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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…

Heron termly newsletter

News of the past term's activities and events can be downloaded here.

Keller win BVC Cup

Students from Keller college were celebrating their shock victory in the BVC Inter-College Cup at the end of term. Keller College Achievement Leader Jo Read said: “I am so proud of all the Keller students – they have worked hard across the board to win this cup and we are all really chuffed.” The cup is awarded to the college which gains the most points over the term for achievement, attendance, behaviour and challenge events. The cup has been won most often by students in Moore college which is why students were so surprised to see Keller win. Principal Duncan Cooper said:" I'd like to pass on my congratulations to students in Keller - and their College Achievement Leader Miss Read. As a new member of staff she has already made a big impact by rallying her students and getting those yellow ribbons on the cup."

Life on Mars?

10 lucky girls from Bassingbourn Village College spent a day in Cambridge figuring out the mysteries of life on Mars – before building their own Mars rover. The Year 8 students were taking part in a Girls into Physics event promoted by the University of Cambridge. The girls spent the morning as guests of Newnham College where they had a tour of the college and interviewed existing students about life there. The morning culminated in discussing potential student clubs and activities before making a presentation to their peers. After lunch the girls moved to the Cavendish Laboratory where schools liaison officer Jacob Butler and Physics tutor Dr Steve Martin gave them a whistlestop tour of the Cavendish museum before moving onto a series of physics experiments. By the end of the day the girls had learnt a great deal about building the perfect rover for Mars – from perfectly constructed tyres, the best materials to use given the severe temperatures and just how to make the buggy as aerodynamic as possible. (Clue: make it whale-shaped!)

Primary Chess Success

It was check mate for youngsters from Steeple Morden and Bassingbourn Primary Schools as they met new buddies at the annual Bassingbourn Village College chess tournament. Teams from both primary schools were pitched against students from the new Year 7 intake at the village college as part of the college’s primary liaison scheme. The college runs a thriving weekly chess club (above) on a Friday lunchtime. Lots of healthy rivalry emerged with the youngsters taking their matches very seriously – Steeple Morden eventually maintaining their position as top school, having won the event for the past three years. BVC Principal Duncan Cooper dropped in to see how the young chess maters were getting on. He said: “It was great to see the BVC Library packed full of keen chess players! By inviting small groups in to events such as this, it makes the transition much easier for youngsters when they eventually move up to become students here.”

Mace success for Iain and Edward

BVC students Iain Lynn and Edward Evans took to the floor to debate the merits of non-military national service as part of a national debating competition. The boys were representing the school in the district heat of the English Speaking Union’s Mace debating competition and their arguments were so convincing that they won themselves a place in the regional finals. The competition was held at Northampton High School and the boys shared the debating chamber with students from Bedford School, Stowe, Northampton High, Moulton College and Chenderit School. Rebecca Boxall, teacher of English and debate coach at Bassingbourn, said: "I am so proud of our boys – they did amazingly well. "Debating has really taken off at BVC and we have students from all years attending our club sessions and supporting our competitors. This really was a team effort with Debate Club members working alongside Iain and Edward to prepare their arguments."

GCSE Heron Awards

Wednesday evening saw our annual GCSE Heron Awards event with our summer leavers coming back to be honoured for their achievements whilst they were at BVC. With a slightly less formal approach this year, students received cups for achievements in each subject plus special Principal’s Awards to those students who had particularly excelled during their time here. Principal’s Award winners: Finn Chapman, Francesca Marshall, Gabba Sutcliffe De Oliveira, Euan Denchfield, Jodie Francis, Riley Gilmartin, Benedict Greenlaw, Natalia Karampetsou, Katie Myerscough, Martin Shodiya. Subject award winners: Art Eden Alarcon BTEC Construction Luke Townsend BTEC Media Francesca Churchill Computing Edward Rowe Drama Oscar Davies ECDL Joshua Mutimbanyoka English Language Elizabeth Marriage English Literature Josephine Shohet French Eleanor Bullard Geography Oliver Charlesworth Graphics Olivia Butterworth Health & Social Care Martha Young History Ocean Cook Hospitality & Catering Holly Sole Joint Linguist Emily Dow Latin Sammi Ho Leisure & Tourism Lathan Harris Maths James Tennant GCSE Music Patrick Safford Music Tech Phoebe Elvin GCSE PE Benjamin Hale VCERT Health & Fitness Jessica Racher Religious Education Lucy Clay Resistant Materials Robert Steyn Sociology Sophia Racher Spanish Sophie Marriage Additional Science Chloe Mardi Further Additional Science Jordan Pulley Textiles Lauren Hallewell

Angels and Demons compete

Congratulations to the Year 8 quiz teams who competed in the Central England regional final of the Kids Lit competition this week. They did incredibly well, competing against 26 other teams – The BVC Demons were 6th and the BVC Angels were 12th. Well done to: James Pryer, Ami Tobin, Abi Scott, Toby Telford-Reed, Lily Sunderland, Stella Morris, Kai Gilligan and Lucy Whitely.

ESU debating workshop

Students from Bassingbourn Village College took to the floor this week to develop their oracy skills. Public speaking and debating were the subjects of a special workshop run at the college by James Reeve, an expert from the English Speaking Union. The ESU awarded the college a bursary for the workshop having been impressed by the BVC team’s efforts in their first ESU competition last year. The event also attracted students from other schools in the Anglian Learning trust. 10 BVC youngsters from years 10 and 11 took part in the workshop, which ended in teams debating two topics – “This house would ban all research and development of morality-enhancing drugs” and “This house would not make first contact with uncontacted human populations”. Principal Duncan Cooper said: "We are obviously very proud of the achievements of our debating team - and really pleased to see more and more of our students showing an interest in debating and public speaking. "Oracy skills are so important in many aspects of our lives and our students are very fortunate to be able to access such skills thanks to funding from the English Speaking Union."

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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