̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridgeshire County Council

Students from across the country get a taste of studying at Cambridge at the Cambridge Festival

zs332 — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 10:17:46 +0000

We were delighted to welcome pupils from Warrington’s Lymm High School, Ipswich High School, ̽��ֱ��Charter School in North Dulwich, Rickmansworth School, Sutton Valance School in Maidstone as well as schools closer to home such as St Peter’s Huntingdon, Fenstanton Primary School, Barton Primary School, Impington Village College and St Andrews School in Soham.

Running over two days (25/26 March 2025) and held in the Cambridge Sports Centre, students went on a great alien hunt with Dr Matt Bothwell from the Institute of Astronomy, stepped back in time to explore Must Farm with Department of Archaeology and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit as well as learning to disagree well with Dr Elizabeth Phillips from ̽��ֱ��Woolf Institute.

Schools had a choice of workshops from a range of departments including, how to think like an engineer and making sustainable food with biotechnology with researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, as well as the chance to get hands-on experience in the world of materials science and explore how properties of materials can be influenced by temperature at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

̽��ֱ��Department of Veterinary Medicine offered students the opportunity to find out what a career in veterinary medicine may look like with workshops on animal x-rays, how different professionals work together to treat animals in a veterinary hospital as well as meeting the departments horses and cows and learn how veterinarians diagnose and treat these large animals.

Students also had the opportunity to learn about antibodies and our immune system with the MRC Toxicology Unit. ̽��ֱ��students learnt about the incredible job antibodies do defending our bodies against harmful invaders like bacteria and viruses.

Alongside this, a maths trail, developed by Cambridgeshire County Council, guided students around the West Cambridge site whilst testing their maths skills with a number of problems to solve.

Now in their third year, the Cambridge Festival schools days are offering students the opportunity to experience studying at Cambridge with a series of curriculum linked talks and hands on workshops.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Festival runs from 19 March – 4 April and is a mixture of online, on-demand and in-person events covering all aspects of the world-leading research happening at Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��public have the chance to meet some of the researchers and thought-leaders working in some of the pioneering fields that will impact us all.

Over 500 KS2 and KS3 students from as far away as Warrington got the chance to experience studying at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge with a selection of lectures and workshops held as part of the Cambridge Festival.

Students make antibody keychains during a workshop with the MRC Toxicology Unit

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Now we’re talking: the project helping teenage refugees and asylum-seekers build a new life in Britain

ta385 — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 07:00:00 +0000

A new collaboration involving Cambridge linguists and a student-led charitable group is helping young refugees and asylum-seekers develop their confidence and communication skills.

̽��ֱ�� launches fibre network joint venture with Cambridgeshire Council

plc32 — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:17:35 +0000

̽��ֱ��new company, Light Blue Fibre Ltd, will see the ̽��ֱ�� unite its technological expertise with the Council's ambition to deliver better digital connectivity across the city and beyond, by making both organisations’ extensive duct and fibre networks available on a commercial basis.

One of the first of its kind in the UK, this forward thinking initiative, will offer access to over 100km of existing ducting and dark fibre on a wholesale basis.

Light Blue Fibre aims to attract telecoms companies, infrastructure providers and local technology businesses who understand the importance of full fibre connectivity and are looking to save time and money by reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming infrastructure developments.

̽��ֱ��establishment of the company was supported at Cambridgeshire County Council’s Commercial & Investment Committee in February this year, when the go ahead was given for the development and commercialisation of the two organisations’ existing fibre ducting assets.

Board Members from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire County Council formally signed an agreement to create the joint venture in May 2019, and the official launch of Light Blue Fibre took place today (Thursday 11 July) at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s historic Combination Room.

Both the ̽��ֱ�� and the Council have plans to further expand their duct and fibre assets and this pioneering collaboration will help businesses to access infrastructure that would otherwise be unavailable to them, so promoting competition and innovation.

̽��ֱ��County Council’s available fibre assets include ducting that is already incorporated into the construction of the Guided Busway, and will be included in all new major road, path and cycle projects following recently approved council policy to include fibre ducting during construction to extensively expand council’s network of infrastructure over the coming years.

̽��ֱ��Granta Backbone Network (GBN) is the ̽��ֱ��’s privately owned optical fibre network. Covering a large proportion of the historic city already, it radiates out to strategic locations delivering high speed, high-availability network services to colleges, institutions and research bodies linked to the ̽��ֱ��.

Professor Ian Leslie, Chair of the Board for Light Blue Fibre, said: “This is a very exciting joint venture. ̽��ֱ��development of Light Blue Fibre will make the existing and future ducting and fibre assets of two major networks in Cambridgeshire available for community and commercial use. It will provide local businesses, government, health and the education sector with cutting edge digital infrastructure, capable of meeting their data connectivity and communication needs for now and into the future and it gives the ̽��ֱ�� more opportunities for wider connectivity.”

Noelle Godfrey, Board Member for Cambridgeshire County Council, who leads the Connecting Cambridgeshire Digital Connectivity Programme, said: “Connectivity is a vital element of the Government’s national digital strategy which provides a foundation for economic strength, thriving communities and successful localities.

“Cambridgeshire County Council and ̽��ֱ�� Information Services network team have developed a strong collaboration over a number of years of joint working to the benefit of the local community and businesses alike, and this is the next step.”

Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said: “Through our modern Industrial Strategy we’re building a nationwide full fibre network to make the UK fit for the future.

“Local partnerships in Cambridgeshire are sharing resources and infrastructure in a new way to help realise this vision, bringing about a significant boost in gigabit speeds for the benefit of homes and businesses in rural areas.”

̽��ֱ��formation of Light Blue Fibre makes all the current and future fibre assets of the ̽��ֱ�� and the Council available on a wholesale basis, with no minimum term, providing quick and easy access.

More information can be found here: www.lightbluefibre.co.uk.

An innovative joint venture launched today by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire County Council is opening up new opportunities for full fibre networks to expand Cambridgeshire’s digital infrastructure.

This is a very exciting joint venture

Professor Ian Leslie, Chair of the Board for Light Blue Fibre

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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̽��ֱ��archaeology of childhood

sjr81 — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:41:49 +0000

Hide and Seek: Looking for Children in the Past opens today and runs until January 29, 2017, at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, bringing together collections held by the ̽��ֱ�� and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Unprecedented in its scope and ambition, Hide and Seek examines why so little is known about the life of children when children have outnumbered adults for most of human history.

Some of the objects on display will be familiar: Roman and medieval dolls are exhibited next to a children’s sledge and a Roman baby’s feeding bottle. Other exhibits, however, are not immediately recognisable as children’s objects at all: pots with small fingerprints, a tiny handmade axe made 400,000 years ago, gold-work as fine as a human hair; each have stories to tell about the children whose lives were intertwined with the objects now on display in the 21st century.

By looking carefully at all of this evidence, exhibition curator Jody Joy hopes the year-long show will redress our paucity of understanding about the ways in which youngsters interacted with both the adult and childhood worlds around them.

“Hide and Seek looks for glimpses of children’s lives in East Anglia and across England, from a child’s footprint made one million years ago, to toys and artefacts from the 20th century,” said Joy. “Children’s stories so rarely feature in the narratives that museums present. This exhibition aims to redress the balance.

“It is difficult to find children in the past, but not impossible. Throughout the show we present new research and interpretations to help provide a better understanding of children’s lives and to challenge our own assumptions about children and childhood.

“14th century illustrations from an illuminated manuscript show us that children in the 1300s enjoyed sledging and skating just as much as we do now. But we also want to show that evidence for the lives of children can be found beyond the obvious.”

To that end, the exhibition also looks past the artefacts of childhood such as toys, children’s clothes and burials. Local crime records, for example, reveal the sorry tale of 13-year-old Thomas Bradley from Burwell in Cambridgeshire, who in 1843 was sentenced to 15 years’ transportation to Australia for setting fire to stacks of corn and straw.

Likewise, an indenture document for ten-year-old Amey Basin, signed on May 11, 1764, outlines her apprenticeship to Thomas Wayman Sr, a dairyman, until she reached 21 or was married; and explains the responsibilities and expectations of apprentices and their employers in 18th century England.

Other exhibits, such as a pair of 19th century children’s handcuffs and a coroner’s report regarding the death of three-year-old Michael Higgins in 1837, illuminate the innumerable perils facing children throughout history.

“It was dangerous being a child in the past,” added Joy. “From prehistory until the Victorian period, 30-50 per cent of children did not survive to adulthood. Disease, germs and household accidents all took their toll.”

Perhaps some of the most challenging and uncomfortable exhibits in display are the artefacts speaking of the death and burial of children.

In 1990, the grave of a one-year-old Roman child was found in Cambridgeshire. Now on display at the museum, the body had been carefully placed in a lead coffin much too large for the infant inside. A wooden box full of ceramic figures was placed on top of the coffin before burial, although it is unknown whether these were intended as toys or religious items. Sometimes, the evidence on display raises more questions than answers.

Concluding the exhibition, the remains of an Anglo-Saxon girl (hidden behind a partition), challenges visitors to consider the often grey area between childhood and adulthood.

In 2010, the body, believed to be aged between 12-15 years old, was unearthed alongside the finest grave goods from an extraordinary 5th-6th century burial site. It is rare to find child burials from the Anglo-Saxon period despite children outnumbering adults and despite the high infant mortality rate. Archaeologists think children may have been buried in different ways to adults, and the fragile bones of infants do not survive long in the soil.

̽��ֱ��burial site was discovered in Oakington, just north of Cambridge. Excavators were surprised to find an exceptionally high proportion of child burials. Nearly half of the burials discovered belonged to individuals under the age of 12, and 27 per cent of the 128 burials were children under six; many containing small vessels which researchers are now analysing to identify their contents and understand more about the young children who were buried with them.

Added Joy: “ ̽��ֱ��skeleton is of an individual we would regard as a child, but she has been buried as if she were an adult. Ongoing research, new discoveries and excavations help us develop our understanding of children’s lives. Each new discovery can enrich our understanding of what life was like for children in the past.”

Other key exhibits include:

Baby feeding bottles from the Roman and Victorian periods
A bracelet for a Roman child
19th century samplers, stitched by three generations from the same family
Some of the oldest marbles ever found in England

Hide and Seek: Looking for Children in the Past runs from January 30, 2016 to January 29, 2017. ̽��ֱ��exhibition has been funded by a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is a joint project between Cambridgeshire County Council and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Entry is free.

A sledge made from a horse’s jaw, the remains of a medieval puppet, the coffin of a one-year-old Roman child, and the skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon girl will all go on display in Cambridge today as part of a unique exhibition illuminating the archaeology of childhood.

It was dangerous being a child in the past. From prehistory until the Victorian period, 30-50 per cent of children did not survive to adulthood. Disease, germs and household accidents all took their toll.

Jody Joy

Chatteris Museum.

Tin toys from the 1930s–1950s.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Major institutions across the county declare their support for diversity by taking the Equality Pledge

pbh25 — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 16:04:45 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cambridge City Council have underlined their support for diversity and equality across the city and beyond by taking the Equality Pledge.

Joining them are leading organisations from across the county including councils and emergency services.

̽��ֱ��Equality Pledge is being made today during the national pre-launch celebration event for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month 2016 which is being hosted in Cambridge.

Setting out how organisations in the county value diversity, the Equality Pledge states:

“We believe in the dignity of all people and their right to respect and equality of opportunity. We value the strength that comes with difference and the positive contribution that diversity brings to our community. Our aspiration is for Cambridge and the wider region to be safe, welcoming and inclusive.”

Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “Diversity and equality play a crucial role in sustaining the ̽��ֱ��’s academic excellence. With more than 10,000 employees the ̽��ֱ�� is a microcosm of Cambridgeshire’s diverse population and by taking the Equality Pledge we are recognising and celebrating and supporting that diversity.

“We hope that other organisations and individuals will join us in this important initiative.”

Cllr Lewis Herbert, Leader of Cambridge City Council: “One of Cambridge’s greatest undoubted strengths as a city is its uniquely diverse nature, attracting people from all over the world, some of whom have fled persecution and intolerance elsewhere.

“By making the Equality Pledge we are clearly stating the commitment of our city to being open and welcoming to everyone who lives here, works here or visits here.”

̽��ֱ��partner institutions also signing up to the Equality Pledge are: Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Huntingdonshire District Council, Fenland District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, and South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.

To make your own Equality Pledge visit: www.cambridge.gov.uk/equality-pledge. You can also show your support by Tweeting the special Twitter-friendly Equality Pledge: “Dignity. Respect. Equality. We value the strength that comes with difference & the positive contribution diversity brings”. ̽��ֱ��hashtag is: #EqualityPledge.

̽��ֱ��formal launch of the Pledge takes place tonight at 6pm at Queens’ College in Cambridge (November 26) at a special showcase event marking the pre-launch celebration for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month 2016.

Image credit: Cambridge News. L-R, Kevin Coutinho of the ̽��ֱ��'s Equality and Diversity section with Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations.

̽��ֱ��new Equality Pledge is being supported by the ̽��ֱ��, local councils, health services and emergency services.

Diversity and equality play a crucial role in sustaining the ̽��ֱ��’s academic excellence.

Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations

More information:

Twitter Equality Pledge: "Dignity. Respect. Equality. We value the strength that comes with difference & the positive contribution diversity brings. #EqualityPledge."

National Pre-Launch event for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month 2016: ̽��ֱ��event highlights the need to challenge homophobia and transphobia in the run-up to the month long programme of activities taking place across the UK and beyond in February. ̽��ֱ��National Pre-Launch provides an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of LGB&T communities to our society. ̽��ֱ��theme for LGB&T History Month 2016 is Religion, Belief and Philosophy. For more go to www.schools-out.org.uk.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Trilogy of short films explores young people’s views of life in social care

jfp40 — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 16:56:36 +0000

̽��ֱ��film, Our House, is the third in a trilogy of films about life in the care system developed by young people working with a team of professionals as a way of giving them a voice within the care system and providing new skills to help them in future life. ̽��ֱ��young people were national finalists for the Children in Care Award at the Children & Young People Now Awards 2014, for their work on the first two films, My Name is Joe, about being taken into care, and Finding My Way, about leaving care. Earlier this year, Finding My Way won a documentary award at the BFI Future Film Festival for young film-makers.

̽��ֱ��films are part of a research project run by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) East of England, a collaboration between universities and service providers. Partners in the film projects are the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridgeshire Film Consortium. ̽��ֱ��latest film was jointly funded with a donation from the Isaac Newton ̽��ֱ�� Lodge, Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��films have all been created at four-day animation summer schools, held each August for the last three years, at which young people in care and care leavers work with a team of professionals to explore difficult and sensitive issues through sound, music and animation.

“These films work on so many levels", explains Valerie Dunn, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry, who led the project. “They give young people a voice, ensuring that that their own, authentic experiences can be part of the debate about the services which directly affect their lives. In terms of research, film-making like this is a really exciting way of getting under the skin of a complex issue and working with groups who may be difficult to engage in more traditional approaches.”

During the summer school the young people learned new skills in terms of film-making, animation and sound recording, but their learning also extended to team-building skills, self-expression, learning a work routine, timing, working to deadlines and negotiation skills.

“Although the end products – the films – are important, the production process is equally, if not more, important,” explains Tom Mellor, a youth worker who facilitated the workshops. “Young people in care often find self-expression difficult and our approach provides a creative way of them exploring and sharing their opinions, experiences, thoughts and feelings. They learn a lot – but so do we, the adults, as we all work towards a common goal in a safe environment. Crucially, we all have a lot of fun along the way.”

Under the tutelage of filmmakers Ryd Cook and Andy Dunn, for each film the young people filmed some live action, either at studios at Anglia Ruskin ̽��ֱ�� or, for the latest film, on location in residential homes. Sound artist James Rogers worked with the young people on the sound track and sound effects. On the latest film he worked with one young man, Twitch, to produce We All Have A Life, We All Have A Story, a rap which ends the film. Animator Lizzy Hobbs taught animation techniques and inspired the young people to create and animate images and consider the overall production.

Speaking about the latest film, Michelle Dean, Children's Social Care Participation Manager at Cambridgeshire County Council, says: “We all learned a great deal through this process about how young people view residential care. They clearly want the choice of living either in a residential setting or in a smaller foster care placement: those who were allowed to choose were better able to settle in. Some young people also have a positive experience of their care, forming very strong attachments to residential staff and preferring residential care to foster care. ̽��ֱ��staff are the key to success and can be important sources of support and information. But most of all, young people want to be listened to.”

One of the young people is now keen to pursue a career in film design and recently completed a BFI Film Academy week, run by the Cambridgeshire Film Consortium, for talented 16-19 year olds wanting to join the film industry. “I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t done this film project. I’ve learned loads and it’s been so fantastic,” she says.

At the annual local authority Children in Care awards last week the young people turned the tables and gave the professionals an Outstanding Achievement Award: “For giving us the help and guidance to make our and other young people’s voices heard. For being so supportive, helpful and understanding. We make such a great team – simply outstanding.”

Between them, the films have over 7,000 views on YouTube. ̽��ֱ��first two are being used to train foster carers, social workers and young people all over the UK by local authorities, fostering agencies and colleges. My Name is Joe has been incorporated into the new edition of ̽��ֱ��Skills to Foster, the most widely used training scheme in the UK for prospective foster carers, produced by ̽��ֱ��Fostering Network. Short Behind the Scenes films show the young people at work.

A powerful new short film created with young people in residential care is helping provide valuable insights for service providers into the challenges of life in residential care from the perspective of the young people within the system.

These films work on so many levels. They give young people a voice, ensuring that that their own, authentic experiences can be part of the debate about the services which directly affect their lives.

Valerie Dunn

Our House

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Still from animation "Our House"

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