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Brynmawr Foundation School May 2016 Newsletter

Brynmawr

Foundation School Ysgol Sylfaenol Brynmawr

May 2016 Newsletter

Dear Parent,

This Summer’s e-Newsletter once again celebrates an outstanding year in the life of Brynmawr Foundation School.

Students across Key Stages 3 and 4 have sustained excellent achievements in all areas of school life –

academic, sporting, artistic and community based. Our Key Stage 3 results were once again outstanding and showed improvement across the full range of

subjects – both Core and Foundation. I wish them all the very best as they start their GCSE studies.

Literacy and Numeracy results recently arrived at the school and again early indications show that our

pupils have made great progress in both these key areas. Literacy and Numeracy continues to be a focus of whole school and pupil development. In our school

calendar, Literacy and Numeracy evenings for parents and pupils have been included to ensure

parents have a clear understanding of the skills being developed and the end of year tests.

As a school we are all now looking forward to the GCSE results in August. The application and effort of

all our Year 10 and 11 students were both exemplary and I am confident that all the hard work and commitment shown by them will be rewarded with

outstanding examination outcomes. I hope you enjoy reading about all the activities and

achievements of our pupils this term and look forward with all of us to continued success in the

coming year. The students of Brynmawr Foundation School continue to be a constant source of pride for us and for you all as parents. I wish you all a relaxed

and rewarding summer and look forward to meeting you in school events during the next school year.

I wish you all a happy summer holiday and look forward to the start of the next school year on

Monday 5th September. James Retallick Head Teacher

Dates for your Diary

August 25th – GCSE Results Day

September

1st & 2nd – INSET Days 5th – Start of Autumn Term 30th – INSET Day/Taster Day

October

6th – Open Evening 7th – INSET Day 24th – 28th – Half term

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Brynmawr Foundation School May 2016 Newsletter

Attendance Awards 100% Attendance lottery

Attendance at Brynmawr School continues to improve thanks to the hard work of Staff, pupils and parents with a 2% attendance increase this year on last year. The fortnightly attendance lottery sposored by Costain will be continuing next year, so it is vital that pupils are in schoool to be in with a chance of winning the lottery!!! Holidays in term time are still only authorised in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances and holidays during term time are still liable for fixed penalty notice fines. We will be awarding £100 prizes to those pupils with 100% attendance for the Summer Term, and there will be a £100 Attendance lottery for those pupils that achieves 100% attendance in September and for all pupils that receive 100% attendance for the whole of the year they will be invited to go on a Adventure Activity Trip. Also, due to the success of the 100% gold attendance badges we will be introducing silver and bronze badges to encourage those pupils that, due to unforseen circumstances, have lower attendance but then try to improve.

Flying High

On Tuesday 28th June Bor Humphreys one of our Year 10 pupils was given a rare opportunity by MOD St Athan.

Bor, who is an Air Cadet with 275 squadron was invited to experience a flight in a 2 seater Royal Air Force Tutor training aircraft. The visit was in collaboration with RAF Careers and gave Bor an insight into the work of the Royal Air Force. Bor enjoyed his day and was flown by Flight Lieutenant Geraint White, the son of our own Mr Paul White - Maths teacher.

Uniform Guidelines As from the beginning of September any pupil wearing incorrect uniform or piercings will be removed from circulation, that is they will be isolated during break and lunchtimes

until the uniform is correct. There have been a few trends appearing during the last few weeks of term, such as canvas shoes and piercings. See examples of shoes and piercings not allowed. Pupils who have piercings as of July 19th have been accounted for and will be able to remove their piercing during school hours as they will not close up in a 7 hour school day. One plain piercing in each ear lobe is allowed.

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Brynmawr Foundation School May 2016 Newsletter

What’s Been Going on in School! Year 6 Transition Week The week commencing 27th June saw 145 Year 6 pupils from our feeder Primary schools and others in Blaenau Gwent join us for a very busy 5 days in which they were put into their new form groups and sampled some of the lessons they will be having in September. They completed their CATs on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and on Thursday evening Year 6 Parents were invited to the school to meet their child’s Form Tutor, order uniform from Roger’s, Brynmawr and to organise school transport ready for September. It was a very successful evening with a high proportion of parents attending.

During Friday pupils were put into their Houses: Caradog, Glyndwr or Llewellyn and were with their House Captains and they took part in several challenges, of a quiz, sporting competitions and a karaoke. Then after lunch they were with their form tutors and were tasked to build a chair capable of holding a 2.5kg weight using only 20 sheets of A4 paper and sellotape. They threw themselves into the day with great enthusiasm. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the tasks and by the end of the day many new

friendships had been forged. Throughout the week a selection of our current Year 7 pupils escorted the Year 6 pupils to their lessons and stayed with them during break and lunchtime to help them. They were a tremendous help to us all and myself and Mrs Burns would like to thank them for their contribution to the smooth running of Transition Week. We hope that Year 6 pupils enjoyed their week with us and we have allied any fears they had about starting “Big School” and can now look forward to starting in September.

Safeguarding Workshop In February, 20 Year 8 pupils were invited to attend a Safeguarding Workshop. During the day they took part in numerous activities which allowed them to give their opinions and ideas on a variety of topics that affect them on a daily basis, including internet safety and substance misuse. The information gathered from them, and pupils from other secondary schools, will help shape the future provision and services for young people in Blaenau Gwent over the next few years.

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Brynmawr Foundation School May 2016 Newsletter

Subject News SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FACULTY Technology

‘YEAR 7 STEM DAY’ on Friday, 27th May, 2016 A workshop based STEM Day was organised by the Science and Technology Faculty for the entire cohort of Year 7 and complemented by Year 5 More Able and Talented students from our local feeder schools. The Faculty secured a wide variety of guests from Higher Education and Industry:

Carillion plc: working with Design Technology, ‘monitor noise workshop’.

Eden Education Centre: to deliver a STEM based workshop through LEGO with support from Costain plc.

First Campus: Craig Oats, Digichemistry: to co-ordinate a cluster of students to create a school digital iBook and Astrocymru, Emma Wilde: 3D Space.

Technocamps: University of South Wales, Introduction to BBC micro bits computing.

Cardiff University: Python programming and Web Development.

Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW): F1 in Schools, designing a race car

Through See Science we have secured two STEM ambassadors.

Institution of Civil Engineers (FCC/ RB, Alun Griffiths with Circuit of Wales): Ian Knowles, Project Director to deliver the workshop ‘bridge to schools’.

MATHEMATICS FACULTY The Mathematics department are looking forward to the arrival of Techniquest on Monday 10th October. They will be running workshops with Year 7, 8 and 9 where the students will be completing the “Theme Park Challenge”. During the challenge the participants will submit a proposal to build a theme park. They will have to design the park as well as identifying all costs and funding sources. In order to achieve their goals they will need to work together within their groups.

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CREATIVE FACULTY

Drama 40 pupils attended the annual overnight theatre trip to London. First stop was Bubba Gumps for their evening meal followed by a visit to the Apollo Theatre London to view Wicked. The following day pupils attended a workshop based on Phantom Of The Opera which was led by actors currently performing on the West End, and students then watched the matinee

performance of Phantom. Pupils should be commended on their excellent behaviour, and participation on the trip.

The announcement of our forthcoming school production is We Will Rock You. We are currently in the process of auditioning for main character and chorus. The production will take place in February 2017!

Music Congratulations to Morgan Gardner who passed his Grade 1 Guitar exam with merit, George Small who passed his Grade 5 Classical Guitar with merit and Scott O’Neill who passed his Grade 4 Euphonium exam, with Merit. Bradley Meats (Grade 3 Drums) and Amy Goncalves (Grade 2 Piano) are awaiting their results. Pupils from Brynmawr Foundation School performed in St David’s Hall on Monday 4th of July as part of the Greater Gwent Summer Showcase concert. George Small and Morgan Gardner took to the stage with Blaenau Gwent Guitar Ensemble. They enjoyed a rapturous reception from the audience.

George Small and Morgan Gardner also performed with Blaenau Gwent Guitar Ensemble in Birmingham on Wednesday 6th of July. Blaenau Gwent Guitar Ensemble were invited to perform at the CBSO Hall as part of the Music for Youth Festival, the largest youth music festival in the UK. An amazing experience for the students.

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THE BACK PAGES

Physical Education

CRICKET On Thursday 8th July our Year 9 cricket team travelled to Monmouth cricket club to take part in a Chance to Compete 8 aside festival. Monmouth cricket pitch had been divided into 4 fields and we found ourselves in pool A playing on pitches 1 & 2. In our first match we played Lewis Boys School we started well with the bowling restricting them to 62 from 7 overs. I opened the batting with Zach Tandy and we started really well. I had to retire on 20 runs and Taylor Francis and Zach Jarrett built upon the good foundation. Sadly we lost by 3 runs in the final over. Thomas Vokes our non-playing team manager gave us an inspirational speech before our next game. In our second game we played Monmouth A the eventual winners of the tournament. With excellent bowling from Shane Hillman and Mason Rowson we kept Monmouth A to only 50 runs. However, their bowling attack consisted of several county

players which was too strong for our batting line-up and we lost by 30 runs. Blackwood were our final opponents in the group stages. I managed to win the toss for the third game running and put a strong Blackwood team into bat. Very good bowling again by Josh Preece gave us a target of 45 to chase. Our hero of the hour was Zach Tandy who scored an unbeaten 18 to see us home and we won in a close game by 3 wickets. In our final game, the third place play off we took on Whitecross school from Hereford. Mr.Owen offered us a sausage roll and a can of pop from Greggs on the way home if we managed to beat them. Again I won the toss by playing rock,paper,scissors as no coin could be found!! They set a total of 54 which was certainly achievable. We started our batting awfully and were 5 down for only 12 runs. Mr.Owen still had faith and when Taylor Francis and Ethan Jones were at the crease they started to settle the ship. Taylor scored an unbeaten 22 and had to retire but because all of our other batsmen were out he came straight back into bat. He then scored three more sixes and won us the game by 1 wicket. For winning our third place final we won the school £150 worth of cricket kit including a Gray Nicholls bat, ball, pads, thigh pads, gloves, box and a helmet. Mr.Owen kept his promise and we enjoyed a well-earned trip to Greggs on the way home. Hywel Evans (9C2)-Cricket Captain. RUGBY During this Summer Term our girl’s rugby programme has taken huge strides forward within the school. We have seen our girls compete in tag festivals as well as contact festivals throughout the term. Our Year 7 & 8 team competed in their first ever contact festival at Newbridge Comprehensive School where they did extremely well - winning two, losing two and drawing one. We have also seen our Year 9 & 10 team compete in their first festival and doing a great job in winning one and losing one. We would also like to say a big well done to a number of our girls who have joined The Jesters Rugby team and are continuing to play rugby outside school. On behalf of the school we would like to thank all our pupils for their time and dedication throughout the year and look forward to welcoming you all back in September.

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ATHLETICS Congratulations to all those who represented the school at the District Athletics Championships. Those coming in the top three were: - Year 7 Boys

Alex Penman – 200m 3rd / Long Jump 3rd

Callum Wilstead – High Jump 1st Relay – 3rd

Year 7 Girls

Courtney Shaw – 200m 2nd Sophie Hughes – 800m 3rd Ruby Hayman – 1500m 3rd / High

Jump 2nd

Livvi Bevington – Javelin 2nd Megan Hannam – Shot 3rd

Year 8 Boys

Jack Arnold – 300m 3rd Cameron Bailey – 800m 3rd Andrew Fann – Triple Jump 3rd

Year 8 Girls Mia Nash – 100m 3rd / Long Jump

3rd Sophie Richards – 300m 2nd Freya Durban – High Jump 1st

Those pupils who came in the top two in the district went on to represent Blaenau-Gwent in the South East Wales Schools County Championships were some enjoyed further success!

Livvi Bevington – Javelin 2nd Year 7 boys relay – 3rd

In the first round of the Welsh Athletics Cup our pupils competed well finishing as follows in their group: -

Year 7/8 Girls – 3rd Year 7/8 Boys – 5th Year 9/10 Boys – 4th

Finally congratulations to Jordan Baugh and Ffion Prosser both of whom were selected to represent South East Wales Schools at the Welsh Schools Athletics Championships where Jordan finished 6th in discus and Ffion came 3rd in javelin. PE KIT Just a reminder that following on from suggestions from the Sports Council - NAVY LEGGINGS are allowed to be worn as part of the girls PE kit. They can be worn instead of NAVY SHORTS if pupils choose to wear them but black leggings/ shorts/ socks are not part of the School PE kit and would kindly ask that any problems are sorted over the Summer Holidays so pupils are ready for the new term in September. Well done to everyone that has trained / played and supported the school over the past year – we hope you all enjoy the holidays and return in September ready to go again!

#TRAIN HARD, PLAY HARD, HAVE FUN