ISA East Anglian Cross Country Trials

23 pupils from Year 4 to Year 10 joined 22 other school teams to take part in the ISA East Anglian Cross Country Trials last week.  Despite some tough conditions with mud underfoot and a challenging course, everyone had a great time and gave of their best with some noteworthy results.  Having come in the top 10 in their races, Kitty M, Annabel S (both Y4) and Maxwell B (Y10) will all be going to the ISA Nationals at Worksop College on the 20th March.  There was some great team spirit in action, with younger pupils running alongside older pupils as they completed their longer courses.  (Year’s 4-6 ran 2.1km, Year’s 7-8 ran 2.6km, Year 10 girls ran 2.6km and Year 10 boys ran 3.1km.)  Special mention must also be given to Sandy M and Sam R (both Year 6) who came respectively 12th and 17th out of 112 runners.  We look forward to next year’s event with a lot of enthusiasm from our Heritage team.

Infants Prepare for Chinese New Year

We were delighted to welcome parents, Mr and Mrs Wei and Mrs Wu, to the Infant School for the afternoon to share with us some of the typical Chinese traditions surrounding the Chinese New Year.  This lasts for about 15 days, starting with the Festival of the Dragon and ending with the Festival of the Lanterns. The children played several games, accompanied by Mr Wei on the harmonica and looked at some beautiful Chinese banners handwritten by Mr Wei’s father. They heard how the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac ran in a great race and worked out in which Chinese year we were born. Upper Prep then enjoyed making a variety of pictures using traditional tangram shapes while Year 2 enjoyed creating their own Chinese lantern.

Heritage Joins Cambridge Power House Games

12 pupils from Heritage were delighted to join with Impington Village College, Castle Hill School and Cambridge University Netball and Rugby Club for the Cambridge Power House Games 2020.  This was a day of inclusive sport embracing both ability and disability. Located at the Cambridge University Sports Centre, each team was made up of roughly one member from each school. The teams took part in a rotation of 6 activities led by John Willis, of https://www.power2inspire.org.uk/ including Sitting Netball, Walking Football and Goal Ball – a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. (Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponents’ goal. Eyeshades allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players.)

Eveyone greatly enjoyed the day, especially being with such a broad mix of participants.  We would like especially to thank Power2inspire and look forward to working with them again in the near future!

Mock Election

Seniors are holding a mock election today, alongside the general election. In their assembly this morning they filed past voting stations to vote and put their ballot papers in the ballot box for counting. We look forward to announcing the winner tomorrow (Friday) morning!
Our mock election started three weeks ago. Mr Burden explained the rules. All Senior were put into groups to discuss an agenda for the nation. Mr Burden then re-organised the groups so that those with similar concerns were together. Each group then had to invent their own party name and clarify their manifesto. We insisted they invent new party names to keep them focussed upon issues and not tribal family loyalties!
At our assembly two weeks ago, eight parties put forward their manifestos and we held a vote at the end of the assembly to narrow down a short-list of four parties. Pupils were not allowed to vote for their own party. Then, last week, the four party leaders put forward their manifestos in advance of today’s vote. They were asked to identify about five key policy goals. Here is the choice our pupils face…
Blue Party, led by Holly Webb, Y10: remain in the EU; refocus spending in the NHS toward prevention and mental health; free transport for young people and students; reduce university costs and aim to make them free again; eliminate single use plastics.
Green Liberal Socialists, led by Maxwell Buchanan, Y10: stop Brexit to help trade and national security; net zero emissions by 2035; increase funding for the NHS; increase tax on those earning over £150,000 per year to invest in state schools and fund environment plans.
Democratic Republicans, led by William Lauga, Y10: stop Brexit; increase funding to the NHS; more funding to various charities like Cancer Research; increase taxes on the very wealthy; make all public busses electric by 2025 and reduce fares; more bike lanes; ban single use plastics.
Bureaucratic Socialist Union, led by Peter Graham, Y11: labour front to employ those with lower skills or those becoming bankrupt; higher taxes on those earning over £60,000; poll tax of £2,000 per year; 40,000 more police officers; 20,000 more nurses and pay increase for nurses; ban private health care; pay increase for state school teachers; cheaper, cleaner more reliable public transport; nationalise industries to help manage environment better; extradition of prisoners to outer Scotland to work in the labour front.
Pupils did a fantastic job of thinking about and presenting their manifestos to their peers! We will leave you to decide whether their manifestos fill you with hope for the future or make you recoil in fear! We will add the winner of the election to this news piece after it is announced on Friday morning.

Troy: Myth and Reality

Year 7 and Year 8 pupils spent a wonderful day at the British Museum exploring their major Autumn exhibition: Troy, Myth and Reality. The galleries are full of stunning art, artefacts and sculpture which tell the story and reflect changing responses to the great Trojan War through the ages.  Having examined The Origins of the War pupils were amazed by the replica of the wooden horse that led to The Capture of Troy . The reconstruction of Heinrich Schliemann’s trench then beckoned the group on to  The Excavation of Troy  before the final gallery containing many pieces of modern art sparked a lively discussion about what really constitutes art at all!

Year 7 then went on to look at the Parthenon sculptures while Year 8 looked at the ‘Top Ten items to see at the Museum’ and voted on the Aztec Double Headed Serpent as their favourite.