News@com spring 10

News@Com - March

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Ne ws@Com The News Magazine of Comberton Village College

ISSUE 23, SPRING 2010

ANOTHER FIRST! COMBERTON Village College has been named as one of the first ‘Accredited School Providers’ in England.

that the school had been given accreditation in the first round. He commented: “Not only does this confirm that the Department for Children Schools and Families believes Comberton to be an outstanding school by national standards. It also means that we are recognised as working powerfully and effectively with other schools in order to raise standards for pupils. This is something that we believe strongly is important for us. Both Comberton and those we work with can be better and stronger through joint working.”

This new status of school was announced by Children’s Minister Ed Balls eaerlier this term and Comberton was listed as one of the first to be selected.

The idea behind the scheme is that outstanding schools with a strong track record of working in effective partnerships with other schools should be given ‘Accredited’ status.

This means that they should be considered as preferred lead partners in any new schooling arrangements. This most obviously applies when a school in difficult circumstances moves into a new structure and is overseen by a successful school.

THE next group of head prefects However, it is also relevant when new schools are being estabhas been chosen. lished so could be significant in any possible new secondary school development in Cambourne. Governors and trustees have The field of applicants was always been clear that Comberton should oversee any such devel- extremely strong and the decision was by no means easy. opments.

Eight students were selected to be Of those schools in the first wave of Accredited Providers, Ed put through the rigorous interBalls said: “The successful schools and organisations we have view process consisting of two announced are among the most outstanding school providers in interview panels: a formal interthe country.

“They have a track record in not only running just one excellent view with senior members of staff and a school governor, followed school, but the ability to spread this excellence to other schools by a presentation to a student that need more support.” panel made up of the current Comberton Executive Principal Stephen Munday was delighted Head Prefects and students from ALREADY WORKING: The new head prefect Year 7 and 8. team.

Peter Sayer and Abigail White were chosen as Head Boy and Executive Principal Stephen Munday YEAR 10 pupil Oscar Head Girl with Dan McNamee and said: “Many congratulations to these Boatfield has been selected for Victoria Aujla as their deputies. students. Even more to the point, many the England youth fly-fishing The new team have already started work congratulations to all those who were team for this summer’s world by assisting with the remaining Prefect interviewed for the posts. Everyone championships. application process and will formally involved in the selection process agreed Now he needs help to raise the take over responsibility in the final what a remarkably strong and impresassembly before the Easter holidays money he needs to fund the sive group of young people they are. when they will receive their badges from trip to Slovakia.

They are all a great credit to their year the current team.

Full story — Page 14 group and to the school.”

New team set to take over

Prize catch

Comberton celebrates 50th anniversary — Pages 8 & 9

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Lucky pupils check out London’s Olympic site EARLIER this term we went to the Kingsford Community School, a specialist language college in East London for a day based on the subject of social mobility; the direction in society in which an individual can move depending on their heritage and upbringing.

Students went to the canteen for breakfast and the first of many great opportunities to talk with others from schools across the country. As developing partnerships between independent and state schools was a key theme of the day, this was both exciting and productive.

After a brief introduction to the day and its aims, we had to locate a student from another school whose name was under ours on a name badge we had been given. We both found our partners with no difficulty and had an inter-

esting discussion. This was a great way of getting us to interact with children our age from different backgrounds.

This was shortly followed by a choir practice, which was an enjoyable project involving teamwork and interaction. We sang two songs.

We then went to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics site, 20 minutes away. It was raining and cold, but it was interesting to see how the Olympic park is shaping up.

We were then given a talk about the site in the "View Tube" — a viewing tower which allows a panoramic view of some of the main venues of the 2012 Games, made out of recycled shipping containers. A final choir practice was followed by a "Question and Answer" session with a panel including

Former Olympic athlete Tessa Sanderson and the Head of Eton College. It was very interesting to hear their views on social mobility.

The final act was the choir performance. Both the songs sounded amazing, and it was great to be part of it.

Everybody seemed to really enjoy it and a lot of new friendships were made between a lot of children from various backgrounds and different types of education, making the day an enjoyable success for all.

We would like to thank Mr Munday for taking us there and back, and also to Mrs Stewart for giving us the opportunity to go.

Joanna Raymond (10E) and Dan McNamee (10T)

New horizons in USA THE Comberton Educational Trust was one of just four in the country to have been asked to look at new ways of working by visiting South Georgia, USA.

TALKING TIME: Stephen Munday talks to other heads about the Comberton Educational Trust.

The project was funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Youth Sports Trust.

Comberton Executive Principal Stephen Munday and Assistant Principal Ally Brennan together with Rod Warsap, Head of Caldecote Primary School, and Sarah Humphreys, Head of the new Jeavons Wood Primary School in Cambourne, visited different phases of schools in South Georgia and attended educational conferences at Georgia South University.

It proved a great opportunity not only to see the way that a different educational system worked, but also to reflect on how different phases of school (secondary and primary) could work more effectively together, for example through an educational trust.

Staff get their Kit on — Page 11 It is hoped that the visit will prove a catalyst for a further CVC’s Winter Games — Page 12 strengthening of Comberton’s effective working with all of its partner feeder primary schools.

Need for Speed — Page 13 This is already strong, but there are opportunities for it to From Tears to Teacher — Page 13 develop and become more powerful for the benefit of all local children.

On the Line — Page 14 There is also the possibility of forming Teacher Training Dancers’ Centre Stage — Page 14 links with Georgia South University, an exciting possible development for teachers training at Comberton.

Success for Myles — Page 14 As well as being educationally very interesting, all parHoliday Fun — Page 14 ticipants agreed that they had rarely eaten so well or so amply!

New Territory — Page 15

INSIDE THIS ISSUE New Pupils Settle In — Page 3

Put Your Shirt on SA — Page 3

A Passage to Africa — Page 3

Science Round-Up — Page 4

Working Together — Page 5

A Night To Remember — Page 5

Cake Crazy! — Page 5 It’s Only Fair — Page 6

Fashion Show — Page 6

Monkey Business — Page 6

CVC goes Green — Page 7

Teams Count Down — Page 15

Comberton Celebrates 50 Years — Pages 8 & 9

Flying High — Page 15

Who Dunnit? — Page 10

Vocational Update — Page 16

ON TOUR: Ally Brennan and Rod Warsap are shown round Southeast Bulloch High School.

Good Advert — Page 10 So Now What? — Page 11

Designed and edited by Judy Czylok.

Poets give Live Help — Page 11

Contact: publicity@comberton.cambs.sch.uk

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New pupils settle in COMBERTON welcomed some new pupils to its ranks just before half-term.

Five new girls and one boy turned up in their school uniform and joined different year groups. Lessons were attended and the new pupils did their best

FIRST LESSON: New boy Stephen Munday in Year 11 English.

Picture: Cambridge News.

to join in various pupil activities for the day.

Careful observers soon realised that something was up. There seemed an uncanny resemblance between these new pupils and certain members of staff. The truth was eventually out: the Heads of Year and the Principal had done the reverse of a non-uniform day: they had donned school uniform for the day.

“It was great to get into some lessons and see all the good things going on in classrooms,” said the new boy, Stephen Munday. “I felt a bit nervous at first, but the pupils in the classes I went into made me feel really welcome and I soon joined in. Anything I couldn’t understand, they soon explained to me.”

Asked how it felt to wear uniform, Stephen replied; “Rather good, actually. I think that I might try it again.”

However, he had better watch his step. One member of staff spotted an oversized pupil out of lessons during the day. He was immediately charged with ‘Loitering in the Corridor’ and placed in a Minor Offences Detention.

The day proved valuable for its main purpose, raising £1,000 for worthwhile causes, including the East Anglian Children’s Hospices. This target was very nearly reached.

Put your shirt on SA THE 2010 South Africa/CVC exchange trip and Football World Cup coincide nicely for the lucky six Year 11 pupils who are making the trip this year.

Sadly there are no plans to take in any of the games — we arrive at the quarter-final stage. However, the CVC team are using the World Cup as the impetus for a scheme that hopes to provide football shirts for all the orphans at the orphanage which is attached to our exchange school, Edendale.

So, if you have an old football shirt that you would like to donate, please do bring it into school — we are sure the shirts will be gratefully received. Any team, any size, any colour! We'd love to have your old shirts.

All you need to do is take the shirt to the school's main reception, where one of the admin team will put it in the collection box — if you'd like to leave your name as well, we'll pass on a message of support from students at CVC. Preparations for the trip are going well, with various fund-raising activities taking place.

The Year 11 students were also pleased to receive a South African social-history lesson, along with lessons in Zulu and Afrikaans, from friend of the college, Mr John Munro.

And what if England get to the final…. Mr Goldring, one of the staff on the trip, is convinced he'll get a ticket, one way or another!

COLLECTING: The South Africa volunteers want your old football shirts.

PILING UP: Some of the Mozambique volunteers and Mrs Pearson with stacks of the donated books bound for Africa.

A passage to Africa PUPILS at Comberton celebrated World Book Day by launching a collection for the college’s partner school in Mozambique.

It is planned that around 1,500 books will leave for the Portuguesespeaking nation during the Easter holidays thanks to The Jeanne Stephens Foundation, which promotes educational and social projects in Mozambique.

The joint venture was a result of last September’s visit to Comberton by teachers and students from Escola Secundaria Noroeste do 1 who said the thing they needed most was books for their library.

Every pupil was encouraged to donate at least one book, which will also help neighbouring primary schools in Maputo as the country seeks to significantly increase the number of English speakers. The Comberton library has also donated a large number of titles that are no longer read.

Comberton assistant principal Rachel Hawkes, the Director of Language College, said: “We think this is a fantastic opportunity for us to make a real difference to our partner school.”

Pupils were able to dedicate their books personally with special stickers bearing the Comberton logo.

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Pushing boundaries THE Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva was switched on last month to push the boundaries of particle physics once again.

This is a vacuum chamber which stretches 27km in a circular shape at a depth of 100m below the Swiss/French border and enables scientists to recreate the conditions of the Universe at a fraction of a nanosecond after the Big Bang. At temperatures approaching absolute zero, proton beams are smashed into each other releasing a vast array of subatomic particles — the fundamental building blocks of everything. I was extremely lucky to be visiting while the LHC was producing data, and have been blown away by the magnitude of the 50-year project.

The physicists at CERN are from all over the world and among other things, are seeking out evidence for the existence of the Higgs Boson, which if found would prove to be the most significant discovery of all time since it would provide the mechanism of how mass is derived from energy.

The trip was incredible. Every scientist I met added to the infectious enthusiasm that is felt everywhere. Whether they contributed to the construction of the accelerator, the analysis of data or simply the facilitation of trips such as my own, each person enriched my time there with anecdotes of challenges and successes. Equipped with this first-hand experience, I now hope to be able to answer the questions of eager students back in the classroom, should they wonder what on earth happens at CERN… Are we going to disappear into a black hole? Most definitely not!!

Sarah Sterling, Science Department

AMAZING TRIP: To see the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.

Teamwork aids revision

HELPING EACH OTHER: A Year 11 Triple Science set.

ONE of the Year 11 Triple Science sets was tasked with making posters summarising all concepts of module P4: Explaining Motion, to aid us in revision for our upcoming exams.

The topics ranged from momentum, speed and velocity, to the physics behind forces and explosions.

We were asked to make the posters in the style that is used at scientific conferences to illustrate scientists’ work and research.

Upon completion the posters were assembled and hung up around the room.

As in real scientific conferences, each team left two members to represent their work, while the rest of the class viewed the other posters, fielding questions to other groups about the work.

In this way the class was able to cover the entire topic through having designed revision tools and using those made by others — an excellent exercise and sure to boost our scores when it comes to the exams.

Nicholas Tregidgo (11I) and Tom Manford (11O)

The battle for survival . . .

Some flaming brilliant effects!

A GROUP of CVC students was part of the audience for The Royal Institute Christmas Lectures 2009, which is a series of five lectures shown on television each year, and presented by a different expert on a specific subject.

This time the theme was "the 300 Million Year War", and was all about the battle for survival between plants and animals, and how they have adapted over millions of years to stay alive.

The lectures were presented by Professor Sue Hartley from the University of Sussex, an ecologist who specialises in plant and animal interactions.

There were several opportunities throughout the lecture when Professor Hartley asked for people to volunteer to do a demonstration, which turned out to be very amusing as some involved popping hundreds of balloons which suddenly fell from the ceiling, delivering giant aphids as well as feeding a live lima named Curtis!

However, despite frantically waving our hands in the air, no-one from CVC was chosen to volunteer, but we definitely all enjoyed the interesting lecture, and learnt lots more about plant and animal survival.

Hattie Algar (10V)

THE Year 10 BTEC Art and Design group was involved in a Year 7 lesson with Miss Segal, which consisted of putting different elements or compounds in to a Bunsen burner flame. The potassium compound produced a lovely lilac flame.

The highlight of our day was with iron filings. When put in the flames, mini fireworks seemed to jump from the flames. It looked just like a sparkler you have on bonfire night. Lithium compound produced a sky blue flame with a ruby red middle. The expresOOOH: sions on the faces of everyone were The result unforgettable, with many responses of of putting “woah!” copper We got lots of pictures, and we are sulphate in planning to create a mural of the peria Bunsen odic table and the flame tests along a burner science corridor. flame Alana Hardiman (10B)

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Cake crazy! We made it a night to remember . . .

CAKES, sweets and cookies galore! The Year 7 charity cake sale was a blast.

Everyone came running to get the best cakes, the money pots were filling by the very second and the cakes were disappearing fast!

I do not think I have ever seen a cake sale so huge – there had to be at least 1,000 or more cakes!

We raised a fantastic £270 and this will go to Cancer Research, the charity we chose to raise money for at the beginning of the school year.

The cake sale was so successful, we hope to have one every year which will be just as brilliant!

Thank you to all those who supported us in any way.

Cecily Hitchcock (7O)

YEAR 8 had their Candlelit Dinner earlier this term and it was certainly a night to remember!

All the girls looked astounding in their dresses, from floor length to cocktail, and the boys looked very smart in their suits and ties, with one or two even in

DRESSED TO IMPRESS: Year 8 girls.

dinner jackets.

It was a night like no other! The tables were decorated with flower napkins and small candles and the food was marvellous, with the puddings topping the bill, with a choice of chocolate cake, cheesecake or fruit salad.

The Year 11s were our waiters and waitresses — a sight we never expected to see — and also looked smashing.

Once the tables were moved everybody joined the dance floor. That was when the party really started and we all joined in the fun. As soon as the camera came out, everybody ran out to have their photos taken, looking fabulous with their friends.

I think everybody in Year 8 would like to give a big thank you to Mrs Davidson, Mrs Compton, Mrs Girling, the tutors, all the Year 11s and the catering staff. It was an incredible evening and one that we Amy Nerou (8M) will never forget.

Working together FEBRUARY saw the first Year 4 Maths Collaboration take place at Comberton Village College.

pupils formed new groups with the others from their own school and created posters to explain one of the problems (but not the answer) to other members of their class.

All of the pupils performed very well. The teachers who accompanied the Year 4 children were very impressed with the Year 10 Maths Leaders, who helped the younger ones through their work by giving support and reassurance but not the answer.

The Year 10 pupils were, in turn, amazed at the knowledge shown by the Year 4s; it was lovely to see some of the younger ones arguing that z-axis could be used for the final letter of the alphabet and then explaining how the z-axis could fit in

Pupils from seven primary schools worked in groups to solve problems involving giants, dominoes and a puzzle in which they needed to create three circles.

This last problem was more difficult than it sounds, and at the end of the morning everyone crowded round to see the solution from the only group who had managed to complete it.

Each group consisted of a boy and a girl from one school, two pupils from a different school and a Year 10 Maths Leader.

They spent 20 minutes on one problem before rotating around the room to the next one.

It was exciting to see how the groups gelled together during the morning — the final tasks were completed far more quickly and effectively than the earlier ones.

A task that the pupils carried with them throughout the morning was to make an alphabet of maths words.

Q for quadrilateral and X for x-axis dealt with some of the difficult letters; J turned out to be the most difficult, but some groups even managed to find an answer to this that they could justify.

At the end of the morning the THE CIRCLE PROBLEM: Only one group solved it.

with the more usual x-axis and y-axis!

After such a successful morning preparations are already under way for this to become an annual event.

Thanks are due to all of the members of staff who accompanied the pupils, but in particular to Rachel Hensby (Bourn) and Dee Butler (Caldecote) for their energy and vision in helping to set up the Collaboration.

Mark Dawes, Advanced Skills Teacher in maths

Pupils excel TWELVE Year 11 pupils, five from Year 10 and five from Year 9 achieved the highest accolade from the recent UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge.

Guy Nicholls, Kalen Sabnis Thomas, Richard Tanburn, Roseanna McMahon, Owen Gibson, Shu Sam Chen, Daniel Murphy, Felix Wolfers, Jaime Lennox, Joshua Higginbottom, Sam Bithell, Holly Gale (Year 11), Joe Dickens, Joshua Oosterhuis, Joanna Raymond, Anita Jiang Lisa Jiang (Year 10), Linden Ralph, Cheng Sun, David Ward, Emma Bithell and Siddharth Basetti (Year 9) all received the gold certificate.

The highest achievers went on to participate in the Kangaroo and Olympiad invitation round earlier this month.

In addition pupils in the year groups also achieved 18 silver and 15 bronze certificates.

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Pupils model leavers’ ball outfits to raise funds THE fund-raising prefects, Livi Pilsworth, Jess Bols and Lewis Roberts James organised a Fashion Show and Prom Fair as a final money-making event for the Year 11 fund.

They were supported by 20 girls and seven boys from the year group who acted as models.

The beautiful ball gowns were kindly supplied by Karen Forte at Bassingbourn, and the dinner suits were supplied by Moss Bros in Cambridge.

Sophie Oates-Black compered the fashion show, combining a sense of humour with a touch of elegance and style.

The lights and music were organised by our stalwart team of workers, Lewis Mancer and George Betson, who ensured they added the correct mood to the Catwalk experience.

Our May Ball photographer, I-d Image Development from St Ives, took photos of all the models.

The girls were made to look the part with their make-up and hair styled by local hair and beauty salons.

There were a number of stalls supporting this event, enticing the Year 11s to glitz and pamper for the real event in June.

A lot of people gave a great deal of time to this event which was well supported by the year group.

GLAMOUR GIRLS: Year 11 girls on the Fashion Show catwalk.

Picture: I-d Image Development, St Ives. www.image-development.co.uk

Fortunately, we raised a good sum of money for our end of year activities, but we could not have done it without Karen Forte and Moss Bros. Well done to everyone who was involved and we look forward to the Year 11 Ball on June 28th!

Year 11 Fund-Raising Prefects

It’s only fair!

FAIRTRADE is becoming widespread around the world as people are gradually starting to understand the concept and what it provides for the developing world.

Fairtrade is the minimum wage and premium attached to produce, so producers receive a fair wage for their work and receive opportunities to improve their communities.

Fairtrade farms offer a reliable source of income for their workers, as well as providing overtime wages to pay the workers for their extra hours.

Every year we celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight around the last week of February. This year Cambridge was lucky enough to have a visit from a Fairtrade officer from Bomarts Farm, a pineapple and mango producer in Ghana.

Diana came from Africa to tour the East, starting in Cambridge, to tell us how the fair wage and premium helps and supports her community

around Bomarts.

Wendy Slade, the owner of Abantu People for Fairtrade, held an event in Bourn Village Hall.

The evening was a great success.

Eden Brown, a fellow student at CVC, and I attended the event and enjoyed it thoroughly. We met many people and learnt new things about how Diana's farm works and the success of the community projects paid for by the Fairtrade premiums.

I had the opportunity to interview Diana after her presentation and was very interested in what she had to say about Fairtrade. She told me that the extra money that comes in from selling their Fairtrade produce has created opportunities to improve the communities where the workers live.

They have helped build a child nursery and primary schools in surrounding villages as well as improving clinics and giving them sanitation and a source of fresh running water.

We also found out that they sell Fairtrade pineap-

FAIR FARE: Pupils find out about Fairtrade from Diana, a Fairtrade officer from Ghana. ples in Morrisons and other supermarkets from Diana's farm as well as neighbouring farms.

So next time you buy a pineapple or mango look out for the Bomarts Logo or Ghana, and you will know that you are doing your bit to help Diana and her community.

Paige Slade (10i)

Monkey business is a serious problem

ENDANGERED: The proboscis monkey.

MORE than 45 senior residents attended the college one afternoon in late February as part of the over 60’s Comberton Friendly Circle, for an illustrated talk on wildlife in Malaysian Borneo.

Staff member Diana Cook explained that she had been out there six times recently and much of this time had been spent tracking and photographing various primates, which had included several sightings of the Orang Utan.

Ms Cook explained that the very rich biodiversity of the

island is badly under threat, due to logging and the huge growth of palm oil plantations.

Some mammals, such as the rare and endangered Proboscis Monkey, are only found in Borneo. The male of this species is easily recognised by its very large nose (or proboscis). Each night whole families of proboscis can be seen sleeping by the water’s edge, perched high in the trees, where they somehow manage to hang on with one hand all night, to stop themselves falling in.

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CVC goes green!

CVC brought to light green issues with a Green Week from 15th19th March. The week was full of fun activities, launches of different projects and recycling collections to try and bring to the attention of pupils at the college how important green issues are.

Monday 15th March — Grow your Own Potatoes We have now planted six seed potatoes and are watching to see them cultivate and grow into dozens of delicious potatoes.

Whose potato will sprout first? Whose will produce the most potatoes?

This project involves more than a million students countrywide and CVC is the biggest school participating.

This year's first prize is an allotment makeover, which includes the design and build of your allotment and the plants to get you started. There is also a range of eco-friendly outdoor furniture and seed vouchers as runner-up prizes.

We will keep you updated about the progress of our potatoes — keep a look out on the school website for more details!

COLOUR CODED: Pupils wore green for the day.

Tuesday 16th March — Green Reps Launch

Wednesday 17th March — GREEN DAY

'Green Reps' have been appointed as part of the new and improved recycling scheme. We want students in Years 7-10 to take a 'RECO' leadership role within their form, year group and the school. We held our first meeting on Tuesday 16th, and had a great response. The Green Reps will be responsible for: Ensuring that their form is doing Green Duty as required.

Ensuring that admin helpers turn up and do their recycling.

Taking regular form suggestions on how CVC can become more environmentally friendly and bringing ideas to RECO meetings.

To attend all Green Rep meetings To take part in new projects to help CVC progress through the "Eco-Schools" Award ranks Students are very excited about this new opportunity, and they look forward to making CVC a greener place.

Green Day ran to raise awareness of green issues world-wide. CVC students came in non-school uniform with a "green-theme" and we asked every student to wear at least one item of green. The £1 donations are going towards a variety of CVC Environmental Projects, such as renovating our pond and trying to increase bio-diversity in our school. We are also hoping to adopt animals for CVC, part of our long-term

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Thursday 18th March — CVC Flag Project

GREEN FARE: Catering staff cooked up a range of food with a green theme.

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On Thursday, we started to sew a 'Green' flag for CVC, made entirely from materials that are no longer needed. We asked students to bring in old clothes, bedding, bags… whatever, and join in the fun. We are looking forward to seeing the results in coming weeks, when we will unveil the completed flag to the school.

environmental projects. More information on the animal adoption scheme and environmental projects will be up on the school website shortly!

We were also treated to a variety of green-themed dishes for lunch in the cafeteria. The Catering Department very kindly adapted their menu for the occasion, and pupils at CVC were very surprised to see that Green Food does not just have to be fruit & veg!

A big thank you to Johnson Matthey, who kindly donated £250 to the school to enable us to buy green bins for all the classrooms in the new building With the remaining money we advertised Green Week and bought materials needed to put the week into action.

Friday 19th March — Animal Adoption & Art Project On Friday, we asked students to come to the Common Room and give us suggestions and ideas for adopting an animal and suggestions of other environmental charities they would like us to support. The project was funded by our Green Day, and hopefully our newly adopted animal will serve as a reminder of how important it is that we care for the environment, not just for ourselves but for wildlife too.

We also collected entries from an Art Project, where we asked students to enter photographs, drawings and paintings on the theme 'Our Environment'. We were pleased with the number of entries we got, and the winning entries will be displayed around the school.

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I remember CVC when . . .

An interview with James Masters

BACK AT SCHOOL: James Masters with his grand-daughter, who is in Year 7.

“WE were just a couple of miles outside Cambridge but it was an educational wilderness — until Comberton Village College was built,” recalls James Masters, one of the very first intake of pupils to the college.

This part of Cambridgeshire was really a rural ‘backwater’, he points out, with Haslingfield School offering 14-year-old James lessons in a class of 45-50 pupils, taught by the head teacher in the little school hall. There were no flushing loos.

James remembers cycling over to Comberton before the school opened to have a look at the impressive new building.

Once here, he soon became part of life at CVC, being made a prefect — to keep him out of trouble, James suspects.

Prefects in those days were invited to staff meetings (“formal affairs”). One of the perks of the job was that they were allowed to sell ice-cream at break…and to keep the profit.

Some extra mural activities were available, and James

remembers playing Hamlet in a school production, and learning techniques similar to those demonstrated in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in his ballroom dancing club.

Sport happened on Saturdays, with up to three football matches, to which players would cycle.

Entertainment consisted mostly of roaming the countryside freely and enjoying outdoor activities like camping with the Scouts (digging their own loos, washing in the lake and cooking their own food, including their breakfast porridge, which took two hours…!)

Things are very different now, though, James insists — there are so many more opportunities and choices for young people. This is particularly the case for pupils leaving school. In James’ day, boys had three options: to do farm work, become an apprentice or to go to Barrington Cement Works.

In the light of that, A-levels at CVC look really appealing.

Georgie Horrell, English Department

Comberton celeb IT was long-awaited. It was 50 years coming!

RETURN TO CVC: Former Head of Art Mick Abbott at the Dinner Dance.

However, when it arrived it was well worth the wait. Comberton’s official 50th anniversary celebrations on 5 and 6 March went with a swing (in every sense of the word).

Notable characters from Comberton past and present assembled for various events over the two days to remember and to celebrate a wonderful 50-year history.

Star of the show proved to be the ever-present guest of honour, the original Warden — as the Principal was then called — of the college, Mr Roger Adcock (now 83 years old).

His duties included: Taking Year 7 Assembly on Friday morning. He deliberately stood in precisely the same spot on the stage as when he took the very first school assembly on 5 January 1960.

Making a speech and unveiling a plaque at the opening ceremony of our new facilities on Friday lunch-time.

Conducting the audience in singing the original school anthem at the special music concert on the Friday evening.

Giving a speech and leading a toast to the college during the celebratory dinner and dance on Saturday evening.

The many people involved in the various events over the two days thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We will all hold many happy memories, probably most especially of our original Warden in such very fine form Stephen Munday, Executive Principal 50 years after taking up post.

DEDICATED: D Mary Martin, Co longest-serving

OFFICIAL OPENING: Professor Mike Thorne (right), Vice-Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University, and Roger Adcock, Comberton’s first Warden, declare the new buildings open.

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and learnBBC’s b. ball ntryside with the and orridge, s — there ung peoschool. In k, become . pealing. partment

MUSICAL MAGIC: Pupils and staff, past and present, put on an evening of music, which concluded with a guest appearance of first Warden Roger Adcock (top) conducting a rendition of the original school anthem.

ebrates 50 years

POLITICAL GUESTS: Andrew Lansley MP (right) and Jim Stewart, of South ORIGINAL TEXT: Stephen Munday reads from the original CVC logbook.

Cambs District Council.

ART ATTACK: Year 9 portraits of current staff in the style of Julian Opie formed part of the display in the atrium.

Displays fill new atrium

AS part of the CVC 50th celebrations, the new atrium hosted a range of displays during March.

A large display of archive material culled from many sources has shown the changing face of Comberton over 50 years.

Of particular interest among this was the first whole school photograph from 1961 showing all the pupils and staff here at that time.

Many people, including a few from that photograph, turned up to INDIAN COOKING: the view the exhibition over the month.

One of the In addition to the archive display, the Year 9s had been working hard on a staff portrait project which has also gone up in the atri50th anniversary um. workshops Ninety-six members of staff were commemorated in a show that entertained and amused all who saw it! The pupils had worked in open to the style of Julian Opie to produce a large scale collaborative set members of work that makes use of the impressive light and space in the of the Greg Dean, Head of Art community. atrium.

CATED: Deputy Principal Martin, Comberton’s st-serving staff member.

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News@Com - March

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10

Who dunnit?

Good advert for CVC

SIX secondary school pupils from The Harbour School, Wilburton, near Ely, came to observe Comberton and see what it is like.

They were interested in Comberton and wantTHIS month Year 7 have spent a ed some experience of a mainstream school. double lesson practising imporWhen they arrived at the college they first tant skills which they will use in talked to some of the trainee teachers, PEOthe curriculum.

PLE people and Mrs Martin before a tour of This was part of the college’s learning the school skills programme, CREATE, which aims While walking with the Harbour Pupils, we to help develop skills which will benefit gathered information about the Harbour and learners throughout their time at the pupils as individuals, as well as informing Comberton and beyond. them of any aspects of the school they still had This particular session, on active learning unanswered questions about. skills, saw pupils taking on the role of After taking in a lot of information about the detectives as they heard about a 'crime college, the students talked with us about what CSI: Year 7 pupils discuss the ‘crime scene.’ scene', interviewed 'suspects', asked they had seen, before they were given a probing questions and finally justified to develop further in some reflective thinking. packed lunch by our catering staff to eat on the conclusions they came to.

This task involved many skills from other areas of the coach back.

They found out that asking the right question, the CREATE framework such as team work, lisTheir views about Comberton were positive rather than any question, is a useful skill in tening, group decision making, identifying key without exception; the pupils were particularresearch, and that managing your time can be points and asking questions which pupils identily impressed with the quality and quantity of challenging when a group has only a minute to fied in their discussions. the facilities in the Sports Hall and the Sports get maximum information from a suspect!

Reflecting and self-evaluating are other skills the Department, followed by the Music Prioritising was another skill as they were limited students practised as they discussed their strengths Department. One thing that struck us (the as to how many questions could be asked, and and weaknesses.

PEOPLE people, Mrs Martin and the trainee needed to get to the vital information quickly by One group felt they needed to improve on listenteachers) was the quality of the behaviour of identifying what was needed and what might lead ing to everybody's ideas, although they had been the pupils whose classes we observed; given them astray. particularly good at having creative ideas. that they had not been warned in advance of Finally each group had to come to a conclusion Another group recognised that while some memour arrival. The pupils were exceptionally well based on the evidence they had collected, and bers of the team had been effective communicaneeded to justify their choice to their peer group. behaved and were focusing hard on their lestors some had taken a back seat and not been Coming to a consensus was not always easy and sons, which all looked extremely interesting. actively involved enough. there was debate and justifying of ideas before So, the overall message both to us and the Staff then use and discuss these skills in curricugroups presented their conclusions. lum lessons with the students and encourage their Harbour pupils was positive and encouraging.

These sessions encourage students to consider the Well done us! use and identification. skills their group used well and those they needed Jay Richardson (8V) Irayna Owen

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So now what?

MONDAY 8th March was a notable day for Year 9 pupils. Although they may not have realised this, for them that date represented the changing of an era — moving from life BC to a new life AD. Of course for Year 9 students this was not the start of a new religious age, but moving from Before Choices to After Decisions…

The options process is a significant focus for Year 9 pupils and March 8th is the culmination of many months of planning, discussing, meeting, guiding and pondering.

SORTING IT OUT: Mr Law ponders the whole school timetable.

The process is actually a year round one, with decisions being made throughout the year regarding the best possible curriculum to offer for pupils. Every year this seems to become more and more extensive and varied, with the very significant introduction of a series of Diploma qualifications being one of the latest innovations this year.

With such a broad and varied curriculum on offer it is essential that the pupils get clear guidance. This is provided through a variety of SOME Year 11 students went to means including an options brochure, individual meetings between Poetry Live at the Cambridge pupils, parents and senior staff and an options evening at the school.

Corn Exchange.

There is a palpable air of enthusiasm and interest as pupils have sigPoetry Live is an event organised nificant conversations about their futures, which adds a particular by the exam board that tours all focus to the start of Year 9. Once we pass the BC / AD deadline, around England with the poets things seem to go very quiet. What is happening? Has Mr Law fallen whose work we have been studyasleep…? ing for our exams in June; The process of turning option choices for 279 pupils who each make including all-round favourites four choices (more if you include after school options) from a list of John Agard and Simon 37 different possibilities into sensible teaching groups has one or two Armitage, who had us all laughlayers of complexity to it. Some of the choices count as double ing and joining in. options. Some happen after school. Some even happen at different Apart from the poets, the chief schools with different timetable structures. examiner gave us lots of helpful The first part of the process is checking all the choices made and seeinformation for the exam. ing if we need to have any further discussions with pupils and parents.

On behalf of all the pupils who Obviously a key to ensuring pupils succeed is getting them on to the went, we would like to thank the correct courses, so much thought and time is spent on that. teachers who gave up their time.

Once this is established, then the business of creating the groups and We all had a wonderful day. timetable structure can begin.

Olivia Pilsworth (11B) While it is true that a computer program is used extensively to assist and Katie Sims (11i) FAVOURITE: Pupils meet poet John Agard. with this process, a significant part of creating the timetable comes down to discussions with staff and pupils.

The timetable is initially created using coloured THE fund to pay for the Year 6 Mini-Olympics this shapes on two magnetic whiteboards on the summer was boosted by an impressive £123 after wall in Mr Law's office. pupils paid £1 each to watch a team of women staff Over the summer term this gradually fills up take on Year 11 girls at football. until a new timetable is completed for The final score was 3-0 to the pupils, but more September. important was the cash, which will be added to the If you want to find Mr Law in the summer proceeds of the Sponge The Teacher and CVC's term, he is probably staring at the wall in his Got Strictly Talented X-Factor, which were also ALL ACTION: The staff v Year 11 girls match. office! organised by the Year 11 sports leaders, who will to stage the annual athletics event.

If you want to annoy Mr Law, wait until he has run this year's festival on June 25. left his office and then swap some of the The festival already has backing from Cambridge The staff who took part were Mrs Pearson, Miss coloured pieces around…

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Mrs Compton, Miss McDonnell and Miss Gildea.

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News@Com - March

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CVC’s winter Games PICTURE it now, clear blue sky, bright sunshine and snow capped mountains.

We said we’d tell the stories on our return from the Foundation Ski Course and oh what tales to recount.

Neither Operation Stack in a snowbound Kent nor unusual parts of the anatomy being numb from 20 hours on a coach could diminish our enthusiasm.

On arrival, our friends in Klausberg extended their wonderfully hospitable welcome and we knew a great week lay ahead.

Our party consisted of 100 with a mixture of skiers and snowboarders. Some older, some younger, a few with snow experience and many beginners all ready to go. As already described, on a clear blue sunny Sunday morning we donned strange new garments called salopettes and even more bizarre equipment in the form of skis and snowboards and headed off up the mountain by cable car.

It’s best not to scrutinise the concept of snow sport too closely. What’s that you say? Head high up a snowy mountain, strap highly polished planks to your feet and set off down! Yes, that’s what we did.

Pre-trip training evenings at Bassingbourn dry ski slope and Milton Keynes had prepared beginners well. We soon discovered that snow plough, turning and stopping are much easier on the real chilly white stuff. Even falling over hurts less, especially off-piste where you can disappear from sight in a snow drift — and we did!

Having tried to learn to ski over several years now, we are always staggered by the rapid progress CVC pupils make in their first few lessons. We’re not sure if it’s due to them being too young to have developed the refined sense of fear that comes from trying to learn skiing with too many years under the belt, or just because they bounce more easily. However, this year was no exception and both skiers and boarders were quickly heading off to more challenging slopes all over the resort.

The après ski mix of disco, salsa and a few games of Twister was a great hit with the younger participants, though why you would want to tie your weary limbs in further knots having finally untwisted from the day’s skiing and boarding is well beyond us.

We shared one hotel with a party from Belgium. It was mildly amusing to

APRÈS SKI: The fancy dress disco is one of the highlights.

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PICTURE PERFECT: Sunshine on the nursery slopes. note the development of close international relations during a week which included St Valentine’s Day. We are sure there is a Language College target that can now be ticked off as a result of the biggest game of UNO ever being played one evening in Flemish, German, English and French.

On returning to CVC we were inspired to share some thoughts with colleagues via an e-mail entitled, ‘They make you proud to be a part of CVC’.

We know it’s an old fashioned sentiment, but you know it’s absolutely true, they did. The staff accompanying the trip received many comments from people in Klausberg about how polite and well behaved CVC pupils are.

Indeed, a new instructor at the ski school, Bergit, commented that she had been told: ‘It will be good next week with CVC’. She was pleased to report that this was the case; apparently our pupils are ‘lovely’.

And you know, we have to agree! It’s fitting really that as we celebrate 50 years of the college, even when the school is being observed 1,100km away from home, those looking on can see something a bit special.

Our thanks to all pupils, parents, taggers-on and staff — we all had a great week.

Nick Evans & Annette Downie Ski Co-ordinators

CAMERA STOP: A group takes a break to pose on the slopes.

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From tears to teacher . . .

NEW TO THE TEAM: Instructor Birgit.

IT IS no coincidence that the Foundation Ski trip has returned to Klausberg for 22 years.

There are of course many good reasons. It is situated in the spectacular Ahrntal valley; there are numerous good hotels and all that wonderful Italian food to name but a few.

However, the most significant reason is the ski school and its excellent instructors.

Some of the senior instructors have been there all those years and have become good friends of the trip.

Indeed, a number of their children are now instructors at the school.

Each time we return there are also new members of the team and this year Birgit led Ms Driver's group.

As we all know, teenagers are an inquisitive breed and this group was no exception. Having been asked so many questions all week, Birgit kindly agreed to be interviewed about being a

ski instructor.

Her most surprising answer was that she started skiing when she was 15 while on a school trip that she had to attend; and she hated the skiing and cried first time on the mountain. Clearly she has now moved on a little and has been juggling an early years primary school teaching career and ski instructing for the past six years.

Like many of the instructors, her interest is in developing technique and style rather than speed. Her favourite skiing is on a wide open piste where you can 'fly' as you swish the traverse runs.

Interestingly neither of her parents ski despite living nearby in the mountains. However, her mother has requested lessons from Birgit when she retires next year.

We do hope that Birgit will be there with all the other wonderful instructors to lead the way when we return next year.

UP AND AWAY: Skiers and boarders lift off during their week in Vars, France.

Need for speed 200KM per hour on skis — not us, but participants in Comberton’s Development Course did meet the competitors in the World Speed Ski Race in Vars.

The World Record is 251.40 km/hr, but the snow was too dry for a record that day.

We couldn’t ski at 50km/hr but we could angulate, carve, use different radii, use knee retraction to manage bumps and race a Competition Slalom Course.

In the Snowpark the five boarders showed the skiers big air and grabs, but on the piste the skiers had the speed and control.

Honours were even between the two as the boarders had to integrate with the ski groups both on-piste and offpiste.

The week was intense, with lots of cold snow and navigating around five valleys.

As the week progressed everyone realised that becoming a ski leader required a level of responsibility in navigation, group management and safety alongside becoming an excellent skier.

To arrive at a checkpoint late was a serious ‘crime’, but to arrive early and miss some skiing was worse!

Outside of being serious we had fun ‘bum’ boarding, skating and trying to win at pool. On the last night we ate out in the ‘Rocky Mountain Café’, complete with our own ‘Oscars’ ceremony. Everyone got a mention for something but the ‘big’ winners in the slalom were:Will THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT: A Sandford – fastest boarder, Freya Lilja – fastest girl CVC pupil tries one of the Speed skier and Adam Mellor – fastest boy skier.

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News@Com - March

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On the line!

COMBERTON pupil Oscar Boatfield has been selected for Engand’s youth fly-fishing team.

The Year 10 pupil has won international recognition after just three years of competitive fishing and has been picked for the Loch style, rivers and world championship team.

He has already reached heights he never dreamed of when his grandad taught him to fly fish in Hampshire when he was seven years old.

He has been selected to go to the world championships in August, but they are taking place in Slovakia and Oscar needs around £1,500 to make the trip and is looking for financial help and fund-raising ideas.

If you are able to help in any way, please

NEW: Cheerleading makes its Dance Share debut.

BIG CATCH: Oscar Boatfield has landed an England place.

contact Mark Goldring, Assistant Director of Sport, at the college.

Before the Slovakia trip, Oscar will be fishing for England much closer to home. He competes for England in the Home International against Wales, Scotland and Ireland at Grafham Water in July.

He said: “I have always enjoyed fishing and fishing competitively has taken me to places I would never have even thought about. In the next few years I also hope to go to France, Italy and South Africa to name just a few.

“Since my grandad taught me, I have gone on to be taught by some brilliant fishermen and one of our team coaches is actually the current world champion.

“The downside is that fly fishing at international level is a very expensive thing to do.” MYLES Carter has enjoyed a successful winter of indoor athletics.

The Year 9 pupil competed in the Aviva Indoor Championships and won the under-15 boys shot and triple jump and was part of the winning Paarlauf and 4x2 relay teams in the opening round at Cambridge.

He followed up with wins in the triple jump, 4x2 and Paarlauf and as a result was selected to represent Cambridgeshire in the East Regional MYLES CARTER finals in Norwich, where he was second in the triple and 4x2 and was ranked fifth overall at under-15. Also at the finals, Katie Reynolds, of Year 7, was third in the under-13 high jump.

Success for Myles

Holiday fun on offer

Dance takes centre stage TWO new styles of dance were on display at the annual Dance Share at Comberton Village College.

Cheerleading is proving popular at both CVC and Monkfield Park, where afterschool clubs have been established, and both groups shared some of their work with the more than 300 youngsters from eight primary schools as well as Comberton.

Caldecote Primary has a Street Dance Troupe and they also performed at the share earlier this month.

The Dance Share, which has run since 2003, gives each school a DVD resource of dance units of work from Reception up to Year 11 GCSE and demonstrated a high level of dance with a range of styles and cultural influences.

The event was opened by Hardwick’s recep-

PRIMARY school children can enjoy a fun week of sports at Comberton Leisure during the Easter holidays.

Youngsters aged 4-11 can take part in the four-day multition children with ‘Cold Places’ and was folsports week from April 12-15. lowed by Monkfield Park’s Year 2 ‘Ugly All activities will be run by qualified coaches and include Bug Ball’. trampolining, table tennis, tennis, cricket, football and The Vine (Year 2 Variations), Coton (Years badminton as well as a range of fun games.

3-4 Sun, sea and sand) and Meridian (Year The days run from 10.00-3.00 and cost £17 a day or £60 3-4 Solar system) followed. for all four days. A packed lunch and sports clothing are Haslingfield’s Year 4 and 5 dancers offered essential. There are still spaces available so for more infora taste of Bollywood before the audience mation or to book, please contact Comberton Leisure on was whisked across the globe for African (01223) 264444. Payment is required when booking.

Dance from Bourn’s Year 5 and 6 pupils.

The previous week, Comberton Tiggers are running Caldecote’s Year 6s then performed Mary Easter sessions for members and non-members with head Poppins’ ‘Step in Time’ before a range of coach Andie Buckley at Comberton Leisure. dancers and styles from all years at Sessions start at 9.00am, 10.00, 11.00 and midday and are Comberton and a grand finale from the on offer to children aged five and up from April 6-9. after-school classes.

Each session costs £5 but that is reduced to £4.50 for Thank you to all who took part and to the teachers that made the event possible, espe- bookings of four or more. All sessions must be paid for in cially Mel Edwards, Head of Dance at CVC. advance. More information and booking details are availPaula Fisher, SSCO able on the Tiggers website, www.combertontiggers.co.uk

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New territory for boys LAST term the Under-14 boys’ hockey team beat Swavesey to become district champions.

first round of the competition, and it was a momentous strike!

The boys’ last match was against the hosts, Newport Free. The Comberton team showed how much they had learnt from playing against such quality opposition and held on for a 0-0 draw, hitting the post and having a number of shots saved.

The boys were congratulated by all the other teams, and umpires, for having performed so well with such relatively little playing experience.

Half of the Comberton team had never played any hockey until this year, but the team spirit and commitment they showed was a pleasure to see.

Boys’ hockey goes from strength to

As a result I took the brave step of entering them for the county cup, the first round of the national schools’ competition.

This is the first time that a boys’ team from CVC has entered this competition, which has been won by either The Leys or The Perse for the last 10 years!

It was a snowy morning when we set off for Newport Free Grammar School but, with the help of Sam Walker’s navigation skills, we got there eventually.

The boys had a very tough line-up of games. The first, against Kimbolton School, was played in a semi-blizzard but BREAKING NEW GROUND: The first Comberton boys’ hock- strength at CVC! despite fears of a whitewash (sorry!) it was ey team to enter the National Schools competition.

Squad: Peter Atkin (C), Dan Jarvis, Adam a pretty even game. Comberton had Newman, Ellis Maloney, Matt Haynes, Jack chances, although in the end Kimbolton came away as winners, 2-0.

Halworth, Connor Day, Sam Walker (GK), Sam Reynolds, Jeremy Harris, Ollie Eaton, The second game was against the eventual winners, The Perse, for whom David Huddleston, Raffi Graham, Liam Hunt. Thanks also to non-travelling reserve hockey is a major sport and their team contained some exceptional players.

Max Tomlinson.

They won 5-1, but Dan Jarvis did score the only goal against them in the Ally Brennan, PE Department

Teams fly high

PASS IT ON: Action from the second round of the Comberton division of the High Five primary netball competition.

Teams count down to finals MONKFIELD Park and Meridian are well placed going into the finals of the High Five Netball league.

They filled the top two slots in the second round of their division at Comberton earlier this term. That put them into the A final for teams finishing in the top half of their division and they will face the best of the other primary schools who entered the event at Comberton on May 20.

Haslingfield and defending champions Hardwick topped the B-team division going into their finals at Impington on April 29.

The other final, for teams who finish in the

lower half of their regional division, takes place at Comberton on May 6.

The High Five central netball league is now in its seventh year and has almost doubled in size since it began in 2003, increasing in size from 28 teams from 16 schools to 47 teams from 26 schools this time.

The league was originally started by South Cambs District Council, but now comes under the auspices of the South Cambs School Sport Partnership. The partnership links with secondary schools has meant that young leaders support the divisions with organisation and umpiring.

THE Year 9 team have had an amazing season in netball.

So far we have played four matches and the Cambridge and District Schools tournament.

Our first match was against Netherhall and although we were a player down, we won and all played really well. We continued to play some good netball and won all our games, preparing us for the tournament a couple of weeks ago.

First we played Sawston and then St Bede’s. which we won to put is in the quarter-finals.

Beating Melbourn took us into the semi-finals and a tough match against The Leys.

Unfortunately we lost, however we were only one goal behind at 5-6. We were the last state school left in the tournament and left in high spirits.

We look forward to our future games.

Ruby Dickinson & Ruth Smith (9N) The season has been extremely successful for the Year 11 team. We have won every friendly against rival schools such as St Bede’s (36-4), Melbourn (28-7) and Chesterton (24-3). In our recent tournament we won all our games except against The Perse and The Leys causing us to be knocked out in the final stages.

This didn’t put us off and we are going to be having more matches against them with a fully fit team and a lot less injuries. We would also like to thank Miss Edwards for giving up her time and coaching us as she has really helped us all improve both individually and as a team.

Rachel Howells (11V) & Danni Conway (11T)

News@Com - March

30/3/10

12:11 pm

Page 16

A Specialism of Comberton Vi l l a g e College

APPLIED LEARNING

Enterprising pupils PD DAY 4 gave Year 10 students the exciting opportunity to work together in teams to devise their own creative business idea.

Proceedings kicked off in morning assembly with Mr Warrington introducing two successful local entrepreneurs; Richard Marriott, of Gofers Logistics Worldwide in Papworth, and Bob Richardson, of Si5 Spy Missions (formerly Spymasters) in Bar Hill.

Each gave an inspiring talk about their own experiences in WINNING SMILES: From the Aqua Audios business. entrepreneurs.

Students had a choice for their product or service: it could be anything they wanted but it had to be targeted at one of the groups below: children aged 0-5 years old (pre-school) teenagers aged 13-16 years old Old Aged Pensioners aged 65+ It had to be an original idea or they had to add value to an existing product or service and they were not allowed any inappropriate or illegal products or services! 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 put all this information together in an oral presentation and competed against each other in heats to go through to the finals.

Five teams went through to the finals: Bus Spy A Helping Hand Aqua Audios Ryland's Rides Before I Die The finalists were judged by an expert panel that consisted of: Mrs Stewart; Mr Marriott; Mr Richardson, Mr Lawrence; Mr Law, Mr Abram (an IT consultant from IPDL) and Joseph Tyrrell (Year 11 BTEC Business student).

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

Designed by Judy Czylok, CVC. publicity@comberton.cambs.sch.uk

team of Year 10

TEAM WORKING — a number of people organised to function cooperatively as a group In third place was Bus Spy who came up with the idea of a bus tracking application for the I-Phone.

In second place was Ryland's Rides and their innovative "baby saddle" design.

The winning team was Aqua Audios, who gave a very professional presentation and advert about a waterproof MP3 player and headphones.

They were awarded with a gift voucher for several retail outlets.

Each of the top three teams also won a free session at Si5 Spy Missions.

It was a very successful and enjoyable day.

The students were really engaged from the start and came up with some highly innovative and creative products and materials.

They all worked very hard and demonstrated some excellent entrepreneurial skills.

Chris Warrington Co-ordinator of Business & Enterprise

MAKING MONEY: Comberton’s winning team were in profit in difficult trading conditions.

A winning combination SINCE November, teams of Year 10 and Year 11 students have been taking part in the IFS Student Investor Challenge where they were set the difficult task of investing £100,000 of their virtual cash on to the FTSE 100 Stock Market.

The competition has now drawn to a close and the winning team was HRFS09 from Year 10, comprising Austen Durham, Nicholas Dart, Sam McKay and Luis Bell.

In difficult trading conditions they managed to achieve an overall virtual profit of £6,061.41.

Congratulations to them and well done to all teams who were given a real insight into the world of share trading and changing company value.

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