Upper Shirley High School
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Principal's Welcome
An Introduction to USH
Upper Shirley High is a coeducational school in the heart of the Upper Shirley geographical area of Southampton. Our cluster arrangements ensure that the junior schools of Shirley and Hollybrook are the main primary links and recent developments have cemented existing collaboration between our schools, including the infant schools of Shirley, Hollybrook and Wordsworth and the special schools of Vermont and Great Oaks into something much stronger and concrete – the Upper Shirley Learning Community. Alongside the close partnerships with Tauntons College we now have dynamic progression from ‘reception’ through to post 16 for all children in our local area. All schools in the community are in the trust or consulting to join the trust; this will ensure continuity and sustainability of relationships and partnership working well into the future.
I have had the very real pleasure of being the Headteacher here since September 2004 and can testify to this school being a truly dynamic organisation, with improving academic results. I am delighted to say that over the last few years we have exceed our targets Our most recent full Ofsted inspection suggested that our targets were too challenging and graded the school on the previous year’s attainment despite clear indicators of improvement. A subject inspection of the school in September 2009 graded the area as being good with some outstanding features. We know our school to be a good school and are absolutely determined that our academic performance will continue to improve as dynamically as it has recently.
We have carefully fostered our caring ‘family’ ethos which places the individual child very firmly at the heart of our development. We pride ourselves in being a small school where every child is known by name and are encouraged to develop their own individual personality and strengths. While we put the child at the heart of our school community we strive to be at the heart of our local community, providing support and resources for a range of community activities; a ‘Village Fair’ and a community Christmas Fayre as examples as well as hosting a range of sporting events; running a junior auction and providing an increasing number of holiday programmes for younger pupils. Alongside the successful integrated after school and holiday programme for students from across our ‘learning community’ the school houses a fully Ofsted approved breakfast and after school provision for the very youngest of the community.
Over the last few academic years we achieved a number of key awards, including Healthy Schools, Arts Mark Gold, The International Schools Award, 2 Sports Mark Awards and Investors in People. However the processes that we go through are more important than the kite marks themselves.
Central to our ethos is the pastoral organisation of the school which is based on a family system of four school houses: Aviators, Engineers, Mariners and Venturers. Each is led by a teaching Head of House, whose focus is primarily on teaching and learning and academic achievement. They are well supported by a student House Captain and Sport’s Captain, whose focus is on inter-house competition and support. The student voice is extremely important in our school and students hold a number of key responsibilities from prefects to sports captains, from librarians to student mentors. Student council elections are held every year and the council meets with me on a half-termly basis. The student council is subdivided into working groups with responsibilities for charity work, international links and working with teachers on improving teaching and learning. We have family tutor groups, including students from year 7 - 11, this enables the older students to support the younger ones in school, be positive role models and prevent bullying. Our older students also support activities in our cluster schools from literacy support programmes with infant aged pupils to organising and supervising sporting activities.
Running alongside the House system we have a strong and successful Student Support Service which covers all areas of pastoral support including: attendance, special educational needs, emotional support, support for students with English as an additional language and ‘Gifted and Talented’.
Students are essentially taught according to their age group in specific subject areas. The curriculum is led by senior middle leaders responsible for Learning Centers. . Some subjects are taught in ability based groups whilst others are taught in mixed ability groups. However, we are increasingly developing personalised learning, with each student following individual pathways based on their own academic and learning profile. There are increasing numbers of students following accelerated curriculum routes through the school and widening enrichment programmes. Examples are some students taking GCSEs in Year 9 and Year 10, some taking high grade music exams, some taking leadership courses.
We have an extremely strong PE department which consistently achieves considerable success, across city and county alike. We regularly win the city athletics championship for boys in Years 7-10 and our first year 7 girls cohort won the year 7 girls trophy. All our students take part and thoroughly enjoy a wide range of sporting activities. We have a School Sports Coordinator based at Upper Shirley High; ensuring close working with our cluster schools and whilst steering our own students through their Junior Sports Leaders Awards. Through this scheme we have hosted a wide range of activities including dance and basketball festivals and Primary School Sports Days.
Our buildings and site continue to be upgraded and new facilities added, despite plans and preparations for a completely new school through Building Schools for the Future. the school is earmarked to be in the first phase in Southampton and at the time of writing is still due to go ahead! This project will see a massive rebuild of the entire school site ensuring that facilities it provides for the whole community are totally fit for purpose. We are already in discussions with SCC about the needs of our community. However, we are keen to ensure that until the rebuild our current students have the very best that we can offer and that their education will not be disrupted through any building plans and since achieving specialist status as a Maths and Computing College we have invested £100,000 into new ICT equipment ensuring that our students have access to some of the most up to date technologies.
Our recently refurbished dining room (The Pavilions) serves both attractive and nutritious food. The clear focus is on healthy eating and we serve a variety of hot and cold food, which is prepared and freshly cooked on the premises by a team of dedicated staff. Breakfast is available before school and a variety of healthy snacks can be purchased during the mid morning break. In addition to The Pavilions the school has an attractive patio area that the students can enjoy throughout the year.
Extra curricular activities have grown tremendously over the last few years including developments with our cluster schools, We have a regular school production which allows students to excel in music, drama and dance and we work closely with Creative Partnerships to ensure that we can bring in professional expertise to support our students. At present they are working with us to create a student based TV station. We run a successful junior science club for Year 6. There are any number of activities on offer every night of the week and we expect our students to take part. Their participation is celebrated through the ‘Passport of Promises’ award scheme. This develops into accreditation in the upper school through BTEC certification. Alongside a whole range of sporting activities, drama, art and music, Young Engineers and the Enterprise Club to name but a few, we run a ‘period 6’ four nights a week to support students in coursework, homework and individual support. However, many of our students simply stay after school to ‘play’ in a safe and secure environment.
In April 2009 we became the first Cooperative Trust school in the South of England. Our association with the Cooperative Society underpins our school values of: self help, self responsibility, democracy, equity equality and community. This is supported by openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others. Membership of the cooperative family has delivered a unique network of other cooperative schools as well as enriching our international links and global awareness. Our other trustees InTec, Oil Spill UK, Tauntons College and Solent EBP are central to the improvements in the school, developing our curriculum and progressing life opportunities for our students.
Life continues to be exciting at Upper Shirley High. Working together with parents, governors, students, staff and community representatives we have a clear view of how great we want our school to become and how we are going to get there! The future is about developing a quality education for all of our children in their own community. ‘Upper Shirley High is a rapidly improving school…Alongside a successful drive to retain the school’s best teachers, good recruitment strategies have led to appointment of new dynamic teachers with strong subject expertise.’ (Ofsted 2008)
‘Students enjoy their learning…behave very sensibly during break times and feel safe and well supported within the family style tutor groups and house system. …Community participation is outstanding and the students make a real and valued contribution to their school and wider community.’ (Ofsted 2008)
I hope you will join us on this truly exciting journey.
Cassie Ellins
Principal
