News@Com Summer 2009

CVC wIn TOP AwARD

SCHOOL VISIT: María

Teresa

Rodríguez Suárez, of the Spanish Embassy, at CVC with Assistant Principal and Director of Language College

Rachel Hawkes and Deputy Principal

Mary Martin

Poster is top class

YEAR 9 pupil Audrey Braven-Ayres reached the final of a national art competition

Her poster was shortlisted in the top 100 of the more than 1,600 entries for the Young Brits at Art competition run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

All entrats were told to submit art work that told their story about what it is like to be a young person in Britain Audrey and the other top 100 entrants were invited to the South Bank Centre earlier this month when the 10 winners were announced.

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Comberton has been named as a Spanish School of the Year. the Spanish embassy annually chooses up to five secondary schools for the prestigious accolade and this year Comberton shares the honour with three London schools and one from Sheffield the announcement follows a successful visit to Comberton by maría teresa rodríguez Suárez of the Spanish embassy the best schools were selected on the following criteria: provision of Spanish and students take-up; Innovation in pedagogy and curriculum; extra-curricular activities, use of ICt and International links Comberton deputy principal mary martin plus Jane Driver, maria Collado Canas and Agnieszka barcz-morgan from the modern Foreign Languages Department collected the award from the Spanish Ambassador, He Carles Casajuana, at the embassy earlier this month

materials, and a week's paid trip to Valencia for six students and a member of staff this is not Comberton's only languages award this year the college also won a european Awards for Languages for its Spanglovision project, a Spanish song competition in which all Year 7 students participate

Another member of the department, Leigh mcClelland,collected that award at the annual eAL Awards ceremony late last month

Comberton has had its Language specialist status for three years and the end of this

term marks only the third year that Spanish has been the first foreign language taught at the college

rachel Hawkes, the Director of Language College, said: "We are thrilled to have been chosen for both these awards

In addition to the designation 'Spanish School of the Year 2009', the college also receives a number of prizes including £500 cash, a further £500 Spanish teaching

"We are now looking forward now to the teaching of our 11 KS4 Spanish classes beginning in Year 10 this September, as well as to broadening our links with our three Spanish-speaking partner schools in Gijón and Figueras, Spain and Arequipa, Peru "

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Ofsted delight

COMBERTON Village College has been named as one of the country's top schools for the fourth time.

It was also highlighted as one of only four schools which has been identified by Ofsted inspectors as particularly successful or outstanding on four separate occasions

In the latest Ofsted report Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education,

Children's Services and Skills, praised Comberton and the other 2,944 schools, childcare providers, colleges and children's homes which were rated outstanding. She said: "It's encouraging to see so much outstanding provision across all areas of education and care and I pay tribute to all who contributed to this success

Paul Lawrence, a Deputy Principal at CVC, said "It was very gratifying that the college has been recognised not only for the outstanding work undertaken by staff and pupils at the time of the last inspection, but for the fact that an excellent level of provision and achievement has been sustained consistently over a significant period of time."

Plans progress

SIGnIFICAnt progress has been made with the development of plans for the new sixth form opening in September 2011.

Governors have approved the outline plans and department heads are busy refining the details in specialist teaching spaces to ensure the best provision possible for sixth form teaching and learning the consultation process has reached the stage where the widest possible representation will be sought from within the college and the local community, before a planning submission later this summer the image above shows the architect’s computer generated image of the proposed main sixth form building, filling the space currently occupied by the old gymnasium and incorporating a remodelled front entrance to the college one of the main aims of the building design was to provide a more visually impressive and elegant building to improve the front aspect of the site the focal point of this plan is the first floor bowed structure at the front of the build which will incorporate an impressive 150 tiered seat lecture theatre other bespoke sixth form accommodation is also being planned within the main college site for the delivery of performing arts, design technology and sport, which will also include the construction of a new gymnasium & sports science laboratory

Immediate next steps include seeking the views of a pupil panel who will have valuable insights and suggestions to ensure that every aspect of design and planning receives the all-important student perspective

Phil Evans, Deputy Principal

Department praised

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tHe excellent work of the geography department was recognised recently when it received a subject inspection from ofsted Individual subject inspections are carried out so ofsted can look closely at how a particular curriculum area is being delivered at selected schools nationally the inspector observed lessons, talked to staff and pupils and looked at pupil work not only did the lead inspector conclude that Comberton’s Geography department was an outstanding one overall, he judged that it was outstanding in every aspect, including achievement and standards, teaching and learning, leadership and management, the geography curriculum and its contribution to community cohesion

the full report can be read at http://www ofsted gov uk/oxedu reports/download/(id)/106 418/(as)/110900 333414 pdf

HOnOUR: Paul Lawrence with Christine Gilbert, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills

Crystal clear

tHe Science Club at CVC entered the Crystal Growing Competition at Cambridge Science Week, 2009

We were given a pack of materials which included special salt called potassium alumni but other salts, such as cooking salt (sodium chloride) can be used as well this is how we made our crystals:

We gently heated a mixture of 300ml of water and 50g of salt, then we let some of the mixture cool on a saucer to make seeding crystals next, we poured the rest of the solution into a glass jar, carefully tied the seed crystal to a pencil with a long thread and let the crystals grow It’s a good idea to choose a seeding crystal which is regular in shape, and to use a fishing line to tie your crystal You need to grow your crystals for about two weeks somewhere where temperature doesn’t change rapidly and away from direct sunshine or any heat source We came third overall You can see crystals grown by the school children if you visit the mrC Crystal Growing stand at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge during Cambridge Science Festival the next one is in march 2010 See you there

David Papworth (7O)

Cold power!

I reALLY did enjoy the mini lecture we had on the liquid nitrogen I found it fascinating Just absolutely gobsmacking! I never knew liquid nitrogen can do so many interesting things Loved it a lot! We were able to make ice cream in about 10 minutes, turned a banana rock hard and used blue-tack as a pin! I believe everyone around me enjoyed it I certainly did!

Abir Zaman (8C)

A sparkling week

At the school science week we made fireworks from different powders We dipped a splint in water and then dipped it in different chemicals and then held it over a bunsen burner It sparkled in different colours

Dima Tupikov 7I

otHer activities in science week at CVC included making custard balls Here are their comments: “I loved it, it was really fun but messy” and “I thought it was great fun”

Chloe and michelle (Year 7) on fire writing: “I thought this was a brilliant experiment” and “very fiery,” brooke and Hollie (Year 7)

MIXInG:

BRIDGE

COLD wORK: Pupils learn about liquid nitrogen

Sticky spaghet-

AS I picked up the Year 6 pupils and saw my previous teachers, memories came back to me when I participated in the Year 6 Science Challenge

IN science we have been doing a project about eco-friendly homes. We had to make models out of cardboard and recycled materials that we brought from home. Then the class got into separate groups which then designed, made and showed their work in an exhibition. Lots of different teachers came and looked round our houses while

I never thought that bridges and spaghetti had anything in common, but clearly they do this year’s participants had to construct a bridge made of spaghetti using only sticky tape and scissors this required cooperation and teamwork within the groups. It was also a great social occasion for the Year 6s to get to know their future year members there were celebrations in more than one way in the end!

A thoroughly enjoyable day!

Aneesh Sharma (8M)

we talked through how our houses are ecofriendly. Then at the end we all voted for the home which was the best. The winners were Hannah Day, Lucy Eaton, Jess Hinson

Olivia Rowbotham and Jing Yang We would like to say a big thank you to Miss Sterling for her help with the project

Lucy Eaton (9V) and Jess Hinson (9R)

Pupils make custard balls in science week

wORK: Year 6 pupils build spaghetti bridges

Looking at the world of media

tHe Computer Club 4 Girls (CC4G) club went on a trip with mrs Heeley and ms Smith, to Cambridge media group (CmG), which is a company made up of a lot of groups that publish books and websites the first people we visited were the book and magazine company there are two of them who work as editors and use Adobe software We saw some of the magazine and the books they publish and then a lady called Lisa showed us her software and how she makes the books on her computer, it was really cool!

We also visited a man called tony He creates websites and he showed us a couple of websites that he had designed We were excited to learn that they also use the same Dreamweaver software to design their websites that we use at school We really, really enjoyed this trip to Cambridge media Group We were amazed at how quickly they can publish and edit a book; it is between three weeks to a month

Rebecca Bird (7B) and Emily Philo (7T)

SAm bols, eric Clery, Alex Paddock and Autumn elbourn went with miss norman to the Cambridge news to see what it was like to work in a press office environment We met Chris elliott, the senior reporter, and he showed us the offices, photo library, different sections like sports, management, editorial etc We got a taste of how the newspapers are compiled and what kind of information is cut from the headlines then we were shown the database full of thousands of photos which the newspaper can use for their columns As we neared the end of the trip, we entered into the most exciting part: the manufacturing building We entered a room upstairs, led by the printing director He showed us how the stencils for newspaper pages are created and cut After that, we went downstairs into the main production factory where it was unbelievably loud and technical Huge drums of ink and rolls of paper surrounded the hall and it was amazing to see how each of the steps was processed into the end product We watched the stages of printing, packaging and delivering then ended our trip back in the main office It was so interesting to see how everything works and we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip

Virtual global tour

tHere was another global success for Comberton with its Global Culture Club festival last month

Pupils made for the Lecture room to embark on a virtual journey around the world in 30 minutes

Within no time, the spacious room looked like a buzzing marketplace along the Silk road in Samarkand Pupils visited each stall offering a wide range of activities Around this small diverse world, hungry pupils started the adventure by lunching on Indian cuisine with spicy pillau rice, vegetable curry, nane bread, Welsh bakestones cakes and delights and French cheeses (brie, emmental, goat cheese, Camembert, etc ), croissants and pains au chocolat Students were then challenged at mankala a game from Africa, discovered Zimbabwean expressive music, experienced the vibrant Greek dancing, created origami objects, persevered with lateral thinking German puzzles, won Flag quizzes and learnt more about the culture of Ghana and India to name a few the Global Culture Club succeeded in creating the international meeting place it promised In return, pupils learnt, shared and enjoyed the experience which they want to repeat on a regular basis

A big thank you and well done to the Global people again for all their hard work and effort they invested in making this event a huge success: mehr Hammad, Yasmin mcmullon, matthew Stirrup, Jack Liddle, mathilde matthews, Isbeal tannahill, Lara mcCarthy (Year 8), Darren D'Souza, Sebba Kumar, Letitia budu, Larry reed, Charlotte Jones (Year 7), nick Lee and Jack Halpin (Year 9)

A taste of CRC Pupils go out to

ALL of our Year 10 students took part in two weeks’ Work Experience as part of their Work-Related Learning programme. A number of students were able to take up placements which had already been organised for us by Connexions but the majority had to find their own placement they were encouraged to stay as local as possible and not to work with close friends/family Work Experience provides our students with practical experience of the world of work including interviews, working with adults other than their teachers and being independent It is also the basis for a speaking and listening exercise which they undertake in Year 11 for their English GCSE.

LASt month George Collison and I went for a taster day at Cambridge regional College, which was good fun Year 10 students from Comberton and across the region also attended on different days depending on which subject they were looking at We chose catering and hospitality; there were 15 other students from different schools in our group Half the group then cooked a main course of chicken and the other group made profiteroles for dessert this was such a good experience as we got to work in one of the kitchens similar to that you would find in a restaurant After the food had been cooked we were then able to eat it in the college’s public restaurant where the hospitality students had laid the tables overall it was a great experience

Natalie Biggs (10C)

GIRLS On TOUR: CC4G at CMG

TOUR GUIDES: Members of the Global Culture Club

work

Learning to lead

tHIS year’s Student Leadership Programme was launched last month, giving Year 10 students the opportunity to develop their skills while making a positive contribution to the College. the Leadership Schemes on offer this year include curricular areas such as: business, Geography, History, Drama, ICt, maths, Philosophy and ethics and Science Leaders

Additionally students could apply for extra-cur-

ricular programmes including: Cabin, extra-curricular music, Year 7 Centre, recycling and Sports Competition Leaders

A large number of students went through the application process and positions have now been appointed by the co-ordinating members of staff Student Leaders make an important contribution to the life and opportunities on offer at the college

Some work with Year 6 students to ensure a smooth transition from primary to secondary school, while others work with staff and indepen-

newest prefects are given helpful hints

eArLIer this term, 45 Year 10 students spent a day at the eastern Learning Centre, being trained in the arts of leadership the day was led by Grant bage, who used anecdotes from his past to illustrate bad leadership (like the ‘brown Shoes’ incident)

We spent the morning looking at different leadership styles (eg the outgoing male or the Dictator), then we had to choose the most appropriate style for different scenarios, with one pupil going straight to the Dictator

Afterwards, in groups of two or three prefect teams, we completed an exercise in teamwork, with some team members counting the number of f’s in a sentence; some building a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows; and others wrapping someone in toilet paper!

In the afternoon we worked in our groups again, but this time in an Apprenticeesque competition (with miss Driver and mr Carrick as margret and nick respectively) with each group having to pitch their plan for a school disco, some of whom got the wrong end of the stick, while others got it spot on including the winning team made up of the Charities Prefects and the Year 11 Fundraising Prefects overall, not only was this day informative but also very enjoyable

David Cadwalladr (10E)

dently to offer extra-curricular clubs and activities through the scheme students have the opportunity to develop and perfect their leadership skills while having fun in their area of interest

Students maintain a logbook detailing their commitment to the programme and reflecting on what they have learned

At the end of Year 11, the logbooks are collated and student leaders are awarded the bronze, Silver or Gold Award to recognise their achievements

Young pupils take on a teaching role

FoUr members of Year 7 turned teachers when they planned and delivered a workshop for the 14 Peruvian exchange students

Kit Hallett-morley, Chloe Scrivener, Anne-Lucie bugain and Alice

ellwood have all been working extremely hard to design a course to teach students and teachers how to use the educational site rafi ki rafi ki is a secure portal for schools all over the world and is being used to promote and maintain contact with our partner schools abroad

Kit, Chloe, Anne-Lucie and Alice spent three weeks producing a user booklet and preparing presentations to guide the Peruvian students through the different facets of the site

they delivered the sessions in a very professional manner and the Peruvian students had all managed to create their own web-page, navigate around the site and left messages for their Comberton partners in their own personal rafi ki chatrooms

Kit, Chloe, Anne-Lucie and Alice then moved on to train the school’s South African partners from edendale School when they visited Comberton recently

In FROnT OF THE CLASS: Four Year 7 pupils have been responsible for preparing and delivering lessons in the use of the Rafi ki portal

LEARnInG CURVE: For Comberton’s new prefects

Harnessing the powe

ADVentUre Club (AC) has been operating at CVC for the last 4 years

– although the format has changed over that time. originally the brain-child of the Director of Pe and Sport, nigel Carrick, the programme, now jointly run by Ian rigg and myself, has helped and supported a large number of pupils, including 27 this year benefitting from the AC experience

‘experience’ is perhaps the best description for it Pupils have an experience that is long lasting and in some cases life-changing Strong claims indeed, but it is true!

Sport, in its widest sense, has been credited with changing lives for the better the Sports College framework and the Youth Sports trust (the organisation that oversees the work of sports colleges), are based around a principle that ‘Sport’ plays a vitally important role in the development of the lives of young and old and not just because of the physical benefits

Adventure activities are just one branch of the world of sport and Pe oAA or outdoor and Adventurous Activities have long been used to challenge and affect the young AC is Comberton’s way of using oAA to impact the lives and learning of some students Pupils are selected for AC on the advice of Heads of Years and tutors the pupils may

require support for a variety of reasons What we try to do is help all pupil positive potential once the group has been selected they follow a specifically designed prog with a series of four lessons where certain skills and abilities are develope this year the Year 8s have focussed on mountain biking skills, starting wi maintenance and riding proficiency the Year 8s’ skills were tested throug terms leading towards the expeditions in the summer term one of the central themes of AC is teamwork this is demonstrated in th encouraged to support their fellow AC members; skills that are going to b expeditions. this year some of the expedition training took place in thick once the training was done it was time for our first expedition to Harlton adventure with perhaps the toughest problem solving activity ever putti they soon learnt that if they didn’t help each other, support or communica stay wasn’t going to be comfortable the Harlton adventure was just the ri expedition two; edale in Derbyshire this time pupils had the luxury of st barn, but what they missed in terms of bonding over the tent setting-up, w

Real bravery is facing a challenge you don’t want to do

IS there a link between being wet and muddy and having fun?

We set off in the rain and it followed us all the way to Chesterfield where mr Goldring told us why the steeple is twisted to point to the West Here we spent ages choosing our food for our three days in a camping barn at edale in the Peak District once unpacked and full of cake we headed into the hills naithan and Josh just bounded the 1000ft climb to ‘ringing roger’ and then on to ‘Kinder Scout’ to explore the peat groughs Using keen native tracking skills, local knowledge and our compasses we got back just as it was getting dark once back from the hills we started making pizza dough and piling on the fillings everyone has personal preferences, possibly fussy preferences but there were lots of healthy choices.

Callum wins the prize for his love of exotic fruits especially his pink ‘Dragon’

While Kieran wins the prize for being the first up, mat and naithan had to be prised from their beds to do the 12 miles on mountain bikes around Ladybower reservoir. there were lots

PEDAL POwER: A lot of the activities revolved around mountain bikes

of places to play skipping stones and explore At the ‘Slippery Stones’ we shared lunch with the sheep who begged for sandwiches Jordan and Josh were as nimble as the sheep as they leapt across the boulders in the stream encouraging others until they were wet

the bagshaw Adventure Cave was close by and several of us were not too keen being underground is not the same as climbing a mountain in the sunshine although for some, the smaller the hole they had to squeeze through the more they liked it For others anything called the ‘mouse Hole’ was a challenge and ‘real’ bravery is facing a challenge you don’t want to do and overcoming it Underground no-one can see how scared you feel and back in the sunshine everyone is the same shade of wet orange mud

‘Home’ for more food, cards, talking until sleep took over mark slept most of the way back and mat talked non-stop until Cambridgeshire came up on the horizon the hills were gone, we were dry and clean but we have some fantastic memories of our adventures together

FOCUS On FOOD: At

Ian Rigg

Tackling range of subjects in

TV, Haribo and IPod free for 54 hours in the wilds of Harlton.

We had no electricity and the only item we needed was running water. The fire was our focal point for cooking, sitting and talking around from 5.15 am when Toby and Kieran got up to about midnight when Naithan and Josh were the last to choose their bedtime The other focal point was the ‘Toilet Hole’ dug slowly by a few and mostly by Louis Everything we ate had consequences and it was great sport to watch the loo being emptied.

If the days were sunny the nights were freezing. In the morning the fire had to be restarted for bacon and eggs The

smell got most of us up but George doesn’t make a pretty sight crawling out of his tent in the morning and Josh only emerged in his sleeping bag.

Fires need feeding and the local woods had a great supply. At first we collected enough to last one meal, but realised that if we wanted to eat and be warm more was needed and chopped Darryl, Hal and Kieran chopped and sawed every moment George and Jordan arrived with a dead small tree!

On a hot sunny day we rode to Wimpole with Louis stopping off to check a ‘broken’ wrist that was only sprained Josh struggled up the hills but was quickly revived by ‘Jam and Custard Jammie

energy r down ag sensitive described tropical from its queueing the close ing bullo tive as w marshma very clos ran, whi idate the of them s herd aga

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Pupils started the ing up the tents ate effectively their ight preparation for aying in a camping as more than made

up for in the shopping challenge the pupils took on the responsibility of sourcing provisions once stocked up, we settled into the beautiful surroundings of the Peak District more biking, but the boys also had the opportunity to walk/climb some of the impressive peaks around us navigation work in the mist on ‘Kinder Scout’, and caving! this was the activity where, for many, the biggest challenge lay this is where we confronted and overcame our fears and maybe learnt the most about ourselves teamwork is key, surviving, living, supporting each other in our AC community learning that our actions and words can have an enormous impact (positively and negatively) on those around us Developing skills that allow challenges to be tackled and overcome that is Adventure Club

And how does this impact the pupils’ school life? It is vital that the skills learnt are not left at camp with support, the pupils transfer their ‘new approach’ to their studies their new found confidence the ‘can do’ attitude is transferred from climbing to a maths lesson, Pe or even homework their interaction skills are used across the curriculum and the school community the power of Adventure

Mark Goldring, Assistant Director of Sport

LEAP OF FAITH: On Kinder Scout.

n open-air classroom

’ Alex and Naithan had lots of acing to the top of the hills and ain Out in the fields there were moments watching nature. Toby d it as ‘watching wind play on a sea’! Kieran rescued a lamb lost mother, we avoided the OAPs g for tea at Wimpole and made acquaintance of the neighbourcks. They were only as inquisie were and on our search for allow sticks they followed us, ely too closely If we ran they ch was worse. Josh tried to intimm but they were bigger and more so we all stuck together one inst another

UnDERGROUnD: Caving with the Adventure Club

A chance to excel

A PICtUre can tell a thousand words Josh may not be known for his athletic prowess, his gymnastic ability or high adrenalin action but here is the proof (see left)

everyone excelled themselves, ben making pizza, black pudding and bacon was my favourite, Louis riding the hills and streams and bogs on his bike, toby burrowing underground in the caves, Alex climbing and finding personal armchairs in the rocks

We were staying in a camping barn on ollerbrook Farm in edale the farmer, mr thornley, doesn’t use many words In fact he doesn’t use two when one will do and often doesn’t use any at all However, Louis and toby found out more about worming sheep than I ever have, even though they nearly got wormed as well If farmers are sparing with words, the bike hirer uses plenty, expressed very slowly He is like the gatekeeper in a fantasy adventure; unless we could endure the sleepiness of his talk we couldn’t have his bikes to explore the kingdom we explored! once hurtling around the lake we stopped to gather strength for a big hill and met another adventurer dressed all in grey, like boromire, accompanied by a huge grey hound He’d had a hard workout yesterday so he was just taking a gentle 11-mile hike to exercise his dog, which usually ran three times his walking distance once he’d shared our stories and encouraged us with a few of his own he disappeared into the forest only to reappear and disappear over lunch

Lunch had less to do with food and much more to do with the slippery stones in the stream Shoes were discarded; socks became redundant exploring the stream, especially after Alex had fallen in there was only one local tourist and when asked if she minded if trousers could be cast off she just smiled her approval Josh did discuss the day’s events with a local sheep thinking he was safely protected by the stream, but she knew better She just crossed the bridge; all we saw was a set of horns crossing the bridge above the wall to reappear besides Josh to get better aquainted

Ian Rigg

At night we went off to Harlton Woods to play ‘Man Hunt’, although in a spooky wood at night everyone felt like the hunted. ‘Hunters and Prey’ stayed close together and imaginations ran riot in our own ‘Forbidden Forest’. When you’re scared and it’s dark it’s OK to hold hands! Back at the fire, reviving our egos with hot chocolate, marshmallows and popcorn the feeling was that this was way better than school. Then we listed the school subjectz we had covered throughout the days. We even fitted in Music with Naithan’s rapping and MFL through discussions with George about Italy. Perhaps we should just move the school out into the open air?

Underground it is difficult to know who you are talking to bob, our guide, was full of stories about mining, stalactites, stalagmites and glass eyes which glow in the dark In the absence of any light our brains invented an image of our hand which we could still see when our eyes were shut! Wow! once we were crawling with the mud below and the mountain above, excited words just bubble out and some dubious noises were invented from the unidentified torches in the dark Conversations happen all the time but most often over meals when we found out who likes top trumps, who plays ‘runescape’, who mends bikes, who loves a ‘Supersize’, what uncle Jess did, who is in the Cadets and who got thrown out the best conversations are overheard as we patrolled at night Young boys do have lively imaginations but my lips are sealed Sometimes I wish theirs’ were!

Ian Rigg

Harlton.

Course hits right notes

remember the snow back in February this year?

What a great day to have a taster lesson for the re-launch of the Yamaha music School at Comberton that lesson obviously had to be re-arranged, but from Spring half-term onwards two classes have been meeting after-school each week learning to play keyboard in a fun and creative environment the classes, of up to 10 students each, are learning on state-ofthe-art keyboards provided by Yamaha the Play for Keeps course material follows a fully accredited trinity Guildhall exam syllabus and can take the student from beginner to Grade 8 standard

It encompasses a broad range of musical genres, with a focus on popular music from the rock and roll era to the present day Working in a group setting brings the additional advantage of being able to learn to play in a band, as well as solo Yamaha music Schools aim to develop rounded musicians who can play by ear and compose their own arrangements, as well as read music to a high standard

Steve Gaze, the new Yamaha Keyboard tutor, has played in music groups in britain, Africa and the South Pacific using a range of styles (particularly gospel, blues, pop, jazz/funk influences) He is involved in youth work in local villages and CVC and he is excited by the opportunities these classes offer to young musicians to learn to play and enjoy making music together the students’ first public performance was as part of the CVC concert earlier this month

“We will be starting more beginners classes in the autumn term, and there will be opportunity for a free taster lesson so potential students, and parents, can check it out before they commit to classes”, said CVC Head of music ben Parker these classes will be aimed at upper primary school and Year 7 students so look out for details in September or e-mail Steve Gaze (stevegaze@googlemail com) for further information

TUnED In: Primary and secondary students at the Yamaha Keyboard classes

Chance to learn something new

THE new Adult Education programme for September will be on the college website soon and will also be delivered door to door over the next month. Please request a copy if you don't receive one on (01223) 264721 or commed@comberton cambs sch uk

A range of part-time day and evening courses will be on offer again and fees will remain the same as last year. Activities include Arts and Crafts, Day schools, Computing, Languages, Music and Dance. New courses in September include: Exploring the Universe a Beginners Guide to the Cosmos (Weds eve) with opportunities for hands-on use

of a large telescope

Safety First Investing the five-week course will be an excellent introduction to the market for investors or potential investors (not speculators)

An Introduction to the Enneagram a five-week course for those who want to understand more about this model of human motivation.

Maths GCSE and Sociology AS (Mon eve) two interesting but also very useful qualifications

Oil Painting Beginners/2nd level (Wed eve) and Life Drawing with model (Mon eve)

carters ad

COMBERTON once again held its annual Apprenticeship and Job-Seekers Convention for those Year 10 students who may be considering work-based learning as their 16+ route

The event, in the Performance Hall, was attended by more than 100 Year 10 students from Comberton, Bassingbourn and Melbourn village colleges. Students were given on short talk on a Work Based Learning and Apprenticships and then had the opportunity to go round the hall and talk to the representatives from the various organisations who were there. A wide range of training providers and local employers attended including Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge Regional College, YMCA, College of Animal Welfare, the Armed Forces and South Cambs District Council. As in previous years exhibitors and students found the event very worthwhile and many students gained a better understanding of the opportunities available to them when they move on.

AT the start of term my form 9E entered the Young Brits at Art competition

Young Brits at Art is run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission It is open to everyone between the ages of 11 and 19 and wanted young people to create a piece which explains what it is like to be a young person living in Britain

It could be done however you want and this year 1,639 people entered

In June I found out I had been shortlisted to the last 100 and was invited to the Southbank Centre in London where 10 winners were announced and the shortlisted work displayed. Unfortunately I wasn’t in the top 10, but I still had a really good day out I would like to thank Miss Quinn and Mr Joseph for entering me.

Audrey Braven-Ayres (9E)

Making things right!

AmneStY International is an organisation that defends human rights and encourages the upholding of human rights

Its motto is ‘protect the human’ the CVC Amnesty International Group, meeting once a week, has been in existence for several years. It is run by pupils and overseen by mr Dawes this year, as an enthusiastic group, we have written letters on behalf of Amnesty to those leaders, government ministers, and members of Parliament whose responsibility it is to ensure that human rights abuses are kept in check We

have been a positive influence in defending human rights along with the thousands of other individuals and groups across the world

Coming from people of school age, moreover, we hope our messages - of goodwill to those exposed to affliction (take Amnesty’s annual greetings card campaign), as well as of protest to the people in power – are especially prominent Amnesty International is now, more than ever, a large and diverse organisation that has been and always will be respectable to the highest degree Its work is founded on a strong advocacy of the fundamentals of human life and as an organization it shows itself to be both accessible and

devoted because of this I think we all ought to embrace it in whatever means possible, either at CVC or elsewhere on Friday lunchtime at school, we tend to alternate between writing letters and discussing issues and cases that we have seen or heard about, most of which have featured in the main news the atmosphere is informal and should pupils wish to come along on a Friday to mA6, with their lunch, they will be most welcome

For more information about Amnesty in this country, you need only visit www.amnesty.org.uk.

Sam Wood (9R)

CVC pupils hoping for a further challenge

eIGHt Comberton pupils took part in this year's Kielder Challenge in Huntingdon and hope to go further the challenge is a national outdoor adventure competition which has been running for more than 20 years It involves outdoor problem-solving activities that test the skills of a team to work together, communicate, plan and evaluate most importantly, the Challenge is fully inclusive and open to all young people

All team members can play an active role in solving the challenges and the inclusion of all students is a key goal for each team this is Annabel Harvey’s (7e) report eight children from different years went to Hinchingbrooke Country Park, Huntingdon, for the Kielder challenge

where you work on your team skills You had to choose all of your tactics as a group and the teachers were not allowed to help in the challenges the team from CVC had a great time there, so great that we came second And now we are first in reserve for the plate final that will take place over five days in the Kielder forest, northumberland in September the people in the team were Annabel Harvey, ben Sievewright, Daniel Cracroft rice, Alex Hay, Liam Goddard, Devin barry, Charlie mcLaughlin and Sam Spencer everyone had a great time there, and all of the challenges were great fun and exiting At the end of the day we all were very tired

TEAM COMBERTOn: CVC’s Kielder Challenge team

FInALIST: Audrey Braven-Ayres’ poster

Girls in titles double

botH Comberton's girls’ teams are the District football champions

After a series of Grand Prix events throughout the year, they clinched the district titles but just missed out on the county ones as well the under-14 team, which included some Year 7 players in the final round were edged out 1-0 by Impington in the county final, but previous results were good enough for the district title

And the under-12 team reached the semi-finals of the county competition, but were crowned district champions after consistently winning their matches at the events throughout the season

Under-12 squad: nicole Ferre, Katy blackhurst, Grace Vaudin, roxanna Shini, emily randall-bowen, Liddy Pinner, eva main, emily Arnold

Under-14 squad: Joanna raymond, Fiona Carter, becky randall-bowen, Summer Cutmore, Sarah raymond, millie turner, Fiona Kendall

Stunning save seals victory

GOALMOUTH ACTIOn: From the game between Coton and Monkfield Park at the Hardwick event

A SUPER save from Lewis Powter helped Hardwick win their own 12-team football tournament. His save ensured a 5-4 victory on penalties against Monkfield Park after the final ended goalless Coton, the only team to have beaten Hardwick on the day, finished third, with Caldecote fourth The competition, which also included teams from Foxton, Bourn, Melbourn, The Vine, Robert Arkenstall (Haddenham) and Barton, was refereed by Comberton Year 8 and 9 pupils Alex Minei, a teaching assistant at Hardwick and The Vine, who organised the event, said: "It was a great afternoon of football despite the early rain There were some memorable matches; none more so than the tense final and I would like to thank all the children, parents and CVC helpers for making it such a good spectacle."

Great day out

Comberton'S two teams had a fantastic day at the Youth Games in St Ives

Although they did not win overall, they did have some success in their games of boccia and cricket and all gave 100 per cent in the fourth annual event for pupils with special physical and learning needs tA Sarah Spencer, who took the teams, said: "It was really great that the students work so well with students from other years"

For those who don't know, boccia can be played by individuals, pairs or teams All competitors take part sitting down and the aim of the game is to throw leather balls as close as they can to a white target ball A point is awarded for each ball that is closer to the target ball than the opponent's closest ball the most points wins

SPORT In

FOCUS:

Comberton teams competed in Boccia (above) and cricket at the Youth Games in St Ives

wInnERS:

The two Comberton teams with their medals and trophies

wATER FIRST: Comberton’s first team at the county schools regatta

The Price is right for CVC pupils

memberS of the Sailing Club took part in the Cambridgeshire Schools regatta for the first time this year

the event was held in baking heat at nene Park in Peterborough on 1st July and consisted of three races in single-handed dinghies

Several schools fielded teams and some of the competitors were experienced racers who sail in national events, but we held our own!

All of our sailors came in the top 30, and two in the top 10 Year 9 pupil michael Steward was just pipped at the post by Will Price, also of Year 9, who romped home in the final race to become CVC's top sailor

A fantastic time was had by all who came on the day and a special thanks to ms Smith and mrs Sharpe, who came with us and supported the team throughout the day

The Sailing Club

Achieving potential

tHIS term has been a reflective one for all of us involved with our applied learning courses, and the school as a whole. our first cohort of pupils have completed their bteC qualifications, and while we cannot be certain of their results yet, it is looking like there will be some phenomenal achievements to celebrate in the summer the process of setting up the bteC subjects, learning how they work, resourcing them, coming up with innovative and high quality experiences for our pupils, and then supporting them to achieve highly, has been challenging, but equally enjoyable and rewarding

Despite inevitable budgetary pressures, additional funding for our Applied Learning specialism has allowed us to run smaller classes, as well as providing additional resources, most notably in Construction and Art and Design our applied courses are now firmly embedded in the curriculum and 50 per cent of our Year 9 pupils are taking an applied learning course next term Governors and staff all agreed that applied learning courses were vital to our role as a successful, fully comprehensive school and are instrumental in

achieving our aims of providing excellent education to all pupils and ensuring that they all achieve their potential the final area of reflection is our exciting new sixth form for 2011 From the start there has been a clear expectation that our sixth form will be fully comprehensive, and that applied learning courses will have a key role We had some great news in being given approval to offer new diploma courses in business administration and sport science at level 3 (A-level equivalent)

Heads of Department are also starting to think hard about what other applied learning courses they feel it is appropriate to offer, for example bteC nationals to run alongside the extensive range of AS & A level provision our Applied Learning Specialism is our newest specialism at Comberton, just over two years old, but from the wealth of activities you can see in this edition & the stunning performance of our first cohort, we are very proud of what we have achieved in such a short time, and are full of plans and exciting ideas on how we can improve the education of our pupils in the future

Lorna Bateson, Director of Applied Learning

More choices Girls’ vital role in successful show

AS part of the on-going process of curriculum review at Comberton designed to increase choice for our pupils, students in the current Year 9 will be able to consider the new diplomas in Sport & Active Leisure or in Business & Financial Administration in our new sixth form at CVC.

This increased offer is part of an ambitious national programme to widen curriculum choice for 14-19 year olds, with 17 new diplomas across a wide range of subject areas including construction, hair & beauty, land based studies and engineering and media.

Schools and colleges in the South Cambridgeshire area are working in partnership to offer all 17 subjects by 2013 Individual institutions seek to develop existing strengths to ensure all students can access all 17 subjects within the local area.

We are delighted to be taking a big part in both the Sport & Active Leisure and Business and Financial Administration diploma group, building on our Sports College specialism, and our success with the BTECs in Sport and Business. We believe very strongly that these diplomas will offer our students high quality, applied learning opportunities to prepare them for either University or careers at 18 Details of the courses available here at CVC and other institutions locally will be made available to pupils and parents during the Autumn term.

Phil Evans, Deputy Principal

FIVe bteC Art and Design students were asked to assist with a prestigious Fashion Show by designers from Cambridge University

Kim, Dassa, Sophie S, Sophie C and Hannah were immediately welcomed as part of the voluntary

after milton's poem Local designers had interpreted the theme of the Fall of man in different ways and the range of clothes and accessories was as vast as it was eclectic there were two shows of 40 minutes each with live music, video and reptiles!

team of artists who were putting on the show in aid of teenage Cancer trust

Goodie bags had to be sorted and labelled, chairs put out and floors swept there was to be a glamorous after-show party and the girls helped prepare the Cambridge Student Union for this then there were the snakes! Yes, three, live 20 foot pythons wound around their keepers that needed looking after!

the theme of the show was “Lost in Paradise”

While three girls helped dress the models backstage, two others photographed the show which consisted of very tall, very slim models teetering around the room in stilettos and sculpted material and that was just the boys!

It was breath-taking; it was awe-inspiring and, very quickly, it was over!

the girls sprang into action at halftime, selling the Goodie bags to the 130 members of the audience. Kim was especially good at this bags were flying out of her hands and altogether, we raised £270 from goodie bag donations

the first audience was ushered out and the second one made comfortable

Another 140 guests watched the second show along with the girls who had been back stage first time round

backstage, flowers were flying, very tall people were hugging each other and the exhausted makeup artists were gearing up for a well-earned party! It was a fantastic experience for everyone and we all headed for home with music, congratulations and amazing images whirling around our heads and the satisfaction of knowing that it wouldn't have been as successful without us

HELPInG HAnDS: Girls on the BTEC Art & Design course

The people theme!

FIFtY-one Year 10 and 11 bteC business students set off for thorpe Park under the keen supervision of mrs Weston, mr evans, ms bateson and mr Allen

We visited thorpe Park as part of the study of Unit 5 People in organisations

Students were involved in interviewing staff, looking at terms and conditions of employment, personal attributes and team working needed within the park and training and development opportunities within the park the students received a 45-minute talk from thorpe Park’s education officer Chris Chedzey, which was really interesting He was able to answer all of the pre-prepared questions the students had about procedures within the business and Sam bols’ pressing question “Is Saw open today?” the students then made their way to the Dome where they worked together in teams to interview members of staff about their job roles

Among the helpful answers they also got some rather interesting ones! It was amazing to find out how little some staff knew about their own terms and conditions of employment, which might be down to apathy or because they were mainly seasonal workers the students observed employees working and spoke to them about what their jobs involve and what attributes they need in their job they learned about the importance of team work and how management often pitch in on

InSIDER KnOwLEDGE: Thorpe Park’s Education Officer Chris Chedzey explains how the theme park works

busy days

the students had a really enjoyable day and learned a lot about the way a successful business is run

THE JOHn LEwIS wAY:

Pupils get an insight into the workings of a successful national business

The art of business

JO and Maya from The John Lewis Partnership in Cambridge visited Year 10 and 11 BTEC Business students as part of their study on Unit 5 People in Organisations

They gave an excellent presentation about practices at John Lewis, including how they recruit and shortlist their staff and the skills and attributes that they look for in an employee

They discussed the importance of terms and conditions of employment and how John Lewis has been affected by recent economic events The students had 20 questions prepared and were attentive and proactive in taking notes It was a very beneficial session as the students gained an insight into a real life successful national business.

Pupils go ‘over the edge’

over the edge was a Year 7 enterprise activity run as part of my Gold business Leaders Award this activity took place in the old Gym during lunch time the teams had to arrive as soon as possible equipped with trainers (Well done to 7o and 7n who got awarded an extra point for being organised!) the hall was set up with 2 benches set 2 5 ft apart and some mats around for safety each form had to enter 8 pupils for each team the team then used their decisionmaking and communication skills to nominate one person as the team leader the leader was given an instruction card on the day instructing them to rearrange the team to line up according to birthdays (from youngest to eldest or vice versa), ascending or descending height order or ascending alphabetical order of surnames on the other bench and was the only person who was allowed to speak once the game had started they were timed for how long it took them to finish the task the team who finished quickest was awarded 10 points, second received 9 points and so on 7e were the quickest and it only took them 28 seconds! However, a point was

deducted every time someone spoke, stepped off the bench or had a team-mate missing on the day! In the end, the winners were 7m! they were awarded with certificates and a form prize of a board game compendium in assembly

Although this activity did not involve any financial transaction, it was called an enterprise activity because the teams developed their enterprise skills they developed the verbal communication skill while selecting the team leader; non-verbal communication skill when they are not allowed to speak during the activity; they had to be creative to think of ways which effectively allowed them to rearrange themselves in order on a narrow bench without falling onto the mats they developed some risk-taking because even though they know moving around may result in them falling and losing a point, they still had to do it!

I would like to say thank you for all the enthusiasm all forms showed towards this activity which allowed it to run successfully; thank you to all teachers helped supervise and to Kuda Zhandire and Kevin Stearn in Year 11 who helped to set up the equipment

Miranda Lin (11I)