Education

Education PRIMARY SCHOOL

PLAY SCHOOL NOTRE ECOLE PLAYGROUP LITTLE HANDS MVC VILLAGE COLLEGE U3A

EDUCATION

Melbourn Village College

Little Hands Karen 01763 260964

Melbourn Playgroup Jane Crawford 07842 151512

Notre Ecole Janet Whitton 261231

Pippins Children’s Centre Alison Wood 223460

Primary School Headteacher Stephanie Wilcox 223457

U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman Tony Garrick 01223 510201

Village College Principal Simon Holmes 223400 Melbourn Village College governor Katharine Carruthers has spoken of her delight at receiving an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for her services to education.

“I am thrilled with the award,” she said “It is an official recognition of the work to develop Chinese teaching in schools in which I and my team have been involved over a number of years.

“I have had messages of congratulations and support from all over the world.”

Mrs Carruthers is the Director of University College London’s Confucius Institute of Education and a driving force behind the teaching of Chinese in schools in England. This includes Melbourn VC, which became the first school in Cambridgeshire to include Mandarin as part of the curriculum two years ago. The school has since been invited to join the national Mandarin Excellence Programme and she is very pleased with the on-going work.

“As a governor at MVC, I have been delighted to be able to help the school with the introduction of Mandarin. I am proud that the school’s first teacher of Chinese, Frank Fan, was one of my PGCE Mandarin students at the UCL Institute of Education, before taking up his role at MVC.

“Over the past 18 months, I have come in to see Mr Fan teach at MVC every term and have been very impressed by the progress and motivation of the students and the high expectations of the teacher.

“It is encouraging to see the school joining the Mandarin Excellence Programme with the first cohort of Year 7 students receiving four taught hours of Chinese per week and four hours of self-study.

Katharine Carruthers, Frank Fan and Simon Holmes …continued on page 25

“The introduction of Chinese in the school would not have been possible without the strong support of the Head, the Languages Department, the Chair of Governors and Professor van de Ven and other governors.”

While the Mandarin Excellence Programme has given

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a boost to some of the youngest students at the college, the support of Melbourn technology company TTP has helped some of the older ones.

The Melbourn Science Park-based company last term pledged £100,000 over two years to help science teaching at the college.

There are a number of projects in the pipeline but this term the whole of the Year 10 cohort has benefited from being given free GCSE revision guides.

Head of Science Simon Callow said: “I am really pleased to be able to use some of the money gifted to the college to provide revision guides to all students studying Science.

“When I first learned about TTP’s generous donation I want to make sure that we used it to support teaching and learning within the department in a multitude of different ways.

“One area in particular was the idea that it would be nice to do something that directly benefited students and families within our local community and we felt that the purchasing of revision guides for families, rather than by them, could be one such gesture.

“It may be a small saving for each family but it is nice to see a supporting link between local businesses, schools and the surrounding community, especially within the backdrop of tough economic times for many.

“Of course, the second, and perhaps more important benefit, is that all students in Year 10 have a guaranteed revision resource.

“TTP’s donation now means that all students have another resource to support their educational journey and I hope that this is one that ends in success for as many of our students as possible.”

The school has purchased a number of spares to make sure any new students can also benefit as the schools numbers continue to rise rapidly.

This year has continued to see rising numbers at the college, both at the start of September and during the year. More than 20 students made in-year transfers to Melbourn during the Autumn Term and Principal Simon Holmes expects that number to rise during the Spring Term; “We have already created an additional class in Yr7 to accommodate the increasing numbers. It was challenging to change the timetable partway through the year but the interests of our students always come first.”

southcambsmotors@btconnect.com Getting to know French culture and food

This April, I am delighted to start a course of French cuisine for adults at Sawston Village College. My name is Fanny, I am a passionate, self-taught, French cook.

Long ago, when I was studying for my Baccalaureat, I discovered the relaxing virtue of cooking. My parents still remember today the feasts I prepared for each of my passed exams. I have experimented, tried, shared and my passion has grown ever since. Nine years ago, we moved to England and I discovered novel tastes to enrich my palette of flavours. Yes, cooking has always been part of my life even when I was teaching at the Farmland Museum how people were growing, harvesting and cooking wheat.

While it feels we are always short of time, I like to take some to look after my guests and myself: from choosing my ingredients, thinking of the possible combinations of flavours to the actual preparation, boiling, sizzling, cooking to make mouth-watering perfumed dishes.

I promise there will be no raw snails or frog legs during this course but enthusiasm, classical tastes with possible twists and definitely a French accent. If you have an interest in French culture and food, some basic cookery knowledge and open to new experiences, come along to treat yourself by cooking. You may learn a few new techniques, will take home the dishes you prepared and meet people sharing passion for food! On the menu: Week 1: Degustation and choux pastry Week 2: Quiche Lorraine and chocolate tart Week 3: Stuffed vegetables and tapenade Week 4: Tatin tart and Chantilly cream Week 5: Galettes from Brittany Week 6: Nicoise salad and pissaladiere Week 7: Beef Burgundy Week 8: Floating Islands

French cuisine runs on a Wednesday evenings here at Sawston Village College 7pm – 9pm for 8 weeks at a total cost £88. Our next course starts 25 April 2018. Come with your apron, containers and ingredients (the list of which will be given to you after your enrolment). All cooking utensils provided by the College. Fanny Bara Moreau French Cuisine Adult Education Tutor