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Holocaust survivor Harry visits BVC

Holocaust survivor Harry Spiro BEM visited Bassingbourn Village College as part of our termly Curriculum Day. Harry was accompanied by his daughter Tracey Moses during the visit which was organised by RE teacher Mrs Jess Miller and the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET). Tracey's talk was followed by a question and answer session with Harry himself to enable students to better understand the nature of the Holocaust and to explore its lessons in more depth. The visit was part of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s extensive all year round Outreach Programme, which is available to schools across the UK. Vickey Poulter, Principal of BVC, said: “It was a privilege for us to welcome Mr Spiro and his daughter to our school and his testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced. We are grateful to the Holocaust Educational Trust for co-ordinating the visit and we hope that by hearing Harry’s testimony, it will encourage our students to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and make a positive difference in their own lives.” Harry's story: Harry was born in 1929 in Poland. When the Nazis occupied Poland, the area where Harry and his family lived became part of the Pietrokow ghetto, where all of the Jews from the area now had to live. Whilst here, Harry worked in the glass factory. In 1942 there was an announcement that everyone in the ghetto had to stay in their homes except for those who were working in the glass factory. Whilst Harry was at work,…

Diverse activities for Curriculum Day

Students enjoyed a Curriculum Day of non-timetabled lessons and instead had the option to take part in a huge variety of activities. For Year 11 students there was the opportunity to look ahead to adulthood with guest speakers advising on such topical subjects as politics, learning to drive, money matters, mindfulness, contraception and mental health. An impromptu - but timely - mock election showed our students favouring the Lib Dems by a large majority. Year 10s studied the Holocaust with a special assembly featuring the life of survivor Harry Spiro who visited along with his daughter Tracey. A trip to the V&A museum in London was the main choice for Year 9 students, with some electing to take part in a combined sports/first aid day instead. A series of STEM challenges faced Year 8s as they endeavoured, among other tasks, to build weight-bearing structures from newspaper and to create working parachutes which they had great fun testing. All our younger students in Year 7 were able to have a taster of a multitude of different languages - Portuguese, German, Japanese, Catalan and Italian.  The students also had great fun creating mosaics, getting to grips with chopsticks and dressing in authentic Japanese clothing.    

Bassingbourn Bookworms compete in book quiz

What was the vegetable that caused such discomfort for the princess? Which God wears winged sandals? Who is the hero of Tomorrow Never Dies? These are just some of the questions faced by our students in the regional final of Kids Lit UK, held this week at Comberton Village College. The BVC team - Bassingbourn Bookworms - comprised year 8 students Eli Curtin, Cara Button, Emma Rosevear and Matthew Crafter who acquitted themselves well, coming an impressive 7th place out of 32 schools taking part. Cara describes the experience: "We had a jam-packed afternoon filled with challenging but fun questions, books and biscuits. Our favourite moments was when Eli saved the day with his enviable botanical knowledge that Rapunzel is actually a vegetable! "We would alos like to thank our English teachers for teaching us the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner as we were the only team that got that one right. "We worked really well together and were very pleased with our result." Mrs Lynn, BVC librarian added: "This is the fifth year that I have taken a BVC team to the regional finals and I have to say that this year's team was by far the best. I was really impressed by their focus and commitment to competing - well done to them!" The Kids Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 - 13 years. Quizzes are held in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom and USA. The winning team from each country…

Paying their respects

Brother and sister Benjamin and Lottie Bond represented BVC at the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Bassingbourn. The duo read aloud during the exhortation and then laid a posy of poppies at the war memorial. Poppies made by BVC students were also made into a wreath and hung in the church during the service. Students had their own opportunity to remember those who have died in warfare with assemblies taking place during mentor time on Monday.

Jon’s vision for improved third world hygiene

Senior BVC student Jon Cheeseright has been shortlisted to win a national Industrial Cadet Award. The ceremony will take place at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London next month, followed by a celebration reception at the Savoy Hotel. Jon's participation was part of an outreach program run by the Cambridge-based technology company ARM, which saw him spend a week working with other school students from across the region. Here he explains: "At the start of the week, we were given a presentation by UNICEF, who gave us problems such as how to keep track of refugees and improving access to clean water in slums and then challenged us to find effective solutions. My group’s idea was to attach a light to a tap that would highlight the dirt and grime on people’s hands, which could be used in slums to try and improve hygiene. "Each of us then became independent ‘investors’ and were able to ‘invest’ up to 750,000 imaginary dollars into other groups, based on which group would do the best when their idea would be bought to market. All groups pitched their ideas, and my group managed to achieve the greatest amounts of investment, which meant we had the most money to develop our product. "Finally, all the groups presented their business solutions to a group of Arm employees, and everyone else in the program, who rated how likely our idea was to succeed in the real world. In the end, my team’s idea was considered objectively the ‘most likely to…

BVC turns yellow!

#HelloYellow was the theme at BVC as our students dressed in sunshine colours to raise awareness of Young Minds UK, a charity that works with young people who are struggling with their mental health. As part of World Mental Health Day, students were encouraged to wear yellow and donate £1 for the privilege of doing so. Almost £200 was raised. Mental health and student well-being is a key focus for the college. In a bid to address students needs we have a YMCA councillor in college each week offering support for self-esteem, emotional management, social skills and transitions. Mrs Piggott also runs a drop-in session in The Hive, our student support centre, on a Friday lunchtime for students who would like to talk about any emotional concerns they might have. In addition, all students are encouraged to Think Pink and fill out (anonymously) a pink slip if they feel a friend needs some support.  

An evening of Christmas Sparkle!

Students from across the school are planning a charity fund-raising extravaganza which will take place on the evening (7-9pm) of Friday, 6th December. Raising funds for the Year 11 Prom, alongside Meningitis Research, Camsight, Jimmy's Night Shelter and the Garden House Hospice, the evening will feature pampering stalls and Christmas shopping opportunities, with festive entertainment and lots of sparkling refreshments. Tickets are available from Reception or through Wisepay. £10 for Prosecco & Pud ticket; £5 for just Puds. BVC students go free.

Calling all parents and friends!

The annual general meeting of the BVC Parents and Friends Association will be held on Tuesday, 15th October, in the school Library. 8-9pm. All those with a connection to the college are invited to come along and join us for a glass of wine and and informal chat about the school activities and how we support them. Want to know more? Email or call our current chairman Ann Lynn - alynn@bassingbournvc.org or 01763 242344. Ann and her husband George are nominally holding the positions of Chairman and Treasurer whilst we wait for a new influx of members.

Team building for Year 7

All our year 7 students took part in a team building day at Lambourne End. Despite unfavourable weather, a great time was had by all, new friendships were made and they all returned home wet, muddy and happy. Trinity Robinson describes the trip: "It took us about an hour to reach Lambourne End which is an activity centre in Essex with many activities such as crawling through underground tunnels, an obstacle course over water and so much more. I didn't mind the journey because I slept most of the way there. "We had been given numbers before we left school - it turns out those were the groups that we had to work in. I was with Mr Brock. "My favourite activities were the marble run - we each had to get a piece of guttering and set them in a straight line, one under the other, so the marble could travel along it. The aim was to get the marble into a bucket without it falling on the floor. That was for 5 points, however if you managed to go through a tunnel at the same time then you won 15 points. Our team did really well to get 45 points. "The other activity I enjoyed the most was called Swamp Crossing - we had to get our whole team across a swamp using just five tyres. At first my team wasn't doing too well, but after a while we thought of a plan and we got across just in time and bagged ourselves…

Open Evening

Almost 200 potential students and their families visited Bassingbourn Village College’s annual Open Evening. Our staff and students pulled out all the stops to give demonstrations in all their favourite subjects – Science, English, Maths, Spanish, French, Latin, Dance, Drama, Music Technology, Craft, Fashion, Catering, History, Geography and RE - the very best of what BVC has to offer. Principal Vickey Poulter addressed a packed hall with her Principal’s Talk after families heard first hand from students Eddie Cook (yr 7) and Katie Cheeseright (yr 11) just what life is like studying at BVC. Music was provided by young pianist Eleanor Murfitt. Year 8 students (below) acted as tour guides. For those who missed the event, we have Open Mornings taking place this week on 25th and 26th September 2019. To book a place please call Reception (01763) 242344.

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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