Education

Community Education Val Tookey 260566 Little Hands Karen on 01763 260964 Melbourn Playgroup Jane Crawford 07842 151512 Notre Ecole Janet Whitton 261231 Primary School Headteacher Jacqueline Bell-Cook 223457 Toy Library Yasmin Croxford 220246 U3A (Univ. of Third Age) Chairman John Stevens 261858 Village College Warden Elaine Stephenson 223400

News from Melbourn Village College

It’s been a busy start to the Autumn term at the College. In addition to the dayto-day business of teaching and learning, the sheer number of activities available to our students continues to grow. Below, I have highlighted a selection of these opportunities - but it’s by no means a comprehensive list.

A Grand Challenge

TTP has been very generous in sponsoring an ‘Apprentice’-style challenge for teams of budding entrepreneurs from the College. The teams have been given £500 each in order to invest in a range of money-raising activities. The money raised will be donated to the Papworth Trust. I shall let readers know how the teams have fared in the next issue. Andrew Allsworth, Deputy Warden

… Battle of the Bands!

The students in year 10 at Melbourn Village College are organising a charity fundraising event. It is in aid of Papworth Trust, a disability charity, which helps over 13,000 disabled people a year in the east of England in a number of different ways. The student’s fundraiser is part of ‘The Grand Challenge’ young enterprise. It is part of a competition, and the group that raises the most money wins. One event is a ‘Battle of the Bands’, and will be held at Melbourn Village College on Saturday 20th December 2009 at 7pm Entrance: £5 Tickets available from MVC Reception or call Daniella Davis on 01223 870670 or Maryska Grant on 01763 222512

The History Department started the new academic year by offering a ‘Tudor Day’ to all students in Year 8. The college’s PTFA very generously paid for two Tudor specialists (in full costume!) to introduce students to the realities of life in this country many hundreds of years ago. This was real, ‘hands on’, history at its best- but perhaps not for the squeamish: some of the supposed ‘cures’ for common ailments at the time had to be seen to be believed. It appears that one supposed cure for an infected leg was to have a chicken tied to the afflicted limb or face amputation as an alternative…

Lights, Camera, Action!

In late September, a group of students from Years 8-10 visited Anglia Ruskin University to contribute to a celebration of the European Day of Languages. They had the opportunity to showcase some of their video work and to participate in a range of language taster sessions. Staff from the university were very impressed by the MVC students’ behaviour and positive attitudes.

Mathematics

At long last, we now have a full complement of specialist Mathematics teachers at the College. Mr John Rayner has been appointed head of Maths; he has been joined by Mr John Holder. We have made considerable investment in new resources including wireless ‘writing tablets’ and webcams in order to enrich students’ learning experiences. Earlier this term, some MVC students participated in the national Cipher Challenge organized by the University of Southampton. This code-breaking competition is based on the communications intercepted by the Duke of Wellington’s forces during their campaign to eject Napoleon’s army from Portugal and Spain.

Sports

This term has continued to see a great number of outstanding individual and team performances. Contrary to national media perceptions, the number of MVC students participating in extra-curricular sports activities is actually rising! Of particular note is the fact that, although we are a relatively small college, we regularly compete with (and beat!) much larger schools. For example, the Year 8 girls’ hockey team recently beat Comberton 12-0 whilst the Year 9 boys’ rugby team beat St. Bede’s 31-14. Congratulations to all concerned.

Performing Arts

A number of prestigious arts activities are planned for the near future. Internationally renowned ensemble ‘Between the Notes’ will be working with College pupils, pupils from the Primary School and members of the community to devise a musical piece specifically for Melbourn Village. GCSE Dance students were very fortunate to work alongside professional dancers from the Richard Alston Dance Company in early October. In December, the College will be putting on a production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. Two recent Year 6 Arts Days were a great success; they continued a long-established tradition where the College opens its doors to Year 6 children from local primary schools to participate in a day of visual and performing arts activities. This year the theme was ‘outer space’.

New Arts Development Manager for Melbourn

After 3 years working to support the arts and create an exciting array of projects locally, Cheryl Bennett, Arts Development Manager for the villages served by Melbourn Village College, is moving on. She’s now taken up a post as regional strategy manager for Youth Dance England (East) and we wish her the very best. This leaves me a very hard act to follow, and at a busy time. By the time this magazine goes to press I’ll have worked on some of the amazing projects coming up, which Cheryl has left as a legacy, and also getting married! The largest project (wedding excluded) will have been Inventors in Music, in which London based company ‘Between the Notes’ will have spent a couple of weeks in Melbourn. They are an internationally renowned group including Artistic Director Matthew Barley whom you may have recognised from his leading role in BBC2’s Classical Star programme. The project includes Melbourn Primary School pupils, students at Melbourn Village College and local community members, and will have culminated in a specially commissioned piece of music for Melbourn and a free performance at All Saints’ Church . I hope that those involved in the project itself, or those who saw the performance, will have had a fantastic experience. Funding for ‘Inventors in Music’ has been provided by the Clore Duffield Foundation through its Clore Performing Arts Award, Melbourn Village College and South Cambridgeshire District Council. In terms of future projects there will be some exciting things coming up as part of the community celebration of MVC’s 50th anniversary so watch this space! My job is to help support arts in the local community and I’m really looking forward to getting to know Melbourn and the surrounding villages. If you have an interest in the arts and want to know more about local projects, or are part of a group who want advice or support regarding the Arts, then please get in touch with me on 07770 643165 or email Kirstin@start-arts.org.uk Kirstin Bicknell

PTFA (Parent Teacher Friends Association)

There are various plans for the coming months Saturday 7th February 2009 Quiz Night (to be confirmed) Sunday 29th March 2009 Spring Fair (replacing Christmas Fair)

Melbourn Village College Continuing Education

Learn Something New! Art – Watercolours, Pastels, Life Drawing, Drawing & Painting (a.m); Computing – For Beginners, Computerised Accounts, Touch Typing, Word Processing & ITQ; Fitness – Yoga, Badminton, Ballroom Dancing, Raqs Sharqi (Egyptian Dance); General Interest – Ceramics, Flower Arranging, Garden Design For Children – Ballet, Ceramics; Employment Skills – NVQ’s in Administration, Customer Service, Management Further Details from the Adult Learning Team Tel: 01763 260566 Fax/Tel: 01763 223408 Email: comed@mvc.org.uk Website: www.mvc.org.uk

Melbourn & District U3A

The membership of the U3A continues to flourish as people realise that they have an opportunity for learning or a little exercise at modest rates. At the present time we are looking at restarting the Local History, the Discussions and the Art and Painting Groups. The other Groups continue to meet either in houses or in one of the meeting halls in the area and the monthly meeting on the third Wednesday afternoon of the month in the Village College attracts good audiences to listen to speakers. All our Groups meet either in the morning or the afternoon so there are no problems with travel after dark and lifts are almost always available. If you are at a loose end and want to get out and meet people ring 260399 or 222486 for details. Colin Limming

Workers’ Educational Association

Enrolment for the Spring courses will be on Tuesday 6th January at Royston Hall between 10am and 11am. Once again there will be a choice of two courses. These will be: Novels into Films – Tutor Steven Wade-Jones We will probably study two novels adapted into films ; perhaps ‘The Hours’ and ‘Atonement’. By studying two representations of the same story we should gain a deeper understanding of each form.

An Introduction to Ecology – Tutor David Elcome Why is it that specialized communities of plants and animals live together in a particular area or habitat? How are they influenced by their physical environment and what are the links between the species that live there? The courses start on 13th January from 10am-11.30am and continue for 10 weeks. There may be a half-term and, after the courses have ended, a field-trip (coach trip) is possible at extra cost. The fee for the course is £43. It is helpful if you pay by cheque (cheques payable to Royston WEA) and, if possible, enrol on registration day. For further information contact Doreen Wood on 01763 242230 or David Allard on 01763 242677. We have been very glad to welcome a number of new students to our Wednesday children’s group and we are now busy learning how to greet people in French. We are also mastering the colours, numbers up to 10 and the days of the week. Thanks go to our more long-standing members who have been so helpful these last weeks. When the weather has been good enough we have managed to play some games outside but as the evenings draw in we are starting to find indoor games to play. At the Thursday after-school group all members have been learning French for more than a year now and so we are able to concentrate on slightly more complicated language. We have been learning French and playing games around the theme of countries. We have also revised expressions to say what is wrong with us and played a number of games to revise general vocabulary. At our Wednesday evening adult class several members have decided it is time to join the more advanced conversation group. This means that our beginners’ group is now much smaller. This term in the beginner’s group we have worked around the themes of countries, food shopping, items purchased at different types of shops, dates, seasons and festivals. We have also found time to start having some real conversations of our own. Meanwhile the more advanced group has spent some time perfecting the past tenses. If you or your child would like to join us, please call Marine on 01763 222876 or Janet on 01763 261231 for further details. We are a French native speaker and a graduate of European Studies with French and we would love to see you at one of our groups.

Notre Ecole

Learn French in a friendly atmosphere *French for Children *French for Adults “Games, role-play, songs etc.” All levels, Conversation” Every Wednesday Every Wednesday from 3.45pm to 4.30pm from 8.00pm to 9.00pm Every Thursday GCSE lessons available by from 4:15pm to 5:00pm arrangement. Individual lessons also available. Tel. Marine - 01763 222876 or Janet - 01763 261231