Pupils, staff and parents from our two senior schools gathered at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for our annual Speech Day celebrations.

They were joined at two separate events by the school’s board of governors and invited guests including former members of staff, the Mayor of Sefton and the Vice Lord Lieutenant for Merseyside.

We spent the time celebrating the achievements of pupils at our Girls’ School and Boys’ School and reflecting on everything that has happened over the past 12 months.

Our guest speaker at the Girls’ Speech Day was Old Girl Emma Watkinson, CEO and co-founder of SilkFred. Emma spoke about what she has discovered on her journey, the importance of resilience and making sure you look back on just how far you have come when measuring your success.

This year’s guest speaker at the Boys’ School event was Old Crosbeian Chris Hildrey, director of Hildrey Studio and the founder of ProxyAddress. Chris spoke about finding a solution to help those without an address remain a part of society, about change and how pupils’ have the ability to shape their own future.

Development of a new pavilion at our Hall Road sports ground continues to progress, with the foundations of the structure now in place.

The new purpose-built facility will include four changing rooms for pupils, two changing rooms for staff, a medical treatment room and a social space with modern catering facilities for pupils, parents and visitors.

It will be complemented by a redesigned pitch configuration to accommodate a wide variety of sports.

Development of our site at Hall Road is part of our wider five-year strategy for Merchant Taylors’. Maximising the potential of our physical spaces will create an inspiring learning environment that shapes minds and develops the whole individual.

Our estates strategy seeks to preserve our historic assets while creating a platform for the future success of the school through the development of high-quality, integrated buildings and facilities which derive benefit for the entire school community.

For a full timeline of development progress and more information about our five-year strategy, please visit Strategy 2022-2027.

Pupils at Stanfield Preparatory School enjoyed celebrating National Poetry Day.

Children took part in a number of different activities, such as reading their favourite poems and sharing them with friends. Our Year 1 pupils also enjoyed reciting poems in our outdoor stage area.

Also, a special well done to Vivan in Year 4, who recently had his own poem published in the BAMNE annual magazine and was chosen to read it aloud at the organisation’s annual general meeting.

Classics students visited Manchester Art Gallery to view its display of mythological paintings.

Girls and boys were able to see the Greek poet Sappho, one of the rivers of the Underworld and many famous figures from Greek mythology, including Medusa and the goddess Venus.

Two students also presented their own talks about some of the artwork on display.

Our U12/U13 girls’ football team made history by playing in – and winning – their first-ever competitive fixture.

The team claimed a 5-4 victory against St Mary’s College, with goals from Amelia (2) Faith (2) and Molly wrapping up the win in a tight and competitive match.

In doing so, they became not only the first girls’ team to ever represent Merchant Taylors’ in a competitive fixture, but also the first to claim a victory and also the first to receive the inaugural Merchant Taylors’ Team of the Week prize.

Director of Sport, Patrick Roberts said:

“I am absolutely delighted with the Year 7/8 girls’ footballers who represented Merchant Taylors’ with such passion, energy and enthusiasm. For some of the girls, this was their first ever game of football; I am incredibly proud of every single one of them who demonstrated such a positive attitude and a willingness to ‘give it a go’.

“A special thank you to Mr Sheen for motivating and inspiring the girls and leading the fixture.

“We hope that more and more girls will be inspired by their peers and will continue to attend not only the football club, but also the many other sports clubs we offer here, and represent our school teams. We want to further develop an ethos where all students can take advantage of the range of opportunities that are available.”

We have begun rolling out our new 1:1 device strategy for senior school pupils.

Girls and boys in Year 7 have each now received a Microsoft Surface Go 3 as part of our wider digital strategy to improve the digital literacy and skills of our pupils. By September 2023, all senior school pupils will have access to their own individual device.

We are committed to developing our curriculum model and how we deliver our lessons and we believe this strategy has the potential to transform the education we provide to our pupils. This has already been recognised with our recent admission to the Microsoft Incubator School Programme and the news that we have been shortlisted for an innovation award by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.

It also reflects a key strand of our five-year strategic plan for Merchant Taylors’, namely to be a school that is forward-thinking and adaptable. Further details of our five-year strategic plan can be found here.