PRINCIPAL’SMessageDear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to the first newsletter of this academic year. The new Year 7 students have settled in extremely well and our older students have also returned with a keen enthusiasm for their studies this year. Long may that last!

The start of the year was somewhat overshadowed by the very sad news about Mr Duffin and I think that the high regard in which he was held was very clearly demonstrated at the

service held in the church.

We have a number of new staff to welcome this term. Miss Brown in Languages, Miss Cleaver in Drama, Miss Davies in IT, Mr English in Maths, Miss Hope in Science, Mr Joy in 2ic DT and Mr Morrison in PE. Mrs Francois is our new Receptionist, Mr Smith is our new Cover Supervisor and our 4 new Teaching Assistants are Mrs Little, Mr McQuiggan, Mrs Neehuis and Mrs Quinn. Welcome to them all.

As you will have seen in the press and on the website I am delighted to announce that plans for our academic sixth-form free school, Harington School, have been approved by the Department for Education. It is intended that this will be open for business in 2015 for the current Year 11. This is extremely exciting news for all the young people of Rutland and will provide an outstanding opportunity for future generations to come. I am delighted that the Department of Education has recognised the need for this provision and the strength of the team that will work together to ensure it’s success. We have now entered the next stage, the pre-opening phase, which will see a rapid development of our plans. Representatives from the bid team will be attending a launch event in London on 16 October. Following that I will release further details, including how to apply for a place.

Continuing with our refurbishment of the site there is scaffolding on site facilitating the replacement of new roofs and windows. It may cause some slight disruption so I would be grateful for your patience with this.

And finally - though it does now seem some time ago - I extend my congratulations to the Year 11 students who have just left as they achieved some excellent results this year. Most subject areas exceeded their outcomes from last year with Maths, Languages and IT` achieving outstanding results. We are significantly above the national average across the college, with 75% of the subject areas exceeding expectations and all the students have progressed to the post 16 places of their choice. Well done.

Have an enjoyable Half Term.

RegardsJan Turner

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FREE SCHOOL MEALS

The college receives additional funding for every child who is eligible for free school meals, whether they take up the meals or not. This is used to benefit pupils in the college and with reducing funding in all other areas; we would appreciate your help in obtaining these funds. If you think you may be eligible for free meals please go to our website at www.uppinghamcollege.org.uk, click on “Parent Links” and then “free school meals”. It is easy to apply but you will need to input evidence to prove eligibility. You will be notified if you are eligible and we can add you to our funding claim. If you wish your child to take free meals they proceed in the same way as all other pupils by collecting their food and going through the till with their fingerprint identifying them and the funds are being made available to them on a daily basis.

WISEPAY

In circumstances when a payment can be made available on Wisepay, we will not be accepting cash or cheques as from 3 November 2014. Anyone who may wish to make a payment in the future but does not have their username or password should e-mail finance@ucc.rutland.sch.uk with your child’s name and form and we will send your username and password via e-mail.

DON BOSCO

The PE department is now planning its annual Don Bosco exchange with the Belguim college, Haacht. This is the 42nd exchange and it is UCC’s turn to travel to Belgium during Easter 2015. The trip involves taking two coaches via the Channel Tunnel and involves Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 students with accompanying staff and a small contingent of ex-students. The basic details of the exchange are; leaving UCC early morning Tuesday 7th April and returning to UCC early evening Saturday 11th April 2015. This is the second week of the Easter holiday and is the only time, excluding the Easter weekend, when the two schools are on holiday. The exchange involves two days of sport and a day theme park visit with evening activities as well. Students should have a valid Passport and European Health Insurance Card. All costs for the trip, insurance, visits and activities are included in the price with only personal spending money not included. More information on the cost of the trip will be sent out shortly. Further information will be in the college notices, on the college website and future newsletters.

SHOW MY HOMEWORK

At UCC all homework that is set for students is available on the Show my Homework online calendar. Each student has a To-Do List which shows clearly the due date of the homework and includes details of the task, and may have other resources or links attached. We expect all students to be checking this regularly, in addition to using their planners.

To find your child’s homework on the Show my Homework Website simply go to the Show My Homework webpage for UCC, accessible from the UCC website. Then log-in using the log-in details that your child has been provided with. Parents have their own log-in – if you have not received this, or need a new one, please contact Mrs

Spencer at spencer_s@ucc.rutland.sch.uk.

Show My Homework is supported by all mobile and tablet devices. Parents have found this to be a very useful additional support to the Student Planner.

AN EVENING WITH JOHN AGARD

Tuesday 30Th sepTember

Mrs Hodgson & Mrs Maloney-sMitH

The award winning Poet John Agard performed some of his most popular poems (and one or two new ones) at Uppingham School Memorial Theatre last Tuesday.

This was an amazing opportunity for our Key Stage 4 Students to see a spell binding ‘performance’ of poetry from a poet whose work has regularly appeared in the AQA GCSE Poetry Anthology since 2002.

The Memorial Theatre was packed to the rafters with students and members of the public all keen to experience John Agard first hand. He performed for over one hour, entertaining us with poems and many stories about growing up in British Guiana (Guyana). He praised his own teachers for the

encouragement they gave him as a student. Finally Agard urged the young people of today to aim high and realise their own potential just as he had.

This was a wonderful evening of poetry thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

SKY SKILLS 2014STUDIO 1

By Maddie KirBy and Holly deadMan, 8slB

After a long but pleasant journey on the coach we arrived in Middlesex, to be greeted by the welcoming Sky Skills staff. We were shown into a large room containing tables and benches where we were to eat our lunch. Editors and camera operators adorned the walls, as well as many famous presenters. Underneath their photos was advice that they would give to young people who would one day like to take on their role. It gave the room a very friendly atmosphere. After lunch we were split into our different studios and taken upstairs for our briefing.Looking around the studio, we were amazed. There was a huge camera facing a newsreader’s desk. Behind the desk there was a green screen, and to one side there was a large television on which the editor, producer and scriptwriter could watch the report live.

After writing the script on autocue, the camera operators took up their positions and the presenters sat nervously twitching their dressing-up clothes; but when the producer slammed down the clapperboard enthusiastically, it was suddenly business. The autocue was very fast, and difficult to follow, but our scriptwriter was good, and knew when to pause the clever device. Whilst all this was going on in Studio 1, the other studios were also having fun and contributing to the report.

When every group was ready, we changed back into our school uniform and set off on a tour around Sky Studios! We went up in the lift to the top floor, which was incredibly high, and saw many men and women working hard

to broadcast Sky TV to the world. Learning that these people worked twelve hour shifts really made us appreciate how little time we had to spend in school compared to many people at work.

We also had a look round an empty set. Mr Rhodes would be proud to know that the lights were similar to those in the drama studio, but on a much larger scale.

When we got back to the Skills Studios, we found that our clips had been put together by the Sky Skills staff, and we settled down to watch the hilarious report. We were each given a memory stick with the report on to take home and share, and then it was time to get back on the waiting coach. What an inspiring trip!

POETRY BY HEART COMPETITION LAUNCH

years 10 & 11

To celebrate National Poetry Day the English Department are launching a poetry recital competition for Years 10 & 11. It is part of a national competition ‘Poetry By Heart’ that challenges pupils to learn & recite two poems from an online anthology: one pre-1914 and one post-1914. The initial heats will be held in school in December with the successful finalist going forward to represent the school regionally in January and, if successful, nationally in March. This is an exciting opportunity to try your hand at performance poetry and enhance the study of your GCSE poetry course so, to get involved, please register your interest with your English teacher by half-term!

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