Its hard to believe that there are only two more school weeks until half term and that winter is actually nearly over!
Donating to Hope House
Over the last two weeks we’ve celebrated three important annual Welsh celebrations in school. On Tuesday January 25th it was Dydd Santes Dwynwen which is the Welsh ‘Day of Love’. Our students enjoyed participating in different activities to learn about Santes Dwynwen. They designed Welsh love spoons, made Wordles using key Welsh words and designed cards to express their love to others. Last week the Urdd celebrated their 100th birthday. Students had fun learning about the Urdd movement and what it does to promote Welsh amongst young people. We all wished Mr Urdd a happy birthday and younger students sang Urdd song in their lessons. Today it is Dydd Miwsig Cymru / Welsh Music Day today. This is a national celebration to raise awareness and celebrate the musical talent we have both in Wales and more specifically in our school. Throughout the day students will listen to music by Welsh artists both old and new, and who knows, we might even discover the next Tom Jones or happen across a junior version of the Stereophonics!
A Local Lockdown Hero
We were thrilled to be able to assist Hope House further this week, when our Year 10 students presented a cheque to them for £4400-00, which was the profit made from our Welsh Baccalaureate Christmas markets. We cannot begin to tell you how hard so many of our Year 10 students worked to raise this money, but equally it was awe inspiring to see them developing their entrepreneurial skills… and having a wonderful time doing it in the run up to Christmas.
Congratulations to those students in Years 7, 8 and 9 who have recently been selected to take part in the Word Mania national online literacy competition. This small number of students will compete against other schools in word building challenges of various kinds in order to win prizes for Castell Alun. Good luck everyone and have a great time!
This week we would like to give a special mention to George (Year 8) and recognise the wonderful, selfless effort he put into helping others during troubled times over the past year. George volunteered to serve with ‘TeamRed’ in the local community of Penyffordd/Penymynydd and his endeavours have been recognised as he has just won a Local Lockdown Heroes Award 2021. George undertook the valuable role of delivering meals to members of the NHS and those who were self-isolating and thus unable to cater effectively for themselves or their families. The adult team with which he worked closely could not have been more glowing in their praise of George’s efforts and personality. Your school is proud of you George!
Year 10 are through to the last eight in the WNC
On the sporting front our Year 10 lads have just beaten Ysgol John Bright in a very tense game and are now through to the last eight in the Welsh National Cup competition. The team left it late however and scored the winning goal in the second minute of injury time, much to the jubilation of the gathered fans. Better late than never!
We will publish a new timetable for extra-curricular events for after half term, but can report once again that student uptake of these sessions is great and it’s so inspiring to see that our children want to be fit and healthy and engage in sporting activities, particularly in their own time.
Students on their way to see the BBL Finals
Last weekend we were able to run a trip to the Basketball Finals in Birmingham. Over forty of our students watched with enthusiasm the women’s and men’s finals at the Birmingham NIA Stadium and all concerned had a lovely time.
We will remind you again about the CAFA Balloon Race next week, but please be aware that our school study club buses will run once again on Mondays and Tuesdays, starting week beginning Monday 14th February. We now have the go ahead to reintroduce this provision, for which we are really thankful because we appreciate just how helpful extra study sessions can be, perhaps especially to those who will soon be taking external examinations.
Pob lwc to the Welsh team in the Six Nations against Ireland this weekend. Have a nice weekend!