Once again we are supporting the Operation Christmas Child shoe

box appeal. Mrs. Martin’s enrichment group are co-ordinating this on behalf of the school this year, and we are appealing for your help. We need to collect items to put in the shoe boxes

which are then distributed to children in less developed parts of the world as their only Christmas present. Please could you help by either filling an empty shoe box of your own or bringing in a few items to help fill a tutor group box. The website has lots more information and includes a list of suggested contents. We would like to exceed our previous total of 185 shoe boxes – please help us to do this! Please bring any contributions into school and deliver them to Ma 2 where the Enrichment team will co-ordinate the boxes.

by Mrs Martin

OperatiOn Christmas Childwww.operationchristmaschild.org.uk

Uppingham Community College

The Modern Languages Department organised a wide range of activities

this year to celebrate the European Day of Languages which took place on Monday 27th September.

Every student in Years 7 to 11 and all staff had the opportunity to take part in a variety of competitions with an international flavour. The main language being celebrated this year was Mandarin Chinese. During the day with the help of three native Mandarin speakers and a local expert, several UCC students were involved in activities ranging from Mandarin Chinese Language and Culture, Calligraphy, Cooking, preparing and tasting a range of Chinese delicacies to Tai-Chi.

Furthermore, at breaktime and lunchtime a selection of Chinese snacks and hot meals including Spring and Chinese Rolls, Sesame Prawn Toast, Honey Soy Chicken, Vegetarian Hom Bao, Baked Caramelised Mango and Mooncake were available in the College’s dining hall. At morning and afternoon registration students were asked to respond to their name being called out in Mandarin.

At lunchtime all students were able to watch a DVD of the Shaolin Monks Theatre show - The Legend of Kung Fu in the College’s Drama Studio. Throughout the day in the College’s exhibition area PowerPoints were running, giving all students and staff the opportunity to brush up their general knowledge on the importance of languages in today’s society of ever increasing globalisation.

by Mr Duffin

the eurOpean day Of languages

The new systems introduced this year are working well: - attendanCe

The ability to send a text to parents on each day of student absence The opportunity for parents to advise the College on each day of absence by the following: e-mail absences@ucc.rutland.sch.ukvoicemail (01572) 823631

- infOrmatiOn

The option to e-mail parents with important information or copies of important documents.The facility to text/e-mail parents in the event of school closure.We would like as many parents as possible to benefit from the above but in order for them to do so, we need to keep mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses as up to date and complete as possible on our system. We thank you for your continued support. NB: For those who do not have any of the above facilities, contact will always be made via alternative routes.

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Newsletter: October 2010

hOme/sChOOl COmmuniCatiOn

OperatiOn ChristMas Child

Do something marvellous this

Christmas. Help fill a shoe box.

page 1

eCO-sChOOls aCtiOn teaM

The Eco Team have introduced

plastic recyling to the College.

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raCing teaM

‘Rutland Racing’ R 19 car kept

running for the full four hours.

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Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to the new Autumn Term at Uppingham Community College. Once again it has been a busy start to the year – setting off to a great start with best ever GCSE results for the college. 81% of the students achieved 5 or more A* -C grades and there were many individual successes within that. Our Year 10 fast track DT students all gained A*/A grades bar one and the majority of the subject areas in school were significantly above the national average. These headline statistics do not have many important details, in that the majority of the students gained 8 or more GCSE’s at A* - C, not just 5. The number of the A*/A grades was also above the national average and all this was achieved through gold standard GCSE courses. Also all the vocational students passed their courses and all students have gone on to A-Levels, college courses or apprenticeships. So well done to Year 11 2010. They will return to collect their certificates and prizes in November where the guest speaker will be Sarah Outen – the youngest person to row across the Indian Ocean and holder of 3 world records.

The new Year 7 students are settling in well and are already making a full and active contribution to college life. Miss Achard goes on maternity leave at half term and Mrs Brooks and Mrs Wells will take over Year 7 until her return. We welcome Mrs Hodgson, a very experienced English teacher, who will be taking Miss Achard’s classes. Also this term we welcome Miss Bonner, Mr Joy and Miss Manship to the Curriculum Support Department and Mrs Duell, our new teacher of Food Technology.

We have also this term been successfully redesignated as a Technology College by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and having focused on Design Technology in Phase 4 we now hope to develop the

STEM subjects right across the College. We have been awarded International Schools Status for our outstanding work in the Languages department and we have also been awarded Healthy Schools status. We are a member of the GetSet Network, working with the Olympic preparations and UCC is also a Children’s University, a national organisation devoted to accrediting students for extra activities. More details about that in the next half term! A fantastic set of achievements and congratulations to all the staff and students who worked so hard to achieve those awards.

I hope that you have all received the information pertaining to the proposal that we should convert to academy status. If you were not able to attend the meeting on 7th October and would like to ask specific questions of myself, the Senior Leadership Team or the governors there will be a supplementary meeting after half term. Alternatively please email academyconsultation@ucc.rutland.sch.uk and we will respond to your enquiries.

Finally – congratulations and thank you to Mr Wilkins who has now been a member of staff at UCC for 40 years! Mr Wilkins has seen the College through many different phases and he continues to be a much valued member of staff.

As always at this time of year, enjoy the Halloween and Bonfire Night festivities – but keep safe!

Jan tUrner

Principal

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s Autumn Break - Two WeeksBerlin TripSpanish Pen-friends to UCC

Yr8 Trip to AberglaslynYr11 Spanish Trip to YorkYr7 Tutors Evening (4pm-6pm)PE Team - Indoor Athletics (CBEC)Post 16 Careers Event (National Space Centre)Yr10 GCSE Drama Trip to SheffieldPresentation EveningYr10 Tutors Evening (4pm-6pm)

Family Activity Day (10am-3pm)Y11 GCSE Drama Devised Performance EveningSuccess Assembly (9am)Celebration of Christmas (7pm Uppingham Church)Themed Family Breakfast (7am-8.30am)Christmas Holiday

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Many thanks to all Year 10 students who have performed in a most sensible and

mature manner for their first experience of controlled assessments. Please ensure that no out of school appointments are made when controlled assessments are taking place. A catch up session will be available on Wednesdays after school until 4pm for

any student who has missed an assessment due to illness or extreme circumstances.

by Mrs park

The Year 11 Geography Students took a fieldtrip to the North

Norfolk Coast on Tuesday 28th September, to collect data for their GCSE Geography Controlled Assessment. The day involved a whistle-stop tour to West Runton and Cley. The students collected beach data and took photographs of the main coastal processes and the coastal defences that have been built over the years.The day began with a pleasant but long bus journey. On arrival in Norfolk it was clear that this

thankfully was going to be a rain-free and reasonably warm day. Following our visit to West Runton we moved on to Cley spit followed by the glorious Cley Marshes café and bird-watching centre. It was an extremely fun and interesting day that enabled us to complete our Geography work; and the students seemed to enjoy seeing the North Norfolk Coast. The students had a very successful day and they will shortly be writing up their findings in Geography lessons.by Mr redmond

gCse geOgraphy 2010

Uppingham Community College recently celebrated the fourth and a

most successful visit of students and staff from its French Exchange link school - Lycées et Collège Gabriel Deshayes in Loire Atlantique, France.

Between the 24th September and 1st October 2010 forty six Year 9 students from the College paid host to their French penfriends from St Gildas des Bois in Southern Brittany, France. This was a great opportunity for the French students to experience at first hand English customs, culture and the language.

The French students were treated to days out in London, Alton Towers Theme Park, Cambridge and Leicester Space Centre as well as spending some time in school and having a farewell party for all participating families at the College on Thursday 30th September 2010.by Mr Duffin

the frenCh exChange

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- Cookery Extravaganza

- Art Attack with Tessa Angell

- Fun with Textiles!

- Printing with Jenny

limited places. Book today.

Call Joanne on 01572 823631 email: wade_j@ucc.rutland.sch.uk

in the drama studiO

saturday 4th deCember

10.00am - 3.00pm

family aCt iv ity day

On the 16th September a team of our students took part in

the North West Regional Heat of the GreenPower F24 Racing competition.The twelve strong ‘Rutland Racing’ team travelled up the night before to be at the historic Aintree Motor Circuit in Liverpool in time for the race.The four hour endurance race was strongly contested by 27 other teams from as far away as Thurso in Scotland and is part of a national competition.Although we were disappointed not to have achieved a qualifying distance on the day, we are very encouraged by the improvements in performance made by the car.The blustery conditions and the strong headwind all the way up Railway Straight caused many of the teams problems and a number of them to retire. But ‘Rutland

Racing’ R 19 car kept running for the full four hours without mechanical problems. As a result we finished in 12th position when the chequered flag fell, having covering a total distance of 61.5 miles, a personal best for the team.It is the first time that the team have competed at such a distant event and was only made possible by the involvement of Rob Warne from Best Conveyors, who are kindly sponsoring us. Around 600 schools have competed nationally in the Greenpower events and we are very proud to finish in the top 100. Although the 2010 final won’t include a car from UCC we have high hopes of getting there next year as we already have 32 students working on the 2011 campaign.On a personal note I’d like to thank all those parents and staff who have been involved with the team this year. It gives us an ideal opportunity to promote engineering and to allow our students to put their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills into practice.We would be very interested in further offers of assistance or sponsorship if you would like to get involved.by Mr Knight

rutland raCing finishes 2010 seasOn with a persOnal best!

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Above: Gb Judo World Cup 2010 esCortswww.valejudo.org.uk

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Year 10 - Ben Allen took a gold in the Midland Area trials at

42kg to secure his place in the Midland Area Squad and allow him to compete in the BJA Junior Nationals. After this event Ben is hoping to travel to Sweden to take part in a competition and training camp and hopes to also compete in the US Junior Championships in 2011.

Year 11 - Brad Mowat took a bronze at the Midland Area trials at 55kg to secure his place in the Midland Area Squad and will allow him to compete in the BJA Junior Nationals.

Both students will be able to

compete at this event in order to gain ranking points and secure places in the England Judo Squad.

These students train at Vale Judo Club - British Judo’s Club of the Year 2010’. Vale Judo is collaborating with the Schools Sports Partnership to set up a Rutland Schools Judo Academy in 2011 and hopes to establish links with Sagami Junior and Senior High School in Japan with a view to establishing a student cultural/sports exchange programme in the future.

by Mr newton

uCC has gOne eCO geekO

Uppingham Community College’s Eco-Schools Action Team has got together and emptied their new

plastic bottle recycling bins. The students have already managed to attain a Bronze Eco-Award from Eco-Schools but are now working towards the Silver.

Having only had the dedicated bottle bins out for 2 weeks the school has managed to fill the giant container one and half times, thus reducing the College’s contribution to landfill.

Angela Wilson in Year 7 said: ‘Not only is this helping to keep the College clean but also green. We are trying to encourage students to be ‘Eco’ at home as well, and are definitely Eco-Geeko!’

The next step for the Eco-School Action Team, made up of students from Year 7 and 11, is to conduct a formal environmental review as well as launching a competition to design an energy saving light switch sticker. They are also looking to tackle food waste from the kitchens and buy in more Fairtrade products.

Assistant Principal, David Anderson, said ‘We have come a long way already since forming the team last November and I am confident that this is just the beginning to making UCC a more environmentally sustainable place to study and work.’

by Mr andersonAbove: uCC eCo-sChools ACtion teAm mAde up of students from YeAr 7 & 11 With AssistAnt prinCipAl, dAvid Anderson.

sChOOl musiCal

In the last newsletter we mentioned that, due to the increasing success of the Performing Arts at UCC, we

are staging a musical production this year. It will be 15 years since the last musical was staged, so I hope you’ll agree it will be an exciting step forward for the College. I can proudly reveal that we have started work on The Wizard of Oz for performances on 10th-12th March 2011. Auditions have taken place and a startlingly talented cast are in place. Offers of help with any aspect of organisation for such a big event would be gratefully received - we’d love to get parents and the community involved.

by Mrs perkins

theatre visits

Year 11 drama students have been to the Stamford Arts Centre to see Red Ladder’s production of

‘UGLY’ where we were met by the Director and Writer personally before the performance. Rod Dixon (Red Ladder’s Artistic Director) offered to meet our students after they made such a good impression at last year’s production of ‘Forgotten Things’, by showing their enthusiasm for Theatre along with their knowledge and analytical thinking.We also have a Theatre Visit to Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre to see Frantic Assembly’s latest offering entitled ‘Beautiful Burnout’ on Wednesday 10th November. These students will get to work with Frantic Assembly early next year on a Physical Theatre project.

by Mrs perkins

‘JudO medals reCeived by uCC students’