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Story treat for BVC librarian

500 Words, the popular children’s writing competition, held its grand final at Windsor Castle with a special guest in the audience – BVC librarian Ann Lynn. Mrs Lynn was awarded tickets for the event as a thank you for being one of the judges in this year’s competition. She was one of 500 judges who read entries from almost 113,000 children. The competition is run by BBC Radio 2 and under-13s are invited to write a story about any fictional topic, the only rule being that they must keep their word count to 500 words or less. The winning stories were read by David Walliams, Helen McCrory, Hugh Bonneville, Konnie Huq, Michael Sheen and Sandi Toksvig during a live broadcast of Zoe Ball’s breakfast show from Windsor Castle. Mrs Lynn said: “It was an amazing morning! We had to be at the castle by 6am so we were in place for the breakfast show starting. “It was a huge privilege being involved as a judge and then to be invited along to the final was icing on the cake. My favourites were the stories read out by Sandi Toksvig and Hugh Bonneville. “I can’t wait for the day when we have some BVC students in the final.” Busted, Tom Walker and Matilda actress Francesca McKeown performed during the ceremony, which was also attended by the Duchess of Cornwall and DJ Chris Evans, who created and launched the competition almost 10 years ago. Gold winners were Esme Harrison-Jones (10 to 13 age category) and Eve Molloy…

Parish Meetings

BVC students and staff have been out in force at a series of meetings around the parishes that feed into the school. Traditionally the college is asked to send a report of its activities to a number of annual parish meetings. These meetings are held each year for parishioners to discuss groups and organisations within their villages. Breaking with tradition, this year BVC decided that each of the new Heads of House, along with a member of staff, should attend the meetings in person and be on hand to read out the report and deal with any questions that may arise. The response from many of the meetings was very positive and the students themselves (photographed above with Ms Poulter) said how much they enjoyed their foray into the community. The annual report can be read here.

The winners are …

Congratulations to all our Year 7 students who have embraced their first debating competition with great enthusiasm. Our first-ever Year 7 debate was launched with an assembly featuring a step-by-step breakdown of a debate showcased by Year 10 members of the senior debate club. The younger students were then invited to attend the lunchtime junior debate club where heats were held, culminating in a mentoring session for the two teams which won their way into the grand final. All of the year group gathered for the final which saw the teams debate the pros and cons of scientific testing on animals. Former BVC debating champion Iain Lynn took a break from his sixth form exams to judge the competition and said: "The standard was amazingly high! There's no way I would have been able to speak out like that in Year 7. "It was really great to see everyone so passionate about public speaking and I look forward to seeing some of these young debaters in national competitions in the future." Winning team: Anna, Gabby & Amelia. Runners up: Michael, Alex & Henry. Top individual speakers during the heats: Michael, Cara, Eli, Sam and Josh.

Red Box Project

Staff at BVC are supporting students by fighting Period Poverty with their own Red Box scheme. The original Red Box Project was established in schools in Portsmouth as a reaction to the news that students were missing out on their education because they couldn’t afford the products they needed during their period. The scheme provided red boxes filled with free period products for students to use. Whilst sanitary products have always been available to students at BVC through our first aid facility, staff felt that the issue should be treated with more openness and dignity and through their own donations have filled three 'red boxes' which are distributed through the school. Mrs Myles-Baker (right), head of PSHE, said: "Thanks to our very generous staff, we now have our own boxes with items such as sanitary towels, tampons, wipes, tights and pants. "We have discussed period poverty in our PSHE lessons and our girls know that they needn't suffer in silence - they just need to ask for the box."  

Young readers honoured

Popular author Julian Sedgwick launched his latest book at the annual BVC Library & Literacy Awards evening, much to the excitement of our young prizewinners. Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black is written and illustrated by Julian, his brother Marcus and Alexis Deacon. A combination of prose, poetry and illustration, the book is set in the Second World War and tells the story of Harry Black who is lost between the world of war and the land of myth. The BVC Library & Literacy Awards were targeted at students in Year 7 with younger students from Bassingbourn, Steeple Morden and Guilden Morden primary schools also taking part. These students spent the day in creative writing workshops with Mrs Boxall and Mrs Lynn, enjoying fun writing activities and the challenge of writing a story from a variety of prompts. Students who have taken part in Library events such as the school’s Kids’ Lit district finalists also received awards, alongside librarians, and top readers. New awards were handed out this year for those students who have been taking part in the BVC Accelerated Reader project – with one student reading over 1.3 million words this year alone. Guest speaker Julian Sedgwick, who is well known amongst young readers as the author of the Ghosts of Shanghai and Mysterium series of children’s books, kept the audience on the edge of their seats with tales of how he became an author despite wanting to join the circus as a youngster - with a juggling trick involving knives and…

Physics outreach trip

Year 7 students were fortunate enough to spend a day as the guests of Cambridge University, experiencing life in a college and a hands-on physics tutorial. The Cambridge Physics Experience (CPE) is a one-day event organised by the University of Cambridge's Cavendish laboratory in collaboration with several Cambridge Colleges. The day included a morning tour of Magdalene college, followed by information about studying at university, and advice on Higher Education and applying to university. Students particularly enjoyed searching for the secret door in the wood paneling of the formal dining hall. After lunch the students visited the Cavendish Laboratory, where they were given a tour of the museum which contains many historically important pieces of apparatus which have contributed to major discoveries by members of the Laboratory. Exhibits include apparatus used by Maxwell, Thomson, Rutherford, Aston, Cockcroft and Walton. Post Second World War exhibits include the discovery of pulsars, and the structure of the DNA molecule. Students were then split into teams for a practical session when they were tasked with building a robust Mars Rover.

Junior debate launched

The BVC Junior Debating competition was launched to year 7 students this week - with a debate on the merits of fish and chips! Year 10 students showcased their debating skills by holding a staged debate during Assembly discussing This house believes that Fish and Chips is better than McDonalds, with debating coach Mrs Boxall explaining the different stages of the debate as they went along. The teams (above) were assisted by younger students acting as chairman and timekeepers. Students in Year 7 now have the chance to take part in their own debating competition by forming their own teams and practicing together. The heats will take place during lunchtime Debate Club and teams will debate the following motions: This house would welcome robots in our homes. This house believes footballers are paid too much. This house believes books are better than films. This house believes teachers should be replaced by robots. The grand final will take place later this term.  

Termly Heron

Our termly Heron magazine has been published and is available to view here.

CamSight Assembly

It's always good to welcome back former students - but even better if they are prepared to take an assembly! We were fortunate enough to be visited by Nick Burr, a former BVC student and now spokesperson for Cam Sight, a charity that supports people of all ages with low vision and blindness across Cambridgeshire. Nick lost his eyesight overnight  five years ago due to cancer. He told Year 9 students: "Luckily I survived this terrible disease, however it did take my eyesight away. Cam Sight were there to help me and I was a client for several years. "I then started to volunteer for the charity, then moved onto an internship and then a job offer last year. My role is very varied from holding public talks to at schools and companies to organising fundraising events across Cambridgeshire." Nick explained many of the aids available to blind and partially-sighted people including phone apps and gadgets to help with making a cup of tea. Amber the guide dog was also introduced to students (right). A keen sportsman, Nick then led a session of Goalball (above) where students took part in a match wearing black-out eye masks and using a ball fitted with a bell.

DofE accreditation

BVC has been awarded a special certificate to mark the fact that we are now a Directly Licenced Centre to run the world-famous Duke of Edinburgh Award. The award was presented to  Miss Rachel Ward, Head of Geography, who leads the DofE challenges at BVC and is herself a Gold Award holder. Duke of Edinburgh Award is a charity for young people. Those that are adventurous, caring, sporty, creative… however you might describe yourself, the Award is for you. At BVC the Bronze Award is available for y10 and 11 students. To achieve the award you need to complete 4 sections: Volunteering: To make a difference within your community or helping individuals Skill: To develop practical and social skills and personal interests Physical: To achieve greater physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle through sport Expedition: To get a sense of adventure and discovery, by planning, training for and completing an adventurous journey as part of a team. We complete 2 weekends camping and adventuring.

Bassingbourn Village College

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

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
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