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Walsingham Pilgrimage

Year 10 RE students have an annual visit to Walsingham in  Norfolk. Katie Brown describes the trip: Walsingham is famed for its religious shrines in honour of the Virgin Mary and attracts around 250,000 pilgrims each year, as individuals or as parish groups accompanied by their priest. It also contains the ruins of two medieval monastic houses. So, the trip was a great opportunity for students to enhance their knowledge on the Christian faith and experience first-hand the significance of the holy site that pilgrims have visited for centuries. Once arriving at Walsingham, we were greeted and welcomed to the shrine by staff Pauline Lovelock and Geoff Arden. They both did an excellent job of guiding us around the historic sites and involving us in the various activities that pilgrims do when they come to Walsingham. We were first walked through the outside area of the chapel of reconciliation (Roman Catholic); when the number of pilgrims exceeds the capacity of the Chapel, the panelling at the back of the sanctuary can be opened up and the altar becomes the focal point for pilgrims gathered in the Shrine grounds. Then we were lead into the Slipper Chapel (dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria) which served pilgrims on their way to England’s Nazareth. Saint Catherine was the patron saint of pilgrims to the Holy Land and her knights kept open the road to Nazareth during the Crusades. The beautiful stained glass windows frame the several images of Mary decorate the Slipper Chapel. After leaving the Slipper chapel, students…

Oh what a night!

Two of our Year 11 students were honoured at the Cambridge News Education Awards - but missed out on the celebrations as they are currently on a World Challenge expedition in Tanzania. Iain Lynn was awarded the Student of the Year accolade for his work in promoting oracy as a necessary skill for young people. The judges praised his work in encouraging younger students at BVC by setting up and running a debate club, and were further impressed by his work nationally and his involvement with the English Speaking Union and the Parliamentary Speaking Up campaign. Libby Taylor was runner up in the Sports Personality award. Libby is a champion hammer thrower and, again, she was praised not only for her personal achievements but also her work in encouraging younger students achieve their own goals. BVC Principal Duncan Cooper said:"This is an amazing achievement for both Iain and Libby - and testament to their hard work throughout their time at BVC. "We are all extremely proud of them. They are exemplary students with a great future ahead." Iain has written the following article for our termly magazine which sums up his time at BVC: "When I first started debating at BVC, I never dreamed it would be anything more than part of the English syllabus. Likewise when Joe Heavey, Adam Castle and myself went to the Pixl UpforDebate final at Eton, we were amazed that we’d got that far and hadn’t even prepared for the final. When we were named as one of the two…

Technology experience for students

Three of our Year 10 students were fortunate enough to be selected for a Careers Week workshop at  international technology company ARM. Based in Cambridge, the boys travelled in each day and took part in workshops, project development and office-based problem-solving. Oliver Pulley, Edward Weekes and Oliver Haley comment on their week: Oli P: Our experience was simply amazing - throughout the week I thoroughly enjoyed all the activities I participated in. ARM, which stands for Advanced RISC Machines, is a company that designs chips used within 97% of technology. Within the week we had multiple tasks to do: the main task was in groups where we worked together for a solution to a problem presented to us by UNICEF. Other tasks required us to create advertisements and work together in cryptography challenge. The skills learnt throughout this experience will benefit me extremely as I had to perform with strangers to fulfil a solution to the problem; giving me good decision-making skills, communication skills and leadership skills as I acted as a leader within the group itself. Overall I would highly recommend for others to take this opportunity if presented to them as it was a highly beneficial and enjoyable experience for me to partake in. Ed: The week at ARM was based around one key problem – chosen out of the three that were supplied by UNICEF – that we had to create a solution for using an ARM processor. After first designing our solution to this problem, we had to create a presentation…

MFL Spelling Bee

Felicitations & Felicitaciones to the 10 students who competed in the finals of the BVC MFL Spelling Bee: Zoe Button, Amelia Parsley, Rosina Summers, Emma Silva, Jessica Mawditt, Lily Harrison, Lottie Bond, Alanis Jacintho, Anna Wylie and Emma Jones. The overall winners were Anna Wylie for French and Emma Silva for Spanish. All Year 7 pupils started the competition back in September and there have been various rounds leading to the final. The 10 finalists had to learn 150 words in either French or Spanish and had 1 minute to translate and spell (using the French/Spanish alphabet) as many words as possible.

Sports Awards 2018

The annual BVC Sports Awards evening took place this week with 90 of our very best sports students attending. Students were invited to attend if they had represented the school in more than two sports over the past year. The top awards of the evening were presented to Ross Bradford and Libby Taylor. Libby, a county-level athlete, has also been named as a finalist in the Cambridge News Education Award's Sports Student of the Year. Helen Gilder, head of PE, said: "Since starting at BVC, Libby has been sport mad! She is the most amazing role model and inspires others.In addition to her own achievements, Libby has helped coach athletics and really helped younger pupils to improve. She has been part of the leadership academy, a GCSE PE student and a Sports Captain." Other award winners were: AWARD WINNER Football Josh Izzard & Elle Sarter Basketball Kye Watson Cricket Patrick Robinson Netball Lydia Cornwell & Jess Gant Athletics Max Bowen & Shauna Tynan Rounders Emma Hodge & Rosanna Snook Rugby Billy Turkington Hockey Emily Castle & Ginevra Harraway Service to PE Harriet French Outstanding Performance Ash Whelan & Melissa Phillips Most Improved Player Elizabeth Tidmarsh GCSE Student of the Year Libby Taylor Exceptional Talent Amber Holloway-Hutchinson & Ben Cutmore Outstanding Effort Adam Russell & Imogen Barratt Sportsman of the Year Ross Bradford Sportswoman of the Year Libby Taylor Team of the Year Year 11 Netball

Creative Arts Summer Showcase

Brilliant turn out for Leavers’ Prom

What’s up Doc?

Students considering a career in medicine were spellbound by a talk given by BVC parents Elizabeth Kendrick Dr Kendrick is a GP at Buntingford Health Centre and has a special interest in older people. She is the Hertfordshire and West Essex STP deputy clinical frailty lead. A group of students heard what is involved in going to medical school, being a junior doctor, different medicine specialisms and what might be the first steps to find out more. Dr Kendrick also talked about the emotional impact of being a doctor. The talk was organised by Mr Taylor as part of a series of talks by BVC parents on a range of different occupations.

Oxford Union date for BVC speakers

Year 11 students Iain Lynn and Adam Castle finished off their BVC debating careers in style - with an invitation to speak at the world famous Oxford Union. The boys were invited to compete in the Oxford Arts Festival Schools Debating Competition following their success in the Pixl Up For the Debate competition in 2016 when they were runners up at the national final at Eton College. The Oxford debate took the form of a day-long competition, with the boys competing in four different debates: This House Believes that cultural artifacts should be returned to country of origin;  religious primary and secondary schools should be banned; euthanasia should be legalised; and the voting age should be lowered to 16. Competitors were only given the motions 15 minutes before each debate started and each round featured four teams. Iain said:"Going to the Oxford Union was a dream come true! We got a real buzz out of competing together again and the competition was really tough." Adam and Iain showed great skill and narrowly missed a place in the final. The top four teams won through to the final - the boys came fifth overall winning two firsts and one second place. 30 teams took part. Both boys only started debating in year 9 at BVC and since then have gone from strength to strength. Both hope to continue their studies - and debating - at Hills Road Sixth Form College in September.

Summing up success

Young mathematicians from BVC have been honoured for their achievements in a national competition. Over 260,000 students from across the country took part in the annual Junior Maths Challenge – with Bassingbourn Village College scooping four Gold, 15 Silver & 20 Bronze certificates. The BVC Gold award winners were Ellie-Rose Kingsley, Evelyn Marshall, Elliot Perkin and Patrick Weekes. Elliot (year 7) and Patrick (year 8) picked up best-in-year certificates with Patrick collecting an award for achieving the highest mark of the BVC entrants. Patrick was also invited to sit the next stage of the competition, the Junior Mathematical Kangaroo. Duncan Cooper, BVC Principal, said: “It’s great to see these young people being honoured in this way. They have done really well – and Patrick in particular should be congratulated for winning his way through to the next round.” The Junior Maths Challenge is run by the UK Mathematics Trust and is supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. The charity aims to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics by organising competitions and enrichment activities for school pupils across the UK.

Bassingbourn Village College

South End, Bassingbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 5NJ

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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