News@Com Summer 2008

Spirit of adventure

EVOLUTION!

COMBERTON is starting the most major and significant developments in the school's history.

Five new developments are either under way or due to start soon as the college, which opened in 1960 for 240 pupils, approaches its 50th anniversary. Throughout its history, the school has sought to lead and respond to both local and national need and circumstance. It was one of the first schools nationally to become Grant Maintained. We are one of only seven schools nationally to have five separate specialist designations. This approach has been crucial in securing the school's success and allowing the very many opportunities available to all students.

There is one more major building phase taking place over the next 12 months or so to increase the 11-16 capacity of the school to 1,500 (see Page 3). This is in response to the ongoing population development in our catchment area. However, there are now further developments that take the school's remit beyond what it has ever been before.

Specifically, the following are forthcoming developments:

 A new Sixth Form. In response to the population growth in the Cambridge area and because of its high-performing status,

CVC’SROYALVISITOR —PAGE8

all relevant authorities have asked the school to develop sixth-form provision. After careful consideration, governors have agreed to this. It will give future students of the school a new and exciting opportunity to complete their education up to advanced level at the school.

 A new trust for the school. The Comberton Educational Trust is being legally formed this summer. It will oversee the governing body of the school and become the legal owner of the school's assets. The trustees will have a formal responsibility to oversee the fundamental principles of the school and be sure to maintain and develop the school's ongoing provision of outstanding education for all students.

 A new primary school overseen by the new trust. There is to be a third primary school opening in Cambourne in 2009. The Comberton Educational Trust submitted a proposal in the recent competition to establish this school (the way that legislation now requires new schools to be established) and this was successful. Above all, this opens up an exciting prospect of far closer working between us and all our partner feeder primary schools as we explore ways of working in ever more effective partnership.

 Turn to Page 3

THEONLYWAYISDOWN:Aweekend of outdoor activities for a group of Year 10 and 11 boys included abseiling off a Derbyshire viaduct. Full story— Page 9

New course impresses

The new CoPE International Award course, equivalent to grade B GCSE at level 2 or grade E at level 1, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Mary Glasgow Curriculum Innovations Award. A visit from the Award judges took place in midJune and an announcement is expected shortly. The visit included an extended lesson observation, time to interview students about the course and see their work, a tour of the school and interviews with teachers involved in designing and delivering this innovative course. The new CoPE International is a level 2 portfolioassessed course made up of a series of challenges.

OUTANDABOUT:Year 10 pupils and a Spanish teacher in Gijón.

PRIMARYVISIT:Comberton pupils in Spain worked with eight-year-olds who are learning English.

Fifty per cent of the course is represented by the International Award, in which all the challenges relate to learning a foreign language (in this case Spanish), learning more about the countries where that language is spoken and putting language learning into real use during a sixday study visit to Spain. The study visit took place in May, when 13 students and three staff went to Gijón, Asturias, in the north of Spain, to improve their language skills, meet and work with staff and students at our partner secondary school in Gijón and learn more about the geography and culture of this part of Spain with a series of visits and excursions. The visit was a great success. Spanish and English students had an excellent time getting to

INSIDETHISISSUE

 Gold Standard —Page 3

 New Build—Page 3

 The Prefect Process—Page 4

 Minibus Appeal latest—Page 4

 Race is on —Page 5

 SATs and all that—Page 5

 New Teacher makes Mark—Page 6

 Insight into Nazi ideology —Page 6

 Eco-award for CVC— Page 7

 Feast of Food—Page 7

 Trips boost coursework—Page 7

 DoElatest—Pages 8 & 9

 Toughest of Challenges—Page 9

 Adventure Club —Page 10

 Top of the Pops—Page 11

 Science insight—Page 11

 Sporting excitement—Page 11

 The World of Work —Page 12

 Thumbs up for scheme— Page 12

 Weighing up options—Page 12

 Sport for All —Page 13

 New event success—Page 13

 Water Adventures—Page 13

 Link pays dividends—Pages 14

 A-mazeing CVC team—Page 14

 Riding High—Page 15

 The Toughest Test—Pages 15

 Pupils show Commitment—Page 15

 Vocational Update—Page 16

know each other through a variety of activities. Some 'ice-breaker' activities got things started and were followed by joint-team sports on the beach, interviews and an extended challenge to create a publicity campaign for a new band in Spanish and English.

On the final morning we visited the feeder primary school and worked with a class of eight-yearolds learning English.

Some of the CoPE International class had written stories for them to read whilst others helped them to practise their English orally in mini-interviews. It was a really good end to an excellent trip.

Now back in England, the CoPE students are using their experiences as the basis for planning an independent group discussion and as the material for an oral presentation. We aimed to assess both of these by the end of Year 10.

You will doubtless learn more about the course and the successful trip when students write up their experiences for the next Lingua@Com. We look forward to beginning work with the new Year 10 CoPE International group in September.

Rachel Hawkes, Director of Language College

THEnew Adult Education Programme will be distributed throughout the catchment area during July.

Please contact the Community Education Department if you do not receive your copy.

Day and evening courses include Arts and Crafts, Computing, Exploring Cambridgeshire Villages, Fitness Yoga, Languages (Italian and Polish are new this year), Indian and Italian Cookery, Salsa Dancing, Maths GCSE, help with Numeracy or Literacy (leading to National Tests) and more. 16 -18 years olds are free from September.

For further details please contact the Community Education Department on (01223) 264721, e-mail commed@comberton.cambs.sch.uk or see the website www.commed@combertonvc.org

THISissue of News@Com is also available as an e-publication on the Comberton Village College website. The display has a number of new features such as animated page turns, page zoom, word search and a range of print options. Go to www.publications.combertonvc.org/news_july08.cfm or use the link on the CVC Home Page.

The prefect process

WEare pleased to announce that, after a vigorous interview process, the following students have been selected as the college’s prefect team:

Head Prefects

Head Boy: Alastair Chilvers; Head Girl: Anna Carter; Deputy Head Boy: Matt Starace; Deputy Head Girl: Annie Gregory PEOPLE Prefect

David Siddall (Snr)

Year 7

Lewis Rooney (Snr); Melissa Wood; Sarah Brennan

Year 8

Peter Tasker (Snr); Rhianna Smith; Holly Sheppard

Year 9

Jodie Baker (Snr); Tom Clarke; Sara Tresise

Year 10

Verity Algar (Snr); Grace Scupham; Peter Garnham

Year 11 Charity Prefects

Ella Funge (Snr); Cambridge Chan; Emma Atkin

Tours of the School

Josh Eaton (Snr); Georgia Walden; William

Dopadlik

Interviews for new Staff

Frances McDaid (Snr); Mark Lesniak; Bethany Purser

Parents’ Evenings’ Arrangements

Jonathan Brown (Snr); Ben Davies; Luke Starling; Charlotte Horne

Open Evenings’ Arrangements

Robert Cassey (Snr); Catherine Gresham; Josh Maloney; Lucy Price

May Ball

Hannah Chandler (Snr); Helen Spence-Jones; Hannah Albone

Yearbook

Andy Lake (Snr)

Leavers’ Day

Sophia Berry (Snr)

We wish them every success and are confident that they will make an outstanding contribution to the life of the College.

Ms Bateson & Ms Powell

Tough questions to get the top jobs

TObecome head prefects we had to go through a rigorous selection process.

The first step involved filling in a form about your achievements, previous teamwork experience and the importance of prefects in the school.

You also needed teachers and pupils to nominate you.

Ten successful candidates from these forms were asked for an interview. This had two parts; a presentation on a topic of our choice was made to a panel of teachers, two Year 7 pupils and last year's head prefects; and a formal interview with Mr Munday, Ms Bateson, Ms Phull and a school governor.

LEADERS:The Head Prefect team.

We were asked why we wanted the job, and who our inspirational leader was and why. The head prefect team was then appointed. Ali Chilvers, Head Boy

Minibus appeal nears £7,000 mark

THE appeal to raise funds for a new minibus for the college is more than a third of the way to its target.

Cricketing charity The Lord's Taverners has offered the college a subsidised state-of-the-art 16-seat vehicle specially adapted for users of all physical abilities for £19,000.

And thanks to a series of fund-raisers and donations the total has reached nearly £7,000.

Marilyn Manze, a colleague and friend of a Comberton parent, ran the ninth Annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee (USA) and raised £534. This contribution takes the donations received from the employees of Hoares Bank to just over £1,900, of which £500 was donated by the bank itself.

The other biggest contributions have come from the Christmas Bazaar,

audiences at The Academy of Death, the Principal's Ball and donations from Years 8 and 9.

TEAMWORK: The prefects in training.

Training is rewarding

THE newly-appointed prefects had their first experience of working together on their training day.

An organisation called World Challenge led the activities enthusiastically throughout the day.

After the warm-up session, the prefect team enjoyed writing and performing speeches on the role of a prefect and leadership skills, which were then put into practice in the team-building activities.

Overall the day was a great success and one senior prefect said: "The day was very enjoyable and very rewarding."

The day was followed by a crash course from Mr Leggott on speaking in public where the team learned how to overcome nervousness as well as various public speaking techniques.

The two days gave us an opportunity to develop many skills and strengthen relationships within the prefect team.

Annie Gregory, Deputy Head Girl

LIVE

MUSIC:The Lovecats perform at a fund-raising event.

The Trustees of the Comberton VIllage College Trust Fund, which is overseeing the fund-raising, are most grateful for the incredible support received to date and would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you.

Visit our information page at www.info.combertonvc.org/minibus.cfm

where you can find further details and news on the progress of the Appeal. You can also make an online donation via JustGiving, who automatically add 25% Gift Aid (UK taxpayers only) to your donation at no cost to you.

Eco-award for CVC

WE are proud to report that Comberton has been awarded Bronze Eco School status.

The award was given to CVC thanks to the hard work by Samantha Hack (current Year 11), who has worked as the Environment Leader with the Geography department to improve the sustainability of the College.

She set up an Environment group who meet every Friday lunchtime in Ge3 to discuss environmental concerns and how to make the College more sustainable.

One of the major concerns for the College is recycling. The group have been putting together a petition to try to encourage the local council to collect recycling from the College (currently they will only collect paper).

The group have found it extremely frustrating as they know that so many students would like to recycle their bottles and cans but at the moment they can't.

Additionally the group have put signs on light switches and computers to remind people to turn them off when they are not being used.

This year Sian Goss and Charlotte Glasse in 10M have taken on the roles of Environment Leaders and they are extremely enthusiastic about the tasks.

One of their major projects will be to work with the Science department to develop an environmental area outside where there used to be a pond. It is hoped that in the future this area will be used to teach lessons.

Frances Carr , Geography Department

COOKING

UPA

TREAT: Comberton pupils who cooked in public at the East of England Show.

Afeast of food

FOURYear 10 boys studying GCSE Catering, Josh Maloney, Arthur Hunter, Will Harris and Matt Skingle were one of six teams chosen from more than 50 to cook at the East of England Show’s Schools’ Challenge.

They cooked in a purpose-built kitchen in the food hall at last month’s show. The challenge was to prepare ‘a typical English meal for an overseas visitor’ comprising a main course and a dessert for one person to be cooked in 45 mins and using produce of British origin, sourced locally wherever possible.

The menu they chose was: Stuffed trout in a white wine sauce with saute potatoes, asparagus and vine tomatoes, followed by apple flan with a raspberry coulis. As well as cooking the above meal, they had to prepare a display on their research of the use of locally sourced food.

We would like to thank Hackers Fruit Farm for providing local produce which was used in the display.

Although they did not win, the experience was invaluable in improving their confidence. Well done boys, you did us proud!

Anne Jones, Head of Food Technology

TOURISTATTRACTION:The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Days out help with pupils’coursework

THEYear 10 Leisure and Tourism GCSE class, Miss Carr and Mrs Pearson visited Searles holiday resort park in Hunstanton, to gain more information for our customer service coursework. A two-hour journey and a few bags of sweets later, we arrived. We were greeted by a senior staff member, who gave us a talk about Searles, providing us with lots of useful information.

After checking out the facilities that Searles has to offer, we were then allowed to wander around Hunstanton, enabling us to grab some traditional fish and chips, doughnuts and more sweets!

The following Thursday we went in the minibus to Cambridge. We visited King’s College Chapel, The Fitzwilliam Museum, The Round Church and the Punting sites.

While we were visiting these places we took note of which types of people visit these attractions, eg tourists.

As lunch approached we were allowed to go off in small groups to our chosen restaurant, sampling the food of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Starbucks and McDonalds.

This gave us an opportunity to observe the local customer service, or lack of it as some of us found out!

Overall, I think we would all say the two days were very enjoyable and have helped us a lot with our coursework (but not our healthy lifestyles)!

Catherine Moulsher (10V) and Elliss Morgan (10R)

Picture courtesy of Somersham Studios.

Spreading the word about Award

FOR the very first time in many years, there are pupils taking part in the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bassingbourn Village College.

Diana Cook, Leigh Bellis and myself are working closely with a team of five staff at Bassingbourn, led by Carey Mayzes, Vicky Poulter and Pat Piggott, to support them to get the Award set up there.

For this year, their Award is running as a subsidiary of ours at Comberton, but we’re hoping that next year we can support them to act independently and set up their own scheme.

Back in April, after I gave an assembly to the whole of Year 9, more than 70 pupils expressed an interest in the Award.

Since we already had over 120 Year 9 pupils at Comberton, it was impossible for us to accommodate them all, so the staff finally selected 25 lucky pupils to be their first cohort.

Since then, we have been running training for them after school at Bassingbourn, and then in June they came away with us on the Bronze training weekend to the Chiltern Hills.

Lorna Bateson, Director of Student Leadership

Last year’s gold award group in the Swiss Alps.

Going for gold

FOLLOWINGthe huge success of the group of ex-pupils who enrolled on the Gold Award at Comberton last year, planning has started for next year's cohort. Pupils in current Year 11 have been invited to be involved in a small Open Award Group run through Comberton.

The Gold Award is a huge step up from bronze and silver, requiring significant time commitments on the individual sections: the Skill, the Service and the Physical Recreation.

In addition to these, at Gold level pupils also have to complete a Residential Project, travelling away without anyone they know to take part in a some sort of project or activity.

Last year's cohort did everything from activities weeks at the National Mountain Centre in North Wales, to sailing Tall Ships in the Med.

In addition to these three sections, there is then the dreaded expedition. Plans for next summer are developing, with groups set to travel out to Switzerland to complete their four days of trekking in the Alps — no light undertaking.

Those Year 11 who step up to the challenge will be dedicating huge amounts of time and effort to achieving the Award, and in the process, developing a wide range of personal characteristics, all of which are widely recognised by friends, families, colleges and employers. Good luck to them.

The toughest of challenges

A GROUP of Year 10 and 11 boys travelled to Derbyshire to test themselves against some tough physical challenges.

The Young Lives project is aimed at supporting boys to develop social and teamwork skills, as well as to develop their self-confidence and their sense of belonging in the school community.

By working regularly with them in the great outdoors — setting them tough challenges — we can push them beyond their perceived limits and raise their aspirations.

This weekend was no exception. On the Friday Mr Bellis, Mr Evans and I travelled to the camping barn where we staying, stopping en route to collect Rob, my cousin and a climbing instructor.

After sitting and eating together we divided up the chores and set a rota for everyone, and agreed a set of ground rules that we would abide by.

On Saturday we were out early for our first challenge: a morning of mountain biking.

Tackling the hills and off-track paths round a lake was great fun and a few bruised knees and a ripped pair of trousers later, we were all exhausted but satisfied!

We didn’t get any rest however. In the afternoon we set off to go abseiling off an old viaduct.

You had to climb over the railings then abseil down the huge drop, ending up right over the raging river below.

It took a bit of psyching yourself up to do it, but everyone managed it, and dashed back up to try again.

Back to the barn for dinner, but it wasn’t over then, even though there were a few sleepy faces. At 9.00pm we set off for a night navigation activ-

OUTDOORLIFE:For boys on the Young Lives project.

ity around Stanage Edge in the worst weather conditions you can imagine: gales, rain, and really cold.

After three hours of pacing on compass bearings, and scrambling up rocks in the dark, the hot chocolate and sleeping bags were welcome.

Sunday continued in the same theme: the boys were left alone to navigate themselves to the crag, where we practised our scrambling and bouldering techniques with Rob, before finally collapsing in the minibus to head home. It was a memorable weekend for all … and nearly every week I have someone coming to ask me when the next one is … a clear sign of success!

Lorna Bateson

Let me tell you a story . . .

EVERYONEfaces challenges and real bravery is facing your personal challenges.

Sometimes this is not being able to shower for three days or wearing pink ‘marigolds’ or putting on wet trainers or sleeping with someone who has just told you he sleep walks.

Sometimes the challenges are more real, like being underground with a mountain on your head or cycling 12 miles around the moors or playing ‘Man Hunt’ in the dark. Sometimes the challenges are living together, making pizzas, cleaning toilets and dealing with wet clothes.

The biggest challenge may be simply be to think ‘group’ before thinking ‘me’! How you react to challenges may be a challenge in itself. Do you moan? Do you encourage or dissuade? Do you appreciate or use ‘put downs’? Do you ridicule or listen? Do you need to groom your image or can you relax? Do you need the ‘sarcasm police’? Do you make excuses or learn? Everyone will recognise something of themselves here. I certainly had the ‘sarcasm police’ warn me a few times!

There is too much to say about three days in Derbyshire with the Year 8 Adventure Club to tell all the stories. You need to talk to the group who enjoyed some of the best weather while walking, climbing, jumping, cycling, caving and hunting each other.

Once the Ipods, phones and PSPs had been vanquished there was a stunned silence as they wondered what would replace the electronic noise. We only had to wait for Sam to start telling stories to set off an avalanche of copies which had us all rolling with laughter for hours. Sam will be on the TV

someday as his story telling is masterful.

On the way home we were exhausted having only had little sleep as it seemed more important to enjoy the activities in the area. The views were amazing with orange light around sunset. Josh said it was like having an ‘Art lesson happen in front of his eyes’. The streams were cool and inviting at the end of a long hike or cycle. Ladybower Reservoir sparkled, Mam Tor had ‘parapents’ like butterflies above its summit and every field had new spring lambs numbered in blue like their mothers.

This was our last event this year and we will see what can be planned for next year. When we started we were a group of selfish individuals with very little sense of adventure. Now the group look after each other and will ‘have a go’ at anything. It has been a great pleasure to share it with them.

Ian Rigg, Adventure Club Co-ordinator

So much to talk about

'WHAThappens to sparks from the fire? 'How do you break an egg?' 'I saw a shooting star!' 'Who would like some hot chocolate?' 'Can we play Man Hunt at night in the woods?' 'Can I keep my marshmallow stick?' ' How do gears work?'

The comments just flowed all the time at the Year 7 Adventure Club’s camp in Norfolk. We were camping in the woods near Thetford, with deer visiting us at daybreak and strange noises in the woods at night. We collected wood and lit our campfire, our central point for eating, talking, telling stories and deciding what to do for three days it never went out!

The woods are really eerie at night especially after crossing the river by the ferry bridge and walking into the dark. In the dark the eyes start to play tricks and shadows look as though they move or are shaped like bears. Man Hunt was the game but who was hunting us?

All meals on a campfire taste better. Bacon, eggs, vegetable parcels, sausages, chicken, burgers, roast potatoes all disappeared with gusto once it was accepted that it was different from mum's cooking.

We toasted marshmallows and drank chocolate late into the night while telling stories and looking at the stars.

The days were baking hot so we looked for woods to walk in and cut swishing sticks and did some whittling. When we found water we stayed, hunted tadpoles and wet our feet. In the cooler evenings we went mountain biking and played on the zip wire.

All good things have a down side. Washing up has to be done, hands have to be washed, wood chopped, tents cleaned and packed ready for home. As we headed for home and civilization we played worst thing/best thing. Worst: ' Now, going home'. Best: 'EVERYTHING'!

Ian Rigg

UPSANDDOWNS:Scree scrambling and caving in Derbyshire.

ACTIVITIES:Year 7 adventurers enjoyed hunting tadpoles and going on the zip wire at Thetford

Top of the pops

SCIENCEweek at Comberton had something for everyone.

It began with the luminous fire writing — with many wacky words & spellings — and the room was packed full and many squeezed in, and the session ended with a rather odd smell!

Day two and Comberton had felt the force of science and pupils had turned out in the masses, for the bubble competition.

An amazing 2 minutes 23 seconds was the longest a bubble was held, and it was a truly ‘popping’ experience for all.

Day three and we had moved on from the fire writing to fireworks, with sparkles here and there, with lots of colour. It was a bright insight into the Chinese tradition.

Day four and things were beginning to get a little sticky, with custard balls and lots of mess. ‘A cocktail of such a few things to make such a marvellous toy’ said one enthusiast, until he realised that he couldn’t take it home.

Day five and everyone must have been tired from all the bouncing, with only a hand full of people turning out to make a satellite, although, there

all adds up

COMBERTONpupils again excelled at the UKMTMaths Challenge. Douglas Buisson (10N) continued his impressive record in the competition by not only winning one of 19 golds for Comberton in the Intermediate paper for Years 9, 10 and 11, but by excelling in the next round of competition as well.

He and Christopher Hughes (10N) both finished in the top 100 nationally with Douglas receiving a book prize for his top 50 finish. They were among 14 pupils who went forward to tackle the Olympiad or Kangaroo papers from the original intermediate challenge where Comberton achieved 22 silver and 20 bronze medals in addition to the 19 golds.

In the Junior Challenge for Years 7 and 8, Comberton pupils received 16 gold, 29 silver and 28 bronze awards and two gold winners, Linden Ralph (7B) and Joe Dickens (8T)went on to take the Olympiad paper last month.

were some marvellous designs. Nick Dart (8M)

BUBBLING: Pupils enjoy Science Week at CVC.

Finding out about the world of science

FIVEYear 11 triple science pupils travelled, with Mrs Dean, to the Babraham Science Institute in Cambridge to participate in an interactive science conference – a ‘hands-on’ science event for around 150 pupils from local secondary and sixth form colleges.

During the day, we took part in two practical science

experiments, which gave us the opportunity to work alongside researchers and PhD students and learn more about scientific-based careers.

Activities ranged from ethical debates about stem cell research and animal testing, to microscope work and DNA finger printing – a method of comparing the genetic similarities or differences between individuals. In one experiment, we were able to cut and then examine cross sections of mice brains, while in another, we learnt about the genetic differences between types of fruit flies. Before lunch, three of the PhD students talked to us about their careers, and the paths they had taken, which provided us with the opportunity to ask any questions we had regarding our A level choices. Overall, we all agree the day was a huge success, and opened our eyes to the world of science, and the vast range of opportunities it has to offer.

Sarah Warren, Amy Goodfellow, Jenny Watson, Srikanth Madabhushi, Conor McCutcheon

HANDS-ONSCIENCE:For five Year 11 pupils at the Babraham Institute.

Sports competition proves exciting after all It

IT WASa grey, murky, normal day at CVC. Miss Norman strode into the room, put her laptop down and switched on the projector. “I’ve got a competition for you guys” she said enthusiastically. The class groaned. She carried on to say how we were very capable and one of us was bound to win. “Yeah right” we all thought! The competition was run by the Cambridge Evening News and was called ‘Be a sports journalist for the day”.

The idea was quite simple – write an article on a recent sports event in 250 words. So me and a few others willingly began to write our articles. I decided to focus mine on a Liverpool v Newcastle match.

I sent mine in a few days later and thought nothing of it until a few weeks after when my mum said I’d got through to the last four; I would be going to see Cambridge United play and write a report, with the winning entry being printed in the

paper. The day soon came and the match certainly lived up to its expectations with Cambridge winning convincingly.

Unfortunately my report didn’t win, but it was a great experience for me and I am glad I was in the final four and got to review a live match. Thanks to Miss Norman for showing me the competition.

Dave Snelling (8T)

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE:

Two of the pupils taking part in the targeted work experience programme.

Out in world of work

SCHOOL is not simply a place to help educate you in the traditional subjects like English, Maths and Science — it's also a place to help equip you in developing skills for life —particularly working life.

This has come sooner rather than later for some students at CVC this year and currently there are seven students who are taking part in the targeted work experience programme. These students

spend one day every week in a real adult working environment learning real skills and trades which will help in future life.

Although the programme means that students might achieve fewer GCSEs than their peers, the benefits certainly outweigh the negatives with improved levels of attendance and motivation shown by all.

Andy Smith, one of the Year 10 students involved in the programme, is currently working at Robinson College for one day every week. He wrote: “My name is Andy Smith and I have

Thumbs up for mentor scheme

SINCEYear 11 have left and things are now a little quieter it has given me a great opportunity to evaluate the Year 11 mentoring programme.

Approximately 50 members of staff volunteered to individually mentor an identified student to help support them in their final year at school.

Relationships were built between mentor and mentee and together the pairs tackled homework and coursework deadlines, work/social balance, personal issues, revision planning and choices for college. Evaluation of the programme was really pleasing as 92 per cent of the students involved said they had found their involvement in the mentoring programme to be helpful in some way and 75 per cent said that working with their mentor had had a positive impact on their life.

Comments from students included "working with a mentor really helped me focus on revision". "My mentor helped me plan where I wanted to go to college and helped me write my personal statement". "My mentor was really groovy — he was easy to talk to and helped me sort out loads of personal problems".

The project will continue next year and an appropriate cohort of current Year 10 students will be selected to work with a staff mentor for their last year at CVC.

Year 11 mentoring is only one of a number of mentoring projects which the school is involved in. We also work with members of local businesses, Cambridge United Football Club and the wider school community to support students in every aspect of their lives.

Antoinette Lyons, Head of Student Guidance

been doing targeted work experience at Robinson College, Cambridge, a day a week in Year 10.

“Some of the jobs that I have done include making a wheelchair access ramp and I tiled an entire kitchen.

“I have also done some plumbing and all sorts of practical work like making a bird box and repairing things that are broken.

“There is a possibility that I might even be offered a job at Robinson College after I finish at Comberton.”

INSIGHT:The Apprenticeship and Job Seekers Convention gave pupils an idea of what’s available after CVC.

Weighing up the options

COMBERTON ran its annual Apprenticeship and Job Seekers Convention with approximately 70 students who are interested in taking a more vocational route after school or finding a job attending.

After a brief talk from Antoinette Lyons, Head of Student Guidance, they were free to wander round the different stalls.

Students were able to pick up leaflets, booklets, application forms and just chat informally to a whole host of representatives from local organisations. We were fortunate enough to have been joined by staff from Marshall

Aerospace, Shuttleworth College, the YMCA, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the Army, the College of Animal Welfare, Coulsons, Cambridge Regional College, Connexions and Marshalls Motor Group among others. All students who attended the event will be invited to a careers interview with Matt Porter, the school Connexions worker. He will discuss their future plans and options with them, ensuring that they all have an appropriate job or apprenticeship to pursue after CVC.

Sport for all

ALMOST 1,200 pupils from 39 primary schools enjoyed a funfilled day of sport last month.

The Year 4 youngsters from around South Cambridgeshire, including seven of Comberton's feeder primary schools, took part in the annual South Cambs School Sports Partnership's Mini-Olympics at the Wilberforce Road track, Cambridge.

The event, sponsored by Money Matters, is in its fourth year and was the biggest and best yet with more than 120 sports leaders from the secondary schools in the partnership, including Comberton, running all the activities.

such as tug-of-war, athletics, tennis, golf, dance, hockey and cricket.

Bar Hill won the Best Marker Design Competition and their prize is an afternoon of athletics with Femi as their prize. Fenstanton won the 'Fair Play'

STICKATIT:Pupils from Caldecote practise their hockey skills at the Year 4 sports festival.

And what an amazing range of activities there was. Each pupil, wearing a t-shirt coloured according to which secondary school they feed into, went round an incredible 21 different stations, taking part in a huge range of fun and games. Organised by Community Athletics coach Femi Akinsanya and the Partnership's School Sports Co-ordinators, youngsters participated in events

Award and received medals from GB No 3 heptathlete Grace Clements. Comberton-based Partnership Development Manager Claire McDonnell said: "The day was a great success, all the children had a great day and enjoyed taking part in different activities. Tug of war seemed to be the most popular event. "Many thanks to the sports leaders and our sponsors, Money Matters, as without them the day would not be possible."

AIM, FIRE:Pupils from Bourn using golf clubs at the target station.

New event is success

COMBERTON’Sfirst multi-skills event attracted nearly 200 pupils from the feeder primary schools. They were all keen and raring to go for it — even if some were not too sure what multi-skills is….

So multi-skills…sounds cool? What is it? It’s a range of physical activities designed to improve and challenge individuals’ agility, balance and co-ordination.

This could mean running through a series of cones to develop speed of foot movement, practising different balancing techniques or hand-eye co-ordination through racket skills. You get the idea?

RAFTRACING:

Making the most of the water even when there was no wind.

Water adventures

THIS term the Sailing Club set out on a new adventure: we changed the venue of our evenings to Nene Park in Peterborough – here we could take pupils who wanted to start sailing, pupils who wanted some race training and we could also take windsurfers to learn on a much smaller lake than the ‘scary’ Grafham Water!

One night there was just no wind so we took half the group out in kayaks and half completed a raft-building challenge – and what a challenge!

One group built a raft that floated high on the water, but no-one could get on to it; one group’s raft separated half way round the course and they had to try to finish the race on two rafts instead; one group looked so cool, other pupils couldn’t help themselves – sabotage soon followed!

We’ve had a wonderful term spending Wednesday evenings on the water (or sometimes in the water), and would like to thank all the pupils involved for their excellent behaviour and enthusiasm. Ms Smith, Mr Evans and Mrs Sharpe

The Year 1s followed a series of 12 tasks that challenged these skills. Some were tougher than others, but each was achievable and could be practiced at home with limited equipment for further improvement. The idea was to have a co-operative framework — pupils were not trying to out score other teams, the focus was on 'doing your very best'. And for this there was an award; the 'Greatest Effort Award' went to The Vine School, with Barton and Bourn close runners-up.

The event was a huge success, but this had nothing to do with teachers — it was down to the Year 1 pupils with their exceptional effort levels and the Year 10s who were the leaders for the day. More than 50 of them led the activities and acted as group leaders, showing the participants where to go and what to do.

I had said that for the event to be a success, the Year 10s needed to do a great job but they did more than that; they were amazing! Well done to everyone involved. It was nicely summed up by a pupil from The Vine, who said: "That was the best day ever!"

Mark Goldring, Assistant Director of Sport

ALLGO:Action from the KS1 multi-skills festival.

Riding high!

THREE teams from Comberton took part in an inter-schools show-jumping challenge at Jay Farm, the Equestrian Centre in Potton.

The competition was just like any other show-jumping competition, where you (or rather your horse) jump round a course without knocking any poles down or refusing any jumps, to try to get a clear round.

If you do manage to jump clear in the first round, then you go into the jump-off, where you jump again, but this time against the clock, with the fastest clear round winning.

Out of several schools and 13 teams present at the event, the Comberton boys were fastest overall in their class and scooped the first prize. The two Comberton girls’ teams were third and sixth. The first team comprised Harvey Roberts, Huw Gordon and Marcus Wing. The second team was Holly Jukes, Tabitha Love and Daisy Frame and the third team was Rebecca McKenzie, Catherine McKenzie, Jane Tucker and Holly Jukes (on a different pony).

All in all it was a good day for riders, ponies and horses.

After the prizes had been given out the judges allowed all the winners a ‘lap of honour’ around the edge of the very large show jumping field. The horses all got rather excited and the lap of honour turned into a wild gallop, but no-one fell off and everyone managed to hang on to their rosettes. It was tiring (because horse riding is hard work) and we all went home hot and dusty (the competition took place in that really warm spell of weather we had in May) but we were very happy because all three Comberton teams had done so well. A very big thank you goes to Holly Jukes’ mum for organising all the teams and sorting out our entries.

Tabitha Love (10B)

ROSETTESALLROUND:Comberton’s boys’ team (top) were first and two girls’ teams finished third (above) and sixth.

Conquering the toughest test

COMBERTON’SDirector of ICT Sean Sumner is targetting a top-20 finish next year after an impressive performance in one of the most gruelling cycle races in England earlier this term.

He was an incredible 23rd of 863 finishers in the 112-mile charity Fred Whitton Challenge around the Lake District.

He was also the sixth veteran (over-40) home and knocked 20 minutes off his time from the previous year. The race started and finished at Coniston and included the climbs of Kirkstone Pass, Honister Pass, Newlands Pass, Cold Fell, Irton Pike and finished with the brutal Hardknott and Wrynose Passes — total climbing of 3,500m. Mr Sumner, who trains at least six days a week and covers between 150 and 250 miles, completed the race in 6hr 23 min 42 sec.

He hopes to improve on that next time after another rider fell into him on the last pass, forcing him to walk 100m until the gradient allowed him to get back on and ride.

Proceeds from the Challenge are donated to MacMillan Nurses and the Dave Rayner Fund, set up in memory of Dave, to assist ambitious riders to make a successful career from cycle racing.

That race is the toughest in Mr Sumner’s annual calendar of events, which includes regular races of 40-90 miles in the Eastern Road Race League which his Colchester-based Loto Olympia Team Interbike currently leads.

PEDALPOWER:Director of ICT Sean Sumner at the Fred Whitton Challenge.

Pupils commit to hours of fun

OVER the last year the PE department has provided in excess of 3,400 hours of extra curricular activities.

They included racket sports, invasion games, trampolining, athletics and dance.

New activities for this year have been rowing and cycling, which have been supported very well.

The success of the clubs is due to the enthusiasm and motivation of the PE staff who have made great efforts in providing quality after school teaching and coaching, but mainly down to the Comberton pupils keen to further their skills, experience and knowledge but to have fun at the same time.

Not all clubs have been run solely by Comberton staff, we also have had great support, quality provision and a wealth of experience from qualified external coaches assisting in triathlon, cycling, judo, tennis, basketball, football and trampolining clubs.

The contribution of funding that families have provided each term towards extra-curricular clubs has been much appreciated and enabled the PE department to purchase new equipment for the pupils to utilise.

A big thank you to all who have attended and been involved in the clubs over the year.

PE department

Picture courtesy ofAndrew Kennedy

STUDIES

All the right moves

VOCATIONALeducation continued to flourish at Comberton this term, with our focus firmly on three issues. These were making sure all Year 10 are enjoying and achieving on their BTEC courses; receiving external confirmation that we are running the courses to the high standard we would want; and making sure we're ready to run two new courses in September — construction and hairdressing.

The other articles on this page demonstrate just how much the Year 10 students are getting out of these vocational courses: whether it's dealing with difficult customers, or producing huge sculptures to display at Strawberry Fair.

We have also had four other people, external to the school, confirm what we felt, which is that these vocational courses are an exciting and valuable

ONDISPLAY: ‘Mer-cow’, which was made by pupils.

Recycled beauty!

IFyou walked up Victoria Avenue in Cambridge on the first Saturday in June, towards the city centre, you cannot have missed the leopard-print mermaid to your left.

A magnificent specimen, she was built out of chicken wire and papier-mache as a themed recycling bin by BTEC Art and Design students. The Strawberry Fair committee contacted us a month ago to ask us to produce some artwork for the fair.

In all, BTEC students (with some Year 9 imput) produced the “Mer-cow” as she has been named, two mythological creature photo boards (thanks Adam Vaudin) and five bodies cast in sellotape and stuffed with newspaper (Thanks 9V and 9T).

The atmosphere at the Fair was laid-back and friendly.

This was a testament to the power of art and a testament to the tenacity of certain Comberton students who gave up their Thursday afternoons to create the work (Andy Smith, Chris Bendon, Jamie Bishop, Charlie Raiser, Fran Arguinarena and Rosie Jackson).

opportunity for pupils in themselves, and that the way we are running them is of a very high quality.

Each of the three,BTECcourses, Business Studies, Art &Design and Sport, was assessed by an external moderator from the exam board, who looked at pupils’ work, the type of assignments they've been working on, and how we're tracking their progress and supporting them to achieve.

All three courses passed, with various things noted for particular praise. In addition, our School Improvement Partner spent a day this term with pupils and staff involved in the BTEC, observing lessons, talking to people and generally discussing what we were doing. His report following this was very favourable – well done everyone!

Lorna Bateson, Director of Vocational Studies

Test of nerve in role plays

THEbusiness studies groups took part in a role play assignment based on customer service. All the role plays were based around the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which we had been researching.

We had to do two role plays, the first of which was as a waiter in the café and the second was a ticket booker answering the telephone in the Bookings Office.

Some of the skills we had to show were:

 Good body language

 Customer service

 Good presentation (e.g. clean shoes, ironed clothes, clean hair, etc)

WAITER,

We also had to make our role plays as close to a work situation as we could.

In the first role play, pupils had to act as a waiter in the Regatta Café, and deal with a customer complaint about cold food. Matthew Starace had a dog in his role play, several pupils had screaming children to contend with, Aaron Pettican brought a napkin in to feel more the part, and Peter Evans even brought in a suit to wear!

We were also assessed on a phone call, playing the role of customer services, having to think on the spot and respond appropriately.

We were assessed individually in the Performance Hall.

We were filmed and the drama assistant played the role of the customer to make it as realistic as possible.

We all found this an enjoyable task, although a little nerve-wracking!

Kev Stearn (10C) and Melissa Wood (10V)

MYFOODISCOLD:Pupils learned to deal with awkward situations.