Helping Hands

Helping Hands is celebrating its 3rd successful year after starting in September 2021. The club is open to Year 7’s twice a week and Year 8’s once a week, encouraging social, emotional, and cognitive development and providing a safe space to build new relationships. The club, supervised by Mrs Holdsworth, one of our SEND team, aims to encourage new students to build new friendships, widen their social circles and develop their confidence, all whilst engaging in a range of fun activities such as Board Games, Card Games and Arts & Crafts. We have also had Christmas quizzes and Easter Egg competitions with lots of prizes and celebrations. All games help expand their skill set, proving that learning is not just about what happens in the classroom. The club has had amazing attendance numbers, doubling the previous year, creating a real sense of community within the Year groups. Because of the successful year we have had, we have celebrated the students’ enthusiasm and dedication to Helping Hands with trips and lots of prizes. Helping Hands promotes learning and growth and makes our students happier and capable of taking on any task or challenge in their school life. We cannot wait for next year!

Year 7 National 9’s Championship Festival

For the first time in 3 years we made it to the National 9’s Champions Final Festival on 22 June.

We were matched up against some tough competition but through sheer grit and determination we were able to compete against teams that played in the top group at the end of the day.

Jack Hood was our captain for the entire tournament and led from the front as always, managing the team, setting an example and keeping team morale high.

It was a blisteringly hot day and the team played 4 games before the lunch break. We developed, learnt and grew throughout each game against tough and experienced opponents, going into the break with a draw against a team we would meet in the afternoon table.

In the afternoon we played a further 3 games. First were our rivals from the morning. They had learnt who our key players were and how to deal with them, unfortunately securing a win. During the next 2 games we learnt from our mistakes and attacked the line. On several occasions the opposition could not deal with our physicality and strength as James, Alex, Emmanuel and Evan were able to break the line and score some unbelievable tries, winning our final 2 games.

Throughout all of this, one thing stood out more than anything else. During every game members of the opposition staff came to congratulate me on such a wonderful set of boys. Every team we played against commented on the sportsmanship, respect and resilience, no matter the result. Because of this at the final presentation our students were awarded the “Fair Play Award”, specifically chosen for a school nominated by staff from each of the attending schools, who had shown incredible respect and sportsmanship throughout the tournament.

This was the highlight of my day, far more important than the results of each game. All I asked of our students was to have fun, enjoy themselves and show the best of themselves. They truly did that! It is behaviour such as we have seen today that resulted in us receiving the John Ahm award, showcasing our diverse and inclusive community for everyone to see, showing that no matter your background you can be respectful to all.

I am incredibly proud to have taken these 11 students to this event. I am even more proud to say that I was once part of their year group and finally I am proud that MSM students have stood up and shown who we are and what our values are. What a team we have! I cannot wait so see what they can achieve in future years.

Year 7 Rugby

I took 14 very excited and enthused Year 7 students to Garforth Academy on Thursday 4 May 2023. The atmosphere on the bus was electric and the boys were looking forward to trying to improve their performance from earlier in the year.

There were 8 schools there in total and we were split into 2 groups of 4. We played 3 games and the team never took a backward step no matter how difficult they were finding it.

First, we played Carr Manor. We struggled at the start, still adjusting to the rules of rugby and Carr Manor scored first. With some fantastic defence we were able to keep them at bay for the majority of the game. James Kaba took on their whole team and scored a full length try as he managed to show off his pace and power to bring us even on the score board. Unfortunately, Carr Manor were able to score again in the final play of the game to win 2-1.

We then played Farnley Academy. Farnley had a number of players who play outside of school and looked like the favourites to win. It was a very intense game and a number of our team stood up and made some fantastic tackles in defence and fancy footwork in attack. We drew this game 3-3. This could have been very different if it wasn’t for Jack Hood’s efforts in defence once again, never giving up and ensuring that there was pressure on the attacking team as often as he could.

In the final game we played against John Smeaton and unfortunately we lost this game 5-2. The boys were not going to give up and with runs from Harry, Alex and James we were within touching distance from the try line on several occasions. James managed to again show his strength and power through the defence and score our first try of the game and Jack Hood was able to spot a weakness in their line and snipe through to score our second.

As it played out, Carr Manor finished 2nd in our group and Farnley came 1st, meaning that our best performances were against the best teams within our group. The team were amazing and should take a huge amount of pride in the determination they have shown throughout the tournament.

It doesn’t stop there… We have now been entered into the “Rhinos 9s Champions League” which will see the team having another opportunity to win some silverware in coming weeks. Hopefully another training session would see them dramatically improve and with the confidence they have gained I believe they could go far.

The moment of the night was the “best” tackle of the evening…

Emmanuel managed to get tackled by the attacking player carrying the ball as he ran straight over him, he bounced back up and was ready to go again which was fantastic to see.

Fantastic night, fantastic lads, and I look forward to taking them to the next tournament.

The team are:

Ellis Obosu, James Kaba, Sekou Kourouma, Alfie Morrison, Tiago Malu, Jack Hood, Emmanuel Pelo,
Harry Cawthorne, Aleksander Bogdanowicz, Kai Leeming, Riley Clark, Denzel Chimwara,
Chinonso Okunbor & Evan Whitford

Mr S Cooper

Throughout the months of April and May students worked hard to try and walk the red carpet globally.

The World Covid Film Festival allowed students to try their hands at writing, directing and starring in their own films. With 21 different categories from sport and action to music and dance, students could create a two minute film of their choice.

With all seven continents submitting entries, and thousands of films being submitted from schools around the world, the challenge in front of our students was not an easy one, but one they stood up to with an excellent level of creativity, skill and resilience.

First up were our Year 7 and 8 students who committed to attending after school every Friday to try their hands at film making, with great success, creating a Covid related murder mystery film.

Next up it was the turn of Year 9 Performing Arts students who created several entries that can be seen on the school YouTube channel. All films were fantastic, but two Covid horror trailers from Year 9 managed to achieve 3rd and 4th place in their category globally – not an easy achievement.

Now that all the films have had their moment in the spotlight one thing is for sure, there is a great deal of talent at Mount St Mary’s both on and off the camera. Well done to all students who worked hard on this project. We can’t wait to see our students walk down the real red carpet one day in the future.