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Ely College

Ely College

All the latest News from Ely College

September 2018

  • Bioinformatics Blitz

    Published 28/09/18

    Bioinformatics Blitz

    Today 50+ students from Ely College took part in the national Bioinformatics Blitz.  Run by the Wellcome Trust and Sanger Institute, to celebrate the launch of Lifelab in Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely, the challenge was set to see how many young people could complete the bioinformatics task at the same time!  

    What is the challenge?

    Working in teams of four, could our Year 11 students correctly complete the Function Finders BLAST activity? The idea is they translate DNA sequences into amino acids and use computer programmes to identify the protein that the amino acid sequence belongs to.  The fastest group from each school is set to receive a small prize!

    We are so grateful to our Science staff for making new and exciting connections with industry leaders such as Life Lab and the Wellcome Genome Campus, forging new partnerships with the biotech research community. We hope to bring more hands-on science projects and events to our students and build on this fantastic launch success.

    Follow @camlifelab and @WGCengage for more information. #Bioinformaticsblitz

     

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  • New Student Librarians get to work

    Published 21/09/18

    Students involvement in the running of our school library has never been so active. Mrs Shaw, our LRC Manager explains the work involved.

    With the beginning of the new school year, we are pleased to present our fantastic new team of Student Librarians for 2018 / 2019. Students from Year 8 onwards can apply to join the team. After attending an interview and accepting the position, training can begin.  Student Librarians work on the main LRC desk issuing and returning books, serving at the School Shop and often help to shelve the books. As well as these everyday duties a vital part of a Student Librarian’s work is to support fellow students in the LRC with any queries: from searching for a book, to helping them access our dynamic online library system.

    New recruits are trained both by Ms Shaw and the Senior Student Librarians. Younger students are overseen by more experienced Student Librarians. Training and learning from one another is a collaborative process the students certainly benefit from; as the Student Librarians grow in seniority and experience, so do their responsibilities. Team spirit is very important and as training progresses, the feeling of mutual support is wonderful to see.

    Championing lifelong learning, our Students Librarians can often be found in the LRC quietly reading or encouraging lively debates in reading groups. They charge themselves with promoting everything the LRC has to offer, including computer spaces for homework catch-up. Our Student Librarians also undertake other projects such as competitions, literary polls and various fundraising efforts. Students who become Student Librarians use this experience to gain PLEDGES Points, which quickly build towards their Awards.

    Watch this space for some exciting LRC initiatives coming up this term. Student Librarians are heavily involved in organising, selling and promoting the hugely successful Book Fair which takes place towards the end of the Autumn term – just in time for Christmas, so an ideal time to do some gift shopping for friends and family. Our 2017 Book Fair allowed the LRC to claim just over £200 of free books for the LRC. Student Librarians are also currently helping get ready for the school’s Booked Up programme which will see every Year 7 student receive a FREE book during their first term at Ely College. More about this soon so keep an eye out for our next newsletter.

     

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  • Ely College students get a ‘Rocking’ opportunity!

    Published 05/09/18

    Starting this term, a group of lucky Year 7 Ely College students will be benefitting from the generosity of THE LLOYD-REASON FOUNDATION. A talented delivery team of tutors will work with four selected students in Year 7 who have shown the potential and willingness to develop their interest in learning and playing a musical instrument.

    Over the next school year, THE LLOYD-REASON FOUNDATION will fund ongoing weekly tuition, as well as providing each student with a brand new instrument. Students will learn to play together as a band over a series of workshops, and will be given the opportunity to record in a professional recording studio, shoot a music video and, at the conclusion of the year, to play a live performance.

    Ely College Principal, Richard Spencer, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with the Lloyd-Reason Foundation on this exciting project. Their generosity will hopefully spark a great collaboration. We are keen to encourage even more of our students to take up a musical instrument, and look forward to watching these students develop as individual players and, hopefully, as a great band!’

    Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason ended: ‘The Lloyd-Reason Foundation aims to give disadvantaged young people access to music tuition, instruments, recording studios and live performance and in Ely College we have found the perfect partner to help us deliver on this mission. We believe that together we will succeed in transforming and enriching these young lives through this very exciting initiative.’

    Pictured are students Jan Dietrich, Ralf Dodd-O’Brien, Tom Rees and Wyatt Sharpes-Edwards with staff and tutors at the launch of the project on 11th July.

            

     

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  • Roadshow Dates for Primary Parents

    Published 05/09/18

    Roadshow dates for Primary Parents

     

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