01763 242344

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,…

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…

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…

Bassingbourn Village College

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