Ely College Newsletter March 2018 Head Boy and Head Girl Elections
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Ely College Newsletter March 2018 From the Principal At times this term I wondered whether we were in the grip of a Narnia-like perpetual winter! The ‘Beast from the East’ didn’t manage to close us down, but it did make for some very cold days in college. I’m grateful to all students and families for their support and understanding during the poor weather. I’m sure we are all looking forward to a rest over the Easter break and, hopefully, some spring sunshine. Once again, this edition of the newsletter reflects a huge amount of effort and activity over the last Head Boy and Head few weeks. One of my highlights this half term was the Science fair; not simply because of the effort and enthusiasm on display, but also because of the very high quality of Scientific knowledge and Girl Elections curiosity that Year 7 and Year 8 students demonstrated. It was lovely, too, to welcome so many We are pleased to announce the parents and primary school students into college to share in the experience. following candidates are in the running for Ely College Head Boy Our PE department continues to deliver an ever-growing range of experiences and opportunities. The growth of girls’ rugby this year has been fantastic, and the recent trip to the Ricoh Arena was a and Head Girl positions: resounding success. If you shop in Tesco, don’t forget to add your ‘blue chip’ into our slot in support of the rowing project! Further afield, we were very proud of our intrepid German linguists as they Oscar Barter took part in the inaugural German exchange visit to Bozen. The return visit promises to be brilliant. Jacob Bell One of the real privileges of my job is to meet with so many different parents and carers and show them around the college. This term, I’ve been delighted with the number of parents of primary-aged children from the area who have heard good things about the college and booked in for a tour. What Eleanor Elsey they consistently see is what we experience daily: a calm, friendly and productive learning community. Occasionally parents hear about the times when things go less well and understandably worry. If you Hannah Meek would ever like to come in and see for yourself the progress we’ve made I would be delighted to give you a tour by arrangement with my PA. At the start of next term they will The next couple of months are of critical importance to those students sitting examinations. The present their manifestos to all amazing improvements to our GCSE results last year are a tough act to follow, but the current Year 11 our students during House are showing fantastic determination and effort. I’m grateful to the many staff who are running an assemblies. It’s then down to extensive programme of revision sessions over Easter, and to all parents for their support during what can be a stressful period. We always try to balance our message at this time of year – hard work, voting! preparation and revision are very important, but so is finding plenty of time for fun and relaxation. I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing our students every success as they enter the exam season. We look forward to sharing the results with you in our next I’ll close with a quotation that we shared with the students when we lost Stephen Hawking earlier this month. For me, it encapsulates much of what we strive to make our ethos here at the college, and is newsletter. great advice for us all. Happy Easter to you all, and thank you for your continued support. Finally, we’d like to convey our “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder thanks and sincere gratitude to about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” Richard Spencer – Principal both Adam Tucker and Jaden Coe who have been a pleasure to work with this past year in their roles as Head Boy and Girl. They Page 1 have been fantastic advocates of the college – we’re very proud of all they have achieved. Ely College, Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH T: 01353 667763 E: [email protected] Diary Dates th School Uniform – Fitting Days 29 March – last day of Spr ing 2018 term – 3.00pm From September 2018 all students will be expected to wear our new PE kits. 30th March-15th April – Easter th As from 6 June until the holidays end of term, parents can drop in and try on sample 16th April – first day of Summer uniform/PE kits and see 2018 term – 8.30am sizes. Please pop in to our main reception during 17th April – Y9 parents’ evening normal school hours. th 25 April – Y9, Y10 and Y11 All orders placed direct with theatre trip to see Blood our suppliers (Price & Brothers in Peterborough th Buckland) between 5 June th and 19th June will be given 26 April – PLEDGES Day free home delivery for th orders is over £50. After 7 May – Bank Holiday – school that any deliveries to home closed will have a charge. th 8 May – Dorset walk parents’ meeting at 6pm All orders for delivery to school 21st May – Parents in the Loop must be completed Forum at 6pm (jointly with by 1st July 2018 to guarantee delivery to school before the end of Lantern and Downham Primaries) term. 26th to 30th May – Geography trip Final order date for delivery to school is 14th August to guarantee to Italy. delivery to school before the start of term in September 2018. 28th May to 1st June – May half 22nd August – delivery arrives at school for all orders placed by term – school closed parents between 1st July and 14th August 23rd August and 3rd September – Collection dates for uniform delivered on 22nd August. Page 2 Ely College, Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH T: 01353 667763 E: [email protected] Yr 8 Parents’ Evening Summer Uniform Guidance: Thank you to everyone who The uniform expectation does not change in the summer. attended our re-arranged Yr 8 parents’ evening earlier this Students are free to remove blazers in lessons or at break and lunch month. Over 60% attendance times in warmer weather. was a little disappointing, Students are not permitted to wear jumpers instead of their blazers however, we appreciate that we in lessons or at break and lunch times. postponed the original date. Students must have their blazers with them regardless of whether or not it is a warm day. For those that did attend, we really hope the evening was useful, we really value these UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge opportunities. Almost one third of our Yr 9, 10 and 11 students who participated in the recent UKMT Maths Challenge achieved either a gold, silver or bronze We are very grateful for the award. This is a great achievement and we are immensely proud of the support and friendship offered to students. us by The Churches Together in Ely who were on hand to provide teas, coffee and juice to Oscar Wolfe, Ellen Olley, Jonathan Kuck, Henry Olley and Ryan Osbourne all everyone. reached such a high threshold for their age group they have been put forward for an additional challenge in April. We will let you know how they get on! Donation to Students in Yrs 7 and 8 will have the opportunity to take part in a similar our Music Dept. challenge later on this year. Schools Zone th On Saturday 24 March twelve Yr 7 and 8 students presented their science fair projects at the Cambridge University Schools Zone event (Hauser Forum in Cambridge). The students engaged brilliantly with hundreds of visitors, including getting the general public to try the experiments. Visitor feedback was excellent, with many assuming that our students were in years 10 and 11 due to their presentation skills and understanding of the During a house clearance, a local science! Students worked in shifts and when not presenting to the public, resident very kindly donated a had a chance to go and see the other exhibits on display, including a virtual ‘Viscount Prestige 20’ organ to our music department. Students wasted no time in putting this to good use! Page 3 We are very grateful for this generous gift. Ely College, Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH T: 01353 667763 E: [email protected] reality tour of the Maxwell “clean room”, sonic levitation, a “smart” toilet Tesco Blue Tokens that analyses your excretions, UV jewellery, light guns and video game If you shop in Tesco, Ely we controllers made of bananas! It was a wonderful day and we couldn’t be would be really grateful for your prouder of our students. support in depositing the blue charity token into the box for Ely Thank you to the students and to their parents who came to support them. College. Year 10 Maths Feast We were thrilled to have been Earlier this month we took three teams to Peterborough to participate in given this opportunity which, a Maths Feast competition. Out of ten teams, Ely College were placed 2nd, could, result in either £4,000, 3rd and 7th – fabulous news. £2,000 or £1,000 being awarded to us and our PE Department One of our teams came 1st in project to ‘get students rowing’. the problem round, a different team came 1st in the Hexagrid We are working in conjunction round and one team was with the Isle of Ely Rowing Club.