Key Notes: 4 March 2022

4th March 2022

Living with Covid

At the beginning of the week, I sent an email to parents/carers about our ongoing approach to Covid following the current guidance from the DfE and from Local Authorities. Whilst we have had a small number of cases in school this week, the numbers are significantly lower than last half term and it has been good to see restrictions easing and the school returning to normal. We had our first year group assembly this week for Yr11 (see NCS section below).

Whilst pupils are no longer being asked to complete twice-weekly Lateral Flow testing, it is important to have a test if your child develops Covid symptoms.  they should take a test to confirm - you can book PCRs yourself. We also have a limited stock of LFT tests which we can use as a first check if pupils develop symptoms in school.

In order to reduce the risk of spreading Covid to other pupils and staff, please follow the advice about pupils not attending school whilst they are infectious. As previously, two negative Lateral Flow tests from day 5 will suffice.

Finally, please continue to report positive Covid cases to school as it will help us to keep an accurate note of the number of cases in school, particularly if we need to take any necessary additional actions such as recommending additional testing.

We will continue to follow the general advice about ventilation, so pupils should remain prepared for classroom windows and doors to be open.

Coming up next week: GCSE Science Live trip to Cambridge Corn Exchange; Y9 study skills session by Cambridge University and Y11 hands-on further education session by Cambridge University.

Year 7 September Admissions

The offer letters were sent out on 1st March by Cambridgeshire County Council or via email if you applied online. You can view, accept or decline an offer via your Citizens Portal account here. For more information on accepting or declining a place at MVC, please visit our website.

Russia and Ukraine

We realise that some of our pupils (and staff too) may feel worried, anxious or overly emotional about the developing situation in the Ukraine. Some even have family or friends who are affected. There are some resources available online for support, including a webpage from the BBC about the Ukraine conflict: How to help yourself, your kids, and others and another one from Newsround: Advice if you’re upset by the news.

In school, all KS3 pupils will have a lesson on Russia and the Ukraine in the following weeks as part of their social studies lessons. This should then form a baseline from which any conversations with pupils can build. Here are some suggested Dos and Don’ts:

DO Tell the truth about how you feel. It will make it safe for your child to do the same. Recognise that grief is emotional, not intellectual. Feeling sad or scared is normal and natural. Remember that every child has a unique perception about what they hear and believe about wars. Explain your beliefs about the invasion clearly and openly to your children.  Don’t make Russia the bad guy – plenty of Russian people don’t believe in the war. Be Patient. Give your child time to form their own opinions. Listen with your heart, not your head. Allow children to share their emotions without judgement or criticism. Ration the news to limit the amount they are exposed to. There’s a fine line between needing to know what’s happening and listening to ongoing hype and speculation.

DON’T Don’t say "Don't feel scared." Fear is a normal and common response to scary situations. Don’t say "Don't feel sad." Sadness is a healthy and normal reaction to conflict. Don’t act strong for your children. It gives them the message that they must be strong too, which means they will hide their normal and natural feelings. Don’t compare their lives or situations to others in the world. Comparison minimises their feelings. Don’t make promises that you cannot keep. Instead of saying "Everything's going to be okay," say, "We'll do everything we can to be safe." Source: The Grief Recovery Handbook, 20th Anniversary Expanded Edition by John W. James

Pancake Day 1^st March 2022

Pupils in Year 7 made some delicious creations for Pancake Day and demonstrated their skill at tossing the pancakes too!

GCSE Food and Nutrition

Miss Giles is very proud of the GCSE year 11 food and nutrition pupils who demonstrated very high skills in their food practical exam.

She said “They all did very well and made me proud in a 3-hour exam, demonstrating skills ranging from filleting fish and boning chicken, making ricotta, pasta, breads, pastries, marinates, lemon meringue and berry tarts. As an assessor, I evaluated 60 meals over the course of the week and have been very well fed!”  Pupils did a super job, well done! 

Cooking Success

Congratulations to Edward, Alexander and Samuel from 9 Hawking who represented 1st Orwell Scouts at the Hertfordshire District Cooking Competition on Sunday. They had previously won the Royston regional competition a few weeks earlier.

Their brief was 1952/Queen’s Jubilee, and they had a budget of £20 for a 3-course meal for 4 people. They designed and cooked from scratch: Coronation chicken with homemade mayonnaise, beef stroganoff and poached pears in spiced tea. They scored a very respectable 213 points out of 220, coming 3rd overall!

Y7 Careers Day

Year 7 pupils were joined by a group of volunteers from Form the Future on Wednesday to learn more about the world of work.  In a “What’s My Line” session they were challenged to find out what each of the professionals does for a job. They asked a series of well thought-through questions aimed to bring them closer to guessing the profession correctly. Form the Future is a social enterprise based in Cambridge, connecting schools and businesses. Thank you to the volunteers for spending time with our pupils.

National Citizen Service (NCS)

On Wednesday, Kris and Jack from the NCS visited our Year 11 pupils to talk about the opportunities NCS offers them over the summer to develop skills and take on new challenges that will set them up for adult life. We are delighted that 40 MVC pupils have signed up for the programme so far. More information is available in the NCS video here.

Year 10 PSHE Sessions

Pupils in Year 10 had some Personal Social Health and Economic lessons during periods 2 and 3 today about the risks of online image and information sharing and how to stay safe online.

Computer Science gets Interactive

Yesterday Mr Holder’s year 8 Computer Science class had fun pretending to ‘be the computer’ and interactively learning about how logic gates work.

World Book Day

On Thursday, 7YC celebrated World Book Day. Pupils brought in a fantastic selection of books to read and share as well as book-related quizzes to complete. Mrs Seagrove observed, “It is always lovely when a pupil picks up another book by an author we have studied in class.”

Physical Education

On Wednesday night our Year 9 & 10 Girls Football Activators teamed up with Cambourne VC to continue their journey towards The Youth Sport Award, whilst ensuring girls in England have equal access to football in schools. The girls practised their coaching and leadership skills as well as focusing on their role to market and deliver a new extra-curricular opportunity to empower their peers through football. Well done to all involved. 

Our U/16 boys basketball team continued to maintain their fine reputation by competing in the District Finals on Thursday at the newly built Northstowe school. 

To be pitted against the likes of Chesterton, Perse and St Bedes is testament to the progress our boys have made here at MVC, having been chosen ahead of Comberton and Bassingbourn. We went one better than our U/14 finals day by beating the school who won that year, St. Bedes, only to lose in the final against Chesterton. Some boys have shown how talented they are with many of this team also representing the school football team who got to the last 8 of the ESFA cup earlier this year.

Year 7 Winter Poetry Competition

We are delighted to announce the three prize winners are Caitlin O’D (7 Lewis), Isla B (7 Darwin), and Lottie H (7 Darwin).

Poet and author, Ash Dickinson was kind enough to judge the competition, and on Thursday Mr Bacon had the pleasure of presenting the winners with their certificates and a copy of Ash’s wonderful poetry book ‘Show Cats in Transit’.

Ash sent some lovely feedback about each of the poems which you can read below. He said “It was a delight and pleasure to read your pupils' words.” A big thank you to Ash and all those who took part in the competition – your work has been inspirational.

You can read the winning poems on the Year 7 Book Blog here or at the end of this newsletter.

1^st - Caitlin O’D, "Snowflakes"

Fluid from the off, the ‘They dance…’ anaphora of the final stanza(s) is particularly effective in creating rhythm akin to the snow’s movement, and for introducing a series of concrete, keenly observed images. Lovely description permeates the poem, language appealing to the senses, chilling them or making them soar. This is a very poetic poem, making magic and light out of what is ostensibly the simple act of snowfall, reminding us – as good poetry should – that we are surrounded by natural wonder and that we ought to stop and take a moment to breathe it in and be in it… Perhaps even be compelled to write it down, document its balletic dance.

2^nd - Isla B, "Winter"

The repeated refrain makes me think of a checklist for organising the perfect winter. If only we could control the seasons, order just the right amount of everything. This use of ‘Make…’ and ‘And…’ provides a lyricism that pushes it beyond a simple list poem into something engaging and quietly spellbinding. There’s a lovely humanity to the poem, a compassion for all- people, Santa, snowman; and a striking couplet to finish- how, in a reverse hibernation, we will sleep through the other seasons, our bellies full of winter cheer, to wake and feast again the following year.

3^rd - Lottie H, "A Winter Tale"

There’s a soft, unhurried pace to the lines, befitting the sense of a season just being, at rest. Good atmospheric description used throughout –  “chilling”, “grips”, “bleak” etc. I like that it’s a paean to winter, a season so often overlooked in favour of the warmth of summer or spring’s rebirth, rather than the barren ground and lifeless trees, it’s the sky that provides movement, blooming with stars and “slick sliver clouds”. Even when momentarily bare, whirlwinds soon appear to form a tunnel. I share with the narrator the visceral pleasure of a season that, even when seemingly attacking you, makes you feel alive.

Look out for the posters announcing the ‘Summer Poetry Competition’ after Easter.  

#TECHOGNITION in Science

Today is #TECHOGNITION – a national annual celebration of all technical support staff in schools and colleges. Many departments in school, such as science, design and technology, food technology and art employ technicians to do ‘behind-the-scenes’ jobs to make lessons that teachers deliver come to life! This event was started 5 years ago to celebrate and showcase the often-unsung hard work that technicians do. They are encouraged to upload photos of themselves doing one or more of the varied tasks onto social media using the hashtag #TECHOGNITION.

The science technicians at MVC have been busy this week preparing the equipment and making solutions for the many practicals the pupils have been undertaking in lessons. These have included growing bacteria for investigating which antiseptics are the best at killing them; trialling the effect of pH on the activity of an enzyme, and setting up the burettes for titrations of acid-alkali reactions. They are also starting to help get things organised for Science Week starting 14^th March (watch this space!).

Our newest technician, Mrs Santoso (in photo), started working here in September and has settled in well under the guidance of our other long-standing technicians Mrs Jones and Dr Dyer. Their least favourite job is washing-up after the pupils, but even that is rewarding with returning the shiny glassware to the labs, ready for use again! The technicians work with a great team of teachers at MVC who give them plenty of notice for what they need to make their lessons exciting for the pupils, so that the technicians can ensure that they are always organised for their lessons.

Winners of the Winter Poetry Competition

Snowflakes by Caitlin O’D

Snowflakes whirl and dance around my feet, landing softly on the crisp, white snow.

They dance away and my eyes follow their smooth, graceful movements,

Take in every detail of their tiny, intricate patterns.

Every small shape glows in the dim moonlight, vivid against the dull grey sky.

Every movement is a dance, telling a story,

Every moment like an eternity, lasting forever.

They drift slowly away with the breeze.

Some land on icicles, cold, pointy swords hanging unsteadily from trees and rooftops

Some land near fires and melt away, each pattern fading.

Some land in trees, like Christmas ornaments. But most of them dance.

They dance to unknown places…

 

They dance to the distant sounds of music, moving with the beat,

They dance until there is nowhere left to go,

They dance for the cold, stiff people huddling together for warmth,

They dance for the whistling birds perched high in the treetops,

They dance for the drivers stuck in a snowstorm,

They dance for every creature, great and small,

 

They dance for me…

 

Winter by Isla B

Make sure there is snow

And that the wind will blow

The white snow and the ice that is blue

Make sure it is there as it’s my favourite hue

 

Make sure that the weather is cold because

The people will be gathered by their fireplaces

With blankets and cushions covering their faces

And give them all coats and candles for warmth

And please have Santa come from the north

 

Make sure that there is a Christmas tree

With a whole lot of presents underneath

And that the snow is thick enough for snowmen

And make sure that we have pillows and comfy beds

Just somewhere we can rest our head

 

And sleep until it turns to spring

And dream of the songs next winter we will sing

 

A Winter Tale by Lottie H

The sky like an endless ocean and a river full of stars,

There’s no place I would rather be, not even on Mars.

Snow tenderly floating, through the bitter cold,

Read a winter tale and it will slowly unfold.

 

The moonlight was swallowed by the slick silver clouds,

And as for the streets they were filled up with crowds.

Chilling flakes fluttering from the sky,

But when spring begins to blossom we must say goodbye.

 

Grey and white sky so bare and so bleak,

Frosty whirlwinds form a tunnel as we speak.

The coldness stabbed me sending spikes of pain,

Sucking me into its darkness and vain.

 

A winter tale is what we all need to hear,

It grips around your heart, And brings you cheer.

 

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