MVC News Summer 2015

MVC NEWS

The News Magazine of Melbourn Village College, an Academy of the Comberton Academy Trust Summer 2015 Edition

An Academy of

See more GCSE Art - Pages 4 & 5

Apart/Together by Georgie Bull

National recognition

We are very pleased to be able to announce that we have received two awards which recognise our achievements – and as a result we have joined a national network of high-performing secondary schools.

The college has received two SSAT Educational Outcomes Awards for being in the top 10% of non-selective schools nationally for attainment (based on students’ best eight average point scores) and for being in the top 10% nationally for value added progress.

Last summer 75% of MVC students achieved five GCSEs at grades A*-C including Maths and English – 20% above the national average.

In English the number of students who made three levels of progress was 83% and for Maths 89% - both figures putting them way above the national average.

I will collect the awards from the Schools, Students and Teachers Network (SSAT), founded from the former Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in May 2012, at a regional celebration ceremony next month. Only 108 schools in the country qualified for both awards.

We will also now join the Leading Edge group of schools who are all rated by Ofsted at Grade 1 or 2. All Leading Edge schools, which must show pupils make excellent progress and/or perform above the national average, are committed to: working in partnership to raise achievement, innovation and sharing practice both within and beyond the network.

As Principal I am very proud that the excellent standard of education at MVC has been recognised via these two awards, in particular the one for progress. It is a clear indication that we make a substantial impact on the life chances of the students at the college. In addition, being invited to be a part of the Leading Edge programme will open up more avenues for innovation and partnership work and help us continue to offer the best possible opportunities to all of our students.”

Sue Williamson, the SSAT Chief Executive, said: “These are very prestigious awards and MVC has done exceptionally well to win two awards. They demonstrate the high quality work that the staff and students are doing.”

S Holmes, Principal

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Scientific Challenges Two teams from Melbourn Village College reached the second round of a national Science competition.

The Year 7 Exgerminators (Erin Fergus, Amelia Close, Maisie Rogers, Penny Lowe and Olivia Bystry) and the Year 8 Dark McLaren Walker (Toby Walker, Max Walker and Fred Close) were selected to plan, carry out and write up their investigations as part of the national ‘Germ Control Challenge’ competition run by pharmacuetical giants Glaxo SmithKline.

They are in the final 20 selected nationally from an entry of 150 and were among the four entered by the relaunched MVC STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) Club now being run by new science technician Dr Jeanette Dyer as a lunchtime extra-curricular activity.

Each team was assigned a scientist from the GSK ‘Germ Squad’ as a mentor, who visited the school to help with planning. The Exgerminators met their mentor microbiologist Louise Bater when she advised and observed them in their investigation.

Students visited the Cambridge Department of Chemistry in March for the Salter’s Festival of Chemistry. One student explains.

Ms Bater was very excited about the team’s investigation, which started with one question and has led to many more.

After a short break we had another challenge. We were given eight unnamed chemicals and had to work out what each one was, this was a very difficult challenge but we did our best.

They used a special ‘Glo-gel’ which glows in the dark under a UV lamp to see how much it is transferred to differently designed taps after hand washing.

The Dark McLaren team met Dr Julian Phipps to report their results so far on their project about whether exposure to sound can kill bacteria growing on agar plates.

Unfortunately neither team was selected to present their findings at the Science Museum but were invited to attend the Big Bang Fair in July where they will also meet exhibitors from scientific organisations who will hopefully inspire them to consider science careers.

Head Boy Represents College at Waterloo Commemorations

Tom Jackson, Head Boy represented the College yesterday at a service at St Paul’s Cathedral commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

Two hundred students representing two hundred schools took part and an e-book has been written and can be seen at http://ebook.waterloo200.org . MVC’s contribution is a chapter on Private Thomas Chapman (17901875) who fought at Waterloo and lived in Cambridgeshire, buried at Comberton. A member of the royal family as well as military representatives and the 9th Duke of Wellington were present at the service.

“We were greeted in the Lecture Room where our day was explained and we were then taken off to a large science lab. Our first challenge was to solve a murder mystery using chromatography and universal indicator. We then had to fill out a charge and come to a conclusion as to who was the prime suspect.

Finally, we had a very exciting lecture on the chemistry of light which included some fantastic experiments.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything but we all had a great day to remember.

MVC is delighted to welcome back Mr William Kohler to the Art department. Bill as he likes to be known is a highly experienced

Potter who exhibits and teaches in Cambridge. MVC is very happy to have him back supporting the Pottery lessons alongside Mrs Heeks, Head of Art and Design. Year 8 students are currently designing Mehndi clay hands, decorating them using their art research into this culture. The students have found the Pottery lessons, enriching, fun and something they definitely cannot do at home. Students in Year 7 and 8 will also have the opportunity in September to experience Pottery and if any members of the community would like to take up Pottery lessons with Mr Kohler they can enrol for his evening classes. Please contact the school.

MVC Pottery is helping to promote a creative and highly valued art form which is becoming increasingly popular. Pottery like baking and sewing will very soon be featured on a BBC programme dedicated to the delights of this art form. If you would like to take it up please do join us, in an MVC evening course next term.

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Stunning and exciting pieces of art produced by the GCSE Art Group 2015

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Hola from Picturesque Spain

On Thursday 14th May 55 year 8 students set off for a 5 day academic visit to the beautiful town of Comillas in Cantabria, Spain. This is the first year of our new second language offer of Spanish and we were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of our students to get onto the trip. Our programme included:

Day 1 - Spanish lessons given by native speakers in the morning, followed by an academic interaction with Spanish students, presentations in Spanish in front of over 100 people and a chance to sample some speciality cakes in a local cafĂŠ too!

Day 2 - Spanish lessons and a visit to the wonderful Altamira Cave, with a delicious paella for lunch.

Day 3 - After our Spanish lessons, we marvelled at the amazing stalactites and stalagmites at El Soplao, and did a treasure hunt around town, speaking to the locals to get the answers to clues.

Day 4 - This was spent with our Spanish friends, learning flamenco or playing in a football tournament, followed by playing on the beach and a visit to the El Capricio De Gaudi in Comillas, to learn about Antoni Gaudi's style of architecture. Our students were kept riveted, as the guide was so engaging, involving them in all his explanations.

Day 5 - For our final day, we went to Cabarceno, the largest national park in Europe, which is used as more of a rehabilitation centre for sick animals. It was wonderful to see the animals being cared for so well in such a large space for them and the birds of prey show was impressive even if they did fly rather close to our heads.

I have been leading foreign language visits for over 20 years now, and this trip certainly had everything for the students - better than any I've organised: language learning, experience of the food and culture of the country, the chance to get to know young people one's own age, and all this whilst staying in a lovely hotel with a pool, which we enjoyed in the evening!

Our students have not only improved their Spanish but grown in confidence all round too.

Well done everyone - it was a pleasure!

Mrs Lawrence Vice Principal and Visit Leader

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ActionArt proves a winner in Harston and Newton Primary School

A collaborative project between Melbourn Village College and several of its feeder primary school has helped one of them raise more than £1000.

ActionArt sees professional artist Nick Juett, an MVC teacher, work with youngsters on a range of different art projects.

And now the work of youngsters at Harston and Newton Primary school has boosted the coffers of their school’s PTA by a four-figure sum – with more still coming in – after an exhibition of their watercolours attracted more than 100 family and friends.

An amazing 67 pieces of artwork produced by children from Reception to Year 6 was sold in just 90 minutes at £10 each. A further 33 were snapped up the following night at a special showing for those unable to attend the exhibition.

Mr Juett said: “Parents were really pleased with the whole school activity I taught. We sold 67 paintings the first night then another 33.”

Year 5 Students enjoy a Summer Day at College

Almost 150 youngsters from Melbourn Village College’s feeder primaries spent the day experiencing lessons – a whole year

before they are due to make the move to secondary school.

Year 5 students were given a taste of secondary school life with a day at the college which included lessons in science, maths, dance, drama, French, history, PE, ICT, Design Technology and Food Technology.

It also gave the students from Melbourn, Meldreth, Foxton, Thriplow, Barrington, Harston & Newton and Hauxton primaries the chance to start making new friends among their peers ahead of their move to secondary school in September 2016.

Melbourn Assistant Principal Regina Lawrence said: “The day was one of our many primary activities organised by Mrs Coghlan and the pupils took the day at their secondary school firmly in their stride, trying their best in all the subject areas.

“We hope they enjoyed the day and are now looking forward to seeing them all again, with their parents, at our Open Evening on Monday, 28th September. We also welcome parents and carers to visit us during the school day. Please do get in contact if you would like to do this.”

Melbourn Village College, part of the Comberton Academy Trust, recently won recognition for being in the top 10% of schools nationally for student progress and achievement.”

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Leavers Prom 2015 To view more pics visit https://melbournevillage.fluencycms.co.uk/Prom-Night

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Bloomsday Celebrations

As part of the Melbourn Bloomsday Celebrations in June, several students took part in public readings and concerts telling the story of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom. Bloom’s story is set in Dublin in 1904 and follows a series of incidents and encounters by Bloom an advertising salesman.

Year 10 Dancers go into “Overdrive”

Year 9 and 10 Dance Students were treated to a workshop by Laura Gibson, a dance artist from Richard Alston Dance Company. They were given a technique class,

looking at various styles of movement including Cunningham and Release. Students then learnt some professional repertoire from Richard Alston’s piece “Overdrive”, which is part of the GCSE curriculum.

Students were then given time to use the material they had learnt to complete a creative task.

Miss Douglas said "the pupils worked incredibly hard throughout the workshop. The dance artist was fantastic, and the students were very engaged and focused throughout the workshop."

Sporting Stars

Congratulations to Year 10 boys relay team who broke the school record for the 4 x 100 relay which has stood since 2004.

Shaun Charter, Will Tucker, Manny Singh and Ben Greenaway took the record in 50 seconds.

Yr 8 Cricket Team - HOPWOOD, MALLEN, WILLIAMS, SPENCE, FERRIE, MERRICK, BOOTH-BROWN, BALFOUR, MONTGOMERY, BRIDGES, JONES

Congratulations to our Year 8 boys cricket team who won their group and now qualify for the County Final on Thursday 2nd July.

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Melbourn Fete and Music on the Moor 2015

We were delighted to be offered the chance for our hard-working, high-achieving musicians to play 3 sets with our Melbourn Village College Big Band at Melbourn Fete and Music On The Moor on Saturday. Thanks so much to the organisers for such a wonderful event.

Class Act in Activities Week

GCSE Drama Students recently performed at The Junction’s Fusion

Festival. They created and performed their own devised pieces entitled 'Lost Girls' and 'The Fence' both inspired by the stimulus 'You have to find what sparks a light in you, so that you in your own way, can illuminate the world'

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The chairman of Melbourn Village College’s governing body is stepping down after 17 years in the hotseat.

But Andy Smith’s dedication to education in his home village is too strong for him to walk away completely.

The retired chemist is staying on as a governor at the college and is also on the governing body at the village primary school – the establishments which educated both his children.

His wife Lorna was a teacher at the primary school and his younger son, Daniel, is now a deputy head at Sutton CofE Primary School near Ely. Mr Smith joined the primary governors in 1988 and four years later took on a similar role at the secondary school, becoming chair in 1998.

“I’ve always been a great believer in education and this was my way of putting something back,” he said. “I’m very proud of the things we’ve achieved at Melbourn Village College.

“We’ve done very well as a small school, particularly in the last five years and it’s getting better and better.”

Melbourn is regularly in the top 10 per cent of schools nationally for both progress and achievement and was this year invited to join the Leading Edge group of schools working at the heart of disseminating good practice.

Mr Smith added; “I think the hardest thing was overseeing the conversion to an Academy, which was a lot of work for me and the other governors, but things have been much improved since we became part of the Comberton Academy Trust.

“I will be working closely with the new chair, Sue Williamson, to ensure a smooth handover and I think she will do a very good job. She has the right contacts and I think the main thing now is to market the good work of the college.”

Mr Smith’s successor is the Cambridgeshirebased Chief Executive of the SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers Network , which was founded from the former Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in May 2012.

STEM Club at Big Bang Fair

On Wednesday 1st July the STEM club had an exciting day at the Big Bang Eastern Fair held at Newmarket racecourse. The focus of the club has been to give pupils the chance to develop and design exciting projects. Two teams of students whose projects got through to the 2nd round of the national ‘Germ Control Challenge’, run by the healthcare company Glaxo Smithkline, presented their ideas to stop the spread of germs.

50 projects from schools in the Eastern region competed to win prizes and the chance to attend the National Big Bang Fair in March 2016. The Exgerminators (Erin Fergus, Amelia Close, Maisie Rogers, Penny Lowe and Olivia Bystry) and The Dark McLaren Walker (Toby Walker, Max Walker and Fred Close) displayed their posters and demonstrated the equipment used in their projects to judges and students at the science fair.

Ms Williamson is a former Lincolnshire head teacher, who is credited with overseeing a 40% rise in the five A*-C GCSE pass after achieving technology college status.

She has lived in Caldecote since 2000 and has watched the development of the Comberton Academy Trust through the perspective of local parents.

“I was honoured to be asked to serve as a trustee of CAT and to chair the governing body of Melbourn Village College,” she said. “All staff at SSAT are encouraged to serve as governors and I wanted to work with local schools. MVC achieved outstanding examination results last year and was invited to join SSAT’s Leading Edge group. This will give the senior leadership team and staff access to the best schools in the country.

“I’m looking forward to working with governors, staff, parents and students to ensure that MVC becomes one of the best schools in the country.”

Melbourn Principal Simon Holmes said: “Everyone at the college is extremely grateful for the huge commitment Andy has given us during his time as Chair of Governors. As a new head I was particularly grateful for his guidance and support. Andy leaves the college in a very strong position and I am very excited about working with Sue as we embark on the next stage in the college’s journey to outstanding.”

All the fun of the fair ... Science in Activities Week

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On Saturday 4th July, and after only ten weeks of training together seven of MVC's Year 9 girls travelled to the Stotfold tournament as the first ever Melbourn Dynamos FC girl's team!

Five other teams took part, including two strong home teams, a team who had played together for five years and - Tottenham Ladies! Yes, Tottenham Ladies! No pressure then!

After realising in the first few minutes what competitive football was all about the girls gained in confidence and self belief and the tackles soon started to fly in! As each game progressed the team's control and use of the ball improved allowing them to exert pressure on the opponents defence.

With an outstanding Mia Flowerdew in goal, an exceptional defence of Ellen Leech and Beth Coburn, a very combative and hard working midfield of Ella Rule, Megan Harredence and Maddy Bonfield and a willing striker in Jade Dawson (who scored the first ever goal for a MDFC girl's team) they all did themselves proud!

Report and Photo by Blake Carrington Chairman Melbourn Dynamos FC

Sports Day

The team punched well above their weight with far too many highlights to mention but collectively their efforts, work rate, spirit, super attitude and brilliant team work were probably best recognised by being applauded off the pitch by the Tottenham coaches.

Well done to all the girls - thanks for a fantastic day!

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Out & About in Activities Week

Year 7 in Paris

Year 9 in Buxton

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Activities Week in an around the College Year 8 Class Act

Designing & Creating fairground Rides in Science

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Problem solving in Maths

This Summer we say goodbye to a number of staff

Mrs Bowers leaves the Modern Languages department to move to a new post at Hills Road. In addition to teaching French and Spanish she has overseen the Duke of Edinburgh Awards at MVC. We will miss her energy and drive.

Mr King has been a regular face covering staff absence. As a school we have been very grateful to have someone we know and trust to help us during the inevitable times when a staff colleague is not present. He is well regarded by students and staff.

Mr Martin has been an example of cross-trust staffing. Based at Comberton for most of the week he has taught Geography at MVC on a Monday for the last year and at Comberton VC for the rest of the week.

Mrs Varney has been an inspirational leader of the English department. The results under her stewardship have been excellent and English is a real strength of the college. She will be sadly missed but leaves behind an extremely strong legacy in our outstanding English team.

Mrs Woods has been more than just a teacher. Her pastoral care is second to none and, as a parent who has seen three children go through the college, her insight has been very valuable. She has also contributed to our development as a staff governor.

As Arts Development Manager Bryony Graham has overseen our involvement in the ACT project. To pull together the strands of this unique opportunity was no mean task and she did it admirably and with an unfailingly positive outlook.

We wish all of the staff well in their new ventures and look forward to welcoming our new colleagues in September.

Simon Holmes

MVC at the Oscars

Year 8 have been studying and creating films this half term in English.

After practising their skills crafting a 30 second film, they have produced four minute shorts, which were screened this week.

Luke Daniels, Elliot Mills and Jake Moxham produced the funniest film with their “Little Melbourn� collection.

Extra credit goes to Matt for his superb editing skills.

Congratulations to all students who crafted a superb series of films.

Our Oscar winners are: Maddy Sparkes, Sofia Ismaal-Mulvaney, Eden Moss and Matt BoothBrown for their incrediblty tense film.

Finally, for their team work and collaboration skills, Jess Doughty, Saoirse McQuaid, Louise Meecham, Lottie Elbourn and Charlie Matthews who produced a classic disappearing action film.

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Pop in the Park

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National recognition

COMBERTON ACADEMY TRUST NEWS

Two schools in the Comberton Academy Trust are celebrating national recognition.

The Schools, Students and Teachers Network (SSAT), founded from the former Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in May 2012, allocates awards to schools with high levels of attainment and/or progress.

Comberton Village College saw 72% of students achieve grades A*-C including maths and English, based on the new ‘first entry’ recording system with a total of 87% finishing Year 11 graded at A*-C. As a result they received an SSAT educational Outcome Award for being in the top 20% of non-selective schools nationally for exceptional student attainment.

Melbourn Village College received two awards; one for their attainment being in the top 10% nationally and another for being in the top 10% nationally for value added progress. Last summer 75% of Melbourn students achieved five GCSEs at grades

A*-C including maths and English – 20% above the national average. In English the proportion of students who made three levels of progress was 83% and for maths 89% - both figures putting them significantly above the national average.

Melbourn were one of only 108 schools nationally to pick up both awards and as a result has been invited to join Comberton in the SSAT ‘Leading Edge’ group of schools who are all rated by Ofsted at Grade 1 or

Inspectors give top marks to CamVC Cambourne Village College has just been rated

‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted after its first inspection since opening in September 2013.

Inspectors found that ‘teaching in the school is out-

standing, and consistently effective’ and that ‘the progress of pupils is rapid and sustained’.

The report describes the pupils as ‘unfailingly polite

and courteous’ and their behaviour in lessons as ‘exemplary’.

Amid a culture of high expectations, ‘academic suc-

cess and education in its broadest sense are highly

2. All Leading Edge schools, which must show pupils make excellent progress and/or perform above the national average, are committed to: working in partnership to raise achievement, innovation and sharing practice both within AWARDS: and beyond the network.

Sue Melbourn Principal Simon Williamson Holmes said: “I am very proud presents that the excellent standard of Principal education at MVC has been Simon recognised via these two Holmes awards, in particular the one with Melfor progress. bourn’s “This clearly indicates that we awards. make a substantial impact on the life chances of the students at the college. “ It is a deserved reward for the commitment and hard work of the whole staff team and the positive relationships they foster with students. In addition, being invited to be a part of the Leading Edge programme will open up more avenues for innovation and partnership work and help us continue to offer the best possible opportunities to all of our students.”

The judgement is all the more remarkable since it is

highly unusual for a new school to attain an ‘out-

standing’ rating before any public exam results have

been published.

Of Principal Claire Coates, the report said: “The Prin-

cipal leads the school with calm authority and sensi-

tivity. She is supported extremely well by her senior team and by senior leaders across the Trust.”

The College currently has a total of 316 pupils in

Years 7 and 8, and will admit a further Year 7 cohort

New Principal takes over the Voyager hotseat valued by the school community’.

in September 2015.

OUTSTANDING: Pupil progress at Cambourne is ‘rapid and sustained’.

Former Bassingbourn Village College Principal Scott

Mr Munday said: “We are thrilled to have appointed Mr

emy Trust’s school in Peterborough in September.

been always been our plan to have a permanent Princi-

Hudson will take over as Head at the Comberton Acad-

He takes over at the helm of The Voyager Academy next

term, having successfully taken his current school,

Kingswood Academy in Corby, out of special measures

after it was placed there by Ofsted.

In Kingswood Academy’s latest Ofsted report, published

this term, Mr Hudson was praised, with inspectors stat-

ing: “The unflinching determination of the Principal, supported well by the senior leadership team, is improving

students’ achievement and behaviour.”

Mr Hudson’s appointment comes as part of Stephen

Munday’s 10-point plan to take The Voyager Academy out of special measures. Mr Munday will continue to

support Mr Hudson as part of his role as Chief Executive

of the Comberton Academy Trust.

Hudson as Principal at The Voyager Academy. It has

pal in place when the time was right; I’m happy to say

that the time is right and we have, joining us, a Principal

with great experience in driving forward positive change.

“At The Voyager Academy we are committed to continuing the positive changes we’ve made; whilst taking on

board the cares and concerns of both students and the local community. We believe this appointment is a perfect example of that.”

Scott Hudson said: “It is a privilege to have been ap-

pointed as Principal at the Voyager and I am very much

looking forward to taking on the role. I am committed to

working with students, staff, parents and the local community in order to make the Academy one which we are all proud of.

Visit the new CAT website at www.catrust.co.uk

NEW HEAD: Scott Hudson.

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

The leaders of the future ALL ACTION: Year 4 pupils at the South Cambs Partnership’s Mini Olympics.

There was plenty of sporting talent and Olympic spirit displayed as youngsters demonstrated their athletic prowess at the Cambridge University sports ground.

More than 1,300 children aged seven and eight were taking part in the South Cambs School Sports Partnership’s Year 4 Mini Olympics, an event that involved 43 primary schools from across the area.

During the day the youngsters tried a range of different sports, all with an Olympic or Paralympic theme.

Among the 14 different activities on offer were shot putt, long jump, hurdles, hockey, tennis, tri-golf and boccia.

In keeping with the Olympic theme, there were colourful opening and closing ceremonies, complete with

WE DID IT: Haslingfield’s winners celebrate their success.

Wimbledon is leaders’ reward

Eight of the most dedicated and committed young sports leaders and coaches from across the South Cambs SSP visited the famous grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club during Wimbledon fortnight in recognition of all of the voluntary hours they have devoted to supporting Partnership competitions and events over the last 12 months or more. The youngsters include Liam Hunt, Laura Mott, Harmony Hennessy and Ellis Maloney from Comberton Sixth Form as well as ex-Comberton student Sunke Trace-Kleeberg.

flags, mascots and banners made by the children.

These all tied in with the theme of this year’s event which was the Rugby World Cup 2015, with schools asked to represent one of the 20 nations competing in the event in England later this year.

During the day children also learnt a ‘Haka’-themed dance routine at one of the activity stations.

This was led by leaders from Comberton Village College and then performed en masse by all the children during the closing ceremony.

The event was supported by Total Promotions Ltd, who provided all of the children with brightly-coloured Tshirts in the colours of the Olympic rings.

Partnership manager Claire McDonnell was delighted with how successful the Mini Olympics had been.

She said: “Yet again, it was a fantastic day. The chil-

dren really enjoyed themselves and loved having a go at all the different sports on offer. There were no prizes for winners on the day as it was all about the children having a go and giving it their personal best and we hope we have inspired some of them to give sport a go and get more involved.

“We couldn’t do it without the support of the local secondary schools so I must thank the staff and leaders from Impington, Cottenham, Swavesey, Comberton, Melbourn and Linton Village Colleges as well as Cambridge Regional College.

“They did an amazing job on the day organising all of the activities and leading the children; offering them encouragement and support as they gave it their best.”

Meridian and Haslingfield Primary Schools dominated the South Cambs SSP tennis competitions for the second year running.

With an entry of 36 teams the competition was split across two venues on separate evenings, with Comberton and Melbourn Village Colleges playing hosts.

The first competition was held at Comberton where the team from nearby Meridian proved unbeatable; wining all of their group matches to qualify for the top division where they overcame Burrough Green 3-1 before winning all four singles matches in a 4-0 victory against the team from Elsworth, the school they shared the title News with in 2014.

MVC This meant Meridian earned top spot and the winner’s medals ahead of Burrough Green, who finished as runners up.

Merdian fared equally well in the ‘Plate’ Competition for schools’ B & C teams with their B Team victorious.

A week later another 18 teams gathered at Melbourn to see who would join the teams from Meridian and Burrough Green in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sainsbury’s School Games Summer Finals where they would represent South Cambs SSP against the very best teams from the four other districts in the county.

After sharing the honours in

2014 Haslingfield Primary School went one better this year and claimed the winners’ medals outright, ahead of Coton Primary School.

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager and organiser of both events, said: “It was great to see so many children getting their first taste of competitive tennis. There were some really close and exciting matches that were all played in a lovely, friendly spirit.

“Well done to all of the teams and children who took part and a big thank you to the sports leaders from Melbourn and Comberton Village Colleges who did a fantastic job of scoring the games, encouraging 19 the children and generally helping the events run so smoothly.”

Outright winners this time

TEAMED UP: The Meridian winners and leaders from Melbourn (left) and Comberton.

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‘We are the champions’ Round-up of the latest news from the South Cambs SSP

Schools from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough competed in the Sainsbury’s School Games Level 3 Summer Festival for the 2014/15 academic year.

Netball and Rounders.

A new addition to the Games this year was a Change4Life Village which offered fun activities such as slalom races, crazy catch and giant jenga for those not taking part in the competitive events.

The Games act as the county finals for school sport with competitions involving chilEach venue became alive with the sound of cheering and camaraderie as each dren aged 7-15 years in 11 different sports. South Cambs SSP was well represented school battled it out to become champions, while representing one of the five School at the event with 26 teams from 16 different schools taking part and challenging for Sports Partnerships — Cambridge, county honours.

Hunts, Peterborough, South Cambs The event launched with an Openand Witchford. ing Ceremony which took place at There were some fantastic performSt Ives Outdoor Centre with 1,000 ances by South Cambs teams on young people in attendance. It the day, most notably in the Year 3/4 started with a lively dance routine Tennis Competition where three

by Thorndown Primary School. This schools finished in the top four; was followed by a welcoming Haslingfield Primary School winning speech from local Headteacher and gold, Meridian Primary claiming Chair of the Local Organising Combronze and Burrough Green Primary mittee, Jonathan Digby. An inspirfourth. ing and motivational story from Harston & Newton also collected Sporting Champion Lesley Owusu medals, finishing third in the Year came between two further perform5/6 quicksticks hockey event. ances from Milton Primary School Comberton Village College had and Comberton Village College, bequalified for the event with teams fore the Games were officially ANYONE FOR GOLF: The teams after the School Games golf finals won competing in the Key Stage 3/4 opened.

by South Cambs.

Cricket PLUS and the Key Stage 3 Following the Opening Ceremony Inclusive Archery, competitions which offer opportunities for pupils with SEN/D or adschools dispersed to the respective venues for their events. Adapted Multi-Sports ditional needs to represent the school. Some strong performances earned the team a (Primary) took place at St Ives Indoor Centre, Under-15 Golf swung into action at deserved silver medal.

Lakeside Lodge Golf Club in Pidley with Year 3/4 Tennis being served up at HuntingWith 16 medal-winning performances and eight golds, South Cambs SSP were dedon Tennis Centre and Year 7 Boys Table Tennis in St Neots. lighted to claim the overall title of School Games Champions for the 2014/15 acaSt Ives Outdoor Centre accommodated most of the Games events which included demic year. The full results can be viewed online at www.scssp.co.uk nine competitions in the seven sports of Archery, Athletics, Cricket, Football, Hockey,

Haslingfield find new competition is a winner!

ALL GO: At the Quadkids competition.

The fantastic facilities at Cambridge University Sports Ground on Wilberforce Road played host to the annual South Cambs SSP Year 5/6 Quadkids Athletics Competition with a record 22 teams competing in the event.

New for this year was a separate ‘Small Schools’ competition; open to schools with fewer than 120 pupils in Key Stage 2. Teams were not only competing for the title of ‘South Cambs Champions 2015’ but also the honour of representing the partnership at the County School Games Summer Finals with the top two teams in both competitions qualifying for the county event.

Quadkids is a team-based competition with five boys and five girls each competing in a 75m sprint, a 600m run, a long jump and vortex howler throw. Individual performances are scored using a points table and the winners are the team with the highest cumulative score.

The team competition was closely contested

Seeking future coaches

We are pleased to announce the launch of the application process for the 2015-16 County Young Coach Academy (CYCA) across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We would like to invite all budding young coaches aged 15+ to apply to be part of this Academy.

The aim of the CYCA is to identify, support and develop our coaches of the future by offering a programme of training, personal development

and mentoring support delivered by experienced coaches.

The Academy is open to any young person aged 15+ who wants to develop as a coach, gain coaching qualifications or training and is actively committed to coaching. Further information and an application form can be found on our website www.scssp.co.uk or ask a member IN TRAINING: Coaching for of your PE dept for further information. young coaches.

between the top three schools who were jostling for positions after each round of events. The eventual winners were reigning champions Histon & Impington Juniors, who finished ahead of runners up Steeple Morden Primary School.

In the separate ‘Small Schools’ competition the team from Haslingfield Primary School finished as clear winners but the positions below them were much more closely contested with only 30 points separating the teams finishing in 2nd-5th position. An outstanding individual performance by Saleem Akanbi made a difference though and helped Elsworth Primary School to second position.

Saleem and Harry Bolt, from Steeple Morden, finished with a joint top score of 244 points over the four events; only three points ahead of Meridian’s Eric Flack. Emile Simpson, from Histon and Impington, won the girls’ individual award.

Claire McDonnell, Partnership Manager, said: “There were some excellent performances on the day so congratulations to all of our winners and well done to everyone who took part. As always we have to thank the amazing sports leaders from Comberton and Swavesey Village Colleges as well as the County Young Coach Academy who organised and scored the events for us. They did a great job and the staff and parents were full of praise for them. ”

Final team positions: 1 Histon 1668, 2 Steeple Morden 1592, 3 Over 1505, 4 Meridian 1468, 5 Bassingbourn 1393, 6 Jeavons Wood 1373.

Small schools: 1 Haslingfield 1402, 2 Elsworth 1291, 3 Hatton Park 1287, 4 Meldreth 1278, 5 Harston & Newton 1262, 6 Guilden Morden 1124.

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MVC News

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