Friday 25th March 2022


The wonderful weather, lighter mornings and longer evenings are a welcome change for all of us. Unfortunately however, much as we would like it to be otherwise, incidences of Covid are once again on the rise locally. A number of our staff and students currently have the virus and so please can we remind you to watch out for the three key symptoms:

· a high temperature: this means that students feel hot to touch on their chest or back

· a new, continuous cough: this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours

· a loss or change to sense of smell or taste: this means they’ve noticed they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

In order to keep our school running smoothly, it is important that students who are showing any of these symptoms do not come to school and arrange to be tested. All other schools in the locality are experiencing similar pressures and we will endeavor to keep our students learning from within the school building, where this is possible. However, should staffing levels be reduced to the extent that we cannot safely cater for all students on site, it may be necessary once again to return to blended learning for a short period of time for certain year groups. This would certainly not be our preference, but we feel it is important to let you know that we are monitoring the situation closely and working as flexibly as we can in school to keep everybody on the campus. Thank you once again for your kind understanding and support as we attempt to keep everyone safe.

This week, some talented Year 10 to 11 students joined with many of the Sixth Form Criminology cohort to attend a bespoke talk from two barristers from Linenhall Chambers, Chester. The barristers talked about their career paths into the profession, challenges of the role and key elements of legal reasoning. Criminology is proving to be an exceptionally popular subject in our Sixth Form, and we hope to develop students’ critical thinking skills further as they take their latest learning into a mock trial scenario, with assistance from the chambers once again, perhaps next academic year. Our grateful thanks go to all at Linenhall Chambers and we are most eager to continue our partnership with them.

Yesterday evening it was absolutely fantastic to see a number of you in the building once again as we held our ‘appointment only’ Sixth Form Information Evening. We fully appreciate that a number of families already know us well enough and are fully aware of our Sixth Form reputation and course offer, and therefore decided not to book a slot on the evening. Please remember be aware that Mr. Kevin Davies (Assistant Headteacher/Director of Sixth Form Studies) is always most willing to chat to students or parents in person or over the phone in order to field any questions you may still have. If Mr. Davies is unable to answer the question himself, he will of course direct you to the most appropriate member of our team. Mr. Davies and his team are also running tours of the school on a regular basis by appointment so please do feel free to contact him directly at school, should this service be of use to you.

Our Year 9 and 10 netball teams really enjoyed their friendlies against Hawarden this week. These informal matches place an emphasis on fun and the development of skills. Well done to everyone who participated! We want to give a special mention to Annabel (Year 11) who represented Wales Under 18s in golf against Ireland in a challenge match held in Cardigan. Annabel’s performance was stunning and we are thrilled to be able to tell you that she is a great prospect for Welsh golf in the future. Congratulations also to Elin (Year 7) and Ffion (Year 10) who have both recently achieved personal bests in their races with Buckley Swimming Club. Please do continue to let us know about any student successes which occur outside the normal school day.

Continuing on a sporting theme, it’s a big well done also to our GCSE and A-Level PE students.  Everyone demonstrated top performances, based on their ability in their examination moderation sessions this week.

We wish all the very best to examination students in Years 10 and 11 who will sit their Welsh orals over the next two weeks and we are very grateful to our Welsh Department who continue to run revision sessions outside the standard school day for these students.  Also, our good wishes go to students who are studying GCSE, AS and A-Level Drama as they prepare for their examination pieces and run a pantomime to an invited audience next week.  Our A-Level Music students have been rehearsing hard and will also undertake their practical exams very soon.  Go for it everyone!  Thank you to all staff who are involved in preparing students for such events.

Duke of Edinburgh is now back in full flow and a group of Year 11 students will venture out on their Silver practice trip next weekend.  These expeditions are so valuable and great fun and it’s brilliant to be able to run them again.

Wales are now so close to qualifying for the World Cup finals and our anticipation grows by the minute!

Have a lovely weekend!