Key Notes: 21 November 2022

21st November 2022

Fingerprint scanning

New tills have been installed as part of the improvements to our canteen. These will help to speed up service at break and lunchtime by using biometric data from fingerprints to identify each student. On Tuesday, all students with permission had their index fingers scanned on the new tills by technicians from Vericool. All personal data is collected, stored and processed securely in accordance with our Data Protection Policy.

Webwise Parents’ Guide to Better Internet

This publication is being sent out with the Key Notes newsletter this week. Webwise contains lots of internet safety tips for parents/carers and is also available to read on our website here. Topics include:

• Children and social media
• Social media advice
• Dealing with cyberbullying
• What if my child is being bullied online?
• Image sharing and inappropriate content
• Talking to your child about sexting
• Where to get more information and advice

Forthcoming Events

• 24^th November: Year 9 Parents’ Evening. (For more information about the online process and Parents’ Evening dates, please visit the Parents’ Evening page on our website )
• 28^th November: Year 11 2022 Leavers’ Presentation Evening 6pm in the Hall (If ex-students have any uniform they could kindly donate, please bring it along – thank you.)
• 30^th November: Year 8 HPV Vaccinations
• 2^nd December: Year 10 Reports to parents/carers

Lost Property

Lost property will be available to check in reception from Wednesday 30^th November until Friday 2^nd December. Parents/carers or students can come and look for lost items. Anything not collected by Friday 16^th December will be recycled or donated.

Physical Education

The Year 8 boys rugby team followed up their first game against Comberton with a narrow win over local rivals Bassingbourn on Wednesday. The team were split in half and played a small-sided game first then finished with a big game. John was our player of the game with a hat-trick of tries. Mr Barlow said, “We are delighted with their progress in lessons, at enrichment and now in fixtures.” Well done!

Fixtures timetable:
Tues 22nd November:	Year 11 boys football v Samuel Whitbread School at home Primary School Friendships Games Event at MVC
Wed 23rd November:	Mixed KS3 Hockey v Cambourne at home 3pm-3.45pm Year 7 and 8 boys A team football at Cambourne, both 7-a-side Year 7 B team football v Cambourne at home
Tues 29th November:	Girls’ Football Tournament at home. Finish time 14:35

iPads for Learning

Based on a successful strategy of using iPads in the history department, Mandarin students will be offered extra learning resources using their iPads to scan QR codes and watch some videos such as Chinese films/cartoon films, culture videos and Mr Fan’s cooking videos! Students are then encouraged to answer questions after watching those films/videos to test their vocabulary and learning. The first film they will be watching is a Chinese cartoon film called Monkey King-Hero is Back.

iPads have also been a popular learning aid for Year 7 students in food and nutrition this week where they have been using them to learn about the different sensory aspects of food.

We are delighted that core RE students in KS4 are now using Hodder Education Boost on their iPads to support their studies. This new digital learning platform brings together quality content and new technology, providing students with a series of knowledge checks and access to course literature to enhance their learning.

Science

In science on Friday, some Year 7 students were investigating the skeleton and muscles. Biceps and triceps were tested by doing press-ups in a great show of determination and competition, but things got even more competitive when using the hand strength meter!  Students collected the results from these two tests and talked about how they could analyse them. 

In Year 8, students have been making a pocket solar system to help them understand our place in the universe and answer questions such as is there gravity in space and is space vast? (The answers are yes!).

RareFest22 

RareFest22 is taking place in Cambridge on 25^th and 26^th November. This is a 2-day rare disease-inspired festival with interactive exhibits, talks, film and art, showcasing ground-breaking science, visionary technology and pioneering organisations, improving lives and bringing hope to those affected by rare conditions. More information here.

Student wellbeing

Here are some useful apps to help you support mental health:

• Headspace: Free Mindfulness app - Learn how to unwind your mind.
• Calm:Great app for good sleep and meditation.
• CalmHarm:Developed for teenagers to help resist the urge to self-harm.
• Dare: Anxiety & Panic Relief: Dare to face your fears, anxiety, panic, worry or sleep problems – this app helps support you to face your anxiety rather than avoiding it and making it worse.
• Anxiety Relief:This app has good tools and techniques to help soothe your anxiety.
• What’s Up: Mental Health app. Information on anger, self-esteem. anxiety, depression and stress. Using a CBT approach, this app gives help with coping strategies, information and a diary log.

In an emergency contact:

• EMERGENCY: If the person is in immediate danger call 999.
• Mental Health Crisis: Text call 111 option 2.

Here are some useful websites for more information on mental health:

• Kooth - An online mental wellbeing community offering free, safe and anonymous support
• Keep Your Head - brings together reliable information on mental health and wellbeing for children, young people and adults across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
• Chat Health - A confidential text messaging service for young people aged 11-19. The service is available Monday to Friday from: 9.30am to 4.00pm. Simply text 07480 635 443 to start a conversation.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear that is experienced as a combination of physical sensations, thoughts and feelings. All young people feel worried sometimes, and this is a normal part of growing up. Anxiety can be a problem when a young person feels stuck in it, or when it feels like an overwhelming, distressing or unmanageable experience. If this kind of worrying goes on for a long time, it can leave a young person feeling exhausted, isolated, and limiting the things they feel able to do.  At MVC we want to ensure we are supporting all students and parents to understand anxiety and to provide some strategies to help parents/carers support their child.  Our pastoral support team is a key part of this support and you can contact them as shown below. To give more information we are emailing a leaflet on anxiety to parents/carers with this newsletter.

Pastoral support team:

• Ms Rebecca Drum: Year 7 – rdrum@melbournvc.org
• Ms Rhonda Howard: Year 8 – rhoward@melbournvc.org
• Ms Georgina Butcher: Year 9 – gbutcher@melbournvc.org
• Ms Emma Tidby: Year 10 – etidby@melbournvc.org
• Mr A Kennedy: Year 11 – akennedy@melbournvc.org (until Jan) and
• Ms Alison Flowerdew: Year 11 – aflowerdew@melbournvc.org (from Jan)

School Crossing Patrol

We are delighted to hear that our school crossing patrol is making a good recovery and we are hopeful that he will be able to return to work after Christmas.

Vacancies

We are currently advertising the following vacancies on our website:

• Teacher of English
• Teacher of Computer Science
• Senior IT Technician
• Food Technician
• Chef Manager

Christmas concert tickets on sale now! 

Back to News