A message from Mrs Rothenburg
It’s been a wonderful atmosphere around school this week, with students (and staff!) enjoying the warmer weather. In lesson time, the students’ focus has been impressive, and I have really enjoyed adding positives on Class Charts when I’ve seen brilliant contributions in lessons.
We’re delighted to have been accredited as ‘ADHD friendly’ alongside seven other York schools as part of a citywide commitment to support children and young people with neurodiversity and other Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. This recognition comes from the ADHD Foundation which accredits schools as ADHD friendly for their commitment to making their schools safe, nurturing, welcoming and exciting places, in which all learners with ADHD can achieve their academic potential. We’re thrilled with this news – you can read more here.
Assemblies this week focused on the hot topic of cyber safety. Thanks to DC Sarah Bullock from North Yorkshire Police’s Protect and Prevent Unit who came into school to deliver the assemblies. You can read more about this below.
Thank you to The Invisible Man Theatre Company for visiting Millthorpe once again. Our Year 10s thoroughly enjoyed the performance and workshops yesterday and it was great to hear the theatre company report back that our students were very respectful and engaged throughout.
Yesterday we also hosted a visit from author Tom Palmer who has written a wide range of books from sport stories to war stories, with topics such as spies, ghosts, planes, rugby, football and running. Tom spoke to students about his writing and there was an opportunity to have a book signed.
Congratulations to our Year 11 Drama students who completed their practical assessment on Monday in front of the external examiner. We are so proud of the commitment and hard work which went into the exam. Next week, our Year 11 Food and Nutrition students have their practical Food exam – good luck to them all!
Next week, D-Day veteran Ken Cooke is coming into school to talk to our Year 9 students. On 6 June 1944, Ken, who is from York, was an 18-year-old Army conscript who had gone from working in a sweet factory to taking part in the D-Day landings. Now 99, Ken was part of the first wave of the invasion force landing on what was known as Gold Beach. We are really looking forward to welcoming him to Millthorpe and hearing his stories.
Also next week, our Year 9 students and selected Year 8s will be taking part in a Construction Project led by GMI Construction who have built many local buildings including Hampton by Hilton in York and The Springs in Leeds. They will talk about careers in construction and dispel the myth that all construction jobs involve physical labour. A small group of Year 8 and 9 girls will also take part in a workshop focused on careers in construction.
And finally, congratulations to those students nominated by their faculty to come along to Principal’s Breakfast this morning, including Rowan, Tommy, George, Lewis, Jessica, Billy and Erin. Great work everyone!
We’re back in school on Monday as usual for a ‘B’ Week. Have a great weekend!
With best wishes,
Kavina Rothenburg
Acting Principal
Social media
We are currently reviewing our social media strategy, and it would really help us to know which of the following platforms you use regularly, and how you use them. This will help us to ensure we post updates and news in the best place for our community.
What is my child learning at the moment?
Please see below to find out what your child has been learning this week in order to have productive discussions about their education:
Year 7 – Faculty: Science
Conversation starters
Classes are studying a variety of topics in Block 3: Rocks, Reproduction or Energy. Students studying Rocks – can they name examples of igneous or metamorphic rocks? Students studying Energy – can they name the eight stores of energy? Reproduction is always a topic that elicits lots of great questions – can students give two changes that occur in both genders during puberty? Can students describe what fertilisation is?
All Year 7 Science lessons are uploaded to the Year 7 Science Google classroom. All Year 7 students have weekly Science homework to complete on Sparx Science – this is due every Thursday at 9.00am!
Year 8 – Faculty: Global
Conversation starters
- Computing: We are continuing to look at GSCE level logic circuits and how to construct logic circuits from logic expressions.
- French: We are talking about our home and traditions, including what we eat at home and making pancakes. Can your child talk about what their favourite food is in French?
- German: We are finishing our topic of healthy lifestyles and food, ready to move on to our next topic of school trips. Can your child talk about what they like to eat for breakfast in German?
Year 9 – Faculty: Humanities
Conversation starters
- History: What were the greatest turning points of WWII? Students will study the key battles and events of WWII and decide which had the most significant impact. Ask them about Stalingrad, the Enigma machine and the D-Day landings. On Monday 24 March, all Year 9 students will attend a talk by York’s own Normandy Veteran, Ken Cooke, so please do ask them all about D-Day so that they are prepared for this once in a lifetime opportunity!
- RE: In our current unit on the Holocaust, we are considering who were the Heroes of the Holocaust. Who were some of the people who risked their own life to stand up against the Nazis and how did they help to rescue many Jews? What were the motivations? See how many you can remember and name.
- Geography: How does transport, agriculture, deforestation and industry lead to the enhanced greenhouse effect?
Year 10 – Faculty: Performance
Conversation starters
- Drama: Scripted Drama – ‘Blood Brothers’, Willy Russell. How can we perfect a Scouse accent? How is the context of the play reflected in the content and characters?
- Music: Students are developing understanding of the GCSE set works by Bach and Toto.
- PE: Students are well into their new activities with the boys developing their skills in badminton and rugby. Some of the students are practising their badminton skills as this will be one of their sports for moderation in Year 11. The girls are developing their skills in football and fitness. Again, some of the students are practising their skills in football for their practical moderations in Year 11.
Year 11 – Faculty: Creative
Conversation starters
- AQA Art: Students are preparing for their externally set assignment (exam) coursework 2 (40%) for the final exams (Thursday 1 and Friday 2 May). They are approximately halfway through the 10-week preparation period. Please take an interest by looking at their preparation work to date. Ask your child to explain their ideas and how their ideas were influenced by their chosen artist(s). Encourage your child to record this in written notes in their sketchbook. You may also be able to help by supporting your child when they need to take more photographs to develop their ideas.
- Food Preparation and Nutrition: Students are preparing for their final practical exam. 11C have their exam on Monday 24 March and 11D on Tuesday 25 March. Students have chosen their three final dishes and are hopefully practising and adjusting time plans.
- 3D Design & Textiles: Students have chosen and studied their artists for inspiration for their project including making observations using their style and materials. Students are now beginning their design ideas for the product(s) they want to make in their final exam. They have three weeks now in which to design, develop and trial skills for their final design. Students should know before Easter what their final design will be so that they are fully prepared for their 10-hour exam after Easter. Students must hand in their Component 2 sketchbook on Tuesday 22 April (the first day back after the Easter holiday). Any work the students can do on their project at this stage is beneficial – it will be a big push to get it all complete but the more prepared they are the better their final pieces will be. We are so proud of the work they have done so far and we really want them to achieve the outcomes they deserve.
- Child Development: Students are currently revising for their RO57 exam, focusing on the topics of preconception health, antenatal/postnatal care and childhood illnesses.
- Engineering: Students are working on Unit 2 which requires them to modify the design they built in Unit 1 and create it using CAD software. Students can either use Google Sketchup or Tinkercad and have been asked to complete independent work on either platform at home to increase their skill level and be successful in the controlled assessment in school.
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 will be learning over the academic year.
Power Play Week – 24-28 March
Following a successful Power Play Week in the autumn term, this popular chance to double up positive points returns from Monday 24 – Friday 28 March. During Power Play Week, every positive students receive on Class Charts will be worth double points! So +2 points turns into +4 points and so on.
Power Play Week enables students to gain additional points and as always students can earn points for a range of positive behaviours, effort and attitude. The top three students from each year group will receive special recognition for their efforts of being a Gold Standard Learner this term!
Keep track with Class Charts
You will already be familiar with Class Charts, the app which allows you to keep track of your child’s achievements, behaviour and any upcoming detentions. You can see how your child is doing during Power Play Week on Class Charts. Remember that you can access your account on the website or downloading the app to your phone.
Students can also access Class Charts. In the autumn term students received a letter explaining how to access Class Charts and instructions of how to set up their account with their access code. Anyone needing a reminder or help with setting up their account, should speak to their form tutor or progress leader.
Culture Day – 27 March 2025
We’re looking forward to Culture Day next Thursday! It’s going to be a fantastic day of celebration and learning.
In addition to the information already shared about the day, at lunchtime on 27 March students will be able to:
- sample food from around the world on B Block corridor
- see cultural dress from different parts of the world
- take part in a Macedonian dance workshop or a cultural dance workshop
- watch ‘An Alien in Paris’ and engage in a conversation in French
- sample a Scottish delicacy
- browse the mobile library.
The full timetable of events will be shared with students at the beginning of next week. We can’t wait to share news and photos from the day with you!
Students learn about Cyber Safety
This week our assemblies, led by DC Sarah Bullock from North Yorkshire Police’s Protect and Prevent Unit, focused on the important topic of cyber safety.
Sarah provided an insightful look into her career journey, aiming to inspire students interested in future careers within the police force. She also explained the critical role her team plays in educating people on how to stay safe online and prevent cybercrime.
Sarah shared some great top tips for keeping ourselves safe online. She emphasised the importance of creating safe passwords using three random words and a special character, and ensuring you have different passwords for different apps, especially your email. She explained that if someone can access your email, they can potentially gain access to lots of other accounts and key personal information.
Sarah also discussed how rapidly technology is developing and how this has an impact on our lives.
The session was incredibly useful and thought-provoking and we’d like to thank Sarah for coming into school and sharing her expertise.
Summer GCSE exam timetable 2025 – update
The timetable for this summer’s GCSE examinations has been updated and can be found on our website. If you have any queries, please contact the School Office.
Lost property
We have an ever-growing collection of lost property in the main office, some of which has been waiting to be reclaimed for quite some time! If your child has lost an item of clothing / PE kit, please ask them to go to the office to check if it is there.
Any items that are unclaimed at the end of this term (Friday 4 April) will be donated to charity or added to our Eco Laundry.
Sport England – Active Lives Survey
Each school term, several schools are selected by Sport England to participate in the Active Lives Children and Young People’s Survey. This term, Millthorpe has been chosen, with Years 8, 9 and 11 being randomly selected, along with one teacher.
We will send an explanatory letter to parents in due course, but in the meantime, please ask your child to look out for the survey on Google Classroom. The closing date for the survey is Friday 4 April.
Theo makes impressive U19 debut!
Year 11 student Theo stepped up to the challenge last week, making his debut for York City FC’s U19 squad despite usually playing in the U16 team.
Theo played a crucial role in the team’s 2-0 home victory against Oldham, holding his ground as a centre-back for the full 90 minutes.
He has earned a permanent spot in the U19 squad, where he will be playing full-time from September. We look forward to seeing more of his success on the pitch!
Isaac is the Junior Yorkshire Boxing Champion!
Isaac in Year 11 is celebrating after becoming the Junior Yorkshire Boxing Champion at 66-70 kg.
Isaac, who trains at Henry’s Gym, fought a strong opponent from H Hour Boxing Club in Harrogate during Henry’s Gym Home Show at Acomb Working Men’s Club on 13 March. After three gruelling rounds, all of the judges scored in Isaac’s favour, with a unanimous decision that resulted in him being crowned the champion.
We are delighted for you Isaac and look forward to seeing your progress in the coming months.
Marianne and Rosie compete at the English Schools Cross Country Championships
Last weekend, Year 8 students Marianne and Rosie represented Millthorpe at the English Schools Cross Country Championships in Sussex. They had an incredible experience, travelling down to London the night before the race as part of the North Yorkshire Cross Country team and then competing on Saturday 15 March.
Three hundred and thirty-three girls took part in the Junior Girls Race, the majority of whom were Year 9 students.
Both girls did incredibly well and showed real tenacity in a very fast and crowded race.
Rosie ran a fantastic race and came 175th overall and sixth for the North Yorkshire team. Marianne finished seventh for the North Yorkshire team, but had a more challenging start to the race, getting knocked down and losing her shoe. She showed tremendous strength and resilience, picked herself up, put her shoe back on and did an incredible sprint to catch the pack and then work her way back up the field, finishing in 233rd place.
Overall, North Yorkshire came a brilliant eleventh out of 45 national teams.
We’re so proud of the girls – well done for showing true Yorkshire grit! We can’t wait to see what next year’s cross country season will bring.
Catherine and Abby master Rookie Lifeguards qualification
Congratulations to Catherine in Year 8 and Abby in Year 7 who have just qualified at Masters level in the RLSS Rookie Lifeguards scheme.
The girls have trained with the Ebor Lifesaving Club for the past four years, learning water safety skills, CPR, communication and first aid skills. The Masters qualification is the highest award possible in the scheme and Catherine and Abby are in the first group of children to have ever achieved this level across North and West Yorkshire.
A fantastic achievement, well done girls!
Inaugural Excel Staff Recognition Awards
Next term, Excel Learning Trust will hold its Inaugural Staff Recognition Awards 2025 celebrating the incredible individuals who make the Trust community thrive.
These awards provide a way for the Trust to express its gratitude for the tireless effort, hard work, dedication and passion that members of its community bring to the table. There will be awards for support staff, teaching staff, leaders and volunteers, who will be recognised for the amazing impact they make and for ensuring that our children experience educational excellence every day.
One very special award is the ‘Excelling Through Parent or Community Recognition’. Awarded for those who build strong relationships outside of the Trust and for making sure that our school is not just a place for children but a hub of support and connection, this is parent or community nominated. We’ve already received a large number of nominations in this category, but if you’d like to nominate someone from Millthorpe or any of the other Trust schools, just complete this short nomination form by Monday 14 April 2025.
The award winners will be announced at a celebratory event on 10 July 2025.
Job of the Week – UX Designer
A UX designer designs websites, products and apps and focuses on how they can be developed and improved. Psychology of a person is very important in this role, and they use this knowledge, alongside marketing, research and technology to be successful. The key is making the product accessible to the user to increase sales.
Watch this video for more information about becoming a UX designer.
Speakers for Schools – inspirational talks
Speakers for Schools is an incredible social mobility charity which empowers state-educated young people by opening doors to life-changing opportunities. In addition to their work experience programme, they also regularly broadcast live inspirational talks which are recorded and then hosted on their website.
Each week, as part of our careers and aspiration-raising programme, we will feature one of their talks.
This week, our featured talk is ‘IntoTech: The Future is AI? How the tech industry embraces AI’. Join some of the Equifax team and Peter, AI expert and founder of The Future Communicator for an electrifying career talk that will spark your imagination and fuel your ambition! Discover how cutting-edge AI is changing the world and opening incredible opportunities in tech. This is your chance to connect, dream big, and start shaping the future—your future!
Just click the image below to view.
Post-16 Open Events
York College and Askham Bryan College are both holding Post-16 Open Evenings in the next few weeks.
- Askham Bryan College’s next Open Day will be held on Saturday 29 March from 9.30am – further details can be found here.
- York College’s next Open Evening will be held on Tuesday 1 April, 5.30-7.30pm – further details can be found here.
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 and 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.
Other apprenticeships are available and can be accessed through the Careers section of your child’s Google Classroom.
York’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme
York’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme offers fun activities for keeping active, being creative and trying something new over the Easter, summer and winter school holidays.
Children and young people in receipt of benefits-related free school meals can receive up to eight sessions activities during the Easter holidays. Each day will include: a healthy meal and a selection of activities ranging from sports, drama and creative workshops, nature activities, much more.
For further information about what is available and how to book, please click here.
Parent Carer Forum
To find out more about events and support available from the Parent Carer Forum, please take a look at their latest newsletter here.
Activ8 York – 13 April 2025
Activ8 is a fantastic opportunity for young people with disabilities to engage in a range of inclusive sports, meet new people, and experience the benefits of physical activity in a fun and supportive environment. The event is designed to be fully accessible, with activities suitable for all abilities. It will be held at YorkSport Arena on Sunday 13 April from 11.00am – 2.00pm. Entry is free.
Activities will include: Goalball, Wheelchair Rugby, Tag Rugby, Wheelchair American Football, Boccia, Bowls, Inclusive Cycling, Dance and more!
Participants can sign up here or register on the day. Further information about Activ8 can also be found here.
City Kickabout in the Park 2025
City Kickabout in the Park 2025 is a free football session running over Easter for children in York. Organised by York City FC Foundation, this is a fantastic opportunity for young people to stay active, have fun, and enjoy the game in a welcoming environment.
Further information can be found here.
#WakeUpWednesday – A Guide to Online Streamers
You may already know that live streaming plays a major role in children’s entertainment, with a wide range of personalities influencing young viewers in both positive and negative ways. While watching streamers can seem fun, it also comes with significant risks, including misinformation, financial harms, and inappropriate content. We always caution against students following online streamers, and explore this in Personal Development lessons, but we know that for some, the temptation is too strong.
Popular streaming platform Twitch has over 2.5 million viewers at any given time, which is why it’s more important than ever to stay informed. This week’s guide from The National College explores the potential dangers of live streaming and offers essential insights to help you protect the children in your care. Please take a look.
Online support for students and parents
We wanted to remind you about our online support app called Padlet, which is a directory of support available for students and parents.
Padlet signposts the user to a range of websites and resources, providing support and advice relating to mental health, exam stress, online safety, self care, managing emotions, young carers, family support and more.
You can visit the Padlets by scanning the QR codes or clicking the links below.
Visit the Parent Padlet
Visit the Student Padlet
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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