MVC News Spring 2021

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The News Magazine of Melbourn Village College, an Academy of The Cam Academy Trust

Learning from Lockdown — Page 5

Spring 2021

Fun and games are key!

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Many Melbourn students will know first-hand how joint Head of Languages Frank Fan inspires them to learn Mandarin.

The introduction of the Chinese language five years ago has been so popular at the school that from September it will be available to study at A Level at Comberton Sixth Form, which, like MVC, is part of The Cam Academy Trust.

Mr Fan was recently asked by the Madarin Excellence Programme to share with the The British Council his teaching methods.

He told them about the learning activities and games that are very familiar in his MVC classes — and also his sense of humour.

Here’s what he said: “Mandarin Chinese is not difficult, just different. I believe that anyone with a positive learning attitude can make good progress in Mandarin Chinese language learning.

“Chinese is a tonal language. When we join words and tones together, the rhythm and tone is a bit like rap music.

“Many of my students like the visual aspect of written Chinese. Chinese characters originate from drawings. These origins can be seen in many characters, for example: 日 Sun 月 Moon ON SCREEN: Frank Fan made weekly videos of Mandarin lessons 火 Fire during lockdown including his hobbies. 人 Person There are lots of rules in “When introduced to these characters, many of my students tell me: ‘Sir, it’s like a Chinese language learning. picture and I can see the meaning!’

When writing Chinese “The Chinese language is also logical. Some students can use their imagination characters, pen strokes to figure out the meaning of words, for example: must be done in a certain Rocket 火箭 (literally ‘fire’ and ‘arrow’) order. To give a simple Train 火车 (meaning ‘fire’ and 'vehicle’ — in reference to coal-fuelled trains) example, the number one is Computer 电脑 (literally ‘electric’ and ‘brain’) written with a single Telephone 电话 (the words for ‘electric’ and ‘talking’) horizontal stroke made from “I introduce and reinforce vocabulary in the classroom through learning games. left to right: Some favourites include: the Pyramid Game, Flash Card Game and Bingo Game. 一 one “The pyramid game introduces vocabulary and guides students to build up The number two is formed sentences. by making two horizontal “For example, we could build up this sentence in English: ‘Hobby’ > ‘my hobby’ > strokes: the first stroke is ‘my hobby is to go online’ > ‘my brother’s hobby is to go online’ positioned on top and the As the sentences are formed in Chinese, we build up a pyramid: second stroke is made 爱好 underneath: 我的爱好 二 two 我的爱好是上网。 In class I use a PowerPoint 我哥哥的爱好是上网。 deck with animated I challenge my students to build the biggest pyramid they can!

Chinese characters to In the Flash Card Game, I show Chinese characters on a card and ask my demonstrate how they students to write down the meaning in English. should be written.

This game helps to slowly build up students’ confidence, especially beginners.

I tell my students: ‘If you don’t mind, I will stand behind you like a little dinosaur For the Bingo Game, students learn new vocabulary as their homework. and watch you copying the characters – and I’ll make a little noise if you get it The following week we play the bingo game. wrong.’

I call out the new vocabulary and if a student hears a word featured on their bingo It becomes like a game, a challenge to them. Students can opt out of the game if card, they mark it off. they prefer, but I haven’t had a student do that. Parents are supportive too.

The first student to mark off all the words must call out: ‘zhòng le!’ (‘I won!’)

I tell my class: ‘Today you will follow my rules in writing; tomorrow you can create The winner must tell me the English meaning of the words. your own Chinese signature’.

Higher ability students must also tell me the character in Mandarin. This is a great I bring my sense of humour to lessons. game for differentiation for all year groups.

I think this has helped students and parents to like and respect me. No one has I also bring a unique set of rules to my Chinese language classroom. rejected the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture.

I refer to my classroom door as ‘The Great Wall of China.’ Outside the classroom Throughout lockdown, I’ve been sending weekly videos of me giving a Mandarin is the Chinese lesson. I incorporate my hobbies into the lessons, including cookery, UK; inside my classroom is China. singing, dancing and DIY (do-it-yourself).

Every week, to enter ‘China’, students wait at my door and give me the password I built my own skateboard for one of these video lessons, which sadly broke in Chinese. during my demonstration — but at least it made everyone laugh!

q Leaving Screens Behind — 3 q Year of Highs & Lows — 4 q Lockdown Reflections — 4 q Irritatinbg clichés — 5 q Learning from Lockdown — 5 q ‘Army’ is ‘Dream Team’ — 5 q Year 7 Art — 6 q Year 8 Art — 7 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

q Year 9 Art — 8 q Year 10 Art — 9 q Year 11 Art — 10 q Trust News — 11 q Tailored Support Facility — 12 q Help is Available — 12 q Love of Books Helps — 12 q Food,Glorious Food — 13

q New Officer Joins Team — 13 q Loving Life in Lockdown — 14 q Staff on the Run — 15 q Keeley’s Challenge — 15 q Hannah Hits Bronze — 15 q Fitness February— 15 q Melbourn Sports Centre — 16

Leaving screens behind MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

During lockdown, Assistant Principal John Barnes set his geography classes the task of doing ‘geography away from the screens’ to ensure they took a break.

Pupils were asked to take a picture, which could be a selfie, showing anything to do with geography.

They then had to describe the geography for extra marks. He was delighted with some of the work and pictures he received from pupils and highlighted those from Abigail in Year 10 and Sam in Year 11.

SNAKE SHELTER: helping to protect a declining species.

Safe space for snakes

The picture above is focused on a snake shelter.

It has corrugated iron as a roof for storm shelter with logs and wire keeping the iron off the ground to prevent it from rusting.

Inside are logs, finer twigs and hay to make it more inviting for the snakes.

This shelter is there to provide a safe haven for snakes all year round; this is to help reverse the decreasing population of the species of snake locally found in the area due to roads, habitat degradation and climate change.

The surrounding area also provides the snakes with food to eat as it is a meadow.

All in all this piece of conservation is linked to geography because it helps the environment by helping to sustain a species, it provides people with jobs to put in place and it also provides people with the joy of doing something good and happiness as they can enjoy a balanced walk around the meadows.

Abigail (10 Franklin)

Considering the impact of flooding FLOODED: The bridge between Barrington and Shepreth.

This is a picture of flooding over a footbridge between Barrington and Shepreth.

The river is flowing over the footbridge and has flooded part of the field around it.

The river is normally about a metre below the footbridge.

The river has flooded due to increased amounts of relief rainfall over the past few weeks. Relief rainfall is caused by the UK’s prevailing wind picking up moisture as it is blown across the Atlantic. Once the wind hits the West coast of the UK, it is forced over the mountains and loses energy causing it to condense and precipitate as it is blown further East.

Lots of rainfall and melting snow in the past weeks has not only caused river levels to rise, but has made the ground more saturated. This, along with some concrete due to housing (impermeable rock) near the river, means that when it rains little infiltration occurs and the water flows straight into the river, decreasing lag times.

This area has also been badly flooded because the land directly around the river is a lot lower than it is around other parts of the river. As a result, less rainfall is needed for the water levels to burst the river’s banks.

However, the river is bordered by a few trees alongside one of its banks which would have reduced the severity of the flooding.

Trees absorb water for photosynthesis which reduces through-flow and surface runoff and as a result decreases flooding.

Furthermore, the land to one side of the river is very flat as it is a farmer’s field.

This helps prevent flooding because it means there is a shallower gradient towards the river, increasing lag time and decreasing flood risk.

However, cutting down trees to get a field suitable for crops would have made the flooding worse.

Some social effects of the flooding is that the water stops people from walking across the fields into Shepreth which can negatively impact their mental health.

However, there are plenty of other non-flooded places to walk and you can still get to Shepreth by following the road.

The river has also flooded across the road in places and has the potential to make the roads inaccessible if there is more rainfall.

This would prevent people from going to work which would have a negative economic impact but this would be reduced due to everyone working at home.

An economic effect is that the bridge is now unstable and will need repairs or replacing which will cost money.

This also means that if someone ignores the signs and crosses, they will be at risk and potentially get injured.

A positive environmental effect is that the flooding had partially covered the edge of the farmer’s field which means that it will benefit from the nutrients in the silt.

Overall, the flooding hasn’t done much damage because the land flooded is all low value land and people’s properties are all on higher land that has been untouched.

Sam (11 Darwin)

GEOGRAPHY ALL AROUND US: Some of the other pictures submitted by pupils for Mr Barnes’ geography task.

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Year of highs and lows MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

back to school I had a whole bunch of different teachers It was March 23rd 2020 and all the schools had Students were invited to write their and then we went back into lockdown. been shut down. experiences of lockdown for a Over the lockdowns I think that I have grown as a person.

At the time, I was halfway through Year 7 and I was competition run by the English In the lockdown over Christmas, it was boring because I just about settled in.

Department, who were delighted with had to self-isolate, but I got a lot of stuff done over that When I first heard about Covid-19, I was waiting to go up to Geography. I was with some of my friends and the number and quality of entries. Here time. When I went back to school, I grabbed at the chance we were looking through a news article about it. we print the entries from winner Poppy to see all my friends, which was amazing.

Now on to the sad stuff. During the first lockdown it was a At first, I thought that lockdown was going to last until and the runners-up Jamie and Ben. bit overwhelming because I could not see any friends or about June, but I think that is what all of us thought, family for the first half of it. but then it got worse; the hospitals were filling up with patients and we could not I had a lot of different meltdowns about different things and I think that lots of see family. people had them, but I have a family who are loving and caring to help me along During the three lockdowns that England has had, I have had my ups and downs. the way.

It started off alright. I went to all my online classes. I did most of my work and still So I think that I have learnt a lot through lockdown and that family is the most had time to spend with family. I think the things that have motivated me during important thing.

Poppy (8 Newton) lockdown are baking, musicals and family because even though you could not see family, Zoom was there always. Zoom was like a hero; it was there to see and speak to family and friends.

Now back to what motivated me, baking was one of the things that I got good at over lockdown. In the whole of lockdown, I managed to make my dad’s, grandma’s, and grandad’s birthday cakes. They all loved it.

The summer is one of my most favourite times of the year because it is my birthday, and it is the summer holidays when there is no work and no school.

In my summer holidays I got to go back to the Isle of Wight with my family. We WINNER: Of had an amazing time, even though we had a tiny caravan. the Another thing that kept me motivated was seeing my friends, which was amazing competition because we would spend all the time just in Melbourn. to write When I got back to school it was a whole different experience. It was weird about because I was coming into school from Year 7, but I was a Year 8. When I went lockdown.

RUNNERS-UP: In a competition that attracted a large number of high-quality entries.

Irritating clichés dominate Covid

I don’t want to burst your bubble, but during these challenging times, we’ve all been drowning in lockdown clichés!

Constantly, we are reminded that it is all unprecedented; as we battle with the risks and severe restrictions and wait to be led to safety, by the science.

Clichés rise like the ‘R’ number, every time you turn on the news and it’s a challenge to stay alert, whilst watching it from two metres, if it is safe to do so.

No doubt these clichés will go on as long as the curve needs flattening, but what are the positives about them? Is this the new normal?

You might be quarantined, before having a briefing with someone on a Zoom call on how to keep a safe distance away from the television, in order to not break the TV in annoyance (as you can’t get PPE for a TV).

It feels like we are in the peak of a wave of new lockdown lingo, and it might cause a stratospheric, profit-plunging, global financial crisis, a lot more than six people could handle) if we tried to get rid of them all soon — preferably by 21st June.

At the moment, it’s pretty much impossible to make a road map to steer us through to better times, when we’ll never have to hear again these irritating, overused words.

We may have the new vaccines, but where’s the ticket to freedom away from these Covidiotic phrases?

Jamie (9 Hawking)

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Lockdown reflections

A year ago now, That they told us, they said, Tomorrow you’ll be staying at home.

Not enough warning, Not nearly enough time, They just told us, the lockdown began.

At first, not so bad, An exciting new thing, An escape from the crowds and the noise.

I thought I’d be fine, Thought that it would be fun, ‘It’s no problem,’ I said, and I said.

I found working at home, Not too bad at the start, Not too much, but enough, Not too hard, not too dull.

I found being at home, Not too bad at the start, Not too bored, lots to do, Out each day, on my bike.

But the days dragged on, And the weeks, and the months, In my house, in my room, at my desk.

Bored out of my mind, I had nothing to do, At my desk, in my room, in my house.

At last summer came, And restrictions were eased, At last I could get out of my house.

Hoping that lockdown, Was finally over, But knowing that this hope was in vain.

In September at last, We could go back to school, Back to lessons and friends, Hoping lockdown was done.

Yes, we had to wear masks,

But it wasn’t so bad, Staying distanced apart, Hoping lockdown was done.

No such luck, of course, For when January came, Lockdown was back in our lives again.

Much worse than the first, Due to short winter days.

Hunched at my screen until darkness came.

Each day was the same, And work started to slip, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ I promised.

‘When each day’s the same, What’s the difference’, I said But the next day I said just the same.

So then I got behind, Just one task at a time, I wanted to do them, But I just never did.

Then there were my exams, Were they cancelled, or not?

Just waiting, and waiting, To be told anything.

I tried to get out, On a walk, or bike ride, But the cold and the dark and the rain, Made it just easier, To stay in my house, In my room, at my desk, at my screen.

And at last we’re done, With these lockdowns, I hope, No more being stuck at home, inside.

For if one was bad.

And the second was worse, How on earth can we cope with a third?

Ben (11Franklin)

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

LOCKDOWN HIGHLIGHTS: These included cookery challenges and sending in ‘Healthy Selfies’.

Learning from lockdown Over the Christmas holiday MVC, like schools across the country, was preparing for testing in schools as we returned in January.

As we all remember, that promise of returning to school was suddenly taken away and we returned to lockdown.

However, this lockdown was different. Having reflected on the first lockdown, teachers had been preparing for this eventuality and so, rather than work posted in a diary form, there were live lessons with pupils following their normal timetables but joining from home.

All sorts of new technology was used with staff using visualisers, writing pads and iPad pens to make interactive experiences.

Engagement from pupils was much improved and, while there were obviously limits to what could be done in the circumstances, there were a number of innovations and resulting highlights — Mr Fan’s videos, PE ‘Healthy Selfies’ and Food & Nutrition’s cooking challenges were some memorable aspects, as was some amazing Art work.

Since March 8th we have begun to welcome back the majority of our pupils (of

course, we were open to some all of this term) and it has been really great to see the school fill up over that week and to see how sensibly and maturely the pupils have responded to testing and the enhanced mask requirements.

If only the rest of the population matched them we would be in a much better position!

Our challenge now is to take advantage of the skills we have learned during lockdown and to develop them now that pupils are back in school.

This will be one focus of the cross-Trust staff training day in April.

For me it is vital that there are positives to come out of lockdown and that we capture that learning and use it to improve the in-school experience moving forwards.

We all sincerely hope that schools can now stay open, that in-school restrictions are lifted soon and that we are now securely on track towards a return to the normal bustling and enthusiastic community that makes MVC such a great place.

Simon Holmes, Principal

Volunteer ‘army’ is testing ‘dream team’

TESTING TIMES MADE EASIER: Melbourn’s volunteers helped ensure the initial testing of pupils in school ran smoothly and efficiently.

Testing for Covid at MVC has been like a military operation!

Initially we had to work out how to scale up the testing we had been doing while just a few pupils were in school and find ourselves a venue — we chose the school gym.

Then we needed the ‘army’ of testers, and since the regular army weren’t available, we recruited volunteers from the school community.

Next, we devised a tight schedule for testing that meant we tested everyone three times, 3-5 days apart, and managed to keep pupils who were in school for the first day, apart from those already attending lessons.

So here we are! As I write this, one week in, every pupil has been given at least one opportunity to be tested, some are on their second test. Year 11 have just done their third test and are having their own home-test kits — as were the rest of the pupils by the start of the final week.

The volunteers have been amazing — they have given up their own valuable time to come into school, dress in PPE and perform medical tests on (sometimes) anxious pupils.

The volunteers were tireless and upbeat, and their calm enthusiasm was apparent to everyone — it meant the pupils found them approachable and friendly; some pupils even made sure they had the same tester each time as they enjoyed the chat so much!

The volunteers have been more than an ‘army’ — they have been the ‘Dream Team’!

The pupils, too, have been superb — some started a little anxious about the testing, but soon became confident and practised testers of themselves — something that will be necessary as they go home with kits.

Pupils arrived on time, waited patiently and behaved at all times as the capable young people we know them to be. We are all so glad to have them back in school.

The mass testing in school will soon be over, the Gym returned to its proper use, and our volunteers will return to their normal occupations.

As this happens, I hope that we will all take note of the wonderful community spirit that this has brought out in us all, and that we will all be a stronger community for it.

Niki Smith, Deputy Principal

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Cultural exploration . . .

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Pupils have been working really well this term.

The work they produced during lockdown showed real dedication to learning and creativity. It has been wonderful to have pupils back in the art studios and since returning to school, behaviour in lessons has been excellent.

Year 7 and 8 pupils have been exploring artistic styles from different cultures.

Year 7 have been focusing on Egypt, studying the Egyptian Eye of Horus, designing an Ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life, and creating their own cartouche.

Year 8 have been learning about Australian art, drawing maps and doing research into Aboriginal Australian art and culture, designing their own boomerangs and Rainbow Serpent – which is an animal in the Dreamtime or creation stories, that

many Aboriginal Australians believe created the mountains, rivers and lakes.

Having completed this topic, they are now researching the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, looking at his amazing stained-glass work and watercolour designs.

Pupils have presented their research in a variety of creative ways including handwriting and painting a poster.

Year 9 have done a mixture of artists’ research and observational drawings of both human and animal eyes.

They have studied the incredibly vibrant eye paintings of Svenja Jӧdicke's who uses rich, bright colours with drip effects, which the pupils have been really inspired by.

Year 9 have also been studying the work of M C

Escher, completing a tonal study of Escher’s ‘Eye’ print from 1946, with extension work to segment the eye image and draw in different media.

Year 10 and 11 have been working on individual projects based around the subjects of Wonders of Nature and Face of Humanity.

They have been doing their own research into the human face and this has included developing their own response to the eyes in a variety of exciting creative and technically advanced ways.

The pupils work independently on their own selected theme, looking at portrait artists for inspiration and responding with their own observational work showing a development of higher-level art skills. Mrs Heeks and Mrs Ward have been really impressed with pupils’ commitment and dedication to their studies.

Ye a r 7 : F o c u s o n E g y p t i a n A r t

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Ye a r 8 : F o c u s o n A u s t r a l i a n A r t

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Ye a r 9 : F o c u s o n E y e s

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Ye a r 1 0 : G C S E P r o j e c t s

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Ye a r 11 : G C S E P r o j e c t s

Taking an art break!

Students in school during lockdown were able to join Mrs Heeks' art club during a creative break from online learning.

They went to the art studio to produce their own trainer, sports kit and backpack designs based on popular culture.

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GETTING ARTY: Pupils in school were given the chance to take a screen break in the art studio.

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.

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

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Help is available for all who need it MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

It goes without saying that the events of the last year have been unprecedented.

The pressures experienced by all parts of the community have been many and varied.

We are conscious that pupils and families who are a part of MVC may have been affected by such issues, be it separation from family members, dealing with illness and death, losing incomes and/or jobs or simply trying to access and complete home learning.

Pupils will have different experiences of the pandemic.

They will also have varying levels of coping skills and resilience in dealing with those experiences. As teachers and parents, we need to have an open mind about what pupils may be going through and how they will be coping.

Supporting pupils during the pandemic will draw on many of the skills we use day-to-day to provide emotional and academic advice and guidance.

Children and young people will respond in different ways to challenging experiences.

To support pupils at MVC with their mental health, our counselling service at school continued to run throughout lockdown and remains available to those who require support. Please contact jbarnes@melbournvc.org for more information.

Pupils can also access wellbeing support at Melbourn Village College by emailing MELPupilWellbeing@melbournvc.org This email address can also be used by parents/carers to request support, help and guidance for their child.

The email is monitored every morning during term time and a member of the Pastoral Liaison team will respond to you as soon as possible. You will also receive an auto-generated acknowledgement giving details of how to access support in an emergency. l During lockdown, online technology was vital in allowing us to speak to the whole school at once, despite the fact that they certainly wouldn’t fit in the school hall (even without social distancing!).

None of this would have been possible without the kind donations and support of the Meldreth Screenbank and other local volunteers who have helped provide IT equipment for our families. These donations, along with the hard work and support of our parents, have led to the very high levels of pupil engagement.

Tailored support facility

Following the recent redevelopment of the old PE classroom and offices, Alternative Provision (AP) at MVC now has a dedicated classroom space in the school.

The new provision will be opening in stages over the coming months with the facility being fully operational by September 2021.

AP is overseen by a dedicated team of staff who provided tailored support to a small number of students who struggle to access a full-time school curriculum.

It complements Student Support and the Cabin by providing support to those students without diagnosed special needs and those whose difficulties might be temporary, including students whose mental health creates barriers to full-time schooling.

The aim of AP is to ensure students can attend as many mainstream lessons as possible with their peers whilst accessing the support they need to enable this to happen.

Our subject teachers will also be able to visit AP to provide high-quality, specialist small group or 1-1 teaching, providing continuity alongside lessons delivered by the AP staff.

Moving forwards, the developments in digital and remote learning that we have made during the Coronavirus pandemic mean that joint working between AP centres across the Trust has become much more feasible, unlocking the potential

ALTERNATIVE PROVISION: Now has a dedicated classroom.

to provide AP students across the Trust with high-quality, tailored support and interventions to help them be successful.

Sarah Holmes Curriculum Co-Ordinator for Alternative Provision

Love of books helps with lifelong learning INVENTIVE: Pupils used potatoes and other craft supplies to make book characters.

Students in KS3 have celebrated World Book Day by reading to siblings and got creative by making book characters out of potatoes and other inventive means.

They have been reading lots of books and these are their top four recommendations: Maze Runner by James Dashner, The Beast of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams, Lady

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Midnight by Cassandra Clare and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque.

Reading for pleasure is a fantastic life skill and can help foster lifelong learning.

In addition to celebrating World Book Day, Year 7 have been busy creating a book blog which has been growing steadily during lockdown with some great reviews being added, especially over

the holiday period.

The site includes access to a selection of free audiobooks and a recommended reading list.

One pupil read and reviewed five books over Christmas.

Here’s the link to Year 7 book guide: https://mvcy7bookguide.wordpress.com/

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Food, glorious food!

CREATIVE COOKING: Pupils were encouraged to try different types of cooking and baking including a pancake competition.

Pupils at Melbourn have been perfecting their cooking skills – excellent lessons for life – during lockdown.

Head of Art, Food and Technology Joanne Giles offered a range of different options for pupils based on food and nutrition and the results looked amazing.

Each week she provided a ‘Recipe of the Week’ for home cooks in Years 7-10 to try and they could also watch it being prepared on her YouTube Channel.

Some of the delicious photographic submissions included scones, banana bread, cheesecake and focaccia.

Miss Giles also encouraged pupils to have fun with cooking and baking or just to show great styling and meal presentation. This led to some pupils cooking once a week for their family who enjoyed a sit-down meal together — and dragged everybody off their screens! Some recipients were even lucky enough to get birthday cakes.

There was also a Pancake Challenge held over half-term, where pupils had the choice of making their own sweet or savoury pancake, which could be American or crepe style.There were some very creative entries with Sophia (9 Newton) taking top spot with her ‘Very Hungry PRIZE PANCAKES: The winning entry in the Pancake Challenge.

Caterpillar’-themed entry. destressing as it generates ‘feel-good’ hormones called endorphins which can lift Cookery was also the theme for many students when they were asked to focus on mood, boost self-esteem and create a sense of identity and achievement. their own wellbeing one Wednesday afternoon in lockdown and do something Pupils were asked to email pictures of what they chose to do, and these included creative. very creative cookery items.

Being creative and expressing oneself is known to help with relaxation and

New officer joins team

Welcome back SPECIAL DELIVERY: A crate of daffodils.

A huge thanks to manager Dean Bullock, of Sainsbury’s at Eddington, whose staff delivered a crate of daffodils to help us brighten up the school for everybody’s return on March 8th.

Melbourn has a new Pastoral Liaison Officer for Elswehere in the school there have also been Child Protection. changes. The site team are delighted that the Kerry Sage has joined the team after spending refurbishment of a third set of pupil toilets and the past 16 years as a geography teacher in an upgrade to a second set of changing rooms Staffordshire and Cambridgeshire. have now been completed.

Mrs Sage’s arrival has co-incided with some Coupled with that work, seven new water room changes along the administration corridor. fountain/bottle filling stations have also been If you need to chat or you would like some help installed thanks to a Zero Carbon Communities or support you will find Mrs Deadman (Pastoral Grant, which Green Group pupils applied for Liaison Officer for Mental Health) and Mrs Tidby themselves, helped by teacher Liz Neville.

(Pastoral Liaison Officer for Attendance) in the Another green development has been the KS4 office (fifth on planting of a new the left). Mrs Daly tree by the Willow (Pastoral Liaison Lawn. Shire Trees Officer for Pupil not only donated Premium and Young the new tree but also planted it in Carers Champion) January. and Mrs Sage The Alternative (Pastoral Liaison Provision (AP) is Officer for Child now located in the Protection) are in old PE classroom the KS3 office (third and PE Offices, on the left). and the old Police Ashley Price has Station is now the also started at MVC PE Resources as the new IT NEW RECRUITS: Kerry Sage has joined the Centre.

Technician. pastoral team and Ashley Price works in IT.

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Loving life in lockdown

With everyone spending more time behind their screens during lockdown, Melbourn pupils and staff were encouraged to join the South Cambs School Sports Partnership’s ‘Heathy Selfie’ campaign during January — and you responded brilliantly as the pictures on this page show.

There was no doubt how much fun you had getting up and moving in the sunshine, in the snow and even inside the house during the winter.

Taking a break and having some fresh air is so important for mental and physical health that SCSSP followed up with their Spring into Action challenges which we hope you have been enjoying.

However you choose to exercise — a gentle walk or pushing your body to the limit — just don’t stop now that school has restarted.

Get Active, Have Fun, Feel Better!

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Staff on the run!

A team of Melbourn staff are taking part in the ‘Run Everyone’ event – and raising money for charity at the same time.

The event, organised by the team behind the hugely successful Cambridge Half Marathon, enables participants not only to get out and get active and run with a buddy but also encourages them to take part in six challenges along the way.

They are running live leaderboards for the most travelled team, the fastest halfmarathon team (four people), the most members of a team, the most travelled individual, the fastest individual half-marathon and the biggest fundraisers.

And while Melbourn’s small team of 12 does not expect to be challenging the leaders, they have set other goals.

They set a target of running approximately 800km between them and each runner planned to do a half-marathon on one day during March.

They are on course to smash the first of those, having reached 782km collectively midway through the month. You can follow their progress here: https://www.resultsbase.net/event/5669/app Team MC, led by PE teacher Richard Barlow, comprises Deputy Principal Niki Smith and Assistant Principal Euan Willder as well as Anna Ghale, Joanne Giles, Nicola Patel, Jeanette Dyer, Katherine Rolt, Ivana Stanley, Andrew Kennedy, Charlotte Joyce, and Tom Fung They are also raising money for The Edmund Trust and by mid-month were approaching the £500 mark.

The Edmund Trust works to provide lifelong opportunities and create positive lifestyles for people to be equal and active members of the community.

Eddie’s, the operating division of The Edmund Trust, runs services that value and support people with a learning disability, their families and carers.

In 2018 Eddie’s supported 670 children, young people and adults with learning disabilities and their families and carers across Cambridgeshire.

Mr Barlow said: “We are excited to be back in school again and to be taking part in the ‘Run Everyone’ challenge. We’re a small team and have entered to raise

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

POUNDING THE PAVEMENTS: Melbourn’s staff team of runners are raising money for charity as part of the ‘Run Everyone’ event.

money for a good cause.

“Don’t be surprised if you see some of our MVC staff running team out running in the village after-school, socially distanced and in pairs only, of course!”

Please support MVC Staff Running Team to raise funding for The Edmund Trust: MVC Staff Running Team fundraising for The Edmund Trust (Eddie’s) (JustGiving.com)

Keeley rises to challenge

UP AND DOWN: And still smiling through the squats challenge.

Year 10 student Keeley has raised more than £1500 for a local charity after completing a month-long challenge.

She took on the formidable task of doing 50 squats a day throughout February to help Home-Start Royston, Buntingford and South Cambridgeshire.

And she was thrilled to raise an impressive £1,672 for the Meldreth-based charity which has been supporting families locally for the last 35 years.

Home-Start helps families with children under nine-years who are struggling with a range of issues, supporting parents to cope, improve

Fitness February . . .

The PE Department set pupils a range of challenges to help boost fitness in February.

All entries gained an achievement point and there were plenty of takers — among staff as well as pupils!

The first challenge was to run a mile in the fastest possible time with the best in each year being achieved by Emily (7Franklin), Alexander (8Hawking), Joseph (9Lewis), Daisy (10Newton) and Gethin (11Darwin).

Assistant Principal Euan Willder has been identified as a ‘running machine’ by the PE Department after posting a time of 6.07 minutes — which is around 10mph!

Next up was a cycling challenge over 10km (six miles) and could be done outside on the roads when the icy conditions permitted or inside on rollers or an exercise bike.

The overall winner was Isabel (7Franklin) and congratulations also went to Poppy (8Newton), Olivia (9Franklin), GOING Casey NOWHERE (9Lewis) FAST: and Gethin Pupils (11Darwin) were able for their to cycle fast times.

10km without leaving home.

their confidence and build better lives for their children.

Keeley and her family chose the charity because they wanted a local charity which helps local people and because Home-Start is already supported by WomenSing, a ladies’ choir that Keeley belongs to.

Having raised money for various charities in the past, the family thought adding a charity angle to the challenge would help keep Keeley motivated to maintain the fitness regime she had started with her older sister. And what a success it was. Well done Keeley.

Hannah hits the bronze

Year 9 Hannah is one of the East’s sharp shooters.

The MVC pupil, who is in 9 Franklin, finished third in the intermediate class at the regional round of British Shooting’s Schools Pistol Championships.

In her first year at that level, which mean she had to shoot onehanded at a distance of 10 metres, Hannah did enough to go on to represent the East of England, and MVC, at the next round.

MEDAL WINNER: Hannah took However, due to lockdown it was bronze in the intermediate class decided that the competition would at the Schools Pistol Champs. not continue this year.

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

MELBOURN SPORTS CENTRE news )RU WKRVH RI \RX ZKR GRQ¶W DOUHDG\ NQRZ ZH KDYH

A state-of-the-art fitness suite offering a variety of membership schemes A 20-metre swimming pool (kept ever so slightly warmer than most!)

A comprehensive swimming lesson programme, catering for all ages and abilities Upgraded multisports courts for hire including tennis, football and squash courts Water sports courses and activities Traditional and modern exercise classes Access to Melbourn Village College sports hall and gymnasium for activities such as trampolining, badminton and basketball Supervised sports and pool parties

SUMMER / AUTUMN / WINTER REVIEW Like most businesses, life has been very difficult for us this year. But when we have been able to operate and with the support of the local community, we were able to offer a variety of activities to keep everyone fit and active during these unprecedented times. Even with strict COVID- SUHYHQWDWLYH PHDVXUHV ZH¶YH VWLOO been able to offer our usual activities such as swimming lessons, aqua fit, general swims and Fitness Suite, though this has been a challenge!

We were also able to run our popular holiday activities over the summer holidays and October Half Term, as well as our Christmas activity days too, where children were treated to swimming, outdoor activities and creative crafts. We also teamed up with Football Fun Factory, who ran their Soccer Camps during both holidays too. All went down well!

We welcomed Cambridge Swimming Club to the centre over the summer, as well as Royston Netball Club in autumn. We are continuing to work closely with Melbourn Dynamos, Comberton Gymnastics Club, Meridian Triathlon Club, Royston Archery and various martial art groups on site.

Finally, we have seen a welcome increase in the booking of Jazzercise, who are now hiring the gymnasium for three sessions a week.

MAY, JUNE, JULY ± /(7¶6 +23( 635,1* %5,1*6 %ETTER TIMES AT MSC! Under current Government guidelines we are hoping to be able to reopen the Sports Centre from Monday 12th April, offering a variety of activities throughout the spring and early summer months, with something for the whole community to get involved with. Please note: we are still having to operate on a pre-booking system for swimming sessions until further notice.

SPRING INTO ACTION & GET FIT WITH MSC We hope to have plenty to offer everyone this Spring and Summer, even with COVID-19 safety measures! So why not come along and get fit and healthy ± both mentally and physically ± DW \RXU ORFDO VSRUWV FHQWUH" 7KHUH¶V ZDWHU DHURELFV DQG 6ZLP Clinic to enjoy (returning in May) DORQJ ZLWK WKH XVXDO VZLPPLQJ VHVVLRQV ,I µGU\¶ DFWLYLWLHV DUe more your thing, then we have our full Fitness Suite open for business with pocket-friendly payment options to suit all users. 7KHUH¶UH also badminton courts available to hire, and with the warmer months now upon us, tennis courts too!

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN We hope to be able offer our May Half Term holidays, which we anticipate will be very popular, so please ensure you get your places booked as early as possible to avoid disappointment. $QG ZLWK WKH VXPPHU KROLGD\V QRW WRR IDU DZD\ LW¶V QRW WRR HDUOy or too late to start planning your summer sports. We are hoping to be able to offer a variety of activities to choose from, including our Ofsted Registered Playscheme (The Kidz Factor), Sport Taster Sessions and Swimming Crash Course. Also available are RXU YHU\ SRSXODU &KLOGUHQ¶V Sports Camps, always a fun way to try out both mainstream and specialist activities.

You may like to bring the children along to our Family Fun sessions in the swimming pool (pre-booking essential).

We do have a few spaces available on our Pre-School swimming lesson programme; at the moment, we can take children from the age of two years old due to one parent going into the water as well (as per COVID-19 contact regulations). So please get in touch via info@mc-sport.co.uk for more information or to book your slot.

THE PERFECT PRESENT! With )DWKHU¶V 'D\ just round the corner and some people limited as to where they can shop, how about buying a loved one the gift of fun and fitness? We have some great offers on at present for the facility in general or just our competitively priced membership schemes for the MSC Fitness Suite, which houses the latest in gymnasium equipment, including C.V machines fitted with audio visual technology. This could solve your problems of what to buy a loved one this year, or you could just treat yourself! (We all deserve it!!!)

COMING IN 2021 ± A BRAND NEW ASTRO TURF FACILITY! With the wonderful news that Melbourn Village College have secured funding for a brand new full-sized Astro Turf pitch, we are looking forward to helping this become operational in 2021 and arranging bookings for this brilliant facility. For more details or to book your slot, please contact the centre.

For further details on memberships or any of our activities, please call 01763 263313 or go online at www.mc-sport.co.uk. You can also follow us on our Facebook page (melbournsports).

We look forward to seeing you this year!

Melbourn Sports Centre, The Village College, The Moor, Melbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 6EF 01763 263313

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