UTC Oxfordshire
Newsletter - 16th September 2022
Dear all,
We’ve had a great first week back and everyone is settling back into school life. We are focussing on professionalism as we start the term, ensuring students are appropriately dressed and ‘boardroom ready’. As well as tightening up on behaviours and ensuring their attitudes and actions are appropriate for the workplace. Please help us by ensuring students are in school on time, suitably dressed and ready to learn.
School Closure – Monday 19th September
Following the announcement that there will be a Bank Holiday for Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral, UTC Oxfordshire will be closed on Monday 19th September.
UTC Sports Day
We’re pleased to confirm that we have rescheduled the UTC Oxfordshire vs UTC Swindon Sports Day at the Foundation Park, County Ground in Swindon on Friday 23rd September. Our student leadership teams have chosen to use the event to fundraise and support the British Heart Foundation. If you would also like to show your support by donating to the British Heart Foundation than please follow the link below, all donations would be greatly apricated. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/UTC-OxfordshireSwindon
Chessington World of Adventures
Empowered Females in STEM Programme – 6th Form Students Only
We have been given the opportunity for our 6th form female and non binary students to join the Upskill Me’s Empowered Females in STEM Programme. The programme aims to:
- Prepare young females’ employability skills for the start of their STEM careers.
- Enable young females to network with global STEM employers in-person and online.
- Raise the self-efficacy of young females in STEM.
- Empower young females to be valued members and bold leaders of the STEM community.
The programme is sponsored by global STEM companies, including Pfizer, Facebook, Google, BP, Dyson, Salesforce, L’Oréal, Citrix, Colt, GE and UCB.
The Upskill Me STEM Scholars will attend masterclasses and receive group mentorship from diverse and relatable women in STEM. They will also carry out a Dyson Project Based Learning challenge, providing them with an opportunity to solve a real-world STEM problem.
The six-month programme is free of charge and launches in October 2022 at the Amazon headquarters.
Applications are now open and the deadline for your students to apply is Friday 23rd September. Please scan the QR code for the application form.
LEGO RE:CODE
We hosted members of the Institute of Imagination, Raising Robots and ARC Harwell for the introduction to the RE:CODE programme. Year 13 Engineering students got their first hands on experience of the LEGO Spike kits and used Scratch to code movement, sound and lighting into their builds. Tasked with building an accessible Eco Home our students enjoyed the mixture of play and learning which they will need to facilitate when they mentor our visiting Year 5 students at the end of September. The students will be leading the workshops for the primary school visits, supported by members of staff from the Institute of Imagination, Raising Robots and LEGO volunteers who will all be in attendance.
Other Opportunities
STEM Insight Week 24th-28th October half term 2022
STEM Insight Weeks aim to inspire year 10 students to pursue further education and STEM careers. Each week is a busy schedule of interactive skills-based workshops and visits to local STEM employers and facilities. More details can be found here: https://scienceoxford.com/schools/secondary-schools/insight-weeks/
Free hybrid lectures
ASTRONOMY
Cosmic Conclusions by Katherine Blundell looks at the end of our sun, stars, & Universe. gres.hm/cosmic-conclusions
BIOLOGY
All The World’s A Microbe by Robin May, learn more about how microbes interact with us and our environment, making us human, helping bread rise, and building the Great Barrier Reef. gres.hm/microbes
ENGINEERING/ WREN
Engineering the Modern World: how engineers are creating our modern world, from Telford to tall buildings today, Wren 300: Sir Christopher Wren is probably the most famous Gresham Professor in history: a polymath, architect, mathematician, astronomer, anatomist and courtier. gres.hm/engineering-world gres.hm/wren-300
MATHEMATICS
Maths and Money by Sarah Hart will explore how you can find out if you've been cheated by a goldsmith or use game theory in buying, selling and competitions? What is the probability that you could win the lottery? And Unexpected Mathematical Lives looks at the mathematical achievements of Sir Christopher Wren, Florence Nightingale and Alan Turing. gres.hm/money-maths gres.hm/mathematical-lives
MEDICINE
Three lectures on Diseases of the Heart by Chris Whitty; A Cultural History of Disease by acclaimed cultural historian Joanna Bourke covering TB, Sickle Cell and more, Environmental Health by Ian Mudway which will look at the changing ways we have understood the impact of the environment on us and on our health using the new idea of the 'Exposome’; Living With Mental Health will look at how people can live well with mental health conditions, and whether anxiety is growing in children. gres.hm/diseases-heart gres.hm/cultural-disease gres.hm/environmental-health gres.hm/mental-health-series
Oracy Competition for Year 12
Gresham College is launching a Competition for Year 12 students in September 2022, to promote the art of communicating complex information in a clear, concise and compelling way. This will
- support the development of oracy skills;
- help students with UCAS applications and job interviews;
- promote a deeper understanding of the environment;
- introduce students to the inspiring research of world-class academics.
This year the competition is focussed on the environment / sustainability in a five-minute, recorded presentation. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to present again in person in London, and there will be three awards (including prizes for student and the school).– gres.hm/competition
Elements Café
Than you!
Thank you to City Sightseeing Oxford for donating plug in headphones for our students to access Reading plus and digital technologies
Dates for the diary
- Friday 23rd September - UTC Oxfordshire vs UTC Swindon Sports Day
- Wednesday 28th September - Year 10 Open event
- Wednesday 9th November– 6th Form open Event and Careers Fair
- Wednesday 5th October – Year 13 Parent Consultation Evening
- Wednesday 12th October – Year 12 Parent Consultation Evening
- Wednesday 19th October – Year 10 Parent Consultation Evening
- Thursday 20 October– Friday 28 October – Half Term
- Wednesday 2nd November – Year 11 Parent Consultation Evening
Term dates for 2022 to 2023
- Autumn Term 1: Friday 2 September 2022 (years 10 and 12 only) to Wednesday 19 October 2022. Whole school in attendance from Monday 5 September 2022
- Autumn Term 2: Monday 31 October 2022 – Friday 16 December 2022
- 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/
Have a good long weekend
Stay safe
Best wishes
Emma