2Excel - September 2010

8/7/2019 2Excel - September 2010

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T h e M F G m a g a z i n e f o r s t u d e n t s , p a r e n t s , s t a f f a n d s u p p o r t e r s


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A Message from the Principal

It has been an extraordinary year for The MFG. Staff have been busy raising standards against abackdrop of proposals from the LA to expand our school and close the nearby Castle Hall. Meetingswith Shahid Malik, Simon Reevell and Ed Balls, as well as a trip to Downing Street were just some of

the tactics employed to try to make Kirklees see educational sense. I guess we always knew that itwould come down to an Adjudicator's decision.

Thank goodness we were both Foundation Schools which gave us the autonomy to appeal to theindependent Adjudicators' Office which had the jurisdiction to overturn the Council's decision. CanonRichard Lindley did just that and preserved the two Mirfield Schools. Thank goodness for commonsense. I would, once again, like to thank staff, students, governors, residents and friends for theirsupport during this difficult time. I would like to pay a special tribute to Jennifer Ryan, our Chair ofGovernors, who did an enormous amount of outstanding work in fighting these proposals on behalf ofour school. May I also thank the Town Council for their generous cheque of 1,000 towards the legalbills we incurred fighting the proposals, it was very much appreciated.

Our new state-of-the-art Design Technology build is now complete. It has given us eight fantastic newteaching spaces which are first class. We knew that we had the finance to complete the build and thatfurnishing it would be a gradual process. I acknowledge and thank the Mirfield Charity who hasgranted us 10,000 for 25 graphics computers and monitors to ensure that the graphics room is upand running for this September. It is a most welcome donation and will benefit the studentsenormously.

Finally, let me record that I am immensely proud of all my staff and students for the tremendous workthey have produced over the last twelve months despite difficulties the LA caused and I look forwardto another set of record-breaking results.

Mrs L Barker BA (Hons) PGCEPrincipal

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Stephanie Balmforth receiving her award from Mrs Barkerand Mrs Ryan (Chair of Governors) for her outstandingcontribution to the school over the last seven years.


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The Sixth Form May Ball ( featured on p3 ) is one of the highlights of the Sixth form calendar.Students and staff are all invited to put aside the pressures of work and let their hair down. Theevening involved a three course meal, party games, various awards and a late night disco.

Mr Fryer, Deputy Head of Sixth Form said, "The evening was a great success with all students and

staff getting into the party spirit. It's a great way to celebrate all the hard work over the past yearand have some fun". Awards on the evening were as follows: Best Looking Male - Craig Johnson,Best Looking Female - Becky Lenk, Cutest Couple - Ben Firth and Becky Senior, Best DressedMale - Andrew Tattersfield and Best Dressed Female - Amy Driver.

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Sixth Form students celebrated excellentresults this year. Amy Driver (pictured below)achieved an A* in Psychology, a stunningachievement requiring above 90% in all Year13 modules. This is the first year A* gradeshave been awarded and Amy is going on to toread English and History at Lincoln University.

Ms. Dunn, Vice Principal said, "This is a verychallenging time for young people and theyknow how hard they have to work to achievethis success. We are very proud of all of ourstudents and they have responded to thevery strong support we are able to give themas a school Sixth Form where they are all

known well by our staff. I would like to takethis opportunity to wish them all the very bestfor the future and to thank their parents forsupporting them and our staff for theirdedication to their students over the past twoyears.

A-Level Results

The Sixth Form May Ball

Congratulations to Year 11 students whocelebrate exceptional GCSE results this year.87% gained 5+ A*-C grades with 62% gaining5+ A*-C including English and Maths - a terrificachievement, continuing the year-on-yearimprovement in results. Its a great testimonyto the hard work put in by students and staff.

Mrs Lorraine Barker, Principal, said, "We'rethrilled with the results once again this year.I believe that the most important responsibilityof a school is to create the very bestopportunities for all its students. Young peopletoday are going out into one of the mostchallenging environments for a generation.These results put our students in pole position

for their next steps."

GCSE Results


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In May, thirty Year 8 students took part in a Science Gifted and Talented day with Miss Bramley. Theaim of the day was to extend their scientific skills beyond the classroom and to achieve some level7 and level 8s! The day was a real success. All students worked incredibly hard in teams all day.Team 1 (Luke Bowkett, Benjamin Armitage, Holly Summers, Jessica Harrison and Alice Bunch) wonthe 'best team work' award. Team 4 (Daniel Furness, Ashley Harper, Jake Marshall, CallumMcDermott and Huzaifa Patel) won the award for the best presentation which even included someacting!

The day concluded with Keegan Hirst from Dewsbury Rams giving a talk to the students on his dayto day fitness regime and diet. He also spoke about the illegal use of drugs in sport. Students askedhim some excellent questions! An overall fabulous day, Mrs Barker and her Senior Team were veryimpressed. Miss Bramley added, 'The students put in so much effort all day and it paid off when many of them left having achieved a level 7 or level 8 on some of their activities! Well done!' Thankyou to Mrs Plumpton too for all her help on the day.

Year 8 G &T Science Day

Our Gifted and Talentedmathematicians from Years 8 and 9were in action earlier in the year.On 11th March, a four-strong teamrepresented The MFG in the UKMaths Team Challenge RegionalFinals in Leeds, holding their ownagainst some very strong and

extremely competitive rivals. Welldone to James Hirst (Year 9), BethHargreaves (Year 9), Luke Bowkett(Year 8) and Jack Riley (Year 8)who, competing in our first everappearance in the Regional final,came a creditable 8th out of 25schools.

The following week saw Luke andJack in action again, this time withsix other Gifted and Talentedstudents from Year 8, in the KirkleesMaths Challenge held at HolmfirthHigh School, where there were 24teams taking part. This time we wereable to field two teams - one fromeach Band - and they privatelycompeted against each other! Band1 came joint 5th overall, with Band 2not very far behind. Congratulationsto Luke and Jack, and also to ZubairBulbulia and Sam Smith in the Band1 team. Well done also to OliverGreenwood, Mariam Hussain,

Zainab Patel and Catherine Pinderin Band 2. We can look forward toeven greater success in the future.

Mines a G &T...

This year The MFG selected a Year 7 Spelling Team thatcompeted in the prestigious annual Spelling Bee run byThe Times Newspaper. The MFG team was selectedafter two very competitive Year 7 spelling bees that tookplace at school. The selected team demonstrated animpressive ability to remain calm under pressure andspell some very complex words. Next, the team spentseveral weeks revising spellings for the individual

portion of the competition and practising for the wholeteam speed spelling portion of the competition.

The event took place at the Vue Cinema inMiddlesbrough and was very exciting. The entire eventwas designed to make the students feel like they wereon a television quiz programme. Whilst Katie, Nishaat,Joe and Shoaib remained completely calm during thecompetition, Mrs Armstrong-Smith and Mrs Clark wereincredibly nervous. The MFG team finished thisincredibly difficult competition in an impressive fourthplace. Plus, each of our students was given a goodybag with a wide range of exciting prizes.

The Times Spelling Bee


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Immunisation

Sarah the milkmaid was milking one mornShe raised her hands to stifle a yawn

Some red, pussy spots caught her eye

She looked at them closely, "they can't be right"She started to worry about the spots

"There was a few, but now there are lots"She ran to see Dr J

"Doctor, help me get them away."

"Let me look dear, let me seeI need to see what's wrong with thee"

He looked at the pus and scraped some off"By my calculations you've got cow pox.

Have you ever had small pox dear?""No, so far, I've been clear!"

"How peculiar, let me think"He sat and thought over a warm drink.

He called "I'm going to investigate thisGo find me a guinea pig will you, sis"

She later brought back a very small man"Come here boy, give me your hand"

Injecting the pus into his armThen taking a glance at Sarah's palm"Come back son in a few weeks time"Handing the boy a small, shiny dime

A few weeks passed, the lad came backDr J welcomed him, patting his back"How are you boy, how do you feel?

How's the cut, has it healed?""Yes it has sir, yes siree"

He replied, his voice full of glee"Hoorah Hoorah we have found

A cure to stop small pox spreading round"

Ellie Swales7A

Students on the BTEC 3D Design coursehave been working closely with The Mill

Village in Batley on a project to re-designthe interior of their Masserellas familyrestaurant. The project brief was set byPaula Hammerton, marketing manager atThe Mill, in January, to update the interiorwhilst still maintaining a family friendly feel.8 students worked on the brief producingmood boards and eventually a scale model.

In May, Paula and colleague Vickie Rose, judged the 8 models and chose Nathan

Eastall as the overall winner, "The modelswere all amazing, you could see how muchthought and time had gone into preparingeach one. Nathan's model stood out for itsoriginality, for meeting the design brief andfor the incredible amount of detail he hadput into it."

Nathan received a 50 voucher to spend atThe Mill, whilst all the other studentsreceived a 10 voucher.

Mrs Wilkinson, their D&T teacher said "Thestudents had a very realexperience of working with aclient which was invaluableand made them realise thatthey often need to considerother people's opinions andalso that deadlines must bemet."

Mill Village Design Project

Mrs Barker and Mr Hawksworth presentthe Change for Life award on behalf ofAndy Burnham to the school's ambassadorsfor the Change4Life campaign.

Change4Life


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8.1.1 as part of theirEaster homework had tocreate a history egghead.The students had acracking time designingtheir heads. The winnersof the competition wereJack Riley, Bella Hall,Georgia Hepworth and

Emma Cox ( shown on the cover! ).

Sadly, the teachers would not shell out for a prize...

Year 8 Students are Eggsta t ic . . .

In February over 60 studentsperformed 'The Wiz' as ourannual school production!

We performed to sell outaudiences as we followedDorothy (Rebecca Kassube) andher friends the Lion (MatthewPlumpton), the Scarecrow(Bradley Morgan) and the TinMan (Joe Medlock) down theyellow brick road on her quest tomeet The Wiz (Alex Townend).

We saw some fantasticperformances from the witches as

well as an amazing performancefrom Ellie Wright in Year 8 asToto too!

The musical was masses of funand hard work for all involved.Miss Raymond said, 'It was an absolute pleasure directing this year's production. We have so many talented students at The MFG and they really shone in the show! All the principal actors did such a great job and were supported by a brilliant cast of students from every year group.They were all stars!'

Discussions are on-going at themoment to decide next year'sblockbuster - so watch thisspace!

The Wiz!


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Day 1Passports collected and luggageaboard, we set out for Flanders inBelgium at 10pm. Our aim was toget to Folkestone (the channeltunnel crossing) at 6.35am. Eightand a half hours on a coach with 45teenagers was going to be easy ifas planned the students wouldsleep all the way and wake up inBelgium. All our party wereexpecting to return unharmed at

10pm on Sunday 7th February,some students were leavingparents and homes for a long timebut most seemed excited by it.

Ninety six years ago hundreds ofthousands of teenagers only threeor four years older than the oneson our trip set out for Flanders andthe western front but sadly hardlyany of them returned alive andunharmed. We were going to try toget some understanding of whatconditions and experiences were

like in Flanders during the FirstWorld War (WW1).

Day 2The second day started when wewere about as far south asNorthampton - our first stop. Thetrip was running as smoothly as aSwiss time-piece. We arrived at thetunnel 2 hours early and were ableto get an early train which movedour schedule forward. The tunnelwas an experience because it wasso quick and easy to get across toFrance.

Ninety four years ago the troopswould have needed to cross byboat. We sped through France andthen into Belgium - three countries

in one day. The scenery wasunexciting, flat and featureless; itwas raining.

The Yorkshire Trench - This trenchwas found by a building firm whowere digging foundations for alarge recycling building. The areahad a stench of rotten cabbage.Perhaps the smell was like thesmells in 1917 when the trenchwas occupied by soldiers, horses

and, of course, rats. The trenchwas a 'bunker site' this was a safetrench well back from the front line- safer for officers to plan andorganise the offensive. It wasraining and cold, we all had verylittle sleep and were hungry, similarto the feelings of the soldiersexcept we did not need to hidefrom bullets and bombs.

The Essex Cemetery - We parkedalongside the road and went intothe graveyard. Many graves were

of soldiers from all over theCommonwealth, many had noname - 'Known unto God', mostwere graves of very young men 17and 18 years old, the same age asour sixth formers.

The grave stone we were mostinterested in was that of one of theyoungest soldiers to die in the FirstWorld War - Joe Strudwick aged 15years.

Just 50 metres to the side of thecemetery was a terrace of sixconcrete hospital blocks. Soldierscame back from the fighting to bepatched up in the hospital. Thehospital was a grim place, dark andcold, dirty and definitely more likelyto make wounds worse andinfected rather than healed. It wasthe appalling conditions whichinspired the famous poem writtenby a Canadian medical officer LtCol John McCrae "In FlandersFields"

The Menin Gate is a huge archbuilt in 1927 which is the Westernentrance to the city. The Arch is awar memorial with the namescarved on the walls of 54, 896 deadsoldiers whose bodies were neverfound. The soldiers came from allover the commonwealth but died inthe fighting around Ypres.

It was an overwhelming sight andat 8pm in the freezing cold fourtrumpeters sounded the last post

after which two of our students(Lawrence Addy and BethanyRoyle-Evatt) laid a wreath ofpoppies which was given to us bythe British Legion in Mirfield.

Year 8 and Year 9Bat t l e f i e lds Tr ip

I t was anoverwhelming s igh tand a t 8pm in thef reez ing co ld fourt rumpete rs soundedthe l as t pos t


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The short ceremony and the sightof the memorial was very movingand all students left with areflective and thoughtful look aboutthem. The ceremony is performedevery night of the year tocommemorate the dead soldiers.

Day 3After breakfast we walked down tothe Flander's Field Museum in theCloth Hall (Ypres was built on thewool trade) and took our timeexploring the various exhibits ofWorld War 1. Students had aworksheet to complete. Manystudents mentioned the exhibit ofa horse struggling through themud carrying shells andammunition on its back. It was anunexpected indication of the roleand price paid by horses as wellas the difficulties of transportduring the war.

Hooge Crater Museum was acollection of WW1 materials withall sorts of kit and equipment usedby soldiers, a mobile kitchenshowed the crude ways soldiersprepared food. Various guns,bombs and weapons of all kindswere on display. Hooge crater was

just around a turn in the roadwhich today looked ratheruninteresting but during WW1 wasknown as 'Hell's corner', a passingpoint for troops to and from thefront where heavy fightingoccurred, it would have lookedvery different 96 years ago. Themuseum shop seemed to do agood trade in bullet sales.

Observation posts and specificplaces of importance werenumbered. Hill 60 was a hugelyimportant observation post whichwas the centre of heavy fighting.The hill allowed sight of the areaall around which gave a massiveadvantage in targeting andcommunicating during the war. Itchanged hands between the alliedforces and the German forcesthree times during the war.Remains of bomb craters andtrenches with concretereinforcements are still visible.

Lots of trees had since grownback but by the middle of the warthere would have been no trees atall. The circular hill 60 probablycovered an area of 200 metres indiameter. It is strange to thinksuch a small area of land could be

so significant.

Day 410.30 am Sanctuary Wood had amuseum and was the location ofthe only WW1 preserved trenchesin Belgium. The museum had amassive library of photographs ofthe area during the war. Manyphotographs showed the almost

We were all movedby the size of thegrave yard and thesombre reminder ofwhat human beingsare capable of doingto each other.

totally destroyed city of Ypres withthe stump of the cathedral bell

tower remaining amid a sea ofrubble. Only yesterday we werewalking around the city, now ofcourse restored, which could notlook any more different.

We spent a long time exploring thetrenches getting some feel oftrench life. Not all of us werebrave enough to walk through thedark tunnel to the front line. Manywere covered in mud and had toput up with wet and muddy feetwhich would have been a constantproblem for the soldiers during thewar.

Tyne Cot Cemetery was a hugearea covered with gravestones ofBritish and Commonwealthsoldiers. There were 12,000graves of soldiers whose bodieswere recovered and identified andon the walls were the names of35,000 soldiers killed but unfound.We all had a small cross to placealongside a grave we selected.

Many felt the cross should go on agrave of a soldier from Yorkshireor a young soldier or an un-namedbody of a soldier who could not beidentified. We were all moved bythe size of the grave yard and thesombre reminder of what humanbeings are capable of doing toeach other.

Back on the coach we were allstarting the return journey toYorkshire. We all returned

unharmed and more aware of theplight many young people facedduring World War 1 from whichmost did not return as we had.

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What a fantastic day of athletics for over 350 students from Years 7-10. The event would nothave been the success it was without the support of the 20 Sports Leaders from Year 11 andSixth Form. New MFG track and field records were set, so the challenge is now on for allstudents to beat these next year!

Sports Day 2010


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Sports Leadership has been high on the agenda this year at The MFG and we have been successfulin running a huge variety of activities due to continued support from Young Sports Leaders. Throughwork done by the School's SSCo, Miss Proctor, the Primary Schools in our Cluster of the SpenValley Sports Partnership have had access to more festivals than ever before. Miss Proctor hasbeen able to run these events due to the commitment of numerous Young Sports Leaders who havebeen superb ambassadors for the school. These are the events they have been responsible for:

Sportshall Athletics for Years 1+2Sportshall Athletics for Years 3+4Sportshall Athletics for Years 5+6Sportshall Athletics finals (assistedwith Partnership Finals)Hi-5 NetballKwik Cricket TournamentRounders FestivalHockey development eveningFootball development eveningMulti-skills day at BattyefordAmbitions Club

Additionally we have stepped up our Young Sports Leader programme in Years 10 and 11.47 students have been successful in achieving the UK Sports Leader Level 1 Award.

Congratulations to them all!

Sports Leadership at The MFG


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As always the football calendar culminated in a brilliant morning at Batley Grammar School wherethe best teams in Spen Valley battled it out for the Spen Valley Cup. We were very well representedthis year with teams in the U13 girls, Year 8, 9 and 10 boys' competitions. All teams were a creditto the school both in their commitment, skill level and the manner in which they approached thegames. The results were:

U13 Girls vs Birkenshaw Middle School - Won 9-0Year 9 Boys v. St John Fisher Catholic High School, Sports College - Won 3-1Year 10 Boys v. Spen Valley Sports College - Won 5-0Year 8 Boys v. St John Fisher Catholic High School, Sports College - Lost 3-2

Spen Valley Finals 2010

Jess Ellis ( front cover photo - top, right ) competed in the Junior Athletics League (under 17 & under20) held in May. She is one of the youngest competitors in this age group who is able to compete inthis league. At the event Jess achieved a new PB in the 100m of 12.5 seconds and she wasranked 1st in Yorkshire as a result.

Miss Sharpe explained "Over the past three years Jess has continued to improve and hence herpersonal achievement in the 100m is fantastic and one which we are very proud of".

In July Jess and her sister Beth also qualified to compete in the English Schools Athletics inBirmingham. Beth achieved an outstanding PB of 2.18 minutes for the 800m. In the 4x100m relayJesss team achieved a bronze medal which is a phenomenal result.

Athletics - Jess Ellis

The Hockey and Football teams reallyimpressed the Dutch coaches with their ability,attitude and the excellent team spirit. Theteams were captained in an inspirational mannerby Tyler Denton and Kate Smith who are leadersin both skill and attitude.

All students thoroughly enjoyed the experienceand displayed some exceptional performance inthe fixtures and tournament. The Year 9 footballteam was undefeated, winning the wholecompetition. A special mention for the top traineraward for Liam Ramsden, and Melissa Hird, anoutstanding performance from both students.

In February 2010 forty-two of The MFGstudents went to Kossen in Austria on theschool ski trip. All students enjoyed the skischool and developed their confidence andability throughout the week. Skier of theweek Frankie Lobb and George Allen wereexcellent leaders and supported others todevelop their skills. Miss Arundel and MissProctor did not seem to progress as welland were often out of control down themountain. A fantastic trip where studentsdeveloped new friendships and skiexperiences and staff were very proud oftheir performance.

Holland Sports Tour 2010 Ski Trip Austria 2010


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Four Year 13 Leisure Studies students (CallumMerriman, Sahil Shah, Rebecca Armitage and BenTaylor) visited Oakwell Hall in March to carry outvolunteer conservation work as part of their leisurestudies coursework.

The students worked extremely hard all day to assist inlaying a walkway and building the framework for a newpond-dipping platform. As well as learning new skills, thestudents were a huge help in moving the project forwardready for the grand opening on 21st March.

The Oakwell Hall staff were very impressed with the workdone by the students, which including moving over atonne of gravel! The students had to plan, organise andcarry out the project themselves and the result was avery rewarding and successful activity.

Leisure S tud iess tuden ts he lp in loca lconserva t ion work

The Sixth Form Student Senior Team was established to act as positive role models, listen andrespond to student voice, organise and participate in various events and make the Sixth Form abetter place for all. This year's team will not only be representing the Sixth Form but also beinvolved with main school projects, so look out for them around school.

This year's Senior Team applications were once again superb which made the process of selecting thefinal team very tough. In the end 10 very strong students were appointed, each student bringingdifferent skills, personalities,experiences and ideas to theteam. The team is asfollows:

Adam TolsonSiobhan Brogden

Kieran UttleyEmily ThompsonFarhaan ShaikhLorna CravenRachel HigginsAndrew TattersfieldAntony SmithJoe Thompson

Mr Fryer, Deputy Head ofSixth Form said, "Well doneto all students who havebeen selected to join theSenior Team. This year hasseen a record number of very strong applicants all wanting to be involved in helping to shape our SixthForm and school. I am really looking forward to seeing what new and fantastic ideas they have.

Sixth Form Student Senior Team

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Charlotte Austwick was the first recipientof the Birstall Shopping Park Award forBusiness & Enterprise; an award createdby our retail partners at Birstall inrecognition of outstanding effort andachievement in Business and RetailStudies in Key Stage Five at The MFG.The links established between DenisCopeland, Regional Manager and thebusiness studies department have resulted insome fabulous opportunities for our studentsto experience the reality of business andretail. Our students have enjoyed "behind thescenes" visits to the new M&S Simply FoodStore, seen cutting edge fashion retailing at Next, Gap and Mamas & Papas, and visited the "back-room" functions at Boots over the last twelve months.

"We are delighted to work with the Birstall Shopping Park; the opportunities we are able to give ourstudents offer them real insight into the business theory we study- something we can not do assuccessfully in a purely classroom setting. The relationship we have developed with Mr Copelanddefinitely enhances our teaching and is something we look forward to building on in the future. Thebenefits to our students cannot be underestimated and their very generous prize reflects theimportance they place on helping us to develop business studies knowledge, commercial understandingand employment-ready students. " said Mrs Simpson.

Charlotte received the award at the Outstanding 100 celebration in July, and was later invited back tothe Birstall Shopping Park to meet Mr Copeland, and to enjoy a spot of "retail therapy." Her prizeincluded 100 of Arcadia vouchers, donated by Birstall Shopping Park, which Charlotte intends to spendon outfits to wear at University. Charlotte told Mr Copeland, The trips to the Birstall Shopping Parkreally helped me achieve my distinction in retail studies. They were also very enjoyable as they allowedme to see some interesting ways in which retailers run which I may not have experienced otherwise. Iam now really looking forward to spending my vouchers at Birstall!

Birs ta l l ShoppingPark Award fo rBus iness & Ente rpr i se

Stopping high tech bullying was the theme ofour recent e-safety competition. Studentsdesigned posters highlighting the importance oftaking care while surfing the web. The twowinners were Lewis Bray and Brandon Swailes,both in Year 9. Each won a Dell netbook and therunners-up from other year groups won Amazonvouchers. Their design will be used as thebackdrop for more than 500 computers in school.

Vice Principal Mr Packard said "Internet safety is ahot topic at the moment. We are educatingstudents in safety and privacy on social networkingsites and instant messaging as well as

cyberbullying, which is more prevalent than othertypes of bullying nowadays. We are working with FrogTrade, an IT education company which providesonline learning support for students and teachers. The company sponsored the competition andprovided the prizes. Sales Director, Bob Finney said "We are proud to support The Mirfield FreeGrammar & Sixth Form in highlighting such an important subject as e-safety.

Net Safe ty Compet i t ion Winners


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Students experienced democracy first handwhen they held their own election in school.Three Year 10 students volunteered to stand ascandidates and with the help of their campaignteam they put forward their ideas throughspeeches in assemblies, posters and bycanvassing support.

The candidates were:

Hollie Medlock - ConservativeAmy Herrick - Liberal DemocratToby Andrews - Labour

All students in the school had the opportunityto vote in a polling station, results were

counted by a team of students and adeclaration was made at the end of the day.

Mrs Wilson, Humanities teacher, said, The election created a real buzz around school and helpedstudents to understand what was happening nationally.

Elec tion 201 0

To coincide with Holocaust Memorial Dayand the 60th Anniversary of the liberation ofAuschwitz, Year 9 students took part in aHolocaust Focus Day. The students, inpreparation for the day, had been studying the

reasons and events of the Holocaust duringtheir history lessons. Part of their work hadinvolved producing biographies of Holocaustsurvivors that were displayed on eachclassroom door around school for the wholeweek. Students, as a sign of remembrance,also wore a yellow label around their neck,each of the labels bore the name of a childvictim of the Holocaust. These labels werethen pinned on a Holocaust Memorial Wallwith a message from the student written on.

There were also workshops from Dr MorrisCharlton from the Holocaust Educational Trustwho worked with the students on pre-warJewish life. The students also had anassembly to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The focus day was followed a couple of weeks later by a talk from a Holocaust survivor, Ms JoanneMillen, who spoke to the year group about her early life in Theresienstadt, a concentration camp 50miles outside of Prague. Ms Millen was orphaned during the Holocaust and was looked after by thewomen who worked in the kitchens of the camp. After the liberation Ms Millen, along with five othersurviving orphans, was flown to England in British bomber planes which had been used to return Czechpilots who had been flying with the RAF during the war. After transferring through a series of children'shomes, Ms Millan was adopted by a Jewish couple living in London. The students were enthralled by

the speech and Ms Millan took lots of questions from the students at the end of the talk.

The students were exceptional throughout the day, asking questions and answering questions fromstudents in other year groups about the yellow labels and the day.

Holocaust Memoria l DayWednesday, 27th January 2010


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Principal : Mrs L Barker BA (Hons) PGCE

Kitson Hi l l RoadMirf ie ldWest Yorkshi reWF14 9EZ

Tel : 01294 483660Fax: 01924 483661e-mai l : [email protected] .uk

w w w . t h e m f g . c o . u k

Calendar 2010/2011

The school will be closed for students on the following days:Thursday, 7 October 2010 - Friday, 8 October 2010 - Monday, 22 November 2010

Monday, 21 March 2011 - Thursday, 15 April 2011

Autumn Term1 Sept - 22 Oct

Half-term25-29 October1 Nov - 17 Dec

Spring Term4 Jan - 18 Feb

Half-term21-25 February

28 Feb - 15 April

Summer Term3 May - 27 May

Half-term30 May - 3 June6 June - 21 July

Long serving mathematics teacher, Derek Ventress, said a fond farewell to students and colleagues after33 years teaching in July. He started at Whitcliffe Mount School in 197 7 and has been at The Mirfield FreeGrammar & Sixth Form for the past 26 years. During this time, Derek has been a Head of Mathematicsand Head of Curriculum Provision, involved with the mammoth task of writing the timetable for the last 10years. His teaching throughout this time has been outstanding and he has made a massive positive

contribution to the lives of literally thousands of students.

As well as teaching, Derek has taken part in many extra-curricular trips and visits and in particular beenin charge of the Education Engineering Scheme which give students studying A Level Mathematics thechance to work on real-life engineering projects; the results of which are still being used by utility firmsright now.

Derek said on his retirement, For mostparents the most precious thing in their life istheir children and its a great privilege toknow they entrust them to our care.However, Derek is not going to be taking itthat easy, he will be taking up the role ofPastor at Staincliffe Baptist Church inDewsbury and is looking forward to spendingtime with his Grandchild in South Korea.

The Staff and Students of The Mirfield Fr eeGrammar & Sixth Form would like to wishDerek all the best for the future, and thankhim for all his hard work and dedication toyoung people of the area.

A Fond Farewell!

Documents

2Excel - September 2010