School Blog

  Prynhawn da, Our school examination season is now upon us and we would like to say a big llongyfarchiadau to all those students who have recently sat oral examinations in their language subjects in particular. Standards have been high and preparations have been pleasing. We are sure that this will continue as students sit their A-Level orals, beginning next […]

Friday 26th April 2024

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  Prynhawn da, Our new term is in full flow and our older students have now already begun some of their examinations. We are pleased to report that oral examinations for Welsh and Modern Foreign Languages are deep underway and the majority of students are coping very well indeed with this demanding time. Typically, at this time of year our […]

Friday 19th April 2024   Recently updated !

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  Prynhawn da and a big welcome back to all of our students. We trust you have had a restful Easter holiday, despite the inclement weather. We have now embarked upon the beginning of our summer term and it is fair to say that things in school are back up to full speed! A main focus of our work in […]

Friday 12th April 2024

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  Prynhawn da, This term has certainly raced on and we find ourselves on the final day already! Nevertheless, we do feel that the term has been highly valuable and the Easter period provides an opportunity for a well-earned rest for students and staff alike. We do hold firmly to the fact that we all need rest in order to […]

Friday 22nd March 2024

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  Bore da, Spring is now upon us and the days are slowly getting longer. We are very pleased to report that we had success once again at the Urdd District Eisteddfod/ Urdd Eisteddfod Rhanbarthol, last Saturday. Our students had worked hard preparing their poem recitals to perform both individually and as groups. Our Year 7 students were successful in […]

Friday 15th March 2024

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  Bore da, It’s now two weeks since our previous Blog and a lot as been happening in and around school, perhaps in particular in our Welsh department! Last Friday we held our St. David’s Day assembly, which was led by the Welsh department and various members of the School Council. It was wonderful to hear key messages through the […]

Friday 8th March 2024

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  Prynhawn da, On Monday this week we held our Curriculum for Wales training day and were joined by a number of colleagues from primary schools. It was wonderful to welcome these teachers to Castell Alun and ensure that we all plan together as we move forward into a new era in Welsh Education. This collaboration will, of course, be […]

Friday 23rd Februrary 2024

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  Well, yesterday was a bit of a surprise! As you are probably aware, all Flintshire schools were told that this day would be treated as a ‘snow day’ as a result of the weather forecast. This has hindered, but not prevented, our plans to run Year 10 school examinations. Please note that the examinations which would have taken place […]

Friday 9th February 2024

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  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 […]

Friday 2nd February 2024

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  Prynhawn da, Well, we are nearly half way through the school year and have just had a very successful Sixth Form Open Evening last night. We greeted a great number of families through the door and each one was invited to a talk by Mr. Ellis, Headteacher and Miss Edwards, Director of Sixth Form Studies. There was great enthusiasm […]

Friday 26th January 2024

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  Bore da, It looks like the cold spell is coming to an end, although anything is yet possible in a ‘typical’ British winter! The light dustings of snow and heavy frosts have taken their toll on various sporting fixtures for our students this week and we are all looking forward to a warmer week soon, which will allow students […]

Friday 19th January 2024

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  Bore da, As this will be our last blog of the year, may we begin by thanking you all sincerely for the support and encouragement you have given the school this academic year. Students have undoubtedly made a great deal of progress and they, like us, are most grateful for the working partnerships we have with all families, with […]

Friday 15th December 2023

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  Bore da, We now have two weeks left of this half term and student progress and behaviour in school are commendable. This week we held an upper school assembly and celebrated Black History month together mees hanes pobl theeon. We considered our heritage as a country and looked at ways in which we can personally take responsibility for promoting […]

Friday 13th October 2023

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  Prynhawn da, On Tuesday this week we held our lower school harvest assembly. Diolch yn fawr to all the families of Year 7 students who kindly contributed groceries of all kinds, which will now be donated to our local food bank. In these demanding times, there are a great many families who will appreciate these gifts, for sure. Di […]

Friday 6th October 2023

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  Well, there is only one place to start this morning, and that is with our Open Evening gathering last night! The school was literally bursting at the seams between 6.30pm and 8.30pm and we were thrilled to welcome an exceedingly large number of Year 6 students and their families to Castell Alun. All visitors were treated to presentations and […]

Friday 29th September 2023

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  P’nawn Da, We faced some unpredictable weather again this week and school certainly feels full! However, students’ behaviour is generally excellent and this was further evidenced when we held our lockdown practice and, just a few days later, an unanticipated fire alarm practice. The fire alarm was triggered by a faulty censor and should give no cause for concern. […]

Friday 22nd September 2023

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  P’nawn da, Welcome back to Castell Alun for all students and parents/carers alike! We have now completed our first full teaching week, and our Year 7 students and those who have transferred from other schools into our Year 12, appear to have settled in very well. You may well have seen some of the media headlines about Castell Alun […]

Friday 15th September 2023

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  Blog 14th July 2023 As the year draws to a close, we are disappointed to have to postpone today’s Sports Day due to the poor weather. Students’ safety is always our highest priority but we do appreciate that the decision was a disappointment to a great many children. We are currently considering possibilities for a more succinct version of […]

Friday 14th July 2023

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  Bore da, It’s been lovely to see more of our new Year 7 intake students over recent days and to sense their joy and excitement about joining Castell Alun. This week has seen various trips from school, including to the Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Belgium and Germany, and Berlin and Poland. We will provide a short report on each of […]

Friday 7th July 2023

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This week has been all about new beginnings and moving on to new challenges. On Tuesday we were thrilled to meet so many parents/carers of our new intake and our sports hall felt very full when so many families joined us for our induction evening. This session marked the formal beginning of our partnership with new intake parents and their […]

Friday 30th June 2023

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  Bore da, Today sees the final external examination for our GCSE and Sixth Form students and we are all thrilled that the date has finally arrived!  We must pay credit to our wonderful student body and their mature approach to what is a demanding time for so many. We have some fantastic news from our Modern Languages Department – […]

Friday 23rd June 2023

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  Prynhawn da, As we draw towards the close of the public examination period, may we first congratulate our older students for their efforts, punctuality and general approach to this challenging time in their lives.  Collectively we are all very grateful that there only a few days left until the examination period is over! Diolch yn fawr iawn for your […]

Friday 16th June 2023

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  Bore da, It has been lovely to welcome back Year 12 upon completion of their examination leave.  Well done to our students for all of their efforts in AS Level and equivalent examinations.  Today a great many Year 12 students are in Liverpool visiting a UCAS fair with Mr. Kevin Davies and Miss Lauren Robinson.  The fair is run […]

Friday 9th June 2023

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  Bore da, We come to the end of a successful and challenging half term and this will be marked today with our Year 13 Leavers’ Ceremony.  This is always a high point of the school year but today perhaps even more so.  Mr. Kevin Davies (Assistant Headteacher and Director of Sixth Form Studies) will conduct his final address at […]

Friday 26th May 2023

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  Bore da, On Monday this week some of our ex-students were presented with their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award at Buckingham Palace by the new Duke of Edinburgh.  Mr. Kevin Davies was also invited in recognition of the tremendous numbers of Castell Alun students, who have achieved the Gold Award in the last 10 years – 158 in total!  […]

Friday 19th May 2023

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  Bore da In recognition of the Coronation, all students in school were given a commemorative pen this week, courtesy of CAFA.  CAFA wanted to mark such an historic day with a small, useful memento from which every student could benefit.  As you know, CAFA works tirelessly each year raising much appreciated funds through their various events and activities, which […]

Friday 12th May 2023

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  Bore da, Many of us will have enjoyed the Bank Holiday last weekend and, of course, we will not be in school on Monday 8th May as this is a further Bank Holiday for schools to celebrate King Charles’ Coronation.  However, we are also mindful that so many of our students now face external examinations and we all appreciate […]

Friday 5th May 2023

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  Blog 28th April 2023 As April draws to a close our foreign language classes have now virtually all completed their oral assessments.  We would like to congratulate everyone for their efforts and on their performances, in what can be a nerve-racking environment.  It is now ‘full steam ahead’ into the public examination season and we would encourage students to […]

Friday 28th April 2023

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  Bore da, We trust you have all managed to enjoy the Easter break and are hopeful that the fine weather which we had during the first week may return again soon.  School is very much back in session and even this week our Year 10 students have been sitting their Welsh oral examinations. We are very grateful indeed for […]

Friday 21st April 2023

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  Bore da, An extremely busy term concludes today and, although everybody is doubtless ready for a change of scenery, there is a great deal of which to be proud that has gone on in school since Christmas. Easter is a special time for many of us, and today we celebrated the festival with a whole school assembly.  For those […]

Friday 31st March 2023

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  P’nawn da, This week we celebrated International Women’s Day with a Lower School Assembly on Wednesday.  We were treated to a wonderful performance of ‘We are all made of stars’ by Lily (Year 7), who sang with great poise and confidence.  Lily recently won 3rd place in the Oswestry Music Festival with this song.  James (Year 9) contributed extremely […]

Friday 24th March 2023

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  Prynhawn Da It feels like an age ago already, even though it was just last week, that we celebrated Dydd Gwyl Dewi Assembly.  We are very grateful for the excellent readings/reports brought by Ewan, Megan and Georgia (Year 11) and Harry and Olivia (Year 8).   A report on the Year 8 Glan Llyn trip informed us that students had […]

Friday 17th March 2023

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Bore da As you know, this week has been exceptional in terms of Flintshire County Council’s decision to close all schools in anticipation of extreme weather conditions. We have remained closed today due to the snow which has fallen again overnight and the treacherous travel and campus conditions which have been created. This is far from ideal, especially in the […]

Friday 10th March 2023

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  Prynhawn da Thank you once again for your patience during these trying times of industrial action.  We will monitor the national and local situation closely and seek to keep you well-informed of any significant developments before the next planned action, currently scheduled for 15th and 16th March. In the final week of last half term the Cymraeg department welcomed […]

Friday 3rd March 2023

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  P’nawn da, The half term now draws to a close and we will probably all agree that the weather has been kinder to us than perhaps is often the case at this time of year. As the days gradually lengthen, we look forward to a well-earned break for students and staff alike. Yesterday evening we held our Year 9 […]

Friday 17th February 2023

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  P’nawn da, As many of you will know, we had a wonderful concert in school last night.  We were all disappointed that the planned Christmas Concert did not take place, but last night’s audience felt for certain that the performances given yesterday more than made up for the situation before Christmas.  We would like to say a really big […]

Friday 10th February 2023

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  Blog 3rd February 2023 Bore da pawb The week has felt quite odd with the campus having been closed to students on Wednesday due to industrial action.  We would like to thank you for your patience and we all remain truly hopeful that the current dispute can be resolved as soon as possible.  Should this not be the case, […]

Friday 3rd February 2023

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Blog 27th January 2023 As we reach the mid-point in this half term we are pleased to announce that our Sixth Form Open Evening yesterday was a great success.  Our student ambassadors were wonderful and guests to the school gave a great deal of really positive feedback about the information supplied and the experience they had with us.  A great […]

Friday 27th January 2023

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Our Whole School Assembly this week was on the theme of Election and was led by Year 11.  Well done to our readers Andrew Cowling and Georgia Arnold.  Our excellent musical item came from Adam Rothero who played a Grade 7 Piano piece from his recent successful exam. Congratulations to our Site Manager, Mr. Paul Muncey who last Sunday completed […]

Friday 28th April 2017

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Our Site Supervisor is running this year's London Marathon
Our annual Spring Concert last night was absolutely fantastic as always.  A huge thank you to Mr. Searson, Mrs Walker, Miss Gittins and the Expressive Arts team for putting together such an impressive and diverse array of performances.  The cast of  ‘Hairspray’ gave us a preview of what I am sure is going to be another hugely successful production later […]

Friday 7th April 2017

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Our whole school assembly this week was on the theme of attitudes and actions.  Thanks to Jack Barron and Hannah Cartwright for their readings, and to Annie Beggan Year 13 for singing ‘Dy Garu o Bell’ beautifully.  Annie also performed in the Under 19 ‘Song from a Musical’ competition in the County Urdd Eisteddfod held in Mold last Friday evening […]

Friday 31st March 2017

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Well done to Josh Davies, Year 7 who has been called up to the Welsh Squad for squash and is currently training in preparation for the 5 Nations Tournament. He will be competing against boys his age from France, England, Scotland and Ireland. We celebrated World Book Day in school recently. Our Library quiz winners were Archie Peffers, Cole Hambleton, […]

Friday 17th March 2017

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On Wednesday, March 1st we celebrated Dydd Gwyl Dewi with our annual whole school assembly. This was led by the Welsh department and year 12 Welsh students, Tomos Edwards, Jack Davies and Shekeira Pritchard.  There was also a report by Emma Pryce and Samantha Short about the recent year 12 trip to Cardiff. At breaktime staff enjoyed Welsh cakes, with […]

Friday 3rd March 2017

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Our whole school assembly this week was on the theme of ‘Love’ and was led by Year 10, with readings from Maria Parcesepe and Shannon Samuel,  and an excellent musical item, ‘Dances with Bears’, performed  by Ben Thomas. We supported ‘Safer Internet Day’ by delivering Safer Internet lessons and assemblies to students and promoting discussion on related topics. Students in […]

Friday 17th February 2017

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  Our Lower School Assembly today was on the theme of Internet Safety with readings from Hannah Ison and Callum Guest and a wonderful musical item performed by Georgia Arnold. On Wednesday and Thursday this week the Science Learning Area hosted a ‘Lab in a lorry’ event for our Year 8 students.  The event was sponsored by the Institute of Physics […]

Friday 10th February 2017

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On Thursday our Year 11 and 12 BTEC dance students performed a showcase of some of their work from the musical  ‘Chicago’ for their friends and families .  This event formed part of their exam and all students contributed and performed to a very high standard,  with feedback from all in attendance being most positive.  Dance teacher, Mrs. Sharon Nesbitt, was very proud and impressed […]

Friday 3rd February 2017

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On Wednesday evening we held our Year 12 Parents’ Evening. It was great to see so many parents and students meeting with teachers to discuss progress and consider areas for further development in partnership together. Our Sixth Form Open Evening for next year’s Year 12 takes place on Wednesday 1st February and starts at 6.30pm. There will be a presentation […]

Friday 27th January 2017

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  Well done to the following students who I have met with recently to celebrate their exceptional performance in our recent Student Tracking Review sessions :- Year 7 – Archie Peffers, Amira Berdouk, Charlotte Fox, Ellie Harrison, Leah Harrison, Matthew Royle, Sophie Williams, Phoebe Davies, Amelie Griffiths, Alisha Lowe, Reuben Rees-Slawson, Abigail Bartlett, Niah Bradley, Poppy Ellis, Sophie Kelly, Emily […]

Friday 16th December 2016

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On Thursday and Friday of this week we held our Christmas services at St. Cynfarch’s Church for Year 8 and Year 7. Well done to our bell ringers on Thursday who were Elin, Celyn, Penny, Freya, Ieuan, Harrison and thanks to the readers Lilly and Ben. On Friday our bell ringers were Millie, Isaac, Matthew, Leah, James and Lewis and […]

Friday 9th December 2016

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Yesterday we held our termly Full Governors meeting.  Mr. Idris Williams was elected Chair with Mrs. Helen Williams as Vice Chair.  Amongst other things we discussed the excellent results from last summer, heard feedback from the School Council via our Student Governors, and considered the university application process. We currently have six Year 13 students preparing for Oxbridge interviews, a […]

Friday 2nd December 2016

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Our Year 11 students have been busy with their trial exams this week. We look forward to some excellent results. As well as receiving the Maths and Numeracy GCSE results in January, many students will be sitting external Science exams too. A busy time for all concerned. Last night I attended the Flintshire Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Presentation Evening. Gold […]

Friday 25th November 2016

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On Wednesday of this week I visited Airbus for an insight into the broad range of employment opportunities available to our students. It was great to listen to the presentations, particularly the company overview given by Martin Evans, Head of Industrial Academy UK. Martin and I both joined Airbus as apprentices in 1985, training together for the next four years. […]

Friday 18th November 2016

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Well done to Tiarna, Year 13, who does a fantastic job in running our girls football teams. Tiarna has worked really hard coaching alongside Brickfield Rangers Football club on a Wednesday and then running her own coaching sessions here on a Monday. On Wednesday night this week, Tiarna took the girls to Airbus for a Girls Football event. The girls […]

Friday 11th November 2016

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Well done to Katie, Year 8, who recently joined forces with Bethan Dromgoole from Essential Skin Clinic in Broughton to arrange an Afternoon Tea in aid of We Are Macmillan. Katie raised over £670, a fantastic achievement. On Wednesday this week we had a fantastic drumming workshop for Year 7 with Jeff Rich of Status Quo fame. The students were […]

Friday 4th November 2016

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Our Whole School Assembly this week was on the theme of ‘Peace One Day’. Any students who would like to provide a musical item for future assemblies were encouraged to speak to Mr. Andrew Searson in the music department. Our final preparations are taking place for our Open Evening next Wednesday. I’m really looking forward to meeting students who are […]

Friday 30th September 2016

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Our whole school assembly yesterday was on the theme of ‘learning’. Our readers Elin and Jonathan, both Year 11, did an excellent job, as did Adam, Year 10, with his piano recital of ‘Jazzin Grace’. Adam performed this piece as part of his recent Grade 6 examination, which unsurprisingly he passed with distinction. Last weekend Mrs Molloy, together with Georgia, […]

Friday 23rd September 2016

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The standards of students’ uniform, behaviour and approach to learning has been excellent so far this term. It is very much a team effort, so I must sincerely thank parents and carers for working with us to ensure our high expectations are met. Our first whole school assembly of the year took place this morning on the theme of ‘The […]

Friday 16th September 2016

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