THE VOICE of Arthur Mellows Village College

Issue 57 March 2018 Message from the Head of College

A lot of this Easter edition contains write-ups on the wonderful trips that have taken place to Italy, Iceland and New York. It sounds like both trips provided amazing opportunities to see and experience cultures and activities outside the norm. My thanks go to the staff who supervised these trips and providing the memories of ‘such a good time’.

Year 11 have recently taken part in a Collapsed Day associated with exam technique and revision which will hopefully aid them over the Easter holiday and into the Summer term. Parent support at this stressful time of external exams is paramount and the College is fortunate to have such supportive parents to help us in our endeavours of ensuring all students reach their absolute potential. There are numerous revision sessions being offered to students, either at lunchtimes, after school, in the holidays and even on a Saturday morning for one department. Students are being given every opportunity for staff to help them and they should avail themselves of everything that is being offered. There is a lot more detail in the Year 11 Revision Guide that has been issued to all students but if in doubt as to what is on offer….. please ask. Students only have the one opportunity to ‘make a difference’ to their outcome this Summer so should not be afraid to ask for the extra help if required. I hope that whilst revising for these important exams, students also find the time to ‘have a break’ over Easter and enjoy a rest.

Please accept my best wishes for a peaceful and happy Easter.

M Sandeman, Head of College

KEY DATES Congratulations to Logan Noble

Term resumes Tuesday 17 April 2018 (Year 8) who has been picked to train Year 7 Parents’ Evening (A) Monday 23 April 2018 with England U15’s Touch Rugby team Year 7 Parents’ Evening (B) Monday 30 April 2018 for the European championships held this Bank Holiday Monday 7 May 2018 year. Logan is only 13 so he is playing Duke of Edinburgh (Bronze) Friday 11 May 2018 with two years up at international level. Year 11 Leavers Celebration Day Friday 11 May 2018 Year 12 Study Leave commences Monday 14 May 2018 Duke of Edinburgh (Bronze) Friday 18 May 2018 Year 13 Last Day Celebrations Thursday 24 May 2018 Year 13 Study Leave commences Friday 25 May 2018 Year 11 Study Leave commences Friday 25 May 2018 Monday 28 May to Friday Half term 1 June 2018

Summer term resumes Monday 4 June 2018 Pictured: Logan at the England Training camp. Year 12 return to College Tuesday 5 June 2018

CONGRATULATIONS TO HARRIET SAILSBURY, 8OJN Year 7

Harriet was selected to race for English schools in Crawley recently; Harriet was selected to race in the 200 freestyle, 400 . freestyle and a couple of relays. Every Monday Lunchtime IT3

Harriet achieved a bronze in the 200 Sixth Form students are waiting to help you with any issues or problems. freestyle and a silver in the 400 freestyle. Please come along and see us for friendly and helpful advice, Due to her fantastic results, she was no matter how big or small your issue awarded the team captaincy. Monday’s in IT3 at Lunchtime www.arthurmellows.org Delivering Learning for Life within an Aspirational Culture COLLEGE NEWS Please Can You Help Us?

The Arthur Mellows Parent Teacher Association is open to all parents and guardians of students of the college, as well as to members of staff, Governors and friends.

The PTA raises funds in order to provide additional resources and equipment within school for the benefit of all the students. Although our committee is small, our members are very enthusiastic, friendly and dedicated. Our meetings are held on Monday evenings, approximately every two months, and we would love to welcome new faces.

However, even if you cannot join us then, there are still a number of different ways to get involved with the PTA and all offers of help will be gratefully accepted.

 The PTA has registered the school on the easyfundraising website, which will enable us to raise additional funds from online shopping. If you like to shop online then we would be grateful for your support. The easyfundraising website is linked to over 3,300 well-known retailers and a percentage of what you spend is passed to Arthur Mellows at no additional cost to you. Simply register at easyfundraising.org.uk and select 'Arthur Mellows Parent Teacher Association' as your cause, then search for your retailer and start shopping.  Much of our fundraising is achieved through our popular and successful second hand uniform sales held in school. We would be grateful for any items of school uniform which are in good condition but which you no longer need. Please leave your donations at main reception. (Unfortunately, we are no longer able to accept green sweatshirts as these are being replaced with alternative uniform.)  Our home-made cakes and cookies are always very well received when we sell refreshments at school events and your home-baking contributions would be really appreciated.  If you have any fundraising ideas that you would like to suggest or know of any possible sponsorship that might be available, please do get in contact with us.

The PTA raises funds throughout the year, either towards an ongoing major project or in readiness for monetary requests from various school departments. Recently, we have held a second hand uniform sale and also provided the refreshment stall on one night of the 'Blood Brothers' drama production.

This term, as well as buying equipment for the Food Technology and Art Departments, the PTA has also provided funds to purchase three iPads for the English Department as well as resources for KS3 and KS4 MFL students, a total amount of £2681.98.

Our next meeting will be held in school on Monday 14 May at 7.15pm, so please do come along and you will be made very welcome. In the meantime, if you would like to offer help in any way, or need more information, please contact our Chair, Mrs Gill Bennett, on 07784 209627. We also have a Facebook page with the new name of 'Arthur Mellows PTA'.

March 2018 COLLEGE NEWS

The second Geography/ Media Studies mega-trip (after the West Coast USA trip last year) was a fantastic experience for all. Offering the best of both trips, 34 lucky students got to experience the geographical wonders of Iceland and then the metropolitan delights of New York in a week long extravaganza of learning Icelandic traditional feast. At midnight, the teachers opportunities. On the first night in Iceland, we had the prayed to the Icelandic gods for the bad weather to bizarre experience of chilling in the Blue Lagoon hold up as the students dreamed of a New York they whilst having our faces blasted by an arctic hailstorm. were unlikely to see.

There was a brief moment when we thought we In the morning, a miracle had taken place. The storm could see the northern lights, but it disappointingly was held up (by Thor, presumably) and we were able turned out to be a disco light, but otherwise it was to head off to New York. We were based in Hell’s highly entertaining and quite unforgettable. Kitchen, though our itinerary took us to Queens for the Museum of Moving Image, to Brooklyn for ice hockey and basketball, and to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. It is hard to pick out a highlight, but the film location tour (including the ‘Friends’ apartment building) went down pretty well. Between the 38 people who travelled, we also took in Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, Chinatown, the 911 Memorial, Wall Street…

There followed 2 full days of coach tours taking us to wonderful features with unpronounceable names such as the black sand beach, basalt columns, phenomenal waterfalls and a glacier sat atop the As ever, the students were brilliant. Upbeat, excited point where two tectonic plates meet. In Reykjavik, little sponges, they soaked up every opportunity to we had a couple of hours; thankfully, nobody visited discover new marvels and wonders. They turned the world famous penis museum, though I did what could have been an exhausting stressful venture alone into the former public urinal which has experience into a highly entertaining week where 24 been turned into the Icelandic Punk Museum. It was hours in a day just wasn’t enough to fit in all that we great! Then the bad weather hit. Disaster loomed. wanted to do. So, what next? Where could we The night-time trip to see the Northern Lights possibly go from here in terms of exciting school became an ordeal of ice and sleet. The whole of trips? Watch this space… Iceland’s tourism industry shut down for 3 days. All we had to eat were chunks of shark left over from the By Mr Zaidi, Head of Media COLLEGE NEWS

What a week - 5 days of skiing in the Italian mountains; beautiful weather and memories that will last a lifetime! I think I’m speaking for everyone when I say how amazing our week in Folgaria was.

We started off the week with 41 students, 5 staff (6 including Nigel, our brilliant rep!) and a 22 hour coach journey all the way down to the mountains, where we were met by the gorgeous town of Folgaria. We were lucky enough to arrive on carnival day, so we were in the midst of a huge street festival with lots of music, bursting confetti, roasting bonfires and lots of shops either side of the high street. It was a great way to experience the Italian culture and get settled in. Then it was back to the hotel for our first Italian feast. Bellisimo!

We couldn’t have kicked off our ski days to a better start—it had snowed through the night and into the morning, which meant we were skiing on fresh powder, and this made for great conditions with all the groups. Each group - beginners, intermediate and advanced - were introduced to their instructors, clipped into their skis and by 9am we were all sat on the first ski lift of the week. Everyone had a great morning, for some finding their ski legs again and for others it was their first time on the slopes, so as you can imagine there were a few tumbles and lots of laughter. It was great to have such experienced instructors leading each group, we skied down lots of glorious and challenging slopes, most of which we had all to ourselves- so all in all we couldn’t have asked for more.

As the week went on, the visibility improved, the sun came out (however, it was still minus 10 degrees) and our skiing improved, too. The beginners started off the week on the learners slope, but by the end they were conquering not only the blues but some reds, as well; the intermediates were beginning to nail their parallel turns and were speeding down the slopes with poise; and the advanced had a blast carving up the black slopes with confidence and perfecting their technique. Despite the lessons we had throughout the day, all of our instructors would take us up to the snow park where we could fly over the jumps, pipes and show off our skills!

Overall, everyone had a brilliant week and we all came home in one piece (or near enough, Holly!), it was an unforgettable trip, but none of it would have happened without the brilliant staff, or Nigel, our ski rep, who made every coach journey a fun one- SHABBA! The amount you gain from this trip is huge, lots of great friends that perhaps you wouldn’t have spoken to otherwise, of course lots of skiing tips and improved technique, but most importantly memories that will last a lifetime - the AMVC ski trip is definitely one we will all be talking about for a long time.

By Corinne Wilding, 12ABR COLLEGE NEWS

On Thursday 8 February, I was lucky enough to be sat among the anticipating audience of friends and family, eager to be told the tale of the Johnstone twins as AMVC debuted its adaptation of ‘Blood Brothers’ to great success.

A ghoulish light of swampy green spread over the audience as the curtains were parted like a gothic, theatrical sunrise, revealing an arrangement of figures with their backs turned to greet us. As an eerie theme played, as the narrative puppet-masters began to manoeuvre the cast into position. These narrators, sinisterly portrayed by Maisie Watson and Tariq Chahboun, weaved the entire story together, carefully placing props into their fateful positions and leading the characters into their scenes, a magnificent and uniquely designed twist that really worked to unite the whole show.

On the night, the entire cast raised the bar to another level from the rehearsals, perfecting their Scouse and embodying their roles as though they were never going to become real people when they departed the stage. From the Sixth Form, Kiera Cooper led on Thursday night as Mrs Johnstone, with Charlotte Birch- James, Emily France and Sam Salisbury (the suspiciously saucy milkman) all helping to form the ensemble. However, no matter how comfortable they were in these roles, everything would be changing for the Friday night show, where Charlotte and Emily would become the combative frenemies, Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons.

Praise must be given to the cast for nailing that most challenging and obscure of talents, the Scouse accent- I had to recover slightly from whiplash after being dragged through a portal to Thatcher’s Liverpool. Kiera Cooper spoke so fluently and effortlessly in her accent that even I, coming from a Scouse family, was fooled into believing that she was the lioness Mrs Johnstone. The entire stage was ringing in the clatter of it, and it was a delight.

The story was quick-paced and action-packed, leaping through the lives of the unknowingly separated twins until the thrilling climax. Whilst their mother wept over her fallen boys, the lights went dark as the cast lined up to accept the volcanic eruption of their deserving applause. The curtains closed as they all, in turn, beamed with pride to have completed the show, only to realise once the audience was out of sight and out of mind that they would have to do it all again tomorrow.

By Joseph Butler, 12DSK COLLEGE NEWS COLLEGE NEWS PE NEWS Year 7 and 8 City Netball Tournament at AMVC The Year 7 and 8 Peterborough Schools Netball tournament was a great success once again this year. Schools from all over the city travelled to Arthur Mellows Village College, bringing teams of Year 7 and 8 girls to take part in the City Netball Tournament, organised by the Year 13 Higher Sports Leader Award students at AMVC: Holly Crowther, Jadeane Christian, Imogen Woodard, Jack Escott and David Norman. We had a record breaking number of schools attend to make this event even more of a triumph. It was a bright sunny day which HSLA organising team: made it even more of a delight to witness superb performances across all years and schools.

Year 7 Results In Group A, Hampton Gardens and the Arthur Mellows team progressed into the semi-finals, along with The Peterborough School team and The King’s School from group B. Arthur Mellows and The Peterborough School progressed to the final of the tournament. The final was an incredibly close game and with a gripping 2 minutes extra time, The Peterborough School managed to clinch a goal to go on and win the tournament 2-1.

Year 8 Results For the Year 8 tournament, The Peterborough School team and City of Year 7 team-tournament runners up Peterborough Academy from group A went into the semi-finals, along with The King’s School and Arthur Mellows from group B. Arthur Mellows and The King’s School went on to secure their places in the final, which was very close with The King’s School scoring one extra crucial goal to win the Year 8 tournament 2-1.

Congratulations to each of the AMVC teams, who played incredibly well and good luck with your final games next week.

Year 7 A team: Leanne Broadway, Harriet Hill (MOM), Jess Puk, Tamelia Foster, Amelia Millen, Amy Privett, Bella Knight

Year 7 B team: Gabby Ling, Holly Wills (MOM) Sienna Martignetti, Lily MCcann, Ella Taylor, Ella Freeman, Eleanor Rivetti, Gabby O’Connell and Amalie Foreman

Year 8 A team: Harriet Salisbury, Amy Greenwood, Diana Omar, Elizabeth Nunn, Megan Sayer, Millie Ryan(MOM) and Eloiuse Porter

Year 8 B team: Libby Woodthorpe, Darcy Walsh, Morgan Jones, Ella Compton, Year 8 team-tournament runners up Maddie Hobbs. Maddie O’Neil, Eve Durcan (MOM) and Grace Pye

By Mrs Wilding, PE department 2018 LADY TAVERNERS U13 INDOOR CRICKET COMPETITION - Tuesday 13 March 2018

AMVC took a team of U13 girls to complete in this competition. The girls, a mixture of Year 7’s and 8’s, had also committed to 5 weeks of coaching after school provided by Cricket East.

The girls learnt how to bowl, bat, field and the basic tactics of the game.

On the day of the competition AMVC played games against The King’s School, Ormiston Bushfield Academy and St Ivo School, the winning team going through to the County competition later in the month.

St Ives have a dedicated girl’s cricket team and it is one of their regular sports in PE. They won the competition – but AMVC girls did themselves proud, with some excellent batting, bowling and fielding.

AMVC U13 Girls Cricket Team

Grace Bryant Jess Cook Zahra Chahbourn Amy Greenwood Harriet Hill Tia Hooper Sienna Martignetti Candice Murray Georgia O’Connell Millie Ryan

By Mrs Greenwood, PE department