Welcome
As we head into the Easter break, it is lovely to see how many of our students have been involved in such a wide range of activities this term. Our staff team have done a great job in giving students many fantastic experiences, and we have received excellent feedback about our students and the way they have represented the school and made the most of these opportunities. I hope you enjoy reading some more about our wider school life in this edition of the Rowntree Reporter. Best wishes - Mr Hewitt, Headteacher
Mary Poppins School Production
Nurture talent
The Vaudeville theatre at the Joseph Rowntree School was home to Cherry Tree Lane in February, as Mary Poppins Jr. was performed by a cast of over 70 students ranging from Year 7 to Year 13.
From the dancers' perfect performances in ‘Step in Time’ to ensemble classics like ‘Let's Go Fly a Kite’ and ‘Jolly Holiday’, all the cast really stepped up to the occasion and produced a wonderful performance of the show.
Over 500 primary school children enjoyed preview performances at the start of the week, including a feedback session with the principal performers Eva Howe (Marry Poppins), Matthew Warry (Bert), Cece Campbell (Jane Banks), James Roberts (Michael Banks), and Will Roberts (George Banks).
Members of the tech team also provided a touch tour for our visually impaired audience members before the final show.
It really was an amazing week, with everybody in both the cast and crew really pulling together to stage yet another outstanding performance. Feedback from all of our audiences was exceptional. A huge well done to everybody involved! - Mrs Clarke
Librarian Platinum Awards
Recognise excellence
We were delighted to be able to reward two of our Year 11 students, Sofia Iemboli and Saskia French, who achieved their Platinum Award from Mrs Brownbridge, our Librarian. Sofia and Saskia have been volunteering in the Library since September 2021 (their Year 8), and have completed a highly impressive 200 shifts in the Library! They have been helping to maintain the Library, as well as supporting other students using the space at lunchtimes with their reading and various literacy events like World Book Day. Mr Hewitt was delighted to be able to present their award, and we wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge their achievement with our wider school community. Well done girls! - Mrs Venn
World Book Day 2025
Encourage wellbeing
World Book Day always provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate books and reading! This year, we were delighted to welcome back The Blue House Bookshop, our nearest independent bookseller, who once again provided their pop-up bookstall in the library. We are fortunate to be able to offer this opportunity each year for students to browse brand new fiction, either exchanging their World Book Day Token for a £1 book, or claiming their £1 discount on any other book of their choice. Two lucky students were chosen at random to receive their book for free. Our volunteer student librarians also enjoyed choosing some new titles to add to our library collection. When students weren’t browsing or buying books, they had the opportunity to enter our annual Library Great Book Giveaway and our author quiz, based on the life and work of acclaimed children’s author David Almond, a speaker at this year’s York Literature Festival. - Mrs Brownbridge
Waterstones Visit
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, 28 Year 7 students visited Waterstones book shop in York city centre. The students had been nominated by their form tutors for engaging well in form time reading. As a reward, the students visited Waterstones in town where they received a tour of the book shop, completed a quiz, and chose their World Book Day books. - Miss Bevan
York Book Award 2025
Nurture talent
Several of our Year 7 and Year 8 students volunteered to help judge this year’s York Book Award, a local award that aims to bring students together to celebrate books that matter to them. Students were asked to read and review five shortlisted titles, before voting for their favourite. In addition to having their book reviews published on the YBA website, our students attended the award ceremony at St Peter’s School on 21st March, accompanied by Miss Caffyn. Congratulations to Edith Pickard, who was presented with a certificate for her book review, and also to Benjamin Clark, who won our own award for the best book review. At the end of the ceremony, students had the privilege of meeting several of the shortlisted authors, including Tom Palmer, who won this year’s award for Angel of Grasmere – no doubt a memorable and inspirational event for all involved! - Mrs Brownbridge
York Literature Festival - Author Visits
Teach and learn through inspiration
David Almond OBE
On Friday 14th March we were visited by David Almond OBE - an exciting inaugural event to mark our partnership with the York Literature Festival.
David Almond is a world-renowned author who has won a multitude of prizes including the Carnegie medal, the Whitbread award twice, the Guardian Children's Prize, and the Hans Christian Andersen medal, which is the most prestigious award on earth for children's authors. He was appointed as an OBE in 2021 for services to literature.
In preparation for the visit, Joseph Rowntree students celebrated World Book Day on 6th March by reading excerpts of his most famous novel, Skellig, which has sold over a million copies. This was accompanied by an amazing assembly by Miss Bevan, which highlighted to students that reading for pleasure has massive wellbeing and academic impacts. Mrs Brownbridge in the library also supported the event, with an absolutely amazing author display (which David and his wife adored) and a very popular competition to win a special signed edition of his novel The Falling Boy.
At the evening event, David Almond was interviewed by Ms Edgar and their discussion covered many themes in his work: friendship between boys and girls, bravery, dealing with traumatic life events, the importance of creativity and illustration, the significance of angels and wings, and, finally, how to support young readers. The Q&A from the audience showed just how thoughtful and inspired our students can be. Afterwards, David signed books for the audience and had photos taken.
David's parting words in the Q&A were particularly powerful: 'There is a danger in letting people with power tell us that children don't read. In my experience that is simply not true'. The enthusiastic response of the students to his talk certainly supported this view.
After the success of the first event of York Literature Festival at Joseph Rowntree School, the festival director, Dr Rob O'Connor, is very keen to develop this partnership and provide students, families, and the community with even more author and writing workshop events in 2026.- Ms Edgar
How to Build a Superhero writing workshop with Helen Comerford
On 20th March, a special writing workshop was held at Joseph Rowntree School as part of the York Literature Festival with the author Helen Comerford, helping students and members of the public create their own superhero.
The activities produced some amazing creative ideas, especially the 'what if' game where participants had to curate a list of fantastic 'what ifs'. Some of the ideas were brilliant, such as 'what if a child became a god', or 'what if the cows tried to get revenge'. From there, participants thought about their own superhero, their super power, their costume, and their motivation. This led to an amazing hot-seating task where we interviewed each other's super-heroes.
Helen Comerford has been nominated for the Carnegie Prize with her novel The Love Interest, and participants were treated to a reading from the novel along with insights into Helen's own creative practice. We also heard about her next novel, The Hero Complex, which is being released in June. - Ms Edgar
Newspaper Club
Work together collaboratively
This year, I have been running a Newspaper Club for Key Stage 3 students who are interested in current affairs, both in school and in the wider world/community. Our group of very committed journalists have called the newspaper The JoRo Journal, and have spent the year working hard on their news stories. They have covered a variety of topics such as world news, recent sporting events, and updates on the natural world. Several students have even conducted interviews with pupils and teachers, including Mr Hewitt, who featured on our first front cover! In particular, we have enjoyed writing reviews of books, films, and games that the students particularly enjoy. Two of our journalists were given press access tickets to see the school's production of Mary Poppins Jr., which they thoroughly enjoyed. Well done to the fantastic journalists of the JoRo Journal! - Miss Caffyn
Sixth Form English Stratford upon Avon Residential
Teach and learn through inspiration
The first A-Level English Literature and Language residential was held in the last week of February, 2025. Ten students, Ms Edgar, and Miss Pugh travelled to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.
Straightaway on arrival, we went into a Royal Shakespeare Company workshop where we examined the opening acts of King Lear (our main set text) via the medium of active approaches. Groups practised making freeze frames of the characters, and experimented with language. There was a lot of insight into the characterisation, but also a lot of laughs and enjoyment. The evening’s visit to the impressive Royal Shakespeare Theatre to see a performance of Hamlet was the highlight of the trip! The staging was incredible: the stage was transformed into the deck of the ship Elsinore and it moved and tipped up in a manner reminiscent of Titanic, ending with all the characters sliding off the deck into the briny deep. The actor playing Hamlet, Luke Thallon, played the character as a lost and unhinged young man superbly.
On Saturday, we visited the house that Shakespeare was born in, where we learnt about life in Tudor England and the history of the Shakespeare family. Then we had a book hunt across town, so students could swap them in a Blind Date with a Book activity in the evening. Then we walked to the beautiful cottage where Shakespeare's wife, Ann Hathaway, was born. The location was beautifully tranquil, and we sat enjoying the early springtime sun. The early evening was spent on a ghost tour, where we heard spine-chilling and gory tales of life in Stratford over the years, before returning to the Youth Hostel for a book swap and quiz.
Everyone had a brilliant time, and bought a great deal of Shakespearean merchandise! We are planning to run the next residential in 2027 for the next two years of English A-Level students. - Ms Edgar
University Nuclear Physics Visit
Teach and learn through inspiration
On 30th January, a PhD student from the University of York’s Department of Physics visited school to talk about all things nuclear physics with our Year 13 physicists. The students listened to the science behind nuclear fusion as a solution to rising energy demands, along with the possible problems which need to be overcome. They also had the opportunity to play a game which modelled nuclear fusion and view a cloud chamber showing tracks from alpha and beta decay, along with cosmic rays. Students were really engaged and asked many interesting questions. We hope to run a similar event for students next year. - Mrs Hardy
Year 13 applied science trip to York Hospital
Teach and learn through inspiration
The Year 13 applied science group were able to visit York hospital as part of their medical physics coursework. The students visited the X-ray, CT, and Ultrasound departments. They looked at how each imaging method worked, with uses for diagnostic purposes and treatment.
The students had a great time, and their attitude and behaviour were exemplary. - Ms McLaughlin
International Women’s Day: Women in Engineering at University of Leeds
Teach and learn through inspiration
To celebrate International Women’s Day, (which is 8th March 2025), nine Year 10 and 11 girls went to the University of Leeds to participate in a stimulating and thought provoking day ‘Celebrating Women in Engineering’. The girls attended hands-on workshops on themes such as ‘Designing a Sustainable Music Festival’ and ‘Exploring Bioenergy’, attended a keynote speech by a female Leeds alumnus who now works in the aviation industry, and participated in a panel discussion with several women who work in engineering. The girls represented the school incredibly well, were highly engaged, and came away inspired by some of the fantastic women they met and worked with. - Mrs Hardy
Year 7 Bikeability
Encourage wellbeing
70 students in Year 7 completed their Bikeability Level 2 and Level 3 training at the start of this term. Students worked with instructors from York City Council to complete both levels, with Level 3 involving a two hour session negotiating main roads and advanced junctions. Lynne Thomas, the course leader, commented on the excellent conduct and behaviour of all of our students in every session that was delivered. Congratulations to all our Year 7's who obtained their Level 2 or 3. - Mrs Clarke
Performing Arts
Teach and learn through inspiration
National Theatre Connections 2025
We were delighted that our first ever application for this exciting project was accepted in July 2025, and are proud to be the only York school to be joining the York Theatre Royal festival. We chose Brain Play out of the ten brilliant texts available. The play tells the story of Mia, who blames herself for the car accident that her father was involved in and vows to learn everything about how the brain works in order to help him. She is surrounded and oppressed by a Brain Chorus that triggers intrusive thoughts. One of the main challenges of the play was that all the adults in it had to be played via puppetry.
In early March, we performed our home show. Our visiting mentor director was visibly moved by our cast and crew's incredible production, and gave us great tips for further development. We then transferred the show to our professional partner theatre, YTR. We spent a day at the festival in a great workshop, technical rehearsals, and watching a production of Fresh Air by a Leeds school. Our own performance was even better than our home show, and our student technicians also excelled in using the professional theatre equipment. The project was lots of hard work but very, very inspirational for all of us. We are very proud of our Company. - Mr Coates
Year 11 & 12 Drama Showcase
The Drama Department were delighted to proudly showcase some of the work done by our Year 11 and 12 students recently. The performance, open to family and friends, began with Year 12 extracts from Accidental Death of An Anarchist, written by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, in the award-winning and hilarious adaptation by Tom Basden. The class had previously watched a version of this classic farce on a theatre trip last term.
The evening then moved to the GCSE work, to be shared with the examiner a few days later. Fourteen students performed amazingly in extracts from classic and contemporary theatre texts. A great evening, well done to all. - Mr Coates
National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain
Congratulations to Year 13 Music student Abi Laslett, who was the soloist for the Shepherd Group’s entry in the National Youth Brass Band Championships of Great Britain in March. The band competed against 21 other bands in the competition, in only their second year of entering this prestigious national competition. They won first place, with a special acknowledgement for the brilliant solo performed by Abi: Andrew Lloyd Weber's 'I Don't Know How to Love Him'. Abi will perform this again in our Celebration of Achievement next term. - Mrs Clarke
Co-Create Festival 2025, York St John University
We were delighted when Dr Sarah O'Brien, Associate Head of School (Performance) at York St John’s School of the Arts invited us to take part in this festival for the first time. The festival took place in February and had a number of key aims, including to platform the voice and creative talents of Music, Dance, and Drama students. The festival theme this year was 'Radical'. Working with St John's student Lucy Carr, our group devised, rehearsed, and performed a piece called If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)...
The piece built on the ideas of strong leadership, and revolved around a character the group called 'Figel Narage'. We spent the day at the festival, taking part in workshops, and watching degree level performance work. We had a technical rehearsal for our own show, and thoroughly enjoyed performing in the University's beautiful theatre, as well as relishing the work of students from other schools and colleges across the region.
Well done to our brilliant Year 10 students who took part. - Mr Coates
Drama Department Theatre Trips
This term, we have enjoyed trips to Hamilton at the Bradford Alhambra, North By Northwest at the York Theatre Royal, and Blood Brothers at the Grand Opera House York. Live theatre is both an amazing thing and an essential part of our courses, and offers great inspiration to our students.
Student feedback on our Hamilton trip included:
"I enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the theatre and seeing some of my favourite songs performed live for the first time...I learned how lighting can heavily portray the emotions of the musical and that it is important to maintain characterisation in scenes where you aren't involved but still in the background"
"I thought the theatre was laid out differently as it was steep, this was great however, because it meant we had better sightlines of the stage. The set was really distinctive and I really liked the way they used the double revolve"
We are looking forward to seeing the totally sold out Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, directed, designed, and performed by Gary Oldham in York next term!
As always, our students are a real credit to us when at the theatre, and we are always proud of their conduct, great manners, and enthusiasm. - Mr Coates
Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh practice walk
Overcome obstacles to success
39 Year 9 students participated in a 14km practice walk for their Bronze award. All of the students completed the walk, learning map reading and navigation skills, and took turns carrying a large rucksack to simulate the rucksack they will take on the assessed expedition. The students understood the importance of food on their walk, and wearing the right equipment. All of the students were fantastic, and gained a valuable experience from the day. - Ms McLaughlin
History Berlin Trip
Teach and learn through inspiration
In February, the History Department took Year 11 students to Berlin for three days. It was a very busy schedule, and took the students from the end of WW1, through Nazi Germany, and then into post-war East Germany. It’s a trip that tackles some difficult issues, and the visit to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp always helps to bring home the reality of what life was like during Nazi Germany.
We also visited the site of the Berlin Wall which really helped to show our students its real life impact in terms of breaking apart communities. Our students were absolutely fantastic - flawless throughout - and helped make the trip a real success. I couldn’t be prouder of them! - Mrs Venn
The House Quiz 2025
Work together collaboratively
Quiz-fever hit Joseph Rowntree School this week, as once again the House Quiz took place. This annual event sees the sharpest and most informed minds take each other on in non-contact combat across a series of rounds testing a wide variety of subjects and skills.
Student teams representing all four Houses, student supporters, sixth form scorers, and supporting staff stayed behind after school to witness fair play and quizzing greatness. Teams battled it out over six rounds: general knowledge, the big screen picture round, the sensory ‘feel the sack’ round, intense quickfire buzzer action, geographic map knowledge, and the ‘unique categories round’ where teams only scored if they came up with a correct answer that no other team had thought of.
After an hour of fun, the final scores were double checked, verified, and announced. All teams represented their Houses brilliantly, and every House secured totals to be proud of. Mrs. Tindall presented all team members with their representative House badges to be worn on their blazers. Then it was time for her to present the trophy.
After many, many questions, the top two teams were separated by a tiny margin - one and a half points. In terms of the trophy and the title, an excellent Hazel House team were pipped to the post by an outstanding Oak House team, defending their 2024 title with only three team members signed up (the stuff of legend!!!).
Thanks to all for taking part! The House Quiz will return next year. - Mr. Hatch.
Italy Ski Trip
Encourage wellbeing
During the February half term holiday, we ventured back to Italy for our biannual ski trip to explore the slopes of Folgarida. We had a party of 31 students, made up of Year 11,12 and 13 students, some of whom came with us on our last ski trip to Andorra.
We had a mixture of skiers and snowboarders on the trip, some of whom had already had previous experiences. The majority, however, were total beginners.
We were blessed with brilliant snow and weather conditions that contributed towards the students having a fantastic time, one that I’m sure they will remember (and hopefully that will encourage them to continue to perfect their techniques) in years to come.
Mr Simpson and Mr Kite joined me this year to run the trip, and I would like to thank them again for giving up their half term. - Mrs Hughes
Sporting Achievment
Recognise excellence
National Squash Finals
In March, the squash team travelled down to Birmingham to play in the national finals, having qualified through multiple rounds to get there. They won one and lost two games, making them the sixth best KS3 team in the whole country! It also put them in the top three state schools nationwide. The boys played excellently against some of the country's best opposition, and will get the chance to compete again next year as they are all only in Year 8! Well done boys, a huge, huge, accomplishment. - Mr Kite
Year 11 Football Champions
Our Year 11 boys rounded off their final school year, making the final having won their mini-league and beaten Millthorpe in the semi-final.
Fulford awaited us in the final, a game that swayed both ways. Having taken the lead, JoRo found themselves 2-0 up through a Bauer double, only to see themselves go 3-2 down to a penalty and two set pieces. Wigdahl rounded off a great team move to pull us level with minutes to go, with the dreaded penalties to come. JoRo scored all six penalties we took, with Cammidge netting the decisive sixth.
I couldn't have asked for a better set of lads on and off the pitch - it has been a pleasure to see you grow from Year 7, and I hope to see you on a pitch again in the future. - Mr Kite
Year 7 Netball
The Year 7 netball A and B teams both came second in their York and District tournaments on Saturday 22nd March, placing just below St Peter’s in both. The girls were brilliant and played amazingly well in all their matches, working as a team and showing incredible resilience at times!
The Year 7 Girls A Team went on to WIN the U12 Netball League on Monday 24th March - they beat All Saints in the Semi Final 21-3 and went into the final straight after against Bootham, which they won 9-7! A close one, as at one point we were drawing 7-7, but some fantastic movement and shooting from Mollie, Flossie, and Edith helped secure the win.
Georgia Hutchinson was awarded player of the match from Bootham and Myla Wash was awarded POTM by All Saints - they both made a huge difference in both attack and defence. All the girls played amazingly well, and worked really well as a team with positive and supportive attitudes towards each other! - Mrs Tindall
England vs Italy - Womens 6 Nation Rugby
On Sunday 23rd March, four girls from Year 9, and Annabel Davenport from Year 13, went to the LNER stadium to be flag bearers for the Women’s Red Roses Game - England V Italy in the Six Nations. It was a fantastic atmosphere, with 8500 people attending. They all took part bringing the flags out on the pitch before the match, and standing for the national anthems. We got to see the teams warm up, and England won the game! - Mrs Tindall
Gymnastics
On Friday 21st March, Year 8 girls represented the school at The York City Gymnastics competition! This was the first time we have entered, and they performed brilliantly.
Alba Fenton placed third in the senior Intermediate category, having never performed at a gym comp before! Lois Ryecroft placed third in the Senior Elite Category, alongside Year 10 and 11! Both incredible achievements! - Mrs Tindall
Year 10 Netball
Year 10 played really well in their netball tournament, placing third in their group! It was fantastic to see the original team from Year 7 back together in Year 10, and playing brilliantly. Becca Ford and Bethannie Ahmad played up from Year 9 to support the Year 10s and made a significant difference. Well done girls! - Mrs Tindall
Year 8 Netball
Year 8 entered both an A and a B team in their Netball Tournament, and performed really well to a very high standard. Bella Badjie was awarded player of the tournament, with some amazing defending and supportive play. - Mrs Tindall
Year 7 and 8 Girls Football
The girls made it to the quarterfinals of the County Cup football, which was a fantastic achievement! They beat King James School 4-0 in the last 16 to, and lost to Harrogate Grammar in the Quarter-Final, but this is the furthest one of our girls football teams have ever got! The girls all worked incredibly hard as a team to secure their place in the Quarter-Finals, with some amazing defending from Flossie Walls, and strikes from Lauren McJannett. - Mrs Tindall
Rugby
Years 7-10 have taken part in the recent round of school festivals run by York City Knights. For some of the boys, this was the first time they have played competitive rugby, so it was a big step up! All of the students played incredibly well, with a variety of results showing excellent effort and teamwork. - Mr Kite
House Basketball Winners Year 7
House Basketball for Year 7 started last week, with Willow being the winning team! Isen Ndulue was the star of the team, taking them to victory. Well done all! - Mrs Tindall
Staff Fundraiser
Respect all members of our community
On Thursday 3rd April 2025, a number of staff attended a Bingo charity night at Wigginton Squash Club.
Mr Ireton was the superstar bingo caller and we played several types of bingo, including 1-2-3, 3-3-3, 1 line, 2 lines, and full house. It was a bit of a steep learning curve for those who were new to the game!
We also ran a raffle and a Joe 90 board, and had some fantastic prizes, all of which were kindly donated, including two York City FC tickets, a luxury skincare set, a Nestle Hamper, and a Browns voucher.
It was a great opportunity for colleagues to spend some time together outside of school, as well as raising money for two worthwhile charities, Mind and MNDA. We raised a total of £720.16, which will be split equally between the two charities. Thank you to every who took part!
Careers Events
Overcome obstacles to success
The Trading Game
Year 8 recently enjoyed taking part in The Trading Game, which is a fast paced, interactive game themed on the Stock Market. Some of our Sixth Form students and local employers supported the Trading Pit on the day, to encourage students taking part to make as much money as they could to win the game.
This event is a firm favourite with staff and students alike! - Mrs Hernandez
Year 10 Mock Interviews
In preparation for their work experience week, our Year 10's took part in mock interviews with over 20 local employers. This was the first interview experience for most of the students, and they were understandably a little nervous. However, the feedback from the employers was really positive and the students also enjoyed it. - Mrs Hernandez