Earlier this month Ely College students were treated to their very own hustings debate between three of the candidates for South East Cambridgeshire.

Lucy Frazer, Huw Jones and Lucy Nethsingha addressed the students at the debate, answered their questions and encouraged them to vote for their respective parties in the College’s mock general election.

The mock general election, which aimed to get students involved with politics from a young age, saw students vote for their chosen party following the hustings. Each house in the College represented a constituency and students visited different polling booths around the College to place their vote.

The vote was followed by an official count led by a small team of students, who announced the winner of the Ely College general election as The Liberal Democrats. 

Lorraine Young, Subject Leader at Ely College, said: “Once we heard the announcement about the snap general election, we knew we wanted to get our students as involved as possible. We often hear in the news about the low turnout of young voters and we wanted to try to do something to get our students engaged in politics from a young age.

“The mock general election has given our students a wonderful opportunity to experience playing a role in the democratic process and we hope they will continue to engage with politics once they reach 18 and are able to vote.”

        

 

Conclusion to the 2017 Ely College Uniform Consultation

Back in September 2016, we recognised that to change the uniform entirely as CMAT came in, would place a burden on families and would not give us the time to properly consult on different views. We have therefore been consulting through 2016/17 with a view to a full uniform change in September 2017.

We have valued your comments and taking them into consideration as we work with the Student Council and the feedback they gained from the Student Voice. As a result we now have a Uniform Fact Sheet to share with you. This is the final decision following the consultation.

Please download the Uniform Fact Sheet here.

Staff and students at Ely College were pleased to receive highly positive feedback after a visit from an inspector from the Regional Schools Commissioner’s Office last month.

The inspector visited the College on the 23 March to assess its progress since joining with Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT) in July 2016. Following his visit the inspector wrote to the school to report on his observations.

In his report the inspector celebrated many aspects of the College including its improved communication with parents, its new house system and vertical tutor groups and its improvements to staff morale and the school building. In his concluding statement the inspector stated that he felt “the College is moving strongly in the right direction.”

Principal, Richard Spencer, said: “We are delighted with the findings of this report and proud of the transformation the College has made so far. There is still much to do to ensure we provide the high quality education for all pupils that the people of Ely deserve but as the inspector so nicely put in his report ‘there is an important feeling of optimism for the challenges ahead’.

 “I would like to thank the community for their continued support of the College. Parents in particular should be very proud of the role they and their children are playing in the transformation of the school. If you would like to see the changes for yourself and take a tour of the school please get in contact with the College’s reception.”

The inspector’s report particularly praised the College’s new house system and vertical tutor groups. It said they have “been an effective way of building mixed-age families and promoting a community feel” within the College. The inspector said students saw this as a more efficient system and a considerable improvement on what went before.

The inspector also met with some of the College’s Year 11 students and in his report he noted that students were very complimentary in recognising the efforts of staff to help them catch up and achieve their personal exam goals. 

The report said students “described how times had changed: the teaching was much better, the staff were visibly 'going the extra mile', and poor behaviour was much less frequent”. The report said students felt they would generally recommend the school and that any areas for improvement were being effectively tackled and managed.

The report also said students spoke highly of the changes the College has made to the school building so far and were very complimentary about their ability to have a say in the running of the school. They told the inspector they felt that their suggestions were taken on board and often led to actions. The inspector said he had overheard a lively debate about the proposed new uniform in the corridor and said “such initiatives are a very effective way of involving students and giving them a stake in school life”.

The report praised the role of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough based Trust, CMAT, in the transformation that has taken place at the College. The report said that “the Trust has played a key role in bringing about the improvements” and that “its local knowledge and presence have been much valued”. The report particularly commended the level of collaboration between the College and other local schools in the Trust and said that the collaboration “has raised staff expectations about what is possible and contributed to better practice and a climate of improvement”.

CMAT were recently ranked as the fifth highest performing multi-academy trust in the country for its performance in the Key Stage 4 league tables.

To read a more detailed exploration of the report, please visit the College’s website for a letter that has gone home to parents.

Ely College Uniform Consultation 2017

Back in September 2016, we recognised that to change the uniform entirely as CMAT came in, would place a burden on families and would not give us the time to properly consult on different views. We have therefore been consulting through 2016/17 with a view to a full uniform change in September 2017.

We have valued your comments and taken them into consideration as we work with the Student Council and the feedback they gained from the Student Voice. As a result we now have samples to show you, kindly modelled by our students. A final decision on the consultation will be made at the start of the Summer Term in April/ May.

Please view the consultation photos here. 

Parents and carers can email questions or comments: uniformconsultation@elycollege.co.uk

We've had students take part in a number of Math challenges over the last few weeks.

8 students from year 10 took part in the FMSP Maths Feast, and yes this did involve food. Congratulations to the following students for their impeccable behaviour and team work. We had two teams Ely Girls and Ely Boys.

Lina Bretby   E-DMA

Abigail Brown   F-SPH

Sam Cavill   T-KBU

Harriet Cree   F-SCR

James Hambley   T-SDE

Ellen Olley   F-SMA

James Taylor   S-LRI

Oscar Wolfe   T-AFR

There were 5 courses and 18 teams took part, while teachers had to change schools and mark the rounds. Ms Szymanski had a very lively group from the Philip Morant School in Colchester and Mr Barlow had a group from Abbey College. Some spent most of their time arguing with the group and the judge for extra point, but in the end Ely came a very respectable 5^th and 8^th place overall.

The Starter  -  a true or false round

Amuse-Bouche - Countdown in four parts... winners were Ely Boys!

Main - a comprehension round... remember ‘tables of squares’? The students had to learn how to use these and use them to answer questions.

We then had something to eat. A teenagers capacity to eat came in handu here! Plates piled high with cake, crisps and sweets – they left the fruit for the teachers!

Dessert –  6 problems to solve and students were to submit only 4 of them.

Petits Fours – This was a relay round the teams split into two and were only allowed to communicate in their pairs.

At the end we had an ‘Oscars’ moment! It was announced that Ely College Girls had won the last round and as they went up to receive their prize the adjudicator said that he had made a tiny mistake and another team had scored 2 marks more. In the end they gave Ely College a winners certificate for good sportsmanship.

Our teams did brilliantly, took part enthusiastically and behaved impeccably. Even when they had that last win taken off them at the last minute the girls saw the funny side of it and graciously sat down again.

 

United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Maths Challenge was up next. The Math department took four students to the maths team challenge held at Cambridge University Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

Congratulations to the following students for their impeccable behaviour and team work. The teacher overseeing our group said that she was very impressed with their teamwork and at how polite and hardworking they were throughout the event.

Aaron Clark  E-GBA

Ben Feeney   E-JML

Henry Olley   F-TBA

Charlie Edwards   S-EWA

The day was very busy and the students took part in four rounds lasting 45 minutes each with 30 minutes for lunch.

The students did well and considering that all schools take their best students, and ours should be very happy with their 17/27 finishing position. There were a lot of selective (grammar and private) schools in the competition and it was nice to see Cambridgeshire schools in the top 3. On the way home we discussed how we might prepare for next year and the students said they would like a lunch time club. We are looking into running this. It was lovely to see how bubbly and keen they all were after an exhausting day.

Top 3 teams

1. Perse School
2. Comberton Village College
3. Cottenham Village College

Looking forward to next year!

Helping to attract the next generation of construction workers

Students from Ely College were invited to attend the North West Cambridge Development construction site and learn from contractor Skanska about the wide-variety of career opportunities available in the construction industry.

Skanska is working on the North West Cambridge Development as the site wide infrastructure contractor, which will create a new district in Cambridge with homes and community services for the area.

Over 20 Year 9 students and four teachers took part in a tour of the development. The students are currently studying construction and engineering courses run by Ely College.

David MacKintosh, who teaches design and technology, at Ely College, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience what it is like to work in the construction and engineering industries. We are excited to be working with Skanska to give our construction and engineering students the chance to enhance their learning experience by visiting the North West Cambridge Development. 

“As part of college’s 14 to 16 curriculum, we value vocational courses as they can lead into apprenticeships, closing the much talked about skills gap.  Links with industry leaders such as Skanska help bring the real world into the classroom and can expand the classroom into other environments.”

Sandra Nicholls, Public Liaison Officer, at Skanska, explained: “We recognise that we need to attract more people into the industry to fill the current skills gap. To do this we need to change people’s perceptions of our industry and demonstrate the wide range of career opportunities it has to offer.

“Our purpose is to build for a better society and we do this by delivering some of the country’s biggest construction and infrastructure projects that make a positive difference to the communities surrounding them, like this project and Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.”

The day concluded with a presentation from Skanska graduates who explained how they became part of Skanska’s graduate scheme, its benefits and the positive experience they have had so far.

The North West Cambridge Development will open in phases throughout 2017. For more information visit, nwcambridge.co.uk