Does studying music help with progress in academic work? The results of a very large study in Canada which can be found on the American Psychological Association website here (over one hundred and ten thousand students) published this month seem to suggest that it does. They found that students who were highly engaged in school music at secondary level were, on average, academically over one year ahead of peers who did not. These positive relationships were independent of students’ previous academic achievement, sex, cultural background and neighbourhood socioeconomic status. One of the study’s authors, Dr Gouzouasis, suggested that “[when studying music] a student has to learn to read music notation; develop eye-hand-mind coordination; develop keen listening skills; develop team skills and develop discipline to practise. All those learning experiences play a role in enhancing children’s cognitive capacities and their self-efficacy.” Please click here to read a short article about this study on the i news website.

Thank you to all our Staff and Students who made our Open Evening such a huge success last night. We received lots of extremely positive feedback about our School and Community – we were inundated with visitors, some of whom did not want to leave!

Marcus Rashford

Un de mes joueurs préférés dans le monde est Marcus Rashford. Pas parce qu’il joue pour Manchester United, mon équipe préférée, mais parce qu’il est vraiment, et je suis sûr que vous serez d’accord, un joueur de classe mondiale. 

(One of my favourite players in the world is Marcus Rashford. Not because he plays for Manchester United: my favourite team but because he is definitely and I’m sure you will agree a world class famous player. )

Marcus est né à Wythenshawe, le 31 octobre 1997. Il a commencé sa carrière de footballeur à l’âge de 5 ans au Fletcher Moss Rangers club et a ensuite été repéré par Manchester United à l’âge de 7 ans. Il a aujourd’hui 21 ans et est attaquant dans la composition de l’équipe de Manchester United. 

(Marcus was born in Wythenshawe, 31^st October 1997. He started his football career at the age of 5 with Fletcher Moss Rangers FC and was then scouted by Manchester United at the age of 7. He is now 21 years old and a striker or Forward in the Manchester United team line up.)

On a appris récemment que plusieurs clubs se battent pour le recruter. Cependant Manchester United est déterminé à le garder. Un exemple de ceci est quand le FC Barcelone voulait faire signer Rashford mais en échange Manchester United a demandé une énorme somme d’argent pour les dissuader. 

(Some interesting recent news is that many clubs are fighting over him however, Manchester United are determined to keep him on their side. A recent example of this is when Barcelona FC wanted to sign Rashford but instead Manchester United demanded a huge amount of money in order to put them off.)

Il peut être difficile de devenir footballeur professionnel et de monter ensuite haut dans les classements, mais d’une manière ou d’une autre Marcus a réussi exactement cela. Principalement grâce au dur travail, à l’engagement et à la passion qu’il met dans son amour du football. C’est pourquoi il me sert de motivation pour devenir meilleur, pas seulement au football mais aussi dans une large variété de matières scolaires.

(It can be difficult to become a professional football player and then come out high in the rankings but somehow Marcus has managed exactly that. This is mainly because of the hard work, commitment and passion he puts towards his love for football. This is why I use him as a motivation to become better at not only football but a wide range of academic lessons as well.)

Par Niroop Nazran

Frank Cotrell-Boyce

C’est un auteur et il écrit des livres. Il est né à Rainhill, en 1959. Il a 59 ans. Son écriture (writing) est géniale.

(He is an author, and he writes books. He was born in Rainhill, in 1959. He is 59.  He is amazing at writing books.)

Je l’ai choisi car il est mon auteur préféré et il a écrit des super livres. J’aime ses livres parce qu’ils sont fictifs et amusant à lire. On peut s’identifier à ses personnages et j’apprécie son style d’humour. 

(I chose him as he is my favourite author and he has written some brilliant books. I like his books because they are fictional and fun to read. His characters are relatable, and I enjoy his style of humour.)

Il a publié Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, son dernier roman, le 09 février 2017. Le livre essaye d’identifier les meilleures choses à propos de la Terre.

(He published Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth, his latest novel, on 09 February 2017. The book tries to pinpoint the best things about Earth.)

Par Asher Jordan

A large number of our Sixth Formers volunteered to help plant the flower beds and baskets along Soho Road as part of the Soho Road in Bloom project run by the Soho Road BID team. They thoroughly enjoyed working with and for their local community – despite the rain!

The Russell Group of UK universities have sought to provide advice to those choosing A Levels through their Informed Choices programme for a number of years. The most controversial part of this has been the list of so-called “facilitating subjects”. While intended to help ensure that students took A Levels that gave them the greatest options for post-eighteen study, this short list of academic A Levels has been criticised for causing the marginalisation of creative subjects in schools. In the second half of May, a new Informed Choices website (www.informedchoices.ac.uk) was launched that takes a different approach to guiding student A Level choices, and it is hoped this will address the concerns with the old system. The new website has been well received and is well worth the attention of students in their GCSE years who are considering what to study next. Please click here to read more about this from the BBC.