newbridge school / ysgol trecelynlearn.caerphilly.org.uk/newbridgeschool/file.php/1...with hands on...

NEWBRIDGE SCHOOL / YSGOL TRECELYN

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE / CANOLFAN RAGORIAETH

This newsletter, along with past newsletters, is available in colour and large print on the school website

Newsletter / Cylchlythyr January 2018

Dear Parents and Carers Governors, staff and I would like to wish you a happy New Year and as always, thank you for your support over last term, both for your children’s education and the work of our school. We have been pleased to see you at our various events, including Prize Evening, Year 7 Settling-in Evening at half term and our Year 11 Mathematics and English evening for selected pupils and parents. We were delighted with your support for our superb Christmas Carol concert, a very enjoyable occasion for all showcasing our many talented pupils This is an important term for all year groups. Year 11 are working towards their final qualifications, Key Stage 3 pupils are working towards gaining their levels at the end of May and Year 10 will be undertaking school examinations the week before half term to support us in assessing their progress through their examination subjects to date. All of Years 7, 8 and 9 will be undertaking examinations early in the summer term and Year 9 will receive their final, end of key stage levels in the summer term of this year. In May, Years 7, 8 and 9 will also undertake the national tests in literacy and numeracy. For all these reasons this is a busy and important term when my staff will be working hard with your children to ensure they make the best possible progress, so that they succeed and excel this year in all examinations and in their progress reports. Parents and carers will know that the majority of our pupils are gaining A*- C grades in their final examination results, with 94% A*- C achieved overall last year. This happens through the hard work of everyone in the school – staff and pupils. We look forward to the continued support of parents in the success of your children at Newbridge School.

LJ Perry Headteacher

NEWBRIDGE SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY

Newbridge School Governors

meet regularly with me to

discuss all important school

matters. Governors are

pictured here in front of the

new building development.

They reviewed the area during

a recent Governing Body

meeting




YEAR 7 BLACK MOUNTAINS TRIP

Year 7 pupils took part in outdoor pursuits days at the Black Mountains Centre in the autumn term and

enjoyed their time immensely, as these photographs show. This activity helps them settle in, make friends

and learn to work in teams.




YEAR 7 TASC ACTIVITY – FORM AND YEAR GROUP MOTTOS

Year 7 were challenged with developing their form and year group mottos at the start of the school year. The pupils worked well together and came up with their final designs for their groups, as shown overleaf.




YEAR 10 SKILLS CYMRU EVENT, CARDIFF

With hands on activities and skills taster sessions, SkillsCymru aims to inspire and motivate young people considering their future careers. The SkillsCymru event held in Cardiff in the autumn term welcomed thousands of students, all of whom met an exciting range of exhibitors from key industry sectors across Wales. Exhibitors provided training and education advice and a selection of interactive and engaging skill-based games and activities.

The range of employment, learning and training opportunities across Wales and beyond are vast and were represented at this event. Pupils met: • Employers from the private and public sectors • Further education colleges • Universities • Training providers • Sector Skills Councils • Career guidance organisations

At SkillsCymru pupils were involved and ‘hands-on’ with bite-sized skills demonstrations and work-based challenges. Exciting and interactive, they got to find out about careers, jobs and training as they chatted to staff and students working at the event. We are pleased to arrange participation in this activity for our pupils so that they gain from these wider experiences.




CAREERS WALES

ARMY CADETS

REMEMBRANCE SERVICE

We were proud to be presented with the National Careers Wales Quality

Mark last term, thanks to the hard work of Mr Keeble in preparing the

school for this award. It reflects the range of careers work that takes

place in our school for our young people, including careers advice,

career visitors and visits

Newbridge School had a recent visit from the local army cadets who joined our assembly and explained the benefits of joining the cadets to our pupils. Become an Army Cadet and you’ll be spending your spare time taking part in adventurous activities like rock climbing, mountain biking, archery and abseiling. Army cadets offer a range of vocational qualifications through relationships with the Cadet Vocational Qualification Organisation (CVQO), including BTEC Level 2 qualifications in Public Services and Music and the ILM Level 2 Certificate in team leading. Kian Winnett is pictured here on the left with Mrs Perry. Well done to all our current cadets.

Every year the Royal British Legion invites Newbridge School to particiapte in the laying of a Remembrance wreath at St Fagan’s Museum. Our Head Girl, Emily Ball and Head Boy, Connor Chapman proudly represented the school this year. We are also proud to lay our own wreath in school every year.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiHtK_lnfPXAhUM_KQKHSsHAScQjRwIBw&url=https://www.careerswales.com/en/professionals/the-careers-wales-mark/&psig=AOvVaw1PKWMYy5n9OP13dVrv_f55&ust=1512575715284628

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjQs-64nfPXAhWSpqQKHbVnCHIQjRwIBw&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/slp/poppy-pin/x65yabuabmg9fjp&psig=AOvVaw2Gu9PdajCrHhFlAiL444Ph&ust=1512575614927933




TOM MAYNARD BIG BIKE RIDE 3 ‘PIT-STOP’ NEWBRIDGE

We were invited by Newbridge Cricket Club to be part of a welcoming party for the Tom Maynard Big Bike

Ride 3 ‘pit-stop’ at Newbridge Cricket Club.

The Tom Maynard Trust is a charity set up in the memory of Tom Maynard, a very talented young

Glamorgan and Surrey cricketer who was tragically killed. The Trust does great work with talented sporting

youngsters. Each year they organise a bike ride and this involves a number of top current and retired first

class cricketers joining this event e.g. Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, Michael Vaughan etc.

Our pupils really enjoyed meeting cricketing heroes as part of the welcoming party. We hope it has inspired their own future cricketing ambitions!

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwj9np2knfPXAhVFyKQKHd-qB28QjRwIBw&url=http://www.tommaynardtrust.com/&psig=AOvVaw2Xold6LadB4cGE5D3Wz_QA&ust=1512575576595795




SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP

SHAKESPEARE PERFORMANCE – MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

The Festival is based around the idea that performing Shakespeare on a professional stage in front of a paying audience gives pupils the chance to unleash their creativity and gain confidence in new ways. The performance of our pupils was outstanding and very polished. I was extremely proud of our pupils and am reminded how skilled Mrs Woollatt and Miss Campbell are in bringing the best out of our pupils, who come in to practice with Mrs Woollatt and Miss Campbell after school and on weekends for weeks before the performance. Well done to all pupils involved. The comedic timing in their performance was so good it brought the house down and received a standing ovation. The cast also performed to our pupils in school the following week.

Pupils from across several year groups performed at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport in November. This was organised by Mrs Woollatt, Head of Performing Arts, and Miss Campbell. They enter our pupils for this experience every year. Over the years we have performed serious plays including Macbeth. This year the performance was a Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy by William Shakespeare.




JESSICA DALLAS – CAERPHILLY YOUNG VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

EUROPEAN LANGUAGES DAY EVENTS

This year, Newbridge School MFL Department celebrated the European Day of Languages with two events - a poster competition for Year 7 and 8 and a charity cake sale run by the Year 10 Language Ambassador team. We had over 300 entries for the poster competition and winners received a goody-bag of French chocolates, biscuits, pastries and drinks. Runners-up also received merits and prizes. This is a review of the cake-sale event by Jack Tranter and Lowri Butler-Griffiths. "For the European Day of Languages, the Newbridge School Language Ambassadors held a bake-sale. It was a 'Flag-Extravaganza!’ We set up a stall and sold cakes decorated with flags from around the world to Year 7 and 8. We quickly sold out of the first batch, but there were still plenty of customers lined up to eat our flag-themed cakes. Overall, we successfully raised £100 to go to the charity 'Medecins sans Frontieres' - Doctors without Borders which is a charity that goes into battle grounds, zones of natural disasters and epidemics to care for all affected. All of our profits are going directly to this charity"

We are very proud of Jessica Dallas in Year 9 who was awarded the prestigious Caerphilly County Borough Council Young Volunteer Award 2017. Jessica volunteers every weekend at Lylac Ridge, Risca which is the first residential animal assisted therapy centre in Wales. Jessica has recently taken examinations at the Centre and hopes to continue her voluntary work. Well done Jessica!

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj8kOWAmPPXAhXSp6QKHR7hB1UQjRwIBw&url=http://www.lylacridge.org.uk/&psig=AOvVaw1OTodk4mzvvlnxuG9HS8-z&ust=1512574120062137

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjq08e-l_PXAhVPCewKHZQ8BXIQjRwIBw&url=https://www.charitablegiving.co.uk/msf/index.htm&psig=AOvVaw0dbrJBhi6WYf2dta1Lu6tW&ust=1512574021273368




PUPILS OF THE WEEK

We are proud of our pupils every day and are pleased to regularly recognise them for their progress and achievement. Each week we recognise 2 pupils in each year group. This could be for their progress, or something special achieved in a subject or sporting activity, or for their excellent attendance, or their kindness and thoughtfulness to others. Here are some of our current Pupils of the Week.




PRIZE EVENING 2016 - 2017

My thanks to all staff, pupils and parents wjo were involved with Prize Evening this year. The evening was a great success, the sports hall was full and all visitors were impressed with the event. The guest speaker, Andrea Meyrick from Techniquest, was superb. Andrea Meyrick has been active in educational provision and policy development in Wales for more than 25 years. Currently, Andrea’s role is Head of Education at Techniquest. This role builds on Andrea’s knowledge and understanding of how to work effectively with schools, translating educational policies in to meaningful learning experiences. Eve Tranter walked away with an array of awards including Abercarn and Newbridge Rotary Awards for Language and mathematics plus Newbridge School Awards for biology, chemistry and physics! The full programme is on our school website.

RUGBY COACHING SESSION

Three former pupils: Elliot Dee, Jack Dixon and Ollie Griffiths have just signed new professional contracts

with the Newport Gwent Dragons. Elliot recently won his first Welsh Cap playing in the Autumn

Internationals against Georgia and South Africa. Unfortunately Ollie had to have an operation on his ankle

on the day of their visit to school but Elliot and Jack came into school for the morning and took a master

class session for our Year 7 pupils in passing and the contact area. They also stayed to answer any

questions the Year 7 pupils had and to sign autographs. We are very proud of these ex pupils.




YEAR 7, 8 & 9 TASC ACTIVITY – THE SEASON OF GOODWILL

Year 7, 8 and 9 took part in a TASC day in December discussing Christmas and the season of goodwill.

Specifically they discussed the ‘goodwill’ importance and impact of charities and various organisations

locally, nationally and internationally. They reviewed events that are organised to raise awareness and

funds, and how people are encouraged to get involved to support projects that show goodwill at Christmas.

The pupils then worked in teams to produce their goodwill project for the festive season. We had many

stunning ideas, presentations and pieces of work, as our selection of photographs shows.




CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE, ST PAUL’S CHURCH

Our Christmas Carol this year concert was held at St Paul’s Church Newbridge on Wednesday 20th

December. It was a delightful evening with wonderful performances from all our pupils and superb singing

from our local community. Thank you for joining in with our Carols!




WINNING CHRISTMAS CARD

CHRISTMAS VISIT TO RESIDENTIAL HOMES

Our lovely pupils visit local residential homes each Christmas to sing Carols and chat with some of the

elderly residents, along with distributing tins of sweets to elderly residents. We are proud to support our

community.

CHAIR OF GOVERNORS VISIT TO CHRISTMAS ASSEMBLY 2017

Congratulations to Yena Cho (Year 8) for

her winning Christmas card design. The

Christmas card competition was organised

by Caerphilly County Borough Council and

run in school by the ICT department.

Yena is pictured with Mrs Perry and Mrs

Williams, Head of ICT.

Mr Gray, Chair of

Governors and Mrs

Gray attended our

last assembly of

2017, wearing

Christmas jumpers

in the spirit of

Christmas.




CHRISTMAS JUMPERS

In the spirit of Christmas, the last day of term, Friday 22nd December, was Christmas Jumper Day for our pupils and staff, when all can wear a Christmas jumper for school, with non-uniform. Pupils and staff alike enjoyed the day, along with our special Christmas assembly to end the term. The day is held to support special charities and pupils and staff contributes a £1 donation for non-uniform. Proceeds go to Save the Children and our own local goodwill activity providing Christmas sweets for local elderly residents of care homes.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwipqs32vZ3YAhVKbVAKHTKoABsQjRwIBw&url=https://www.welholmeacademy.com/events/2017-12-20-christmas-jumper-day&psig=AOvVaw2R-zp4iq-6dew-Np4vV5SJ&ust=1514027420264080




UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 16th January Year 11 BTEC Travel & Tourism Examination Unit 7

Friday 19th January Year 11 BTEC Hospitality Examination Unit 9

Wed 7th February Year 11 Photographs

Thurs 8th February Year 9 Parents’ Evening

Friday 9th February Year 8 & 9 HPV Vaccinations

Friday 9th February Llangrannog Trip

Monday 12th February Year 10 Examinations Begin

Thursday 15th February Year 8 Parents’ Evening

Week Commencing:

Monday 19th February 2018, Half Term

Return to School Week Commencing:

Monday 26th February 2018

Monday 26th February Readathon Week

Wednesday 28th February

Year 11 Reports Home

Thursday 1st March St David’s Day

Thursday 1st March World Book Day

Monday 5th March Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 8th March Welsh Department Trip to Disney Paris

Monday 12th March Year 8 Options Evening

Monday 26th March Year 9 Examinations Begin

Tuesday 27th March Year 8 Option Forms In

Week Commencing: 2nd April 2018

Easter Holidays




REVISION QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARENTS AND CARERS SPRING TERM 2018

At Newbridge School we aim to ensure we keep parents as informed as possible of all important matters relating to your children’s education, so that we best support our pupils in being able to succeed and excel. With these factors in mind we always keep all of our work under review and seek to improve it where this is beneficial to both parents and pupils.

REVISION REVIEW: PREPARING OUR PUPILS FOR TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS

At present we are reviewing our work on revision. We want to be sure we prepare our pupils to the best

possible standard for all tests and examinations. We are working with our School Council to review our

revision strategies and information in school.

We would like to know the information you would like to help you support your child with revision.

Please complete the following questions and return our short questionnaire via your child to your child’s

form tutor or our school office.

This will help us, whatever year group your child is in.

Thank you very much for your responses. I will keep you informed as to how we use this information.

Returns to school by Friday February 2nd

LJ Perry Headteacher




NEWBRIDGE SCHOOL REVISION QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARENTS AND CARERS

Name of child: Form:

Please circle the response that best fits your views and add in your comment in the spaces provided.

Do you have enough information from the school to help you support your child with revision for tests in school throughout the year?

Yes No Not sure Use this space to comment further

Do you have enough information from the school to help you support your child with revision for their year group school examinations that take place once a year?

Yes No Not sure

Further comment space

Do you have enough information from the school to help you support your child with revision for GCSE and other external examinations?

Yes No Not sure Further comment space

What information and support would you like to receive this year and in future?

What sort of guidance would you like to receive about supporting your child with revision?

Returns to your child’s form tutor or the school office

Thank-you for your cooperation with our important questionnaire

newbridge school / ysgol trecelynlearn.caerphilly.org.uk/newbridgeschool/file.php/1...with hands on...

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