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Awards evening honours young readers

The first of our annual celebration events saw some of our younger students honoured for their creative writing talents. The BVC Library & Literacy Awards were held on Tuesday evening with students also taking part in creative writing workshops during the day. The awards were targeted at students in Year 7 with younger students from Bassingbourn, Steeple Morden and Petersfield primary schools also invited to take part. Students who have taken part in Library events also received certificates recognising the best book reviewer, most prolific reader and exceptional librarianship. Guest speaker Julian Sedgwick, author of the Ghosts of Shanghai and Mysterium series of children's books, brought writing alive for the audience with tales of how he became an author and even a sneak preview of his new - as yet untitled and unwritten - novel. BVC Librarian Mrs Lynn said: "How amazing it was to fill the school hall with students and their parents, all celebrating achievements in literacy and reading. Julian was so impressed by our students that he’s asked to be invited back again soon! "Our students are encouraged to read and write for pleasure and it was great to see this so much in evidence on Tuesday evening."

Fund-raising success

Well done to everyone who took part in the non-uniform day for Unicef – we raised an amazing £556.53!

Iain heads to parliament

BVC student Iain Lynn’s passion for public speaking has taken him all the way to parliament. 16-year-old Iain was invited to address MPs at a special cross-party meeting to promote the importance of teaching oracy skills in school. The Speaking Up event was chaired by MP Emma Hardy and attracted a wide audience of MPs, education leaders, communications specialists and Children’s Minister Nadim Zahawi. Iain was asked to attend as the English-Speaking Union’s representative and was praised for his speech which highlighted the inequality oracy skills are given in many schools. A keen debater and public speaker, Iain has won a number of competitions and is now an alumni mentor for ESU events. His #100Reasons Twitter campaign* is currently running to celebrate the centenary of the ESU. He said: “I only started public speaking a couple of years ago but I have been so lucky to have the support of great teachers at BVC and now the ESU. “To me, being able to speak up is as important a life skill as being able to do Maths – and yet it’s not a compulsory part of our education. That needs to change and hopefully the Speaking Up campaign will help do that. "Everyone needs to be able to speak up for themselves, whether it's in a board meeting or giving your order at MacDonalds. “Being invited to parliament was an amazing experience. I plan to study Politics at Alevel next year so being able to participate in a cross-party discussion was invaluable.” Iain will continue…

‘Amazing’ Macbeth

Year 10 drama students represented Bassingbourn Village College at the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival this week. The event is organised by the Anglian Learning multi academy trust and took place at Netherhall School, Cambridge. The Bassingbourn students were joined on stage by dancers from year 8&9 in their devised interpretation of Macbeth. Drama teacher Jude Shortt said: “The students were amazing - their interpretation of Macbeth brought Shakespeare well and truly up-to-date.”

Spring Heron

The Spring Heron has been published and can be viewed as an ISSUU publication here The magazine features news of the past term’s activities and events, along with team photographs and coverage of the Dance Show and GCSE drama showcase.

Debating Culture Award for BVC

Our student voice is loud and strong here at BVC - and now we have an award to prove it! We were awarded a Commendation as runner-up in the English Speaking Union's Debating Culture Award  - a prize that recognises the efforts and initiatives that schools put forward to cultivate a long-term debating culture within their school community. We were praised for introducing debating and public speaking into the school both as part of the curriculum and as student-led clubs. In just two years we have established a strong debating culture at BVC and now have two thriving clubs run by the students themselves. Our teams have done extraordinarily well in competitions, reaching the final of the Pixl Up For Debate final at Eton and regularly winning through to the regional finals of ESU-run competitions. Year 11 student Iain Lynn has become an ESU ambassador and will speak on the importance of oracy in schools in parliament later this month. BVC Principal Duncan Cooper said: "I am so proud of our students receiving this award from the ESU - this is an amazing achievement. It's fantastic to see our students in action debating against each other. Students as young as Year 7 are gaining confidence from learning these skills which will be useful throughout their lives.”

GCSE support evening

The last 6 weeks – Don’t break the chain We will be holding a “Preparation for Exams” evening on Wednesday 28th March for Year 11 students and their parents. The event will take place in the main hall and will start at 7pm. There will be a presentation looking at how best to prepare for the last 6 weeks before the main exam season, discussing revision planning and techniques, health and well-being, exam protocol and giving parents tips on how they can help at this stressful time for a lot of year 11 students. At the evening we will launch the ‘Don’t break the chain approach’ to revision and the PIXL Independence student website.

What’s My Line?

Our youngest students had an introduction to the world of employment thanks to a session of What's My Line. The question and answer game was organised by careers consultants Form the Future who gathered together volunteers from local organisations and businesses. Year 7 students had to guess their occupations by asking questions related to education, experience and workplace.  They discovered just what is involved in such diverse careers as a museum curator, scientist, photographer, IT developer and many more. Mariana Soberon, from Form the Future, said:"The students were all great, they really seemed to enjoy trying to find out what each person did." Many thanks to our participants - Lisa Taylor (Mundipharma), Maddie Reynolds (Ion), Jane Dottridge (Mott Macdonald), Will Howat and Jon Large (AstraZeneca), Alison Giles (Burwell museum), Lorna Hurst (RSK) and John Moore (Assam).  

Roy Burrell Awards

Some of our outstanding Yr 11 PE students were honoured at the annual Roy Burrell awards. The event is held annually at Netherhall School to recognise sporting excellence across schools in Cambridgeshire. The BVC students were awarded their medals by Rebecca Gallantree, an Olympic and World champion diver. Our students were: Alex Brundle - Swimming (county) Callum Dobbyne + Tom Bolt - Football (Norwich academy) Sophie Burr + Lydia Cornwell - Hockey (representing Cambridgeshire) Zara Parr - Rowing (County) Shauna Tynan - Cross Country and Athletics (District and Eastern) Bea Cornwell - Netball and Leadership (U20 Mavericks) Rachael George - Golf (Regional) Harriet French - Volunteering- supporting PE- both in and out of school, and encouraging younger years Libby Taylor - Athletics. Libby was also shortlisted to the last 5 for the overall Sports Woman of the Year for her exceptional success in Hammer- throwing Nationally at a higher age group and being County champion for the last 3 years. Well done to all the winners - keep up the practicing. Hopefully Yr 10 pupils can emulate these achievements next year!

BVC tea party for Spanish students

Students from  Escolapios Albacete visited Bassingbourn Village college on the return leg of our Spanish Exchange. Accompanied by teachers Lola Martinez and Francoise Alessandri, 19 Year 11 students from the school in Albacete stayed with families in Bassingbourn and the surrounding villages, having been matched previously when the BVC students visited Spain in October last year. The Spanish students spent time with their English counterparts in school enjoying such delights as a traditional cream tea, a treasure hunt, a basketball match and a presentation by the BVC college captains. One of the highlights was a geography lesson when English and Spanish students alike discovered the complexities of Cockney rhyming slang. In addition to free time spent with their English families over the weekend, the Spanish group also visited Cambridge and London, packing lots of sightseeing and experiences into their trip. The visitors were presented with a framed photograph as a momento of their time in Bassingbourn by Ms Violeta Rios, an MFL teacher at BVC who organised the trip. She said:"It was a great success - the students were all very pleased to see each other again and lots of friendships have been made. "All the students, both English and Spanish, have had an amazing time and they have had an unforgettable experience. All families have also been very happy and had a very nice experience hosting a Spanish student in their homes. "I would like to thank the BVC students, their families and my colleagues at BVC for their help in making the visit…

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

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