Christmas 2009 - Millthorpe School York

The Millthorpian Christmas 2009
Volume 13 - Issue I
A message from the Headteacher
It is hard to believe that the Christmas holidays are upon us. It has been a very busy and productive
half term here at Millthorpe. I must thank all staff and students for their welcome and good wishes since
I started here on 2 November. Thank you to all parents and carers, especially for your support related to
our work to tighten up procedures regarding uniform, jewellery, appearance and punctuality and
attendance. This has already had a noticeable impact and has been remarked upon in a positive light by
several visitors to the school in recent weeks.
Reading through this edition of the Millthorpian, it is really encouraging to see the wide range of activities
that students have been involved in since half term. The work raising money for various charities has
been most impressive, especially the tinned food and spare winter clothing collections that featured in the
local press last week. Well done to Mrs Moore especially for her work in securing £25,000 of funding for
the digital lab from the DCSF on top of the £15,000 worth of sponsorship for a new VLE.
We hope that many of you will be able to attend the Drugs Awareness Evening on Thursday 21 January
which is a follow up to the PSHCE Extended Learning Day. As students discovered, the effects of alcohol
and binge drinking are just as serious a problem in society as are drugs. The evening will be both
informative and enjoyable and I recommend it to any parent of youngsters today.
The sports pages make for interesting reading and best wishes to those teams (both boys and girls) still
involved in various competitions. I will not highlight them here so that you do not know the results before
you read the match reports (in the best traditions of TV sports news bulletins before Match of the Day)!
As usual, we have members of staff who are leaving us for pastures new. They are Claire Waiting in the
Maths Department, who was with Millthorpe on a temporary basis until the appointment of Tim Gillbanks
(Assistant Headteacher), Valentina Berraondo (SENCO) who is taking up a similar post at a Primary
School in North Yorkshire and Emma Dathan (PE), who is emigrating to Australia. Last, but not least, is
Paul Spencer, our Head of ICT, who is retiring after 35 years in teaching, the final 21 of which have been
here at Millthorpe. We say thank you to them all, especially Paul Spencer, and wish them every success
in their new and varied lives after Millthorpe! Miss Dathan will be replaced by Miss Amy Towler,
Ms Berraondo by Mrs Alison Dewsbury and Mr Spencer by Mr Andrew Ward. Leaving us for a short while
on maternity leave is Mrs Isabel Pysanczyn from our Languages Department. We all send her our very
best wishes. Mrs Alice Frau will be covering Mrs Pysanczyn’s post until her return.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you enjoy a relaxing break over the Christmas holidays.
Finally, on a very positive note, Mr Wootton was in school on Friday and he hopes to return after Easter
once the next stage of his treatment has been completed.
S W Smith
Executive Headteacher

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MILLTHORPE AWARDS EVENING
The University of York’s Central Hall was the venue for Millthorpe’s exciting
new-look awards Ceremony on Friday 27 November.
Paul Murphy, City of York’s Assistant Director of Partnerships and Early
intervention, was the guest speaker and presented awards for academic
achievement, academic progress, sporting achievement and contribution to
school. Wonderful music was
provided by the school jazz band
and the upper school dancers
provided a stunning display that
both impressed and entertained.
Special thanks to Mrs Watson, Mr Nichols, Mr Bishop and
Mr Fairclough for organising the event and to Mr Jackson and
Mrs Dathan for the music and dance routines.
Well done to all our Award recipients and thanks to the proud
parents who participated in celebrating the successes of their
children.
KNITTING & STITCHING SHOW — On Friday 20 November, Year 10
Textiles students visited the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate. Students were
amazed at the hundreds of stalls selling everything that could possibly be associated with
knitting or stitching. A few people bought bracelets or fabric for their skirt project and
some bought buttons from the many stalls which sold thousands of the
most imaginative buttons ever seen. After lunch at the Pizza Hut students returned
to the show to buy a few final Christmas presents. Overall they had a wonderful
day and many thanks to Miss Dyson and Miss Smith for organising the trip and
accompanying the students.
- Abigail Robinson, 10LMT
A Message from your Governors
If you have ever wondered what school governors do, this term has shown exactly what is sometimes
required of us.
As you know, the school gained the services of Steve Smith (Headteacher at Fulford School) as our
Executive Headteacher at half term. Behind the scenes, like a duck gliding across a pond, the two
governing bodies of Millthorpe and Fulford were busy holding extraordinary meetings to agree both halves
of the process, timed very tightly to allow the arrangements to take place. Adding the numerous other
meetings alongside this, the fairly busy schedule (read ‘feet’) of our imaginary duck produced a smooth
transition and it is now time to express my thanks to my fellow governors and the Local Authority officers
involved for stepping up to the mark when the call came.
I was sorry to miss the Awards Evening, which I gather was a fantastic event and hopefully to be
repeated next year when the first Governors’ Awards will be presented.
Looking forwards, the governors try to have a presence at school events. Please do come and say hello
to us and let us know how things are going and we will answer any questions that we can.
Finally, as we look forwards to Tony Wootton’s return next year, I would like to say a quick hello to
Gareth Davies and Tim Gillbanks, who joined Alison Hesley as Assistant Headteachers this term, and to
thank Scott Butterworth and Alison Hesley for their work in managing the school in the first half of the
Autumn Term during Tony’s absence.
Steve Brereton, Chair of Governors

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The Millthorpe Christmas Appeal
It is the time of year when the weather gets colder, the nights
are darker and longer, and at the same time the city is packed
with shoppers preparing for the Christmas period. It is therefore
a perfect time for us - as a school - to reflect on the things we
take for granted and to think about people who are less fortunate.
This Christmas, Millthorpe School hopes to make a difference to
the homeless people living within our community.
Our Christmas Appeal Tower
We have been in touch with two local charities that are working to
make life easier for people living in extreme poverty in York – the
Salvation Army (http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/york) and the
York Arc Light Project (http://www.york-arclight.co.uk/).
They have advised us that the following items are particularly scarce at this time:
The Salvation Army are particularly looking for clean spare winter clothing - warm gloves,
thick socks, scarves, jumpers and hats.
The Arc Light Project need tinned food such as beans, tuna, vegetables, or soups.
Over the last few weeks, the school has been
collecting tins and warm clothing to send to these
charities. So far we‟ve collected over 600 tins of
food and over 200 items of winter clothing plus
monetary donations of £70. At the time of writing
this article there are still two weeks to go, however,
and we are picking up the pace! For example, the
Year 8 disco will support the charity by asking
students to “bring a tin to get in” and
representatives from the Arc Light Project will be
coming into school later this term.
Pupils making donations
All items will be delivered directly to each charity in time for Christmas. If you wish to make a
financial contribution instead, please direct this to the school office. Any money raised will be
divided between the two charities. The deadline for all donations is the last day of term.
As a school, we raised £885 for Children
in Need. Many thanks to all our students
and their families for your support.

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Languages Department
Happy Christmas — Frohe Weinachten — Joyeux Noël — Buon Natale — Feliz Navidad — Happy Christmas
Congratulations to Mrs Moore, PA to the Languages Department, for bringing a
donation of a VLE (Virtual learning Environment) worth £15,000 into the school and
for successfully bidding for £25,000 to fund a new digital Language Lab.
Mrs Moore spent many hours last year raising £25,000 of donations and sponsorship, £15,000
of which is in the form of the school’s new VLE (soon to be launched in a number of pilot
departments across the school by Mr Gillbanks, Mr Davies and Mr Winston - full roll-out across
the whole school will happen next year). She then used her previous experience of charity
fundraising, to apply for match-funding from the DCSF.
This means that we will be able to install a digital language lab in the old Language Lab and the benefits to all pupils
will be immense. We will be able to teach speaking and listening in a much more interactive, more personalised way,
using more sharply focussed and more creative pair-work and groupwork activities. It also makes it possible to link
up with our partner schools electronically via pupil-produced podcasts that we load onto our blog or for our
pupils to send podcasts to penfriends in our partner schools in Calais and Vreden.
Other departments and community classes, such as Masterclasses, evening classes, family learning classes, music
and drama groups will also be able to make use of the lab when it is not being used by the MFL department, after
school and at weekends. I’m sure you’ll all want to join me in shouting a big “HipHipHooray!” for Mrs Moore and in
thanking her for bringing £40,000 worth of VLE and digital lab into the school.
Tania Andrle – Head of Modern Languages
Launch of the new GCSE Controlled Writing Assessments in French, German and Italian
We are absolutely delighted with our Year 10 GCSE French, German and Italian pupils this term. They have worked
incredibly hard to make the step-up from KS3 to GCSE level language and to prepare for and sit their first Controlled
Writing Assessment (worth 15% of their final GCSE) just 11 weeks into their KS4 course. Y10 pupils are the first year
pupils to follow the new GCSE syllabus, which is made up of Speaking and Writing Controlled Assessments and
Listening and Reading modular exams, taken throughout Y10 and Y11.
Pupils spent 6 hours language planning, writing, re-drafting and learning a piece of writing of between 100 and 350
words. About half of the time was completed at school and about half for homework. The French assessment was on
Leisure, the German on School and the Italian on Home and Home Town. Pupils were able to use their exercise
books, textbooks and dictionaries during the preparation period but during the assessment itself, they only had
access to a planning sheet and a dictionary.
Most pupils managed their independent study time extremely well and produced a piece of writing that they can be
very proud of, indeed. We look forward to some fantastic marks from pupils in all teaching groups. Well done Y10!
Students Experience Languages for Life - More than 150 students from schools throughout the region
attended the “Languages for Life” conference held at Millthorpe School on Friday 16 th October. The event promoted
the vocational relevance of learning languages in today’s
competitive global market. It was hosted by Millthorpe School as
part of the Language College Partnership with All Saints RC
School.
Students took part in workshops by speakers from universities all
over the country which highlighted the opportunities available to
them as they progress with their language studies. They attended
taster sessions sampling a variety of different languages such as
Chinese, Japanese and Greek. They also learnt about careers in
languages, taking part in international graduate placements and
the use of languages within the hospitality industry. Mrs Cordell,
one of the organisers of the conference said “It is a wonderful
opportunity for the students around the region to find out about studying languages at higher education and in their
future careers. This is the fourth Languages for Life Conference and it is both interesting and inspiring to the
students while encouraging them to continue their interest in language learning.”
Happy Christmas — Frohe Weinachten — Joyeux Noël — Buon Natale — Feliz Navidad — Happy Christmas

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Languages Department (continued)
Millthorpe School Languages Blog www.languagesatmillthorpe.typepad.co.uk
We are now up to over 3000 hits and there’s also lots of new material on there, including videos for Year 10 and lots
of useful revision materials for Year 11. With a view to promoting the blog further, we have had information stickers
printed for all pupils and to give to parents and other visitors at open evenings.
For Key Stage 3 every teacher will post something on the blog and set a homework related to it before Christmas.
Pupils and parents will be able to log onto the blog to check their homework details and we hope to be able to post
more examples of pupils’ work very soon.
Foreign Language Assistants — We are delighted to welcome back Aurélian Thériaud for his second year as our
French assistant and we also welcome Kai Conzemius our new German assistant. We value their input into our
department and look forward to working with them over the coming year. Some of our year 8 pupils have
interviewed them – we hope you enjoy finding out about them!
Aurélien Thériaud
Kai Conzemius
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m from Dijon, which is York’s twin
city, and is situated between Lyon
and Paris. I’m 23 and decided to
come to England to improve my
English. I would like to work in an
international sporting organisation
(FIFA if possible) and that’s why I
need to speak good English.
Tell us about some of your favourite things.
I love lasagne! My favourite football team is Liverpool –
I went to Anfield last year and it was awesome! My
favourite animal is dogs.
If you had one wish what would you wish for?
If I had to wish for something I would like all my family
and friends to be happy and get everything they need.
What do you think of York?
I really like the atmosphere in York, it’s lively and there
are lots of things to do. I didn’t know York before
coming here but I really enjoy living here and that’s
why I wanted to stay for a second year. It’s very similar
to Dijon where I come from.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not at
work?
During my free time I play football a lot and like to do
other sports where possible. I play football with the
teachers at school on Fridays and play with Aviva on
Saturdays. I like visiting places and spending time with
my friends.
Who do you most admire?
The person who is a real example to me is my father.
Aurélien was interviewed by Year 8 pupils; Sarah
Brown, Christian McSweeney, Owain Atkin and Siren
Meek.
Why did you come to York?
I came mainly to improve my English
because I’m studying English and
history to become a teacher. Also to
get some experience in being a teacher
and seeing a different country.
What do you like about York? It’s not too big and it’s
not too small. There are lots of activities to do as well.
There are also lots of historic places too look at.
How much did you know about York before you
came? Not a lot, but I read about it and saw some
pictures on Wikipedia and saw that it was a nice size and
quite old.
Why did you want to be a teacher? I didn’t really like
school when I was younger but now I do. It’s a lot
different when you are a teacher than as a pupil. I like
history so it’s fun to tell kids facts about it because it’s
really interesting. With English it’s good to read English
books to the children. It is also important to be able to
speak English when you go abroad.
What is your favourite place in York? I think the
Minster is really impressive. I’ve been up to the tower and
it was really nice because you could see the whole of
York. It’s really cool at night when it all lights up.
When you aren’t sight seeing what are you doing?
I like playing sports like football and on Fridays I
sometimes play football with the teachers. I would like to
travel to other English cities also Scotland, Ireland and
maybe Wales.
How long do you plan to stay in England? I will work
at Millthorpe until the end of May then. I will stay for one
further month to travel the country. I will hopefully return
though someday.
Kai was interviewed by Year 8 pupils; Hedda Belsnes,
Brodie Doherty, Megan Forgan and Rhianna Goodwill.
Happy Christmas — Frohe Weinachten — Joyeux Noël — Buon Natale — Feliz Navidad — Happy Christmas

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Languages Department (continued)
Happy Christmas — Frohe Weinachten — Joyeux Noël — Buon Natale — Feliz Navidad — Happy Christmas
We are delighted to welcome Miss Navas-Quevedo, our newest Languages
teacher. She teaches French and Spanish. Here is a recent interview with her:
Where did you grow up? In a small village in the south of Spain. My parents are wine
makers and the weather is always sunny so we used to spend lots of time around the
fields, a very different place to any city in the UK.
What was your favourite subject at school? Break? Science, it was fun, dynamic
and interesting. I wanted to be a biologist and work in a lab or go and do some animal
research in faraway lands.
What was the first foreign language you learnt? English, they introduced it to my school when I was 15.
We only learnt a few songs, colours, months. It’s different nowadays; children have to learn a language (they
choose from French, English, Italian and Portuguese) from the age of 6. I really first learnt English during a
summer course in York. I spent a month going to the college in the mornings then visiting the area in the
afternoon. That’s when I realised I would rather study languages than science as it would open lots more doors
and possibilities to my future.
What did you study at University? I set off to do an English degree; I was living in France at the time so it
seemed a bit bizarre and I ended up adding a second degree in French. France has very good universities which
are very welcoming towards foreign students, they made it all very easy and definitely worthwhile
How many different countries have you visited? Erm, quite a few, definitely most of Europe. Being able to
speak different languages has always helped when travelling around, it makes it a lot easier to speak to the locals,
find out about the culture, sights and special occasions. It’s amazing how nice people are when you are making an
effort to communicate with them in their own language.
How many languages can you speak?
up!
Fully fluently, just three but I am surely up for bringing the number
How have different languages helped you when you have been travelling? Many different ways; from
being able to book my own hotels, trips, excursions etc to helping me meet people coming from all over the world.
It just helps in many levels.
Is there any language you wish you could speak? Arabic. I did three years at university, learnt the basics
and how to read and write in their alphabet. I thought it was a fascinating language and really wished I could
have carried on. However it’s very difficult to find lessons for it as a foreign language.
Congratulations to Kayleigh Brown (10PMC)
on her achievement at The ArtSpace ‘art camp’ over the
summer holidays.
An exhibition of art work done by over 60 children was held
afterwards. The photograph shows Kayleigh with the Lord
Mayor and Sheriff of York and their respective partners at the
opening night. The Sheriff of York was particularly
impressed with Kayleigh’s work.
The ArtSpace run sessions for ‘arty’ teenagers every Saturday
and during school holidays. If interested, telephone 671709
or checkout the website at www.theartspaceyork.com.

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PSHCE EXTENDED LEARNING DAY
Never does a day go by without some mention in the media of drugs, binge drinking, unsafe sex
or teenage pregnancies. So how much does your child know about these issues? We tackled this
head on with pupils of Year 9 during the last extended learning day.
200 Year 9 pupils took part in seven workshops focused around the dangers and risks associated
with sex, drugs and alcohol. Various services from the local community got involved to ensure
pupils were receiving the best possible education and advice surrounding these topics. Some
sessions included the Police service delivering a workshop on Drugs, the Youth Service on
decision making and the Local Authorities Risky Behaviour consultant on the affects of drugs
and alcohol on the body.
The day proved to be a great success – but don‟t take our word for it – here are what some
students had to say ........
“I have enjoyed learning about
real life situations and what
could happen to me if I make
the wrong choices.”
“I was shocked that alcohol
kills more people than many
other drugs – binge drinking
is a serious thing!”
“I hadn‟t heard of bubbles – it‟s
an unknown drug and it‟s legal!
The after affects are still
unknown but it can kill!”
“I thought learning about all the risks was
really important. I enjoyed the practical
work – especially the beer goggles”
As a follow up for this we are offering a Drugs Community Awareness evening that ALL parents
are welcome to attend. See below for more details:
Drugs Awareness Evening
Millthorpe School
21 January 2010
7.00pm
in the Library
We welcome parents, teachers, whole
school staff, governors, elected representatives
and other adult members of the community

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BOYS’ P.E.
P.E. DEPARTMENT
Football: A big ‘well done’ to the Year 9 Football team who are now in the quarter finals of the North
Yorkshire Cup and meet Tadcaster Grammar School next. Under the expert guidance of Mr Baybutt the team
are now playing well, although they do have a habit of giving the opposition a two-goal start! We wish them all
the best in the next round. See match report below of their most recent game against Archbishop Holgate’s.
Team: GK- Matt Crowland, RB—Sam Lake, CB - Adam Bamber, James Everard, LB - Billy Martin, RM - James
Green, CM - Jacob Mcmanaman, Jack Mangan, LM—Jordan Outerbridge, ST—Tom Bateson, Isaac Gilding.
SUBS: Liam McNicol, Jay Goodall, Billy Smith.
On 26 November, Period 5 , 22 players prepared themselves for a tough match. Millthorpe started brightly with
promising chances falling to the wingmen Outerbridge and Green, and the strikers Bateson and Gilding.
However, against the run of play, a simple defensive error cost Millthorpe a goal. Archbishops were now
feeling good and they scored another straight after the restart. Not disheartened,
Millthorpe never gave up and deserved a goal after a prolonged period of pressure
weakened Archbishops defence . In between, however, pressure was also being put on
Millthorpe’s defence and it was only fantastic goalkeeping from Matt Crowland that kept
Millthorpe in the game. It remained 2-0 to Archbishops until half time.
Mr Baybutt rallied his troops during the interval; the injured Bamber was replaced by Goodall at centre-back.
Millthorpe took the centre and were quickly on the front foot with lots of pressure put on Archbishop’s keeper.
Lots of chances were worked but it was James Green who scored for Millthorpe with a simple tap in after a
great cross from McManaman. Millthorpe’s spirits were raised and they kept on battling. Bateson had a header
saved off the line and other attempts were dealt with by the Archbishops defence well. Then Bateson was
played in to the box by Mangan and he stoked the ball into the back of the net : 2-2.
Archbishops never gave up hope and soon took the lead again. But James Green scored again with a fantastic
35 yard strike into the bottom corner to make the scores level at 3-3. Mr Baybutt then made an inspirational
substitution when Gilding was subbed off for Smith and he scored with his first touch when Bateson played a
sublime ball across the box for Smith to calmly slot home to make the scores 4-3 to Millthorpe, the first time
they had gone ahead in the match. Bateson was then subbed off for McNicol who took his place up front.
Archbishops somehow managed to level the scores with minutes to spare and Matt Crowland made a string of
unbelievable saves to keep Millthorpe going. His hard work was rewarded when Green made a long run in the
dying seconds only to be stopped illegally in the box for a penalty.
McManaman stepped forward to take this decisive kick. If he missed, Millthorpe faced the
prospect of penalties but if he were to score Millthorpe would surely be through to the next round
of the cup…..He began his run up……. His left foot sweetly struck the ball and it ended up in the
bottom left corner to thunderous cheers from the 30 plus spectators who had come to watch this
epic battle. McManaman had won it, the team had won it, but most of all, Millthorpe had won it.
Their spirit and never-say-die attitude epitomised their lion emblem. Matt Crowland deservedly got ‘Man of the
Match for his heroic performance in goal to keep Millthorpe in the game..
- By Tom Bateson, 9LD
Basketball: The Year 10/11 and Year 8/9 Basketball teams are coming to the end of their
‘group phase’ of the Basketball leagues with the Key Stage 4 team looking likely to reach the
plate play-offs.
Cross-Country : The York Inter- School Cross-Country Championships
were held on Friday 11 December. Congratulations to all the runners
who competed—it was good to see so many willing athletes run in atrocious
conditions. Special praise to Nick Langan (3rd), Cassie Thomas (2nd) Charlie Sarginson
(2nd) Luke Clayton (3rd) Laura Hepworth (3rd) Matt Chilton (5th), Madeleine Svenson
(6th) Lily Stone (7th) Charlotte Dearlove (8th) and Emily Farrow(10th).
Kit Information — Boots and Shin Pads: Boys are reminded that they must wear boots for games and shin
pads for football. These are non-negotiable items of kit and must be worn for health and safety reasons.

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BOYS’ P.E. (continued)
Jack Anderson in Year 10 is setting the Rugby world alight at the moment. Having been
selected to represent North Yorkshire, he was also awarded the captaincy of the squad
which is an enormous accolade. Subsequently, Jack is one of 40 players from across the
Yorkshire and Humberside Region to be selected to play in the Regional Development
Squad. As a further highlight to his career, Jack is currently on the reserve list, waiting to
be called up into the England U15 Rugby League squad and we all hope that the call
comes through soon. Jack is currently developing his talent with a scholarship to Hull FC.
Well done Jack on your amazing achievement and we wish you every success this season
Congratulations must also go to Alex Coates-McDowall (also Year 10) who is currently going through the trial
process to be signed on at Blackburn Rovers FC. An incredible talent, we wish Alex the best of luck and will
keep you informed as to his success.
INTER-FORM BASKETBALL—Congratulations to 8RD who
triumphed over all other Year 8 forms to win the inter-form
basketball competition. The team (pictured) consisted of:
Tom Burke, Tom Brooks, Reuben Thorp, Ryan Long, Kate
Chapman, Rosie Latchford, Laura Austin-Sydes, Beth Murphy,
Izzy Lee and Grace Onyeche.
All the teams that took part played some exciting fast-paced
basketball. Special thanks go to Mrs Cordell and Mrs Dathan
for organising and running the event.
SPORTS LEADERS - Sports Leaders has been a successfully
run course over the years, and this year is no different with
39 students from Year 10 choosing the course this year.
Being a Sports Leader develops communication, leadership,
time management and teamwork skills. It also enables the students to confidently organise and manage a
well-structured lesson.
Thirty two Year 11 students are close to completing their Level 1 course and will have the opportunity to
further their training by volunteering in festivals and events that are planned for later on in the year.
Fifteen Year 9 and Year 10 students have been inducted onto the Dance Leaders course this year also, which
will see them gaining experience about all aspects of dance, ranging from cheerleading to break dancing. The
future looks bright with potentially over 80 students gaining these further qualifications and not only keeping
themselves active, but providing a service for the wider community to access.
A Health & Well-being Programme
in Partnership with Millthorpe School
In January, in partnership with The Yoga Academy and its teen department, Yoga 4 Teens, Millthorpe will
be providing both its male and female students in Year 11 with the opportunity to experience Yoga. Yoga
will be an additional PE option and a positive step towards a total health and well-being programme.
These classes are designed specifically for teenagers and aim to empower each student to take control of
their physical, emotional & psychological wellbeing. Issues such as beating exam stress and calming the
effects of the immense hormonal changes which are taking place in the body's chemistry and physiology
during the late teen years will be addressed.
The classes will be run by Hayley Del Sanderson who is the Principal and Founder of The Yoga Academy
in York. The Academy houses Yoga Bunnies for children, Yoga 4 Teens, Adult Yoga and Yoga Dance.
Hayley also provides customized Yoga classes and stretching programmes to sports clubs in the North of
England. (More information about The Yoga Academy and its full timetable of classes can be found on
the website www.theyogaacademy.co.uk)

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GIRLS’ P.E. NEWS
On Saturday 21 November, our U14 netball team travelled to play the County
Round at Ashville College, Harrogate where they played the best 7 teams in North Yorkshire.
In wet and windy conditions, Millthorpe’s first match was against local rival Joseph
Rowntree. Despite it being 3-3 at half time, Millthorpe pulled away to a 8-3 victory. Next up
were Queen Mary’s who proved to be a tough challenge. There was some wonderful
defending in the circle from Charli Wareham and Deny Hancox, both of whom produced some
match-saving interceptions and Millthorpe came through 6-5 winners. The third match against Harrogate
Ladies college proved to be our hardest match. Despite some brave battling in the centre court from Rachel
Jarman, Millthorpe lost 4-5. It was still possible to qualify from the Regional Round, however other results had
to go our way. St Aidans were next and we knew that this would be a test. A brave battle from all the team
saw the final results as 4-4. If we won all our remaining matches and other results went our way, we would still
qualify. Next up was Stokesley and with some excellent shooting from Beth Preston and Laura Stables,
Millthorpe won 7-3. Caedmon from Scarborough area was probably our easiest match and Millthorpe won 9-2.
Our last match decided whether we would qualify – if we lost, Joseph Rowntree would qualify and if we won,
we would qualify. Some wonderful centre court work from Cassie Thomas and Holly Murphy saw Millthorpe
victorious against Scarborough College 10-4.
Millthorpe School now go on to represent North Yorkshire at the Regional Round of the National Schools
Tournament, to be played in Rotherham and are the only school from the York area at any age group to qualify
for this tournament.
Congratulations — The following girls have all gained Academy places at Netball:
County Level: Elisha Maguire, Cassie Thomas, Emily Farrow, Hannah Sturdy, Faye Whiteley
Area Level: Holly Murphy, Laura Stables
Selected to play netball for the York & District netball teams are Ruby Woodcock ( U16) and Deny Hancox and
Rachel Jarman (U14).
England Netball have sent a thank you letter to Faye Whiteley, Ruby Woodcock and Hannah Schofield for all
their help at the Netball Talent League Fixtures. Initially there to score the netball on behalf of Leeds Carnegie,
all 3 girls were asked to help with other teams and throughout the day scored, timed, produced match sheets
and operated the electronic scoreboard for 6 matches. Well done to Faye, Ruby & Hannah for their hard work.
Finally, thanks to Mrs Dathan who is leaving us at Christmas to head for sunnier climes as she and her family
emigrate to Australia. Mrs Dathan has made a huge impact whilst with us at Millthorpe and we wish her every
success as she starts a new adventure.
MILLTHORPE FILM CLUB
Since last June, Millthorpe has been a member of Film Club — a nationwide scheme to give
pupils and teachers the chance to explore the world of film through lunchtime and after-school
film activities. With free weekly screenings, on-line reviewing, industry events and hands-on
support, Film Club inspires, excites and opens up new avenues for learning. As it is sponsored by lovefilm.com
the movies are free and school has permission to hold screenings for all students.
Now open to Year 10 students as well as Year 11s, the club allows students to immerse themselves in a
vibrant mix of vintage hits, international classics, blockbusters, art movies and all points in between, seeing
films made years ago and others fresh out this week, stories produced in every corner of the world. It’s a
surefire way to find yourself dazzled, provoked, amused, shocked and uplifted (and sometimes all at once).
Millthorpe Film Club’s top 5 film picks 2009:
Akira Kurosawa—’The Seventh Samurai’
Alejandro Amenábar—’The Others’
M Night Shyamalan—’The Sixth Sense’
Andrew Adamson—’The Chronicles of Narnia’
Tim Burton - ‘Edward Scissorhands’
Now the school has successfully made its way to the second stage of a bidding process that could see the club
equipped with a popcorn maker and beanbags. Watch this space!

Page 11 - The Millthorpian
Year 8 Students Become
Budding Eco-Warriors
200 Year 8 students „got green‟ as part of the Eco Day on
our last extended learning day. With the aim of increasing
awareness about their impact on the environment and ways to
reduce it, students spent the day competing in Recycle Races,
calculating their Carbon Footprints and digging for earth worms!
Working with the Running Wild project, led by Ben Walker,
students,armed with wellies and spades,set out into the school grounds in search of worms. The
data they collected will form part of a national survey to assess the impacts of climate change on
the habitats of worms.
The headline event of the day though was the Eco Fashion
Show when students got their creative green juices flowing.
Provided simply with one item of clothing, two plastic
bottles, paper and some eco currency to purchase extra
resources, students designed and created items of Eco
Fashion ranging from skirts, hats, sandals, bags and all
manner of accessories. Over 50 students strutted their
stuff on the catwalk and showed off their designs to the
Year Group in an Eco Fashion Show at the end of the day.
Mr Sladen said, „The students have had a fantastic day and it has been a success in every sense.
Enrichment days like these allow students to experience activities which aren‟t always possible in
the classroom. The kids have taken so much out this day. One group of boys found, and fished out,
over 70 worms in a 20cm deep pit! And some of their Eco Fashion designs would have had Gok Wan
salivating – they surprised themselves how creative they were. I hope they went home and told
their families and friends about the global impacts their simple day-to-day local actions can have‟.
Congratulations to the Eco Fashion winners: Steph Pearson (8ED), Megan Beasley (8CL), Eben
Bentley (8CL), Bethany Johnson (8KFB), Isabella Lee (8RD) and Henry Andrews (8RD).
Many thanks to all students who took part (we hope you all had a great day!) and to all members of
staff who made the day possible, most of all to Mr Bee and Mr Carlin.
Have a green Christmas!
MILLTHORPE LAUNCHES BOOK GROUP
Millthorpe Book Group gets newly-released or soon-to-be-released books from Red
House children’s publisher. Red House need to know what children want and this is
the job of the Book Group. We read the books and write reviews, which helps Red
House choose what to publish. The chance to read good books is a privilege that we
all enjoy. The present Year 7s have just read the first batch of books and are
generally hungry for more!!
- Harry Dibbs, 7MFB
Stop Press: Having sent their reviews to Red House, we have just learned that feedback from Millthorpe
students will be given to the top ten children’s authors (as voted by the publishers) after the awards
ceremony in the new year.

Page 12 - The Millthorpian
A full School Council meeting was held on 19 November.
Here are some of the issues covered:
School toilet facilities: Aim to completely renovate in Easter holidays 2010.
Quotations are being obtained, which will include a water fountain.
Anti-bullying: To produce an anti-bullying charter to support Year 7 students
which will be incorporated into whole school Behaviour and Anti-bullying Policy.
School rules: Rules on wearing coats in school, jewellery and make up were clarified
Punctuality and attendance: The school is tightening up on these rules. Council reps appreciated the
value and importance of punctuality and attendance.
School bell: The bell will no longer ring half-way through lessons.
Congestion in corridors: A „one-way‟ system would be investigated.
Hot drinks machine: Mr Smith would investigate but there are health and safety issues.
Rubbish bin near banking: There was a health and safety concern. Mr Smith would investigate and
report back.
Access to indoor facilities when fields out of bounds and weather bad: Year 10 would have use of
Drama hall with a code of conduct establishes. Tennis courts would be opened up for KS3 students.
Thanks to all School Council reps for their commitment. Form reps have discussed the minutes of this
meeting with their tutor groups. Full copies of the minutes are available on request.
MESSAGE FOR PARENTS - SCHOOL ACCESS
Please note that the Philadelphia and Southlands gates are locked from 9.30am every day for
security reasons. If you are dropping off or collecting pupils after 9.30am or before the end of
school please use the Nunthorpe Avenue entrance (off Scarcroft Road). Thank you.
IMPORTANT DATES
SPRING TERM 2010
Term begins: Monday 4 January
Half term: 15-19 February
Term Ends: Thursday 1 April
Spring Concert: Wed 24 February
Parents’ Evenings:
Year 8 Thur 25 February
Year 9 Tues 12 January
Year 10 Wed 10 March
Year 11 Thur 11 February
Y9 Options Evening: Thur 7 January
Y11 Group Photo: Thur 21 January
Y11 Reports to Parents: w/c 8 February
Y10 exams: w/c 29 March & w/c 19 April
WE WISH
OUR PUPILS
& THEIR
FAMILIES
A JOYFUL
CHRISTMAS
& NEW YEAR
Pupils return to
school on
Monday 4 January
(Week A)