Well, with just one week to go to half term, things have been busy here!

This week we have held our English Year 11 oral exams and the feedback from staff is generally very pleasing. Di iawn to all students who have prepared thoroughly for their sessions.

On Monday, our SEREN students were visited by ‘Xplore! Science’. In the morning, our Year 8 and 9 students watched a short science show before participating in two workshops. In the first workshop they had to design and build a roller-coaster. They were given a strict budget to stick to and they were judged on how exciting their roller-coaster was and whether their passengers made it to the bottom safely! In their second workshop they had to design and build a sail car. A fan was used to mimic the wind and the groups competed to see whose sail car went the furthest. There were some excellent designs with some cars almost travelling the width of the hall. A great big diolch to Jake and Amy who joined us to run this session.

Our Year 10 and 11 SEREN students had their turn in the afternoon and they participated in two forensic workshops. In the first workshop they had to solve a murder. They were given blood splatter mats and they had to use the different blood splatters to work out the height and angle from which the victim was hit and who the bloody foot prints belonged to. In the second workshop they were given a cold case to solve. They had to work together in groups and use various pieces of evidence such as fingerprints and blood samples to solve the case. Despite having mounds of evidence to work through, some of students correctly identified the killer. Again, we would like to thank Jake and Amy for running this session. It was fantastic seeing our students work together to develop a range of different skills throughout the workshops. A massive diolch to the whole team at ‘Xplore! Science’ for such a memorable day for our SEREN students.

This week Niamh Kelly, Director of ‘The HR Department’ (yes this is the actual name!), visited our school once again for another engaging session with Year 13 Business students. Niamh has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the recruitment section, having worked in the industry for several years. The sessions helped our Year 13 Business students to understand the recruitment process from the recruiter’s point of view, which includes how to avoid discrimination. The workshop is always engaging and fun and we are very grateful to have yet another excellent employer willing to support our Sixth Formers and enhance their learning environment. Diolch yn fawr Niamh.

Year 13 Performing Arts Acting students visited Ysgol Estyn this week as part of their BTEC Performing Arts course. They engaged with their ‘Unit 4: Performance in the Community’ element, which requires candidates to create and perform a show that meets the need of a specified community. The Year 13 students decided to target Year 5 & 6 students and focus upon online safety in a fun and engaging way. The show they created was called ‘TechSafe Explorers’. Our students performed superbly and the audience interacted very well, enjoying and greatly benefiting from the performance. Indeed, the show was such a success that our students will visit Ysgol Penyffordd next week with the same show. Diolch yn fawr – excellent job everyone!

We are always very keen to keep in touch with our ex-students and, where possible, use their strengths to benefit our younger learners. This week ex-student Nicole Roberts, now a third year Dance student in Liverpool University has run dance workshops with her fellow university students to our BTEC Performing Arts Dance students. Our Castell Alun dancers have now been invited to perform their routines at the University Community Show being held in March.

Our Year 13 Health and Social Care and Childcare students have been learning about different types of play and the benefits this has on child development. They have participated in a number of hands-on sessions looking at a variety of play activities. Students were immersed in the activities and had to use their skills to discuss the benefits on a child’s development. Good fun was had by all and we are very hopeful that this learning experience will help them both in their exam and also in their future careers, working with children and young people.

A selected number of Year 9 students have departed for Glan Llyn today in order to undertake a great variety of physical and mental exercise. The students will participate through the medium of Welsh in a variety of different challenges and will doubtless come back even more enthused about learning Welsh.

On Thursday 8th February in registration only, students in Year 11 will have a mock results day and gain some valuable feedback from each of their subjects on their performance in the recent school examinations. We do not

anticipate students having to miss any lesson time in order to run this event, but sincerely hope that each of our Year 11 students is able to enjoy the occasion and celebrate their results so far. Where perhaps their enjoyment is not so great, we hope that this event will provide the extra incentive required by some to pull their socks up!

Other dates to note in the immediate future are our Year 10 mock examination week which will run from the 5th to the 9th of February. School closes for half term from the 10th to the 19th February, with Monday the 19th February being a staff training day (therefore the school is not open to students).

Well done to all of our girls who participated in the Year 8 netball event at St. Richard Gwyn, with Elfed and Flint schools this week.

Have a lovely week