A message from Mrs Rothenburg
Firstly, thank you to those of you who have wished me well as I take up the role of Acting Headteacher. Your good wishes are very much appreciated! For those who I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, you can find out a little bit more about me below.
There has been so much going on in school this week, it has flown by! On Monday, we welcomed our incoming Year 7 students and their families to our Transition Evening and then the students joined us for a full day on Wednesday, when they got to meet their form tutor and the rest of their form group, as well as experiencing a full day as a Millthorpe student. We had a lovely day and it was great to see see our next cohort showing such enthusiasm.
On Thursday we bid our Year 11 students a fond farewell at our traditional Leavers’ Assembly, where there was lots of laughs and a few tears! We’re all now looking forward to tonight’s prom at York Racecourse – I’m sure it will be a fantastic celebration.
Next week we’re looking forward to our annual Sports Day and Awards Evening, both of which will take place on Wednesday 10 July. We’re keeping everything crossed for good (and slightly warmer!) weather so that Sports Day can go ahead! Some of our students are also taking part in the Trust’s ArtsFest on Tuesday 9 July at York Barbican, which brings together the creative talent from all of the Trust schools. The Millthorpe Concert Band, the cast of last year’s Elf production and our dancers will take to the stage on the evening, after a full day of rehearsals. This is a wonderful opportunity which I’m sure they will all thoroughly enjoy taking part in and the audience will enjoy watching.
Congratulations to all those who came along to meet me today after being nominated by their faculty for their awesome attitudes and fantastic work, including: Esther, Edward, Sophie, Jessica, Jake, George, Luca, Alfie, Lexi and Ida.
Have a lovely weekend everyone, we’ll be back in school on Monday for a ‘B’ Week.
With best wishes,
Kavina Rothenburg
Acting Headteacher
Meet Mrs Rothenburg, Acting Headteacher
Many of you will know Mrs Rothenburg as Deputy Headteacher here at Millthorpe, but now that she has taken up the role of Acting Headteacher, we thought it would be good to introduce her properly to you!
Mrs Rothenburg, who has been teaching for 20 years, is now in her second year at Millthorpe where she has been leading on curriculum, teaching and learning and student progress.
She says “I love this school! The students are very warm and respectful; the staff are incredibly hard working and committed to providing the very best for our students and families; and it is a privilege to work with families building strong partnerships in the best interests of the students.”
At the beginning of her career, she felt strongly that it was important to give back to the community that helped her achieve her goals of becoming a teacher, so spent the first seven years teaching at the school she attended as a student.
In 2012 she moved to Norton College as Deputy Headteacher and joined the Future Leaders programme, a scheme for those progressing on their leadership journeys. Mrs Rothenburg spent seven years at Norton College where she had responsibility for pastoral care and Year 11 progress. In 2019, she continued her senior leadership journey, moving to Leeds where she worked as Deputy Headteacher at Dixons Academy Trust. She also spent a year as Interim Headteacher at the trust.
Mrs Rothenburg joined the Senior Leadership Team at Millthorpe School in 2023 as Deputy Headteacher.
Mrs Rothenburg can be contacted via the School Office E: admin@millthorpe.southbank.academy
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:
Conversation starter
Year 7 are reaching the exciting climax of their class reader, Dog, by Andy Mulligan. They have had a go at thinking like philosophers, writing a stream of consciousness narrative, and acting out their own play scripts based on the story. Ask your child to explain what Dog is all about and you will understand why they are loving it so much!Year 8 – Faculty: Performance
Conversation starters
- Drama: Students are writing and performing their own audio plays for their final assessment of the year, drawing on the work they have completed around how actors can use their voices in a range of different ways to present characters and the work of Foley Artists to create sound effects and soundscapes. Please do ask students for a demonstration!
- PE: Boys are improving their talents in tennis, softball or cricket and the girls are improving theirs in tennis, athletics or rounders.
- Music: Students have been learning about the origins of Reggae Music. Can your child give you an example of a popular Reggae song/musician?
Year 9 – Faculty: Global
Conversation starters
- French and German: We are going back to basics in preparation for the start of the GCSE course and revising key grammar structures in the context of school.
- Computing: We are learning how programs use ‘while’ and ‘for’ loops to repeat blocks of code.
Year 10 – Faculty: Maths
Conversation starter
- What is a ‘quadratic equation’?
- What options do we have to solve a quadratic equation?
- Can you use your calculator effectively to help you achieve this?
Year 11 – All faculties
Conversation starter
We loved welcoming our outgoing Year 11 students to their Leavers’ Assembly yesterday – you can see a few photos below. Tonight, attention turns to Prom! This is being held at York Racecourse, 6.00-11.00pm. Please make arrangements for your child to get home safely afterwards.
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. Or maybe you want to read ahead to see what is in store for your child in the next academic year…
Millthorpe mock elections
Millthorpe’s mock election took place yesterday. Students registered to vote before the official deadline and received their polling cards yesterday morning, each one numbered specifically for the students. When they arrived at the polling station, they spoke to the polling volunteers who were sitting at tables labelled with forms. The volunteers checked their polling card off against the official register and the voters were then given a voting slip to take to one of the booths. On leaving the polling station they posted their vote in the ballot box.
A great deal was learned about the democratic process and how a polling station works.
Non Uniform Day
Non Uniform Day will take place next Friday, 12 July.
In the Culture Curriculum sessions devised by the Student Leaders, form groups voted a few weeks ago for their favourite charities. The majority voted for an animal charity so all proceeds from the Non Uniform Day will be donated to Born Free, an international wildlife charity which rescues and protects wild animals from exploitation, and conserves threatened species and their natural habitats for generations to come.
Student Leaders will also be holding a bake sale in the main hall during break and lunchtime on 12 July. All donations of baked goods (and of course, cash) welcome!
Invisible Man theatre company production
A reminder that on Monday 8 July, Year 9 students will be involved in a Theatre in Education workshop led by the Invisible Man theatre company. This will involve students watching a play about risky behaviour and then spending some time workshopping the themes that they see in the production. The show involves discussion around drug taking, self harm and talk of possible sexual assault. There is also fake blood which is highlighted to the students prior to the production taking place.
Any questions relating to the production should be directed to Miss Watts, the Year 9 Pastoral team (Miss Tapscott or Mrs Barbour) or Mrs Norman.
Year 11s, please donate your uniform to the EcoLaundry
If any of our outgoing Year 11 students (or students in any year!) have any pieces of school uniform or PE kit which is in good condition, please do donate it to our Eco Laundry. We’d also be happy to receive any revision guides that are no longer needed.
Any donations can be dropped off at the School Office between 8.00am-3.30pm every week day until the end of term.
Eco Laundry pre-loved uniform sale – Monday 15 July
We are holding our annual Eco Laundry sale for our new Year 7 families on Monday 15 July.
From 4.00-4.45pm this will be by invitation only to support the families most in need (those eligible for Pupil Premium funding) and then from 4.45-6.00pm, the Eco Laundry will be open to all families.
Millthorpe athletes do us proud
Huge congratulations to the athletics team who performed brilliantly at the York and District Athletics finals event on Wednesday 26 June. It was such a pleasure to see so many of the Millthorpe students at the event, 33 in total, and equally enjoyable to see them stepping up to compete against the best athletes in the city.
The camaraderie amongst the students was unbelievable. All who were involved should be super proud.
Some notable performances from the event were as follows:
- Juliette Macquin-Jones – Gold, 80m Hurdles – 12.17 secs (School Record)
- Imogen Bind – Gold, 70m Hurdles – 12.20 secs
- Zoe Bind – Gold, 100m Hurdles – 13.84 secs (School Record)
- Immy Brook – Gold, 100m – 14.44 secs
- Rosa Boxall – Bronze, 100m – 14.99 secs
- Juliette Macquin-Jones – Gold, 200m – 27.97 secs (School Record)
- Ruby Lee – Gold, 300m – 45.11 secs (School Record)
- Rowan Whittaker – Gold, 200m – 23.01 secs (School Record)
- Will Atkins – Gold, 300m – 43.52 secs
- Oliver Anderson – Silver, 300m – 41.58 secs
- Marianne Lowson – Silver, 800m – 3m 02 secs
- Rosie Davis – Bronze, 1200m – 4m 30secs (School Record)
- Finn Davis – Bronze, 800m – 2m 18secs
- Theo Clarke – Bronze, 1500m – 4m 38secs
- Joseph Southwell – Bronze, Shot Put – 8.16m
- Lukas Karmazyn – Silver, Long Jump – 5.22m
- Juliette Macquin-Jones – Gold, Long Jump – 4.48m
- Zoe Bind – Silver, Triple Jump – 10.66m (School Record)
An unbelievable eight more school records were broken on the day – what an amazing afternoon of athletics!!
Form reps take on taste test
Earlier today, our form reps got to sample some potential new dishes for the school canteen. They all enjoyed trying new curry sauces and noodle dishes, giving lots of feedback to our catering company on the changes and improvements they would like to see.
Great job everyone!
Do you like cycling?
If your love of cycling has been ignited by the Tour de France, why not come along after school on Monday 8 July from 3.30-4.15pm, for a cycle with others?
Mr Randall is organising a trial ‘friendly cycle’ event around the school fields and the woods. If you have a bike that works (it MUST have working brakes!) and a helmet (or are happy to borrow a helmet from school), then you can sign up with Mr Randall on Friday 5 July in the Sports Hall at the end of school.
All are very welcome – students, staff, young and not so young! You just need your bike, helmet, suitable clothes and lots of enthusiasm!
Library books
As we are approaching the end of the school year we need to collect in all library books please.
Please encourage your child to put their library book in their bag over the weekend, ready to return or renew next week. We do encourage students to take books out over the summer, however all books that have been checked out for library lessons have been out for some time and need to be returned. If a student really wants to keep a book over the summer they will need to bring it to the library to be renewed.
Kurtis to appear in School of Rock
Kurtis Moss in Year 7 has smashed the auditions and will be performing in York Stage Ltd’s production of School of Rock at the York Opera House in September.
Kurtis, who takes on the role of a school boy in the show, has recently got distinction in LAMDA grade 3 acting.
The show runs from 13-21 September and you can see Kurtis on stage in the following shows:
- Saturday 14 September, 2:30pm
- Sunday 15 September, 4.00pm
- Wednesday 18 September, 7:30pm
- Friday 20 September, 7:30pm
- Saturday 21 September, 7:30pm
Tickets for the show are available online.
Attention and Distraction study
The University of York is currently conducting a new and exciting attention and distraction study. All students in Year 9 and 10 (aged between 13-15 years old) are invited to participate. This study is investigating how well adolescents can pay attention whilst ignoring things that may be potentially distracting (eg thoughts) and how their sleep and mood may relate to this. This study will take place in the Psychology Department at the University of York and students will receive a £10 Amazon voucher as thanks for taking part.
If you have a child of this age who might be willing to take part over the summer holidays, please click on this link to provide your email address for move information and/or to arrange a time slot to take part.
National Saturday Club
The National Saturday Club is a national fully funded programme which encourages involvement in Art and Design and helps to develop interest in the Creative Arts and Creative Industries. The Club meets on Saturday mornings at York College and ends in July 2025 with an exhibition of the students’ work at Somerset House in London when all the clubs from around the country can meet and view each other’s work. For many young people, their first visit to an Art Gallery will be during the National Saturday Club and to have their work in the Public Exhibition will be very rewarding.
Saturday Clubs are open to 13–16-year-olds of all abilities and are free to attend. The club meets from 16 November 2024 – 12 July 2025 on Saturdays, 10.00am-12.00pm.
Anyone interested in attending can find out more and view the video on https://saturday-club.org/club/york-college-art-design/. Applications can be made here: https://saturday-club.org/join-a-club/
Job of the week – Youth Worker
Fancy being a role model? These amazing people support and guide young people in their development into adulthood. It’s a varied job that will see you work in schools, community centres, with faith groups or within whole communities. Good communication skills and an ability to build up a rapport with young people is key to this role.
Apprenticeship vacancies
York College is currently advertising a number of apprenticeship vacancies which can be seen on the attached pdf. Each vacancy has a hyperlink to the Apprenticeship Service website, where you will find full job details and where you can submit your application.
Also attached are Hair & Beauty and Construction vacancies, which require an email or phone call directly to the employer.
A note on closing dates: vacancies often close earlier than the stated date, so if you are interested please make sure you apply as soon as you can.
You can also read the attached guidance on how to write a strong application to ensure the best chance of success.
Apprenticeships from other providers
Other apprenticeships are available and can be accessed through the Careers section of your child’s Google Classroom.
School shoe donation project
Twenty Two Kicks are once again running their shoe donation project over the summer.
They are asking for donations of footwear to be made via their donation bins from 19 July – 13 August. Locations of donation bins can be found on their website.
Once all donations have been made they will be collected, cleaned and ready to give away for free at one of their pop up events:
- 19 August 2024 – Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate
- 20 August 2024 – SPARK:York
#WakeUpWednesday – A guide to online trolling
Trolling is the act of making inflammatory comments or behaving in an abusive manner online to hurt the feelings of others or provoke a reaction from them. It is estimated that in 2022, over a third (34%) of people in the UK who suffered online abuse were specifically victims of trolling. The repercussions of this type of online abuse can be severe, which is why it is imperative that parents and educators have the tools to mitigate the risk of harm to children and young people.
In this week’s guide, National Online Safety offers expert insight into the act of online trolling and provides advice on how to protect children and young people if they encounter it themselves, helping them minimise the impact of this hurtful behaviour.
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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