News@Com Spring 2007

The News Magazine of Comberton Village College

A Leading Edge Partnership School

ISSUE 17, SPRING 2007

NEW DIRECTION COMBERTON is counting down to adding a third specialism to its remit.

After Easter the college will have a specialism in vocational education as well as being a Sports and Language College.

Gary Lewis, a Head of Year at Swavesey Village College, has been appointed to the new post of ‘Head of Vocational Studies’ and joins the Comberton staff next term.

Mr Lewis has experience of working with vocational courses. He is also an experienced maths teacher and a highly-qualified football referee.

He has already met many Year 9 pupils at their Options Evening earlier this term where he explained the nature of some of the new vocational courses that will be available at CVC.

Having a ball . . .

GUESTS at the second annual Principal’s Ball organised by the Friends of CVC enjoyed a fabulous buffet and danced the night away to raise money for ICT equipment at the school. z Full Story — Page 2

Vocational specialism increases opportunities Three new BTEC First Diploma courses are to be introduced from September.

BTECs have a well-established track record and are known and accepted as good qualifications by both employers and those in further education. The First Diploma is the equivalent of four GCSEs. The courses are vocationally-based with assessment through the development of portfolios.

The three new diplomas are in the areas of Art and Design, Sports Studies and Business. Current staff will lead on the first two and Mr Lewis will lead on the Business course.

It is hoped that they will provide an interesting and different style of course that will be attractive and appropriate for some students.

It will allow a particular area of strength and interest to be studied in some depth and give the students involved the best possible chance of succeeding in their studies at Key Stage 4.

Mr Lewis said: “It is exciting to embark on something new at such an excellent school as Comberton.

To be able to introduce a more ‘hands on’ approach to learning will open up opportunities for more of our students.

“BTEC is a way of learning that employers are telling us trains the young people better for the world of work, which has to be a good thing. z Turn to Page 3

Dracula Spectacula picture special — Pages 6 & 7

2

Adults dance the night away MORE than £5,000 of tickets for the Principal’s Ball were snapped up by staff, parents and their families and friends.

And now pupils at Comberton are set to reap the benefit of the second annual Principal’s Ball, organised by ‘The Friends of CVC’.

A profit of at least £2,500 was made for the school’s Trust Fund and all of it will be spent on new ICT equipment to meet the requirements of both pupils and community users as Comberton strives to maintain its impressively high levels of achievement.

For the second year running a sumptuous buffet was provided by the Comberton catering team and guests danced the night away to the superb ‘Breeze Band’.

The event was backed by a number of businesses, who donated raffle prizes.

Many thanks to: Algar Signcraft, Inside Out and Sterling Designs (Burwash Manor), Knibbs Butchers, Toft Shop, Next Generation Club, Bourn Players, Cb3, John Helmsing, Andrea Ashley Health and Beauty, Morrisons, Costcutter Comberton, Cambridge Building Society and Tesco.

Principal Stephen Munday said: “This was an excellent evening that seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed by all present. Both the band and the food were really good. The atmosphere and the company were great. My thanks go to all those who worked hard to make it happen and to all those who turned up to enjoy the evening and contribute to the fund-raising.”

MINE HOST: Principal Stephen Munday (left) and guests at the Ball on March 3.

BBC brings sound of music THE BBC is coming to Comberton.

Members of the BBC Concert Orchestra and a section of the BBC singers will descend on the college in May as part of BBC television’s ‘Play It Again’ series.

The programme sees six celebrities taken out of their comfort zones as they experience the highs and lows of learning a new musical instrument.

Accompanying the television series are a number of BBC events across the UK, including the one at Comberton, where thousands of people of all ages and abilities; beginners and those returning to a musical instrument, will have a chance to play or sing with members of the BBC Orchestras and BBC Singers.

Diane Abbott MP (classical piano), Jo Brand (organ), Aled Jones (rock drums), Bill Oddie (electric guitar), Frank Skinner (banjo) and Lord Robert Winston (saxophone) are virtuosos in their respective fields, but this series sees the tables turned as they become the novices and undergo musical tuition.

The six-part series, due to be broadcast at the end of this month, reveals the celebrities’ emotional engagement with music through the learning process as well as revealing their hidden talents

as musical performers.

As part of their tuition, they also get hands-on tips and the chance to jam with some top performers including Jools Holland, Stewart Copeland, Courtney Pine, Mark Knopfler and John Dowling (USA banjo champion).

And each participant will undergo the ultimate musician’s test — performing in public.

Their public appearances will include busking on London’s Underground, serenading dancers in Blackpool, playing as part of an orchestra, auctioning new-found guitar skills for charity or taking part in the world’s biggest blue grass banjo competition.

Comberton will then become the centre for the Eastern region on May 13 and the BBC will set up in a number of areas including the dining hall, old gym, common room, lecture room and foyer.

Up to 500 people, half in the morning and half in the afternoon, will arrive for a free three-hour session that will have a musical introduction and tuition, followed by the whole group playing together.

INSIDE Making the right choices — Page 3 THIS ISSUE

Pupils dress for dinner — Page 3 Sum total is success — Page 4 Taking art out of class — Page 4 DoE is a big draw — Page 5 Comberton are runners-up — Page 5

Spooky Spectacula — Pages 6 & 7 All change at the top — Page 8 More work to be done — Page 8 Life after Comberton — Page 8 Silence is golden — Page 8 Zhenya’s TV target — Page 9

If you have an instrument you can bring it with you. If you’ve never played or don’t have an instrument you’ll get the chance to sing or play the percussion instruments provided.

The event will be supported by an exhibition, which is aimed at encouraging participants to continue their musical aspirations.

Bursar Peter Woodward, who has been liaising with the BBC, said: “The BBC are keen to use music and other prefects to help run the event.

“We will need help with guides and various other helpers (car parks and refreshments). Apart from the helping bit, this will be a great opportunity for our pupils to see the BBC Singers and the Concert Orchestra in action, and, of course our pupils and staff can apply for a place in a session.”

The event is open to adults and children over eight. You can find out more information and will be able to register for a session at www.bbc.co.uk/playitagain Insight into topical issues — Page 9 Book-swapping success — Page 9 Ski trips special — Page 10 Adventure club — Page 11 Sport — Pages 11 & 12

Making the right choices IF you have missed Mr Law this term, then it should really come as no surprise.

NEWCOMER: Gary Lewis, the Head of Vocational Studies.

New direction z From Front Page “I am really looking forward to joining the staff at the school and hope that with the school becoming a centre for Vocational Specialism, we can enhance our reputation further both locally and nationally.

“I am seeking support from local businesses to become partners in this process, so if you are interested in joining with us in helping our young people, please contact me via the school.”

As part of its developing vocational provision, the school is also looking to collaborate with others to allow further opportunities for students.

Most specifically, Comberton is looking to work with Bassingbourn Village College and Melbourn Village College to introduce a new course in construction for students from all of our schools. Further possibilities could develop from that. We are also looking to support the development of a vocational course at our partner special school, The Harbour School, who are keen to move in this direction.

“This is exciting and important new territory for us,” said Principal Stephen Munday. “These new courses should allow even more of our students to achieve really good qualifications by the age of 16.

“We want to aim to allow virtually every one of our students to be able to study at Advanced Level by the time they have completed Key Stage 4 with us.”

He added: “It is really good to be able to work more closely with some of our neighbouring schools. We all have things to offer each other.

All our students can benefit through this.”

The Deputy Principal has been holed up in his office with the unenviable task of organising the Year 9 option choices into a manageable timetable for Year 10.

Since the deadline day of March 5, he and Exams Officer Julie van Lith have been working on sorting 260 pupils, each taking four choices from a range of 30 options, into sensible groups with a working timetable.

Mr Law was last heard yelling “Help! Anyone got a calculator?”

Seriously though, making the KS4 options into a workable timetable to suit all pupils is no mean feat – and this year the task was even tougher.

Comberton has offered the current Year 9 the widest range of options yet, including the new vocational BTEC courses in art, sport and business studies, which are worth four GCSEs each.

In addition there are an increased number of ways to study a foreign language.

As well as the traditional GCSEs, pupils can now study through a programme based on speaking and

listening, learning through a portfolio-based course studying Spanish language and culture, learning through an after-school class and having language provision within a study support programme.

And just in case pupils still want to pack in a little extra, the ever-popular after-school courses in GCSE art and AS-level economics are set to run again from September.

All Year 9 pupils have been given maximum guidance in selecting their options.

With their parents, they started looking at the choices available at an options evening last month, when they were supplied with a brochure detailing every course and what is required.

This was followed by the issuing of reports, a parents’ consultation meeting and finally a guidance interview for pupils and their parents before the final selections were made.

“We are delighted to be able to offer pupils so many choices for Year 10 and we are thrilled that there has been so much interest in the new vocational courses that we are offering,” said Mr Law. “The options that pupils take at KS4 are likely to be very important in their future careers and we make every effort to ensure that as many as possible will get the choices they want.”

Year 8 pupils dress for dinner . . .

MORE than half of Year 8 enjoyed a superb evening at a candlelit supper followed by a disco earlier this term.

The dress code was 'smart ' and everybody excelled themselves. There was not a boy without a shirt and tie on and all the girls looked stunning in smart dresses without a midriff in sight! (Mrs Jones was very insistent on that!)

The hall was decorated with helium balloons,

which really set the scene for a formal meal followed by a disco. The three-course meal provided by the catering staff was enjoyed by all.

Everyone even knew which cutlery to use after a lesson on table etiquette given during registration time. The staff were extremely impressed with how the pupils behaved. As well as an impromptu limbo competition, a raffle raised more than £60 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Sum total is success RECORD numbers of Comberton pupils have qualified for the international rounds of the UKMT Intermediate maths challenge.

And more students than ever achieved the gold award.

Last year four pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 qualified for the international competition. This year 17 were selected by organisers at Leeds University for the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and the European Kangaroo.

A year ago 15 Comberton pupils achieved gold awards in the UK challenge.

This year 25 students have achieved a gold certificate, which is handed out to only the top 6-7 per cent of the 200,000 entrants who take part nationally.

Year 9 pupil Douglas Buisson was Comberton’s highest scorer and he, with fellow Year 9 pupil Chris Hughes and Matt Sawyer (Year 10) took the invitation-only two-hour Olympiad paper earlier this month.

The hour-long multiple choice European Kangaroo took place on the same day across 25 European countries and Comberton gold award winners Emma Millard, James Robertson, Rachel Benton, Rosie Brock, Katie Garnham, Hannah Nelms (all Year 11), Alistair Janse van Rensburg, Emil Mnisko, James Davenport, Seb Shepherd, Sarah Warren (all Year 10), Haojie Xu, Jamie Berkeley and Anna Carter (all Year 9) were among those taking part.

In addition to those pupils who were invited to take part in the next round of competition, there were also gold awards for Ed Bailey, Christian Clarkson, Hannah Dickens, Connor Schwartz, Rhiannon Evans (Year 11), Sri Madabhusshi, David Pinchen and Laurence Ainscough (Year 10).

In total Year 11 pupils achieved 11 golds, eight sil-

Busy bees . . .

THE whole of Year 7 took part in a spelling bee.

Each pupil had to learn 50 English words and one African word.

Each pupil was asked to get sponsorship to raise money for the English department and our partner school, Edendale, in South Africa.

It was a great success: we managed to raise a total of more than £1,400.

The English group which managed to raise the most money would get to do as they wished for an English lesson.

The winning group was Ms Morrison’s class in the Y half of the year.

There were also prizes for the three pupils who raised the most money individually; Heather Lewis, Ben Sievewright and Alice Clarke.

The money that has been raised will be spent on new reading books for the year group to enjoy when they are in Year 8, with a donation of £200 going to Edendale School.

Heather Lewis (7E) and Eleanor Norman, Head of English

vers and seven bronzes, Year 10 collected nine golds nine silvers and eight bronzes and there were five golds, eight silvers and seven bronzes for Year 9 pupils..

Head of Maths Steve Wren said: “The UKMT is a highly prestigious competition aimed at gifted mathematicians from across the UK and fewer than 40 per cent of students who take part nationally receive an award.

“These are phenomenal results and all students who gained an award are to be congratulated on their achievement. We look forward to getting the results of the international competitions.

“Also many thanks are due to Mrs Hossack for her organising of the whole UKMT/Kangaroo/Olympics programme for these students.”

ALL GEARED UP: Some pupils try on the equipment at the Lifeboat Museum in Cromer.

Taking art out of class SIX Year 11 students went to Norfolk for the weekend at the end of February to help prepare for their GCSE Art exam.

After learning something about the history of late medieval Norfolk, we all went off on Saturday morning to visit two local churches and to examine and reproduce a lovely selection of carved bench ends and floor brasses.

Saturday afternoon was spent visiting and interviewing an artist in Cromer and examining her paintings of local fishermen before going down to the slip way to look at the real thing.

The group stayed in the youth hostel in Sheringham and we were given the very appropriately named Chapel Room in which to work.

A huge amount was accomplished by the end of the weekend, not surprising because all the students wanted to carry on working until midWORKING PARTY: night on both nights!

Pupils at work in the Quotes from the weekend: "It was a well good experience which really helped our art work and Chapel Room. gave us exactly what we wanted.”

"We were really proud of what we accomplished and we also had fun.”

"We got lots of help with our writing, which was proper cool.”

Ms Cook (with thanks to Mr Abbott and Miss Raines)

GOING FOR GOLD: former Comberton pupils on a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award orienteering training expedition in The Chilterns.

DoE is a big draw physical recreation and service, two for six months and one for a year — a big commitment.

We're looking forward to a practice venture next month in the Peak District, The sight of Mr Bellis eating baked beans in a tent during assembly was an adventure race-style training day in May and our assessed venture in July. clearly the inspiration they needed and demand was higher than anticipated.

More details of the scheme at CVC can be found on the website: www.cvcdLuckily the school has many staff prepared to make it possible ofe.blogspot.com or by emailing cvcdofe@comberton.cambs.sch.uk to offer the Award to so many pupils.

For the first time we are offering the opportunity to complete the Gold Pupils will now start work on the main three sections: volunteering in the Award at Comberton rather than at a further education establishment. community, learning a new skill or developing a current skill, and participatAfter several pupils approached Ms Bateson last year, a new programme has ing in a sport. They do two of these for three months and one for six months. been put in place and 13 ex-pupils are now training incredibly hard for a Meanwhile, training starts shortly after Easter for the expeditions in June, four-day expedition in the Swiss Alps in the summer holidays.

July and September. With so many involved there will be two practice expeThe training programme is quite intensive, and the participants have given ditions to improve the training experience, but we will travel as one huge up a lot of their time in this busy year to commit to the Award. group in the autumn to be assessed.

The trip should be amazing, with a week preparing for and completing the Good luck to all who have signed up, and thanks to the staff volunteers. expedition in a remote area of the Alps, and then a week of activities from It is also the time of year for those pupils who have completed, or are about climbing to high wires and white-water rafting. to complete, the bronze award to move on to silver.

In January, their training started in earnest, with a weekend camping in the Again, a huge percentage of those pupils who did the bronze last year have Chilterns to train for the cold weather in the mountains. decided to continue — a great testament to both the pupils and to the quality Activities included an orienteering course in the woods, a night navigation of the scheme. They now start work on the three independent sections, skill, exercise for four hours, and some classroom work on more detailed map reading.

The second session was a first aid training day, where we bandaged each other, treated each other COMBERTON entered the Worldwise Geography Challenge with two teams prepared to win. for burns and hypothermia, and practised trying Both teams were made up of three pupils studying geography at GCSE level in Year 10. to assess a casualty dressed in waterproofs, The challenge took place at Coleridge Community College and after some worthwhile preparagloves, hat, scarf and four layers of jumpers — tion, the teams were ready to represent the school. not easy!

Arriving at the competition, the teams had some warm-ups to do while Miss Holmes and Miss The next stage is that the ex-pupils will complete Carr met the other teachers. a five day practice expedition in the Lake District Working through some serious rounds of geographical questioning, it was uncommon for the this Easter holiday — wild camping out on the two Comberton teams to make mistakes. mountains (and that means using their trowels!)

After a series of rounds had been completed and the teams had refuelled with biscuits, the B and navigating themselves out on the open fells. team of Tim Heynes, Fred Higgins and Jenny Watson found they had been knocked out.

Hopefully some of these committed, highly The A team of James Davenport, Angus Smith and I were through to the final, however, and the skilled and very responsible pupils will be volunpressure was on. Unfortunately, we fell at the last and had to settle for second place behind teering on the bronze and silver expeditions this Saffron Walden County High. year, so they really act as role models and leaders It was a great experience and both teams received certificates and prizes. for younger pupils.

Otto Hopkins-Fagan (10T) Lorna Bateson. DoE co-ordinator

HUGE numbers of Year 9 pupils have signed up for the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

Comberton take runners-up spot

6

Spooky spectacula

COMBERTON’S production of the spooky musical, Dracula Spectacula was full of chills, thrills and laughs galore.

Audiences watched enthralled as Miss Nadia Naïve and her three pupils were swung into a series of riotous adventures in the heart of eerie Transylvania.

The forces of good, embodied by the heroic Nick Necrophiliac and his befuddled assistants struggled to overcome the powers of darkness in the form of Countess Wraith, grovelling Genghis, the Zombies, the Undead Brides and, of course, the Prince of Vampires, Count Dracula himself.

The talented performers included David Coplowe, giving a very full-blooded portrayal of Count Dracula, Mellissa Heeley as the innocent heroine, Nadia Naïve and Head Boy, Tim Coulson, cast appropriately enough as the noble Nick Necrophiliac.

Rhiannon Evans and Charlie Cole were spookily convincing as Genghis and the Countess Wraith and Owen Robertson lent a dignified note to the proceedings as Father O'Stake. The chorus were also outstanding for their commitment and the energy and verve with which each of them performed their roles. The song and dance numbers were given fantastic uplift by the brilliant band which included both pupils and staff.

An outstanding feature of this production was the work of the choreographers and backstage crew in Year 11; they were absolutely committed and reliable and gave freely of their time, including weekends.

Rehearsals for last month's scheduled three-night run had been going on since September, involving a cast of 40 pupils and a team of musicians, choreographers, designers and technicians.

Although a sudden downfall of snow just before half-term closed the school and forced the cancellation of the last flight to Transylvania, all was not lost.

The set was recreated and the whole cast turned in a memorable final one-off performance earlier this month.

Jane Menczer, director

wows audiences

8

All change at top achievements of the current head prefects, Tim Coulson and Holly Peck, with their deputies Hannah Jeffery, Rob Prince and Dom Gale, who have led a hard working, motivated and impressive team.

They have helped the school with everything from the refurbishment of the In this week’s final assembly, the announcements will be made, the badges new pupil toilets to raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust; from supporting a Year 10 trip to Huntingdon Life Sciences to welcoming teachers will be awarded, and a new prefect team born. from our new partner school in Mozambique. All around school, in every Before focusing too much on the new team, it is important to recognise the different field, prefects have supported staff, represented their peers, and helped develop the school, giving huge amounts back to their community. The Year 11 team and all the school would like to thank and congratulate those prefects for all their efforts!

This year’s prefect team will look somewhat different.

Not only are we investigating a slightly different uniform for them, but there will be far fewer of them this year as we have changed a large number of prefect roles FURTHER improveinto junior leadership awards. ments to Comberton This means the competition for places was even INSIGHT: Village College are tougher, and last month 24 pupils completed demanding scheduled to take place pupils application forms for only four Head Prefect roles. during the summer holi- look at Ten pupils were interviewed, where they had to give a days. different presentation for four minutes on a topic that interested The area for bus parking career them (what variety!) and then be grilled by Mr Munday, at the front of the paths.

Mrs Compton, the current Head Boy and Girl, Ms schools is to be increased Bateson, a governor and two Year 7 pupils! and improved to make it They were extremely nervous and tense, but all persafer for all users.

PUPILS from Years 10 and 11 volunteered to attend a work-based formed brilliantly and were a credit to their year group The roadways at the and the school. convention in the Performance Hall earlier this month. front of the school as well as the car parks are They were given the chance to talk to representatives from a num- Those who didn’t make it this far decided to apply for senior prefect roles and were then interviewed by the ber of different further education establishments and employers, to be refurbished and a new Head Prefect team, and the Year 10 staff team. new setting-down/pick- including the Army and Navy, Cambridge University and Moving the process earlier was only one of the changes Marshalls. ing-up area for pupils The convention was particularly aimed at pupils who may not want brought in this year. will be created.

New prefects can look forward to giving assemblies, In addition a new traffic to take the traditional post-16 path to A levels. writing articles for News@Com, having a slightly difflow system, complete ferent uniform, and performing duties at break and with the relevant siglunch around school – all this as well as acting as role nage, will be created to YEAR 8 participated in The Big Hush to raise money for models and taking on a project, such as helping organise improve the circulation Macmillan Cancer Support. parents’ evenings. of vehicles at key times. This was a very successful sponsored silence and we managed to A more fundamental change, however, that develops the “This is the latest phase raise nearly £700 although it was difficult as the Candlelit Supper changes made last year, is that a large number of what in our improvement pro- was the night before and there was were prefect roles have become Junior Leadership gramme and will cost much gossip to be spread.

Awards. several hundred thousand At the dinner we also held a raffle This allows us to offer leadership opportunities to far pounds,” said Principal for Macmillan to help boost the more pupils and to enhance the developmental aspect of Stephen Munday. total. their work. Pupils will enrol on a scheme, for example, Meanwhile the landscap- Considering the whole of Year 8 the Junior Year 7 Support Leaders Award, and then foling phase of the were made to stay silent for 20 low a well structured programme. This will include: improvements which saw minutes, the staff thought it approtraining, responsibility for a project, a set of objectives the construction of a priate that Mrs Jones, our Head of number of covered walk- Year, also stayed quiet. Many staff also sponsored her for the same to meet, and regular support. At the end of the year, ways and social areas is charity. All the money will now go towards helping people affected upon completing their goals, pupils will receive an award and will really be able to recognise their achievenow complete. by cancer. ments and their personal development as they move on More than 80 trees and This was a very successful event and we are very proud of the from Comberton. several hundred shrubs amount of money we raised as a year group.

This is a new scheme, and we’re looking forward to seehave been planted In addition Mrs Jones added to the total by celebrating her heritage ing how it develops over the year. Hopefully around 50 around the college, and selling Welsh Cakes to staff at break in the staffroom on St Year 10 pupils will enrol this year. greatly enhancing the David’s Day. Lorna Bateson, Head of Pupil Leadership visual appearance.

Holly Gale and Sophie Oates Black (8V)

OVER the last half term pupils in Year 10 have put themselves through a gruelling application procedure to be part of the next prefect team.

More work to be done

Life after Comberton . . .

Silence is golden . . .

Pupils gain insight into topical issues THIS year, 11 Year 10 Philosophy and Ethics students and our two Year 11 Philosophy and Ethics prefects went to Huntingdon Life Sciences .

Students had the opportunity to meet some scientists who work at the site and to tour four areas of animal research: rats, dogs, monkeys, and farm animals.

The students asked many probing questions and gained a rare insight into what sort of work the site carries out and how the animals are treated by the people who work there.

Earlier this month Year 10 took part in their

second Core RE day.

The subject for the day was Hindu and Christian attitudes to animal rights; this is a topic that regularly comes up on the news and is often surrounded by controversy.

During the day students had the opportunity to think about their own opinions on the use of animals in medical experimentation and to consider how the attitudes of Hindus and Christians are affected by their religious beliefs.

We were very lucky to be visited by some members of Animal Aid (Sue Hughes and Pat

Griffin), a representative from Huntingdon Life Sciences (Andrew Gay) and a Hindu speaker (Subra), who all explained their contrasting opinions on the topic.

Students who attended the trip to Huntingdon Life Sciences also gave a talk to the classes to discuss what they had observed and learned during the visit.

This was a successful day with students having a good opportunity to reflect on the issues raised and visiting speakers being able to engage with a receptive audience.

Corinne Davidson, Head of RE

Zhenya’s TV target YEAR 7 pupil Zhenya Nerukh is hoping to appear on Blue Peter next month as one of the youngsters in the running to become the popular programme’s resident chef.

She reached at least the last hundred, who were invited to the BBC to appear before a panel of judges, but at the time of going to press, it was not known how far she had got.

She successfully completed a telephone interview of 1,000 candidates to reach the final 100 and earlier this month went to London to be filmed preparing her choice of fruit or vegetable in front of a panel of judges chaired by Konnie Huq. The top 12 were then chosen to take

part in a second audition, which involved preparing a simple recipe which was demonstrated during the morning workshop.

The whole day’s events were filmed and will be screened on April 24, 25, and 26 – but there was no guarantee Zhenya would feature in the final cut.

“I did a lot of practising and preparing and was quite confident,” said the youngster from Coton. “I had help from family and friends and Mrs Jones. I enjoy cooking and do quite a lot at home, often using ingredients my dad brings back from different countries when he’s working abroad.”

The final three contestants will attend a three-day camp before a BLUE PETER CHALLENGE: for cook-off, which will also be televised.

Zhenya Nerukh.

Sing it loud . . .

ONCE again the Music Department are performing in London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Forty pupils and several staff will join a choir of more than 2,000 singers in The Really Big Chorus to perform Brahms’ Requiem under the baton of Sir David Wilcox, one of Britain’s foremost choral conductors.

They will be accompanied by the English Festival Orchestra on May 13.

This is the third Comberton visit to the Royal Albert Hall in two years, underlining the popularity of the event.

And for the first time, parents and relatives are invited to sing too!

Book-swapping success

SEE AND SELECT: Pupils at the World Book Day ‘Giant Book Swap’.

WORLD Book Day is the worldwide celebration of reading and books and is held throughout schools in the UK. It was the 10th anniversary this year and took place on March 1, where Comberton pupils celebrated by holding a ‘Giant Book Swap’.

Pupils were invited by the English department and the Librarian to donate a book that they could bear to part with. These were collected together and displayed in the Library.

On the day pupils came to the Library at lunch time and selected any book they liked and paid 50 pence for the privilege!

The event was very well supported and lots of children went home with some different reading material at a very reasonable price!

The money raised will be sent to the BookAid International Charity to help with sending essential reading material to children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Palestine, who often have no access to books.

Bigger and better COMBERTON celebrated a 20-year association with ‘the Klausberg’ with their biggest year yet.

The Foundation Course had 131 skiers and snowboarders and the Development Course had 35 skiers, making a grand total of 166!

We were all excited by the new K2 lift. It’s called K2 because it is the Klausberg 2 lift from the top of Klausberg 1 up to the Klausee at 2,500m. It is a 3km red, on top of the 1km K1, with a precipitous black mogul field, an extensive fun park and several off piste bits!

The Canadian National Squad used it for training the week after we left!

Beginners have that sense of awkwardness, that fear of the slope and that sense of great speed! It all seems so different six days later when the same skiers are rushing down the slalom, whizzing around the poles and skidding to a halt in a flurry of snow! The change from novice to expert is wonderful to watch and gives endless stories every evening of ‘ice’, big stacks and ‘phat’air.

We make fun of the snowboarders. They don’t move very fast and always sit a lot but Mr Mannas has progressed with his top group and they can use as much of the mountain as the skiers especially ‘deep schnee’.

Every snowboarder managed to come down the K2 black, flattening the moguls and even looking stylish at the end!

The four Intermediate groups spent the evenings telling daring stories of K2, the ‘black moguls’ and the leaps into space on the funpark!

Group One was mostly all girls led by Mr Bellis, but he survived these loud and bouncy girls even when Michl had them skiing on one ski!

Anya Hall, of Year 8, was under real pressure as her two brothers had been champions previously and they were

QUEENS OF THE MOUNTAIN: Winner Anya Hall with runners-up Zoe East (left) and Charlotte Horne. eager to hear the results of the races on Friday.

The ‘Apres Ski’ was just as bouncy, dancing in the ‘Almdiele’ pizzeria, swapping make-up tips with Mr Pollock, dressing up for the fancy dress disco and making up sketches for the concert.

On the third day we recovered with some retail therapy, drinking chocolate and eating ice-cream and struedel! The biggest excitement was the children’s fun rides outside the supermarket where the slimmest and littlest tried to go around the wheel which stopped if you were too heavy!

Race day saw some nerves although it was just for fun. Waiting at the electronic gate makes everyone nervous and then the race is on! In a few seconds the top gates are negotiated and you squat to ‘schuss’ to the finish.

Everyone gets a certificate and a kiss and each group has gold, silver and bronze medals. It’s tense as the last names are read and there is great pride for the medallists.

Group One had three girls at the top with Anya winning the ‘Queen of the Mountain’ title as champion, a year younger than her brothers!

Ian Rigg

K2 provides a new challenge THAT FLYING FEELING: on the Comberton ski trip.

SLALOM: A Comberton pupil on the new course.

THE Development Course skiiers were the first from the college skiers to see K2 which only opened in December.

Poor Nick Hipwell fell on the first run and broke his collarbone, but was able come up the mountain for our last two days.

Group One struggled to keep their instructor. Andy bent his knee the wrong way and Barbara went down with flu. The replacement was Florian, who had been Italian champion four times at Giant Slalom and Downhill, so he was always fast to keep Alex happy and leapt miles in the air to keep Dan happy.

The slalom at the end of the week was our target, but before that we worked on group-leading skills, choosing routes and ‘lines’ which were appropriate for all the skiers in a group.

We learned to have our bags packed with emergency kit and

synchronise our watches to arrive at lunchtimes together. It was tough to travel from the Klausberg Ski area to the nearby Speikboden and to spend a day in the huge Kronplatz area.

Piste maps suddenly became challenging and caused crises of navigation.

We still had time for a little ‘apres ski’ and the weirdest night was ‘Push Hockey’ on the ice by the ‘Hexenkessel’. There were rules and some winners and the best goal was from a cross by Mr Bellis that was flicked in, Henri-style, by Ms Bateson.

The slalom held some surprises, but delivered the expected champion in Alex Kershaw. Nick Majerus, from Group Two, was the second fastest and Mr Rigg is falling behind, being only seventh overall!

Alex was in a class of his own with a fantastic slalom time which earned him the deserved title of ‘King of the Mountain’. Dan East had to get an award for ‘Flying High’ as well as winning the Kamikaze award as he played most of the game of Push Hockey flat on the ice.

Of the 30 skiers who took their ‘Snowlife’ Awards there was one at Level 4, five at Level 5, 18 at Level 6, five at Level 7 and Alex was our first skier to gain Level 8. Well done every- FASTEST: Alex Kershaw, with Florian, a one. Will we have a snowboard group next year?

Ian Rigg former Italian champion.

Axe-wielding pupils prepare for camp!

WHEN the Year 7 Adventure Club goes camping next term, we will need to light stoves for hot water, prepare food and sticks for cooking over open fires and chop wood to keep our fires burning to keep away wolves!

Everyone has to be proficient with a lighter, knife, saw and axe for us to survive and eat and we haven't the time for anyone to go to hospital to have a finger sewn back on.

The Performance Hall is not the best place to learn these skills, but we didn't set off the fire alarms and managed to cook our bacon and have hot water for washing up.

The first stage was for everyone to learn how to handle a knife safely. We have not had a cut

finger yet but Ashley managed to draw blood from a fingernail within seconds of getting her knife. She will have to go on peeling duty to get practice.

Using a lighter on a gas stove had Alice and Zoe imagining explosions and Courtney would have spent all day lighting the stove if he could. Conrad monopolised the spare bacon and developed his own system of sharing based on bacon in his possession! Harry gave a good impression of washing up, aided by Connor and Pat. They will get much better in camp and others will have to learn the skill, which parents will appreciate at home.

A bow saw has teeth which when rasped across

wood fibres cuts through them. They do not work by beating the wood into submission despite much enthusiasm! Leon showed great perserverance and managed to cut off a slice but others would still be sawing for ever.

Becca and Steph used an axe with great care so much care that the wood was smiling.

Eventually everyone managed to split a piece of wood but we will need to split a mountain of wood if we are to sit by a roaring fire all night.

Next term we are off camping for real. Will we survive?

Ian Rigg, Adventure Club co-ordinator

Going Dutch We can not wait to go to Valkenburg!

We think it is because we had so much fun last time.

And it is such a great experience; to play against other countries and receive coaching from professional coaches. #Another great thing about the tour is that you are with all your friends and socialising a lot of the time.

The social activities are very fun and worthwhile.

There is a day trip to Phantasialand, which is a theme park where you can go on a wide range of rides such as the tower and the rapids.

At the beginning of the day Mr Pollock will say that everyone must go on the tower.

At the end of the day Mr Pollock will say we

won't have time, but as we leave, he runs through the entrance and everyone goes on the ride, except me.

There is a tobogganing trip, which is reached by a rather scary chairlift, and a trip to a swimming pool with huge slides.

Apart from this, the football is great with evening matches and training during the morning.

There is a tournament with the other English schools, and a disco for the English schools which we go to.

The hotel is good and with fine food we are well fed all week.

Make sure you try Dutch fruit salad. It is splendid.

GOING BACK: Joey Tranham in Holland in Year 8 is going back as a Year 10 pupil.

Zoe’s a splash hit

ZOE Griggs has gone from non-swimmer to superstar in just six months.

The Year 11 pupil started weekly lessons at Impington, where she will go next year, in September when she couldn’t swim.

Earlier this term Zoe set a sponsored swim target of 10 lengths (250m) to raise money for the children’s ward at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Wood Green WATER STAR: Zoe Griggs.

Animal Shelters. Instead she managed a magnificent 20 lengths, doubling her original target. She hopes to have raised more than £300.

Head of the Centre Lil Davies said: “We are all thrilled. Zoe is now embarking on a personal challenge, which involves visiting Addenbrooke’s and finding out what equipment the Children’s Ward would like purchased. We hope the whole school will support Zoe’s wonderful efforts.”

A steep learning curve COMBERTON made the long haul to Basingstoke for the under-14 Sports Colleges Netball tournament earlier this term.

We set out at 7.00 because of the long coach ride and travelled with Netherhall. We ended up helping out by being their personal cheerleaders by the end of the tournament.

We got there with enough time to warm up before our first match against the Royal Alexandra and Albert School. We won 7-5, which really boosted our confidence.

Match two was against Devizes School and it was really close but we lost it 6-5.

We then beat Dorothy Stringer School 6-3 and Whitefields School 51 but by match five we were getting quite tired and it showed because we lost 15-1 to Chislehurst and Sidcup.

After lunch we played two more matches. We won one 7-4 but lost 15-1 to Netherhall.

At the end of the round we finished fifth out of eight. We didn’t win, but we had a good time and learned a lot too. Our thanks go to Mrs Edwards for coaching us and umpiring all our matches.

Comberton: Mel Wood, Catherine Gresham, Michelle Janssen, Caitlin Bays, Megan Lloyd-Regan, Holly Jukes, Sophie Thrussell, Maria Healy, Lucy Price.

Catherine Gresham (9T)

Forging closer ties A NEW set-up to allow Comberton, as a Sports College, to work much more closely with the South Cambs School Sports Partnership is planned.

In addition to the appointment of a new Partnership Development Manager in Claire McDonnell, currently the assistant PDM for the Cambridge City partnership, who starts work based at Comberton after Easter, there have been

internal changes at CVC. From September Mark Goldring, who was Head of PE, will be one of two new Assistant Directors of Sport. He will focus on the Teaching and Learning of PE from KS1-4 in Comberton and our feeder primary schools.

Primary PE Manager Ally Brennan is the other new assistant director. She will still work with Comberton's feeder primaries, particularly on transition, but will also have a wider role within

the South Cambs partnership.

Director of Sport Nigel Carrick has overseen the restructuring and will manage leadership outcomes across the partnership, which includes all the district’s secondary schools and their feeder primaries (except Sawston, who are part of the city set-up) and Granta Special School.

He said: "This will enable us to strengthen the links between the partnership and the sports college. It's a very exciting development."

SHARING: Pupils from Comberton and the feeder primary schools show what they have been working on in lessons.

Pupils discover it’s fun to share Tennis for all in new summer programme COMBERTON tennis coach Simon Nathan has put together a summer programme with something for everyone.

As well as the after-school sessions he has already started for Comberton pupils, he has devised a set of courses for the Easter holidays and the summer term.

The Easter courses run from Monday-Thursday, April 2-5, and from Tuesday-Friday, April 10-13.

During the first week pupils aged from four upwards can participate in one or all of the sessions, which last for an hour for the youngest group, up to two hours for the older players.

On Thursday Simon is holding a day-long course for youngsters aged 13plus, which will involve coaching in the morning with matches after lunch.

The second week sees two hours of coaching a day available to children aged from four in two groups.

Next term there will be a series of sessions for youngsters aged four-12 on Monday and Thursday evenings with the over-12s and the Comberton Tennis Club junior club night taking place on Tuesdays.

For more details of any of the Easter and summer tennis events, contact Simon on 07770 347747, e-mail simon@driver44.freeserve.co.uk or Comberton Tennis Club chairman Andy Weise on (01223) 263219, e-mail andyweise@aol.com

PUPILS of all ages from Comberton’s feeder primary schools joined students at the college for an afternoon of gymnastics earlier this term.

It was the fourth annual share, which alternates between dance and gym, and children aged 4-16 showed the work they have been doing in PE lessons, with a couple of displays by Comberton soloists to round off a successful session.

Year 1 pupils from Caldecote demonstrated Jump and Land, Hardwick Year 1 and 2 pupils based their Travel and Stop unit on their Superheroes topic, and The Vine’s Year 2 pupils were rocking and rolling.

Key Stage 2 pupils from Haslingfield (Year 3) and Coton (Year 3 and 4) demonstrated rotation, while Monkfield Park (Year 4) and Bourn (Year 4 and 5) showed their work on balance.

Meridian’s Year 5 and 6 pupils worked on symmetry and asymmetry, while Comberton students’ displays were based on travel and balance (Year 7), flight (Year 8) and sports acro (Year 9).

The afternoon was rounded off by Emma Futter (Year 11) performing a ribbon solo and Matthew Dye (Year 8) a floor solo, which drew lots of oohs and aahs from the younger children.

Primary PE Manager Ally Brennan, who organised the event, said: “I think this gym share will have inspired some of the pupils, particularly the younger ones.

“They saw rhythmic gymnastics, Olympic gymnastics and sports acro and it shows there is something for everybody.

“I think the standard was higher than two years ago, which is evidence that we are raising standards, and I think that the progression children make as they move through their schools is very clear to see. It shows how important it is that pupils learn the right moves and the safety side at a very young age.”