The First Pond Dip of the year

 

On Wednesday 1st May, a gloriously sunny day, students from the Year 7 Science Club enjoyed the first pond dip of the year. Great fun was had by all with some great finds being made including Pond Skaters, Snails, Water Scorpions, Water Boatmen and many more species that represent a very healthy pond!

 

 

 

Cambridgeshire Art Challenge

We are really pleased that a number of our Key Stage 3 students have had their work accepted for the Cambridgeshire Art Challenge with the eventual winner winning £100 and runners up getting £50 and all winners having their artwork displayed on the sides of buses and on mugs.

There is a display of the 30 students' artwork in Huntingdon library.  There are only 3 other pieces from other schools.  Unfortunately 18 students artwork was not picked for display.  The display then moves onto further libraries where the public vote for their preference.

The three exhibitions will take place at:
Huntingdon Library - 11th - 25th April
St Ives Library - 29th April - 10th May
St Neots Library - 13th May - 23rd May

The general public will vote for their favourite 9 pieces from the exhibition and these will progress to the final round. Voting slips are provided in each of the library exhibitions.

We also have 5 students in key stage 4 in the final round as well so we have a very good chance our students will be among the winners

 

OFSTED INSPECTION 6TH AND 7TH FEBRUARY 2013

4th March 2013

Dear Parents/carers

The College was inspected on the 6th and 7th February under a new and very rigorous Ofsted framework.  The full report will be available on the Ofsted website.  The main findings are summarised in the following quotations:

 

 

The report, however, indicates that progress in English, although improving, is not as good as in other subjects. 68% of our students achieved a grade C or above in English GCSE 2012. The College is well aware of the issues involved in English teaching and with a new department in place, we are confident that good progress will be made during the next twelve months.

We were very pleased that the report confirmed our own analysis of the College’s strengths and areas of improvement. We would like to thank those parents who gave their views to the Ofsted team. We would like to congratulate our students who gave such a positive impression with their hard work and good behaviour.

Yours sincerely

 

 

J STEWART
Principal

 

To view a copy of the Ofsted report please <click here>

 

Sawtry Junior School Art Display visit

 

Last Thursday, Sawtry Junior School visited the Sawtry Community College to view the Art exhibition.  90 Year 3 and 4 students enjoyed a morning of looking around the exhibition and completing a questionnaire about all the work on show and also producing their own drawings.
Year 10 art ambassadors helped out with their tasks as well as inviting the students to participate in a communal Pop Art painting.  The students thoroughly enjoyed the morning and went home inspired by the Art work they had seen.

 

 

Key Stage 3 Arts Evening on Thursday 21st February 2013

Sawtry Community College hosted a Arts evening on Thursday which was a great success.  We had a lot of visitors who enjoyed the Art display and the wonderful Music and Dance performed by our students.  In addition visitors helped paint the Pop Art communal painting and tried their hand at mono printing with the help of art Ambassadors Megan Edwards and Lyndsay Baker.  A big thank you to all that helped, especially Mr.Green and Mrs. Thompson.

 

 

Jaguar Maths in Motion Christmas Fun Race 2012

Every year, Jaguars Maths in Motion holds a Christmas Fun Race for students and teachers in the following categories: Age 1 (primary pupils), Age 2 (Years 7, 8 and 9), Age 3 (Years 10 and 11) and a Teacher’s Category.  Sawtry Community College entered three categories, namely Age 2, Age 3 and the Teacher’s Category. 

This is a simulation software to help students understand the application of Mathematics in the real world.  Students prepare their car by calculating accurately the length of the track, the amount of fuel to put into their car, the safe/maximum speed of the car, aerodynamics, engine tuning, gearbox ratios and suspension adjustments. 

We are very fortunate this year because for two out of the three categories, we were placed in the top 10 schools in the country.  Out of 200 entries, James Gazeley (Year 11) and Paul Dunn (Yearr 11) came runners-up in Age 3 category. Mr Valmonte came 9th in the Teacher’s Category.  Well done to Daniel Spencer and Max Buchanan, both in year 8,for representing the school in the Age 2 category.

Of Mice and Men Drama Assessment

On Thursday 31st January several Year 11 students studying "Of Mice and Men" dressed in costume for their drama role assessment.  They all did BRILLIANTLY and their enthusiasm for the characters really shone through.

 

 

Year 13 A-Level Certificate Presentation Evening

Sawtry Community College hosted its annual Year 13 Presentation Evening on WEdnesday 9th January 2013 with guests Lauren Steadman, Paralympic Swimmer and Paratriathlete and Mr Adrian Graham, Chairman Ramsey Road Runners, attending in addition to our ex- Year 13 students.

The evening was to celebrate academic and social achievement in the Sixth Form. As well as the examination certificates, four awards were handed out; two for best academic achievement (Jonathan Collard and Carolyn Daly) and two for outstanding contribution to Sawtry Community College Sixth Form (Harry Alexander and Luisa Giaffreda). This is the third year that Mr Fraser has put the celebration evening on and it has proved popular with former students who have enjoyed catching up with former peers and teachers after they've started university or employment.  Lauren presented the A Level certificates and talked to last year's Year 13 group.

Lauren gave a slideshow presentation about her Olympic experience and what she has achieved in swimming to enable her to get so far in her sport. She spoke about the sacrifices she has had to make and the hard work she has had to put in over the years to achieve her goals. The audience of young adults found this very inspiring as they embarked on their university studies and new careers. Lauren also spoke about how she got started and her time spent at Sawtry Community College.

Lauren was then presented with a cheque from Ramsey Road Runners Chairman Mr Adrian Graham as they continue to support Lauren in her sporting career. Lauren was delighted to receive this and thanked Adrian Graham for all his, and the club’s support, and said it was very much appreciated and does assist her greatly.

Please see below pictures of the sixth formers with Mr Fraser receiving their awards and one of Lauren with Adrian Graham, Ramsey Road Runners receiving her cheque.

 

Midlands Schools' Trampoline Championships

 

On Sunday 20th January Chloe and Daniel Grieves represented the college at the Midlands Schools' Trampoline Championships. They managed to get through the snow to Wales and compete. Daniel won the U15’s title and Chloe came second in the U18 girls. Congratulations to them both!

 

Iceland Trip 2012

 

We collected 86 Shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child 2012. Thank you and well done to all those who donated a box of goodies.

 

Work Experience Abroad

During the October half term myself and a fellow French A level student partook in work experience in France. For a week Jess and I submerged ourselves in foreign culture and used the time to practice our speaking skills during our placements and elsewhere. Despite being organised through a partner company, it was down to us to create and manage our own placement applications to ensure we received employment from a business that best suited us.
We were both placed in Café / Brasserie type businesses in the beautiful city of Lille. At the start we were picked up by coach and driven, via the ferry, to the city where we stayed in a modern hotel situated in the very heart of downtown Lille. After meeting the group leaders and the other 30 odd students also participating in the trip, we explored our surroundings, visiting local shops and looking around town.
Each weekday we went to work, engaging in roles that allowed us to utilise our language skills through talking with customers, as well as learn a little about their culture. Such as the cuisine – personally I worked behind the bar serving customers as well as working in the kitchen learning about the preparation of classic French meals.
However, as mentioned it wasn’t solely at work where we used our French, our group leaders organised activities outside of our placements such as bowling and nightclubs where we were able to practice more. We even went to see the new Bond film, Skyfall which was very beneficial.
It was so enriching to take part in an experience like this, and would recommend it for anyone whom takes a language, French or not; as without realising it, the experience really does help your French.

Aj Mulley and Jess Blundell.

 

Junior Winner of the Young Person of the Year Award Goes to Helen Foster R-KS

 

Helen Foster of R-KS has been awarded the Young Person of the Year Junior Prize for Cambridgeshire. Along with her family, Form Tutor and Head of Zone Helen made her way to Ely Cathedral last week to be presented with the prestigious award. As part of this she was awarded £100 and also nominated Cancer UK to receive another £100 donation.
Over the past few years Helen has single handily raised £1400 for various charities by setting up events in her local area. In 2011 she organised a village cake sale and completed a sponsored bike ride to raise £250. She then repeated the event for Children in Need bringing in a further £118.52! This placed her in good stead for a larger event in the village hall where she organised stalls and a local celebrity (Tamwar from Eastenders) to open the fete. This raised an amazing £1032.03!
Well done Helen!

 

 

 

ART Trip to London OCTOBER 2012

On Thursday 11 October Year 10 art students from Sawtry Community College went on an Art trip to London.  Travelling by coach the students first visited the Tate Modern.  Here they studied the Modern Art work including Cubism to help them with their Art coursework.  The Tate Modern was also home to some spectacular and amusing artwork including the new Turbine Hall installation featuring a roaming hoarde of people.
Next it was onto the Tate Britain via a gentle boat ride down the Thames past the Houses of Parliament.  Enough time to tuck into the packed lunch.

At the Tate Britain students were able to enjoy the Turner Prize with the excellent Paul Noble proving very popular, followed by the Performance Art of Spartacus Chetwynd.  In contrast the Tate Britain also displayed some classical art as well as the greatest collection of Turner paintings.  Exhausted from the days exposure to Art the very well behaved and content students enjoyed the journey home with plenty of inspiration to help them with their GCSE Art.

 

Look at the amazing selection of home baked cakes that were made for the Macmillan Coffee Morning, well done to our fabulous bakers!

Year 12 Art trip

Year 12 artists enjoyed a day out yesterday for an art field trip.  They visited Houghton Mill and Grafham Water and the studies and recordings they produced will be used to create some very promising artwork.

 

 

GCSE RESULTS 2012
 

Statistics

% of students achieving 5+ A*-C grades   98%

% of students achieving 5+ A*-C grades (including English and Mathematics) 65%
% of students achieving  at least 2 higher grades in Science subjects 94%
7 of students achieved the English Baccalaureate combination of qualifications. (This particular model was not even announced when the year group chose their options. The figure rises considerably next year which is the first true test of this measure.)

84% of students achieved their expected level of progress or higher in Mathematics. The expected progress in English will be finalised following the conclusion of the current official invesigation into the nationwide issues experienced this summer.

 

Over 50% of all entries achieved a grade B or higher with 20% achieving an A or A* grade.

27 students achieved at least 7 A/A* grades from GCSE or equivalents. One student achieved the equivalent of 10A* and 2 A grades which was an outstanding performance.

 

“These are another excellent set of results with 2/3 of the students achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Mathematics as part of their programme.
 
Science, ICT and Mathematics continue to be real strengths at the college.

We would like to congratulate all of the students and staff  for their achievements this year and recognise the enormous effort they have put in to achieve these results.

These are our first set of results since achieving Academy status. They set a very high bar for future year groups to jump.”

 

For further information contact Nigel Smith (Deputy Principal) at the College.

 

A LEVEL RESULTS 2012 - 15.08.2012

Statistics

Pass rate at grades A* – E              98.8%
Pass rate at grades A* – B              52.0%
Pass rate at grades A* – C              76.0%        
A* grades                                    4.9%
Average point score per student      280 (UCAS pts)  680 (DFE points)
Average score per entry                  89.9 (UCAS) 223 (DFE)

“We congratulate everyone involved in achieving these results. They are without doubt some of the best the college has achieved. 7 students gained at least 3 A level passes at A/A* grades and a further 7 students achieved straight A grades on their Childcare course. This means that in total nearly 20% of our cohort achieved the maximum grades.
We wish the students every success in whatever they do next, whether that be university or entering employment.”

 

For further information contact Nigel Smith (Deputy Principal) at the College.

 

50 Years of loyal service

Fifty years of loyal service to Sawtry Community College governors, staff, students and parents comes to an end this term with the retirement of Carol Chisnall and Jenny Keeble.
Carol Chisnall, with 28 years’ service, and Jenny Keeble, with 22 years’ service, have worked in the college and community administrative areas covering all types of work to become true multitaskers. They have always been friendly voices on the end of the phone; supportive colleagues in the office and dealt with, so efficiently, the often last minute events sprung on them.
Both Carol and Jenny have been great assets to the College with their ever ready smiles and words of advice and wisdom. They will both be very sorely missed.
Enjoy your fully deserved retirement and those precious moments with the family and the increasing number of grandchildren.
Good Luck,
All the staff at Sawtry CC.

Maths Roadshow

Last week for Work Experience 8 Year 12 A level maths students went to different local primary schools and hosted a selection of fun maths related activities. We visited the Holme Primary School, Alconbury C of E Primary School, Sawtry Junior School and Fourfields Community Primary School. We provided four activities that the children could participate in small groups and then rotate around so they could have a go at all the activities but have sufficient supervision in small groups. A pair of students ran each activity and managed to produce a lesson plan that provided lots of support and fun for the students. The activities we put on were leaping frogs, vedic square, flexagons and the handshake problem. It was very rewarding to see the students get a positive and exciting experience from the activities as well as using fundamental mathematical skills.

 

 

 

GCE and GCSE Art exhibition 2012

There was a tremendous turn out for the Art exhibition on 26th June.  The Sawtry Community College Art exhibition has now become an annual showcase of the tremendous artwork produced by our students studying GCSE, AS and A Level Art.  An evening perusing at leisure the wonderful range of work on show from large-scale painted canvases and boards to sculptures and finely detailed pencil drawings. Visitors, teachers and governors were impressed by the art produced by the young students of this school.
 The standard this year was the highest ever with many pieces demonstrating a technical content that would equal the expertise of work done by more mature artists.  Some students produced work that goes well beyond the expectations of that level.  Truly remarkable when many of these students have produced this work whilst enduring the many pressures of all their other subjects.
Because the power of art is immediate, which sets it apart from other subjects. You are confronted by an image or artefact that has an immediate impression on the viewer. This makes young people feel special and raises their self-esteem, which other students find irresistible and then they want to be part of the same successes. This exposure informs the students to the possibilities of Art at both GCSE and A Level and contributes significantly to its popularity at exam level and the subject’s rightful existence within the curriculum, which is particularly pertinent now in these challenging times when schools are forced to focus on the more cognitive subjects.

 

Sing to the future Language Beatz Competition 2012

The French department took a group of students to the first ever Sing to the Future Language Beatz competition at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge on Thursday 28th June. Students devised their French song independently and organised their own music arrangements.

Although we did not win, the students were a real credit and we really thought our students performed incredibly well. It takes a lot of courage to sing in front of others in a foreign language.

Since Sawtry Community College joined in April, the whole experience generated such a wave of enthusiasm across our year 8 linguists.
Thanks to the year 8 students for their active participation.

Well-done to Kirsty Knell, Lucy Warminger, Chloe Naegeli, Savannah Lunn, James Digger, Jo Coles who represented Sawtry Community College, pictured below with Mrs O'Grady.

Video's available to watch or download: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3

 

 

Mini Olympics at Alconbury Primary School

On Monday 18th June a number of Year 10 students helped lead a Mini Olympics Activity day at Alconbury Primary School.

The pupils represented the school fantastically showing enthusiasm and maturity beyond their years not just to lead 60 young pupils but to actually teach them specific athletic events including shot put, javelin, middle distance running, hurdles and discus.  

The primary head teacher and class teachers were delighted with how the Mini Olympic afternoon went and how all the pupils were engaging in different activities and listening carefully to our students. The atmosphere of the day was excellent with the year 5/6 students all carrying flags of different nations.

The pupils deserved the praise they received and the three cheers they got from the pupils at the end of the afternoon.

 

Salters Science Festival Challenge Day

Elliot Rose, Kiran Mistry, Eva Davies and Hannah Chatfield were nominated by their Science teacher,Miss Calder, to take part in a Salters Chemistry Challenge on the 15th of March – held at the University of East Anglia.

Their initial challenge involved the students getting up for a 6.30am start – to set off. We arrived in Norwich at around 8.30am – after a few wrong turnings; but arrived slightly early!

In the morning the students were asked to identify some anions using wet chemistry techniques and Chromatography. Quite a task considering that identifying anions is part of the GCSE Chemistry course and usually studied at year 11.

After lunch the students were given another task where they had to add citric acid to sodium hydrogen carbonate –an endothermic reaction -  the challenge involved finding the right method to reduce the temperature to 10.5 degrees centigrade within 60 seconds. The second attempt worked a charm.

The day came to a close with the prize giving ceremony, all the schools that had participated were given some goodies from the institute as well as certificates. When the prize giving for the challenges came about we were all waiting with a fervent anticipation for Sawtry Community College’s name to be read out.  Unfortunately we didn’t win the challenges but we all felt as though we had gained a valuable experience.

The journey back was full of conversation about the Challenge, University life and various aspects of Science. All in all, a very fun (and Science) filled day! We also made the local newpaper, click on the link below to see the article.

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/sawtry_students_head_to_university_of_east_anglia_for_science_festival_1_1379045

 

 

Cancer Research Fundraising event

On Saturday 14th April 2012 in Alconbury Memorial Hall I organised a charity event in aid of Cancer Research UK. The event was opened at 10am by Himesh Patel who plays Tamwar Masood in EastEnders with the Hunts Post present to take photos. There was a table top sale indoors with a car boot sale outside and a fire engine in the car park. I also organised a large raffle, tombola, cake sale, teas, coffees, cream teas, bric-a-brac stall, book stall, lucky soap star sweepstake, tea run sweepstake, guess the name of the teddy bear and guess the weight of the cake. The day was very well attended by the community. The Hunts Post are wrote an article about the event and I have been back on Huntingdon Community Radio to announce the total. The current total is £1030.03 and it still has the chance to rise! Donations welcome!

Helen Foster, R-KS

http://archantcambs24.newsprints.co.uk/search/scu/p/u/84522/7/the%20hunts%20post <- Photos on Hunt’s post website

News update:

Helen has received the following letter from Jonathan Djanogly, Conservative MP for the Huntingdon constituency:

"Dear Helen

Can I say how well you did to organise the cancer fundraiser at the Alconbury Memorial hall recently.

I was really very impressed with your efforts and I think you set a fine example for other young people (and older ones!) to follow in fundraising for good causes. It was also nice to meet your mum – who was clearly and rightly very proud of your achievements.

So very well done to you.

Kind regards

Jonathon"

Sport Relief 2012 Friday 23rd March