A message from Mrs Rothenburg
It’s been another bumper week at Millthorpe, with so much to make me incredibly proud to be Principal!
At the beginning of the week, we observed the two-minute silence at 11am on Armistice Day, during which our students were incredibly respectful. The six students who played The Last Post at different locations around the school were amazing. It really was such a special moment for the whole school.
As part of Anti-Bullying Week this week, our Year 10 Drama students performed their own original drama pieces to the whole school community. All students have learnt something through watching the pieces which all followed an anti-bullying theme. The Drama students showed remarkable courage performing in front of the whole school. It was great to witness such talent on stage!
It was lovely to see so many families at our Year 11 Parents’ Evening this week. This is such an important year for our Year 11s, so with your support, we are committed to investing in them to help them reach their full potential. In addition to ensuring strong communication between the student, parents and school, we are also funding supplementary tutoring which is now well underway for some students to help them achieve their very best.
Headteachers from across Excel Learning Trust visited Millthorpe this week and were highly impressed by the strong levels of student engagement across all lessons. They noted the passion our students showed when discussing their studies, as well as the positive and happy atmosphere shared by both staff and students throughout the school.
Thank you to our Student Leaders who organised Non Uniform Day today, raising lots of money for men’s mental health charity MANUP? Great job everyone!
Next Thursday (21 November) we will be welcoming families with children with SEND into school for our SEND Review Evening. Families should have already received information, but if you have any queries, please contact the SEND team E: send@millthorpe.elt.org.uk.
Congratulations to those students who came to Principal’s Breakfast this morning, including Faith, Harry, Maggie and Danika. The following students were also invited to attend in recognition of their beautiful performances of ‘The Last Post’ on Armistice Day: Charlie, Lucy, Matthew, Abi, Joely and Emily.
Please do have a read through the rest of this week’s email, it’s full of useful information! Have a wonderful weekend all and I’ll see everyone back in school on Monday for an ‘A’ Week.
With best wishes,
Kavina Rothenburg
Acting 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 – Faculty: Maths
Conversation starters
Think of the most complex equation you feel comfortable solving and explain how to do this to someone at home.
Can you use any of this vocabulary to help: variable, inverse, simplify, solve, integer, like terms, coefficient?
Year 8 – Faculty: Science
Conversation starters
Classes have been studying a variety of topics in Block 1 – this week they have done their Block 1 Standard Assessment Piece (SAP). You could ask them how many marks they got and more importantly their areas for improvement? Students will be moving on to study Light, Ecosystem Processes and the Periodic Table in Block 2. All Year 8 Science lessons are uploaded to the respective Google classrooms. All Year 8 students have weekly Science homework to complete on Sparx Science – this is due every Thursday!
Year 9 – Faculty: Global
Conversation starters
- Computing: Students have started looking at Ethics & AI this term. This week we are looking at the Turing Test which is a measure of a computer’s ‘intelligence’ in which a human has a text conversation and tries to ascertain if they are talking to a computer or a human. This looks into the ideas of consciousness and intelligence.
- French: Students have started to talk about their ambitions for the future, and what job they might be interested in. Can they express their plans for the future in French?
- German: Students have started to talk about their ambitions for the future. Can they talk about what crazy ambitions they have, and what they ‘would’ do if they had the chance?
Year 10 – Faculty: Humanities
Conversation starters
- History: Whilst Gustav Stresemann was an amazing politician, all of his solutions to Germany’s problems were flawed. What were the flaws in his recovery plans in the 1920s? What caused the Wall Street Crash in 1929 and why did this economic depression spread to Germany? How was this crisis exploited by Hitler and the Nazis to help them to seize power? Why did the German people look to the extreme right (Nazis) rather than extreme left (Communists)? How did “Arbeit und Brot” also help the Nazis to seize control?
- Geography: What happened during Typhoon Haiyan? What were the effects of this tropical storm and what were the responses?
- Ethics: Students have just started learning their Islam unit focusing on beliefs and teachings. Now is the time for students to start learning and revising key words that they have for this unit. How did Islam start? Who is the founder? What do we say after their name? What does Tawhid mean?
Year 11 – Faculty: Performance
Conversation starters
- Drama: Students are continuing to work on their final group devised assessment performances, worth 40% of their final GCSE – please do ask them to talk you through their creative ideas – they are making fantastic progress and we can’t wait to see them!
- Music: In three out of five lessons students are continuing to work on their set brief composition, worth 20% of their final GCSE. In two out of five lessons students are working on aural skills, key vocabulary and exam technique.
- PE: In Year 11 Sports Studies students are completing their PEP (Personal Exercise Programme) and in the classroom students are continuing to work on the Paper 2 Sports Psychology topic looking at the classification of skills, SMART targets, mental preparation and types of guidance.
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.
Medal haul for Stan
Year 9 student, Stan, continues to impress in the pool, showcasing his dedication and skill in competitive swimming.
Stan attended a swimming camp in Majorca over the half-term break, returning at the weekend to compete at the North East Championships.
Stan swam brilliantly, coming away with a gold medal for the 100m backstroke, making him number one in the North of England, two silver medals for the 50m and 200m backstroke and a bronze for the 100m IM.
Well done Stan – we are all extremely proud of you!
Children’s Grief Awareness Week
Next week is Children’s Grief Awareness Week. This was initiated by Grief Encounter and the Child Bereavement Network in 2015, as a way to recognise and raise awareness of the bereavement experiences of young people.
In a survey conducted by Harrison and Harrington in 2001, research found that 78% of 11-16 year olds said that they have been bereaved of a loved one or friend. As a school we recognise the significant impact that bereavement can have on our young people and the importance of acknowledging this. We are taking this opportunity to educate our school community to be more mindful and aware of the impact bereavement can have on their peers.
The Form Time Culture Curriculum next week will focus on this topic and all students have been made aware via the student bulletin in advance as we recognise that this topic may be emotionally difficult. The session intends to be informative and focuses on students learning how to support their friends experiencing bereavement. The session does not require students to share personal experiences unless they wish to.
Members of the Pastoral Team and Senior Leadership Team will be around the school during the time of this session should any students wish to access further support.
Additional support
The Winston’s Wish website is a fantastic resource providing bereavement information and support for children and young people across the UK who are grieving the death of someone important to them. You can find the website here or through our Padlet which also has links to a variety of other online support for students and parents/carers.
Explaining the homework policy to students
This week, Form Tutors have walked their tutees through a student friendly version of the whole school homework policy. This is to ensure that all students are clear about why we set homework, what homework they can expect, which platforms are used and what support is available should they need it. It also explains how we monitor this weekly and reward students who are receiving the most Homework Praise on ClassCharts, and how it is followed up with families if there are issues with homework completion.
Promoting a love of reading
Our whole school reading strategy continues and today, our Year 8 students were lucky enough to attend a live online webinar with David Baddiel (of ‘Three Lions’ fame!).
Our Year 7 students have been enjoying a new addition to form time reading – fiction. They have been enjoying the adventures of child spy Alex Rider. Our wonderful school librarian Miss Brooks has selected a series of age appropriate short stories for each year group to enjoy together as a form and from next week, students in all other year groups will begin their Fiction Form Time Reading sessions.
Author visit
Last Friday, Millthorpe had the fantastic opportunity to host best-selling author Sean Lusk, who has been working closely with Middlethorpe Hall in York on his most recent book, ‘A Woman of Opinion’.
Sean gave a presentation to our Creative Writing Club about his journey to become an author, and provided students with brilliant advice on how to plan and structure their own writing, as well as how to work on becoming published themselves. The students were enthusiastic and welcoming, with Sean saying “it was such a pleasure to speak to the students” and that “their questions were honestly amongst the best I’ve had from any group, including adults!”
Hopefully this means that before long we’ll be seeing the names of some of our students on the spines of books in the library – maybe even enough for a dedicated ‘Millthorpe Alumni’ section!
Tickets on ParentPay
Please note that the tickets currently available on ParentPay are for the Christmas Concert on 2 December and not for the school production of Matilda which will take place on 17, 18 and 19 December.
Tickets for Matilda will be released in due course and we will notify parents/carers via the weekly email and on our social media accounts when they are available to purchase.
Dropping off and collecting your child from school
The vast majority of families driving their children to and from school do so with care and consideration; we would urge everyone giving children lifts to drive, stop and wait safely and legally at all times. In particular:
Please do not pull up or wait immediately outside the school gates, on zigzag (no stopping) lines or double yellow lines.
Drama performances for Anti-Bullying Week
Year 10 GCSE Drama students have been performing devised pieces of Theatre in Education every morning in assembly this week to support national anti-bullying week – the theme for this year is ‘Choose Respect’.
The students created the pieces themselves and have performed them to the whole school this week. They have all been fantastic!!
Matilda rehearsals – a message from Mrs Sladen
Well done for all of your hard work this week – it feels good to have started blocking Act Two! Next week’s rehearsal schedule is as follows:
- Monday 18 November, 3.30-4.30pm: Drama Hall – Full Cast – Act One run through and Act Two songs
- Tuesday 19 November, 3.30-4.30pm: M1 – Full cast
- Thursday 21 November, 3.30-4.30pm: Drama Hall – Principals, Kids, Big Kids – Blocking Act Two
Please make sure you are learning your lines for Act Two now if you don’t know them already!
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
Job of the week – Event Manager
Are you someone who enjoys organising gatherings for your friends, or it just seems to fall to you to do it because you’re so organised? If so, an Event Manager could be the job for you. In this position you could organise conferences, exhibitions, seminars, parties, weddings… the list is endless. You will be involved in planning the event from the very beginning right through to the day itself.
For more information on becoming an Event Manager, watch this video.
Call for news
We love celebrating our students’ successes so please remember that 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, you can let us know. Just email news@millthorpe.southbank.academy with a few details and ideally a photo or two, and we can shout about them in our newsletter and on our social media accounts: Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram.
Jess to star in Mother Goose
Jess in Year 11 will be taking to the stage in December as she takes part in her sixth pantomime with the Joseph Rowntree Players.
Mother Goose takes place from 7-14 December at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road, York. Further information can be found here.
Donate a coat to keep a refugee warm this winter
Every year, we receive dozens of donations of coats from Millthorpe parents and students that help refugees fleeing conflict and sleeping rough to keep warm over Christmas.
A collection box is now in reception at school until 16 December if you would like to donate a spare or outgrown warm winter coat that you no longer use (men’s smaller sizes most in demand) or sturdy walking boots (size 7 plus).
Your clothing donations will be delivered to Calais just after Christmas by a local volunteer.
No spare coats to give? You can also buy a coat or sleeping bag for refugees from just £10 and and Care4Calais Christmas gifts online.
Parent Carer Forum
To find out more about events and support available from the Parent Carer Forum, please take a look at their latest newsletter here.
#WakeUpWednesday – A guide to Cycle Safety
Figures from Cycling UK tell us that only 2.2% of UK schoolchildren currently cycle to school despite the majority owning a bike. Encouraging young people to get into this hobby can be a great way to keep them active and cut down on their screen time, while potentially providing them with a healthy and convenient way of travelling to and from school or getting around in general. At Millthorpe, we have many students who cycle to and from school, so we believe our percentage of cyclists is higher, and we are delighted to see a huge increase in the number of students who wear a cycle helmet to travel to and from school.
Of course, it’s imperative that children and young people know how to keep themselves safe while riding from A to B, if we want to avoid the risk of injury or other unpleasant experiences that could discourage them from continuing with the hobby. That’s why National Online Safety has put together this free guide, ready for Road Safety Week, starting on 17 November, providing you with expert advice on teaching cycle safety to children and young people.
Additionally, please see below for some further requests for all students who cycle to school.
Millthorpe expectations:
- Wear a helmet to cycle to and from school.
- As the mornings and afternoons get darker, ensure that you have working lights on your bike (take these off your bike when you lock it up and put them in your bag to keep them safe) and wear bright coloured clothing/a high-visibility vest.
- Bring a suitable cycle lock to secure your bike in one of the bike sheds available.
- Check that your bike is in good working order – especially that your brakes are working properly and tires are fully inflated.
- Do not cycle on the school site – walk your bike to the exit gate.
- If leaving via the rear gate onto Philadelphia Terrace, either turn left out of the rear gate or walk your bike down the hill to the bottom where you reach Albemarle Road. Check for traffic before safely continuing your journey.
- If leaving via the front gate, check for traffic before getting on your bike on Nunthorpe Avenue, and stop at the junction with Scarcroft Road to check for traffic before safely continuing your journey.
- If cycling with friends in a group, be safe and sensible. Focus on the road and traffic, avoiding conversations, and ensuring that you are keeping close to the curb to allow traffic to pass safely.
- Always cycle sensibly. Avoid “pulling wheelies” or having passengers on your handlebars or the seat (known by the students as “croggying”). Look out for traffic and pedestrians and never take risks.
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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