News@com summer 10

Ne ws@Com The News Magazine of Comberton Village College

ISSUE 24, SUMMER 2010

MEETING THE CHALLENGES THIS summer Comberton seeks re-accreditation for its International School Award status for the fourth time.

Each time the British Council sets ever more challenging criteria to match the growing number of schools nationally who seek to attain the prestigious award.

Since 2006 CVC has quadrupled its number of partner schools and now enjoys well-established partnerships with schools in South Africa, with whom we have had a thriving link since 1997, Mozambique, Peru, France, Spain, Germany and Holland. Each year more than 300 students take part in international exchange visits and trips.

Judges this time around are particularly interested in the impact of international links on all students across the school, not just those who travel abroad to our partner schools or on other international educational visits.

Over the last year we have developed the strength of international work within our curriculum.

The KS3 sports days and the Year 7 Kinetika project are just two examples of this.

On sports days, each tutor group represents a country to which Comberton is currently linked through residential, exchange and sponsorship programmes.

Pupils research the country, produce a presentation in language and ICT lessons, design spreadsheets in maths and look at key aspects of their country’s geography.

Work also takes place in tutor time and staff have been equipped with resources to further develop the students' understanding of their 'adopted' country.

This project was a fantastic way to enhance something that was already a part of our school calendar and to raise the profile of our international links and provide a mechanism for them to impact on all students in the school, not simply those who take part in the exchanges, trips or other project work. It was also a very concrete and innovative way for two of the school's specialisms to work together and join up two significant aspects of the school's ethos: sport and languages.

Comberton is fully committed to supporting the Olympics 2012 in London.

Our community arts manager, Richard Brown, is working with the national organisation Kinetika to involve the local community in the Cultural Olympiad leading up to 2012. Under his lead, project work within our local new village of Cambourne is being integrated within Comberton's curriculum provision. So far teachers of Drama, Dance, Music, Art and Technology have been involved in the creation of a carnival-type bloco, which is made up of dancers, a samba band and enormous puppets.

However, an off-shoot of Kinetika work in school was a new project for this year, that involved all of Year 7 putting on a production of international folk legends, and it was shown to family and friends earlier this month. During the year pupils worked on aspects of the show in art, technology, music, drama and PE lessons.

A special creation — Page 12

Year 11 bow out in style

BALL BELLES: Year 11 pupils at their Leavers’ Ball.

Full story — Page 3

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Teachers honoured IT WAS as close to red carpet and limos as you get in this profession (with the exception of the Leavers’ Ball, of course).

delivered by Baroness Shirley Williams, who gave an interesting talk on the new government’s education strategy and the role of academies: certainly food for thought.

We were then joined by Katie Sims, Becky Turner, and Mrs Coates, all of Last month, Jonathan Love and I whom had made tremendous efforts were fortunate enough to attend the in the nomination process; we cannot regional finals of the National voice our appreciation enthusiasticalTeaching Awards in Bishop’s ly enough.

Stortford, having been nominated by The ceremony itself was a little some of our particularly delightful daunting, but was a wonderful celeYear 11 students. bration of what it means to be a As we sat in the sunshine, and colteacher. It was a joyful reminder of lected fancy badges and business why we are all here! cards, we couldn’t believe our luck.

I grinningly accepted my commendaThe morning began with a workshop tion as Outstanding New Teacher and Jonathan WINNERS: The Comberton team at the East of England Show. deservedly took a distinction in the Becta Award for Next Generation Learning.

We left feeling deeply grateful to those who had ELLEN Roberts-James, Laura Starace, Jess Hinson and Bethany Callus supported our nominations took part in the final of the East of England Schools Food Challenge.

— staff, students and par- We cooked a two-course meal under the brief that it must be ‘a traditional British meal’. ents alike — and well Our menu was pork tenderloin with sauted and roasted seasonal vegetaaware of the many colleagues equally deserving bles and a cider reduction, and a trio of desserts consisting of a mini of similar recognition. So blackcurrant cheesecake, a mini gooseberry crumble with custard and a shortbread stack with clotted cream and raspberries. get nominating!

RECOGNITION: For Comberton teachers Emily Gildea We competed in the preliminary round at the showground in April, and Emily Gildea and Jonathan Love. impressed the judges. From there we were picked out of around 80 teams to compete in the finals last month against five other schools. It was a hectic day, as we left Hardwick at 7:45am and started setting up our display Pages 8 & 9 End of an Era — Page 3 at 9am.

We cooked from 10:30am til 11:15am, with 45 minutes Fun in the Sun — Page 3 Living the War — Page 10 on the clock. We cooked on a kitchen stage in front of a BBQ is Big Draw — Page 3 New for Autumn — Page 10 large crowd, being harrassed by a woman with a microphone and the camera man. After cooking, we Practice makes Prefect — Page 4 A Valuable Insight — Page 11 raced back to school in the minibus to do our GCSE Councils’ meeting — Page 4 chemistry exam at 1pm.

Schools make Savings — Page 11 On the Buses — Page 4 After the exam, we jumped back in the minibus and sped back to Peterborough showground for the prize Science can be Fun — Page 11 A Happy Munday — Page 5 giving. It was intense. Whilst standing by our display, First Hurdle Cleared — Page 5 Tree House is Tops — Page 11 we collected feedback from the judges and waited It all Adds Up — Page 5 impatiently for the results. The man took his time Rocket Science — Page 11 delivering the results, and when he announced On Your Marks — Page 6 ‘Comberton Village College!’ we couldn’t believe it.

A Special Creation — Page 12 We went up to receive our trophy and were pictured Fans Meet Top Writer — Page 6 Racing Headlong into new with the chairman of the show. All in all, we are really Surprise Winner — Page 7 happy with the outcome, and loved the experience.

Challenges — Page 12 We would like to thank Mrs Jones and Alex Bigot, Play is an Education — Page 7 Sports Round-Up — Pages 13 & 14 Executive Chef at the Moller Centre in Cambridge, for Very Sociable — Page 7 helping us throughout the preparations for the compe Vocational Update — Pages 15 & 16 tition.

Water lot of Fun — Page 7 Designed and edited by Judy Czylok.

Ellen Roberts-James (10V), Bethany Callus, New Sixth Form Takes Shape — Contact: publicity@comberton.cambs.sch.uk Laura Starace, Jess Hinson (all 10R)

Girls cook up a treat

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Final day of fun in the sun ON Friday 14th May all the Year 11s and Year 11 Tutor Team enjoyed a relatively sunny Leavers' Day. We started the day with the formal part, which involved Mr Munday and Mrs Jones speaking to a well-attended assembly of parents and pupils and the presentation of our Leavers' Certificates.

This was followed by fun, laughs and frivolity. Most of us had a go on the bucking sheep, including the one and only Mrs Jones, who mastered it very well.

We had a human table football which got everyone involved as well as the jousting and the bouncy castle.

We thoroughly enjoyed the rather filling BBQ while dancing to an interesting play list of songs.

After everyone demolished their hot dogs and treated themselves to an ice cream or two, we all made our way to the Performance Hall, for what was an extremely memorable and very emotional JOUSTING: One of the activities on offer. assembly. The day was fantastic and one we will be sure not to forget.

It’s the end of an era AFTER five weeks of what were arduous and consuming exams, on the day of the ball it all came to an end with what was, for the majority of the year, their final exam: chemistry.

Forty minutes came to a quick and flourishing end and marked the fact that Comberton was now over, except for one final celebration.

It dawned on many of us that the ball would be the last time that we would see a few members of our year, our teachers and that it was truly the end of an era. But sad thoughts like these quickly diminished and ceased to exist when excitement of the night ahead, and the stress of ‘getting ready’, feelings felt by the majority of the girls and un-ashamedly by some of the boys, took over.

Blessed by good weather and lucky to have escaped grey clouds and rain, preparation for the ball flew by and we found ourselves in the merciless hands of our parents’ photographic skills, hoping that they would ‘capture the moment’.

Arrivals were just as eventful as any other years as we accumulated quite an audience, mainly consisting of our parents, siblings, other family members and current and ex-CVC pupils.

As we arrived — we stepped out of buses, trains, various limos and hum-

mers, vintage vehicles, a horse-drawn carriage, a helicopter and memorably on space hoppers and tandems — we were greeted in the utmost fashion by a red carpet! Yet more pictures and pre-dinner drinks in the beautiful grounds of Churchill College were followed by a formal sit-down meal; again another first for Comberton. The formalities came to an end with the teachers in our year team giving us a long-awaited performance.

Then the music got under way and the very gentlemanly boys among us, asked their partners for a dance and some even asked Mrs Jones.

The evening was very hot and we were able to take advantage of the lovely grounds of Churchill College.

But, as ever, twelve o’clock dawned upon us and it was the end of the ball, the end of Comberton and the end of a wonderful night.

As a year we would like to thank the year team and all the amazing teachers at Comberton, who have taught us so much over the past five years and made our time here as astounding as it was.

But, most of all, thanks to Mrs Jones for not only what was a magnificent night, but moreover the last five years, HOP TO IT: Three where she has not only been our Head Year 11 boys bounce of Year, but more of a mother to us all. down the red carpet.

Cemre Aydinlioglu Thank you.

BBQ is big draw for Year 7

GRUB’S UP: Year 7 pupils tuck into their BBQ selections.

ON Thursday June 10 more than 200 Year 7 pupils attended a barbeque and pool party at CVC. Many of us went swimming; some of us played football on the Astroturf while others tried their hand at hula hooping!

While Mr Jackson, Mr Dry and Mr Mannas were barbequing the food there was a huge game of football — X half year versus the Y half

year. The final score was 12-9 or about that!

Afterwards, everyone was hungry and looking forward to the burgers and sausages — which were delicious!

We would highly recommend another BBQ in Year 8.

Ross Isbister (7N) and Rob Horsnell (7O)

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Practice makes prefect!

A GROUP of around 40 pupils from Year 10 visited Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge as part of our prefect training.

The day started with a free lunch, which was followed by a brief tour of the University campus.

Afterwards we were shown to a lecture room where we all took part in team-building activities. These included a personality-type test, building a boat out of newspaper which could accommodate all group members, arranging packs of TRAINING: Pupils learn skills to help them as prefects (although you wouldn’t know!) cards with only one team member allowed to look at the instructions and a workshop on presentational skills. benefitted greatly from the experience”, and Deputy Head Girl Victoria The boat building competition was won by a team who used the newspaper Aujla said: “I enjoyed finding out about my personality type”. to spell out the word “boat” and simply stood inside it.

Everyone enjoyed the day, and we are all sure that it will help us greatly in New Social Events and Fundraising Senior Prefect Jack Gale said: “I felt I Joe Dickens (10T) performing our roles.

"Bus Leader training was very interesting and helpful, I really enjoyed it and hopefully the techniques that we learnt will come in useful. The processes and the way that the session was structured seemed to build everybody's confidence and all the people I spoke to about it only had positive things to say. I enjoyed the games at the beginning and the random facts he told us about smiling and walking with confidence."

Leanne Davey, Bus Leader (10R) COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Bus leader training.

On the buses . . .

THE journeys on the buses are the only time during the school day where pupils are not directly supervised by teachers.

Therefore, being a Bus Leader is crucially important to ensure that the journeys run smoothly.

To this end, the specially selected Bus Leaders, as well as some members of the Prefect Team, undertook an afternoon’s training in ‘assertiveness’, which was kindly provided by Dave Watts from

School council meets the council THE school council went on a trip with Miss Driver to Swavesey Village College to attend a ‘Youth participation meeting’.

This was basically a chance for young people like us to give suggestions on how they want to be involved in what the district council does.

At the meeting were members of local parish councils, and members of the district council too. There were children from two other schools there and we each sat at a table with 4 or 5 councillors.

We were able to give suggestions about how we think young people should be involved in the council. For example having a say in what goes on in our towns and villages, and being able to speak to councillors about what we want.

After giving our suggestions, we had the privilege of observing a district council meeting as members of the public. Although you could say it got boring at times, it was definitely an interesting experience.

All of us on the school council look forward to another of the meetings in September.

Ruby Dickinson (9N)

Cambridgeshire County Council.

During the training, Leaders learnt more about their role as well as how to deal with tense situations and how to communicate well with other students in a range of different scenarios.

All the leaders worked really well in the training and Dave’s unique sense of humour made it an enjoyable course.

Bus Leaders have now started in their MEETING: The School Council and District Councillors. new roles.

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First hurdle cleared AS this year’s Africa volunteers discover a whole new world in South Africa and Mozambique, the newest group of volunteers are gearing up for their biggest challenge.

They have cleared the first hurdle — selection for one of the 12 places on the planes next summer.

Now Jadene Barker, Sarah Buisson, Adam Hefferland, Anna Humphries, Ella Lloyd, Cameron Seymour (Mozambique), Olivia Cornick, Martha Hallett, Nicholas Lee, Francesca Nightingale, David Snelling and Alice Thomson (South Africa) are getting to grips with the daunting target of raising £2,500 each to fund their trip-of-a-lifetime.

They have already started planning, so look out for ways to support their efforts in the next year.

CHOSEN FEW: The pupils who will go to Africa in 2011.

WELL DONE: Harry Judd, of McFly, congratulates Stephen Munday after the pair combined to dismiss Graham Cowdrey.

IN FULL FLOW: Comberton Year 11 pupil Anya Hall bowls for the TCT team.

A happy Munday!

THE now annual cricket fixture between a Teenage Cancer Trust team and the Bunbury's All Star Team took place in the village of Carlton last month.

Due to some late drop-outs, Comberton Executive Principal Stephen Munday was asked to dust off his whites once more and turn out for the Teenage Cancer Trust team, captained by Harry Judd, of McFly, and starring Anya Hall, from CVC. It was an offer he could not refuse.

Mr Munday was not to be disappointed. One of the all-time great cricket fast bowlers, the Australian Jeff Thompson, was in the opposition.

Fortunately, Thommo's knees have now 'gone' and so his fear factor is somewhat diminished.

As a life-long follower of Kent cricket, Mr Munday was also delighted to find another boyhood hero, Graham Cowdrey, former Kent batsman, in the opposition.

Imagine Mr Munday's feelings when instructed by skipper Harry Judd to bowl when Cowdrey was batting.

To Mr Munday's horror, he was hit for a six by a former college friend who, amazingly, was also in the opposition.

However, the moment of destiny with Cowdrey arrived. A very standard delivery from Mr Munday (about the best that he can muster these days) was smashed by Cowdrey towards the covers.

Somehow, Harry Judd emerged, put out his hands and 'thud'. The ball whacked into Harry's hands and it stuck. There it was: G.Cowdrey, caught H. Judd, bowled S. Munday.

This was really the stuff of dreams and Mr Munday still wonders if he might wake up!

The game was a great one, narrowly won by the Bunbury's.

More to the point, the whole event was a great success raising a lot of money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Apparently, Mr Munday has already gone into secret training for next year's fixture.

Let's face it, if he bowls to Cowdrey again, he'll need it.

It all adds up to success for maths whizzes COMBERTON pupils once again excelled at the UKMT National Junior Maths Challenge for pupils in Years 7 and 8.

They achieved a total of 19 gold, 31 silver and 28 bronze certificates.

Two of the pupils, Kartik Vira (8I) and Thomas Dimaline (8R) scored so highly that they were invited to take part in next round of the Challenge, a two-hour Olympiad paper.

The other Year 8 pupils who achieved gold were Bethan Cadwalladr (8R),

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Amy Bland (8M) Oliver Howard (8B), Phillipa Scotcher (8T), Krishna Parmar (8B), Wilke Grosche (8R), Clare Essex (8E) and Thomas Denney (8N) In Year 7 they were: Melchior Chui (7L), Charlie McRobie (7V), Joelle Tasker (7V), Jonathan Xue (7M), Jack Benson (7V), Wenjie Xu (7O), Edward Glasse (7T), Samuel Rowbotham (7C) and James Hobbs (7V).

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On your Marks. . .

Fans meet top writer

AUTHOR Graham Marks came into Comberton to do a workshop for Years 7, 8 and 9 about character development.

In this workshop he told students how to describe a character objectively, and then to step into their shoes and see the world through their eyes. In this way you should know the character literally “inside and out” as he put it, by the time you are finished.

He was also signing his books in the library during lunchtime and my sister and I went to meet him there. He told us how he became a writer and about the first book he wrote. He also gave us a lot of writing tips.

I met Graham Marks through the Usborne Young Writers’ Competition, which I won. I would like to thank Ms. Blackford and Usborne Publishers for organising Graham Marks’ visit to the school. It was brilliant meeting him!

SIGNED COPIES: Marcus Sedgwick autographs his latest Anita Jiang (10T) work for Comberton pupils.

SOME very lucky Year 9s had the opportunity to meet award winning author, Marcus Sedgwick, writer of the Carnegie-nominated Revolver.

IT started as a normal all times, just in case he We all piled into the library and day at Comberton gets an idea. surprisingly we all just squeezed in Village College.

He moved on to discuss (with a couple of standees at the The first two periods what some of his books side). were History then were about... They are Spanish and then after mystery adventures set in Then Marcus gave us an inspiring break, a special English many different times and talk on his highly acclaimed book lesson. places. One of the books ‘My Swordhand is Singing’.

He told us tales of vampires and his All the talk in 7x2 was that really excited me is that an ‘author’ was titled “KAI-RO” and it is thrilling visits to Transylvania coming to talk about about a young boy called when he was researching the book.

During lunchtime he remained in what his job was like.

Stretch; his mother had Surely, an ‘author’ simdied and his father had the library and a couple of budding ply sits and writes all just been taken as a slave fans, especially Emma Bithell day? to KAI-RO. He (Marcus’ No 1 fan!) got books, As we stood outside now has to live life on his paper and whatever they could get English 2 we noticed the GREAT TO MEET YOU: Comberton’s competition own, and he has just their hands on signed. whole of 7x4 were com- winner with author Graham Marks. made an amazing discov- Afterwards the lucky 15 Carnegie ing down the stairs and then lined up with us, and then ery. (You will have to read it to find out what).

Shadowers for this year got to have we were all called in. Aren’t authors ordinary people?

After the talk Graham was open to take some questions. a one-on-one session on how he How do you pick an author out of a crowd? The first Some of the ones were, ‘Which book took you the became an author. thing I saw was an ordinary-looking man sitting at a longest to write?’ (Answer: KaiRo) and, ‘Which is your He showed us his (rather messy) table. We sat down as if we were in a lecture theatre, favourite book?’ (answer: all of them). notebook which we were all amazed 7x2 at the back and the others at the front and then when After the talk I was intrigued to ask some more quesby. we were all ready he started talking. tions so I went to the library so I could speak to Graham We felt star-struck as he’s the After the usual introductions, Graham Marks began by personally and buy one of his books (I chose KAI-RO, biggest author that has visited telling us how he got his inspiration and how he became which I would really recommend to any other enthusias- Comberton. We all left the session an author. tic readers). There were many other books like his with our ideas bursting at the seams It turns out that he used to be a graphic design artist and newest ones, ‘I-spy’ and ‘Snatched’, as well as several and gripping our notepads. got bored of it. other books — Graham has published 11 novels. I real- Thank you to the English Some of the ways he got his information were most ly enjoyed the day I met an author and it is great to be Department for organising an unusual, and he can suddenly get ideas that he needs to able to put a face to a book. I have found out now that it amazing day! remember but simply slip out of his head. So one of the is still hard to pick an author out of a crowd, but they Laura Tregidgo (9I) and things he’d learned was to carry a notebook and pen at are nothing like ordinary people. Hugh Barker (7C) Catherine Spencer (9T)

The day I met an author

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Play is an education for all Educating Rita by Willy Russell is the play we are currently studying in English.

To get our own experience we all went to see it in The Menier Chocolate Factory in London in May. As soon as we were all on the coach, we had about an hour’s drive to the theatre, where we were all given our tickets and went inside.

The theatre had a very rustic feel to it, which added to the overall excitement and soon we were sitting down.

The stage was very small, with the seats packed tightly around, giving a very personal feel to the performance.

It stars Larry Lamb as the tutor Frank and Laura Dos Santos as Rita.

The play itself is about a woman called Rita who comes from Liverpool’s working class. She had applied to The Open University as she wished to learn everything about literature; her tutor, Frank, introduced her to the classics such as TS Eliot and EM Forster and through her lessons with him, she begins to understand the world of literature.

The play shows the difference between classes and what some people will do if they want to learn.

It really highlights the prejudice that comes with being working class and just how much one person can change from gaining knowledge: By the end of the play Rita sits her exams and passes easily.

The play was directed brilliantly, the set was highly realistic and believable and the quality of acting was amazing.

I can safely say that we all enjoyed it and thoroughly recommend you go and see the plays that you study.

I wish to say a huge thank you to all of the teachers involved, particularly Miss Gildea who organised most of it.

Jess Chadwick (10C)

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Surprise winner EIGHTEEN book lovers from Year 9, set one, English have been shadowing the Carnegie Book Award for the past two months.

School, Huntingdon, joined us to discuss our different opinions on the books and at 12.30 the winner of the Carnegie medal was announced.

The results caused much surprise and disappointment among us shadowers as we really did not expect The Graveyard Book to win!

However, this unexpected result did not spoil the overall experience and we would like thank Mrs Hack and Miss Norman for enabling us to have a really fun and educational time!

Rhiannon Pearman (9T) and Isabelle Clayton-Lucey (9E)

This involved us having to read a selection of books from the shortlist; the aim was to read as many as possible! We met on Thursday lunchtimes in the library to discuss the books and to update our website page (as well as eating all the snacks and orange juice kindly provided by Mrs Hack).

We were lucky enough to have Marcus Sedgwick, the author of Revolver, one of the shortlisted books, come in to talk to us about his novels. His visit was inspiring to all of us, and we were grateful for the opportunity.

As we neared the end of the shadowing, we entered a competition for the chance to win an exclusive trip to the award ceremony for the Carnegie Medal.

To enter the competition we had to write 140 characters saying why we should win. This proved more challenging than it seems and unfortunately we were not successful, even though we all thought our entry was very original. Despite the disappointment. we had a great award day at the college. St. Peter’s D-DAY: Pupils wait for the Carnegie Medal winner to be announced.

Very sociable

IN FULL FLOW: Mrs Compton prepares to soak her team.

Water lot of fun MORE than £100 was added to the Childline coffers as 8N held a Sponge the Teacher event.

Six staff, Mr Love, Mr Wheeler, Mr Ncube, Miss Gildea, Mr Sycamore and Mr Parker, braved the pupils, who paid 50p for three sponges or £2 for a bucket of water.

A huge crowd gathered for the event, which raised £107, but nobody had more fun than Head of Year 8 Mrs Compton, who spent £2 to drench four of her year team.

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YEAR 8 have had a fantastic range of social events this year, with something for everyone including the 'Bounce' event and a trip to Thorpe Park this month.

Earlier this week pupils enjoyed a bouncy castle, ice cream van, games and food at school, just a couple of weeks after a hair-raising trip to the theme park.

Everyone was a bit scared about the big rides, but never theless we did them and were glad to overcome the fear!

In the first term we had a cinema evening, watching ‘Four Christmases' in the Performance Hall, and a trip to 'Joseph' at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, where we even caught Mrs Compton having a bit of a sing-song.

The traditional Year 8 'Candlelit Supper' took place in the Spring Term. Everyone looked smart and the evening was well attended.

We have had a great year, but we couldn't have done it without the help of Mrs Davidson and Mrs Compton.

Thanks to everyone who attended the socials because we raised a lot of money for our chosen charity, Childline.

Gaby Chapman and Keely Mclean (8N)

8

CVC’s new sixth f

Comberton Sixth Form ensures an exceptional post-16 experience with excellence in all a

THE Sixth Form will offer an impressively wide range of opportunities to help the students achieve their ambitions and expand their horizons. From the extensive range of courses on offer, they can personalise their education to meet their

Curriculum needs and aspirations.

There are three pathways to choose from:

Being a sixth form student is an exciting time in a young person’s life and forms the transition between childhood and adulthood.

Our aim is to ensure that at Comberton Sixth Form all students receive the specialist support and guidance they need to make this transition successful.

The pastoral system that works so well in Years 7-11 at CVC is not appropriate for sixth form students.

They will not be required to attend registration every morning as they do in Years 7-11 but will, instead, attend weekly sixth form briefings and meet regularly with their professional tutor on a one-to-one basis.

The professional tutors will have a substantial

amount of time dedic role to ensure the stu receive bespoke sup highest quality, as an

Guidance

Building Works

need it.

In addition to the professional tutors, stu also have regular meetings and receive guidance from the Sixth Form Leadershi Numerous outside organisations will also important role in the guidance of our stud include: Connexions careers advisors, u admission tutors & UCAS advisers. Addi number of other organisations will be on help ensure that students' personal & em needs are met.

The building project is now well under wa schedule. The 'Old Gym' has been demo concrete and steel foundations now in p port the main Sixth Form building. The fr school will be transformed quickly from a site to a state-of-the-art, fully self-contain form in just nine months.

Work has also started on the satellite bu which include the new gym & Sports Scie ratory, design studio and the performing

Leaders We envisage the large majority of students following the A-level based AQA Bacc pathway. This innovative qualification has A-levels at its core, but also gives formal recognition for additional elements of post -16 education. It addresses the recognised limitations of an A-level only curriculum by ensuring students not only achieve their A-level qualifications, but also benefit from a breadth of study and the development of thinking, analytical and research skills. This qualification is highly regarded by universities and employers and will give the students a competitive edge over those with just A-levels.

'The AQA Bacc offers students depth and breadth in their learning which we believe

provides valuable preparation for study at university' University of Sheffield 'Qualifications such as the AQA Bacc produce students with a wide range of learning experience, enhancing their enterprise and employability skills' Business in the Community The courses will be taught by outstanding and committed staff who have a wealth of knowledge and experience of post-16 education, thus ensuring the quality learning experience students currently receive in Years 7-11 continues into Years 12 and 13. Established links with a range of university partners will enhance the students' sixth form experience.

Sporting Academies Comberton Sixth Form is also pleased to provide outstanding athletes in rugby, judo, golf and squash the unique opportunity to combine top quality coaching and competition with A-level or BTEC courses. The sixth form offers state-of-the-art facilities and exceptional coaches to help the elite athletes reach their full sporting potential, while providing the teaching time and support needed to be successful at A-level or BTEC qualification.

PHIL EVANS: Head of Form and Deputy Princ

With considerable ex to ensure that studen very excited about th sixth form experienc

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form is taking shape

areas

‘

High quality is set to be the hallmark of our new Sixth Form Stephen Munday, Executive Principal

Enrichment

Students will have the opportunity to take part in an extensive range of enrichment activities from 'cooking on a budget' to cated to this rugby, from learning to drive to learning latin. udents The impressive range of choices available to them means that pport of the nd when they all appropriate interests can be met.

This area of the curriculum is formally recognised in the AQA dents will Bacc qualification, an aspect valued highly by universities . advice and In addition to the enrichment activities, there will also be conip team. siderable scope to develop leadership skills through the sixth o play an dents. These form leadership programme and participation in the work of niversity the Sixth Form Committee. itionally, a A further aim is to provide students with exciting & challenghand to ing opportunities beyond the walls of CSF. motional Students joining in 2011 will be able to join the expedition society and climb Mt Kilimanjaro; individuals wishing to conay and on tinue with the Duke of Edinburgh qualification will be able to olished with complete the gold award, which involves an expedition in place to supSwitzerland; annual exchanges to our partner schools in South ront of the Africa and Mozambique will also see sixth form students taka building ing a leading role. ned sixth These opportunities, alongside more subject specific educational and recreational visits on a local, national and internaildings tional scale, ensure that all students who wish to participate ence laboarts centre. have rich and varied range opportunities to choose from.

ship Team

f Sixth cipal.

LORNA CONROY: Assistant Head of Sixth Form.

HANNAH POWELL: Assistant Head of Sixth Form.

xperience and expertise in the area of post-16 education, we are working nts' experiences at CSF are exciting, challenging and enjoyable. We are he opportunities this new development gives our students, offering them a e of the very highest quality.

www.combertonsixthform.org

Pupil Voice

POINTS OF VIEW: Year 10 pupils are helping mould the new sixth form.

On Thursday lunch times I have been meeting Mrs Powell and other pupils in my year to talk about the new Comberton Sixth Form.

This was a way for us to express our ideas and opinions about what we would like to have and also a way to discuss options about the new Sixth Form.

We are currently working together to plan the post-16 level 3 awareness day on September 2; a taster for Year 10s to get an idea about what sixth form may be like and also a chance to learn a bit about the careers we would be interested in doing.

Within our meetings, we have discussed types of careers that many people in our year have considered a path for their future.

These include: Pilot Social worker Doctor Lawyer Teacher We have also discussed possible structures for the day: How we would like the sixth form ideas to be presented to us, what we want to see and, of course, the all-important issue of food.

Next term we will be focusing on leadership, enrichment and pastoral structures. I have found these meetings and learning about how the sixth form will be run extremely interesting and I am looking forward to working within them again next year.

It has also given me a much clearer picture about many aspects of Comberton Sixth Form and I am very grateful to Mrs Powell and the rest of the group.

Kirsty Rider (10C)

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10

New courses for autumn THE Adult Education programme will be distributed locally in August and will again offer a wide range of day and evening courses at the college, starting in September.

Two new courses have an environmental theme; Bee Keeping, an introduction for those considering keeping bees in the future, and Carbon Conversations, which will focus on how we can best reduce our carbon emissions.

Other new courses include: Beadwork Jewellery, Wine Appreciation, French and Italian Cookery Day schools, Oil Painting for beginners/improvers, Video Editing, Tracing Your Ancestors, Gothic Architecture, Body Massage, Beginners’ Italian, Digital Photography and Managing the Behaviour of Young People.

Tel 01223 264721, e-mail commed@comberton.cambs.sch.uk or visit the website www.commed.combertonvc.org

BEE-KEEPING: A new course at CVC.

Living the war ON Monday July 5th, the whole of Year 9 went to the Performance Hall to hear Eva Clarke share the story of her family’s experiences of the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Europe.

days of the war. She tells the story of her family; her mother was one of the only family members to survive. She told the students of the conditions for Jewish people in the early part of the war when the persecution began, and then what they were like inside the work camps.

Her mother This developed had a brief issues studied in stay at modules on the Auschwitz, History and RPE where her curriculum. father was The Holocaust killed; the means ‘burnt offerprofound ing’ and refers to effect of the the large number of place has left people who were her unable to killed (and often return to the burnt) under Nazi site, even occupation of though other Europe during the survivors Second World War. have.

Many groups were As the war persecuted during ended 65 this time, but years ago, it is Jewish people were SURVIVOR: Eva Clarke talks to Year 9 pupils. becoming an the worst affected increasingly rare opportunity to hear a survivor with 6 million Jews being killed in their villages, speak and we do thank Eva for giving up her time concentration camps and extermination camps. The for our students. The inspiration behind Eva’s work population of Jews in Europe at the beginning of is for commemoration, but also to warn people of the war was 8 million; by the end of the war 6 milthe tragic effects that prejudice and discrimination lion Jews had been killed. can have and unfortunately are still having in cerEva has an unusual story; she was born in the final tain parts of the world today.

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A valuable insight AFTER an exhausting activity-packed weekend camping in the Chilton Hills for Duke of Edinburgh, on the Monday morning we caught the coach to the famous Imperial War Museum in London.

Arriving there tired, but extremely excited, we were given audio guides, which would provide us with information as we walked through the unbelievable exhibition.

We discovered lots of new facts and listened to

the horrific ordeals people faced during the Holocaust.

Pictures, videos, models and artefacts supplied vital information, which we all took in with an enormous amount of consideration and respect as the subject matter was extremely moving.

After the excellent audio tour, which we all benefited from, we had time to reflect on what we had witnessed.

We couldn’t believe the amount of pain, physically and emotionally, that the Jewish citizens were put through.

All of us came out feeling a diverse range of

emotions, but all with an extremely high level of respect for the Jewish people who had suffered greatly.

It was a very hard day and we had a lot of information to process; we could never have imagined the true horror that happened during the Holocaust. Children of our generation find it extremely hard to ever imagine such an ordeal.

However, I will definitely recommend people to go as it is a moving, but interesting exhibition on an historical and ethical matter that is hugely important and that should be known in depth all Gina Hurry (9O) around the world.

Schools make real savings EARTH Day takes place every year and is a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s Environment.

Thursday April 22 was Earth day this year and as we have been targeting Environment issues around school, we wanted to do something to celebrate and make a positive impact on the day.

For this event CVC worked alongside ‘Network 11’ primary schools.

The Vine, Bourn and Coton all participated in Earth Hour by switching all class lights and computers off, which the children were very enthusiastic about. Bourn even held some of their classes outside.

At the same time they all held a waste paper challenge. They weighed all their waste paper and then had an assembly about how to reduce this waste, with ideas such as using both sides of the paper.

The second weigh-in a week later showed a 20% reduction of waste paper at The Vine and a 32% reduction at Meridian.

Coton found that the main result of their assembly advice was that the scrap paper pile became enormous, as children wanted to be able to re-use it. The suggestion was that they should start making paper and paper sculptures.

At Comberton, all the lights were switched off for 10 minutes from 8:35am to 8:45am during registration.

Although, this may not seem very much, we saved 1KW by turning off all the lights.

Given that lighting alone accounts for a quarter of the school’s energy requirements, we could save hundreds of pounds and an enormous amount of electricity if we used lights more appropriately.

With the help of the ‘Network 11’ primary schools, we achieved a great deal in one day. We hope to celebrate Earth day every year at CVC, so that we can remind pupils and staff how small things make a big impact on the environment.

Kimberley Allen

Tree house is tops CONGRATULATIONS to Year 9 pupils Sophy Streater, Phoebe Perry, Abigail Johnson, Rachel Whitehead and Sophy Clarkson for winning the Eco-Home Trade Show competition run by Miss Sterling to raise awareness of environmental issues including insulation, recycling and the use of renewable energy resources in the home.

The girls made an impressive model of an unusual tree-house design and won over the majority of votes with their knowledge of the scientific WINNERS: The team show off their eco-home concepts surrounding their ideas. tree-house.

5th GENERATION ARCHITECTURE Local Architectural Practice 10 Years experience in and around Cambridgeshire

Science can be fun!

THIRTY Comberton pupils left school with an excited Miss Segal, and set off on a coach to the Fire and Flames lecture.

When we arrived, we were welcomed into the lecture hall, wondering what was in store for us, for the next two hours.

Well, we definitely didn’t expect what we saw.

Peter (the main scientist) and his assistants, Mark, Chris and Sarah wowed the CVC students and all of the other audience with lots of explosions (like the ones in James Bond films!), crackles, fire extinguishing (when things went wrong!) and of course big bangs! Everyone was blown YEAR 6 pupils from CVC’s feeder primary schools spent a away (quite literally!) at what was on show that day! morning at the college for the annual Science Challenge.

Peter and his crew inspired the This year pupils had to design CVC students and showed us and make a balloon rocket that that science can be fun! could carry a cargo along a Bella Katz (7B) string line.

There was a huge range of DESIGN designs on AND show, many of BUILD: which looked Year 6 good in testing, pupils but met with focus on varying degrees of success in their competition. project.

Rocket science

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12

Racing headlong into new challenges TWO Adventure Club groups, the Challengers and Explorers, travelled to Edale in Derbyshire to tackle a range of tasks and challenges.

The Year 8 boys had to be physically and mentally strong as they hiked up and over 'Mam Tor', sped around a 13-mile biking route and caved deep beneath the beautiful Derbyshire countryside, all in a couple of days. However, perhaps the greatest challenge of all was the cooking and cleaning tasks in our camping barn. The good news is that all tasks were completed well without too many problems — although there was a grumble or two at the clear-up stage.

While the Explorers enjoyed the warmth and sunshine of late May, the Challengers braved the wind and rain during their adventure in early June. On the walk to the summit of Mam Tor, the Explorers’ greatest concern was keeping hydrated and covered up from the suns rays. The route for the Challengers became a battle against the formation of a stream that flowed against us as we aimed for the top. Both groups succeeded, with one slightly wetter than the other!

Then for the bikes. Like knights charging into battle our Year 8s rode around, through and across Ladybower reservoir, again taking on a number of peaks. And then the caves; with stories of Indian Joe, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ringing in their ears, the boys went deep, deep, down. What happens if you get lost and your light battery fails?

Not a question you want to dwell on — but there is an answer…

And of course the final challenge; leaving the camping barn on time, which means tidy-up time! Yet again, the boys rose to the challenge and are now, I'm sure, fully involved in all housework tasks at home!

In all that they considered two simple questions: Am I part of the problem? Will I be part of the solution? Selfish or selfless? Time will tell.

Mark Goldring

OUT AND ABOUT: Adventure Club members in Derbyshire

A special creation THE Year 7 end-of-year production ‘Illumination’ was particularly ambitious.

Richard Brown has been working with the national organisation Kinetika to involve the local community in the Cultural Olympiad leading up to 2012. This has resulted in a carThe brainchild of Mike Sharpe, Head of nival-type bloco, which is made up of Drama, it was the finale of a project which dancers, a samba band and an enormous puphas involved students working across five pet, all of whom will be marching to London different subjects throughout the year. to celebrate the Olympics in 2012. They also ‘Illumination’ was based on the creation served as a fabulous opening act for the myths and legends from 12 different coun‘Illumination’ production. tries or areas in a continent, such as the It was discussions with the Kinetika group Amazon. There were 300 students who that led the DT department to make puppets worked in Drama to create a play; in Dance with Year 7, and inspired the multi-cultural to develop a dance to introduce each play; in approach to this year’s production.

Music to produce a soundtrack; in Art to Rachel Hawkes, CVC’s Head of Languages make costumes; in Design and Technology College and International Co-ordinator to make life-size puppets, which were used summed it up very well. “The Year 7 ON STAGE: One of the 12 Year 7 dances. in roles in the plays and in some of the Illumination project performance was amazdances. The end product resulted in two ing! It was the first time five departments have all contributed to a major public performances in which more than 200 students were on stage. It was project that combined both curriculum work and extra-curricular perforobvious that the students gained a great sense of achievement. mance. It must have been a staggering amount of work throughout the year Julius Tamosauskas said: “I thought it was going to be really scary to perbut the end product was incredibly rich in creativity, teamwork and enjoyform in front of all those people, but actually it was really fun. I am very ment for the students and the audience.” It is also hoped that this is not the happy that I chose to take part.” end of the project and that CVC students and their puppets will be joining The original inspiration came from a national participatory arts project called the bloco on their march to the Olympics 2012.

‘Imagination our Nation.’ As part of this, CVC’s community arts manager, Work in the Real World — Page 15

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13

A Cup to cheer . . .

FORGET the World Cup, there was over Foxton in the semi-finals. plenty of skill on show as Hardwick Hardwick also topped their group with retained the Shelford Heating Cup. victories over St. Luke’s and Newnham Sixteen school teams and more than Croft B. They also drew 0-0 with 170 children came together on Foxton, having missed a penalty.

Hardwick Recreation Ground for the Hardwick got through both the quarter annual summer football tournament. and semi-finals with shoot-out success, Teams from across Cambridgeshire goalkeeper Niall Jackson making some took part in the tournament, which was outstanding saves to keep them in both officiated by Comberton pupils and games. They beat Warboys in the quarsponsored by Shelford Heating, Wallis ter-finals then saw off St Philip’s, who and Son (Barton), Greens Coffee Shop went on to beat Foxton 3-0 in the play(Cambourne) and Signwork & off for third.

Expertees (Hardwick).

Among the 16 teams involved there For the third year running Hardwick UP AND AWAY: Monkfield Park defend a corner in the final against was also a second team from Hardwick, faced Monkfield Park in the final and two from The Vine and one from Hardwick. although the Cambourne school looked Meridian. the stronger in the 15-minute match, they could not break the deadlock.

Organiser Alex Minei, who works at The Vine and Hardwick, said: “It was a During a tense penalty shoot-out, watched by a big crowd, a single miss fantastic afternoon and I would like to say a big thank you to all the chilproved decisive, leaving Hardwick keeper Niall Jackson the job of scoring dren, staff and helpers for making it as successful as it was. The day couldthe twice-taken winning penalty. n’t have gone better, the football was outstanding, the weather was beautiful Monkfield Park topped their group thanks to wins over Newnham Croft A and every child did their school proud. It was great to see such a big crowd and Meridian as well as a draw with Fowlmere to set up a quarter-final with watching the final! Let’s hope the Shelford Heating Cup 2011 can be even Duxford, which they won on penalties. Two late goals gave them a 2-0 win bigger and better!”

Boat damage shortens challenge A TEAM of sailors from CVC (and beyond) attempted to sail in a 24-hour race in aid of the RNLI last month.

The team included two staff members, two current Year 10 pupils and an ex-pupil. The aim was for the boat to sail continuously from 3pm Saturday to 3pm Sunday.

A valiant effort was made in the unexpected northerly winds, but our wooden dinghy circa 1968 found it hard to compete with more modern racing boats. In the early evening, an unlucky capsize on a gibe meant DANCE FOR ALL: Dance classes are for all years.

Showcase for dance

we took time out of the race to pump it out, and on the next two laps we realised we had damaged it and more water was coming in than we would have liked!

So we called a halt until daylight when we arranged to borrow a replacement boat from the Sailing Centre and continued the race.

Our ranking in the field was not our reason for racing — jolly good thing too as we came in joint last!

Niki Smith and Nick Evans

Pupils get the wind in their sails

THE after school dance programme has grown massively over the last few years, resulting in a show on the 25th June with 140 dancers.

The dance scheme has been extremely successful and the show was a demonstration of its success; there were a variety of dance styles including jazz, ballet, tap, street and the show ended in a fantastic contemporary routine. These dances were choreographed by the Bodyworks teachers and there were also contributions from the Gail Henry and the Jill Bridger dance schools. Furthermore, there were also superb dances that had been choreographed by Year 10 students and Holli Grice, which showed the audience the talent that Comberton students have not only for dancing, but also for choreographing. The dance programme is open to students from all years and grows with more dance classes every term clearly showing that it is a huge success. ON THE WATER: Sailing Club pupils in action.

EVERY summer a minibus of pupils leaves school on a weekly basis to travel to Peterborough for an evening of watersports.

This year a mixture of Year 8s, Year 9s, Year 10s and a couple of Year 11s joined Ms Smith, Mr Evans and Mr Pollock for Wednesday evenings on the water.

This year all the pupils chose to do sailing — no-one fancied wind-surfing — and we trained to race standard (some of us did!).

We then chose a ‘team’ of sailors to enter into the Cambridgeshire Schools Regatta. Look out for a report in the next Sport@Com.

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14

Jumps of joy!

COMBERTON girls dominated the high jump at the annual Jubilee Cup athletics competition against other Cambridge and District secondary schools at Wilberforce Road.

They won the Year 7, 8 and 9 events through the efforts of Katie Reynolds, Ella Robarts and Harmony Hennessy.

Katie also won the 100m, while Harmony took second place in the 800m, an event won at Year 10 level by Millie Turner.

There were also top-three finishes for Tayler McVey, Alba Skottowe and Hattie Algar in their events.

For the boys Lewis Maude won the Year 7 shot by a massive margin, Luca Williams took the Year 8 high jump convincingly and there were also victories for Year 9 boys Rory Thompson and Morgan Young, who both achieved personal bests, in the 800m and javelin respectively.

Boys’ captain Nick Garbutt was a strong second in the Year 10 200m, while Sam Reynolds also achieved his best time, in the Year 9 400m.

Elliott Oakley Wilson, who had won the Year 7 high jump and

200m, provided one of the day’s highlights in the relay when, with CVC fifth going into the final leg, he sped past two other schools’ runners to end up third.

Comberton finished sixth overall in an event organised primarily by CVC PE teachers Julia Scarboro and Sean Pollock.

Mrs Scarboro said: “All athletes competed with an excellent attitude and many athletes produced personal bests.”

Comberton provided an excellent team of Year 9 sports leaders, who helped officiate at the field events.

“This team of leaders were a credit to the school and helped the day to run smoothly,” said Mrs Scarboro.

YOUNG SQUAD: Only two Hardwick players are in Year 6.

Pupils are stumped

HARDWICK Primary School were beaten just once, but the team that scored more runs than any other in the group games were pipped for a quarter-final place in the county Kwik Cricket tournament at Clare College.

Places were decided on wickets lost not runs scored and Hardwick were edged out in their round robin group.

But they still have high hopes for next year as the team that qualified by fininshing runnersup to Willingham in the local round at Hardwick recreation ground comprised entirely of Year 5 players as the Year 6s were on a residential week.

Two Year 6s were added to the squad for the county competition in which Hardwick beat UP AND Ramnoth (Wisbech), Morley Memorial OVER: A (Cambridge), and Icknield (Sawston) and CVC high jumper on narrowly lost to Bottisham. They then won the way to two friendly matches as well.

Teacher Andi Davies said: “It was a very disvictory at the Jubilee appointing way to go out when we scored more runs than anybody else, but we’ll be Cup. back next year!”

Youngsters show Games spirit NOT EVEN complete traffic chaos round from the Partnerships secondary schools Cambridge and journeys much longer including CVC’s Laura Starace and Millie than expected could stop more than 1,400 Turner. pupils from 44 schools having a great day Events were also manned by Year 10 of athletics at Wilberforce Road. pupils from the secondary schools includSeven of Comberton’s nine feeder schools ing Comberton students on the BTEC with Year 4 pupils made it to the Sport course. Comberton also provided Cambridge University athletics track for eight cheerleaders to help with that event. the South Cambs School Sport Olympian Jo Ellis, who represented GB at Partnership Mini-Olympics. hockey in Beijing was the special guest.

During the day children were able to try She said “It was incredible to see so many out a range of different and often new children taking part in sport — it’s such a activities. great event. It’s really important for chilThese included a variety of Olympic and dren to take part in events like today as Paralympic sports, like long jump, hopefully it will inspire them to take part Boccia, hockey, javelin, hurdles and in sport which can teach them many valutennis. able lessons in life.”

HEAVE: Year 4 pupils try tug-of-war.

Keeping with the Olympic theme all of Claire McDonnell, the Comberton-based the children were wearing t-shirts in the colours of the Olympic rings.

Partnership Development Manager, said: “Sport can give children the In the run up to the day, an Olympic Oath competition took place for experiences to help them achieve their full potential in life as it is a great participating schools, with children being asked to write an oath for the way of enhancing qualities such as teamwork, discipline, determination South Cambs Mini Olympics based on the Olympic and Paralympic valand fair play which will help build their confidence and stand them in ues. At the opening ceremony, which was led by Young Ambassadors great stead throughout their lives.”

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APPLIED

A Specialism of Comberton Vi l l a g e College

LEARNING

Sorting out options is no mean feat THE dust is finally settling on this year's options process, and Year 9 are all looking forward to taking on their subject choices in KS4 in September. With more vocational options than ever before, the task of picking subjects was a huge one for Year 9 pupils but also for Mr Law, who has been battling harder than ever this year to make pupils choices possible within the constraints of the school day and a clear timetable structure.

After hours and hours and hours of work on his part, moving subjects round and round the option bands, discussing with heads of department how they want to set up classes in their subjects, and negotiating reserve choices, and extra after-school classes, he has performed

miracles again so that the every Year 9 pupil now has a set of options for September and the vast majority have either their first choices or a renegotiated set of options with which they are very happy.

This year for the first time, a broad range of the new Diploma qualifications were offered.

The diploma is a wrap-around qualification incorporating Principal Learning in the vocational subject, together with Functional Skills in Maths and English and wider skills for work and study.

Six CVC pupils plus one from Manor Community College will take the Diploma in Business Administration and Finance.

Two more of our Yr 9 pupils have opted to

take the Diploma in Hair and Beauty at Swavesey Village College.

Another two will travel each week to the Parkside Federation, Coleridge campus, one to study Society, Health and Development, and one to study Creative and Media. These two recently attended an induction day, and came back very excited about starting their new courses and meeting new students.

For all these four students, this is a brave choice — not only have they opted for a completely new subject they haven't studied before, but will have to travel to other schools, learn their rules, use their canteens and make new friends in a whole new setting. We wish them every success.

Work in the real world YEAR 10 BTEC Art and Design girls have been involved in a unique costume design project recently.

painting silk, wringing large pieces of cloth in buckets of dye, searching for elusive masking tape…

As parents arrived for the Year 10 parents evening on the Thursday, this had been going on for two days – some students staying on until 9pm on

They spent a total of three, hardworking days collaborating with professional designers and makers to produce costumes for the Cambourne Bloco.

You may have seen this group around the area. They perform music and dance, carnival style in the area — their next date is in Milton Country Park on July 25 and 26 where they will be wearing their new, spectacular costumes!

The girls weren’t sure what to think when they arrived at the studio in Brick Lane and were handed acres of white cotton and a pair of scissors. The pace was relentless — no time for break and only a few snatched minutes for lunch! They quickly got the hang of working in groups on various tasks. There were 20 circular skirts to be measured and cut out. The skirts then needed to be sewn up — and the girls had to master using a fast industrial sewing machine and sew in straight lines.

While some took to this with relish, others tackled the designing process. This involved translating designs specific to Cambourne into attractive patterns that could be transferred to the cloth. These designs then had to be Batiked (painted with wax) on to silk shapes which will WORK IN PROGRESS: BTEC Art and Design pupils’ work for the Cambourne Bloco become headdresses and collars. We worked until 5pm costumes. in London.

The following week, the Kinetika team visited the school for two days to Wednesday night! finish the job! They were basedin Art 3 and where BTEC pupils could be There were still a few bits to be finished, but the task was completed, spared from lessons, they joined the frenetic atmosphere in Mrs Powys’ Art bagged and cleared up by 7pm. room to try to beat the deadline. So much to be done — so little time!

It was a great team work experience for all involved. The finished costumes Working through break and lunch, teams of students from all year groups came back to school at the end of June to have plastic rods attached – and pitched in when they could. They were given different tasks — waxing, are now good to go. Look out for them — the Bloco is coming to your area dying, clearing tables for the next batch, going to the skip, making tea, soon.

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APPLIED LEARNING

Diploma kicks off TUESDAY 23rd June proved to be an historic occasion for the Business Department as the new Business, Administration and Finance Diploma finally kicked off in true entrepreneurial fashion with a one-day induction event.

A combination of participating Year 9 Comberton and Manor College students attended Comberton's new business-suite classroom and began the event by getting to know each other while learning about the structure of the new qualification.

The key theme of the day was 'financial management' and students began to learn the importance of effective money management and even took a brief look at the history of money.

They all agreed that one of the first steps to business success is the understanding of how to look after their money effectively!

WORKING TOGETHER: Pupils on the new Business, Administration and Finance Diploma.

In the afternoon, teams were given the challenge of as to how they could improve their presentation skills. using the internet to research two organisations; The Royal Mint and The It was a very enjoyable and informative event which gave next year's Bank of England.

Diploma students a useful insight into the learning challenges that lie ahead They were given short deadlines to work together effectively as a team and for them over the next two years. produce a three-minute presentation, using PowerPoint and hand-outs, about For more information about the Business, Administration and Finance their research into each organisation.

Diploma, please contact Mr Warrington on The students were also given individual feedback from the rest of the group cwarrington@comberton.cambs.sch.uk

Please can you help?

AS part of the BTEC Business and Business Diploma qualifications, we aim to involve as many local businesses and business people as possible in developing students' understanding of the business world.

I am aiming to develop relations between the department and as many local employers as possible so that we can enhance our business and enterprise teaching and learning.

It could be an excellent opportunity for local business people to meet potential future employees or even competitors!

If you are interested in visiting Comberton to speak to the students about your own business skills/experiences or perhaps would be willing to allow them to visit your business, then please don't hesitate to email Mr Warrington at cwarrington@comberton.cambs.sch.uk.

Park visit is a big hit IT WAS early in the morning, generally a time for moaning and yawning — but not for the BTEC Business students; not on March 24 anyway.

That morning, we were all excited and raring to go to Thorpe Park to gather knowledge about people in organisations, in order to help us with our coursework.

We arrived at roughly 10.00, just as the park was opening. Our first task, as soon as we entered, was to interview at least two employees there and gather information about how they applied for their job, and what their job entails.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch, and so the class separated into groups depending on their preference of fine dining; Pizza Hut, KFC, or Burger King.

After lunch, we attended a presentation, which explained how a company like Thorpe Park organises itself, recruits and trains its staff. It was interesting to see how they employ people and organise themselves. It was an interesting experience which taught all of us lots about the company, and we were grateful to them for taking time to talk to us. This benefitted us greatly with completing our Unit 5 Coursework.

Finally, we all had just over an hour to explore the park further. Overall it was a good day, and a fun way to implement business studies.

We would like to thank all the staff at Thorpe Park for accommodating us, as well as Mr Warrington for organising the trip, and all CVC staff who made it possible. We would all love to go again! (Hint hint) SAW: One of the attractions Danny McNamee (10T), Matt Hunter, at Thorpe Park.

Joel Doidge and Ryan Footman (all 10I)

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

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