01763 242344
office@bassingbournvc.org

The history of BVC

Bassingbourn Village College was delighted to be included in The Cambridgeshire Village Colleges Heritage Project delivered by Viva Arts and Community Group. This project garnered personal stories from village colleges across the country, exploring the impact our village colleges had on communities they became a part of.  But did you know that village colleges were a thoroughly Cambridgeshire invention inspired by the poverty within the country almost a century ago? The Village College concept was developed by Henry Morris, who became Secretary of Education for Cambridgeshire in 1922.  At this time there were no separate secondary schools in rural areas and as result children of all ages were taught together in their village schoolhouse, often in one classroom by one teacher.  Morris was determined to change the education across Cambridgeshire.  In 1924 he published his Village College Memorandum that set out how things could be improved by the Village College concept. Morris’ vision was that the village colleges would be schools and community facilities at the same time. They would become focal points in their villages where people of all ages came to learn, to mix, to be entertained and even get babies weighed. Henry Morris didn’t just create village colleges that were big schools – he created community education. Bassingbourn Village College is extremely proud of its history and this project was wonderful to be a part of – did you know we had a school song?  The film created is definitely worth a watch: https://cambsvc.org.uk/film/

Virtual Trek Success

Over the last two weeks Bassingbourn Village College students and staff have taken part in a virtual trek to Colombo, Sri Lanka, some 7000 miles away!  The virtual trek was organised as a positive activity for the whole community to support; reuniting us all in isolation importantly promoting the significance of physical exercise on mental wellbeing. Sri Lanka was chosen as the final destination as it gave a realistic goal of a mile a day for all staff and students, while the route would explore a number of cultural countries. Before the trek began, students were given a choice of four local charities to fundraise on behalf of, with the student body voting overwhelmingly to raise funds for Tom’s Trust; a local Cambridgeshire charity dedicated to providing psychological support for children with brain tumours and their families.  The goal we set ourselves was to raise £3000, a tough target but one we were driven to achieve. Not only did we reach our destination, we also smashed our target managing a total of 8559 miles, taking us through 16 countries England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and finally Sri Lanka.  We were overwhelmed with support from our community and have so far raised a staggering £3506 for Tom’s Trust.

Bassingbourn’s Virtual Trek to Colombo

As part of our drive to encourage our students to be physically active during the current lockdown we are inviting all students to take part in a sponsored walk/run/cycle. The event will run between Monday 8th February and Sunday 21st February to allow students to participate over half term and we would like the students to be active each day, recording how far they have travelled. We have a current goal to cover a collective distance of around 7000 miles, which equates to approximately a mile a day for student over the fortnight. We feel that this is a realistic minimum target for all students but would be delighted if they were able to do more. To allow the students to see how far they have walked collectively, we have chosen a destination of Colombo in Sri Lanka, which is approximately 7000 miles away, and will update our progress each day. This event is part of our intercollege competition programme and students will earn points for their college with each mile travelled. Your child will know which college they are in as they complete the weekly quiz in these colleges and will also find the information on their Google Classroom dashboard. We would like the students to upload their distances to Google Classrooms at the end of each day so that we can have a running total of miles covered. We will be updating our website and social media each day to show the progress being made along our virtual trek and how the different…

Heron Autumn 2020

Our latest Autumn Term Newsletter can be found HERE

Mathematical Triumph

Recently, BVC Mathematicians took part in the UKMT Maths Challenge competitions which provide a great enrichment opportunity; allowing students to hone their problem solving skills through a 60 minute challenge. We are delighted that a number of our students witnessed success with many receiving a Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates. A massive well done to our Gold winners who are now through to the next round in the competition known as The Pink Kangaroo.

Spelling Bee Success

Congratulations to the young linguists in Year 7 who have been taking part in the annual BVC Spelling Bee. Students had to learn a selection of common words in French or Spanish and then were tested on how many they could spell correctly within a time limit. The top 20 in each language will now go through to the next round when they have to learn a further 50 words. Bonne chance everyone!

Stunning Cathedral trip

As part of Curriculum Day, Year 9 students went on a humanities trip to Ely to take part in a variety of activities based on Art, RE, History or Geography. Lottie Bond describes the trip: After a coach ride from Bassingbourn to Ely, each group started the morning differently - my group began in the stained-glass museum that was inside the Cathedral. We began by learning centuries-old techniques used by monks to create the windows, how they made different colours and why they were made. After the workshop we began touring around the museum. On every wall were stunning patterns and designs displaying pictures depicting anything from biblical stories to images of monarchs commissioned by kings themselves. Art students took particular interest in the museum as their next scheme of learning will be incorporating some of the art styles and techniques seen there, but everyone else still enjoyed the experience. My group next ventured downstairs, into the main part of the Cathedral. With ceilings as higher than they were wide, it is an understatement to say we, including the staff, were amazed with the beauty of it all. As we entered, both the ceilings and the walls were decorated with intricate designs showing biblical stories, including the Nativity, the Easter story and the Ascension. While we were all stunned at the cathedral itself, we were kept interested by our tour guide, who not only taught us about common Christian teachings but also opened up theological discussions into the nature of God, which I, as an…

Dance Show gallery

BVC students Talking Aloud

Year 9 students Amelia Peace and Elliot Perkin represented Bassingbourn Village College at the inaugural Cambridge Talking Aloud competition. The public speaking competition was organised by Amber-Page Moss, of Peterhouse College, University of Cambridge, and attracted state schools from across Cambridgeshire. Amber visited Bassingbourn last term to deliver a workshop to our Year 9 students and to explain the competition to them. Amelia and Elliot were supported by a group of their BVC friends (above) and English teacher Mrs Rebecca Boxall. The Bassingbourn B team (right) had a last minute substitution at this week's Cambridge area final of the ESU's Churchill Public Speaking Award. Year 9 student Lottie Bond stepped in at the last minute to compete alongside Matt Gilliland and Fraser Clapham. Fraser once again won the evening's Best Speaker award and the trio were awarded second place overall, narrowly missing out on a place at the semi finals which will be held at Magdalene College, Cambridge, next month.

Curriculum Day activities

The normal timetable was suspended on Tuesday to allow students to enjoy extended activities related to specific curriculum areas. Year 7 enjoyed classroom-based activities related to poetry and performance while Year 8 covered wellbeing in PSHE, seeing first-hand how to deal with worries and the power of listening to each other chat over a simple cup of hot chocolate. A trip to Ely saw Year 9 enjoy a Humanities trip to Ely where they were able to visit the Oliver Cromwell Museum, Ely Cathedral, the stained glass museum looking at religious art and a geography field study within the city. The PE and Science departments joined forces with Year 10 to look at how we process food and burn calories – literally! Activities ranged from chocolate tasting to fitness sessions, all linking to wellbeing and healthy eating. The Year 11 pastoral team took students on a day-trip to the O2 to recognise their hard work so far this year. The students voted to visit the Oxygen Freejumping Park where they were able to take part in a number of activities including virtual reality games, bowling, watching a film and a visit to the interactive Sky Studios. BVC Principal Vickey Poulter said: “It takes a lot of planning to run a Curriculum Day and the whole day was particularly busy - including an impromptu fire alarm at the end of the day! “I spoke to a number of students across year groups and they all said how much they had enjoyed the day so I’d like…

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
absence@bassingbournvc.org

CLOSE MENU