News@Com Spring 17

NEWS COM ISSUE 44, SPRING 2017

The Magazine of Comberton Village College

Sweeney Todd review — Page 7

Child rights respected

News@Com

Comberton has taken the first steps on a programme which supports schools to embed children’s human rights in their ethos and culture.

The school has been given a Recognition of Commitment, which is the first award on the path to being recognised as a Unicef (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) UK Rights Respecting School.

The Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) recognises achievement in putting the UN Convention on the Right of the Child at the heart of a school’s practice to improve wellbeing and help all children and young people realise their potential.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is made up of 42 articles on the Rights of the Child. Pupils at Comberton have been learning about their Rights and these articles in assemblies, in form time and in lessons.

The award is based on the principles of Equality, Dignity, Respect, NonDiscrimination and Participation.

Marielle Burgess, who is driving this initiative, said: “The values which the Rights Respecting Schools Award promote are similar to the values of Comberton Village

College. It is therefore appropriate for CVC to embrace this and put RRSA at the heart of what the school does to promote a shared ethos. The Rights should be the context for all our work and should provide a clear framework for every member of the school community to work with.

“The RRSA will provide an overarching set of values which will support the strong climate for learning which CVC possesses and will support staff and pupils to continue to strive to create the best learning environment for the young people in our community.”

It is expected to take about three years to achieve the Award. Comberton is ahead of schedule, having planned to achieve the Recognition of commitment by July 2017.

The college is now working towards Levels 1 over the next two years.

Mrs Burgess is working with Comberton staff colleagues and a Rights Respecting School steering group comprising 15 pupils from Year 7-11 to oversee this work.

Anybody interested in helping with this initiative, who wants to find out more or has any experience in working with Unicef, please contact Mrs Burgess on mburgess@combertonvc.org

Helping ensure young carers don’t miss out

Comberton has been recognised for its efforts in making sure students don’t miss out on education because they are young carers.

They have earned a bronze award from The Young Carers in Schools Programme, which helps primary and secondary schools improve outcomes for young carers, and are now pushing to reach the Silver standard.

Head of School Peter Law said: “Supporting Young Carers is just one aspect of the work that we do, often behind the scenes, to help our students achieve their potential.”

“This award is recognition of that work and as such it is very pleasing to have received it.”

To achieve their Bronze Award, Comberton demonstrated that it supports young carers in many ways, including provision of an afterschool group and drop-in sessions with Miss

Healy and Sophie Hughes, from Centre 33.

To help schools support young carers, the programme offers a step-by-step guide for leaders, teachers and non-teaching staff, with practical tools designed to make it as easy as possible for schools.

Staff can also receive training through webinars and events and the programme also features a newsletter each term highlighting relevant policy developments, spotlighting good practice and giving updates on the programme’s successes.

Gail Scott-Spicer, Chief Executive of Carers Trust, said: “Schools play a vital role in a young carer’s life, but many care for relatives without their teachers even knowing what they do. On average young carers will miss half a day of school each fortnight as a result of their caring role, so the steps schools take to identify and

support them can have a huge impact on their learning, wellbeing and life chances.”

Jenny Frank, young carer programme director at The Children’s Society, is confident that the Young Carers in Schools Programme will bring Comberton’s new Head Prefect team, who will take over next term, has been about national change. chosen after a rigorous selection process.

“This is a giant leap The four, Toby Robson, Elliott Noble, Imogen Sutherland and Ana Ward, will head forward in the way their year group’s prefects after winning over a selection panel of senior staff. schools can make sure Twenty-two Year 10 students applied for a Head Prefect’s role and of those nine no child misses out on went through the two-phase interview process. One of these required students to an education because do a presentation to their peers on something they are passionate about to assess they are a carer,” she their ability to speak in public. said. “Importantly, we are Head of Year Zach Beamish said: “The calibre of applicants for the various posts not just telling schools to was extremely high and made making a decision very difficult. The applicants for improve, we are giving the Head Prefect posts had to be interviewed by Mr Law, Mr Beamish, Mr Carrick them a clear set of steps and School Governor Mrs Churchman. to help them improve “Many thanks also to Ms Segal who oversees student leadership at Comberton.” their support systems, Imogen said: “It was a great experience, although quite nerve racking because of and then recognising the the questions from the interview panel! But it I can see that this will help me with work they do with young interviews in the future.” carers.”

New head prefect team is selected

NEW TEAM: The next head prefects.

q Stories behind Headlines — Page 3 q Champions off to US — Page 3 q Trust News — Page 4 q National Champion — Page 5 q Learning Boost — Page 5

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Contents

q ‘Gone to the Dogs’ — Page 5 q Show is Cut Above — Page 7 q Science update — Page 8 q More than Stories — Page 8 q Flume Challenge — Page 8 q Sixth Form News — Pages 9-12

q Online Safety — Page 13 q Team rises to Challenge — Page 13 q Languages latest — Page 14 q SCSSP Round-Up — Page 16 q Sport — Pages 17-20

News@Com

New UK champions head for US

LEGO DELIGHT: For winning team B6 Berrellium and their parents and (right) the twins with the robot in action.

Four brothers from Comberton head to America next month after winning an international Lego competition.

The Borrell boys — twins Albert and Quim (Year 10), Joan (Year 9) and Lluis (Year 7) — teamed up with Oscar and Iona Berry, from Royston, to see off all the competition at the UK and Ireland final of the First Lego League.

They have now won a place at the world final in St Louis at the end of April — and are seeking sponsors to help them cover the costs, which are expected to be between £10-15,000.

The team, named B6 Berrellium, took top spot at the national final of the competition described as a global robotics-based life skills competition for young people, after reaching that stage for the third year running.

This year’s challenge was ‘Animal Allies’ and competitors investigated and came up with solutions to a real problem related to animals and humans working together as well as

building, testing and programming an autonomous Lego robot. They also had to make sure they had implemented the First Lego League’s set of Core Values: celebrating discovery, teamwork (among themselves as well as other teams in the competition) and gracious professionalism when they were quizzed by a judging panel.

B6 Berrellium’s scientific investigation looked at the problems being caused to UK honey bees by the Asian Hornet, which is already causing widespread damage to honey bee populations in Europe. Helped by the Borrell boys’ ability to converse not only in English, but also in Spanish and Catalan, they have worked with scientists in Britain and Spain to come up with a possible solution which involves the use of drones to locate hornet nests.

After winning their first round at Welwyn in January to earn a place in last month’s national finals in Bristol, where they saw off the other 47

finalists — mainly school teams— they have continued to refine their project and at the end of February presented their work to a local Beekeepers Association group, speaking for an hour rather than the five minutes required for the Lego competition.

They are also continuing to tweak the performance of their Lego robot which has to perform a range of tasks related to animals on a standard mat provided by the organisers for all rounds of the competition.

Joan Borrell said: “It was an amazing experience.

This event has given us the opportunity to meet amazing teams. All the people were very nice and welcoming. I really liked it and now we have a new opportunity, going to the USA! I would definitely encourage other children to get involved in First Lego League. It is worth it!”

Anybody able to help with sponsorship is asked to contact the team at b6berrellium@gmail.com

Stories behind headlines

“Did you know that you are in Tatler magazine?” was an unusual opening line for me to receive in an email from the Head of Maths at Comberton.

Last month the DfE produced their annual list of ‘approved vocational qualifications’ — those that would be included in school progress measures. Schools can choose to enter pupils for qualifications that are not on this list, but when the exam results are analysed these While I am sure that Mr Freeman has diverse taste in would count for nothing — it will be as if the pupil had his chosen reading, it was a surprise to me that he not achieved anything in their studies for that subject. might be a regular with Tatler, and over the following A number of qualifications that the school has run for few days I had similar surprises from many many years have now been removed from this list. colleagues, friends and family members. (I later This then can create a curious dilemma — realised that this is more to do with the prevalence of qualifications that previously served pupils well may no social media, rather than who actually reads Tatler longer be counted in performance measures for a magazine…) school. So while it might serve the pupil well to take a Tatler runs an annual ‘Guide to the best state particular course, it might not serve the school so well. secondary schools’ (subtitled ‘the secondary schools In November the school entered a number of our Year giving independents a run for their money…’) and this 11 pupils for iGCSE English. This is a qualification that year they chose to include Comberton Village College had been nationally recognised for very many years in their guide. ,= and was used as the main English qualification for our The article was very flattering about the school and, pupils last year. rather curiously, the author chose to include some This qualification has now been removed from the PETER LAW: ‘Exam results are only part very positive comments a parent made about me and approved list, and so for those Year 11 pupils who of a school’s success story.’ also a quote from me, although I had not spoken with took it, it will not be evident in any school performance tables. These pupils achieved exceptionally well and this qualification will have them. I was very pleased and flattered that they had chosen Comberton, although great value to them (it is considered the equivalent to GCSE English), but will do feel rather bemused that such guides can be produced and I do wonder about count for nothing for the school. the basis on which they are generated.

Ultimately, we chose to let pupils take this qualification as it is important for them, Clearly, there is a wealth of public domain information regarding schools, with despite it not being in the performance measures for the school. much of this being based on outcomes in public examinations and what that might When Tatler, or any other organisations, make judgements about schools then it is say about the education pupils receive and the progress they make. good to be aware that, while examination results show a very important part of the This is, of course, hugely important for pupils and schools alike, but only tells part story of a school, there is more to the picture that might first be evident. of the story of a school and can in some measures be misleading.

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Clear benefits of Trust

THE CAM ACADEMY TRUST NEWS

Three of our schools, Melbourn, Cambourne and Comberton Village Colleges, are in the Leading Edge Programme, overseen nationally by the SSAT, a major national educational organisation.

Membership is for high-performing secondary schools nationally assessed by a mixture of strong Ofsted judgements and high pupil performance data).

These three secondary schools meet the criteria and are active members of the national network that has around 250 schools in it.

to the overall national network.

This helps to create a ‘Directory’ of interesting and effective practice that is published for all schools in the Programme.

The visits for Melbourn, Cambourne and Comberton Village Colleges took place this term. They were overseen by an experienced former headteacher, whose school is in the Programme.

All comments on all three schools were very positive.

For example, the report on Melbourn Village College starts by stating: ‘The school has a very positive ethos and everywhere we went we saw students enjoying, and engaged in, their learning. There is a noticeable focus on each individual student which means the whole school comes over as very personal and supportive.’

Throughout all three reports, there are observations about how being part of the Trust is benefiting each of the schools.

The positive points noted include the Trust’s review programme and how this brings together senior leaders from the different schools to review each other’s practice. It notes joint staff training opportunities of various sorts and opportunities for staff to be involved in research and reflecting on their practice, through the Trust.

The clear commitment to share ideas and practice, very much the philosophy of the Leading Edge Programme itself, is clearly observed.

We hope to continue to use the Leading Edge Programme as one mechanism to POSITIVE COMMENTS: From the improve further the education we offer to SSAT visits to Melbourn, Comberton all young people in all of our schools. and Cambourne VIllage Colleges Stephen Munday, Chief Executive earlier this term.

The programme is centred on sharing ideas and practice of successful schools to push themselves to do better still and to find out what others are up to.

There is a firm emphasis on innovative approaches as we all look to carry on improving. All schools in the Trust are able to benefit from the network due to the membership of the three schools directly involved.

This has meant opportunities such as engaging with a leadership seminar with Apple recently, overseen by th recent worldwide education leader of Apple.

One part of the membership of the Leading Edge Programme involves a visit to the school to look at how the school works and what it might be offering

Future of learning considered Primary is set to join

Melbourn Village College hosted a workshop what the future of learning should look like for headteachers and senior leaders led by and what would be needed to get there.

Dr Bill Rankin.

Dr Rankin also helped the group to consider Dr Rankin, who is based in the United creative approaches to learning that allow States, is the director of Unfold Learning students opportunities to learn and was the global director of learning for independently. This included thinking about Apple from 2013-16. setting a goal for students rather than a task The workshop was attended by heads and — offering them an opportunity to work out senior the best way leaders from to get there.

The Cam It was a Academy thoughtTrust, plus provoking senior morning and leaders from a good local opportunity schools and to work with from the colleagues Leading from other Edge schools, both primary network.

LOOKING AT LEARNING: With Dr Bill Rankin. and The secondary. workshop, provided by Apple, offered attendees an exceptionally rare opportunity Trust Chief Executive Stephen Munday said: “As a follow up to this event, the Trust will to work informally with Dr Rankin. be engaging in some strategic thinking with Dr Rankin’s interests are around student Apple about future technology use right motivation and engagement — he has across our schools. We hope that this might extensive expertise in the design of teaching and learning and educational technologies. offer some exciting possibilities for our schools.”

During the workshop, the group discussed

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Jeavons Wood Primary School in Cambourne is lining up to join the Trust.

After careful reflection and consultation last term, the school’s governing body unanimously voted to convert to Academy status and to join the Trust.

The Board of the Trust subsequently unanimously voted to accept that request. This term has seen work to move through the required process to enable this to happen. This has involved formal approval from the Headteacher Board of the Regional Schools’ Commissioner’s Office as well as the various legal and other organisational requirements. It is hoped that all this will have been completed and the school will join the Trust during next term.

Jeavons Wood will become the latest Primary phase school to join the Trust and this will mean the Trust has become truly cross-phase with four secondary (including two Sixth Forms) and four primary phase schools.

Chris Jukes, the Primary Executive Leader who joined in January, is now leading the primary school development of the Trust.

Jeavons Wood has a slightly indirect historic link to our Trust. It was first set up under the auspices of the ‘Comberton Educational Trust’ when Government legislation about setting up schools was different than it is today.

The Comberton Educational Trust was the precursor to the Comberton Academy Trust that has now become The Cam Academy Trust. It is good to see the school coming full circle and now joining today’s Trust. We very much look forward to their contribution within our developing Trust.

Stephen Munday

For job vacancies across the Trust, visit the CAT website at www.catrust.co.uk

News@Com

FINALISTS: The Comberton students who went to the national finals in Oxford.

Kai is national champion

A pupil at a Combertonhas won a national computing competition.

Kai Sun, who is in Year 8, topped his section of the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge in the national finals at the University of Oxford.

Kai was one of seven Comberton students invited to the finals after more than 50,000 youngsters took part in the initial stage, which took place on-line in

schools.

Of the Comberton qualifiers, five travelled to Oxford for the finals with 12-year-old Kai, one of the younger qualifiers in his group, topping the intermediate section for Years 8 and 9.

Head of Computer Science Will Grey said: “We are delighted that our students have performed so well in a national computing competition. This is a wonderful achievement, especially for Kai Sun who came first

in his age group nationally. This is testament to all the hard work that these students have put into their studies at Comberton. Well done to all those involved.”

The other Comberton qualifiers across all the age groups were Melissa Slade, Emily HemingwayLawson, Lottie Deane, Lucy Herring, Zach Lazar and Joshua Upton.

Learning boost for students

Students on the autistic spectrum at Comberton have been given a boost to their learning.

Broadcom Europe, which has an office on the Cambridge Science Park, has donated 20 laptops to The Cabin, Comberton’s specialised centre for students with autism.

And Cabin staff are already noticing a difference in students’ attitude to writing tasks, which they previously found daunting and difficult, since they have been able to access the recycled equipment.

Head of The Cabin, Peter Allcock, said: “We are aware that many of our students have difficulty with handwriting and reading.

“This gift means that all our students will now have access to a computer to complete their classwork, which we hope and believe will help to enable the students to improve their writing and classwork to reach a speed commensurate with their peers.

“We have already seen a difference in the approach to writing tasks by two students due to this access and we would like to express our sincere thanks to Broadcom Europe Limited for this incredibly generous and useful gift.

“We are also very grateful to the college’s IT department, who have worked COMPUTER AID: For students in The Cabin. hard to make these computers ready for our students to use.”

Caring girls’ efforts ‘go to the dogs’

LAPPING IT UP: Hugo enjoys the attention while (above right) the girls draw the raffle.

While working on an Asdan school project Franscesca Zaffaroni, in Year 10 and Holly Moore in Year 7, started to look at how to help others.

The Centre at Comberton has two registered blind students and one partially-sighted student so the girls researched the ‘Guide Dogs’ charity and learnt about how a guide dog could help provide independence to someone with visual impairment.

Francesca and Holly, with their TA June Sams, raised money in aid of ‘Guide Dogs’ — the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity — by selling raffle tickets and Christmas cards during registration and break time.

Everyone was very supportive and some students were keen to give money without entering the raffle. They raised £115.

Earlier this term Francesca and Holly were thrilled by a special visitor to school — a guide dog called Hugo with his trainer, Gillian Bane.

Gillian told them it takes two years to train a dog. Hugo was only 6 months old and he was so patient and happy with all the attention, especially from Holly!

Gillian was very grateful to the girls and thanked them on behalf of the charity.

If you would like more information about Guide Dogs, please see http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

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News@Com

The less you are in school, the less you are learning.

We are all sick sometimes, but being in school as much as possible, will help you achieve your potential, as well as being able to see your friends.

100% Attendance

If your attendance is 100%: you miss no days of school and have an 81.7% chance of achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, including maths and English. All Colleges and employers will want people who will attend their courses or job and will look at how much you have attended school.

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% attendance

DAYS missed during a YEAR

LESSONS missed in a YEAR

TERMS missed of Secondary School

% achieving 5A*-C with Ma & En

100 95 90 85 80

0 9½ 19 28½ 38

0 57 114 171 228

81.7% 73.5% 56.8% 41% 28.9%

50

95

570

0 ¾ term 1½ 2¼ 3 (this is a whole school year!)

7.5 ( this is 2.5 years!)

3.8%

Show is a cut above . . .

News@Com

There was nothing crusty or half-baked about this year’s Comberton musical, Sweeney Todd, which proved to be an evening stuffed with music, dance, and drama.

An array of songs filled the Performance Hall generating real pace and passion.

There were many catchy melodies such as No Place Like London or the brilliant The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, almost spiralling out of control at times. Especially effective were the violins underscoring the moments of conflict in the storyline.

The cold, brooding Sam Roberts playing Sweeney Todd channelled plenty of intensity, whether singing with menace or slitting throats with aplomb. Pacing the stage, this troubled soul is equally able to deliver the bitterness of vengeance or

MAKING THE CUT: The cast of Comberton’s production of Sweeney Todd.

Below: Scenes from the show.

sweet taste of humour.

Despite his overwhelming desire for revenge, Roberts never completely loses some semblance of good. Playing against Todd and entirely devoted to him, Mrs Lovett (Ellen Petre) grows in stature with each song. Her lovely voice and enthusiasm contrasts with the moody voice of Roberts. She is no devil. Her care, thrift and humour reach a peak with A Little Priest which closes the first act with a few dark chuckles. Likewise, the loveable Tobias Ragg (Tim Easy) delivers a couple of wonderful scenes to add texture and complete a somewhat unorthodox family unit.

The dastardly Judge Turpin (Dan Davey) marches about forcefully, while most of the cast glides. Davey’s character enjoys his villainous actions, relishes his selfimportance, and his deep voice pronounces one judgement after another; it all makes him a fun figure to despise, while Judge Turpin’s right hand man, The Beadle, played by Charlie Eccles, has a playful side to balance his appetite for power and control. The young love subplot is woven deftly into the main one with long-lost daughter, Joanna Barker (Chloe Hall) singing with dream-like beauty from one cage to another and hoping to be freed by the lovesick Anthony Hope (Oli Wilkinson).

Whether extolling the virtue of the charming Joanna or extending friendship to Todd, Wilkinson exudes benevolence with his tone of voice.

There were several memorable cameos here too. The street-shaving competition has Ollie Payne doing an impressive accent for Charlatan, Adolfo Pirelli; it’s a shame about his early demise. With Jonas Fogg, Max Prince manages to convey twisted parental care of his charges, while Beggar Woman (Zoe Jupe) crops up everywhere like the shadow of fate. An especially popular appearance were the surprise staff visits to Sweeney’s barber chair. In general, the company conveys a Victorian London filled of urchins and washerwomen and with consistently warm and powerful harmonies. Whether communicating settings or flashbacks they capture the city’s richness and vibrancy and reveal just how very welldrilled they were by choreographer, Rebecca Tyrrell. Perhaps the cacophonic asylum scene is their most chilling, but their range from ballet to ballroom is worthy of note too.

The production didn’t rely on grisly stage tricks, but was carried by the passion of the performers on stage and behind it.

The set of semi-deconstructed London brick and scaffolding worked really well.

Carts, iron railings and pie counters drew the eye and shift ed the focus for variety. Sound effects were particularly enticing in their range: train, organ, gunshot, and meat-grinder to name a few. Hopefully audiences appreciated the devilishly complex sound and lighting touches by the backstage team.

The orchestra certainly rose to the challenge of a sophisticated musical score and were masterfully handled by Jo Instone Brewer and Ben Parker, with Janet Tanburn conducting. The unity of the entire production was admirable. As always, there were plenty of ingenious directing touches from Jez Frost, Jane Menczer and Ally Hall.

Mike Ryall, English Dept

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News@Com

More to writing than stories Andy Briggs is an author whose latest book series is The Inventory. He came into English in January to give Year 8 students an exciting, funny, interactive talk, which everyone clearly enjoyed. I believe it was the most entertaining and interesting talk we have had in English.

He convinced us that there is much more to a writer than meets the eye — they are behind the scenes in movies, computer

games, plays, songs, computer programs, comics and much more. He also interested us with the excitement and adventure behind it all; riding through jungles on the back of an elephant, smelling gorillas!

I think everyone was inspired and will look at writing from a completely new angle.

Lily Goodwin (8E)

Breaking down barriers TALKING: Andy Briggs entertains Year 8 students.

Businesswoman sheds light on women thriving in science

As part of our Women in Science activities and our enterprise education, we were very grateful to have Kate Mingay come and speak to students in Years 8-12 about careers in science.

Kate, who now heads up her own company called Dakram Materials Ltd, spoke about how when starting out she realised she loved science but did not want a lab-based career.

She decided that she wanted to use her science interest and knowledge in a

SCIENCE IN ACTION: Manganese Sulphate is used in crop production.

commercial way, and so she initially gained experience in a rare earth materials company, working in sales.

This involved lots of travel to Russia, China, Japan, the US and other parts of the world.

She then went on to work for a Finnish mining company, dealing with the rare metal Germanium which is used for making solar cells that power space satellites and in crystals for certain types of lasers. From there she and her husband decided to set up a chemical distribution business.

Chemicals such as Manganese Sulphate (used for helping crop production), Copper chemicals, Zinc chemicals, Iron Oxide for dog food, petrochemical re-forming catalysts and chemicals for the glass industry are among the products sold and supplied by Dakram.

Kate spoke about what it is like running a company in quite a maledominated business area.

She also covered what it was like starting up a business — the stress of raising and risking initial funding, the vital support of investors at the start-up stage, and the need for a clear business strategy.

The talk was hugely helpful in bringing to life what a business career using science might be like, what setting up and running a successful business involves, and how women can thrive as entrepreneurs in the science and technology world too.

Talks fire students’ enthusiasm A group of Year 10 and 11 students went on a science trip to the Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Over the course of six hours at GCSE Live!, the group experienced a number of talks by some of Britain’s best scientists including Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Professor Alice Roberts and Professor Mark Miodownik.

There was also a short talk on the Science GCSE questions and how to answer different types of questions.

The first talk was by Mark Miodownik. His lecture was ‘Stuff Matters’. He started by talking about a period in his childhood where he was attacked by a razor.

After the incident, he recalled that he was obsessed looking at materials, For instance the steel that was used for the razor and how we use it in everyday life.

He then went on to talk about the changes in materials that are being developed. He

included examples such as self-healing roads and bendable technology.

The final talk was by Jim Al-Khalili. His speciality is theoretical physics and he spoke about time-travel and whether it is actually possible. His lecture included points from Einstein and recent experiments conducted at CERN in Switzerland and by other scientists.

The GCSE talk was by a GCSE examiner and was about how pupils can answer questions in their exams. It explained about the different key-words such as ‘explain’, ‘describe’ and ‘suggest’ and how to grab the most amount of marks possible.

Overall everyone had a great day and returned to school with extra enthusiasm and purpose to continue their studies in science.

Sam Hewitt and Henry Harrison (10M)

TOP TIPS: Among the talks was one offering advice on how to get the maximum marks on the GCSE science papers.

Flume challenge adds to the fun at Oasis Overall, I think the trip to Bedford Oasis last month (the second social trip of the year for Year 7) was thoroughly enjoyable; everyone who went on it seemed to have great fun.

It was very well attended and I estimate that at least two thirds of the year went along. We boarded three coaches at the end of the school day. There was lots of laughter and excited banter on the way to Bedford and the journey went quickly.

Despite the fact that there weren’t really enough

changing rooms to accommodate us all simultaneously, it wasn’t long before we were changed and in the pool ready for action.

There were flumes to speed down, rapids to ride, waves to surf — and some people even managed a swim!

Mr Wilce (Assistant Head of Year 7) invited us to join him in the flume challenge: the fastest descent of the red flume. Although Mr Wilce completed the ride in a very respectable time, he was narrowly beaten into

second place by Harry (something like a 0.02 second faster).

After all the fun, we changed and made our way back to CVC. Some Year 7 parents attended a Beaumanor briefing while we were on our way back and were ready to pick us up on our return (hungry and tired!)

Thank you to all the CVC staff who made this trip possible. We’re looking forward to the next social.

Imogen Ransome (7R)

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Even more opt for CSF

Sixth Form

After five years in existence, which has seen Comberton Sixth Form go from strength-tostrength in terms of numbers seeking places, academic achievement and university/employment entry levels, applications for places this year have reached record levels.

More than 600 applications have been received in total, of which 289 place Comberton Sixth Form as their first choice.

This unprecedented demand has, unfortunately, meant that we are not in a position currently to consider any second choice applicants, although we hope that some places may become available once applications have been analysed fully.

At the other end of the Sixth Form experience, 116 Upper Sixth students are currently enrolled in the UCAS cycle, the mechanism through which applications are made to gain places to study at Higher Education institutions.

Students are in the process of hearing back from their chosen universities, with offers arriving on a daily basis and many students having already received offers of places at all five of their university choices.

We now have students wellplaced to progress on to study a wealth of different courses, from traditional academic subjects such as Physics at Durham and International Relations at St Andrews, to more vocational routes such as Midwifery, Optometry and Paramedic Science.

In addition, we are particularly CAMBRIDGE pleased to report that, after OFFERS: For successfully negotiating the demanding Cambridge University Dominic selection process, Dominic Caddick and Caddick has secured an offer Lucy Hall. from Magdalene College to study Economics and Lucy Hall has received an offer from Selwyn College to study Law. These are particularly competitive courses at a notoriously selective institution and represent a considerable achievement by both students.

These well-deserved offers, as well as those received by all our students, reflect the hard work of the both the students themselves and the dedicated Sixth Form teaching staff.

We congratulate all our university applicants on their successes so far and wish them well with the remainder of their studies.

Phil Evans, Former Head of Sixth Form and now Director of New School Development, The Cam Academy Trust

Students help unlock memories

Comberton Sixth Form students have been working with the residents of Home Meadow Care Home in Toft with an exciting initiative called the ‘All About me’ project which is now into its second year.

This project aims to help residents living with dementia unlock their treasured memorie.

As part of the project, the students interview the residents to help capture a history of their past, bringing out poignant memories from years gone by.

This information is then brought together in a pictorial storyboard that can be displayed in residents’ rooms and used by the staff as part of their care plan. This project also helps students learn more about dementia in the care setting, and allows them to contribute towards the work of the home.

A key focus for the students has been understanding dementia, and as many of the residents at Home Meadow have this condition, they have also been able to understand how this can affect individuals and their day-to-day life.

Joe Ballard, the activity manager at Home Meadow, said: “This fantastic project has really brought benefits to our residents and to the home as a whole.

“The storyboards the students have created are really quite emotive and will help our staff refer to key stories or special memories, which can

offer comfort in times of confusion or distress or simply help them access a part of their life they may have forgotten for some time.

“Many of the residents recognise the students when they arrive each week and are extremely pleased to see them, so some lovely relationships have been formed.”

Projects such as ‘All About Me’ allow Sixth Form students to work with the residents by focusing on different mental and sensory skills. Memories are often confusing and out of sequence when you have dementia, so with skillful questioning, the students can help residents articulate their stories and capture this for them to use as a

Sixth Formers star in Sweeney Todd — Page 7

WORKING TOGETHER: Year 12 students help build a picture of a resident’s past.

lasting tool.

Richard Waller, who oversees the project for Comberton, said: “It’s really lovely to observe the interaction between a resident and a student, and to see the pleasure it brings them both as they discover a treasured memory.

“Comberton Sixth Form has enjoyed an excellent relationship with Home Meadow, which has allowed different generations to come together and contribute to the experiences of those living in the care home. We would like to thank all of the staff and residents at Home Meadow for their ongoing support with this project.”

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Sixth Form

Just beachy!

Students undeterred by coastal wind and rain

Year 12 geographers gathered at Comberton one Sunday last month eager to head to the West Dorset coast to conduct a geographical investigation and learn more about a fascinating area of England.

On arrival at the Leeson House, the field study centre, we were warmly welcomed

by Matt, our tutor for the few days. We were soon taken to the centre of the coastal town of Swanage to compete in a scavenger hunt, which tested not only our geography skills but also our teamwork.

We all eagerly competed for the grand prize — a portion of chips. Following this, free time in the town centre resulted in the purchase of yet more chips, ice cream and even sale items from a local clothes shop!

The following day we set off to complete our fieldwork, undeterred by the strong winds and occasional hail storm.

Despite the harsh conditions, road closures and lengthy diversions we finally reached the village of Abbotsbury where, in groups, we worked together to measure beach profile, sediment size and wave direction along Chesil Beach.

While we successfully completed most of the data collection — one vital piece of equipment was carried away by the exceptionally powerful waves, an apple, which meant we had to resort to secondary data relating to longshore drift.

Luckily we managed to finish all the tasks and move on to our next location further along the beach before the rain caught up with us.

After completing our fieldwork at Chesil Beach we moved to another location — the world famous Durdle Door and Man O War Cove. Here we could see exactly how the waves had been affecting the coastal landscape over thousands of years

FEBRUARY AT THE SEASIDE: For Year 12 geographers.

and how they have led to the creation of truly impressive natural landforms. The stairs down to the beach were worryingly slippery in parts, but we still managed to collect the fieldwork data on both beaches.

Our day collecting fieldwork data ended with a trip to Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole. Our tutor was hoping that we'd experience a 'Personally Awesome Geographical Moment' and as we looked in awe at the intricate geological features many of us did.

This brought an end to our day exploring the West Dorset coastline and following our write-up the next morning, we took the long journey home, during which many took the opportunity for some well-earned shut-eye!

George Blackhurst-Patrick (L6-LM)

Acting masterclasses

The AS and A2 Drama and Theatre Studies students had the privilege of working with some exceptional practitioners as part of their course during January and February.

The first workshop was an intense masterclass in acting from RADA lecturer Helen Strange, who put the students through their paces following the rigorous training of the actor.

They then had the unique opportunity for a workshop with Marcus Roche, assistant director to the internationally-acclaimed Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company two days after seeing their production of ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Working with such a well-established practitioner opened the students’ eyes to the styles, form and methodologies of the company as a whole.

Using the words of Shakespeare, the students spent two weeks preparing with monologues and duologues to perform in front of Marcus, who then workshopped them through different ways of

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approaching and understanding the original script.

Both opportunities were exceptionally useful to the preparation for the up-and-coming practical exams and gave those who are to pursue it in the future a taste of what might be to come beyond their ALevel studies.

Eleanor Sutcliffe, of Year 13, said: “With such a renowned reputation for creating incredible pieces of theatre, it was so wonderful that the assistant director of Cheek by Jowl’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’, Marcus Rutherford, and education officer Dominic, were able to spend a morning with us.

“It was a truly fantastic workshop to participate in and we very much came away feeling as though we’d learnt and developed skills in ensemble work, approaching the complex verse of Shakespeare, and acting skills in developing character for the audience, which may in turn visually reveal any subtext.”

Insight into Physics

A number of Year 12 students were invited to attend Cambridge University’s Physics Department.

The aim of the visit was to encourage students to take up Physics at the next stage of their education, to raise aspirations, and to help prospective applicants understand the University of Cambridge’s collegiate structure.

Throughout the day our students explored what it would be like to study Physics at Cambridge. The morning was spent at Corpus Christi College, where students attended a talk and were given information and guidance on Higher Education, followed by a Q&A session.

After this, an undergraduate organised a tour of the College provided CSF students with a real insight into what college life would really be like.

In the afternoon, students visited the Cavendish Laboratory and took part in an introductory interactive lecture, followed by practical experiments to find out Earth’s gravitational field strength. There was also a workshop where students had the opportunity to hone their problem-solving skills.

COLLEGE TOUR: Of Corpus Christi in Cambridge.

New York, New York!

Sixth Form

Start spreadin’ the news. We’re leaving Heathrow.

Actually, we nearly didn’t, as snow storms in New York caused JFK to close for most of the day resulting in hundreds of cancelled flights.

We were in the first batch of planes given clearance to land and made our way to the hotel in a dramatic blizzard. Although the weather improved, the intensity of the city continued to energise and inspire us — its hyper-reality almost overwhelming at times.

Times Square at night was a case in point; intense noises, flashing and smells — and that’s just the cab drivers.

Sixth form students in Art and Photography found that the city is a photographer’s dream.

It’s very hard to take a bad photo as the visual intensity of everywhere feels reminiscent of all the movies and fashion shoots you’ve ever seen.

We did as much as we could — Brooklyn Bridge, the top of the Empire State, Little Italy, the subway, Chelsea Market, the Highline, Grand Central Station — to complete the list would go far over the word limit for this article.

The galleries are so dense and rich in their content that we could have spent a month in them — The MoMa, Met and Guggenheim should be on the bucket list for any art lover (with a budget!).

We had a wonderful time and students completed some great work while out there — including a fashion shoot commissioned to one of our students by a major brand! Watch this space…, One thing we all learned however, was that if we can make it there, we’ll make it anywhere; so here’s to you — New York New York!!

Greg Dean, Head of Art

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS: Sixth Formers enjoy the sights and sounds of snowy New York.

‘We also saw some incredibly famous works, ones that most people recognise: Starry night by Van Gogh, the soup cans by Warhol and the one with the melting clocks by the crazy guy with the large moustache, aka Salvador Dali. Seeing these things, that we’d looked at as far back as Year 7, and had always admired was truly awe-inspiring – they’re somehow better in the flesh, or canvas.’ Tom Frost (L6-CW)

‘We met up with the artists at the Empire State building.

The fast lift popped lots of ears on the way up, but the view was certainly worth it. The photographers also got the chance to walk across Brooklyn Bridge as the sun set, making a beautiful scene.’ Rachel Banks (L6-SB)

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Inspiring excellence

Sixth Form

Villiers Park is an Educational Trust based in Foxton which has has a long-standing reputation as the leading national expert in post-16 learning.

amazing.

“They took us on a tour around it, and showed us where and how they produced the nuclear power, and what measures were put in place to stop a nuclear meltdown.

“As well as this, on one of the days there was a guest speaker who came in to talk to us about biomedical science.

“The course was fascinating, and I really enjoyed spending time with like-minded people discussing the things that we were all so passionate about.”

Its annual Inspiring Excellence Programme incorporates a number of residential subject-specific courses for students who have the potential to achieve at the very highest level in their discipline.

It has been helping able young people to reach their academic potential, whatever their background, for more than 50 years.

Comberton has had strong links with Villiers Park over a number of years and, since the creation of the Sixth Form, has made successful applications for more than 30 students for places on its prestigious courses.

A visit by Year 12 student Amy Beswick was part of an ongoing programme of extension and enrichment for individuals and groups of students in the Sixth Form. Here, she shares her experience: “I have recently been on a week-long residential course to Villiers Park at Foxton.

“The course was titled Environmental Chemistry and was focused on the ecological side of chemistry.

“There were nearly 30 students from across the country in attendance for an intensive week of study on topics ranging from atmospheric pollutants and their effect on us, climate change, urban air pollution and how natural disasters, such as volcanoes, affect the world.

“We gave presentations on topics that we were passionate about, which was followed by a debate on our chosen topics.

SIMILAR INTERESTS: Students on the Environmental Chemistry “We also visited EDF Energy’s nuclear power station, which was absolutely residential course at Villiers Park.

Looking at the Ethics of some ‘big issues’

Last month Philosophy and Ethics students went to a conference led by theologian Peter Vardy.

The group of Year 11s, 12s and 13s, accompanied by Mrs Neve, travelled to Wesley Methodist Church in Cambridge.

The day consisted of several interactive lectures led by the former Religious Studies teacher, covering the topics of Natural Law, The arguments for the existence of God (Cosmological, LEADING THE DEBATES: Theologian Peter Vardy.

Teleological and more) and The all of us another great resource to reinforce the Problem of Evil and Euthanasia.

Each of the lectures delved into the topics and gave content we had been learning in class and

strengthening the GCSE content for the Year 11s.

The day also included two interactive debates, which opened the floor to the audience to discuss two questions relating to the topics that we had been going over throughout the day. The contributions were all very interesting and varied and allowed us to form our own opinions on the subjects we had been discussing.

I found the day extremely useful and was a worthwhile trip, allowing me to really start to understand the content we had been going through in class. It was an extremely interesting and thought-provoking trip!

Emma Shield (L6-RWa)

Gold-seekers get in training . . .

On Saturday 11th March, the Year 13 Gold Duke of sing and those who do not like others singing!

Edinburgh award students embarked upon their training On April 1, the group will be head to the Lake District on a weekend in preparation for their expeditions this year. The 4-day expedition with three nights wild camping…the weekend started well with good weather and a lovely view. weather is likely to be much less favourable, the terrain Students were tasked with a solo walk around Grafham much less forgiving and the groups much less tolerant of Water spaced out at 5 minute intervals with the aim of each other! However, it will be good fun!! catching the person in front. This was a test of physical We will report back in the summer edition with news about performance as well as basic navigation skills. our trip!

Jo Pattrick, DofE Co-Ordinator After lunch students were given a navigation lesson focusing on key concepts, such as time, distance and bearing, as well as pacing exercise. Then followed a long walk to the campsite, which saw the groups arrive in darkness five hours after leaving.

At 6am, the noise of rain on the tent was overshadowed by the noise of the DofE campers cooking their breakfasts with various menus.

Day two involved students walking 18-20km back to the starting point under remote supervision from staff. Students got to know each other better as a group and were able to clearly identify each other’s strengths and weaknesses by the end of the weekend.

We know which students get ‘hangry’ and need a constant supply of food, as well as those who like to FULLY LADEN: DofE students in training.

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Dance delight

The A-Level dancers were luckily enough to get tickets to see the Richard Alston Dance Company perform at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Richard Alston is a practitioner who is studied as part of A-Level dance and he is Britain’s most famous contemporary choreographer.

Very rarely do such huge companies come to Cambridge as we usually have to travel to London so we jumped at the chance to see the Richard Alston Dance Company perform.

The evening consisted of four dances all of which were incredible. Two new works were performed in the show and it was exciting to see works that we have never seen or studied before.

There is something very special about going to the theatre and seeing live work. We are going to be using one of the works to inspire our next performance piece, which will be in the summer dance showcase.

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Enterprising team rise to a Special challenge

An enterprising group of Year 9 students took part in this year’s national Real Business Challenge, which involved creating and developing an idea for a health drink. The students were successful and made it through to the 2017 South East regional final.

They travelled to Norwich last month to take part in an event which was designed to give the students a better understanding of enterprise, while allowing them to develop the skills and attributes needed in a work environment.

The students were given a business challenge, with the aim of designing and promoting a local fundraising campaign, on behalf of the 2017 GB Special Olympics, in Sheffield.

This involved writing and recording an entertaining and informative radio advert and presenting their campaign ideas to a large

audience and a panel of expert judges. Timekeeping was critical and the group were allocated a number of business tasks with tight deadlines to be met.

The team were also given a dedicated business mentor from a leading European company, who guided them throughout the day.

Congratulations to Sam Down, Charles Dryer, Willem Pye, Julian Shellard, Edward BUSINESS TEAM: Comberton’s Year 9 at the finals.

Trollip and Peter Watts for and although they did not win, they performed demonstrating outstanding teamwork, very well against nine other teams which mostly presentation and entrepreneurial skills. comprised Year 11 students.

They were up against some tough competition

Looking at online safety

All Year 8 students took part in an electronic voting survey based on online safety.

requests/follows from people who they don’t know who they are. A large number also actively seek out online friendship from people based on profiles. There is evidence that online predators create profiles in a way which appeals to students The survey, at the end of last term, compiled the online activity of all students in the hope that they are friended or followed. present and has since been analysed.

Cyberbullying Below are some key statistics from this survey. It worth noting that these are not l 46% had received/seen something related to them which has upset them. national statistics but are instead as close to ‘live data’ as possible as they are Given almost half of students have been upset by something directly relating to taken from Year 8 students at Comberton Village College this academic year. them it’s obvious that cyberbullying is a very real problem for young people.

The general details about the number of social network users and how they Depending upon the type, access their accounts show Cyberbullying is a crime which that: can breach up to five laws in l 85% of Year 8 students the UK. Cyberbullying can and have access to at least one should be reported to the social network account. police. l 89% of those who use a Images social network account do so l 23% have taken an via their mobile phone. inappropriate image using their It is unlikely to surprise you phone. that year on year more and l 19% have posted an more students in Year 8 have inappropriate image online. at least one social network l 22% have shared an account. inappropriate image via a text The advice of allowing students or direct message. access to the online world but Another worrying trend is the only from a fixed location such number of inappropriate images as a family computer is not which are being taken and viable in today’s world as many shared either via a social have phones which enable network or peer to peer (phone them to connect to the web. It to phone). Inappropriate images is therefore vital to have ONLINE SAFETY: Year 8 students completed a survey to build up a picture can range from taking a picture conversations about proper use of how they use social media. in school uniform and posting of social networks. this online to sexting. Sexting relates to images which are sexual in nature and Sharing of information are sometimes referred to as nudies. It is against the law to take, store or share a l 11% didn’t know how to change their privacy settings on their most used sexually explicit image of anyone under the age of 18. account.

What can be done to help protect young people?

14% of those who knew how to change their settings have left their account as Education and communication are absolutely essential. public.

The school has in place a number of key assemblies and specific periods of input l 31% have other social network accounts which are not set to private. which cover a huge range of online safety issues. Please do talk to your l 23% of students have not had any contact with more than 50% of their online son/daughter about their online usage. It may be almost impossible to keep up to friends. date with every new social networking application or site, but this isn’t always If privacy settings are not correctly applied, students could be sharing their necessary. In many ways the format they are using isn’t important but what they personal information with a huge numbers of people online. All the major social are doing via the format. During many of the assemblies or periods of input these networks have privacy settings but in general all are set as default to public. A four points make a regular appearance and are designed to be remind students quick search on how to change privacy settings is often the quickest way to about good use of social networking. finding out how to make changes. In almost all cases there are video tutorials on n Profiles – keep them secure and don’t share personal information YouTube if the written instructions are not clear. n Know who you are talking to — make sure online friends are people you know Dangers related to being a target for unwanted contact in the real world l 58% had accepted a friend request/follow from someone they don’t know in the n Think before you post —could this upset someone? real world n Do I really want to share this image? Would I be happy if a member of my l 39% had actively sought out people they don’t know in the real world to be family saw the image? their friend/follow online.

For more support search online for ThinkUKnow: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ Worryingly there are still a large number of students who accept friend Matt Mannas,

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Dutch poem is a winner News@Com

A record number of students descended on the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University, for the final of the Routes into Languages East Mother Tongue Other Tongue poetry competition.

enter as I can speak Dutch as well as English. I entered in the Mother Tongue category, which is for people who speak a language other than English at home.

Choosing and writing about the poem was a very interesting experience, and I was very pleased to find out that I had been chosen to go through to the next round as one of the top three in CVC. “The poem that I chose is very meaningful to me. This is This year, of the hundreds of entries submitted to because it reminds me of my Opa (Dutch for grandad), teachers, 64 school winners from 13 schools were who passed away a while ago. submitted to Routes into Languages East for judging.

“He was fascinated by space, and had many filtered All the shortlisted poems were included in the printed glasses tucked away for occasions such as this. He Anthology, which each finalist was given as a prize. would also often talk of the past, saying ‘Imagine what it Teachers, parents and 120 students were invited to the was like so long ago’ and he would tell exciting stories celebrations and, as part of the evening, enjoyed of his past. performance poetry from the competition entrants, as “This reflected in the poem as the author delves into well as an amazing Poetry Slam, led by Slam Poetry UK detail about what people must have thought of eclipses Champion, Joelle Taylor. in the past, as my grandad would have done.

Rosanna Poll, Andreas Pappas Pombo and Sam “He has also passed a fascination with space down to Whinney from Comberton were all invited to attend the me, so I find this poem connects with me as I would event as finalists, and Rosanna won the event in her love to experience an eclipse. I have only experienced a age category for her submission “De Eclips”, a Mother partial eclipse, but there were too many clouds and Tongue poem in Dutch. nothing could be seen, much like the main character in The Year 9 student said: “I found out about Mother TOP OF HER CLASS: Roseanna Poll. this poem.”

Tongue Other Tongue through school, and decided to

Peruvian students immersed

Taking charge

LEADING: Spanish at Hardwick Primary

THE COMBERTON EXPERIENCE: For students from CVC’s Peruvian partner school.

Students from Comberton’s partner school, Lord Byron students in Geography, English, MFL and PE as well Colegio in Arquipa, Peru, spent almost three weeks in as entertaining all the year groups in assemblies with England during February 2017. traditional singing and dancing.

They also visited Cambourne Village College and Twenty students from Lord Byron were hosted by CVC students, who visited Arequipa in July 2016 or by Meridian Primary School as well as enjoying a trip to students who will be heading for Peru in July 2018.

London and various activities while being immersed in The Peruvian group delivered lessons to Comberton family life with their hosts.

Chinese visitors impressed

The Haidian District of Beijing is the second largest urban district in Beijing and home to more than two million inhabitants.

At the end of February a mixt of school senior managers, teachers and teacher trainers from the district visited Comberton. The visit was part of an 11day study programme organised by The Faculty of Education at Cambridge University, focussing on innovative and creative approaches to classroom teaching and our approaches to training teachers.

During their time in school they held discussions with

MEETING: The Chinese team meet students.

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Language Leaders has been a great experience so far. We made a powerpoint and various resources for our lesson over many Mondays and at home. We prepared thoroughly for our lessons with the help of Miss Jones, who runs the programme.

Our first lesson was at Hardwick Primary — one of many partner primaries visited by language leaders — and it was amazing and very helpful.

It hugely benefited not only our language skills and confidence but also our confidence in general.

At first it was quite nerve-racking but we soon got into the swing of it. I would really recommend it to anyone who is considering doing it in Year 9 next year as it’s absolutely fantastic.

Sam Whinney (9M)

members of Comberton’s Teaching and Learning group, classroom teachers and pupils.

A key priority was to spend time observing teachers in their classrooms and so they visited 28 lessons across English, Mathematics, Science and Art. Talking to them at the end of each day they were clearly impressed by the quality of lessons they had seen, reflecting on, among many things, the detail of planning, skilled use of questions to develop learning, how well the teachers knew their pupils and the engagement and involvement of pupils in lessons.

The visit also provided colleagues at Comberton with the opportunity to find out more about the Chinese education system and compare it with our own.

We gained some fascinating insights into how Haidian District schools are organised and work with their pupils.

The group were keen to maintain links with Comberton and already are in discussion with the Art department about organising a pupil print exchange with one of the schools.

Mark Soames, Assistant Principal CLASSWORK: Language leader lessons

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Round-up of the latest news from the South Cambs SSP BEST FOOT FORWARD: For Coton’s girls (left) who just missed out on the Regional Finals, and for Harston, who represented Cambridgeshire.

Harston team ‘do Cambridgeshire proud’ Harston & Newton represented Cambridgeshire at the English Schools FA Regional Finals for Small Schools earlier this month.

Having won through the South Cambs round and then the county round at King’s School, Ely, in January, they headed for Thamesmead earlier this month.

Despite dominating three of their four games, they finished with a win, a draw and two defeats.

South Cambs School Sports Partnership manager Claire McDonnell said: “They played well in all the games and did themselves and Cambridgeshire proud.”

There was disappointment for Coton, whose girls were pipped for the qualifying spot by Histon & Impington despite remaining unbeaten through the Cambridgeshire round of the Year 5/6 event at King’s School, Ely.

Coton, who fielded only two Year 6s and included a

Year 4 in their squad, lost out on goal difference

after they held Histon, county winners for the

previous three years, to a goalless draw in the final

Schools book places Meldreth, Harston & Newton and Jeavons Wood all qualified to represent the South Cambs partnership at the County Spring Games Festival after two exciting afternoons of tag rugby.

Meldreth and Harston & Newton took the top spots in the small schools competition earlier in the term, while

Jeavons Wood reached the large schools’ final this month after going unbeaten through their group stage then seeing off Cottenham in the semi-finals, only to be pipped 3-2 by eventual champions Steeple Morden.

Earlier another Cambourne school, The Vine, were edged out by Steeple Morden in a game which was decided by a ‘golden try’ after the teams were locked at a try apiece at full-time.

game, leaving both teams on 13 points.

Histon snatched the place in the regional round with

their goal difference of 14 to Coton’s 11.

QUALIFIERS: The Jeavons Wood team with their medals.

Meridian make leap into county finals

Meridian Primary School qualified to represent the South Cambs partnership at the County Schools Spring Games after stepping up their gymnastics performance.

Third last year, they moved up a place in the hotly-contested Key Steps event at Comberton Village College, to join winners Castle Camps at the county round.

Last year’s qualifiers for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough School Games Spring Festival, Coton and Linton Heights, were third and fourth in a competition where fewer than QUALIFIERS: From Meridian five points separated the top 10 teams.

The mixed teams of six children from a dozen schools, which also included Thriplow, Harston & Newton, Haslingfield and Jeavons Wood schools all had to perform a vault and then either a floor or body management routine with each

Changing times

Two schools from the South Cambs partnership took part in a Change 4 Life champions training workshop.

This training is for children who have benefited from attending a Change 4 Life club in their school and are now ready to become Change 4 Life champions delivering the healthy lifestyle message across the whole school to every child.

The group, including pupils from Jeavons Wood, Cambourne, and Harston & Newton primary schools, were really lucky to have an athlete mentor, Nathan Rooney, ex-tennis professional who inspired the children.

They discussed the Change 4 Life messages such as 60 active minutes and sugar swaps and how and where they were going to get these messages across. The children came up with some great ideas of posters, assemblies, playground activities and talking with members of staff, who can help them

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performance judged and given a score out of 10. Each child’s score in both disciplines was then combined to give an overall team score.

Qualified young judges Melbourn, Cambourne, and Comberton Village Colleges, as well as coaches from the County Young Coach Academy scored, encouraged and supported the young gymnasts.

There was a ‘Spirit of the Games’ award, for Jayden, from Thriplow, for overcoming his nerves and showing great determination to Primary School. perform his body management routine.

Claire McDonnell, South Cambs School Games Organiser, said: “It was really pleasing to see the standard of gymnastics on display, I think it gets better every year and it was obvious the schools and children had all been practising hard.”

TRAINING: Pupils at the Change 4 LIfe workshop.

get the message across.

While the children were busy having fun the members of staff who accompanied them discussed best practice and how they can support the children and make their clubs sustainable.

Students hit the slopes

The first week of the Christmas holidays was time for the latest excursion in Comberton’s busy snowsports calendar.

Thirty-five pupils and five staff set off for the Aosta Valley in search of some snow and, just a few miles into Italy from the Mont Blanc tunnel, the resort of Pila did not disappoint.

After a sunny first couple of days, our hotel was soon covered in fresh powder. Out on the slopes, progress was as spectacular as ever, with the beginner boarders making a big impression on their instructor.

The skiers also were soon leaving any members of staff who dared to try and keep up trailing in their wake.

A number of Year 11s carried out filming for their PE GCSEs, and a special mention goes to Georgia

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Berry, who was skiing so well that she was filmed by Interski staff with a view to completing a sponsored instructor scholarship next year.

Travelling to Pila with us to complete a scholarship of his own after winning through the Interski selection process last year was Jamie Johnson, now in Year 12 at Comberton Sixth Form, who is living proof of the exciting opportunities SUNSHINE AND SNOW: On the Development course. available. trips for 2017-18 at the start of the next term so The Foundation trip heads to Italy during the Easter holidays and the snowsports team will be launching keep your eyes open for details.

Twickenham treat

STEADY PROGRESS: As the skiiers head down the mountain.

A group of students from Year 7 to was finished they had five tries to Year 11 went on an amazing trip to their name. The whole group was Twickenham stadium in London to delighted that England had watch the England v Italy in the Six managed to beat Italy and keep the Nations competition. trophy hopes alive.

We arrived in London after a twoWe all had such a great time and we hour drive and instantly started all thank the teachers who walking to the venue to find our organised it. seats.

Felix Palmer (8M) When we had done this we were allowed to look around the stadium and everyone made good use of the food stalls and souvenir carts.

We were back in our seats to watch the national anthem and then the game started.

The first half got off to a slow start with neither team scoring a try until around the 25th minute.

At half time we bought souvenirs: rugby balls, T-shirts and scarves.

In the second half England started playing well and by the time the game ANTICIPATION: Just before the kick-off.

Promoting active lives ALL A-BOARD: Snowboarders in triumphant mood.

LESSONS FOR LIFE: The Girls Active group talk to Year 7 girls about the importance of PE and physical activity.

The Girls Active group have been working incredibly hard this year to get all their ideas up and running.

They have worked closely with some Sixth Form students to create ‘This Girl Can’inspired posters using Comberton students, which will be up around school soon!

They have also started to present to girls in Year 7 about the importance of PE and physical activity and to promote activities and upcoming events the Girls Active group are running.

Finally, they have organised an exciting opportunity to try some Zumba sessions as an after-school club, that is being run by two sixth form students.

The first taster session will be in a few weeks. A huge well done to the following Year 8 students for their continued hard work: Abi Smith, Aimee Jones, Alice Daniels, Emma Banks, Oona Lonergan, Krina Kanefu.

There will also be an opportunity to get involved in the organisation of a colour run for Year 9 and 10 students, alongside the current Girls Active group.

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In the mood for dancing DANCING THROUGH THE YEARS: Students from primary to sixth form took part in the annual dance share.

Comberton hosted its annual dance share event earlier this month.

Primary-aged pupils from Haslingfield, Caldecote, Jeavons Wood, The Vine, Coton, Monkfield Park, Gamlingay and Barnabas Oley joined Comberton pupils in performing dances that they had prepared especially for the occasion.

Themes included a dinosaur dance, the Great Fire of London, Rio and the Rainforest. Haslingfield’s

reception class opened the show, followed by performances from all year groups up to Year 13.

The day was hosted by a group of year 12 BTEC Sport students, who had helped to organise the event as part of their course.

We were also grateful to have the help of Sixth Form volunteers as technicians for the rehearsals and performances, and to Miss Tyrell for her assistance on the day.

The Dance Share involves all pupils from each class,

which enabled as many pupils as possible to have the opportunity to perform.

The day enabled the schools not only perform to others, but also to see pupils from other year groups performing and for them to see what they could aspire to in the future.

Congratulations to all the schools and pupils involved and thank you for all the time and preparation they put in to make this such a successful event.

Harriet Shipley, PE Dept

Great venue for show

Comberton students were once again invited to take part in the annual dance show organised by Cambridge Performing Arts and the Body Work Company Dance Studios.

The dancers performed in The Great Hall Theatre at The Leys School last month.

The show also featured performances from The Leys, The Perse School, Cambourne Village College and students studying at Body Work and included dancers from Year 7 to Year 13.

Head of Dance Rebecca Tyrrell said: “We were the most represented school in the show and the pupils behaved impeccably and performed fantastically.

“I was very proud of the dancers and they too should feel proud of their hard work and commitment to dance.”

‘The buzz is infectious!’

RISING TO THE OCCASION: Students in the termly Showcase.

The Winter Dance Showcase was another huge success with more than 120 students performing ranging from Year 7-13.

It was a fun-filled evening with a range of dance styles being showcased and another show was taking place this week with just as many students involved.

It is a measure of their commitment that they attend classes every week, working on a performance piece for the show.

The buzz backstage is always infectious as the students get ready and warm up ready to perform their dances on stage.

Head of Dance Rebecca Tyrrell said: “We have three showcases a year and each time the students blow me away with their professionalism, energy and love for dance. The showcases get better and better!”

Girls in successful start to the season

This half of the season has been very successful for Comberton’s girls’ football teams!

The Year 7 team did exceptionally well with a win in a friendly fixture against Cambourne and two successive victories in their cup games have taken them through to Round 3. They have played with great determination and worked hard to develop their passing accuracy and first touch. Their next

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WELL REPRESENTED: Comberton dancers at The Leys.

cup game is against St Ivo School.

The Under-13 and Under-15 teams recently played a tournament at Swavesey.

Despite a few injuries, the older girls secured second place in their tournament and fought well against some skilled players.

The Under-13s also played well, taking fifth place overall across the Grand Prix series after coming

second in their tournament.

Comberton has also recently started working with

Cambridge United to provide coaching during the

after-school football club.

Players of the match this term include Izzy Brignell,

Skye McDonnell, Kathryn Farrell and Abi Smith.

Sisters go platinum!

My sister Casey Miller (11T) and I play squash.

We started to play much more about three years ago when we started competing on the English junior squash circuit.

We do our main training and coaching at our club, Off The Wall Academy in Essex, with our coach Lauren Selby.

We also train each week at school in the CVC academy, which is great fun, and at Hunts SA with our Cambridge coach, Rob Dadds.

We play league matches at local clubs in the week and do competitions some weekends. Also, we have been invited to Aspire, which is an Eastern Region elite group run by England Squash.

NEW EXPERIENCE: Sisters Ellis and Casey Miller qualified for British Junior Open for the first time this year.

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There are only a few of these each year but these training sessions are always really fun as many of my new squash friends go too.

We do lots of England Squash tournaments. These are called either bronze, silver, gold or platinum.

Bronze ones run every week around the country but there are only seven silver competitions a year.

There are two golds. These are the English Championships and the British Championships.

You get ranking points at tournaments depending on how well you do. There are more for the higher level tournaments and these give you your national ranking.

It is fun seeing the new ranking list each month to see if you have gone up. You can only get into some tournaments if your national ranking is high enough.

This year was the first year my sister and I qualified for the British Junior Open, which is the only platinum tournament each year.

We went to Sheffield for five days at the beginning of term to play in it.

There were six junior players from Cambridgeshire that got in.

We went with them and lots of our friends from Off The Wall and our coach Lauren. They helped us through each match giving us advice and helping us know what we learnt from each match.

Junior players come from all over the world to play in this tournament, and each country can enter up to five players.

I got to play the No 1 ranked players from Egypt, Japan and Scotland. I also played a few top English girls and came 31st out of 48.

Casey played juniors from Canada and Wales and England and she came 46 out of 48, but hadn’t played for half a year because of an operation. She won lots of games but only one match.

We got to watch some great squash with the finals and semi-finals and also an exhibition match with Nick Matthew. I really hope we can go again next year.

Ellis Miller (9R)

Volunteers put in the hours Congratulations to Ben Wannop on achieving his bronze leadership certificate, having completed 50 voluntary hours of sports leadership as part of Comberton’s Leadership Academy.

A new boccia club has now started after four leadership academy pupils, Lily Callaghan, Jade Milton, Lucy Carlton and Hazel Raven, attended a course on boccia leadership at Impington Village College.

Their efforts are contributing to Comberton’s overall volunteering hours. The college is currently eighth for leadership hours logged this month and in 12th for the academic year so far. The ‘league table’ includes schools from all over the country who use the Youth Sports Trust Lead2Employability volunteering programme.

New activity initiatives

Year 9 students are involved in a project called ‘GoActive’.

This is co-ordinated by a team at Cambridge University and is aimed at increasing activity levels of students.

All Comberton’s Year 9s have been involved in some exciting new activities during form time in addition to their morning walk.

Year 10 sports leaders Isobel Potterill, Bea Greenhalgh, Cara Pinches, Sarah Holder, Nick Mobin, Lily Callaghan, Ellen Smith, Gaby McKeown, Alice Heydinger, Neve Joseph, GETTING ACTIVE: Year 9 spending form Alice O’Connell, Ella Tomsett time in the sports hall.

Amy Warburton, Mollie Coupar Points are awarded for taking part in an and Chelsie Alderman have been activity and several students have achieved responsible for driving this initiative during plenty of points to earn them a bag and Tform time and encouraging students to log shirt! their activity levels online.

Teams secures third

NERVES OVERCOME: The under-14 girls took bronze.

The Under-14 girls basketball team have performed incredibly well this season. They came second in their group to secure a place in the Cambridge and District finals.

The girls were very nervous as the finals were a big occasion at Long Road Sixth Form College, with official referees and scorers.

However, the team rose to the challenge and fought hard.

Unfortunately, they lost to St Bede’s in the semi-final but managed to beat Chesterton in an exciting game to secure third place overall.

Comberton: Cara Chivers, Emma Hayward, Alex Zaoui, Lauren Davy, Kathleen Hendley, Yasmin Girling, Ella Davy and, player of the season, Renata Loberto.

County call for Fran

Fran Worrell was selected to represent Cambridgeshire at the English Schools Cross-Country finals in Norwich on March 18th after the year 12 student helped the county finish second in the senior girls’ section at the Anglian Championships.

Also taking part in the Anglian competition in Northampton were two Year 7 students, who were selected following the cancellation of the county round for District qualifiers due to bad weather.

Jessica Westcott and Jeff Newham put in spirited performances with Jessica finishing 21st in her race and Jeff coming 33rd of 71 in the minor boys’ race.

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Girls reach national final News@Com

Comberton’s under-15 girls’ team reached the national final of England Squash’s National Schools Championships.

But there was agony for the under-19 team who were pipped 3-2 by Millfield, an independent school with a reputation for sporting success, in their final qualifying round.

The under-15 match at Wycombe Abbey to decide who would reach the finals in Nottingham (being played as News@Com went to press) was a real humdinger.

Emma Banks played a cracking match but was edged out by a very determined opponent to give the hosts the lead.

Maya Hellin, playing at No 4, had a terrific battle, winning the first two games then losing the next

MEDAL MOMENTS: PE staff after the race (above) and some of the finishers back at CVC.

two. The decider was pegged at 10-10 when her opponent tripped and fell, causing a long injury break. However, Maya kept cool, remained focused and came back on to take the penultimate point and then played a fantastic cross court lob to win 12-10 and take the match.

Millie Banks also had a real nail-biter, quickly taking the first two games but then losing the next two.

Her opponent managed to pull it out of the bag in the last game and despite Millie’s awesome new backhand, she beat Millie 11-9 in the fifth.

With Comberton trailing 2-1, their top two players needed to be on form — and Ellis Miller and Alicja Emmans did not disappoint with ruthless 3-0 victories against formidable opponents.

HEADING FOR THE FINALS: Comberton’s under-15 team after their Wycombe win. l Sisters go Platinum — Page 19

Running staff brave elements

Fourteen members of Comberton staff braved the wind and rain to complete the Cambridge Half-Marathon earlier this month.

Now one of them, family therapist Sarah Rose, will be hoping for better weather for her next outing only a few weeks later. She runs the Palestine half-marathon in Bethlehem on March 31.

Another, Maths teacher Mark Dawes, who only started running a year ago — he admitted to managing just 2km on his first outing — also heads overseas for his next challenge.

After clocking 1hr 27 mins 49 secs to break the 90-minute barrier for the first time, he and wife Rachel Hawkes, The Cam Academy Trust’s Director of International Education and Research, run the Berlin half-marathon in April before he tackles his first full marathon in Lincolnshire.

The other runners were PE teachers Jane Clarke, Julia Scarboro, Abbey Cotton and Rebecca Tyrrell, English teacher Hannah Compton, MFL teacher Marielle Burgess, cover supervisor José Mora, science technician Michelle Daniels, South Cambs School Sports Partnership manager Claire McDonnell and project officer Julie Pashley Sixth Form administrator Susie Hordern and Comberton Sports and Arts duty manager Heidi Clark.

Team fly flag for popular club

Comberton’s KS3 girls team are through to the finals of the National Schools Badminton Championships after winning their round at Cambridge University.

The team of Lizzie Carter, Katie Hartwright, Ellis Miller and Charlene Goh secured top spot in the competition.

The KS4 team of Roan Turner, Charlie Taylor, Matt Peer and James MIkelson just missed out after finishing second in their competition.

There was also a Year 10 team — James Hamiliton, Ben Wannop, Will Griffin and Oliver Rowley — showing the strength in depth of badminton at Comberton.

The after-school club is one of the most popular on the sporting programme with around 50 students attending each week.

Students have also had the opportunity to play in a number of friendly fixtures.

MAKING A RACKET: Players at one of Comberton’s best-attended clubs.

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FINALISTS: The CVC Aspire team qualified to compete at the County School Games finals.

Rowing into finals

Two Comberton teams qualified for the County Games Spring Schools Festival after winning their heats in the South Cambs round.

The Year 9 mixed team Ezzy Atta, Christina Russo, Tom Sharrock and Louis Ripper) and the KS4 Aspire crew (James Stephenson, Harrison Parker, Fran Zafferoni and Mykala French), were due to compete on March 23 — look out for a report in the summer edition of News@Com. Huge thanks go to Steven Levett, in Year 13, who oversees the rowing club.

Comberton will also be attending the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships as always and we wish all rowers, including Steven, the best of luck.