Our last week before Easter has been as busy as ever. We are very grateful to our friends at Hope Parish Church and especially Rev. Pawley for his encouraging and insightful Easter message to students in Years 7 and 8. In the Year 8 service Amelie played a beautiful piano solo, called ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Celyn’s vocal solo was wonderful and thanks also to Annabelle and Adam for their roles in the service. In our Year 7 service both Bethan and Eloise performed with exceptional poise, and we look forward to many fantastic musical items from them in the future. Well done also to Tom and Ruby for their roles in the church gathering. At both services a large number of our students were allowed to ring the church bells, and everybody had a really nice time.
This week saw the ‘Celebration of Youth Music in Flintshire’ across a three day period. Our congratulations go to the following people for brilliant performances :- Megan, Ella and Matthew – Flintshire Concert Band, Nell, Reuben and Beth – Casals String Orchestra, William – County Guitar Ensemble, Abigail, Ella, Esther, Samantha and Abigail – County Big Band, Colin – Percussion Ensemble,Grace, Carys and Mille – County Choir, Lucy, Lilly, Abigail, Rachael, Colin, Tomos, Benjamin, Eloise and Abigail – County Wind Orchestra and Hannah, Susan and Millie – County String Orchestra.
Thanks to everybody who supported our school Spring Concert last night, the event celebrated the traditional along with the contemporary, and it never ceases to amaze me just how talented our students are. Although there were far too many participants to name personally, we cannot speak highly enough of the items showcased and reports from all viewers were absolutely outstanding. Thanks especially to Mr. Searson and Miss Gittins for their hard work in drawing this event together.
We are really excited that tutor group 8 O have put together a French pop video, complete with lyrics music and dance, for the Institut Francais du Royaume Uni National Competition. This is a first for our school and although Miss Gittins, Miss Nesbitt and Mrs. Phillips have had great fun producing the masterpiece, it must be said that the students wrote the song, composed the music, choreographed the dance routines and filmed and edited the footage themselves. How stunning is that! We will find out how successful 8 O has been in the competition in May.
The Estyn Inspector visit went very well yesterday and Mr. Sion Peters-Flynn is now able to cascade the high quality practice evident at Castell Alun onto other schools on the theme of ‘Links with Employers’.
As you may well be aware from the letter sent by school this week, there have a been a few procedural changes to Free School Meals arrangements. Should you require further information to this end, please follow the links here for the English or Cymraeg versions and do not hesitate to give us a call if you would like further clarification on any related issue.
Our Year 7 Nurture students are having a wonderful time at Loggerheads today and making the most of this beautiful weather. We are truly fortunate to have so many areas of natural beauty local to the school and we always seek to make the most of them to give our students first class experiences.
Our Site Supervisor Mr. Paul Muncey will, once again, run the London Marathon in aid of Children with Cancer this year. We stand in awe of Mr. Muncey’s efforts over recent years, and if you feel able to support his run financially, please do follow this link. The run takes place on Sunday 28th April – go for it Paul!
We return to school on Monday 29th April and will run an Eco-Week, to both raise awareness of, and support, ecological issues and initiatives.
Our exams season will be in full flow also and we would encourage all examination class students to spend their Easter holiday wisely. It is important to all that you engage fully in focused revision sessions, but also that you take proper breaks and enjoy high quality rest at appropriate times over the holidays.
Mr. Hughes popped into school today to bid us farewell and to ensure that we continue the fine progress which we have made under his leadership. We will miss you Mr. Hughes and hope that you will check in on us on a regular basis in the future. You will always be part of our family and thank-you, once again, for everything that you have brought to Castell Alun.
I wish you all a wonderful Easter break and hope that students and staff return to Castell Alun fit, well and rested in a couple of weeks time.