A message from Mrs Rothenburg
A very warm welcome to all our new students and families – it’s great to officially welcome you to Millthorpe. And to our returning students, welcome back! We hope you’ve all had a brilliant summer and are ready to get stuck in with everything that school has to offer both in the classroom and outside.
It has been an absolute pleasure to have everyone back in school this week. I have been so impressed with how well our new Year 7s have settled in; they are adapting to school life with remarkable speed. A huge thank you must also go to our brilliant Student Leaders who have been on hand all week, offering a helping hand, giving directions, and chatting with our new students to make them feel at home.
It has been great to see all of our staff and students fully embracing our new vision, values and The Millthorpe Way this week. Full details were shared in my letter earlier this week – you can read it here. I am also delighted to see so many students taking advantage of our great enrichment offer every day. A reminder that you can see our full list of enrichment activities here and check your child’s choices and attendance at enrichment activities on ClassCharts.
Students have quickly and seamlessly adapted to the new school day timings, so much so that it feels as if this new routine has always been in place. We’re really grateful for your support in ensuring that your child arrives at school by 8.35am, enabling them to arrive at Form time at 8.40am. The new school day timings can be found here.
Last month we welcomed our ex-Year 11 students into school to collect their GCSE results. I am super proud of each and every one of them and delighted that we celebrated our best set of GCSE results to date – you can read more and see some photographs here. If any of our previous Year 11s still need assistance with their next steps, we’re always here to help.
As most of you will already know, every Friday afternoon, we send a weekly email to all parents/carers which is full of news, updates, announcements and achievements. If you ever miss a weekly email, you can catch up with past editions on our website.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. We’ll be back in school on Monday for a ‘B’ Week.
With best wishes,
Kavina Rothenburg
Principal
Dates for your diary
- Tuesday 9 September: Year 7 SEND Network evening (details below)
- Monday 15 – Friday 19 September: Year 11 Aspirations Week (details to follow next week)
- Tuesday 7 October: Open Evening for Year 5/6 pupils and their families
- Wednesday 22 October: School closes for half-term break
- Monday 3 November: School reopens after half-term break
SEND Network evening for Year 7 families
We hope your child is settling in well at Millthorpe School and enjoying the start of their journey in Year 7.
We’d like to invite you to an informal drop-in session in the school library, where you can speak with members of the SEND team about the support and provision available at Millthorpe.
If your child is on the SEND register, we’ll have copies of your child’s SEND passport available for discussion. However we will also be there to discuss SEND provision and how it works at Millthorpe for parents of all Year 7 children. If you feel a longer or more detailed conversation would be helpful, we’ll be happy to arrange a follow-up meeting with a member of our team.
The drop-in will take place on Tuesday 9 September from 3.30–4.30pm in the school library and tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact us at send@millthorpe.elt.org.uk. This inbox is monitored more regularly than individual staff emails, so it’s the best way to reach us.
Meet our new Safeguarding Officer
We are delighted to introduce Miss Gater, our new Safeguarding Officer. Miss Gater plays a key role in ensuring the safety, wellbeing and pastoral care of all students across the school. With a strong background in safeguarding, Miss Gater joined Millthorpe after working for several years in Leeds, where she gained extensive experience supporting young people facing a wide range of social, emotional and safeguarding challenges.
At Millthorpe, Miss Gater serves as a main point of contact for any safeguarding concerns and works closely with students, families, staff and external agencies to ensure every child receives the support they need to be safe, secure and happy.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead for Millthorpe is Mr Beever, and Miss Gater and the Progress Leader for your child’s year group will work alongside Mr Beever to ensure that all students are safeguarded to the highest possible standards.
Year 7 interform challenges
Miss McCartney, Progress Leader (Year 7), will be launching interform challenges for Year 7s which will take place once a week on a ‘B’ Week. Each challenge will focus on a different subject and students will have the opportunity to nominate a number of form representatives to take part. Form Tutors will ensure names are put forward in advance of the event.
We are really excited about this new project which will give our new year group the opportunity to work as part of a team and engage in some subject fun! The winning form will be announced in assembly every ‘A’ Week and will be visible on ClassCharts. We will also pop an update on the weekly email.
Is your child a Young Carer?
Nationally, one in five school-aged students are a Young Carer but at Millthorpe, we are only aware of a very small number of Young Carers.
A Young Carer is someone under 18 who provides support to a family member who is ill, disabled, has a mental health condition, a significant learning need or misuses drugs or alcohol. They do an amazing job, and deserve our help and support. So if you think that your child(ren) might be a Young Carer, please let us know.
Signs that your child may be a young carer include:
- Doing lots of household chores for adults who cannot manage it themselves.
- Providing emotional support.
- Doing the food shopping or arranging to pay bills.
- Providing personal care such as washing and dressing or helping someone to get up and out of bed.
- Collecting prescriptions and giving medication.
This can take its toll, and we want to help. Mr Baybutt is now the Young Carers Lead and you can contact him via youngcarers@millthorpe.elt.org.uk.
Please reach out to let us know and we can then work together to ensure that your child is supported both in school and at home. We have excellent links with York Carers Centre and offer a range of support in school too. All of this will be done in collaboration with you and your child. All you have to do is send an initial email or if easier, call the school office on 01904 686400.
Musical instrument lessons
We have a fabulous team of experienced instrumental teachers who come into school on a weekly basis to deliver high-quality, one-to-one lessons on a wide range of instruments. These are available on the following instruments:
- Guitar (including electric/acoustic/classical/bass)
- Piano
- Woodwind (flute/clarinet/saxophone)
- Brass (trumpet/cornet/trombone/euphonium/french horn)
- Strings (violin/viola/cello/double bass)
- Drum-kit
- Voice
- Organ
Lessons take place during the school day and are usually on a rotation basis to avoid pupils missing the same class lessons two weeks in a row. If you are interested in having a chat with one of the instrumental teachers to see if this an opportunity you’d like to be involved in, please complete this form: www.tinyurl.com/instrumentlessonsatmillthorpe
Follow us on social media
To keep up to date with all our news, announcements and student successes, please follow us on social media. You can choose from Twitter/X, Facebook or Instagram.
If your child(ren) has done something you, or they, are proud of, perhaps raised money for charity, achieved sporting success, starred in a show, shown kindness to others or something else, please let us know. Just email news@millthorpe.elt.org.uk with a few details and ideally a photo or two, and we can shout about them in our newsletter and on social media.
Clarification regarding recent press coverage
Some of you may have become aware of recent coverage in the press relating to an individual from the York area called Amanda Brooks, who was convicted of a motoring offence over the summer. For the elimination of any doubt, this is not the Amanda Brooks who manages the Library here at Millthorpe so brilliantly, and is not connected to her in any way. If you do hear your child speculating about this story, we would be grateful if you could make this clear to them, as, naturally, it can be very distressing to be mistakenly associated with such an event.
Kurtis to star in Bugsy Malone
Year 9 student, Kurtis M, will soon be taking to the stage in Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Bugsy Malone. Starring as Dandy Dan, Kurtis will perform at the Grand Opera House in York in November on the following dates:
- Saturday 1 November – matinee
- Sunday 2 November – matinee
- Wednesday 5 November – 7:30pm show
- Friday 7 November – 7:30pm show
- Saturday 8 November – 7:30pm show
Job of the Week – Metallurgist
As part of our Careers programme, each week in the Friday email, we highlight a chosen career/occupation. This week’s ‘Job of the Week’ is a Metallurgist.
Metallurgists specialise in extracting raw materials and processing metals and alloys. They work in a range of industries including design and manufacture, production, quality assurance and more. Analytical skills, problem solving and communication skills are all essential for this role. A degree in a related subject would be beneficial, although some people enter at technician or assistant level without a degree.
Watch this video for more information about becoming a Metallurgist.
Futures for All – inspirational talks
Futures for All (previously 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, Futures for All 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. As today is The International Day of Charity, we’re featuring a talk from the amazing Anthony Nolan charity, entitled ‘Not all heroes wear lab coats (but some do!). Life changing careers with Anthony Nolan.’
If you have ever wondered what it takes to save a life, have a listen to the inspiring panel who will share with you the amazing, life-saving work of Anthony Nolan, a charity that matches stem cell donors with patients in desperate need of transplants. You can hear from some of the passionate people behind the scenes who make life-saving matches happen every day: Kyle Annette-Woodgate – Head of Technical Services – Laboratory, Jemma Hay-Bryant – Partnerships Officer – Stem Cell Register Development Team and Dr Michaela Agapiou – Senior Post-Doctoral Bioinformatics Research Scientist. Whether you’re curious about careers with purpose, fascinated by science and healthcare or simply want to hear how every day work can lead to extraordinary outcomes then this is the talk for you!
Just click the image below to view.
Parent Carer Forum York
The Parent Carer Forum York offers a monthly events programme during term time for parents and carers of children and young people with additional needs in York, with or without a diagnosis.
All events will start from October. You can find out more by clicking here.
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 Mr Beever, Miss Gater or your child’s Progress Leader during school hours by emailing safeguarding@millthorpe.elt.org.uk, you may wish to make direct contact with 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. In a mental health emergency, please call York CAMHS Crisis Team on 08000516171.
