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Archived News

• Tuesday 24 June 2025 St Mary's Summer Concert As part of the celebrations for St Mary's 60th Anniversary, this year's summer concert will feature music from the last 60 years. A fun and informal celebration of our pupils and school featuring, Jazz Band, Choir, Rock bands and soloists. The concert will take place on Thursday 3 July 2025 at 7.00pm. Tickets £5/3 from Mr Scholey, Subject Leader for Music, p.scholey@stmarysmenston.org we hope you are able to join us for will be a fun and uplifting evening.
• Wednesday 11 June 2025 Netball Leaders Our wonderful Netball Leaders supported the Bishop Roche U11 Netball competition on Tuesday 3 June 2025. The girls umpired the 7-aside games with such proficiency and received lots of praise from the primary staff. The Year 10 girls have provided outstanding support over the past few years, volunteering countless hours, umpiring, coaching and leading activities to enable younger students to participate in activities. Coaching Year 7 netball club all season, supporting fixtures and attending umpiring training. Supporting inclusive events and a cricket festival. Most importantly being positive role models for the school, they have the kindest hearts and how they interact with the primary children is so heartwarming we could not be prouder.
• Wednesday 4 June 2025 Ireland Rugby Star
• Wednesday 4 June 2025 Cricket Leaders Congratulations to our fantastic cricket leaders for delivering a fun packed afternoon of cricket games at Guiseley Cricket Club on Wednesday 21 May. They put into practice the skills they had learnt in the cricket leadership course, and ensured the children had a positive experience, joining in, and sharing their passion for the sport.
• Wednesday 21 May 2025 Annual National Altar Servers Mass
• Wednesday 21 May 2025 Leeds Book Awards Ceremony
• Wednesday 21 May 2025 Martial Arts Awards
• Wednesday 21 May 2025 SVP Sponsored Walk
• Wednesday 14 May 2025 Yorkshire Cricket Leadership Training
• Wednesday 14 May 2025 VE Day 80th Anniversary Service To mark the 80th Anniversary of VE day a group of St Mary's students, supported by Mrs Baines and Mrs Bird, attended a Service and celebration at the Kirkland's Community Centre in Menston. The students took part in reading a poem ‘The Gift of Peace’ read by Eve Robinson and Bidding Prayers for Peace read by Ethan Butland, Alexander Jardine, Jack Young, Seb Greer and Harry Noble. The students reflected on the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who gave so much, in battle, on the home front, in the factories and in other acts of service. The students enjoyed meeting people who were present at the very first VE Day celebration, the Home Guard from Haworth and the guest speaker Dr Manoj Joshi MBE, resplendent in uniform representing the Lord Lieutenancy Office of West Yorkshire, they also enjoyed the delicious afternoon tea and music. Many thanks to Mrs Baines and Mrs Bird and to our students, we are incredibly proud of you all. A big thank you to the Menston C
• Tuesday 6 May 2025 Year 7 Artwork Our Year 7 students have been producing some fantastic artwork inspired by the artist Michael Craig Martin.
• Tuesday 6 May 2025 DRAW! Bradford 2025
• Tuesday 29 April 2025 Coding Club Success
• Tuesday 29 April 2025 The Great Big Read
• Tuesday 29 April 2025 Oxplore Essay Competition
• Tuesday 29 April 2025 Year 7 Netball Tournament On Tuesday 1 April 2025, our Year 7 netballers played at a tournament at Prince Henry Grammar School. Mrs Robinson said “I was incredibly proud of all the Year 7 netballers; they played their best at the tournament in sunny Otley. Both teams achieved 4-0 wins. With the green team reaching the quarter finals. Emily and Lauren, our Year 10 coaches managed the black team and umpired their games enabling us to take 18 students along. A really positive afternoon developing skills and displaying excellent team work” A big well done to everyone involved and thank you to Mrs Robinson for making this possible for our students.
• Tuesday 8 April 2025 Easter Card Competition Winner Congratulations to Sophia Rhodes in 7P who won the Bambisanani Easter Card Competition. Sophia's card will be sent to our friends in South Africa and our supporters of The Bambisanani Partnership. Sophia was presented with a Lindt Easter Egg for her winning design. Mr Nield and Miss Wood delivered the good news to Sophia.
• Wednesday 2 April 2025 SVP Easter Egg Appeal Thank you to everyone who generously donated Easter eggs to our SVP appeal. 10C collected over £20, and bought eggs with the money. A special thank you to one parent who made a considerable donation of Easter goodies. Thank you to the CARITAS Group for organising and for writing cards to go out with the eggs.
• Friday 28 March 2025 OFSTED Quotes Our OFSTED success is a testament to the pupils of this school from Year 7 to 13, who all contributed to the inspection in their way. To help us publicise this to the community Mrs Barnes and Mrs Hawkins got some of them together with some key quotes form the report to help us celebrate this achievement. What a fantastic job they did too!
• Wednesday 26 March 2025 Year 7 and Year 8 Easter Card Competition
• Wednesday 26 March 2025 Bambisanani Chocolate Hamper Raffle Wouldn't it be great to win all this chocolate for your Easter Celebrations. The Bambisanani Team are raising funds for their upcoming volunteering in South Africa. Please support their work by purchasing a ticket and a chance to win this huge hamper of chocolate. Tickets are £1, available via ParentPay or from Mrs Chattoe in H22. The winner will be chosen on Thursday 3 April 2025. Good luck everyone!
• Wednesday 19 March 2025 Flame 2025 A group from St Mary’s travelled down to Wembley Arena with students from St John Fisher Harrogate to join with 10,800 other young Catholics for the biannual CYMFED Congress. The Theme was Unstoppable. It was a day of reflection, talks, worship and lots and lots of fun. Bear Grylls OBE was one of the speakers along with David Wells with music performed by the One Hope Project, Guvna B and the World Youth Dance Crew. Seb Greer and Danielle Kativhu, Year 9, who attended said, ‘it was a unique, impactful experience. Others should go in the future if they get the chance.’ Juliette Stewardson, also Year 9 say’s ‘I haven’t been able to stop talking about Flame. It was amazing to share the day with so many other young Catholics.’ The day concluded with Adoration led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
• Wednesday 19 March 2025 Gymnastics Gold Lottie Dalton (7C) won a gold medal at the weekend with her gymnastics partner and will now represent Yorkshire at the British NDP finals in May 2025. Congratulations Lottie, a fantastic achievement. We are all very proud of you
• Wednesday 19 March 2025 Pi Day
• Wednesday 12 March 2025 Royal Air Force Cadets Promotion Congratulations to Alexander Jardine in Year 10 who was recently promoted to Corporal with the 2387 Pudsey Squadron. Alexander said ‘I have been a cadet for 2 ½ years with 2387 Pudsey Squadron. Being a cadet involves a high level of discipline and deportment. I am very proud to have achieved the rank of Corporal. I am now responsible for taking drill, taking duty and being in charge of my Squadron's football team. Being part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets has given me lots of opportunities and I would highly recommend to everyone. The Royal Air Force Air Cadets is more than just flying!’ what a fantastic achievement Alexander, we are all so proud of you.
• Wednesday 12 March 2025 Year 11 Food Exams Last week our Year 11 Food Technology students worked incredibly hard in their exam, producing some brilliant food that really captured their skills and knowledge. Mrs Barnes said ‘I am so proud of our students, they have really impressed us with both their attitude and skills’. Well done Year 11, keep up the good work.
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 OFSTED Success
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 Jubilee Pilgrims of Hope Banner Continues its Journey On Thursday 27 February 2025, the Jubilee Canvas continued its journey and was handed over to the community of Sacred Heart School, Ilkley. Emily Hole and Frances Reidenbaugh, both Year 8, were excited to return to their primary school and join with Hannah Armitage and Jack Shearer, Head Girl and Head Boy, in delivering a very prayerful Jubilee Act of Worship to the assembled classes and staff.
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 The Bambisanani Partnership We are really proud of our Year 13 students Holly Taylor and Freya Power who were invited to speak to the members of Rotary Club of Aireborough about their recent work in South Africa as part of The Bambisanani Partnership. Holly and Freya spoke articulately about their volunteering and the impact their time in Africa had on them. The Rotarians were blown away by our two students and loved hearing their stories. The first photo shows Holly and Freya with The clubs President Janet Appleton, Rotarians Graham Davies and Janet Kerr and St Mary’s teacher Miss Wood.
• Wednesday 26 February 2025 Diocesan Jubilee Pilgrims of Hope Banner Received On Monday 24 February 2025, St Mary’s received the Diocesan Jubilee 2025 Pilgrims of Hope Banner from St Joseph’s Primary School, Otley. The Banner is currently on a Tour of all school’s across the Diocese and was carefully delivered by Mr Gilhooley, Headteacher at St Joseph’s and two pupils, Joseph Cowell and Beau Woodhouse.
• Tuesday 25 February 2025 World Book Day 2025 To celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 6th March students will be listening to a special Great Big Read at the beginning of each lesson.
• Wednesday 12 February 2025 Healing Mass On Saturday afternoon Issy Sykes, Year 10 and Seb Greer, Year 9 attended a Mass for the Sick at the church of SS John Fisher and Thomas More, Burley-in-Wharfedale. Afterwards they helped serve refreshments in the Parish Centre and chatted with the parishioners, some of whom will be going to Lourdes on the Diocesan Pilgrimage. Both students are from this parish and are to be commended for giving up their time to be in the service of others. Issy will be going to Lourdes with St Mary’s in July and both students are attending the Flame Congress in March, a national CYMFED Youth event at Wembley Arena.
• Friday 7 February 2025 Book Drive We are holding a Book Drive for the Children’s Book Project charity between Monday 10th February and Monday 3rd March 2025. Please bring in any books your children have grown out of so that they can find new homes with others across the local community.
• Friday 7 February 2025 World Book Day To celebrate World Book Day on the 6th March 2025 our school will be supporting the Children’s Book Project. Across the UK 1 in 4 disadvantaged children owns fewer than 10 books, whilst 1 in 8 has none at all. This has an impact not only on these children’s academic outcomes but also on their wellbeing, emotional development and sense of themselves as a reader. The Children’s Book Project directly tackles this ‘book gap’ and gifts donated books to targeted communities across the Leeds. Over 500 schools, community groups, women’s groups and prisons nationwide put on book gifting events at which children are invited to choose a book to take it home and keep. The charity expects to gift upwards of 350,000 books this year. For more information visit www.childrensbookproject.co.uk
• Wednesday 29 January 2025 Leeds Book Awards On Thursday 16 January 2025, Mrs Hall attended the Central Library in Leeds for the Leeds Book Awards Launch Party. For 15 years, the Leeds Book Awards has championed the best of newly published children's books celebrating diversity of authorship, characters, and genre. The project provides unique opportunities for active participation in reading, reviewing, debating, and voting for favourite books. In 2025, the Awards will culminate in a high-profile award ceremony at a city centre location, where children and young people will get the unforgettable opportunity to meet with the shortlisted authors and illustrators. There are 4 categories from Key Stage 2 through to Key Stage 4. The shortlisted books for 2025 are: -On Silver Tides by Sylvia Bishop -Apocalypse Cow by O.R Sorrel -Postcards From Valhalla by Danny Weston -Young Hag by Isabel Greenberg -Homebody by Theo Parish -Spider-man India – Seva by Nikesh Shukla A group of students have already started reading the books and are
• Wednesday 29 January 2025 Basketball Festival St Mary's hosted a Leeds North West Year 6 Basketball festival on 21 January. SS Peter and Paul, Westgate, and Guiseley Primary schools participated in basketball drills and games delivered by City of Leeds Basketball Club, and our Year 9/10 Sports Leaders. Children were mixed into non-school groups to enable them to make new friends and develop confidence and physical skills. Children were signposted to the new Community Basketball Club starting at St Mary's on Monday's, after February half term, (4.30-5.45pm) for Years 8-11 contact: t.campbell@cityofleedsbasketballclub.co.uk.Well done to our amazing Leaders for mentoring the children and ensuring they have a positive experience.Year 10: Leaders Emily Bowker, Lauren Conley, Evie Bates, Maeve Godfrey Tom Middleton, Isaac ShumYear 9: Isla Mcleer
• Wednesday 22 January 2025 Young Apprentice Challenge It has been another successful year for the Ss Peter & Paul Young Apprentice Challenge. Mr Power, Headteacher at Ss Peter & Paul Primary School, said the pupils really enjoyed the process and presented brilliantly in their Young Apprentice Boardroom.
• Friday 10 January 2025 Advent Appeal Your generous donations of food goods and gifts were collected by Sean Gilks, Ss Peter and Paul, Yeadon SVP, and taken for distribution to the St Vincent Centre, Leeds. Sean was assisted in school by Elliot Pickard, Year 11. Cards bearing Christmas messages, written by Year 9 pupils were added to the boxes. In the photograph we see representative pupils from 8C who are to be congratulated for their outstanding efforts and generosity in their support of SVP.
• Thursday 22 August 2024 GCSE Celebrations
• Thursday 15 August 2024 A Level Success As our students collect their A-Level and Vocational qualification results, they can reflect proudly on their achievements. There are some outstanding subject and individual outcomes at all levels of attainment with an array of personal stories and triumphs behind many of their individual results.
• Thursday 28 March 2024 Easter Wishes Congratulations to Olivia, Hannah and Jack who are worthy winners of our Easter Card design competition.
• Monday 18 March 2024 The National Spelling Bee for Year 7s The National Spelling Bee for Year 7s saw 3 of our very own Year 7s represented at the regional competition. Eve Robinson, Philippa Cowell, and Kirsty Modrzejewska all made it to the final 8 French students out of nearly 1200 participants. This is a wonderful achievement for these three girls, and clearly shows the dedication our Year 7s are showing for their academics.
• Monday 19 February 2024 Ski Trip to Folgarida
• Monday 5 February 2024 Year 13 Crime Scene Year 13 Psychology students have been participating in an investigation of a mock crime scene. They had to use the skills they had acquired on cognitive interview techniques and offender profiling in order to determine who the suspect was. They had to interview suspects in school from the staff body who had agreed to take part. They successfully uncovered the murderer and were very professional in the way they conducted themselves.
• Monday 5 February 2024 Sports Leader Awards It was great to see the success of our our students and their counterparts in Africa who work so closely together in our many visits. Congratulations to all those South African children who thoroughly deserved their awards. You can read the full article below:
• Wednesday 17 January 2024 Leeds Salon Years 10 and 11 Debating Competition 2024 The Leeds Salon Debating Competition is an annual competition run for our Years 10 and 11 students, as well as holding Sixth Form debates.
• Friday 12 January 2024 St Mary's is a Fairtrade School St Mary's Menston has received confirmation that it has achieved the final step in the Fairtrade Schools awards - the FairAchiever.
• Friday 12 January 2024 Brilliant Together - Year 13
• Tuesday 9 January 2024 Alumni Honours Congratulations to our former pupil Stuart Murphy who was awarded a CBE in the New Year honours list. Since his days at school, where he played the clarinet and was captain of the school rugby team.
• Tuesday 12 December 2023 Year 7 Pantomime Trip Year 7 students enjoyed a lovely trip to the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford to watch Cinderella, the pantomime. Students had the joy of watching pantomime legend Billy Pearce, Emmerdale's Samantha Giles, and Strictly Come Dancing finalist John Whaite star in the production. This was a real treat for all to enjoy and a great way to kickstart the Christmas festivities. Our students really got into the pantomime spirit and some of us even got front row seats!
• Wednesday 6 December 2023 Advent Bauble Raffle
• Tuesday 5 December 2023 Year 11 Health and Wellbeing day Year 11 students had an excellent personal development enrichment day last week, developing their understanding of physical and mental health concerns and strategies. Pupils worked competitively in groups to devise and present a campaign to promote mental and physical health; all worked hard to produce billboards displaying facts, tips, and initiatives to raise awareness, with some fabulous tag lines and slogans that explore topics such as healthy eating, exam stress and men's mental health. We also welcomed three Leeds Councillors into school to speak to students - Oliver Edwards and Eleanor Thomson of Guiseley, and Abigail Marshall-Katung of Little London and Woodhouse, who spoke drew on her personal experiences to speak inspiringly about how to succeed, and we are very grateful to all of them for their time. Thank you to everyone for your hard work.
• Monday 4 December 2023 Bebra Computational thinking success Congratulations to all of our students who have been so successful in the Bebras Computational thinking challenge and the Cyber First Girsl comptetion.
• Monday 4 December 2023 St Mary's Menston named among the UK's highest-ranking achieving secondary schools On Monday 4 December 2023, Miss Hattersley shared with all members of our school community (parents, students, staff, Academy Council and local Parishes), the great news that St Mary’s Menston has been named among the UK’s highest-ranking achieving secondary schools in the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide. Helen Davies, editor of Parent Power, states, ‘The guide showcases academic excellence….this year Parent Power includes details on extracurricular clubs and wellbeing initiatives…’. Schools are ranked academically by performance at A level and GCSE in summer 2023. St Mary’s is listed as 8th out of hundreds of secondary schools in the ‘Top State Secondary Schools in the North’ category. St Mary’s is also listed as 5th in the ‘Top Comprehensive Schools’ in the North. We are ranked higher than local secondary schools in our geographical area. We are obviously delighted for our whole school community that hard work
• Monday 27 November 2023 Advent at St Mary's
• Tuesday 21 November 2023 St Mary's and the Bambisanani Partnership
• Friday 17 November 2023 Bambisanani Partnership Work Recognised On Friday 10 November 2023, The Universe Catholic Weekly published an article about the Bambisanani Partnership that really captures all that is good about the Partnership. This followed an extensive article written by the Diocese of Leeds. Visit their page here to hear how St Mary's Students have changed the lives of young people through the partnership in the last year. Click here to read more.
• Monday 23 October 2023 Sporting Success - National Youth Squad One of our Year 10 students, Mollyrose has been offered a place on the Youth Squad National Programme for Artistic Swimming for the competitive season 2024. Well Done to Mollyrose – this is a fabulous achievement.
• Saturday 14 October 2023 Trip to BBC Radio 4's 'Any Questions?'
• Tuesday 3 October 2023 Year 7 Day of Welcome and Mass of Welcome
• Wednesday 27 September 2023 West Yorkshire U15 Netball Squad Congratulations to Leila Hill (9F) who has once again been selected for the West Yorkshire u15 Netball Squad. This is the second year Leila has asked to represent the team after successfully making it through two rounds of trials during the summer. Well done Leila on a brilliant achievement.
• Tuesday 26 September 2023 European Day of Languages
• Friday 22 September 2023 Welcome to our new website We hope that you find it easy to use and full of the information you require, whether you are a current or prospective parent or a member of the wider community.
• Thursday 17 August 2023 St Mary's achieves its best A-level results ever We are delighted that our students have bucked the national trend for performance at A* - A, and A* - B grades. "I am particularly pleased that these results follow a five year trend of exceptional performance which shows what a fantastic Sixth Form we have here at St. Mary's". Miss Hattersley

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