision in school to boost their exam chances in their forthcoming GCSE exams. Over 20 teachers have led more than 130 students in revising for the core subjects of English, Maths, ICT and Science. The students found the experience very rewarding and said that it relieved the pressure of having to motivate themselves in the final run up to the exams. “I really enjoyed coming to the Sunday revision sessions because before my exams I was very nervous and it really helped to boost my confidence. It also helped me sort out any last minute problems I was worrying about”. Amy Boon, Year 11. “I found the revision sessions were really helpful as they helped to refresh my memory in time for the exams. I really feel that my results will reflect the hard work that has been put into these sessions”. Heather Jenkinson, Year 11. “I found the revision sessions very helpful as they reminded me of what I actually knew and gave me the opportunity to clear up what I was unsure about. I think they were really beneficial”. Francesca McKenna, Year 11. We intend to develop the revision sessions next year to include a residential weekend course for sixth form students. The school expects another set of excellent exam results this Summer at both GCSE and ‘A’ level, exceeding county and national targets significantly for the second year running. The students are magnificent and again have performed beyond our expectations.
School Clothing Grants As part of Cumbria County Council’s commitment to reduce childhood poverty and help families during the recession, they are making grants available to help with the cost of school clothing. Any child who is entitled to a free school meal will qualify for a school clothing grant. Parents and carers who can provide proof that they are claiming income support, job seekers allowance, child tax credit (but not working tax credit), support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or guarantee element of state pension credit will be able to get both free school meals and the school clothing grant simultaneously. In order to reduce bureaucracy, parents and carers will only need to make a single application and provide proof of entitlement once. Cumbria County Council want to make sure families don’t miss out on the help they are entitled to. For more information contact the Children and Families Information Service on Tel 08457 125737 or visit their web site at cumbria.gov.uk/dontmissout
Kinamba Nursery Project Rwanda - Year 7 Charity Focus
There will be a Ceilidh at the Old Mill, Bardsea on Friday 14th August at 7.30 pm. All proceeds are to help provide food for the children at the Kinamba Nursery in Rwanda. Registered Charity Number 1126601. Tickets are available from Meg by calling 01229 869924 and are £10.00 each to include a pie and peas supper. If you would like to find out more about the project please visit the web site kinambaproject@googlemail.com Thanks to all Year 7 students for their support.
F1 in Schools Technology Challenge Year 7 students enjoyed a day at the races! The Formula 1 challenge held in the school hall on 19th June was a great success. Leading up to the competition students designed and developed cars using 3D Computer Aided Design software in their Design & Technology lessons. The car design was exported to a Computer Aided router that accurately cut out the body shell. Students then cleaned up the car and applied a paint finish. Wheels and axles were assembled and the car was ready to race. CO2 powered cars travelled down a 15 metre track, reaching very high speeds. If you blinked you missed them! Each car was timed using an electronic data logging system.
Early Closure - Thursday 16th July
UVHS will close at 2.00 pm as is traditional. Early buses have been arranged with the exception of the service buses to Lindal/Dalton and the Coast Road. If there are students who need to wait in school please let Mr Fay know and arrangements will be made for them to remain in school until 3.30 pm.
Parents’ Advisory Group
If any parents of our new Year 7 students would like to join the Parents’ Advisory Group from September - please pass your details, including e-mail address, telephone number and name of child to Andrea Herman at school.
UVHS Charity Committee raise funds for little Isaac David and Diana Blackhurst are the grandparents of one of our year 7 students. They live in Nairobi, Kenya and employ the mother of a young boy called Isaac Mwangi. Isaac (pictured wearing red below) was born with a bowel problem which needed surgery. In the UK this would have been a straightforward procedure on the NHS but in the Free Hospital where Isaac was treated the operation went wrong. This left Isaac unable to go to the toilet and with a pouch to collect the waste. David and Diana discovered that Isaac needed more operations to correct the problem but as these are very expensive his mother was unable to afford to pay for this corrective surgery. In January we were contacted by the daughter-in-law of the couple, Nicky Blackhurst. Nicky asked the UVHS Charity Committee if they could help to raise money towards Issac’s operation. We found out that the Blackhurst’s had tried to fund Isaac’s treatment but the bill was rapidly reaching £3000. In Kenya a patient is even charged for the surgical gloves used by doctors for examinations. This made us realise how much we take the NHS for granted. At UVHS we held a non-uniform day and also ran competitions to name the bear and guess how many sweets were in a jar. We also contacted Sir John Barrow School to see if they would like to raise money for Isaac. The school council at SJB took up this challenge and the pupils there undertook a sponsored ‘roll and plod’; running, walking or wheeling laps of the playground! At UVHS we raised just over £600. SJB managed to raise £500 – a fantastic feat of fundraising for which we were very grateful. On June 15th students from both schools met David and Diana to hand over the cheques (pictured on the left). It was a great pleasure to meet this couple who were on a visit to the UK. They showed us recent photos of Isaac who looked a picture of health compared to the pictures we initially saw in January whilst he was still ill. Diana explained to us that Isaac has now had all his operations and is now completely recovered. Due to his numerous health problems caused by the botched operation when he was a baby Isaac had been unable to attend school with his friends. Now that he has had these successful operations Diana will be teaching Isaac to read and write so that he will soon be able to join his friends in school. Thanks to the generosity of so many people both in the UK and in Nairobi this young man will be able to live a full life and complete an education as is the right of any child. We hope to keep in touch with the Blackhurst’s with regular updates on Isaac. In the meantime he will be seen attending lessons with Diana in his UVHS sweatshirt and jacket, with his books in a SJB rucksack!
UVHS Mexican Link
Busy Time for History Students
In 2001 UVHS was invited to begin its school linking with On Monday 18th May our Year 10 History students paid a visit to Swarthmoor Hall to complete an Secundaria Tecnica 44 in Mexico City. This invitation came individual site study for their GCSE from The British Council in Mexico. British Council Mexico coursework. The visit included learning vital were beginning a linking project bringing 20 Government historical skills, such as the ability to question Secondary schools in Mexico City together with 20 schools evidence and research into living History. in the UK. 8 years later we are one of only 2 of these school Students had the opportunity to sit in a dead linking projects which survive. man’s chair and saw an accurate portrayal of We are currently planning our 4th Linking visit to Mexico City life in Ulverston in the 17th Century. The rain which will take place in October/November 2009. failed to dampen our spirits and a good time Teachers and students from Secundaria Tecnica 44 have was had by all. visited UVHS 3 times in 2004, 2006 and most recently in July The Year 13 Historians have now finished all their exams and 2008. Students who have become involved in the Mexican Linking are catching up on some well-earned rest. The exam papers over the years have always been exceptional young people. were not too horrible and all the The Link has always been an open group welcoming those pupils worked really hard to who are interested to be committed to learning about and prepare themselves, so we look making friends in Mexico. This linking project has been open forward to finding out their results in to everyone who wanted to be involved and to develop their August. Five of the group are going on to study History at university so Global Vision. Thank you to all the parents and students who have been we wish Rachel, Natalie, Jonathan, involved with this work over the years. Without the constant Jenna and Euan the very best of support of parents this link would not have developed and luck. We would like to pass on our continued as it has. (The photograph below shows our visit to very best wishes to all of you in your future careers. You have been an absolute pleasure to teach and we will miss you very Mexico in 2007) Since 2007 we have teamed up with Sandside School and this much! has been a link which Recruitment Drive showed inclusion is new and important ways. We are actively seeking more students at Ulverston Victoria High Sandside school students School. If you think we are doing well, tell your friends and travelled with us to spread the word. No matter how good we become our Mexico in 2007 and were financial worries will only be alleviated by attracting more involved in the return visit students. in 2008. Learning about things Mexican has Timings for New School Year 2009-10 enriched the curriculum in Following a major review of the curriculum at UVHS the their school. school will be moving to a 30 period, one week timetable "The Mexican Link has given me lots of possibilities to do things from September. The benefits of a one week timetable are that I would not have been able to do if I was not in the Link many, but for a number of parents the fact that the same like learning Spanish and going to conferences and speaking equipment and books will be required for the same day each in front of lots of people. For that I am truly grateful and I am week will hopefully be very helpful. The timings are laid out proud to say I am part of such a great linking.” Danielle below. Please note that the changes do not effect the start or Gabbert : Year 13. finish times for the day. “The Mexican Link has been very beneficial to me, and my 8.50 to 8.55 Registration whole school community. Some may think of the visit to 8.55 to 9.45 Period 1 Mexico as being a holiday however it is not. The linking has 9.45 to 10.35 Period 2 influenced a deeper exploration and understanding of a 10.35 to 10.55 Break whole range of subjects and it has also changed my life in 10.55 to 11.45 Period 3 ways that I cannot simply express.” Nathan: Head Boy 2009 11.45 to 12.35 Period 4 12.35 to 1.30 Lunch 1.30 to 1.50 Registration / Assembly 1.50 to 2.40 Period 5 School Uniform 2.40 to 3.30 Period 6 It is a recognised element of outstanding schools that they have a pre-occupation with getting the basics right. We now First Day Back : Wednesday 2nd September 2009 have a preferred school coat and skirt which appear to be Year 7 students start at 8.45 am in the main hall. Years 8 to 11 start at Period 3 (10.55 am) with a Tutor period in popular with the girls. I would be really grateful, therefore, if you would make sure our form rooms. improvement in school uniform and presentation standards Normal timetable commences at Period 4. continues. Please ensure your child is in proper uniform and that he/she has a traditional school bag. Handbags, from Sixth Form Arrangements: Year 12 interviews will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday whatever designer, are not allowed for boys or girls! Also we have had an issue with students who dye their hair 1st September and the morning of Wednesday 2nd September. extravagantly in glaring shades of blonde or other colours. Students will be notified of individual interview times by letter Please can I remind you that hair should only be coloured home. subtly and sympathetically with regard to the child’s natural Lessons for Year 12 students will commence with a form period at period 4 (11.45 am) on Friday 4th September 2009. hair colour. Year 13 students start on Wednesday 2nd September at period I do not want to get into a conflict situation with any child or parent and have to start sending students home over this issue. 3 (10.55 am) with a tutor period in form rooms. Normal timetable will commence period 4. Please be my watchdog over this standard at home.
UVHS Literary Festival and Hell’s Kitchen On Saturday 20th June The first UVHS Literary Festival was held on Saturday 20th June. There were lots of activities in which to take part and the event was extremely well supported. Whilst The Tinner’s Rabbit ran a busy bookshop at one end of the library, UVHS students began the day with face painting, juggling and reading. Soon the audience for the reading was full of tigers, lions, dogs and butterfly faces! The toddlers section was first where Year 7 students read books suitable for very young children. The toddlers were rapt and listened to new stories like ‘Who’s in the loo?’ and the classic ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. Later in the morning, the 4-7 year olds had their turn, enjoying the books and joining in the reading. Then came the junior fiction and the winner of ‘Get Caught Reading’ School Years 3-4 and School Years 5-6 were announced. After this came the senior fiction reading session and the announcement for the Get Caught Reading competition winners for School Years 7-9 and School Years 10-13. Just before lunch two authors visited the school to speak to the audience. Daniel Blythe (pictured left) was first and he gave us a world exclusive by reading from his forthcoming Dr Who novel, Autonomy (which will be released in September). Next was Sandra Glover whose novels include ‘Spiked’ and ‘You’. She also read from her latest novel. Whilst the novelists were treated to a ‘slap up’ three course lunch at Defors restaurant (cooked and served by UVHS GCSE catering students), Year 8 students served fantastic pizza and salad for those attending the event. In the afternoon the students who were shortlisted for the UVHS writing prize worked with the authors. School Years 3-6 worked with Sandra Glover whilst School Years 7-13 worked with Daniel Blythe. Later in the afternoon came the formal presentation for the writing competition. This year’s theme was ‘The Key’ and there were over 600 entries in total. Shortlisted students had their work read by UVHS students before being awarded their prizes. Authors Sandra Glover and Daniel Blythe also gave short speeches before the winners were announced. The runners up received a £6 book token for the Tinner’s Rabbit bookshop and the winners received a £12 token. These prizes were sponsored by The Evening Mail and The Tinner’s Rabbit bookshop. Congratulations to all our winners - the results for all competitions can be seen on our school website. All the entries were brilliant and showed the outstanding talent the youngsters in Cumbria have. The evening saw UVHS’ Hell’s Kitchen. The Credit Crunch Munch Bunch (a group of adults taught cooking in evening classes each Wednesday at the school by Head of Catering Sally Lister and peripatetic chef John Murray) cooked a 5 course dinner for people from the community who have supported the school. The Extended Senior Leadership team waited on (above right) and Head of Music, Richard Butler’s jazz ensemble provided the music. This was an amazing event which we hope to run annually. Thank you to everyone who helped to make the day such a big success!
EcoVHS Win Progression Award Congratulations to the Young Enterprise company – EcoVHS. In the area finals our sixth form group won the Progression Award for making significant progress throughout the year in the Young Enterprise Company Programme. The competition was very tight, with Casterton School creating a board game for which they have been offered £100,000 for the copyright! EcoVHS did not make this kind of profit but impressed the judges with their innovative social enterprise initiative which was to reduce and re-use popular household items. Many of us teachers and parents now have one or more of their fantastic bowls created from old vinyl LP’s adorning our homes! Overall the company programme has been an excellent experience for the students and has given them a glimpse of the reality of running a business. The group have now to hold an AGM to divide up their final profit and will cease to trade at the end of July. If you want one of their fabulous eco-bowls please contact Mrs Tennyson at UVHS.
Visits to Foreign Climes for Language Students The summer term has been busy with two foreign visits. 18 Year 10 French students have been to Paris on a 5 day intensive language course which also included some sightseeing. Our French animateur, Martin, kept us busy in the evenings with activities in French such as quizzes and initiative exercises, as well as encouraging students to speak French on the coach, in shops and at meal times. He was not allowed to speak in English so students listened to French all the time and gradually became more confident in speaking. From 29th June to 3rd July, 40 of our Year 8 students visited Rosbach in Germany with Ms Ward, Miss Woof, Mrs Silcocks and Mr Whinnett for a fabulous week, experiencing wonderful food, culture and educational speaking practice (we will have further details on this visit in our next Newsplash!). 20 of our Year 9 students visited the University of Central Lancashire for a day to try out different languages such as Urdu and Italian. (See Page 3). Not forgetting Year 7 who have all seen a French play in the school hall. ‘’Les Trois Mousquetaires‘’ with its unique blend of slapstick, balancing and juggling tricks and audience participation was enjoyed by all. Finally, a new 2 year after-school course in GCSE Spanish will start in September. If you are interested please see Mrs Brown.
Year 8 Students “Kop” a Great Day Out! Maths Goes from Strength to Strength Twelve of our Year 8 students, together with Mr Hardwick We have enjoyed another great term in Maths. Our year 11 and Mr Bryant, had the good fortune to visit Anfield on students have worked extremely hard in preparation for their GCSE exams. We were delighted to welcome over 100 Wednesday 24th June, students to weekend revision sessions and had 100% as a reward for attendance at the two exams. excellent progress, Well done to all students and a attendance and massive thank you to parents commitment to the for being so supportive. Let’s school as part of our now hope for a well deserved enrichment bumper crop of results. programme this The year 7 students have summer. made a successful debut in Two of our students, the national Maths Challenge. Sophie Lloyd and Becky Adam and Dan both achieved the outstanding result of a gold Coward from Form 8.1 enjoyed the free VIP Tour of Anfield Stadium so much that they have written the following account. certificate and were closely followed by a large group of silvers. “On Wednesday 24th June we went to Anfield, as a reward for Those that just missed out this year will find it easier next year our progress this year. We with a year’s more maths under their belts. In Year 8 Harry and got on the bus at about Tom also achieved Gold Standard with 14 others on Silver and 9.00 am and started our Bronze. journey to Anfield. On the A group of Year 8 and 9 mathematicians had a great day out bus it was hot and stuffy, at Barrow Sixth Form College competing with schools from but we soon arrived there across the county. They were faced with a range of very at 11.15 am. We were all stretching problems in a variety of unusual formats and they excited to start the tour but performed admirably, with one team coming third overall. it was held up so we We are constantly reading in the press that maths has become entered the gift shop an unpopular option at A level. UVHS is bucking the trend; we before we had the tour. are delighted that in September eighty students have decided Our tour around the stadium was shared with another school to take maths as an AS option in the sixth form. This will be our who had come to visit, and we were shown where everything largest ever cohort and is testament to the hard work of teachers and students and to the strength of our maths and is and what it is like on computing specialism. match days. On our Thank you for joining us on our journey to outstanding. tour of the ground we took lots of photos (as you can see). After the Leading the Way in Volunteering tour we did a quiz, Congratulations to Jemma Bell and Stephanie Blain (Year 12) which was enjoyed by who have been selected to represent the Furness area at a all, but Becky, Sophie Leadership and Volunteering camp to be held at Rugby School and Hayley won. We (Warwickshire) during the summer holidays. Both girls volunteer then went around the and coach in their respective sports of athletics and netball, museum to find out both in and out of school, and this is a great reward for them. about the history of Jemma also attended a Step into Sport Leadership Camp at Liverpool’s successes Loughborough University earlier on in the year. Well done to and there were films showing their road to Istanbul. We went both girls! back into the gift shop to buy Any students interested in volunteering in sport, please see what we saw earlier before Mrs Jackson in the PE Department. getting back on the bus to go to McDonalds. We then set off home and arrived back at 4.40 Experience all things “Army” pm. Overall it was a very The 7th Annual Trip to Catterick enjoyable day and we would for fifty Year 10 students took all like to thank Mr Hardwick, place on Thursday 18th June. All Mr Bryant and Mr Fay for the students had great fun allowing us to go and taking climbing and playing with all the time to plan our exciting things “Army” and a great day was trip out!” had by all. Once again it was a real pleasure to escort these students, who were exemplary throughout the day. Tesco Vouchers Their positive Many thanks to all those students who have donated the “get up and Tesco vouchers to the school. We managed to collect almost go” attitude 6000 this year. This was added to the total we had banked was from previous years when it was the computers for schools remarked scheme to give us a grand total in excess of 36000. As you upon by many of the officers who may guess we can now purchase some new equipment that were watching. So well done to all! has long needed replacing. Many thanks again, the PE Mr Smith would like to thank Mr department really appreciates your contributions. Reid and Mrs Pearson for their continued support.
Cumbria Schools Orienteering Champions The Ulverston Victoria High School Orienteering Club took a full contingent to the CSOC held at Cartmel last weekend. The weather was sunny with a cooling breeze and the small areas of complex woodland produced some fast, but interesting courses. There were some excellent results from many Ulverston runners, but some made serious errors to drop places. In Boys 7 Adam, who became Northern Champion after Easter and won a large 2 day event a few weeks back, unfortunately made a 4 min mistake early in the course to finish 4th, 4 mins behind the winner. He was very disappointed. The best result of the day came in the Boys 8. With 17 runners in the class Ulverston took the top 5 places, the first 4 separated by 31 sec! Tom came out on top beating William by 2 secs and Patrick 16 sec further back. Other winners in the boys races were Max (B 10) and Jack (B 11). There was further success in the girls races with Kirsten (G 7), Jessica (G 11) and Kate (G 12/13) becoming Cumbria Champions. Another 9 pupils won silver or bronze medals. There was almost a clean sweep in the year team trophies with Ulverston winning B 8, B 9, B 10, B 11, G 7, G 9, G 10, G 11 and G 12/13. Perhaps not surprisingly, Ulverston retained their Large Schools Trophy.
Future World Schools Team? Boys Year 8
Kate and Tom receiving the Large Schools Trophy
Tom (Year 8) on his way to win his race
Wonderful Art Work
We say farewell.................
Due to the high standard yet again this year, the responsibility of judging was passed to Emma from the Lanternhouse. Well done to all Year 9 pupils who made such a brilliant effort and congratulations again to the winners.
We would like to sincerely thank the following members of staff who are soon to leave us: Mr Boyt for his dedicated service to school and particularly to the Geography Department. Mrs Rushton for the enthusiasm and commitment she has given to the English department. Ms Bettany for her keenness and help in the Modern Languages department. Miss Evans who is leaving us after a long service to the school – we thank her for her loyalty and congratulate her on the orienteering success she has brought to the school. We hope that Miss Evans can continue her involvement with the school. Ms Hannam who will take up an advisory post with Hampshire County Council – we thank her for the leadership qualities she has brought to the BPE department, the development of the Mexican Link Project and her early work on Gifted and Talented. Miss Dobson who is leaving Maths to take up a post at Lancaster Girls Grammar school. We thank her for her allegiance and the strength she has given Maths department. Miss Yousaf for all the help she has given to Science this year and also for becoming involved in the general life of the school. Mr Gannon for all the help he has given to Science this year and also for becoming involved in the general life of the school. Mr Campton for the long service he has given to Maths and Computing over the years and the support he has given to colleagues. Mrs Pearson – We thank you for helping out, yet again (more comebacks than Frank Sinatra) in DT department. Chef Murray – thank you for the extra commitment and the flair which you naturally possess. We hope to see more of you in the future. Miss McPeake for all the help and support you have given to Maths and the whole school. Ms Hokari, although only here for a short time, thank you so much for your support.
On Thursday 2nd July we held the exhibition of Year 12 and Year 13 work in the Coach house from 6pm until 7.30pm. We would like to thank all those who came along to support this and enjoyed celebrating the students' hard work this year. Year 9 Me Box Competition Congratulations to the following students who won the Year 9 Me Box Competition: Wittiest Box – Danielle 9.6 Best Made – Emma 9.3 Most Imaginative – Tori-Lee 9.6 Most Elaborate – Lucy 9.2 Most likely to be purchased by Charles – Emily 9.2 Best Camera – Kelly 9.4 Certificates and prizes will be awarded to the above pupils during their assembly shortly.