HT BLOG Prize Day, Blast from the Past and Wise Up

Our newly introduced Prize Day seemed to go down well at the end of last half term and I’ve received a good number of e-mails, letters and texts on this event. ‘Denzil’, from BBC’s Waterloo Road went down a storm with students from Years 7 to 13 and so impressed was he that one of our older students was even invited to his 18th birthday party in Manchester last Tuesday. Sir James Cropper was also a big hit with students and having two very different but equally significant guests was a real pleasure.   Well done to all the students for making this such a success, to the prize winners for their achievements and to staff, especially those who helped organise the event, the wonderful performers and the Heads of Year for their citations.   Blast from the Past Years 10 and 11 BTEC Dance students presented ‘Blast From the Past’ on Wednesday evening and what a splendid and professional performance it was. With jazz, contemporary, disco and ballet styles of dance on show, and students performing at such high level, the evening was a great success and whetted our appetites for even more from Miss Dixon’s dance department in the future.   Wise Up Mr McWilliams has introduced a new approach to encourage good attendance at UCC. At 93%, our attendance rate is broadly average but 90% is equivalent to one day off school for every student every fortnight, which can’t be seen as anything but inadequate. With points, prizes and a very clear poster campaign, Mr Mc Williams has really generated a great deal of enthusiasm across UCC on this issue.