Three Weeks In
Welcome to the School Blog. We are already three weeks into this half term, and despite the short daylight hours, time is flying in school! We remain grateful for the decent winter weather as we complete the final elements of our new build refurbishments and put the finishing touches to our brand-new all-weather pitch. Everyone is really excited about using the new astro-surface, and we are also looking forward to getting our entire car park back.
Sixth Form Virtual Open Evening
We were stunned by the wealth of hits on our website at around 6 pm yesterday evening as our Sixth Form Virtual Open Evening went live. Unfortunately, the volume of interest led to technical difficulties, and some people couldn’t view the relevant information until a couple of hours later. Rest assured, all subject videos, talks from specific leadership staff, descriptor leaflets, and our digital Sixth Form Prospectus are now accessible to everyone online.
Thank you so much for your patience and massive interest in our Sixth Form,. Whether you are currently a member of the Castell Alun family or considering joining us from another school for post-16 studies. We participated in an Estyn Thematic Post-16 review yesterday and are proud to announce that the Inspectorate was incredibly impressed with the opportunities we provide for all our students at Castell Alun – despite the great challenges of the previous two years.
Year 11 Mock Examinations
Well done to students in Year 11 who have undertaken their mock examinations this week. For many, this has been a first experience of examination conditions in the school Sports Hall, and nearly everybody has acquitted themselves exceptionally well. The Welsh Government and Qualifications Wales have again expressed their intention to run summer examinations as planned, albeit with some tweaks to the content of certain specifications.
COVID Regulations and School Mitigations
We are sure that everybody is monitoring developments in Wales and over the border with regard to COVID regulations as we move forward into the next stage of the pandemic. It is important to remember that the Welsh Government has said mask-wearing and such mitigations will continue to be necessary in schools until at least half term, whereupon a further review will take place. As ever, we will keep you updated on all developments as we receive further relevant information. We thank all our students for their patience and support in this area and are proud of their desire to look after each other and themselves.
Celebrating Individual Successes
At this time of year, it is more challenging to run competitive events against other schools. We hope to report on further team and individual successes next week. Please keep any individual success stories coming in to us. We all love to hear about the things students are doing outside school.
CAFA’s Valentine Balloon Race
A final reminder for this week – if you feel able, we would love you to support CAFA’s Valentine Balloon Race to raise valuable funds for our school. You can do this by following this link.
See you back here soon for the next School Blog!
