Key Notes: 5 December 2022

5th December 2022

Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day

On Friday 16th December we will be offering Christmas lunch for £3.50.  This must be booked in advance via ParentPay where you can select the menu option. If your child is in receipt of free school meals, the meal allowance will cover the cost, but you will still need to book the lunch on ParentPay and indicate which option you require. The booking deadline is Wednesday 7th December.

Please note that on Friday 16th there will be no other food available at break and no alternative meal at lunch time. Only drinks will be on sale at breaktime. Students must either book Christmas lunch in advance, or they can bring in a packed lunch.

Also, on Friday 16th 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, and still donate to the charity.

This year our Prefects will be running a Christmas food bank collection supporting the Melbourn Foodbank run by MACS. Prefects are asking students to bring in food items from a list which will be provided in the next few days 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. 

Forthcoming Events

• 7^th December: District Cross Country event at Netherhall School
• 7^th – 8^th December: Year 11 Art Mock Examination
• 12^th – 16^th December: GCSE English Spoken Language Assessments
• 12^th December: MVC Christmas Concert at 7pm (tickets from school reception & The Hub)
• 13^th December: Youth Sport Trust mentor visit and Year 11 Post-16 applications deadline
• 15^th December: flu vaccinations for Years 7, 8 and 9 (Information has been emailed to parents/carers. Here is a reminder of the link to give/decline consent:
     https://eastanglia.schoolvaccination.uk/flu/2022/cambridgeshire)
• 16^th December: Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day

Class of 2022 – Leavers’ Presentation Evening

On Monday evening, Year 11 leavers returned to MVC for a Presentation Evening to collect their GCSE certificates. It was a very cheerful event and staff were able to congratulate students on their record results and chat to them about post-16 life. Exams officer, Gemma Stuart, made a fantastic PowerPoint presentation which was shown by Head of Year, Andrew Kennedy, before each tutor group was invited on to the stage to collect their certificates. There was even an opportunity for a year group photo at the end.  Thanks also to our current Year 11 prefects for providing refreshments.

Any students who were not able to attend the event are welcome to pop into school to collect and sign for their certificates, or they  may send an email to office@melbournvc.org to give permission for a named person to collected them on their behalf.  Certificates can be collected from Reception which is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday, during term time.

Army Cadets

Paul Lamonte, Laura, Dylan (both Year 9) and James (Year 11) from the Melbourn Army Cadet Detachment visited the Year 8 assembly on Wednesday to give a presentation about life as an Army Cadet.  Army Cadets provides lots of opportunities for young people to develop new skills, build confidence and have fun and adventures. Students enjoyed the talk and liked seeing their friends in their Army Cadet uniforms.

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 17th December.

Dragons’ Den

Students with SEND took part in a Dragons’ Den style event run by David Welch from Living Sport on Thursday 2^nd December. The 15 students were split into three teams, supported by prefects, to develop a proposal for a sporting enrichment club.  The stakes were high as there was an opportunity to win £1,000 to start up the winning club. Over two sessions the students researched their chosen sport, including the practicalities, use of the budget, accessibility to all students, marketing, and health and safety considerations.

Students then had to pitch to a panel of ‘Dragons’ led by event organiser Silvana Vinci, a Student Support Centre Teaching Assistant, David Welch, from Living Sport, publicity co-ordinator Hilary Forrester, and Hannah Wittkopp, also a Teaching Assistant. Ms Vinci said, “All the students worked really well. The prefects were all amazing, and they were excellent role models.”

Congratulations to winning team ‘Black Cats’, comprising Year 7/8 students Charlie, Mark, Ethan, Rosie, Issac and prefects Jake and Matthew who scooped the £1,000 prize money for Kinball. Their presentation clearly showed that they had thought about all aspects of the sport and they did an amazing job in pitching their idea. It is hoped the new club will start next term with the winning students participating in the first game. Ms Vinci added, “I am hoping that the SSC can also use the equipment for our adapted PE lessons.”

The other teams made the Dragons’ decision very difficult with good ideas and sound pitches. Melbourn United pitched for alternate weeks of boxing and ‘glow-in-the dark badminton’ and Melbourn Warriors proposed a ‘glow-in-the-dark hunt’.

Physical Education

On Tuesday 22^nd  November, the Year 7 B team played the Year 7 Cambourne B team at football. The game started off well, with our attack looking very strong. At around 5 minutes into the first quarter, the opening goal was scored by Joe. As Melbourn was on the attack, the ball went off for a corner. Joe quickly took it and we nearly scored but the Cambourne goalkeeper made a great save and Finn followed it in. The game then went to 2-1 when Cambourne scored. But then, our temporary keeper, Danny, came out of goal and went on to score 4 goals! An incredible display by Danny. In the third quarter, Cambourne's attack started to level up as they scored 2 goals. In the final quarter, we brought off our star centre-back, Aston, and our striker, Finn. Finally, in the last minutes of the game, the ball was passed to Johnny and he smashed it into the top corner to secure the victory! Overall, a very good display from the boys and under their new managers, Mylo and Harvey, the team are ready for their next match! (Match report written by Harvey)

Outstanding sporting achievement

This week our congratulations go to Ellie in Year 8 who was given a wild card into the Royston under 14 Grade 4 tennis tournament on Saturday 26^th November, as her ranking was not high enough to qualify automatically. She got to the final after playing some incredible tennis, beating other county players. She lost in the final to the number 2 seed, who was over 600 places higher than her in the rankings. Clearly, all her hard work every week at the tennis courts is paying off. Well done Ellie, MVC is proud of you.

Fixtures timetable Tues 6th December: District Cross-Country at Netherhall. 9am-12.30pm Tues 7th December: Boys Football at KJAR Astro 3.45-5pm (Y10/11) Tues 13th December: U16 Girls Football v Bottisham Away 3.40-4.40pm Tues 13th December: U12 Boys Football v Bottisham Away 3.40-4.40pm 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)

South Cambridgeshire Schools Sports Partnership Football Festival

Girls from Years 7 and 8 took part in the South Cambridgehire Schools Sports Partnership football festival event on the afternoon of Tuesday 29th November at MVC. The event aimed to promote girls' football and we were delighted to get such a massive turnout of girls coming along to enjoy the sport, with many of the students playing fixtures for the first time. 38 girls from MVC were involved in playing matches against Bassingbourn, Comberton and Cambourne. There were some great goals, lots of good passing and moving, and all the girls put in maximum effort and really enjoyed the active afternoon of football! Afterwards they were rewarded with 20 minutes of internal fixtures on the Astro Turf pitch. A massive well done to our Year 11 sports leaders too, who helped out at both officiating and coaching throughout the event.

Science

This week Dr Wilson, Head of Science, visited Barrington Primary School where he was talking to pupils about separating sand and salt, using filtration. On Thursday, MVC triple scientists in Year 10 were carrying out titrations. This important technique is used in laboratories throughout the world to work out the concentration of an unknown solution. Our students worked carefully to get some very accurate results, within a very small margin of error. Next lesson, the students will use their individual and collective data to work out the concentration of the solution.

All lessons in science this week have been celebrating LGBTQIA+ STEM Day, which was on 18^th November (better late than never!). The students were shown a brief presentation on this topic, and information has also been included on the noticeboard. In the UK, 28% of LGBTQIA+ scientists in physics, chemistry and astronomy considered leaving their jobs because of discrimination at work, according to a recent report by the Institute of Physics, Royal Astronomical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry have produced new resources this year to help employers make their workplace more inclusive.

Science Club

In science club the attendees certainly needed to focus hard to have a clear view of what was going on. Following on from the delights of the lungs and hearts last week, it was time for the students to have a go at dissecting – this time with eyeballs!!  Students very carefully cut apart an eyeball to get a better idea of what is going on inside one of our most sensitive organs. The eyeball is quite a difficult organ to dissect, and also to hold!  Needless to say, the students were throwing themselves into the task and were excited to be able to examine the retina and lens. They were also amazed to discover that they could use the lens as a magnifying glass, making the tiny writing they had done earlier so much easier to read! Science club is open to all year groups and we welcome new students to come along.  Best of all it’s free and, not to mention, run by two passionate and crazy scientists!

Student Showcase – Year 8 Art

Year 8 students have been learning about Mehndi – an ancient form of body art and temporary skin decoration from the Indian subcontinent. The designs are applied using a paste created from the powdered leaf of the henna plant. Students have been creating their own decorative patterns, producing some intricate work, building on and practising their core skills of tone, repeated pattern, colour blends and fades, along with observational drawing. Mrs Ward said, “I have been really impressed with the standard of homework this year. This helps students to practise the skills learned in class, as well as research techniques and working to deadlines.”

Host families required for international students

St Neots English Centre are liaising with Sawston Village College to bring a group of Spanish students to the UK in February, and Taiwanese students in July. They are coming to integrate into lessons and enjoy activities and excursions. The Centre is hoping to allocate host families for students in and around the local area, however they still need more host families in the South Cambs area. Host families would be paid £288 for two Spanish students for a 6 night stay, and £528 for two Taiwanese students for an 11 night stay. Hosting is a very rewarding and worthwhile experience. More information is being sent with this newsletter or you can email Nichola Jones, Host Family Coordinator, at njonessnec@gmail.com

Go4Schools Guide

At MVC we use GO4Schools to shows student timetables, homework, and assessment marks. Parents can also log on and see this information together with their child’s behaviour record.

To access GO4Schools, use this link: Home page - GO4Schools. Clicking on the orange ‘Login’ button allows pupils to select the ‘Students login’ or parents the ‘Parents login’. Pupils can log in using their unique email address and the password they have made. Parents can log in using the email address that the school has for them, and a password they have made. The FIRST time you log in, you click ‘First time user’ to create your unique password. There is also a ‘Forgotten password’ link that pupils or parents can use. This will send a reset link to your email address and enable you to get back into Go4Schools without needing to contact the school.  More information about school IT systems is available on our website here.

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 and Teacher of Maths.

Christmas Concerts

Tickets are selling fast for the MVC Christmas Concert on Monday 12^th December at 19:00. If you would like to come along but are yet to purchase your tickets, there are still some available from Reception and also at The Hub.

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