MVC News Spring 2020

MVC NEWS www.melbournvc.org

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Spring 2020

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

Snow Much Fun — Page 9

New staff join college MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Melbourn’s senior leadership team (SLT) is expanding to keep pace with the growing numbers of students at the college.

Niki Smith, who has spent this year on secondment from fellow Cam Academy Trust school, Comberton Village College, has been confirmed as the new Deputy Principal, after taking over from Regina Lawrence in September. She will continue to focus on Teaching and Learning, as well as Assessment and Reporting.

She, Principal Simon Holmes and Assistant Principal

q Trust Update — Page 3 q Top Poetry Tips — Page 4 q Dickens brought to Life — Page 4 q Students Excel — Page 4 q Dress to Impress — Page 5

John Barnes will be joined on the SLT by two new Assistant Principals.

Joanne Boniface, from Barclay Academy, Stevenage, joins the team at Easter, with Euan Willder, currently Head of Science at Comberton, joining in September.

Together they will oversee pastoral care and support with school improvement. Their appointment will allow Mr Barnes to focus more closely on alternative provision.

Between them, the posts attracted 50 applications, reflecting the growing reputation of the college in the

ADDITIONS: Deputy Principal Niki Smith (far left) and Assistant Principals Joanne Boniface and Euan Willder. local area, and indeed further afield.

Mr Holmes said: “We are delighted to be able to announce these new appointments from two very high quality fields. Our new colleagues will bring knowledge and expertise from their current schools that we can assimilate into MVC. “It signals the start of an exciting time at the school and our intention to drive the college forwards and to make improvements for the benefit of all our students. ”

q Grant Success — Page 5 q Clothes aid Learning — Page 5 q A Taste of ‘Big School’ — Page 6 q Spectacular Science — Page 6 q GCSE Art — Page 6

q MFL round-up — Page 7 q SCSSP Round-Up — Page 8 q Snow Much Fun — Page 9 q Sports News — Pages 10-11 q Melbourn Sports Centre — Page 12

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New Principle is added

THE CAM ACADEMY TRUST NEWS

The Cam Academy Trust has added a Sixth Principle to lie at the core of what we believe about education and the sort of education that is provided in all the Trust’s schools.

From the outset, the Trust suggested that five fundamental principles lie at the heart of what we seek in all schools involved in the Trust: Educational Excellence, Comprehensive Education, Community-based Schools, Partnering with others, and International Education. These sum up how we seek to work and the sort of education that might be expected in our schools.

Within all of this, and perhaps especially within the key statement of ‘Excellence for All’ (a summary of our educational philosophy), we have always taken a broad view of education. This is now being formally stated as a further Principle in its own right: The Broad Education Principle.

It is considered to be so important as part of what we mean by educational excellence that we need to acknowledge it in its own right.

So we are very clear that educational experience in all of our schools should be broadly, and therefore not too narrowly, based.

It must include quality provision in areas such as the Arts and Sport and Physical Education. It means a genuine emphasis on the personal development of young people, the importance of creativity and the significance of developing as a citizen.

All these things are part of a proper, broad education. This does not all detract from academic excellence in our schools. It enhances and indeed supports it.

In practice, this may simply re-confirm the significance and importance of the sort of great educational experiences that are regularly reported about our schools in such publications as end-of-term magazines and newsletters.

It means the following activities and opportunities are fundamental to really great education rather than nice ‘added extras’: l Duke of Edinburgh programmes with mass participation from pupils. These provide wonderful and powerful educational experiences for all involved.

BROAD EDUCATION: Sport (above), productions and trips and exchanges (below) are all important features.

l Whole School Productions that provide memorable and valuable educational experiences in a range of roles and responsibilities. l Trips and exchanges both within our country and overseas. These provide broad and powerful education to all involved (as well as being central to our International Principle). l Sporting fixtures and activities that do so much to develop young people positively.

And of course, there are many more.

It is great that, the Broad Education Principle is so clearly demonstrated in our schools even before it is formally stated.

Stephen Munday, CEO

Trust focus on health and well-being The Cam Academy Trust has identified a focus on improving student and staff mental health and well-being.

Work began on the project in January with two members of staff seconded to focus on this area. Zach Beamish (Comberton Village College) and Annabelle Harder (Gamlingay Village Primary) successfully interviewed for the secondment and have begun their work by meeting members of staff with oversight of wellbeing across the Trust.

Evidence from national and local data suggests that improving well-being should be at the heart of every school to ensure that their students achieve their full potential.

At the end of February, Zach and Annabelle attended the Youth Sport Trust Conference at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Zach presented with the Cambridge United’s mental health officer Darryl Coakley on the work

that the club has done with Comberton Village College and other Trust secondary schools.

The conference was useful for finding out about how other Trusts up and down the country are looking to enhance mental health and well-being

KEYNOTE TALK: Rachael McKenzie.

provision.

The focus at this stage in the project has been to investigate the superb well-being provision that so many students and staff have in their respective schools.

The findings from these school visits are being shared with Heads from across the Trust to help them consider different ways to address about the question of improving well-being.

Supporting the introduction of the ‘Sixth Principle’, the project will also work with schools to develop their curricula on well-being.

Part of the Trust training day in April will engage with the question of how everyone working in schools can contribute to the positive mental health of students and is scheduled to include a keynote talk from world Thai boxing and British boxing champion Rachael McKenzie, now a mentor with the Youth Sport Trust, on mental health.

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

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Understanding poetry MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Gathering a group of 500 15 and 16-year-old students from an assortment of schools is no mean feat, but as part of this year’s Poetry Live! event in Cambridge, Year 11 students from Melbourn Village College were lucky enough to be able to hear about the process of writing poetry from current and ex-Poet Laureates and Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry award winners.

Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, Owen Shear, Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker and John Agard offered their thoughts on poetry as an art form, as well as some of the poetry that Year 11 were studying before the cancellation of their English Literature GCSE exams.

Students particularly enjoyed the performances of the poets and listened to the discussions around how the poets had been inspired to write their poems.

MVC students also had the opportunity to ask the poets questions, with Imtiaz Dharker's work being discussed at length.

The event finished with John Agard performing his poetry and entertaining all those present with his performance. He also had some thoughts and wisdom to offer about the study of language and history in a society that doesn't always present the histories of those like him.

From a practical perspective (before Coronovirus struck), a chief examiner also offered some insights on addressing questions on poems, exam technique and poetry analysis.

Students found these insights particularly helpful and have used them in lessons since.

Many thanks to Miss King for organising this and thanks to the English Department and Miss Kilby for enabling most Year 11 students to attend.

Dickens brought to life

PERFORMER: John Agard entertains the audience with his poetry.

Year 10s were treated to a fantastic performance of Dickens’ novella, ‘A Christmas Carol’ by the Quantum Theatre Group.

Undoubtedly, this will have helped students to consolidate their understanding of the classic novella, which forms part of their English Literature GCSE. The talented actors and actresses really brought the story to life for our students, who were engaged from start to finish.

The English department would like to thank the Quantum Theatre group for their gripping performance and also thank our Year 10 students who were exceptionally well-behaved, courteous and focused throughout the performance.

SHOW TIME: Year 10 watch a Dickens novella.

Students excel in national competitions UNITED KINGDOM MATHEMATICS TRUST INTERMEDIATE CHALLENGE

This term our strongest Mathematicians in Years 9, 10 and 11 took part in the National 2020 UK Maths Intermediate Challenge. This very demanding competition requires students to answer 25 multiple choice questions such as: The positive integers m and n are such that 10 x 2m = 2n + 2n+2.

What is the difference between m and n?* When the results came in, we had a fantastic outcome with 13 Bronze, five Silver and seven Gold certificates.

The students who achieved a Gold certificate will now continue to the next round of competition. Top scorer Ben (Year 10) goes on to the Hamilton Olympiad, with Sam , Gethin, Lucy (Year 10), Victoria and Ben

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(Year 11) going into the Pink Kangaroo challenge and Henry (Year 9) going to the Grey Kangaroo event. Good luck to them.

Next term we also have our best Year 7 and 8 mathematicians entering the Junior version of this challenge and we also wish them well.

John Holder, Head of Maths *The answer is 1

OXFORD COMPUTING CHALLENGE

More than 50 Melbourn students from all years were invited to participate in the Oxford Computing Challenge after excelling at an earlier competition.

The students — 21 from Year 7, 17 from Year 8, 14 from Year 9, one from Year 10 and two from Year 11 – were only able to participate in the University of Oxford competition if they had scored exceptionally well at the Bebras Challenge earlier in the year.

They had to be in the top 10% of scores in the country to take the second challenge. The Oxford Computing Challenge involved completing as many computer logical questions of varying difficulty as they could in 60 minutes — they were awaiting the results when the magazine went to print.

Head of Computer Science Tom Fung said: “It is brilliant to see so many of our students achieving so highly this year.”

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Dress to impress help POP-UP SHOP: Melbourn’s library has been transformed to allow donated ball gowns to be displayed.

A project to help Year 11 students struggling with the cost of their leavers’ prom has really taken off.

What started with Pastoral Liaison Officer Caroline Deadman hoping to collect a few ball gowns to allow those who could not otherwise afford to join the celebrations to take part, has blossomed into a major project.

Melbourn now has a selection of more than 30 stunning dresses which students can borrow if they want to.

And the college is now looking to next year offer any dresses that have not been borrowed to students at other schools in The Cam Academy Trust — Comberton and Cambourne Village Colleges and St Peter’s School in Huntingdon.

New Deputy Principal Niki Smith, who joined Melbourn on secondment from Comberton in September before being offered the role permanently from Easter, backed the initiative, using her contacts to increase the collection.

Science teacher Tracey Mayhead is the college’s seamstress extraordinaire and has made herself available for alterations ahead of the gala evening when and if it takes place.

The college’s first aid room doubled as a changing room and the library turned temporarily into a ball gown shop for Year 11 girls.

Mrs Deadman said: “We have been amazed at the support from the local community. Local dry cleaners have come on board to support with reduced dry cleaning costs and some free dress cleans.

“We, as a school, are overwhelmed at the enthusiasm the local community has shown in supporting this little idea and we look forward to being able to expand next year and invite our trust schools to join in.”

Anybody who wants to donate a dress, shoes or other Prom wear or can help in any other way should contact Mrs Deadman on cdeadman@melbournvc.org

Cutting plastic usage

Students, Alice, Ben, Grace and Gabrielle were successful in their bid for a Zero Carbon Communities grant from the South Cambridge District Council.

The money will purchase water refill stations for the college that will be

accessible not only by the students but also the wider community who use the facilities for evening classes and sport.

The aim is to encourage more people to use refillable water bottles to reduce single use plastic.

SAFETY FIRST: Students learned about the uses of different clothing, including for the on-site builders.

Lots to learn from clothing

As part of Melbourn’s bespoke learning provision — Learning for Life and Work, students have been exploring other cultures and their customs and clothing.

They have also been learning about safety clothing, who may need to wear it and why — with builders on-site at MVC this was particularly relevant.

The students have had great fun dressing up and exploring traditional clothing from around the world. LEARNING ZONE: Year 5 spent a day in lessons at MVC.

SUCCESS: Students won a grant to fund water refill stations at the college.

A taste of ‘big school’

The second Year 5 day took place in February with pupils from Meldreth, Melbourn and Fowlmere getting the chance to experience life at MVC. The pupils took part in lessons in Modern Foreign Languages, Science, PE, Drama and English.

Feedback suggested that they all had a great time experiencing what it will be like to be at secondary school when they start in September 2021.

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Spectacular science!

SCIENCE WEEK: Students were able to make ‘Rainbow Flames’, cook an egg using just a tealight and watch a rat dissection.

Science Week at MVC started with a bang this year. Students’ rockets took to the skies on the back field and others were able to make ‘rainbow flames’!

A few non-squeamish students came to the rat

dissection while lots more attended the first Virtual Reality lunchtime — with thanks to staff for bringing in their own headsets.

KS3 students were challenged to fully cook an egg using only a tea light (NOT an easy task at all!) while

GCSE artwork taking shape

Students studying GCSE art have had a very busy term.

Year 11s starting work on what should have been their final exam preparations, selecting questions set in previous years by the exam board.

They have been researching artists and other cultures and are producing their own observational experimental responses inspired by their chosen artists.

Year 10 selected their own topic from a list they were given and have researched artists, produced observational drawings and photographic responses and experimented with ideas for what would have been this year’s exam piece.

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everyone took part in an online competitve Science quiz.

Winners were happy to receive their Creme Eggs as prizes.

Dr Wilson

Chance to practise

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Melbourn students have enjoyed spending time with youngsters from Spain — giving them a chance to practise their language skills.

To begin, 10 children from La Marina School in Bezana, Cantabria, visited the college and spent the morning with students from Years 9, 10 and 11 doing ‘speed dating’ in Spanish and English.

Miss Correa prepared a fantastic lesson for Year 9 pupils to talk about holidays and Year 11 practised questions they will use in their Speaking Examination in the summer.

The Spanish guests stayed for lunch before heading into Cambridge.

The following week Year 8 students met their counterparts from Sagrada Familia School, Santander. Working with 8 Granada, they introduced themselves in Spanish and English in another speed dating activity.

Students in 8 Zaragoza used QR codes to prepare messages for the Spanish youngsters — they used video, text, photos and voice recording. They saw the responses from the Spanish in their next Spanish lesson.

The Spanish students also had the chance to experience a Mandarin lesson after Mr Fan volunteered to give them a taster session.

WORKING TOGETHER: Melbourn students with two groups of Spanish visitors.

Happy returns . . .

Teachers share their expertise

PRESENTATION: Ivana Stanley gave a talk on the use of QR codes.

Joint Head of Languages Ivana Stanley attended the Language World Conference in Manchester. She presented a poster giving details of how she uses QR Codes in Modern Languages lessons. As well as presenting, she attended many useful seminars led by other Modern Languages teachers and will bring back new teaching ideas to share with her colleagues in the department.

She was also thrilled to meet a former student from another school who is now a Spanish teacher herself.

This was not my first visit back to MVC but, for me, it was the most striking.

I left Melbourn Village College in June 2018, initially for a hip replacement operation, but ultimately it was ahead of an expected move up to Scotland.

For a number of years, I had participated in an educational visit to Comillas in Cantabria, northern Spain under the very charismatic leadership of Jose, our Spanish friend.

Those visits were packed full of gastronomy, regional culture, language appreciation and general great fun, including visits to local attractions and local schools where MVC students were able to put into practice and improve their Spanish speaking abilities.

When I moved to the Scottish Borders I was ideally placed to begin working with Jose to provide the same sort of programme that Cantabrian students enjoyed in Cambridge.

I was in Cambridge because Links into Spanish, our company, had two schools visiting concurrently and it was my privilege to bring one of those schools, from Santander, to spend a major part of the day working alongside MVC students.

I was proud of the way that MVC students conducted themselves and were not overawed by the ability of the Spanish students. In Spain, children very often begin to learn English from the age of five so are more advanced in their learning of the foreign language than their UK counterparts. However, the MVC students did very well.

For me, it was like coming home to a school that I was only part of for about six years, but those memories will linger for a long time.

I have taught in a number of schools in my time, but none come close to the commitment that I always felt at MVC. Members of staff who give up their free time on days like these are the reason why I loved the college.

Their work for and support of the students is something I have not experienced anywhere else.

Searching for and enjoying pastures new RETURN VISIT: Mike Sunderland back is always exciting, but ‘coming home’ is at Melbourn Village College always fulfilling.

Mike Sunderland

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Record numbers join in Round-up of the latest news from the South Cambs SSP

More than 60 children with additional needs, which could be physical, learning, sensory, or a combination of these took part in the annual Adapted Multi Sport Competition.

The morning was full of activity and excitement with children, from a record primary 12 schools, competing in pairs as they rotated all around four different sports: Polybat, Boccia, Table Cricket and New Age Kurling.

For many of the children this was their first experience of representing their school and taking part in competitive sport so the event was very much about the children having an enjoyable experience and trying out some new sports, with an element of competition added in.

Children played matches and scored points on NEW AGE KURLING: One of the activities. each activity and these were added together to close but the four top placed pairs on the day were give each pair a total and determine the winners.

After all the activities had taken place the finishing as follows: Kaileb and Benny (Histon Juniors), Kevin positions were announced, and they were extremely and Eleni (Bourn), Eric and Henry (Bar Hill) and

Harston move up

Teams of Year 3 and 4 gymnasts from 18 South Cambs primary schools took part in the annual School Games Gymnastics Competition at Comberton Village College.

The top two schools earned the chance to represent South Cambs School Sports Partnership at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough School Games Spring Festival.

The mixed teams of six children all had to perform a vault and then either a floor or body management routine with each performance judged and given a score out of 10. Each child’s score in both disciplines was then combined to give an overall team score.

Fewer than seven points separated the top two teams but defending champions Linton Heights again took top spot with Harston & Newton A improving from fifth last year for second ahead of their B team, Coton A, Haslingfield A and Dry Drayton.

Scarlett from Coton was second in the individual competition, sandwiched between two Linton pupils, 0.1 behind the winner and 0.1 ahead of third.

Qualified young judges from Comberton, Cambourne, Linton and Swavesey Village Colleges did an excellent job in scoring the performances of all of the competitors, keeping the competition running smoothly and encouraging and supporting the young gymnasts.

Spirit of the Games awards were nominated by the sports leaders and given out to those children who strongly demonstrated self-belief and passion in their performances with the following children among those receiving recognition — Jassiyah (Coton), Annabelle (Monkfield Park) and Felix (Haslingfield).

Claire McDonnell, South Cambs School Games Organiser said: “It was another great competition. It’s nice to offer children the opportunity to represent their school and compete in a more artistic type of event such as gymnastics.

“It always amazes me how well the children perform under quite intense pressure, it is so quiet in the gym and there are lots of other children, staff and parents watching on. All the children did exceptionally well and should be proud of themselves.

“The young judges also did an exceptional job; we couldn’t have run the competition without them.”

WARM-UP: Youngsters prepare for the gymnastics competition.

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Peyton and Miles (Linton Heights) These four pairs will now represent South Cambs SSP and compete as a team at the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough School Games Summer Festival scheduled for late June.

Partnership Manager, Claire McDonnell said: “It was great to see so many youngsters taking part in this event, we had a record number of schools taking part this year with four of them taking part for the first time.

“It’s important we provide opportunities for all young people to take part in physical activity and sport so that they can experience the enjoyment and wider benefits it can bring, and this event certainly helped to do that.”

Those taking part were Bar Hill, Cottenham, Waterbeach, Bourn, Jeavons Wood, Gamlingay, The Meadow, Trumpington Park, Willingham and the University of Cambridge Primary Schools and Histon & Impington and Linton Heights Junior Schools.

QUALIFIERS: Bourn will be one of the teams to represent South Cambs.

Bourn fly the flag

Bourn Primary School will challenge for the right to represent South Cambs in Quicksticks Hockey at this year’s Cambridgeshire & Peterborough School Games Summer Festival.

They were among the qualifiers for the South Cambs finals due to take place in May where they will face Willingham, the other qualifiers from their competition at Cambourne Village College as well as the qualifiers from the larger event at Comberton Village College.

The winners from that showdown will take on the winning schools from Cambridge, East Cambs and Fenland, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough.

Both South Cambs competitions were organised with A teams playing in a ‘Cup’ competition and B and C teams playing in a ‘Plate’ competition.

Teams then played in a round robin format, playing all the other schools in their pool in seven-minute matches.

At both venues there were lots of fast-paced matches on the day, all played in a competitive but friendly manner and umpired superbly by sports leaders from Cambourne and Comberton Village Colleges.

At Comberton the qualifiers from the Year 5 and 6 event were Pendragon (Papworth), Linton Heights, Steeple Morden and Great Abington.

The Plate winners were Bourn B and Willingham B at Cambourne and Pendragon B, Bassingbourn B, Histon B and, jointly, University of Cambridge B and Steeple Morden B. Claire McDonnell, South Cambs SSP Partnership Development Manager said: “It was great to see so many children playing and enjoying the game of hockey in a fun and relaxed environment. There were some competitive matches with lots of end-to-end action and plenty of goals.

“It was also nice to see a few schools taking part in this event for the first time this year and some different schools winning.

“Junior hockey continues to grow out in the local clubs too, so I really hope some of the children who took part go home and ask their parents to take them along to a training session to give hockey a go. More info on the junior clubs in the area can be found on the SCSSP website (http://www.scssp.co.uk/information/community-club-contacts/).”

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Snow much fun on trip!

ON THE SLOPES: Tubing (left) was one of the afternoon activities after five hours of ski lessons.

During February half term, 46 students from Years 8-10 went to Altenmarkt Emma said: “The ski trip this year wasn’t my first time skiing, however I think it in Austria and enjoyed six thrilling days of skiing. was so much more fun than when I last went. Even the beginners learnt so fast On arrival at the slopes the weather was stunning, clear blue skies and lovely that by the end of the week they completed one of the hardest red slopes. sunshine! The group quickly booted up, collected our skis and met our fantastic Every day was packed full of fun: skiing then an afternoon activity such as tubing instructors. and swimming. I would love to go again in Year 10 as it was a brilliant Students were split into four ability groups: two beginners, intermediate and experience.” advanced. The advanced ski group were quick to head up the mountain and then Jess added: “My favourite memory was when we stood in a line up the mountain spent the whole week exploring the resort. watching a demonstration and Mr Fung came and wiped out the entire line! It Each group had five hours of lessons per day and the improvement in skiing wasn’t the most graceful memory, but it was definitely the funniest!” ability for all was very The staff’s reflection on impressive. the week is one of great The beginners quickly pride in the students mastered being able to who helped make this stop and turn and were such a successful trip up the mountain and to see how many tackling blue and red students looked out for runs by the end of the each other. week.

“It was wonderful to see The intermediates expressions of joy each accomplished the day as new skills and steeper reds and the achievements were advanced group were accomplished. skiing black runs before “We have some very it was time to return talented students here home. at Melbourn Village Everyone has fallen College and many kind over - and bounced and thoughtful back up with a smile on individuals. their face - and all “We were so pleased to made great technical take many of these on a progress and fantastic learning GREAT GROUP: Staff and students had a brilliant half-term in Austria. thoroughly enjoyed their experience to Austria. ski experience.

Students showed fantastic teamwork, communication and resilience among other The ski instructors were very impressed with their attitudes and abilities. skills throughout the whole week.”

A week in the snow was complemented by a full après-ski programme which Staff particularly commented on how the Year 10 boys stepped up during the trip, being like an extra member of staff, looking out for the other students and helping included some high-speed Snow Tubing, Quiz night, Pizza night and Swimming at with ski equipment.

Therme Amade Water park.

A huge thank you to parents who helped pay for this; the students who made it so Those involved clearly had a fantastic time with Phillippa saying: “My favourite much fun; and the staff who helped make this such safe and successful trip. part of the ski trip was when we went all the way to the top of the mountain and Thank you to Mrs Nicholls who made this trip possible and to Dr Wilson, Mr Fung, came down the kids’ slope. One of the other parts I enjoyed was tubing, it was Miss Joyce and Miss Evans. very exciting to go down the hill at that speed.”

The awards

Advanced Group Courage – Bradley Very Brave – Olivia Fearless descent – Remy

Intermediate Group Sunshine award (happiest student) – Daniel Best crashes – Jack Bravest – Ella

Beginner Group 1 Best Progress – Matthew and Josh Best Skier – Henry Drama Queen – Scarlett Phillippa – Great skier, pleasure to teach

Beginner Group 2 Best falls – Harry Clumsiest – Jess Bravest – Kiera

ALL SMILES: On the MVC ski trip.

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SA calling Cooke MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

English teacher Beth Cooke hopes to be be heading to South Africa to play in the first International women's 15s matches for England Deaf Rugby.

She has been selected but the Coronavirus may scupper plans.

Although the men's team has been fully established since 2004, the women's game has lagged behind, and though the England Deaf Women's squad are current Deaf World 7s champions, there has yet to be a full deaf 15s game for the women's squad.

Ms Cooke, who also plays for Royston Ladies, said: “South Africa will be an amazing opportunity, and it's exciting to think that we will be taking part in something historic, with the first ever women's deaf 15 game..

"Being deaf can be extremely isolating. For many, myself

included, going to training sessions or games is the only time to meet and socialise with others who are deaf. It is a huge help with building confidence, and simply just being around other people who understand the challenges can make a big difference. Deafness is an invisible disability and many deaf people are considered rude or ignorant when the truth is the are struggling to live in a world that is not set up for their disability. Being able to compete on an international stage is an exciting opportunity, and we are really lucky that more recently the deaf matches, both for men and women, have been picked up and streamed by the BBC — it is really good for younger people to see that being deaf isn't SELECTED: Beth Cooke is in embarrassing, and that it doesn't have to limit choices and the England 15s squad. opportunities.”

Staff delight at half-marathon runs Congratulations to four members of staff who ran the Cambridge Half Marathon This was the culmination of a year of hard training for Miss

Hotshot!

Hannah, of Year 8, set a personal best with a pistol.

Shooting with just one hand, she scored 1000 points on a static target.

Hannah is a member of Puckridge Western Pony Club and participates in tetrathlon (shooting, swimming, running and riding).

FOUR-MIDABLE: Melbourn’s staff who competed in the Cambridge Half Marathon in March.

Team fires into semis

Congratulations to the Year 9 boys football team who are still flying the flag for the upper school football teams at MVC in their District Cup. Year 7 and 8 compete in tournaments due to be completed in a day later this term. However, Years 9-11 compete in a knockout format and Year 9 are now into the semi-finals after beating Bottisham Village College and Chesterton.

Both these schools are significantly bigger in number than ours and the boys need congratulating for some resilient performances.

At Bottisham they held on to win 3-2 then at Chesterton overcame a late equaliser from the penalty spot to claim victory in extra-time 2-1. Henry has scored some valuable goals at important times including both against Chesterton.

The boys are due to play St. Bede’s or Parkside with a final at the Cambridge United football stadium awaiting the winner.

Joyce, who has been running at least a mile a day for the last year, to raise money (over £750) for the mental health charity Mind. She completed the 13.1 miles in an amazing 2 hours 10 min.

Mr Barlow comfortably completed his third Cambridge half in an impressive 1 hour 39 minutes, perfectly representing the PE department.

One of the science technicians, Dr Dyer, completed her first half marathon in 2 hours 1 min. She is proud to have raised more than £500 for the charity Noonan Syndrome Association, to raise awareness for this genetic condition which affects her daughter.

Mrs Rolt, a teaching assistant and seasoned runner, completed her sixth Cambridge Half Marathon in a personal best of 1 hour 52 min.

They were supported by crowds along the route through King’s and Jesus Colleges and out to Grantchester. There were a few bands cheering them along, the most motivating one being the disco band ‘Hustle’ featuring Mr Thomson playing keyboards!

If you want to donate to Miss Joyce’s cause please go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cjoyce or for Dr Dyer it’s https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JeanetteDyer/1?

Holiday fun has health benefits too!

Melbourn Sports Centre hosted their annual February Half Term Play Scheme, in which more than 20 children per day, aged five to 12 had the opportunity to take part in a variety of fun activities to help encourage a healthy lifestyle and well-being.

The day is great way for children to develop their social skills as well as keeping fit and healthy by taking part in a variety of different activities, including trampolining, colouring competitions, swimming and active games.

Each activity was overseen by qualified staff, who ensure that the participants were put through their paces in a fun and safe environment.

Graham Johnson-Mack, manager of the centre, has been pleased with the response. “These Play Schemes are always well attended and are essential

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SEMI-FINALISTS: The Year 9 boys’ football team.

amenity for local parents, enabling them to continue to work during the school holidays.

“It’s been really nice to see how the children develop their confidence and improve their social skills as the day progresses. As a Sports Centre, we also encourage the children to stay active during the day and we’ve really seen a surge in efforts to acquire the skills of the different activities for which we cater.”

Booking for our Easter activities, including our Ofstedregistered Play Scheme, as well as other holiday activities is now open.

These include a Swimming Crash Course, Snorkelling and Trampolining taster sessions.

For more details then please contact reception on 01763 263313 or visit our website www.mc-sport.co.uk

HOLIDAY FUN: Trampolining is one of the activities regularly on offer.

Excellence recognised!

MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

Two sporting Year 11 students were recognised for their commitment at the annual Roy Burrell Awards.

Emily received her medal for her commitment to netball, while Amber was recognised for her gymnastics.

The annual Cambridge and District School Sport Association awards are presented to Year 11 students who have reached at least county standard in their chosen sports.

Melbourn Head of PE Kelly Coghlan said: “Emily plays netball for the MVC U16 team, for Royston ladies Premier League team and for her county. She is also completing her umpiring awards — you can regularly find her on the netball courts playing or umpiring!

“Amber is a gymnast at Marriotts in Stevenage. She trains most days for up to four hours a day and competes all over the country. Her dedication to her gymnastics is truly inspirational.”

The awards were set up in memory of former Chesterton School PE teacher, Roy Burrell, a tireless champion of young people and sport who died young. These awards have been celebrated for decades.

The prestigious evening always features a guest speaker and this year was no exception with

Paralympian Sean Rose inspiring the young athletes to live their dreams and achieve their best.

Sean, who now lives in St Neots, broke his back 20 years ago and found his life turned upsidedown.

He was a country standard badminton player, cross-country runner, and regional (he grew up in the North East) champion gymnast and world class BMX racer as a youngster then joined the RAF as a PT Instructor.

He was instructing a group of pilots in Germany when disaster struck. He hit a buildup of wet snow and went over his skis, landing head first in an accident that robbed him of all movement and feeling from the chest down.

After several operations he regained some movement as his spinal cord was not completely severed and can stand with support but not walk.

Not one to give up, he became manager of a RECIPIENT: One of the two Melbourn students new watersports centre on the River Tees and to receive Roy Burrell Awards. turned the fledging project into a success — at The Back Up Trust and became hooked again going the same time finding a new sport after attending a taster session with the British Disabled Water Ski on to compete at two Paralympics as well as winning Association. He went on to become world champion. a World Cup gold at downhill racing and collecting a He then got back on the snow with a charity called medal at the Winter X Games in 2015.

Melbourn boys shoot into second place

RUNNERS-UP: Melbourn’s under-14 boys’ basketball team.

Melbourn's under-14 basketball team finished as runners-up in the annual Cambridge and District basketball competition.

Having progressed through the group games earlier in the year, they faced Linton in the semi-finals at Long Rd Sixth Form College. After a comfortable 37-12 win, they again faced St Bede's — who had beaten Melbourn in the first stage to top the group — and had to settle for runners-up spot, losing 44-24.

PE teacher Richard Barlow said: "To finish runners up out of all the schools in the District is a great achievement."

This season he team has benefited from the PE Department’s new link with Cambridge Cats coach Patrik Przewozny ( pictured with the team).

Patrik, who works at Melbourn Sports Centre, delivered extra-curricular sessions for our students to improve basketball performance.

Gethin ploughs through the mud

Year 10 student Gethin represented his club, Cambridge & Coleridge, at the English National Cross-Country Championships. He was one of 364 starters for a very muddy under-15 race in Nottingham, finishing the race in 20 minutes 52 seconds.

The conditions, for the Saucony-sponsored event, which had 10 categories for age groups from under-13 to adult, were described as the muddiest competitors have ever had to contend with.

The races took place in the aftermath of Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis and, unsurprisingly, no records were broken with the 5008 recorded finishers either loving or hating the going.

He was also one of the four Melbourn students who qualified to represent the Cambridge District MUD-RUNNER: at the Cambridgeshire Schools Cross-Country Championships.

Conditions were tough.

Along with Alexander (Year 7), his sister Annabelle (Year 8) and Hattie (Year 7) they raced against the best from Peterborough, Ely and Huntingdon Districts.

Both boys finished in the top 20 and Gethin went on to represent the county at the Anglian Championship.

All have benefitted from the college’s after-school running club and some from club membership as well.

Alexander is now ranked in SPEEDY: Melbourn’s students who the top 10 in the county. represented the Cambridge District.

ENRICHMENT: Summer sports added.

Get involved!

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MELBOURN VILLAGE COLLEGE

MELBOURN

SPORTS CENTRE news CENTRE NEWS

7KHUHÂśV EHHQ D ORW JRLQJ RQ WKLV season at the sports centre, to keep the community fit and ready during the winter. Aside from our normal classes, courses, swimming and fitness suite activities, we also had: Our Christmas party was really well attended, with 40 children enjoying a festive pool party and a visit from Father Christmas, who gave up some time during his busy period to hand out some goody bags.

We also had a bumper bag of Christmas and Half Term activities running, including our OFSTED registered PlayScheme, where children were treated to trampolining, swimming and creative crafts. Other holiday activities included a Swimming Crash Course and Trampolining Taster sessions.

Our Fitness offer helped to encourage more to join the Centre and our Fitness Challenges, including our Advent Challenge. This was set up by staff and was well received by those who participated and helped them to achieve their pre-Christmas goals. We also held our annual Christmas Raffle, which this year was won by Julie Charlton. She collected our Christmas Hamper of goodies generously donated by various local companies including Hotel Chocolat, Fieldgate Nurseries, The Dolphin Pub, Cam Valley Orchards and Tesco.

Finally, we have continued to work with Jenny Brackley (Head Coach of McSplash Swim Club) to develop the Club on a Friday night. MC Splash Swim Club is a friendly, non-competitive club who welcomes swimmers from intermediate standards to advanced.

We also offer adult pay as you go sessions too (20.45 - 21.45 - term times only).

Apart from swimming lengths, our swimmers also learn survival skills, snorkelling and other water-based activities. For more details, please visit our website at www.mc-sport.co.uk or email info@mc-sport.co.uk.

7KLV \HDU ZHÂśYH JRW SOHQW\ RI DFWLYLWLHV SODQQHG IRU VSULQJ DQG VXPPHU The national charity event, the annual Swimathon, will be taking place at the pool at the end of March. We are also continuing to work closely with South Cambridgeshire District Council and ORFDO *3ÂśV LQ SURYLGLQJ the Active and Healthy 4 Life Scheme. We will also be welcoming back local primary schools and the School Sports Partnership for top-up swimming and of course, the outdoor courts become more popular thanks to lighter nights and (hopefully) warmer days!

We have our popular PlaySchemes and sports camps/pentathlon courses throughout the spring and summer holidays, with plans for a return of last yearÂśV VXFFHssful mini triathlon. Holiday activities include trampoline tasters and snorkelling courses along with the more mainstream sports. These events are always well attended and enjoyed by participants and MSC personnel alike, so please be sure to book your place in time to be one of them this year.

OUR SWIMMING POOL

06&ÂśV -metre swimming pool is the perfect place to get fit for an affordable price! Swimming is one of the healthiest activities you can engage in, having a positive effect on your fitness and figure with little impact to your joints and bones. 7KHUHÂśV DOVR VZLPPLQJ fitness classes to enjoy, such as Aqua Fit. Not too confident in the water? No problem. We have a comprehensive programme of swimming sessions and lessons that cater for all ages and abilities.

$1' 7+(5(Âś6 025(

As well as our indoor facilities like the swimming pool, squash courts and sports hall, we have loads of classes to keep you fit and healthy, including Swim Clinic, Boot Camp, Aqua Fit, Pilates and Body Workout. We also offer table tennis alongside our other racket sports of tennis, Badminton and Squash.

Or why not take advantage of one of our great membership schemes to our fitness suite, which houses the latest in gymnasium equipment, including C.V machines fitted with audio visual technology, an ideal location in keeping fit and healthy!

PARTY TIME

$UH \RX ORRNLQJ IRU WKH SHUIHFW YHQXH WR KROG \RXU FKLOGUHQÂśV ELUWKGD\ SDUW\ WKLV \HDU" Then your search is over! At MSC, we have all the facilities for a fun-packed event with a variety of activities for your guests to enjoy, including trampolining, football and traditional pool parties.

For further details on these or any other activities, please drop in, call 01763 263313 or go online at www.mc-sport.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you this season! ƒ

Graham Johnson-Mack / Melbourn Sports Centre Manager

Melbourn Sports Centre, The Village College, The Moor, Melbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 6EF 01763 263313 / www.mc-sport.co.uk / info@mc-sport.co.uk

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