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Cambridge award for William

Year 10 student William Pack has been praised for his work on women's suffrage as part of a competition run by a Cambridge college. William was one of a small group of BVC students chosen to attend the inaugural Millicent Fawcett Humanities & Social Sciences workshop hosted by Newnham College, Cambridge, during the summer. The workshop explored suffrage through a range of humanities and social sciences subjects, and gave students the opportunity to practice researching, writing and presenting their own project. Following the workshop, students were invited to create their own research project based on the theme(s) they found most interesting. Students were then invited to attend a Project Exhibition showcasing all entries which took place last Friday in Newnham College. William's project - an in-depth essay looking at the illustrated propaganda used by the suffragettes, such as postcards, banners and posters - earned him a Highly Commended award plus a runner's-up prize of book tokens and a signed book by Newnham Fellow and classicist Mary Beard. Organiser Sophie Parry said: "We designed the Millicent Fawcett workshop not only to commemorate Vote 100, but also with the aim of introducing young people to the interdisciplinary world of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. "As a college, we think it is incredibly important to work closely with pupils and schools in our local community, and it is amazing to see the outstanding levels of hard work and creativity that can come from this work. "William’s research project on the impact of art in achieving suffrage was…

BVC Bookworms compete in national competition

Some of our young bookworms showed off their literacy skills at the annual Kids’ Lit competition. The Year 8 students – Emma Jones, Robert Kendrick, Amelia Peace and Iona Scott – came top in the school competition held before half term. Their win meant they went forward to represent Bassingbourn Village College at the Central England heat held at Comberton Village College. 24 teams took part from across the country and although the BVC team didn’t win a place in the national final, they were delighted when their team mate Emma won an individual prize. Those taking part not only pitted their knowledge against other schools, but also a team of local authors including Chris Priestley, Julian Sedgwick, Katie Dale, Inbali Inserles, Helen Moss and Andy Briggs. The BVC students took the opportunity to speak to the authors and even get some autographs. 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. Teams of four students are asked to answer 100 questions on children’s literature divided into ten categories, which vary each year.

Careers Carousel

Senior students were able to get up close to an assortment of professionals at our annual Careers Carousel. Year 10 students received short talks on a range of diverse occupations including accountancy, photography, science and the Army. Our thanks to Trina Hill from BCS Accounting, Irene Zaccari and Jemma Allan from CDTL, Lucinda Price from Lucinda Price Photography and Emma Williams from EJW Solutions. The event was organised by Mariana Soberon of Form the Future who said: "The morning went really well - the workshops were great, the professionals volunteers did amazingly and the feedback forms from the student show that they got a lot out of it."    

Twins compete in first debating competition.

Year 10 students Jon and Katie Cheeseright have had their first experience of a debating competition - and declared the event to be 'nerve wracking'! The twins were chosen to represent BVC at the Cambridge heat of the English Speaking Union's Mace debating competition which was held at the Perse School earlier this week. BVC was competing alongside teams from Bishop's Stortford High, Culford School, the Perse, the Heritage school and County Upper School. Motions included: This house would ban the sale and consumption of meat, This house would build homes on the green belt and This house would weight votes such that the younger the voter, the more powerful their vote. The BVC team were supported by other Year 10 members of the school's senior debating club along with Mrs Boxall and Mrs Lynn. Next up for the BVC debaters is the Rotary Youth Speaks competition later this month.

Conflict, Culture & Chocolate

Year 11 History students have recently returned from a trip to the WW1 Battlefields. Rebecca Day & Max Bacon describe the trip: Our Battlefields trip featured many rewarding experiences and helped us all to gain an important perspective on WWI, especially as it was the centenary of the ending of the First World War. We visited many cemeteries whilst we were there which were not only atmospheric but also incredibly interesting since we learnt lots about the people themselves and what each individual grave meant. On top of this, we also ventured out to many museums which helped us to gain some visual understanding of the history; the Passchendaele Memorial Museum was my personal favourite because not only did we get to experience what walking through the trenches felt like but we also got to go underground where we saw figures which represented soldiers from WWI which was very interesting. One of the most shocking parts of the trip was going through the trenches and seeing the craters because it was so crazy how much earth was destroyed due to shells; it was also all extremely emotional because it was sad to see how many people died and were injured while protecting their country. The trip was enjoyed by everyone and it was also beneficial in regards to our learning as well; there was lots to do (and buy) but also lots to learn from our tour guide Tom. We went to Last Post Cemetery where we paid our respect to the soldiers by joining in with…

Spanish Trip a Sunny Success

The Spanish Exchange trip has run for a very successful second time to Albacete, in the sunny south-east of Spain. Under clear blue skies, our students visited the beach and Science museum in Valencia before travelling to the city of Albacete to meet their exchange partners and host families. The students wasted no time in getting to know their new friends through completing a treasure hunt of Albacete, visiting the famous penknife museum and eating ‘churros con chocolate’. They also had a brilliant experience learning some traditional Spanish dances, games and songs, as well as enjoying all of the delicious local food. Well done to all of the pupils involved, who showed great resilience and enthusiasm in communicating with their partners and immersing themselves in Spanish culture. We look forward to welcoming the staff and students from Escolapios school back to BVC next February. You can see more photographs and video on our BVC Flickr page.

Pocket poetry

BVC staff and students celebrated National Poetry Day by carrying poems in their pockets! Anyone carrying a poem proudly wore a sticker saying 'I've got a poem in my pocket' and were challenged with reading their poem to anyone who asked. There was also a chocolate reward involved from Mr Clover. This year’s theme for National Poetry Day was CHANGE and students were able to enter a special poetry competition run by Mrs Daniells on that theme. Well done to all students who participated and thanks to the Y11s for judging the competition. Our winners were: 4th place Eleanor Spicer MJMB 25 college points 3rd place Rachel Sutton KRW 50 college points 2nd place Eleanor Murfitt SJL 75 college points 1st place Amelia Taylor SKN/VPI (left)  100 college points and a box of chocolates.

Having a swinging time!

Year 7 students enjoyed a bonding trip to Norfolk outdoor attraction Go Ape.

Memory expert offers revision advice

Staff, students and parents attended presentations at BVC by education adviser Robin Launder. A former prison officer and teacher, Robin specialises in evidence-based teaching, mindset theory, teacher-student relationships, memory skills and neuroscience for teachers. Robin's fast-paced and often humorous presentation introduced memory techniques to aid revision to Year 10 and 11 students, followed up by a similar support session for over 200 parents in the evening. Year 11 student Cassie Evans said: "We have studied memory in Psychology so it was really interesting to hear Robin's presentation on how the different techniques really work. He was fascinating and funny!" Students from our partner schools in Cambridge - Netherhall and Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies - also attended the sessions. BVC teachers received a session on student behaviour from Robin during their weekly staff training session. Further information about Robin and his techniques can be found on his website www.behaviourbuddy.co.uk Robin is photographed above (centre) with BVC students.

Open Evening Success

Over 500 visitors were welcomed by staff and students at our annual Open Evening. All departments pulled out the stops to show the college at its very best with a range of activities and displays on offer. Young students and their families who are considering a move to BVC were treated to flame-throwing and robotics in Science, dance and drama rehearsals in Creative Arts, creating a ghost story in English, fashion, catering and 3d modelling in Design, as well as student-run activities in Humanities, Art, PE, Languages and Maths. The Hive, our specialist student-support centre, was also open with College Captains on hand to answer any questions put to them by potential students. Refreshments were made and served by Year 11 Catering students. The Year 8 tour guides did a marvellous job keeping everything running smoothly and the evening ended with a presentation by Head of School Vickey Poulter and students Edward Evans and Hannah Nussey. Ms Poulter said: "It was an extremely busy evening and the school looked fabulous. It is the amazing work by staff and students alike that makes BVC such a fantastic school. "So many visiting parents were really positive about us and the feedback was excellent. "Edward Evans and Hannah Nussey were truly amazing in their talk to parents - they were a hard act to follow!"

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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