As we approach the half term break, we would like to make you aware of a selection of Booster Sessions on offer for Year 11 students during the w/c 13th February at Ely College.

Please can we ask that students report to the main reception area in time to be collected by their teacher for the start of the session. Students staying for both a morning and afternoon session will need to bring a packed lunch.

We also intend to run a full suite of revision and booster sessions over the Easter Break, details of which will be sent out shortly.

Huge Congratulations to Ely College student Harry Sindle who has been shortlisted for a national award for his hard work in the Learning Resource Centre (LRC).

Harry is being put forward for Pupil Librarian of the Year and will attend an award ceremony in Westminster later in March. This award is to recognise the contribution made by pupils who work in their school libraries, to acknowledge the skills gained and to give them the recognition they deserve, both within and outside their school community. The judging panel felt his nomination and answers to a set of additional questions showed commitment, passion and a love of the school library and reading.

The panal announced the finalists on their website: "The Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award has gone from strength to strength and every year the standard of the nominations goes up. This not only demonstrates the extraordinary work that pupil library assistants do, but also how essential school libraries and librarians are."

 

"This has, of course, made the work of the PLAA juding panel much harder! This year it has been particularly hard to bring the dozens of nominations down to just five finalists. Shortlisting is always an incredibly difficult task, and one that is made even more difficult because we know that behind every nomination there stands a young person who is daily making a huge difference to their school and their school library. We wish that we could give an award to each and every nominee. However, we could not have an award without finalists, and so we had to reduce the powerful longlist to a shortlist of five. These five outstanding young people showed all the "above and beyond" factors to gain a place on the list of finalists."

 

Finalists in alphabetical order...

 

Rebecca Dunville is from Wellington College in Belfast and has worked with her school librarian since September 2011. Her headteacher, Nicola Connery, says Rebecca "represents the core values required from a pupil library assistant" and her librarian, Tanja Jennings, describes her as "conscientious and dedicated."

 

William Harris is from Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire and has worked with his school librarian since January 2014. His headteacher, Adam Williams, says "William's efforts are helping to create a legacy at LWC for the way in which pupils use the library" and his librarian, Sue Brown, describes him as "a quite exceptional library assistant."

 

Victoria Langford is from St Hilda's CE High School in Liverpool and has worked with her school librarian since September 2014. Her headteacher, Jo Code, describes her as "an excellent role model for the other pupils" and her librarian, Jacqueline Hale, says "Victoria's contribution to the library has been huge."

 

Rishi Shah is from Queen Elizabeth's School in London and has worked with his school librarian since September 2014. His headteacher, Neil Enright, describes him as "a dedicated, hard-working and extremely well-read individual" and his librarian, Ciara Murray, says Rishi has "demonstrated real motivation and creative flair in promoting the library and its benefits."

 

Harry Sindle is from Ely College in Cambridgeshire and has worked with his school librarian since September 2014. His headteacher, Richard Spencer describes him as "everything you could want in a school librarian. He is calm, knowledgeable and meticulous" and his librarian, Anne Shaw, says "the LRC could not as efficiently and effectively as it does without Harry."

We all have our fingers crossed for Harry, but even to be shortlisted and attend the awards event is a wonderful acknowledgment of the work and commintment of all the finalists across the country. Welcomed on the night by guest authors, we are sure Harry will make some lasting memories. We will catch up with Harry and Ms Shaw in March.

Students at Ely College celebrate their first PLEDGES and Futures day

Ely College students were given the opportunity last week to work towards achieving their PLEDGES, developing their experiences outside of the classroom and working towards their futures.

PLEDGES are a set of curricular and extracurricular challenges that students are expected to complete during the course of their time at the College. By completing certain sets of challenges, students can achieve bronze, silver and gold awards in each PLEDGE category.

During the day, which was the first in a series of four PLEDGES and Futures days, activities were focused around the subject of 'Making Healthy Choices'.

Centred around their own well-being, this allowed students to gain a deeper and more meaningful insight into healthy eating, fitness, relationships, mental health and more.

Principal, Richard Spencer, said: “PLEDGES were introduced at the College in October and are a vital part of the positive changes that we bring to all schools in the CMAT family.

“Similar to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, PLEDGES help students develop character and responsibility that can be taken into their adult life. They encourage students to get involved with the wider experiences the College has to offer them.”

Year 8 student, Aaron Humer, said: “I really enjoyed PLEDGES Day because everyone took part and helped each other. There was loads of teamwork and you could have fun with your friends as well as learn.”

For those in Years 7 and 8, the activities on Friday included a mini enterprise activity making healthy living pop up books, as well as health surveys and fitness sessions. Meanwhile, those in Years 9 and 10 were treated to a series of talks and a drama production by The Upfront Theatre company. They were then joined by the Year 11s in the afternoon for an exam stress busting workshop.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Cube open today!

The Food Cube is open and ready to serve delicious hot and cold snacks! Ely College in partnership with our on-site catering team from Pabulum, has invested in this innovative outdoor catering facility as a creative solution to some issues raised by students and staff.

The Food Cube offers a quick serve, queue busting solution with a full range of hot, and grab and go products provided by the school canteen. Reducing queuing time for students, so they can head off to lunchtime clubs and activities, had previously been raised by our student council, and we are happy to see the Food Cube launch this week with students to see how it is received.

The new Student Council has recently been appointed and yesterday they met to discuss a breaktime and lunch agenda. The Student Council will meet regularly, bringing together what they have discussed at individual House Council meetings, where Student Voice Form Representatives are given a platform to voice the appreciation and concerns of the student body.

Check out our Catering Menus and Tariffs for more information about Pabulum.

There are plans to extend service beyond purely breaktime and lunchtime with after school and external events also having the benefit of the Food Cube.

'Maths Clinic' runs on a Wednesday, 3.00 – 4.00pm and is for all year groups.  Maths staff are on hand to assist with any class work, homework or maths queries. Students need to bring work with them.

Maths revision sessions run for Year 10’s and 11’s on a Wednesday, 3.00 – 4.00pm. Maths staff will run a Foundation session and a Higher session on the specified topic (please see the attached information).

A Higher tier ‘Stretching to A-Level’ session will run on a Thursday, 3.00 – 4.00, open to Higher tier students.

Christmas Lunch 2016 - Tuesday 13th December

One day only, available to all Year groups

£2.75

No advance payment needed. Students can top up their catering cards as usual

The Express Lane, with limited hot snacks and pasta, will still be available for students not participating in the Christmas Lunch event

FSM students are entitled to this dinner and their daily allowance on this day will be increased accordingly