Weekly email – 13 June 2025

A message from Mrs Rothenburg

On Tuesday evening, I was lucky enough to watch the amazing Year 10 Drama performances of ‘Blood Brothers’. The talent on stage and the hard work during rehearsals leading up to the evening shone through. Thank you to all of the families who came along to support the event.

Congratulations to our Year 8 team of students who took part at the Physics Olympics earlier this week. They competed well, placing first in two of the five events. Mr Newman and the Science team are all very proud of their determination, teamwork and communication. You can find out more about how they got on below.

Well done also to the Year 9 students who have been taking part in the ISSP Business Challenge over the last seven weeks, working alongside students from other York schools to come up with innovative business ideas. Our students were incredible and did really well at the ‘pitch’ night earlier this week. Again, you can find out more about the initiative below.

Next week, Year 9s head off to Carlton Lodge for their outward bounds residential trip. It promises to be an incredible few days with many opportunities to try something different, make new friends and of course, have lots of fun – and the weather looks promising too! The letter containing all the information about the trip can be found here. Those Year 9 students remaining in school have been given their plan for the three days.

Year 5 students from Scarcroft Primary will join us next week when they visit the Science Faculty. They will have chance to get stuck into some Science practical work in our laboratories and begin to get a bit of a feel for what it’s like to be in secondary school. We’ll also be welcoming students from a number of other primary schools to Millthorpe over the next few weeks.

Also next week, Year 7s are heading out on a History walking tour around York, which will bring their learning to life.

And finally, congratulations to those students who were nominated by their faculty to attend Principal’s Breakfast this morning, including Matthew, Freya, Agatha, Erin, Hannah, Josie, Harry and Charlotte. I relish these opportunities to chat with our students – they never cease to amaze me or make me pause for thought!

Have a lovely weekend and we’ll see everyone back in school on Monday for an ‘A’ Week.

Kavina Rothenburg
Principal

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 – Humanities
Conversation starters

• History: This term we have been studying the ideas that mattered to Medieval people in order to understand how they viewed the world. Your child will have learned about Medieval beliefs on heaven, hell and purgatory. They’ve also started to learn about the reformation of the church and its impact on how church services were held, how churches looked and the closure of the monasteries. Ask your child to tell you the story of the York woman, Margaret Clitherow, and why she was killed.
• Geography: What are the impacts of an ageing population? What graph helps us to identify the population of a country?
• RE: Students are looking at the difficulties that teenage believers might face whilst practising their religion in the UK.

Year 8 – 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!
• Music: Students are continuing to develop their keyboard skills and notation reading, moving into finer details such as sharps and flats and ledger lines.
• PE: Students have been working hard in their PE lessons developing their skills in athletics, tennis, cricket and rounders.

Year 9 – Creative
Conversation starters

• Fine Art: Following in-depth Banksy studies and the creation of stencils, Year 9 are developing a personal response to the ‘Art & Issues’ project. Asking your child about their choice of contemporary issue would support their research and development of ideas. Suggested issues included: mental health, environment, cost of living, homelessness, body image, gender equality, LGBTQ+, Pride, feminism, #Metoo, women’s rights, environmentalism, politics, anti-racism, Islamophobia, unity, displacement / refugee, inclusivity, Black Lives Matter, poverty, inequality, anti-war / peace and animal rights.
• Design Technology: Year 9 are now in their final rotation of the year continuing their learning about emerging technologies and innovations. All teachers of Year 9 this year have been incredibly impressed with the learning conduct and engagement of the students and we are looking forward to teaching many of them in our GCSE subjects next year.

Year 10 – English
Conversation starters
Students are busy revising the content and skills needed for their upcoming PPEs next week. This entails learning quotes from our key poems and modern texts and refreshing their knowledge of the reading and writing questions for English Language Paper One. Any help that can be offered at home for the learning of quotes would be greatly appreciated!

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.

Millthorpe School wins prestigious award for supporting students who are young carers

We are delighted that Millthorpe School has become the first school in the city to win the prestigious Young Carers in Schools award for our exceptional support of young carers’ education.

Young carers are children under 18 who are responsible for the care of a family member, who due to illness, disability, mental health condition or addiction, can’t cope without their support.

The award is part of the Young Carers in School programme run by charities The Children’s Society and Carers Trust. The programme provides primary and secondary schools across England with step-by-step guidance for teachers, leaders and non-teaching staff to gain the practical tools they need to help young carers.

Millthorpe School won the award by demonstrating how it supports young carers. This includes offering drop-in sessions with a dedicated member of staff responsible for this vulnerable group of pupils, closely monitoring attendance and academic engagement as well as looking at bespoke support based on the needs of their caring role to ensure the young carers can reach their full potential.

You can read the full story here.

Millthorpe students shine at ISSP Business Challenge

Five of our Year 9 students, Daisy, Alice, Ella, Mathilde and Esther, have recently been involved in the ISSP Business and Enterprise course.

Over the last seven weeks, they have been learning how to create a business plan and then pitch it to a panel. When the students initially met, they were put into groups with students from other schools, so no-one in each group knew each other. The students were given the task of producing a new summer themed product that brings fun, convenience and comfort during a hot summer.

During week 4, the students were invited to Betty’s Cafe and Tea Rooms where they heard from the manager about the history of the business, the day-to-day running of the tea rooms, and the challenges they face as a business (along with enjoying some tea and cakes of course!). Last week, they all met with Brigadier Jim Richardson who guided the students in their presentation skills, with top tips to support them, such as cue cards.

On Wednesday, it was pitch night. The students were invited to the Merchant Adventurer’s Hall on Fossgate to present their ideas to the panel, and to a wider audience made up of friends and families. Once they had pitched, they then had to take questions from the audience, some of which were incredibly challenging.

Daisy’s group was called ‘Cool Collar’. Their idea was to develop a dog and cat collar that would help keep animals cool in hot weather. Daisy’s delivery of facts was excellent, she projected her voice well and answered the questions carefully and with clarity.

Alice’s group was ‘Sun Solution’, a business that wanted to make a multi-purpose sun cream that included insect repellent. Alice gave a succinct argument about why their product was better than other sun creams and explained why theirs wouldn’t be as problematic (who wants to be sticky all day!). She presented a very clear marketing campaign to support her team’s ideas.

Ella’s group – ‘Tekbeats’ – came up with the idea of a multi-speaker with multifunctional accessories… in summer colours of course! Ella spoke beautifully and clearly giving us detailed information about the functionality of the speaker and was proactive in taking the lead when the questions came in from the audience.

‘Rayguard’ was Esther’s group’s business name. Their idea was a floral infused spill-proof sun powder with spf 50 protection. Kept in small sachets, all you have to do is add water to create a viable suncream. No more big, leaky bottles! Esther spoke eloquently and passionately about the product and oozed enthusiasm which was quite contagious!

The last of our students to present was Mathilde whose business was called ‘Poseidon’s Hound’. Mathilde spoke clearly and articulately presenting arguments for their product convincingly, explaining how the Greek and Roman Gods were represented on a dog jacket which was designed to keep dogs cool during the summer. Again, her confidence to take questions from the panel and the audience was beyond her years.

Miss Watts said “It was truly wonderful to see our students performing so well, and we are all extremely proud of them.”

There could of course only be one winner – we’re delighted to say that both the winning group and the runners-up contained Millthorpians. A huge well done to Rayguard (Esther’s group) who were runners-up. Many congratulations to Cool Collar (Daisy’s group) who were the overall winners. Both teams received Amazon vouchers, presented by Mr Walker, Headteacher of St Peter’s School along with fellow representatives of the Merchant Adventurer’s Guild.

Year 10 Drama students dazzle in ‘Blood Brothers’ performances

On Tuesday evening, our Year 10 Drama students took to the stage for their Drama PPE. The students performed two scenes from ‘Blood Brothers’ to an audience made up of their families and staff. They were all amazing and did an incredible job!

Year 8 pupils make their mark at Physics Olympics

On Wednesday, a team of Year 8 pupils visited St Peter’s School to participate in the annual Physics Olympics event in a bid to try to bring the trophy back to Millthorpe once again.

Sam, Zoe, Alice and Dylan (pictured L-R) completed a series of five challenges, including trying to estimate the mass of a teddy bear, using just a few springs and weights, which they successfully did with only a 0.1g error from the true value. They tied with another school in this event but due to the team’s exceptional communication and teamwork during the activity, as well as using an innovative method to estimate the result, the judges ultimately awarded Millthorpe the first prize in this challenge.

The team also claimed first prize in a Lego car-building challenge, with their car travelling an incredible 10.59m without going outside of the track. This made Millthorpe the only team to claim first prize in two challenges.

Unfortunately, the team placed eighth overall after all five events had been considered, but it was an amazing day and we couldn’t be more proud of the team and their achievements. Well done to ‘Team Keppler’!!

Key Stage 3 Readathon

We hope our KS3 students are enjoying taking part in our ‘Readathon’ which runs from 9-27 June. During this time, your child will be encouraged to read as much as they can, and be sponsored for doing so. As a reminder, full details, including how you and friends/family can sponsor your child, are available on the attached letter.

St Peter’s School talk and visit

As part of our post-16 aspirations programme, we offer Year 10 students who are interested, the opportunity to meet with Jeremy Walker, Head of St Peter’s School to discuss their Sixth Form offer. This includes the opportunity to hear about the entry requirements for the school, the application procedure (which is earlier than other post-16 schools and colleges) and the bursaries they offer to support students. This year, Mr Walker has offered interested students the opportunity to visit for a tour of the school, as well as the chance to meet some current sixth form students, including some ex-Millthorpians. If you or your child would be interested in this opportunity, please contact Miss Watts via email: admin@millthorpe.elt.org.uk.

The visit will take on Tuesday 1 July and places are limited. Please register your expressions of interest no later than Friday 20 June.

Prom photos

A final reminder to parents/carers of Year 11 students – any prepaid prom photos must be paid for on ParentPay by Wednesday 18 June at the very latest please as we need to get the list over to the photographer.

Esme sprints to victory at Northern Athletics Championships

Last Saturday, Esme in Year 7, competed at the Northern Athletics Championships, coming away as champion in the Under 13 200m race event! Esme bagged the gold with a spectacular time of 26.78secs. She also won the silver medal in the Under 13 100m event in 12.87secs. The heats and finals were all competed on one day, so Esme definitely had a busy day.

Congratulations from all at Millthorpe Esme!

Job of the Week – Epidemiologist

Epidemiologists investigate and study diseases and outbreaks of these diseases to prevent further outbreaks. They are responsible for conducting surveys, analysing data and reporting their findings to prevent future epidemics, all the time protecting the health and wellbeing of the population. You will normally need a Science degree and a higher degree.

Watch this video for more information about becoming an Epidemiologist.

Speakers for Schools – inspirational talks

Each week, as part of our careers and aspiration-raising programme, we are featuring a talk from Speakers for Schools.

This week we have an international focus, with the talk ‘From History Books to Foreign Affairs: The Power of Languages in International Careers’.

If you have ever wondered where studying history or learning a new language could take you why not join Arthur Snell, writer, podcast host and former UK Diplomat, as he shares how a passion for the past and the power of communication led him to a global career representing the UK. In this inspiring session, Arthur will talk about the real-life skills you gain from studying history and languages – and how they can open doors to exciting international opportunities. Find out how curiosity, culture, and communication can shape a career.

Just click the image below to view.

SEND Voice Forum

The young people’s SEND Voice groups are changing – in the past City of York Council has hosted young peoples voice groups within schools, but to give a wider range of young people across the city to share their voices with us, we are launching York’s SEND Youth Forum.

For more information please visit: https://www.yorksend.org/get-involved/send-youth-forum

York College – ‘Getting Sorted drop-in events

York College is holding two ‘Getting Sorted’ events in the summer holidays:

• Tuesday 29 July, 10.00am – 3.00pm
• Tuesday 5 August, 10.00am – 3.00pm

These events are aimed at students who plan to start at York College in September and may be feeling particularly anxious about this and their new environment. Parents and carers are very welcome too!

Students will meet the Wellbeing team, discuss the support available, and can visit key areas of the College and their subject classrooms if they feel it would be reassuring to see where they will be based. There will also be a wide range of support teams to chat to if you have questions about travel, funding, careers choices etc.

For more information, please contact Julie Murgatroyd E: wellbeing@yorkcollege.ac.uk

Make Space York Festival – Free Events for Girls in June

This June, York’s parks will host the Make Space York Festival – a series of free events and activities for girls aged 10-18, with some sessions also open to those 8+ and some suitable for women too.

• 14-15 June at Rowntree Park
• 21-22 June at Homestead Park

Homestead Park Festival: Here is Hope

‘Here is Hope’ is a free, two-day celebration open to all, taking place on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 July. Homestead Park will come alive with music, creativity, connection, and nature. The festival brings together artists, musicians, and changemakers to share joyful experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Visit the festival website to find out more.

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.