UPLANDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

UPLANDS NEWSLETTER – FEB 2012

Education and Standards
We were delighted to receive a summary report recently from the Department for Education, about how the College is performing.  It shows that, despite having a broadly similar profile of prior attainment to other schools nationally, students at Uplands make much better progress especially in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science.  The Coalition Government Education Bill has received Royal Assent and, following on from the Academies Bill 2010, provides the legal framework for key education reforms.  We expect many further changes and we are carefully considering the College position with regard to Academy status; a key point being whether there is any advantage for the education of our students.  One very sad change is the announcement by Jayne Edmonds of her resignation as Principal at the end of the Summer Term.  In her eight years as headteacher Jayne has done so much to develop the school and we will be very sorry to see her go.  Governors are actively seeking her replacement.
The Sciences
It has been a busy start to the year in Science.  We were all delighted that the students did so well in science at the end of last year with our best GCSE results ever and a large number of students going on to study Sciences at AS level.  Many of our Year 13 students have now left College and are continuing to study Sciences at University.  We have a further group of students following the separate science courses this year choosing to study all three; Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  The applied science students have had talks from a midwife and a neo-natal nurse about their work and how their work interlinks.  The students have also been measuring the yield of salts, the flexibility of different materials and using blood pressure monitors.  They will shortly be solving a forensics problem by analysing different fibres.
In November astronomy students and members of the Wadhurst Astronomical Society got together on the school field on a really clear moonless evening to look at the moons of Jupiter, the Andromeda nebula, over 2 million light years away, and the Milky Way, which many had never seen before because of light pollution.
English and Drama
Also in November students in year 8 took part in The Palmer Trophy.  Every student researched and prepared a speech on the topic ‘Who or What Inspires Me’ then performed their speech to their drama classes with the best two in each being  selected for the grand final.  This was a nerve-racking evening of performances by the 11 finalists in front of a panel of judges and an audience of equally anxious parents.
Recently seven year 9 students from the gifted and talented English group travelled up to the British Film Institute in London for an awards ceremony for a national competition. They had written poems responding to the films of Ken Loach.  After a series of inspiring workshops on topics including film reviews, animation, and script writing, they returned to the main hall where the results were waiting. After an introduction they announced the runners up. It was a little disappointing not to hear any of our names but then they announced the winner, Georgie Hart, from Uplands.  Congratulations George!
Presentation Afternoon
At our annual Presentation Ceremony, awards and certificates were presented by guest of honour and local artist, Dani Humberstone, who gave an inspirational speech on the journey of her own art work – from early ideas to the finished piece.  She asked students to remember that the secret to success is ‘To find something you are good at, work at being brilliant at it and never let it go.’
Sixth Form Funding Raising
Charity work is something that the Sixth Form students find very important, taking every opportunity to raise money for a selection of charities.  So far this year a Macmillan coffee morning raised £206.48 and students, who amongst other things gathered at 6am at Wadhurst station in fancy dress, raised an amazing £800 for Children in Need.
‘Field of Poppies’ at Uplands 
On Remembrance Day, the 11th of November, Uplands College reception area was transformed into a breathtaking ‘Field of Poppies’.  This was an idea from students, who organised a mass ‘paint in’ to create the poppies, many with moving war quotations or messages remembering relatives or people they know currently fighting in wars today.  Many of these touched the hearts of the visitors who saw the field.
Car parking
You may have read recently in the Courier that Uplands may “create a village car park on its own grounds.”  Not for the first time, the Courier has got the story somewhat wrong.  The facts are that Uplands is in conversation with the Parish Council and would very much like to help to reduce the village parking problems.  We are looking at ways in which we might create more parking within the campus, to create more spaces for Uplands users and so relieve pressure on the village park.  There are a number of conflicts, not least the problem of mixing students and motor vehicles safely, but we are costing the possibilities.  Once we have the figures, we will be discussing with the parish council whether there may be ways of raising the necessary funds independently of the education budget..