HIGHLIGHTS

2019/2020

WEDNESDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER—-FIRST DAY

7ABk, 7BR, 7CM, 7DMc, 7KS, 7MBa, 7RD, 7RMa, 7RP

Focus on Biology

Success, Success, Success

August was a fantastic month again for the Biology department, we continued our

success with our A level results with 5 A grades and 2 A*s

So well done to Rachael, Izzy, Josh, Grace, Holly and Patrick They all thoroughly

deserved their success as they had worked tremendously hard throughout the two

years of the course.

The GCSE results continued to be excellent . Special mention must go to Libby, Zak,

Isaaq, Molly, Lucy and Cameron who obtained 9s in all three of the science subjects.

Overall all the results in the Science Department continued to be excellent and were a true reflection of all the hard work that

both staff and students had put in over the previous two years.

18 Year 9 students are mentoring

the Year 7’s this year, which in-

cludes a number of responsibili-

ties, from giving up their own

time, to helping out in registration

time once a week. This week they

have been at Court Hill helping

and supporting the students. Well done to the following students for being chosen as a mentor.

Maxwell, Bella, Amelie, Lili, Jade, Alex, Molly, Nina, Ben, Luke, Sophie, Rhianna, Charlie, Katie, Freddie, Ashton, Phoebe, Oliver

Rehearsals for our upcoming performance of Hamlet at the Cornerstone, Didcot.

Uganda 2019 This year 22 students

and 2 staff travelled to

Uganda for our annual

trip to

visit

our

partnership school.

CROSS COUNTRY NEWS

It’s been a busy few weeks for the Sports Leaders and cross country runners. The

Sports Leaders did a fantastic job acting as marshals for the Faringdon Primary

event and then recently for the

Vale competition which involved

over 400 children.

A special mention to Izzie in Year 7 who came first overall and Rosie who finished in

third. Also Phoebe in Year 9 who came third.

Finally, a huge thankyou to Lord Faringdon and his family for allowing us to use the

beautiful Buscot Park for our events.

Well done everyone. Mrs Kenyon

Congratulations FCC Rugby players.

Vale champions: Year 9 team and Year 10

team

TENNIS NEWS….

On Wednesday 25th September, 4 boys from Year 10 and 11 took part in the Tennis

Division 2 Regional Finals at the White Horse centre in Abingdon. They were able to

qualify for this tournament as they had won their division the previous academic year,

so they knew the standard of competition would be high on the day. The boys each

played a singles and doubles against three other schools, with some standout singles

performances from Max, winning all his matches.

The high standard of tennis being played by all schools was noted by the match

referee, and the FCC boys played some great matches.

Well done to Ollie, Jack, Max and Charlie!

Mr McHenry

On the 11th hour….of the 11th day…… of the 11th

month…....We shall remember them…………..

Almost 1400 staff and students observed a two minute’s silence.

Students who are involved in the services cadets’ programmes wore

their uniforms and laid wreaths. The students

behaved impeccably and were very respectful

throughout their time on the courts.

Words, words, words. (Hamlet, Act II, Scene II)

Words are all we tend to think about when considering the plays of William Shakespeare

but the cast of the Shakespeare Schools Festival production of Hamlet gave the audience

so much more than the lines written on

the page. Their steampunk circus version

of Hamlet provided a telling of revenge,

murder, love and madness through the

storytelling magic of music, movement and ensemble work, all layered on top of the

beautiful language of Shakespeare

SPANISH TRIP TO BARCELONA

41 Spanish GCSE students travelled

to Barcelona along with 4 teachers.

This was to help us all improve for

our upcoming Spanish exams, but

to also introduce us to the culture

within the city as well.

Oxfordshire Book Awards Ceremony 2019

On the 13th November 12 students from FCC

attended the Oxfordshire Book Awards at

Oxford High School. We had read the

shortlisted books and voted for our favourites

and this trip was our chance to watch the prize

giving ceremony and meet the winning authors.

On Monday 2nd December FCC Singers and FCC Boys Choir participated in the

NPSCC Christmas concert held at All Saint’s Church in Faringdon.

The evening was a huge success, raising over £800 for the charity. It was fantastic

to be part of a community event and both groups sang beautifully.

Well done to Dexter (7RD), Jonny (7DMC), Leo (8SR), James (10KPS), Harvey (7RD),

Gideon (9PSV), Lexie (9SG), Caitlin (9RM), Winnie (7MBA), Rosie (7RD), Emily

(8TF), Matilda (8DC), Lilyana (7RMA), Isla (9SG), Jamie (8AML), Ashton (9PSV), Hope (9PSV), Amelia (10KPS), Nikita (9RJ), Cassie

(8TF) and Maisie (8SR).

Library News…..

Last week saw the return of the

annual Kids’ Lit. Quiz, a world-

wide book quiz for students

aged under 14. The regional

round is held at Cokethorpe

School and FCC Library takes a

team of students to compete

there every year.

Astronomy Visit

Year 10 GCSE Astronomy cohort

visited Kielder International Dark

Sky site for the first Astronomy

residential.

The group stayed at the Tarset Tor

Eco-bunkhouse and spent Friday and Saturday night at the

Battlestead’s Observatory in Wark.

London sixth form

Art trip

On the 3rd December the sixth form

Art students travelled to London to

visit Anthony Gormley’s Art

Exhibition.

CROSS COUNTRY

Congratulations to the students who ran in the

School Games County Cross Country at Radley

College last week. A special mention to Isobel

who came second in the Year 7 girls race.

Christmas Concert 2019

On the 19th December

students performed

in the Christmas

Concert,

which took

place in the

Leisure

Centre.

Christmas hampers

FCC would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that donated

items to our Christmas shoe box and hamper appeal. In total

Megan and her team of helpers had enough donations to create

21 Hampers. These were delivered to a total of 24 Adults, 55

children and 5 babies.

In addition to the hampers, 28 shoe boxes were wrapped, filled

and delivered to Booth House in Swindon. Finally 23 shoe boxes

and 9 Christmas stocking plus a large bag of clean preloved warm

clothes were delivered to the street homeless in Swindon.

Your help and support was greatly appreciated at a time of considerable need for some of the most

vulnerable members of our community.

Youth Speaks

Faringdon Community College tasted success this

week at the annual District finals of the Rotary

Club’s Youth Speaks public speaking competition.

Mr Baker and Faringdon Rotary Group were ac-

companied by three groups of students, who all

competed against each other and a group from

King Alfred’s Academy

A Trip to CERN and Geneva

A large cohort of Year 12 and Year 13

students will be visiting Geneva in

February for a long weekend of

scientific and cultural discovery. The

main focus of the weekend is a guided

tour of the particle accelerator at

CERN. This is the site of the discovery

of the famed Higgs boson. This tiny

particle is used to explain the Higgs

field and the extent to which other

particles interact with this field determines how much mass they acquire.

KS4 Language trip to Paris

In November a group of GCSE

French students ventured to Paris

to immerse themselves in the

culture and improve our French.

On our visit we went to a language

school every day where we could

only speak French. This was

difficult, but this intense

experience greatly enhanced our

French speaking.

CONGRATULATIONS BETH,

HOLLYANNE AND SARAH

Our very talented and hard working Year

13 Theatre

students have

wowed audiences

one last time with

performances of their

final A Level

assessments last

week.

Neasden

The RE

Department

arranged a

fantastic trip to

the Neasden

Hindu Temple

last term and all

of the students thoroughly enjoyed their visit. The RE

Department were particularly impressed with the

excellent and respectful conduct of all of our students

contributing to a great cultural experience for all.

Recently FCC had the

honour of hosting

Dame Jocelyn Bell

Burnell for a lecture

for GCSE

Astronomers, A level

Physics students, and

those who are

interested in Physics. She talked about her discovery of pulsars and her

journey through her impressive education trip mainly through Cambridge. I

was intrigued by her journey and the science behind the discovery, and how

they were detected, and also what pulsars would do if you got close to them,

how fast they spin, and how they come into existence.”

FOOTBALL NEWS

Congratulations to the U13 girls football team and the U13 boys

football team, who competed in the Vale competition. The girls won

their competition, with the boys

coming second. They all

represented FCC fantastically

both in their performances and

their behaviour.

Mrs Kenyon & Mr Tribbick

SKI TRIP 2020

On Saturday 11th January 2020, 84 students and 11 staff departed

for Italy for the annual ski and snowboard trip.

Basketball update

The U13 girls recently competed in the Oxfordshire County Final against Cherwell

School, having come in the top 2 in the league. The girls all played extremely well in

a close fought game, narrowly losing out by 3 baskets. 2nd in the county is a fantastic

achievement, though, especially considering

most have them have been playing basketball

for less than 2 years! Congratulations, girls!

The U16 girls also played against Cherwell school in a league fixture recently, performing

to a very high standard. Unfortunately they lost by just a few points, but I am so proud of

the progress they have made over the years and the sportsmanship they always show.

Miss J Sutton

Winning Poem

The sun has beautifully risen from the wonderful east,

I felt so happy with the magic of life within me released,

There was a bright light, just past the red oak tree.

I saw his big ears, fluffy tail, then his quick feet,

He has to be from heaven, I do give him praise,

He left us evidence, he left us a bitten carrot

And when I got to bed that warm spring night

My mum told me why the egg was the colour white

I thanked my dear mum with kisses and laughter

I told her I loved my basket with the purple wrapper

She said, it was my granny’s idea, I’m her dear child

She said, it’s the meaning of life, to again give me a smile.

Shannon 10GGB

LOCKDOWN MARCH 2020— LEARNING FROM HOME

Gideon 9PSv

COMMENDED

Hand drawn

Easter Cards

SCHOOL UPDATE

It’s been a very different week in school. On Monday, 21 students, from families of key

workers and some of our vulnerable students were in attendance. We’ve been briefing the

students every morning, and debriefing them at the end of the day, to establish good

practice and routines, which is really important for young people. We’ve allocated each

student with a workstation, and a dedicated computer, across three rooms, with staff

supervision. We are in unusual times and the two metre distancing is something which

is really difficult for young people to comprehend. To help them understand the concept

of two metres, my explanation was that it’s equivalent to two large strides, or a Mr

Proffitt!! They are also expected to wash their hands on a regular basis, particularly around

lunchtimes and after using the toilet. On one of the days staff and students worked out to

the Joe Wickes video, which is provided us with some much needed enjoyment

and laughter . During the school day we’ve had a rota in place where staff have provided

cover for many different aspects of school life and I’m grateful for their support.

On Monday we also had our last staff briefing, for the unforeseeable future, for those staff who were able to attend. The meeting

was to establish work patterns and expectations over the coming weeks or maybe months. One of the key tasks is making work

available for the students on Show my Homework. Setting appropriate work for everyone is not easy, as people’s home

circumstances are very different. We have sent out some guidance on establishing routines, which is key, and I hope that this was

useful. We are reviewing the work we are setting all the time and Mr Bew has recently established a Youtube channel for staff to

upload videos. I’ve noticed that in a short time many staff have added to this channel and I’m sure there will be a bank of videos over

time as staff become more proficient and skilled. I gather on Thursday Ms Soto and Mrs Molloy had nearly 200 students in teams

engaging in a Spanish lesson, which is really impressive. Some staff have also been using Edulink to contact students, and the

feedback from the students has been really positive. These are challenging times, but overall I feel that in our first week of

closure there’s been a great effort from staff and students.

The newsletter was not published last week, but I’m sure you understand. For future newsletters I will be looking to showcase some

of the work students are completing at home, and also look to create some competitions for them.

Mr C. Proffitt

Headteacher

Flowers taken by Jack 11TW

The theme is the NHS and Social Care staff. I’m sure you’ll agree that the students have produced some excel-

lent work.

Olivia 7RMa and Lily 7RP Imogen 9PSv

Samantha

10GGBb

How to thank the heroes?

Oh how to thank the great keyworkers,

Battling for us every day,

Oh how to thank the unseen heroes,

Who put in the effort with half the pay?

A mural – a statue,

Something grand and great.

Respect and honour,

My skills to donate.

No – something simple,

Yet still deft and fine

Somehow I must portray my respect,

To our soldiers on the frontline.

I flip through the list, to no avail,

Nothing that I can do,

So here I am, writing this poem,

For those I owe so much to.

Thank you.

Tom 9HC

Jamie Year 12/13 Lockdown Art

Emma

Art has been important for students during lockdown

Holly—Y13

Pippa —Y12 Yasmin—Y12

Tasha —Y12

YEAR 11

ART WORK

Kaycee Eve

Lilian

Eleanor

A huge well done to current Year 10 Art

students who are continuing to make

outstanding progress during lockdown

Lily

Sali

Tasha

Pippa