News@Com Spring 2021

NEWS COM

@CombertonVC & @CombertonSF

www.combertonvc.org & www.combertonsixthform.org

The Magazine of Comberton Village College ISSUE 56, SPRING 2021

IT’S GREAT TO BE BACK — PAGE 3

Victory is a real buzz COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Comberton has another national Spelling Bee champion.

Abigail is the college’s latest winner of the Year 7 event to find the best spellers of words in Spanish, French and German, in a competition which attracted more than 30,000 entries.

Although she took part in the earlier rounds of the Spanish competition while in Year 7, the final, which was with schools videoing their students in action rather than live, was delayed until earlier this term due to the pandemic.

She was videoed correctly saying and spelling as many words as she could in a minute – from a larger vocabulary than in previous years — and managed to edge out four other students from across the country who finished joint second.

For the first time in the Routes into Languages competition’s history, finalists had to learn a bank of 300 words — 50% more than previous competitors who had a total of 200 to master.

This equated to an average of 10 words a week.

Abigail said: “It was a funny experience how I found out I got first place as I actually was in a French live lesson when my teacher told my class that I won before I got to check my email containing congratulations for getting first place.

“The Spelling Bee was also a good learning experience. I was quite stressed before the challenges and I was nervous while doing it, but anxiousness was washed over with happiness when I moved on.

“For me, while practising was a bit stressful, it wasn’t especially hard. I just made sure that every day I recited the new vocabulary once and then at the end of the week I would revise previous vocabulary.

“After I mostly learnt the new vocabulary, I would single out ones I didn’t know

and look at those a bit more often. And it seems that all that practice paid off.

“What was most challenging for me was when I was competing in front of my teachers as I was very nervous, and I know that then is when most mistakes would be made.

“I know it would have been even harder performing in front of judges. Most of the enjoyment I had came at the end when I won as I normally have high expectations of myself.”

REAL WINNER: The national champion was decided after a virtual competition.

Key messages fly round the world

At the end of the last term, members of 7V were involved in a project of creating messenger birds to send messages of hope to children around the world, via the charity End Child Poverty.

We were then delighted to see the charity chose our birds to be retweeted (pun intended).

This activity was related to Article 27 from the UN Rights of the Child which relates to the standard of living and states: Every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development.

Governments must help families who cannot afford to provide this.

Leaders adapt their primary lessons PLANNING: Year 9 students work on their Easter-themed lessons for primary school pupils.

Comberton’s Language Leaders are not letting the pandemic get in the way of working towards their award.

They were not able to go into primary schools this term but that does not mean the younger pupils missing out either.

The Year 9 students have been busy planning their lessons for pupils at Meridian, Barton, Barnabas Oley and Gamlingay Village Primary schools.

They are then putting their lessons, focusing on Easter, into Powerpoint presentations which the primary class teachers will deliver and give feedback.

However, they are hoping to be able to teach their second scheduled lessons in person.

q Another Unusual Term — 3 q Transforming Learning — 4 q Students Design Memorials — 4 q Head Prefects Chosen — 5

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BIRD SONG: Comberton’s messages were retweeted.

Contents

q Trio target Scholarships — 5 q Sixth Form Focus — 6 & 7 q Time to Change — 8 q Spies are Watching — 8

q Green News — 9 q Charity Update — 9 q Trust Latest — 10 q Sport & Leisure — 11 & 12

Media home in on Comberton

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Given the challenges facing the world of education, schools have been in the news a lot recently and CVC seems to be the destination of choice for local news stations.

BBC Look East visited twice this term, once to interview Principal Peter Law about going back into remote provision and once to talk to our Year 11 students about their thoughts regarding the changes to how they will be assessed at the end of this year.

Mr Law has also been interviewed by BBC radio Cambridgeshire regarding lockdown learning. He’s thinking about whether to switch his teaching to GCSE media studies…!

Another unusual term!

ON CAMERA: Year 11 students are filmed for Look East.

As Autumn term closed, we were planning for all pupils to return to school in January.

Over the course of the holiday the guidance changed several times and the day before term started we heard that pupils would not be returning but we would be entering another lockdown.

Having learnt lessons from our previous experience of this, our remote provision was distinctly different

from before, with live lessons from the outset and our regular school timetable being followed for all students.

Whilst teaching remotely would not be our preferred method of delivering education, it did enable us to maintain a semblance of normality in a world where that seems to be in rather short supply.

Pupils engaged with this really well and with the advent of real-time teaching, assessing and reporting feedback to parents it has been a period of

It’s great to be back

MASK BREAK: Students can only be unmasked outside and returned to testing thanks to an army of volunteeers (below).

It has been great to welcome students back on site for the last few weeks of term, with the return to school going very smoothly, despite some anxieties which needed supporting.

Students and staff adapted remarkably quickly to wearing face coverings inside: we await further guidance to see what the plans are for face coverings are after Easter.

The other significant development we needed to manage was the implementation of LFD testing for all pupils when they returned.

Over a two-week period an army of volunteers oversaw the completion of more than 5,500 tests – 600 a day at the peak.

There were more than 50 staff involved in the administration, supervision and support for students to make this work.

The testing did detect three positive cases, which is a decent reminder of the need for us to continue LFD testing for pupils and staff at home over the coming weeks.

successful engagement and encouragement.

One of the success stories of this time has been teachers evolving use of iPads as a tool for teaching.

We distributed iPads to all teachers at the end of last term and their use has been somewhat revolutionary in how it is possible to deliver lessons remotely.

As we start to roll out our plans to equip students with these devices the benefits brought will be both in class and at home.

Cause for optimism one year on . . .

This week Comberton pupils and staff joined the nation in a minute’s silence to mark a year since the start of the first lockdown.

On the first day of lockdown, the Prime Minister announced 340 people had died. Now that figure is in excess of 126,000.

So much has changed during the last year. During February and March 2020, as we saw the evolving situation, I told colleagues that I thought schools might be asked to close two weeks before the Easter break, and have to confess to feeling a little smug that I was correct.

I did however also think that with a two-week closure followed by two weeks at Easter then schools would be able to fully open and normality would resume.

How wrong I was! A year on we still have many uncertainties ahead of us, but with reducing infection rates and increasing vaccination roll-out I believe there is reason to be optimistic.

Our community has shown itself to be robust and resilient and education has continued this last year.

I look forward to when we can resume many of the enriching and broader aspects of education that we have been less able to do these last 12 months.

Peter Law, Principal

REFLECTION: Students observe a one-minute silence on the anniversary of the start of the first lockdown in March 2020.

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COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Transforming learning

ENHANCING LEARNING: IPads are already in use at Cambourne VC and will be rolled out to KS3 Comberton students for September.

At Comberton Village College we are committed to giving every pupil the best education possible.

We deliver a broad, balanced curriculum and inspire our pupils through excellent teaching.

To develop the learning experience, we have, for several years, been planning the increased integration of technology into our teaching.

We believe that technology can play a crucial role in achieving high outcomes in the classroom, transforming the learning opportunities available to our pupils, enabling them to learn powerfully, learn for life and learn from each other.

We have been working closely with the other secondary schools in The Cam Academy Trust, including, most specifically, Cambourne Village College, to further this initiative.

This year, our practice has developed considerably, with all staff now having the use of an iPad to support their teaching.

This has contributed significantly to the huge success of our remote learning

provision. We are now looking to develop this further by the integration of personal devices for pupils to enhance their learning.

We therefore have a vision that, by September 2021, all pupils in Key Stage 3 will have the use of their own iPad to use in the classroom and at home and on Tuesday, 23rd April we held events for our current Year 7 and 8 pupils to explain the scheme in more detail.

Integrating the use of personal devices will empower us to work together to open new avenues to learning, so that our pupils are flexible and creative and better prepared for the future.

We are excited by this development in our teaching and learning at Comberton Village College.

The use of iPads by pupils on a one-to-one basis has the potential to provide opportunities to enhance pupils’ overall learning experience, give access to learning anywhere, anytime, narrow the digital divide between pupils and encourage pupils to become more independent in their learning.

Regina Lawrence, Deputy Principal

Students design their own war memorials

REMEMBERING WOMEN: Designs focused on a specific aspect of WW1 or WW2.

eBooks to borrow

Following months of restrictions to borrowing books, the Library and Resource Centre at Comberton is excited to be trialling an eBooks service!

All students and staff can borrow from a selection of more than 1400 eBooks, choosing up to two books as a time. Books are loaned for two weeks but can be returned and replaced with another book at any time.

Using the ePlatform website or app students download books in ePub format to read any time they like, on or offline, term-time or holidays. Library staff are very excited at this extension to their usual service and are hoping the one-month trial proves successful enough to roll the programme out permanently.

While students are now able to safely browse and borrow books, access to the library has had to be limited to bubble-specific sessions, so this alternative option for the avid readers at CVC should be a welcome addition.

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During the school lockdown, the history department gave Year 9 students the challenge of designing their own WW1 or WWII war memorial to commemorate an aspect of the world wars that they had studied or found interesting.

Many students chose to research their own family histories, as well as other commemorating people during the war who are often not remembered as directly, such as the design created by Isabelle (9B), who focused on the role of women during WW1.

Some students also chose to focus on the diversity in the war, by commemorating the different nationalities of people who lost their lives in the war.

Another went one step further and used Blender, an online 3D modelling site, to design their memorial Bilal (9C) spent 30 hours using the sculpting tool to POPPY: An Armistice Day Memorial create his memorial to the Battle of Britain.

INTRICATE DETAIL: A painstaking piece of design work using 3D online modelling

Head prefects chosen

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Comberton’s new head prefects have been announced after a rigorous selection process.

Hallam (10T), Guilia (10N), James (10N) and Shaarah (10T) will lead the new cohort, taking over from the current Year 11 team.

They were chosen from a shortlist of 10 candidates and explained the way it works: “The process to become a Head Prefect started with writing an application detailing our previous leadership experiences and awards.

“We also wrote a letter to Mr Law explaining why we thought we would be good for the role and including what experience we had.

“From our application forms, the senior leadership team shortlisted 10 candidates for interviews.

“The first interview started with a presentation on a subject which we felt passionate about, like mental health or fast fashion.

“Following our presentations, the panel comprising current Year 11 Prefects, Miss Davidson-Smith and Mrs Segal, asked us some questions about our presentation and some other subjects.

“We then had a more formal interview with members of the Senior Leadership Team and a Governor.

THE NEW TEAM: Comberton’s next cohort of head prefects has just been “We were asked questions about our ideas for the school, our announced. reasons for wanting to become a head prefect and what we think we can bring to, and will take from, the role.

Principal Peter Law said: “The selection process for the Head Prefect team was “The next morning we all met up and were given letters that offered us the head both a delight and a challenge. prefect roles.

“We all learned many new things throughout the process; interview skills, “The calibre of candidates was as exceptional as ever, making it a real challenge communicating with members of staff, and presenting. to decide who would take on which roles. “he process didn't only determine our head prefect roles, but also developed our “All candidates were either appointed to Head Prefect or Senior Prefect roles and confidence and gave us an idea of what processes like these will be like even after school. will go on to provide excellent service to the school.

“We are all looking forward to the next year and the opportunities it will bring!”

“They were a credit to themselves and their families.”

Trio bid for engineering scholarships A Year 11 student who has built a wooden electric bike is one of three from Comberton applying for the prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarships.

These scholarships are designed to inspire students to pursue their dreams and change the world as future leaders in engineering.

They are awarded to 16-year-olds following a rigorous selection process and the winners are then supported through their Further education studies by a sponsor.

These sponsors can be commercial companies, trade associations, universities, professional

institutions, the Armed Forces, Government organisations, charitable trusts or personal donors and the support can include hands-on experience, mentoring or helping with projects.

Lluis (11V) opted to make a plywood-framed wooden e-bike because he felt it was more aesthetically pleasing than other materials, is lightweight, eco-friendly, easy to work with and has excellent vibration dampening properties.

He said: “E-bikes are becoming the new way of commuting. They are also great fun, so I decided to make mine not only wooden but electric.”

It is built with the battery fitted inside the frame

and a tiny motor hidden by the sprockets.

Lluis is no stranger to engineering and has been building for many years. As a Year 7 he and his older brothers competed in the FirstLego league, reaching the international finals in the USA after qualifying through the British rounds.

The other Comberton applicants for the Arkwright Scholarships are Archie (11C), who made an electronic motion-sensing pendant and Maxim (11M), who is producing computer code to render 3D objects.

All had their practice interviews via Teams this week and are now waiting for the real thing.

FROM WORKSHOP TO WORKING: a Year 11 student designed and built his own electric wooden ebike and is now aiming for an engineering scholarship.

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Sixth form upgrades SIXTH FORM

As we approach our 10-year anniversary in September 2021, our curriculum provision and sixth form spaces continue to see further investment and upgrades.

During the recent lockdown, work was completed to refresh the CSF arts provision/drama studio and the Core (Sixth Form Café).

The Sixth Form Student Council of 2019-20 started this project by raising funds, with the baton handed on to our current council.

Additional work is scheduled for the Easter holidays, when the canopy project and associated building work that had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic takes place.

This covered space will allow for additional undercover seating during periods of inclement weather, or shade on the warm summer days that we all long for!

David Clarke Head of Sixth Form

REVAMPED: The Core has had an upgrade during lockdown.

All CSF participants earn chemistry award In January eight Year 13 students took part in round one of the 53rd UK Chemistry Olympiad.

This is a written exam created by the Royal Society of Chemistry for all secondary and college students.

As a result of this year’s lockdown, the paper was sat at home with teachers virtually monitoring students on ‘Microsoft Teams’.

The Olympiad is designed to stretch your Chemistry knowledge and apply it to complex questions. For example, this year’s exam featured life on Venus and the detection of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere; alongside carbon capture - both topics are subjects the world is managing and researching.

What I took away from the experience was to just have a go and persevere because even if something sounds hard it is not going to be impossible.

The Olympiad is designed to make participants look at questions from different angles for example, working backwards from products to reactants in mechanisms or interpreting diagrams in order to form equations.

The results were released recently and everyone who took part at Comberton this year got an award which only 65% of the UK achieve.

As a year group we received five bronze awards, two silver awards and one gold award.

Lucy (13-WG)

Any Year 11s or 12s taking chemistry, I would fully recommend having a go next year as I can guarantee you will be surprised with what you achieve.

Lucy (13-WG)

Apples available!

AWARD WINNERS: Year 13 students (above) and year 12 (right) with their certificates.

Comberton Village College and Sixth Form will see a ‘roll out’ of leased devices in a number of year groups over the next few months as we approach September 2021.

In the Sixth Form, we plan to offer the scheme to our future Year 12 students (currently studying in Year 11) and have devices ready for the start of their courses.

Students will be offered the iPad lease scheme or the ability to lease a MacBook. Students who have their own device will be able to continue to use this when in college.

The value of IT access both in the classroom and when undertaking private study is huge and this scheme will help us to enable IT access to enhance and support teaching and learning.

Throughout the last year the Sixth Form Council have exceeded all expectations.

They certainly have not had it easy with only one of their three terms being in the college; but every step of the way they have supported the sixth form students, their well-being and made sure that the student voice was represented at every opportunity.

From running online quizzes and setting up support groups to organising the leavers hoodies; they have been meeting weekly online or in college when possible and doing everything they can to fulfil their roles.

Following the strangest of years, we already find ourselves in the midst of the next Council Election and look forward to the Council Elect working closely with the outgoing Council over the coming weeks.

Can we take this opportunity to thank our present Sixth Form Council for being an exceptional group of young people who we have been privileged to work with.

The Sixth Form Leadership Team

IPADS ARE COMING: For the new Year 12 cohort.

‘Exceptional’ Council

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SIXTH FORM

Let’s focus on positives

GIVING BACK: Many CSF students have helped their communities during lockdown and are unfailingly polite now they’re back.

While many will comment and reflect on our most recent and past lockdowns and the multitude of impacts that the global pandemic has had on our lives, social freedoms and wellbeing, it is easy to forget some of the changes and activities that might demonstrate the best of humanity.

Words like unprecedented and turbulent are used with great frequency to describe 2020 and 2021 and sometimes we all are guilty of focussing only on the negative.

Education (along with many sectors) has seen rapid change and a huge shift towards technological solutions to address classroom closures.

CSF has embraced platforms such as CATalogue, MS teams and many other web-based activities and apps to reach out digitally to facilitate remote teaching and learning.

While such a rapid shift was unplanned, much will remain or be adapted to support the return to more conventional on-site learning.

Up until recently, suggestions of a virtual parent consultation evening would have been met with a frown, but now that many have been completed, we think about the benefits of not having to travel both on our personal time and the environment.

More recently, teachers and support staff have become ‘mass testers’, and not in the conventional examination sense.

Home visits, laptop and free school meal deliveries have seen school staff engaging with our community which has strengthened or created new relationships between schools, staff, students, parents and carers.

While much has been said about ‘school closures’, students falling behind and the ‘catch up curriculum’ we have been reminded of the value of schools and colleges.

While things have clearly been difficult, the vast majority of our CSF students embraced remote learning, working exceptionally hard, with excellent rates of attendance to virtual classrooms and live teaching and learning.

Perhaps we need to rebrand phrases such as ‘catch up curriculum’ and ‘falling behind’ with the ‘support curriculum’ to better reflect individual student need and the fact that education is more than knowledge and includes opportunities and experiences, many of which have not been able to easily transfer to a virtual learning world.

I can think of many CSF students who have gone out of their way to embrace opportunities beyond the classroom and given something back to their community.

Some worked part time in essential worker roles in supermarkets, others volunteered at testing and vaccination centres (and still do), litter picked their villages while taking their daily exercise and a great deal more.

Now that we are back in college, the simple act of giving space in a corridor is met with multiple voices saying ‘thank you’ and the occasional forgotten face covering is something for which students are quick to apologise and address - it reminds us all that despite everything, the ‘best of humanity’ remains alive in our students and staff, giving us just that little bit more hope as we look to the future.

David Clarke Head of Sixth Form

Year 12 students took the first steps towards planning for life after sixth form as they attended a virtual version of the college’s annual Progression Conference day in early March.

Designed to offer an introduction to post-18 choices, students were invited to attend a series of talks and activities that highlighted the range of possible pathways and opportunities available to them, from university and apprenticeships to gap years and routes into employment.

Alongside individual conversations with academic tutors, students were able to access live talks from expert guest speakers in a range of fields.

Guidance on university applications came from Mike Nicholson, Director of Admissions at the University of Bath, who offered valuable insights into the application process based on his many years of experience in this role.

For those considering alternative pathways, a team of speakers assembled

by local organisation Form the Future was on hand to give students a flavour of the range of opportunities available in terms of apprenticeships and school leaver programmes, with contributions from apprentices in law and digital marketing and a highly informative overview of the area from Amanda Evans, project coordinator with the City and Guilds group.

Students also had opportunities to begin or extend their research and planning into possible next steps, with additional input available for those considering competitive applications for Oxbridge or other early entry courses.

Although we missed the buzz of activity and excitement around the sixth form that usually accompanies this day, staff are now looking forward to working closely with Year 12 students in the coming months to build on their initial research and help them plan for the future with confidence.

Valuable insights into possible next steps

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Time to change our ways COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Year 7 student Natasha is passionate about sustainability and used a lesson on public speaking — and her first external exam — to share her views on ‘Fast Fashion’.

Here’s what she said: “I would like to share something I would banish forever if given the chance.

“In 1940’s India, my great grandmother owned two silk sarees, both made by weavers we know from the village Kanchipuram, where some of the finest silk sarees are made.

“She wore them all her life, yet they are still in good shape 80 years later!

“This is how things were for her, and for many others, and it was not uncommon to only have three or four outfits — so how come, in only two generations, we are in the habit of buying too many clothes from a high street shop without a second thought as to where they’re from.

“I would like to explain why this needs to change — not just for us, but for future generations.

“Did you know that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter after the oil industry?

“The clothing we wear today is just as damaging as plastic straws are — especially since most clothing travels across the world to be delivered.

“Most of our clothes are made in China, where the average pay of a factory line worker is just 52p

per hour.

“Not only that, most modern clothing contains harmful chemicals, such as lead!

“These chemicals poison streams and lakes around the world due to lax regulations.

“Even ‘environmentally friendly’ cotton requires lots of water to grow! Linen is proven to be less harmful, but few clothes are made from linen.

“Most people only wear twothirds of their wardrobe, resulting in 350,000 tonnes of clothing in UK landfill.

“We, as a society, need to change. If we want a healthy planet, we need to work against fast fashion and the way we view clothing.

Vogue, in their December issue, featured Prince Charles with a focus on sustainable fashion.

“There are many ways to do this, such as buying less with focus on quality, mending instead of throwing ripped clothes away; reusing old clothing; buying handmade clothes, or making our own.

“Every one of us can contribute to making this happen!

“I vow that in 10 years’ time, I will do all of this, and maybe more — and I think that you, no matter who you are, should too.”

Spies are watching our email habits What is a spy or tracking pixel?

Tracking pixels are typically a .GIF or .PNG file that is as small as 1x1 pixels, which is inserted into the header, footer or body of an email.

Since they often show the colour of the content below, they can be impossible to spot with the naked eye even if you know where to look.

Recipients do not need to click on a link or do anything to activate them beyond open an email they are embedded in.

Who uses spy or tracking pixels?

It is not surprising that some very big companies use this technology to achieve an effective marketing strategy.

In a recent BBC article, they highlighted that British Airways, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Sainsbury's, Tesco, HSBC, Marks & Spencer, Asos and Unilever are among UK brands which have been found using them.

What information can a spy pixel gather?

Emails pixels can be used to log: l if and when an email is opened l how many times it is opened l what device or devices are involved l the user's rough physical location, deduced from their internet protocol (IP) address This information can then be used to determine the impact of a specific email campaign, as well as to feed into more detailed customer profiles.

Are spy pixels legal?

Defenders of the trackers say they are a commonplace marketing tactic.

And several of the companies involved noted their use of such tech was mentioned within their wider privacy policies.

Use of tracking pixels is governed in the UK and other parts of Europe by 2003's Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (Pecr) and

2016's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

They require organisations to inform recipients of the pixels, and in most cases to obtain consent.

The BBC asked some of the companies identified as using tracking pixels for their responses.

British Airways said: "We take customer data extremely seriously and use a cross-industry standard approach that allows us to understand how effective our customer communications are."

TalkTalk said: "As is common across our industry and others, we track the performance of different types of communications to understand what our customers prefer. We do not share this data externally."

One privacy consultant said the Court of Justice of the European Union had previously ruled that such consent must be "unambiguous" and "a clear affirmative act".

"Solely placing something in a privacy notice is not consent, and it is hardly transparent," said Pat Walshe, from specialist firm, Privacy Matters.

"The fact that tracking will take place and what that involves should be put in the user's face and involve them opting in.

"The law is clear enough, what we need is regulatory enforcement. Just because this practice is widespread doesn't mean it's correct and acceptable."

How to stop

Users can install free plug-ins into other email programs to strip out many pixel trackers. Other options are to simply set their software to block all images by default, or to view emails as plain text.

To read a BBC article on spy pixels use the URL 'Spy pixels in emails have become endemic' — BBC News or https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56071437

Mentors good to go

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On the January staff training day, English department staff trained 18 teachers to become reading mentors for Year 7 students.

The training was delivered both virtually and in the Sixth Form auditorium. The trainers focused on appropriate book choice, the relationship between the reader and the listener and access to quality literature through libraries. Mentoring starts in the summer term.

Walkers’ charity cash

SIXTH FORM

Show your vision for the planet Time is running out to enter the Creative Earth art competition.

Ahead of the COP26 international eco conference later this year, young people aged 16-and-under are invited to get creative and show global leaders the world they want to live in.

Whether it’s green forests and garden cities, clear skies and wind turbines or oceans teeming with life – we want you to paint, draw or design a piece of art that shows how you’d like our planet to look in the future.

The UK is hosting COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, bringing together world leaders to tackle climate change and ensure a better future for us all.

Enter the competition to be in with a chance of having your artwork displayed at COP26 and show the rest of the world your vision for the future.

Simply paint, draw or design a piece of art, take a photo of your entry and send it to Ms Barnes (kbarnes@combertonvc.org) or Ms Davidson-Smith (EDavidson-Smith@combertonvc.org) by Monday 5th April.

Former student and current Cabin TA Gemma Gostick and her friend and former student Emily Radburn teamed up to raise a whopping £3730.20 (almost £4,500 with Gift Aid) for Cancer Research UK. They set out to walk a 26.2-mile marathon in a day but ended up covering 28 miles in 91/2 hours as they traipsed from Yelling to Gransden via Houghton, Fenstanton and Papworth.

They battleld the final 13 miles in persistent rain, leaving them drenched but delighted by the end.

Support from other walkers for the final six miles gave them a real boost as spirits were starting to flag.

They paid the price of aching bodies the following day but were thrilled to have raised so much for such an important cause.

Recycling do’s and don’ts . . .

Thanks to everyone who attended the recycling session with Cambridge City Council recycling co-ordinator Birgitta Laurent last month.

Lily (9R) from the EcoTeam, did a great job of summarising some of the key take-aways: l It’s particularly important to clean your recycling properly: if they go to the recycling centre with dirt/oils/foodwaste still on them then they are likely to be rejected and/or cause damage to the machines. l Avoid putting plastics in your green bin – garden waste cannot be composted properly if there is any plastic in it. Obvious but will have a massive impact! l Don’t forget to recycle bathroom plastics (shampoo bottles etc). Why not have both a recycling bin and general waste bin in the bathroom? l You can have up to three blue recycling bins per household FOR FREE: here’s the link to request an extra bin for your house: https://www.scambs.gov.uk/bins/report-or-request/request-a-bin/ Remember the 6 R’s: rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and repair!

Ways to be green at school There are easy ways you can help Comberton be a greener place — and that will benefit all of us. l Recycle wherever you can. There are now collection boxes in reception for crisp packets, empty toothpaste tubes and old pens.

These are in addition to the green recycling bins dotted around the site for paper and cans. l Collect empty bottles and make ecobricks. These

can be dropped off in the ‘goldfish bowl’ in the English Department (where you can also collect empty bottles) and in the Atrium. Ecobricks will be used in school to make planters and seats. l Turning off lights is obvious and easy as is making sure you put your own rubbish in the bin. If you see a full recycling box in a classroom, remind your teacher to ask a volunteer to empty it in the bins by the dining hall.

ON THE ROAD: Emily and Gemma on their further-than-planned 28-mile walk for charity.

Funds for Comic Relief More than £2300 was raised for Comic Relief as Years 7-11 completed the first of three scheduled non-uniform days to collect money for charity.

Donations of £2377.50 were made using the new ParentPay platform as students came to school in their choice of clothes.

Deputy Principal Sean Sycamore said: “It was great to feel that the community of Comberton Village College were able to come together — even if it required us to remain in bubbles, to support such a worthy national cause. Thank you to all who contributed to this event.”

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Focus on mental health

THE CAM ACADEMY TRUST NEWS

Two Trust colleagues have joined forces to explore and formalise mental health and wellbeing initiatives across the Trust and its schools.

Annabelle Harder, Year 1 teacher at Gamlingay Village Primary and Zach Beamish, sociology teacher at Comberton Village College, had a vision to share best practice and improve the overall mental health and wellbeing for staff and pupils.

They outlined three key phases. Firstly, to look at the provision currently in place at each of the Trust schools. Secondly, to learn how to further enhance this provision. Lastly, to develop a framework for schools and a training programme to ensure mental health and wellbeing could thrive across the Trust.

They are currently in the second phase, which has had the added effect of Covid19 challenges.

Annabelle said: “It’s no secret that Covid-19 has had a huge impact on staff, parent and pupil mental health and wellbeing. Despite this, we have seen some really promising work across the Trust! It has been great to see a proactive

approach towards pupils’ mental health, with schools increasing the number of mental health programmes and actively sharing best practice.

“The same can be said for staff support too. After the lockdown in January, there was increased pressure on staff workload, partly due to the uptake of on-site requests and the last-minute reactive shift to lockdown learning. However, we have seen a rise in advice, information, support, training, and tools to help staff across schools better manage their mental health.”

Zach said: “One thing I have been particularly impressed with is how fast The Cam Academy Trust schools have adapted to supporting staff and student mental health. Almost instantly, we saw teachers making welfare calls to students, sixth form peer support initiatives, staff mental health training, and wellbeing forums and resources being sent out into the wider community.

“There are certainly some Covid keepers too! Students can now access support and resources anywhere at any time through Microsoft Teams which they could not do before. Also, teachers no longer need to dedicate an hour or so of travel time for teacher training - they can simply do the course online in their living room.”

Offering the right support is key to success

Rachael Panther is the Trust’s new Education Welfare Lead.

She is responsible for ensuring children attend school, families have the support they need and children get the most out of their education.

Before joining The Cam Academy Trust, Rachael worked as the Attendance Officer at St Peter's School, Huntingdon, for four years.

She has an additional 10 years’ experience with supporting challenging families as a Youth and Community worker.

Rachael said: “I started this role in November 2020 and work closely with individual schools to ensure continuity, support with difficult cases and review current procedures.

“Until the lockdown in January 2021, I was responsible for identifying problems with the

RACHAEL PANTHER: Education Welfare Lead.

attendance of some young people and then doing my best to rectify that situation. This could cover supporting pupils with medical needs, ensuring families understand the help we provide and meeting parents and pupils at school or home.

“When the lockdown happened, it was a whirlwind and my role shifted to reflect social distancing in place and the fact that fewer pupils were in school. I obviously couldn’t go and meet families like I had done before.

“One of the first things I did was liaise with schools to gather attendance figures from across the Trust. These figures were able to help the leadership team monitor the levels of disadvantaged pupils and key worker children against the national average, and then identify what changes and support were required.

“Working remotely was very strange to start with since I used to spend so much time meeting with our students and their families.

Zoom and Microsoft Teams have been a great help and ensured we can all stay in touch, but it’s not the same as face-to-face contact and makes breaking down barriers much more challenging.

“Success at school isn’t only about what goes on inside the classroom, it’s also about ensuring that children are happy, confident and settled so they can fulfil their potential.

“Achieving this is incredibly rewarding and definitely one of my favourite things about the role – even if at times it can be emotionally demanding and put my people skills to the test!

However, helping to make a difference to a young person’s life make it all worthwhile.”

Trust hits milestone

The Cam Academy Trust is 10 years old.

Formed in 2011 as The Comberton Academy Trust to oversee Comberton Village College’s conversion to an academy, it has grown significantly over the last decade. There are now three further secondary schools, two Sixth Forms and seven primary phase academies.

We hope to mark the anniversary later in the year once restrictions surrounding the pandemic are lifted.

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Rolling out tech

Despite the overwhelming consequences of the pandemic, this global crisis has also been an extraordinary time for learning and the ongoing rollout of technology into everyday teaching.

One year on from the first lockdown, senior leaders from within The Cam Academy Trust revealed how staff and pupils had adapted to remote learning, using technology to inspire collaboration. It has been very tough at times, but great progress has been made with some changes set to last in a world post Covid.

Leigh Bellis, Assistant Principal at Cambourne Village College, said: “It’s fair to say teaching during the pandemic has been exhausting and stressful. You do not expect to be reimagining your whole understanding of how to deliver quality education overnight!

“However, this has been an extraordinarily productive period of staff development. With astonishing speed, everyone took on the challenges of learning and using systems, of overcoming technological glitches and human errors, of becoming confident and comfortable with the new digital workspace.

“Because Microsoft Teams had become our channel for delivering resources, absent pupils could access the lesson tasks with little extra effort from the teacher, and self-isolating teachers could teach the lessons from home, ‘beaming in’ or just monitoring pupil work.”

The determination of teaching staff to succeed with available technology has been key to success.

“The extraordinary dexterity displayed by teachers when their day-to-day role became, in some cases, vastly different, and collaboration became more important than ever, and was embraced,” said Mr Bellis. “The marriage between technology and human ingenuity and flexibility got us through these lockdowns and will make us stronger for the future.”

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

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

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Here’s one to watch . . .

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Former Comberton pupil Benoit de la Sayette has raced — literally — from nowhere to becoming one of the most talked about apprentices in horse racing.

Previously a pony racing ace in France, the teenager, who left Comberton in 2019 with his sights set on becoming a Flat jockey, has been hitting the headlines in 2021.

He managed to get himself a top apprenticeship — becoming John Gosden’s first apprentice for 29 years — and now he’s showing just why the leading Newmarket trainer was willing to take him on.

In a remarkable start to his career he rode seven winners from his first 21 rides including six from his first 16 – and that was after only riding his first winner under rules in December!

“I only had my first ride at Chelmsford in November and I had my first winner in December, but January was just fantastic,” said the 18-year-old from Hardwick, who was inspired by his French father — also a jockey who now rides work for another Newmarket trainer. “I’m just been keen to ride whatever I’m on and learn as much as I can.

“I’ve been incredibly lucky to have this at this stage of my career. To sit on lovely horses in the morning, and the afternoon is a dream come true.

“I’ve ridden pretty much all my life to be fair and it’s always been my ambition to be a jockey. At the moment I’m just a very lucky boy to be where I am and riding the horses I am at the moment. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my

RISING STAR: Former Comberton student Benoit de la Sayette has made a flying start to his career as a jockey.

career.”

Such was Benoit’s initial success that he was told to take a month off from racing to avoid using up his claim too quickly.

To make up for their lack of experience, apprentices are entitled to claim a weight allowance when riding against full professional jockeys and this depends on the number of winners they’ve ridden.

With the claim dropping from 7lb to 5lb after 20 wins, there are clearly concerns that Benoit will lose that advantage so was told he was being saved for the better races on the Turf which started in March.

Since then he has had another five rides but has yet to return to the winner’s enclosure.

So many different ways to be healthy

During January, the South Cambs Sports Partnership wanted to encourage staff and students to be active and get outdoors!

This was vitally important for pupils especially

while spending long hours completing remote learning in front of screens.

Pupils and staff were very creative with their activities— including selfies of pupils on dog

walks, on trampolines, on bikes and making

healthy dinners!

Well done to all 200 of you who got involved!

Chance to try something new

Students who attended school during lockdown were able to access unique in-person PE on site.

The sports hall was set up with a variety of activities including table tennis, basketball, rowing, volleyball, gymnastics and badminton.

TThere were more than 40 students involved eeach week separated into year groups and PE staff were delighted with the enthusiasm and resilience shown by pupils as they worked within new rules imposed due to Covid.

The PE Department believes that all students should be active every week as part of a healthy lifestyle and they take great pride in giving students a space to safely learn new sports, have fun and be physically active.

HEALTHY SELFIES: Staff and students sent in pictures of themselves being active.

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