HAVING A BALL WITH MATHEMATICS Nowadays, it might be Zoe Ball who is in the news more often than her famous father, Johnny, but St. Michael’s maths teacher, Miss McCulloch, has fond memories of the TV programmes Johnny used to make in the 1980s. So when the opportunity came to take a group of pupils to a Johnny Ball Master Maths session at Middlesbrough Town Hall, she jumped at the chance! Among those who made the trip were Heather Young, Jack Marsh, Amy White and Scott Miller.“He was brilliant,” says Miss McCulloch. “He kept the audience interested for over two hours and he has the knack of making everybody smile as they do their maths. Especially me!” RUNNERS-UP IN THE MOTOROLA Although at the time of writing we were still awaiting written confirmation, St. Michael’s 250-strong Youth Parliament team has finished second in the North Region in the annual Motorola Youth Parliament Video Competition. That there was some disappointment felt when news came through is perhaps the measure of the team’s successes in previous years! It is, of course a tremendous achievement to have finished as runners-up and to have beaten many sixth forms and leading independent schools in what is always a most competitive region. Certainly, Mrs. Parnell and Mr. Curran were really proud of those who participated. Our preparations in the autumn term were delayed as a result of the school having its Ofsted Inspection and many of the pupils then had to combine learning parts for ‘My Fair Lady’ with Motorola rehearsals. Moreover, we understand that the judges took over two hours to come to a final decision and that it was indeed very close.Andrew Tallentire was again an excellent Mr. Speaker and Ruth Parkinson was a first-rate Prime Minister, with Jon-Paul Rowden proving to be a very effective Leader of the Opposition, despite a sore throat! Leading speakers in the debate included Laura Hatfield, Andrea Morgan, James Morgan and Katy Lee. About 20 others, including Louise Fell, Jenny Bowden, Chris Young, Jessica Davies and last year’s ‘Leading Backbench MP’, Paul Evans, made really good speeches and the Speaker’s Procession was again performed impeccably. Thomas Spink produced an excellent ICT intro for the video and Emma Taylor broke new ground by composing a stirring theme tune. Congratulations, too, to the whole of Year 7 and to many members of 9E, who acted as backbench MPs. BRILLIANT BLIND BOWLING EFFORT FROM YEAR 8 Congratulations to all those Year 8 pupils who took part in fund raising for blind people. An amazing £788 was raised through a sponsored ‘blind bowling’ session at Teesside Park. Excellent bowling by the ‘Little Red Devils’ from 8M secured them the NRIB Area Trophy, which was presented to them by Gill Byrom, who is area representative for the National Institute for the Blind. |
