
Merchants’ RAF Victorious!

Rising Manchester City Star!



Primary School Raise Funds for Zoe’s Place
Year 5 & 6 School Council Reps from MTPS visited Zoe’s Place in Liverpool to hand over a cheque for £3000, which was raised at our sponsored Easter Bunny Hop. The girls had a short tour of the hospice, met some nurses and learnt how vital fundraising is for the children who are there. The highlight was meeting 2 year old Amelia, a patient at the hospice, who was very excited to meet our girls!
Krishna Highly Commended for Fictional Writing in National Competition
Last autumn Krishna, MTBS student, entered a national competition for writing historical fiction and earlier this year, was informed he had made the shortlist of 35. In the final judging he has been awarded Highly Commended and his story will be 1 of 9 stories printed in the 2017 Young Walter Scott Anthology.
His story, ‘Crossing the Line’, was set in India 1947 during the time India was partitioned into India and Pakistan as last year marked the 70th anniversary of partition and he has ancestors who were caught up in it. He watched the BBC documentaries, saw the play ‘Child of the Divide’ and looked through his grandmother’s refugee documents which all contributed to his background knowledge of the setting.
We as a School and Krishna’s parents are very proud of him and extremely pleased his story has earned him a Highly Commended.
Well done Krishna!
Click hear to read more: www.walterscottprize.co.uk/ywsp-winners-announced/
Angelina Wins Rotary Young Musician of the Year

MTBS Pupils Place Fourth in International Maths Challenge
Two boys from Year 7 participated in the 2017/18 Maths in Motion™ Challenge World Final yesterday, beating off stiff competition from schools in 13 countries. Team 2Fast4U had previously won through a series of internal school races and the subsequent international knockout rounds to make it through to the World Final. For the first time ever, the World Final was online, with races broadcast ‘live’ from the organiser’s YouTube channel.
Our two finalists, Darren Toh and Shea Brennan, had just 90 minutes to prepare their car during a closed morning session. They had to accurately measure the length of the track, the angles of the bends, calculate the amount of fuel needed, work with percentages and then consider other factors such as tyres, speeds and a weather forecast. They used all of their mathematical expertise to calculate the settings of their car, and achieved poll position on the grid.
The afternoon session began with much anticipation, with all of Year 7 present to cheer on their peers. 2Fast4U started the race well, staying in poll position for the early part of race. They dropped to 2nd in the latter stages and the boys watched and cheered with much excitement, hoping that they could regain the lead. Sadly the team were pipped at the post, finishing in 4th position in the final seconds of the race.
There can be no doubt that the boys did themselves and the School proud. Making it through to the final 15 secondary schools, let alone finishing 4th overall is a fantastic achievement! We congratulate them on all of their efforts. Well done, Darren and Shea.
MTBS Pupil Wins North West Ippon Judo League
Callum Davidson, MTBS Year 9 pupil, has won the North West Area Ippon Judo League and is the Merseyside County and North West Area Champion.
Following strong performances in both the Lancashire and Merseyside fixtures Callum finished top of the league. His success means he has been selected to represent the North West in the National Team Judo Championship which is to be held in Cardiff later this month. Well done Callum!
Classlist
Regular communication between parents is important in helping us build a supportive and welcoming school community. Recent data protection changes mean parents now rely on a variety of informal channels to contact each other, ranging from ad-hoc email lists to social media groups on Facebook and WhatsApp. These can work well but raise important concerns over inclusiveness, security and safeguarding – particularly when used to distribute personal data, and exchange information and images about children.
We would like to introduce parents to a new “built for purpose” app called Classlist. This enables parents to find and contact each other securely, whilst giving each parent complete control over what data is shared. Classlist, which is UK based, holds appropriate security and GDPR certifications and recently won top prize at BETT, the world’s largest education technology event.
Our parent community is of course much more than an online address book. Using Classlist you can set up events; form special interest groups; discuss arrangements for teenage parties or liftshares; find a home for old bicycles or school blazers, and volunteer. The site is completely free to the School and to parents.
Mrs Tao
Sixth Formers Unearth Historic Plaque
The plaque below has had an interesting life and quite how it came back to the School is still a mystery.
It was found by two current Lower Sixth students, Jack Bostock and Dominic Hodkinson, in a rather blackened state in an old store cupboard in the Boys’ School DT labs. The boys restored the plaque, revarnished it, and messaged us to let us know about their discovery.
It bears the School crest and the reverse of the piece has a small nameplate which notes that it was presented to Sir William Scott-Barrett, ‘by the boys of Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby on the occasion of his golden wedding, April 15th 1919’. Sir William Scott-Barrett was the School’s first chair of governors after the School left the direct administration of the Merchant Taylors’ Company. He served as chair from 1910 – 1921.
Born in 1843, he first worked in Liverpool as a ‘clerk corn merchant’ and married his wife Julia Colvile in Walton in 1869. He is listed as the ‘Great Crosby and St Helens’ colliery owner in 1881 and seems to have ran this business until its closure in 1898, with records stating it was ‘abandoned’ due to being ‘unprofitable… seams practically exhausted’. He is later listed as the owner of a different colliery in Huyton in 1901.
Below this nameplate is a pen inscription of ‘RRR Fisher’ and a Crosby address. This is Raymond Robert Roscoe Fisher, who attended MTS 1932 – 38. The Fisher family have a had a long association with the Schools, with Raymond and his brothers Jeffrey and Leonard attending, as well as various other branches of the family. Raymond’s father, Claude, served as art master for many years, and it is possible this connection is how the piece came to be returned to the School.
The final point of interest is a small coin-sized plate to the right of these inscriptions which lists a ‘Fisher and Ludlow’ manufacturing, a car body manufacturer in Birmingham. It is unclear if Raymond and his family were related to this firm, or if they were involved in the production of the plaque itself. The date of its award suggests that it is unlikely they were involved in its production, although it is still possible they pressed the crest.
Our thanks to Jack and Dom for their discovery and hard work!
Every Friday we cover a piece from our archive on our Instagram feed. You can click here if you’d like to see any past entries, or here if you would like to see our 2020 archive.
Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School Pupil Named Top Cadet in UK
A pupil from Merchant Taylors’ Senior Girls’ School, has been named the top cadet in the UK, at a prestigious national awards ceremony.
Charlotte Apel, who is 19, was presented with the Sir John Thomson Memorial Sword at the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) Awards, which took place at RAF College Cranwell, in Lincolnshire, last Sunday (20th May).
CWO Apel, who serves in Merchant Taylors’ Combined Cadet Force (CCF), battled it out against 7,500 cadets from across the RAF’s 230 cadet units, to be named the winner of this prestigious national accolade.
The Sir John Thomson Memorial Sword commemorates the life of Air Chief Marshal, Sir John Thomson and is awarded each year to the highest performing CCF cadet in the UK.
This is the first time the coveted title has been won by a Merchant Taylors’ pupil and Charlotte was one of only five people to be called for interview following the nominations last November.
In honour of her win, she has been invited to Buckingham Palace for lunch with The Queen, alongside her Wing Commander Martin Larwood-Hughes.
She will also be leading the cadet parade at the Shuttleworth Air Show, on 8th July, where she will be presented with the sword officially by Lady Thompson, the wife of the late Sir John Thompson.
Speaking about her win, Charlotte, who hopes to join the University Air Squadron at Lancaster University, after completing her A-Levels, said: “I was so surprised and honoured when they called out my name and I am still in a state of shock after winning. This award is the pinnacle of success for a cadet and it is incredible to be ending my CCF career at Merchant Taylors’ on such a high.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ma’am Dipple, who is the head of the RAF cadet contingent at the school and nominated me for the award. She really supported me with all the preparation leading up to it and I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Charlotte also said, who has an older brother, George, “It was nice to go one step further than my brother, George, who was shortlisted for the award in 2014. He was very proud when he heard the news and I will be sure to keep reminding him of it for a good while!”
Mrs Claire Tao, Headmistress of MTGS, said: “The whole school is incredibly proud of Charlotte – this is an incredible achievement which brings with it national recognition and firmly puts our school on the CCF map.
Her win is a testament to all her hard work as she has been preparing for this alongside studying for her A Levels, which shows what a successful and determined young lady she is.”
The Merchant Taylors’ Combined Cadet’s Force has over 260 cadets attending every Thursday evening which is dedicated to the armed services.
Well done Charlotte!