29th January 2014 Dear Parents/ Guardians On December 12th Nick ...

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            29th  January  2014       Dear  Parents/  Guardians     On  December  12th  Nick  Williams,  previously  the  Principal  of  the  Brit  School,  spent  a  day   at  Elstree  UTC  as  part  of  the  Department  for  Educations  monitoring  of  all  new  schools.   His  report  is  confidential  however  I  wanted  to  share  with  you  his  evaluation  of  where   we  are  at  against  the  Ofsted  criteria:     Progress  and  Attainment:   Rapid,  4  levels  of  progress  being  the  standard   expectation.     Teaching  and  learning:   At  least  good;  SLT  assessment  of  the  standards  is   accurate.     Behaviour  and  SMSC:   Outstanding;  Student  behaviour  in  lessons  and  around   the  building  throughout  the  day  was  impressive,  with   excellent  relationships  evident  between  students  and   with  staff.  This  positive  ethos  is  driven  by  the  very  visible   senior  leadership.  Students’  needs  are  well-­‐known  to   staff.     Leadership  &  Management:    Strong,  visible  and  accurate.         As  you  know  significant  issues  with  the  building  seriously  hampered  the  start  of  term,   in  spite  of  this  we  have  managed  to  create  a  special  and  unique  learning  environment   which  the  whole  UTC  community  can  be  proud  of.    As  we  move  towards  the  summer   term  there  is  a  relentless  focus  on  post  16  achievement.    Mr  Mitchell  will  be  writing   separately  to  inform  you  of  the  detail.     On  Friday  instead  of  an  industry  professional  talk  we  presented  year  12  work,  which   was  to  a  piece  of  A*  standard.    This  has  inspired  and  motivated  all  students  to  continue   to  peruse  professionalism  in  their  work.    We  are  beginning  to  put  this  work  on  the   website  for  you  to  see.     On  Wednesday  22nd  of  January  the  Israeli  Minister  for  Education  visited  us  at  the   request  of  Michel  Gove.    He  was  so  impressed  by  what  he  experienced  at  the  UTC  that   he  now  would  like  to  create  something  like  this  in  Israel!            

      Updates     1. Students  have  now  received  2  tracking  reports  on  their  progress  and  the  next   one  is  due  in  the  final  week  of  this  half  term  (February  14th).   2. Little  Shop  of  Horrors  is  to  be  held  on  the  12th  and  13th  of  February  at  Elstree   UTC.   3. The  Amy  Winehouse  project  is  starting  with  students  on  Thursday  30th  January.   4. Gas  was  installed  on  Monday  23rd  of  December  and  full  commissioning  of  the   systems  will  take  place  this  weekend.   5. 40%  of  year  12  students  have  been  on  industry  work  placements  and  20%  of   year  10  have  received  industry  training.   6. Four  students  went  to  Wembley  on  Monday  20th  of  January  to  complete  work   experience  in  Light  and  Sound.   7. Big  Brother  auditions  will  take  place  at  the  UTC  on  8th  and  9th  of  March.    Twenty   five  students  will  rig  on  the  7th  of  March  and  then  act  as  runners  for  the  actual   auditions  gaining  experience  in  all  aspects  of  that  work.   8. Meetings  have  taken  place  to  develop  the  design  project  with  Big  brother  and   later  this  term  students  will  begin  work  as  a  design  team  on  this.   9. By  the  end  of  this  academic  year  all  year  12  and  50%  of  year  10  will  have   experienced  industry  placements.   10. Following  the  success  of  the  Jordu  Schell  visit,  Tim  Gore  will  visit  to  complete  a   live  painting  demonstration  for  students  on  10th  February.   11. Our  next  training  day  will  be  Monday  24th  February.    This  will  be  in  training  in   real  Smart  and  subsequent  to  this  we  will  disseminate  to  students  and  parents.       If  you  have  any  questions  or  would  like  to  visit  the  UTC  to  observe  learning  in  progress   please  contact  my  PA  [email protected]  and  she  will  make  an  appointment   for  you  to  visit.    I  am  confident  that  like  Nick  Williams  you  will  be  inspired  by  the  quality   of  work  produced  by  students.     Yours  faithfully           Moira  Green   Principal