A message from Mrs Rothenburg
What a week we’ve had! There’s so much I could mention, but I wanted to focus on a couple of events which have been truly special this week.
On Monday we welcomed 99-year-old D-Day veteran, Ken Cooke, into school to speak to our Year 9 students who have been learning about D-Day in their History lessons.
It was such a privilege for our students to hear from Ken, who not only spoke for an hour about his experiences but also stayed to chat to students after the session ended.
Our students showed an incredible level of respect, sitting and listening beautifully even after the bell rang at 3.15pm. The following excerpt from an email from a member of staff which I received after Ken’s talk, sums up my feelings exactly – “I was so proud to be a teacher in this community and I feel the whole year group deserves recognition for doing a wonderful job of representing us as a school.”
Thank you so much to Ken for sharing his experiences with us. You can read more here, and we will also be publishing Mr Baybutt’s full report about Ken’s visit in next week’s Millthorpe Messenger.
Yesterday we held our first Culture Day which celebrated all the different cultures we have in our school. Throughout the day, staff and students learned more about other cultures and celebrated their heritage in many ways which you can read more about below. I particularly loved the video shown in form time which showed our staff and students teaching everyone how to say “hello” and “how are you” in their home language – brilliant!
It’s hard to believe that next week is the last week of the spring term! School will close at the normal time on Friday 4 April, reopening after the Easter break on Tuesday 22 April.
Have a lovely weekend and we’ll see everyone back in school on Monday for an ‘A’ Week.
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: Global
Conversation starters
- Computing: We are continuing to look at GCSE level logic circuits and how to construct logic circuits from logic expressions.
- French: We are continuing our new topic on free time and hobbies and studying how to talk about what we like to do. Can your child talk about what sport they like to play or do and why, in French?
Year 8 – Faculty: Humanities
Conversation starters
- History: Why did farming have to change? What was the Industrial Revolution and how did it impact the people who worked in the new cities and factories? Ask your child what it would have been like to live in Manchester in the 19th Century.
- RE: We have been considering different beliefs about life after death. We have been looking at Christian, Buddhist and Humanist beliefs and how they each celebrate people’s lives.
- Geography: What is development? Can you give any examples of indicators of development?
Year 9 – Faculty: Performance
Conversation starters
- Drama: Scripted Drama – ‘Noughts and Crosses’, Dominic Cooke. Who was Bertolt Brecht, what is Epic Theatre and how is this style reflected in ‘Noughts and Crosses’? How is dramatic tension built at the end of Act One and how could the event explored be safely and creatively presented on stage? What is capital punishment and how and why does it exist in the world of ‘Noughts and Crosses’?
- Music: Students are continuing their blues project learning about twelve-bar blues progress, walking bass line, improvisation and the blues scale.
- PE: Students are continuing to develop their skills in basketball, handball, fitness and netball.
Year 10 – Faculty: Creative
Conversation starters
- 3D Design: Students have been continuing to develop their skills in observation including lino printing, poly tile printing, card relief models, and ceramics in relation to the project theme. They will shortly be beginning their first Artist Study which they will use to influence their own design ideas. All their work is contributing towards the 60% of their GCSE grade which Component 1 constitutes.
- Graphics: Students have been continuing to develop their skills in observation including lino printing, poly tile printing, and Photoshop related to their project theme. They will shortly be beginning their first Artist Study which they will use to influence their own design ideas. All their work is contributing towards the 60% of their GCSE grade which Component 1 constitutes.
- Fine Art: Students are exploring printmaking techniques (dry point and lino cutting) to create letter / number-based imagery. During the next stage of the ‘Objects, Memories & Identity’ project, students will experiment with tone and colour using a wide range of mixed media and mark-making techniques. Students will ‘take an image, do something with it, do something else to it’ inspired by American Abstract Expressionist artist Jasper Johns. Development work will be presented in sketchbooks to evidence the creative journey. Looking at ‘Zero to Nine’ by Jasper Johns and asking your child to explain how to create a dry point or lino cut would support their learning.
Year 11 – Faculty: English
Conversation starters
Students will be revising their skills for English Language Paper One focusing on descriptive writing. For this, they will be revising how to structure and plan the response effectively; learning powerful and ambitious vocabulary; and refreshing how to use a range of sentence structures and punctuation. These skills will also prove invaluable for the persuasive writing task in Paper Two, as the mark scheme is the same as for the creative. Students will sit a descriptive writing SAP just before we break up for Easter so staff can clearly identify strengths and areas for development. Ask your child if they can remember the structure of the descriptive piece!
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.
Culture Day is a great success!
Yesterday we held our first Culture Day which celebrated the many different cultures within our school community.
On the day, students and staff were invited to wear traditional dress to celebrate their culture or they could design a badge to wear which represented their culture. It was wonderful to see so many people proudly wearing so many beautiful outfits and badges. We also learnt about the 21 different languages that make up our school community and some of our students had a go at learning some new words. Foods from around the world were available at lunchtime which gave us all a great chance to try a cuisine we may not have eaten before. Students could also experience different cultures through dance at a drop-in session on the day.
At lunchtime, some students also took part in a Cyrillic script writing workshop, visited a henna station where they could create their own design, watched ‘An Alien in Paris’, engaged in a conversation in French and browsed the mobile library which contained a range of books from different cultures.
One of the highlights of the day for Year 9 students was a talk from Keranjeet Kaur Virdee MBE, creative producer, artistic director, cultural broker and CEO of South Asian Arts UK. She has shaped the organisation’s cultural offer so that its imaginative programming reflects the rich cultural tapestry of the UK, with the very best of classical and contemporary South Asian music and dance at its core. Keranjeet was awarded an MBE in 2023 and in October 2024, she was recognised as one of four-hundred inspirational women whose names are in the ‘Ribbon’ Sculpture in Leeds.
Miss Boyd, Assistant Principal said “With over a thousand students in our school and more than a hundred staff, we wanted to celebrate the rich cultural mix at Millthorpe. Seeing students and staff proudly showcasing their heritage through traditional dress, language, and food was truly inspiring. The level of engagement in the different workshops and opportunities, and the enthusiasm for learning new languages highlighted the importance of embracing different cultures. It was a wonderful day of learning, sharing, and coming together as a community.”
A huge thank you to everyone who got involved – we all learned so much!
Construction Project with GMI Construction
Earlier this week, our Year 9 students, along with selected Year 8s, participated in an exciting Construction Project led by GMI Construction. This event provided students with valuable insights into the construction industry and the wide range of career opportunities available within it.
GMI Construction, a company responsible for some large local projects such as the Hampton by Hilton in York and The Springs in Leeds, delivered engaging presentations about careers in construction and challenged the common misconception that construction work is purely physical. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the different career paths they might consider in the future.
A small group of Year 8 and 9 girls also attended a workshop aimed at encouraging more women to explore careers in construction.
The Construction Project was a great success, providing our students with inspiration and practical knowledge about the industry. Many thanks to GMI Construction for taking the time to share their expertise and knowledge with us.
Year 11 Leavers Assembly
Year 11 parents/carers should have received a letter from Mr Baybutt asking for your help with our Year 11 Leavers Assembly. Here’s a summary below:
As your child closes in on the end of their time at Millthorpe School, plans are well underway to give them the send off that they all deserve. The planning for the Prom continues in earnest, and we now want to invite you to help us with their Leavers Assembly.
During the assembly, each students’ Year 7 photograph will be displayed and we would like to invite you to send us up to four other photographs that you (and importantly they!) are happy to be shown. It could be a baby/toddler photo, a primary school picture, their first day at Millthorpe, a picture from any trips that they have been on, a photo of them with their friends enjoying themselves inside or outside of school – anything really.
Please remember to check with your child before sending them as we don’t want anyone being upset.
Please send your photos/videos to: y11leavers@millthorpe.elt.org.uk making sure you have included the name of your child, by Friday 2 May.
A date/time for the leavers assembly will be announced in due course.
Year 7 – ‘My Legacy’ project
With our Year 11s working so hard in preparation for their GCSEs this summer it has made us think about their five-year journey to get to this point. Having thought about how they came to Millthorpe full of enthusiasm and future ambitions we are excited to launch a ‘My Legacy’ project with the current Year 7s. The idea is to capture their hopes and dreams in one or two short sentences. The whole year group will commit these legacy sentences to video leaving our IT team to create lovely tutor group recordings, time capsules if you like, of their 11 and 12-year old aspirations.
- How do you want to be remembered once you’ve left Millthorpe School?
- What qualities (personal) and achievements (academic and wider contributions) do you want people to talk about when you’ve long since left Millthorpe School?
- What do they want to go on to do after successfully reaching your full potential at Millthorpe?
- ‘She was a world class footballer who inspired a generation.’
- ‘He was a passionate man who worked tirelessly to improve his community.’
- ‘They committed their life to creating and sharing art that challenged people’s thinking.’
Please remember we have to film over 200 students so a long monologue isn’t going to work! Students will get the opportunity next week and after Easter to first write these legacy sentences down with their form tutor. Once the sentences have been checked we’ll get the camera rolling!
Thank you for supporting this project, we are excited to see how high our students aim!
Lost property
A reminder that 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.
Ruari recalls lockdown in radio interview
Well done to Ruari Milsted in Year 9 who spoke on BBC Radio York this week about his memories of lockdown. Ruari was interviewed four years ago, during the pandemic, alongside a group of other local children – hear his catchup with Georgey Spanswick here. Listen from 1hr 21mins.
Well done Ruari – you’re a natural on the radio!
Wellbeing in Mind webinars
The Wellbeing in Mind team are hosting a series of webinars over the coming months. All webinars can be accessed through Microsoft Teams and are free for anyone to attend. Joining information will be posted on their social media channels ahead of each session: X: @WiMT_MHST and Instagram: @wellbeinginmind.mhst
You can also access the information via our Padlet (further details how to access this can be found below).
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 – Visual Merchandiser
Have you ever stood and watched a person or small group of people dress a shop window? They are visual merchandisers whose job it is to promote retail brands, products and services. They create the visual ideas for shops, catalogues and online stores to create visually appealing displays and advertisements to help increase sales.
Watch this video for more information about becoming a visual merchandiser.
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 ‘Celebrating Women in Sport with the Rugby Players’ Association’. Originally aired on International Women’s Day, this Industry Spotlight Talk is dedicated to women in the Sports industry. Learn from a panel of athletes/sports professionals, who have worked with the Rugby Players’ Association, as they share their experiences in women’s sports, what creating a career in Sports looks like and the future of the industry! It’s one not to be missed!
Just click the image below to view.
Post-16 Open Events
York College and Askham Bryan College are both holding Post-16 Open Events 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.
Support for parents/carers from the Specialist Teaching Team for autism support
Please see the attached flyer for details of the support available to parents/carers in the summer term through the City of York Council’s Specialist Teaching Team for autism support.
#WakeUpWednesday – A parent and carer guide to Bluesky
Bluesky social app is a microblogging social media platform that gained popularity after separating from Twitter (now X) in 2021. It’s more than doubled its user numbers in the past six months alone, from 14.5 million in October 2024 to 32 million at present. Since accounts must be public, this opens the door to potential trolling, cyberbullying and the spread of misinformation.
It has an age restriction of 13+, with an App Store rating of 17+ and a Google Play rating of Mature. Therefore, we would caution against any of our students using this platform. However, if any of our students are using it, The National College has created this free guide offering parents and educators advice and guidance on the tools available to keep children safe.
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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