It has been another busy week this week, and an important milestone with the start of the Year 13 IB exams. We have been hugely impressed with the students so far, and with the mature way in which they have taken this in their stride! We wish them every success over the coming weeks, and also to our Year 11 students who start their GCSEs next Thursday.
Year 10 Information Evening
In a similar vein, we welcomed year 10 parents, carers and students into College on Wednesday evening for our GCSE Information Evening, led by Ms Walker and the team of Lead Practitioners. As always the turnout was very high, and lots of information was shared on a range of topics, from subject-specific exam preparation, to managing wellbeing and stress during the GCSE period. We know that the upcoming internal exams for year 10 will be a good first step in their GCSE preparation.
Sports Labs Trip
This week Mr Potter took some of our IB Sport Science students to Bedfordshire University Sport Science Laboratories to participate in a range of practical experiments, to support with their learning. They also had some careers talks and workshops and a tour of the campus, looking at different opportunities. It was a great chance for the students to try out a range of specialist equipment and to gain inspiration for their internal assessment experiments, which will be coming up soon!
Mayoral Vote Count
Our Global Politics students are very excited to be attending the Mayoral Election Count at South Cambridgeshire Hall today! Mr Gee is taking them to gain first-hand experience of the electoral process, and how the functions work. Based on previous years, it will be a most exciting day!
Elias Kachunga’s Visit
We had a really exciting visit from Elias Kachunga, the number 10 striker for Cambridge United Football Club. Once Elias had been introduced, the conversation was essentially pupil-led, with year 9 and 10 pupils asking him questions about football, life in Cambridge, and speaking a foreign language. Our pupils asked him in German and in English and he switched between both languages. He very kindly stayed longer to sign autographs and be photographed with a lot of pupils!
Bronze D of E Weekend
Last weekend we had over 200 students taking part in the Bronze D of E practice walk. Supported by 12 staff, plus Miss Morgan our D of E Co-ordinator, the students did exceptionally well- with only a few wrong turns, and lots of smiling faces! It has been fantastic to see the growth of the D of E, especially with the Silver Award launching in September, and we are so grateful to the staff for giving up their weekend to support the students.
Leadership Changes
You will be aware from the letter earlier in the week that I will be moving on from IVC at the end of this academic year, to a new post at Comberton Village College and within the Cam Academy Trust. After more than a decade at Impington, having started as an Assistant Principal, it has been an absolute privilege to be a part of this truly unique school. I hope that I will be able to take with me the many things I have learned in my decade here, and use these in a new context to lead a school that shares many commonalities with IVC and where I hope I can make a very positive contribution to the school and wider Trust at an exciting point in its development.
I am incredibly proud of all that the leadership team, staff and students have achieved during my time at the College, from many years of exceptional outcomes, to the wide variety of accolades: Carnegie Gold Mental Health Award, Eco Schools Award, British Council International Schools Award and many more, which reflect our commitment to a broad and balanced education. It is timely that I leave the College as it has received glowing feedback from the IB Evaluation, our highly positive Ofsted report and being named UK Comprehensive School of the Year by the Sunday Times. These achievements belong to our entire College community, and especially the incredible senior leadership team with whom it has been a joy to work during my tenure as Principal. These very strong foundations put them in a brilliant position to continue our ‘relentless’ drive to ‘to continually improve the experiences and achievements of all pupils’ (Ofsted, 2025) and to take the College forward over the coming years.
I will remain in post until the end of August and will do all I can in this time, with my usual enthusiasm and commitment, to ensure that the College is best equipped to continue the incredible successes we have worked towards in my time here. The Local Governing Body will be launching an internal recruitment process shortly, and we will update you on this in due course.
