News@com spring 09 by The Cam Academy Trust

The News Magazine of Comberton Village College

ISSUE 20, SPRING 2009

SUCCESS STORY! YEAR 7 pupil Beth Cadwalladr is now a published author.

The 12-year-old from Hardwick won a competition organised to coincide with World Book Day earlier this term. Her story — The Cry of the Wolf — was one of just 11 chosen from the nearly 3,000 entries from 500 schools to the 2009 Evans Schools Short Story Competition to go in an anthology of secondary school pupils’ work. And to add even more prestige, Beth’s story was chosen for the title of the anthology — The Cry of the Wolf and other short stories — and is the first one in the book. A separate book from Primary School winners has also been published. Beth and others in Mr Shelley’s English group entered the competition after being given the first line of a story — different schools were given different openings — to work from. Theirs came from adventure writer Bear Grylls and Beth came up with a tale in which a boy is torn between his allegiances to man and to nature. She was presented with her own copy of the book and a certificate during an English lesson and the school has been given 100 copies as well. “I was absolutely amazed when I heard I had won,” said Beth. “I used to write a lot of stories when I was younger, but haven’t done many since I was in about Year 4.”

Green light for sixth form

Mr Shelley said: “Beth’s story is a real treat! She’s used the opening sentence in a really clever way, the writing is rich WAY WITH WORDS: The award is handed and original.” over during an English lesson. The competition was judged by Stewart Ross, one of Britain’s most versatile authors for young people. He said: “I find it difficult to believe what I have been reading. Many of these stories, by 7 to 15 year olds, are vastly better than adult equivalents. Anyone wanting to know what the young are thinking nowadays, how their minds are working, is urged to read these terrific collections — and stand amazed at their skill, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, wit and painful honesty.” The Cry of the Wolf and other short stories went on sale around the country for £3.99 on March 5. All profits from the sale of the anthology will be donated to World Book Day. Another Comberton pupil was also a hit on paper. Fiona Carter, in Year 9, reached the finals of the Doodle4Google competition. Full story — Page 3

COMBERTON’S new sixth form will open in 2011. At a recent meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council, the development of an exciting new £7.5m state-of-the-art sixth form was given the go-ahead. This ambitious and generously-funded project will mean teaching spaces built to the highest specifications, with specialist facilities and library/study areas equipped with the very latest in ICT provision. Social spaces will include a café, refectory and student common room. Work has already started on planning and we will shortly

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be looking for budding architects and planners in Year 9 to advise on all aspects of the plans. Following extensive research, a curriculum for the new sixth form has been approved by governors which matches the needs and aspirations of Comberton pupils. At the heart of the curriculum is the new ‘English Baccalaureate’ which has traditional A-levels at its core with the added advantage of accreditation for additional elements such as Duke of Edinburgh, critical thinking and an extended research project. Turn to Page 2

Hot-shot cadet is off to Canada YEAR 11 pupil Catherine McKeever heads for Canada after her GCSE exams this summer after winning a place on a prestigious Army Cadet marksman course. Catherine, who is a Lance Corporal, will spend more than a month near Ottowa after being selected from hundreds of young hopefuls from around the UK. She is now just one of 14 cadets who will have her fitness and personal skills stretched to the limit on the all-action training course. She and the other British cadets will train and live with Canadian cadets on a course which will test self reliance and personal qualities to the full. The 'Connaught' cadet leadership instructor marksman course, being held at a specially-equipped training centre between 13th July and 21st August, will provide Catherine with high level instruction to develop skills in shooting, leadership and coaching fellow cadets. At the end of her training in Canada she will take part with Canadian, French and German cadets in the Canadian National Shooting Competition. "When I was in the scouts I was looking for something different so I joined the army cadets. I never believed that one day I would be chosen for a course

like this", said Catherine. "I am very proud of my shooting and have become a member of both the PYE small bore shooting club in Cambridge and the Bunhill full bore shooting club at Bisley in Surrey. “I am determined to prove I am up to the challenge and to enjoy this opportunity to the full." During her three years of cadet service, Catherine has served with Comberton, St Neots and Cherry Hinton detachments and already holds the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. As a keen target shooter she has earned county shooting colours and been awarded the county's Kevin Pilcher Shield for excellence in marksmanship two years running. At the world famous Bisley range in 2008 she won the CRACK SHOT: Catherine McKeever’s coveted National Rifle Shooting Association marksshooting skills have earned her a trip man badge and success in Canada will mean further to Canada. advancement to Cadet Leader Instructor which carries entitle- From Page 1 ment to wear the spe- To ensure choice and breadth which matches students’ aspirations, we cial qualification also seek to offer the increasingly popular Pre-U qualification as well badge reserved for top as vocational options and the new post-16 Diplomas. level cadet shots. Look out for regular sixth form updates in future editions of News@Com. Phillip Evans, Deputy Principal

Green light for sixth form

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

New Team in Place — Page 3

Doodle Leads to Royal Meeting — Page 3 All will be Revealed — Page 3 Show Must Go On — Page 4 Relaxed Way to Learn — Page 4

Here we Snow — Page 9 Hardwick Go Through — Page 10 Lessons on Horseback — Page 10 The Beat Goes On — Page 11 Artful Dodgers — Page 11

Bond Ball is Big Hit — Page 5

Success Recognised — Page 12 Brilliant Bouncing— Page 12

Bringing Shakespeare to Life —

Girls Unbeaten — Page 12

Page 5 Title Chance — Page 6

Boys’ Brave Show — Page 12

Pupils have it Worked Out — Page 6 Pressure Cooking — Page 6 Getting to Grips with Packaging — Page 6 What an Experience — Page 7 Sharing Good Practice — Page 7 Focus on PEOPLE — Pages 8 & 9

Applied Learning Update — Page 13 Hairdressing Taster — Page 13 Weighing up Options — Page 13 BTEC Business — Pages 14 & 15 Playing with Fire — Page 15 BTEC Sport — Page 16 Designed and edited by Judy Czylok. Contact: publicity@comberton.cambs.sch.uk

Every little helps . . .

COMBERTON is collecting Tesco ‘Schools and Clubs’ vouchers again this year. It is hoped that enough will be collected to exchange for items of ICT equipment and to provide new school equipment to complement the fund-raising activities of the CVC Trust Fund. Our target is to collect 45,000 vouchers so if you, family and friends shop at Tesco please collect the vouchers for us. They are available in stores until Sunday June 7. Last year we were able to get two Digital Document Camera Visualisers for the MFL department, a DigiMemo Digital Note Pad for the ICT department and a brilliant Lego Mindstorms robotics engineering and programming kit for use by pupils in after-school activities.

Surf all about it!

THIS edition of News@Com is also available as an epublication with a page index, word search, tell-afriend, print and download options. Go to www.publications.combertonvc.org. Past and current issues of Sport@Com and Lingua@Com are also available in this format.

New team in place

THE new Head Prefect Team has been chosen and are set to take over after the Easter holidays.

SURPRISE VISITOR: The Queen at the Doodle for Google final.

Doodle leads to Royal meeting

IN the summer term of 2008 I entered the Doodle4Google competition as a result of some drawing we were doing in my art class. Doodle4Google is open to anyone from the ages of 5 to 16 and asks children across the UK to design their own doodle incorporating the google logo. This year, pupils were asked to create a doodle around the idea of ‘My Community’ and what it means to them. I tried to make my entry represent a global representation of my community, although it took me a long time to produce a piece that I was happy with. It wasn’t until September that I found out that my doodle had been selected in the top 12 in my age group out of 70,000, which was totally unexpected. After an open voting contest, it was then rated in the top three, which meant I was invited to London to visit the Google headquarters and to spend the day with Dennis Hwang, who does the original doodles for Google. I had no idea that anything else had been planned so it was a very big surprise for me when we were told that The Queen would be coming to visit and that we would get to meet her and to show her our drawings! When she arrived, I was pretty nervous at first, but fortunately she didn’t ask me any difficult questions. The rest of the day was taken up with some drawing and painting workshops which really inspired me and improved my techniques a lot. Overall, the day was a lot of fun and I would like to thank Mr Isley for entering my doodle in the first place! Fiona Carter (9R)

Micha Thomas and Michael Booth have been chosen as Head Prefects with Alice Bentley and Richard Tanburn as the Deputy Heads. They are now liaising with the current Head Prefects in preparation for their new roles. Out of a remarkable 32 applicants for next year’s Head Prefect Team, a group of eight students were chosen to go through a nerve-racking interview process. The interviews were divided into two different parts: a presentation to the student panel (with the present Head Prefects, Year 7 students and teaching staff) and an indepth interview with a panel of senior staff. Each candidate was asked to prepare and deliver a presentation on a subject of their choice for the student panel. These presentations covered a wide variety of topics from music and books to hard-hitting themes like racism and sustainable fashion and were all impressively delivered. Following that, the candidates immediately faced a comprehensive interview with the staff panel. All students performed exceptionally well. Both panels were overwhelmed by the level of professionalism shown by all of the candidates and the decision of choosing the new team of Head Prefects was by no means easy.

All will be revealed soon IT’S not just been the Head Prefect applicants who have been working their way through a tough process to step into leadership roles in the school. This term we were very impressed that 78 Year 10 pupils applied for a senior prefect or prefect role. Our prefect team is a vital part of our college life: small teams of prefects work on significant projects in areas of the school from supporting the running of parents’ evenings through to interviewing poten-

TOP TEAM: The new Head Prefects will take over after the Easter Holidays.

tial staff at the college. After studying the application forms, a shortlist of candidates for senior prefect roles was invited to interviews led by the new Head Prefect team, before the final prefect team was decided. The results will only be known by all pupils on the first day of the Easter holidays, so we won’t announce it here. Look out for a lot more on this in the summer issue! Hannah Powell, Co-ordinator of Student Leadership

Show must go on! DOUBLE BILL: Comberton pupils performed Perfect Pirates (left) and Defying Gravity in one show.

WHEN snow stopped play earlier in the term, the combined casts of Defying Gravity and Perfect Pirates decided that the show must go on — six weeks later. More than 300 pupils were involved in this year’s production which combined a “Songs from the Musicals” show performed by 50 pupils from all years with the annual Year 7 production. This time around the year group transformed themselves into pirates to re-

WE LOVE IT: Members of the Year 7 Spanish Club.

enact the story of Anne Bonny and Mary Reid — an infamous pair who made waves together. Head of Music Ben Parker said: “Putting on a show together, especially one of such proportions, is one of the most powerful demonstrations of commitment and teamwork children can undertake. “The inspiration behind putting a show on as a year group is to give all pupils the opportunity to take part in a common experience and for them to unite as a cohort.”

Looking all around

THE Raptor Rescue, based in Somersham, visited the college last month to talk to the Over 60s Friendly Circle. Volunteers from the Rescue brought six lovely owls with them, which everyone was allowed to touch. They gave lots of information about these beautiful birds, not least that they have more bones in their necks than a giraffe, which allows them 360 degree vision. Also, not all owls are nocturnal. The Rescue aims to set free all the birds it cares for whenever possible, but continues to look after those too badly injured. The Circle is made It will help you to remember more Spanish up of over 60s clubs in the area words. and has met at If you are interested in Year 7 Spanish club the college each after reading this, you can come to MFL 3 on term for 40 years. Wednesday lunchtimes. Bring your lunch For more informaand friends with you.You can come for a try tion on the Circle, and you don't have to come every week if contact the you don't want to. Community We hope to see you in Spanish Club! Education Dept on (01223) 264721. Long-Yin Chan (7B)

A relaxed way to learn HAVE you heard of Spanish Club? Do you know what Spanish Club is? We are here to tell you all about it. Spanish Club is run by Mr Garcia, who comes from Spain, and is a place to go and learn more Spanish. The teacher will help you with your homework and you can also ask him questions about Spanish. It is also a relaxing place to eat your lunch and hang around with your friends while learning Spanish in a happy relaxed way.

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Bond ball is a big hit MORE than 100 stunningly attired guests took cover as 'Bond' aka Stephen Munday strolled nonchalantly into the 'Principal's Ball' to the 'James Bond' theme tune, and then pulled out his 'spud' gun and took aim.

Thankfully, no shots were fired and the evening passed off without bloodshed. Anne Jones, cunningly diguised as 'Miss Moneypenny', had been responsible for leading a team of helpers to transform the Performance Hall into a stunning, cocktail drinking, sequin sparkling banquetting venue, complete with black, red and silver décor, while Debbie Rogers and the catering team created a fabulous buffet dinner. The Cb3 team led by Jane Jones provided immaculate service throughout the evening; including the wonderful cocktail bar. The music was courtesy of the 'Rockin' Revival Band' with some familiar faces from the CVC site team. The dancers took to the floor for some great old classic tunes. Fortunes were won and lost in the 'Casino'. The roulette wheel and Black Jack table proving to be very popular. Perhaps most importantly, all of the fun during the evening led to some essential fundraising of £1,800 to provide a new 'audio-mixer' for the Performance Hall; a piece of kit that is crucial not

HOW DO YOU FEEL: Year 9 pupils try to replicate some of the emotions from Romeo and Juliet.

THE BOND BALL: Enjoying the dancing and casino. Pictures courtesy of St Ives Photographic Studios.

only for in-school performances but also for the wider community who provide the local area with arts events. We were delighted to receive many valuable raffle prizes from local businesses and supporters of CVC. The CVC Trustees would like to thank everyone who attended and supported the event. They would also like to invite any parents or friends of

CVC who would like to get involved with the fundraising work of the CVC Trust Fund to make contact with them (details are available via the college website, www.combertonvc.org). Together we can continue to support the pupils of CVC to have the very best of facilities and equipment plus ensure that CVC remains an essential resource to the local community.

Bringing Shakespeare to life

THE atmosphere was mounting as Year 9 students gathered outside the Performance Hall. No-one knew what to expect as they entered the hall for a day of Shakespeare. It could have been a dread to go to school that morning for some, but when the day got going, great fun and amusement was revealed. Many enjoyed the first two periods of the day, when everyone got to have a chance at directing a part of a scene through the workshops staged by Shakespeare in Schools. The results were quite amusing. When we had met the actors, directed a scene and even suggested to what film the actors could act out the scenes, we met the Shakespeare in Schools director! Many laughed at his stories of school, his tales of Shakespeare and his nightmares of the “hobgoblin from hell”. The hobgoblin was his English teacher, and it had been her who got him into acting. We were then lucky enough to have the chance to work with the director, Rob. This was in one of the workshops. Each actor had a group of students to work with in the next two lessons of the day. Each group did a range of interesting activities, which included: acting out an edited scene from the play Romeo and Juliet, hot seating and many more. After lunch, everyone made their way back to the Performance Hall to watch the play. Everyone enjoyed the top-class performance we got and although some scenes were edited out, the play was very clear. A great day was had by all! Phil Chapman (90) Woodwind & Brass Instruments Sheet Music & Accessories In-house Repair Workshop Mail Order Expert Advice Russell Street

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Pressure cooking

FINAL FOUR: The quartet from CVC who have reached the national finals.

Title chance A COMBERTON team has reached the national finals of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge for the third time in 10 years.

The quartet of Emma Bithell, Siddarth Basetti (Year 8), Joe Dickens and Joanna Raymond (Year 9) will challenge for the title after winning a thrilling regional round earlier this term. Against a strong field of 35 teams from across East Anglia they saw off determined competition from Bottisham Village College and Bishop's Stortford School to win after a frantic final relay round. The three earlier rounds, one of which consisted of a fiendish cross number, ended with the three teams on equal points, but coolness under pressure won out in the end. Let's hope it's third time lucky when Comberton goes national next term! Jonathan Love

Pupils have it worked out NINETEEN pupils reached the second rounds of the UKMT individual maths challenge two weeks ago after achieving high marks in the first test. Douglas Buisson, Stuart Parker, Chris Hughes (Year 11), Kalen SabnisThomas, Guy Nicholls (Year 10) and Joe Dickens (Year 9) all competed at the higher Olympiad level, while Catherine Gresham, Sanjay Bloor, William Martin, Haojie Xu, Tim Whitbread,

Anna Carter, Charlotte Horne, Tim Shaw (Year 11), Daniel Murphy, Richard Tanburn, Shu Sam Chen (Year 10), Joshua Oosterhuis and Joanna Raymond (Year 9) took the Kangaroo level paper. Overall Comberton students in Years 911 collected a total of 24 gold awards, 19 silvers and 15 bronzes, a fantastic level of achievement.

THE Year 10 graphics group have been busy this term, designing and making boxes. We think they would make ideal packaging for mini chocolate Easter eggs. Packaging is made using a net. We decided to make two nets, each decorated in a different style. We created a black and white deco relief print by hand, which we then scanned so that the image could be copied and repeated to make a

pattern. This was edited to fit the net of our choice in order to make the final package.We then drew a Nouveau design straight into 2D Design. This time we edited the colours using Photoshop, to make it more original. Then we could copy, paste and re-shape our pattern to fit the net of our choice. Here are some examples of our work. You will just have to imagine the chocolate!

Getting to grips with packaging

TO be in with a chance of competing in the Young Rotary Chef of the Year competition, we had a mini-heat at school. We stayed after school and each cooked a main course for one, within a budget of £4. The Head Chef from the University Arms Hotel (Richard) and his second chef came to judge and chose the best dishes based on presentation, flavour and skill. On this occasion I cooked Sticky Chicken Kebabs with Green Lime Couscous. Richard chose my dish and Devin Barry’s Beef Wellington on a bed of spinach with glazed carrots. After Christmas, we went to see Richard at the University Arms to discuss what menu we would each cook for the competition. I was amazed at how big the kitchens were; there was even a basement to store all the ingredients in! The brief for the competition was: to cook a healthy 3-course meal for two people costing no more than £14 in total to be completed within 2 hours. The menu I decided on was a Tian (which just means stack!) of roasted vegetables, Stuffed Plaice Rolls with Duchesse Potatoes served with Baby Vegetables and a Tiger Prawn Salsa and a Lemon Mousse with Citrus Confit. Devin chose Goat Cheese Bruchettas, Stuffed Chicken Breast with Herbed Couscous and Glazed Carrots, and an English Apple Tart. Richard taught us how to make the dishes and present them professionally and allowed us to use the hotel kitchens and his ingredients. We each visited the hotel a few more times in order to prepare and practise fully. Eventually I felt confident enough to do it on my own! The competition was held in our school, which made me a little calmer as I knew the kitchen. However, on the day of the competition, I was nervous all through the morning’s lessons. I calmed down a little when we saw the other contestants arriving looking just as anxious and just became excited instead — I couldn’t wait to start! Waiting for the judges to make their decision did take ages — then the most nerve-racking part was the announcer reading out the winners’ names. I was thrilled to hear that I had come second, which meant that I was through to the next round. Of course there was then a lot of washing up to do, FOCUS ON FOOD: The first round of but for once I was the Rotary Chef competition at CVC. very happy to do it! The District Final was held a few weeks later at the West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds. Just enough time to have a few more sessions with Richard in the hotel. Again I was nervous, especially since I had not worked in these kitchens before. We had to take absolutely everything with us, down to teaspoons, cocktail sticks and even a kettle (although they did provide the kitchen sink!) All went well and I was pleased that I hadn’t made any silly mistakes. Again the long wait for the results, only this time I wasn’t so lucky. However along the way I have accumulated an M&S voucher, an apron and hat, a recipe book and a squirrel from Girton College! (where I had a day’s training). I really enjoyed all of it! Roseanna McMahon (10R)

What an experience! COMBERTON ran the largest single school ski trip in the UK when 143 pupils, parents and staff went skiing in Italy at half-term.

And once the skiing started, the journey of more than 24 hours was soon forgotten. Here, trip newcomer Mrs Morrison gives her impressions: “My first — and I thought — last experience of skiing came at the age of nine, when my sister had a party at the Bassingbourn dry ski slope. “I spent the entire one-hour lesson unable even to stand with skis on my feet. “That, I decided, was it. Never again would I be induced to tog myself up and head out into the snow. “Imagine my surprise when I found myself

hurtling into a line of patiently assembled children whilst instructor Sabine shouted ‘snow plough, snow plough!’ at me. “Somehow I had been persuaded that accompanying the beginners’ group on the ski trip would be a good idea. “It turned out that it was. “After a slightly shaky first day, group nine and I were flying. I could not have wished to spend the week with a more cheerful and supportive bunch of students. “As soon as somebody fell down (which happened with alarming frequency) at least three hands were extended to help pull them up. The sound of ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Well done!’ ‘AARRGGGHH!’ echoed down the slopes. “Occasionally, I even managed to stop concen-

RACING LINES: The slalom competition on the final day.

WINNERS: The Comberton King and Queen of the Mountains.

UP AND OVER: A Comberton pupil attempts a jump. trating and worrying and actually look up to take in the awe-inspiring scenery. “We really were blessed with fantastic conditions all week; thick, white snow and azure blue skies. “Of course I soon realised that the skiing, snowboarding and scenery were only a fraction of the Comberton Village College experience. “Once equipment had been dispensed with in the locker room that was ingrained with the smell of cheesy feet, we huddled on to the ski bus and got down to the serious business of socialising in our hotels. “The first night saw a glorious array of whoopee cushions, elves and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles at the fancy dress disco. Other highlights in the week included a fantastic trip to a pizzeria in which practically everybody took to the floor at some point to try their hand at a spot of salsa dancing. “The final night culminated in an epic talent show that really did showcase the weird and wonderful — Naveen’s ability to attach spoons to his face will surely go down in CVC history.” In the racing Katie-Jane Isbister and Tom Wilmott won the King and Queen of the Mountain titles and Ben Littledyke won the Snowboarders’ Championship.

Sharing good practice on matters of health NATIONALLY, the quality and success of Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) is often under question. At Comberton we feel very positive about our SRE and aim to deliver a programme which provides accurate information, but also that equips students with the skills to make healthy choices in their relationships. Recently, members of the English Department and a group of our Year 11 students worked in partnership with Cambridgeshire PSHE Service to produce a unit of work based on ‘Slam’, Nick Hornby’s first novel for young people. The book explores issues around sexual health and teen pregnancy. This piece of work has been distributed to other schools in the county as part of the Cambridgeshire Personal Development programme.

Our recent conference day for Year 11 focussed on issues around parenting and relationships. Not only did pupils explore some challenging theories about compatibility in relationships and the impact of relationship breakdown, they also had the opportunity to ask some of our own staff about their experiences of becoming parents and the particular challenges of parenting teens. We also invited a representative from RELATE to talk to pupils about the impact that having children can have on a relationship. Thank you very much to those who contributed to the day. Rebecca Lewis, Personal Development Co-Ordinator

Putting people first THE PEOPLE group began in 2005 and since then has dramatically helped the school towards setting up new policies for bullying, equality, voice expression and many others.

In addition to this, we have Key concepts: glossary of terms been holding Voice Expression Workshops and Prejudice: 'pre-judging', opinions or Anger Management workbias based on ideas and beliefs made We now have a large group ranging from Year 7 to 11 working together shops in order to get the qui- beforehand with things such as Peer Mediation, Lesson Observations, and PEOPLE eter people to speak up and Discrimination: unfair treatment based get their views on ideas of difference We always across, as well as Stereotype: a mental picture that reptrying to get every- resents an oversimplified opinion, a help anyone that one to participate prejudiced attitude, a thoughtless judgeneeds it, we deal fairly within a class. ment with lots of problems Another key thing Abusive language: words and phrases the PEOPLE group that insult an individual or group, not just bullying do is Peer whether used intentionally or unintenMediation. Peer tionally Mediation is where Sexism: prejudice or discrimination students can express against people (especially women) Please mention this publication when PEOPLE their opinions fairly because of their sex PRINCIPLES: contacting the Advertisers. It isabout through an issuetheir that Homophobic: prejudice or discriminahas happened at Members of generous and continued support that this tion against people who are sexually school. This is dif- attracted to those of the same sex the PEOPLE Magazine is brought to you atferent no tocost other to disci- Diversity: variation, difference, range group show pline policies Comberton Village College. (for example, in terms of race, age, ethbecause with Peer what they are nic background) Mediation everyone Tolerance: willingness or ability to striving for. We hope you will support these local gets their points accept difference and variation. awareness. heard, so noof onetheir feels stressed Perception: awareness, understanding, businesses in appreciation Every year we have a huge boost with the response we receive from the new or falsely accused. This belief College. Year 7s. They play a key role doing things in within their commitment forms and year to the process normally happens Equality: being equal, having the same groups including the “OK survey” which helps ensure all the Year 7s are with some fellow students rights, status and opportunities getting on fine at school. present, most likely a PEOWe have been looking at Language issues within the school. One of the PLE person. They are there to help the person see what they’ve done wrong most important things to do is to be able to come to school, and have a good and how the other person would feel in that situation. There are other types experience of your time at CVC. Nowadays more bad language is being of Peer Mediation which include class sessions and small group sessions. used in general conversation and this is being increasingly noticed by memWe have also recently taken part in exchanges with other schools; The Vine bers of staff and other students. in Cambourne and in the Harbour Special School, Wilburton. It has been Although some pupils do not notice, the words you use can hurt. It breaks great to see how different people learn and how different schools are run! the CVC Code of Conduct and will get you in serious trouble, but also you Vincent Menezes (10N) can end up hurting lots of people so the message is think before you speak!

‘We try to bring people together to help each other’

VOICE OF OPLE: THE PEOPLE Some off the ho pupils who worked on rticles. these articles

Rig ght words do matter

SCHOOL L has always been a wonderful place to socialise. he most One of the mo important things to do is to be ave a conversation and a pleasant chat able to have nds. However, it seems that many of with friends. H the wordss used in these conversations have ncreasingly rude and insulting. Swear become increa ve found words have fou their way into even the most and insulting phrases have casual of discussions discu earing more and more often. been appearing Some of us are not happy with this situation. h pupils Although pupi may not realise it, words CAN dents are very uncomfortable when hurt. Students acked with rough words which can being attacked educe their confidence. All the negativstart to reduce means that pupils can feel ity about themselves them s, depressed, or feel like they have a worthless, depr problem about themselves. Another problem is ough rude phrases may not be directed that although r ne, they to someone, th can act as pollution and create mosphere for teachers and pupils alike; a bad atmosph phere that instead of helping the learnan atmosphere onment makes it worse. ing environmen ople may Some people m be surprised to find that peourt by what we say but they can. There ple get hurt mber of are a number o reasons why people think using riate words is doesn't matter: inappropriate w You heard eard yyour friends saying rude things and continued nued the 'trend' It's cool ol to sswear as it makes you look tough You think hink it it's the best way to let out your emotions You don't on't w want to look like a 'wimp' by using

'nice' words You don't know any other words to replace the rude words You want to stop but can't help the words blurting out There are a number of solutions to go with all the causes for using bad language. Stop and think about what you just read about bad language hurting other people. Now that you know the effects of this trend, is it one that you want to continue? Although you may think it makes you look tough, it's more likely to make people think you're simply a rude and unpleasant person to be with. Sometimes we can't help being mad, but we can help what we do when we are mad. Instead of swearing, try saying nonsense! It may sound crazy but saying mixed up phrases can be surprisingly effective. The surprising truth is that more people will look up to you for using nice language than you think. Try using long words and impress everyone around you! Take a challenge! Get a friend and make each other do a forfeit each time a person swears! The use of bad language is not only breaking the CVC code of conduct but preventing you from being yourself and someone you can respect. So next time you're tempted to swear, think to yourself: why am I doing this? Anne-Lucie Bugain (7B)

A movement for posititive change

SINCEwith the initiation To advertise us of the PEOPLE movement, many positive changes have taken

SHARING IDEAS: A PEOPLE group meeting.

DESIGN

place. Pupil voice primarily accounts for these changes, and pupils who need support or guidance Please callby way of the PEOPLE group often feel more assured and motivated to respond to suggestions and approach the benefits for everyone — benefits which now on 01480 455123 arise firstly with acceptance of the Equal Opportunities policy. or As email such the interest in PEOPLE participation has been growing, particularly with the yearly induction of Year 7 into the workings of the PEOPLE scheme, and the sales@searsweb.com ‘OK Survey’ which aims to help immersion into the CVC way of life as quickly as possible. ‘We try to Ask Mrs.for Martin was the originator, and her ongoing assertion that PEOPLE people calm and help need commitment Dee, Hannah or has reaped its rewards – in terms of pupil cohesion, lesson observation, peer mediation and cultural appreciation among other things. people if Stephen The latter is the new broad focus for development, especially seeing as the actions they’re having and choices of other countries around the globe are having increasingly loud repertrouble’ cussions for our own country.

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‘We listen to everyone and we are not biased in any way’

Here we snow . . . WE couldn’t wait any longer!

Snow days can have their advantages, bad weather can hold us back but in the end the Year 8 Explorers decided we just had to go for it and ride anyway. The forecast was for early sun followed by rain and sleet but the rain came early and made the snow and ice slippery and unpredictable. Undaunted and wrapped up we set out for an adventure in the snow! By the end of the ride faces were pink with the winter chill but we were more than warm with the effort of fighting through the snow. White snow is easy to ride on — like soft sand — but hard packed snow becomes ice and wheels slide sideways. Our progress was slow as we inched our way across treacherous patches avoiding any use of brakes. Our first objective was Comberton Church along the cobbled lane and then down the hill to the drift below the old vicarage. Here the snow was still dominant but the tractor tracks were full of water and ice. The secret is to ride on the ridges of the tracks and not fall in the water! Alex and Mark were a two who never made it and suffered wet feet in getting them-

It is held that the school experience always affects the level of commitment in any adult, working life ahead: and the choices we make determine much afterwards. adu The new techniques implemented to promote acceptance of the PEOPLE policies include Voice Workshops, which aim to ensure quieter members of a form group incl feel able to speak out and that perhaps the more dominant form members understand their impact and are aware of the need to balance the form’s voice. Anger stan Management workshops are similar to voice workshops but sessions, which are up Ma and running, are held on an individual basis. Peer Mediation is a fantastic opportunity for PEOPLE people to amalgamate the Pee skills they have learnt in a real situation, and Lesson Observation is another firstskil hand way of picking up on the scope of a form’s mood or cohesion. han Overall, as a school we ought to feel privileged to have permanent access to yet Ove another form of support in the PEOPLE movement, and know that the increasing ano interest in the system will always give rise to changes, and hopefully, a correspondinte ing increase in the school’s positive ethos. Sam Wood (9R)

Please mention this publication when contacting the Advertisers. It is through their generous and continued support that this Magazine is brought to you at no cost to Comberton Village College. We hope you will support these local businesses in appreciation of their commitment to the College.

selves out. Louis and Ben went in so deep they were up to their axles in mud! On the way back to Comberton we had the ‘King of the Mountains’ races — yes, there is a slight rise — where Nathan went neck and neck with Mr Rigg while Ben and Alex contested the other race. Then down the hill to play in ‘Watts Wood’, some good single track routes and the fearsome hill, just the climb up to ride down was scary. We returned to clean off, wipe down and ‘lube’ the bikes and do the same to ourselves. Our next challenge will be longer and further so we will have to ‘pace’ ourselves. Hopefully there will be some sun and no snow! Ian Rigg, Adventure Club Co-ordinator

MUDLARKS: Year 8 Explorers in the mud and ice during their cycling trip as part of the Adventure Club programme.

Putting people first THE PEOPLE group began in 2005 and since then has dramatically helped the school towards setting up new policies for bullying, equality, voice expression and many others.

‘We try to bring people together to help each other’

VOICE OF OPLE: THE PEOPLE Some off the ho pupils who worked on rticles. these articles

Rig ght words do matter

A movement for posititive change

SINCEwith the initiation To advertise us of the PEOPLE movement, many positive changes have taken

SHARING IDEAS: A PEOPLE group meeting.

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‘We listen to everyone and we are not biased in any way’

Here we snow . . . WE couldn’t wait any longer!

MUDLARKS: Year 8 Explorers in the mud and ice during their cycling trip as part of the Adventure Club programme.

Busy, busy . . . THE Spring term has brought many new clubs to our extra-curricular programme at Comberton. Within the 65 clubs on offer over the week we now have volleyball, girls’ rugby, cricket and badminton. With the dance classes also being a great success the extra curricular clubs take up almost

every inch of available space to provide Comberton pupils with a varied opportunity of activities. Hectic would be one word to describe the involvement in fixtures with competitions in rugby, netball, cross-country, football, trampolining, table tennis and dodgeball, some of which are detailed on the following pages.

Hardwick go through

FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS: Year 11 pupils get to grips with new partners for PE.

PE lessons on horseback

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against Bourn and Hardwick against The Vine. And while Hardwick were convincing winners, the other semi-final went to a penalty shootout thriller with Bourn edging through. They could not maintain their winning streak, however, as two goals apiece from Tyler Colling and Ben Goddard enabled Hardwick to retain the Rosswell Electrical Trophy.

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The Year 11 sport in the community group have now started a successful series of riding lessons in partnership with Springhill stables in Dry Drayton. The pupils have thoroughly enjoyed the experiences that they have had so far at the stables. Pupils will be having five one hour lessons during their core PE time. In these lessons pupils will be taught the basics of riding and stable management. This opportunity will be offered to Year 10 pupils after Easter. The pupils in the sport in the community group have already had the opportunity to experience golf, skiing, and fitness classes at LA Fitness.

HARDWICK will represent the Comberton family of schools at a District Year 5 and 6 boys’ football tournament next term. They won the cluster competition after a hardfought competition between seven of Comberton’s feeder primaries — many fielding two or even three teams. The original tournament was postponed because of snow and the weather could not have been more different as players, organisers and spectators basked in the spring sunshine. After each team played several games in their round robin group, the top three teams plus the best of the runners-up across the three sections went through to the ALL GO: Tournament semi-finals. action and Hardwick’s That pitted Haslingfield winners.

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Artful dodgers Pupils take chance to improve THE table tennis club at Comberton has been thriving and a trio of Year 9 pupils PUPILS in KS4 took part in a Dodgeball Festival at Bassingbourn were handed the chance to take part in a Village College and finished an impressive second of the five festival at Netherhall School in teams involved in this new venture. Cambridge. Dodgeball is a traditional team sport played in physical education The afternoon began with a skills develclasses in the United States and Canada. It is typically played in primary school, but has emerged as a popular middle school, high school and college sport as well. It is also popular in informal settings and is often played on a playground, in a gym, or in organised recreational leagues. There are many variations of the game, but each involves players trying to avoid being hit by a ball thrown by players on the other team. TABLE SKILLS: The event at Bassingbourn was keenly fought, but Comberton’s team of mainly Year 10 pupils — against Year 11 opposition — The afterproduced some amazing dodges, dips, ducks and dives to take the school runners-up spot. club at The boys involved were: Toby Baxter, Saul Reid, Harry Wells, CVC runs Alex Paddock, Owen Gibson, Jack Murphy, Billy Haynes and on Josh Pedder. Fridays.

opment session enabling all involved to progress, with the newly-learnt skills helping them play the game more effectively. Players then participated in a doubles tournament where they moved up the court when they had won and down on losing a game. Comberton, represented by Michael Steward, Laurence Kean and Sam Bradshaw, came away with one of the strongest pairings.

The beat goes on! AROUND 300 pupils from as young as four-years-old gathered in the Performance Hall last month for a fantastic afternoon of dance.

Every year group from reception to GCSE was represented at the spectacular bi-annual dance share involving pupils from all the feeder primary schools as well as CVC. And as well as impressing Assistant Director of Sport Ally Brennan with the high standard of performance, she was also thrilled with the use of props and costumes, which she described as “the best yet” , adding “It is great to see dance being used so effectively as a stimulus for cross-curricular work.” Monkfield Park’s Year 2 class’ headdresses for The Ugly Bug Ball won many plaudits, but there were also umbrellas, ribbons and masks in use during the performance as each group danced to a theme. The Share gave primary pupils the chance to see the sorts of dance they can expect to do as they move through the school system and gave the older pupils the opportunity to appreciate the work that goes on in primary schools. This year, for the first time, one of the dances was a collaboration between Comberton and primary pupils. Year 10 dance leaders worked with Year 3 and 4 youngsters at Barton on the primary school’s solar system dance. The Share, which was organised by Mrs Brennan and Head of Dance Mel Edwards, opened with Bourn and Hardwick’s reception children who performed Incy Wincy Spider and Dot, Wiggle and Dash respectively. Haslingfield’s Year 1 and 2 class showed a different interpretation of Dot,

Please mention this publication when contacting the Advertisers. It is through their generous and continued support that this DANCING SCENES: Year 8’s Indian is dance (far left), Magazine brought toBourn’s you atIncy no cost to Wincy Spider and Monkfield Park’s Ugly Bug Ball. Comberton Village College. Wiggle and Dash before Monkfield Park’s ball. They were followed by Barton and Coton, whose Year 3 and 4 pupils danced on the theme of Invaders. We hope you will support these local Meridian’s Year 5s, on the theme of friendship, and The Vine’s Year 5 and businesses in appreciation of their 6 James Bond dance rounded off the primary action. commitment the College. Mr Rogers’ Year 7 group performed ‘The Blitz’ whileto Miss Moore’s Year 8 girls took their inspiration from Bhangra and Bollywood. Year 9 girls, taught by Miss Risby, performed Ghost Dances, before GCSE dance students showed their set study and group dance. The show was to be concluded by the after-school senior jazz class with a beautifully-choreographed ‘Spotlight’ dance, but a technical hitch left Mr Rogers’ Year 8 boys to provide the grand finale with ‘Hostages’. The children involved all left buzzing with excitement, with the children from Monkfield Park demanding to know which dance unit they were doing next in the bus on the way home! Mrs Brennan and Mrs Edwards were absolutely delighted with the quality of dance on show and staff and children are now looking forward to seeing the DVD of the production, which will be in schools soon.

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Success recognised SIXTEEN Year 11 students had their sporting success recognised at this year’s Roy Burrell Awards.

The annual awards are held by the District in memory of a former Deputy Head at Chesterton Boys’ School, who died in 1955 aged 49. They are given to pupils who have reached at least district level in their chosen sport while at secondary school. The ceremony has now become a prestigious event for high-achieving senior students in

Cambridge and District schools. The students from Comberton had all been selected from the in-house ‘Comberton Blues’ structure, which recognises the students’ ability at significant levels in a variety of sports. From CVC alone 10 different sports were repesented and there were a great many others from pupils at other schools in the Cambridge and District Secondary Schools Sports Association. Congratulations to all our students involved in the event and good luck in the future for their contin-

ued success in sport. They are: Sophia Berry (trampolining), Holly Jukes (horse riding), Tabitha Love (horse riding), Sophie Thrussell (swimming), Billy O’Reilly (rugby), Alice Parker (sailing), Sam Polge (hockey), Sam Cranwell (rugby), Douglas Buisson (model flying), Anna Carter (squash), Tim Shaw (model flying), Annie Gregory (trampolining), Charlotte Horne (horse riding), Peter Tasker (sailing, rugby), David Ungar (judo), Jonathan Cronk (orienteering),

Boys put on a brave show

A SQUAD of 15 Year 8 boys travelled to Thetford to compete in the Eastern Region Rugby championship. The team qualified for the event following their successes in the Hinchingbrooke tournament in the autumn term. The players who travelled with Mr Carrick quickly realised that the opposition were going to present some real problems. They lost the first two games with the boys suffering from a lack of training, being out of season, and the long journey to the event. But they managed to settle into an improved pattern, winning two games,

although this was a little too late. Then a potentially serious arm injury to Sam Reynolds affected Comberton psychologically and their confidence, which had been on the up, suffered. At Hinchingbrooke, the Year 8 team drew with the hosts, but couldn’t repeat that as Hinchingbrooke developed phases seamlessly across the game and as a result were victorious on the day. The Comberton team played with real passion but were too far out of the school’s rugby season. All players involved were a real credit to their school and deserved to progress further — maybe next year!

TOP OF THE BOUNCE: Comberton’s triumphant trampoline team.

Brilliant bouncing

COMBERTON won the team and individual titles at the South Cambs School Sports Partnership KS3 trampolining competition at Impington. Paige Tucker, back in action after dislocating her elbow, won the overall competition with fellow Year 10 pupil Chloe Haynes as runner-up. And those two scores, plus the efforts of Rose Parker, Ellie Humphries (both Year 10), Anna Humphries, Karina Sawyer, Phoebe and Tamsin Chambers (all Year 9), was enough to give Comberton the highest average score. They finished ahead of teams from Impington, Melbourn and Bottisham in a competition promoted to pupils in Years 9-11 who do not usually represent the school at sport. None of the Comberton team had done that this year and for several, it was their first trampolining competition. All bounced superbly to complete two 10-bounce routines.

UNBEATEN: The Comberton girls’ under-12 (left) and under-14 teams.

Girls looking good for finals

COMBERTON head into the finals of the Cambs FA girls’ Grand Prix series with both teams unbeaten. The under-12s and the under-14s maintained their proud record in the latest round at Linton Village College where the Year 7 girls beat Melbourn 3-0, Impington 4-0, Linton 3-0 and Gamlingay 1-0.

The under-14 squad of Year 8 and 9 players saw off Linton A 2-1, Impington 3-0 and Linton B 3-0. Both teams are now in pole position for their finals on May 14. The under-16 team also go into their final a week earlier with a 100 per cent record.

APPLIED LEARNING

Something for everyone . . . IT has been another busy term for all staff and pupils involved in vocational courses and activities across the college.

that pupils are receiving the highest quality vocational learning we can offer. In terms of our courses being moderated, two have been visited in school by External Verifiers, who both On these few pages we've tried to cram in some of the praised the set-up we have. As an example, the Art Please mention this publication when things they've been up to: from pupils refereeing footandthe Design visitor was really impressed with their how we contacting Advertisers. It is through ball tournaments, to senior staff doing individual interframe pupils’ assessed assignments around real life views with Yr 9 pupils to help them decide theirgenerous and continued support that this competitions. options. Magazine is brought you at no cost to We remain convincedtothat a broad curriculum, where There have been three main strands for us in applied pupils maintain all their core subjects but then personComberton Village College. learning this term: supporting Year 9 pupils to choose alise their learning to their interests, offers them the their courses for Years 10 and 11, especially in the best chances to succeed, not only when they are with more unknown vocational courses; ensuring that Year We hope you will support these local us at Comberton, but as they travel on into future 11 pupils on BTEC courses are on target and have all businesses in appreciation learning, training and employment.of their the support they need to succeed; and getting all our commitment to Director the College. BTEC courses checked by the moderator, to ensure Lorna Bateson, of Applied Learning

Pupils’ insight into hair care

curling methods you’d learn. EARLIER this term 15 girls and one boy travelled The second session was what everyone had been to Swavesey Village College for a taster lesson in looking forward to — a chance to get in the salon the BTEC Hairdressing course. and have a go on the mannequins. The pupils These Year 9 pupils were delighted to finally get learnt how to gown up a client, how to brush there, the trip having had to be postponed due to through hair, and how to section the head in a 4the snow, and the full minibus made its way over to way section. see Judith Clarke and the Reflections Salon. It was a fantastic morning — thank you so much to All the pupils were deciding whether to take the Mrs Clarke for course and putting it together wanted to for us — and of learn more these pupils, 11 about it. They To advertise with us have signed up to were split into two groups, the course. then there Please call One of them, Lottie Quinney, were two sesnow on 01480 455123 sions said: “Today we or email went to Swavesey arranged for and did a taster them. One sales@searsweb.com session in the session was in salon. It was brilthe conferAsk for ence room, liant! The teacher TASTER DAY: Comberton pupils at the Swavesey VC Hannah hair salon. or was really friendly exploring Dee, and patient. Today in the taster session we learned what they knew about hair already, and then lookStephen ing at some of the assignments they would need to how to do a 4-way parting and learnt all about PPE and gowning up. I’m definitely taking this for do as part of the course. They learnt about health a GCSE.” and safety, salon reception duties and the different

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A Specialism of Comberton Vi l l a g e College

Tough choices for Year 9

YEAR 9 have spent this term deciding what they want to study in Years 10 and 11. They have had more courses than ever to select from, which made their decisions much harder, but it is fantastic news in terms of pupils being able to choose courses which really suit their interests and strengths. Once again, we have broadened the range of vocational courses on offer. Again we offered BTECs in Business, Construction, Art & Design, Sport, and Hairdressing, which all have a good uptake. The IT department decided to switch the course they offer in Years 10 and 11, and Year 9 pupils were able to opt for a vocational qualification in IT from OCR. Catering continues to be offered and is extremely popular, with 35 pupils signed up. Finally, the Languages Department again offered a very full range of potential courses, two of which are much more vocational: COPE International and ASSET Spanish. In addition a small number of pupils will be invited to take BTECs in Media Studies, and in Outdoor Education. All these tough decisions were supported by a huge amount of advice and guidance. Opting for a vocational course can be a big step for pupils and parents — they are often a little unknown. For the first time we offered Year 9 pupils taster lessons in subjects they may not have encountered before: Hairdressing and Business for example. An initial look at the options pupils have selected shows that 144 out of the 288 pupils in Year 9 have opted for one or more vocational course. This means that 50% of our pupils have opted to take a course which will be directly useful to them when they enter the work place, and many of them have opted for more than one. This is great news — we have carefully selected these courses as we believe they have a huge amount to offer our pupils and offer them a fantastic opportunity to succeed. We look forward to seeing how they all do in these qualifications in 2011.

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APPLIED LEARNING

Chasing the money!

WHO Wants To Be The Next Apprentice In The Dragons’ Den And Possibly A Millionaire?

Students in Year 9 have begun trading in the Enterprise Competition. Trading will run until Friday 13th May 2009. The object of the competition is to develop enterprise skills: tenacity, independence, innovation, imagination, risk-taking, creativity, intuition and leadership. Students have set up and will run their own businesses. They have sold shares in their companies and will be issuing dividends to shareholders on their profits as well as donating 20% to charity. The winning team will be the one with the highest profit, but there will be special prizes given for, demonstration of enterprise skills, and evaluation and reflection of their team performance. There are 8 teams competing: 1.Super Clean — Hakeem Jeeworth, Aaron Walker, Mitchell Allen, Connor McVey and Sam

Wilson — offering a car cleaning service. 2.Phoenix — James Oyler, Tom Evans, Lucas Tanburn, Samantha Marcus, Daniel Ruddock — selling personalised T-shirts. 3.Cleaning Unlimited — Josh Harland-Mears, Naveen Pappachan, SALES PITCH: One of the Year 9 teams drums up trade Angus McCutcheon, Sam Tilley, during regular lunchtime sessions in the foyer. Sam Richardson, Everett Symmonds made and made to order jewellery. Miller — offering a car cleaning service. 7. Your Name Here — Abigail White, Martha 4.Orange Photography — Sam McKay, Austen Hallett-Morley, Lisa Jiang, Anita Jiang — selling Durham, Nic Dart, Brad Winter, Jack Hanizsch beautiful handmade craft items. — selling ready-made and made-to-order greeting cards, photographs and calendars. 8.BELS Flapjacks — Ben Perry, Elliot Nicholas 5.Jamboree — Ellen James, Laurel Morgan, and Liam Sutton — selling homemade flapjacks Elizabeth Virgo, Vicki Chapman — party planoutside school and at special events. ning and entertainment service offered for existWe will update you in the summer edition on ing events in local area. how the teams got on! 6.GemsJewels — Emma Pinchen, Nicola Warren, Emma Weston, Co-Ordinator of Business Lauren Wilson, Jadene Barker — selling readyStudies and Enterprise Education

Wave Rave hits the right notes

DURING PD Day this half-term, Year 10 students had an amazing opportunity to work together in tutor group-based teams to devise their own creative business. They had to choose a product or service targeted at children aged 0-5 years old (pre-school) or teenagers aged 13-16 years old or Old Aged Pensioners aged 65plus. It had to be an original idea or they had to add value to an existing product or service and they had to be legal. The students followed guidance to devise a business name, product or service design, logo, advertising campaign (poster or role play for a TV advert) and a simple financial plan. They then PLANNING STAGE: Pupils get to grips put all this information together in an oral presentation and competed against each other in heats to go through to the finals. The finalists were judged by an expert panel that comprised: Mrs Jones,

Mr Munday, Mr Lawrence, Jane Horwood, owner of CatFish Web Design, and Sarah Wilkin, owner of Honey PR, The judges looked specifically at the students’ use of enterprise skills: Innovation (the act or process of inventing or introducing something new), Creativity (the ability to use your imagination to develop new and original ideas or things), Risk Management (analysis of probable problems or issues that may arise), Decision Making (the process of making choices or reaching conclusions), and Team Working (a number of people organized to function cooperatively as a group). with the design brief. The winners were Wave Rave, who stole the show with their upbeat and professional presentation of waterproof earphones and covers for MP3 players that will allow teenagers to swim and listen to their music. They were awarded a voucher for the Grafton Centre.

APPLIED LEARNING

Pupils’ profit

THE Student Investor national competition was launched in October. It was open to students aged 14-16.

More than 8,000 teams took part nationally and 14 teams from Years 10 and 11 (56 students) represented CVC. Students formed teams of four and invested a virtual £100,000 in shares in companies between 3 November 2008 and 27 February 2009. As the value of the companies rose, the share price rose, giving the teams a profit, but it was a gamble because if they fell so did their profit. Unfortunately none of the teams qualified for the regional finals. However, prizes were awarded to the CVC teams with the highest

value portfolios in each year group: In Year 10, 'Semi Skimmed Ltd', with Alan Leung, Alban Fernandez, Joshua Higginbottom and William McArdle, finished with a final portfolio valued at £109,400.31 (£9,400.31 profit). In the national competition they came 468th out of 8,078 teams and so were in the top 5%. In Year 11, 'No Ifs No Buts Just Winners', comprising Anna Carter, Jodie Baker, Samuel Prime and Verity Algar, came out on top. Their final portfolio was valued at £103,574.73 (£3,574.73 profit). In the national competition they came 934th out of 8,078 teams and so were in the top 11%. Congratulations to the winners!

TOP TEAMS: Comberton’s leading teams from Year 10 (top) and Year 11 in the Student Investor Challenge.

ART ON FIRE: Work on the BTEC course.

Making it ‘happen’

IN the 1960s, a French artist gained notoriety for expressing his ideas through "Happenings". His name was Yves Klein and his art depended upon the participation of an audience to make it valid. So he cast his friends in plaster, he dragged nude models across canvases whilst an Orchestra played and he created paintings using a flame thrower, among other things. His work was innovative at the time — now we call it "conceptual", and he has influenced many artists since. One of these is Steven Hickman in Year 11. Steven has long had a fascination with fire, so when he discovered Klein, he started to work on his own experiments using fire instead of a paintbrush. He has been able to do this because he is studying BTEC Art and Design where smaller class sizes and one-to-one teaching make experimenting more feasable. So, Stephen has created pieces using an iron, matches and fax paper, a blow torch and water, smoke and, bizarrely, coffee! Sometimes he works on a bigger scale outside — with a fire extinguisher to hand. In BTEC, you follow a brief which means referencing artists, coming up with design ideas and, in Steven's case, creating a suitably controlled environment, where you can develop your own artistic experiments. Art isn't just about drawing, painting and sculpting. It is about exploration and discovery — of yourself as well as the techniques. We await Steven's final "Happening" with bated breath! Nicola Powys, Head of BTEC Art and Design

APPLIED LEARNING

A big challenge . . . IT looked like a straightforward task for Year 10 BTEC Sport students. But what we took on turned out to be the start of an adventure — and a big challenge. The challenge was to teach Reception/Yr 1 students for three 50 minute lessons. And within this challenge there were more ‘little’

challenges, like coping with some children whohave learning problems and a student who has English as an additional language (EAL). This task was a good tester of what lies ahead in future placements. The first week we found out what groups we were going to be teaching and introduced them to

‘rolling a ball’. Although for us this may seem straightforward, for some youngsters this was a hard mountain to climb. To add to the problems, half of us had no experience of children this young and to them we were strangers. The second week was a tad easier as we got to know the children and their abilities and could Being able to see bodies close-up gave us a therefore move on to some harder activities, unique opportunity to see how bodies but this could only be work, grow and age. done in groups where It also demonstrated how lifestyles affect health and has inspired me and many everyone was at the others to lead a healthier lifestyle. same level. The specimens on display ranged from a The third week turned skinless giraffe to the individual stages of out to be the hardest of human foetal development, this amazed them all. It was the first many of us. day back after half term The exhibition also included a skinless horse upon which sat a male rider holding and the children were his brain whilst playing polo — as you can as excited as can be. They were a job to contell most of exhibits were bizarre. trol but the group did it I would recommend anyone to see this very well. truly inspiring exhibition, but it's not for the faint hearted! Overall, I believe the Charlie McLaughlin (10C) BTEC students enjoyed this fascinating advenHANGING AROUND: A gymnast at the ture into different terriBody Worlds Exhibition. tory and look forward Copyright: Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS, to the next one. Institute for Plastination, Heidelberg, Germany, www.bodyworlds.com Sam Spencer (10B)

Seeing the body inside out!

YEAR 10 GCSE PE and BTEC Sport students went to the O2 Arena to visit an interesting exhibition, ‘Body Worlds & the Mirror of Time’, by scientist Gunther von Hagens. The aim of the trip was to gain a better understanding of human anatomy and physiology. Many of us thought that the exhibition would smell, we were amazed that it didn't, as the bodies had been set using a process called ‘Plastination’. Plastination is a new technology that involves removing all body fluids and soluble fats from the specimen. The fluids are then replaced through vacuum-formed impregnation with reactive resins and elastomers, such as silicon rubber and epoxy. These materials harden with gas, light or heat curing, which gives the specimens rigidity and permanence. This allows them to be studied and displayed in an engaging way.

Event’s a success Hands-on

THE Year 11 BTEC Sport group held another hugely successful football event for Comberton’s partner primary schools. The event on the Comberton astro brought together approximately 125 Year 5 and 6 pupils to compete against one another in the tournament which was solely organised by the leaders. In addition to the organisation leading up to the day, the students also arranged playing structures and officiated the matches on the day. The primary students all performed fantastically well in every match and all supported each other brilliantly. The event followed a similarly successful competition for Year 5 and 6 girls earlier in the term. Hardwick go through — Page 10

fitness tests

Year 10 BTEC Sport students went to Bedford University to do some fitness work. The point of this trip was to learn more about the cardiovascular system and do practical fitness tests to get an idea of how it works. These tests were completed in a sports science lab, and included a breath test, a BMI (Body, Mass Index) test, a heart rate test and a hand grip test. BREATH TEST: The results for us all were very Comberton pupils in the lab positive, which pleased everyone. We really had a great time and it at Bedford University. not only gave us an insight as to We could not have done any of this without Mr how the cardiovascular system works it also showed Rogers. So a special thank you to him. us what students do at university — and how hard it seems. It shocked us all. Liam Goddard (10B)

Wallis, Cavendish House, Cambridge Road, Barton, Cambridge CB23 7AW. 5 mins from J12 - M11

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