Year 7 ‘Bag of Business’

In Design Technology, year 7 pupils have made their own canvas ‘Values’ bag.  Over the past few weeks they have designed and made a batch of canvas bags as two separate groups.  They have decided to organise their own Bag production company.  Over the next three weeks they will be producing and selling canvas bags for £3.50 each.  There are two designs: Design A (Owl)  and Design B (figure)  each bag also contains the logo ‘GVC a small school that thinks big’.

Monies raised from the bag sales will contribute towards the cost and expenditure of the bags and any profit will contribute to the purchase of a new sewing machine for pupils to use in their textiles lessons.  Bags can be purchased by completing an order form (available in the school office).  Pupils will be taking forms home later this week.

The New Year and the new term is well under way and a busy time lies ahead for all of us.  Letters have gone home to Year 7 parents reminding them that their parents’ evening will take place next week, Wednesday 21st January. Letters will shortly be sent out to parents of Year 8 pupils to remind them that their parents’ evening will take place on Wednesday, 11th February.

Staff will be involved in formal Values Education training on Wednesday 28th January. This is part of our plan to become an accredited ‘Values Education’ school so that our work in promoting our values, in particular British values is recognised and acknowledged. We will be holding a parents’ session about this later in the term so that we can share with you how being a ‘values’ school will impact on our pupils.

It was wonderful to see over 60 Reception and Year 1 pupils taking part in gymnastic lessons here at GVC recently. Under the expert guidance of Mrs Phillips, the pupils were able to extend their gymnastic skills and their knowledge of movement whilst having a great deal of fun into the bargain. It was good that so many parents were able to come along and watch as well.

Our Year 5 pupils enjoyed joining their fellow pupils at the First School for a skipping workshop this week. Again, the pupils were able to join in some really worthwhile physical activity as well as having a great deal of fun at the same time.  We have pupils taking part in the Indoor Athletics events at Stratton this half term. We will post details of their performance as soon as we have them. 

Our Year 8 pupils are enjoying extending their work in textiles into a business enterprise activity. They have been making cloth bags (carrier-bag shape and size) which they have decorated with their own designs and the statement; ‘GVC, A Small School That Thinks Big!’ As well as developing their skills on a sewing machine, they have also been working on pricing these items, taking into account the cost of materials, labour, etc. They hope to sell them at a profit in order to purchase more sewing machines for the school. Watch this space for further details.  Later on this term we will be staging a Village College Art exhibition and we will also be involved in the World Book Day, Climate Change Week and Fair Trade Week.   

The Parent Forum group has already met (on Tuesday 13th January) and is due to meet next on Tuesday 3rd of March. A reminder of the next meeting will be sent out nearer the date.

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Litchfield onto our staff as our new Head of Maths. Many of you will know her from teaching some of our ex-pupils at Stratton Upper School. We will also be gaining the expertise of Mrs. Luck, who until recently was Head of English at Stratton. She will spend approximately two days a week working with us in her new role of Teacher of Literacy across both schools. We know that both of these colleagues will make a very positive impact on our work here at the Village College.

Week Commencing 19th January 2015

Year 5 Elena Kimm

Year 6 Holly Steward

Year 7 Janya Alexander

Year 8 Ellis Jackson

Week Commencing 13th January 2015

Year 5 Charlotte Fenwick

Year 6 Charlotte Turner                                                 

Year 7 Miles Darlow                  

Year 8 Sophie Ealey     

Week Commencing 6^th January 2015

Year 5   Jack Foster                 

Year 6   Emma Cousins 

Year 7   7Marisa Leech 

Year 8   Lewis Kelly

Week Commencing 1st December

Year 5 Joshua Johnson

Year 6 Hugh Werry

Year 7 Elise Blakey-Izzard

Year 8 Kerry Richardson

There is an opportunity for GVC children to take part in the Level 3 Bikeability Course; this course is free. In order to take part your child would have already passed their Level 2.

Click here to find out more.

Please contact Mrs. Phillips at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact the school office to log your interest.