Key Notes: 11 February 2022

11th February 2022

Half-term break

At the risk of repeating myself, this has been a very challenging half term. Hopefully, the worst is now behind us – the number of Covid cases and missed school days were both much lower this week. Many thanks to all the college staff who covered for absent colleagues in order to keep the college open.

You may recall that the high level of Covid cases meant that Cambridgeshire re-introduced face coverings in communal areas. Due to the current reduction in cases we will not be asking pupils to wear masks when they return. We will still be asking pupils to test themselves regularly.

If you are thinking of getting a Covid-19 vaccination for yourself or your child over half term, here are some useful links:

• Click here to book 1st and 2nd doses for people aged 12 years old and over; boosters for people aged 16 years old and over; 3rd doses and boosters (4th doses) for people with a severely weakened immune system aged 16 years old and over.
• Click here to find a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination site

We had a lot of weather recently – rain, snow, hail and some sunshine. As a village college, we are fortunate to be in a very beautiful photogenic setting. Here is a picture of Year 11 pupils reflected in a snowy scene and a rainbow over the minibus.

Physical Education

Match report written by Callum: ‘Year 10 boys football team had their quarter-final cup game against The Perse School this week. From start to finish the boys showed determination to get the result. The match finished 5-2 with goals scored by George (2), Ashton, Ty and Jack.  Man of the Match was Thomas with a solid performance at centre back with some very strong defending and stand out tackles to help the team secure the win. With a special mention to Mr Kennedy for his inspirational half-time team talk. The boys now progress into the semi-final and are waiting to see who their opponents will be.’

You may recall that our U16s reached the quarterfinals and were drawn away to Buckswood School, from Sussex, in the last eight of the English Schools Football Association (ESFA) Small Schools Trophy. On Monday they travelled to Hastings for their tie. This is the furthest the college has gone in a national competition for many years. Sadly, an MVC victory at the ‘Battle in Hastings’ was not to be. Although the boys fought hard, they lost 7-1 to Buckswood and were knocked out of the competition.

Barclays Go Lead Launch

On Wednesday 9^th February, 11 students aged 13-15 (listed below) went to Comberton to sign up for a national Barclays Go Lead Launch for football. Miss Evans has been working with the Cambridge and District Schools Sports Association and there were nearly 100 girls from various schools present, all hoping to achieve a national goal of giving girls equal opportunities in football by 2024! Pupils did a range of team building and interactive challenges to develop their leadership skills and we hope eventually their training will have a profound impact on girls football here at MVC. Miss Evans is excited with this scheme ‘we are in a great position as have a fantastic new football facility and a new U/13 girls team. We hope those who attended the launch can help us grow girls football’.

Fifteen year 7s travelled to Comberton on Tuesday after-school for the inaugural Cam Academy Trust Dodgeball Cup. It was a fast-paced and frantic afternoon with plenty of dodging, ducking, dipping and diving!  The boys team came 2nd and girls 3rd.  Well done everyone who took part!

Swimming lessons next half term

All year 7 boys will be swimming after half term, so pupils will need their swimming kits. Class 7X will swim Wed lesson 5, and 7Y will swim Thurs lesson 2 during their normal PE lessons.

Fixture dates for your diary

We’ve had an extremely busy fortnight of extracurricular sport, with girls and boys football, basketball, badminton and netball matches in addition to a dodgeball tournament!

We were particularly pleased to get a Year 8 basketball match as many of those pupils have been committed to that enrichment club since Year 7. Pupils are reminded that attendance to sporting enrichments will see you rewarded with fixtures, however all are welcome even if you would just rather attend for fun and not compete against other schools.

Here are some upcoming fixtures for after half term:

• Tue 22nd Feb Yr10 and 11 GCSE PE netball v King James Academy home
• Tue 22nd Feb Yr8 boys County Cup football 1/4 final v St. Peter's 3.45pm KO home 
• Wed 23rd Feb U/16 boys Basketball qualifier v Comberton 3.45pm KO away

Food and Nutrition

Year 8 first rotation pupils have completed their last food lesson this year. Many pupils have progressed well, being able to use the oven, digital scales and a range of cooking method. Miss Giles gives some pupils awards, ranging from most improved to least patient baker! Pupils enjoyed their last lesson evaluating their progress and skills and cooking some muffins (which they voted to make) – of course – these were delicious!

English and Creative Writing Club

Thank you to all the year 7s who contributed to the Winter poetry competition; what a wonderful collection of poems! They have been sent to the poet Ash Dickinson but he is very busy and traveling a lot at the moment. However, he said they looked fantastic and that he was going to use them as inspirational reading during his travels. He has promised to send me his top 3 choices in the next day or two - so the winners will be announced when we return after the half-term break. Having read them all myself, I would say you are all winners and I certainly don’t envy him having to choose just 3.

Also a big thank you to all those year 7s attending Creative Writing club on Wednesday this half term. The turnout has been fantastic and I now have quite a few stories sent to me, which will be put on our Reading Blog over the half-term break.

English Revision Sessions

This is a reminder for pupils in Year 11 that Miss King and Mrs Hallam will be offering some GCSE English Literature revision sessions on Monday 14th February and Tuesday 15th February. Please see the schedule below. All sessions will be via Teams. There will be pre-reading released prior to the revision sessions, so please follow the link here to access the relevant folder which will contain all pre-reading information. If there is something in the folder, you MUST have read it in advance of the revision session. Give yourself plenty of time to read through all the information and regularly check the folders in case anything new is added. Miss King and Mrs Hallam will send invites to all Yr11 pupils for all the sessions on Teams. All of Yr11s are welcome and encouraged to join all of the sessions.

Monday 14th Feb - Mrs Hallam:  9:30-11:00am - Macbeth 12:00-1:30pm - Essay Writing skills 2:00-3:00pm - Unseen Poetry - poetry writing practice

Tuesday 15th Feb - Miss King: 9:30-11:00am - An Inspector Calls (pre-reading material already in folder) 12:00-1:30pm - A Christmas Carol (pre-reading material already in folder) 2:00-3:00pm - Unseen Poetry (poetry techniques)

Eco Committee Report by Caitlin O’D, Year 7

‘On Wednesday 2nd February, the eco committee, a group of pupils who are trying to change our school for the better, met for the second time. The discussion focused on the Eco Schools Green Flag Award. The Green Flag Award is an award aimed to encourage schools to be more eco-friendly. There are ten main topics the award focuses on:

• Transport
• Global citizenship
• Litter
• Biodiversity
• Water
• Energy
• Marine
• Healthy Living
• Waste
• School grounds

Joining the Eco Committee means you are contributing to a healthier, happier, and greener future. Joining the committee is not a big commitment; there are only around two meetings every half term. It is important that we work together to create a greener future and even slightly changing our lifestyle can have a huge impact.

Eco Tip: Don’t leave the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth. You could be wasting four gallons of water by leaving the tap running.

If you child is interested in joining the Eco Committee, email ENeville@melbournvc.org

Science

Currently Melbourn Village College are at the top of our academy leader board on Seneca Learning with a whopping score of 140,000 points.  Our closest academy competitor is only on 24,000! Seneca Learning is an online platform where pupils learn at their own pace solidifying knowledge recall.  Science, and other subjects, use Seneca Learning regularly, and pupils seem to enjoy the competitive aspect while learning!   Well done pupils – we are very proud of what you are achieving.

Dr Wilson, our Head of Science, visited Violet class at Barrington Primary School on Thursday.  He brought in lots of equipment (telescope, infrared camera, rocket kit, globe and orrery) and asked the pupils a large number of questions!  Pupils are studying Earth and Space and he was impressed that they already knew a great deal about our solar system.  He talked to them about the science involved in moon landings, living on the moon, our galaxy and blackholes.  At the end, the pupils wrote a paragraph to their grandparents/penpals about what they had learned.  Dr Wilson has lent Barrington PS the rocket kit for pupils to use when the weather improves next term.

Science@Home

During half-term it is Valentine’s Day so why not set the mood by trying some romantic Science activities?! ‘Marvin and Milo’ the cartoon cat and dog are illustrating two Physics experiments – Anti-gravity Maltesers and Singing Paperclip. You just need some Maltesers, two wine glasses, water and a paperclip. See full instructions at the end of this newsletter. We hope you LOVE doing these activities!

Pastoral Care

Centre 33 are running online talks in February on Understanding Anger (16th) and Managing Anger (23rd). If you’d like to understand more about anger and frustration and learn to manage these feelings, then you can sign up for these talks below:

• Wednesday 16th, 5.30-6pm - Understanding Anger (part 1).
• Wednesday 23rd, 5.30-6pm - Managing Anger (part 2)

Recordings of both talks will be made available afterwards on our YouTube channel and social media.

A Song to make you Smile

Year 11 pupil Keeley is taking on a new challenge! You might remember last February she successfully completed her '50 Squats a Day' challenge? Well, this year, she's created a singing challenge and will be singing LIVE on Facebook in February for Home-Start Royston, Buntingford & South Cambridgeshire. Tune in to enjoy the music and support Keeley's amazing challenge on Sunday, 13th February at 5pm. Well done Keeley!

Have a good weekend,

Simon Holmes

 

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