The Year 4 Junior Boys have recently been learning all about volume and capacity in their Maths lessons.
The task was to create a fruit punch in small groups, following certain rules. The rules were as follows: liquids of the same amount were not allowed, one liquid had to be equal to 76ml and another had to be equal to 112ml. It was a great way for us to learn a new skill and a great Maths lesson that was sticky and tricky for the right reasons!
MTJBS – Our Sticky Maths Experiment
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Sefton Super Reads Award Afternoon
Sefton Super Reads Award Afternoon
14th June 2016. Crosby Library
The three shortlisted authors who were able to come to the award afternoon were Phil Caveney (who writes as Danny Weston), Ali Sparkes and Joe Delaney. They all gave us a fascinating insight into the creative process with their different ways of starting a book, and their sources of inspiration. After many searching questions from the audience, Ali Sparkes was announced the winner of the 2016 award for Car-Jacked, and received her trophy.
Aakash receiving his award.
One of our reading group, Aakash won three prizes for his book reviews, and received his book tokens from the authors. The award, which is in its thirteenth year, is decided by the votes of the pupils who take part, from many schools in the Sefton area.
Ali Sparkes (Car-Jacked), Phil Caveney, or Danny Weston (Mr Sparkes), Joe Delaney (Arena 13), with members of our reading group.
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English Schools Swimming Finals – Junior Results
Congratulations to the Junior Swimming Team, who competed in the English Schools Swimming Finals, in Sheffield on Saturday.
The girls swam exceptionally well, reaching the finals in both the medley and freestyle relays and coming 15th overall in both events.
The team consisted of Isabella Green, Hannah Neave, Grace Maciver, Maya Ravindran and Ashlyn Warnock. Niamh Scott-McCormack also attended as the reserve swimmer. The girls were a credit to the school and thoroughly enjoyed their day. Well done girls.
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Ali Sparkes Visit to MTS Library
Ali Sparkes Visit to MTS Library
Wednesday 15th June 2016
The previous day the reading group had been to the Sefton Super Reads award afternoon, where Ali Sparkes had been declared the winner for her novel Car-Jacked. As this book is about a child genius called Jack, who is driven away when a bank robber steals his parents’ car, Ali started off her talk to year 7 and 8 boys with a quiz to find out if any of the pupils (or their teachers) were as bright as her main character! She revealed that she had not always wanted to write, and found learning to read difficult. Her first ambition was to go to drama school, but when she was not accepted she did several jobs like being a Pontins bluecoat, singing in a band, and journalism in local newspapers. She finally realised that writing was what she wanted to do, and says there is nothing she would rather do for a living.
The boys were eager to ask questions at the end of her talk, especially about how she writes. She explained that Car-Jacked needed a lot of editing, as her publishers wanted several changes, so it took her longer to write than usual. She likes to do a lot of research beforehand, so that her backgrounds and characters feel authentic. For Car-Jacked she asked a Glaswegian friend to check the speech of Ross the bank robber. Her favourite books include Jessica’s Ghost by Andrew Norris, and Joan Aiken’s The Whispering Mountain.
During lunch Ali was joined by members of the creative writing group, whose work will surely benefit from all the advice they received from an award winning author.
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Year 5 French Day 2016
On Tuesday, Year 5 had some fun with French. They were put into real life situations, having to present the weather, describe what they had lost at an airport and ordering pain au chocolat in a café.
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Wiktoria Ozarek – Wins Laureate in the International Polish Language Competition
Congratulations to Wiktoria Ozarek, who beat over 50,000 students from around the world, including children living in Poland, to be crowned laureate in the International Polish Language Competition 2016. Wiktoria was able to defeat children whose first language was Polish, which is an additional language to her, having spent nearly all of her life living in the UK. She has been honoured for her outstanding determination and achievement with a prestigious award and recognition as a master of the Polish language.
Wiktoria with her certificate and awards
There were three steps to the competition; a spelling test, a grammar test and a written essay, all in Polish it is important to add. It was at the beginning of June 2016, that Wiktoria found out that she had been nominated as a laureate in the competition, a title reserved to describe the best writers and users of the Polish language. She was formally invited to attend the ceremony which was held in Warsaw, at the Polish University of Science. It was at the ceremony Wiktoria learnt that she has in fact been selected as a laureate of the competition, and her essay was to be printed in a book , along with the other laureates in a book called ” That Write the Best”.
Posted in Senior Girls News
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CLRA Competition Report 2016 – CSM Bowen
CLRA Competition Report 2016
Every year in May the County of Lancaster Rifle Association (CLRA) runs a cadet shooting meeting for all school and cadet teams operating in the North West. This year the meeting was attended by 15 competing sides, with the Army Cadet Forces of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and the Isle of Man, the Sea Cadet Corps, and schools including Sedbergh and ourselves putting forward teams, with these teams representing more than 6,000 cadets from the region.
This year the meeting was held on the 28th & 29th May, and this weekend turned out to be some of the best shooting weather I have seen in my five years in the shooting team.
With just one weekend of practice two weeks prior to the event to finesse and hone our skills after a year of not shooting this weapon, it seemed as though this year we would not be as prepared as we had in previous years. However this impression was quickly corrected, as on the first day of the two-day competition which was a check-zero event where we were allowed to shoot at 200 yards to confirm the sights on our rifles were correctly set, our A team of myself (CSM Bowen), CSM Cope, and Cpl’s Puddifer and Taylor, B team of Cpl Beveridge, L/Cpl Hodkinson, Able Seaman Fitter, and Cdt Harper, and Reserves of Cdt Blythe, Bostock and Stables were shooting consistently and accurately, building confidence in the teams.
This confidence carried over to the Sunday, where the competition started and the shooting was scored. Turning up at the Hightown hotel at 0745 the weather was ideal – the clear skies and very little wind made for perfect conditions. The morning consisted of a 300 yard shoot in our respective teams. With just 50 minutes to have the four man team shoot and each of their shots scored, it was a tough task, especially given that the cadets in the butts were having a tough time manipulating the targets due to their weight, which cost us valuable time. After shooting, as the two seniors, CSM Cope and I had to coach one another and then the other members of the team, adding further constraints to the time. Despite this, the shooting went well, and placed us in a good position in the tables, ready for the second shooting session that afternoon.
After a ‘Brownie’ – a paper lunch bag provided by 42 NW brigade each containing sausage rolls, chocolate, fruit, and water, we moved back to conduct the second shoot. This shoot was at 500 yards, which to give some idea of distance is the same as the length of 5 football pitches, with the ‘V bull’ on the target – the highest scoring centre ring – only being 6 inches across, making for a hard target. This shoot is naturally more challenging, however in previous years we have tended to do better at this range than the 300 yards. This year was no different, and despite the wind which had by now started gusting we scored highly across the board aided by a high quality of coaching supplemented by knowledge from RSM Brett, with the whole team (and the reserve pair of Blythe and Stables of note) scoring better than could have been expected given the now-windy conditions.
Overall the meeting proved a massive success for the team, as we won the overall competition for the third consecutive year (8 man team), 2nd in the aggregate shoot, placed 2nd (A team) and 3rd (B team) in the 4 man competition, and myself and CSM Cope placing 2nd in the 2 man team competition. As well as this the competition gave the new and un-vetted members of the team a chance to gain experience and help to develop their already capable skill set. Also a mention must go to the two who were in the butts for the weekend – Recruits Puthuran and Mannicham.
CSM Bowen
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Year One’s Castle and Knights Workshop
‘The Year 1 children thoroughly enjoyed their Castle and Knights workshop. The children dressed up in traditional costumes and were invited to the King and Queen’s wedding.
They performed a medieval dance, juggled with the jester, balanced feathers, had a go at jousting on horseback and discussed pillory punishments.
The children had a wonderful time playing traditional medieval games too.
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The Ukraine Connection – Kiron Reid (1989 Leaver)
The Ukraine Connection
Ukraine has been in the spotlight recently, first for the war and now for Jamala winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Kiron Reid (1982 – 1989) spent six months volunteering and working in Ukraine. He found that his education at Merchant Taylors’ came in really useful.
In 2014, I left my lectureship at the University of Liverpool so that I could combine my interests in law, politics and international matters by doing international election observation work. I’d already done this short term in the Balkans, but now wanted to get a Long Term Observer post, which is like being a regional organiser for an election mission. In May I gained a short term observer post with the UK team for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (the OSCE) , which monitors Ukraine during elections for a new President. I was sent to a city none of us had ever heard of before. Certainly not a sheltered nook.
Zaporizhia (Zaporizhzhya from Ukrainian) is bigger than Liverpool, a port on the Dnipro / Dnieper, from Soviet times a major vehicle and aircraft manufacturing centre. Zaporizhia is in the South East of Ukraine and is next to the region where the war is currently continuing. I met an English professor from the University, who invited me back as a volunteer when she heard I liked Ukraine. They made me a visiting Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages (which specialises in British English), Faculty of Law and Faculty of Journalism. I arrived in a heatwave at the start of October and left in December with snow thick on the ground. I knew about the weather pattern from Geography at school. I knew about the growth of the Russian empire and birth of the Soviet Union from History. The most difficult thing was writing being in Cyrillic, terrible roads and pavements, and some very strange food. Biology helped me understand flora and fauna; and Chemistry the important city industries.
I’d like to thank all of my 1980s teachers as they all contributed. My experience helped me get a Long Term Observer contract in Ukraine in September 2015 for the Mayoral Elections. I had two incredible months in beautiful Odessa, Kyiv and northern Chernihiv. It is a country I recommend visiting, especially to find out the truth against Putin’s propaganda.
Kiron Reid (1982 – 1989) is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool
Posted in Beyond Merchants News, Old Boys' General News
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Max Whitehurst -England Mascot
On the 22nd May Max Whitehurst, a year 5 pupil, had the opportunity to be a player escort through the FA, and their sponsors Lidl, for the England vs Turkey game held at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. Max had never seen a live England game and was understandably excited to be part of the event. The children had the chance to watch the England players warm up prior to kick off, which they all really enjoyed. A highlight was Roy Hodson waving at them when noticed them watching. The children had to participate in several rehearsals to ensure that they all knew what their role was when the time came.
The children were split into two groups, those who would be England’s mascots and those who would be Turkey’s mascots. Max was pleased to be given the England kit. There was a lot of excitement over who the children would be paired with, all of them wanting to be with the man of the moment James Vardy. As the players came into the tunnel the children were paired up, Max was paired up with Eric Dier, which he was incredibly happy about. As the players prepared to go onto the pitch there was a lot of excitement and nerves from the children, Eric was kind enough to check if Max was ok and was very friendly. After the National Anthem the children left the pitch and returned to their family in the stands to watch the game. The FA commented on how well behaved and easy to work with the children were. Max thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the game.
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