Weekly email – 27 June 2025

A message from Mrs Rothenburg

Yesterday and this morning we held graduation ceremonies for our Year 9 students, marking their transition from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4, a very important stage of their school life. Thank you so much to everyone who came along to enjoy these happy occasions. We’ve posted as many photos as we can here – please take a look.

I am really looking forward to the last in our series of transition events when we will welcome our incoming Year 7 students and their families into school once again. Transition Evening takes place on Monday 30 June and then the students will spend the day with us on Wednesday 2 July, when they will get their first full experience of a day in the life of a Millthorpe student. We can’t wait to see everyone again.

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 – Creative
Conversation starters

• DT: Year 7 are currently making great progress in their final rotation of the year consolidating their learning about sustainability and developing their practical skills and knowledge of tools, materials and ingredients.
• Art: Our ‘Art & Issues – Endangered Animals’ project has reached the personal response stage where students research and select an endangered animal to create an Andy Warhol style mono print with mixed media colour. We have been impressed with the accurate artist copies and quality of observational drawing skills so far. Watching programmes with your child, discussing and encouraging an interest in reading about endangered animals would be great to extend their knowledge beyond classroom-based learning.

Year 8 – English
Conversation starters
Year 8 have continued their study in our Conflict Unit by broadening their scope to an exploration of Dystopian narratives. They are looking at the common tropes of the genre and dipping into both some classic and modern Dystopian texts to broaden their knowledge. This will lead up to their final assessment of the year: the writing and delivering of a speech they have written in the voice of their own imaginary Dystopian dictator!

Year 9 – Maths
Conversation starters
What are the advantages or disadvantages of using the mean, median, mode or range for different pieces of data? How can statistics be presented in a way that might skew or give bias to the data? How can you be alert to this possibility?

Year 10 – Science
Conversation starters
In lessons, students have been revising for their Y10 PPEs – this week they have completed their Biology and Chemistry PPE and we are busy marking them. Students have their Physics PPE on Tuesday 1 July. The Physics Exam covers all of Paper 1 – Physics topics 1–4: Energy; Electricity; Particle Model of Matter; and Atomic Structure. After the PPEs we will be starting to cover Paper 2 content in lessons. In addition, once we have marked all of the Year 10 exams, students will have dedicated time in lessons to receive feedback, reflect on their areas of improvement and complete work on our “Every Mark Matters” strategy to identify their areas of strength and areas of development.

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.

Goodbye Year 11s!

It’s been an emotional week as we celebrated with our Year 11 students as they came to the end of their journey with us.

With their exams complete, they took the opportunity to let their hair down at the Prom on Monday evening at York Racecourse. It was a superb evening full of laughter, chatter and lots of dancing – the Year 11s were very impressed with some of their teachers’ moves!!

Everybody looked incredible and as always, it was a pleasure to host this event for such an amazing group of young people.

On Tuesday morning, we welcomed everyone back into school for Prom Breakfast and Leavers Assembly. We enjoyed a morning full of smiles (and a few tears!) as we looked back over our students’ time with us and wished them all well for their future endeavours.

As the Year 11s came into school for the last time, members of staff and students from Years 8 and 9 created a ‘guard of honour’ for them to walk through.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds for you all – fly high!

We’ve posted a gallery of photos on our website – please take a look.

Water Fountains Raffle Fundraiser – donations needed!

We’re excited to announce a school-wide raffle taking place on Friday 11 July to raise funds for a cause that has come directly from our students – installing extra water fountains around the school site. This fantastic idea was brought to us by our form reps, and we’re hoping the whole community will get behind it!

To help make this raffle a success, we’re asking each year group to bring in donations that match the colour of their school tie:

• Year 7 – Blue
• Year 8 – Purple
• Year 9 – Green
• Year 10 – Yellow

Donations could include small gifts, sweets, toiletries, stationery, or other fun items in the relevant colour. The more donations we receive, the more brilliant prizes there will be to win!

Donations can be brought in any time and placed in the boxes outside the staff room/main office.

Deadline for donations: Friday 4 July

Raffle tickets will go on sale next week – more details to follow.

Thank you so much for your support in helping us turn a student-led idea into a reality!

Power Play Week – 30 June – 4 July

Following successful Power Play Weeks in the autumn and spring terms, this popular chance to double up positive points returns from Monday 30 June – Friday 4 July. 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 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. Earlier in the year, 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.

Lockers

We have reviewed our arrangements for providing student lockers, taking account of the following:

• there isn’t room to provide all students with a locker in a place they can access during social times, which limits their usefulness.
• we don’t currently have the resources to offer a good standard locker to all students, as this would need significant investment.
• use of lockers tends to drop off as students get older.
• because our site is so spread out, lockers are not always as useful as may be expected.

In September, we will be offering lockers to Year 7 students only. They will be able to secure a numbered locker and lock by providing a refundable deposit. This will allow us to keep the lockers we have in good condition and help newly joined students get used to secondary school. We appreciate that some students in older year groups would wish to have a locker but we hope that they will quickly adapt to not using one, in line with the majority of students.

We’ll continue to make specific arrangements for things like musical instruments and food ingredients. We’ll review again next year to see if additional lockers are something we should invest in going forward.

As we do each year, we will ask all students to clear their lockers completely (including the lock) before the summer break so we can clean and repair them. Any locks left on will be removed and any contents donated to charity or disposed of. We’ll give families and students regular reminders before the end of term.

Key Stage 3 Readathon

We hope our KS3 students have enjoyed taking part in our ‘Readathon’. The challenge ends today, so please make sure your donations are in! Full details about how you and friends/family can sponsor your child, are available on the attached letter.

Summer Concert

A reminder that our Summer Concert will be held on Tuesday 15 July and promises to be a lovely celebratory event featuring our school ensembles and solo performances. Tickets are available on ParentPay. We’d love to see you there!

Payments for Flamingo Land or Yorkshire Wildlife Park

A reminder that the deadline for payments for Flamingo Land or Yorkshire Wildlife Park should be made on ParentPay by Wednesday 2 July please.

Please note that on ParentPay, the trip details automatically default to the Flamingo Land price of £44, so if your child wants to go on the Yorkshire Wildlife Park trip, please just change the price to £23.

If students are Pupil Premium or in receipt of free school meals, the reduction will be shown in ParentPay.

(If you have a child in Year 6 who will be joining us in September, we will ask you to pay for their trip then.)

Year 7 student shortlisted for “Young Person of the Year” in York Press Community Pride Awards

After experiencing gender discrimination many times on the football pitch, including during an FA Cup match that was stopped by the opposition coach who publicly questioned their gender, Camille Porhel, who is in Year 7 at Millthorpe (pictured right), Flo Topham (Manor CE Academy), and their teammates, decided enough was enough.

To send a clear message to opposition coaches, parents and players, the York RI U12s (now U13s) girls football team created and started wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “Girls Can Have Short Hair – Get Over It”.

Such was the incredible response to this campaign that it appeared in national and international newspapers, including the New York Times. Camille and Flo were also interviewed live on TV for Channel 5 news.

The York RI U12s coaches, Kelly Chesterton and Adam Cooper, have been contacted by women from across the world who have heard about Camille and Flo and wanted to express their support: many had suffered similar discrimination and abuse just for wanting to play football and have short hair.

Camille and Flo have been shortlisted by the The Press Community Pride Awards judges in the Young Person of the Year Award category, with a formal dinner and awards ceremony to be held at the York Racecourse on 11 September.

As a school that celebrates diversity, we couldn’t be prouder of Camille for standing up against gender discrimination in sport.

SEN and Safeguarding news from Excel Learning Trust

Every month, Sue Wight, Director of SEN and Safeguarding at Excel Learning Trust circulates tips and advice regarding SEN and safeguarding to parents/carers.

The June SEN and Safeguarding newsletter can be found here.

Job of the Week – Genetic Counsellor

Genetic Counsellors help patients and their families to understand and make decisions around genetic conditions and treatments moving forward. This role requires excellent communication skills as Genetic Counsellors will often need to have difficult conversations with their patients. You will usually need a degree in Nursing, Biomedical Science, Biological Science or Genetics.

Watch this video for more information about becoming a Genetic Counsellor.

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.

On Monday it was ‘International Women In Engineering Day 2025’ so we thought this was a perfect week to share the talk: ‘Celebrating Women In Engineering! With Thames Water andnd UTC Reading’.

The talk celebrates women in engineering, which is a key part of the water industry. Through engineering we can innovate and help shape our world. Women in engineering roles in Thames Water vary from on-site technicians to design engineers working on developing new projects. During the talk you will meet three Thames Water colleagues along with UTC Reading’s Careers Lead and one of her engineering students to discuss how we can support a more diverse workforce, challenge stereotypes and provide greater opportunities for women and girls in engineering.

Just click the image below to view.

Cyber Switch Up competition

Cyber Switch Up is a digital and cyber skills competition aimed at students aged 11-18 years in Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 which is open to students in all secondary schools and colleges across Yorkshire and the Humber.

It’s free to participate with an initial online qualifier which takes place between 1-20 October, with a chance to compete in an in-person finals event at University of Hull on 25 November 2025, where pupils will compete to win trophies and prizes for themselves and their school/college.

Full information can be found here.

Armed Forces Day in York – 5 July 2025

City of York Council invites residents and visitors to join in Armed Forces Day celebrations.

West Offices open 10am–4pm
Come along to explore stalls and activities from:

• Sea Cadets, Queen’s Own Yeomanry, Yorkshire University Air Squadron
• York Learning, Fostering York, Carers Plus Yorkshire, Help for Heroes
• City of York Community Team – fun activities for all ages
• KS2 art display created with York Garrison

Military Heritage Trail
Pick up your guidebook at West Offices, Visit York, York Army Museum or York Castle Museum and discover York’s military history at your own pace.

The first 25 people to collect from West Offices get free York Castle Museum entry!

Exclusive offers for the armed forces community (with valid ID)

• Free entry: York Minster, York Army Museum
• Discounts: Mr Chippy (20% off), Florian Poirot (10% off), Love Cheese (10% off), Pairings Wine Bar (10% off)

More details at: www.york.gov.uk/community-covenant/york-armed-forces-day

#WakeUpWednesday – A guide to Nintendo Switch 2

New name, new features… same concerns? The Nintendo Switch 2 is the Japanese gaming giant’s latest console, and while it boasts impressive updates, it also brings a few new features for parents and educators to be aware of.

From the arrival of real-time GameChat and a plug-in camera to an easier path to mature content and in-app spending, there’s a lot to consider. This weeks’ #WakeUpWednesday guide from The National College sets out what adults need to know, and how they can keep gaming fun and safe for the children in their 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.