‘Soul of a Nation’ shines a bright light on the vital contribution of black artists to a dramatic period in American art and history. On 19th October 2017, a group of Year 8 students went to visit this exhibition at the Tate Modern.
As part of the HET national initiative, every Sixth Form can send two students and one teacher to visit the concentration and death camps in Poland. This trip took place on 7th November 2017 and the purpose of the trip was to start to unravel the complex nature of anti-Semitism in Europe throughout history and how the Holocaust was not the start of such genocidal activity, but rather a culmination of centuries of maltreatment. Fundamentally, it was to remember the victims and to retell their personal stories – to see the personal nature of the Holocaust, rather than focussing on the shocking statistics. It is only when we can put names and faces to this tragedy that we can begin to humanise it.
Key Year 11 information
Thank you to those parents who we're able to attend the year 11 engagement evening. The presentation from the evening is now available for guidance for all year 11 parents.
On 11th October, six students from Year 12 were invited to Brunel University to take part in ‘The Trouble with Science is Ethics’ workshop. The workshop started with the students having to make their minds up over some of the biggest ethical questions in science, which included discussions through role play, a continuum game and presentations.
On 27th September, two students from Year 12 and 13 attended a Visual Effects Industry Day at Westminster Kingsway College.
This ‘making business work’ workshop gave the students an insight into business services and support roles – the kind of jobs that are vital to making any business successful, regardless of the sector the business works in. This included departments such as HR, IT support, finance and accounting, business development and marketing.
The geography department organised a reward trip to develop understanding and curiosity about the relationship between humans and the ocean. This was to reward students for their great work in geography. The Film Festival showed the best seven documentaries that were from 5 minutes to 48 minutes long. The students were able to enter competitions and get free snacks during the viewing. The students enjoyed their experience and had very positive comments on their favourite documentary. The next reward trip will be the Banff Film Festival in March 2018.
Year 11 were lucky enough to see an incredible performance of Jane Eyre in the National Theatre on Tuesday 3rd October 2017. The set was stripped back to just platforms and ladders and an ensemble of excellent actors told the story of Charlotte Bronte’s classic heroine. The students were blown away by the talent of the actors, who all played multiple roles and by the musicians that were on stage throughout the production, adding to the atmosphere and storytelling.
RSC NEXT GENERATION ACT
A student from Uxbridge High School has been chosen to become part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) first ever young acting company – RSC Next Generation ACT.
Joshua John from Uxbridge will join 19 other young people who all demonstrated exceptional talent, focus, commitment and passion, when they took part in a series of masterclasses that took place across the country earlier this year.
Sports Camp took place at the end of the summer holidays, offering selected students the chance to try out some new sports and enjoy a group trip to tenpin bowling.
We were delighted to welcome GB athlete Montell Douglas to UHS on Thursday 21st September. Montell came into school as part of the Youth Sport Trust’s Athlete Mentor programme, a visit we’d been lucky enough to win on the back of our successful School Sports Week last year. The aim of these visits in to engage and inspire the next generation and Montell certainly did just that! From discussing her time as a 100m sprinter in the Beijing Olympics and as a gold medal winner in the 4x100m relay at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, to her current role as a ‘brakeman’ for the GB women’s bobsleigh team.