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St Ivo School

    Overview

    Overview

    Extra-Curricular Activities

    You may also be interested in the clubs page.

    Sport

    In addition to their timetabled PE and games lessons, Years 7 to 10 also take part in a series of inter-form tournaments. These usually take place across a whole morning, with all students from the year group participating, but some tournaments are held at lunchtimes. A trophy is awarded to the winning form in each year group. Forms learn to work together as a team, and students enjoy the competition.

    Clubs are organised for a range of sports: rugby, football, hockey, netball, cricket, tennis, short tennis, basketball, badminton, rounders and athletics. Clubs are open to all students, regardless of ability. There is also a comprehensive midweek fixture list involving teams from St Ivo competing with other local secondary schools. St Ivo students are invited to trials for District and County teams. Please see our sporting success page for more details.

    Dance

    During the week the Dance Department runs a number of lunchtime and after school clubs such as Tap, Ballet, Key Stage 3, Street Dance, Reflex, Rebound and Ivo Dance Companies. Please refer to our clubs timetable page for more information. Every November the department produces our annual performance of Ivolution, a dance show held at the Burgess Hall where dancers from every year group, clubs, and BTEC courses perform to live audiences. The department also holds a smaller performance during the spring term in the school's main hall. The department has recently added a new charity event, "Dance Dash" in which Year 11 students create a dance to perform as many times as possible in as many locations as possible during one day, all in aid of Sport/Comic Relief. Our students regularly perform in events at DanceEast in Ipswich, watch live performances on trips, lead dance activities at local primary schools and participate in workshops led by visiting professional dance artists.

    Drama and Theatre Studies

    Throughout the year there are a number of performances in drama; we will be presenting ‘Cabaret’ at the Burgess Hall in February and holding a number of performances of exam pieces in the drama studio in March. In June we will be presenting our annual showcase of Year 10 drama. During the course of this year we will be taking students from each year group to a West End show.

    Languages

    Students in Year 9 are offered the opportunity to complete the British Airways Flag Award in German and French. The students work on the following skills: having a conversation; making a public announcement; taking part in a day to day customer service role play; and interpreting.

    Students in Years 9-13 study Latin language and the culture of Pompei in twilight sessions. They particularly enjoy the videos of life in Pompei and Pliny’s letters about the eruption of Vesuvius.

    Music

    We have numerous peripatetic instrumental teachers at St Ivo, teaching 1:1 lessons to students on strings, brass, drum kit, voice, piano and keyboard, woodwind, guitar and ukulele and recorder. These are taught by private music teachers who come into school on a weekly basis, and we aim to give access to these lessons to all students although there is a cost involved to parents/carers. Students can take up these lessons at any point in their time at St Ivo.

    We also have 13 free extracurricular music clubs on offer: Junior Choir, Barbershop, Vocalise, Steel pans, Samba band, Guitars and ukuleles, Recorder Group, Swing Band, Theory club, Concert band, Folk group and a range of chamber ensembles. These all happen either at lunchtime or from 3-4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The department holds four concerts per year (November, December, March and June) which are of an exceptionally high standard, and also regularly contributes to community events such as the St Ives carnival, concerts in St Ives and Cambridge and charity events.

    Mathematics

    Students in all years enter national competitions organised by the UK Mathematics Trust, with a number gaining certificates. Each year, up to nine Year 8 students take part in a series of five mathematics workshops in Cambridge. The Saturday morning workshops are organised under the auspices of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Speakers include university lecturers, and participants work on challenging areas of mathematics outside the school curriculum.

    Press Matters

    Items are released to the local press regarding school or individual achievements.

    Eco-Ivo

    The Eco-Ivo group comprises students who are interested and enthusiastic about getting involved in environmental projects both locally, nationally and globally. Meetings are held every fortnight in the geography department to discuss strategies for promoting eco ideas and events and for raising environmental awareness in school.

    Over the past year the group has been instrumental in maintaining a high Fairtrade profile in school with an event each term. We were runners up in the Huntingdon District Council Green Hearts Community Awards; we have entered a bid each year since the start of these awards and were touched by the words that were expressed about the school on the night, "St Ivo has always been an environmental beacon amongst schools in Huntingdonshire and 2012 has been another successful year for all involved in environmental activities with the school." Further work has been focused on the recycling of textiles and to this end the school has been in collaboration with St Ives Town Football Club to site a textile bank on the far end of the Rec Centre car park. The theme of textile recycling will be promoted by the Environmental Network (organised and run by Stuart Nunn, St Ivo geography teacher) which coordinates work between St Ivo and the local primary schools. Further afield, we are still supporting the rescue of albatross chicks in the South Pacific by collecting stamps and closer to home, we are strong supporters of Holt Island Nature Reserve.

    Meetings are held in N21 on Thursdays, Week B. All new members welcome!

    Duke of Edinburgh

    St Ives DofE Open Award group have been offering DofE programmes to young people in the local area for over 20 years. The current coordinator has grown the programme from 8 participants, 20 years ago, to a current annual cohort of around 90 young people at Bronze, Silver and Gold level of DofE. The Award group thrives due to the continued commitment of a strong team of volunteer leaders and helpers. It is the largest Open Award group in Cambridgeshire.

    We operate out of Broad Leas centre in St Ives and run as an Independent Award group in partnership with the St Ives Locality team. As an Open Award group we can take young people from any educational establishment and even those who have full time jobs or who are home schooled. All are welcome from Year 9 upwards.

    Young people can join a DofE Award from Year 9 at Bronze level, moving to Silver level in Year 10 and Gold level after their 16th birthday. Young people are accepted at any level provided they meet the age requirements, they do not have to work their way through all the Award levels.

    The Award itself is built by the young people depending on their interests and activities. It is split into 4 sections at Bronze and Silver Level and 5 sections at Gold Level. Each section has equal merit and the whole award cannot be gained without completing all the sections.

    Young people must take part in a Volunteering activity, a Physical activity, a Skill activity and an Expedition. At Gold a Residential experience is also a requirement.

    Many activities that young people already do can be used to help them to gain their DofE Award, eg Music lessons are a Skill, football club are a Physical or helping out at cubs is Volunteering.
    At St Ives Open Group we monitor and guide young people in their choices and support them along the way until they have fully completed their award. We also operate a full training programme for the Expedition section of the DofE Award at all levels. Expeditions at Bronze take place in neighbouring counties, at Silver we go slightly further away, choosing The Peak District, Shropshire Hills or The Pennines, and at Gold all expeditions must take place in “Wild Country”. In the past we have completed assessed expeditions in The Dales, The Lake District and in Wales. We have even started doing cycling expeditions at Bronze level as well as the traditional walking expeditions.

    Any DofE Award at any level is an important part of a young person’s CV as it shows their commitment to a range of activities over a period of time. All DofE Awards are looked on very highly by UCAS, and employers, a recent survey showed that employers regard DofE second only to exam passes. The Gold Award is the culmination of the range of Awards and is particularly highly regarded because of the time and effort it requires to complete.

    It really is worthwhile taking on the challenge and making yourself stand out from the crowd.

    Recruitment at St Ives Open group takes place in the Autumn term every year before October half term.

    If you would like to find out more send please email tracy@stivesdofe.co.uk or tracy.grant@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

    Other Opportunities

    The ‘Green Fingers Club’ originated about 15 years ago and with the Crazy Compost Company acts as the fund raising arm of the Animal Shed Club which looks after the school rabbits and guinea pigs. The Green Fingers Club grows bedding plants, leeks and rhubarb for sale to staff and the public and the Crazy Compost Company recycles the animal waste into garden compost or mulch. Around £650 gross is raised in this way each year and the profits used for repairs, veterinary bills and investing in new plant or animal stock.

    During the past 10 years the Green Fingers Club has been actively involved in developing the school garden, a plot of land adjacent to the old St Ives golf course. Each stage of the original development was entered into a national garden competition for the under 18s. The club’s vegetable clocks, Garden of Reflection and biodiversity garden won the eastern region heat of each competition entered and as such went on to represent the region in national finals.

    Today, emphasis is placed on providing habitats for wildlife and we can boast seeing Muntjak deer, grass snakes, great crested newts, increasing numbers of birds, butterflies and dragonflies. We are also undertaking a small series of plant trials to determine the best food/nectar sources for bees.

    We have also invested in several raised bed containers. In a trial, students have been growing vegetables with a view to creating their own menus. We hope to extend this trial in future years.

    As a part of our International Schools status the RE department has arranged many international learning opportunities for the students and has undertaken a project with the British Council. Under their Global Schools Partnership programme we were lucky enough to be twinned with a private International School in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Students in both schools were involved in learning opportunities and projects to share with each other. The main aim of these projects, was to learn about our own heritage and traditions, and those of our friends in the school abroad. We were also be able to challenge misconceptions and understand what it means to be a global citizen in the twenty first century. These projects were enhanced by a teacher exchange programme which allowed teachers from each country to spend time in each other's schools sharing good practice. We are currently twinned with a private school in Delhi, India carrying out the same tasks and exploring the possibility of a student exchange to India. It is a wonderful opportunity for the schools to be able to do this and for the children to benefit in their learning in such a unique way with the support of the British Council. As a result of this partnership with India students from Years 10 - 13 visited India last October to meet their friends in the school in Delhi which we have been working with. The children from the school in India will be visiting us in September as a part of the exchange programme. Under the International Status we have also been creating links with Rwanda, Poland and China. The activities have included video conferencing and sharing live link up lessons with other children and teachers in classrooms and offices around the world. Projects in geography department have also involved our students visiting others in, for example, Soweto in South Africa as well as letter exchange with a tsunami-hit school in Japan. All these projects have helped to broaden the children’s learning experiences and horizons in a unique and special way.

    Charity Events

    The school has a long tradition of raising money for charity. Many students participate in the British Heart Foundation Sponsored Swim and profits from activities organised by the year councils are usually donated to charities chosen by the year group. The following gives a snapshot of past activities:

    Year Councils

    Each year group has a Year Council, with elected representatives from each form. The councils organise social events, raise money for various charities, make decisions about donations to charity and provide a forum for discussion of issues concerning the school, its environment and community. The Year Councils are often consulted about matters of school policy.

    St Ives Youth Town Council

    This council was set up in 1999, with proper elections held in the school. Each year group has two representatives and the council has made major contributions to the planning of the St Ives Carnival and other celebrations. Five members of the council visited their counterparts in Stadtallendorf. A major project has been setting up youth groups in the town and working on the St Ives regeneration.