Firstly I have to say that we have been overwhelmed with kind words and amazing messages of support since our inspection report went live on Monday. As I said last week, we are all thrilled with the outcome, which would clearly not have been possible were it not for every member of the Castell Alun community playing their part. We have also had lots of extremely positive communications from our primary schools and other Flintshire secondary schools.

In PE news this week we are really proud to announce that Holly Kay of Year 8 has had great success in the swimming pool, taking Bronze, Silver and Gold medals in a regional competition. Our Year 7 and 8 Netballers won all of their games this week, and we clearly have some top quality players in our midst. I would also like to give a special mention to our up and coming Year 7 and 8 Girls Rugby players who are training hard and showing amazing commitment in working towards their first fixture in January 2018.

This week’s main assembly was on the theme of ‘Joy’ as was led by Year 8. Amira Berdouk and Llewelyn Thorold read with great poise and we were again treated to a beautiful musical item. The duet between Millie Whittle and Rhian Davies and their amazing ability to harmonise was quite literally music to our ears!

Year 11 students have been sitting their trial examinations during lessons this week and we have high hopes for strong results from all in the summer.

Our Year 8 Parents’ Evening was a great success on Thursday and, quite apart from the extremely cold night, I would like to thank so many parents for attending the event.

Our Expressive Arts team and many students are in the last stages of preparation for our Christmas Concert and Hairspray Showcase evenings on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th December. The evenings will be filled with music, drama and dance and we are all excited about what our amazing students have to offer us this time. Both evenings will begin at 7pm and tickets are on sale in school from Mrs. Southwell

Next week on Monday (MENT) and Tuesday (ORUS) afternoons we will hold our Year 7 Tutor Parent Meetings in the School Hall and we look forward to seeing you there.

And finally, it’s still not too late to come along to our Ladies Festive Fair and Pamper Evening tonight, run by our Castell Alun Friends Association in the School Hall starting at 6.30pm. It should be great fun for all. There will be a variety of stalls, entertainment and a bar. I hope to see you there. Have a great weekend.