Friday 11th June 2021


Our students and staff continue to show great resilience and flexibility as we all navigate closures of sections of the building in order to allow Wilmot Dixon access to relevant areas. It will not be too long now until we will reap the benefits of the work currently ongoing. However, we would like to record our grateful thanks to Hope Parish Church for allowing us to use some of their facilities and space in order to deliver Sixth Form Dance classes.

May I also remind parents/carers that any students who have PE should attend in their PE kit on that specific day as our changing room space is currently extremely limited.

We very much look forward to virtual meetings with parents/carers of students in Year 8 on Thursday 17th June, and thank you for making appointments with teachers for this Parents Evening so promptly. Our virtual parents’ evenings seem to have been very well received, based upon the feedback we have received to date.

The Centre Determined Grades process continues to run its course in school. Subject and Learning Area teams are now undertaking final moderations and the School Leadership Team will work closely with Learning Managers in standardising findings within and across subjects. Moderation events across local schools have also taken place in some subjects.

Please remember that our School Assessment Plan and indeed Subject Assessment Plans are available on the school website. Provisional grades will be Gmailed to examination class students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 on Friday 18th June, or soon thereafter, except in the case of students taking BTEC qualifications.

Our friends in CAFA have received a number of entries for the Amusing Pet competition and entries will now be judged, with results published in this blog next Friday. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this fun event. The photos have put smiles on so many faces! In further news please be aware that the Castell Alun Friends’ Association have decided to participate in the Big PTA Summer raffle 2021, a nationwide PTA spectacular, taking place between 26th May 2021 and 11th July 2021.

Everyone is able to purchase tickets in order to support school and be in with a chance of winning up to £5,000 in each of the 12 draws. You simply have to visit www.bigptaraffle.co.uk and search for Castell Alun Friends’ Association. Each £3 ticket will generate a number that will be entered into all five draws. The very best of luck to everyone!

An advance notice – some students from other schools will be visiting us on Wednesday 23rd June, as they seek to join our highly successful Sixth Form. This event will of course be run in a covid secure manner.

One of our Year 8 students, Millie, has recently taken part in the first round of the British Westerman’s MX Championship. Millie led the race until the last lap, missing the win by only 0.1 of a second. We are very proud of her amazing achievement.

After such a successful previous Euro campaign I am sure a number of us are excited about seeing the Welsh team competing in this major championship again this year. It promises to be an exciting few weeks. Pob Lwc Tim Cymru!

Have a lovely weekend