Prynhawn da
Thank you once again for your patience during these trying times of industrial action. We will monitor the national and local situation closely and seek to keep you well-informed of any significant developments before the next planned action, currently scheduled for 15th and 16th March.
In the final week of last half term the Cymraeg department welcomed Year 6 students from a number of our primary schools to a successful transition event. Year 6 and Year 7 students were brought together to enjoy a performance from a theatre company, which re-told the journey of our Cymraeg language, and some brave students were even given the opportunity to participate! This was followed by further activities, which sought to develop teamworking skills…. and many students won prizes during a quiz also of course! We are very keen to run further such immersive events, as these sessions are enjoyed by all and clearly spark a passion within learners to use Cymraeg readily and encourage others to do the same.
This academic year our St. David’s Day celebrations are extensive and somewhat elongated! As a result of our Year 10 internal examinations we were unable to hold our usual whole school assembly on the 1st March itself and this celebratory event is now scheduled for Wednesday next week. Students have been taking part in Dydd Gwyl Dewi activities during form time this week, with a variety of different activities on offer. The interactive quizzes have been particularly popular and we have also had good attendances at our bingo and other competition sessions during the school day. Staff also raised £70 for Marie Curie by having cacen and paned at breaktime. 
This week in our school library students were able to choose a wrapped book from a simple brief introduction, which gave them a clue about the story. These surprise books were a really big hit with many students and helped us to promote our library further and the many new books which we now have available to students. With many more yet to arrive, the library will perhaps be better resourced than ever before and an attractive environment for students to develop their oracy skills. Furthermore, we celebrated World Book Day over the course of the last few days and our ‘Masked Reader’ competition is currently ongoing. The results of this extremely popular competition should be available next week, and we may even publish some of the masked reader photographs for your amusement at this time!
We are very pleased to announce that students in Year 10 are dealing with their internal examination period in a mature and informed manner. It is clear that the majority have engaged in a robust period of revision and are performing to the personal standards expected of them. Any examinations, which were missed as a result of the industrial action, have been rescheduled for Monday 6th March.
Today a large group of Year 8 students have gone on a trip to Glan Llyn to further develop their Welsh language skills whilst pursuing a passion for outdoor education also. We very much look forward to hearing their stories and seeing their photographs next week.
On Tuesday 7th March the Castell Alun Friends Association will meet in school at 6.30pm. New members, or anyone simply interested in finding out more, are always welcome to attend.
In sporting news our U15 Girls’ Cricket Team played in the North East Wales round of the ECB trophy recently, and won 3 games, whilst losing 2 others. Da iawn girls! Also, our Year 7 and Year 9 netball teams played Hawarden with Year 7 winning 14-2 and Year 9 winning with an awesome margin of 22-1. Really well done to Nell (Year 11) who has qualified for the National Netball Championships in March with her Mold Netball Club. In Year 7 news, Idele took part in the North Wales Regional Swimming Championships in Llandudno. She swam very well and came 1st place in her age category in 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and also 3rd place in the 200m individual medley. Idele has now qualified to swim at the Swim Wales National Championships in Swansea. Brilliant stuff! And finally, a big congratulations to Aidan (Year 9) who recently played for the FAW North team in Cardiff winning all matches in which he participated.
It looks like it’s getting a little colder again this weekend. Wrap up warm and have a nice time.