On Tuesday 25th June, the Year 10 GCSE PE group attended the Athlete Factory in Chester, for the annual fitness testing trip.  The Athlete Factory is a high performance gym, where everyone from novice gym goers to professional athletes and teams train in their state of the art training facility.

The purpose of the trip, was to be able to complete a variety of fitness tests to gather data which will be used during their coursework next academic year.  Throughout the day the boys where tested on the various components of fitness as well as given a nutritional talk by former England Rugby international and British and Irish Lion, Phil Greening.  Phil has a wealth of experience with Strength and Conditioning, as well as Nutrition to which he is currently working as a Performance Coach for the USA Rugby XV’s and VII’s teams.

All the boys had a fantastic day, took in all the advice and guidance on how to improve their game, through the knowledge of the coaches there.  Thank you to Phil, Ryan and Chris for the fantastic experience and we hope to see the Athlete Factory brand keep growing each year.

On Tuesday 18^th June, 16 boys from Years 7-9 gathered in the library for our annual Carnegie lunch, which has been held every year since 2002.

The Carnegie Medal, a national award for a work of children’s fiction, was this year given to The Poet X, a novel in verse by Elizabeth Acevedo, a Dominican-American writer.  In her acceptance speech, she said that a novel should be both a mirror, reflecting the culture of the readers, but also a window, enabling children to experience the lives and emotions of characters very different from themselves.

The Shadowers’ Award, voted for by all the groups that take part in the reviewing of the shortlisted books, was also awarded to The Poet X.  We watched the event live at MTBS, which took place in the British Library in London.

Our own favourite book was Rebound by Kwame Alexander, also a verse novel.  Although all pupils who posted reviews on the Carnegie website received a prize, the winner was Alex Meadows, who wrote three perceptive reviews.  On the Carnegie website children from reading groups throughout the country posted over 7000 reviews, which can be read by other participants, and the authors.

Mrs Rea, MTBS Librarian – June 2019

Merchant Taylors’ is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Local School Nature Grant, thanks to players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

The project is run by Learning through Landscapes and funded by Postcode Local Trust, which receives funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Pupils in our Eco-Club will be benefitting from new equipment which will be used in future projects. In addition staff will receive training to help children learn outdoors. The pupils played an important role in applying for the grant and selected equipment that they felt would benefit themselves and their peers. All the members of the club are really excited with their new equipment and can’t wait to start using it.

The Eco-Club meets every Tuesday lunchtime at 12.40 and maintains their garden throughout the year. That can include insect investigations, planting and maintaining new seeds and ensuring the garden is a positive environment.