UTC Oxfordshire
Newsletter – 17th December 2021
We have reached the end of term and managed to save some energy for some Christmas celebrations. We have had some fantastic donations for the food bank and Sam and Alistair have put together this short clip of the donations, taken using the drone they have built.
Thanks go to Vicki and Emma and the group of students who delivered the goods to the food bank at Didcot Methodist Church this morning. The donations were gratefully received. This really shows the generosity and spirit of UTC Oxfordshire.
Engineering vs Chemistry - You decide!
As science and engineering specialists, we have some competing Christmas trees, which is your favourite?
Senior Maths Challenge
We have plenty to celebrate this term, with students taking part in the Senior Maths Challenge. Congratulations to the 16 Bronze attainers, 8 Silver Winners and to Alex M, who achieved the prestigious Gold Award.
UK Bebras Challenge 2021
The Bebras Challenge is an international contest on informatics and computer fluency. We thank Chris for supporting our entry. We had 18 participation certificates, 2 distinctions and merits in the Elite category, 20 distinctions and merits in the senior category, 4 gold awards and huge congratulations go to Ryan M, who achieved the Gold Award and Best in School.
House of Lords Christmas Tea Party
Last week, two former UTC students, Zoe Samson-Wall and Joshua Severn, were invited to a Christmas Tea Party at the House of Lords, where they were presented with Outstanding Achievement awards by Lord Baker. Zoe is now at Cambridge University studying Natural Sciences, while Josh is at Southampton University studying Computer Science. One of the first students to join UTC Oxfordshire, Will Barnes, now working in cybersecurity, was also invited and he explained that "joining the UTC gave me connections with industry that led to work placements, university sponsorship and ultimately a job doing what I love, at Netcraft, a leader cybercrime disruption company."
Netcraft recently supported UTC Oxfordshire students with an online event to help prepare for applications to study Computer Science at university.
Element Christmas Quiz (answers next newsletter)
Staff changes
We are sorry to announce that Vicki, Head of Year 11, is leaving to take up a new challenge but wish her the very best in her new role. Martin, teacher of engineering, is also moving on to a new job. We thank them both for their service to the UTC and the impact they have had on our young people.
In the New Year, we welcome back Marianne to pick up some of Vicki's classes, and Esmee and Tony who will be joining the engineering department.
Covid update
As the picture on Covid is changing daily, we will not be making any announcements until the New Year with regards to any changes in our protocols. However, as per the government guidance, we would like our students to continue to take a home lateral flow test twice a week over the holidays.
Please log the results on both our school form and the government website.
We would like years 12 and 13 to attend for an onsite Covid lateral flow test on Wednesday 5th January. Students will just come onto site for the test and then leave. There will be no lessons on that day. Students in year 10 and year 11 are asked to do a lateral flow test in the morning of Thursday 6th (or the night before) before coming into school. Lessons will run for all year groups but years 11 and year 10 will also complete an onsite test during the day on Thursday 6th.
We are anticipating the continued use of face coverings around the building and would encourage you to talk to your young person about the importance of this.
Element's Café
Dates for the diary
Due to the increased cases in covid we have had to postpone the class of 2021 certificate collection and have rescheduled to Thursday 7th April 2022 16:00hrs to 17:30hrs.
The end of term student event has also been re-scheduled to the end of the summer term. We know this is disappointing, but we have managed to have some celebrations despite the pandemic still being with us, including a 5K Santa fun run.
Oxfordshire Libraries eBook Short Story Competition 2022
Oxfordshire Libraries have announced their 8th eBook Short Story Competition. The annual competition is a chance to discover new writers, stories, and voices from around Oxfordshire.
The winner from each of three categories will see their short story published as an eBook where it will be available to be borrowed and read from anywhere. Find our more: Oxfordshire Libraries eBook Short Story Competition 2022
Term dates for 2021 to 2022
- Winter break is 20th December to 31st December 2021
Monday 3rd January is a Bank Holiday
Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th January 2022 are INSET days
- Spring Term starts on Thursday 6th January
Half Term is 21st to 25th February 2022
Further information can be found our website here: www.utcoxfordshire.org.uk/term-dates
It remains for me to wish you festive greetings. Stay safe and we look forward to seeing the students and staff back in the New Year.
With good wishes
Sam