Scarborough UTC News Flash Friday 26th February 2021

Scarborough UTC News Flash
                                Friday 26th February 2021
                                         INTRODUCTION

Dear Parent/Carer

It has been a busy week in terms of government announcements and it is really positive news
that we seem to be moving towards a position where we can begin to return to something
like normal over the next months.

I am obviously delighted that we can invite students back to college, in a phased manner due
to the need to carry out COVID testing, from Monday 8th March 2021. Our decision to
continue with students’ normal timetables and teachers and teaching groups during the
period of remote learning will mean that the transition back to lessons in classrooms and
workshops will be straightforward and will help to ensure students continue to make good
progress. We want to avoid the use of the term ‘catch up’ that has been used extensively
across the media and which puts a lot of pressure on children and instead concentrate on
where the children are right now and build from there.

Clearly COVID has not gone away and therefore we will be operating the same health and
safety protocols used during the autumn term including year group bubbles and zones,
separate entrances and exits from college, regular handwashing and sanitizing and adhering
to the usual social distancing protocols. In addition, all staff and students are expected to
wear face coverings on our transport, in communal spaces and in the classroom (currently
guidance states that this will continue until Easter). It is really important that we all adhere
to these protocols to minimize the risk to all and to ensure lessons and learning are able to
continue without interruption. Normal full business dress is expected from all students.

In the government’s return to school guidance student attendance at school is now
mandatory and therefore 100% attendance should be the aim for all students through the
three weeks until the Easter holiday. We will be working closely with all families towards this
aim.

We have also received the statement this week from the Secretary of State for Education on
this summer’s grades for year 11 and 13. Here is an extract from that statement which I think
should reassure parents and students about the process moving forward in determining
grades:

‘Students will receive grades awarded and determined by teachers, with pupils only assessed
on what they have been taught, the Education Secretary announced today (Thursday, 25
February).

Fairness and flexibility are at the heart of the Government’s plans to ensure young people get
to their next stage of education or training.

Teachers will be able to draw on a range of evidence when determining grades, including the
optional use of questions provided by exam boards, as well as mock exams, coursework, or

other work completed as part of a pupil’s course, such as essays or in-class tests. No algorithm
will be used.

Teachers will submit grades to exam boards by 18 June, allowing as much teaching time as
possible before teachers make their assessments.’

This statement was only released yesterday and we are still to get detailed guidance on the
process however I want to reassure you that we will be working hard to pull together the
detail of our approach to this alongside the guidance from exam boards when this becomes
available. We will of course communicate this detail at the earliest possible opportunity. In
the week commencing 8th March I will lead assemblies for year 11 and 13 explaining what we
know so far to our students to reassure them.

My final message this week for year 11 and 13 is that they won’t be assessed on how they
perform in one day. They will be assessed on what they know/can do by the end of the course.
Every day and every lesson therefore will count more than ever during March, April and May.

https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/25/what-you-need-to-know-about-grades-in-2021/

Thank you for your support.

Mr Kilgour
Principal
                                           T&L@SUTC

Before the half term break students were asked to complete a survey reflecting on their
remote learning experience to date. Student voice is an essential way for the teaching team
to ensure that our teaching and learning pedagogy, and in this case remote learning, meets
the needs of our students. This allows for ongoing adaptation to be made to our strategies
and processes following a diagnostic review of outcomes. Outcomes from the survey were
positive indicating that the students that took part, overall, found tasks accessible, the work
set challenging and that, in the majority of subjects, they felt that they were learning and
making good progress. Students overwhelmingly appreciate the fact that we are providing
live lessons in all subjects each week, a strategy that many institutions are not offering.
Students feel that they are receiving enough feedback from teachers on the work set and,
overall, they feel supported by their teachers. The survey outcomes are testament to the hard
work that the Scarborough UTC staff team continue to put into remote learning, and to the
resilience of our students during this difficult time.

                                     TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE

News from System Control this week: I hope you all enjoyed some sort of break with routines
last week; for me it was to reduce my screen time a little.

In year 10 we have begun a new half term with a fresh perspective in Systems, making use of
some recording equipment in the UTC to set up some practical work and offer some 'walk-
thru' guides on new topics especially - which I hope will enable students to go back over any
aspects of a topic that they are unsure of. The first set of films covered using 555 timers, and
where we discussed the theory of how they work during February, the quiz attached to the

work this week has some footage attached. The benefit for this which is immediately
apparent, is that anyone (for whatever reason) who has missed the "live, online" lesson will
still be able to access the task, learning resources, and be able to watch the footage to support
learning at their own pace. Initial feedback from students is positive on this, however I will
reserve judgement until I see the data on assignment scores and how many unique views the
films get before saying it's a complete success.

In Year 11, we are seeing strong Professional Values and Employability skills shown by a
dedicated cohort of learners. Managing to attend online lessons regularly, engaging in
feedback dialogue and making progress - please continue to encourage your child to use their
online time to read through feedback, and keep in touch with their progress in Systems
Control engineering. If your child has been struggling with personal organisation & motivation
- we are looking forward to welcoming everyone back - with an advance mention of our
engineering support available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in college.

With Year 12 and Year 13 Electrical pathway students this week, I was pleased to hear that
one of our students has been having a range of online interviews - looking to a possible career
in Submarine Systems Control, starting salary £33K, as well as a range of degree level
apprenticeship opportunities - I am reminded that life continues on - and so must we! We
started the half term with a review of our progress in, for example Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, and Electrical Operations - so that students have a clear idea of progress made
and areas still to cover. We continue to make strong progress at KS5, with one improvement
point - ensure work is handed in on time, so it can be marked before the next lesson to enable
better planning - especially with some of the Merit pre-assessment work we have been doing.

                                       ENGLISH LITERATURE

This week has marked the global bicentenary celebration of the late Romantic poet John
Keats.

Events have taken place all over the world every day this week and of course here at the SUTC,
we do not miss opportunities to get directly involved in such cultural events!

John Keats is a poet we study at GCSE, and all of Y10 and Y11 have really enjoyed learning
about his legacy and exploring his poem To Autumn, which is readily voted as a National
favourite poem of all time!

So, how did we get involved?

Well, students have had the opportunity of hearing from scholar Rob Shakespeare from the
Keats Museum in London who is an expert in Keats' life and poetry. We even got a 'shout-out'
from him https://youtu.be/rkByt5bW4zw: he was delighted that a school was so interested.

Now, I am aware that we specialise in STEM here at the SUTC, but as ever English remains at
the heart of everything! So extremely exciting and innovative project was undertaken by
world physicists to recreate a and accurate CGI of John Keats himself and recreating his actual
voice! This was achieved by using his life and death masks that were then inputted using CAD-
a system our students use every day here! They used science to recreate his larynx to replicate
the tones of his voice, followed by historical facts about accent and dialect at the time of his
writing in 1816.

Our students got a huge shout out from the Digital Archaeology Society, and physicists during
the live reveal on Tuesday 23rd of February at 6 pm. The physicists loved the fact that
although our students are primarily engineers, they are also lovers of poetry-in particular John
Keats. They found it inspiring that we were shaping a new generation where science and
literature work together. It is so wonderful to engage with global specialists and have our
humble work here at the SUTC recognised! Well done, everyone!

To enrich students further, your child has had the opportunity to take an immersive tour with
Bob Geldof through the house where Keats spent his last days in Rome; a BBC Radio
documentary discussing the "great white plague" of Consumption/Tuberculosis that haunted
Keats and much of society in the 18th and 19th century and the relevance of this suffering
today with our own experiences of Covid 19.

Students have also had the opportunity of listening to the exclusive BBC Radio 4 drama "Writ
in Water" written to mark the bicentenary and follows the last weeks of Keats' life.

I am so impressed with the empathetic responses our students have demonstrated in their
enriching study of John Keats.

                                ASSESSMENT AND CURRICULUM

Pastoral and Attainment

Week commencing 1st March 2021 is Week B

Students attending college for interventions have been issued with C19 testing consent forms,
these should be brought on the day of attendance to ensure guidance is followed.

Curriculum and Assessment

Y11 and 13 Reminder

Thank you for the positive feedback from parents and students in relation to remote learning
provision. Assessment information is updated and published on MCAS for review.

Teaching Staff will use the evidence of good quality work to ensure that student’s attainment
is tracked and moderated throughout this period of remote learning.

College will follow the existing assessment schedules for students. We shall update on
OFQUAL guidance on examinations and assessment as soon as it is fully released. Parents and
students will receive guidance on assessment, expectations and the timeline for the process.
The crucial element for all students is that attendance in college is excellent from March 8th
2021 - as every lesson counts when assessing the evidence for final subject grades and to
progress and attain the very best outcomes.

Current student attainment data which was completed in December 2020 is on the MCAS
parent portal.

W/C 1st February- Y11 and 13 assessment and moderation cycle starts.

Students will continue to complete remote learning, staff will continue to set formative
assessment activities and moderate the work.

Students must continue to complete the remote work that is set to their best and respond to
feedback. All work is checked for plagiarism.

11/03/2021- Progress Evening for Year 11 and 13. (Currently scheduled as phone calls)

W/C 22nd March – Y11 and 12 Full Reports

W/C 1st March – Y10 and 12 assessment and moderation cycle starts.

06/05/2021- Y10 and 12 Full Reports

Teaching staff will continue to post live lesson updates via google classroom to inform when
the live lessons will take place to ensure each student has the correct information for each
subject.

Students can only access the lessons using their Scarborough UTC email account. The google
class code for class membership only and this should not be shared.

Security, conduct and privacy settings are vital to safeguard the integrity of on-line activities
and live lessons.

This notification is only designed to allow you to identify issues at home. Registers are
completed at the end of lessons so if there is a technical issue getting onto the class and
attendance is late this can be managed. If you receive a message it is a reminder that there
may be an issue, we can then aim to support and help.

Any further concerns please contact enquiries@scarboroughutc and Mrs. Ellis for Pastoral
concerns in KS4.

A timetable reminder for live lessons.

Students will continue to follow their usual timetable, some of the lesson are live, some are
recorded and in some, work is set with a deadline. To use the time table schedule issued to
identify live lessons:

Attendance at live lessons is marked by the teacher and attendance information feeds into
messaging and notifications. We understand that in some circumstances you may receive a
message and that there are several reasons for this.

If there are issues, students can email their teacher via google classroom. For Example:” I am
going to be late on class today due to technical issues”.

The messaging service only picks up N for a recorded non- attendance in a live lesson where
the teacher has completed the register. If a live lesson is added or changed the system
identifies this.

This attendance monitoring is in place to identify session attendance, identify potential
support and does not affect overall attendance.

                                          SIXTH FORM

We are delighted with our new sixth form pages on the Scarborough UTC website. Thanks to
all of our students who have contributed their voices to our profiles and films. Thank you also
to Mr. Bonnet for all of his technological magic in creating this. We now have live taster
sessions for those who are interested in the different options that we run in the sixth form.

Congratulations to Poppy who has a place to study nursing in Liverpool and to Calista who has
a Royal Navy apprenticeship.

                                            CAREERS

You can find out more about Games Careers Week at gamescareersweek.org.

Scarborough Job Fair – Virtual Event 10th March

Work Experience

Would your child like a work experience in engineering or design? If so apply here by March
12th 2021. There is a great opportunity to work with a national company and complete work
experience in April 2021. Springpod – host work experiences virtually throughout the year –
student apply individually. There is an engineering one on the 6th – 16th April 2021. This is
suited to Year 10 -13’s.

https://www.springpod.co.uk/engineering-work-experience/

Technology work experience:

https://www.springpod.co.uk/technology-work-experience/

Grofar – All students have accounts on our excellent careers platform and should be using
this to create CV’s and access job information. Students should use their email addresses to
logon to this platform.

Careers Interviews took places this week for students.

Next week is National Careers Week.

ETHOS AND CAREERS

The theme this week is sexism. Mr. Connell led assemblies. Our world still suffers from
inequality due to gender and students have explored the thoughts of journalist Caitlin Moran,
a TED talk on gender and clothing designs and discussed ways of addressing these issues.

Students of the week

Year 10: Romeo Robson-Stern

Year 11: Illan McGuiness

                                     DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Easter holiday:                          Monday 29th March 2021 to Friday 9th April 2021

Professional      development   training Monday 12th April 2021
day:

First day of summer term for students: Tuesday 13th April 2021

Bank holiday:                            Monday 3rd May 2021

Summer Half term:                        Monday 31st May 2021 to Friday 4th June 2021

Term ends:                               Friday 23rd July 2021