Prynhawn da,
Welcome to the final Blog of the academic year. We have a great deal to pack in but would like to begin with a very fond farewell to those colleagues and friends who are going on maternity leave, moving on to new professional challenges or indeed embarking upon retirement at the end of this week. It has been a great pleasure serving with each of you and we are very thankful for all that you have contributed. Perhaps a special mention to Mrs. Diane Bates, who has served the school faithfully for many years and is on so many students’ and staff Christmas Card list due to her kindness and the great care which she has shown to each of us at Castell Alun. We will miss you greatly Diane, and indeed the same applies to each of the colleagues who leave us this time.
Despite the poor weather we were able to run Sports Day on Monday this week and the weather just about held sufficiently for us to be able to run all events by the close of the day. A great big diolch yn fawr to Mrs. Rowlands and her entire team for all the hard work involved in setting up and running the day and we would like to congratulate everyone who participated on their performances but also the energy and enthusiasm that they put into events. We would like to give a particular shout out to Lasitha (Year 9), Bethan (Year 7) and Jenna (Year 10) for absolutely tremendous performances throughout the day and we will watch your progress with great interest on the athletics front.
Many of you will be aware just how wonderful our lower school production of Matilda Junior was. Each of our participating students was an absolute credit to themselves and our school and standards were extremely high, a fact which was noted by audience and staff alike. It would be wrong of us to point out individual performers but we would like to say a massive di iawn to everybody who participated and of course to each and every member of staff under the expert leadership of Mrs. Lloyd-Jones, who made everything possible, ably supported by Mr. Searson. What a wonderful evening and diolch yn fawr also to New Directions Education Ltd who generously donated £250 to support the production.
Recently 86 Year 9 students had a great opportunity to be involved in a Royal Navy Engagement day. Students started with a presentation on the understanding of the Royal Navy’s capabilities and where they operate. They then attended a STEM workshop to develop team building skills in a rocket building activity. This culminated in a competition to determine whose rocket would fire the greatest distance. There were lots of great attempts with much healthy competition! All students enjoyed the experience and there was excellent engagement throughout the day, with plenty of interest in a potential career in the Navy also.
On the morning of Saturday 6th July a number of Year 12 students set off to Manchester airport for this year’s History and RS study visit to Berlin and Krakow. Arriving in Krakow on Saturday afternoon, two days were spent engaging in the history of one of Europe’s oldest cities, including a poignant trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau and a truly memorable interview with a holocaust survivor. As well as these highly emotive visits, time was also spent in the medieval square at the centre of Krakow, which was playing host to a circus festival, with many spectacular sights to see. Having spent our two days in Krakow we set off by coach across the border to Germany and to the capital Berlin. Here, amongst the striking 30 degree heat, we visited many historical and cultural sites including the Topography of Terror, the Jewish Museum, the House of the Wannsee Conference, the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gates. Of course, we could not escape the fact that we were in the German capital whilst the European Championships were taking place. Our visit to the Olympic Stadium, the venue for last Sunday’s final, was particularly interesting as our tour included the changing rooms and the player’s VIP area. We even visited the fan park to take in the atmosphere of one of the matches taking place. 
As you will be aware we are running trips to Chester Zoo, Alton Towers, Go Ape and Zip World this week as part of our usual summer festival for students. At the time of writing we can tell you what a wonderful, if a little wet, time our Year 7 students had at Chester Zoo yesterday. We do, of course, look forward to hearing all of the stories from the Year 8, 9 and 10 trips also this week and are extremely grateful to all staff for giving of their time and expertise to accompany each of these outings. A great big diolch to Mrs. Thomas who has ably overseen the week of activities.
Last week, we took time to embrace and celebrate our wonderful Welsh culture and language. On Thursday over 100 of our Year 7 and Year 12 Welsh students enjoyed a visit to the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen. The students had a fantastic time, using their Cymraeg with each other, the teachers and stall holders around the field. Prizes were awarded to the winning students who had participated in a scavenger hunt by using their problem-solving and Welsh language skills. Everyone enjoyed watching the competitors from all over the world, and joined in to perform in song and dance.
Our Welsh celebrations continue this week as today all of our Year 7 students are participating in our Eisteddfod Ysgol (School Eisteddfod). This is always an enjoyable and exciting event. Over the past couple of weeks students have been working hard on the homework competitions from all their cross-curricular entries in their other subjects, including Art posters, English poems about Wales and History profiles about important Welsh people. The students have been preparing for the on-stage competitions, including recitation, dancing, singing, rapping and the very important choir competition. Pob lwc (Good luck) to all competitors today and a massive diolch to Mrs. Wareing and her team for their wonderful effort in organising this and similar events every year. Da iawn i bawb am gymryd rhan a dathlu ein diwylliant ac iaith. Mae’n rhywbeth rydyn ni’n falch iawn ohono yma yng Nghastell Alun. Well done to everyone for taking part and celebrating our culture and language. It really is something we are very proud of here at Castell Alun.
Worthy of mention also is our Sixth Form -v- staff charity netball game, which was held in order to raise vital monies for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital last week. Everybody had lots of fun and although we are not entirely sure of the final score, the game was really close and contested in a wonderful spirit. We managed to raise a wonderful £181.53 and are greatly indebted to our Sixth Form Charity Committee who organised this event.
Although it is probably fair to say that everybody is now ready for a rest, please do note that we will hold our GCE (AS and A-Level) results day on Thursday 15th August. Students in Years 12 and 13 are able to collect their results at school from 8.00am to 10.00am. However, results will also be sent electronically to students’ Castell Alun email accounts after 10am. In a similar fashion our GCSE results day is on Thursday 22nd August. We would love to see as many happy Year 11 faces as possible between 8am and 10am but after this time results will again be emailed directly to students. Please note that any Year 10 results will not be available to collect from school and will be emailed directly to students’ Castell Alun email accounts by 9am. 
And our final success stories of the year….
Let’s begin with Seren (Year 7) who has just represented Wales at this year’s Dance World Cup finals in Prague. What an amazing feat! There were over 9500 dancers from 54 different countries who qualified for this, the biggest dancing competition in the whole world. What a truly amazing experience! We are in awe of you and your performance Seren, great job!
Really well done to Bella, Eva (Year 7) and Rhiannon (Year 8) who each swam brilliantly at the Holywell Gala recently. All three girls did a tremendous job and actually beat many of their personal best times whilst receiving medals for reaching the podium in their age categories.
We have a further star in the making in Year 10. Joe is most certainly a prospect for the future in boxing. He has just been crowned Hull Boxing Champion in one of the sport’s premier competitions held at Hull University. In taking the title Joe actually triumphed over the three-time Yorkshire Champion and former England number one boxer. We are incredibly proud of you Joe and pob lwc for your upcoming events in Devon.
We would like to congratulate Robyn (Year 10) who has just secured promotion into the premier division for Women’s Canoe racing. Robyn secured first place at the races in Bala recently and has now managed to get promoted into the K1 class which means that she is now in the same league as the top paddlers in Great Britain for her discipline.
We are also monitoring Josh’s (Year 10) cricket career with great interest. Josh currently plays for both the Under 15s and indeed Under 16s national cricket teams on a regular basis and also represents Chester Boughton Hall in the sport. It would appear that Josh is a star in the making and he has already secured some very strong batting contributions against major UK counties in the ECB Cup. Di iawn Josh!
This year has been another remarkable success for CAFA (Castell Alun Friends Association). CAFA have organised numerous events this year raising much appreciated funds, which have gone directly back into school to support students in various ways, including the renovated counselling room, new football kits for the school team and board games for the Year 7 Chess Club. In the increasingly difficult financial climate, the work of CAFA has meant that students have been supported in numerous ways, to offer opportunities that otherwise may not have happened. It is thanks to the events organised by CAFA and their supporters that these funds have been raised. Events this year have included Bingo and Quiz nights, Table Top sales and Sound Bath evenings. There is also this year’s Summer Raffle, with some amazing prizes on offer, including a photography session, paintballing, golf range sessions, beauty vouchers, luxury hampers and a trampoline session. You can buy your tickets in support via the link attached.
CAFA will meet again to start their work for the 2024/25 academic year on Tuesday 10th September at 6.30pm in school. As always new members are warmly welcome as our continued success depends on the generous support of those who take part. A thank you goes to all of those who have shown their support by either attending one of the many events or contributing to the many prizes on offer through the year. Diolch yn fawr
To round off the final Blog of the year please may we remind all students of the need to keep safe around water over the summer holidays. We would ask everyone to read this reservoir safety message from Dwr Cymru – https://corporate.dwrcymru.com/en/one-last-breath
We wish everybody a long safe and very happy summer holiday and we are extremely grateful for your support this year. School will re-open to students on Wednesday 4th September, with students commencing Year 12 able to register with us for late induction also on Monday 2nd September from 9.30am.
Have a wonderful break everybody.
Mwynhewch y gwyliau pawb