HillsNews Summer Newsletter
@HillsRoadNews
July 2019
Students Raise A Record £26,434 During Social Action Week
Hills Road students raised £26,434 during Social Action Week in June
In just three days, students raised a total of £26,434 that will be donated to charities from Jimmy’s Homeless Shelter and Women’s Aid to East Anglia Children’s Hospice and WaterAid. Hills Road Sixth Form students were challenged to raise money for their preferred charity as part of Hills Social Action Week. In three days, students raised a total of £26,434.89 that will be donated to charity.
“Hills Social Action Week provides a strong opportunity for students to connect with local, national and international charities.” The student group ‘Bike’ raised the highest amount of £1,014 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The group undertook a variety of
activities from cycling 40km around the Godmanchester area and selling brownies to painting skirting boards and cooking for families and friends. ‘Bike’ team member Georgia said: “We are amazed at the response and generosity of the people who donated and by how much you can achieve when you put in the work. We hope this will help many people who are suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and that our successful fundraising event will encourage others to raise money for this worthy cause.”
about, and gives them the opportunity to blend social action as part of their learning experience at the College.” Hills Social Action Week was managed by Unloc, a not-for-profit organisation that helps to empower young people to be innovative changemakers who seek to build stronger communities and sustainable businesses. To see more about the activity search #hillssocialaction.
Jo Trump, Principal said “Hills Social Action Week provides a strong opportunity for students to connect with local, national and international charities that they feel passionate
Team ‘Bike’ raised the most money for their charity, Motor Neurone Disease
Geography Student Delivers a Presentation on the Development of Detroit The Cambridge and District Geographical Association held a teach meet event with a difference, with students from many sixth forms taking the opportunity to present on their chosen topic. This event was attended by Year 12 Geographers from Hills Road and other local schools and colleges. The topics proved inspiring and covered a wide range of global issues including the future of Bangladesh, the conflict brewing in the South China Sea, Haiti’s cholera crisis as well as the development of Detroit.
“It was a very positive and valuable experience for me as I learned a lot more about Detroit and acquired a higher level of self-confidence while presenting.”
Year 12 Student Chosen as One of the Winners for Teens In AI London Hackathon
Sanjeet was one of the top 10 finalists invited to present his idea at the CogX AI Festival in London, during London Tech Week.
Hills Road student, Sanjeet Chatterjee, was chosen as one of the winners of the TeensInAI London Hackathon with his app ‘Dash’ a centrally co-ordinated driver service designed to improve traffic flow in major cities using an adaptive routing system. Dash dynamically generates routes that use smaller roads, but with longer trip times, and gives users reward points as incentives based on the length of the detour time.
“I came up with the idea for Dash with the aim of making cities more sustainable.” Sanjeet was one of the top 10 finalists invited to present his idea at the CogX AI Festival in London, during London Tech Week. The Hackathon aimed to encourage teenagers to develop a concept that addresses one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, using AI. The app was judged on design, innovation, technical complexity, social impact and commercial viability.
Sanjeet said “I came up with the idea for Dash with the aim of making cities more sustainable.” “Dash will be able to centrally co-ordinate autonomous fleets, such as Tesla’s upcoming Robo Taxi network.” CogX AI Judges included Sherry Coutu, Angel investor and founder of Founder4schools; Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton; Andrew Eland, Engineering Lead at Google Deepmind Health and Simon Edward, Chief Marketing Officer and VP IBM UK & Ireland.
Sanjeet delivering his pitch about Dash to the judges at London Tech Week
Rory the Velociraptor
Hills Road Year 12 Geography student, Aleksandar Cucakovic, was selected to participate. He said “I gave a presentation on the development of Detroit and its past identity and where it is today, including the social, economic and political factors that have influenced it.” “It was a very positive and valuable experience for me as I learned a lot more about Detroit and acquired a higher level of self-confidence while presenting.” “I gained helpful feedback from the Head of Geography at Hills Road; Mrs Julia Thomson, and the Head of Geography at The Perse School; Mr James Riley.”
Rory
Will plans to study palaeontology next year at university. Year 13 student Will Wisson-Burton loves palaeontology. He’s so passionate about the subject that for his Extended Project, he created a skeleton of an Allosaurus Fragilis out of scrap metal. The sculpture was so popular that he
kindly created a skeleton of a smaller dinasour, a Velociraptor, that he has gifted to the College. Following a competition to name the creature, ‘Rory’ can now be found in the College reception.
Hills Road Art Students Exhibit Their Work at the Cloud Land National Arts Exhibition
The art exhibition at Alexandra Palace
The work of four Hills Road Year 12 Art students was recently exhibited in Alexandra Palace, London as part of the Sixth Form Colleges Association national art exhibition Over the last few days of June, the prestigious venue was host to an outstanding display of sixth form artwork, commemorating the importance of the arts. Sixth form students from across the country were asked to consider how Art, Science and Technology have been used in conjunction by the early pioneers of
“It was a truly impressive event with the works of all the participating schools being of such a high standard.”
aeronautics, and how this might still be of relevance today. Some truly stunning work from Hills Road students, Anna Christophersen, Max Johns, Catherine Needs and Alicja Emmans was on show at the exhibition. Anna said “It was a truly impressive event with the works of all the participating schools being of such a high standard. It was great to see my work up on display along with the other pieces submitted by Hills Road students in such a beautiful location.” The students were selected to feature and represent the College as a part of this National celebration of artistic excellence within sixth form education. Hills Road student Anna talking to Bill Watkin, Chief Executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association
Anna with her artwork at the exhibition
Artwork by Max Johns
RoboCon 2019
Organisers and participants of RoboCon 2019
RoboCon took place over two days on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th April with 15 teams battling it out for a place in the final. the final were Chesterton Community College, Comberton Village College, Longsands Academy and The Leys School. The team from Comberton Village College won after their robot was able to collect the highest number of cubes and return them to its starting zone. Second place went to Chesterton Community College with Longsands College taking third place.
Some of the robots in action
The RoboCon 2019 competition was organised and designed by Hills Road students, and teams of GCSE students from local schools were invited to enter. Launched in November 2018, teams were briefed about the competition, given a starter kit of electronics and basic components to build a robot. The teams were required to design, build and programme a robot to autonomously identify, collect and return cubes from an arena. Points were awarded if their robot was able to capture cubes, with more points being awarded if they returned
Parkside Community College’s Robot in action
“Our students put a huge amount of effort into making sure the competition went smoothly.” them to their starting zone. However, points were subtracted for collecting cubes assigned to their opponents! In the initial rounds, robots ironed out teething problems culminating in a series of knock out rounds leading to an eventual winner. The four teams in
The team from Parkside Community College and their robot dressed up as anime characters! They were given the Judges Award for the best team image prize. Hills Road Physics teacher and Robotics leader, David Massey said “Our students put a huge amount of effort into making sure the competition went smoothly and several teachers from local schools complimented them on this, and have said that they would like to take part again next year. Robotics is a wonderfully inspiring STEM activity and this competition has produced some fantastic efforts from the teams.” The competition was only able to take place thanks to the generosity of sponsors CITRIX, Frontier, Arm and CMR surgical.
Wellbeing Team
Hello, I’m Hugo
I’m a two year old Cavapoo who recently passed my tests and I’m ready to join Hills Road in September as their first official community wellbeing dog. About me: I am a friendly little pup who loves meeting new people. I have a placid nature and I am pretty good at reading body language. If you’re unsure about me I will give you the space you need, but if you want a cuddle or play, I am all yours. My favourite activities include sniffing, chewing toys and tummy rubs.
Meeting Hugo Hugo will be joining Hills Road in September as our new community wellbeing dog. You can meet him on a Thursday or Friday, when he will be sitting in on wellbeing appointments and available during the wellbeing drop in at lunch and break times. You will also find him stretching his legs at regular intervals around the College site. Hugo is looking forward to meeting all the Hills Road students at the start of the Autumn term.
Training: People always tell me that I was born to be a wellbeing dog. I’ve worked really hard at puppy school and training with my owner, and I have passed my assessment to be a visiting dog for vulnerable adults with Our Special Friends, a pet therapy charity in Suffolk. For this, I had to have my jabs and get signed off as fit and healthy by a vet and then undergo a behavioural assessment at East Anglian Dog Training. I passed by staying calm and under control in lots of different scenarios.
The Wellbeing team at Hills Road has grown with the appointment of Sarah Sainsbury as the new Student Safeguarding, Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead. Here’s what Sarah has to say... What is your professional background? After qualifying as a social worker from the University of Leeds in 2013, I started my first job in social care with the Royal United Hospital in Bath and after three years I decided to specialise in Mental Health. This led me to train as a mental health practitioner with the mental health team at Bath Spa University, a job which gave me a brilliant grounding in this area. Since moving to Cambridge last year, I’ve been working as part of the guidance team at Hills and I am really excited to throw myself into this new role! What is your vision for the wellbeing provision at Hills Road?
Health and Grooming: I like to keep my hair short in summer, and a little longer in winter. I go to the groomers every 6-8 weeks to get washed and groomed. No dogs are 100% hypoallergenic, but I am close as it gets. For any of you with a dog hair allergy, the good news is that I don’t drop any hair.
Sarah Sainsbury
Sarah and Hugo
The wellbeing support offered at Hills Road is brilliant, and I am hoping to build on this success with new schemes which support the existing structure. This will include reviewing the wellbeing content in the tutorial programme, creating a programme of activities targeted at students taking time to settle in at the beginning of Year 12, introducing more student led initiatives and developing the wellbeing days we have in November.
The Hills Road Art Exhibition 2019
Portrait paintings by Harvey Cantrell
The Hills Road Art Exhibition showcased the very best of Year 13 students artwork We are very proud of our Year 13 students and everything they have achieved in their two years with us, and delighted that so many were able to come and celebrate their vibrant and diverse works of art that were on display throughout the College. Students exhibited a wide range of mediums including painting, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, interactive digital art, moving image and photographic work.
Take a closer look at their inspiring art works by going to our online exhibition at hillsart.net or follow us on Instagram @hillsroadart for current news and updates. TV sculpture by Lee Drew
Abstract guitar sculptures by Olivia Crawley
Textiles dresses with screen-printed pattern by Esther Aronsohn
Art Trip to Amsterdam Hills Road Art & Design students visited Amsterdam for the annual Art trip
DofE Practice Expedition 33 students travelled with members of staff to the Lake District at the beginning of July for their Duke of Edinburgh Gold award practice expedition.
Students at the Kröller Müller Art Gallery
Year 12 art students explored the cultural canal side city of Amsterdam, filling a long weekend visit with art galleries and soaking up the historical and contemporary sights. This was a real injection of creative inspiration for their coursework projects. Their first visit was to the Rijksmuseum to see masterpieces by the great Dutch artists of the seventeenth century such as Rembrandt’s largest and most famous painting, Night Watch and Vermeer’s Woman Reading a Letter. Then a sunny stroll through Museumplein (Museum Square) to
Students were surrounded by nature with the unique experience of cycling through acres of woodland, grasslands and sandy landscapes to arrive at the museum. The Kröller-Müller Museum has the second-largest Collection of Van Gogh paintings, after the Van Gogh museum, which we also visited in Amsterdam. It is also famous for its large sculpture garden with a collection of 160 sculptures by iconic artists such as Rodin, Moore and Dubuffet. What’s more, students were able to soak up the art within the tree dappled sunshine and beautiful natural setting.
Students camping at Yewtree Fells
Over four days the students covered a 70km route between Torver, past Coniston water before finishing in Keswick. Camping wild, the students showed that they have the skills required for their qualifying expedition in Wales next month.
“This has been an excellent opportunity for the students to develop their ability to work collaboratively..” This has been an excellent opportunity for the students to develop their ability to work collaboratively. They have shown that they can persevere through challenging conditions and work together so that the whole team completes the expedition and progresses to the qualifier.
get to Stedelijk Museum, the largest museum of modern and contemporary art and design in the Netherlands. Smaller galleries on our visit included Foam Photography Gallery, Melwick Expo, GO gallery and Gallery 139, an artist-run institution for continuous production and presentation of contemporary art. Students had a fantastic informal talk with some of the artists at Gallery 139 about working and creating as a collective, as well as the chance to see Berke Keein Zandvoort’s live performance layering of poetry, text and image projection. The highlight of the trip was a day visit to Kröller Müller Museum, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo.
The day ended back in Amsterdam at the spectacularly designed modern waterside culture centre EYE Film Museum for the screening of neo-noir Mandarin film Long Day’s Journey into Night.
All the students should be proud of what they have achieved, and we are grateful to the staff and volunteers who gave up their time to allow the students to have this opportunity. Everyone is now looking forward to the qualifying expedition in August.
The visit to Amsterdam would not have been complete without the relaxing canal cruise to view the historic bridges and picturesque canal houses from such a pretty perspective. Students enjoyed a well-earned break shopping at Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square), the oldest flea market in the Netherlands, before heading back home after an extremely fun and engaging art trip. Mickelden Valley
Music Tour to Prague
Choral and Orchestral Concert
Following on from the huge success of Budapest 2017, 43 members of Brass Quintet, Chamber Choir and Chamber Orchestra enjoyed a five-day tour based in the fabulous city of Prague. The musicians gave three magnificent concerts to large and enthusiastic audiences, two in the centre of Prague (including the stunning St Nicholas Church on the Old Town Square) and a third in the western Czech Republic town of Horsovsky Tyn.
“We’re delighted that the tour was so well received by musicians and audiences alike.”
Further cultural highlights included a guided walking tour of the stunning Prague Castle district, an evening river cruise and a visit to the city of Pilzen’s top attraction - its brewery! Kate Murdoch, Director of Music, said “Huge congratulations to all for such a high standard of team work and music making, in searing heat.”
Members of the Symphony Orchestra performing at Ely Cathedral
Students and staff performed at the Choral and Orchestral Concert which was held at Ely Cathedral on 1st May. A concert in the illustrious surroundings of Ely Cathedral was a fitting way to mark the end of two years of music making for many of our instrumentalists and singers, to whom we extend our significant thanks to for their dedication to College music. Over 300 students have taken part in College music this year, from Folk Roots to Jazz Choir and Symphony Orchestra to College Choir.
“The collective standard of musicianship has been inspirational.” Students and staff on tour in Prague
“We’re delighted that the tour was so well received by musicians and audiences alike.” Special mention to staff members Andy Hosker and John Cotton who drove the van, with no air-conditioning, over 2,000 miles in a heatwave in order to ensure all instruments travelled safely and without prohibitive costs. They deserve a medal!
Music students and staff enjoying some downtime in Prague
The Chamber Choir performing at Ely Cathedral
The collective standard of musicianship has been inspirational and we continue to be delighted that so many students and staff are prepared to give so much of their time to ensure Hills is brimming with music. We took full advantage of Ely Cathedral’s generous acoustic with an indulgence of choral music from Chamber and College Choirs, whilst Laura Mayo provided a hauntingly beautiful account of Barber’s intricate Violin Concerto, accompanied by Symphony Orchestra.
Huge Thank You to Year 12 Students A huge thank you to all the students who helped out as ‘Guides’ and ‘Ambassadors’ at our Open Evenings and Welcome to Hills Days from 24th - 27th June. These events wouldn’t have been such a success without our students. The College has since received some glowing compliments about their enthusiasm from parents of prospective students about the helpfulness of our students during the Open Evenings. Year 11 students attending Welcome to Hills commented on how helpful it was
BBC Proms Premiere
‘‘I was so impressed with the teachers but especially the students. They did you proud! ” to hear from current students about their experiences at the College, and to pick up a few helpful tips too!
Alexia Sloane
Hills Road alumna and second year undergraduate Alexia Sloane has been commissioned to write a piece for this year’s BBC Proms. Earthward, a six-minute work reflecting climate change, a subject close to Alexia’s heart, will be performed by VOCES8 at Cadogan Hall on Monday 22nd July.
‘‘I am very excited to have my work premiered by VOCES8 at the BBC Proms this summer.” Alexia began taking formal composition lessons at the age of 12 and now studies with Professor Emily Howard, kindly supported by a Gough Kelly Award. Student Ambassadors and Guides
Alexia has also secured success at numerous competitions, including The Cambridge Young Composer of the Year, the Royal College of Music Joan Weller Composition Prize, the Humphrey Searle Composition Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society/Classic FM 25th Birthday commissions, and the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ Competition. ‘‘I am very excited to have my work premiered by VOCES8 at the BBC Proms this summer. It is such an honour and a privilege to be writing for such a superb vocal ensemble and to be commissioned for this year’s BBC Proms at the age of 19.”
The Hills Road LGBT+ Society at Open Evenings
Tickets for the BBC Proms concert are already sold out, but disappointed listeners can still tune in to BBC Radio 3 for the live broadcast at 1pm and in addition Alexia will be giving a BBC Proms interview from the Royal Albert Hall which will be broadcast live on the BBC Breakfast Radio 3 show at 8.10 am.
Sport AoC National Finals
For the fifth consecutive year, Hills Road Sport has won the Clifford Dixon Trophy, which was recently presented by the Association of Colleges (AoC) to Ann Hemming, Head of Sport. The Clifford Dixon Trophy is awarded to the College accruing the highest results across all sports in the Eastern Region. Hills Road students amassed 209 points after competing in 24 different sports. Their nearest rivals were SEEVIC (South East Essex Sixth Form College) in second place with 94 points and East
Norfolk Sixth Form College in third with 87 points.
the National AoC Championships at Nottingham in April 2019.
Out of the 22 sports, Hills Road won cross country, hockey, netball, football, women’s rugby and tennis. 78 Hills Road students from the winning teams represented the East Region at
The women’s hockey team followed up their success in Nottingham with a silver medal in the National Knockout cup in Birmingham a few days later.
Hills Road Students Win Innovation Award Arnav Bagla, Aly Champion, Sanjeet Chatterjee, Max Hurlestone, Arnav Koshy and Annie Noonari have been working for six months on a project with Arm engineers to design, build and integrate a pressure sensing glove to help physiotherapists diagnose hand injuries. This was done as a project for the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) engineering challenge, which asks teams of up to six, sixth form students to solve an engineering problem working with professional engineers from local companies as mentors.
“This has been a very good example of a well-planned and wellexecuted project.” The Hills Road students worked with engineers from Arm, coming up with the project for themselves and impressing their mentors from the start with their enthusiasm and knowledge.
Aly Champion, Max Hurlstone, Arnav Koshy, Sanjeet Chaterjee, Annie Noonari and Arunav Bagla
The six-month long project culminated in the Celebration and Awards Day in May, when teams from 15 schools from the East of England region met at Hertford University to present the results of their projects. A team of judges from industry and academia examined each project in detail and they were very impressed by all aspects of the ‘Smart Glove’ and the way it was presented. Winning the
innovation award was a testament to the hard work and energy the team put into the project from the very start. Inaki Abadia, one of the Arm mentors said “This has been a very good example of how a well-planned and well-executed project, from the beginning, always has a very high chance of success.”
Students Win Award for Integrity at ICAEW National Final They were asked to prepare a presentation with the help of their mentor. The teams were observed by mobile judges and scored on important aspects of group work. Each team then presented their findings in a 5 minute formal presentation to a panel of expert judges. Hills Road students Adam Rayner, Ethan Rogers, Flora Wrigley, Joseph Hockley receiving the Integrity Award
Four Hills Road Business students won the award for ‘Integrity’ at the Institue of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) national final competition in Birmingham in June. Just 48 teams from over 400 schools and colleges reached the national final. Each team was assigned a mentor by ICAEW and the Hills Road team mentor was Charmaine Allen, Director of Operations and Finance at the Judge Business School, Cambridge. Students were given the brief ‘Advise a charity on which ethically motivated business venture to follow and which sponsors to work in partnership with to sustain the local environment’.
“I am surprised to learn how many careers are available to me after achieving an accountancy qualification.”
During dinner, Hills Road student, Adam Raynor, sat next to one of the judges, Nichola Trigg, Chief Executive at Worcestershire Football Association and after hearing all about her career history he said “I am surprised to learn about just how many careers are available to me after achieving an accontancy qualification!” Following an inspiring speech, Naima Siddiqi, Director of Finance & Regulatory Affairs from Friends of the Earth, the Hills Road team were announced as the Team with the most Integrity.
Production Notes Articles and photographs for this edition of the HillsNews were produced by Vivien Brownlee, Sanjeet Chatterjee, Isabelle Depiot, Louise Ecclestone, Ann Hemming, Ellie Keeble, David Massey, Kate Murdoch, Sarah Sainsbury, Linda Swain, Kristy Taylor, Shelley Tenberg, Julia Thomson, Jo Trump and Ella Whittlestone