Welcome to the summer edition of Mary Webb School and Science College’s Webberzine.
As we reach the end of another vibrant and eventful term, it’s a pleasure to reflect on the many achievements, experiences and celebrations that have shaped our school community over the past few months.
This term has seen our students continue to shine both in and out of the classroom. Cameron had the incredible opportunity to take to the skies with the RAF, gaining first-hand experience of aviation and life in the forces. Grace shone at the Shropshire Athletics meet, delivering a skilled and determined standout performance that truly captured the spirit of sporting excellence.
Our science students ventured to London for an inspiring trip that brought their learning to life in one of the world’s most dynamic cities. Meanwhile, our commitment to inclusivity and community was celebrated in full colour on Rainbow Friday, a joyful day dedicated to recognising and embracing the diversity that makes our school so special.
STEAM has once again been a major focus this term. Our Year 8 and Year 9 students took part in a thrilling crane-building challenge, and a number of our teams excelled in the regional STEAM competition at Shrewsbury 6th Form College—earning accolades for best racing vehicle, best medical diagnosis, and best overall team. Their success has earned them a place in the national finals in Manchester—an outstanding achievement!
Our Year 7 students also had the chance to explore the great outdoors on a weekend residential trip to Arthog Outdoor Education Centre in North Wales. The trip was packed with adventure, teamwork and personal growth, and gave students the opportunity to challenge themselves in a stunning natural setting.
We were also thrilled to see William Robinson take part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Abbey Road Studios, while Henry Shepherd represented the school at the Norman Alexander Newbie National with Long Mynd Archers. Thomas Evans also made waves at the canoe slalom competition in Frome, showcasing his skill and dedication to the sport.
Our students’ talents extend beyond the physical and scientific. In the Trust Spelling Bee competition, several of our students impressed with their linguistic flair and composure under pressure. In the library, our Accelerated Reader programme continues to flourish, with four students having read over a million words each since September. A special mention goes to Henry Shepherd in Year 7, who has read an astonishing four million words—an incredible milestone!
As always, the end of term brings changes to our staff team. We say a fond farewell and offer our heartfelt thanks to teaching staff Mrs Chorr, Mr Garry, Miss Oakley and Miss Parveen, as well as support staff Mrs Harding, Miss Booth and Miss Price. We wish them all the very best in their next adventures.
Looking ahead to September, we are excited to welcome new colleagues to our school: Mrs Harrison, Ms Harrison, Mr Jones, Mr Lund and Mrs May. We also extend our congratulations to Mrs Jebb on her appointment as Subject Leader for English, and to Mrs Wells, who will be taking on the role of Assistant Subject Leader for English and Literacy & Oracy Lead.
As we conclude the year with this edition of the Webberzine, I want to thank all our students, staff, families and governors for their continued support and enthusiasm throughout the year. On behalf of the Mary Webb School and Science College community, I wish you all a restful and relaxing, safe and sunny summer break.
Mr. P Lowe-Werrell
12 of Mary Webb students went to the Shrewsbury Colleges Group Science & Technology Challenge Day. We had to complete 4 challenges, vehicle racing, e-fit, medical diagnostic and robot grass cutter.
Our favourites were, the medical diagnostics and e-fit. The medical diagnosis was good because we got to use CPR on a dummy that had lights on it, which told you if you were doing it right or not. We also got to use a blood pressure cuff to take our own blood pressure readings and stethoscopes to listen to other people’s heart beats.
The e-fit challenge was really tough, we had to look at our teachers, then they left the room and we had to use the same software package as police use to identify criminals. It was really difficult to do as you had to start off with just a blank face, chose the best shape, try to remember eye colour, nose shape etc. Much harder than you might think – as you can see from our efforts, can you guess the members of staff?
Everyone was marked on 50% communication and 50% how well you did in the actual challenges. Emma Kultanova and Tara Jackson won the best team in the Vehicle Racing Challenge, Sam Jebb and Will Robinson won best team in the Medical Diagnosis Challenge and we won the best team overall in the competition with fellow teammates from Belvedere! We are going through to the Regional Finals, which will take place in Manchester at the start of next year. Well done to everyone who participated, it was a great day out!
Izzy Price and Izzy George
Mary Webb school was selected for free STEAM work-shops delivered to raise awareness of GLAD (Global Lifting Awareness Day). The work-shops were dedicated to tackling the growing skills shortages across the lifting industry, aiming to inspire the next generation to explore careers in lifting. The lifting industry plays a crucial role in global infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, logistics, and more, yet many employers are struggling to recruit and retain skilled professionals. We were offered two free two-hour workshops for up to 30 students. Science classes 8B and 7M1 were chosen as they had science or computer science on the day we were given. I was thrilled to see students so engaged with the activities that some stayed well into break time to try and finish off their designs.
Mrs Jones
Student Review of the Activity
Instead of our normal lessons we had a visitor come in who told us about lots of jobs to do with construction, such as a crane operator, safety director and crane manager- which was the highest paid. He also showed us a model city he had set up and then he set us a challenge!
We had to design and build a crane that would lift building materials from the store area to the building site. You scored points for lifting different building materials, the lowest scoring and easiest to pick up was a stack of barrels with a hook on the top, the hardest and therefore highest scoring was a stack of wood that had nothing to hook onto. You also lost points for taking a dangerous route through the model city.
It was good because he let us choose who we wanted to work with, in 2s or 3s, smaller groups meant we got to do more. Each group had a box of equipment, a bit like technical Lego, the crane had to be a certain height, the jib (top bar of the crane) had to rotate through 360, either manually with a crank or with an electric motor. We had about 90 minutes to make our crane, unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for the final competition. However, we really enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to others.
Tom Land & Jack Cameron
Arthog was a really great and enjoyable trip. We got to do really fun activities and we also got to learn a bit about the landscape. Personally, the canoeing was the best, because we got to play lots of games on the water, and we splashed each other until we were soaking wet. The high ropes course was good, but it was a bit scary at times. Overall an incredible trip I would definitely go on again. Miss Goodier was nice as well, giving support to students who needed it.
Oliver Lewis
Arthog was fun, I’d recommend it to anyone who is a thrill seeker! The high ropes are fun and surprisingly they’re not intimidating. The buggee jump was a bit scary but also enjoyable. Make sure to bring an extra change of clothes for canoeing because you will get wet!
Rhys Darcy-Mellor
Arthog was fun, I was really good at canoeing. The games were fun on canoes, racing and tag were nice and splashing each other was even more fun! The instructors were really funny and nice. The high ropes course was scary at first but after a while it was fun, the different jumps were fun and there was one jump that was really fun and high up. Overall, Arthog was a really fun experience for me.
Richie Thornley
We had an amazing time at a variety of museums throughout the trip, especially the Victoria and Albert museum where there was an impressive variety of sculptures, art and fashion displays. We learnt lots and our eyes were opened in the photography section where 1078 photos displayed showing the sky from every concentration camp during WW2.
The Lion King show was the highlight for many of us on the trip. The impressive costumes were life sized and extremely realistic. As well as this, the music was incredible especially the African drummers in the audience.
The cruise and the London Eye gave us amazing views of the city from above and level with the River Thames. Before the London eye we were apprehensive but soon realised that it was just like a lift going very, very high up. During the cruise we had an amazing crew member who had taken the time to memorise interesting and relevant information about the buildings along the river banks.
On our last day, we visited London Zoo which had a wide selection of animals from across the world. Our favourite was the “Tiny Giants” section as it had a mesmerising coral reef aquarium which also held colourful and vibrant fish.
Both restaurants were a fun and enjoyable experience for all, with great food and were very accommodating of our large group. Our stay at the youth hostel exceeded our expectations with spacious rooms, great food and clean spaces.
Overall this has been our best trip yet with school and we have made amazing memories that will be cherished forever.
Abbie Stewart and Elsbeth Williams
Seventy-five students from KS3 across our Trust competed in the Spelling Bee competition on the 9th of July. All the students were very nervous but gave it their all!
David Jones won joint first place for Year 9, with Connor Gatfield coming in at a VERY close second.
They actually ran out of time and words for these two students – outstanding!
Iva Yaneva won second place for Year 8 – another amazing performance.
Year 7 gave a great go as well with Oliver Lewis coming in at 6th place.
Congratulations to all of the students who competed, an incredible achievement!
It was the kind of day that makes everyone come out and support their team, whilst showing our compassion and empathy for our opposition. On Thursday 10th July , no amount of sunshine was going to melt the students’ enthusiasm. We adapted the day to take away the longer distances, moved the day forward an hour, so to be finished by lunch, with houses spread around the perimeter in the shade, we had fun!
From the opening field events to the final tug-of-war showdown, the day was packed with smiles, and amazing performances, where our students really did shine!
Students glittered in their house colours, armed with water bottles, sunscreen, and an unrelenting competitive spirit. Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the day came during the staff vs. year 10 students tug of war. With the crowd chanting louder than ever, the students took the victory!
Here’s to next year’s Sports Day!
As you know, reading is of the upmost importance here at Mary Webb School. The average reading age for GCSE examinations is 15.7 years. We want to give your children the best possible chance during their time at school, their exams, and in preparation for life after school, so that more opportunities will be open to them.
We cannot stress the importance of reading in a child’s life enough, not only for the reasons stated above, but because of the social, developmental and mental health benefits that reading for pleasure can have.
Here are but a few of the many reasons we should try to read more:
Apart from the educational benefits of reading more, research from the National Literacy Trust has shown us that children and young people who like to read are three times more likely to have better mental health than those who don’t.
Research shows that reading for just 10 minutes a day can make a huge difference. Not only is it a brilliant way to relax and unwind, reading can also help boost your mood, provide an escape from the pressures of life and even reduce stress levels.
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated Reader is just one of the many ways in which we encourage a ‘reading for pleasure’ culture here at Mary Webb School. We have had another great term for Accelerated Reader, it has been a joy to see students reading for pleasure, quizzing and earning fantastic prizes in the process!
We now have five students who have read over 1 million words since September which is a fantastic achievement!
1.Henry Shepherd 7P – 4,300,970
2.Emma Stokes 8T – 2,162,034
3.Konrad Stokes 8T – 1,186,778
4.Richie Thornley 7C -1,519,548
5.Oliver Lewis 7C – 1,310,888
Well done to Henry, Emma, Konrad, Richie and Oliver. We also have several students who are very close to 1 million. Congratulations to 8T with the most words read in KS3 with 4,526,008. Well done to everyone in years 7-9 who have fully embraced ‘reading for pleasure’, and Accelerated Reader this academic year! We hope you will continue this into the next academic year.
Bought for you, by you
We now have a dedicated section in the library aptly named ‘bought for you, by you’, which houses the books bought from the funds raised on World Book Day, which have been chosen by our students. Thank you again for your support with this. A well-stocked library is paramount to encouraging our students to read for pleasure, and further develop their reading and all of the skills and benefits that come with it.
Classic books
Along with a section for our new books, we have also created a section which displays and celebrates the classics. Each month we showcase the work of a particular author, so far, we have had Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. As well as a selection of their work, we have also included some facts about the author, and famous quotes from their books.
As you will see from previous issues of the Webberzine, lots of changes have been happening in the library this year. New books and games, a Harry Potter style restricted area, Accelerated Reader incentives, and new comfy sofas to name but a few. There will be lots more exciting things happening in the new academic year, so watch this space!
Grace Shines at Shropshire Athletics Meet with Double Victory
Rising star Grace delivered a sensational performance at the Shropshire athletics meet, storming to victory in both the hurdles and high jump—setting personal bests in each event and securing her place at the prestigious English Schools Championships.
Grace blazed through the hurdles in a remarkable 12.2 seconds, showcasing her explosive speed and technique. Not stopping there, she soared to 1.60 metres in the high jump, setting two personal bests that highlighted her versatility and determination in this event.
Both performances comfortably met the entry standards for English Schools, confirming her status as one of the County’s brightest young talents. Her double triumph marks a significant milestone in her athletic journey and hints at even bigger achievements to come.
With her eyes now set on National competition, Grace’s form and focus suggest she’s ready to take the next step. Whether sprinting down the track or flying over the bar, she’s proving herself a true contender. Keep an eye on this name—Grace is just getting started.
Mary Webb Archers
On the 18th May 2025, I represented Mary Webb School Archers in the Norman Alexander Newbie National, at the Long Mynd Archers.
I shot at 10 yards and 20 yards. I won first place in the 20 yards competition, which I am really pleased about.
Henry Shepherd Year 7
Frome Slalom Event
On the 17th and 18th of May I competed at the Frome Slalom Event hosted by Frome Canoe Club. I travelled 3-hours by car to Frome to do Kayaking, I did slalom and free-style play boating. I won a medal for slalom and a t-shirt for my free-style playboating.
In slalom I came 9th out of 21 and 1st under 14. In my free-style playboating I got 1st in the not rolling category.
Thomas Evans 7T
Abbey Road Music Studio Experience
On Monday me and three other students of a music school in shrewsbury called Music Heroes had an amazing opportunity to go to Abbey Road to record ‘Go Your Own Way’ by Fleetwood Mac. This was for an announcement by Rockschool, the exam board that Music Heroes uses. It was extremely inspirational seeing where so many great artists and composers have recorded their music such as The Beatles and John Williams. We recorded in Studio 3 where John Lennon’s piano is kept and we got to see inside Studio 1 (the orchestral studio where John Lennon would have recorded) and in Studio 2 (where The Beatles recorded most of their music). Also, because we were in Studio 3 we got a 10% discount at the gift shop and a free lunch (which was delicious).
RAF Woodvale Flight Experience
On Wednesday the 9th of April I was given the opportunity to go flying. It was an early start from Welshpool, where I met 3 other cadets from my squadron (2364 Welshpool) and travelled to RAF Woodvale in the Northwest of England.
On arrival we watched a safety video (which was quite old) and then we were taught how to exit the aircraft in an emergency. After that we watched another video on what to do if we landed in the sea, as well as how to use the parachute, life jacket and personal locator beacon.
Before we could fly, we had to get our equipment such as a flying suit, parachute, life jacket, gloves and a helmet. The plane I was to fly in was a Grob Tutor which is used by air cadets for air experience flights, University Air Squadrons and the RAF to train future pilots.
During the flight, my instructor let me take control for about 10 minutes so I could practice turns and other things. When we were flying, we did some aerobatics, so doing loops and barrel rolls. We flew over Blackpool tower and saw a few different landmarks. That week the weather was perfect for flying because there was a little bit of wind and barely any clouds. Because of the good weather, I was able to take some good pictures because we were allowed to take our phones up to do so.
The time in the air was about 25 minutes and went far too quickly but luckily, because we don’t have too many people in our squadron, I will definitely be able to go again quite soon.
It was a great first experience and I can’t wait to do it again!
Cameron Bent
Rainbow Friday
On Friday the 27th June, Mary Webb celebrated pride by bringing in £1 and wearing colourful clothing. On that day, the school was neatly decorated in varying pride flags representing all sorts of identity. As a school it is important for everyone to be accepted despite anything. Having a special day for LGBT+ people, and allies, has helped show support and care towards them, and hopefully help others to understand physically or verbally abusing someone for their identity will never be acceptable, not at Mary Webb or anywhere else.
Personally, I had a very good time on that day. During break I was in the hall with my friends listening to the live band. I was given a flag that I wore, representing my sexual orientation. Usually, I probably wouldn’t be comfortable openly showing this but, on that day, and since, I have been happier and more care-free about it. I heard no discrimination whatsoever throughout the day and I was pleased for me and others. Seeing all sorts of posters and flags people had made and were wearing partly surprised me as I had no idea there were other people like me in the same room. Overall, it was a very fun experience, and I look forward to it again in the future.
Izzy Shaw