Well, yesterday was a bit of a surprise! As you are probably aware, all Flintshire schools were told that this day would be treated as a ‘snow day’ as a result of the weather forecast. This has hindered, but not prevented, our plans to run Year 10 school examinations. Please note that the examinations which would have taken place yesterday (Thursday) for students in Year 10 have now been rescheduled for the week after half term. If you are in any way affected by this, you will receive an email today. In essence, we will run all of the examinations as detailed in your schedules today, but those that were scheduled

for yesterday, except health and social care, will now be held during the first week back after half term. The maths examinations will run in the morning on Wednesday and will commence during registration. The Modern Foreign Language examinations will be conducted during language lesson time throughout the week. Although we did not take the decision to close ourselves, we of course apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are now looking forward to our half term break and students will return to school on Tuesday 20th February for their lessons. There is a staff training day scheduled for Monday 19th February, during which provision for the new school curriculum will be discussed.

Year 9 students have recently enjoyed a visit to the Urdd Centre, Glan-Llyn. Students spent a morning combining their Cymraeg skills and their science knowledge of fire triangles in a bush craft workshop. The session continued with canoeing and team-building on Llyn Tegid. Students learned geographical terms in Cymraeg and a good deal of information about the rain cycle. They then used their own Welsh communication skills, whilst working together to be the first team to cross the lake. The fun continued in the afternoon when students tested their fear of heights on the high ropes course, before competing in an archery competition. The students were brilliant ambassadors for the school, receiving praise for their courteous and positive attitudes, and for their enthusiasm when using Cymraeg. Indeed, today is our Year 8 students’ turn to enjoy a day at the centre and practice their Welsh language skills.

We want to say a big di iawn to our Year 13 Performing Arts (Acting) students, who visited Ysgol Penyffordd to perform their piece, ‘TechSafe Explorers’. Our students gave a credible, poignant performance and this was well-timed to run alongside ‘Safer Internet Day’ activities. Diolch to everyone involved.

This week we would like to give a big shout out to a number of students in Year 7, who took part in a Wrexham/Flintshire rugby tournament. Our girls were particularly successful during their games and came out undefeated. The boys lost some of their games but only after gritting their teeth to produce some excellent tries. Di iawn to everybody involved, and our prospects for the future are clearly good!

Also, on a sporting theme, we would like to say ardderchog to Bethan (Year 7), who has just become Wales Indoor U13 Bronze medallist in 800m at a Welsh Athletics event. This is really impressive and who knows where it may lead next! Really well done also to our Sixth Form boys’ football team, who travelled to Newtown to play this week. They won their match and are now in the final eight in Wales and therefore proceed to the quarter-final stages. We have just heard that they will play Ysgol Friars in the next round, next half term. Pob lwc boys!

CAFA (Castell Alun Friends Association) will be holding an indoor table top sale, on the morning of Saturday 25th February, here at Castell Alun in the Sports Hall. All details are included in the attached poster, including how to book if you’d like to set up your own table to sell goods. In addition to the refreshments and raffle, there will also be the ever-popular pre-loved uniform sale, so if you have any pre-loved uniform which no longer fits, and you’re looking for a good home for it, they would be very appreciative of any donations. Any uniform contributions can be dropped off at CAHS reception between now and then, although please remember that school will not be open next week. All profits made by CAFA go back to help the school fund various projects and it is due to the support these events get from parents and the local community that our students are able to benefit in so many ways. We really do appreciate all contributions!

Congratulations to all students in Year 11 who have finished their mock exams.  You can imagine the delight on the faces of so many of this cohort as they received their mock results.  Where students were perhaps a little less happy, they now have a good understanding of how they might feel on the real results day and have vowed to pull their socks up immediately!

Diolch am eich holl gefnogaeth yn ystod yr hanner tymor Thank you for your support over this half term.

Have a lovely break