December / Rhagfyr 2006 Rhif/No. 28

PenglaisNewsletterCylchlythyr

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www.penglaisschool.org.uk

Nadolig

Llawen

Merry

Christmas

We have had several dire warnings that this winter is going to be particularly severe. Although I have included this warning in previous newsletters it is still the case that several pupils do not have a valid contact number on school records.

The decision to close the school is never easy and it is not a decision taken lightly but the following factors are taken into account:

a signifi cant number of staff (both teaching and non-teaching) live outside the town and it is impossible to run a normal timetable with a high percentage of staff absent or late. The absence of 15 teachers out of 80 would create enormous timetable problems.

a signifi cant number of pupils come to school by bus. Once bad weather sets in some of the bus companies will want to set off early. As they are responsible for the health and safety of pupils on the journey it would be reckless to overrule them. It is not diffi cult to envisage a situation where some children would be stranded if the buses were not available. Disrup-tion is also caused to teaching if a signifi cant number of pupils do not arrive in the morning because of poor weather conditions affecting bus routes.

any decision is taken with Ysgol Penweddig as both schools share the same transport.

Although closures are rare parents need to be aware in the event of bad weather:

Penglais and Penweddig will put a message on Radio Ceredigion (103.3-97.4-96.6 FM) by 8.00 a.m. if the school is to close.

The Penglais answering machine will contain an information message if the school is going to close or is defi nitely known to be closing the next day.

BAD WEATHER AND SCHOOL CLOSURE

Mrs. Jane Leggett was a runner up in this competition and recently went to London for the presentation which she thoroughly en-joyed. The Music Department has been given a computer as well as some valuable Sibelius software. Mrs. Leggett is very grateful for all the support she has received both in the school and locally.

CLASSIC FM TEACHER OF THE YEAR

All pupils MUST have left a valid contact number on school records so that we can keep parents informed. DESPITE REPEATED PLEAS some pupils still do not have this number. It is needed, in any case, for a medi-cal emergency. Please could all parents check with us that we have an up to date contact number.

Please make sure that your son / daughter knows what to do in the event of an early closure. Some pupils, especially younger ones, have no idea what they should do in the event of an emergency closure.

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Site DevelopmentThe completion of the Sixth Form Centre has been delayed by recent appalling weather but I am hopeful that the building will be handed over on Friday 15th December. New building regulations prevent me from opening the building until all the outside works, including tarmac for the paths and car park, are complete. I have arranged for this to take place in the last week of term and the holidays. On Monday 8th January I am hoping that we can move the sixth form into the new accommodation.

Contractors are ready to move into the old sixth form centre to convert it into a new Learning Support Centre for children with special education needs. This work should be completed by the end of January.

The major improvements to the Main Hall have also been completed. The Parent Teachers Association and the Lillian Ball Trust Fund have provided all the funding for the new curtains, equipment and seating. This has transformed the Main Hall which is now a much improved venue for assemblies, productions, meetings and year group activities.

Main Hall Project

Other work scheduled for the spring term includes the housing of a new reprographics centre in D Block, a designated room for meetings and interviews on the ground fl oor and offi ces for the year managers who will be appointed shortly.

The next place of major capital and refurbishment work will involve suitable accommodation for Drama, Music, Art and Food Technology. Bids are already being prepared and I hope to have more defi nite proposals by the late spring.

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Newsletter

FUTURECHEF 2007

Penglais School has a winner for the third time in four years. Futurechef is run by Springboard promoting careers in Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism. The standard required for the competition is very high and pupils are encouraged to participate to enable them to develop confi dence, their skills and to give them an idea of working under time constraints.

The competitive spirit was heightened when Chris Williams, Head Chef at Harry’s Bistro, came to judge pupils for the school heats back in October. 17 catering pupils worked conscientiously to produce products of a very high standard.

Chris was very impressed and found it impossible to make a decision. He chose three pupils for the ‘cook off’ on the 6th November. Idwal Evans emerged the winner of the school heat. Idwal then went on to win the local fi nal held in Newtown on 20th November against very stiff competition from four schools: Lampeter; Tywyn; Dyffryn Teifi and Ysgol Bolwmog to become the mid-Wales fi nalist. Idwal will now compete in Cardiff on the 7th February 2006 to become Futurechef of Wales. The school is extremely proud of the catering group and is delighted with Idwal’s achievement so far. Thanks are extended to Chris Williams for his continual support in lessons as well as for competition preparation and judging.

WBAC GOES EUROPEANYear 12 Welsh Baccalaureate students Louise Ward and Emma Sims, together with teacher Mrs. Margaret Fitches, recently took part in Careers Wales West pilot enterprise project to Tarnow and Krakow in Poland. With fellow Welsh sixth formers, they mentored Polish student teams, helping them to compete in the business game, ‘Going for Profi t’. They used the experience to build the WBAC portfolio on Wales Europe and the World: Community participation and Enterprise / World of Work.

‘The students and teachers in Tarnow were very friendly and made us feel welcome. The school was unusual in that it used to be a very large house. Our social evening (with Polish and Welsh dancing and music) helped us make new Polish friends and be aware of the culture. I feel very privileged to have helped make the business enterprise links with Poland’.

Louise Ward

The visit was a great success and organiser Gwyn Price said, “Louise and Emma are a credit to their families, their school and their country. They greatly impressed their Polish hosts and made new friends in Poland and Wales. We are confi dent that we can now develop a longer term project with Poland and we look forward to working further with Penglais in the project development.”

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HEALTHIER VENDING MACHINESThe vending machines continue to be a popular meeting place and the source of a quick, healthy snack. There is now a wider range of drinks and snacks with the emphasis on low fat, reduced sugar and salt and fewer additives. Milk shakes, cranberry juice and organic lemonade are now available and the latest selection or organic, vegetarian and gluten free snacks are very popular. Fair Trade continues to be well supported with the

introduction of more Fair Trade snacks and a new Fair Trade coffee machine in the Sixth Form Centre. Lists of snacks in the various categories have recently been posted around school to help pupils and staff with their selection.

Food allergies are always a problem. Some snacks in the vending machines contain nuts and seeds while others contain dairy products. If you are

allergic to any of these it may be best if you don’t buy from the vending machines.

Vending services have recently been outsourced to relieve the pressure on staff and resources. This venture has proved successful with school receiving royalties for all items vended which should make a signifi cant impact on school funds.

THE ABERYSTWYTH YOSANO EXCHANGE

The end of half term brought the arrival of the Japanese visitors from Yosano, in the Kyoto Prefecture.

A group of 6 students and 3 adults arrived on Saturday October 28th. On this occasion the Mayor of Yosano travelled with the group. The Mayor of Aberysywyth, our local MP Mark Williams and two County Councillors, together with the welcome group, greeted the exchange at Aberystwyth station.

On the Sunday morning the group and host families went to Talybont and visited the grave of Frank Evans who instigated this exchange. Frank had been a prisoner of war in Yosano. The students laid fl owers on his grave and then we all walked to the chapel that Frank attended. Here we were welcomed and then the Sunday school children sang and entertained us with music. The students spent the rest of the day with their host families.

During the week there were a variety of activities put on for the group. On the Tuesday they visited Llanerchaeron near Aberaeron in the morning followed by Nant yr Arian and the Lynwernog Silver Lead mine in the afternoon.

The Thursday saw us on the road again heading north to the Centre for Alternative Technology. The ride up is spectacular and standing looking round from the top was similar to standing at one of the old temples in Kyoto. From Mach we headed north and had lunch by Tal-y-llyn and fed the ducks. The sun was out and made the visit to Castell y Bere where those who were visiting were outnumbered by our group. The day ended with a ride on the Tal-y-llyn railway.

Friday was a busy day as the group visited Penglais in the morning. Dr Gee the Chair of the Govenors came in and met them. He and Atsumi Ohta the Mayor of Yosano planted a camellia tree in the Learning Support Centre garden. The tree planting was photographed by the Times Educational Supplement and the photo appeared the following week. The group was then shown the schools sports facilities and able to have a quick game of volley ball before going to watch a rehearsal of Grease. The group visited Ysgol Penweddig in the afternoon.

Friday evening was equally busy with an evening spent in Brynamlwg. Past Aberystwyth students who have visited Japan with the Aberystwyth Yosano Exchange were present plus Elin Jones, our AM, and the Vice Chair of Ceredigion County Council.

Saturday was spent with host families before departure on the Sunday to London for a brief sightseeing and back home to Japan.

Thanks to all the host families and the students who helped make this visit so successful and memorable for the Yosano visitors.Caroline Goodband

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ENGLISH AND MEDIA STUDIES

Researcher in Residence – this year, the Media Studies Department has been taking part in the ‘Researcher in Residence Scheme’ sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and has been fortunate to secure the services of Mrs. Sarah Martindale, a doctoral student at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies in Aberystwyth.

The scheme allows for researchers to go into schools to collaborate with departments on some aspect of their work at no cost to the school. The idea is for the researcher to share their expertise with students and to encourage the positive profi le of the arts and humanities within the school.

This term Mrs. Martindale has given a series of fi ve lectures to Year 12 Media Studies students looking at the way in which Shakespeare is represented on fi lm, which is the subject of her own studies. As well as providing an insight into a cinematic genre, Mrs. Martindale has also covered many of the basic concepts of fi lm analysis in outline and this has proved a valuable support to our students. The students have obviously enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the subject from a different angle and we are grateful to Mrs. Martindale for her enthusiasm and hard work.

Mrs. Martindale will return at the beginning of next term to continue her work as Researcher in Residence at Penglais, when she will be assisting students with their coursework projects and, in particular, with research techniques.

MODERN LANGUAGESYears 8 and 9 Trip to France – The French Department took a group of 43 Years and 9 pupils to St. Omer, Northern France from 20th – 24th November. We had a busy schedule of excursions designed to be of cultural and linguistic interest . . . . . . . or just for fun.

On our fi rst full day we started with a visit to a local bakery where the ever friendly M. Lefèbvre explained to us how he bakes bread in his traditional wood-fi red oven. This was followed, on a more serious note, with a visit to La Compole, a wartime museum which used to be a V2 rocket bomb factory. We then went to La Chocolaterie in Blussent where we were given a guided tour of a high-class chocolate factory – we certainly appreciated the free samples!

The following day we set off to Boulogne market where pupils had the chance to buy home roasted garlic and horse meat (no takers on that!) After lunch we then went to Nausicaa, a fascinating Sea-Life Centre where we spent the afternoon in the company of penguins and sea lions. Before returning to the centre where we were staying we went to the bowling alley. Dr. Ibbotson did remarkably well fro a fi rst-timer, scoring well over 100, closely followed by Gruff Ellis-Williams.

Our home for the week was a rather grand ‘Chateau’ converted for use by school groups. The staff laid on entertainment for us in the evening, including crêpe-making and an egg-drop challenge.

Our experience of French culture took a different slant in the last day with a visit to EuroDisney. Poor weather failed to dampen our spirits, although there was some confusion as to whether the snow on Disney Main Street was real or just soap bubbles!

Almost without exception the pupils were delightful and behaved extremely well. Merci beaucoup to all of you.

Mr. M. Bonser

MATHEMATICS

22 Year 12 and 13 students recently took part in the prestigious UK Senior Math-ematical Challenge. Bronze certifi cates were awarded to Alec Roberts (Year 12) and Ben Pettit (Year 12), with Alec also winning the Best in School certifi cate. Congratulations to all who took part.

Penglais has agreed to be one of a select number of schools in Wales trialling a new GCSE in Maths for the WJEC. Its provisional title is GCSE Maths 2, Ad-ditional Mathematics. A few students in Year 11 will be invited to sit this exam in 2007. It will count as an extra GCSE. A larger number of students in Year 10 will have the opportunity to study for this qualifi cation for examination in 2008.

MUSIC

Candles and Carols – Our traditional concert of Christmas music is being held this year at Llanbadarn Church on Thursday 14th December at 7.00 pm (please note the slightly earlier time this year). As always there will be a variety of vocal and instrumental music and a number of seasonal readings. Both Junior and Sen-ior pupils are performing in this concert. You do not need to purchase a ticket – entry is free, but a collection will be taken towards the Penglais Sudan Appeal. Please come along to support our young performers and to enjoy the Christmas music.

Congratulations – to Francis Moore-Colyer, Sixth form violin-ist, who came third in the recent Dyfed Young Musician compe-tition. This is a terrifi c achievement for a pupil still at school as this competition is open to U21 year olds.

Congratulations – also to Phoebe James, Year 11, who has recently been selected as a member of the National Youth Symphonic Wind Band of Wales.

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Dates for your diary.

Mike Binks, Penglais Reprographics

12 -2006.

C O L O U RPenglais Newsletter

View the newsletter in full colour on the school website

www.penglaisschool.org.uk

Thursday 14th December Christmas Concert at Llanbadarn Church at 7.00 pm

Wednesday 20th December Certifi cates Evening at the Great Hall at 7.30 pm

Friday 22nd December Carol Services at Llanbadarn Church a.m.

School will fi nish at 1.45 pm and most buses will have left the site by 2.00 pm

Monday 8th January Spring Term starts

Tuesday 16th January Information Evening for parents of Year 11 pupils about post-16 courses in the Main Hall at 7.30 pm.

Yours faithfully,

H.J. DAVEY Headteacher

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