Friday 14th October 2016


Our Upper School Assembly this week was on the theme of conformity. Well done to our reader Megan and to Hannah for an excellent piano solo. At the end of assembly I wished Year 11 good luck for the GCSE Maths and Numeracy exams which take place straight after half term.

On Wednesday evening we held our Year 11 Parents’ Evening. It was great to see so many parents and students meeting with teachers to discuss progress and the route to success at the end of this vitally important school year.

Well done to Hannah, Rebekah and Abigail who performed brilliantly at the Daniel Owen Festival opening concert last weekend. Mr. Searson fed back that their contribution was outstanding and that they represented the school brilliantly.

We had some excellent performances in the Flintshire cross country championships held at Mold Alun High School yesterday. All students who took part worked extremely hard and represented the school in fantastic fashion. The following students all finished in the top ten and will go on to represent Flintshire in the North East Wales round in Llangollen. Year 7 – Archie, Reuben, Phillipa, Charlotte, Megan. Year 9 – Courtney, Jack, Owen. Year 10 – Shannon, Harry, Ethan. Year 11 – Holly, Max and Adam.
Well done to all the runners.

The Languages department had a visit from Hannah Wright from the Urdd this week. She went into some KS4 & 5 Welsh classes to talk about the importance of Welsh for future prospects and employment in Wales. She is an ex-student who went on to study Welsh at university and is now a fluent Welsh speaker, who works for the Urdd promoting the Welsh language.

<a href=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/11/Urdd-2016-e1477055257617.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2869″ src=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/11/Urdd-2016-e1477055257617.jpg” alt=”Urdd 2016″ width=”500″ height=”375″ /></a>

Castell Alun Friends Association news – Thanks to everyone for their support in the very successful fashion show event. We raised in the region of £1300! This week’s lottery draw will be taking place today and winners will be notified shortly – good luck!

Our whole school assembly this week was on the theme of Harvest and was led by Year 7. Well done to our readers Pheobe and Jack.  Hannah played a particularly relevant harp solo ‘Fields of Gold’.

This week we have held Governors’ Exam Analysis meetings. It was great to meet with Governors and our Learning Managers to review the excellent results from last summer and to consider ways we can further improve the learning experience for our students.

An update from my blog last week in hockey; Shannon, Lucy, Harriet and Nia, all year 10, who played in the Flintshire Schools Under 16 Hockey Team last Sunday at Rydal College, Colwyn Bay. The Under 16 Team won their tournament. Molly played in the Under 18s team who came second. I would like to say a huge well done to the girls from both me and the PE department who are extremely proud of the contribution they have made to hockey whilst they have been students here.

On Tuesday this week the first Seren meeting took place at Castell Alun for Year 12 led by Mr. Kevin Davies and Graham Kelly, a Governor at our school. Mr. Davies took the students through the process of applying to university and introduced them to the Russell Group universities. Over 100 students attended altogether, with 24 from Castell Alun. On the same evening our Year 13 Seren cohort were given valuable advice from Sandy Mill from Cambridge university.

Yesterday Years 7, 8 and 9 took part in a Fun Run raising money to buy equipment for students. Some students ran in fancy dress outfits and everyone really enjoyed taking part.

<a href=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/10/Lower-School-Fun-Run-2016-e1476454440407.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2848″ src=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/10/Lower-School-Fun-Run-2016-e1476454440407.jpg” alt=”Lower School Fun Run 2016″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /></a>

On Monday and Tuesday this week Year 10 students had their business acumen put to the test in the name of charity and education. As part of their Welsh Baccalaureate qualification studies, students delivered presentations on potential business ideas to a panel of “dragons” in their “lair”. On top of that, students also had to devise ways to turn a profit from their businesses using a £5 grant from Hope House Children’s Hospice. The proceeds from their endeavours will then go to Hope House in the form of a donation. Almost 50 sets of students presented their ideas to a panel of judges, including representatives from MBNA, Glyndwr University and NWN Media. Our Welsh Baccalaureate Coordinator, Mr. Simon Jones, was very proud of the professional pitches our students presented.

<a href=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/10/WBQ-Dragons-Deg-2016.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2844″ src=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/10/WBQ-Dragons-Deg-2016.jpg” alt=”WBQ Dragon’s Den 2016″ width=”817″ height=”544″ /></a>

Our GCSE Maths revision sessions and proving to be very popular with students. Well done to all who are attending after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a big thank you to the teaching staff for giving up their time to help.

<a href=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/11/Maths-Revision-e1476454828454.jpg”><img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2850″ src=”https://castellalun.com/wp-content/uploads//2015/11/Maths-Revision-e1476454828454.jpg” alt=”Maths Revision” width=”400″ height=”299″ /></a>

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