Key Notes: 12 December 2022

12th December 2022

Christmas at MVC

Things are starting to look very festive at MVC thanks to prefects, Katie, Theo, Jake and Rin, who put up the Christmas trees in reception and dining hall on Monday. On Friday 16^th December Christmas lunch will be served for those who have booked in advance and students on FSM.  Students who have not booked can bring in a packed lunch on that day.

Also on Friday 16^th December, we will be holding a Christmas Jumper Day for charity.  Students can pay £1 to wear a Christmas jumper for the day instead of their school jumper (the rest of the uniform remains the same). If students do not have a Christmas jumper, they can cover their school jumper in tinsel/sparkles/sequins, for a £1 donation to WinterComfort.

The school site looked very seasonal this morning after the overnight fall of snow!

Forthcoming Events

• 12^th December: MVC Christmas Concert at 7pm (postponed until further notice)
• 13^th December: Youth Sport Trust mentor visit and Year 11 Post-16 applications deadline
• 15^th December: flu vaccinations for Years 9 (Years 7/8 can have the flu vaccine on 11^th Jan)
• 16^th December: Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day
• 20^th December: Last day of school – finish time 3pm
• 3^rd January: School closed for professional development day
• 4^th January: Start of the Spring Term
• 5^th January: Year 11 parents’ evening

Christmas Card Competition

This year we ran a school Christmas card design competition. Mr Bennet was impressed with the standard of submissions.  Congratulations to the winner, Imogen for her design of Christmas lights which was superb and obviously the result of lots of thought and intricate work.  Many thanks to all the other students who entered.

Melbourn Foodbank

Our prefects are organising a Christmas food bank collection to support Melbourn Foodbank run by MACS - Melbourn Action Community Support.  To donate, please bring in food items from the list below and place these in the wire collection bin in Reception. The aim is to provide support to people in the area over the festive season. Melbourn Foodbank is open 10am-12pm on Mondays and Thursdays at Vicarage Close Community Hall, Melbourn, SG8 6DY. 

General Foods: Tinned soup, veg, fruit Tinned meat Instant mash Rice, Pasta Jelly or sponge desserts Gravy Granules Tea, Instant Coffee Longlife Milk Preserves - ie Jam, Marmalade Cereal Toiletries: are also welcome.

Christmas Foods: Chocolates Crackers for cheese Biscuits (Shortbread etc) Nuts / Pringles or other crisps Xmas cake/pudding Custard Mince Pies (please check expiry date) Dried Stuffing mix

The Giving Tree at Melbourn Hub

The ‘Giving Tree’ has been set up at Melbourn Hub thanks to Guide Ellie who put forward this initiative in pursuit of her (well-deserved) community badge. You can help a local child in need from Melbourn Playgroup MOOS or MVC by taking a tag, buying a gift or voucher and returning it (unwrapped) to The Hub.  Thank you to our caring community for supporting ‘The Giving Tree’ and already donating lots of gifts and vouchers so far.  The closing date to support a local child in need is 17^th December.

Second-hand Uniform

If you have any items of good quality PE kit or MVC jumpers we would be grateful to receive any donations because stocks are running low.

Enrichment Activities

After-school enrichment activities have now finished for this term. They will start again on Monday 16^th January. We will contact parents/carers before then to let you know what activities are available so that you can book these and places on the bus home at 4pm if required.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Mrs Gunner is now the DofE verifier for MVC and will be working with Mr Kennedy to make sure Bronze Awards are completed and awarded!  This is a reminder for all students in Years 9 and 10 to upload their plans for what they are going to do for each section as soon as possible so that they can be approved.  Year 11 students should also upload their assessor reports as soon as possible to let us know what they have done for each section, physical, volunteering and skills so that these can be approved.

District Cross Country

It's early December, and it's cold and wet, so it must be the annual District Cross Country event at Netherhall school. Mr Barlow took a small group of Key Stage Four students to complete the 3-4km route against hundreds of other children from various local schools. We saw it as a great opportunity to allow our Year 10 and 11 students, who have chosen athletics or cross country as one of their three sports, to record a time and compete against others.

Noticeable performers were James (Y10) and Joseph (Y11) both of whom navigated the infamous Cherry Hinton hill on the backfield at Netherhall with aplomb to finish in the top 20! Congratulations also to Annabelle who has overcome a major injury – she battled her way to a top 30 finishers with two other Year 11 students Olivia and Emma.

Some of those pictured had to recover quickly and take part in more GCSE preparation the next day with football matches at King James Academy, Royston. Head of Year 11 and Geography teacher, Mr Kennedy, went above and beyond by taking the boys to Royston whilst team manager Mr Barlow had some other GCSE PE commitments. He was very impressed with what he saw, 'The pupils have clearly benefited from their cup exploits in Years 10 and 11, they have a great spirit, and fingers crossed for some good marks in this area of their GCSE PE in 2023!'

Fixtures timetable Wed 14th December: Table-Tennis at KJAR 3.45-5pm (Y10/11) Tues 17th January: Girls Football at home after school (Y10/11) Mon 23rd January: Netball at home after school (Y10/11) Tues 7th February: Basketball at home after school (Y10/11)

Science

This week the science noticeboard has a Christmas theme too, with candy cane chemistry, bell metal compositions, ‘relighting a candle’ trick, The Holly and the Ivy chemicals, and Flaming Christmas puddings!

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Centre 33 are running two online talks in the next couple of weeks about ‘looking after yourself in the holidays, as winter and the upcoming holidays can be a difficult time for many people.

• Part 1, on Thursday 15th December at 5.30pm, focuses on ways to look after yourself in winter, including practical tips around the cost of living, and creating helpful routines for the holidays
• Part 2, on Monday 19th December at 5.30pm focuses on ways to look after yourself over Christmas and the New Year and signposting to places open for support

These talks are free to access, and aimed at young people aged 13-25 years old. You can find out more information and sign-up via our poster, or the events page on the Centre 33 website.

CCC Safer Schools Newsletter – December 2022

December’s edition of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary Safer Schools Newsletter is being sent out with this edition of Key Notes. The subjects covered are as follows:

• Get ready for CEOP’s Festive Countdown
• Support the ‘Dear Santa 2022’ campaign
• Teaching your child the dangers of internet shopping
• Don’t ask Santa for an e-scooter
• Parking outside schools

Vacancies

We are currently advertising the following vacancies on our website:

• English Teacher
• Head of English
• Level 1 Teaching Assistant - The Cabin
• Chef Manager (Caterlink)
• Cover Supervisor
• Teacher of Physics
• Teacher of Maths

 

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