On Wednesday 11th June 2008, CCSS Film and Media students presented their work from the academic year at the College’s "Oscars" ceremony. Participants competed in a range of categories which were judged by the audience on the night: film sequences, opening sequences to thrillers, short films, and documentary extracts.

"And the winners were....": Cosimo Menotti (pictured here) for “Tony Palmer”, showing a student at a new college breaking under pressure, Alba Santiago- Blair and Pablo Bruhn-Rodriguez for “Dead Or Alive”, a psychological thriller about a man haunted by a recurrent nightmare and Simon Every for “Dan” where a Jack-the-Lad figure's relationships become a surreal comedy.

Laura Hadridge was called the Female Actor of the Year and Ed Meacher has become the Male Actor of the Year.

The “Film of the Year” award was won by Upper Sixth Media students Adam Hodges and Erik Selby for their drama documentary about the case of David Kelly “The Real Thing”.

CCSS students and teachers presented the results of their work during the academic year at the Visual Arts Exhibition and Fashion Show on 25th June 2008.
 
Charlie Ritchie, Head of Visual Arts and Media at CCSS said “The fashion show kicked off the evening with a bang. It was organised by the students themselves and they did a fine job of turning a canteen into a catwalk. The exhibition showcased the wonderful variety of individual work that students are producing across the four areas of fine art, graphics, photography, and fashion and textiles. It is a golden opportunity for people to have a look at what goes on at our Arts Department, and it was great to see families, friends, and students old and new share in the creative discoveries of the year.”

Video: Neil Roskilly, Principal presents the exhibition.

Pictured here is a dress designed by the Upper Sixth student Megan Evans shown by Donna Bramhall, the Fashion and Textiles teacher.

We are delighted to confirm that three students from CCSS have started their studies at the University of Cambridge this academic year.

Kamolchanok Chewapreech has gone on to read Natural Sciences at Magdalene College, Yip Luk is at Hughes Hall reading Economics, and Katy Winter is reading Social and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi.
 
The University of Cambridge is in second place at the QS World University Rankings 2007.

Another twelve students have gained places at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University College London, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Edinburgh University, and the University of Manchester. All these institutions are among the top 30 universities in the world (in overall or subject rankings).
 
Congratulations also to Harvey Stephenson who gained a place at Brown University, which is ranked fourteenth in the US.

Students, teachers and parents at CCSS are celebrating the overwhelmingly positive results of the ISI inspection recently conducted at the college. Inspectors said that “CCSS provides a high quality educational experience”, achieving its aim of providing an individual approach to every student. They also rated teaching as “high quality” and pastoral care as “outstanding”.

Inspectors commended the high standards of students’ achievement, as well as the college’s substantial enrichment opportunities, particularly for gifted and talented students. Parents interviewed by the Independent Schools Inspectorate were particularly pleased about the range of subjects on offer and the help provided for students to make progress.

Students commented that teachers are “always there for them”. Inspectors went on to say that the individual approach and respect for every student promoted by the college, builds self-confidence in young people.“Students are attentive, fluent and read intelligently. They are morally aware, respect rules and enjoy their work”, inspectors said. They also praised the “strong” leadership in the college and described support for students as “exceptional”.  

“We are delighted with the inspectors’ findings, said Neil Roskilly, the Principal of the college. Parents and students have always praised our approach, but it is particularly pleasing when this is officially recognised”. Read the full inspection report here.

This year’s Art and Language study trip was to the vibrant city of Barcelona in the Catalan region of Spain. The itinerary included the city’s Gothic Quarter, Montjuic – the hills to the south of the city where the Olympic Games and World Exhibitions were held and the Miró Foundation to see the largest collection of works by this major surrealist artist and native of the city. Highlights also included the Museum of Catalan Art, where students were able to study at first hand superb examples of Romanesque fresco painting cut from regional churches, stunningly accommodated in life size reconstructions.

CCSS students also enjoyed the Casa Milá, the outstanding example of Antoni Gaudí’s Modernisme style of architecture, as well as the architect’s Temple of the Holy Family and Güell Park from where students admired the views of the city. The final day took the party to the Palace of Catalan Music to admire the famous glass ceiling constructed from thousands of recycled bottles.

The college sports teams have been praised for their achievements throughout the academic year, and received medals and certificates for this outstanding performance during the CCSS Sports Awards ceremony on 7th May.

It was a very successful year for the CCSS football team who finished second in their division of the University colleges league, earning promotion for next year. The basketball team narrowly missed out on the play offs and the volleyball team has been playing against some strong adult sides, now they are at the top of group 2.

The lower 6th Geography group braved strong winds and a rather long walk along Blakeney spit on their recent trip to Norfolk.

The group studied spit formation and sand dune succession in preparation for their Geographical skills examination. They also visited Norwich and studied urban regeneration in the city.

CCSS held a grand anniversary dinner on 20th March 2008 to celebrate its 25th anniversary and to raise money for a new student bursary.

CCSS was established in 1980s by three individuals: Alan Dawson, Hilary Kirby and Paul Redhead, who then sold the college for one pound to a newly organised charitable trust in 2001.

More than 120 guests came for the 25th Anniversary Founders’ Dinner to celebrate the achievements of the school and to raise funds to help less privileged students.

Principal of CCSS, Neil Roskilly, said, “The dinner in honour of our founders came at a wonderful time for the college. As well as being our 25th anniversary, we have just received an outstanding report from inspectors who visited the college in February. It was also lovely to see everyone who has helped to make CCSS such a special place to work and learn represented at the dinner – Trustees, staff, ex-students, parents and of course our current pupils, who are at the heart of everything we do.”

On 14th March 2008 students and staff of the college ran a mile on Parker’s Piece in Cambridge to raise money for the Sport Relief initiative.

Sport Relief is a nationwide fundraising campaign which helps vulnerable people living incredibly tough lives both at home in the UK and in the world's poorest countries.

CCSS has announced a new scholarship for pupils from the maintained sector schools in Cambridge.

The new scholarship for the 2008/9 academic year is aimed to pupils who wish to study AS and A-Levels at CCSS with the aim of entering a UK university. The scholarship is worth 100% remission of fees, currently £5060 per academic term (£15180 annually), over two years of study.

The scholarship is named after one of the college's founders, Paul Redhead (pictured), whose vision along with the joint founders, Hilary Kirby and Alan Dawson, helped establish CCSS in 1981.

The applicants are encouraged to apply through the school where they currently study.

For more information click here

This year’s CCSS Christmas card was designed by Wilson Li who studies Fashion and Textile, Fine Art, and Graphics at the college.

The card is called “First snow - view of Cambridge from Castle Hill”.

The annual analysis just published by the University of Durham showed that every student at Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies (CCSS) earned on average one extra AS grade higher than they would have done if they had attended other schools or colleges participated in the survey – in every subject. In subjects such as Physics, Psychology, German, Sociology, Chemistry and Law students earned a whole A-Level grade higher.

“These are remarkable results,” says Neil Roskilly, Principal at CCSS. “The figures place us among the top schools and colleges in the country in terms of value-added. It is testament to the hard work of our students and teachers, as well as small classes and individual attention. In addition to normal classes, all of our students get a private lesson with every teacher each week. We know that this makes a huge difference to the chances of every student.”

Congratulations to our students Oliver Renwick, Jaye Chin-Wadsworth and Philipp Knoll on their impressive performance in Cambridge round of the annual 'Youth Speaks' public speaking competition organised by the Rotary Club on 29th of November.

Competing as a team, Oliver was the Speaker, Jaye had the role of Chairperson, and Philipp was the Proposer of the Vote of Thanks, our students presented ‘A Convenient Truth ‘topic, where Oliver focused on some of the benefits of global warming rather than the detrimental effects and threats.

The speech of Philipp Knoll was specially regarded with the prize for the best Proposer of the Vote of Thanks (adding to the prize he won in last year’s competition for best Summariser).

This December students from CCSS celebrated their success in the UK Maths Challenge, the biggest national maths competition aimed at young people aged from 11 to 18.

This year’s Maths Challenge in the senior group was taken by 85,000 students from around the country – with only 6 percent earning the prestigious gold awards.

A much higher percentage of gold awards has been achieved at CCSS. 20.7 percent (6 pupils) of all participated students won Gold certificates, awarded to: Nutthaporn Sethasathien, Dissaya Kaewyoungjit, Paveen Suthisripok, Bin Chen, Daojin He and Tian Sun.

CCSS students were also awarded seven Silver and seven Bronze certificates.

The event, organised by Elaine Jarman, Head of Science at CCSS, is now in its 19th year and each year students who came to Cambridge from all around the world raise up to £2,000 for children and young people in the UK.

The Paul Redhead prizes have been instituted to mark exceptional achievement and commitment in the academic and wider life of the College. The Prizes include a mix of a cash award, bookshop vouchers and a credit against the college fees, with a total value per student of £700.

The winners, Annastazia Learoyd, Fay Robinson, Sasin Kirakul, Atipat Patharagulpong and Tak Wa Lam were congratulated at the prize ceremony on 1st of November.

A local branch of Handelsbanken, one of Sweden’s leading banks has contributed to the awards.

The Nuffield Science Bursaries is a highly competitive programme open to students studying sciences on a two year programme. It enables them to take part in a defined research project during the summer holidays.

Anna studies Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics at CCSS. She has applied to read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Anna was awarded a Nuffield Bursary to undertake a project to study the neural pathways underlying addictive behaviour at the Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge.

Oluwaseyi studies Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and she has applied to study Chemical Engineering at the Imperial College in London. Oluwaseyi was awarded a bursary to undertake a project in chemical engineering, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Oluwaseyi went on to win the national BA Crest award. The award from the British Association for the Advancement of Science is a nationally recognised accreditation scheme for project work in the fields of science and technology aimed at students aged 11-19.

CCSS aims to develop innovative forms of teaching and learning as a result of the new partnership with two schools in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) and Istanbul (Turkey).

This new partnership is a part of the Comenius Partnerships promoted by the European Union's Socrates Scheme. The purpose of Comenius Partnership is to enable pupils, students and staff from across Europe to work together on joint projects and to improve professional development of staff directly involved in the education sector.

The beginning of the new partnership was marked by a visit of a group of teachers and students from Emscher-Lippe College, Germany, to Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies in September.

"We all know how refreshing it can be to work outside our normal schedules and networks, and how this has the potential to enrich both our teaching and learning strategies. It is an invitation to reflect on important aspects of the educational experience, to develop new ideas and aims by comparing practices across national boundaries, and to apply these ideas and aims to every day work." said Sylvie Chastagnol, Joint Head of Languages at CCSS and the curator of the project.

The third member of the partnership is the Upper School in Buyucekmece, near Istanbul in Turkey.

The joint team of the three colleges will focus on the "whole-school development" and on possible ways to enhance the students' autonomy with the main aim of developing innovative forms of teaching and learning.

A warm and inspiring performance has been given by CCSS students at one of the most popular city musical venues, the West Road Concert Hall, on 29th September. Three different musical and performing styles presented by our students blended in one enjoyable event.

The evening started with an exhibition of Student Art: photography, graphics, fine art and fashion, followed by a drinks reception (no alcohol for the students under 18 years of age, of course) and the concert.

The three talented performers were: Atipat (Ming) Patharagulpong (classic pianist), Ed Meacher, guitarist and songwriter, and Jaye Chin-Wadsworth who presented a selection of works, modern and traditional including aria singing and theatre performance.

"It was a great pleasure to hear the performances given by the three young men who showed a remarkable level of talent.", said one of the guests.

CCSS has reported record-breaking results in this year's A-level examinations: 99% of students have got A-E grades and 81% of students have got A-C grades.

Neil Roskilly, Principal, said that "these are a wonderful set of results of which the students and their parents can be rightly proud. Our very strong record of university placements reflects their own hard work, plus the close guidance and expert teaching that CCSS provides."

Noam Harris was amongst the group of AQA candidates who scored one of the top 5 marks in the History A-Level this summer. There were 8775 candidates entered for this examination so this is an exceptional result. Noam will study History and Psychology at Leeds University after graduating from CCSS.

Claire Chewapreecha has marked the end of her studies at the college with 4 "A" grades in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Claire is planning to read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

Alex Williams chose CCSS to retake his A-levels. His hard work was rewarded with 3 "A" grades in Economics, Government and Politics, and History. "I am ecstatic at having achieved 3 "A" grade A-levels and 3 Academic Extension Awards. I plan to apply to read History at Cambridge next year and will spend my second gap year working in politics", said Alex.

Igor Kim has received 3 "A"s in Economics, Business Studies and Russian. "I had a difficult time while doing my A-levels. It is the faith that my parents, friends and the college had in me that gave me the strength to get through this time and receive such high grades. Triple A is what "bad boys" can achieve! It is all about "location, location, location" - CCSS!" Igor is going to Royal Holloway, University of London to read for a BSc degree in Management.