Pastoral Support Administrator

We are a highly successful, community mixed comprehensive school with Teaching School status in a pleasant rural setting only 5 miles from the centre of Cambridge. We currently have nearly 2,000 11-18 pupils on roll including our sixth form centre that opened in September 2011.

Our pupils are well motivated, staff morale is excellent and examination results at KS4 and KS5 were outstanding: Both attainment and progress measures regularly and consistently put the school in the top 5% of all state comprehensive schools. The school has consistently been rated by Ofsted as Outstanding over very many years and was rated Outstanding again in all 5 areas in November 2024.

The College

Comberton Village College was opened in 1960. As a Cambridgeshire Village College, it was designed to be a centre for the life of its community and to provide quality education for pupils aged between 11 and 16. This remains the case today.

In 1974, the school became fully comprehensive and, in April 1993, it became grant-maintained. It changed to a Foundation School and more recently became a Foundation School with a Trust: the Comberton Educational Trust. In February 2011 the school became an Academy overseen by the CAM Academy Trust. The pupil roll is nearly 2,000 while over 2,000 adults use the college for a wide range of continuing education and leisure activities. A £7 million building programme was completed in 2003 that has significantly enhanced a whole range of the school’s facilities, including major new leisure facilities. A further £4 million building project provided further specialist teaching and learning facilities across a range of subject areas and has been in use since September 2009.

Our Sixth Form opened in September 2011 following the completion of a £9.5 million building project. It offers a strong suite of academic courses, across the subject areas in conjunction with The AQA Baccalaureate, as well as applied courses. This exciting development has enabled students from Comberton to complete their sixth-form studies with us as well as providing opportunities for students from other local schools. There are already over 320 students in the Sixth Form and this is set to expand further.

The Cam Academy Trust

The Cam Academy Trust was formed in 2011.

The Trust is currently made up of seven primary phase schools and four secondary schools, three of which have  Sixth Forms. We are excited that a third Sixth Form is due to open at Cambourne Village College in 2024.

Our Primary phase schools are Everton Heath Primary School (just inside Bedfordshire), Gamlingay Village Primary, Jeavons Wood Primary School, Cambourne, Offord Primary School, Offord D’Arcy, Hartford Infant and Pre-School, Hartford Junior School and Thongsley Fields Primary and Nursery School, Huntingdon. Bourn Primary Academy joined as the first Associate Member in 2021.

Our Secondary schools are: Comberton Village College (and Sixth Form), Cambourne Village College (and Sixth Form), Melbourn Village College and St Peter’s School (and Sixth Form), Huntingdon.

We are entering a period of potential growth for our family of schools..

Standards

Comberton Village College has received a full Ofsted inspection on four occasions since 2000: in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2024. On each occasion, the overall effectiveness grade has been ‘outstanding’. In the latest inspection in 2024 it was rated Outstanding again in all 5 areas in November 2024. 50264498 (ofsted.gov.uk)

Broad Education

The school’s formal day runs from 8.30 a.m. to 2.50 p.m. with 6 timetabled lessons of 50 minutes each day. Pupils see their tutors daily and have a weekly assembly.

However, we believe that true education is broad and should develop character and individual interest. Given this, there is also a very full and wide-ranging extra-curricular programme that runs each day from 3.00 p.m. There are also many school trips and visits, both national and international. We have significant school partnerships that involve exchanges in Europe, Peru, South Africa and Mozambique.

We consider the following as very important:

· Our major Duke of Edinburgh programme. Most pupils do the Bronze award with many continuing to Silver. Some now also progress to the Gold award in our Sixth Form.

· We have held the Arts Mark Gold Award for a number of years, a symbol of our commitment to excellence and breadth in Arts education and provision.

· We have been accredited as a British Council International School since 2002, a sign of our commitment to the international dimension of education.

Aims and Values

At the heart of what we do are fundamental aims and values relating to education. The Cam Academy Trust has five core principles that must be central to all Academies in the Trust. These have been at the heart of Comberton Village College for many years:

· The Excellence Principle. Education must be of highest of standards and lead to high achievement.

· The Comprehensive Principle. Excellent education must be for all pupils of all types and abilities.

· The Henry Morris Principle. Education should be rooted in and serve its local community.

· The Partnership Principle. We should always look to work in effective partnership with others for mutual benefit.

· The International Principle. There must be a clear international dimension to education.

Within these over-arching principles, we seek to ensure that all of our pupils reach their full, positive potential and become:

CAPABLE in the skills relevant to their future lives and in having the knowledge   which will increase their understanding, appreciation and interest in the world in   which they live.

CARING of others and considerate of the mutual dependence human beings have    on each other.

CONFIDENT of their worth because they have developed their strengths,   understood their weaknesses and learnt that they can achieve success.