Congratulations to one of our Sixth Form students, George, who has been offered a coveted place at the Royal Northern College of Music.
George is a keen jazz clarinettist as well as a talented classical musician and choral scholar.
He will begin studying for his music performance degree at the conservatoire in September.
It was wonderful to return to St Faith’s Church for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Thursday 8 December, the first time we have been able to host a service there since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
We’re sure all in attendance would agree it was a beautiful occasion; a wonderful chance to bring our school community together. Our Year 7 pupils and Year 13 students shared a poignant moment during the service as the older students passed lit candles to our newest Senior School pupils as a passing of the torch.
We were delighted to be asked to participate in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London which took place on the 12 November 2022.
The new Lord Mayor, Nick Lyons is a member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company so we were asked to design and construct a ‘beacon’ to be carried in the parade by local school children.
Students and staff in the D&T department rose to the challenge and produced an ‘Eco friendly’ design that was as sustainable as possible as well as reflecting the ethos of the school. The final design was a combination of students ideas and included a battery operated LED ‘flame’, blue and white ribbons and the house names of the two senior schools. In the event of the beacon being lost or damaged, a back-up was made as a precaution. The beacons were carefully transported to London along with a display of design work and are now residing at The Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London.
Photo: The Merchant Taylors’ Company
Work continues apace on the development of our new pavilion at Hall Road Playing Fields.
For the latest updates, please visit our Hall Road Sports Ground timeline page.
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 wider variety of sports.
The redevelopment of Hall Road is part of our wider five-year strategy for Merchant Taylors’. 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.
We are proud to announce that our CCF RAF Section has won the Royal Air Squadron Trophy (RAST) regional final for the second year running.
The section held off competition from 13 other schools and will now travel to RAF Halton in March 2023 to compete in the RAST national final, where the cadets will hope to better last year’s position of fourth. This year, our team excelled in almost all disciplines, including wins in the Command Task and Aircraft Recce, where Cpl Blagborough and Sgt Loftus achieved 100% scores. The section also came second in Drill and RAF Knowledge, third in First Aid and fifth in Shooting.
To add a final jewel to the crown, cadet Flight Sergeant Scott-McCormack was promoted to Cadet Warrant Officer, the pinnacle of her cadet career, by none other than Group Captain Roger Simon, Regional Commandant Wales and West Region.
Sqn Ldr Helen Dipple, OC of the RAF Section, said: “As their commanding officer, I am so proud of what the squadron has achieved. Behind this marvellous result is their tireless and commendable attitude to training. Although CCF is only once a week, the team have given freely of their time three times a week, including all day every Sunday, often perfecting their skills with good humour and a sense of pride in themselves, the RAF and ultimately their school CCF.
“The trophies and shields adorn the CCF office and we will soon need to have the shelf strengthened, particularly if the team win the RAST final in March.”
The section comprised CWO Scott-McCormack, Sgt McNeil, Sgt Loftus, Sgt Storch, Cpl Hutchinson, Cpl Pickard, Cpl Boaks, Cpl Zheng, Cpl Gamage, Cpl Blagborough, L/Cpl Holl, L/Cpl McCormick, L/Cpl Bate, L/Cpl Zhai, L/Cpl Pearson, L/Cpl Malins.
On Wednesday, pupils and staff took part in Social Media Kindness Day, which was set up to commemorate TV personality Caroline Flack, who sadly passed away in 2020.
Social media is increasingly playing a large part in our daily lives and every time we use it, we leave an imprint – Social Media Kindness Day asks each of us to play our part in making social media a kinder place for all.
Pupils shared encouraging and positive messages with one another and discovered the value of their imprint in the digital world.
We also recently ran an inter-house competition to design the school’s own Inclusivity badge in recognition of diversity and equality. Congratulations to Lara and Abigail who were the overall badge design winners and have had their design made into the school’s pin badge. Thank you to Zahra, Julie & Molly who all help run the school’s PRISM club and assisted with the running of the competition.
Year 6 girls spent the day experiencing life as an evacuee as part of their History topic on World War Two.
The girls began the day by making their way to the ‘train station’ where they waited with anticipation to make the journey to their new homes. As the journey started, the girls introduced themselves to one another with their new World War Two names and discussed their feelings and how those who were really evacuated must have felt during this time.
After arriving at their destination, Billeting Officers Mrs Gilroy and Mrs Curwen assigned the girls to their new host families. Following this, girls visited their ‘new classrooms’.
Following this was the most exciting part of the day: snack time! The girls sat together and enjoyed their WW2 snacks of jam sandwiches, fruit and digestive biscuits whilst listening to some wartime music.
Following this, the girls wrote some formal letters home to their parents on tea-stained paper. They told their parents all about their new host families and how they were feeling about their experiences so far.
In the afternoon, the girls enjoyed making gas masks out of card, cellophane and bubble wrap with Mrs Gilroy and Mrs Curwen very impressed with the final products.
During the day the girls also had the opportunity to start watching the film ‘Carrie’s War’ which is about a World War Two evacuee, based on the novel by Nina Bawden. The girls enjoyed the day and really immersed themselves into the life of an evacuee.
Mrs Gilroy and Mrs Curwen would like to thank parents for their support in supplying costumes and snacks – the girls looked wonderful!
Sixth Form students from Merchant Taylors’ are joining people around the world in growing a moustache throughout November as they lend their support to the Movember campaign.
Movember is a charity which aims to ‘change the face of men’s health’ by raising awareness of, and funding research into, areas such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, suicide prevention and the overall mental and physical wellbeing of men.
Since 2003, Movember has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world, challenging the status quo, shaking up men’s health research and transforming the way health services reach and support men.
During November of each year, the Movember campaign is responsible for the growing of millions of moustaches across the world, something which our students will be participating in again this year.
Dr Goodwin, Head of Sixth Form said:
“We’re really proud of the boys for getting involved in this initiative and here at Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School it’s not just about raising money for a good cause, it’s also about educating pupils on the importance of men’s health.
“Good luck to everyone taking part, I’m looking forward to seeing the final result at the end of November.”
Please click HERE if you’d like to sponsor the boys.
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.