A message from Ms Greenhalgh
We’ve had another great week at school, which thankfully has been a lot cooler than last week. I’d like to apologise to those of you who did not receive last Friday’s weekly email due to gremlins in our system! Hopefully you have now received it. As a reminder, all past weekly emails are available on the school website should you need to look back at them – you can see them here.
Next week, we’re looking forward to welcoming parents/carers of Year 7 students with SEND to our information evening for on Thursday 21 September from 5.00-5.45pm in the school library. Please do come along to find out more. Further information is available below.
It was lovely to meet those students who were nominated by their faculty to have ice lollies with me earlier today. A huge well done to Corra-Jain, Josie, Simao, Oliver, Jessica, Sonny, Edith, Will, Florian, Dominic and Toby.
Congratulations also go to those students who have received a golden ticket this week – the full list can be seen below.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I’ll look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday for an ‘A’ week.
With best wishes,
Gemma Greenhalgh
Headteacher
The importance of reading and homework
This week, students in all year groups attended an assembly, delivered by Mr Baybutt (Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning), about the importance of reading and completing homework.
We have updated our homework policy and have a renewed focus on reading both for pleasure and to develop understanding of the curriculum this academic year. We will do all that we can but we would really appreciate your support too.
Homework
All of the information that you require about Homework is available here.
Reading
We would also really appreciate your support in encouraging your child to read. Whilst we appreciate that many students don’t need any encouragement to read, some would definitely benefit from a little gentle persuasion.
Our school library is brimming with excellent books for students to borrow and we would like everyone to have a library book on loan at all times. If your child doesn’t know which book to choose, please encourage them to speak to Ms Brooks, our wonderful librarian, or one of the student volunteers, and they will be happy to help them to select a book.
To develop understanding of the subjects your child is studying, every department has produced a subject reading list and all of these books are available for loan from our school library. You can view the subject reading lists here.
If you need some help in encouraging your child to read, please visit our “Reading Support” section on our website. This gives you practical advice and lists ten reasons why reading is important. These have been shared with the students but it may help you if you are having conversations with a reluctant reader at home.
Thank you in anticipation of your support.
New platform for communicating with parents
We’re moving to a new platform, Progress Teaching, that should, over time lead to big improvements in the way we share information with parents.
A key feature is that it will allow us to make parents quickly and easily aware of their child’s positive contribution in lessons and to school life in general. We’ll be sending more details and login information in the coming weeks, with a view to launching by early October.
SEND Welcome Evening for Year 7 parents
A reminder that we are holding an information evening for parents/carers of Year 7 students with SEND on Thursday 21 September from 5.00-5.45pm in the school library.
This gives parents/carers the chance to have a checkpoint with the SEND team and find out how we implement supporting your child in school. An initial presentation will take place then there will be an opportunity to book a longer review to take place at another point. If you are unable to attend, we will publish the slides after the event and provide a digital sign-up sheet for a review meeting with the SEND team.
Review and target setting meetings
Last term we held our termly review meetings using a virtual parents evening system. We are now going to roll out virtual SEND meetings termly.
All children on the SEND register and their parents will be able to book a review of their child’s support plan and set new targets. We will expand these review meeting slots into the day to enable all to participate. This term’s review dates will be in November once everyone has got to know their new teachers. We will release the dates over the next few weeks. In the meantime feel free to contact us if you have any queries.
Contacting the SEND Department
For all SEND queries, please email send@millthorpe.southbank.academy. Please use this address for all questions, feedback, meeting requests and more. Mrs Hill, SEND Administrator, will oversee this email address and will redirect enquiries to the appropriate member of the SEND team.
There is a wealth of information of our school website about SEND provision at Millthorpe.
Grassroots Trial – reminder
As stated in last week’s email, Millthorpe has agreed to take part in a trial, led by researchers from University College, London to test the effectiveness of a student intervention approach known as Grassroots, which has shown promising results in trials in the USA. As part of the evaluation, all students in Years 7-9 are asked to complete a survey about their school experience (including bullying) during September. They will then complete the same survey in summer 2024.
Sports practices
The following sports practices are taking place this half-term:
All are welcome to attend, no experience is necessary! The aim is to have fun and enjoy being active and moving.
Normal PE/games kit is required and students must have appropriate footwear for their sport eg trainers or football boots. Lunch passes are available and are encouraged. Students should collect them from their teacher.
Please note that this rota may change due to matches after school and usually changes each half term.
Musical opportunities
At Millthorpe we have a thriving community of musicians. As we start a new school year, there will be a wide range of musical opportunities available for your child to participate in. Please take a look at the attached letter for details of instrumental lessons and music clubs.
Open Evening
Our annual open evening is always a lot of fun, giving Year 6 pupils and their families the chance to see our community in action and to understand our culture and ethos, and experience the characteristic warmth that makes Millthorpe School so distinctive.
This year’s event will be held on Thursday 28 September, from 6.00 – 8.00pm.
We’d love to see you there – there’s no need to book, and all are welcome!
Support for parents
Are you worried about your child vaping? Action for Children have produced this helpful guidance for parents – please take a look.
#WakeUpWednesday – Top tips for setting boundaries around gaming
We know that many of our students enjoy gaming in their spare time so this week’s handy guide from National Online Safety may really help many parents and carers to set boundaries for their child when they are enjoying gaming. Please take a look.
Calling aspiring netball players
If your child is interested in playing netball, please take a look at the following poster:
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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