National Go-Cart Championship

Congratulations to Marc Timco, Jamie and Colin Fox for winning and retaining the National Go-Cart Championship for the second year running.

 

BETT Exhibition

The Bett Exhibition is the largest education technology exhibition in the world held in London-Olympia. Pictured below are two of our students Rebecca Rickwood and Joe Currie miked up ready for the presentation on the Microsoft Stand at BETT 2012 with Mr Stevens. The presentation was called: Educating Employable Learners for the Workforce of tomorrow.

The Alex Gale Award 2011

The recipient of the Alex Gale Award 2011, pictured below with Ben Gale,is Laura Hardeman, R-JP. Laura received the award for outstanding achievement and contribution to Performing Arts in addition to helping other students achieve their full potential.

 

R-STB Christmas Hamper

R-STB sent 4 Christmas shoeboxes to the Support our Soldiers charity in November last year. These are sent out to British soldiers in Afghanistan.

Please click here for a scanned letter sent to the charity from one of the soldiers who received one of the boxes. It was very much appreciated.

 

Our Christmas Hamper by D-JMP

by Holly Lane

For our Christmas hamper we didn’t want to just do an ordinary box, we wanted to make it creative and eyecatching.  The end idea was to make it into a tortoise, with a removable shell as the lid.  We started with a cardboard box that was big enough to fit our form member Jessamy Bufton in!

We cut off the folding lid and Elliott Rose, Kiran Mistry and James Markwell made the shell skeleton.  Then Shannon Bell, Jessamy Bufton, Eleanor Venn, Sarah Watson, Lucy Rudderham, Holly Lane, Elliott Rose and James Markwell covered it in papier mache.  We then painted the box and shell green and added brown patches to the shell.  At lunchtime Jessamy, Holly, Lucy and Shannon came back and made the head out of newspaper and attached it to the shell.  Holly Lane, Matthew Rickwood, Dr Philip and other members of the form donated toys and food for the pets.  We made our hamper for Woodgreen Animal shelter.

See our finished hamper below plus Jessamy and our form mascot inside the hamper!

 

Sawtry Young Ambassadors - Adistars

On Monday 12th December 6 pupils from Year 10, along with other pupils from Huntingdonshire District Schools,  attended the Young Ambassadors conference at Hinchingbrooke house. The day was designed for the pupils to learn leadership and presentation skills, in order to lead and drive Olympic events in both Sawtry and its feeder primary schools, in the countdown to the London 2012 Olympics.

The day was extremely useful and inspiring, as pupils had the opportunity to meet Paul Hall, one of the team GB Olympic Gymnastics coach’s, bringing with him Louis Smith's Olympic Bronze Medal.

The Sawtry Young Ambassadors (known as adistars) are:
Sam Brooks
Sam Armstrong
Natasha Ainsworth
Lydia Richley
Tim Ward
Jordan Farrance

There will be lots of upcoming Olympic events over the next 7 months, all of which will be organised and led by the Young Ambassadors, so watch this space...

Wonderful Fundraising Efforts

 

Children In Need 2011 Sponsored Swim

 

A big thankyou to the people who sponsored us. We raised £250.

Elspeth,Georgia,Georgina,Chloe and Chloe

 

Sawtry Community College raised a total of £1876.19 for Children in Need 2011, a fabulous effort. Well done!

 

 

Help for Heroes Hamper

E-JD, ( Miss Dacus' form group) donated a hamper full of goodies they had collected to the Help For Heroes charity event at the Arts Theatre in Stamford held on 30th November. The hamper was auctioned and raised an incredible £70!

Carol Roome, County Coordinator, Cambs and Rutland for Help for Heroes, "I am thrilled and want to pass on my sincere thanks to all your students who helped to make up such a lovely hamper and to raise this money for the charity. They have shown great initiative and flair and they should be very proud of themselves"

 

 

 

German Christmas Market Trip 25-27th November 2011

Over the weekend a coach load of Year8 - Year13 students and staff visited Cologne to experience the Christmas markets, ice skate and speak some German. They visited the Koelner Dom (famous for its stained glass windows), walked MILES around the city visiting several markets (how none of the students got lost en-route is amazing as  it was so busy and a long way), ate the odd Bratwurst and chips and overall had a fantastic time! The students were absolutely amazing & superbly behaved; a real credit to the school (at times showing other schools how to behave.

 

French trip 18 - 21st November 2011

On 18th November Miss Podevin and Mrs Swainston took a group of 20 Year 10 and 11 GCSE French students on a language immersion trip to Picardy in northern France. The students spent 4 days doing a range of practical language modules. The students behaved impeccably throughout the trip and showed a really positive attitude to all the language tasks they were set which was commented on by the Instructors at the centre where we stayed. It was a pleasure to take them on the trip, and the students should be congratulated for representing the college in such a positive way on a trip.

 

World Wise Geography Quiz

 

Armistice Day

On Armistice Day staff and students at Sawtry Community College paid their respects, to the British service men and women who have died on duty for their country, by honouring a two minute silence and organising a Last Post Bugle tribute played by Mr Geoff Green. Also pictured below is Year 11 student Tom Cardell who raised £95 for the Royal Legion Poppy Appeal by wearing his uniform.

Spanish integration project Sept 19th – Oct 5th 2011

The MFL department have just completed another very successful Spanish Integration Project and have said a sad “Adios” to our new Spanish amigos.

The Spanish students spent three weeks in school, experiencing time in lessons and taking part in a series of interesting and interactive workshops provided by our staff – sport, sugarcraft, Science, Art, Arabic, IT and conker fighting, as well as much more, were on the programme. Each Spanish student was given a Sawtry buddy, and our buddies did a brilliant job looking after our Spanish visitors and making sure that they became swiftly integrated into the Sawtry College community. It was clear when seeing the Spanish youngsters around school that they were having a fantastic time.

The students came from a town called Vigo on the coast of Galicia, in the north-west of Spain. During their time in school they prepared and delivered to year 7 study skills students a presentation on their hometown, country and culture that our year 7s found fascinating.

The Spanish students also had some time visiting our region and the Sawtry buddies were able to accompany them on a day trip to Cambridge, where they could all take advantage of the surprise spell of summery weather with a spot of punting.

Many thanks go to our lovely buddies and to all the staff involved in the project.

 

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES REPORT

For European Day of Languages on September 26th the Modern Foreign Languages Department and the canteen collaborated to celebrate the day. Helen Mouland and her canteen staff prepared a European styled menu which went down very well with students and staff. In their language lessons last week students had translated the menu on offer into French, Italian and Spanish and some of the menus were displayed in the canteen.

Spanish students currently in school as part of our Spanish Integration project also contributed to the day by giving a series of presentations about Spanish culture and their home town to Year 7 students. Students had the opportunity to ask our Spanish visitors questions and find out about life in the Spanish region of Gallicia.

Geographers Take to the Field

The start of term has been busy in the Geography department with thirty five year 11 Geographers travelling up the Lake District. The trip was lead by Mr Hicks, Mr Sedgwick and Mrs Boyles as part of the GCSE course. The aim was to collect data for use in the controlled assessment while developing the wider geographical skills. While travelling up the Lake District the group stopped at White Scar Caverns to visit the underground formations including waterfalls, stalactites and caves.

The trip was based at the Derwent Water Youth hostel near Kewsick where students ventured to on the second day. Kewsick is a famous location for tourists with positive and negatives associated with it. Through lots of hard work students collected a wide range of data to uncover these points.

Across the other days students worked on a local river, went on a photo treasure hunt and look in the spectacular views that the area has. For more information about GCSE Geography talk to your Geography teacher.

 

 

Hindi Dance Morning on Tuesday 19th July

During the first part of the morning we decorated our own sticks and learnt about the Hindi stick dance, about Namaste, which is the traditional Hindu greeting. We also learnt about Om and how it helps you relax, relieve stress and makes your mood calm and peaceful (humble). In the second part of the lesson we enjoyed learning three different dances; the clap dance, the stick dance and the meaning of different moves in Bollywood dancing (and we also made up our own). Another thing we learnt about was the coconut and how the god is inside and the pure white coconut inside symbolising that you should look deeper inside people than what they look like (don’t judge a book by its cover) .Finally we were informed that you are given something sweet before leaving an Indian temple to leave you reenergized and having good thoughts.

Report by Jade Ludgate

 

Sawtry Junior School Mural

Following last year's excellent mural painted by our Year 12 students in the reference area of the Sawtry Junior School library; some of our current Year 12 art students have been painting a mural on the outdoor amphitheatre of the school for their Year12 work experience.  The theme is nature and as you can see they are doing an excellent job.

 

BT Big Voice Competition

Big Voice is a national competition for students, sponsored by BT as part of the Education Programme supporting the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Phase 1: BT Big Voice film treatment competition
In the first phase, young people worked in teams to agree what issue to tackle, what needed to be done and then how to make a compelling short film about their issue.
Each treatment was evaluated by a panel of experts and the judges chose outstanding examples to be made into films and continue in the competition.

Phase 2: BT Big Voice film festival, regional and national finals in May/June 2012

In this phase the 36 winning treatments are made into real films, using crews from university and college film production courses, supported with a budget of £1,000. All the completed films get shown on city centre video screens during the run up to the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games at Live Site events.There will be ‘Oscars’ for regional and national winners.

Sawtry Community College Year 9 Core studies students supervised by Mrs Bates have been successful in having 2 of their film ideas chosen to be made into films.

Group 1 = Victoria Olaofe, Ellie Burke, Hannah Cronau, Andrea Cliff, Lauren Seaton, Sapphire Price: Theme: Homophobia
Group 2 = Michaela Sunderland, Jessica Tortoise, Jade Ludgate, Priya Gogna, Lauren Thurston, Katherine Green, Chloe Dobson, Danielle Fisher. Theme: Boredom in the local Area.

So watch this space for information regarding this exciting event.

 

UK Champion title in Microsoft Excel 2007.

 

Rebecca Rickwood has won the UK Champion title in Microsoft Excel 2007.  She will now go on a fully financed trip to San Diego, California to take part in the World Championships Finals.

Rebecca achieved the title by achieving the highest score, in the fastest time, in the whole of the UK, when taking her Microsoft Office Specialist Excel 2007 exam.  Her  score was 100%, in a little over 20 minutes (time allowed is 50 minutes).

Congratulations Rebecca, it’s a fantastic achievement. 

 

 

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL AND CHAIRMAN OF GOVERNORS   We have today received official confirmation that, alongside the other Huntingdonshire Secondary schools (with whom we shall be working in collaboration), we have been given approval to convert from foundation status and become an Academy from 1st August 2011. This is excellent news for the future of the College.  It will require a great deal of work over the next few weeks to ensure we are fully prepared for this change but we are confident that this is in hand. We would like to reassure all students, staff and parents that this change is being undertaken to ensure we are able to continue to offer high quality education and employment opportunities for all in the coming years, ever recognising the very tight financial climate. Students should expect to carry on completely as normal.  No change to the name of the school or uniform is being proposed. We thank all friends of the college for their continued support as we embark on a new stage in the history of the College.   PETER LEATON                                                                                        JAMES STEWART CHAIRMAN OF GOVERNORS                                                                       PRINCIPAL

Click to view the DfE Letter

 

Click to view: Full OFSTED Report

 

 

Year 8 Streetwise Day

The whole of Year 8 had a day learning about the effects of anti-social behaviour, on Monday 20th June. They attended workshop style activities run by the Police, Fire Service, Huntingdonshire environmental crime team and drinksense. The day was rounded off by an assembly given by Cambridgeshire youth offending services, where students were informed of the consequences of anti-social behaviour. Students thoroughly enjoyed the day and gained an interesting insight into anti-social behaviour in their local community.

Miss Powell organised the poetry competition to run on National Poetry Day. Year 11 students helped teach the lessons in which students were encouraged to write a poem on something which matters to them.

The following students have had their poems selected for inclusion the book ‘Poetry Matters 2011’.Thir inclusion in this book shows the strength of their poetical work and a copy will kept at the British Library for ever more.

We will have a copy in our library as well if you are interested in reading their poems.

Annabelle Davis
Nadia Teffah
Sophie Mobius
Charlie Baker
Grace Cattell
Fran Francis
Rob Mould
Georgia Spurgeon
Phillippa Carter
Lucy Cockman
Harriet Hall
Laura Racey
Cesca Lawson

 

Congratulations and Well done.

 

Visit to the Iqra Academy in Peterborough

The school has built strong ties with a local Muslim school, Iqra Academy for girls, in Peterborough. In RE we want to introduce students to the world religions that are represented in the local area. To help do this we arranged for a small group of girls from the Iqra Academy to visit us in May. They were shown round the school and hosted by Year 7 girls.

In June 2011 we made a return visit, spending an afternoon at Iqra Academy. We met the head and the girls who had visited Sawtry earlier in the year. After being given a tour of the school, all the girls joined together to carry out RE work.

Some of the Sawtry girls wrote down comments about the day. These included “made a new friend”, “I found the school to be tiny compared to Sawtry” and “Muslim schools have some different subjects’.

A great day was had by all. In the next few months we hope to have more visits and encourage some exchanges of staff members too in order to give both students and pupils alike the opportunity to experience life in a different school.

 

Thomas Cardell, a 15 year old student at the College, and a GCSE Historian,  presented a talk on the Battle of the Bulge at the local Sawtry Historical Society meeting on the 19th May.  Thomas has an interest in military history and  prepared his talk, based around a Power Point presentation, following a recent visit to the area. The History department are very proud of Tom’s contribution to the local Historical society. His involvement in this club clearly shows his enthusiasm and interest in History. Hopefully his love of the subject will continue to grow  after his studies at the college are completed.

 

Trip to Buckingham Palace on May 12th to represent Sawtry Community College and the Prince’s Teaching Institute.

The English Department at Sawtry Community College, along with several other departments, has worked closely with The Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) for a number of years. The PTI is a charity established by HRH The Prince of Wales which seeks to support challenging and innovative teaching through the provision of teacher conferences, training days and links with universities.

Mr. Davies of the English Department was invited to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace to address a group of business leaders who are considering donating to the PTI on Thursday May 12th. Mr Davies was asked to bring three students with him to talk about how the Sawtry English Department’s work with the PTI has influenced and enriched their learning. Jonjo Murphy (Y12), Tom Leatherbarrow (Y12) and Misbah Ahmed (Y7) all attended and made excellent speeches and the assembled business leaders were greatly impressed by their articulacy and enthusiasm for learning- they were a credit to the college.

One of the three students’ parents commented:

“We just wanted to thank you again for the fantastic opportunity the College provided for students to take part in the PTI event last night. We felt so proud to hear our son express such absolute enthusiasm and excitement- we are sure he will never forget this!”

 

ICT Diploma Trip to Peterborough United Football Ground

On Thursday the 7th April the Year 10 ICT Diploma group visiting the Peterborough Utd football ground to do research into how businesses communicate. The students had a tour of the stadium and sat in the changing rooms where the players prep for games. The boys then had a talk from the press officer in the board room. The day was extremely enjoyable and the students had a wonderful time.

 

Year 11 Cup Final.

On a warm summer evening the year 11 football team came within minutes of reaching penalties and a good chance of snatching victory. The brave 9 Sawtry men that played that day showed passion, commitment, team work and true determination. They held back the waves of opposition’s attacks to a scoreless draw well into the second half of extra time. The game was a true display of how well pupils can come together against all odds and work as a team.

 

More Exam Success for Sawtry Community College Adult Learners

Sawtry Community College continues to enjoy great success with Microsoft exam results and has recently been awarded a Prodigy Learning Centre of Excellence Award 2010 for the delivery of Microsoft Office Specialist Qualifications.  These industry recognised Microsoft courses are available to both students and adult learners and have proved popular with our sixth form students; Many of whom have taken Microsoft Office Specialist qualifications with the majority passing the modules required to achieve the Microsoft Office 2007 Master, including Expert Level qualifications in Word and Excel.

The Microsoft Digital Literacy course is offered free of charge to adult learners who wish to either start from scratch or already have some experience working with computers and includes the option of sitting an online exam for the OCR Entry Level Certificate in Digital Literacy .  From using the internet, to sending e-mail, to creating a CV, the Digital Literacy course helps learners to develop the essential skills required to begin computing with confidence.  A new course will begin after Easter on Monday mornings and Wednesday evenings.  Pictured below are our recent successful adult learners, with their tutors.

In addition Sawtry Community College is running an evening class in the use of Adobe Creative Suite which will start after Easter for “Using Adobe Photoshop”.  This class will offer an optional Adobe Certified Associate exam.

For further details or to book a place on either of the courses, please contact Pam Kitchen tel: 01487 833862 or email pam.kitchen@sawtrycc.org.uk

 

 

Young Enterprise Success

Well Done to Mr Simon Woodhouse and the Innovation team who won an award at the regional finals for Young Enterprise on 29th March 2011.  Bridie Arnold and Martyn Gillmore presented to approximately 80 local business men and women and the Mayor. They did an excellent job and won ‘Best Company Report’. 

 

Year 9 London Art Trip

On Tuesday 15th March 2011 Sawtry Art Department took 85 Year r9 students to London for the day to visit art galleries. Students were able to view famous artwork first hand at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square and the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. Talks were organised from educational representatives at each gallery which gave the students a deeper understanding of the artwork, stories behind them and what they represent. The most striking piece of art that amazed all who saw it was a room totally filled with engine oil (you would have to be there to understand!). Most of the students represented the school to an excellent level and were a pleasure to have on the trip.

Recently we took part in a four part project organised from the Lessons from Auschwitz Project which included two seminars in London, a trip to Auschwitz, Poland and a follow up activity within our community about what we have learned from our participation on the project.

The first seminar was before the trip to Auschwitz  where we learned more about the tragic events that occurred there and we were prepared for what we might see on our trip. A personal highlight of the seminar was the remarkable story of Kitty Hart-Moxon, who came in to tell us about her experience of being one of the very few who managed to escape Auschwitz. On 10th February 2011 we flew to Poland.  Firstly, we visited  a Jewish cemetery in the town of Oswiecim. This first visit gave us a view of a once thriving Jewish community, now a dark, cold and un-kept cemetery. Then we visited Auschwitz concentration camp itself. It was a very hard-hitting place to visit. Much of it is kept to how it was at the end of World War Two. Seeing 50,000 pairs of shoes mounted up was an extremely moving image. Many think of the Holocaust being a figure of six million, but this exhibit engaged the human side of the story. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the much bigger camp. It was twenty five times bigger than the first site and was known as the “death camp”. The enormity of the complex is striking. Seeing the animal like conditions there was un-forgettable, something you can never appreciate unless you have seen it with your own eyes. To conclude our visit, poems and Jewish prayers were read out by Rabbi Marcus, a Jewish Rabbi from London.

This trip to Auschwitz gave us a different view on life and really engaged us with the reality of the Holocaust. It was a life changing experience, one we will never forget. The project taught us to humanise the victim, the perpetrators and the bystanders, giving us a much wider perspective into this period of history.

We are now Ambassadors of the Holocaust Educational Trust. We hope to raise awareness of the Holocaust in our college and community so that something like this can never happen again.

“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history”
Friedrich Hegel

Craig Darlington and Cameron Burton
Yr 12 Historians

Peterborough Soup Kitchen: Sleep Rough 2010 raises £40,000.

This was Peterborough Soup Kitchen's largest ever fundraising event. 135 people participated including our Mr and Mrs Stevens who slept out on the 12th November 2010 to experience a little of what it is like being a homeless person. £250 was donated by Sawtry Community College and staff as part of this initiative.

 

For more information about the Peterborough Soup Kitchen and all the work it does dedicated to feeding the homeless in Peterborough.<click here>

 

Fundraising efforts for Peterborough City Hospital

A Spinning Marathon was arranged by two year 8 students Molly Hares and Holly Lane, at Thorpe Wood Racquets Club in Peterborough, to raise funds for an oxygen machine for the Amazon children's ward at the new Peterborough City Hospital. A total of 27 students and 5 staff took part in a sponsored five-hour spinathon to raise £ 1,341.21. The fitness challenge involved taking turns in a relay to work out on spinning fitness equipment. Lower school pupils completed a hour each on the machine, with older pupils and staff putting in several hours of exercise. This is the second successful fundraising campaign that Molly & Holly have been involved in as they previously raised funds for Haiti's earthquake victims.

Christmas Hampers Donations

The Christmas 2010 Tutor group Challenge was to design and present a Charity Hamper.  54 Hampers were delivered to 15 local charities at the end of term including Wood Green Animal Shelter, East Anglian Childrens' Hospices and Addenbrookes Hospital.Please <click here> for a report by K-DM. Photos below show hamper deliveries to the charities mentioned above.

 

 

Year 7 Medieval History day 2010

On Wednesday 24th November 2010 over half of Year 7 took part in a medieval event arranged by the History department to demonstrate life in Medieval times. The students were split into four groups and competed against each other. During the event the pupils were taught about clothes, food, armour, medicine and jobs in Medieval England. By wearing the clothes, doing the jobs and through explanation, the students were able to enjoy learning. The students seemed to gain a lot from the event and there was positive feedback from everyone. One student commented “I liked that we could try things on if we wanted to and I think that participating in this event has definitely improved my knowledge and understanding of Medieval times.”

Report by Emily Moody 7S

 

Dragons Den

 

Today, (8th December), during period one saw the ‘pitch’ of Eco Friendly products to three Dragons as part of the county Dragon’s Den Eco Competition. 11 of our students participated and the judges (including entrepreneur Max Murdo and a Sawtry Governor John Kelly) were, again this year, very impressed. The project has been progressing over a number of weeks, and the winning team of Kiran Mistry, Sam Mobius, James Butler and Elliott Rose have made it through to the building stage and will be competing against other local schools after Christmas. All students were an absolute credit to the school.

Participating Students:

• James Butler 7MAS
• Sam Mobius 7CP
• Elliott Rose 7JMP
• Tara Ferreday-Keightley 7AP
• Parys Price 7AP
• Kiran Mistry 7JMP
• Hannah Chatfield 7KS
• Savannah Lunn 7KS
• Almira Hussain 7SR
• Holly Lane 8JMP
• Molly Hares 8JAS

 

 

Student Software on the Web.

If you are thinking about buying computer software in the coming weeks then you could take advantage of being a student! People often give discounts to students and one website in particular is: www.software4students.com

If you have any questions or concerns about which software to get, then contact the school and the ICT staff are more than happy to give advice on the software the school use.

 

 

 

 

Some examples of our wonderfully creative students!!

On Friday 19th of November the school raised money for the BBC Children in Need charity, by dressing up as children's book and TV characters. Altogether we raised an amazing £1060.26. Donations were also collected in an old toilet. There were many different characters including; pirates, Harry Potter, the Incredibles, Action man, Incy Wincy spider and ninjas.

UK Mathematical Trust Senior Team Challenge.

A team of four students from Years 13, 12 and 11 represented the school at the Regional Final of the Senior Team Challenge organised by the UK Mathematical Trust.
The event was held in Cambridge at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, after school, on Thursday 11th November.  Twenty five teams of four students from schools across the region gathered to spend over two and a half hours solving maths questions.
Our enthusiastic Four found the problems challenging and intense but also fun and enjoyable.  The standard of competition was very high and although they didn’t achieve one of the top places they certainly acquitted themselves well. Pictured below are Chris,Carolyn, Annalise and Tom.

 

 

Young Enterprise 2010.

This year in enrichment our sixth formers are doing Young Enterprise. They set up their own business for the year and have opened their own bank account. The company this year is made up of 10 people and is called "Innovation", headed by Bridie Arnold. So far this year they have designed hand painted drink glasses, in a variety of beautiful designs. They have even pitched their ideas to a board of professionals.

On the 19th of October Bridie, Martyn and Lorna went to the Creative Exchange and pitched their idea to a “Lion’s lair” set-up, which consisted of 5 wealthy men and woman who may have been interested in investing in their products. They competed against 12 other companies, asking for £150 in exchange for 15% of the profits.

The team were very nervous and had to face a bombardment of questions from the lions. They were sometimes thrown off-guard but they remained calm and managed to gain themselves the full investment from Jan England and Tony Larkin. They were 1 of only 2 companies to receive their full offer.

They plan to use this money to create, advertise and sell their products. In the future they have lined up Peterborough and Huntingdon fairs on 27th November and 11th of December, respectively. They are also going to make an appearance at the Sixth form Information evening.

Innovation are also planning on pitching an idea to the school for renovating the school with brand new signs for each department.

 

 

Great Fen Art Project

On Monday Miss Kitching and Mr Terry took a dozen year 9 G&T students out to Wood Walton Fen to meet with members from the Great Fen Project and Wildlife Trust.  Although the students were not able to sketch the area due to a delay with their transport, the students were able to learn a lot about the Great Fen Project and were able to sample and experience the area in preparation for creating a very ambitious hanging mural for the hall.

 

Monday 19th October saw the beginning of the Inter School Dragon’s Den Junk Modelling Project headed by Max Murdo, once a successful contender on the actual Dragon’s Den show. The emphasis is to creative usable objects from recycled materials. The project will run over a number of months and will culminate in a Dragon’s Den style pitch to local business people where a school and regional winner will be announced. We hope to build on the great success we had last year and the students involved are very excited!

 

World's Biggest Macmillan Coffee Morning

Coffee and Cakes go down a treat – 24th September

On a rainy Friday morning, sixth form students worked hard to hold a coffee morning in aid of the Macmillan Cancer charity. The event was well planned and advertised with a range of cakes, biscuits and hot drinks available, attracting a host of hungry students and teachers. Teachers even had the chance to order their cakes via email, to be delivered specially to their classrooms. Many sixth formers proved themselves excellent bakers making cakes at home and bringing them into school the next day. Star suppliers included Anelise Rosa, year 13, who produced five tins worth of wonderfully decorated cakes and Lucy Grace, year 12, who made lots of individually packed sweets and cakes. Many thanks go to Richie Warlow who ran the entire event. Other students who helped considerably were Owen Mooney, Kerrie Hughes, Fil Grout, Sam Sinn, Christy O’Connell, Lucy Loveridge, Matt Murphy, Sophie Tait, Katrina Lilly, Nicola Collet, Leonie Houber, Patricia Bargetzi, Joe Strickett, Jasmine Hamm and Perry Douglas. The event raised a total of £272.58 for the Macmillan Cancer charity.

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Sawtry Gets New Mini Bus

 

“The College is delighted to announce the acquisition of a brand new seventeen seater mini bus to be used by students for the many sporting fixtures, field trips and educational visits that take place during the school year.  The support from Friends of Sawtry Community College is greatly appreciated; which has enabled the College to take possession of this fantastic new vehicle”

 

Year 8 MOS Word 2007 Qualification News

Three Year 8 students, Joe Anderson, James Allis and George Warren have all succesfuly achieved their MOS Word 2007 Qualification in the last week of term. The students had undertaken to study for this qualification during their own time on Thursday lunchtimes and as far as we know are the first Year 8 students to qualify at Sawtry Community College. It is a great achievement made all the more remarakable as the students would only have had a maximum of 30 minutes on a Thursday lunchtime to have used the GMetrix software used for the exam.

Year 12 Art Work Experience Success

Four Sawtry Community College Year 12 students, Zoe Vamplew, Paige Cornwell, Emma Langley, and Anelise Rosa, have been creating a large mural for Sawtry Junior School as part of their work experience week. The mural is situated in the school’s reference library and depicts images of subjects covered in the school’s curriculum including history, geography and science.  All the staff and students have been amazed by the mural and greatly impressed with the hard work the girls have put in. 

 

 

Congratulations to Holly & Molly at the Spicers Young People of the Year Awards

Molly Hares, K-JAS and Holly Lane, D-PE were awarded third place at the ceremony on 15th July in Hemingford Abbots. They were presented with 2 cheques totalling £250 with £125 being donated to the Help for Haiti appeal. They are the youngest finalists this year and throroughly deserve to have been nominated for all their hard work fundraising over £1000 for Help for Haiti. Well done Molly and Holly!

 

 

China 2010 - Ne how

After a lot of travelling (nearly 14 hours in the air) we finally arrived in Shanghai to be met by our guide Tom and a coach. Our first impressions were the heat and humidity and the manic driving - apparently there are rules but they are best summed up as 'every person for themselves'. Remarkably we have only seen one accident.
The hotel is fine - the students like the rooms and the hot showers, having their beds made and being tidied up after!
The food has been excellent if rather too much - we eat out in restaurants for dinner and lunch - Chinese mainly but also Mongolian.
The days have been very busy - on Tuesday we went to the waterfront to see the river, a silk factory, a local community project where we met a group of local students so that they could practice their English, the homes of local people to discover how they live and how their lives compare to ours, Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Acrobatics (5 men on motorbikes going round and round and up and over in a sphere of death is not to be missed.
Today, Wednesday, we have visited a display of how the city has, is and will change over the years, the Pearl Tower (long ques but worth it in the end to see the students standing on glass viewing windows several hundred metres above the ground) a local bazaar for souvenir shopping and a taste of the a real local market and an evening cruise along the river.
Wherever we go the students are in demand to have their photographs taken with the Chinese; they have risen to the occassion and are a credit to themselves and the college. Other than a couple of upset stomachs everyone is thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Tomorrow we are flying to Chongqing and then boarding a boat to travel down the Yangtze River to the Three Gorges Dam, stopping twice to visit national attractions.
All in all everyone is tired but heedfully.

Zi jee-en from China for now.'

 

Sawtry Community College students Celebrate with Royalty At The Royal Albert Hall

On the evening of July 5th, Mr. Gareth Davies and three Year 11 students from Sawtry Community College joined representatives from the business community and the Prince of Wales’ many charities for a memorable and inspiring black tie evening in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales to celebrate his 25 years as President of Business in the Community.
The English Department has worked with The Prince’s Teaching Institute for three years now, a charity which seeks to put subject knowledge, challenge and coherence at the heart of the curriculum in schools, and the Sawtry Mathematics Department has joined them this year. The English Department has already earned the Prince’s crest ‘kite mark’ for their commitment to these aims and the Mathematics Department are well on their way to joining them. You can find out more on the Prince’s Teaching Institute website at http://www.princes-ti.org.uk/

The evening was hosted by Stephen Fry and Radio 4’s Jim Naughtie and featured an awards ceremony for the Prince’s Business in the Community charity, a new work by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and speeches by HRH The Prince of Wales and many people whose lives have been touched by the work of the Prince’s charities.
Year 11 students Abbi McCamley, Tom Leatherbarrow and Jonjo Murphy, all of whom have addressed business fund managers in the past to help raise funds for the Prince’s Teaching Institute, were invited to join other teachers and students involved with the PTI on the arena floor of the Albert Hall. Many of the other guests for this fund-raising evening paid hundreds or even thousands of pounds for the same privilege.
All three students enjoyed the evening enormously and were particularly impressed by the performance by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra of a new work, ‘In Expectation of the Thaw’. Mr. Davies said, ‘It was an enormous honour to be invited to such a prestigious event and it re-affirms just how important a challenging, enriching curriculum is. The Sawtry students were, as always, an absolute credit to the school.”

 

 

Guinness World Record

We have just received our certificate confirming that some Sawtry Community College pupils are Guinness World Record holders! Pupils from Sawtry Community College rose to the challenge in March to help break a world record. As part of the BBC’s Schools News Report we were asked to record the temperature on the school site. This was then emailed to the BBC to create the world’s largest interactive weather forecast map. The recordings were made by Molly Mayston, Molly Garner, Harry Alexander and Jamie McGregor.

 

 

Microsoft UK Championships

Sawtry Community College students from Years 10 and 12 qualified for the Certiport Microsoft Office UK Championships, held in Surrey.  A total of 7 students qualified to take part in the Word 2007 or Excel 2007 finals and competed against students from schools all over the UK by taking another online exam, competing on accuracy and speed.  Competition was fierce, but we are thrilled to say that Lloyd Wallis, from Year 12, finished second in the Microsoft Excel 2007 competition to win a digital camera and a trophy.

 

 

 

Joe Phillips - U16 County Hockey

Well done to Joe for gaining a place in the U16 county hockey team.

 

Sawtry Art Exhibition

Parents and friends enjoyed a wonderful art exhibition yesterday.Whilst appreciating the inspiring art work, they were entertained by our young musicians and a performance by the drama club.

 

 

 

 

200 metres U14 Regional Champion Megan Edwards

 

Megan competed in the Schools Regional Athletics Competition at Grantham on Saturday19th June.

She came 1st in 200m and 2nd in 100m! Well Done Megan! News just in: Megan has qualified for the English Schools Athletics Final . What an amazing achievement, many congratulations Megan!

 

Year 7 District Athletics Champions

Congratulations

 

Parliamentary Reception Invitation for Sawtry Community College Microsoft IT Academy

Sawtry Community College, in recognition of its work through its Microsoft IT Academy, was invited to attend a Parliamentary Reception, held in the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons on the 15th July. This was an event being hosted by Robert Wilson, MP for Reading (where Microsoft’s UK Head Office is based) to celebrate the success of Microsoft’s “Britain Works” campaign and two representative students spoke with MPs and other dignitaries about the value of their Microsoft Office Specialist qualifications.  Lloyd Wallis and John Maydew, from Year 12, have an impressive collection of Microsoft Office qualifications to their names, having added Microsoft Office 2007 Master this year.  To complement their profile, both also passed the Adobe Certified Associate qualification in Dreamweaver and Photoshop this year. Additionally also at Microsoft’s request, Mrs Pam Kitchen, our Microsoft Certified trainer, took one of our adult learners (for whom attending the free Digital Literacy classes has been a life changing experience) to enjoy the event. Our adult learner was photographed and interviewed during the course of the afternoon, for a case study, which will be published shortly by Microsoft.

Pictured below at the Reception with Terry Killer, Skills Manager for Microsoft Ltd are Lloyd and John.

 

ICT Diploma pupils receive a visit

 

Peter Durham Managing Director for Cambridge Golf and conference centre visited Sawtry IT Diploma students on the 16th June. He spent an hour giving feedback to students on the conference room booking system they had to created for the company.
The students have been working on this project as part of their diploma studies since Easter this year and found the feedback from Peter very useful.
Earlier in the year the students visited Cambridgeshire Golf and conference Centre to gain an understanding of how the business functions and both visits really bought a real world context to their learning.

 

 

Microsoft Office UK Finals

 

A fabulous day at Microsoft in Chertsey on Friday 11th July was had by all , with 7 of our students taking part in the Microsoft Office UK Finals in Word 2007 and Excel 2007.

Lloyd Wallis finished in second place in the Excel category and won a digital camera and beautiful trophy.

All of our students competed extremely well but only first, second and third places are announced on the day.  The final positions for all our partipating students will be known soon. They certainly scored very highly, but time is used as a tie breaker.

Congratulations should go to all of the students who took part (list below) as they were a credit to the school and themselves.  Mrs Kitchen, our Microsoft Certified Trainer, said it was such a pleasure to be able to take them and have them represent the school.

In particular, of course, congratulate Lloyd.  His achievement is remarkable.

Students who competed:

Lloyd Wallis
John Maydew
Aaron Krzoska

Josh Marshalll
AJ Mulley
Laura Ayres
Sarah Scott       

 

The Prince's Teaching Institute 25th Anniversary Gala

 

The Prince's Teaching Institute(PTI) is an independent educational charity created by the Prince of Wales. It believes that all children, irrespective of background or ability, deserve a rich subject-based exerience at school - both within and beyond the examination curriculum. The Institute has developed out of the Prince of Wales Education Summer Schools held every year from 2002 to 2010 for teachers of English and History. Mr Gareth Davies has worked as a Teacher Leader for the English strand of the Summer School since 2003. The PTI has been set up in partnership with Cambridge University and with whom Continuing Professional Development courses are being developed. There is also an active network of schools who participate in the Schools Programme and who help organise Regional Events. The Schools Programme awards a kite-mark to departments who have shown a commitment to the PTI's guiding principles. Currently ,the English Department at Sawtry Community College has earned this award, and the Mathematics Department is well on the way to joining them.

Mr Gareth Davies has been invited to represent the PTI at the Prince's 25th Anniversary Gala on the 5th July and will be taking several of our students.

Further information on the connections between the Prince's Teaching Institute and Sawtry Community College can be found at www.princes-ti.org.uk/SPSchoolPages/SawtryCommunityCollege/

Mr Davies recently spoke about the Prince's Teaching Institute in an interview with The Independent newspaper: <Click here>

 

Design and Technology GCSE Exhibition 2010

The third annual Design and Technology GCSE Exhibition took place on Thursday 29th April.  The exhibition this year displayed a range of 3D models and design folders from Electronics, Food, Graphics, Textiles and Resistant Materials.  Students have once again this year worked very hard within the department and have produced some outstanding GCSE coursework.

 

 

Sawtry Community College GCE and GCSE Art Show coming soon..

All GCE and GCSE students have now completed their Art work for this school year. As always the artwork will be on display after school on the 28th June for all to see. These exhibitions are the perfect opportunity for our very talented studentsto showcase their work. For further details please click on the links below.

GCE Art Show <Click here>

GCSE Art Show <Click here>

 

Sawtry Community College appears in the Guardian Newspaper

Sawtry Community College was used as an example of how schools can cut down their waste and save money in the long term. The article depicts sixth form students using smaller laptops instead of paper. The article highlights that the ICT department aims to go paperless as of September 2010.

 

"Suits You" Jacket Contest comes to an end.

 

All forms were invited to create their own jacket and model it during assembly. The jackets produced were a superb reflection of the students’ effort and hard work. The jackets were modelled every day for a week during assemblies complete with dry ice and soundtrack which would have given London Fashion week a run for its money. The best jackets were produced by Clarkson and the best models were those in Darwin.

 

Caythorpe Trip 2010

 

Over May Bank holiday weekend, most of Year 9 went on an adventure weekend to the PGL centre in Caythorpe. The weekend was a big success filled with team building exercises, problem solving, rock climbing, raft building, giant swings and much, much more! Everyone had an excellent time and the pupils were a credit to the College.

This trip really had an impact on all the students involved, with some pupils having, in their words, “once in a lifetime experiences”. This trip will be talked about for years to come and the experiences the pupils gained will help them throughout the rest of their lives.

 

 

To view all Caythorpe Photo's visit our showcase pages

 

Teachers Complete the 3 Peak Challenge & have raised £672 for our chosen charities.

 

Ski Trip 2010 Review

On Good Friday 110 students and 9 staff set of to Austria for the annual ski trip. Despite a delay at Dover the party arrived in Seeboden on Saturday afternoon in good spirits. We then enjoyed six full days of skiing include the some excellent snow conditions on the first three days. Evenings were taken up with entertainments such as Bowling, swimming, treasure hunt, disco and the world famous Dr Tooley and Mr Sedgwick  quiz. Despite one or two injuries the party was in good spirits at all times especially in the mornings when being woken by Mr Baynes, Dr Tooley and Mr Sedgwick. It is fair to say that without fail all staff and students had a fantastic time and the students were an absolute credit to the college. Party leader  Mr Baynes was even quoted as saying ‘the students have been fantastic, even I have enjoyed their company!!’

 

Letters for 2011 trip are now available. See Mr Baynes.  

The photo shows the group at the end of a day’s skiing.

 

 

Spicers Cambridgeshire Young People of the Year Nominees Molly Hares and Holly Lane

On the 6th February a misty,rainy day, Molly Hares, K-JAS and Holly Lane, D-PE organised a Sponsored Walk from Buckworth to Barham in order to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti. At the latest count they had raised over £1000. Well done Molly and Holly on a superb effort! Their actions have prompted them to be nominated for the Spicers Cambridgeshire Young People of the Year award, for more information, <click here>

News hot off the press: Molly and Holly have been shortlisted for this award. More news to follow soon.

 

 

Well done Zone Darwin for raising £89.65 last term via Student Enterprise

 

 

Form group D-PE organised a very well attended and delicious version of the popular BBC cookery programme "Ready Steady Cook" on Friday 19th March to raise money for Sports Relief. Members of staff were given a budget of £10 to produce meals which were healthy and hopefully edible! Mr Alan Stevens and Mr Simon Woodhouse were crowned "Ready, Steady Cook does Sports Relief " Champions with their innovative menu of olives and bruschetta to start, ham and pepper pasta followed by an exotic fruit salad. Mr Sedgwick and Mrs Swainston were narrowly beaten with their menu of homemade pizzas. Miss Gibbs and Dr Tooley are still adamant that their menu of healthy home made burgers should have been victorious but the judge's decision was final.

 

 

 

BBC School Report

 

The BBC News Report was a massive success! The students were impeccable throughout the day and many teachers have commented to Miss Powell how enthusiastic and focused they appeared to be. Miss Powell is really pleased with their positive attitude towards the day and the self-management skills they showed.

They worked hard throughout the day and produced some excellent news reports on ‘Facebook’, War games, Cyber-bullying and the groups teenagers form. These were all issues they chose as appealing to teenagers and relevant to today’s society.

We were interviewed for BBC Cambridgeshire Radio both during the day and live on their 10 minute report!  They have sent a recording of the interview so that will be on the website soon.

 

Haiti Fund Raising

 

 

Well done Zone Royce for raising £188.50 last half-term via Student Enterprise

 

To find out how the students raised the money,<click here>

 

Well Done Zone Keynes for raising £ 66.65 last half-term via Student Enterprise

To find out the students raised the money, <click here>

 

 

 

Year 9 Digital Literacy Achievement

15 Year 9 students attended after school classes on Mondays during the Autumn to study the free, online Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum. Those students who passed the OCR online exam have gained the OCR Entry Level Certificate in Digital Literacy with 4 students achieving a 100% pass rate!

This class is offered to Year 9 students on a termly basis with a new cohort attending during the Spring Term. Letters will be sent home at the end of the Spring Term for applications for the cohort for the Summer Term.

The Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum is freely available via the internet. In addition our free classes for adults on Wednesday and Thursday mornings and Wednesday evening follow the same programme and offer the chance to sit the OCR exam. For further information about the Microsoft Digital Literacy classes for Year 9 students or adults please contact Mrs Pam Kitchen: 01487 830701

 

 

Sawtry Enigma Day

Students from Year 8 and 9 visited the St Ivo School to learn about he world of secret codes. James Grime from Cambridge University was on hand to give them an insight into code breaking through the ages and ultimately the story of Bletchley Park. The students had the rare opportunity to see one of the surviving Enigma machines working and learned lots of interesting facts. They also took part in code breaking workshops and now have an understanding of Casear Shift and Substitution Cyphers!

 

 

Students Work Published

Lloyd Wallis, 6th form student at Sawtry Community College is studying the IT Diploma at the advanced level.

He and his fellow IT Diploma students recently gave a presentation to the ICT committee members on some research they had undertaken as part of the Diploma framework, focussing on Cloud Computing and Blackberry mobile phones.

Link to cambridgeshire 'Chamber of Commerce'

Christmas Lights/Decorations Competition

Over the recent Christmas period, before the holidays, there was an exciting Christmas competition between forms and zones. This involved each form putting up their best attempt at Christmas displays that reflected the Christmas cheer. The winners are as follows:

	Winning Zone	Winning Form
1st	Clarkson with 61 points	JA J5
2nd	Royce with 60 points	KS T10
3rd	Keynes with 54 points	SM H7
4th	Sinclair with 53 points	SJS M6
5th	Darwin with 52 points	MV S1
6th	Elliot with 37 points	FP E4

Mr Stevens one of the judges stated: “The standard of decorations was very high, with some excellent handmade decoration. For example; Mr Hughes' paper chain in Art, excellent tree and grotto area in J4 with Mrs Sharpe and the arrangement of lights in A3 with Mr Terry. The colour and festival spirit was clear to from those who took part and next year the standard will be higher and better.”

Miss Hunstone, also judging, added: “A brilliant effort was made by some tutor groups with lots of handmade decorations, glitz and glamour, a big well done!"

By Charlotte Galpin and Gina Tesloff

 

 

Dragons Den

On Tuesday 15th December 2009 Mr Andrew Sedgwick and Mr Stephen Hughes took 3 groups of students to compete in a Dragons Den-style competition with the theme of Eco-Junk Modelling. The students have been working on this since September and produced some great products and presentations.

 

The amazing result was that there were no losers as all products will be taken further. The county competition will be in Feb with a big exhibition of all work in Cambridge in March. The video will be on the website soon so watch this space!

The Dragons said they were the best presentations of Eco-products they had seen to date from any county school. Congratulations to all involved.

 

Our Year 10 GCSE catering students have cooked up a festive feast.

Please see below:

 

Made by Hannah Creamer, Hannah Hurst, Lauren Templar, James Petts, Jack Sheppard, Bradley Sharpe, Richard Day, Jamie Lee, Eleanor Elderkin, Shelby Chambers & Sammie Foster

Mr Simon Woodhouse is an Innovative Teacher!

 

Congratulations to Mr Simon Woodhouse on becoming a Microsoft Innovative Teacher UK winner on December 1st 2009 at the Innovative Teachers Award ceremony in Birmingham. Simon received his award from Steve Beswick the Microsoft Director of Education and Citizenship ( UK Public sector). Simon thoroughly deserves this award for his innovative use of learning technologies and software in his Business Studies lessons. He has also led by example by creatively using the inter-active whiteboards in the classrooms and making his lessons interesting and dynamic. He has also shared his ideas and resources with Sawtry staff and other teachers through the Microsoft Innovative Teacher website. He has inspired teachers to confidently use new technologies and software to enrich learning in the classroom and at home on the computer.

Simon  thoroughly deserves this accolade for all his hard work and dedication to support the ICT professional development programme at Sawtry Community College and for consistently ensuring all his students enjoy interesting and relevant lessons in the 21st century Digital Age..

 

 

 

Geography Tournment

On Wednesday 25 November three students from Year 10, Beckie Martin, Tuesday Williams-Collins and Elizabeth Brooks travelled to Cambridge to take part in the GA Worldwise quiz. This was the first time the college had entered and were up against teams from schools such as Coleridge Community College, Parkside Federation and The Perse School.

The questions were wide ranging and challenging; there were rounds about sport, current affairs, map reading, the recognition of British landmarks, both physical and human and general knowledge.

The team gave a very credible performance and approached the whole event with enthusiasm and hard work. They eventually came tenth out of the twelve teams competing; and I am assured the actual scores were very close.
During the event there was a teachers round. Mr Hicks was thrown to the lions and rose to the challenge. He achieved a good score, far better than the head of Geography from one school who achieved 1 mark.

A good time was had by all and we will be repeating the event next year.

Well done girls.

 

Our team was:
Tuesday Williams-Collins
Beckie Martin
Elizabeth Brooks

Anti-Bullying Week Song

To Listen to the song: <Download>

 

Charity Success

Over the last half term Sawtry Community College and its pupils have worked very hard to raise money for the following charities:

Poppy Apeal : <Click to Download Details>

 

Jeans for Genes day: (in which we raised just over £1173) <Click to Dowload Details>

 

Philippines Disaster Collection

 

On the 26th of September, typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines.  The death rate is enormous and is still increasing.  Homes have been destroyed and cites overrun by mayhem, with people trying to escape to safer land.  However over the past few weeks S-CV have been collecting money, clothes and toys for children from around the school, and the students have been more than generous.  In fact we have managed to fill 5 huge boxes of items to help the survivors.  We are now raising money for shipment charges.  The boxes will be shipped to the Philippines by the end of October and reach their destination by Christmas.  These boxes will be collected by charitable organisation in the Philippines who will supply the needy with the items collected.  We hope that our efforts make a difference to the lives of the typhoon victims, and make their lives more bearable.

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all the parents, students, staffs and teachers of Sawtry Community College and thank them for their generosity.

Victoria Custerson
Yr 11 S-CV

 

 

Charity Tug of War Winners

On Thursday 22nd October - lunch time Mr Carpenters form held a charity Tug of War contest.

They raised a total of £21 for charity.

Mr Moore's form were the winners after beating Mr Baynes form in the final!

 

Logo Competition Winners

Votes are in and the winning Logos for Keynes, Royce and Sinclair are:

 

 

The Prince and the Dragons Visit

On October 1st, three Y11 students- Tom Leatherbarrow, Abi McCamley and Jonjo Murphy- travelled to The Prudential Building in the City of London with Mr.Davies for a meeting with some extremely influential figures from the world of industry and business: a real ‘Dragon’s Den’ encounter! The students were helping to explain the work of the Prince’s Teaching Institute to encourage donations to this unique teaching charity, which has strong connections with Sawtry Community College.

The Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) is an independent educational charity created by the Prince of Wales.  It believes that all children, irrespective of background or ability, deserve a rich subject-based experience at school - both within and beyond the examination curriculum. 

The PTI’s work allows teachers to rediscover their love of their subject through our various activities and, by bringing passionate teachers together, encourages school departments to make rigorous curriculum choices, promote teaching beyond the test, and enables schools to forge links with other like-minded schools and academic institutions.

Sawtry Community College’s English Department has recently been awarded The Prince’s Teaching Institute Schools’ Program Award, and the Maths department is just beginning  the process. Jonjo, Abi and Tom spoke of what the influence of the PTI has meant to them in their English studies. Their contributions were described as ‘inspirational’ and ‘fantastic’ by several of the assembled ‘Dragons’, and they were an absolute credit to the school.

For more information visit their website: http://www.princes-ti.org.uk/

 

MacMillan Coffee Morning

On Friday the 25th September the 6th form held a Coffee, tea and cake sale in the 6th form common room in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Research.

The morning was a great success and the 6th formers managed to raise £92.53

 

GCSE Results

% of students achieving 5+ A* - C grades:75%
% of students achieving 5+ A* - C grades (including English and Mathematics:58%
% of students achieving at least 2 higher grades in Science subjects:58%
43% of all entries achieved a grade B or higher with 1 in 5 achieving an A or A* grade
18 students ( 8%) achieved at least 7 GCSEs at grade A or A*.

Comment
"Overall, the results this year are pleasing. 75% of the students achieving 5 higher grade passes is broadly in line with our predictions and is an excellent performance. Some subjects achieved incredibly high pass rates at both A*/ C and A*/ A levels. These included Mathematics (with an 80% pass rate), Art, PE, Textiles, ICT and Child Development. Our headline figures have been affected, however, by a disappointing and unexpected set of results in one subject. These results are somewhat different to those predicted and to the results achieved by the same students in other subjects. This is currently being investigated with the examination board concerned.
We would like to congratulate the students on their results and we look forward to welcoming many of them back to begin post 16 courses next week.

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

 

GCE Results

PRESS RELEASE A LEVEL RESULTS 2009

Statistics
Pass rate at grades A - E 98%
Pass rate at grades A - B 39%
Pass rate at grades A - C 66%

Comment
"These are certainly the best set of results we have had in recent years. Seven students achieved at least three A grades and 2/3 of all grades were grade C or higher. Results in Mathematics and Art were particularly outstanding.
This was a particularly talented and pleasant year group to teach and it is really satisfying that they have achieved the results they deserve."

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

 

Year 7 French Trip

The last week of the summer term saw 120 Year 7 students and 12 members of staff celebrating the end of the school year in style in Paris! The group travelled on two coaches, one normal sized and one double-decker. Unfortunately the larger coach was delayed for a few hours after breaking down in Folkestone, but that did nothing to dampen spirits! It did mean however that once in Paris, the English coach driver was replaced by two Parisian drivers, which was really useful getting in and around the French capital!

On our first day of exploring, the 14th July (Bastille Day), we headed first of all to the centre of Paris and climbed the many steps to the magnificent basilica the Sacré-Coeur, situated in the Montmartre area of the city. After visiting the basilica and admiring the views over the city (the basilica is around 130m above sea level) we enjoyed an hour’s shopping in the cobbled streets surrounding the basilica, an area which is famous for being a favourite hangout of artists such as Van Gogh, Renoir and Degas. Some students even had their ‘portraits’ painted by some of the many street artists and lots adopted the artistic look by buying a traditional beret! After such an exhausting morning it was fantastic to spend the afternoon at Paris’ indoor water-park before heading back to the accommodation for an evening of mini-golf, football, badminton, cricket and rounders!

Wednesday was a very exciting day as the group split into two and alternated between a sightseeing boat ride on the river Seine and a trip up Paris’ main landmark, the Eiffel Tower which was built to celebrate the Great Exhibition in 1889. Cruising along the Seine we were able to take a glimpse at lots of famous sights such as the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Grand and Petit Palais. From the second floor of the Eiffel Tower we were able to enjoy ice-cream and the amazing panoramic views over the city.

On our last full day of the trip we had lots of fun at Parc Astérix, the theme park dedicated to the French cartoon “Astérix and Obelix” set amid a Roman, Greek and Gaulish setting. After a long fun day on the log flume and enjoying candy floss and ice-cream we headed back to the accommodation.

We had a much more successful journey home on Friday and were very surprised to come back from a very hot and sunny Paris to a rather cold, wet and windy Sawtry!

A very big “merci beaucoup” to Mrs Roberts for organising and leading the trip and Mrs Kay, Mrs Price, Mr Bennet, Mr D Hughes, Mr Wilson, Mr Bridgeman, Dr Shannon, Mrs Boyles, Mr Duley, Miss K Sharp and  Miss Hunstone for accompanying the trip. A fantastic time was had by all!

 

 

SPAIN 2009

 

28 Y9 students and Miss Hunstone, Mr Bridgeman and Mr Hughes have just returned from a fabulous  week in an extremely hot and sunny Spain. The group travelled overnight by coach to the village of Villascuesa, 15km south of Santander near Bilbao in northern Spain and stayed in a traditional Spanish "Posada" (inn). The local "Albergue" (youth hostel) was the base for most meals and a number of activities such as Spanish lessons, climbing, zip wire, archery and swimming. It was also the location for Thursday morning's Spanish cookery lesson in which students made a selection of tapas, a traditional Spanish tortilla and a "Torta de abuela" (grandma's cake) - a revoltingly sweet combination of biscuits soaked in milk, lots of jam and lots of chocolate pudding.

As evening meals in Spain are eaten much later than in England, we were able to take advantage of the long days, filling them with lots of sightseeing. Tuesday afternoon saw a visit to the famous El Soplao caves with some of the most amazing stalagmites and stalactites and the historic town of Santillana del Mar, described as "Spain's most beautiful town". On Wednesday we had a bus tour of Bilbao and visited the bull fighting ring and museum, where students had the opportunity to learn more about this stereotypical Spanish tradition. On Thursday we visited the extremely impressive Cabarceno Park - a safari park with 25km of trails set within a fantastic landscape - and saw hundreds of animals, birds and reptiles and watched an amazing (albeit terrifying) birds of prey display and a very clever and amusing sea lion display. Thursday evening also saw the grand final of the Sawtry "Spain's got talent", in which students performed various dances, songs and musicals and was won by the group performing the hilarious "Raja the musical". The week whizzed by and soon saw us on our journey home, but not before we had a chance to enjoy the sands and shops of the beautiful seaside town of Castro Uurdiales. A brilliant time was had by all and none of us wanted to come home!

 

BUGSY MALONE

Students from years 7-11 took part in the spoof gangster musical ‘Bugsy Malone’. The show, set In 1930’s New York is about a battle for power between Fat Sam (Joe Mason) and Dandy Dan (Kierran Parrish). Fat Sam’s empire is being destroyed by Dandy Dan and it is up to Bugsy Malone (Aiden Heron) to restore the peace. Also involved is Blousey Brown (Lucy Sharp) who falls in love with the very charming Bugsy Malone.

 

The musical numbers were accompanied by a show band consisting of students from the college who did a sterling job.  The show was a roaring success with packed audiences on 3 nights at the end of April. It was obvious that all the students thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the singing, dancing, acting and playing. We are now waiting with baited breath as to what will be the musical for next year…….