The MFG Summer 2012 Newsletter

7/31/2019 The MFG Summer 2012 Newsletter

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The MFG - Summer 2012 - Page 1

The MFG The Latest from The Mireld Free Grammar and Sixth Form

themfg.co.uk - Summer 2012 Newsletter

An Outstanding Year for an Outstanding Academy

This has been anothermemorable year for The MFG,starting with the best everGCSE and A level results,closely followed by theceremonial opening of theAcademy by Sir PatrickStewart. In this year of theQueen’s Diamond Jubilee andthe Olympics hosted by the

UK, Year 7 took part in the Olympic Challenge

to ‘Be the Best You Can Be’. All students tookpart in a di f erent Olympic Challenge eachweek and produced some amazing results.Most importantly they have workedcollaboratively and creatively together,demonstrating resilience, respect, excellence,determination and friendship. There havebeen numerous Duke of Edinburghexpeditions, sporting successes, residentialtrips and visits within the UK and overseas.The school production of ‘We Will Rock You’,the Year 11 Prom, the Sixth Form Ball, theOutstanding 100 Ceremony, the D&TExhibition and Creative Arts Evening were justa few of the memorable and thoroughlyentertaining events we have enjoyed.

In February 2012 we were delighted to receivea letter from Nicholas Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, stating that we wereamongst the top 100 performing schoolsbased on sustained improvement in each year,from 2008 to 2011.

These successes culminated in May in ourmost prestigious achievement when Ofsted

visited us and awarded us ‘Outstanding’ forthe second time. This was particularlyimpressive in view of the new Ofstedframework which came into being in Januarywhich raised the bar and in which schools canonly gain ‘Outstanding’ overall if theirTeaching and Learning is deemed to be‘Outstanding’. Only 5.7% of schools so farhave managed this and to be graded‘Outstanding’ in every category is a superbachievement.

I am immensely proud of my students, sta f and Governors, for their outstandingcontribution which made this possible.

For more information, and the full report,please visit www.themfg.co.uk/ofsted-report

The MFG and Sixth Form is a unique andspecial place of learning and I look forwardto achieving even greater success nextyear.

Mrs Lorraine Ba rker BA(Hons) PGCE NLEPrincipal

http://www.themfg.co.uk/Ofsted-report



http://www.themfg.co.uk/





It was the one and only hot and sticky summer evening of the term, but the audience at TheMFG’s Celebration of Creative Arts didn’t mind! They were treated to a wonderful exhibitionof talent, imagination and creativity from students in all year groups.

A Design Technology exhibition was on display demonstrating examination work of thehighest standard. The audience was amazed by the quality, and a number of people wouldeasily have bought the artworks!

The stage of Stewart Hall was set for a wonderful production of drama, comedy and musicranging from GCSE drama pieces, music performances, dancing and rock bands. The nalewas from the well-received production of “We Will Rock You” which again concluded torapturous applause. The audience’s reaction to the whole evening was very positive, andthey were even serenaded by musicians during the interval.

Everyone at The MFG is immensely proud of the e f orts of all the students who took part,and it is a testimony to The MFG’s commitment to develop a wide range of skills and greatteamwork.

A Celebration of Creative Arts




We are in the Top 100!

In February 2012, Mrs Barker, Principal, was delighted to receive a letter from Nick GibbMP, Minister of State for Schools, stating that we are amongst the top 100 performingschools based on sustained improvement in each year from 2008 to 2011.

Mr Gibb wrote, “I would like to congratulate your sta f , governors and pupils for theirhard work and success and to thank you for you leadership in continuing the drivetowards the highest standards of educational achievement”.

Keep in Touch

It has never been easier to

keep in touch with news andevents at The MFG.

Our web site,www.themfg.co.uk , isregularly updated with news.

For prospective Sixth Formstudents, the site alsocontains a comprehensivelook at life in the Sixth Form,courses and opportunities weo f er, and information on howto app ly.

Any post put on the web siteis automatically sentout on Twitter. You canfollow us at@mireldfree or by textingfollow mireldfree to 86444

If you’re on Facebook, searchand become friends with TheMFG to receive all postsand messages.

Top Sixth Formers

While our Sixth Form

continues to grow to 400+students, two students haveshown that the Sixth Form islarge enough to o f er a widevariety of courses but smallenough to o f er a verypersonal and supportiveenvironment where studentsare challenged to meet andexceed their potential.

Thomas Dockerill and SeanSapstead have both won MeritAwards at AbersytwythUniversity. Thomas to readEnglish Literature, Sean toread Articial Intelligence andRobotics.

We are very proud of Thomasand Sean, as they have shownexcellent attitude andcommitment to their work

since Year 7.

Engineering Success

Congratulations to eight of

our Year 12 students whosuccessfully completed theEngineering EducationScheme 2012. The scheme isopen to talented studentswho have a genuine interestin a career in Engineering orTechnology, it is a ten monthprocess and they worked inpartnership with anEngineering company to solvea real life problem.

This year The MFG enteredtwo teams and ourpartnership company wasCummins Turbo Technologiesin Hudderseld. The courserequired the students to:attend a 3 day residentialcourse; regular meetings withthe engineers from thepartnership company and a

lot of research, analysis andreport writing done in thestudents’ own time.







world class sports

facilitiesMore to come after the new Synthetic Turf Pitch goes into action

As you will allhave seen, weare delighted tohave recently

opened a majorupgrade to thesports facilitiesat The MFG. ASynthetic Turf Pitch (STP), waslaid before thewinter, and thisis proving to bevery popularwith studentsand sta f alike.

Year 7 studentsrecently usedthe STP to holda mixed inter-form Olympicsbased footballcompetition.

We will be in a position to hire the STP from the Autumn Term for long term use by establishedclubs.

Construction has started on an extension to the currentSports Centre. This two storey build will include newchanging rooms, a multi-gym, a full mirrored and sprung-oored dance studio and a classroom.

The sports facilities are some of the best in the area and weare looking forward to using them not only in normal lessontime, but to contribute to supporting the community tobecome more active and enjoy sport.

Keep watching The MFG web site ( www.themfg.co.uk ) for more information.






Be the Best you can BeIn April, Chris Cook, British Olympic Swimmer,revisited Year 7, to see what they have beendoing since his last visit in September.To celebrate the Olympics, 21st CenturyLegacy's Be the Best you can Be! Programmeenables young people to discover their unique potential andinspires, engages and empowers them to pursue and full theirdreams.

Chris Cook, British Olympic swimmer, came backto The MFG to take part in the Celebration Eventof the 21st Century Legacy Be the Best you canBe Programme.

Since Chris’ last visit, Year 7 students have beenbusy putting intomeaning Chris’inspirational storyof how he became an Olympian and taking part in projects tocelebrate this Olympic year and learn how to follow their dreams.

Each form put together displays and also made a healthy meal

based on a country taking part in the Olympics, and as you can seeChris was invited to taste these treats!

Every Year 7 student was presented with a special medallionproduced by the Royal Mint, this is to recognise their individual

journey and encourage them to continue their work towards theirgoals, and set new ones.

On leaving Chris tweeted The MFG saying, “@mireldfree I've hadthe most inspired morning! The young people of Mireld FreeGrammar are incredible...Well done Yr 7! @21stCentLegacy”

What a wonderful impression our Year 7 students gave!




Isaac PollardGreat BritainGymnastics

Level 4Champion

Isaac (Year 7) is a member of The Cityof Leeds Gymnastics Club and competesat both Regional and National level. He successfully combines his academic studies withapproximately 24 hours a week of training.

Last year Isaac was the Yorkshire champion and this year he achieved a silver medal in thecompetition, coming second. Last weekend, however, Isaac competed in the mens’ gymnasticsnational nals in Birmingham and we are delighted that he came rst, so he is now top of themen’s league at level 4 nationally and the GB Champion. He also achieved a very impressivescore across the competition, receiving a total score of 67.7 out of a possible 70.

Isaac competes in di f erent types of competitions: ‘setwork’ which means every gymnast hasto learn the set routine for their age and then compete; ‘voluntary’ which means so long as acertain number of moves are performed, the rest of the routine can be made up by thegymnast.

To support his development Isaac has attended training camps at Lilleshall, the national sportscentre. Whilst there he met the GB team and trained alongside some of his heroes includingLouis Smith and Daniel Keatings.

Isaac stated, “My aim for the future is to keep training hard and get into the GB Junior Team. Ican then start competing internationally and try for selection for the Commonwealth Games oreven the Olympics when I’m older. If I don’t make it to that level, I just want to make sure I do

the very best I can and perhaps moveinto gymnastics coaching instead.”

Miss Sharpe (PE Teacher) said, “We arevery proud of Isaac's outstandingachievements. His commitment anddedication to his training is denitelypaying o f . Isaac is an excellentambassador for the 21st CenturyLegacy's Be the Best you can Be!Programme that Year 7 have beeninvolved with and completed challengesfor. Both sta f and students at The MFGand Sixth Form wish Isaac every successin achieving his goals and aspirationsand will support him in anyway they

can.”




Return of the RobotThe MFG make a return to Student Robotics

Student Robotics is an annual roboticscompetition, led by a group of studentsfrom the University of Southampton. SixthForms and colleges across the countryparticipate in Student Robotics with onepurpose: to design, build and test anautonomous robot that will compete againstthe other teams. Student Robotics presenteach team with a kit that they designed,built and tested themselves. It is then downto the teams to use the kit, with their own

knowledge and skill, to create a robot thatwill be able to complete the task set byStudent Robotics.

This year the game was called “Pirate Plunder”- the robot must collect tokens that are distributedaround the arena and place them in their buckets in their ‘home zone’. But robots are able to

steal other teams’ buckets, which will bring a tougher challenge to thegame.

Last year, the rst in which The MFG entered Student Robotics, theycame back with prizes including the Chairman’s award. This year, witha new robot called ALEX, the team returned to the competition to tryand see how they could do. The team consisted of Sean Sapstead(Chairman), Adam Ellis and Rob Ives (Build Team) and Tom Dockerill(Media Guy).

The robot was designed and put together during sessions in students’own time, and the team of four Sixth Form students was supported by

four very dedicated teachers: Mr Carpenter,Miss Cunningham, Miss Duchovny and Mr Pruchniewicz.

Twice during the year, Southampton University hosted technical daysto help support teams with the implementation and programming

aspects of the competition.As well as getting students involved with engineering, science andcomputer programming, teamwork, tenacity and resilience are vital tosuccess.

After a hard-fought competition, MFG Robotics were awarded withthe First Movement Award - proof of rst movement through codingof the robot was through a time-stamped Youtube video. The team also won the Online PresenceAward. This was won through the activity and excellence of the web site, mfgrobotics.org andtheir presence on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and online forums.

With the team members moving to University at the end of this year, we look forward to seeingthe talents of a new team next year.




“We Will Rock You”

Queen at The MFGIn February, a 56 strong cast told the story of Galileo Figaro (Aidan Booth), a confused, talentedrebel who refuses to become part of the Globalsoft Gaga world or bend to the will of Globalsoft’styrannical leader, the Killer Queen (Jessica Bustard). Alongside him is the witty and intriguing

Scaramouche (Hollie Medlock), an ageing rock prophet named Pop (Matthew Plumpton), an eagerband of Bohemian mists and their leaders, Meatloaf (Mia Paul) and Britney Spears (AlexanderTownend).

They must, however, escape the Gaga world and avoid theclutches of the Killer Queen’s Commanders Kha and Shoggi (JohnNeal and Joseph Ramsden) if they wish to nd the hidden,banned instruments on Planet Mall, regain the power of rockmusic and unleash its glory once again!

Being cited as, “The MFG’s best show yet” by audience-goers, the

production is set to go down as one of the most foot-tapping,head-banging, air guitar-playing successes for the Creative ArtsFaculty to date.




thinkfutures.net - WorldClass Careers Advice

The Mireld Free Grammar and SixthForm are at the leading edge of careers support for their students byo f ering up-to-date andpersonalised careers advice.

Earlier this year saw the launch of our dedicated careers web site -thinkfutures.net

Comprehensive, independentand impartial advice

Every student in Years 9-13 has completed aquestionnaire asking what their interests are,and ideas of what they might like to go intoafter leaving school. This information is thenused to send targeted information fromthinkfutures.net to their homepage on theFrog Learning Platform. This type of personalisation is revolutionary and onlyavailable for students at The MFG.

Girls’ Footballing SuccessAnd meeting a Premiership Superstar!

Over the Easter break the U15 girls’ football teamattended the Joe Hart Football tournament at

Shrewsbury School in Shropshire. The girls played9 matches over the weekend and participated intraining sessions. As well as having a great,never-to-be-forgotten experience, they excelledin their performances. Overall, the team won 7matches, with one loss and one draw. This meantthey were overall winners, which was anoutstanding performance from all the team.

Students got to meet Manchester City and EnglandGoalkeeper Joe Hart and were presented with atraining top.




Race for life

Year 7 Supporting Cancer ResearchFifty-ve Year 7 students and twenty MFG sta f were signed up to participate in the CancerResearch Race for Life event in Hudderseld on Sunday 8th July, but the appalling weatherconditions meant it was postponed. PE teacher and Deputy Achievement Co-ordinator, MissProctor, was approached by several students whose families have been a f ected by Cancer toraise money for this amazing charity. These Year 7 students decided that they would take part inthe event, and they opened it up to the rest of their year group fromwhom the response was overwhelming! These students have been working hard to raise money and haveattended many training sessions in preparation for this event. Theirtarget was £1000 which they have easily surpassed!!

The students and sta f received their specially made t-shirts for theevent. Breakthrough Cancer Research agreed that the rescheduledrace could be held on The MFG playing elds.

The students were delighted that so many teachers agreed to takepart. Pictured above left are Senior Team members Mrs Barker, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Dickinson.

Above right are Miss Bramley and Miss Proctor.




Getting InvolvedAs well as the excellent academic and extra-curricular activities linked to subject

areas, a lot of students and staff have taken part in activities to enhance theirskills or support the community.

Getting Creative46 Year 9 students, who were carefully selected by teachers tobe gifted and talented in either Art, Music, Drama or DT havebeen to London for 2 days. They got to see 2 smash hitmusicals, “Wicked” and “The Lion King”, go on a back stagetour at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and visit the NationalGallery.

They also managed to squeeze in a couple of hours at CoventGarden. This was such a fantastic opportunity and we hope itwill inspire some of the students to pursue a career in theArts.

Kirklees Spellathon ChampionIn July at Hudderseld University, Mohammed Sakha, Year 7,was awarded the highly prestigious title of Kirklees 2012Spellathon Champion. Along with the title he also received abeautiful glass trophy, £50 in prize money and a silverengraved plate for the school to showcase.

Also taking part from The MFG were Emily Gri ths andAmmaarah Munshi.

Miss Sharpe said, “I am very proud of the achievements of allthree of our Year 7 students. They have shown great resiliencethroughout The MFG competitions and the Kirklees Event and

have also been fully committed to being the best they can be and supporting each otherssuccess! They are excellent role models for their peers.”

Stadium SpectacularOver 50 students from The MFG took part in the StadiumSpectacular Concert at The Galpharm. Almost all KirkleesMusic School Centre pupils participated along with 4000children from 110 schools across Kirklees. Britain’s GotTalent, Semi-nalist “Fish on Percussion” took part in theevent that was hosted by TV’s Kirsten O’Brien, but of coursethe main stars of the show were the students, they sang “WeWill Rock You”, “One Moment in Time” and “We Are theChampions” to an audience of over 7,000 people. “Liberate”,our showcase item performed on the big stage just before theconcert started. In the band is James Walker on drums, TomArmitage on Vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Shea on lead

guitar and Callum Vinton on bass - they really made the most of the opportunity and receivedsome really good feedback from the crowds - they were hoping a talent scout might have beenlistening!




Outstanding100The MFG was very proud to welcome 100Outstanding students with their families to theirannual Outstanding 100 presentation evening at theGalpharm Stadium.

Each year our sta f choose 100 di f erent studentswho they feel, for di f erent reasons, have had anoutstanding year. Choosing just 100 students out of over 1400 is a tough task for sta f , and

there are many other students who have shownexcellent attributes throughout the year.

The Outstanding 100 students have demonstrated thevery demanding characteristics we expect from allstudents, of consistently high standards.Characteristics of tenacity, hard work, leadership andwillingness to try ones best at all times.

Some students were awarded prizes for academicexcellence, and some for their outstanding attitudeand commitment to their work. Others have beenawarded for sporting, music or drama excellence.

Leadership is a cornerstone of The MFG ethos, whichenables students and sta f to achieve their best. A substantial proportion of the prizes thisevening go to students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership for being excellent rolemodels not only around The MFG, but in the community too.

We were delighted this year to welcome Andrew Moore from Printing.com, Mireld and Ian Duckfrom Frogtrade to this event. They are companies we work very closely with and value theircontribution. We were delighted that they both sponsored prizes in areas closely linked to thework they do with the Academy.

http://www.mirfieldprinting.com/

http://www.mirfieldprinting.com/






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The MFG Summer 2012 Newsletter