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!
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
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.
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!
Recently, Mrs Marshall at MTBS and our form tutors challenged us to be kind to our peers. This challenge would consist of picking names out of a hat to see who we would have as our partner and then try and carry out as many good deeds for our partners. As well as this, we would carry out these actions to our classmates too.
To add to our challenge Mrs Marshall gave us a chance to help people in our local community who may struggle to provide themselves with some of life’s essentials. This chance was to donate food – such as noodles and canned tuna- to the local foodbank. I feel as though this was an amazing opportunity to help people who may be less fortunate than ourselves.
On Thursday 17th May 11 pupils from Merchant Taylors’ Senior Girls’ and Boys’ School attended a presentation at Buckingham Palace, London, where they received their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards from BBC Sports Journalist, Karthi Gnanasegaram, after sharing their experiences with HRH The Earl of Wessex.
During the Gold Award Presentation, HRH took the opportunity to congratulate the group from on their successes and heard about their DofE journeys, which took each young person 12-24 months of hard work and dedication. He was particularly interested in hearing about Catherine Magennis’ expedition. She was the only one in the group who had not done an expedition on foot. Instead she had kayaked along the Caledonian Canal from Inverness to Loch Ness. He also spoke to Catherine’s father and Saoirse’s mother, who are themselves DofE Gold Award holders. The other group members had chosen to do their expeditions in various parts of the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Snowdonia. Karthi spoke to them about her career in journalism and also shared her own DofE experiences and indeed photographs before presenting them with their certificates.
Receiving their Gold Award certificates are (from left to right): Catherine Magennis, Saoirse McGeown, Jessica Brannan, Charlotte Cheshire, Amelia Perkins-Brown, Nia Almond, Lauren Evans, Rebecca Kemp, Michael Hillesdon, Callum Kavanagh. Rebecca Robosn was also presented with her certificate at the ceremony.
Those who achieve a Gold DofE Award will volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, take part in a week long residential and plan and undertake an expedition in wild country. Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14-24, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment, resilience and team working.
Mrs Christine Southworth, who is the DofE Co-ordinator at Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, attended the presentation to see the group receive their Gold Awards, and said, “Having accompanied most of these young people on their DofE journey for 4 years it was very special to be able to celebrate their achievement with them this week. Every expedition has its highs and lows and, as a supervisor, you feel those with the participants. All of these young people have demonstrated a real musketeer spirit, where the team comes first, and the support and care for each other have been a joy to observe. As well as this they have contributed immensely to their local community and have developed skills which will help them in life and in work.”
Dear all Parents and Friends of the School
You are warmly invited to purchase tickets for our forthcoming Joint Lower Schools’ production, “A Night at the Theatre” written by Mrs Laura Coleman, and directed by Ms Jenny Finnegan, to be performed in the Williams Hall at the Boys’ School on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July at 7.30 pm.
The story concerns Mr Andrew Beaumont, who once loved the Crosbeian Palace Theatre and was the
Youth Theatre’s most promising star. But one fateful night, his dreams were destroyed, he left the stage for good, and now wants to demolish it. However, the new generation of Youth Theatre kids are determined to win him over and save the theatre! With a cast of twenty actors, singers and dancers who have been working hard in rehearsal, I am sure you will enjoy this production.
Tickets, priced at £5 (adults), £3 (concessions) and £12.50 for a Family Ticket (two adults and two children) are now available from
We look forward to seeing you at the show.
Best wishes,
Dr John Gill,
Director of Performing Arts
On Thursday 3rd May, the Cosgrove brothers, Dan Year 5 and Joe Year 7, travelled to the Isle of Man via ferry from the Pier Head to Douglas, to take part in the Isle of Man Youth Tour Cycling Competition. This is a national event that is held annually over the Bank Holiday Weekend and attracts riders from across the UK. There was a total of three races over the weekend with a presentation on the Sunday evening.
The first event, the Prologue (time trial), started on Friday 4th May which is 1300m race along the Douglas Promenade. Joe came 3rd (out of 60 in his category), with the top three all within 1 second of each other. Dan was very focused as it is his favourite event and he won by 4 seconds in his category, picking up the Yellow Jersey.
The second race on the Saturday, the Crit Race (flat, technical race with tight corners), was held at Jurby. Joe finished safely in the bunch in 7th and didn’t lose any time on his rivals. As Dan had an advantage from the previous day, he bided his time. On the last lap, he popped out and won the sprint, picking up 10 bonus seconds and therefore retained the Yellow Jersey.
The final day was the mountain stage at Ellersie which is a very hilly course with gradients of up to 15%. Joe was in the lead group of two for the majority of the race but had a mechanical issue with his bike chain which gave his competitors chance to catch up. Joe still finished 4th in the race and therefore placed 4th overall for the weekend, what a fantastic achievement!
Dan had a great start in the final race and when he saw the finish line, he sprinted for the line for a third win. Overall he won his category by 21 seconds over the three events.
For both boys to stay focused over the three days and to be placed so highly is a huge achievement, especially due to the scale and high standard of the competition. The School Community are extremely proud of their achievements, well done boys!
Year 5 visited the World Museum in Liverpool yesterday to see the Terracotta Warriors The exhibition spans almost 1,000 years of Chinese history; from the conflicts and chaos of the Warring States period, to the achievements and legacy of the Qin and Han dynasties.
The girls also took part in a Tiger of Qin workshop where they worked with lots of different artifacts to discover and investigate the First Emperor of China’s life (Tiger of Qin).
It was an extremely interesting day and the girls enjoyed every moment!
We are incredibly proud of all our students and the fantastic things they do both inside and outside the class room. This week we caught up with Emily Chan, who is a Year 3 pupil at Merchant Taylors’ Primary School. Emily recently took part in the national BMC Youth Climbing competition and came 10th in the country!
Here she talks to us about what inspired her to start climbing and how she feels about placing so high in this prestigious event.
What inspired you to start climbing?
My Mum used to climb which is why I wanted to try it.
How long have you been climbing for?
Four years.
Where is the best place you’ve been climbing?
Probably the Climbing Hanger because even though it is small, it has lots of brilliant coaches and great climbs.
What does it mean to you coming 10th in the country?
It means a lot because I thought I might come in the top twenty but not the top ten. There are lots of other girls who are great climbers – like my friend, Corinne, who came ninth and my friend Rose who came first.
Can you tell us a bit more about the competition?
It was at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena which is the biggest climbing arena in the world. They even have their own ‘Go Ape’ at the top of the very high walls!
I was in category E, so I thought there would be less people but there was actually 26. This made me a bit scared as I thought I wouldn’t do very well.
How was the competition organised?
You had to be in the top three in your region to qualify (there are ten regions). You do three boulders and three routes. You only have six minutes on each route and you get 62 points if you climb without falling on your first go, 61 if you do it on your second go and 60 if you do it on your third go.
Nobody completed all of the climbs because they were so big and difficult. I’m not sure what the actual grades were. I wasn’t warmed up enough for the first climb – so I know to do that better in future.
What would you like to be able to achieve in the future?
I would like to be in the top three in the world, like Shauna Coxsey. I did a project on her when I was in Year 2.
