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Ofsted praise for BVC

Students at Bassingbourn Village College, near Royston, have been commended for their “exemplary  conduct” by Ofsted. Inspectors visited the 600-student school in South Cambridgeshire at the end of the summer term and released their report on line today (11 September). Principal Duncan Cooper said: “It was a good end to a fabulous year for Bassingbourn Village College.  The inspectors were incredibly complimentary about our students, staff and governors.” Parents, too, praised the school. Through the Ofsted questionnaire parents commented on the dedication of staff, their “enormous support, both academic and pastoral” and the “highest level of caring”. The Ofsted inspectors found leadership, including that of the governors, to be a strength of the school, stating “you have embedded a culture of high expectations and aspirations which underpin the school’s plans.” Students were found to be welcoming, respectful and friendly to each other and adults and are eager to learn. Their conduct is exemplary. Students are curious about the world around them and the school’s broad and balanced curriculum provides many opportunities for them to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding. English was seen to be a strength of the school with pupil progress significantly above national standards. Inspectors found the school to be very inclusive of all pupils, regardless of their background and ability, and acknowledged that these students made good progress across the school. However they thought that the school should do more to improve the attendance of disadvantaged students, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The report can be found here.

Students hit the jackpot – again!

Our students are celebrating another impressive haul of A and A* grades (or equivalent) in their GCSE results. Principal Duncan Cooper said: “I am delighted to say that a third of all grades awarded to our students were A or A* for a second year running. It’s an impressive achievement and shows just how hard our staff and students have worked in a year where the exams have become more challenging and harder to secure these top grades. I am incredibly proud of them all.” “We are particularly delighted with the grades for languages - in Spanish over half of the cohort achieved an A/A* grade and in Latin 90% of the cohort secured the top grades. In the new style GCSEs students were also successful in securing the top grades with 50% of all students achieving 5+ in English and Maths.” 25% of the BVC students achieved 8 or more A*/A (7-9 E & M). Three students achieved A and A* (equivalent) across the board - Pheobe Elvin, Elizabeth Marriage and Maddie Shohet. Seven students achieved 11 A & A* equivalent - Finn Chapman, Emily Dow, Ben Hale, Tom Nussey, Patrick Safford and Robert Steyn. These results come at the end of another extremely successful academic year which has seen the college listed in the top 7% of schools in England for pupil progress in English.

Connor loses his hair to fund expedition

A fifteen year old student from Bassingbourn celebrated the end of term in style – by having his head shaved. Connor Lay was joined by fellow students at Bassingbourn Village College for the big shave as part of his fundraising project for a World Challenge trip to Tanzania next summer. Tom McKnight from Royston-based barbers Carlo & Co was on hand to carry out the shave but fellow year 10 student Joe Heavey took the first snip. Connor has been growing his hair for almost two years and will donate his shorn locks to the Princess Trust which makes children’s wigs. He said: ”I was a bit nervous about what I’d look like afterwards – but it’s ok. I’d like to thank Tom for coming along to shave me and to all my friends for supporting my fundraising.” Anyone wishing to add to Connor’s fundraising total should email office@bassingbournvc.net for details.

World Challenge Trip

A group from Bassingbourn Village College set off this week for a two week expedition to Malaysia as part of the World Challenge programme. On their first day in the country they will allocate roles, change money, and contact their In-Country Agent, as well as make any necessary bookings and buy supplies for their next phase. They will then head off for their treking phase in the Cameron Highlands. The team’s time in the Cameron Highlands will allow them to explore the many self-guided trails through the tea plantations, flower-growing areas and the surrounding forests. After the treking phase the team will travel to Kampar River and experience white water rafting, following which they will then embark on their Community Engagement Phase. This part of the expedition is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur at the United Learning Centre (ULC) & Refugee Children Support Team.

Gold award for Miss Ward

BVC teacher Rachel Ward has made many treks in all sorts of weathers as a Duke of Edinburgh award leader – but thankfully her latest expedition was a little more glamorous, visiting Buckingham Palace to receive her own gold Duke of Edinburgh award. She said: ”It was definitely a day to remember. I met Prince Edward Earl of Wessex, Louis Smith and the Ice Maidens who are attempting to be the first all-female group to cross Antarctica unaided. “The grounds of the Palace are extensive and we spent hours exploring with other award holders sharing stories of our expeditions. “For my award I became involved with amateur dramatics, community projects and worked in Slovakia with young people.” Georgraphy teacher Rachel has worked her way through the DofE award scheme during school and university – and now leads the Bassingbourn Village College students through their own DofE challenges.

BVC memorabilia on display

Ray Jude was transported back in time when he visited the latest community display at Royston Museum – 53 years to be precise. The former first head boy of Bassingbourn Village College popped into the museum on Saturday for the launch of the latest Community Exhibition, Bassingbourn Village College Then & Now. The display shows just how much the college has changed since it was opened in 1954 with  photographs of the first students alongside those currently there. Bassingbourn Village College opened in 1954 with 315 students and a full-time staff of just 35 led by Warden F.W.P.Thorne. There had been numerous developments to the site since then and the current college now boasts 605 students with over 70 full and part time staff under Principal Duncan Cooper. The exhibition was enhanced on the launch day with additional photographs of students from the 50s right through to the present day. Old textbooks, college role and Governors’ minute books were also available for browsing – the latter showing that school issues really haven’t changed much over the past half century, with timings of the school buses and student discipline still under discussion. Current Year 7 students Ami Tobin, Jorja Hird and Avuyile Mdzinwa were on hand to chat about their experiences at the college and were delighted to hear of the antics of Ray and his friends when they were students there. 

Hustings Excitement

Election day came early for our older  students as the four main parliamentary candidates for South Cambridgeshire attended a hustings event at Bassingbourn Village College. Heidi Allen, Dan Greef, Simon Saggers and Susan van de Ven were each given three minutes to outline their campaign to 200 year 10 and 11 students … and then waited with bated breath as students completed ballot papers and voted for their favourite candidate. The end result was a close-fought battle between Labour and the Green Party, with students commenting afterwards how exciting they had found the event. “Having a speech condensed into just three minutes made it much easier to work out which candidate I liked best,” commented one student. Following the main presentations, a number of History and Sociology students were able to spend time with the candidates in a round table debate, quizzing them on their policies on university fees, proportional representation, refugees and how they thought politics could be made more appealing. Afterwards, Labour candidate – and winner - Dan Greef commented: “There were some really important issues debated with very well informed students.” Duncan Cooper, Principal of Bassingbourn Village College, said: “We were very excited to be able to host one of the first of the 2017 hustings in South Cambridgeshire. I was very impressed by the knowledge of our students and just how detailed they were in their questions to the candidates. “We would like to wish all the candidates very best of luck on 8th June.”

Reading Excellence Awards @BVC

Young readers at Bassingbourn Village College were honoured at the school’s first ever Reading Excellent Awards evening. Students in years 7 and 8 received certificates in recognition of their achievements in English and reading over the year. Those who took part in external events such as the Bridge Book Awards and the international Kids Lit competition also received certificates. Guest speaker for the evening was Saffron Walden author Victor Watson, most famous for his involvement in the founding of the national children’s Seven Stories Library in Newcastle and the Paradise Barn series of children’s books. BVC English teacher Rebecca Boxhall commented: “We had a lovely evening with parents invited along to celebrate their children’s successes. Reading is such an important part of our lives it was great to be able to devote a whole evening to celebrating it!”

Shakespeare Festival

Teenagers from Bassingbourn Village College celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday by taking part in a festival showcasing his work. They joined 120 secondary in the Anglian Learning Cambridge Schools’ Shakespeare Festival held in Netherhall School, Cambridge. Featuring everything from traditional Shakespearean verse to modern devised dance, the students presented their take on Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar alongside short sketches from Henry V and The Merchant of Venice. The Bassingbourn students presented an abstract devised piece set in the punk era with dance and movement. BVC Director Jude Shortt said: ”We wanted our piece to capture the passion and pain of Othello and Desdemona’s ill-fated love story and to combine drama, music and dance to capture the energy of Shakespeare’s take of the ‘green-eyed monster’.” Students taking part were from Bassingbourn, Bottisham and Sawston Village Colleges and Netherhall school and sixth form. Chris Tooley, Netherhall Principal, congratulated the students and staff involved in the event. He said: “What a fantastic evening! If Shakespeare was alive today I’m sure he would have been so proud of all the dance, music and different interpretations of his work that we’ve seen in the festival.”

Schools put heads together for Brain Awareness Week

Students from a city-based sixth form college and a rural village college are to benefit from a partnership between their respective schools. The collaboration between the Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies (CCSS) and Bassingbourn Village College will see the two schools pool resources to develop student opportunities and good teaching practice. Principals, trustees and governors from both establishments have been meeting together to see how they might work together and have come up with a joint venture that will develop over coming months. Duncan Cooper, Principal of Bassingbourn Village College, said: “We were delighted to invite staff and students from CCSS to meet some of our senior students this week. There are so many ways that our schools can support each other, both with educational developments and student opportunities. This is a very exciting longterm partnership that will benefit us all.” Stuart Nicholson, CCSS Principal, added: ”All of us at CCSS hope that this will be the first of many shared endeavours with our friends at Bassingbourn Village College.” The venture was launched with an event to mark Brain Awareness Week with over 100 students from both establishments gathering in Bassingbourn to hear lectures from Cambridge academics Drs Sara Baker and Jon Simons. Their lectures - ‘The non-academic skills that relate to school achievement’ and ‘What we know from Science about learning’ – explored how research from psychology is applied to learning. The lectures were part of a large-scale experiment to learn more about the human brain led by leading academic Prof. Bruce Hood from the University of Bristol. Stuart Nicholson, CCSS Principal, said: “We were delighted…

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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