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BVC students are saying YES to NCS!

The number of Bassingbourn Village College students who have signed up for the National Citizenship Service has been so impressive that we have won an award. NCS reps Sohaila Abbas and Hugh Waysome-Banton visited BVC to present the award to Assistant Principal Rebecca Hields (below) who has done brilliant work recruiting almost a quarter of our Year 11 students to the project taking place this summer. The NCS is a once in a lifetime opportunity for young people in Year 11 and Year 12. With all places funded by the government, it is the biggest youth development programme in England, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and make new friends whilst having fun over school holidays. NCS participants embark on an outdoor adventure residential taking part in activities such as climbing, archery and zip-wire. They then continue their adventure with activities that will enhance their personal skills, including practical workshops, and visiting local organisations. For further information visit www.learnbydesign.co.uk/ncs-school-link-east-ea1/ to find out more and sign up.

Dance Show 2018

BVC hosts ESU/Churchill public speaking event

Teams from Oakham, Leicester and Cambridge converged on Bassingbourn Village College to compete in the district finals of the ESU/Churchill public speaking competition. Students spoke on such diverse subjects as 'Have our leaders lost touch with the people?', 'Should we take extra terrestrial beings more seriously?', 'Terminally ill children - who should make life-ending decisions?' and 'Keep calm and carry on. Have we lost the ability to do this?' Although the BVC team didn't win through to the next round, team member Ed Evans was judged to be best speaker in the Questioner role. The team comprised Iain Lynn (Speaker), Bea Cornwell (Chairman) and Ed Evans (Questioner) - photographed here with English teacher Rebecca Boxall and Vice Principal Vickey Poulter. The event was attended by members of the BVC Debating Club and year 9 students who have recently taken part in their own BVC debating competition. The winning team of girls from English Martyrs School in Leicester now go forward to the semi finals which will be held in Magdalene College, Cambridge, next month.  

Community award for BMX star Josh

BVC student Josh Izzard's dedication to BMX racing has been recognised at a community awards ceremony. Josh was presented with the Vince Paige Sporting Achievement Award, dedicated to Vince Paige, founder of the Letchworth Garden City Eagles FC, who passed away last year. Josh has been BMX racing for the last few years and has been selected to take part in the Regional School of Racing, with the potential to lead to future selection of the Great Britain Cycling Team and ultimately to the Olympics and World Championships. He was nominated by by the Chairman of Royston Rockets BMX Club who said that Josh is always willing to help new club members feel included and attends all coaching sessions. The Chairman’s Volunteer Achievement Awards were held at a celebratory reception at Wymondley Priory Barns on Friday 2 February 2018. The awards celebrate people in North Hertfordshire who volunteer and ‘go the extra mile’ to make a real difference in their local community. Organised by North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC), the winners were nominated by members of the public and chosen by the judging panel, which comprised of Cllr Alan Millard, NHDC’s Chairman, Nick Gill, Editor at The Comet, Jack Wells and Steven Roberts of Willmott Dixon, Anne Taylor from North Herts Centre for Voluntary Service, and Claire Morgan from the Communities Team at NHDC. Each winner was presented with an engraved glass trophy, bouquet of flowers and gift vouchers to acknowledge their volunteering achievements. Cllr Alan Millard, NHDC’s Chairman said: "We are delighted that the hard…

Year 9 students find their voice

Well done to all the year 9 students who have been studying debating this term, culminating in a very lively in-school tournament with the final watched by the whole year group. College governors Mr Chris Roope and Mr Dushy Chetty joined Vice Principal Vickey Poulter at the judges’ table. All said they were very impressed with the standard of debating, commenting that the standard gets higher and higher each year. Those taking part were: Motion: This House Would Tax Junk Food Proposition: (winning team) Jasmine Stacey Isobel Wells Ginevra Harraway Opposition: Josh Ding (Best Speaker) Matt Gilliland Amelia Perkins Motion: This House Would return national treasures to their country of origin Proposition: Poppy Jack John Cheeseright (Best Speaker) Beth Makower (Best Overall Speaker) Opposition: - winning team Ciru Mungai Katie Cheeseright Matt Gilliland

Top award for Noah

BVC student Noah Telford-Reed has been recognised as one of the country's top achieving computing students in his age group. Year 10 student Noah came joint third in a computing challenge – The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge – at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. Coming third in the Senior age group is an impressive achievement, as 14,402 students entered the first round of the category (years 10 & 11 for England and Wales). Noah was one of 55 top-achieving students who attended the final for the Senior age group at Oxford. He received his third place certificate from Professor Peter Millican at a prize-giving ceremony at Hertford College, Oxford. The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge, supported by Google, is designed to get students excited about computing and computational thinking. It is a problem-solving contest with questions inspired by topics in computer science. In the first round, held in their own schools, students have to try and solve as many problems as possible in the allotted time. There are six age categories. The highest scoring students from the four oldest age groups (Elite, Senior, Junior and Intermediate) in the first round were then invited to the Department of Computer Science at Oxford for the finals over two weekends in January and February. For more information, see bebras.uk

ESU/Churchill public speaking success

BVC fielded two teams in the first round of the English Speaking Union’s Churchill public speaking competition which took place in Cambridge. The students competed against 5 other teams from schools in Cambridge – the BVC A team won a place in the next round, with medals awarded to Iain Lynn as Best Speaker and Bea Cornwell receiving the judges’ award for Outstanding Personality. The Bassingbourn teams comprised: Team A Iain Lynn, Casey Lambert and Edward Evans. Team B Bea Cornwell, Libby Taylor and Alfie Duckett. The competition is for Key Stage 3 & 4 students (years 9 - 11) and challenges students to engage with a wide range of cross-curricular topics, whilst helping to meet National Curriculum speaking and listening targets. It is the largest public speaking competition in the UK with over 400 teams entering each year. A spokesman for the ESU said: “Public speaking is a vital life skill that students will use throughout their academic careers and in their everyday lives. Participants leave the competition having built confidence and experience in articulating their ideas and sharing them with others.”

BVC hosts French exchange programme

Students from Bassingbourn Village College welcomed their counterparts from a French secondary school this week. The exchange programme with Collège Joseph Bédier, near Grenoble, is in its second year and involved over 70 French students. The students enjoyed their five-day visit to the UK which included trips to Duxford, Cambridge and London – with a traditional afternoon tea in Grantchester as an additional treat. The French youngsters spent the evenings with their host families, sampling British family life and traditional food. The French students and their teachers also spent a day in Bassingbourn Village College where they were given a presentation of what happens in the school before taking part in a treasure hunt, sporting matches and, finally, a Maths and English lesson. BVC MFL teacher Karenza Nutley said: “The exchange was a great success, we loved having the French students here and we are all looking forward to visiting them in France later in the summer.”

Mock interviews for Year 11s

A number of industry professionals came in to spend time with Bassingbourn Village College’s Year 11 students, preparing them for their forthcoming college and apprenticeship interviews. Each student took part in a mock interview session, after which they were given feedback for their interviewer as to how they might improve their technique when it comes to the real thing. The event was organised by Form the Future and we were delighted to hear how impressive our students were. FtF’s Charlotte Steggall said: “We are always impressed by students at Bassingbourn Village College and the students taking part in the mock interviews were no different. “Volunteers from companies such as PA Consulting, Google and Mathworks commented on how much they enjoyed speaking with the students, learning about the amazing skills and talents they have. “One person even commented on how the interaction helped her have a much more positive impression of young people in general – she expected students to be scruffy, looking at their phones the whole time! “Feedback from the students showed that the activity helped them feel more confident and prepared for their futures.”

Artist mum donates book to BVC library

Parent and artist Beth Lievesley dropped into Bassingbourn Village College with a late Christmas present for the Library – a copy of the Cambridge Art Book. The book is jam-packed full of art showing Cambridge through the eyes of its artists and features one of Beth’s intricate collages of Trinity College. As a collage artist, Beth specialises in creating unique pictures of buildings and landscapes. Before she produces each piece in her Ashwell home studio, Beth spends a period of time researching the subject to discover interesting information that is unique to the image. She then sources a variety of collage materials to use in the artwork that reflects her findings - these can be old maps, dates, stamps, song sheets, historical text & other paper ephemera to make artwork that draws the viewer in and immerses them in both the history and beauty of the image. Mum to Yr 10 student Archie, Beth said: ”I hope the BVC students enjoy and are inspired by the Cambridge Art Book – it contains a eclectic mix of artwork, showcasing a broad range of contemporary styles of art based on our local city. “My handcut paper collage is of the Wren Library in Trinity College which was completed in 1695 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren. Among the special collections housed in the building are medieval manuscripts, early editions of Shakespeare, Sir Isaac Newton’s Principa Mathmatica and AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh manuscripts. “Both Newton and Milne were students at Trinity and my collage contains pages…

Bassingbourn Village College

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

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