Ulverston Victoria High School

Ulverston Victoria High School
Headteacher Mr Denis Fay
Location Springfield Road
Ulverston
Cumbria
LA12 0EB
England
Coordinates: 54°11′18″N 3°05′40″W / 54.18842°N 3.09444°W / 54.18842; -3.09444
Local authority Cumbria
DfE URN 112385 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1289
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Colours Navy blue, yellow
Website www.ulverstonvictoria.cumbria.sch.uk

Ulverston Victoria High School (UVHS) is a secondary school and sixth form located in the town of Ulverston, Cumbria, Northern England.

Admissions

It is a comprehensive school and takes its students from the local area as well as some from Barrow-in-Furness, Grange-over-Sands and Coniston. The school has a successful Sixth Form drawing students from a large area.

History

Ulverston Victoria High School was formed by the 1969 amalgamation of the Victoria Secondary Modern located by Ford Park and Ulverston Grammar (1903) located on Springfield Road. After the amalgamation the former Victoria Secondary Modern site was known locally as "Lower School", and the Grammar School site as "Upper School". Up to the early 1990s the Lower School site was used primarily for pupils in senior years 1-3, the Upper School for years 4-5 and the 6th form college. In 1998 the Lower School site was closed and all pupils transferred to the Springfield Road site. UVHS employed its first female head teacher in 2000 after longstanding head Brian Dower stood down after 11 years of service, Melanie Saunders only lasted 3 years as head teacher before resigning due to health reasons in 2003. UVHS then employed its second female head when Karen Hanks took on the role, in 2008 the school went into special measures and Denis Fay was employed as acting head before the position was made permanent. We are an 11-18 school in the lovely Cumbrian market town of Ulverston surrounded by fells and beaches on the scenic Furness Peninsula. Our oversubscribed school is a very popular choice for parents who tell us that their children feel safe, make good progress in their learning and that the school is well led and managed. Students, teachers, parents and governors regularly express their pride in their school.

Quotes from school staff

Sport

The school's most notable sporting achievements include winning the BSOA Large Secondary School Orienteering crown for the last 15 years.[1] In 2006 the school took both 1st and 3rd place in the Large Secondary School category. The orienteering team have come back from the 2006 World Schools Orienteering Championship with 4th, 7th and 5th places for their three teams.[2] The School Orienteering team also has trips to Scandinavia, where the students get to compete in Sweden for five days. This event is one of the biggest orienteering events in the world, attracting in excess of 20,000 competitors.

The Music Department

The Music Department at UVHS has a national reputation both for the quality of curricular and extra-curricular provision. GCSE results are consistently amongst the best in the country and many music students have left Year 13 to either study at top universities (including Oxbridge) and conservatoires around in the UK and/or join the armed services’ band services - there are currently 7 former students in the Band Service of H. M. Royal Marines, a couple in the Army Corps of Music and one in the RAF Central Band. Indeed, UVHS Music is also represented in many schools around the country with former students working as Heads of Music Departments or music teachers. Several students are now professional sound engineers and producers or professional musicians, including the internationally renowned pianist, Anthony Hewitt. Outside the classroom there are 14 musical ensembles which rehearse weekly, including the choir, chamber choir, show choir, junior band, string orchestra, sax/flute/clarinet/brass/ percussion groups … to name but a few. However, the flagship groups are the Swing Band and the Wind Band. UVHS Swing Band has a reputation as being one of the finest school function bands in the UK – regularly qualifying for the national finals of Music for Youth and winning the national SSAT competition for function bands in 2013, headlining at the Liverpool Echo Arena. The band has recorded a CD with the Royal Marines and has also appeared live on Blue Peter as well as on Classic FM, Radio 2 and Radio Cumbria. The band performs countless engagements around the north-west - public, corporate, charity (helping to raise over £75k for various local and national groups to date) and private - and has also played at the launches of two Astute submarines at BAE Barrow as well as two keel-layings, all on national news. The Wind Band consists of between 90 and 100 players aged from 11-18 and has built an international reputation as one of the country’s leading state school ‘entertainments’ bands. The band regularly tours abroad (including Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and in 2016 will be performing 4 concerts in and around Salzburg. In 2014 they performed a live concert on Dutch TV and have also appeared live on Belgian and Spanish TV in the past as well as Czech and British radio.

The Music Department is led by Richard Butler - he has won several awards including Classic FM/Yamaha British Music Teacher of the Year, a Cumbria Golden Apple Award as teacher/lecturer of the year and a Heart Of Ulverston Award for his work both in the school and throughout the country. He has also received 2 special commendations from the National Teaching Awards and is demand throughout the country both as a secondary music consultant and as a lecturer and conference speaker.

The Maths Department

The maths department at UVHS is lively, creative and energetic. UVHS regularly compete in the UK Team Maths Challenge, and have reached the national finals in London & Manchester on many occasions. The Sixth form team have also qualified for the national finals, once! They also had a number of students qualify for the Pink Kangaroo round of the individual challenge (for the top 2000 students in the country) and one student qualify for the mathematical Olympiad, for the top 500 students in the country. The year 10 team have won their regional finals in Lancaster and went onto compete in the North West finals. In the last five years they have sent 2 students to Cambridge and very many to other top flight Universities to read maths. Their ALPS grades last year put them in the top 5% for A level Mathematics and top 9% for Further Mathematics A level. Their GCSE results in 2015 were the best the school have ever had with 81.2% A*C and 11% A* grades, over a quarter of year 11 achieved an A* or A grade at GCSE, 35% of year 13 achieved an A* at A level Mathematics, three quarters achieved an A or A*, 100% pass rate, 50% of the year 13 Further mathematicians achieved an A* in Further Maths. The year 8 team won the Faraday challenge region and travelled to the finals in London where they won again! They have travelled down to London again this October 2015 to be wined and dined by MPs in the Houses of Parliament.

Notable former pupils

Includes Ulverston Grammar School and Victoria Secondary Modern

References

  1. ↑ "British Schools Orienteering Association". Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  2. ↑ "ISF 2006 - TEAM COMPETITION - TOTAL RESULTS". 2006-04-27. Retrieved 2006-06-23.

External links

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