A message from Ms Greenhalgh
I’d like to thank those of you who have offered their support and understanding to me, my colleagues and the school this week. It is hugely appreciated and meant a great deal during the difficult aftermath of the Look North broadcast last Friday. I hope you had chance to read my response letter which was sent out earlier this week, but if not, it can be found here. I would like to take this opportunity once again to urge anyone who has queries or concerns, to please talk to us. General enquiries can be directed through the school office and SEND enquiries via the send@millthorpe.south bank.academy email address.
It was great to welcome parents/carers of Year 9 pupils into school yesterday for Options Evening. If you were unable to make it, the Options Brochure can be found here and the presentation from the evening will also be posted to this page in due course.
Our Year 10 Parents Evening will be held on Wednesday 7 February; further information and details of how to book appointments will follow next week.
Congratulations to all those students nominated by their faculty including: Leo, Thomas, Manee, Rowan, Emily, Harry, Griffin, Hal, Samuel, Grace, Yana and Martin. They enjoyed a hot chocolate with Mr Baybutt, Assistant Headteacher earlier today. Well done to you all and to those students who received a Golden Ticket this week.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday for an ‘A’ Week.
With best wishes,
Gemma Greenhalgh
Headteacher
What is my child learning at the moment?
Please see below to find out what your child has been learning about recently in order to have productive discussions about their education:
Year 7 – Faculty: Science
Conversation starter
In Science, students are studying Space and Reproduction. We have been really impressed with the maturity of students in the lessons about reproduction (and all of their questions!). We have been learning about changes in the body during puberty – can they tell you about some of those changes? In the Space topic we have been learning about the difference between mass and weight, orbits, seasons and night and day. Can students explain why the Earth orbits the sun?
Year 8 – Faculty: English
Conversation starter
What would you do if you found a baby owl abandoned in the woods? This is the difficult question faced by the main character in our class reader, October, October. Ask your child if they agree with October’s decision – and how hard it is to adopt the narrative voice of a baby owl in their own writing!
Year 9 – Faculty: Performance
Conversation starter
- Drama: Scripted Drama – ‘Noughts and Crosses’, Dominic Cooke. Who is Ruby Nell Bridges and why is she important to our understanding of Scene 3? What features of non-naturalistic drama do we see in Scenes 1-6? What is the difference between Institutional and Individual Racism and how do we see these in Scenes 1-6?
- PE: New blocks of sport start this week with the boys doing basketball or handball and the girls doing rugby or dance.
- Music: The Music Industry – Where does the music I hear around me every day come from?
Year 10 – Faculty: Global
Conversation starter
- Computing: How is data sent over the internet using protocols, packets and layers?
- German: We are looking at how people in German speaking cultures live and eat and comparing it with our own domestic setting.
- French: We are describing where we live, including the weather and comparing it to regions in France.
Year 11 – Faculty: Maths
Conversation starter
Are these probability statements true or false? Use a tree diagram, Venn diagram or sample space to show:
1.When you roll a fair six sided dice, it is harder to get a six than a four
2. Scoring a total of three with two dice is twice as likely as scoring a total of two
3. In a group of ten students, the probability of two learners being born on the same day of the week is 1
4. There are three outcomes in a football match: win, lose or draw. This means that the probability of winning is 1/3
We hope that you will find this information useful when talking to your child about their learning.
Additionally, you might want to take a look at the curriculum section of our website which has lots more information about what your child is, has, or will be learning over the academic year.
SEND reviews
SEND Reviews this term will take place on 14 March, further information to follow. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns about SEND provision, please contact: send@millthorpe.south bank.academy in the first instance. There’s also lots of useful information on the school website.
YIK’s Parent Carer Forum
To find out more about events and support available from the YIK Parent Carer Forum, please take a look at their latest newsletter here.
Ski Trip Parents Evening – letter from Mr Boothman
Dear parent,
I would like to invite you to a parents’ information evening at school (In the Main Hall) on Thursday 1 February, 5.30pm – 6.30pm. I apologise for the late notice. My original date has now become unavailable and this Thursday is the only available slot prior to breaking up for February half term. I felt that you would welcome an earlier meeting to give you additional time to prepare and get ready for the excursion.
The evening will be an opportunity for me to talk through the logistics of the trip and provide some of the detail of exactly what the trip will involve. I will be able to hand out an information booklet, talk through the kit requirements and start collecting in passports and GHIC cards amongst other things. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have with regards the trip.
I will record the evening and post the presentation on the school website for any parents who are unable to attend and/or for a second watch if you wanted to. Whilst the evening is not compulsory you will certainly benefit from attending.
I will be requesting that passports and GHIC cards are handed in so you may wish to bring these on the evening (In an envelope with your child’s name clearly indicated). A member of staff will be on hand to take these from you).
We will have a sign in sheet on arrival so that I can keep a record of who has attended the evening and received the information booklet.
As always please email me if you have any specific questions.
Kind regards,
Mr Boothman
Lunch menu w/c 5 February – Taste of the Orient
To mark Chinese New Year, our catering partner, Dolce, are offering a Taste of the Orient menu in the preceding week. You can take a look at what is on offer below.
Silver and a PB for Rowan at Sheffield meet
Congratulations to Rowan Whitaker in Year 10, who came second in the U17 400m event at the Northern Indoor Athletics meet in Sheffield last weekend.
This is a phenomenal result for Rowan who, at just 15, is competing against U17 runners who are much older, stronger and more experienced. He not only won both his heats to secure a place in the 400m final, but also managed a new personal best over the final distance, of 50.5 seconds, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind the winner.
This is a well-deserved result for Rowan who puts in so much hard work to his training and paced himself perfectly through the heats to get to the final. We are all super proud of his achievements.
Parent Mental Health Day
Parent Mental Health Day 2024 is an opportunity for parents and carers to acknowledge and discuss their struggles and share in their achievements of connecting positively with each other and the whole family, and to learn ways to connect positively to maximise young people’s mental health.
Stem4 is a charity that promotes positive mental health in teenagers and those who support them including their families and carers, education professionals, as well as school nurses and GPs through the provision of mental health education, resilience strategies and early intervention.
Please see the Stem4 website for further information.
Support is also available for all parents via our Padlet which can be accessed via the school website.
Job of the week – Cardiologist
For our job of the week this week we are looking at the role of a Cardiologist. Cardiologists are doctors who specialise in the heart and cardiovascular system and treat patients with ongoing illness through to life-threatening conditions. They work to prevent illness as well as treat it.
For more information on becoming a cardiologist you can watch this video.
#WakeUpWednesday – A parent and carer guide to a very concerning teen dating app “MyLol”
“The #1 teen dating website in the world” – that’s the claim of MyLOL, which offers 13 to 19-year-olds the chance to rate each other’s pictures, send private messages and contact strangers online. If that sets your alarm bells ringing, you’re far from alone: law enforcement agencies and schools in several countries have seen fit to issue warnings about the platform and it is no longer available on Google Play or App Store, though the site is still active.
Among the main issues is the fact that MyLOL doesn’t have a reliable age verification method – meaning there’s no foolproof way to stop anyone outside the platform’s intended 13-19 audience signing up for an account under a false age.
Please take a look at this excellent guide and, if you have concerns that your child may have used or is currently using this worrying site; use it to help inform your conversation with them.
Safeguarding
If you have significant concerns for the welfare of a child, in addition to being able to contact Mrs Cole, Mrs Cooper or Mr Beever during school hours by emailing safeguarding@millthorpe.southbank.academy, you may wish to make direct contact with the York MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) on T: 01904 551900, option 3. They operate an out-of-hours service so concerns can be raised with them at any time.
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