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 another memorable year for The MFG, starting with the best ever GCSE and A level results, closely followed by the ceremonial opening of the Academy by Sir Patrick Stewart. In this year of the Queens Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics hosted by the UK, Year 7 took part in the Olympic Challenge to Be the Best You Can Be. All students took part in a different Olympic Challenge each week and produced some amazing results. Most importantly they have worked collaboratively and creatively together, demonstrating resilience, respect, excellence, determination and friendship. There have been numerous Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, sporting successes, residential trips and visits within the UK and overseas. The school production of We Will Rock You, the Year 11 Prom, the Sixth Form Ball, the Outstanding 100 Ceremony, the D&T Exhibition and Creative Arts Evening were just a few of the memorable and thoroughly entertaining events we have enjoyed. In February 2012 we were delighted to receive a letter from Nicholas Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, stating that we were amongst the top 100 performing schools based on sustained improvement in each year, from 2008 to 2011. These successes culminated in May in our most prestigious achievement when Ofsted
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visited us and awarded us Outstanding for the second time. This was particularly impressive in view of the new Ofsted framework which came into being in January which raised the bar and in which schools can only gain Outstanding overall if their Teaching and Learning is deemed to be Outstanding. Only 5.7% of schools so far have managed this and to be graded Outstanding in every category is a superb achievement. I am immensely proud of my students, staff and Governors, for their outstanding contribution 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 and special place of learning and I look forward to achieving even greater success next year.

Mrs Lorraine Barker BA(Hons) PGCE NLE Principal

A Celebration of Creative Arts

It was the one and only hot and sticky summer evening of the term, but the audience at The MFGs Celebration of Creative Arts didnt mind! They were treated to a wonderful exhibition of talent, imagination and creativity from students in all year groups. A Design Technology exhibition was on display demonstrating examination work of the highest standard. The audience was amazed by the quality, and a number of people would easily have bought the artworks! The stage of Stewart Hall was set for a wonderful production of drama, comedy and music ranging from GCSE drama pieces, music performances, dancing and rock bands. The nale was from the well-received production of We Will Rock You which again concluded to rapturous applause. The audiences reaction to the whole evening was very positive, and they were even serenaded by musicians during the interval. Everyone at The MFG is immensely proud of the efforts of all the students who took part, and it is a testimony to The MFGs commitment to develop a wide range of skills and great teamwork.
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We are in the Top 100!

In February 2012, Mrs Barker, Principal, was delighted to receive a letter from Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, stating that we are amongst the top 100 performing schools based on sustained improvement in each year from 2008 to 2011. Mr Gibb wrote, I would like to congratulate your staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success and to thank you for you leadership in continuing the drive towards the highest standards of educational achievement.

Keep in Touch

Top Sixth Formers

Engineering Success

It has never been easier to keep in touch with news and events at The MFG. Our web site, www.themfg.co.uk, is regularly updated with news. For prospective Sixth Form students, the site also contains a comprehensive look at life in the Sixth Form, courses and opportunities we offer, and information on how to apply. Any post put on the web site is automatically sent out on Twitter. You can follow us at @mireldfree or by texting follow mireldfree to 86444 If youre on Facebook, search and become friends with The MFG to receive all posts and messages.

While our Sixth Form continues to grow to 400+ students, two students have shown that the Sixth Form is large enough to offer a wide variety of courses but small enough to offer a very personal and supportive environment where students are challenged to meet and exceed their potential. Thomas Dockerill and Sean Sapstead have both won Merit Awards at Abersytwyth University. Thomas to read English Literature, Sean to read Articial Intelligence and Robotics. We are very proud of Thomas and Sean, as they have shown excellent attitude and commitment to their work since Year 7.

Congratulations to eight of our Year 12 students who successfully completed the Engineering Education Scheme 2012. The scheme is open to talented students who have a genuine interest in a career in Engineering or Technology, it is a ten month process and they worked in partnership with an Engineering company to solve a real life problem. This year The MFG entered two teams and our partnership company was Cummins Turbo Technologies in Hudderseld. The course required the students to: attend a 3 day residential course; regular meetings with the engineers from the partnership company and a lot of research, analysis and report writing done in the students own time.

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world class sports facilities

More to come after the new Synthetic Turf Pitch goes into action
As you will all have seen, we are delighted to have recently opened a major upgrade to the sports facilities at The MFG. A Synthetic Turf Pitch (STP), was laid before the winter, and this is proving to be very popular with students and staff alike. Year 7 students recently used the STP to hold a mixed interform Olympics based football competition. We will be in a position to hire the STP from the Autumn Term for long term use by established clubs. Construction has started on an extension to the current Sports Centre. This two storey build will include new changing rooms, a multi-gym, a full mirrored and sprungoored dance studio and a classroom. The sports facilities are some of the best in the area and we are looking forward to using them not only in normal lesson time, but to contribute to supporting the community to become more active and enjoy sport. Keep watching The MFG web site (www.themfg.co.uk) for more information.

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Be the Best you can Be

In April, Chris Cook, British Olympic Swimmer, revisited Year 7, to see what they have been doing since his last visit in September. To celebrate the Olympics, 21st Century Legacy's Be the Best you can Be! Programme enables young people to discover their unique potential and inspires, engages and empowers them to pursue and full their dreams.
Chris Cook, British Olympic swimmer, came back to The MFG to take part in the Celebration Event of the 21st Century Legacy Be the Best you can Be Programme. Since Chris last visit, Year 7 students have been busy putting into meaning Chris inspirational story of how he became an Olympian and taking part in projects to celebrate 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 see Chris was invited to taste these treats! Every Year 7 student was presented with a special medallion produced by the Royal Mint, this is to recognise their individual journey and encourage them to continue their work towards their goals, and set new ones. On leaving Chris tweeted The MFG saying, @mireldfree I've had the most inspired morning! The young people of Mireld Free Grammar are incredible...Well done Yr 7! @21stCentLegacy What a wonderful impression our Year 7 students gave!

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Isaac Pollard Great Britain Gymnastics Level 4 Champion

Isaac (Year 7) is a member of The City of Leeds Gymnastics Club and competes at both Regional and National level. He successfully combines his academic studies with approximately 24 hours a week of training. Last year Isaac was the Yorkshire champion and this year he achieved a silver medal in the competition, coming second. Last weekend, however, Isaac competed in the mens gymnastics national nals in Birmingham and we are delighted that he came rst, so he is now top of the mens league at level 4 nationally and the GB Champion. He also achieved a very impressive score across the competition, receiving a total score of 67.7 out of a possible 70. Isaac competes in different types of competitions: setwork which means every gymnast has to learn the set routine for their age and then compete; voluntary which means so long as a certain number of moves are performed, the rest of the routine can be made up by the gymnast. To support his development Isaac has attended training camps at Lilleshall, the national sports centre. Whilst there he met the GB team and trained alongside some of his heroes including Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings. Isaac stated, My aim for the future is to keep training hard and get into the GB Junior Team. I can then start competing internationally and try for selection for the Commonwealth Games or even the Olympics when Im older. If I dont make it to that level, I just want to make sure I do the very best I can and perhaps move into gymnastics coaching instead. Miss Sharpe (PE Teacher) said, We are very proud of Isaac's outstanding achievements. His commitment and dedication to his training is denitely paying off. Isaac is an excellent ambassador for the 21st Century Legacy's Be the Best you can Be! Programme that Year 7 have been involved with and completed challenges for. Both staff and students at The MFG and Sixth Form wish Isaac every success in achieving his goals and aspirations and will support him in anyway they can.

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Return of the Robot

The MFG make a return to Student Robotics
Student Robotics is an annual robotics competition, led by a group of students from the University of Southampton. Sixth Forms and colleges across the country participate in Student Robotics with one purpose: to design, build and test an autonomous robot that will compete against the other teams. Student Robotics present each team with a kit that they designed, built and tested themselves. It is then down to the teams to use the kit, with their own knowledge and skill, to create a robot that will be able to complete the task set by Student Robotics. This year the game was called Pirate Plunder- the robot must collect tokens that are distributed around 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 the game. Last year, the rst in which The MFG entered Student Robotics, they came back with prizes including the Chairmans award. This year, with a new robot called ALEX, the team returned to the competition to try and 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 days to help support teams with the implementation and programming aspects of the competition. As well as getting students involved with engineering, science and computer programming, teamwork, tenacity and resilience are vital to success. After a hard-fought competition, MFG Robotics were awarded with the First Movement Award - proof of rst movement through coding of the robot was through a time-stamped Youtube video. The team also won the Online Presence Award. This was won through the activity and excellence of the web site, mfgrobotics.org and their 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 seeing the talents of a new team next year.
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We Will Rock You

Queen at The MFG

In February, a 56 strong cast told the story of Galileo Figaro (Aidan Booth), a confused, talented rebel who refuses to become part of the Globalsoft Gaga world or bend to the will of Globalsofts tyrannical 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 eager band of Bohemian mists and their leaders, Meatloaf (Mia Paul) and Britney Spears (Alexander Townend). They must, however, escape the Gaga world and avoid the clutches of the Killer Queens Commanders Kha and Shoggi (John Neal and Joseph Ramsden) if they wish to nd the hidden, banned instruments on Planet Mall, regain the power of rock music and unleash its glory once again! Being cited as, The MFGs 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 Arts Faculty to date.
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thinkfutures.net - World Class Careers Advice

The Mireld Free Grammar and Sixth Form are at the leading edge of careers support for their students by offering up-to-date and personalised careers advice. Earlier this year saw the launch of our dedicated careers web site thinkfutures.net

Learning - Discover what is available to you in further education Careers - Find out what choices and career might suit you. Work - Help taking your rst steps into employment. Advisers - Speak to professionals for help and advice. Lifestyle - Discover about health issues, drugs and travel information. Inspire - Make the most of your life by discovering opportunities.

Comprehensive, independent and impartial advice

Every student in Years 9-13 has completed a questionnaire asking what their interests are, and ideas of what they might like to go into after leaving school. This information is then used to send targeted information from thinkfutures.net to their homepage on the Frog Learning Platform. This type of personalisation is revolutionary and only available for students at The MFG.

Girls Footballing Success

And meeting a Premiership Superstar!

Over the Easter break the U15girls football team attended the Joe Hart Footballtournament at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire. The girls played 9 matches over the weekend and participated in training sessions. As well as having a great, never-to-be-forgotten experience, they excelled in their performances. Overall, the team won 7 matches, with one loss and one draw. This meant they were overall winners, which was an outstanding performance from all the team. Students got to meet Manchester City and England Goalkeeper Joe Hart and were presented with a training top.

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Race for life

Year 7 Supporting Cancer Research

Fifty-ve Year 7 students andtwenty MFG staff were signed up to participate in the Cancer Research Race for Life event in Hudderseld on Sunday 8th July, but the appalling weather conditions meant it was postponed. PE teacher and Deputy Achievement Co-ordinator, Miss Proctor, was approached by several students whose families have been affected by Cancer to raise money for this amazing charity. These Year 7 students decided that they would take part in the event, and they opened it up to the rest of their year group from whom the response was overwhelming! These students have been working hard to raise money and have attended many training sessions in preparation for this event. Their target was 1000 which they have easily surpassed!! The students and staff received their specially made t-shirts for the event. Breakthrough Cancer Research agreed that the rescheduled race could be held on The MFG playing elds. The students were delighted that so many teachers agreed to take part. Pictured above left are Senior Team members Mrs Barker, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Dickinson. Above right are Miss Bramley and Miss Proctor.

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Getting Involved
As 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 their skills or support the community.
Getting Creative
46 Year 9 students, who were carefully selected by teachers to be gifted and talented in either Art, Music, Drama or DT have been to London for 2 days. They got to see 2 smash hit musicals, Wicked and The Lion King, go on a back stage tour at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and visit the National Gallery. They also managed to squeeze in a couple of hours at Covent Garden. This was such a fantastic opportunity and we hope it will inspire some of the students to pursue a career in the Arts.

Kirklees Spellathon Champion

In July at Hudderseld University,Mohammed Sakha, Year 7, was awarded the highly prestigious title of Kirklees 2012 Spellathon Champion. Along with the title he also received a beautiful glass trophy, 50 in prize money and a silver engraved plate for the school to showcase. Also taking part from The MFG were Emily Griffiths and Ammaarah Munshi. Miss Sharpe said, I am very proud of the achievements of all three of our Year 7 students. They have shown great resilience throughout The MFG competitions and the Kirklees Event and have also been fully committed to being the best they can be and supporting each others success! They are excellent role models for their peers.

Stadium Spectacular
Over 50 students from The MFG took part in the Stadium Spectacular Concert at The Galpharm.Almost all Kirklees Music School Centre pupils participated along with 4000 children from 110 schools across Kirklees. Britains Got Talent, Semi-nalist Fish on Percussiontook part in the event that was hosted by TVs Kirsten OBrien, but of course the main stars of the show were the students, they sang We Will Rock You, One Moment in Time and We Are the Champions to an audience of over 7,000 people. Liberate, our showcase item performed on the big stagejustbefore the concert started. In the band is James Walker on drums, Tom Armitage on Vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Shea on lead guitar and Callum Vinton on bass - they really made the most of the opportunity and received some really good feedback from the crowds - they were hoping a talent scout might have been listening!
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Outstanding 100
The MFG was very proud to welcome 100 Outstanding students with their families to their annual Outstanding 100 presentation evening at the Galpharm Stadium. Each year our staff choose 100 different students who they feel, for different reasons, have had an outstanding year. Choosing just 100 students out of over 1400 is a tough task for staff, and there are many other students who have shown excellent attributes throughout the year. The Outstanding 100 students have demonstrated the very demanding characteristics we expect from all students, of consistently high standards. Characteristics of tenacity, hard work, leadership and willingness to try ones best at all times. Some students were awarded prizes for academic excellence, and some for their outstanding attitude and commitment to their work. Others have been awarded for sporting, music or drama excellence. Leadership is a cornerstone of The MFG ethos, which enables students and staff to achieve their best. A substantial proportion of the prizes this evening go to students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership for being excellent role models not only around The MFG, but in the community too. We were delighted this year to welcome Andrew Moore fromPrinting.com, Mireld and Ian Duck from Frogtrade to this event.They are companies we work very closely with and value their contribution. We were delighted that they both sponsored prizes in areas closely linked to the work they do with the Academy.

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Kitson Hill Road, Mireld, West Yorkshire, WF14 9EZ Telephone: (01924) 483660 Fax: Email: Web: Twitter: (01924) 483661 mfg@themfg.co.uk www.themfg.co.uk @mireldfree

Dates for your Diary

Friday 20th July End of Term AS/A2 Results GCSE Results Sixth Form Enrolment Day Autumn Term commences for Year 7

Thursday 16th August Thursday 23rd August Friday 24th August Monday 3rd September

Tuesday 4th September Autumn Term commences for Years 8, 9, 10, 11, 12* Monday 10th September Autumn term commences for Year 13
* Year 12 must refer to information provided at enrolment regarding your induction days

Have a restful and enjoyable break!

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