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Open Eco Homes
Open Eco Homes challenges you to future-proof your home during autumn tours and talks
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FOR the twelfth year running Open Eco Homes invites you to join their autumn series of free talks and tours in Cambridgeshire.
Open Eco Homes (OEH) invites you inside local eco home-retrofits and new-builds in Cambridgeshire and offers expert-led talks to support you to improve your own home.
This autumn the focus will be on supporting people to get started with their home eco projects, by getting expert advice to create a whole house plan or starting small with some ‘easy win’ actions such as draught-proofing or moving to a green energy supplier.
Cambridge Carbon Footprint Manager, Alana Sinclair, says: “Retrofitting our housing to be more energy efficient is critical to achieving the UK’s climate targets and will be a key focus for policy makers in the coming years. “At Open Eco Homes visitors have the opportunity to see the latest technologies and solutions in situ, in beautiful, comfortable homes. On the tours visitors have the opportunity to speak to and learn from those homeowners who have done it before, and on the talks they can get their questions answered by local experts. “There are no vested interests, just straightforward honest advice. It’s perfect for anyone who has ever wondered what it would take to make their own home cosier, more comfortable and better for the environment.”
This year there will be eight different homes available to tour and five expert-led talks.
Andy and his family will be offering a tour of their new eco home. Built from the ground up with sustainability in mind it is largely carbon positive to run, exporting considerably more energy than it uses.
Andy says: “Our previous home was a narrowboat and, while we loved our boat, it was the right time for somewhere bigger. After the boat we didn’t feel like moving into a conventional house. When we stumbled across a building plot in 2017 that we liked we just thought ‘why not’?”
OEH host Shaun, offering a tour of his 1960’s semi, says: “Our retrofit has made a huge difference to our overall standard of living: reducing pollen, dust and the frequency of cleaning; completely eliminating mould; almost no car and hot water running cost; heating only four months a year; no energy cost from home working; and the house is perfect for drying wet clothes indoors (no tumble dryer needed). I could go on…”.
This year there is also a unique opportunity to tour one of only a few eco-retrofitted churches.
Downing Place URC and halls now have solar panels, secondary glazing for the stained-glass windows, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in the smaller rooms and more.
In addition to the tours, the five talks will cover a range of themes including embodied carbon, home ventilation and smart electric homes.
Talks will be led by expert speakers and current and former hosts, including Mark Brinkley, former OEH host and author of the Housebuilder’s Bible.
The Open Eco Homes programme of tours and talks will take place between Monday 13th September and Friday 15th October.
Visit cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/what-youcan-do/open-eco-homes-events/ to find out more and register to attend.
Open Eco Homes is a project of the charity Cambridge Carbon Footprint.
The wonderful staff • Their commitment to our children and their hard work in providing a quality home learning provision whilst also teaching children in school. • Their personal sacrifice in ensuring that all health and safety measures have been followed– they have taken on additional responsibilities in cleaning surfaces at lunchtimes and supervising children in their break / non-contact times. • Their flexibility and creativity in making school work with reduced staffing levels. • Their collaboration to ensure that our children could have as ‘normal’ a year as possible by providing a rich and varied curriculum. The wonderful parents • Their partnership with us in educating their children throughout another lockdown – they did an amazing job. • Their acceptance of our many health and safety measures, from one-way systems to mask wearing and staggered starts to name a few. • Their adapting to our new ways of working for example Zoom parent consultations and meetings. • Their regular encouragement to us with smiles, warm greetings and supportive comments and emails. So, as we close the door on this ‘ironman challenge’, exhausted and eager for normality to return, there is much to celebrate. I will remember the 2020-2021 academic year as the year the whole school community shone and shone brightly. We will be ready and raring to tackle whatever 2021-2022 brings – fingers crossed that this time I won’t be blindfolded or have my hands tied behind my back! Stephanie Wilcox (Headteacher)
Melbourn Village College
MVC pupils came back after Easter, focused and ready to learn with a very positive attitude. They continued wearing face coverings in lessons and communal areas until 17th May when these measures were lifted, although other mitigations, such as year group bubbles, hand washing, social distancing and the one-way system remained in place. We are grateful to parents/carers for their support of these measures and encouraging pupils to do regular lateral flow testing and record the results. Although progression to the next stage out of Covid restrictions was delayed until 19 July 2021, staff and pupils continued to test twice-weekly and student bubbles stayed in place until the end of the school year. We have been very impressed with pupils’ maturity and compliance with these arrangements.
We continued to support pupil mental health and wellbeing in school with various interventions, including: weekly tutor time aimed at promoting wellbeing, talks from MACK (Motivation, Aspiration, Confidence, Knowledge) about coping with stress and anxiety, and sessions from ‘Directional CIC’ on being positive, reflecting on skills and thinking about the future. In addition, the pastoral team have been on hand to provide individual support.
In May, MVC subject leaders met with their colleagues across the Trust to look at the exam board assessment materials and to finalise the assessment arrangements. Year 11s have worked very hard, even during the lockdown, and coped well with the assessments. On their last day in school we held a ‘leavers’ event’ with a bouncy castle and ice cream on the back field, as well as the traditional shirt-signing. They will also have a Yearbook packed with wonderful memories of their time at MVC. We wish them all the best for GCSE results day on 12th August 2021.
Twenty-Six Y11 pupils were the first at MVC to take the full Mandarin GCSE test paper. This marks 5 years since Mr Fan became the first Mandarin teacher at MVC and in the whole of Cambridgeshire. The number of pupils choosing to take Mandarin GCSE continues to rise year on year, and we have just appointed our third Mandarin teacher. From September Mr Fan will also be working with Comberton Sixth Form to offer A-level Mandarin there. The success of Cambridgeshire’s first in-school GCSE Mandarin course has been shared on different platforms such as the Times Educational Supplement, the British Council, the Institute of Education and even BBC News. At MVC, pupils not only learn Mandarin as a language, but also experience Chinese culture. We offer all kinds of opportunities, including the Beijing exchange programme, a visiting English experience for Chinese students and an MEP trip to China. In 2021, the MEP team worked hard with partners in China to provide a virtual visit for Year 9 and 10, which included different online activities such as Panda Zoo, Winter Olympics, and a live visit to Beijing and Chendu. They also performed online for a music festival and had live talks with Chinese children.
We were delighted that three of our year 11 pupils (Daisy, Ed and Ryan) won the prestigious Cambridge and District Secondary Schools Sports Association Roy Burrell Awards for performing at a high level throughout their time at MVC, receiving recognition at District level and beyond. Ryan and Ed are linked with Norwich City and Histon Football Clubs, while Daisy has represented Cambridge and County at swimming. Samuel (Y8) made it through to final stage of the 2021 British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition together with eight
pupils from different schools across the country. This is a fantastic achievement. Congratulations also go to Tom and Josh (Y9) for achieving their certificates in the UK Maths Challenge.
Year 11 Fine Art pupils exhibited their work online this year when Covid restrictions prevented the exhibition being hosted at The Plough in Shepreth. We hope to hold the exhibition at The Plough again next year and appreciate the support we have received from them for many years, allowing the local community to see MVC pupils’ artwork in such a professional setting. This year, however, every final piece of art has been framed and displayed in the main corridor of the school and, to give the amazing work a wider audience, the Art Department has turned the work into a virtual exhibition, which can be viewed via the college website: www.melbournvc.org/ news/article/MVC-Virtual-Art-Exhibition-2021.
The MVC Eco Group has been going from strength to strength over the last two years. Last year, we installed seven new water fountains with bottle refilling facilities as result of funding from the South Cambridgeshire District Council Zero Carbon Emissions Community Grant. Pupils from the Eco Group were delighted to meet Anthony Browne, MP for South Cambridgeshire, when he visited the school at the end of July. They told him how they have been inspired by a talk from Birgitta Laurent, recycling co-ordinator for South Cambs, to introduce recycling points for empty crisp packets, used pens and board markers around the school. They have been ‘greening-up’ the school by adding pot plants inside and some pollinator-friendly plants outside – all kindly donated by the local community. Other changes include ‘tweaking’ the grass cutting plan and leaving the hedge boundary to grow long to help wildlife and pollinating insects. From September, the Eco Group has lots in the pipeline such as introducing ‘Meat-free Mondays’ in the canteen and enjoying the ‘wildflower meadow’ that has been planted at the edge of the field. There are also plans to set up an Eco Committee to work towards an EcoSchool Green Flag Award for Melbourn VC.
We are looking forward to welcoming our new year 7 pupils in September. They will benefit from our new iPad leasing scheme. Parents have been asked for voluntary contributions, but the school will cover insurance, a case, screen protector, technical support in school hours and a range of apps managed and provided by MVC. Nobody will miss out due to financial constraints and there will be financial support for all those who need it. Whilst it is not without cost, we are committed to giving every pupil the best education possible and believe that technology can play a crucial role in transforming learning opportunities and preparing pupils for their future careers.
