News@Com Summer 2021

NEWS COM

@CombertonVC & @CombertonSF

www.combertonvc.org & www.combertonsixthform.org

The Magazine of Comberton Village College

ISSUE 57, SUMMER 2021

FAREWELL WITH A DIFFERENCE — PAGE 3

Pupils grill local MP COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

South Cambridgeshire MP, Anthony Browne, visited Comberton Village College on a fact-finding mission earlier this term.

He spent two hours in school and the main focus of the visit was to find out how schools and their community had been impacted by the pandemic and to consider the implications for the East-West Rail proposal.

During the time here he had the chance to tour the school with the Principal, meet groups of pupils and meet Trustees from The Cam Academy Trust.

As ever, the pupils provided the highlight of the visit, in both explaining their experiences over the last year and asking insightful questions.

When Mr Browne asked for questions he was clearly expecting them on the topics on the agenda and these did indeed get discussed.

He may have been slightly less expecting the following, which was asked by a Year 10 pupil: “When the Conservatives were seeking re-election they made a manifesto promise to give aid at 0.7% of GDP. Please can you tell me when the current Government plan to return to meeting this election manifesto promise that

FACT-FINDING MISSION: The main focus for MP Anthony Browne’s visit to CVC was to look at the pandemic’s impact.

they are currently breaking?”

Maybe we have a future Jeremy Paxman in the making…

PJ Burns, Assistant Head of Year 11

All go in the library — and virtual library

The library has had a busy term!

Following the successful roll-out of our e-Book library, we were pleased to see students took advantage, accessing these books through the half-term break.

We hope even more students and staff enjoy reading from the fantastic selection over the Summer holidays. Login from our page on the CATalogue.

In May we were approached by a local designer asking for help with her new family-friendly

q Farewell with a Difference — 3 q Improving Life for Others — 4 q Lessons from a Pandemic — 5 q Finding Ways to Eat More Healthily — 5 q Results Wait — 6 q Leaders Persevere — 6 q Trust Latest — 7 q iPad rollout under way — 8

2

READING MATERIAL: Year 7 pupils with some of the books donated

by Year 11 as a legacy to the next generation at CVC.

game. Some of Comberton Sixth Form’s BTEC Business students, and our intrepid Year 9 library volunteers, helped product test Lobbitts ™ and gave her valuable feedback for the 14-20 age bracket.

Lots of fun was had lobbing pirate-themed characters, and we were pleased to be able to help a small business in our community.

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of families of our Year 11 students! We sent out an invitation to our leavers to donate a book to the

library as a legacy for the next generation of students and were delighted by the pile of packages that started arriving almost immediately.

Pictured are some of the first to arrive. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the families who donated. These books will be enjoyed by many students and help to keep our stock fresh and relevant for our readers.

We wish our Year 11 leavers all the best wherever they go next year.

q Prize for Robot Builders — 8 q Students’ Work reaches National Finals — 8 q Sixth Form News — 9-12 q Duke of Edinburgh — 13 q Pedal Power raises Cash — 13 q Graphics Sells — 14 q The Impact of Religion — 15 q Creative Look at Jerusalem

Issue — 15 q Club helps get Pupils Thinking — 15 q Investigating proves Fun — 16 q Pupils really do Reap what they Sow — 16 q Ready to Save Lives — 16 q A Chance to be Sociable — 17 q Sport — 18-20

Contents

Farewell with a difference

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

It’s a cliché, but this year has been like no other.

When the Covid lockdown forced us all to learn and work from home in March 2020, the 2020 leavers were particularly hard hit as they had to give up their prom, their Celebration Day, and all the rights and rituals that go along with the last year of secondary school.

We were worried that 2021 leavers would face the same fate when we had another lockdown this year.

However, we were lucky enough to be back in school, so, with some ingenuity and a lot of hard work, Year 11s were able to celebrate their five years at CVC in style!

Head of Year Mrs Roberts came up with a plan: a Celebration Day and a Prom rolled into one.

A new noun was born — Promation — and in a very short period of time the ice cream van was booked, garden-style games were purchased, food and entertainment were organised, and our prefects started spreading the word.

Our theme was based around the Secret Garden Party. It was fabulous to see the year group looking so stylish at the start of the day.

As always, we worried what the weather would bring, but Friday 28th May was sunny and warm, and nearly 290 students were able to enjoy an exciting, funfilled day.

Yearbooks and hoodies were given out and much of the morning was spent writing messages to each other, receiving letters they’d written to themselves in Year 7, and getting awards from tutors, some of whom have seen their forms through all five years at CVC. The back field had been transformed into a garden party wonderland, complete with bunting, games and a DJ booth staffed by our very own Mr Herbert.

Students enjoyed their time talking to friends, eating painau-chocolat and pizza, signing their old school shirts, and simply having fun. There were some excellent dance moves on display too!

The day culminated with a safe and socially distanced final assembly in the Performance Hall.

It was the last chance for the pastoral team to say goodbye to this amazing year group.

Although it’s always sad to see them go, our Year 11s have made us so proud over the last five years, and getting to see them all together, one last time, and to tell them how much they meant to us, was something we all needed.

We concluded the final assembly, as always, with some spectacular and hilarious goodbye videos from various teaching departments.

Watching Year 11 get on their buses and depart for the last time was difficult for the whole pastoral team, but we are excited for them to take their next steps.

We are lucky to have many of them coming back to attend Comberton Sixth Form and are excited to see what the future holds!

PJ Burns, Assistant Head of Year 11

3

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Improving life for others

UNDERSTANDING: Pupils used special gloves and eyewear to help come up with designs to help those with different needs.

Students in Years 7 and 8 have investigated the needs of others during their DT lessons, then designed and modelled something which might make their life better.

Pupils investigated, experimented and demonstrated empathy towards a diverse range of people, including those with cerebral palsy,

rheumatoid arthritis, blindness or someone who suffers panic attacks and anxiety.

They worked with special gloves, which reduce dexterity and movement, and eyewear to simulate vision loss from the ‘Designing Our Tomorrow’ project at Cambridge University.

DT staff were thrilled with the creative outcomes and with pupils’ ability to empathise with people less fortunate than themselves.

GETTING CREATIVE: Some of the designs that pupils came up with.

Comberton Village College & Sixth Form present:

Auditions for years 7-13 to be held in September 2021 ͙fingers crossed!!!

4

Lessons of a pandemic

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

The edition of News@Com this time last year was a Lockdown ‘Special Edition’ — we had started the school year as normal and then in March the Covid situation quickly evolved such that the school operated remotely for the Summer term.

The school we returned to in September 2020 was far from normal… hand sanitising routines, bubbles, marquees, face coverings, 100-minute lessons, separate lunch arrangements, windows open in all rooms throughout the winter, Covid testing, bubbles bursting… and further lockdowns at no notice.

It’s not been boring!

So what have we learnt as we travelled through this pandemic? l Children are social animals. They SOCIABLE: seek company and thrive on social The idea of contact. social The idea of social distancing is an distancing anathema, and while, through most of is an the last year, there has been no anathema requirement (ability…) for children to for socially distance in school, staff have children.

been expected to teach and support from a 2m distance. This has not been straight forward! l Communication is at the heart of much of what we do and it’s more than words. Getting the words correct is important, but so is seeing the face and being seen. l The targeted use of IT can improve learning.

We’ve done much on screens over the last year (can you imagine lockdown in the world pre Zoom / Teams / Internet…?), yet there is still much benefit in the face to face. In September we embrace both as

Years 7, 8 and 9 pupils will have personal iPads for learning — exciting times! l When under strain for a long period of time some of the strands of a rope may start to fray. The same is true with people. We’ve worked hard to build in stress relief and wellbeing work, but that does not mean the stresses may have left entirely. l Children are resilient and adaptable. An unusual situation can become a new normal very quickly. I did wonder how students would take to wearing masks in corridors — they did it as if we have always done this.

As we look to a new way of working for the next school year, there remains much uncertainty.

We are told to plan for normal times, but to be ready to revert to pandemic measures at short notice.

We will look to lean on the lessons learned this year as we plan for this, communicate about it and look forward to working in a hopefully more natural manner over coming months.

Whatever the situation, like this year, it won’t be boring. It never is working in a school.

Peter Law, Principal

Finding ways to eat more healthily

This June, Comberton Village College participated in the British Nutrition Foundation’s Healthy Eating Week 2021.

This is an annual national event and a wonderful opportunity to remind ourselves to be conscious of what we choose to eat and drink, as well as other factors that affect our health.

There were six health aims: l Follow the principles set out in the Eatwell Guide l Have plenty of fruit or vegetables with breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks l Have at least 6-8 drinks a day l Make a pledge to learn something new during the week. Find a topic that you don’t know about and learn more l Go for healthier choices that provide fibre, vitamins and minerals at every meal occasion l Choose lower fat, salt and sugar options, and use labels to make healthier choices Health trackers were used by forms to track either activity, fruit and vegetables consumed, or how many glasses of water they had each day over the week. Congratulations to 7V, 8B and 10E, who won fast track dining passes.

The Waitrose Cookery School and Health Team joined up with the British Nutrition Foundation to deliver a free healthy eating ‘cook along’.

There was a webinar, where we could join Alex, a nutritionist from the British Nutrition Foundation, who explained how we can all ‘Find your healthier you’! Alex went through the themes of the week, as well as giving practical solutions to common problems.

We launched our healthy eating page on our website https://www.combertonvc.org/parent-and-studentinformation/healthyeating.php and added links to a range of healthy and delicious snacks and meals, as well as information about making healthy (and easy) swaps.

Our Year 9s learnt about ultra-processed food in their food and nutrition lessons, and then made their own, healthier noodles in a pot to cook up at home.

The dining hall and buttery were decorated with posters, infographics and healthy eating bunting to help deliver the key messages.

Our catering team came up trumps and increased the range and quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables available, both in pots and whole fruits, and they discounted the prices significantly for Healthy Eating Week. It all looked very appetising, Sales were very high all week, and have remained high since, which is wonderful news!

We had a range of competitions running — from cooking a healthy dish at home, to designing lorry livery for Aldi and Get Set to Eat Fresh, with Team GB, as well as an online quiz.

Prizes are embroidered, personalised aprons and a cooking masterclass.

Our winners were Ava (7N) for her wonderful lorry design, Melina (9N) for her delicious-looking Greek spinach pie and Jess (7M) for winning the online quiz.

Due to Covid restrictions this year we haven’t been able to offer as many practical cooking lessons in school as we usually would, but we look forward optimistically to the future and getting back on track, teaching these essential skills.

The summer holidays are a wonderful opportunity for us all to reconnect with our food and the seasons, as well as preparing it and eating together.

We wish you a happy and healthy summer break!

Emily Goodson, Head of Design Technology

WINNERS: Melina’s Greek spinach pie and Ava’s lorry design.

5

Results wait COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Three Year 7 students are waiting to hear how they have fared in a national final.

Joanna (7C), Avia (7M) and Yahel (7B) took part in the final of the Routes into Languages Spelling Bee for Spanish last week after filling three of the qualifying spots at the regional competition.

But the pandemic meant they had to compete on camera rather than in person and the results won’t be confirmed until all videos submitted from all the finalists’ schools across the country have been checked and verified during the summer holidays.

At the beginning of the year, there was a class competition where they had to learn how to translate and correctly spell 50 words.

The best students went on to the school competition where they added another 100 words to their 50 words, so had to translate and spell 150 words in total.

For the Regional competition, they had to learn 200 words, and they were filmed and the recordings were sent to Routes into Languages where the Comberton trio finished first, second and fourth respectively.

For last week’s national competition, they had 300 words to perfect and, as

FINALISTS: The Comberton trio who won regional medals are now waiting for national results, throughout the year, practised in school every Tuesday lunchtime as well as at home.

Comberton Spanish teacher Adina Hategan, who oversees the Spelling Bee, said: “We are very proud of them for their commitment and perseverance.”

Leaders persevere

Language Leaders have worked very hard on their lessons despite Covid and lockdown.

They started in September, and then in January they continued online and planned online lessons for our primary school students.

When we returned to school, the teachers going to primary schools delivered the lessons the leaders had prepared.

Then they started working on their second lessons and were able to finally teach in person.

Earlier this month they also taught their third lesson in person.

The primary school pupils really enjoyed their lessons.

The language leaders even managed to get one child, who is often disengaged, working throughout the whole lesson.

An awards ceremony last week enabled the language leaders to receive their certificates and lapel badges for their hard work and perseverance.

Cambridge trip proves an inspiration

IN FRONT OF A CLASS: Comberton’s Language Leaders were able to deliver two of their three lessons in person.

TAKING IN THE SIGHTS: Students visited Cambridge for a cultural day out.

We moved to the glorious Botanic Gardens and were fortunate enough to As part of a Life Skills, Planting and Growing, Maths and English incentive, four Year 7 pupils, six Year 8 pupils, and four Year 9 pupils went on a walk through an array of summer blooms, wildflowers, Mediterranean cultural and invigorating day trip to Cambridge. plants, a Fen display, sculptures — particularly the new arrival, a wooden, We used public transport to get into the centre and enjoyed walking around model crocodile — and much more. the City's famous market, a short stop in St Mary's Church, followed by a The Year 9 pupils were intrigued and enjoyed photographing all the natural gentle stroll along King's Parade, taking in the splendour of King's College beauty around them.

Chapel.

Then it was on to Newnham Park for well-deserved ice lollies!

We also we visited art galleries, which inspired the Year 9 pupils who are When the Year 9 pupils were asked what they enjoyed most, they were taking GCSE Art from September. enthusiastic.

After that we went to The Fitzwilliam Museum, where we enjoyed many of Maddie (9T) said: “The park, the model crocodile, eating!, the Botanical the exhibitions. gardens and cute baby ducklings!”

We were transfixed by incredible works of abstract/Cubism, Dutch 17th and Tia (9O) was inspired by modern life pictures of brightly coloured flowers, 18th Century work, British Art, 17 to 19th Century, Egyptian and Roman while Maia (9B) said the best thing was seeing the plants and taking photos.

Historical glory.

Lauren (9B) said that she enjoyed taking photos of the paintings and of the The pupils worked together to find artefacts in a small quiz-based activity and were incredibly pro-active and enthusiastic throughout the morning. flowers. She also enjoyed playing at Newnham to finish off the day.

6

Primary wants to link up THE CAM ACADEMY TRUST NEWS

Bourn Primary Academy, a church school in the catchment of Comberton Village College, is looking to join the community of The Cam Academy Trust.

We have been working on an associate model that can work appropriately for the school with the intention that this will be ready for this September.

We very much look forward to this possibility happening, enabling a school local to others in the Trust to join the educational community of our group of schools.

Sixth forms will work more closely

Ways to support mental health

SHARING EXPERTISE: Melbourn’s specialist teachers will teach A-Level Mandarin at Comberton Sixth Form.

The Trust’s new Framework for supporting Mental Health and Well-being in all schools in the Trust has been launched.

This is seen as a clear priority in all our schools moving forward and the framework clarifies commitments to this and how it can work in practice.

It was viewed as an important area for all schools before the pandemic and the need has strengthened through the past year.

Included in this is the important role of the Mental Health and Well-being Lead in each school in the Trust and a strong commitment to staff training in all schools to improve staff understanding and capability in this area.

The starting point for this has been to audit the specific training needs and priorities for each school. Full training will then start taking place from the beginning of next term.

PRIORITY: The youngest pupils learn mindfulness as part of the Trust’s commitment to mental health and well-being.

Careful planning has been taking place to enable the Sixth Forms within the Trust to work together much more significantly moving forward.

St Peter’s Sixth Form and Comberton Sixth Form will look to offer certain courses jointly between the two Sixth Forms and make use of the effective practice learned and used recently with virtual education.

Students in one Sixth Form will be able to access certain lessons in the other Sixth Form via logging on and receiving the lessons live.

This can strengthen the curriculum offer available to students in the Sixth Forms.

Combined with the use of virtual teaching to offer more possibilities

CLOSER CONTACT: Bourn Primary Academy could become an associate member of the Trust.

to students is the introduction of Mandarin as a subject at Comberton Sixth Form.

From September, a group of students will study Mandarin at A Level within the Trust for the first time.

This is a direct result of the innovative and extremely successful initiative to introduce the teaching of Mandarin as a foreign language at Melbourn Village College.

Pupils from Melbourn have completed their GCSE programme and some are keen to continue studying the language at Sixth Form.

Teaching for this will be provided by the expert specialist staff at Melbourn.

New role

The Trust sees effective, high-quality continuing professional development (CPD) for staff working in all of its schools as crucial to provide the best possible education for all pupils.

So we are pleased that the new Trust CPD policy comes in to force from this September and Matt Mannas, who works at Comberton Village College, will be seconded for one day a week to help to oversee the policy and its suggested programmes within our schools.

Pioneering project

MATT MANNAS: Seconded.

For several years, the Trust has been working with Cambridgeshire County Council and construction company Buoyges to seek to improve the energy efficiency in all of its Cambridgeshire schools.

This makes both environmental and financial sense. Forms of insulation, lighting and boilers have been changed in many of our schools to enable this.

We are now embarking on the most significant project to date in this territory.

Following the successful acquisition of a grant of more than £1.8 million from central government to support major energy efficiency projects, coupled with some financial assistance from Cambridgeshire County Council, a major Ground Source Heat Pump system is to be installed at Comberton Village College.

This will be a significant piece of engineering that will seek to provide for all of the future heating needs of the school.

The school will cease to be reliant on all of its oil-fired boilers as is currently the situation.

We hope that this might blaze something of a trail for other such notable energy efficiency developments across public buildings in our country.

We are recruiting new Trustees and Members. Visit www.catrust.co.uk for information

7

iPad rollout under way COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

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

We believe that technology can play a crucial role in achieving high outcomes in the classroom for all our pupils, transforming the learning opportunities available to them, whatever their background or ability.

Within The Cam Academy Trust, we have been planning the increased integration of technology into our teaching for several years now, with Cambourne Village College leading the way.

At Comberton, staff received their own iPad several months ago and have already been using it to support their teaching.

We have also carried out many whole staff training and drop-in sessions to enable us to prepare for the integration of personal devices for pupils to enhance their learning. We can now confirm that pupils in Key Stage 3 can have their own iPad to use in the classroom and at home from September 2021.

We are really excited by this development to teaching and learning. 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.

Do follow us on Twitter @CombertonVC so that you can keep in touch with these exciting developments and more!

Regina Lawrence, Deputy Principal

Prize for Lego robot builders

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Staff now have iPads for teaching.

A team of seven Year 7 pupils competed in a Lego League robot competition hosted remotely by Cambridge University.

The purpose of the event was to design, code and build a robot that could complete various missions.

Pupils also needed to demonstrate core values of teamwork in addition to giving a presentation on how to get people in the local community to exercise more.

The students were rewarded for all their hard work over the past two months with the prize for best robot design.

Everyone had great fun and learned a lot about programming, building robots, problem solving, giving presentations.

We are already looking forward to next year’s event.

The students involved were: Ruby (7I), Myles (7I), Abdullah (7T), Aiden (7T), Iestyn (7C), James (7C) and William (7N). We would like to thank Qualcomm who sponsored us for the event.

Will Grey, Head of Computer Science

Students’ work reaches national finals

TEAMWORK: One of the challenges for the Lego-building group.

Before the national lockdown, four Year 11 students (2019/20 cohort), Aarohi Vira, Carmen Omitowoju, PJ Webb and Ameera Hamad, took part in a national competition, ‘Moving Stories,’ run by the Migration Museum in London and endorsed by exam board OCR. The competition required students to submit plans for a new exhibition for the Migration Museum, exploring migration to and from Britain.

Students were required to reflect on the long history and influence of migration, using their History GCSE studies and their own personal interests to inspire their work, which could be based on any aspect of migration, from personal or local stories to broader historical events or time periods.

The Comberton group decided to structure

8

their exhibition around Cambridge marketplace, with each stall representing a different aspect of migration and the positive impact this has had on Cambridge, and England more widely, with specific focus on popular culture.

They worked entirely independently, organised visits to Cambridge marketplace to gather inspiration and submitted a very clear project which was praised by the judges.

After being judged by an expert panel, the group was shortlisted for the finals, which was a huge achievement, given schools from across the country submitted entries.

Unfortunately, due to the national lockdown, the finals had to be cancelled.

However, the group was awarded a certificate and a £75 voucher each for the work they completed.

THREE OUT OF FOUR FINALISTS: Students with the Moving Stories certificates.

Students lead the way

SIXTH FORM

Last year, to celebrate 10 years of Comberton Sixth Form, we re-designed the Sixth Form prospectus with considerable artistic input from our A-Level students.

The resulting design was so innovative and successful that we were delighted to be able to involve students again for this year’s design.

Our main illustrator for both years was current Year 13 graduating student, Archie MacLeod.

This year Archie went all out in producing a fully illustrated front and back cover.

His brief was to capture the vibrancy, inclusivity and choice that Comberton Sixth Form offers while maintaining a design approach that would make our prospectus stand out from all the others.

We were delighted to see just how well he captured this brief with a cover that suggests all these things and more.

For the back cover he has produced an interesting composition based around different views of the Sixth Form architecture.

Archie won the subject award for Art and Design here this year and is going on to study Illustration at UWE in Bristol. You can see more of his exciting work on his Instagram @artchiemac.

As well as the beautiful illustrations, the current Year 12 Photography A Level students created a studio shoot for some of the other pages inside.

We booked in an ex-student to help lead the shoot. Matt Parker graduated from Comberton Sixth Form as an outstanding photography student and, since studying for his degree in London, has worked for many brands and is currently working as one of the publicity photographers on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Matt has achieved great things in photography and we were really lucky to get the benefit of his experience for the morning, both in terms of his great advice and inspiration as well as his expertise during the shoot.

The photographers whose work from the shoot was used in the prospectus are Clara (12-JM), Katy (12-JM), Josh (12-RW) and Alice (12-RAJ).

The photos were mixed in with Archie’s drawings and some of our logo graphics to create the pages seen here.

We are very proud that Comberton Sixth Form has produced a set of artists and photographers that have provided us with such a distinctive and skilled set of work for our prospectus again this year.

Greg Dean, Head of Art

Goodbye Year 13

RELAXED: Year 13 students chill out on their final day.

CSF Year 13 students enjoyed their final day of college with various celebration events, including a BBQ and ice-cream in the sunshine.

Mr Ryall kept what has become a tradition of telling a ‘story’ that incorporates every surname in the year group as a ‘play on words’.

Once again this went down very well, even if the background story was from Shakespeare!

Thank you to all our fantastic Year 13 students and the Sixth Form staff team. We wish the best of luck for results day in early August (and will be on hand to support students with their next steps).

9

Working in partnership SIXTH FORM

From September, Comberton Sixth Form is going to be working much more closely with both Melbourn Village College and St Peter’s School, Huntingdon.

The first partnership project involves launching Alevel Mandarin at CSF, using the specialist teachers from MVC, who already deliver the very successful GCSE Mandarin course.

This additional subject further expands our Key Stage 5 languages offer, supporting our already successful French, German and Spanish A-levels.

While we expect to start small (in terms of student numbers) in September 2021, this project will create vital continuity of education, allowing MVC students a clear route to build on their GCSE.

Our second project involves developing the curriculum at St Peter’s Sixth Form.

Their students will be joining those at CSF for lessons in Geography and Computer Science.

At times these lessons will be face to face and involve SPS students physically moving sites, but at other times (and in a Trust first) we will be using Polybar technology, combined with MS Teams to link classrooms and students across the two sites.

This audio and video tracking technology USING TECHNOLOGY: MS Teams and Polybar allows us to build on the recent success of technology will link classrooms across sites. virtual learning to create a blended learning model at SPS and CSF. few years.

While this is not designed to be permanent, it allows Staff at CSF are greatly looking forward to this SPS students to take additional A-level options, while exciting development. their sixth form grows the curriculum over the next David Clarke, Head of Sixth Form

Gold awards are CSF first Year 12 Chemistry students took part in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge this year.

The questions stretched their knowledge and understanding of A-level chemistry. They were challenged to draw structures, bonding diagrams, Hess cycles and, of course, complete Moles calculations.

The students performed well, especially on oxide formula and calculation questions. This year’s results produced two gold awards — a first for Comberton Sixth Form — for Michal (12-SHE) and Emma (12-PG), three Silver for Emma (12-JM), Alfie (12-JD) and Lewis (12-EJ) and three Copper for Jinisha (12-SCO), Adam (12-JM) and Luke (12-RAJ).

The next Challenge, in January, will be the Royal Society of Chemistry Olympiad.

Question 1 was inspired by the classic “Pharaoh’s Serpent” demonstration that used to be commonly seen in schools before the toxicity of the products became a worry.

Question 2 explored some interesting redox chemistry and allowed University of Cambridge chemist Dr Wothers to further explore the links between chemistry and animalbased humour!

10

Planning for the future

Following our virtual progression conference in March, in which Year 12 students were encouraged to start thinking about their plans for life after Sixth Form, preparations for the next steps have continued at pace this term despite the obvious limitations that exist.

Individual guidance meetings were held remotely with students, and many of their parents, across two special ‘Futures Days’ in June, with discussions taking place around plans ranging from university to apprenticeships to gap years.

These have been complemented by advisory meetings with specialists from local organisation Form the Future for those considering alternative pathways, and individual consultations and preparation sessions for those making early applications to Oxbridge and other competitive courses.

The traditional events that usually take place at this time to support those who are hoping to apply to university through the UCAS system have mostly been reproduced in a virtual format for this cycle.

The UCAS Exhibition of Higher Education providers and guidance seminars was delivered as a series of Discovery Days, which students could access live or via catch-up.

This was followed up by our own in-house UCAS information event for students and parents which was delivered as a trilogy of short online talks.

The first outlined the process, timeline and support on offer to CSF students who are considering a university pathway.

The other two came from guest speakers from the University of East Anglia — Higher Education advisers Megan Broughton and Lucy Nottingham — who presented the universities’ perspective on the process and helped to clarify the sometimes perplexing world of student finance.

Sadly, our annual trip to a university open day has not been possible so far this year, but with specialist sessions organised to support the planning of personal statements before the end of term and further individual guidance meetings with academic tutors ongoing, we are again confident that our students will be feeling well placed to start looking ahead to life after sixth form.

ONLINE INFORMATION: The UCAS information event was held online.

Student wins grand prize

SIXTH FORM

Comberton Sixth Form has won £1000 thanks to the efforts of one of its students.

Budding lawyer David reached the Grand Final of the national Making Links School Challenge, run by Linklaters, a global law firm, picking up a four-figure prize as well as £250 in vouchers for himself.

Students at non-selective schools and colleges in the UK were challenged to answer a question on the theme of change.

“We are living through a time of great change. What, in your opinion, will be the greatest challenges and opportunities for businesses in a new post-Covid world?”

David, who is in Year 12 and has his sights set on a career as a commercial barrister, submitted a five-slide presentation showing the political, economic, social and technological challenges and opportunities and was one of 15 selected for the Grand Final.

This was held through a video conference call.

There was a full day of talks and discussions as David explained. “In the morning, we had talks from partners and directors of the law firm and discussed Linklaters as a firm and how they affect businesses,” he said. “In the afternoon, we worked with different legal teams to strengthen our BUDDING LAWYER: Competition answers earned a cash prize. presentations and learnt public presentation skills to help us to deliver engaging presentations.

Comberton Sixth Form has yet to decide how to spend the money but has “Then, in the evening, we had a couple of hours to produce a two-minute video on pledged to include David in any decisions. the topic as our Grand Final submission. The judging panel then reviewed all of He already has some ideas: “As it is meant to be research based, probably more the submissions and picked a few presentations to be presented live.” books especially around law,” he said. “However, it could also be used to help Two days later there was another video conference to celebrate everyone’s improve research tools like computers as well as getting guest speakers to run achievements and announce the winner. Organisers also explained the future opportunities and how the finalists can stay connected to partners and staff. days about law and legal research.”

Song helps deal with personal struggle Imperfect came about initially as a part of my A-level composition for music, but after giving it in to my teachers I felt like I could make it even better.

After months and months of changing tiny little things in the piece I decided I wanted release it on Spotify and I’m so excited for you to listen to it.

The song is about how I've struggled with perfectionism and how difficult it is for me to let myself off the hook with certain things, which I appreciate is ironic because of how much time I spent on this song.

However, I think the writing process really helped me to understand myself more.

I’d definitely recommend writing lyrics to a song about your life, even if you

don’t release it.

My favourite part of writing and creating Imperfect was when I asked my friend Lucy Steel to sing on the song: she added so much creative input, making me see the song in a whole new light.

She has a beautiful voice, as you can hear if you go and check it out.

Imperfect by Stanny ft. Lucy Steel is out now!

Go and stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and lots of other places.

If you could go and follow me — Stanny — on Spotify, that really helps me out and it’s free to do! Thank you.

Linktr.ee/S.t.a.n.n.y Ben (12-PG)

Friends get the press rolling . . .

STRIVING FOR PERFECTION: For a song called ‘Imperfect’!

When we started at Comberton in September, we experimented with lots of new techniques, including lino printing.

On the left are the lino prints made soon after we started at CVC. Unfortunately, we did not have the equipment to maximise our potential and had to use basic wooden spoons to get these results.

We would like to say a massive thank you to the Friends of CVC for supporting us in the purchase of a new printing press!

Now, thanks to the Friends of CVC, we can look forward to a future of much more ambitious print making!

Not only will this benefit our class next year, but also all future pupils taking Graphic Communication!

Melanie (12-MR) and Lily (12-LM) Sixth Form Subject Ambassadors for Graphic Communication

11

Practical taste of CSF life SIXTH FORM

This term has seen several groups of students involved in taster sessions and welcome events for Level 3 BTEC Sport.

Year 10 students from Comberton VC and Cambourne VC, and Year 11 students with places in September, joined us for a crash course in the units and content of the course, with the opportunity to

experience sixth form life as well.

They were involved in patching each other up, supervised by Miss Kingston as part of the Sports Injuries unit, as well as learning to use sports psychology techniques to improve their basketball shooting performance!

The students learnt about skill acquisition with Mr Magan and did a Dragon’s Den-style Sports Business challenge with Mr Anderson.

We hope that the students enjoyed the sessions and are inspired to pursue a sport and physical education qualification.

We are really looking forward to welcoming students starting on both the Level 2 and Level 3 BTEC Sport courses in September and wish those who have just finished in Year 11 and 13 all the best for the future.

Abbey Cotton, PE Dept

First aid skills are put to the test

KEY SKILLS: Year 12 students on the BTEC Level 3 Sport course learn CPR as part of their first aid training.

It has been a busy year for Level 3 BTEC Sport students who have continued to complete their assignments and coursework, despite the twists, turns and challenges Covid-19 has brought.

We said a fond farewell to our Year 13 cohort in May; they finished this year with a series of practical coaching assessments, a sports psychology research project and a sports injuries presentation — not for the faint hearted!

We celebrated their completion of the course with a trip to Clip n’ Climb in Cambridge, which saw them clambering to the top of crazy climbing walls and obstacles.

They particularly enjoyed watching Miss Cotton dangle precariously at the top of the drop slide (mostly due to the dashing outfit!)

The year 12s have also been working hard, recently taking part in a full day of first aid training with Mrs Pattrick and Miss Kingston.

They learnt key emergency responses skills when working pitch-side with athletes, such as CPR, using defibrillators, bandaging and using slings.

This was then put to the test in practical scenarios, where they were assessed in the skills they used and their responses.

There was some excellent casualty acting and application of first aid by all!

They will also soon be involved in a Dodgeball Level 1 Leaders Course, learning how to coach and officiate dodgeball.

Well done for completing the first year of the Level 3 BTEC Sport course Year 12!

CELEBRATION: A trip to Clip n’ Climb marked the end of the course for Year 13 students.

12

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

A different take on DofE

GETTING OUT AT LAST: The Gold DofE practice expedition to Dark Peak.

DofE has looked and felt different this year.

The scheme has set up DofE with a difference to allow it to continue under Covid restrictions.

So lots of students have been volunteering at home — helping siblings or neighbours with their shopping: learning new skills such as sign language online or cooking: or logging their physical activities on running apps.

Between April 2020 and March 2021, students dedicated 1729 hours to volunteering, with a social value of £7866.95.

Over the Easter break there was easing of lockdown restrictions, which meant we were able to run some reduced expeditions for Bronze and Silver, with more than 150 students over two weekends walking from Melbourn or Cambourne to CVC. One weekend the students survived the rain, the next tropical heat.

We ran a normal Gold practice trip to the Dark Peak area at the end of term with 20 Year 12 students, which apart from the midges was an amazing and successful trip.

Sadly the Silver assessed in the Chilterns is being postponed to October though.

Let’s hope for a more normal year next year!

Pedal power raises cash for charity Year 10 friends Jake and Daniel have raised more than £1500 for charity and honoured Prince Philip, who founded the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme.

They cycled 100 miles round Grafham Water as part of the Captain Tom 100 Challenge but also in memory of the Duke of Edinburgh and helped Jake’s work towards the volunteering section of his silver award.

Here Jake explains what they did.

“We decided to take part in the Captain Sir Tom 100 Challenge.

“This was to take on a challenge around the number 100, anytime and anywhere, over Captain Sir Tom's birthday weekend (30th April – 3rd May).

“This was to fundraise for his foundation, which supports young people’s mental health, among

ON THEIR BIKES: Cycling 100 miles as part of the Captain Tom 100 Challenge.

ESSENTIAL SKILL: Route planning is a must for expeditions at every level.

other charities.

“We decided to cycle 100 miles on Saturday 1st May. Originally, we were going to complete the cycle ride over the weekend, but to make it more of a challenge we decided to do it in one day.

“I had already decided that I would fundraise for my Silver Duke of Edinburgh award, so this counted towards my volunteering section.

“Neither of us had cycled more than 45 miles in one day before!”

“We chose Grafham Water because one lap around the lake is nine miles and it is predominantly off road.

“We started at 8am and completed the challenge at 8.30pm in the dark — over 10 hours of cycling and a few hours of eating and drinking in between!

“We had set up a Just Giving page and gained a few more donations on the way round.

“By the end of the day we were very tired, and sore, but really proud of our achievement.

“The fact that we had raised so much money, and friends and family came and cycled with us for support, really helped us finish the task.

Thank you everyone.

“So far we have raised £1,580 plus gift aid and we hope that there may be some post-completion donations to our page www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jakes-captaintom-100-challenge2021”

13

Graphics sells COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

This is the first year that Design and Technology ran both GCSE and A-Level Graphic Communication and the department is delighted with the professionalism of the graphics that students have produced.

They have created a whole range of final designs from CD and game covers to websites, food packaging and music festival promotion.

Here is a selection of some of those fabulous outcomes.

A-LEVEL: Book Cover by Chloe and Fruit Bar Packaging by Kai.

WIDE RANGE OF GRAPHICS: A-level students’ work (left to right) shows Festival Promotion by Ned, Campaign Advertising by Ollie and Campaign Promotion by Tom

CD COVERS: GCSE work (left to right) by Fred, Zach and Lucy.

TOURISM PROMOTION: By Lauren for GCSE

14

USING GRAPHICS: For Alex’s Game Cover at ALevel.

PERFUME PROMOTION: By Abbie for A-Level.

The impact of religion

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Earlier this term we were able to host our second RPE Conference Day for Year 10.

This time, the topic of enquiry was 'Religion in the wider world', giving students the opportunity to explore how religion links to different areas of daily life and the relevance of religion on a global scale.

The morning was broken down into the following sessions: l Is Britain a Christian country? l Religion and Medical Ethics l Is there room for religion in a world of science? l Islam and Judaism in the wider world We were delighted to be able to invite speakers, in person and virtually via Zoom and Teams.

We had interactive workshops from members of the Faraday Institute, part of the University of Cambridge, where students became mini detectives, using different types of evidence to solve a murder.

The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion aims to improve public understanding of religious beliefs in relation to the sciences.

Jewish and Muslim speakers from another Cambridge University organisation, the Woolf Institute — whose vision is a world in which collaborative discussion and constructive engagement overcome prejudice and intolerance — shared their experience in these religions as well as the relationship between these religions in the Middle East.

The Institute combines teaching, scholarship and outreach, focusing on Jews, Christians and Muslims, to encourage tolerance and foster understanding between people of all beliefs.

DETECTIVE WORK: Pupils try to unravel a mystery

from the Faraday Institute.

Finally, we had speakers from local Christian group WCCYM, leading an interactive session on medical ethics, with video clips from professionals in the medical industry sharing their experiences on how religion impacts their career.

It was a wonderful day filled with many questions and left the students with even more questions — a success from an RPE perspective!

Thank you to all of Year 10 and all the staff and speakers involved in the day.

Mrs S Craveiro Head of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics

Creative look at Jerusalem issue

During the study unit Sacred Space in Year 9, students were given a project to work on entitled ‘Jerusalem: Conflict or Co-existence?’

They were asked to portray past and current areas of conflict in Jerusalem between the Abrahamic religions, while also showing the areas of hope and reconciliation that is taking place there, often unheard of.

Some of our students chose to express these ideas through an art piece. There is some extraordinary work which is on display outside RPE 1.

A massive congratulations to all of Year 9 for their engagement in this topic, but especially to Mabel (9M), Ellie (9M), Claudia (9I), Bethan (9C) and Livie (9C).

ART IN RPE: Some of the work pupils produced while looking at the conflict in Israel.

Club helps get pupils really thinking!

TALKING TIME: Pupils have discussed philosophical and ethical dilemmas over lunch.

Since the return to school, the RPE Department has been running a popular lunchtime Philosophy Club for Year 7 and Year 8.

They have chewed over philosophical and ethical dilemmas as we’ve chewed our lunch.

Skills of logic and debate are being honed through some famous thought experiments such as the Trolley Problem, the Experience Machine or the Swampman.

Thinking about joining in September? Here’s what our current cohort have to say: “In Philosophy Club, we discuss lots of different philosophical questions and situations every week. I have loved the club since I joined in Year 7 as it allows you to feel included, learn new things, and express your own opinions alongside new friends.” Lola (Year 8).

“In Philosophy Club, we mostly discuss paradoxes and questions such as the Monty Hall problem.” Year 8 student.

“I really enjoyed it when we discussed happiness and the purpose of life.” Freya (Year 7).

“Philosophy Club is fun because it gets you to think hard and to share your opinion.” Alice (Year 7).

15

Investigating proves fun

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

STEM Club came back with a bang this year!

For the first half of the year, STEM Club was done remotely at home. Our students had fun carrying out activities from their homes such as making a bionic hand, investigating stretchiness and slime science.

In the final term, we were able to hold an afterschool Year 7 STEM Club. Our Year 7 students have taken part in many fun activities including a witchcraft and wizardry week, making bath bombs, building bridges from chocolate, flame tests and making water bottle rockets!

Our STEM Club students are brilliant. They are inquisitive, creative and inventive…they will no doubt go on to become the scientists and engineers of the future!

Pupils really do reap what they sow!

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES: STEM Club pupils have built bridges with chocolate and carried out flame tests among other activities.

Students have been enjoying the rewards of their hard work from a planting and growing project that ran since the spring term.

Several students in Year 8 and 9 planted tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, new potatoes, sunflowers, geraniums, a wildflower selection, courgettes and lettuces.

Many could be seen taking their impressive sunflower plants home on the buses and everyone in the Year 8 group took new potatoes home too.

Staff were also able to taste the home-grown produce thanks to a sale which raiseed nearly £40 for resources for The Centre.

VITAL EQUIPMENT: Comberton now has its own defibrillator in the school.

16

Ready to save lives

GREEN FINGERS: Pupils have grown a variety of vegetables and flowers.

Comberton Village College are very pleased to announce the installation of a second Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

As a result of a generous donation from the Friends of CVC, the college has purchased a second device to be located in the school building.

Whilst we hope this will not be required to treat students, staff or visitors, it is crucial for the lifesaving equipment to be readily available in an emergency.

This does now mean that both Comberton Sports and Arts and CVC are fully prepared with the necessary equipment.

Following on from the recent Euros football competition where the need for an AED was evidently crucial to saving the life of the Danish football player, Christian Eriksen, we are so pleased to have secured this vital piece of equipment for the safety of our school community.

Thank you to the Friends of CVC group for their ongoing hardworking in fundraising for such important priorities for the College.

Thanks also to Peter and Daniel from the site team for their role in procuring such an important piece of equipment.

Sean Sycamore, Deputy Principal

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

A chance to be sociable GETTING TOGETHER: Year 9 pupils enjoy a chance to interact at their first — and last — social event of the year!

After more than a year with no trips or whole-year activities, pupils in KS3 were finally able to enjoy a social event on the school playing field.

First up last month were the Year 8s and nearly 200 of the year group turned out for an afternoon of sports, games, music and relaxing in the sunshine.

Assistant Head of Year Rebecca Kirkby said: “Fortunately the weather was great and many of the Year 8s just really enjoyed being able to relax outside with friends.

“After a year where the year group hasn’t been able to gather together for any kind of social event, it was great to see everyone spending time together and enjoying the sunshine.

“A special thanks to the staff and Year 10 Sports leaders who helped organise the event and run games of football, rounders, vortex and ultimate frisbee.

“Fingers crossed that we will be able to have more brilliant social events in Year 9!”

The following day it was the turn of Year 7 to enjoy a picnic and sports with Assistant Head of Year James Roberts reporting: “Over 200 pupils were able to attend and it was great time for us all to spend together as a year group.

“The weather was very kind and although it rained a little bit at the beginning of the afternoon, it soon brightened up.

“It was especially good to be able to hold this kind of event after a year where we have been unable to do many of the things that Year 7s really enjoy.

“Thanks very much to all the staff who helped to organise and run this event as well to as to the Year 10 Sports Leaders who ran the different sporting activities we got to enjoy!”

The Year 9 event at the start of July was in a similar vein but with a barbecue for more than 150 pupils.

Assistant Head of Year Jess Quick said: “Students were able to enjoy some much needed social time together, to celebrate the end of a difficult year for many.

“The fantastic Year 10 sports leaders organised a football match, a couple of rounders matches and an ultimate frisbee tournament, which many enjoyed, whilst other students preferred to sit on the grass bank and enjoy each other’s company in the glorious sunshine.

“Ms Hategan and Miss Johnson ran a wonderful sweet stall which the students definitely made the most of, Mrs Lanzrein and the sixth form photography ambassadors ran a photobooth and Mr Magan, Mr Anderson and Mr Stirling did a great job on BBQ duty!

“The students also then enjoyed ice-cream before the end of the event.

“It was so lovely to see the Year 9s positive and happy and enjoying socialising with one another, which many of them mentioned that they now no longer take for granted. What a positive way to end the year!”

SPORTS AND SNACKS: Pupils in KS3 had the chance to join their year group’s summer social.

17

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

18

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

Just happy to be back!

BACK IN ACTION: Comberton pupils took part in a cricket tournament, which the A team won.

After more than a year of not being able to provide our popular and extensive after-school programme due to Covid-19 restrictions, PE clubs have finally returned!

Due to many students being out of the routine of regularly enjoying physical activity, the PE department have really enjoyed emphasising the fun that can be had at after-school clubs.

Not only have the traditional clubs such as football, netball and cricket returned but also different clubs

NEW ACTIVITY: Nerf is a popular new addition to the extracurricular programme.

such as Nerf! Nerf is a new alternative activity that has been very popular. Students have enjoyed teaming up to work together to eliminate their opponents.

We are also proud to say that we entered our first tournament since returning to school.

Our mixed Year 7 and 8 cricket team managed to win the Cambourne CC & MindEd Trust Schools Tournament.

It was a fantastic performance from both our A and B teams who even faced each other in a close semifinal play-off.

Our A team reached the final, where they beat

Swavesey by 20 runs and remained undefeated for the whole tournament.

Honourable mentions must go to Ava (7R), who managed to take five wickets in a row! Batting from Tommy (8E) and Joël (7M) ensured Comberton kept the scoring high too.

The fielding was incredibly tight and Toby (8B) took an awesome one-handed diving catch that even Ben Stokes would be proud of.

Now that we have the taste of tournament action, we can’t wait to get back in September and return to regular clubs and fixtures.

Olympics with a twist!

Round-up of the latest news from the South Cambs SSP

On 22nd June, Year 4 pupils in the South Cambs Schools Sports Partnership were asked to ‘give it their best’ at our annual Mini Olympics Event.

In ‘pre-Covid times’ this would have been a day where we all came together at the Cambridge University Athletics Ground to enjoy a range of different sporting activities run by sports leaders from eight local secondary schools.

For obvious reasons we were not able to do this, however we were able to adapt the event so schools could still take part but on their own school premises.

A total of 31 schools and more than 1300 children joined in on the day.

The day was started with a recorded welcome video from Partnership Manager Claire McDonnell, followed by a short video from a special guest, former professional tennis player Jade Windley.

Jade proudly represented Great Britain DANCE MOVES: Pupils learn the dance routine at the Mini Olympics. throughout her career and won 19 professional titles as well as achieving her celebration, coming together and having fun. Schools were also given some lifelong dream of competing in the main draw of the Championships at cross-curriculum ideas to break up the day, ranging from designing their own Wimbledon. mascot to learning about the history of the Olympic or Paralympic Games.

Jade encouraged all the youngsters taking part to give all the activities a go and We have heard lots of positive feedback from the day and although we were not give it their best. The children were then able to join in a high energy Olympic able to all come together in one place, it has been great to hear how schools themed ‘this or that’ warm-up video with the brothers from Tanzii TV. have enjoyed being part of a bigger event.

We provided resource cards for seven sporting activities including Boccia, One school commented: “we have missed playing with other schools, so it was standing long jump, throwing, cricket, target throw, golf and netball. also a great opportunity to feel part of something bigger than our school”.

We also arranged for the children to learn a dance routine presented via video by When we asked for feedback, another replied: “the children loved everything and professional street dancer, Junior Russell, which focused on friendship, want to do it again!”

19

A week of sporting fun

COMBERTON VILLAGE COLLEGE

National School Sports Week was celebrated at Comberton between 21st-25th June.

It was a great week, which saw pupils take part in fun competitions every lunchtime. The tug of war competitions were especially heated!

Pupils across Years 7-10 also took part in sports during active form time- such as cricket, frisbee and capture the flag! The week finished with a ‘sports-based’ nonuniform day. Many pupils showed their support for England in the Euros by wearing their football shirts. We had others choose to spend the day in Gymnastics leotards.

It was a great week for pupils to relax and enjoy some competitions with their year group. Thank you to all involved.

GETTING INVOLVED: Students participate in National School Sports Week activities.

At long last, a chance to lead

The Year 10 Sports Leaders finally had the opportunity to lead their first ‘in person’ sporting events.

They assisted with the Year 7, 8 and 9 summer socials, running games of rounders, football and ultimate frisbee for pupils to take part in.

They were incredibly organised, responsible and confident in their leading. They made a huge difference to the socials and their help was invaluable. A special well done to Poppy (10O), who was outstanding!

LEADING: Year 10 Sports Leaders helped with socials.

20