10 minute read
Education
Community Education Val Tookey 260566
Little Hands Karen on 01763 260964
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Melbourn Playgroup Jane Crawford 07842 151512
Notre Ecole Janet Whitton 261231
Primary School Headmaster Maynard Dunlop 223457
Toy Library Yasmin Croxford 220246
U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman John Stevens 261858
Village College Warden Elaine Stephenson 223400
The “Little Hands” Nursery School on the Moor in Melbourn provides private preschool education for children aged 2 to 5 years. The school operates during term times and also offers holiday clubs during the main school holidays.
In November 2007 the Nursery School was inspected by Ofsted who rated the quality and standards of care provided by ‘Little Hands’ as ‘outstanding’ and the quality and standards of the Nursery Education provided by ‘Little Hands’ again as ‘outstanding’. Basically this means that in terms of both the care and Nursery Education provided, Ofsted think there are no areas of the services provided by “Little Hands” which can be improved upon.
Very few private Nursery Schools receive the accolade of ‘outstanding’ from Ofsted as basically it means that all aspects of the provision are of exceptionally high quality.
This is a ringing endorsement of the practical philosophy of ‘Little Hands’ which is, and always has been, ‘Learning Through Play’. ‘Little Hands’ offers morning, afternoon and lunchtime Nursery School sessions as well as Pre-School sessions, to prepare our older children for infant school. Holiday clubs for children from 2 to 8 years of age are also held in the main school holidays.
Free funded sessions are available every afternoon from 1.30 ‘till 4.00pm.
If you would like to learn more about what ‘Little Hands’ has to offer you and your child please telephone Karen on 01763 260964 during school hours or Jane on 01223 503972 at other times. Alternatively you can e-mail Karen at lh-melbourn@ btconnect.com or Jane at janemarshall@littlehands.co.uk.
Melbourn Primary School
“Round the back!” shout the innkeeper and his wife. “Round the back!” they shout at each intrusion into their night-time slumbers. It’s the week before we break up for Christmas and our youngest children are performing their variation on the nativity play to their parents. Genuine but polite laughter follows each time as the shepherds and the kings are treated with something less than good manners and directed to the stable, which is “round the back”. It is good to see that the humour appeals equally to our children as they gain confidence from the audience’s reaction. I am tempted to say that the story is a modern variation on the traditional theme but it is more than that. It contains all of the elements of the stable in Bethlehem and thus keeps with the traditional but the words coming from the innkeeper bring a twenty-first century dimension. Polite tolerance with a strong sense of frustration. Life is so hectic that the hours of sleep are vital, no time to stand back and marvel at the wondrous event, blaming everyone else for your life being hard, blaming others for messing up our normal life pattern…
Luckily, on seeing the new-born baby the innkeeper and his wife soften – “Aaah, what a lovely baby!” they both say and the audience mirrors the line with their own expressions of joy and wonder.
In the same week our older children offer a well-presented production that is
written entirely by themselves. Poems highlight the various Christmas themes and traditions again leave a warm feeling that despite the pressures of life (and even ten year olds suffer from pressures) a time to reflect on families and love is no bad thing. Equally successful, the production draws praise from parents and generosity in their comments, not only about the hard work of the children but also the maturity of their thoughts.
At both productions an exit collection is gathered, producing £360 for Childline, our chosen charity for the year. Childline is now part of NSPCC and focuses on supporting children who are victims of child abuse. That parents give so generously reflects both their appreciation of the children’s efforts and the acknowledgement of the realities of our society that cause an organisation like Childline to exist.
Prior to Christmas we had a busy but long Autumn term. Illnesses affect huge numbers of children and, for the younger children especially, the end of term can’t come too soon. However, being busy and doing exciting things carries us all through. A group of children formed a choir and over a number of weeks they gave up their lunchtimes to learn carols and songs. They perform firstly at Country Gardens to an audience of parents and shoppers and then as part of our inschool productions. Another performance is for the residents of Southwell Court and many of them join in with carols that they know. All seem to value the children’s presence and our children respond with friendly chatter around a biscuit and a drink.
On the penultimate day of term our cooks served the Christmas dinner (a mammoth production – serving two hundred meals in an hour!) and then the children had an entertainer and party fun. The final morning saw a long-awaited talent show with over twenty acts providing a wide range of acts from singers to magicians, from musicians to majorettes. Over the past weeks members of the School Council had sat through auditions to trim down the keen and willing to a manageable number for the show. With a mixture of patience and sensitivity the “judges” compiled a well-balanced and entertaining show. Whilst television versions of this process may have offered a model for the judges’ behaviour, it was refreshing to see thoughtfulness and consideration for all and their abilities. At the end I realised that not only does Melbourn have talent, it also has good manners!
Our term ends and I wonder why, despite the busy nature of the Christmas period, that this time of year in a primary school is so enjoyable. Staff and children are justifiably ready for a break but we are all prepared to go that little bit further, to try to bring joy and pleasure to the lives of others, to put others first and ourselves last. Maynard Dunlop, Headteacher
Melbourn Primary School PTFA present A Quiz Night for quiz masters and those just wanting a fun night out! Sat 8th March, 7.30pm, Melbourn Primary School Hall Teams of 4-6 people, £7.00 per person including fish and chip supper Licensed bar available.
Sign up sheets are available from the School Office during School hours, and must be booked in advance. email:awkhwebb@aol.com if more information required.
Alison Webb PTFA member of Melbourn Primary School
“Round the back” – infant Christmas production
Head Boy, Head Girl and ‘House’ System
A number of changes to the organization of the College have been agreed in recent weeks. In September, Year 11 prefects took up their posts of responsibility. On this occasion, however, a further refinement involved the appointment of a Head Boy and a Head Girl whose job, ably supported by the Deputy Head Boy and Girl, is to represent the voice of our students and to represent the College as a whole. The successful candidates were Tom Preston and Katie Dean.
From September we also introduced a new ‘house’ system. This will provide a framework for a wide range of college activities, including sports competitions and arts activities. From a shortlist of 10 famous names, all of them having strong associations with Cambridge University, our students voted for the following four: Darwin, Franklin, Lewis and Newton- an eclectic selection! Charles Darwin, C.S. Lewis and Isaac Newton are well known. The fourth name, Rosalind Franklin, is perhaps less familiar. In fact, she was an important early pioneer in the discovery of DNA, working at the same time as Francis Crick and James Watson.
Performing Arts A wide range of performing arts activities continued to be made available during the Autumn term. There were two outstanding concerts- the traditional Christmas concert in December and, earlier, two evenings of ‘MVC at the Movies’, the theme of the latter being the songs and soundtracks to some of the country’s best loved films. Those people lucky enough to get tickets will probably never listen to ‘Saturday Night Fever’ in the same way again!
Just before the Christmas break, members of the Year 11 GCSE Drama group were fortunate enough to see the London production of ‘The Woman in Black’, a play version of Susan Hill’s gothic chiller. Even better, they were invited to take part in a Drama workshop with some of the professional actors. Luke Davis’s review of the performance itself appears below. OFSTED Following our two-day inspection for PSHEE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education), much of the extra-curricular work undertaken in our Independent Learning Plan programme, Sports Leaders initiative and Extended Schools activities was praised by Ofsted.
In addition, the students were judged to be very polite, mature and thoughtful. The Inspector felt that they are good listeners, able to articulate their thoughts and question appropriately. Student Council members were perceived as making a positive contribution to the College and feeling that they have a range of adults that they can talk to. The Inspector was also very complimentary about the quality and range of healthy food choices available to students at break and lunch times.
Stop Press
We have just received news that the College is to be presented with the ‘Sportsmark’ award. ‘Sportsmark’ recognizes those schools where the percentage of students participating in at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport each week is significantly above the national average. Andrew Allsworth Deputy Warden
Review of ‘The Woman in Black’
It was a cold, dark December afternoon and the Melbourn Village College Year 11 Drama GCSE class all screamed in unison. Having made the excitable journey to London, we had reached The Fortune Theatre where we were to see a matinee performance of the spine-chilling play, The Woman In Black. After attending a short workshop in the theatre, we took to our seats. None of us was prepared for what was to follow. It was the first night of a new cast for the production but this didn’t show through. The infamous play was brought to life before our eyes in all its terrifying glory. The brilliant performance by the two-man cast combined with the heart-stopping use of stage, lighting and sound techniques had many of the Year 11 girls (and too many of the boys) hiding their eyes. The amazing tension created in the perfectly small, Victorian-style theatre made it hard to distinguish between the screams which were intended sound effects and those coming from members of the audience. As the play drew to a close, a spooky tapping noise in the middle of an eerie silence (which the actors later revealed had had nothing to do with them) had inspired such fear in us that we were somewhat unwilling to walk into the darkness to begin our journey home. There was, however, one person who appeared completely unfazed by the whole ordeal. Mr Belbin, our music teacher who had accompanied us on the trip, had dozed off in his seat before the interval. Luke Davis, Year 11
Public Speaking and Magistrates Court Competitions
Four of our Year 8 students recently took part in the South Cambridgeshire Rotary Club Speaking Contest. They were the winning team in this district event, beating off competition from twelve other schools, and now move onto the regional contest in Bury St Edmunds in February, when their topic will be ‘bullying should become a criminal offence’.
A selection of Year 8 and 9 students who have an interest in the law are practising to take part in the Citizenship Foundation’s Mock Magistrates’ Court Competition. Students take on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, magistrates and court staff and prepare the prosecution and defence of specially written criminal cases. Our team will compete against other schools in a live format at Cambridge Magistrates’ Courts in March, with their performances judged by Magistrates and other legal professionals.
PTFA
The PTFA continues to support the College in a number of significant ways. They organized a Christmas Craft Fair which took nearly £2,000, whilst a more recent ‘Murder Mystery’ evening raised £540. This, together with other money raised so far this year, is being used for projects around the College, including a
