Education

Education PRIMARY SCHOOL

PLAY SCHOOL NOTRE ECOLE PLAYGROUP LITTLE HANDS MVC VILLAGE COLLEGE U3A

EDUCATION

Little Hands Karen 01763 260964

Melbourn Playgroup Claire Armstrong and Jennie Riggs 01763 223459 07842 151512

Notre Ecole Janet Whitton 261231

Primary School Headteacher Stephanie Wilcox 223457 U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman Tony Garrick 01223 510201 Village College Principal Simon Holmes 223400

Melbourn Primary School

There is an African proverb that says, it takes a village to raise a child. Never has this quote held quite so much meaning as during the last 7 months. Faced with school closure in March, it feels as though we have literally had to re-invent ‘school’. We are proud of what we have achieved at the primary school, but this would not have been possible without the support of our parent body, governors, and local community.

We were delighted that, despite school closure, we were able to open during lockdown for the children of our key workers, host 100 children in our ‘bubble school’ when partially open in June and then fully welcome back all of our children in September.

Staff delivered learning to children at home throughout lockdown and kept in regular contact with families through email and phone calls. Our parents were incredible, juggling their own work commitments and supporting their children with their learning – I am in awe of how they have coped. Lockdown also brought practical challenges of ensuring all our families had enough to eat and could access the work that had been set. With this, the staff and community shone – delivering food parcels and learning packs to those who needed them.

Despite the struggles, we still had fun – we delivered bacon rolls to our year six children on what would have been their SAT breakfast morning, held a virtual sports day and recorded ourselves in our ‘toilet roll challenge’ whilst also reading stories and delivering assemblies virtually for our children. Hopefully our children felt cared for and part of school – even from a distance.

Then came re-opening and all of the new health and safety measures to be implemented. The children and staff have embraced all that has been asked of them. Our entire day is now punctuated throughout by handwashing. We are effectively running seven separate schools that never mix and we have timetables and rotas for everything! We have had to re-think and adapt almost all aspects of school. Most of these began as obstacles but with determination we have found new ways of working and overcome them.

Being re-united with our children has been pure joy. Our children are as happy to be back as we are to have them. The smiles abound throughout school. The children’s wellbeing is our priority and we have all enjoyed reading the book ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers to inspire work on

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relationships, our uniqueness, things that are special to us and the need to unite.

Our parents have supported us with the many changes to school life. Leaving their Foundation Stage child at the classroom door was a struggle for many. Different drop off and pick up times for children and in many cases having to walk an inconvenient way to school due to our oneway system have all been accepted. We are hugely grateful to our parent body for working in partnership with us to ensure that our site is as safe as it can be.

As a school community we have been financially impacted by Covid-19. We have lost income from lettings and had increased expenditure, especially in terms of cleaning costs and increased resources, for example to provide children with their own set of resources when previously they would have shared. Our PTFA has been massively affected too – losing out on over £10,000 worth of fundraising opportunity. They were not able to hold the annual Summer Fayre and our fireworks display has been cancelled. This hasn’t stopped them though; our parents and community have been crowd-funding and have raised a staggering £7,000 in 2 weeks!

There have been many hurdles to overcome and in time we will enjoy reflecting on them – there may even be some adaptations we decide to keep. However, the challenges are not over yet and trying to keep the school open during the winter months with the impact of illness and the test & trace process on staffing levels is a mammoth task. We are resolute that whatever is thrown at us we will continue, with the support of our parent body and local community, to do our very best for our children and families – and together we will raise our children.

Stephanie Wilcox Headteacher

If you would like to support Melbourn Primary School in their fundraising efforts, search online for ‘Melbourn Primary School go fund me’ or visit the school Facebook page.

Melbourn Primary School PTFA

Melbourn Primary School PTFA, like all groups within the charity sector, has been heavily impacted by Covid-19.

The annual Quiz night, Summer Fayre and Fireworks, together with regular fundraising events for the children such as discos and movie nights, have all had to be cancelled, resulting in a big hit to the usual amount of around £20,000 they raise each year for the school.

This year’s goal was to refurbish the out-dated computer room and fund portable Chromebook laptops for the children to use. This would normally be an easy target to reach. However, with the restrictions of Covid-19, the school and PTFA have had to think outside the box; the result is ‘Money for Miles.’

The children at Melbourn Primary will collectively walk

the number of miles from Melbourn, Cambridgeshire to Melbourne, Australia – a total of 10,481 miles for £10,481! This will be done during the usual ‘daily mile’ walks, plus other opportunities during the day. The PTFA is looking for sponsorship via their GoFundMe page and really hope people will give what they can.

Another popular fundraiser is the ‘Lucky Numbers’ lottery. For £24 per year you will be allocated a ‘lucky’ number. You can enter as many times and have as many numbers as you like; there is no limit to how many prizes you can win. The draw is monthly and each month there are three prizes, with first prize being a minimum of £25, and the more people who play the bigger the prizes!

If you would like further information on these events and how you can help support the work of the PTFA, please see www.melbournprimaryschool.org.uk/ptfa/.

Melbourn Village College Lockdown 2020

When the UK was forced into a nation-wide lockdown, pupils had to go from being in school 5 days a week to being at home all the time. Learning from home during lockdown was a strange experience and harder than learning at school, as we couldn’t see our teachers and missed our friends. Our weekly schoolwork was set online for us to complete. We then emailed photos or documents of the completed work to the correct teacher. We also had online video lessons on Microsoft Teams with some of our subjects once a week, which helped us consolidate work we had studied recently. These lessons were interesting and engaging but weren’t the same as being in school, though they gave us all a small sense of normality.

Currently, we are all back in school full time and it feels like things are slowly getting back to normal, which is reassuring. However, there are lots of measures in place to keep us safe from Covid-19. At the start and end of each day, on the school buses, we must wear face masks throughout the journey. In school, each year group has their own separate area on the field with a marquee, which they must stay in to minimise contact with other year groups. This is called a bubble or bubbling. The school also operates a one-way system and requires everyone to wear face coverings when they aren’t in a classroom or their bubble. When we enter a classroom, we must sanitise our hands and sit according to a designated seating plan, so the school knows who we have been in contact with.

Some of the biggest differences have been lunch, PE and enrichment. Now, whenever we have PE, we must come to school in our PE kit and remain in it for the rest of the day, whereas before we would get changed after the lesson had finished. Two small bonuses are that we have more time for the PE lesson and fewer things to carry around that day. One of the weirdest things to get used to has been getting our lunch. Before lockdown, we would go down to the lunch hall, order from a selection of incredibly delicious hot or cold food and then eat in the lunch hall. Now we must collect our pre-ordered lunch (still incredibly delicious) and take it to our bubbled area to eat. Unfortunately, the school has had to suspend the enrichment program due to Covid. The school previously offered a range of after school activities such as running club, homework club, pottery, film club, revision classes, sports teams and more.

While we are all still adjusting to life back at school, it is safe to say that everyone at MVC is being mindful of others and respecting the rules that have been put in place to help everyone at MVC feel safe and reduce our risk of spreading Covid around the community. We are looking forward to things getting back to normal at some point.

Despite all this change our teachers and pastoral team have done the very best they can to make sure all students feel comfortable, happy and have the support they need to have a successful school life during these challenging times. This effort doesn’t go unnoticed, and we know fellow students will agree, the teachers and pastoral team are doing an amazing job. Written by the Head Prefects 2020-21: Sammy Bream, Evie Lester, Erin Pevley

MVC Astro Pitch

A new full-size artificial football pitch is due to open at Melbourn Village College next year.

The £800,000 project is due for completion next spring after the college and The Cam Academy Trust, of which it is a part, were able to secure grant funding for the project.

The bulk of the money is coming from the Football Foundation, the Premier League, FA and Government’s sports charity, which exists to improve the experience of playing football for everyone, by championing fair access to quality facilities.

The rest is coming from the Section 106 agreement with developers Hopkins Homes, who are building houses in the village.

The 100m x 64m floodlit pitch will be approximately four times the size of the current aging artificial surface it is replacing and, in addition to school use, will be available to local football clubs, for all ages and abilities, as well as the community out of school hours.

Melbourn Principal Simon Holmes said: We’re absolutely delighted to have been able finally to secure this amazing facility for our pupils and the local community.

“Not only is this bringing our facilities up to date, but it is expanding and improving them as well. This is the culmination of years of hard work and I can’t wait to see it in full use.”

Initial groundwork is due to start at the end of this year to prepare the site for the build, which is due to start in earnest in January 2021 and take 14 weeks – depending on the winter weather!

At the same time, the college has also improved changing facilities, with two new changing rooms available near the sports centre and work under way to further improve the other school PE changing rooms and toilet area.

The successful application for Football Foundation backing follows previous failed applications and the prospect of a new top-quality 3G playing surface in the area has delighted Cambs FA.

Their Football Development Manager, Katie Critchley, said: “This exciting new facility will enhance the already thriving football offer in Melbourn, for students at Melbourn Village College and the wider football community, providing a quality playing surface and creating opportunities for all to play football.

“Partner club, Melbourn Dynamos, have been incredibly supportive throughout the process and their 23 teams will also enjoy football on the new 3G pitch.

“Grassroots football provides many benefits to local communities and we’re very grateful that the Football Foundation, Premier League and the FA continue to invest in quality facilities.

The new facility will be managed by Be Active, who run the Melbourn Sports Centre.

“This new full size 3G Astroturf will provide a truly top class facility for thousands of people in the area and certainly highlight MVC on the sporting map,” said Ryan Smith, of Be Active.

“Along with the already excellent facilities offered on-site at the leisure centre and swimming pool, the pitch will be a huge asset for the whole community.

“We greatly look forward to furthering our relationships with clubs which already use the centre and welcome new groups to benefit from this boost for local sports, fitness and general wellbeing.”

The grant award has also been welcomed by South Cambs District Council and Melbourn Parish Council who both backed the college’s bid.

A new full-size artificial football pitch is due to open at Melbourn Village College next year.