Activities Week is back! COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE
As the world returns towards a new normal of living alongside Covid, it has been a delight to return to some of the traditional end of term activities.
Two weeks ago, we saw sports days for all pupils from Year 6 to Year 10, with a new intake day, also for Year 6s. Last week we had a huge array of different activities taking place. Nearly all Year 7 students went to Beaumanor Hall in Leicestershire, enjoying a week of challenges and adventures (see Page 22).
Year 10 and Year 12 students undertook a diverse range of work experience placements while those in Years 8 and 9 had more than 20 different activities that they chose from. Those on-site included international cooking, artwork, drama, dance, music, craftwork, STEM challenges, coding and robot building, whilst the trips included skiing, snowboarding, horse-riding, history trips, adventure week and the ‘adrenaline rush’ week! On these two pages, we offer a taster of what’s been going on.
Good Gig Guide
Ten lucky students spent the week learning how to organise and run events as part of Good Gig Guide week. We visited Storey’s Field Community Centre in Eddington and the Arts Centre in Cambridge to learn about backstage and technical work. Later in the week we ran the show for the Drama, Dance and Music weeks. Altogether we learned a great amount about how to run a successful event and the different careers available in the performing arts industry.
Ski Week
The start of the week saw 15 slightly nervous Year 9s take to the slopes at Hemel Hempstead! Whilst some spent a lot of time getting knocked down, they certainly knew how to get back up again and give skiing their best go! Within two days, we already had pupils making their way to the top of the slope linking turns! Some fantastic control of speed shown — by some! Well done to all pupils.
History Week
Over the course of Activities Week, a group of Year 8 and 9 students immersed themselves in the past with 'Seeing History' activities. We started with a trip to the Great War Huts near Bury St Edmunds, where students sampled the experiences of the Cambridgeshire soldiers who joined up in 1914, and found out about some fascinating local stories. The next day at the Imperial War Museums in London, students
explored various displays, including the new Holocaust gallery. This was particularly emotive because it had many artefacts that students could explore via 3D imagery on iPads. Building on this, students spent two days in school, using different sources which can tell the story of the early Cold War. They finished the week with a trip into Cambridge, to enjoy both the local history that the city has to offer, and the ancient artefacts of the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Board Games
Pupils played a variety of games, from grand strategybased games to Jenga. Fun was had by the group of Year 8s and 9s by conquering the galaxy and making stacks of sushi!
Music Week
We had an exciting week, Nikki and Beth, our dance teachers, taught us four dances. We danced to the Greatest Showman mix, Couldn’t be better from Ugly Doll and 21 Reasons. Each morning we started off with a game and warm up and
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As ever, an eclectic mix of musicians descended on the Music Department. From classically trained pianists to tragically pained composers, the creativity juices flowed! It was great that so many explored their songwriting and tried never-before-played instruments. Here are some quotes from the music week
members: “Some interesting creative differences but rest of us agreed that Pepijn was wrong.” “And Ziggy played guitar…but hasn’t been able to locate Gilly or the Spiders from Mars…but there appeared to be plenty of weird.” “The world is meaningless without the crash cymbal.” “There is more to life than the maj13 chord.”
Dance Week
Coding Week
got into learning dances. It was lots of fun and tiring. At the end of the week we performed the dances to other students at school. Tamara (8I)
For coding, electronics and robot week, we went to the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge. We had a great time looking at old computers and learning about how computers have evolved.
