Bottisham news march 2015 proof

Inside this issue       

Creative Design Faculty Red Nose day War Detectives News from the Library Picture Quiz Sports news Plus lots more news & information

A message from the Principal As I write, the BBC are reporting on the ongoing huge disparity in education funding across the country, which is an enormous issue for all schools in Cambridgeshire.

Bottisham Village College Lode Road Bottisham Cambridgeshire CB25 9DL Tel: 01223 811250 Fax: 01223 813123 enquiries@bottishamvc.org

Analysis by the Association of School and College Leaders suggests the poorest-funded schools will receive £1.9m less than the best-funded in the next year, the equivalent in funding of 40 teachers less than in the highest funded schools. We continue to lobby politicians for a commitment to move rapidly to a fairer system, so that our students can receive the additional opportunities that they deserve.

Despite the funding challenges, we continue to offer a wonderful range of enrichment activities for our students and I hope you enjoying a taste of these in this newsletter.

As we come towards the end of the Spring term, our thoughts are very much with Year 11 as they finish preparations for their GCSE examinations. I am constantly amazed by the extraordinary steps that BVC staff go to in order to support all students in the year group to feel ready for these challenges. On behalf of all members of the college community, I would like to extend our best wishes to all year 11 students in the coming months.

Kate Evans

“This is an outstanding college, where a very strong ethos of community, high quality learning and aspirational academic achievement exists throughout.”

Dates for your diary Friday 27th March - Term Ends at 1.25pm Summer term 2015 Monday 13th April - Term starts Monday 4th May - May day Bank Holiday 25th - 29th May - Half term Monday 29th June - Year 6 intake day 1 Tuesday 30th June - Year 6 intake day 2 Monday 29th June - Friday 10th July - Yr 10 Work Experience Monday 6th - Friday 10th July—Activities Week Friday 17th July - Term ends at 1.25pm Autumn term 2015 Tuesday 1st September - Training Day Wednesday 2nd September - Year 7 only Thursday 3rd September - Start of term all years Thursday 1st October - Training day (open evening) 26th October – 30th October - Half term Monday 30th November - Training day Wednesday 16th December - End of autumn term

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War detectives The local charity Red2Green have received Lottery funding to bring World War 2 to life for 250 local people. These participants include 30 students from Bottisham Village College.

There are six elements to the project including visits to Duxford Imperial War Museum, Bletchley Park Museum and Community Learning days. These five days involve everyone coming together at Red2Green to learn about the war in depth, with a day each focussing on Fashion, Codes, Rations, Spies and Secrets and Swaffham Bulbeck’s war. An account of one of these days, by Mrs Gallagher, is below.

The photos show some of our students taking part in another aspect of the project - ‘Creating a permanent record and a legacy.‘ With the help of specialist media companies, students recorded local people talking about their experiences of the war. They later edited the films and these will be shown at a whole community commemoration event later in the year. This will also include the sharing of the whole project’s learning and the burial of a time capsule.

On Tuesday 10th, myself and three students experienced our 3rd Community Learning Day on 'Codes and Communications'.

This is part of a year long programme of activities exploring the 2nd World War and it's impact on the village of Swaffham Bulbeck and surrounding villages.

During this session, we had the chance to hear stories and experiences of local residents who lived here during WW2 and some who also served in the war. We heard how families and soldiers would communicate, from sharing a telephone line with other houses in your street, (if you were very lucky and had a 'phone!) to hand written letters which would take weeks to arrive. We also heard how letters were censored to ensure that soldiers didn’t send codes or 'secret' information to their families. No texting or Twitter in those days!

We also got to see an amazing walking stick, used during the war, which had a concealed telescope and a compass inside.

Very useful and it looked just like an ordinary walking stick.

We learnt how to de-code Morse code, and had great fun writing our own coded messages, and working out secret messages written by others.

Our next Community Learning Day is called 'Spies and Lies', and we look forward to learning more about WW2 and hearing the stories of those involved.

Miss Gallagher

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On Wednesday March 11th, thirty students from years 9 & 10 who are working through an engineering course after school, took part in a trip to the Big Bang Fair at the NEC Arena in Birmingham. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet many different types of engineers and explore the vast range of career options in this field.

We set off at 8am and despite some traffic, managed to get there by 10.30. When we arrived we clearly saw it was a popular event with thousands of other students filing through the entrance.

Inside we were greeted with an enormous range of different companies showcasing the ways they use engineering, science, technology and maths. There were stands showing the making of beauty products, robotics, 3-D printing, engineering in the armed forces, nuclear energy, coding with the BBC, engine construction and even engineering in food. Other schools who had taken part in the National Engineering competition had stands showcasing their projects and the UK final of the F1 in Schools competition was held there with small wooden, CAD-designed cars racing down a track head to head powered by small gas canisters.

As well as information there were many hands on activities for the students to be involved in and even a couple of teacher competitions.

Unfortunately BVC was not well represented with both Mr Hall and Mr Seeley failing to make the leaderboard of the marbles in a raft challenge!

Perhaps next year. A couple of groups of boys did do well in the changing a tyre competition with a fastest time of under 3 seconds.

All in all the students had a great time and piled back in to the coach clutching various brochures and pamphlets and a few goodies from their favourite stands. Hopefully they have gained a better understanding of the many opportunities available through engineering as a career.

Mr Hall

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Bottisham VC Riding Team News

Botiisham Village College once again joined in the Red Nose Day fun raising as much money as possible for Comic Relief. Organised by members of the Student Leadership Team, there was a non-uniform day for both students and staff, cake stalls, manga portraits and a staff vs students dodgeball match.

The project area was packed at break time as students visited the cakes stalls from each year 7 class. This is a very competitive event with each class trying to raise as much money as possible. This year’s winners were 7.8 who raised £97.08 with nearly £400 raised by all eight classes. An amazing achievement. In all, around £1400 was raised for the Comic Relief charity which works to make ‘A Just World Free From Poverty’ both in the UK and overseas.

Imogen Trump, Matilda Manning and Ellie Stringer, members of the Bottisham Riding Team, took part in Inter schools Show Jumping at The College of West Anglia on Saturday 28th February.

They did exceptionally well despite being a team member down, and all three scores having to count. (Other teams had 4 riders so could drop a score.)

They came second in the 90cm class and won the 1 metre class. Imogen Trump came first in the 1 metre individual with Ellie and Matilda both receiving individual placing.

Well done to all of them, as always they were a credit to Bottisham.

Mrs Stringer

Amateur Radio Club In Radio Club we have been making a Crystal Radio receiver. This is powered solely by the energy in the tuned radio wave selected by the receiver’s tuning circuit. After we have completed the crystal set we are going to start working through the Foundation Course in Amateur Radio. In the Summer term we can sit our exam and be able to use our own radio equipment out of school. Gaining a UK Foundation License allows us to transmit worldwide on the Amateur Bands (using our own UK call-signs) at up to 10 Watts. This seemingly low power can easily enable you to communicate with other licensed radio amateurs around the world including Australia and other distant places. The amateur radio club is run on Thursdays after school in Learning Support from 3.15 to 4.15pm and all years are welcome.

Mr Howell

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Battlefield’s Tour

Earlier this year two Bottisham students won a trip to tour the battlefield of Belgium and France. Here is an account of their trip.

From the 1st to the 4th of March we participated in a schools’ tour of the battlefields in Belgium and France. On the first day we travelled to Grosvenor Hall in Kingswood, Kent along with other students from schools in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We participated in various team building activities, and later on in the evening handled some WW1 artefacts.

On the second day, we travelled over to Belgium, first stopping at Memorial Museum Passchendaele. This was fantastic as there were reconstructed dugouts and trenches that we could walk through. We visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is the largest British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world where 11,956 soldiers are buried, and Langemark Cemetery, which is one of the few German WW1 cemeteries, containing mass graves. It was interesting to compare the two cemeteries. Later on that night after checking in to the hotel, we went to a ceremony of the Last Post at the Menin Gate in Ypres, where a wreath was laid on behalf of the schools. We then went ‘chocolate shopping’ after a busy day!

On the third day we travelled over to the Somme in France, first visiting Thiepval Memorial.

It was fascinating to see how the missing soldiers were commemorated. We also visited a couple of different cemeteries, Sheffield Memorial Park and Thiepval Wood, where we saw excavated British trenches that had been reconstructed.

On the last day we visited ‘In Flanders Field Museum’ in Belgium, which displays a collection of artefacts from the War and it also exhibits personal experiences of those affected by the war. Next, we went to the Death Cells at Poperinge. This was where the Allies executed some of their own soldiers for reasons such as desertion, cowardice and murder. It was important to consider whether this was justified or not. Lastly, we travelled to Lijssenthoek Cemetery, which seems to be the most diverse as it contains graves of the British, French, Chinese, German soldiers and more. They also had a grave of a nurse, which is very rare.

It was an amazing experience and one which we are unlikely to forget! Thanks to Mrs Hill for taking us.

by Katie Cory and Scarlet Delanoy

Do you follow us on twitter? @BVCPhysicalEd for the PE faculty @bvccreative for the Creative Design faculty

@BVCLanguages for the Languages faculty

@bottishamvc for school news, information and updates

@BVCScience for the Science faculty @BVCExams for exams information

@BVCLib for the Library @CommunityEdBott for Adult & Community Learning @BVCSportsCentre for Bottisham Sports Centre

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Back in December we held a special evening to launch the new Creative Design Faculty. It was a great opportunity to showcase the student’s work from all subject areas including dance, drama, art, music, product design and catering.

The evening was very well attended and enjoyed by all. Parents were able to enjoy a variety of dance and musical performances in the main hall with contributions from all year groups. Students were excited to be able to perform on the new grand piano and again, we would like to thank all who have helped to raise the money to buy such a lovely instrument for the college.

In the extended interval the audience were able to enjoy performances from GCSE drama students and the year 7 and 8 drama club performing their version of ‘Cinders’. Catering students had expertly prepared the refreshments and parents enjoyed viewing the work produced in art and design, textiles, resistant materials and graphics.

It was wonderful to see so many students taking part.

Well done to everyone!

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Alex Cornwell came 3rd in the regional final of FutureChef competition, after winning the area competiton. Alex Rushmer at the Hole in the Wall, Little Wilbraham, again mentored Alex through the regionals and helped him develop his dishes. These included Rack of Lamb with a vegetable capanata and salsa verde, and rump of lamb, onion puree deep fried goats cheese and saute potatoes. In both competitions Alex cooked de-constructed pineapple upside down cake as his dessert, but this was also developed for the regionals and he was again commended in both competitions on this dish. Alex has applied to both West Suffolk college and Westminster Kingsway College London to do a professional chef diploma in September. Alex Rushmer continues to mentor him and is arranging further work experience throughout the summer. Alex is also very grateful to Mrs Taylor for all the help and advice she has given him, both in his GCSE’s, these competitions and advice about his future career.

This year in art there is a focus to produce a series of four inspired murals for the dining room. These will be themed on different subject areas taught in Bottisham Village College and aim is to communicate the wonderful amount of creativity the students have and their ability.

Year 9 students have started the project looking at the futurism movement. The futurists were influenced by speed, energy and the way art could capture movement. They looked at the way energy lines can be expressed creatively and how to capture those moments when an object is moving. The sketchbook pictures on the right by Alina Serrano, Charlotte Wooley and Brandon Clements show the process of designing and how we extended lines to give the impression of energy and speed.

Our chosen design is now complete and is shown below.

Mr Cedeira

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Last term Year 9 were asked to make a container from recycled materials. During the project they looked at how the fashion industry and production of textiles uses resources and impacts on the environment. They were asked to research and consider issues of sustainability and ways of reducing waste in relation to this. The containers they chose to make included, laptop cases, bags, hats, cushion covers, Christmas stockings and back packs.

They sourced recycled materials from all sorts of places to make their work including, sheets donated from Swiss Laundry, curtains, fabric samples donated from local furnishing companies, items from charity shops, old ties and plastic bags. They researched and experimented with a range of decorative techniques to produce their work including batik, patchwork, slashing and layering fabrics and plastic fusing. Students also made their own patterns and templates and modelled design ideas to work out the construction methods for their products.

Mrs Stringer

On the 13th February, students from Year 9 & 10 joined together to enjoy and experience the ‘Move it’ festival. Firstly, we travelled on a coach to London and had an enjoyable journey, singing and dancing along to the music! When we arrived at the festival, we decided to stay at the big stage and watch professional dancers perform. It was incredible to watch right at the front! We learnt many new moves that we can incorporate into the dances we had choreographed at school.

Next we split up into small groups and talked to the dancers and choreographers who ran the stalls. Talking to the professional dancers was extremely helpful as we got to learn how they made it as a dancer and what type of dancing they like to do. One of my favourite parts of the event was the improvisation stage where people in the audience could volunteer to dance and compete against other people in the audience. I found the style of each dance very inspirational and I will definitely be using different styles of dance in my dances now. Overall, ‘Move it’ was incredible and I recommend it to anybody who likes dance and would like to be inspired by other dancers.

Everybody had an amazing day and I will definitely be attending this extraordinary event next year!

On Monday 2nd March Dance East came to Bottisham Village College to run two dance workshops with years 7 & 8 . These were to teach us new dances routines as well as technique.

Dance East, centre for advanced training has taught around 60 pupils at BVC and it wasn’t just hard, it was intense and a challenge but at the end of the day it was worth the effort. All the people who took part in the day created wonderful contemporary dance routines to perform to the rest of the group. Dance East has inspired me personally to go and dance there because once you get going it is both fun and a challenge for me, and that’s what I like.

by Emily Downing 7.7

by Bethany Ellis 10.4

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On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays each week lots of students take part in these crafty after school activities.

Are you potty about painting, dotty about drawing or just crazy about clay? Whatever you like to make, our friendly art club is for you.

Everyone is welcome. All materials are provided, you just need to bring a sprinkle of imagination and a dollop of creativity!

If you love to stitch why not join our friendly Thursday sewing club. It doesn’t matter whether you are new to stitching or have plenty of experience, you can have fun making lots of hand stitched goodies. Most of the materials are provided, however, you are welcome to bring your own fabric if you would like to complete a larger project.

If you like the sound of these clubs sign up for them early in the Summer term.

There are currently 120 students having instrumental tuition during the school day. Tuition is available for classical, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, violin, trumpet and trombone, voice, drum kit and piano. If you would like to find out more about how these lessons are organised and how much they cost then please get in touch by email.

Mrs Hall (phall@bottishamvc.org)

This can be very challenging but also very rewarding. I am so happy I took the chance to be one. I think we all feel really proud when the younger students leave with a smile on their faces and feel they have achieved something. It is nice to know that they look up to us as role models and that it is making us all feel more confident .

by Angela Warder 10.3

The BVC musicians have been working very hard this term preparing for two events. The informal Easter concert was a great occasion showcasing work prepared in and out of the classroom. As usual there were some wonderful performances from GCSE and KS3 students in a wide range of genres. It has been great to see so many students practising their music at lunchtimes in the department. The room booking sheet has been full most weeks! Money raised from the concert will go towards the purchase of a pair of conga drums which will be enjoyed by many, particularly in year 8 samba lessons and extended school ensembles.

Another highlight of the term was the joint primary schools and BVC West Road Concert. This major event happens every other year and the theme for 2015 was “War and Peace”. It was wonderful to see so many students of all ages taking part. Our feeder primary schools had worked very hard on preparing a range of songs which were performed with great enthusiasm. The jazz band and orchestra joined the primary schools for this very special occasion and were fantastic as always! The evening had a varied programme, including BVC year 9 poetry inspired by events of WW1.

I would like to thank all families for their continued support. Well done to all students who have taken part this term.

Mrs Hall

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How well do you know Bottisham Village College?

Where would you find these?

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Please email your answers to jsmith@bottishamvc.org or take them to Student Support before 17th April 2015. The person with the most correct answers will receive a prize. In the event of a tie, a winner will be drawn at random.

Update from the Governors Along with the more day-to-day aspects of the business of the Governing Body, three further issues have dominated discussions at our meetings.

Local head teachers and school governors have had meetings with the Secretary of State for Education, our outgoing and prospective new Conservative MPs, and separately with their equivalents from the Labour Party. They discussed remedying the anomalous and unfair funding situation for schools in Cambridgeshire. There is still a lack of a coherent long term strategy to deal with this issue from either party. If you are approached by candidates or canvassers during the upcoming General Election campaign then why not ask them about their Party’s plans for fair funding of Cambridgeshire schools relative to the rest of the country? This is a very important issue for all of us.

The Learning and Teaching committee of the Governors have received and discussed detailed data from Ofsted on pupil attainment at BVC relative to other secondary schools nationally. This RAISE (Reporting and Analysis for Improvement through school Self-Evaluation – Ofsted love acronyms) report highlights the outstanding achievements of Bottisham pupils, with grades well above national averages in all core subject areas. It is very pleasing to report that BVC pupils defined by Ofsted as being from disadvantaged backgrounds do particularly well in this analysis, and the Governors thanked both the teaching staff and pupils for their efforts.

BVC continues to attract more pupils than we can accommodate – year 7 entry in September is oversubscribed. This reflects the success of the school, and in that limited sense it is welcome. More teaching space, and updating of some of the older parts of our school, would help to increase capacity and support our excellent teaching staff. The school management are applying for more capital funding to facilitate this.

Mr Nicols, Parent Governor

EXAMS

Summer exams start on 5th May and end on 22nd June

 Arrive at least 20 minutes before start time  Eat a good breakfast — it will help you concentrate  Pencil cases must be clear  Use black ink  No Mobile phones, ipods etc. allowed in exam room  If you are going to be late phone 01223 811250 ext 232  If you are ill and unable to attend, please contact school as early as possible for advice.

GOOD LUCK!

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Bottisham Sports Centre We are pleased to announce that Bottisham Sports Centre are hosting a number of activities for children over the Easter holidays.

As parents and staff of BVC did you know that you are all automatically members of the ‘Friends of Bottisham Village College’ charity?

This volunteer run organisation exists to raise money to improve the experience and education of the BVC students. Did you come to the Christmas Market, come to a quiz or attend the Summer Ball? Then you have been to a Friends event! This term’s quiz saw over 100 people attending and the event was not only fun but raised over £1000 for the college.

In the last 18 months Friends have:  donated £2000 to the hardship fund.  paid for the marquee for the Year 11 prom.  bought scientific scales for the Science faculty.  bought 10 laptops and software for children with additional needs.  contributed to the cost of the new grand piano.  purchased a new kiln for the Creative Design faculty.

But what does it mean to be an automatic member of the charity?

This means that YOU as a parent can come along to any of our meetings and make suggestions about where you feel the money should be directed. You can also vote at our AGM (in the new school year) on the trustees of the charity, making sure that our crucial fundraising and support continues! It means meeting new people and getting more involved in your child’s school. Here is what some of the current members of the Committee explain why they got involved and what it means to them: “I like to think I can help to enhance the learning experience and school environment where my child attends; by using my skills, experience and giving some of my time for a worthwhile purpose such as this. It is rewarding on a personal level, to see the benefits and results of our efforts for the school community.”

“I joined friends to have the opportunity to raise funds for the school so that my daughter gets the maximum benefit out of her time at Bottisham.

I've enjoyed making new friends and the events we run are great fun.”

“I came along to the Friends meeting 2 years ago when a desperate plea went out for parent support. I thought - ‘I’ll only do it for a year’ but I have had such a great time that 2 years later I am still here! What I really love about Friends is how great the group is together. We really bring all different strengths and skills and combine them to make something amazing! The things that we have paid for have made a big difference in these tight financial times and I am really proud of the work that we do” We are always interested in new parents or staff coming to our monthly meetings, or helping out at events. All of our meetings are prearranged and can be found on our Facebook page (search Friends of Bottisham Village College) or email friends@bottishamvc.org to ask any questions.

Finally don’t forget our Summer Ball on June 27th.

Email Friends for more information and to book your table.

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Holiday Clubs for children aged 5 to 12 Thursday 2nd April 9am -4pm

Easter Street Dance & Multi-Sports More information and online booking at www.premierperformingarts.co.uk (dance) www.premiersport.org (multi-sports)

Cambridge United Soccer School For children aged 4 to 14 Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th April More information and online booking at www.cambridge-united.co.uk/team/ academy/

Spy Xperience & Sport Xperience Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th April Further details and booking online at www.livingsport.co.uk/enjoy-holidaycamps-easter-sports-xtra-coaching-hq/

Plus afternoon fun swim sessions with our giant inflatables and pool discos Please check our website for more details.

News from the Library

by Mrs Julie Tootell

Scholastic Book Fair Thank you to everyone who came and supported the Book Fair in the Library. It was a fantastic success! We sold approximately £644 worth of books which means we will receive 50% commission. I am thrilled with this outcome as halfway through the fair I wasn’t even sure we’d make the £400 target. So thank you to everyone who came in and bought books and all the staff who covered the library desk and did lunch time covers coping with the enormous crowds. It would not have been a success without this help!

At the end of the Autumn term all year 7s and a few others were challenged to a Readathon. The idea was that the students would choose books to read for pleasure and ask friends and family to sponsor them. The money raised goes to help four charities for seriously ill children.

Although many people started the Readathon there were only two students in the whole school who completed the task, Keziah Reed who read 5 books and raised £15.25 and Natalie Greaves who read 3 books and raised £20. In this case it is not the amount raised that we are applauding, rather the dedication and perseverance they put into completing the task.

Well done, Keziah and Natalie! You are stars !

World Book Week

I would also like to congratulate our contest winners. This year we held two competitions: a short story contest and a poster contest. There were many great entries to both. Our winners were rewarded with certificates and £5 vouchers to spend at the Book Fair.

The photo above shows our goal chart which I had to extend several times to keep up with the growing total!

There was great merriment in the Library throughout World Book Week! Of course we had the traditional World Book Day quiz where students worked in groups of no more than three to solve questions and photo riddles based on popular books. This year our winners were: Ella Deegan-Fleet, Bella Swann and Ellie Soares. A bonus question at the end of the quiz asked the students to name all the characters that I had dressed up as during the week! You had to be paying attention to get all the answers right. I had great fun coming up with 5 costumes to challenge the students, but I also gave them a few clues to help!

This half term we are challenging the readers: who will be the first student to read a million words before the Easter break? The winner will receive a £5 gift token, a book of their choice from my stash and of course sweets!

We have a few who have started already and the competition is fierce! We look forward to announcing who our first Word Millionaire will be!

The fun and games weren’t just restricted to the students!

I also asked BVC staff to join in the challenge. There was a display of ‘Staff Shelfies’ in the Library. Fifteen members of staff took photographs of some of their favourite books, with a few clues about themselves and the rest of us had to play detective and see how well we know our colleagues! It’s harder than it sounds! Well done to everyone who took part!

To top it all off we had The Mad Hatter’s Bingo Party to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the LookingGlass. We played a few games of author bingo with the students winning sweets for each round. On top of all the excitement in the Library, the students were all given World Book Day tokens, in their forms, which give them free £1 books or £1 off a book of their choice.

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Gymnastics Club

Basketball season As the winter nights drew in, basketball season got off to a strong start with hordes of students attending both boys and girls basketball clubs.

Once again, we were one of the few schools in the district to enter teams into all four boys and girls age categories, with all four teams competing valiantly in their preliminary competitions.

The under 16 girls continued their dominance of competitive sport, remaining undefeated through both the prelims and the finals, crowning them winners of the regional competition. They are now eligible to move forward to the county competition where they will face a school from Peterborough. Well done girls!

Miss Moss led the inaugural gymnastics club before half term, with a great turnout from both boys and girls from years 7 - 9. The two dozen attendees improved their vaulting and floor work immensely over the half term and had great fun in the process!

Look out for the return of gymnastics club for all year groups next year.

Bottisham Sports Centre New opening hours ďƒ ďƒ ďƒ

Monday to Friday - 4pm to 10pm Saturday and Sunday - 8am to 4pm Bank holidays - 8am to 4pm www.bottishamvc.org/sportscentre tel: 01223 811121 email: sportscentre@bottishamvc.org

*Referred member needs to join before 15/04/15 and still be a member on 30/06/15. Free month is September 2015

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Cross Country District, County and English Schools Just before Christmas, many students represented BVC in the District schools cross-country at Netherhall. It was a chilly but successful day overall, with BVC coming 2nd only to the Perse.

A particular mention must go to the year 10 & 11 girls for winning their category overall. Well done to all runners involved, especially those that qualified for the county schools competition – Ashley Brown, Belinda, David, Hugh and Angus Dow, Alice and Will Newcombe, Zak Delanoy, Izzy Armitage and Luke Crisp. Even bigger congratulations must go to Ashley, Belinda, David and Alice for qualifying for the English schools competition!

Primary Schools Cross Country On the 10th March, Bottisham hosted its first ever Primary Schools cross country event for children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6. The weather didn’t disappoint with lovely sunshine.

There was a fantastic turnout with seven of our feeder primary schools represented, and superb effort and performances from all athletes.

The overall winners were Fulbourn – congratulations!!

Football and netball fixtures have been happening this term, with every year group fielding a huge number of students.

Here are photos of the year 7 and 8 football squads.

Miss Davison & Mr Perry to run the London Marathon On Sunday 26th April, Miss Davison and Mr Perry of the PE faculty are attempting to run the London Marathon in aid of two fantastic charities: Phab Kids & Whizz Kids. Over the coming term, they will be holding various fundraising events, including:  A fun run (with option of fancy dress)  Staff & Student badminton competition  KS4 boys V girls netball match  Cake sale  Many more!

So get involved in all of the amazing fundraising events and help raise some money for some great charities!

Good Luck Miss Davison & Mr Perry in April!

For all information on fixtures and clubs over the coming year, follow @BVCPhysicalEd

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Roy Burrell Awards 2015 The Annual Cambridge and District sports awards took place this term, with BVC having seventeen year 11 students nominated for an award for excellence in their given sport. Sadly, none of our students were recipients of the main awards of the night, sportswoman and sportsman of the year, but we are incredibly proud of all of our award winners. Some of them are pictured here.

Alice Newcombe Finlay Marriott Belinda Dow Ellie Frost Becky Knights Brooke Le Maire Callum Fullwood Luke Crisp Harry Taylor Toby Bicknell Thomas Knowles Harry Darling Ashley Brown Ed Fletcher Hugh French Ewan Kingdon Tom Elliott Eloise Stringer Hannah Kelly Manon Davies Molly Cauldwell Caitlin Symmonds

Athletics

Bottisham students have experienced some remarkable success in athletics this term.

Adam Cross, in year 9, competed in the 60m sprint competition of the English schools indoor athletics competition in Sheffield, qualifying for the final and running a personal best time. Adam's interest in athletics started when he watched the 2012 Olympics. He has always been a 'fast runner' and joined Cambridge and Coleridge athletics club in September 2012. At the moment Adam runs 60 metres indoors and the 100m, 200m and relay outdoors in the Under 15 age group.

Next month he will start taking part in the outdoor season. Adam would like to compete in the English schools championships and then compete for his sixth form college and University in order to obtain the highest level he can.

Finlay Marriott, in year 11, also competed and ran in the final of the 60m hurdles, also achieving a PB on the way. Furthermore, Finlay had more success recently, winning a silver medal in the Scottish National Age Group Championships in Glasgow.

Well done to both students!

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