01763 242344
office@bassingbournvc.org

Anglian Learning crowned winners at National Awards

East Anglian multi-academy trust, Anglian Learning, has been crowned the joint winner of the “Outstanding governance in a multi-academy trust” award at the National Governance Association’s (NGA) Outstanding Governance Awards 2021. The biennial awards recognise the contributions of governors, trustees and governance professionals to the education of children and young people.  The winners of the awards were unveiled at a celebratory event on Thursday 9th September at the House of Commons, attended by representatives from nominated schools and trusts. Jonathan Culpin, CEO of Anglian Learning, said; I could not be prouder of our fantastic governance team.  Despite a challenging year in education they have maintained exceptional standards, consistently pushing boundaries of what governance can and should be.  This is a phenomenal achievement for our Trust and I am extremely grateful to all those who have volunteered their time to make Anglian Learning the Trust it is today – this award is for you.” Claire Lawton, Chair of Trustees at Anglian Learning, continued; “On behalf of all trustees, governors and governance professionals across the Trust, I would like to thank the NGA for this award, recognising our passion and determination for outstanding governance.  My thanks goes to all of our governance leaders for their contribution to our success in achieving this award, reflecting as it does the commitment and professionalism of all who lead and support our schools. We are incredibly proud of Anglian Learning and look forward to continuing to develop our practice each year to ensure we can continue to excite, inspire and empower…

Visit to St. Peters & St. Paul’s Church

Our Year 11 Religious Studies students recently had the opportunity to visit to St. Peters and St. Paul's Church in Bassingbourn.  As part of the visit they listened to an enlightened talk from Nick Jones and Rev. Amanda O'Neill about the importance of worship and what Church actually means for Christians.

Classical Conversations

Our Year 10 and Year 11 Latin students were very fortunate to receive a visit recently from Dr Holmes-Henderson from Oxford University to answer questions about aspects of Roman life. The students discussed Roman punishments, weddings and the role of women at this time. Students learnt about the different punishments, including how criminals were ‘immured’ a practise were the person was quite literally ‘built’ into a wall; how that during wedding processions, a sieve would be carried to distract evil spirits – apparently they would be counting the holes in the sieve rather than causing trouble to the procession! Dr Holmes-Henderson also took the students through her research on whether studying Latin is influential in cognitive development. It was a visit thoroughly enjoyed by our students and Dr Holmes-Henderson has promised to come back next year.

The history of BVC

Bassingbourn Village College was delighted to be included in The Cambridgeshire Village Colleges Heritage Project delivered by Viva Arts and Community Group. This project garnered personal stories from village colleges across the country, exploring the impact our village colleges had on communities they became a part of.  But did you know that village colleges were a thoroughly Cambridgeshire invention inspired by the poverty within the country almost a century ago? The Village College concept was developed by Henry Morris, who became Secretary of Education for Cambridgeshire in 1922.  At this time there were no separate secondary schools in rural areas and as result children of all ages were taught together in their village schoolhouse, often in one classroom by one teacher.  Morris was determined to change the education across Cambridgeshire.  In 1924 he published his Village College Memorandum that set out how things could be improved by the Village College concept. Morris’ vision was that the village colleges would be schools and community facilities at the same time. They would become focal points in their villages where people of all ages came to learn, to mix, to be entertained and even get babies weighed. Henry Morris didn’t just create village colleges that were big schools – he created community education. Bassingbourn Village College is extremely proud of its history and this project was wonderful to be a part of – did you know we had a school song?  The film created is definitely worth a watch: https://cambsvc.org.uk/film/

Bassingbourn’s Virtual Trek to Colombo

As part of our drive to encourage our students to be physically active during the current lockdown we are inviting all students to take part in a sponsored walk/run/cycle. The event will run between Monday 8th February and Sunday 21st February to allow students to participate over half term and we would like the students to be active each day, recording how far they have travelled. We have a current goal to cover a collective distance of around 7000 miles, which equates to approximately a mile a day for student over the fortnight. We feel that this is a realistic minimum target for all students but would be delighted if they were able to do more. To allow the students to see how far they have walked collectively, we have chosen a destination of Colombo in Sri Lanka, which is approximately 7000 miles away, and will update our progress each day. This event is part of our intercollege competition programme and students will earn points for their college with each mile travelled. Your child will know which college they are in as they complete the weekly quiz in these colleges and will also find the information on their Google Classroom dashboard. We would like the students to upload their distances to Google Classrooms at the end of each day so that we can have a running total of miles covered. We will be updating our website and social media each day to show the progress being made along our virtual trek and how the different…

The Anglian Learning Writing Prize 2021

We are delighted to announce the launch of ‘The Anglian Learning Writing Prize 2021’, an exciting creative opportunity for all of our students.  To enter, students are invited to submit work across a wide range of categories.  All entries will be judged by award-winning, published writers, who are also graduates of the Creative Writing MA programme at the University of East Anglia.  Winners of the individual writing categories will be offered a mentoring session with literary editor Freya Dean.  The winning entries and all shortlisted entries will be published in The Anglian Learning Writing Prize Anthology 2021.  This anthology will appear in both print and digital formats and all winning and shortlisted students will receive their own personal copies of this publication and a certificate.

Heron Autumn 2020

Our latest Autumn Term Newsletter can be found HERE

Mathematical Triumph

Recently, BVC Mathematicians took part in the UKMT Maths Challenge competitions which provide a great enrichment opportunity; allowing students to hone their problem solving skills through a 60 minute challenge. We are delighted that a number of our students witnessed success with many receiving a Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates. A massive well done to our Gold winners who are now through to the next round in the competition known as The Pink Kangaroo.

Spelling Bee Success

Congratulations to the young linguists in Year 7 who have been taking part in the annual BVC Spelling Bee. Students had to learn a selection of common words in French or Spanish and then were tested on how many they could spell correctly within a time limit. The top 20 in each language will now go through to the next round when they have to learn a further 50 words. Bonne chance everyone!

Stunning Cathedral trip

As part of Curriculum Day, Year 9 students went on a humanities trip to Ely to take part in a variety of activities based on Art, RE, History or Geography. Lottie Bond describes the trip: After a coach ride from Bassingbourn to Ely, each group started the morning differently - my group began in the stained-glass museum that was inside the Cathedral. We began by learning centuries-old techniques used by monks to create the windows, how they made different colours and why they were made. After the workshop we began touring around the museum. On every wall were stunning patterns and designs displaying pictures depicting anything from biblical stories to images of monarchs commissioned by kings themselves. Art students took particular interest in the museum as their next scheme of learning will be incorporating some of the art styles and techniques seen there, but everyone else still enjoyed the experience. My group next ventured downstairs, into the main part of the Cathedral. With ceilings as higher than they were wide, it is an understatement to say we, including the staff, were amazed with the beauty of it all. As we entered, both the ceilings and the walls were decorated with intricate designs showing biblical stories, including the Nativity, the Easter story and the Ascension. While we were all stunned at the cathedral itself, we were kept interested by our tour guide, who not only taught us about common Christian teachings but also opened up theological discussions into the nature of God, which I, as an…

Bassingbourn Village College

South End, Bassingbourn, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 5NJ

01763 242344

office@bassingbournvc.org
absence@bassingbournvc.org

CLOSE MENU