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:

Royce	Keynes	Sinclair

 

 

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…….