BOTTISHAM VILLAGE COLLEGE

July 2009

PRINCIPAL’S NEWS Beyond the Classroom Activities We approach the end of another very successful year with a flurry of activities, ranging from our Year 11 Leavers’ Ball, a hugely entertaining Summer Concert, to induction activities for the new Year 7 students who will be joining us in September. Once again, students in Year 10 have gained valuable experience of the world of work during their two week Work Experience placements. Students in Years 7 to 9 took advantage of wide-ranging activities and challenges during our annual Activities Week. The programme for this year was as follows: Year 7 Camp in Norfolk Year 8 Derbyshire, Normandy, school based activities including maths challenges,

newspaper publication, French culture and cookery Year 9 Monday: PSHE: Sex and Relationships Day Tuesday: Take Your Child to Work Day Wednesday: Boom Biz (Enterprise Day) Thursday & Friday Celebration Day/Cycling or Bowling I would like to thank all of the staff and volunteers who were involved in organising all of these ‘beyond the classroom’ events and opportunities which are such an important part of a Bottisham student’s educational experience. Uniform As we have stated previously, we strongly believe that a school uniform helps to give young people a sense of identity and belonging. I would like to thank you all, once again, for the support that you have shown during the year in helping us to ensure that the uniform is worn correctly and in the right spirit, enabling us to focus our time and energies into teaching and learning. I am delighted to report that these improvements have been maintained throughout the year. I would, however, ask you to remind yourself of our expectations before purchasing any new items of clothing, by referring to the attached uniform list, paying particular attention to the detailed description of items such as trousers, skirts and shoes. We will continue to enforce these expectations consistently during the next school year.

Purchasing of School Uniform You will be able to purchase school uniform from the college between 9.00am and 2.00pm on the following days: 20th July 3rd August 27th August 1st September Farewells At this time of year, we always find ourselves having to say goodbye to a number of members of staff. On this occasion, we say farewell to:

Mr T Rogers (English Teacher, Assistant Head of Learning Year 9) Mrs H Cole (Library Assistant) Mrs J Luckes (Geography Teacher) Miss K Love (Temporary PE Teacher) Mr C Genge (Temporary Humanities Teacher) Miss K Breslin (Temporary Maths Teacher) Mr T Tuffnell (Temporary Maths Teacher) Mrs N Baldwin (Temporary English Teacher) We thank them for the wonderful service and commitment that they have shown during their time with us and wish them every happiness and success in the future. Schoolcomms Please may I remind you that we are trying to send all letters to parents/carers via Schoolcomms. If you have not given the school an up to date email address, I would be grateful if you would do so at the beginning of the Autumn Term. End of Term The College will close at 1.30pm on Friday, 17th July, re-opening for year 7 students only on Thursday, 3rd September, with Years 8 to 11 returning on Friday, 4th September. All that remains is for me to wish you all an enjoyable summer. Mrs Evans

Bottisham Village College School Uniform Rationale: We believe that a school uniform helps to give young people a sense of identity and belonging. Ours is a straightforward and comfortable school uniform which students are expected to wear in the correct spirit and with a sense of pride. Our core business is teaching and learning and our expectation is that all students arrive at their lesson fully equipped and ready to learn. Wearing the correct school uniform is a crucial part of this readiness; it shows that students are fulfilling their responsibilities and allows us to devote all our time and energies to teaching and learning. Code and Guidelines: All clothing should be clearly marked with the owner’s name, preferably with name tapes

Shirt: College polo shirt * Sweatshirt: College sweatshirt *

A plain white or black short-sleeved t-shirt may be worn discreetly under the poloshirt.

Trousers: Plain black, full length, traditional style: no studs, no decoration, no distinctive belt. Jeans or jeans-style trousers are not acceptable. Tight-fitting or skinny-style trousers are not acceptable.

Skirt: Plain black, mid-calf to knee-length: no extreme styles, no decoration, no distinctive belt. Tight-fitting and short skirts are not acceptable.

Shoes: Plain black, traditional style and suitable for movement around a large, busy school: no distinctive markings or logos. Trainers, skateshoes or other casual canvas shoes are not acceptable. Leather or imitation leather only. Backless sandals or mules, high heels are not acceptable.

Socks: Black, white or grey Tights: Black, neutral or dark green Jewellery: The only jewellery allowed is one small, plain stud in the lobe of

pierced ears. Nose studs and other facial/body piercings are not acceptable.

Hairstyles: Extreme haircuts and colours are not acceptable. Makeup: Any makeup which is obvious and noticeable is not acceptable. Light

foundation products and mascara may be worn discreetly. Eyeliner, eyeshadow and nail varnish are not acceptable.

PE Uniform Girls Boys

College PE Polo shirt, short sleeved with collar *

College PE Polo shirt, short sleeved with collar *

Navy blue football shorts White Shorts, White ankle socks

Sky blue knee length hockey or football socks *

Sky blue reversible rugby shirt with broad white band *

White ankle socks Sky blue football socks *

Navy blue sweatshirt with BVC PE logo *

Navy blue sweatshirt with BVC PE logo *

Astro boots and training shoes (not fashion shoes)

Football boots and training shoes (not fashion shoes)

Shinpads Shinpads, mouthguard

Towel and one piece swimming costume

Towel and swimming trunks / shorts

Navy blue tracksuit bottoms may be worn in cold conditions

Navy blue tracksuit bottoms may be worn in cold conditions.

Items marked with * are available from the College. The order form is available on our website or from the Finance Office Outdoor clothing: All students are required to wear the College polo shirt. If they are inside the building and require an additional layer of clothing then this should be the College sweatshirt. When travelling to and from school and when outside the school building, students are allowed to wear all items of outdoor clothing, including coats, jackets, hoodies, scarves, gloves and hats. None of these should have inappropriate slogans or logos. On re-entering the building, students should remove all hats, scarves and gloves immediately. They may continue to wear a coat or jacket, if it is worn over a sweatshirt. When they enter their classroom, students should actively remove their coat or jacket, to ensure that they are ready to learn as quickly as possible. If they are not wearing a college sweatshirt, students need to remove their coat on entering the building. As stated above, the second layer of clothing inside the building should be the College sweatshirt at all times.

The Accident On Friday 10th July Bottisham Village College hosted the “Accident Scenario Day” sponsored by Aimhigher in association with Britten Enterprises. This special event, the first of its kind to be held in Cambridgeshire, was organised for Health and Social Care students and those studying the new Society, Health and Development Diploma from September 2009. Over 200 people participated, including 125 students from ten Cambridgeshire Schools and Colleges. The first part of the day was based around a reconstruction of a motor accident which was made as realistic as possible with the fire brigade, police and ambulance services attending with blue flashing lights and sirens blazing. The vehicle was cut open to provide access for the paramedics to attend to the passengers and the police arrested the driver.

The occupants of the car, the passer by who witnessed the accident and the elderly pensioner who was knocked down became the central focus for the rest of the day, as students visited workshops to understand how the health and social services would become involved in their lives. The characters appeared again at the end, as if a year had passed and the students discovered how the characters lives had changed. The workshops ranged from child care (including fostering and child protection services), youth offending, nursing care, adult social work, the local GP to care of the elderly and dealing with Alzheimers.

Lesley Thompson, Project Director for the Aimhigher Healthcare Strand in the Eastern Region said ‘This has been a real opportunity for students to see the diversity and complexity of the Health and Social Care sectors.’ Special thanks go to the performing arts students from Cambridge Regional College who became our characters for the day, Health and Social Care students from Long Road Sixth Form College who were our student ambassadors, all the workshop leaders, the emergency services especially the fire services who provided the vehicle for the accident and all the staff at Bottisham Village College who contributed to the day. Mrs Matthewson Vocational Co-ordinator

Fashion Challenge 2009

We were delighted to hear that Katie Askham (Year 7, designing for Barcelona) and Freya Williams (Year 7, designing for Russia) were top ten finalists and Katie France (Year 9, designing for Paris) won a top thirty place in the competition. Well done to all our Fashion Challenge entrants and we look forward to next year’s competition. Miss Price

Fashion Challenge is a competition run by Isle College in Wisbech and is open to all schools in Eastern England. This year students were asked to design outfits suitable for a holiday destination and we had some fantastic and very imaginative entries from pupils of all ages and year groups. These have been displayed in the school foyer and at the Art and Technology exhibition in the project area.

UK Junior Maths Challenge Year 7 Year 8 Gold Gold Ramganesh Lakshman* Kieran Gilday* Benedict May Rama Lakshman Thomas Withers Silver Silver Leo Charlesworth Matthew Horsfield Cameron Mackay Ian Chard Holly Krombacher Hayley-Jane Rix Bronze Bronze Oscar Rayment Connor Wynn Jake Crown Jake Bowden Katie Askham Tom Sullivan Thomas Groom Oliver Sanusi Bartlett *Kieran and Ram qualified for the follow up Olympiad round. Many congratulations also to Ben Nazareth and Eric Wieser. They both sat the Olympiad paper as a follow up to the Intermediate Challenge. Ben was awarded a Certificate of Merit and Eric a distinction. Eric also received a medal as well as a book prize for coming 12th in his age group Well done to everyone who took part in all the challenges throughout the year. Miss Fries

Year 10 Visit to Italy During the May half term a group of 40 students in Year 10 and 4 teachers went to Italy. We stayed in Lido di Jesolo which is near to Venice. The first day of the visit was spent relaxing on the beach which was no more than a minute from our hotel. We also played mini golf in a heat of around 34OC. The next day was spent in Venice; it was another hot day, around 32OC. At this point everyone was burnt, tanned or both. As well as Venice, we went around the Lagoon islands and saw an amazing glass blowing demonstration. Wednesday was a lot cooler which we were all grateful for but it was very windy and there was a thunderstorm. However, this did not stop us visiting a vineyard where we were allowed to taste some wine and go to a cooking demonstration where we learnt about the history of pasta and how to make it. When we got back to the hotel, we found out that our swimming stuff which we’d left out to dry on the balconies had blown away and Mr Wallace had to climb on the roof and up a tree to retrieve some of his things. The weather on Thursday was the nicest as it was 30OC. We spent the whole day ay Gardaland which is an Italian theme park. We went on a big rollercoaster like Blue Tornado and my favourite rides were the water rides where I got soaked on one of them! That evening we had a pizza evening. Friday was our last day and we made pizzas – we were allowed to make any pizza that we wanted. We then had a Tiramisu cake demonstration and the cake was really tasty. That evening the teachers bought us all an ice cream and they took us bowling – the teachers beat us all. We had an early morning wake up call of 5.15am on Saturday which was then followed by a two hour flight. By 9.45am, we were back in the UK. Shannon Thompson 10.4

Activities Week – MFL Faculty Languages Experience Day On Tuesday and Wednesday two groups of Year 7 and Year 8 students took part in a Languages experience day to try out cultural activities from some of the countries related to the foreign languages we study at BVC. The purpose of the day was to try out something new and a little bit different.

We started the day with a Mexican craft-making session which turned old newspaper, home-made glue and tissue paper into some very eye-catching, star-shaped Piñatas. From there, we spent an hour in a real Flamenco lesson, mastered a full routine and had a go at playing the castañets. After all this exertion, students relaxed with a French film and tasted snacks from France, Germany and Spain. Finally we learned how to play handball, a game which is enjoyed throughout Europe.

Many thanks to all those students who approached the day so positively and enthusiastically (even if you didn’t eat the green olives!) and to Ms Mann for her help. Mrs Hill

News from The Physical Education Faculty

Bottisham are Runners Up in the Jubilee Cup

Nearly one hundred Bottisham athletes took part in this, the major Inter Schools Athletics Competition in the Cambridge and District Schools area. The sweltering conditions made some of the endurance events particularly challenging, but there were no complaints as the team pulled together in order to gain as many points as possible. The Year 7 girls and the Year 10 boys were particularly successful, winning their respective competitions, which is an excellent achievement. When all the points were totalled it transpired that Bottisham were second in the overall competition. This is a reward for the training, organisation and dedication of the athletes over the summer. In order to bridge the final gap and come first we need to ensure that all athletes start their training early in the season and attend every session. Congratulations to all team members.

The Bottisham Team for the Jubilee Cup Athletics Competition at Wilberforce

Sports Leadership A large number of students have been developing their leadership skills by helping to run the numerous athletics, rounders, cricket and primary school events that have taken place this term. By helping in the Physical Education Faculty, these leaders develop skills of organisation, communication and empathy which are so important in the development of young people. Thanks to all of you who have given up your time to help out.

Sports Leaders at a home athletics match

Cricket success The Year 7 and Year 8 teams have reached the finals of their District cricket competitions which will be held at the famous Fenners Cricket ground in Cambridge. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to play on a ground which has hosted many touring test teams over the years. Rounders, as popular as ever The school rounders teams had another successful year, and it was pleasing that so many students were able to represent the school. Bottisham hosted two of the tournaments and it was exciting to see ten teams from all over the District competing on the field. The Year 7 girls had an excellent season and remained undefeated.

Ex Bottisham students in World Championship squad We have recently received this information about some of our ex students from Mr Robinson.

This July three ex Bottisham pupils will be representing Great Britain in the Water-ski World Championship in Belgium . Jack Lynch (Swaffham Prior, now Reach) is representing his country in the Formula 2 Group, Harvey Robinson (Reach) in Formula 1 and Lucy Gale (Wooditton ) in Formula 2 ladies . This is racing not slalom ski-ing . During the races they will often be reaching speeds of 80mph .

All have been involved in the sport for some time and had to do well in British races to qualify. Some of the teams they will be racing against e.g. the USA, have million dollar budgets so the competition is a very tough one and our home grown racers have to draw on their skill rather than their pockets to compete . All skiers come from the Hunstanton Water Sports Club which has previously produced the World Ladies Champion and over the years many members of the British Team. At present you have at least two Junior Members of this club at your school. It can’t be often that Bottisham has had three people in a World Championship Squad ! This is a wonderful achievement and our best wishes go to Jack, Harvey and Lucy. Stay active over the summer Enjoy your summer holiday and use the time to improve your personal fitness. Try to do something outside everyday, and make a point of doing thirty minutes of cardiovascular work at least five times a week. Swimming, cycling and running are good fun and you can easily monitor your progress. (Why not keep an exercise diary and record what you do). Add some daily resistance work (press ups, squat thrusts, sit ups) and very soon you will notice an improvement in your endurance and muscle tone. You can always go and play with your friends on the local recreation ground, and you will benefit socially, as well as physically and mentally. Have a great summer. Mr Alvey

Saturday 27th June 2009 – Las Vegas Summer Ball

Wow, what an evening! Great fun was had by all, fantastic atmosphere, good food, fabulous music, truly a night to remember. Without your support we would be unable to fund the marquee for the Year 11s Leavers’ Ball. Many thanks also to all those who helped to set up and clear away, to the bar staff for all their hard work and a special thanks to the Ball Committee for all their hard work and enthusiasm. On behalf of the Friends of Bottisham Village College I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors of the ball. Their support is much appreciated and plays a major part in this fundraising event. There were some lovely photos taken during the evening, these can be viewed and purchased on http://www.davidboughey.com – take a look! The date for next year’s ball has already been set, so no excuses forgetting to put this date in your diary: The Bottisham Ball 3 July 2010. If you are interested in tickets for next year’s ball please email friends@bottishamvc.org to be included on the mailing list.

Grand Summer Prize Raffle

A huge thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets for our Grand Summer Ball. Tickets were drawn at the Bottisham Ball and I’m pleased to announce the prizes have now all been collected by the lucky winners. Many thanks to companies who kindly donated such wonderful prizes and congratulations to the winners. Enjoy!

Friends Committee – We need you!

The Friends committee are actively seeking new members, we have been extremely lucky to have a committed group of parents who have supported Friends but as their own children leave Bottisham we desperately need new blood and ideas. As our logo reads our aim is Fun and Fundraising, we meet once a term and are always looking for new events to hold during the year. Our events are not just for fundraising but for giving the opportunity for parents to socialise and meet. As we have a number of members leaving us at the end of this term, we would love you to join us. We will also have a vacant post for a new secretary for the start of the September term. Please consider joining the Friends and make a difference! Email friends@bottishamvc.org Mrs Bateman on behalf of the Friends Committee

Bottisham Sports Centre

Summer Holiday Activities

20th July - 31st August

In the pool… Monster Island Fun Sessions

Swimming Lessons Long distance swim

Parent and child sessions Wet ‘n’ Wacky Races

FREE Swimming sessions for under 16s and over 60s Ladies only, Public swimming, Adults only, 50+

Sports…

Badminton, Tennis, Table tennis Netball, Football, Basketball

HALF PRICE HIRE for under 16s Hotshots Football Coaching

Cheerleading Classes

Fun day’s… Multi Sport Days for 8 - 14 years

Mini Sport Days for under 8’s Jumping Beans bouncy castle and soft play sessions

For more information on our activities we are running please contact the centre or visit our website.

Tel: 01223 811121 Web: www.bottishamvc.org/sportscentre Email: sportscentre@bottishamvc.org

BOTTISHAM VILLAGE COLLEGE

TERM DATES 2009 - 2010

Autumn Term Wednesday 2 September 2009 Staff Professional Day

Thursday 3 September 2009 Autumn Term begins for Year 7 only

Friday 4 September 2009 Autumn Term begins for Years 8, 9, 10 & 11

Thursday 1 October 2009 Staff Professional Day

26 - 30 October 2009 Half Term

Friday 18 December 2009 Term ends for Christmas Holidays

Spring Term Monday 4 January 2010 Staff Professional Day

Tuesday 5 January 2010 Spring Term begins Friday 12 February 2010 Staff Professional Day 15 - 19 February 2010 Half Term Thursday 1 April 2010 Term ends for Easter Holidays Summer Term Monday 19 April 2010 Staff Professional Day

Tuesday 20 April 2010 Summer Term begins

Monday 3 May 2010 May Day Holiday 31 May – 4 June 2010 Half Term Thursday 22 July 2010 Term ends for Summer Holidays