UTC Oxfordshire
Newsletter - 10th September 2021
Dear all,
Welcome to all of our new year 10 and year 12 students! It's been fabulous to have the students back in the building for all year groups and with no face coverings it feels a little strange.
The majority of students are looking business like and smart. To clarify a jacket/blazer is required for all, a non-sports jumper (knitted type) is allowed under a jacket if cold but not instead of.
We have so much to celebrate including some great results in the summer for our leaving year 11's and 13's. I am very proud of the staff and students and the rigour that was applied to ensure that the Teacher Assessed grades were fair and evidence based. The students worked extremely hard to obtain their results and this has definitely paid off.
Results 2021
Sixth form Year 13
- In A levels 62% A*-A, 80% A*-B, 92% A*-C and 100% A-E
- In Engineering 65% D*D*D* to DDD, and 100% D*D*D* to MMM
- In Business 83% D*D* to DD, and 100% D*D* to DM
Year 13 destinations included top Russel Group Universities, Cambridge, University Exeter, University Reading, for subjects such as Mechanical Engineering, Physical Sciences, Accounting & Finance, Robotics and Mechatronics. These, alongside the apprenticeships to Mercedes F1, STFC, and AWE in Reading are testament to our working partnerships with employers.
Level 2 year 11
- 4+ English and Maths 79%
- 5+ English and Maths 50%
- 5+ English 62%
- 5+ Mathematics 69%
There were 19 grade 9’s, 35 grade 8’s and 86 grade 7’s across this year 11 cohort with positive progress against targets in our specialist subjects of Science and Engineering, supported by the positive progress in both Mathematics, Computer Science, Business and English. With 294 qualifications achieved, of which 194 (66%) were on or above the student target grades across all subjects
47% of students are staying onto our sixth form which is an increase on last year (43%).
Some Students are following apprenticeships to UKAEA, TXM Plant Newbury, ACE, PMS Oxford & STFC Engineering. The remainder are going to Further Education colleges in the local area.
Staffing
Due to both expansion and retirement of some staff we welcome the following to our UTC family;
- Emma Rynolds as Vice Principal
- Lucy Ryan - Assistant Principal Head of Sixth
- Kevin Brinkley - Science (Biology)
- Emily Brown - English
- Paisley Ireland - Health and Fitness
- James Broom - Science (Biology)
- Gavin Wilde - Engineering
- Exams Officer - Sarah Loveland
We have had some promotion of staff and I am pleased to congratulate Tom Griffin who takes the roll of Head of Business and Georgina Phillips who is now our Head of Engineering. In the spirit of collaboration we welcome Martin Thomas from UTC Reading one day a week to take the position of Trust Engineering coordinator with his prime focus on raising the profile of UTC Oxfordshire's wonderful engineering and science facilities to enable exciting opportunities for our students. The first one of these was yesterday's trip to Santa pod
Covid updates
There has been a lot of speculation in the press about the role out of vaccines in schools and school protocols. Please be assured that we will communicate any intentions and request for permissions should this come to be. In the meantime, I am pleased to say that our amazing testing team have insured that all consenting students have received two Lateral flow tests on site and have been issued with testing kits. We ask that testing is carried out twice a week before attending school. Ideally this should be on a Monday and Thursday morning, but if logistics prevent this last thing at night on Sunday and Wednesday is acceptable. Please make sure that it has been at least 30 mins after any food or drink as this can affect the test.
Please ensure you record your results on both the government site: Report a Lateral Flow Test and on our school site: Covid Test Result Form
Last term we were part of the Covid Testing trial that helps to inform of the process below are the reports from the Scientific trial that allowed our sixth formers to stay on site despite being named as close contacts
Daily testing can keep pupils in school, study suggests - BBC News
Summer Challenge
In our last newsletter of the summer term we offered a summer challenge. For those of you who are new we will give you another week to find the answer.
Please scan the QR code below - Answer next week
Elements Café
Jen and the team have been working hard to produce some exciting menus below for next week
ParentPay
Electronic devices
All students should bring to UTCO a fully charged chrome book or laptop to lessons. If you do not yet have one then we have a partnership with Academia to supply these.
UTC Oxfordshire Academia Store
If you are having any difficulties, please contact your head of year in the first instance.
The week ahead
Base line testing for years 10 and 12 and some subjects in year 11 and 13 take place week beginning 13th September. These assessments will take place in class and are a measure of where students are up to so that teaching can be tailored to address the knowledge gaps.
Dates for the diary
From Oxford Physics
Research students exploring High Energy Physics
When: Tue 14 Sept, 20:00-22:00
Where: Online – Zoom Webinar
What: Every year PhD research students from the UK meet in a dedicated summer school. As part of this we are running an evening event with 5 short lectures and a Q&A session. You will learn about their research and can ask them questions about their career choices.
Audience: Age 14+ years
Booking: Free event. Registration is required for this event; please register here. Zoom details for the event will be sent to registered attendees after registration has closed.
More information: Visit https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/events/research-students-exploring-high-energy-physics
From Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Bookings are now open for our September Talking Science lecture: FRIDAY 24 SEPTEMBER, 19:00 - A glowing report: Microbes & Space Radiation (suitable for ages 15+) by Dr Jennifer Wadsworth, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Booking for this event will be via Eventbrite:
Term Dates 2021 - 2022
Autumn Term 1:
Friday 3rd September Year 10 and 12 only, Monday 6th September whole school until Friday 22nd October 2021
Half Term is 25th to 29th October 2021
Autumn Term 2:
Monday 1st November to Friday 17th December 2021
Christmas break is 20th December to 31st December 2021
Further information can be found our website here: www.utcoxfordshire.org.uk/term-dates/
We hope you have a restful weekend and enjoy the term ahead.
Stay safe
With good wishes
Sam