Last week the Junior Boys attended the AJIS Indoor Athletics Championships in Wigan. It was a great day, lots of events and the boys did really well especially as both teams competed up one year! James Moore came 3rd in the chest press which is a fantastic achievement.
Pupils at Merchant Taylors’ continue to thrive both inside and out of the classroom, with many achieving great success in their sporting endeavours alongside their academics. For the girls’ cross country teams last week, this was no different, with both the year 7 and senior teams being crowned County Champions at the Merseyside Cross Country Championships that took place on Saturday 14th January at Arrowe Park on the Wirral.
What makes MTGS a leading school in Cross Country is the commitment and hard work seen by the vast number of runners that compete in each race. In the last 20 years, MTGS have always had a group of senior runners competing consistently for the school. These girls are fantastic role models for our younger runners, namely this year Morag Molyneux (Cross Country Captain), Ellen Murgatroyd (Vice Cross Country Captain), Emily Woodier, Rebecca Southwart, Faye Carr and Emily Storch. These girls have been supported in the open age group with a group of committed girls in Year 10.
We are absolutely delighted to see this senior squad become County Champions in the final league race and in addition to this, our B Team in the senior age group attained a bronze medal. The highly committed runners in our Inter age group are also enjoying a great deal of success. The success of the exceptional Year 7 runners this year must also be commended and we congratulate them on their County Champions 2016/17 title.
At MTGS the Cross Country team is chosen from a very successful running club held on a Friday night. This is well attended by girls of all abilities who help to create a positive ethos towards running for fitness, competitions and enjoyment. This develops and enables the girls who then go on to compete in the cross country races throughout the year.
Mrs Moore (Head of PE) states, “We have some star runners in school but what brings us success at County level is our squad approach to running and being part of a team. The spread of talent and commitment continues to inspire us all to continue to strive for success in the coming seasons.”
The Junior runners also compete in a series of league races within the Sefton district on a Wednesday. These are ongoing and we wish the girls the best of luck in the coming races.
Congratulations to our U13 Table Tennis boys who performed exceptionally well last weekend at the English Schools National Team Championships and now have a chance of making the National Final!
Our U/13s Boys’ team of Rhys Davies, Nick Moustaka, Chris Moustaka and Harry Griffiths did very well in the Zonal finals at Blackburn, winning their category and progressing into the 16 in the country.
The Zonal Final comprised 5 county champions representing Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Shropshire and was played in a round-robin format with the top 2 progressing into one of 4 Regional Finals to be held on the first weekend in March.
Each match comprises 8 individual matches played as best of 5 sets with each set being the 1st to 11 points. Individual matches were played on 2 adjacent tables and there is a set order of play with each team playing their respective Number 1’s against the opposition No.2’s and then likewise with the Number 3’s and 4’s. After these are completed the 2nd matches see the Number 1’s against each other with Number 2’s now playing the Number 3’s and then the Number 4’s playing each other in the final match. It can get quite complicated!
Our 1st match was against the host school St. Bede’s (Blackburn) and we got off to a fantastic start winning the match 8-0 with Nick Moustaka battling back from 2 sets down to win his opening match. Our next match was against The Marches School, Oswestry who had also won their opening match. This proved to be a much tougher battle but we were able to win 6-2 with Chris Moustaka this time coming from 2-0 down to win a key match. After a break we then faced Wade Deacon High School, Widnes who had a few players known us from other competitions in the region. Another 8-0 victory with Nick again winning an epic 5 set battle and Rhys providing the performance of the day beating their No. 1 player 11-0, 11-0, 11-2!
Our final match against Altrincham Grammar would be the decider as they had won all their matches – the opening battles set the tone with Rhys winning easily and Nick again claiming a 5 set thriller only to be matched by his brother, Chris. We eventually ran out 6-2 winners and qualified in 1st place for the Regional Finals. In the Regional finals we will be in a Group of 4 with only the winners progressing to the National Final – Our Players produced some excellent results – Rhys Davies won 8/8, Nick Moustaka 7/8, Christ Moustaka 8/8 and a very impressive Harry Griffiths 5/8 – Harry has only been playing since September but has made significant progress to be able to compete at this level.
Before the next stage of this competition the boys will do battle against each other (and many of their club mates) for the Merseyside Individual Schools Title on Saturday February 4th at Anfield Sports & Community Centre – only the winner progresses to the National Finals.
Since leaving Merchant Taylors’ Girls and Boys school, brother and sister duo, Laura and Mark McLaughlin, have been running stage school Plastersine Performing Arts Company. Laura graduated in 2006 from LIPA – Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and opened Plastersine with Mark in January 2008.
Since then, both Mark and Laura successfully auditioned for Manchester School of Acting, with Laura completing 2 years screen acting for beginners, and Mark still going every week for the last 5 years.
Director Mark has been on Hollyoaks several times, with a couple of small speaking parts, and was also the face of Cash Converters in 2014, where he was spotted by friends, family and students on the tv! Several friends would even have selfies outside cash converters shops with Marks face.
Both Mark and Laura pursued piano – Grade 8, trumpet – Grade 8, and vocals – Grade 8, with Laura then going on to gain her Associate Diploma in singing from the London College of Music.
She continued her passion for music and vocals by training with Dane Chalfin in Blue Print Studios Manchester for 5 years, learning Estill vocal techniques used on Broadway, Westend and film. She is currently waiting confirmation to do her CMT – Certified Master Trainer – exams in Estill.
Their latest achievement has been working on board P&O cruise ships during holiday periods, teaching the children on board in drama, singing and dance. With Mark and another team member recently returning from the Caribbean after producing Annie on board P&O Azura.
As a duo, they have produced the following musicals;
Seussical the Musical – 2013 at Ormskirk Civic Hall, Peter Pan the British Musical – 2014 in West Lancashire Theatre, Les Miserables – 2015 in Ormskirk School Theatre, and last year a HUGELY successful Grease, at the Atkinson Theatre in Southport, this first professional show!
Les Miserables was nominated for 10 NODA awards – National Operatic and Dramatic association, with 3 of our performers winning their categories, and Grease was nominated for 10 NODA awards this year too! The awards dinner is being held at the Floral Hall in February.
Following on from the well known classic Grease, a show that cost them £23,000 to produce, they wanted to keep things upbeat and modern, so they chose Legally Blonde the musical. Auditions are being held on January 28th / 29th, and with students from all over the North West auditioning for Les Miserables and Grease, Legally Blonde is sure to be just as competitive and successful, with no expense spared!
For information about their company and this show can be found on their website www.plastersine.com
Merchant Taylors’ are delighted with this year’s successful students who have recently received offers to study at Oxford or Cambridge University from September 2017.
Leon Reason, a student from Aintree has been offered a place to read History at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge. A keen student of History, English Language and Government and Politics, and after a rigorous interview process, Leon has secured his place at the university of his choice against fierce opposition. Leon is a curious and very hard working student with a passion and love of reading. In addition to Leon, Jack Zhou has been offered a place to read Mathematics at Queens College Oxford. Maths is one of the most competitive courses at university; Jack’s natural intelligence, ability and determination have shone through, throughout his time at the school and he thoroughly deserves this offer to study at one of the world’s top centres of learning. Jack is also part of a four man team at the Boys’ School, who have won through to the national finals of the UK Maths Challenge Competition, later in the spring, where they will compete against the best 32 schools in the country.
Merchant Taylors’ is particularly strong in the sciences and Maths; this is the third offer to a student at MTBS, to study Maths at Oxford, in the past three years.
Not to be outdone by the boys, Jessy Li from Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School has been offered a place at Cambridge to read aerospace engineering. Jessy is studying Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics. She visited Leicester Space centre with the School and designed and launched a rocket! She has also attended the Institute of Physics lectures and the X-ray Mass Spectrometer Gala (XMaS) organised by Liverpool University to engage young women in STEM based subjects. Jessy won a Gold award in the National Senior Maths Challenge and Merit in the Kangaroo stage of the competition as well as the Liverpool Physics Olympics. A highly motivated student, Jessy already has a grade A in her Chinese A level and is on track for a string of A* grades.
Sixth Form pupil and Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton athlete, Dan Slater, is having a wonderful cross country season. Dan had already established himself as one of the country’s best Under 15 runners by winning the English Schools Cup title before coasting to the Merseyside crown that year. On 7th January 2017 Dan took the winning title in the U17 Merseyside Cross Country competition and he will go on to represent Merseyside and run in the Cross Country Inter-Counties Championships in Loughborough in March.
Also an extremely talented triathlete Dan has made the England Talent Squad and qualified for Team GB to race in the European Triathalon Championships in July 2016.
“I decided to focus on triathlon in the summer and cross country in the winter.“it seems to have been a good decision and I have learned a lot.” commented Dan.
Last Saturday three teams of three girls attended the Girls English Chess Federation U19 Northern semi final held at Bridgewater School in Worsley, Manchester. The girls performed well and we came back with 4th,6th and 8th in the North of England. The fourth place team; Angelina Bennett, Anna Xie and Eleanor Rowlandson are all in year 8 so were playing against girls much older than them and did exceptionally well to win a medal.
Congratulations to all the girls who competed!
The Scottish old boys dinner took place on Saturday 8th October at The Royal Overseas League Princes Street, Edinburgh. The dinner was organised by Mr Ian Nevison and was well attended including two former Head Boys Tom Cope and Joe Jermy. Mr Farrell gave the assembled guests an update on the school and Marcus Millen on School rugby.
Last term we welcomed author Frank Cottrell Boyce into school to inspire the boys with his fantastic books. Here are some accounts from the boys who met Frank…
On 5th December, Frank Cottrell Boyce came and had a chat with us about his books. Overall he has lots of books such as Millions, Cosmic,Brocoli boy, Framed, Sputnik guide to life and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang -3. We got a chance to buy a book and get it signed by Frank.
It was a really interesting and entertaining talk and I am looking forward to reading some of his books over the coming months.
By Jude Williams
On Monday 5th December, the author, Frank Cottrell Boyce, came to our school to talk to us and to sell some books. He told us of his childhood and what inspired him to become an author. He read a bit of his books which I’m sure has made everyone want to buy one of his books. I’m planning on getting ‘Broccoli Boy’ which Frank read out in assembly. He will inspire many to be an author and made everybody enjoy assembly a lot.
By Drew Hutchinson
