UTC Oxfordshire
Newsletter – 27th January 2023
Dear all,
We’ve been busy with exams this week as years 10 and 12 have been sitting their PPE’s (Pre-Public Examinations). Well done to all of you who have been focussed and prepared. We appreciate for some students this will be a fairly new experience sitting exams in such formal conditions, but we hope it will prepare them well for the future.
Holocaust Remembrance Day – January 27
International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
Holocaust Remembrance Day – Each year on January 27th, the world remembers one of the most horrific events in modern history. This tragic event is known as the Holocaust. The holocaust occurred during WWII when Nazi Germany killed millions of innocent victims. The day is also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Nazi Germany persecuted and killed millions of people in just under four years. One group in particular that suffered were those of the Jewish faith. It is believed that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. The Nazis’ persecution of the Jews became a genocide.
Genocide occurs when those of a particular ethnic group is deliberately killed. However, the Nazis killed more than just Jews. Hundreds of thousands of other groups of people died under the regime. These included:
- 7 million Soviet civilians
- 3 million Soviet prisoners of war
- 1.8 million Polish civilians
- 312,000 Serb civilians
- Up to 250,000 people with disabilities
- Up to 250,000 Gypsies
- Around 1,900 Jehovah Witnesses
- Possibly thousands of homosexuals
Most Jews died in concentration camps. The most notorious concentration camp is Auschwitz, where approximately one million Jews died. While some of the Jews in the concentration camps died from disease or starvation, others died in the gas chambers. Other groups of people were forced to live in ghettos where they died of sickness or starvation. Still, others were rounded up, shot, and buried in mass graves.
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY HISTORY
On January 24, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. Later that year on November 1, the UN General Assembly designated January 27th as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. It is also referred to as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was on January 27th in 1945 that Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Visit to REME MOD Lyneham
Year 13 Engineering students were welcomed to MOD Lyneham on Wednesday 25th January to visit the Home of the Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers. REME have set our students an Engineering challenge to solve and this visit was an opportunity for the students to find out information about the challenge. Students will be working on this project over the next few months and will present their ideas to REME. The best teams from UTC Oxfordshire will then be invited to REME to take part in the Engineers cup competition against other colleges in the Activate Learning group.
The visit also gave students an insight into life as an Engineer in the Army and they toured around the hangers where the soldiers are trained in fixing and maintaining helicopters, tanks, installing electronics, vehicle maintenance and armoury and how life in the army can provide amazing opportunities for travel, sport, music etc.
Engineers- it’s up to you to find a solution to the challenge now!
Sweet Sweet Neurons
Our year 11 Psychology students have been trying to describe the structure and function of neurons in class this week.
Did you know
- There are 100 billion neurons in the human brain.
- The message in a neuron travels up to 200 metres per second.
- There are 3 types of neurons.
- On average, each neuron has approximately 7000 connections to other neurons.
- If we lined up all the neurons from a human body, the line would stretch to 600 miles.
Green comet C/2022 E3: How to view the rare, Stone Age visitor from deep space
On Feb. 1, a bright-green comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will make a close approach to Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Swooping within 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) of our planet, the comet will offer a rare night-sky spectacle last seen when modern humans shared our planet with Neanderthals.
Find out more here: https://www.livescience.com/green-comet-c2022-e3-how-to-watch
Attendance
We are still seeing a high level of absence due to illness and whilst we appreciate that this may be as a result of more seasonal infections, we would like your support to enable students to manage their symptoms by using paracetamol (which can be carried in their bag) and other over the counter medicines. It is well known that symptoms are worse first thing in the morning and in the evening, so please encourage your student to attend if they are well enough.
If students are suffering from a fever or are acutely unwell then they should remain at home but please do send them in once they are in the recovery phase.
Your student’s Head of Year, tutor or I will be in touch with you about frequent absence due to illness. A referral to the School Health Nurse may be considered. Thank you for your support - Paula Ramsbottom, Attendance Officer
This time of year we see an increase in coughs and colds. Please remind students of the ‘Catch it. Bin it. Kill it’ motto so that we can help protect everyone. As a school we are still providing hand sanitiser and encouraging students to use it.
Industrial Action
You should have all received communications about the industrial action taking place on Wednesday 1st February. Student attendance figures will not be affected by this day and directed resources and further information will be provided early next week. We thank you for your understanding over these National events.
Applications for September 2023
We have sent our first round of offers out to all of our year 10 applications and have invited our year 12 applicants to an admission meeting so that we can discuss course choices in further detail before sending out personalised offers.
There is still time to apply for either year group, please visit our website to complete the form: https://www.utcoxfordshire.org.uk/join-us/
Word of mouth is a very powerful tool so if you know anyone who might be interested in joining UTC Oxfordshire in September 2023, please let them know that we have our final open event of the academic year on Wednesday 8th February 2023. Visitors can register for their place here: https://www.utcoxfordshire.org.uk/events/
Careers Advice - Drop in Lunch time sessions
Is your student stuck or not sure what to do next? We are running drop in sessions on a Monday and Thursday lunch time in FT37 for some careers support.
Areas we can cover include:
- Completing Applications
- CV writing
- Interview tips
- Work Experience
- Apprentices
- YourGamePlan
- What to do next
- What do I need to get in my GCSE's - Post 16 plan
Please do encourage your students to drop in.
Extra-Curricular Opportunities
Tue 7 Feb 2023 | 16:30-19:30
UKAEA Apprenticeship Scheme Annual Open Evening
UKAEA Apprenticeship Scheme Open Evening - February 2023 Tickets, Tue 7 Feb 2023 at 16:30 | Eventbrite
Wed 8 Feb 2023 | 17:00-20:00
Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Open Evening, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rutherford-appleton-laboratory-apprenticeship-open-evening-2023-tickets-482430662097
Wed 8 Feb 2023 | 18:00 – 20:00
Apprenticeship Careers Open Evening, Navtech Radar (Production Facility). https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apprenticeship-careers-open-evening-navtech-radar-grove-oxfordshire-tickets-511497401497
Thurs 9 Feb 2023 | 17:30-20:15
‘Get into Apprenticeships’ and evening for students and parents to gather information about the apprenticeships available to school leavers.
https://mcusercontent.com/1cc6e1401c1fd3731e573806c/images/ea19ce4b-097a-e0bd-b894-b290cad15af8.png
Thurs 9 Feb 2023 | 17:00
OAS Apprenticeship Open Evening, OAS Training Centre
https://www.oas.ukaea.uk/apprenticeships/events-and-open-evenings/apprenticeship-open-evening-february-2023/
Apprenticeship & Work Experience Opportunities: https://pathwayctm.com/opportunity/
Virtual TEM Session: Looking inside cells using electrons – Wednesday 1 February 2023
Oxford Brookes will be running a virtual transmission electron microscopy (TEM) session on Wednesday 1st February, 4pm-5pm. This session is most suitable for GCSE and A level biology students. During this FREE session you will be taken through how to process biological samples for viewing on TEM, the science behind how TEM works, as well as live microscopy with an expert.
Register at: https://brookes.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_w0zVUJD-Tbe9XYnxIbjmbA
Springpod Virtual Work Experience Programmes 2023
Science Oxford - STEM Insight Week – Half Term
The application deadline for Science Oxford’s STEM Insight week is quickly coming up on the 27th of January. The aim of the week is to expose Year 10 and 11 Students to the world of STEM Careers, with different visits from companies and organisations in and around Oxfordshire. Students will hear from a range of employees from a whole host of organisations across the spectrum of STEM.
The week runs in the February half term 13th-17th Feb, Monday to Friday 9am-4pm.
Visit https://scienceoxford.com/schools/secondary-schools/insight-weeks/ to download an application and get some more info.
Update from the School Health Nurse Team
Please follow this link for the term 3 Secondary School Health Team Newsletter – January 2023
Elements Café
Dates for the diary
- Wednesday 1st February – Industrial Action, please see the separate communication sent on 26th January.
- 13 February – 17 February 2023 - Half Term
- Wednesday 1st March – Year 12 Progress Consultation Evening
- Wednesday 8th March – Year 10 Progress Consultation Evening
- Wednesday 22nd March – Year 13 Progress Consultation Evening
- Wednesday 29th March – Year 11 Progress Consultation Evening
- Monday 8th May 2023 has been confirmed as a Bank Holiday in celebration of the coronation of King Charles
- Monday 15th May up to and including Wednesday 28th June 2023 - Year 11 and Year 13 Exam Period
Term dates for 2022 to 2023
- Spring Term 1: Thursday 5 January 2023 – Friday 10 February 2023
- Spring Term 2: Monday 20 February 2023 – Friday 31 March 2023
- Summer Term 1: Wednesday 19 April 2023 – Friday 26 May 2023
- Summer Term 2: Monday 5 June 2023 – Friday 21 July 2023
Further details can be found on our website: https://www.utcoxfordshire.org.uk/term-dates/
Stay safe
Best wishes
Emma