Last week, as discussed in our House assemblies, we have set a whole college challenge to do at least one act of kindness a day until the Easter holidays. This can be anything from holding the door open, to picking up litter (even if it isn’t yours!) Please inform your tutor if you see anyone going above and beyond in acts of kindness, who will then inform us for chance to win a prize!

Interhouse events so far this year have been extremely successful with the most participants seen in the last few years. This includes Badminton, (highest participants from year 8), Rugby, Art and History. However, our goal is to have every pupil represent their House at least once this year, so sign up and get involved!

As a result of House Captain feedback, we have also organised more interhouse events than ever. However, we are always looking for new and exciting events to run, this can be anything you think would make a good competition. Please speak to your Head of House or House Captain/House Leader if you have any ideas.

Upcoming events: 

MFL Baking competition: to create French, Spanish or German themed cakes or baked goods, speak to Mrs Long or Miss Madden Due: 13 March 2020.

House Dance: Either solo, duet or group Max.5, Please speak to Miss Madden for more details.

Sport relief: 13 March a cycling challenge to cover the miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats, Charity competition to see who can raise the most money for this charity. Overall House Standings:

      1^st Woolf
      2^nd Kipling
      3^rd Austen
      4^th Tennyson

Hope you all have a lovely week!

Coronavirus is in the news every day and most countries in the World have been affected by it. I wrote to your parents / carers about our response to the illness. Our priorities in relation to Coronavirus are the following:

1.) to respond in a proportionate and measured way;

2.) to ensure all reasonable steps are taken to keep you safe;

3.) to follow the guidance provided by Public Health England

Coronavirus is affecting more people across the country. Whilst this a concern and the families across the country who have been affected are in our thoughts, there is no need to be unduly alarmed about this or to change anything in College. There are some very simple things we can all do to help protect ourselves and each other.

1. Make sure your hands are clean. We often rub our eyes or touch our faces and this is a common way to transfer the virus your hands to inside your body. We have places in College where you can use hand-sanitiser to keep your hands clean. Please also make sure you wash your hands after using toilets (which you should all do anyway!)
2. Use tissues to sneeze, then throw it away. ‘Catch it, kill it, bin it’ is the phrase we all need to use and adhere to.

The illness appears to affect far fewer younger people than older people and children who have had the virus seem to have a milder version, in most cases, than adults and the elderly. We will carry on as normal and expect you to be in College in every day, as you usually would.

On another note…. Last week in assemblies I said there are three things we must all make sure we do consistently. Tse are: wear your uniform correctly, arrive to all lessons on time and make sure your behaviour is excellent in every lesson. Everyone has the right to learn and no one has the right to take that away.

Notices for this week:

• Gilbert Hannam day Thursday
• Year 11 drama exam this week
• Year 10 boys’ football final (good luck!)
• Year 7 boys’ football final (good luck!)
• Chichester literature quiz for some year 7 and 8 on Tuesday
• Sport relief on Friday

Sports results:

No sports results this week – hopefully we’ll have positive news form the finals for next week!

Have a good week

Hi.  We are Wynne-Elle and Sam and we are your new Head Boy and Head Girl.  

Sam and I are looking forward to working with everyone to improve the community environment at MRC.  We are excited to see a positive change at the College over the next year and encourage students to get involved with as many College events as they can. We want students to feel excited about coming to College and hope that we can voice the ideas the students have to make everyone feel they are a part of the College community

Wynne-Elle and I intend to construct a senior leadership team within the sixth form to develop and enhance groups that work with students to reach various desired outcomes. Group ideas include introducing a charity events team; developing current groups such as sustainability, antibullying, AllSorts and Young Carers; and we are enthusiastic to learn of any suggestions from you on setting up groups or team that do not currently exist that would help you or our community.

We look forward to working with all of you and if you want to talk to us, please do!

Also – a huge thank you from Mr Edwards to the literacy leaders who helped at the staff meeting on Friday!

Notices:

• Year 11 and 13 internals
• Gilbert Hannam Day Thursday 12 March
• World Book Day 5 March

Sports results – thank you to everyone for representing our College.

• Year 9 netball team beat Luffa 25-5.
• year 10 football team lost 4-0 to Chichester High School.
• Year 8 football team lost 9-0 to Bourne CC.

Have a good week

I’d like to start my blog this week by welcoming you all back to College. I hope you all had a good half-term break and are well rested and ready for this half-term. This half-term, the College blog will be written by different people, including students, as well as by me. This will give you a chance to hear from different students and teachers across our College.

I am sure you will join me in congratulating our new Head Boy and Girl. They start their roles after the Gilbert Hannam Awards evening next month and I am looking forward to them leading a new sixth form leadership team. This team will help to improve our College further and you will hear more about this in the next few weeks, but in the meantime well done to Wynne-Elle and Sam!

I’d like to also remind you about our three priorities for this academic year. We are not going to change these and they will stay with us next year, too. We are prioritising:

• Challenge: in every lesson, every day. Also challenging you to be the best person you can be
• Independence: setting you independent learning tasks and homework
• Wellbeing: caring for your wellbeing and also achieving the Wellbeing in Schools Award

I know we do not get all of the above right all the time. However, if we are determined to make them happen we definitely will be able to!

Finally, a thought about some of the items that have been in the news this week…. Terrible floods in part of the country, the spread of the coronavirus and the sad death of Caroline Flack. The last news item in particular highlights the importance of only posting things on social media that are kind and supportive – not negative. Internet safety day was before half-term, but it is about more than one day. It is for every day, for everyone who uses and posts anything on the internet. #bekind

Notices for the week:

• Year 11 internal assessments this week

Sports results – thank you to all students for representing our College

• U16 Boys’ basketball: BCC 9 MRC 36
• Year 9 Boys’ football: CFS 0 MRC 9

Have a good week

The two items in my blog this week are linked. Internet safety day is 11^th February and this is the theme for our year assemblies this week. The internet, as we know, is a fantastic tool. It allows us to work, shop, book holidays, do research and most importantly communicate with each other. The last point about communication has many positive elements attached to it, but there are also some risks that you need to make sure you are aware of. Mr Thompson talked about these risks in whole-college assembly last week. It is absolutely essential that you make sure that you are the right age to use social media sites. Your privacy settings must also be high, so that you only communicate with people that you know.

If your privacy settings are not set, please make sure you do this. You need to make sure that only people you know can message you. Some apps also let others know your location – this is useful for your parents and carers to know, but not others. We talked last week in assembly about the risks associated with ‘sexting’ and said that sometimes some young people feel pressured into sending photos, sometimes without clothes on, of themselves to others. As a College, I think it is important we are open about this and that we are very clear – this is something you must not do. If someone tries to pressure you into sending ‘sexting’ type messages, please talk to us or to your parents / carers. It doesn’t matter if this person is a ‘friend’ or someone you don’t know – please, just don’t do it.

The College is also working towards achieving the ‘wellbeing in schools award,’ which is a nationally recognised accreditation. This links well with safer internet day, as sometimes social media pressures can affect wellbeing. Part of the wellbeing award requires you to complete a questionnaire on what the school does to support your mental and physical health. We will also ask your parents and staff in school for their views and then create an action plan to make what we currently do better.

Notices for the week:

• Year assemblies this week
• Year 7 parents’ evening on Wednesday
• Half-term break on Friday

Sports results:- thank you to everyone who represents our College

• Year 8 girls’ netball: MRC 15 TAS 6
• U16 Boys’ Basketball: FCC 35 MRC 23
• Year 9 girls’ netball: SPH 4 MRC 24
• U16 Girls’ Basketball: MRC 10 Luffa 18

Have a good week!

This year’s online safety theme is #Freetobe – FREE - Fairly treated, Represented, Equal and Empowered. Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020 is Tuesday 11 February, however, running all week during tutor times, assemblies and PSE lessons, there will be specific activities addressing the areas of ‘Free to be me online’! This works hand in hand with one of our college values of respect. Respecting yourself and others is a really important trait to develop. Keeping yourself safe online is a must! Don’t give out your usernames and passwords and change your passwords regularly. Check your privacy settings, make sure you set them appropriately, and if in doubt then ask an adult. Remember you must report any online issues to the platform provider, police 101 number or anybody in College.

Welcome back and a very Happy new Year to you all! I hope you all had a very good Christmas break and are ready and refreshed for a new term. A new year always gives time for reflection and an opportunity to plan ahead. It is a new start for everyone and looking back on last year, we had very strong examination performance, students going to some of the best universities in the country and also an increase in the number of students attending our College. The number of students wanting to attend here has also gone up and we have been asked to take more students in September.

There have also been some changes over the Christmas break. We have changed the school day to start with registration every day, as you know. This has worked really well and you have all adapted to the changes in the College day very quickly, which is great. A reminder that Fridays are the same as before Christmas, with period 1 starting at 8.30 and registration after lunch.

We are now asking that all students are seated at the tables in the front canopies. This area is slowly being redeveloped into what in effect will be an extension of the dining hall. In the next few weeks, windows will be installed in the front of the canopy area near the field to make this area more sheltered. With the number of students coming to our College increasing, we need extra seated dining space. The back of the school will be open for those of you who wish to stand, sit or play table-tennis. The 4G will be open every day (weather permitting!) for sports activities and there will be a film shown in the sports hall every day, in addition to the library being open. With all these spaces open, there is no need to use the hub area and I would ask all students to please keep this area clear. Thank you.

Notices for the week:

• Sixth form interviews for all year 11 students will take place during w/c 20^th and 27^th January
• Year 11 revision evening Tuesday 21^st January 6.00pm
• Year 9 options evening on 6^th February

Sports Results

Indoor Athletics:
The Year 8 boys team won the competition and will move on to the county finals in March.
The Year 7 girls, Year 7 boys and Year 8 girls all came third in a closely fought competition.

Basketball:
The U14 boys basketball team narrowly lost to Bourne 10-8. A great performance but an unfortunate result.

Have a good week!

As you read this, we are in the last week of a very busy term. Last week alone there was a lot happening in our College. I’d like to thank you all for your participation in the carol services and for your behaviour, attitude and engagement both in the Church and on the way there and back. The orchestra and music were fantastic – my thanks to all involved. As a College, we welcome students of all faiths and none – in this respect we mirror the society we live in. We have a faith room in College, which will be opened after the Christmas break and is in the AEN corridor. It will be run by Beth Pinder from the Church for two lunchtimes per week and will be open to students of all faiths and those of no faith.

The General Election took place on Thursday, which gave the Conservative party a majority of the MPs in the House of Parliament. In our MRC election, you voted for the Liberal Democrats as the party you felt best supported your views. Some of our year 13 students were able to vote in the General Election and I think it is positive that we ran our own election in College to give you an insight into the voting system.

There has been a lot of activities this term…. Various sporting fixtures, trips both in this country and abroad, guest speakers, parents’ evenings and concerts to name but a few. This is outside of the 18989 lessons that have been taught! I’d like to thank you all for your work and behaviour this term. I know we do not get it right all the time, but we must all do our very best to make sure that we seek to do better when we get things wrong.

Notices for this week:

• Pantomime on Monday evening
• Key stage 3 drama performance Thursday evening

Have a good week and  a great holiday!

We live in a democracy and this week on Thursday, a General Election will take place. We will have the opportunity to choose our leaders this week, including the political party(ies) that will eventually govern us. Whichever party you feel best represents your views, it is important to remember that we have the right to choose who leads us. This is not the case in all countries in the World, where some people live without having this important choice. It is a right we all have and not one that we should ever take for granted. Some of our Year 13 students, who are over 18, will also have the right to vote this week.

Our electoral system operates as follows…. There is an MP for every constituency and there are 650 constituencies in the UK. Midhurst (and the surrounding area) comes under the Chichester constituency and our local MP at the last election was Gillian Keegan, a Conservative MP. She is standing for re-election this week. Whichever MP wins their constituency has a seat in the House of Commons. In order to form the government, a party needs to have over half of the MPs, ie at least 326. We will hold our own mock election in College on Thursday to see who you would choose to represent us!

This week we will hold our annual carol concerts at the local church. This is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years at the school and one it is important to uphold. As we walk to the church, please make sure your behavious is even better than it normally is – we are very publicly on display to the whole community and it is important tht we represent our College and our values in the right way.

Notices for this week:

• Carol concerts this week – Tuesday and Wednesday
• Parents’ evening this week for years 11 and 13. Year 12 is by invitation.
• Mock election in College on Thursday

Sports results – thank you to everyone who represents our college:

No sports results this week (at the time of writing). I will get these from and update you all. Thank you to everyone who represented our College

Have a good week

Our school community has grown over the last few years and we now have just under 1100 children. One of our values is respect and it is essential that we all show this to each other, all the time. I know we don’t get everything right all the time (no one does), but it is also important that when we make mistakes we take the opportunity to learn from them and do better next time. Respect for others and respecting yourself are equally important, as is thinking about and considering others. Always remember to treat others as you would wish them to treat you – it makes a real difference.

You will notice that the corridors are quite busy at every lesson changeover and at break and lunch. I have asked all your teachers to let you straight into class without lining up outside classrooms, as this makes movement in the corridors much easier for everyone. I’d also like to remind you that we have several staircases – please can you use the stairs at the end of the corridors – this will make a massive difference to movement and space.

With 1100 children, there is not enough space in the canteen for everyone at lunchtime. This means that you must clear up after yourself and put all rubbish in the bin. Other people will use the table after you and keeping the area clean and clear shows respect both for the College and also for other students. Please remember to keep our college tidy and put all rubbish in the bin.

Notices for the week:

• Winter concert on Wednesday
• INSET day on Friday – College closed to students
• Remember to complete your online learning! Hegarty maths!

Sports results:

No sports results this week

Have a good week