Dear UCC families,

We welcomed senior leaders from Maplewell Hall School in Leicestershire on Tuesday, to support us in our SEND Department Self Review. They spent time in lessons, observing how SEND students are supported, and they also spoke with parents and students about their experiences. They will write up a report for us soon, but the headlines are that they were very impressed. Verbal feedback they provided to me directly was:

• happy students who have seamlessly slotted into the UCC community
• high quality teaching observed 
• excellent support provided by Teaching Assistants
• both visitors said they would've loved their own children to attend this school

This was great feedback to receive, particularly the last point. There are certainly areas for us to work on; the whole point of bringing in external experts is to challenge, scrutinise and help us grow and develop. However, the developments we identify are building from a very strong base, which has been established throughout the past couple of years.

90 Year 11 students participated in interviews for a place at Harington School this week, and they did tremendously well. I received excellent feedback from the Headteacher, Mr Harrison, on how they conducted themselves, as well as some other interesting observations:

• It was a real privilege to spend time with your students who were universally articulate, enthusiastic and polite
• It was uncanny the number of them who have had siblings study at Harington previously and this is a healthy sign
• We noted just how strong relationships seemed between staff and students and the UCC community feel is often referenced fondly by our own students
• I was also blown away by the number of students who openly talked about a love of reading for pleasure – I can’t ever remember this from any school interviews before so whatever approach you have taken seems to be working.  

I have loved seeing our students continue to be involved in extra-curricular activities, fixtures and trips throughout this week. There has been a lot going on across many subjects and the best way to keep with everything is to follow the school social media accounts, which post updates on a daily basis.

Due to a number of external factors we are having to make some small price increases to our school food in the Dining Room. Students receive a superb service from our Catering Staff, who are a dedicated 'in-house' team (we have resisted the trend for schools to out-source this provision), and we want to ensure we are able to continue providing an excellent food offer and personalised service for our students. 

Finally, can I remind parents who have children in Year 9 that the deadline for submitting Option choices is Monday 21^st March. If you have not yet had this conversation with your child, please visit our website, which has all the information you need: https://www.uppinghamcollege.org.uk/page/?title=GCSE+Options&pid=72 

I hope you have a great weekend.

Take care
Mr B Solly