Uppingham Community CollegeA Specialist Technology Academy

Newsletter: May 2013

FaNtasy Worldsby Thea CruTChley, 8Kr

Recently in English we have been studying the fantasy genre; we have looked at fantasy stories such as Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Northern Lights. We then had the opportunity to create our own fantasy world, and we presented our ideas to the rest of the class. We really enjoyed letting our imaginations run wild!

Dr Margaret Hiley, a local academic who

has published books and papers on the writing of J.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis, came along to listen to our presentations and to give an award for the best fantasy world. Dr Hiley was very impressed with everyone’s ideas, but the winning group was Natasha Kirchin, Shannon Stenning, Ed Samson and Cerys Powell. Well done!

ENglish dEpartMENt

All students involved in the Gifted and Talented work are to be commended on their ability to engage so enthusiastically in the

work undertaken. Creative writing talent has clearly been shown. Well done to all Year 8 and 9 students involved in this work for their imaginative and diligent responses.

publishEd authors:-Students have also been informed about an online writing competition working on a “Movella”. The first 3 chapters of a potential novel which may be produced in media form had to be submitted. The winning entry would be considered for publishing and an opportunity to be recognised as a potential published author.

oakhaM FEstival:-These students have also had the opportunity to enter a writing competition for the Oakham Festival. The task is to produce a 500 word essay developing a story using the writer’s own topic choice. Students have been challenged, not only to produce effective writing using sensory description, but they have also had to carefully proof read and edit narratives to achieve the 500 word target. This has resulted in much discussion, self-evaluation and peer assessment. The closing date for this task is the first week of June 2013.

rotary CrEativE WritiNg CoMpEtitioN:-Gifted and Talented students in Years 8 and

9 have entered the local Rotary Creative Writing competition. Students were asked to write a letter about a topic of their choice. This produced some very motivated and creative entries with a number of students producing excellent work. As yet we await the result of the competition. Rotarian Richard May has noted with reference to the Young Writer competition that the entries were of an exceptionally high standard and that he was, “Immensely impressed by the range, imagination and sincerity of the writing. It was often deeply moving. There was a high standard of spelling and punctuation and a wide vocabulary. Imagination was everywhere and the ability to engage was too”. The result of the competition should be with us by the beginning of June 2013.

thE NEW uCC sChool skirtaugust 2013

Available from college (up to 3rd June) or Cheatles Schoolwear ONLY.

BLACK FIxED PLEAT:MINIMuM - KNEE LENGTH

MAxiMuM (currenT sTudenTs)6” BELOW KNEE

MAxiMuM (AugusT 2013 inTAke)2” BELOW KNEE

Girls will still have the option to wear formal school trousers (no denim, cord, cotton drill or stretch fabric, no outer pockets) which you may purchase from school uniform suppliers of your own choice.

ordering:Through college up to 3rd June 2013 • - £15After 3rd June 2013 - Through cheatles • Schoolwear - £21

Collection:From ucc: Monday 19th (11am – 3pm) • and Tuesday 20th August (2pm – 6pm)Or From 29th August - School Shop•

JuNE3rd

Term begins

hisTory - uniT 1 (pm)

4th

yr 10&11 english language - uniT 1 (am)

geography (sDm) - resiT (pm)

5th

ChilD DevelopmenT (am)College CounCil meeTing (p4)yr 10 biology - uniT 1 (pm)

yr 7 parenTs’ evening (4pm-6pm)

10th

hisTory - uniT 2 resiT (am)yr 10 ChemisTry - uniT 1 (pm)

11th

maThs linear - paper 1 (am)yr 10 DT Trip To Denby poTTery

12th

geography (am)

13th

yr 10 physiCs - uniT 1 (am)

14th

Design TeChnology (pm)maThs linear - paper 2 (am)

maThs - uniT 3 (am)re - Full Course (pm)

17th

maThemaTiCs - uniT 1 - resiT (am)

18th

yr 10&11 bTeC sCienCe (am)sporTs Day

19th

FurTher maThemaTiCs - paper 1 (pm)Theme Day

yr 10 exTenDeD proFiles home

yr 7 Challenge Day (KenilworTh CasTle)

21st

FurTher maThemaTiCs - paper 2 (am)year 11 prom

24th

yr 10 sTaTisTiCs (pm)primary sChools musiC FesTival

25th sporTs Day (reserve)

26th yr 10 parenTs’ evening (4pm-6pm)

27th yr 10 Drama Trip To Derby TheaTre

28th

yr 8 g & T mulTiCulTural Day

July1st-5th

CheaTles uniForm sales aT uCC (2pm-6pm)

3rd

inDuCTion Day

yr 9 exTenDeD proFiles home

4th

suCCess assembly (pm)

5th

house assemblies

July newsleTTer DeaDline

6th-13th

yr 10 worK experienCe - uCC sTuDenTs To germany (DusselDorF)

8th

ruTlanD raCing - miDlanDs regional heaT (roCKingham moTor speeDway)yr 10 higher eDuCaTion Trips

9th-18th

yr 10 worK experienCe / worK relaTeD learning / CiTizenship / volunTeering

15th-19th

no musiC lessons This weeK

17th

yr 8 Trip To blaCK CounTry museum

yr 9 mulTiCulTural Day

18th

yr 7&8 aCTiviTy Day

yr 7 sTuDenTs To boulogne

yr 9 inDusTry Day

19th

lasT Day oF Term

22nd July - 28th August

summer holiDay

august29th

2013/14 Term begin

iMportaNt tErM datEs

iMportaNt ChaNgEs to rEquEsts For absENCE

FroM sChool!

Amendments have been made to the 2006 regulations in the Education (Pupil registration) (england) (Amendment) regulations 2013. These amendments will come into force on 1 september 2013.

term-time holidAy: The Education (Pupil registration) (england) regulations 2006 currently allow headteachers to grant leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday during term time in “special circumstances” of up to ten school days leave per year. Headteachers can also grant extended leave for more than ten school days in exceptional circumstances.

Amendments remove references to family holiday and extended leave as well as the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments make clear that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted.

The 2007 regulations set out the procedures for issuing penalty notices (fines) to each parent who fails to ensure their children’s regular attendance at school or fails to ensure that their excluded child is not in a public place during the first five days of exclusion. Parents must pay £60 if they pay within 28 days; or £120 if they pay within 42 days. Amendments to 2007 regulations will reduce

the timescales for paying a penalty notice. Parents must, from 1 september 2013, pay £60 within 21 days or £120 within 28 days.

students leAving site during the school dAy: It is also important that emergency appointments ONLY are made during the school day. We hope that all non-emergency appointments are made out of school time.

However, if a student needs to leave the site for unavoidable reasons, a letter (or note in homework diary) should be sent in to the form tutor to explain the reason. The form tutor will sign the letter giving the student permission to leave school. They will then be able to sign out.

CollEgE shop

Do you have an exam?Do you have a pen to write with?

Do you have all your maths equipment?If not come to the shop and

buy what you need!(Term Time sTudenTs OnLY)Mornings: 8.15am – 8.30amBreak: 10.35am – 10.55am

Afternoons: 1.10pm – 1.40pmCheques made payable to uCC or cash

lost propErty

Please take all belongings home at the end of the week or leave items in lockers. Items left in the cloakrooms and other areas of the college are collected on Fridays after school. Lost property will be available at the college shop the following week for students

who have misplaced items. If you name your property, it will find its way back to you.

FlutE CoNCErt

On Wednesday the 1st of May, a flute concert was held in the dining room. Students of all standards were performing to invited guests of parents and friends. One of the students has only been playing for less than two months, but still plucked up the courage to stand up and play. At the other end of the scale, our year eleven students were able to show off their skills with some of them choosing really challenging repertoire. Many thanks are due to Mrs Kate Cartwright, who has been organising one or two of these concerts each year since she has been teaching at the College. The photograph shows Freyja Wedderkop and Maddie Bishop, two of our year eleven GCSE students, warming up before the concert.

The College has been an exam centre for instrumentalists all over the area for many years now. The ABRSM instrumental exams will be examined this term in the first week of July. Rehearsals with the accompanist take place after school on Monday evenings. On

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this occasion, we are pleased to see our piano teacher, Frazer Graham, taking over from Roger Rowell who has now retired. Good luck to all students, but remember that the more you practice, the luckier you get!

Finally, do we have any budding musicians out there who want to take up an instrument? Every week we have teachers in school who give lessons on trumpet, trombone, saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder, oboe, violin, singing, guitar, piano and drums. If you would like your child to play an instrument, pick up a pack from reception which tells you all you need to know about how to get lessons.

CoNgratulatioNs

Mrs Thomas and Mrs Burton have been working with the New Directions group and are really pleased with the results for this year’s group so far.

The following students have completed and passed their Cope level 2 which is a huge success as it is the equivalent to a GCSE B.

Well done to: Poppy Claxton, Kyle Binder, Alex Gudgin, Emma Bray, Jack Imison, Robert Johnson, William Johnson and Luke Eldridge.

thEME day

On the 13th March Year 7 braved the cold and visited Twycross Zoo as part of a unit of work on animal classification, adaptation and behaviour. Fortunately, the sun was shining and that encouraged the animals to come out and watch the students.

The zoo houses approximately 1000 animals from more than 200 species and this gave us the opportunity to study the variation between animal species at first hand. They undertook two behaviour studies where they had to stand and observe an animal noting down its actions every 30 seconds; the information they collected will be analysed back in school. Many students studied the meerkats who were very obliging and posed for photographs.

Lunch was taken next to the snow leopards and the leaf cutting ants in the toilets certainly increased the number of visits.

There were some talks during the day about the elephants and the gibbons giving the students an insight into the care of these animals. The gibbons were in particularly excellent voice and their “whoops” could be heard right across the zoo. The students also had the opportunity to study the differences between the groups of primates housed at the zoo from the tiny marmosets to the much bigger gorillas. We hope the students benefitted from this learning experience as well as enjoying a day out!

doN bosCo sportiNg ExChaNgE

Over the recent Easter break students and staff from uppingham Community College (ucc) visited Haacht, Belgium for the staging of the 40th Sporting Exchange trip between the college and Don Bosco College.

The exchange program is believed to be one of the longest running in the world and over the years has involved an estimated

8,000 students from the two Colleges. The exchange came about by chance after former Head of PE Tony Wilks took a Football team from the College on a tour back in 1971. During this tour he met up with Bert Van de Linden from Don Bosco and the first official exchange began a year later in 1972. To mark the 40th Anniversary Tony Wilks returned to Don Bosco this year after a 12 Year absence and described the experience. ‘It was unforgettable. As I was there to help celebrate the 40th exchange it had a special meaning. So many familiar faces, many I hadn’t seen for a very long time. The most celebrated of these was Bert Van de Linden. Bert was a progressive educator who already knew the value of sporting exchanges through previous experiences. It was he who suggested that we start an exchange between our two schools. That first year was memorable as they arrived at uCC with over 100 students and 12 staff. At that time, ucc had around 300 students. Our parents were magnificent, providing homes for all but 12 of their students. The remainder slept in the college youth centre with breakfast provided by a colleague, Trevor Wilkins. The rest, as they say, is history.’

The Colleges host the exchange on alternate years and this year uCC took 84 students across to Belgium for the competition. These students were a mixture from Years 8-11, including 7 ex-students who took part in the 6th form competition and a further 10 members of staff accompanied the group.

Over the years the Exchange has developed into a five day event.

Day 1 was a long day of travel for the visitors with an early start for a long coach trip down to Dover, through the channel tunnel and then another long drive through France and up into Belgium. On arrival, the uCC party were given an incredible reception to mark the start of the anniversary event. The buses were driven to the far side of the town where they were met by their hosts who had arranged a street carnival complete with a full brass band. The students and staff then joined up with their hosts and marched through the town of Haacht which came to a complete standstill to celebrate the 40th exchange. The march finished at don Bosco college where the 40th exchange was officially opened by Don Bosco coordinator Herman Cauwenberghs.

sTuDenTs Carrying ouT a behaviour sTuDy on The meerKaTs.

After the formal introductions students were paired with their host families before spending the evening experiencing Belgium home life. The staff, including Principal Mrs Turner, were then taken to the Town Hall for a reception with the Major of Haacht in recognition of the length the exchange has been taking place.

days 2 and 3 of the exchange are the competition days with teams split into Junior Girls, Junior Boys, Senior Girls, Senior Boys, 6th Form and Staff Teams. This year the teams competed in a range of activities including Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Rounders, Table Tennis and Tug of War. Each team competes with points awarded for each event to determine a winner of each age group. This year uppingham proved to have the stronger teams in the Junior Girls, Senior Girls and Senior Boys events, with Don Bosco leading the Junior Boys, Sixth Form and Staff events.

Day 4 is traditionally a fun activity day and this year was spent at a nearby theme park with an hour shopping in Leuven before returning in the evening for the final presentations and results. The overall Trophy was retained by uCC and was collected by team captains Sophie Wilks and Adam Dalby. More important than the sporting

results are the experiences gained by all the students who spend time with each other in a very different environment from their normal school life. New friendships are often forged on these trips with both students from Belgium and often with students from uCC that they previously had not spent time with.

Day 5 started with the planting of an identical tree to the one planted at uCC last year to commemorate the 40th Anniversary; there were hugs and tears as people said good bye to friends for another year before heading back onto the buses for the long drive home.

uppingham Community College would like to thank all the staff who took time out of their holiday to go and to all the students for their efforts on the field of play. Particular thanks need to go to organisers Mr Wilkins and Mrs Borrows for the countless hours spent planning the trip. Incredibly Mr Wilkins has been on every one of the 40 years of the exchange and Mrs Borrows has been involved for over 20 years. The College looks forward to welcoming Don Bosco in 2014 as it pushes the Exchange program towards its 50th year!

ExtrEME physiCs

The popular Extreme Physics residential project took place at Rugby School during the Easter holidays for the third year running. It is a course aimed to inspire year 10 students

from around the East Midlands to study Physics beyond GCSE level. It is organised by Rugby school and the Institute of Physics and sponsored by the Ogden Trust.

Twelve teams of Year 10 students from state and independent schools took part in a series of team and individual challenges. The teams were awarded points for each challenge, which accumulate over the three days to determine the Extreme Physics

Winners. During the course the students are required to keep journals, attend lectures and deliver a presentation about a Physics topic using everyday objects to a large audience in the Lecture Theatre (this is worth double points). Other activities included rock climbing and indoor skydiving.

A team of four boys Alex Bennett, Harris Brunning, Kai Chan and Angus Nichols represented uCC at this event and were Extreme Physics Winners after three days of competition.

Additional info: scientists active in their field gave two lectures: “Powering the Future” Melanie Windridge from Imperial College, London, Institute of Physics FLT and “Licence to Stun: The Physics of Less Lethal Weapons” FLT David Wilkinson -Institute of Physics, Visiting Fellow NTu.

sChools iNvolvEd:alsager sChool

braDley sToKe 1braDley sToKe 2

King eDwarD vi high sChool 1King eDwarD vi high sChool 2

King eDwarD vi grammar sChool

leiCesTer grammar sChool

loughborough grammar sChool

oCKbrooK sChool

sTamForD high sChool

uppingham CommuniTy College

CiTy oF leiCesTer College

lEiCEstEr ridErs trip

Forty uCC students went down to Wembley recently to support the Leicester Riders in their attempts to win a historic treble. This year uCC has linked up with the Leicester Riders who have sent coaches over to uppingham to run sessions with our students. They also ran coaching sessions before their matches for our students in what has proved to be an exciting partnership. This was the fourth time students have been able to watch the Riders play this year and the match against the Newcastle Falcons in the BBL Playoff final was the biggest of the year with over 8,000 in attendance at the Wembley Arena. It proved to be an excellent day all round with the Riders comfortably winning 68 v 57 to secure a clean sweep of trophies this year. We look forward to further developing our links with the Leicester Riders next year.

u13 CouNty Cuprugby FiNal

Congratulations to our Year 8 Boys Rugby team for making it through to the County cup final.

The final was played at syston rugby club having twice been postponed due to the snow. unfortunately our opponents from Welland Park proved to be too strong running out 44 v 12 winners.

Football lEaguE suCCEss For yEar 7 pupils

Medbourne Juniors under 12s football team secured a win in the final fixture of the season to enable them to become the Champions of their League, The Leicestershire Foxes League. This is a notable success for the team particularly as they were the only village team in the Division, competing against towns such as Loughborough, Hinckley, Barrow, Coalville and Market Harborough (all therefore enjoying considerable wealth of facilities and far greater catchment). They enjoyed 16 victories, with only 1 defeat and 1 draw in a hard fought campaign, prevailing by just one point at the death!

The Year 7 boys who made up the backbone of this success are: Tom Horton-Bell, James Clark, Oscar Robinson, Louis Wright and Oliver upton.

CyCliNg lEadErs

Dean Hughes and Anthony Gill from British Cycling visited uCC recently to run a Cycling

Award for Young Volunteers.

The course taught students how to become involved in Cycling activities within the School and local clubs. Nine students attended the course and have now signed up to the British Cycling Volunteer passport scheme. Their first job was to Inclusive Zone Basketball

ks3 rowing TeamKS4 Rowing TeamKS4 Swimming Team

4th2nd (silver medal)6th (Won spirit of the games Award)6th

lEiCEstErshirE aNd rutlaNdsChool gaMEs

Students from uCC represented Rutland at the recent School Games finals held at Loughborough university. Four teams of ucc students took part. congratulations to all who qualified for these finals and represented Rutland.

piCTureD is CapTain anDrew birKs ColleCTing The runners up shielD.

help to set up a Cycling Club at the College so look out for lots of cycling opportunities in the coming months.

CyCliNg Club

ucc ran its first session of its new cycling club this term. The College has received funding through the ‘Sportivate’ scheme which has allowed us to purchase six mountain bikes. Sessions are now running in enrichment on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Club sessions running on Fridays after school.

Pictured are the students who took part in a series of team races including 60m and 100m sprints, 400m time trials and team pursuit races. The next Cycling Club race meeting will be Friday 14th June (2.00pm-3.30pm). Any students that would like to be involved see Mr Lewin for further detail.

yEar 7 CriCkEt tEaM

The cricket season is now underway and the Year 7 Boys team played their first competitive match against John Ferneley. Ben Whittenbury stared by taking 5 wickets as the team comfortably won with 7 overs to spare.

Pictured are Chris Thornber, Nathan Hall, Tom Horton-Bell, Hector Phillips, Harvey Clarke, Alfie Finch-critchley, sam McAvoy, Henry Doe, Oscar Robinson, Ben Whittenbury, James Clarke qnd Adam Kilby.

u15 haNdball tEaM

The under 15 Boys Handball team recently competed in the England Schools Handball Cup. The team travelled to Cannock for the

Midlands qualifying tournament for their first competitive matches as a team.

Despite losing all their matches the team benefitted greatly from the experience of playing matches and are looking forward to more tournaments next year.

rutlaNd raCiNg

uppingham enrichment programme delivers a wide range of experiences that will broaden students’ knowledge and at the same time feed their curiosity and wider interests. It gives them the opportunity to develop their own interests, extend their skills and get involved in a range of exciting experiences.

One of the choices is Rutland Racing. Pupils have the chance to become involved in uCC’s very own Formula 24 Racing Team. Rutland Racing recruits a team of people to support and promote the race crew; helping

raise sponsorship, producing promotional materials and support with the organisation of events.

RS My Community has supported the team by donating much needed equipment to support the team and enable the children to design and build a car, which is entered in the Formula 24+ constructors championship which is part of the Greenpower Corporate Challenge held at Rockingham Speedway

Greenpower promotes engineering as a rewarding career and is an ideal fit for rs working with the community and promoting young engineers (in this case students between 12 and 16)

teamcardinal griffinuppinghamCrispindronfieldSt. Paul’scardinal griffindronfieldCrispinSt.Paul’sdronfield

score6 v 75 v 7

7 v 1110 v 21 v 8

11 v 511 v 510 v 24 v 104 v 7

teamdronfieldSt. Paul’scardinal griffinuppinghamCrispinuppinghamSt. Paul’suppinghamcardinal griffinCrispin

piCTureD are Connor griggs, JonaThan williams, ben riCharDs, Joe benneTT, CoaCh sergiu TauTan, oaKley wilKins, alex brooKes, Tom beaCh

uCC TO SANDBACH AND BACK IN SuPPORT OF KIDSCAN AND

MACMILLAN NuRSESby mr moloney

For the last few years I have done a cycle ride to support my House charity. This year I did my longest one yet. I left school Friday 12th May in the afternoon with lots of students waving me off, and with the wind blowing hard against me, began to track my way to Cheshire.

Through Belton and Tilton and on past Queniborough the Sun shone down, but as Loughborough loomed the clouds obscured its rays and the temperature dropped. By the time I reached the Derbyshire border near Swadlincote the rain had begun to fall so it was time to stop for a sandwich. Sadly the rain didn’t stop and as I peddled into Burton it was like a monsoon downpour and my spirits were starting to flag. Luckily the skies cleared as I neared Tutbury and the wind even eased a bit. The ride to uttoxeter along a winding back country road with the Trent valley and the distant Staffordshire Moors shining in the light was a cheery sight.

As I approached Cheadle the landscape became more rugged and the climbs got more strenuous, the clouds also decided it was time to pay me another visit and soon they were showering me with their liquid affection. Time for a Cornish pasty!

It’s a long downward slope into Stoke, a chance to freewheel, and as I entered the

city I was feeling a bit refreshed and the Sun was back out. Also out were a bunch of young topless men squaring up for a fight with each other but thankfully they took no notice of me as I trundled past, but probably noted the three squad cars that raced past me a few minutes later. The climb out of Stoke seemed to last forever but then a mostly freewheel coast down to Sandbach where my sister in law had a huge meal waiting for me. Eight hours in the saddle!

I left Sandbach at just gone eight the next morning, legs a bit stiff but they soon eased up as I met the A52 and made my way to Ashbourne. The 16% hill around Frognall nearly finished me, full lactic acid burn; but thankfully the climbs became less arduous as Derby came into view. The break for egg omelette at my friends’ was very refreshing as the rain had again begun to fall.

The stretch from Derby down to Melton was nearly all in the rain, but the wind was behind me and progress was good. Back to Oakham, as I cleared Three Step Hill I felt relief and joy at being home. Seven hours in the saddle.

Yes it was fun, yes at times my legs screamed at me but it was for such a good cause. If it helps make lives easier for those

people facing the challenge of cancer or helps research into treatments then the price of my discomfort is very small.

A big thank you to all who have already donated and to those who have helped in any way. If you would like to do so, just send donations to school in an envelope marked Blake House Charity.

spoNsorEdCyClE ridE