7th September, 2012 www.howells-cardiff.gdst.net

Principal’s welcome back TOP INDEPENDENT SCHOOL IN WALES! I am delighted to welcome everybody back after the summer break. As you will have seen from the local press, we have achieved outstanding results at A level and GCSE and I am proud to share these with you. At A level: • 23% gained A* • 55% gained A*-A • 82% gained A*-C • 12 students gained all A* • 33 students gained all A* and A At GCSE: • 7 girls achieved all A*s • 29 girls achieved all As/A*s Of the total entries: • 47% achieved A* • 78% achieved A to A* • 99% achieved A* to C While I am not a big fan of league tables, it is always lovely when we are near the top and many of you will have seen the article in the Echo which acknowledges us, once again, as the top school in Wales.

www.howells-cardiff.gdst.net 7th September, 2012

Student News It was fantastic to have Hannah Mills, a former student, at our very first assembly talking to the students about her success in the Olympics, where she achieved a silver medal in the 470 sailing event.

In the assembly, we also mentioned Hannah R-S in Year 7, who won 1st place at the optimist competition linked to the Extreme 40s event last weekend. Congratulations, Hannah! I was also delighted to hear that Molly in Year 8 took part in the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Molly was one of the Only Kids Aloud who were filmed and recorded at Rhossili beach singing "Bread of Heaven". Molly also sang with Only Kids Aloud and Only Men Aloud at the Paralympic Flame Festival concert on 27 August from outside the Millennium Centre. We were thrilled to see the LAMDA results which were exceptional again this year. This is a very important part of our extra-curricular offer. Well done to all involved. We are always delighted to celebrate the achievements of our students, so please keep us informed of any areas of success or excellence that can be shared with others.

New Beginnings This year, we welcomed our new Year 7s and other girls through the Senior School. In the College, as well as welcoming most of our Year 11s back, we have also given a warm welcome to 68 new students. All the students have settled in well and there have been induction activities for both Year 7 and Year 12 to help them get to know each other and the staff. On Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Gosney launched our new, extended, Enrichment Programme to the Year 12 students. All members of the College met in the Sports Hall to hear about the many sporting and extracurricular activities on offer to them. We believe in a healthy body as well as a healthy mind and on Wednesday afternoon students can chose from a wide range of activities: from Aerobics, Rowing and Rugby to Dry Slope Skiing (please see the brochure attached). In addition to the many sporting activities on offer, the students were also keen to sign up for some of the numerous enrichment activities available in their curriculum time. Debating, Rock Band and Howell’s Radio were some of the opportunities made available to them. (More news of Howell’s Radio later as we are launching the Annual Fund this year to help support this exciting new initiative). This is in addition to the many lunchtime clubs that have been promoted during Freshers’ Fair. I hope that your son / daughter has signed up to take advantage of some of these great opportunities. And Finally… Beauty and the Beast rehearsals are well underway and there is no doubt that it will be an amazing show. More details of how to purchase your tickets will be available in the next Newsletter.

Sally Davis PRINCIPAL

STOP PRESS

Be sure to visit the Insole Court this Saturday between 2-5pm. The Insole Court Trust are hosting a very special event to celebrate the transfer of Insole Court from Cardiff County Council to the community.

Enrichment Programme

What can you do?

Sport for Leisure, Sport for Competition, Sport for Life

Badminton

Coach: Mrs Carol Jones

Beginners or experienced players are welcome to play badminton in the Sports Hall each week.

Dry Slope Skiing

Coach: Mr Peter Cruickshank

If you are planning to join the College Ski Trip in February half term, this package of lessons would be an excellent introduction to the sport as well as the possibility of being involved in the Schools’ Dry Slope Skiing Championships.

Introduction to the College Enrichment

Programme

Mrs Michelle Gosney, Deputy Principal

Enrichment activities are a substantial part of your

college offer. The range of sporting, academic and

creative opportunities available allow every student

to build on existing skills and talents as well as

develop new ones.

The social benefits of being involved help students to

develop confidence, friendships and self esteem.

Engaging with others in social and competitive ways

reinforces the Howell’s ethos that a healthy body is a

healthy mind.

The College Enrichment Programme provides opportunities for all College students to enhance their learning through Sport in Action or Life Skills.

The programme is timetabled on Wednesday afternoons and extended through a number of sports clubs and training sessions programmed as extra-curricular activities.

Choose one sport for the term or change sport or activity every half-term.

First Aid Course

Coach: Mrs Anna Lewis

You would need to commit to this certificated course for half a term. The group size will be limited to 6 – 8 students. The course will run four times throughout the year.

Fitness Training & Running

Coach: Mr Tom Biebrach

Join Mr Biebrach in the Fitness Suite each week to develop your own training circuit.

Football

Coach: Mr Wally Carter (Left) Assistant Coach: Mr Steve Elmes (Right)

Football for fitness will run every Wednesday afternoon. Training for those students who wish to be in the football team will take place on Monday after School. Team members will have the opportunity to take part in the Cardiff League and Under 18 Welsh Schools’ Cup competitions as well as local friendlies.

Hockey

Coach: Mr Geoff Roderick

Training and matches are held on Tuesday after college at

Leckwith Stadium. Team members will have the

opportunity to take part in the GDST Hockey Rally in

Northampton and the Cardiff and Vale Schools

Tournament.

Netball

Coach: Mrs Fay Shorney

Training and matches will take place on Wednesday

afternoons. You will have the opportunity to take part in

the School and Vale Tournament and the GDST Netball

Rally in Northampton.

Rowing

Coach: Mrs Sarah Thomas

Rowing for beginners, intermediate and experienced

rowers will be arranged at Llandaff Rowing Club, by Captain

Sarah Thomas. Courses will run depending on interest.

Rugby

Coach: Mr Matthew Sweeney

Mr Sweeney has experience of coaching a Junior Blues

Regional Team in 2010/11. He has led the Rugby at Howells

for the past two seasons and have taken the team to the

Urdd National 7s each year. He also arranged the inaugural

Howell’s 7s competition last season in which the Home

Side were runners up to Stanwell School. We intend

repeating this successful event in October 2012. The

players will train on a Wednesday afternoon as well as

playing regular friendlies against local Cardiff teams.

Swimming

Teacher: Mrs Fiona Mills

Join Mrs Mills in the Swimming Pool on Wednesday to

enjoy swimming for leisure.

Yoga

Teacher: Catherine Kelleher

Join Mrs Catherine Kelleher on Wednesday afternoons in

BR3 to enjoy yoga.

Zumba / Aerobics

Teacher: Mrs Justine Davies

Join Mrs Justine Davies in the Great Hall on Wednesday

afternoons to enjoy Zumba for fun.

Additional Opportunities

Cross Country

League races are held for boys and girls in the autumn term.

Golf

This sport is only available in the Spring Term. You will have the opportunity to use a local driving range and can take part in the Shelter Cymru Competition and the Schools Competition at local clubs. Free transportation is provided by the School.

Ski Trip

Ski trip to Austria during Spring Half Term

Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Preparation for this award takes place during curriculum time and includes expedition training in the Brecon Beacons during autumn term. The practice expedition is held during summer term and the qualifying expedition will be held in the summer holidays 2013. Time: Monday, period 2, weeks A & B.

Extra Curricular Opportunities

The Extended Project

Mrs Kate Jones

The Extended Project is an opportunity for students to

design and carry out a research project of their own

choice with minimal teacher supervision. A successful

project allows students to demonstrate that they are

creative learners with the ability to research, think

critically and evaluate evidence to an advanced level,

independently. It also requires a very high level of

communication skills through the production of a written

report and an oral presentation of the project to a

selected audience. It is very useful to students applying

for highly competitive degree courses who need to make

their university applications stand out from the crowd.

Debating

Mrs Helen Davies

In addition to being hugely enjoyable, both as a

participant and as a spectator, debating develops the

valuable skills of lucid communication, formulating and

substantiating a coherent argument and challenging

opposing viewpoints. It is an excellent preparation for

university and job interviews where you are required to

'think on your feet' and for many career paths, including

Law and Politics. At Howell's, we hold internal debates in

a variety of formats, and participate in a range of national

competitions, including the CEWC competition, Debating

Matters and the Oxford and Cambridge Schools'

Competitions.

Entrepreneurship

Mrs Julie House

Entrepreneurship can be defined by describing what entrepreneurs do. For example: "Entrepreneurs use personal initiative, and engage in calculated risk-taking, to create new business ventures by raising resources to apply innovative new ideas that solve problems, meet challenges, or satisfy the needs of a clearly defined market."

Entrepreneurship is not restricted to business and profit: it may involve participation in an event which brings about a change to achieve some benefit. For instance last year’s Bust fashion show raised £4000 for Velindre hospital’s Leading Lights Campaign for specialist cancer care nurses. This charitable event resulted in the team participating in Global Entrepreneurship week and becoming finalists in a local Masterclass competition run by Careers Wales and Colorfoto.

For a long time it was thought that entrepreneurs were special, that they were just born with the ability and desire to go their own way, on their own. Over the past twenty years or so, we've discovered that entrepreneurs learn to do what they do and that they also learn, to a large extent, to be who they are. That's why we say they are made not born. Many of the opportunities offered in the college help you to develop your entrepreneurial skills.

http://www.mvp.cfee.org/en/aboutentrepreneurs.html

Work Experience

A work placement is your opportunity to spend a period of time outside the classroom, learning about a particular job or area of work. During your placement, you'll be able to find out what skills employers look for when they're hiring someone to fill a job vacancy. You will also get the chance to develop your self-confidence and communication skills. This will help you to work better with other people in further or higher education, as well as in your future career.

In Year 12 your work experience placement needs to be organised during school holidays as you cannot miss curriculum time from your studies. It is usual for this to involve working in a business or organisation full-time for one or two weeks, or spending one day per week in the workplace over a number of months. This latter choice may be particularly valuable if entering the voluntary sector as experience for Medicine courses. Consider care homes, charity shops, special schools which run literacy classes, mother & baby groups etc. See: Mrs House in the Careers Room

Extra Curricular Clubs

‘Whizz Bang Science’

Join Mrs Churchman to prepare science experiments to take

out to our feeder Junior Schools.

Time: Week A: Tuesday, Period 4

Howell’s Radio

Join Mr Hunter in preparing radio broadcasts and learning

how to operate our own school radio.

Times: Week A: Monday, Period 2

Week B: Tuesday, Period 4

Howell’s Rock Band & Musical Performance

Come along if you are interested in forming a school rock

band and/or would like to be involved in musical

performance.

Times: Week A: Tuesday, Period 4

Week B: Tuesday, Period 4

Welsh for the workplace

Times: Week A: Tuesday, Period 4

Week B: Thursday, Period 4

Fresher’s Fayre

At the Fresher’s Fair, students are also introduced to the

following opportunities: Choir, Jazz Group, Orchestra,

Millennium Volunteering, Interact, Envision, Engineering,

Welsh for the Workplace and Eco Club.