St David’s Catholic Sixth Form College Coleg Catholig Chweched Dosbarth Dewi Sant

Spring 2017

This publication is also available in Welsh

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

TŶ HAFAN - CAROLS AT THE CASTLE, MEDALS GALORE AT MATHS CHALLENGE, ENTERPRISE SUCCESS, ENGINEERING WORKSHOP, AND MUCH MORE!

ST DAVID’S STUDENT WINS PRESTIGIOUS FILM INDUSTRY AWARD

ST DAVID’S STUDENT WINS PRESTIGIOUS FILM INDUSTRY AWARD

Former St David’s student, Chloe Falcon, has beaten 100s of applicants to take home the WJEC’s Moving Image Award 2016 for her music video for Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’, created during her A Level year at St David’s.

Story continues on page 3

Pictured: Chloe Falcon and Christine Bell, Principal Examiner for A level Media at WJEC

On the 1st of December, seven of us were selected to volunteer for the Carols at the Castle service. Here’s a short summary of how the day went for us.

12:00We met with our marshal Lisa Williams at the venue. She went through the health and safety policy and from there we were assigned our first role, which was probably the hardest and messiest one...

We had to help set up the stage and tents by carrying the blocks and poles used to put up the tents. We all got a bit dirty but pretty sure some of us developed muscles!

13:30Following that messy encounter, we were assigned to different points on the road leading up to the castle in order to direct vehicles in and out of the castle grounds. As it was pretty chilly outside we found that playing ‘’Heads up’’ distracted us from the cold. Apart from that it was quite fun and filled in the gaps when no cars were driving through.

During the time we spent outside some of us went to grab a coffee to warm up whilst others enjoyed a quick sandwich break on site.

16:30 LUNCH BREAK!After a good few hours spent outside we were let out for a much-appreciated lunch break. We enjoyed a quick walk around town and had a look at the partially set up tents on the venue.

17:45Following the lunch break we returned for the final marshal meeting where we were assigned different roles such as helping to maintain order during the actual concert. We had to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves but also had fun!

Once the concert started we were able to go around and enjoy it ourselves. Jagger and Woody did a great job in presenting the concert. The stalls around the venue were amazing as well.

Overall it was a pretty great experience and it was something we would love to do again! We all ended the night slightly cold and tired but feeling as Christmassy as ever!

Ola Kisielewska

TŶ HAFAN - CAROLS AT THE CASTLE

ST DAVID’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER2

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Students at St David’s College achieved four golds, five silvers and 15 bronze awards in this year’s UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. Over 82,000 students from across the UK returned scripts for the Senior Maths Challenge with the top 10% receiving a gold certificate, the next 20% a silver and the next 30% a bronze.

The Senior Maths Challenge is run by the UK Mathematics Trust and is supported by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. It is aimed at students in years 12 and 13 in

England and Wales. The Challenge involves answering 25 multiple choice questions in 90 minutes and is sat under exam conditions.

Top performing students are then invited to take part in follow on rounds and the very best represent their country in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Around 1000 top scorers in the Senior Challenge are invited to take part in the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1, and around 2000 are invited to take part in the Senior Kangaroo. This year, four of our students have been invited to take part in the Senior Kangaroo.

The Maths department and the College are very proud of their achievements – well done everyone!

MEDALS GALORE AT MATHS CHALLENGE

(Cover story) Chloe Falcon has beaten over 700 entries to take home the WJEC’s Moving Image Award 2016 for her music video for Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’. This is the first time that a school from Wales has won and we are exceptionally proud of Chloe’s achievements. In addition, Kaleb Cox, another former student, was given a Special Mention for his creative animated music video for Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’, demonstrating excellent animation skills.

The Moving Image Awards, designed in partnership with the British Film Institute, recognises and rewards the UK’s most talented young film-makers. Every year, students undertaking WJEC qualifications in Film and Media are invited to submit their work for consideration by a panel of judges. Chloe was selected as one of three students short-listed in her category. She created the piece during her final year at St David’s and is now studying Media at the University of South Wales.

The award was the presented to her at a ceremony at the BFI in London on Friday 13th January, which proved lucky for Chloe! Media teachers Pip Jones and Matt Andrews were in attendance, along with 12 upper sixth Media students who were there to show their support, and to ensure that Chloe received the biggest cheer of the night!

Pip Jones said: “It was a pleasure to be there to support Chloe as her work was truly outstanding, demonstrating not only her exceptional creative skills but technically it was superb, making for a very entertaining music video. All our students very much enjoyed the day out, watching many other pieces of short-listed work that were equally of a high standard, as well as enjoying the question and answer sessions with film critics and a director.”

The celebrations continued in the green room afterwards and it was prosecco all round - for those old enough to drink it! We hope that this is paving the way for things to come for Chloe and we wish her every success in the future.

You can watch Chloe’s video here: http://bit.ly/wjecaward2016

WJEC MOVING IMAGE AWARD WINNER

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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock - The Musical has smashed box office records at the New London Theatre, thanks in part to its leading man. Former St David’s student, David Murphy (stage name David Fynn), took to the stage in November 2016 as Dewey Finn, a part originally played by Jack Black in the School of Rock film. The show is the brainchild of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and opened to rave reviews.

David studied A Level Psychology, Sociology and Theatre during his time with us, from 1999 to 2002. He then went on to train at the Webber Douglas Academy of Acting in London and has performed as Rennick in Game of Thrones, as Wolfie in The Inbetweeners, and as Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer at the National Theatre - among other things!

Performing Arts and Drama teachers Pam Chappell and Kris Crowley ventured down to London in January to watch David in action. Their visit coincided with that of the panel from the Olivier Awards, so keep your eye on the 2017 nominations! Pam and Kris managed to catch up with David after the show (picture, right), and he spoke of his time with the St David’s College Drama department in glowing terms. He remembered taking part in the College musicals - Grease and Calamity Jane - and explained how, through the latter, became firm friends with a fellow student who went on to be his best man.

We wish David every success in his future career and look forward to hearing about what he gets up to next!

EX-STUDENT SMASHES WEST END RECORDS

thestage.co.uk

St David’s science students were recently invited to attend an exhibition at Cardiff University entitled How can science improve mental health?. The event was hosted by the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences in collaboration with the National Centre for Mental Health.

Students had the opportunity to visit the University’s new CUBRIC building and to learn about the wide-ranging work conducted in the department on the underpinnings of mental health. They met researchers and scientists and were given a tour of the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences and the adjoining CUBRIC brain imaging centre. There was also a Q&A session with a panel of researchers around the topic of improving societal mental health.

Opened in March 2016, the CUBRIC (Cardiff University’s Brain Research Imaging Centre) houses neuroimaging equipment and is working to further its world-leading research which has already established Cardiff as one of the UK’s top three universities for Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience.

The visit was a fantastic day out, and a great opportunity to see what Cardiff University has to offer. It was particularly useful for those students considering careers in medical or social sciences, and anyone interested in the science behind treating and diagnosing mental health.

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH DAY

St David’s College is proud to announce that science teacher Geraint Williams has been awarded Chartered Teacher Status by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Chartered Teacher status is a recognised hallmark of excellence in both the UK and Europe. Chartered Science Teachers must demonstrate a unique combination of skills, knowledge, understanding and expertise that is required by individuals involved in the specific practice and advancement of science teaching and learning.

This is a high honour, and Mr Williams is one of only a handful of teachers in Wales to have been awarded this status.

TEACHING EXCELLENCE

In recent months, students and staff at St David’s will have noticed an additional symbol added to communications from Chaplaincy, various posters, and the new line of College apparel available in the Student Shop: a crest made up of a Celtic Cross on a purple field, outlined in silver, and underscored with the motto, ‘Ambulabo iter’.

The words are Latin for the phrase ‘I will walk the path’, taken from the final sermon St David delivered to his followers: ‘Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.’

The purpose of adopting such a motto is to remind all members of the College community how they should always be attentive to God’s call on their life, and ready to respond by following where it leads. This, coupled with the symbol of the Cross styled in Celtic fashion draws us equally to recall the ancient Faith that continues to shape us, and the especial claim we have to it in the city and country of Wales.

Finally, silver on a purple field hearkens to our College

colours, and represents the royalty of Christ, as well as the penitential, hopeful, and watchful nature of our faith.

This crest in no way replaces the College logo, which we continue to use to communicate our identity as a College to the ‘outside’ world; rather, it adds to our experience inside the College, by giving us an easily recognisable symbol for who we are, and where we want to go.

On Tuesday 18th October, Liz York (our director of Music) and I attended Corpus Christi High School’s edition of Les Miserables. We are huge fans of the musical, and we were very excited to see some of the students that we will be teaching next year. We were also pleased to support our partner school and many of our current Performing Arts students who had been invited back to take part in the

production. Les Miserables is such a challenging score to perform and get right, but the students tackled it full on with energy and enthusiasm, complimented by a live band. Some stand-out performances were Georgia Tonge as Cosette, who delivered a heartfelt, evocative performance and Oscar Notley as Javert, who tackled a difficult role with confidence and maturity. It was a pleasure to witness so much promising talent on stage, many of whom I am sure will excel and continue to pursue studies in Music, Drama and Performing Arts.

St David’s College runs an A Level Drama and Theatre course, and a BTEC Performing Arts course, as well as an A Level Music course and a BTEC Music Technology course. Please see our website for further information.

Kris Crowley, Performing Arts

SYMBOLS OF OUR COLLEGE

ST DAVID’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER 5

OUTSTANDING LES MIS PERFORMANCE FROM CORPUS CHRISTI STUDENTS

ENGINEERING WORKSHOP

On 1st November, a group of like-minded students attended an Engineering Workshop at Cardiff University. They were able to see the different departments within the engineering sector of the university and were given the opportunity to speak to the students, as well as work on tasks and challenges. Read about the day from a student’s perspective on page 8. FINANCIAL WORKSHOP

In November, a group of Honours students attended a Financial Workshop hosted by UNIQ Family Wealth. This inspiring workshop was run by the owner Marlene Outrim, her marketing manager Laura Janes, and her financial advisor Emma James. The students were given a number of tasks to do throughout the day which culminated in them coming up with a business idea and completing a 30 second pitch.

The feedback from the students was excellent and all very positive: “it gave me a deeper understanding on the personality and mind-set of an entrepreneur”, “being given to the opportunity to pitch our ideas was fantastic, it made me realise that I was creative and had some really good ideas”.

Read a full student review on page 8.

GLOBAL ENTERPRISE WEEK

Every November, 160 countries from around the globe come together to celebrate Global Enterprise Week. In Cardiff, over 700 students, including those from St David’s College, gathered for an inspirational talk delivered by people from a variety of large and small, local and national companies. The speakers each told their own unique story about their journey from being an employee to starting their own successful business. Each of the sessions were tailor-made to suit the audience, and many of the sessions were interactive. This helped the students to develop their entrepreneurial skills and start them to think about the possibilities of starting up their own business. ENTERPRISE SKILLS DAY

As part of Global Enterprise week, 16 St David’s students attended the Enterprise Skills Day held in collaboration with First Campus and five other colleges across the SE hub. The students were put through a number of entrepreneurial tasks which helped them to develop the skills required in the workplace. The students were put into mixed college groups which meant that they had to work together with people they had never met before; quite a daunting task for many. All the students rose to the challenge and by the end of the day everyone had made new friends. Throughout the day the students were assessed individually, with the best of them being invited to join Trading Places in December.

ENTERPRISE SUCCESS

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TRADING PLACES

This year we had more students applying for this fantastic competition than ever before. Trading Places is an award-winning competition similar to the BBC’s ‘Apprentice’. The students are put into teams with members of other local colleges and are set a three-day challenge. This culminated in running their own pop up shop located in Cardiff town centre, two weeks before Christmas. Each of the six teams competes against each other, and the team with the most successful stall is declared the winner.

This year, we are proud to announce that St David’s students Aisha Saeed and Beatrice Amucha were jointly awarded the prestigious prize of Outstanding Leadership Award. A big congratulations to all of the students who took part.

During the preparation stages, St David’s student Zoe Martin was interviewed by Made in Cardiff and appeared on their news programme that evening. To watch the clip, and to learn more about Enterprise Skills Day and Trading place, follow this link: http://bit.ly/madeincardiffsdc

ROLE MODEL TALK BY ABI OWENS

We started the new year off with a bang by having an inspirational talk given to the Performing Arts students by Abi Owens, a young entrepreneur who owns her own performing arts business. We were very lucky to book Abi as she is off to LA for three months with her business. She was able to clearly demonstrate that anything is possible provided that you believe in what you are doing and are willing to work hard. Her talk was very well received by the students and we would like to thank her for taking the time to come out and speak to us. DELOITTE ASPIRE WORKSHOP

Before Christmas, a number of our students were involved in the Deloitte Micro-Tyco Challenge: they were given £1 to start up a business and then a month to trade. The students had to make as much money as they could through a variety of creative means. They were given mentoring by staff from Deloitte and at the end of their trading they had to complete diary sheets detailing their experiences. These were then submitted to Deloitte as part of their application for work experience. We are delighted to announce that our students have been offered nine of the 200 places available across the UK. This is a very prestigious offer and we wish them every success. Read all about how they get on in our next newsletter!

ENTERPRISE AT ST DAVID’S COLLEGE

Enterprise events are available to students throughout the year and take many different forms. If this is something you would like to take part in, please email Liane Wigley on LWigley@stdavidscollege.ac.uk, or look out for event announcements on our Facebook and Twitter page, and for posters around College.

ENGINEERING WORKSHOP AT CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

ST DAVID’S CATHOLIC COLLEGE SPRING 2017 NEWSLETTER8

Recently, I participated in an Engineering and Enterprise scheme at Cardiff University. At the start of the day we went on a very insightful tour of the beautiful Queen’s Building, as well as the surrounding campus.

It was an excellent opportunity to see what Cardiff School of Engineering has on offer for learners who wish to study the different aspects of engineering, as well as giving us an idea of what opportunities there are in this field and what student life is like in general.

After lunch, we had the Enterprise Challenge. We were split into two groups and given tasks designed to encourage creativity and see how we could use our insight to improve everyday items. We were assisted by two PhD students who gave us guidance with this interesting project, as well as informing us further about their own career paths of study.

At the end of the day both groups presented their ideas, thus improving our public speaking skills and confidence.

It was a really great day and I would encourage other students to take up the opportunity of attending further workshops.

Madeleine Davis(pictured below, second from left)

On Tuesday the 8th of November, UNIQ Family Wealth invited a small group of St David’s Catholic College students to attend a Financial Services Workshop.

The day started off with an ice breaker to encourage us to get to know the people involved in the day. We were then introduced to the entrepreneurs that we would be working with and we got to hear of their incredible entrepreneurial journeys. Hearing these stories was very inspiring and definitely gave us a taste of what life would be like in the shoes of an entrepreneur.

We were set a challenge: to come up with an invention or a business idea which we would then have to ‘pitch’ back to the judges and rest of our peers.

I think it was safe to say that our brains were definitely engaged and many great ideas emerged, making us all realise that actually we were more creative than we thought!

Marlene and her team gave first and second prizes for the best ideas but also made those who did not win still feel good about the ideas they had presented, giving positive feedback to all.

Everyone was very competitive and thoroughly enjoyed this day well-spent.

We would like to offer our biggest thanks to Marlene and the UNIQ Family Wealth team for a warm welcome and a wonderful day and for making us realise that we are all entrepreneurial, we just need to find the courage to believe.

Megan Ware

FINANCIAL WORKSHOP: STUDENT REVIEW

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STUDY OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

On 14th December, 24 students from AS and A Level History embarked on a College trip to Ypres in Belgium. Across three days the students learned a great deal about the First World War with a trip to ‘Flanders Field Museum’, laying a wreath in the Last Post Ceremony at Menin Gate, and taking an afternoon with a guide to explore the battlefields and cemeteries of Southern Belgium.

In October, A2 Biology students spent the day at Crwmlyn Burrows studying succession - the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time. Students carried out sampling techniques such as line transects with point frames. The data was analysed at Margam Park Discovery Centre where the students completed the t-test to check whether the data was significant. The day was a huge success and everyone enjoyed themselves.

DNA AND GENOMIC CONFERENCE 2016

A Level Biology and Chemistry students attended a conference at St David’s Hall with world-leading researchers in the areas of DNA, genetics and genomics. The conference was entitled ‘A journey through genetics and genomics’ and was run by Wales Gene Park.

Exclusively held for year 12 and 13 students, learners heard about the latest advances in genetics from expert speakers. Talks included: gene editing and the ethics around its use; living with genetic conditions; perspectives from young people; using DNA in the fight against wildlife crime; genetics and rugby; mitochondrial donation, and much more.

Taking full advantage of the time of year however, students also got to stock up on Belgian chocolates with an exclusive visit to Leonidas Chocolate Shop in the town centre, as well as an evening at the Christmas Market with waffles and ice skating! It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip for all.

BIOLOGISTS IN THE FIELD

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Could you be a Mentor? Or would you benefit from attending the Mentoring scheme?

You might think it’s hard to get out of bed on a Monday

morning to face the day, or the week might feel too

stressful to deal with! Our Mentoring Program is

deliberately scheduled for Monday lunchtimes, to help

you recover from the Monday Blues!

The Peer Mentoring Program involves a group of students

getting together every week to discuss different topics

of interest, aimed to help with their time in College.

The topics range from healthy relationships, to stress

management, self-care and helping others. The mentors

are carefully selected to deliver the topics, and supported

by Sara (College Counsellor) and Sam (member of the

Learner Support Team). We even have external guest

speakers from time to time. The hours our mentors put

into sessions can complement subjects that require

voluntary hours.

If you would like to know more about the

mentoring program, please contact Sara

SSirati@stdavidscollege.ac.uk or Sam

SMonks@stdavidscollege.ac.uk.

We are pleased that students have been taking advantage of our counselling service - over 60 students have accessed the service

since September (that’s over 200 hours of counselling!) and there have been over 1500 student visits to the Learner Support Centre to access support and to use the various facilities.

The Learner Support Centre is there for ALL students, to provide help, advice, support and guidance over a wide range of emotional and/or academic concerns. All members of the Learner Support team work closely together to assist students whatever their abilities and whatever their backgrounds.

As students journey through St David’s Catholic College, we believe that no one should suffer in silence, all deserve to enjoy their time in College and all should achieve the best they can.

We wish you good mental health and great academic success and if you think we might be able to help you with that, come and have a chat! The LSC is through the door on the right as you enter the LRC or email us at:

LSCTeam@stdavidscollege.ac.uk

COUNSELLING SERVICE & LEARNER SUPPORT

PEER MENTORING

Every December we open our doors here at St David’s Performing Arts department to welcome hundreds of students from our local primary schools to watch our upper sixth students annual Pantomimes.

This year, the students performed two pantomimes: Lost in Storyland and Don’t Judge a Storybook by its Cover!. Both performances were devised, written and crafted by the students themselves as part of their Performing Arts course. The unit, entitled Children’s Theatre, is a challenging unit that the students have excelled in this year. They rose to the challenge of learning and accomplishing a multitude of new skills, both creative and organisational.

It also allowed the department, and by extension the College, to connect with the local community. We were very proud to welcome our local primary schools and to showcase the talents of our Performing Arts students. They were, as always, excellent ambassadors for the College.

Kris Crowley, Performing Arts

DON’T JUDGE A STORY-BOOK BY ITS COVER!

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As part of their BTEC Sport course, upper sixth students organised sport taster sessions to try to encourage more students to take part in some form of physical activity. Activities took place in the sports hall at lunch-time on Try it Tuesdays! before Christmas. Sessions included badminton, table tennis and girls’ basketball. As a result of their success, further sessions are planned during the spring term - keep an eye out for the posters!

TRY IT TUESDAYS!

The College football team has been in impressive form over the first term; they are currently unbeaten and are top of the league going into the new year. They have successfully made it through to the second round of the Welsh Cup and are hoping to carry their impressive form into the next round of the cup.

The netball team have competed in the Welsh Colleges Championships, National Urdd Finals and Cardiff Schools (losing out by one goal in the semifinals). We wish both teams every success in the new year!

OUR SPORTS TEAMS’ CONTINUED SUCCESS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARYFEBRUARY 2017Lower sixth parents evening 5pm-8pmApplicant guidance session (by invitation)Fashion showOpen Afternoon (booking required)*Open Afternoon (booking required)*Half termWelsh Week

MARCH 2017St David’s DaySenior Citizens’ PartyApplicant guidance session (by invitation)Science WeekSTEM Careers EventApplicant guidance session (by invitation)

APRIL 2017Easter holidayEaster Sunday

1st

4th

8th

8th

15th

20th - 24th

27th - 3rd

1st

1st

4th

13th - 17th

15th

25th

10th - 21st

16th

Over October half-term, St David’s student Jon Enayatullah successfully defended his title as Welsh Boxing Champion in Port Talbot. He competes in the youth welterweight (69-70kg) category. He turns 18 at the start of 2017 and will then progress to competing as an adult.

WELSH BOXING CHAMPION

Jon Enayatullah, right and above, pictured with his coaches

*Please visit www.stdavidscollege.ac.uk/visit-us to book your place.

COMEDY

ERRORSOF

St David’s College TheatreSt David’s Catholic College

Ty Gwyn RoadPenylan

Cardiff CF23 5QD

Tickets are £5 each and can be purchased on the door. Alternatively, to reserve your tickets please email

pchappell@stdavidscollege.ac.uk. These should be collected and

paid for by 6.45pm on the night.

William Shakespeare’s

th Th 17th February7:00oopm

p

ST DAVID’ S CATHOLIC COLLEGE PRESENTS

Slapstick, farce & mistaken identity