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ISSUE 2 A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

Welcome to issue 2 of our school magazine, The Willows Way. This year is moving so fast, we are almost at the end of one of the longest terms I can remember and working our way to examination season. Year 11 pupils are busy revising and completing coursework in preparation. There has been a great deal of research carried out, attempting to find the most effective way to revise. It has been widely reported that reading information over and over again is not a very good way to remember things over a long period of time, yet this is the most common way that pupils across the country spend their time revising. This is a lot of effort for very little return. As a school, we have spent a great deal of time looking at everything we did and how we did it with the intention of maximising the return whilst minimising the amount of effort it takes. One of our finds was self-quizzing. This now forms part of the homework for every pupil, in every year, on every school day of the week. Self-quizzing has Self-quizzing has been found to be an excellent way to store subject knowledge securely in your long-term memory with very little effort. been found to be an excellent way to store To self-quiz, you need four ingredients: subject knowledge 1. The information you need to remember. securely in your long- 2. A self-quizzing book (or a blank piece of paper). term memory with very 3. A black pen for writing from memory. little effort. 4. A green pen for correcting any mistakes (this is something we do in school).

Here’s how to do it: look, say, cover, write, check & correct; look, say, cover, write, check & correct, and repeat.

L Look Look: look and read the information. Say: Say the information out loud. and Cover: Cover up the information. A Write: Write the information in a black pen from memory. Check: Check every word of what you have written is accurate: tick Say S accurate words with a green pen. Correct: Correct inaccurate words by circling misspellings in a green pen and A and correcting it.

C Cover By doing this for 10 minutes every school night, our pupils will have a 5 year revision plan and won’t have to spend time cramming at the last A and moment and will reduce stress and anxiety in the build up to examinations. Enjoy this magazine and I’ll write about some of the other changes W Write we’ve made in the next issue. A and Best wishes

Check Chris Norman C Headteacher

2 1 2 Respect the community Top of the ladder not just the classroom

Whether you are wearing uniform or not, you are an It’s who I am ambassador for our school. If you see any pupils causing a disruption at any time, please contact the school. Happy to help. I want a great future

I want to build trust

I want to get merits

I want to avoid demerits, detentions and getting into trouble

Willows Way | Issue 2 3 Self 3 Quizzing

L Look A and 4 S.H.A.P.E.S. S Say A and S Speak in full sentences C Cover H Hands away from mouth A and A Articulate words clearly W Write P Project your voice A and E Eye contact C Check S Smile

5 S.L.A.N.T. 6 S.T.E.P.S.

S Sit up straight, arms folded S Sir / Miss L Listen T Thank you A Answer questions E Excuse me N Never interrupt P Please T Track the teacher S Sorry

4 Homework Timetable

10 20 10 minutes minutes minutes

MathsWatch Reading Per knowledge organiser self-quizzing

YEARS 7,8 & 9

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

English Maths Science Music Art Technology Geography History French P.E. Photography R.E. I.T. Journey7 Welsh

YEARS 10 & 11

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

English Maths Science Welsh P.F. Option A Option B Option C R.E. Health and nutrition

Willows Way | Issue 2 5 English The English Department has had a busy start to the academic year!

KIDS LIT QUIZ LITERARY CANON On Wednesday 21st Novem- Our pupils continue to embrace ber, two teams from Willows the Willows Literary Canon and it is High School competed at an absolute pleasure to hear pupils the Welsh heat of the Kids’ Lit discussing classic texts in the school Quiz, held at Howell’s High library at break times and during School. The Kids’ Lit Quiz Tutor Time with their peers. The is a quiz aimed at budding canon consists of 100 texts that our bookworms with the questions READING ROLE MODELS pupils should have read before they being all about popular All of our teachers pride themselves leave school. Acquiring familiarity children’s and teen books from in being reading role models. This with these texts will stand our pupils Harry Potter to The Hunger half-term saw our teachers tweeting in good stead in the future. They Games. There are 10 rounds of about the unusual places they have will be able to understand cultural different book categories with been reading including Mr. Smith references in the wider world and 10 questions in each round at the gym and Mr. Norman in a will match and excel their peers’ and prizes available for the shopping trolley! knowledge at University. highest scoring round. During their English lessons this Representing Willows year so far, all of Year 7 have been Team 1 were Megan Moore, engrossed by the adventures of Jack Read, Kaden Taylor and Harry Potter, Year 8 have digested Ben Weeks and representing Orwell’s, ‘Animal Farm,’ Year 9 have Team 2 were Julia Tro- appreciated Haddon’s ‘The Curious janowska, Najah Mahamoud, Incident of the Dog in the Night time’ Tomas Badham and Rowan and Year 10 have studied Steinbeck’s Williams-Lord. Both teams ‘Of Mice and Men.’ thoroughly enjoyed the A reminder that every pupil competition and are already should be reading for 20 minutes revising (i.e. reading lots of every night at home in order to books!) ready for next year’s secure a successful future. We competition! encourage parents, teachers and friends to ask our pupils, ‘How many GUEST SPEAKER have you read?’ in order to boost our reading knowledge further. AFTER SCHOOL ANN ALSTON READING On Monday 26th November we were honoured to welcome After-school reading is available Ann Alston from the University for every pupil in every KS3 class. of the West of who Pupils are able to attend two nights provided poetry workshops a week to receive specialist support for the whole of Y8. We in order to boost their reading ages studied ‘Ozymandias’ by ACCELERATED READER further. Pupils are enjoying a variety Shelley and became experts On October 16th 2018, Willows High of texts and it is a pleasure to see on Romantic poetry by the School library hosted a Renaissance so many of them taking advantage end of the day. We are looking Learning Event for schools in in of this opportunity and improving forward to welcoming back, our role as a lead school for ‘Accelerated their future. Please encourage your local author David Brayley on Reader.’ English teachers and literacy child to attend if they do not do so December 11th to speak to our co-ordinators came to share in our already – it will boost their results pupils about the importance of excellent practice in this area and were in all subject areas as they progress reading and careers in writing. extremely complimentary about our through the school. systems and individual reading interven- tion programmes for our pupils.

6 Art The Art Department had the amazing opportunity to work with the brilliant ceramic artist Anne Gibbs whose work has been recently exhibited in The Saatchi Gallery in London as part of the 2018 Collect Exhibition!

A clay vessel being decorated and The finished ceramic vessel with more before it is glazed and fired ↓ decoration and glazes having been added ↓

The two days that we were lucky enough to take part in, were highly inspiring for both the Year 11 GCSE class and the staff involved. Ms Gibbs introduced the pupils to the Art technique ‘hand-building’ which the pupils then used to create their own vessels out of clay using the slab-building technique. Pupils then built onto these vessels with more clay, added texture by carving into the pots with ceramic tools and decorated them by painting the vessels with coloured glazes and slips (a specialist clay paint) which gave the vessels a really professional finish. The work will be submitted as part of the pupils’ GCSE Art portfolios of work.

↑ Examples of some of the finished ceramic vessels by the GCSE Year 11 pupils

↑ Year 11 GCSE pupils starting to build their ↑ The ceramic artist Anne Gibbs working with clay vessels by rolling out the clay. the year 11 GCSE class, showing them how to hand- build vessels

YEARS 9 AND 10 GCSE ART AND DESIGN WORK: The years 9 and 10’s have started their GCSE course with great enthusiasm and commitment and are producing a very high standard of work already! The theme they are starting to research and develop in their art work is ‘Surrealism’ and ‘Abstraction.’ They are looking at everyday objects and producing Art work The GCSE pupils started off by drawing based on these objects, distorting and objects as a ‘still-life’ using tonal pencil. abstracting them. They have then researched an artist called Suzanne Saroff who uses objects in her work in an abstract way. The GCSE pupils have then produced mixed-media paintings using Saroff’s unique style as inspiration.

Willows Way | Issue 2 7 Last year ended on a high for the French Department as we visited Normandy with the History Department. French 58 pupils and 7 staff set off from Willows at 10pm and by the early hours of the morning we were crossing the English Channel. After a delicious French Breakfast we were en-route through Northern France to our first stop at the Boulangerie des Copains. Nestled in the heart of the Normandy countryside we were treated to a demonstration of bread making as well as a hands on bread making session. We were also able to enjoy an exploration of the farm.

A short trip took us to our accommodation, are working hard to live up to beautifully located right at the beach. The the very high standard that facilities included an indoor and outdoor has been set. We are lucky pool - although the pupils were not too enough to have the wonderful happy to have to wear swimming caps they Madame Sinama continuing to still made the most of a refreshing swim and volunteer with us and preparing a turn on the water slides. After a quick wash the pupils for their speaking and change of clothes our evening meal was exam. She is a terrific asset to served and we were then able to go on to the games and sandcastle building at the school and works tirelessly beach for football and sandcastle building. sunset. with our pupils. Year 11 are The following day, after a hearty breakfast, Our last day was spent travelling also looking to the future and we set off for a full day of visits. We started back to Calais where we visited the more than half of the class took at the morning market in the mediaeval city Cité Europe shopping centre. Here time out of their weekend to of Bayeux. After pupils and staff had stocked pupils and staff alike stocked up on attend workshops run at up on souvenirs and gifts for family we presents for family and also them- University in a joint venture then made our way to the seaside town of selves! The return journey passed with Oxford University to find Arromanches. The remains of the Mulberry smoothly and we were safely back out more about continuing Harbour, built by Allied forces in the days at school in the early hours of the their language studies beyond following D Day, are an impressive sight. We morning. This trip left us with GCSE to A level and even visited the museum to understand more about great memories. The pupils were University. Perhaps they have how and why the harbour was built. Lunch a true credit to themselves and to heard that language graduates was a picnic on the seawall overlooking the the school. It was a pleasure to be are in the top 10 for graduate beach and harbour remains and we then with them and to introduce them earnings? made our way to the 360 Cinema high above to France and to the sites which Once again we have been the town. The pupils were moved by the film commemorate the heroes of the lucky enough to be selected which showed the 100 days following D Day Allied campaign to liberate France. for the award winning MFL and the suffering endured by the people of We are now well into planning Mentoring scheme run Normandy as the Allies slowly liberated the our trip for 2019. On this occasion by . This region town by town. We then travelled on we will be visiting the Nord Pas de scheme aims to provide year 9 to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach Calais region. Our itinerary includes pupils with extra support and followed by an informative visit to Pegasus a visit to Dunkerque town, beach information when considering Bridge. Again the events of the night of 5/6 and museum, the V2 Rocket launch options for GCSE. Matthew, June 1944 were brought vividly to life by a film museum at Eperleques, a traditional our mentor, has run some and the exhibits of the gliders and bridge itself. French market, chocolate making excellent sessions so far and We ended the day with a delicious evening and, the highlight for many, a stop will continue to work with meal back at our accommodation before at a theme park. The trip is sold pupils in the New Year to heading down to the beach for more football, out but we are operating a waiting support them as they make list. Contact Madame Brace or Mr option choices. In addition Henwood at school if you would we will shortly be welcoming like more details. And now for news from closer to home! We were delighted with our GCSE results last summer not least as this was the first exam for the reformed French GCSE. We were therefore even more pleased that our pupils recorded a pass rate of 100% A*-C. The current year 11s

8 Journey 7

Tim Penn, Business Language Champion, to school to speak to as many year 9 pupils as possible. At a time when fewer pupils across Wales are choosing to continue with languages at GCSE we have actually increased the percent- age of pupils continuing with French in Years 10&11. Making What an amazingly busy term it’s been so far! Our new this choice will truly open Year 7 pupils have settled in extremely well to life at doors for them in their futures Willows High School, and have been working very hard. in both higher education and employment. Although we are A big focus has been improving our reading, with lots of only too happy to welcome our pupils making several months’ progress in a matter of these visitors to our school weeks and many now reading above their chronological and to benefit from their support it was still really great ages. Miss Williams, Mrs Gorman and Mrs Thomas have to have our work commended been very busy issuing so many merits and praise cards by the Chairman of the Welsh for these fantastic achievers! Assembly Government’s Global Futures committee. Lastly, but by no means the Last half term in Journey 7 we learned least of our news in the French Department is the arrival of about ‘Cardiff My City’ and created some Mademoiselle Van Aaken. She excellent persuasive leaflets to show-case our comes to us all the way from knowledge of our local area. In our Science Canada thus proving the point lesson, we found out what was the dirtiest that French is spoken in so place in our classroom by swabbing for many more places than just bacteria and growing it in petri dishes. Some France. In addition to teaching of the results were pretty amazing! numerous classes Mlle Van This half term we have been looking at Aaken has also been running ‘The World of Work’. Mrs Gorman organised an after school club for our amazing trips to Bad Wolf Studios, where we More Able and Talented pupils learned about the different jobs in the TV and who have so far been treated film industry, from props to animation, set to sessions on Canada, French design to carpentry. We even got to go on set Monuments and French food. of their latest production, ‘His Dark Materials’, Welcome to Wales and thank based on the novels by Phillip Pullman. No you for your contributions so photos of this fantastic experience though… far. we’re sworn to secrecy! In addition to heading We have been continuing our work as up the French Department a Lead Creative School by participating in Madame Brace also has a fantastic project involving our very own responsibility for Community radio station, ‘Willows Waves’, which has Languages. Next year pupils been funded by the Arts Council of Wales from years 10 and 11 will sit and led by Russell Prue, of Anderton Tiger GCSEs in 10 different lan- Radio. Since October, members of 7BE and guages from Arabic to Turkish 7MO have written, rehearsed and broadcast via Polish, Portuguese and their own radio show every Wednesday, Persian. To support our Arabic which has been transmitted worldwide on speaking pupils an after school ‘Willows Waves’. This has improved the club will start in January. reading, writing and oracy skills of the pupils Letters have been sent home immensely, not to mention the increase to eligible pupils in Years 9-11. in their confidence levels and ability to Sadly GCSEs are not available problem-solve and collaborate with others. in every language which is This project will be running until February, so spoken in our community please tune in via our website or down load but if you would like to find our free app from the Appstore to listen every out more then please do not Wednesday from 2pm! hesitate to contact Madame Brace at school.

Willows Way | Issue 2 9 Maths

A big thanks to all our year 11 GEOMETRY pupils that patiently tolerated At the moment, in KS3 and KS4, we are tackling the world of my voice during a 36 lesson geometry. Geometry is the mathematics of shape and space. revision marathon in view of the It’s about the properties of objects (their angles and surfaces, November mathematics exam. for instance) and the consequences of how these objects are In truth, I am exaggerating positioned (where their shadows fall, how people must move around them). because I make no excuses When adults think about geometry, they usually re- for helping our pupils achieve member a maths strand loaded with proofs about isosceles excellent results. I want to extol triangles and vertical angles. My view is different: here is their virtues as they have shown a chance for our pupils to experience that geometry is not abstract. Rather, it’s fun and colourful, instructive and an incredible and insatiable practical. Geometry is about real things: how big shapes are, resilience and will to succeed. whether they fit, how to find the area, perimeter, volume etc. Therefore, I wish you good luck Geometry is naturally concrete. for your results in January 2019.

YEAR 9 Welsh began their Community Challenge projects in September. This involves pupils working in teams, to plan and deliver 10 hours of volunteering Baccalaureate within the local community. This can include coaching and educational programmes or neighbourhood enhancement projects. Some of the projects chosen by our pupils for this year include a range of different Sports, Drama, Cooking, Mentoring and Literacy, as well as continuing to build our Community Garden which began two years ago. The aim of these projects is to empower our young people to understand the level of impact that volunteering can have within a community and develop a sense of ownership, belonging and community spirit.

YEAR 10 A busy start of the year for the are focusing on key issues as part of their Global Citizenship Challenge. Welsh Baccalaureate department. For this challenge pupils will be working independently to research a specific global issue, develop their own personal standpoint, and This qualification begins in Year design and implement a campaign strategy to raise awareness of the 9, and runs all the way through to issue within the community. The aim of this challenge is to develop our Year 11 for all of our pupils here at learners into Global Citizens who are aware of the wider world, and Willows. The focus of the Welsh understand their responsibility and role within it. Baccalaureate program is to develop key employability skills, which YEAR 11 colleges, universities and employers are currently in full swing completing their Individual Projects. This is a recognise and value. fantastic opportunity for pupils to utilise the skills they have developed in their previous challenges, and apply them to a research project. This is worth 50% of their final grade, and challenges the pupils to work independently in their own time to complete a comprehensive investigation into a topic they are hoping to study at a higher level, or pursue as a career, once they leave us here at Willows.

10 Religious It has been an excellent start to the new school year for the RE department. The Education pupils have all been working so hard and have been engrossed by the topics they have been studying.

YEAR 7 YEAR 9 The RE department has been proud to work Year 9 have produced some excellent with two year 7 groups this term 7SCH and “The good life assessments, comparing the lives and 7MO. This term they have had the opportunity is one inspired by protest methods of Martin Luther King to study the ancient religions of Greece, Rome love and guided by and Malcolm X. They have been learning and Egypt which they have found fascinating. knowledge.” about people from different religious groups such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai They have astounded me with their knowl- Bertrand Russell edge of the Greek and Roman Gods. Keep up Lama and Malala Yousafzai and have the good work year 7. been finding out the impact prejudice and discrimination has had upon their lives. A lot of the pupils are doing so well expressing their own opinions about issues of prejudice and discrimination YEAR 8 and how we can try to make the world a better place by being kind, thoughtful Year 8 have been learning about the and respectful to all people. different beliefs of the world religions. “Belief in oneself Pupils across the year group have been and knowing who you intrigued to find out the different beliefs are, I mean, that’s the and practices of religious groups in Cardiff and around the world. We have foundation for everything “Not everybody enjoyed hearing from some of our own great” can be famous, but pupils about what they believe and Jay-Z everybody can be great, what it is like being part of a religious because greatness is community. determined by service.”

Martin Luther King

YEAR 10 Year 10 have made a fantastic start to their GCSE studies in RE. They are a hard working “From Little Acorns Do group and they continue to amaze me every lesson with their excellent responses to Mighty Oaks Grow”. different beliefs and practices of Christians in Cardiff and around the world. They are English Proverb currently investigating different groups working for social justice. They may be a small group but they are going to achieve big things. They are a pleasure to teach and I was proud to be able to award Kacey McCue the year 10 RE award for her achievements so far in RE this year.

YEAR 11 Firstly, a special congratulation to Elizabeth Williams who received the Year 11 RE award for her achievements in RE so far this term. Also well done to Sarah Ahmed, Danish Mohammed and Asad Muhammad who had excellent results in their RE exam in the summer. ‘I’m not telling you it’s going This term Year 11 have been studying two religions Christianity and Islam to be easy - I’m telling you it’s and are looking forward to starting the first of their two themes of study Human going to be worth it.’ relationships from January, where they will be learning about the roles of men and women in society and the different attitudes towards issues within relation- Art Williams ships such as adultery and arranged marriage. The pupils need to start revising for their exams as after the Christmas break exam season will be upon us again.

Willows Way | Issue 2 11 Photography

It’s been a busy term for pupils in the Photography department. Let’s take a look at what they have been up to.

YEAR 7 YEARS 8 & 9 Year 7 have started their first photogra- Year 8 and 9 have had a busy term. They phy project in Willows High School. The started a GCSE project entitled ‘Objects project is called ‘An Apple a Day…’. At the of Desire’. At the end of the project they end of the project they will be creating will be creating an advertisement for a a healthy eating poster encouraging product of their choice. This term they people aged 12-16 to eat healthily. This have been designing project title pages, term they have been designing project analysing the project brief, producing title pages, analysing the project brief project plans, looking at advertisements and producing internet research. for inspiration, researching into a range of still life photographers and taking photographs of their chosen products.

YEAR 10, YEAR 11 AND YEAR 9 OPTION GROUP Year 10, year 11 and the year 9 option group have had a busy term. They have been working on a GCSE project entitled ‘Identity’. At the end of the project they will be creating an autobiographical, photographic artwork. This term they have been designing project title pages, analysing the project brief, producing project plans, researching into a range of photographers, taking photographs and editing their work.

12 Performing Arts looks Performing forward to the opportunities Arts that the year bring us.

YEAR 11 EXAMS September started, with the year 11 drama class performing their drama exams. Titles ranged from, The Salem Witch Trials, The wives of Henry VIII and Jack the Ripper. An eclectic mix of performances inspired by the theme ‘Justice.’

SCHOOL PRODUCTION During the month of October, we cast our school production of Oliver. Rehearsals have been fun, developing acting and song with Mrs Windmill-Lewis and Mr Ritter. It has also been a pleasure to involve our student drama teacher who has even done some weekend dance lessons with the cast!

TRANSITION DAY As December approached, we were in full Christmas mode, preparing for a variety of concerts In November we hosted a transition wow day, which saw all with the school choir. It was so pleasing to see of our feeder primary schools join us in the school theatre for the numbers grow week by week, and we look a drama workshop. By the end of the day, all of the schools forward to performing in our cluster community were able to display green screen performances based on carol service on the 17th December at St Germans topics that they have been learning in school. Church.

Our year culminated with a fantastic workshop from the Royal Shakespeare Company. They have produced the show Matilda, and were able to let us learn some of the scenes and choreography from the show. Awesome!

A trip to watch the show the night after the carol service has been booked and the forty strong group are counting down the days until we watch it.

WMC A trip to the WMC was arranged toward the end of the month, for our GCSE pupils to write a theatre review on a ground breaking musical called ‘The Last five years’. It was a great evening and one which made us proud of how grown up and mature our year 11 pupils are becoming.

Willows Way | Issue 2 13 Science The Science Department have been very lucky this year to be chosen to be part of an outreach project organised by The Science Museum in London in partnership with The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.

The first part of the project involved Year 7 One of the highlights of the day was and some Year 8 pupils, who were treated seeing the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule that to a rocket show in the school theatre. We Tim Peake travelled in, from the ISS back were educated and entertained by loud bangs, to Earth. This was alongside Tim Peake’s explosions, demonstrations of different fuels Sokol KV-2 emergency spacesuit, the and liquid nitrogen. The pupils thoroughly spacecraft antenna, interactive displays enjoyed the show and it really enhanced their about the International Space Station understanding of the topics of States of Matter (ISS) and life in space. that they are currently studying. In January, Heather Jackson from The second part of the project involved all the museum is going to be interviewed of Year 10 and they were taken by coach to by our Journey 7 pupils for a Willows the National Museum in Cardiff for the day. Waves radio show. Her specialist subject They completed three workshops: Computer is Meteorites and we are very much look- Coding, Smart Materials and Materials Testing. ing forward to hearing about meteorites In the workshops the pupils wrote code that that have been found in Wales. Finally, worked out how far the International Space in February the Tim Peake Virtual Reality Station (ISS) travelled in the time it took a Bus is coming to school. Pupils will have person to press a button and how human the chance to find out exactly what Tim reaction time would affect this. They also Peake’s journey from space to Earth was investigated the best materials from which to like, from inside the capsule. make Tim Peake’s absorbent underwear for Willows High School is very grateful his journey back to Earth, and the -violet to all of the opportunities that this light blocking properties of materials for his outreach project has afforded our pupils, space suit. and we are very much looking forward to further partnership opportunities with the museum.

14 Technology

YEAR 11 PRODUCT DESIGN YEAR 7 CATERING This year’s year 11 Product Design class are making steady progress with the new WJEC GCSE Product AND RESISTANT Design course they are taking. The year 11s are MATERIALS progressing on to the modelling stage of their educational development toys. The new year 7 intake have fully The course requires pupils to produce a embraced food technology. The portfolio of evidence that is worth 50% of their healthy eating project ensures GCSE qualification. The main emphasis of the new pupils are aware of their 5 a qualification is to encourage and create a lot more day. The healthy eating project independence that develops pupils’ cognitive skills is a project that encourages as their ideas develop. There’s a lot more designing creativity and inspires pupils to take and testing to be done but look out for the finished ownership of what they’re doing. product in the next article.

YEAR 11 HOSPITALITY AND CATERING Another year has come and gone and once again Miss Davies is preparing the pupils for their Hospitality and Catering Practical. She has worked extremely hard to ensure the pupils produce dishes that cover a wide range of skills. The dishes produced this year are more challenging to make, more appetising and more tasteful. The dishes are on par with anything you would eat in most restaurants and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed making them. Not only is Miss Davies preparing the pupils for prosperous careers in the catering industry but she is also developing their life long skills, skills that will stay with them no matter what they do or where they go.

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FAIR And to finish off, this year the department has actively been playing a part in designing items that can be sold at the school Christmas fair. All money made will put back in to the department and used to purchase resources that can help support staff and pupils.

Firstly, Miss Charles would like to congratulate Nadim I.T. Uddin, Sam Tyler and Cerys Wellbeloved for hard work and dedication to their IT studies over the past year. Their success was recognised at our recent awards evening.

This term year 8 and 9 have learnt how to program Micro:bits. These pocket sized computers have been a huge success and all pupils have loved using them. Pupils have created rock, paper, scissor games and magic 8 ball programs just to name a few projects.

Our year 9, 10 and 11 GCSE classes continue to work hard on their controlled assessment. Good luck to all pupils sitting the Unit 1 exam in January!

Willows Way | Issue 2 15 GIRLS There has been a variety of extra-curricular activities taking place this term but all clubs would welcome new members. Every Wednesday 3-4pm there is a girls football session in the barn which is attended by a few committed pupils but they require more players so that they can play some games in the new year. Every Thursday there is a boys and girls basketball club which is growing every week but once again more players are need so that P.E. fixtures can be arranged. INNER STRENGTH PROGRAMME The biggest success this term has been the large number of girls attending the Inner Strength programme at the Star Hub every Friday 3.30-5.30pm. The girls have a fitness session which involves a mass warm up followed by a workout in the gym using state of the art cardio equipment, weights and medicine balls. The second hour involves the girls taking part in a workshop which aims to raise their self-esteem and understanding of a healthy lifestyle. Some of the themes have included healthy eating, self-harming and mental health, social media and body image. This project has been a collaboration between Willows High School, Sport Cardiff and the Star Hub and it is an excellent example of how a community can improve the health and wellbeing of young girls. Inner Strength will continue to run in the New Year and Willows High School would like to thank Sport Cardiff for offering to fund the next ten sessions. The girls who have attended this club have shown great commitment and have had fun whilst improving their fitness and understanding of health.

ATHLETICS In January, the Sportshall Athletics season starts and the PE Department would like to send a full minibus to the championships, so training sessions will start in December and all pupils are welcome.

BOYS The football and rugby reasons are now up and running and the cup competitions are in full flow. Year 7 have enjoyed success in the Cardiff Football cup with a well fought 1-0 victory against Cardiff West and now face Eastern High School in the second round. Despite some valiant performances, years 8, 9 and 10 all fell at the first hurdle in their first round matches. Team of the moment are the Year 11 team. After a comprehensive 3-1 first round win against Bishop of LLandaff, they have just progressed to the quarter final stage of the Cardiff Cup following an emphatic 4-0 victory against Cardiff High! This was a complete team performance where the opposition team manager admitted that his team had been comprehensively beaten. Well done to all involved. With regards the rugby cup, first round matches are due to take place over the next couple of weeks and the teams are confident of progressing in to the second round. Year 7 have a home draw to St John’s College whereas Years 8 and 9 have first round ties against Kings Monkton.

WELL DONE ZAIN! With regards individual success, Y7 Zain Jhagier has just been selected to play in the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan U12 cricket squad. He plays for Radyr Cricket club and recently progressed through trials at the SWALEC stadium. Well done Zain!

16 Humanities

Welsh

The Welsh Department hit the ground running in September HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENTS with the new intake of year The Autumn term has been a very eventful term in both the History and Geography 7 students displaying an departments. This is the first year that year 7 pupils have studied History and Geography impressive understanding for quite a while. It has been a great first term and the pupils have been extremely of the ; enthusiastic. In History they have studied the Ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome providing a solid foundation and, closer to home the History of Anglo Saxon Britain. 7SC have even had the oppor- on which to build over the tunity to handle a real Roman sword with no injuries taking place. coming years at Willows. In Geography pupils have been developing their geographical skills and learning Years 8 and 9 returned about the . They have begun to use geographical skills and are ex- with a wealth of acquired tremely enthusiastic about their future as Geographers. knowledge which they have put to good use in tackling the new topics this term YEAR 8 (requiring them to use a wide Year 8 have settled into their first year of History and Geography well and have variety of terms, phrases, produced some excellent work on a range of subjects. The pupils progress has been language patterns and extremely pleasing and pupils showed a lot of interest in looking at topics such as The tenses). Black Death, Global flooding and Medieval Knights. Years 10 and 11 have adapted well to the new Welsh Language Curriculum. YEAR 9 Pupils are now sitting a full Year 9 have continued with their progress from last year and been studying World War GCSE in this subject. Whilst 1 in depth. This coincided with the 100-year anniversary of the end of the war which challenging, the pupils generated a great deal of interest in the subject. In Geography lessons pupils have are capable of achieving continued to gain high levels in a range of topics such as Global Warming and popula- competitive grades as a result tion issues. of their hard work and prior knowledge from KS3. We are always looking NEW STAFF MEMBERS to develop the department This term has also seen two student teachers joining us to teach our pupils and both and engage students in the Mr Richards and Mrs Ballett have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of getting to subject. The new year will know Willows pupils. They have both worked incredibly hard with our pupils and will be see the introduction of a greatly missed when they move on. Welsh Committee (consisting of students from all years) YEARS 10 & 11 who will work to support the department in embedding Both year 10 and 11 History classes have made very good starts to the year. History Welsh throughout the school remains popular at GCSE with nearly 30 pupils in both classes. Year 11 came back from and ensuring that it is an the summer to find out their results which were very encouraging. Both classes are on integral part of life at Willows. track to gain some of the best results ever in the History Department. Perthyn Credu Llwyddo.

Willows Way | Issue 2 17 Form Groups Our Form tutor names are surnames of notable men and women in the following categories: artists, scientists, athletes, philosophers and composers.

7 SCHUMANN 7 BEETHOVEN 7 Schumann have only just joined Willows High School (since Septem- This term has been a great start to 7BE’s educational journey at ber) and have already settled into Willows High School life brilliantly! Willows High School. Any nerves that the pupils may have had about the prospect of Makiya has taken on his role of line-up monitor with great joining a new school have completely disappeared and the pupils in 7 energy and enthusiasm, ensuring 7BE’s line is the ‘Best’ every Schumann are becoming more confident, hard-working and are proving morning! Keep up the good work Makiya! already to be a huge asset to Willows High School! Alanta is taking her role of homework monitor very seriously They are establishing a really positive reputation: their hard work and and meticulously checks 7BE have completed their homework in politeness have already been commented upon with Miss Brace and form time every morning. Great work Alanta! Miss Gorman telling me how well behaved and hard-working they are in Letaya, Amir, Maryam and Salma have taken on the responsibil- lessons and what a pleasure it is to teach them! ity of uniform and equipment monitors, ensuring 7BE are ready to Hard work in lessons and reading in tutor-time and at home really learn every morning. Great job! does pay off and 7 Schumann are proving this from the results of the 7BE’S talents know no bounds. They have even created their recent STAR tests (which tests the reading ages of pupils). Chloe Walters own song to remind and motivate themselves to keep on the left has achieved the highest reading age in all of year 7 with a score of 15.05 hand side when walking in from line-up in the morning, much to years and Rowan Williams-Lord was the second highest, achieving a the delight of Mrs Thomas, who loves to sing along with them as reading age of 15.02 years!! they pass her room! Caitlin Osborne has been nominated the Student Ambassador for Shayne, Keaton and Hamdan joined the year 7 football team 7 Schuman and is doing a brilliant job representing the tutor-group in and have represented the school at several matches and Finley Student Council meetings and helping out in whole school assemblies. continues to wow with his excellent goal keeping skills. Inspiring Presently the tutor-group are taking part in a homeless charity stuff! initiative run by Miss Guilfoyle, to help the homeless by collecting much Ali joined the football team three months ago. He is needed items for a charity box which will then be distributed around very much enjoying his position as striker. the local area of Splott. Caitlin Osborne, Rowan Williams-Lord and Julia Kenzi, Salma, Callum, Lataya, Moshifiqul and Ben have all joined Trojanowska have all brought in much needed items for 7 Schuman’s the school choir and are looking forward to taking part in the charity box. Christmas concert. As well as doing really well academically, 7 Schumann are really keen Amir is 7BE’s top speller, achieving high scores in the spelling sports people! tests each week. As a result, the form has nominated him to Amina has joined the Willows High School girls football team, India represent the form in the first ever Willows High School Spelling attends basketball, football and the gym clubs held at Willows High and Bee competition. Go Amir! Kaylum Selwood plays football for Splott Albion. 7BE thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the Bad Wolf studios in There are a high number of pupils in 7 Schumann who are members Cardiff. Tahim said that climbing a fake prop mountain was the of the school choir and who sang beautifully at the recent Awards highlight of his visit. Evening. Lataya and Salma have both won the end of day lollypop for The school choir members are: Rowan Lord-Williams, Najah achieving lots of merits several times. However, the rest of 7BE Mohamoud Ali, Caitlin Osborne, Scott Wesley-Thomas, Olivia Weston, are hot on their heels and are hoping to give them a run for their Juila Trojanowska , Caitlin Balmont, Nisha Kaur, Safa, Ali, India James, money in the New Year! Louis Brady, Kareena Taak, Evie Abraham-Bazzard and Sophie Russ. 7 Schumann, you are a fantastic tutor-group! As your new form tutor I am really proud of all the achievements that you are already making, well done and carry on with all your hard work!! Mrs Southern

Miss Elkes-Jones

7 MOZART 7 BEACH My tutor group 7MO have just joined the school and were all very eager to join a Willows High School. They have been a big class Starting a new school can be hard for our year 7’s. I am proud of how with up to thirty-one pupils in there, so the fact that each one well 7Beach have fitted in and contribute to life at Willows. has managed to show through their own personality is a huge A big shout out to Tyler Collins who hasn’t received a single demerit achievement for the pupils. There is a wide range of talents in the and Jax Doidge who has been awarded the most merits in the year, tutor group. Many of the pupils play in the school football team, what stars! Annalise Marshall deserves a mention too for how hard she is there are quite a few in the school choir who completed a brilliant working to gain merits keep it up. performance at the Willows Awards Evening. We even have one 7Beach are coming together in supporting each other and working pupil who represented the class in the school spelling bee and hard. I know you will all keep succeeding in 2019. managed to get all the way to second place.

Mr Carter Mr Moulogo

18 7 NOVELLO 8 DALI 8 BANKSY Well done 7No your behaviour is much better An interesting and eventful first term Miss Charles would like to thank than last term with better attitude and good together for us all in 8DA has seen many the following pupils for always spirit. Francisco became second in year 7 with ups and downs. being ready to learn, being an 200 merits and Casey 180 merits for the current Helping others has been very high on absolute pleasure to teach and for term. The entire group have more merits and the agenda with money raised for various always doing the right thing even less demerits this term. They are working hard charities and the pupils are working when nobody is watching: Jaquila toward their goals to achieve higher results. together to provide some very thoughtful Bratcher, Umram Sabzwari, Aqeel They make me so proud of them. donations for the shoebox appeal this Fahim, Kennedy Wesley-Williams Christmas. I am sure their generous gift and Taylor Moloney. will someone very happy and they have Also a huge congratulations to made me a very proud form teacher this Jaquila who was awarded with the Christmas. Journey 7 award for Kindness at Mr Ebid A number of pupils have really hit our recent awards evening. the ground running, earning a fantastic A special mention to Karl Watkins number of merits. Ayad and Yassir are who has been giving back to the piling up merits every day. Both these community and volunteering at pupils are also working towards 100% the STAR hub during his spare time attendance for the term so far. after school. The class have really engaged in Another well-deserved mention 8 INNESS the afternoon reading this term and goes to Kacey Summerhayes who is 8 Inness would like to welcome some new afternoon form period has seen some performing in Elf the musical at the members to our group this year, Ruby Stisted, lively debates and discussions. The weekly Motorpoint Arena on the 14th-16th Jake Dunnett, Kerry Tiltman, Kieran Edwards, spelling tests have proved extremely December. Miss Charles is looking Alima Akinsanya and Miso Ziga. Some of these popular and have developed a keen sense forward to seeing you! pupils have already been helping us achieve lots of healthy competition between the of merits. pupils. Cameron, Ibrahim, David, Yassir A special welcome to Mrs Ballett who has and Ayad have gained excellent results in joined 8 Inness as part of her teacher training the spelling tests so far. programme from Aberystwyth University. 8DA have had the opportunity to work Miss Charles We were very excited to achieve 158 Merits on an individual project as part of their at the start of December and everyone is “Genius Hour” lessons and have produced working hard to beat this record in all subject some excellent presentations. The pupils areas. have picked a wide range of subjects that 8 MATISSE All of us in 8 Inness are very proud of Ethan they find interesting and Coban Probert’s Hewett who achieved many awards at the work on Special Forces units from around 8 Matisse had a fantastic Autumn recent awards evening and was even given a the world is an excellent piece of work. Term. There have been quite a special star badge to add to his other Willows Our student teacher Mr Richards has few changes to our class list, but Way badges as he gained so many awards from really enjoyed working with the form and I’m really pleased to say that this multiple subject areas. has developed a good relationship with has made a positive impact on our Lots of the pupils have been made 8 Inness’ the class. Mr Richards has learnt a great class. star of the day due the massive amount of deal about being a form teacher whilst The level of talent and merits they have been awarded. Miss Guilfoyle working with 8DA and will miss them dedication in 8MA was evident in has had the pleasure of giving out lots of Praise when he moves to his next school. our awards evening, which took cards at the end of each day throughout the Onwards and upwards for 8DA going place in November. I was extremely term. into the next year. proud to see members of 8MA pick This year in year 8 we have been given the up awards in Art, J7, Welsh, English opportunity to have Genius Hour lessons where PE and Drama! This really proves we have been able to choose our own individ- that hard work, commitment and ual areas of study. Some of the presentations Mr Henwood an excellent attitude to learning the pupils in 8 Inness have been preparing pays off. are fascinating, for example Why is the White This has also been evident by the leopard endangered? What do Cardiff City need number of merits awarded to pupils to do to become a permanent team in the 8 SHERMAN in 8MA this term. So far, an amazing Premier league? and Why has online gaming 12,000+ merits have been issued to become so popular? The pupils have enjoyed The first thing I would like to proudly members of the tutor group! Yes, researching their areas of interest and we are celebrate is that my form 8 Sherman class you really did read that correctly! excited to see what new Genius Hour projects is leading the whole of year 8 by having Members of 8MA have also been we have throughout the rest of the year. the highest number of merits. Lava S.H is making an impact in their free time, the first achiever with 184 merits and no with many joining after school demerits at all. Mohamed M is the third clubs, including drama, debate, with 166 merits and one demerit only. football and rugby. I was especially These two pupils are amazing, they have proud to see so many singing in the 100% attendance record, their self-quiz- school choir at the awards evening, zing homework is completed regularly, Mrs Guilfoyle and look forward to watching them they always meet all school’s standards in the school production of ‘Oliver’ and their attitude is excellent towards next year. both learners and teachers. Following on from last year, we Our form is continuously sharing have already made a good start in 8 HEPWORTH celebrations with Willows community collecting items for the homeless, through twitter. Almost all pupils in this 8HP are a very diverse group of pupils. There in conjunction with Splott form are showing respect, kindness and are a number of MAT students who are very Community Volunteers, and also collaborative attitude towards each other. focused on their education I am proud to implementing the ideas from our Congratulations to Biague S as well who say the majority of them get 20 out of 20 in very own Willows ‘Kindness’ Advent won the History award recently. And a their weekly spelling tests and many of them Calendar into our everyday lives. “Diolch yn fawr iawn!” to David W who especially Chomchanok Donsamak are leading I’ve no doubt these superstars will showed great kindness, offering help the way in achieving the Willows badges of have no problems in accomplishing to his classmates and sharing his digital honour. these acts of kindness. Follow us on competence with them. 8HP are very involved in extra-curricular Twitter for updates on our progress! The most amazing thing, is that pupils activities including the football team, all music You can follow me at @ in this form are recently showing a com- and drama productions just to name a few; Zakk J7_Miss_W petitive mind-set developing a winning and Sienna are in the choir, Amiee Seren and attitude for more achievement points. Kamilli are involved in the Matilda production Bendigedig 8 Sherman! I am proud. and Zakk and Evan are regular stars on the Miss Williams Willows Waves radio station.

Mrs Ait-Brahim Miss Townsend Willows Way | Issue 2 19 9 GOODALL 9 JOSEPHSON 9 MENDELEEV This term 9GO welcomed four new We have had a range of achievements This year the form class has been members – Saned, Julmila, Antonio and in 9JO this term ranging from sports amalgamated with pupils from other Jas, who have all settled in well and had awards to cooking. classes making an enriched and diverse a positive impact on the class. Jas is due Liam Mann not only won the learning group. to represent the registration group in the Year 9 Awards Evening prize for his The form have been performing very upcoming ‘Spelling Bee’ after consistently contribution to sport but was also well since school began in September achieving 100% in his spelling tests. selected for the highly anticipated Year achieving well over the school average Louie continues to shine on the pitch 11 football team against Cardiff High for merits for positive behavior. with impressive goal keeping skills and in which Willows were the champi- They have been a pleasure to tutor powerful rugby tackles. ons! Also, representing the girls of with some excellent characters in the We were proud to see Emma win two the form, Emma Lia was awarded mix. awards in the recent ‘Subject Awards the Year 9 Awards Evening prize for Evan Pierce has been the star per- Evening’, she won the Christopher PE. Congratulations both! former of the tutor group consistently Columbus Award for her achievements We are also fortunate enough to having the most merits with zero in Geography and Ralph Waldo Emerson have a Nigella in the making with demerits. On a personal note Evan has Award for being a Maths genius. Mya Scott who was recently awarded also recently won a Silver medal at the Chef of the day for her excellent cu- Cheltenham open British Jujitsu com- linary skills! The class cannot wait for petition. Well Done Evan. some delicious Christmas treats. Well Over all I am very proud of my tutor done Mya group who are developing into mature Merits have been flying everywhere young adults. Miss Moore this year with over 250 awarded over the last couple of months alone. Great start to the year 9JO- keep this up! Mr Kearns

9 CURIE Miss Nelms Excellent merits from this fantastic group this term with four pupils hitting double figures for the “Above and Beyond” merits. This is a huge achievement: Alfie, James, Jolie and 9 FRANKLIN 9 DARWIN Naomi, well done to you all. The class are We’ve had a very positive start to the This week Luke, Kritika, Josh, Jay, working hard towards ensuring that they are year in 9 Franklin. Out of the list of Bethan, Cerys and David have attended all working to the best of their ability across top merits in year 9, the top 5 were the Storey Arms trip and will be school and I am sure that they are going on all members of our form! Madison experiencing a range of activities such to achieve outstanding results from their Morris being our top achiever with over as climbing, caving, gorge walking lessons. In addition to that 9Cu have received 130 merits. We have welcomed new and kayaking. Some of the pupils on a whopping 421 “Excellent Effort” merits. members to our form as well; Khalito the trip also try their hand at music How fabulous is that! James, Jaydon Marden and Neko within the school these are Cerys, They support each other every day to Riseborough have joined us and have David, Josh and Kritikia, joined with become better learners and it is great to see been welcomed by our Franklin family Shazmina, Khuslen and Elysia playing how they vote for each other at the end of with open arms. I am very proud of 9 a variety of instruments, such as violin, the day to see who most deserves the Form Franklin, they are becoming kind and clarinet, guitar. Several members of Class, “Star of the Day” award (and treat). considerate young adults who look out the class are part of the school choir There are no egos here, just kind pupils for each other around the school. They and participate in school productions. wanting to recognise each other’s successes. are taking responsibility for their own Many students within the class are avid Becky stepped in to support the Spelling behaviour and learning from mistakes, football fans Jay, Luke and Sadde play Bee and came in fourth – a valiant effort. She constantly improving. Well done and for the school football team with Jay was cheered on by her classmates who were keep it up! scoring a hat trick in an 11-2 win. Ethan very proud of her for stepping in, she was a is a keen gymnast. little nervous. Owen, Zaki, Omar and Abdul are all part of the Willows High football team and have successfully beaten; St Johns 11-2. Excellent Miss Cook achievement lads. Mr Adams

Awards evening 9Cu successes • Becky won the prestigious photography award 10 EDWARDS • Ellen won two awards for: Performing Arts 10 Edwards are glad to be back in school, and 10 FARAH and Welsh (as well as being part of our working hard towards their GCSE examinations. school choir and performing on the night) 10 FA are a lively but They have all risen to the added demands of Key likeable class. • Shanice won the Art award against some Stage four. 10 Edwards have been working hard and very strong competition Pupils with the best preparing for their GCSE English Literature exam, attendance: Sufia, Caitlin, which they are due to sit after the holidays. They Arif, Boshra , Alicia and 9Cu want to thank some teachers have been attending additional study sessions and Thomas. Well done to Mr Carter has taught the class through some taking work booklets home for practise. The class Ffion for improving her excellent practical lessons that were enjoyed have shown that they have pride in their appearance attendance! by all and the class feel they have learnt a lot as there has been an improvement in effort with Congratulations to from his detailed explanations. They want to uniform. Noura for achieving say a big thank you to their student teacher, The class were fortunate enough to be invited no demerits since Mr Lo Conte who has taught them English to see Tim Peak’s spacecraft during a school trip September! and they find his lessons really informative. arranged by the Science Department. We were lucky On the sporting side Finally; 9Cu wanted to say a thank you to to be within a group of only a few secondary schools , Boshra represents the their substitute form tutor Miss Jones who in Cardiff to be invited. school in basketball and was really supportive in the time that they The class now need to remember that year 10 Noura in football. spent with her. is as important as year 11 as they mature and apply So nice to have such appreciative pupils in themselves at all times during lessons. Keep up the school, we are really lucky here. good work 10 Edwards as you will prosper from your efforts. Ms. Vrigneau

Mrs Thomas Mrs Rees

20 10 RADCLIFFE 11 WOLLSTONECRAFT 10 Radcliffe have made a great start to their GCSE studies this academic year. We have This term we like to welcome the following welcomed to our class several pupils who were previously in 9 Parks and they have made a students to our class: Saloni Gaba, Pari great contribution to 10 Radcliffe. We also said farewell to some friends from last year who Kapour, Tara Sayadmouz and Nato Yosef. You headed off to Brazil, Greece and the slightly less exotic . have only been with us a short time however When talking about their best moments of year 10 so far many pupils were keen to mention that you’re a massive part of our family and have they felt their behaviour had improved and, looking at the reduction in demerits for pupils from got involved in all school activities and our class, this is certainly the case. Whilst on the subject of (de)merits special mention must go to have embraced the English language. Your Praman, Kaitlyn, Hannan and Lucy who all have more than 200 merits so far this school year. Lucy determination in class has been recognised by is the star of the show with the highest number of merits in Year 10 and no demerits at all. other members off staff. As a class we would 10 Radcliffe were particularly keen to thank Mrs M Thomas who teaches them for English like to wish Pari Good luck in the spelling this year. With their GCSE English Literature exam taking place in January they have especially Bee competition, I’m sure you will make us appreciated her support and guidance. proud. We are also proud of other members Finally I would like to congratulate Praman (again) for representing St Peter’s rugby club – his in our class, Jac Atkins and Ben smart; they proudest moment this year was their win in the local derby against St Albans – Well done have both represented the school and were Praman! part of the victory against Cardiff High. Daniel Cirpaci, Ana and Reem, consistently working hard in every subject, working above and beyond. Finally the following pupils have been accepted into college on conditional offers Mrs Brace next year; Julius, Chelsey and Ben. Amazing results Boys Bach keep up the good work!!!

10 MCARTHUR 11 DE BEAUVOIR Mrs Davies It has been a very positive start to We are now entering the final year of the year for 10MC who are proud school for 11DB and I, as their form of Khadija Cole and Sam Tyler who tutor, will be sad when they go. They’ve represent their year as Head Girl and been an amazing form group to work Head boy for year 10. Overall we have with (I especially value their kindness 11 PLATO seen a huge rise in the number of when they’ve helped me with various A very busy autumn term for 11 Plato, who positive merits the class are getting odd jobs - even staying behind to wrap are continually striving to improve both inside and almost zero detentions showing presents for the Christmas Fayre!). and outside the classroom. how much they have improved. Many We’ve had some fabulous achieve- This term has been packed full of activities of the class have received over 200 ments too with Cerys Wellbeloved, preparing all of our fantastic Year 11s for life merits this term; Sam Tyler 282, Casey Truli Smith and Hasnath Ali all receiving after high school. Every week organisations Shellard 277, Joshim Kirby 269, Joshua awards at Awards Evening. Well done and colleges have been into school holding Thompson 252, Delyth Pinder 250, to Ellie Dunnet too for opening Awards presentations attempting to entice our pupils Khadija Cole 249, Holley Hema 242, Evening with a solo performance to choose college courses and different Charlie Franks 239, Tia Green 238, - ardderchog! career paths. This has been a real eye opener Ocean-Leigh Jackman 231, Charlie We have also had some outstanding particularly for pupils in 11 Plato, who are now Gunning, 222, Kadie Burgess 220, form achievements earning 2241 merits beginning to realise the opportunities in front Jessica Scholz 218 and Cole Hollifield as a form group. Chloe Wallace is our of them. 202. Also a massive congratulations top merit earner with 143 merits, Rhys Plato is host to a number of our top to our award winners; Holley, Sam, Dando is second with 133 and Callum performers here at Willows. This was again Khadija and Ocean who won six Armstrong with 126. on display during our recent awards evening awards between them. The class have Finally, we need to congratulate our with numerous pupils picking up outstanding also demonstrated their dedication to pupils who have got 100% attendance: achievement awards across a whole range their GCSE exams by attending after Farhad Ahmed, Callum Armstrong, Ellie of different subjects. I have no doubt these school revision sessions to prepare Dunnet, Israa Hagomer, Tayla - Leigh accolades will reflect outstanding GCSE for their upcoming English Literature Jennings, Elis Sage, Truli Smith, Chloe results for those pupils in the summer. exam. 10MC have been very wel- Wallace and Aaron Zheng. Pupils with All the pupils are looking forward to coming and supportive of our PGCE other 95% attendance were Hasnath Christmas and spending time with family and student Mr Mullings who has become Ali, Gareth Crocker, Rhys Dando, Paul loved ones. A time to relax and reflect on a firm favourite among the group and Mathias, Raisa Meeram, Joshua Price, the year before, but more importantly begin will be greatly missed when he leaves Ffion-Jade Silver, Cerys Wellbeloved, to prepare for an enormously important six in February. Morgan Welsher and Jack Workman. months ahead, where only their very very best Well done everyone - you’ve made me will be good enough! a very proud form teacher!

Mrs Gorman Miss Brackley Mr Smith

11 SOCRATES 11 ATTFIELD 11SO registration class has pupils with unique It’s been a busy term for 11 Attfield! This term has seen students attend weekly assemblies personalities. They are very supportive of delivered by local employers, take part in career workshops, undertake work experience with each other and you can often see them at (a local law firm) and attend careers fairs not to mention college open evenings the side of the football pitch supporting Ellis and subsequent college interviews. Whilst some may find this exhausting, 11 Attfield have Buckley, who is the year 11 goal keeper. taken it in their stride, continuing their studies in earnest - sitting G.C.S.E mathematics and The class diversity is reflected by their mock catering examinations to name but a few. This, you might think, is enough to tire the interests, Chia Huntley and Latisha Mighty, most eager student but members of 11 Attfield have still found time to prepare and interview are keen cooks who often stay after school for the position of Head Boy (subsequently being successful in being appointed Deputy Head to focus on their catering coursework and Boy) and being part of the football team that recently won convincingly against Cardiff High. perfect their cooking skills, Damien Williams 11 Attfield continue to take advantage of the opportunities put before them in preparation is an avid gamer with aspirations of being a for life after Willows. The students are growing in maturity and evolving into individuals who I paramedic, whilst others in the class have have no doubt will make a valuable contribution to society in the future. dreams of acting, working with the BBC or becoming air craft engineers. These are just some of the dreams of year 11 So, a registration class preparing themselves to go Mr O Grainger out in to the world and make a difference.

Mr Konten Willows Way | Issue 2 21 YEAR 7 YEAR 8 Transition from a primary school to a Now that your Journey 7 lessons have secondary school can be very daunting. finished, you seem to have settled A MESSAGE I understand that this is a scary time into Year 8 with confidence. I can tell for most of our pupils and I want to you have all formed strong friendships FOR YEARS send my praises to each and every one with each other and I hope that they for settling into Willows High School continue to blossom throughout your 7 & 8 so well. Year 7 have had a jam packed time in High School. I understand that few weeks where they had a fantastic High School has a big influence over FROM MR opportunity to visit Bad Wolf Studios your wellbeing, in and out of the class in . A huge thank you to all room. I want you to know that I am HOSFORD of the staff that shared this experience here to talk to you if you ever have any with the pupils, I know you have to concerns. For those who are finding keep what you observed a secret! school a challenge, we have ‘Talkabout I would like to take this opportunity for Teens’ with Miss Vaughan – Please to praise all of the pupils who have speak to her or myself if you feel this worked hard and have progressed over would be beneficial to you. the last term. Lastly, remember that you are constantly evolving to become perfect role models for future pupils at Willows High School – So stay happy and work to the best of your abilities!

Year 9 and Year 10 what an amazing start to this A MESSAGE academic Year we have had! So many of you have achieved over 200 FOR YEARS merits and a 100% Attendance. Year 10 you have had the greatest opportuni- FROM ty to visit Tim Peake’s space shuttle. 9 & 10 That was an amazing experience for me as your new Welfare Officer to come and spend MRS DAVIES the day with you and for me to learn new things too, it was a great day. But we still have the Virtual Reality Bus to look forward to in February and the bonus is my Year 9’s will also have this opportunity. It has been a pleasure getting to know all my Year 9 and 10 pupils this term and I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and here’s to the New Year of success here at Willows High School.

I would like to open by saying that I am immensely proud of year 11; they have had the lowest number of demerits of any A MESSAGE year group in the school. Year 11 have embraced this impor- tant year in their education journey; most have applied to FOR YEAR college, had interviews and secured their conditional offers. Year 11 have been busy attending weekly mentoring sessions 11 FROM with their allotted staff mentor, subject revision sessions and sessions with Hugh James Solicitors. Year 11 students have MRS KAYE experienced University life through University inspiration days, many choosing to study Psychology, Medicine with Dentistry and Business taster lectures/seminars. Year 11 girls were invited to Cardiff’s first Women of the World festival aka the “WOW festival.” The girls met inspirational journalists, successful business women, comedians, and artists, whilst throwing themselves into many workshops to build their confidence and increase their awareness of potential careers. The highlight for the girls was, of course, meeting Jordan from Rizzle Kicks. The term ended with a much deserved rewards trip to the for a film and some bowling. Keep up the hard work year 11; best wishes for the challenges that lie ahead this term!

22 Mentoring programme

Thank you year 11 and Willows Staff for such an enthusiastic start to our Mentoring Programme. Following feedback from last year’s school leavers we have made some adjustments to our mentoring programme to ensure that we support all year 11 pupils with a mentor and ensure that we focus on their wellbeing, career planning as well as exam preparation. With this in mind and extensive research we have created the new mentoring programme. This mentoring programme is off to a fine start; with our Aspire group enjoying the first opportunity - that of working with Breakfast Hugh James Legal Services. They will be visiting them for a few opportunities to discuss how to prepare themselves for further education and the working world. The pupils were very confident and received great praise from the staff at Hugh James. club All year 11 pupils, as part of this new mentoring programme, will have access to their own dedicated lead member of staff in school working with them on securing them the best future Dear Willows Way, chances and supporting them through their final and most challenging year in school so far. It is our intention to provide them with academic support, help managing their workload and taking Since the start of our new School year care of their wellbeing to ensure that they achieve the best they we have introduced Breakfast Club. It possibly can. has been a massive success. We are We have four groups set up and we are tailoring their averaging about 150 pupils daily. programme in accordance to their needs. The Ambition Group This is having a really good are being supported by the Head teacher, Deputy Head teacher, impact on our school Attendance as our Wellbeing Leader and the Leader of Performing Arts we are it is increasing weekly. confident they will feel they have some of the best people to hear Don’t forget Breakfast Club offers what they need and respond to it in order for them to achieve their a free breakfast daily and is open to absolute best and aim high. all pupils from 7.45am until 8.30am. Our Action Group are receiving excellent guidance from one of our Assistant Head teachers, our Careers lead and our Inclusion Leader to ensure that they have support in place to help them plan their future and secure the qualifications that they need in order to See you there fulfill their desired career path. These pupils are currently unsure of Danielle! what they want to do after this year so we will be supporting them in choosing the right path for them. Finally our Accelerate Group are making significant gains under the guidance of our Assistant Head teacher and our Lead Practitioners from Core subjects. They are all working together to ensure that this group feel confident in their exams and have the right level of support where ever it is needed. We are incredibly proud of this year group. The work they are currently doing with their mentors to maximise their outcomes is fantastic. So far they have been working on the best revision techniques, how to develop resilience when they find the demands of GCSE challenging and how to look after themselves and ensure they live a balanced and happy life. We are sure they will do exceptionally well. I look forward to sharing their excellent results in the months to come.

Mrs Thomas Raising Standards Leader

23 CAREERS WORK

This term, as part of my Careers Fairs new role as the Careers Pupils from Willows have attended Year 9 Construction Project Link Teacher, I have been two careers fairs. Skills Cymru, We have been offered an oppor- tunity from Cadwyn Construction engaged in numerous which is the largest careers fair in Wales, and the Careers Pathway for a group of year 9 pupils to activities that will provide Careers Fair, which was held have a monthly visit to a working the students with a varie- specifically for students interested construction site to see how it ty of opportunities and al- in a career in the Performing Arts. develops and to experience the low them to make a more A fair designed for pupils interest- various trades that work there. informed decision about ed in Apprenticeships is to held The first visit will take place in their own futures. after Christmas. December.

Yr. 10 Careers Check Survey Year 7 and 8 Job Match Quiz All pupils in year 10 will be asked All pupils in year 7 and 8 will take to complete a survey highlighting part in a Job Match survey, via the their areas of interest and possible careers Wales website, for them career paths. This will give the to start considering potential school and Careers Wales an idea careers they may be interested of the types of interviews and in. Pupils with a possible career in assemblies that will be of interest mind should be more motivated to those pupils with a view to their to achieve well in school. future college or job choices.

24 Careers Wales • Sherman theatre Pupils have been involved in • St David’s College careers interviews with Michelle, • NHS our careers Advisor, on a weekly • BT Call centre basis since September • Retail industry Careers Wales • Cardiff High 6th Form Two members of Willows staff • GE Aviation will be trained to use the Cardiff • CAVC Business exchange programme • CELSA Steel which will allow the school to • Sport Cardiff access thousands of potential • Careers Wales – interactive employers for the students assembly

Backstage theatre group Some female students have been Destination data invited to attend the Sherman theatre As part of our commitment to to experience what is involved in the students, I have also tried to working backstage at a theatre. ensure that all of last year’s year 11 pupils are actively engaged Brains Brewery have attended in something productive since Willows to do CV workshops with leaving school. With the assis- year 11 pupils tance of careers Wales and the Youth Mentoring system, we have CAVC ascertained that 95% of pupils Jo Gower from Cardiff and Vale who left Willows in the Summer College has started her “drop in” of 2018 are currently involved days to offer pupils extra help with in numerous ventures. These finding and applying for college include: - courses that suit them • St David’s Open evenings • ACT Pupils have been informed about Role Model day • CAVC January 2019 will see Willows the Open evenings for a variety of • Cathays 6th form hosting a Role Model day for year establishments including CAVC, St • Military Police Training 11 pupils. Between 6 and 8 em- David’s College and Cardiff High • Pencoed college ployers from a range of industries School. will be visiting school and hosting • St Teilos 6th Form workshops for the pupils. Army Cadets • ITEC barbering The Army cadets have conducted • Weybridge college Sherman theatre a session with pupils interested in • Cardiff city football academy Some pupils from year 11 Per- a career in the Armed forces. forming Arts have attended the Sherman theatre to enrol in a Assemblies There have been, and continue to creative writing course Mr Roberts be, a variety of different employers Careers and Apprenticeships NHS Visit and colleges conducting assem- We had a visitor from the NHS blies for the year 11 students to who delivered an assembly and give them as much information as then did a revisit to provide a possible about what to do when number of interested students they leave school. These bodies with information for specific jobs have included:- in the industry such as Pharmacist and Nurse.

Willows Way | Issue 2 25 2018 has been another successful year for the Learning Lounge where we continue to grow and flourish. COMMUNITY The Learning Lounge is now a well- used and well-known place within CURRY AND BINGO our community which we hope to continue to grow with your support. A large part of what we want to achieve at Willows is to be able to offer This success has been recognised community activities which are less formal than our learning strand and to be fully accessible to the whole community. Curry and Bingo nights and rewarded with not one, but have been popular and have been thoroughly enjoyed by all who attend. two awards last year! We were Just recently we have had the pleasure of hosting our first ‘Comedy’ firstly awarded with our Investors bingo, with the wonderfully funny Mike Bubbins as our caller. This saw in Families award earlier in the year, the whole community come together and enjoy a great night of bingo, which is a three-year accreditation comedy and laughter. We hope to run more bingo nights in the New for the high level of services we offer Year and it would be great to see you there! to families and our local community. More recently we have won an award BONFIRE EXTRAVAGANZA for our work with ADHD Cardiff, who November saw the second annual Bonfire Extravaganza, to which successfully nominated us after the over 3000 people came along to enjoy. The feedback has been really joint work we have done, both in positive and everyone had a great time. We would like to thank all of our parent training and supporting our sponsors for their kind donations towards this event, without them we own pupils. would not be able to offer such a spectacular evening- United Welsh, We held an array of courses over , FCHA, Four Walls, Tesco Bags of Help, STAR the year which have helped people Communities First and Legacy Fund, Celsa and Jewsons, gain new skills, for example, DIY for Newport Rd. We would also like to thank our huge army of volunteers beginners and basic cake decorating, who helped out at the event and to Keep Splott Tidy for their efforts the right through to level 3 accredited following morning for the big tidy up! All money raised at this event will go towards planning next year’s event and subsidising family activities courses such as our Teaching and trips throughout the coming year. Assistants course, where 21 people qualified and of which fourteen now have employment. All of our courses TRIPS and workshops are free to attend and Our trips have been full of excitement with lots of new places visited open to anyone in our community and cultural capital gained. In the summer we were lucky enough to (you don’t need to be related to a be able to visit the Royal Mint followed by a trip to Barry Island. This pupil), however booking is advisable. was followed by a full day out just a few weeks later to Tenby. We had See our new year timetable for what a great time playing on the beach, paddling in the sea and spending time shopping in the beautiful walled town centre. Our year of trips was is currently running. nicely finished off with a visit to the stunning Bath Christmas Markets at

26 the beginning of December. We were joined by staff and local families who all had a great time trying new foods and drink, Become a friend of Willows High School shopping for hand-crafted gifts and of course trying the local We meet half termly to plan and deliver fund- mulled wine! raising activities for school resources and trips. Everyone is welcome to attend. The next meeting BREAKFAST CLUBS will be advertised on our Facebook Page. If interested contact Nat on 02920 414243 Here in our own community we have been getting busy at one of our local breakfast clubs. Pupils from Willows have been taking turns to help out at the Old Library Breakfast Club with Splott Community Volunteers on a Thursday morning. The club is open for anyone to come along and have a full and healthy breakfast for a minimal donation. The club is run by volunteers with kind donations of food from local produc- ers and supermarkets. Pupils have been able to support the group and learn new skills in cooking and food preparation, meeting and greeting and in taking orders and serving the public. We’ve had great feedback from pupils who have taken part about how much they have enjoyed it, from the volunteers about how helpful and polite our pupils have been and from the service users on how seeing our pupils brightens up their day. Here at Willows we want to embrace community spirit and togetherness and for our school to be at the heart of that. We would love to see new relationships form between neigh- bours, organisations and of course our own school families. We want to join in community activities and start new ones of our own. We would like to introduce more com- munity members to adult learning to enable them to better achieve or become work ready. It would be nice for parents to meet school staff in a very informal way, raise confidence and see better attendance at events such as parents’ evenings. As such, this year we introduced our ‘Meet the Department’ sessions each Friday morning. This is where we are joined each week by a different Subject Leader to chat with parents about what’s happening in their subject area. This is a great opportunity for parents to find out what their child is doing in particular subjects, ask questions and find out how you can better support your child with their school work. This is much more informal than parents’ evening, we even have tea and toast! It allows you to stay longer and find out what you really want to know without worrying about a queue building up behind you. We are in the Learning Lounge each Friday from 9.15am, a list of dates is available on Facebook and Twitter. At the end of each half term we are also joined by Attendance Officers, Welfare Officers and Mr. Norman also has a ‘Meet the Head’ session for more generic school information and consultation.

If you have any questions or would like to attend any of our workshops, courses, trips or events call Nat on 02920 414243 and keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter pages for announcements.

Willows Way | Issue 2 27 WHAT’S ON IN THE LEARNING LOUNGE

Keep up to date with all of the learning lounge information, see facebook /WillowsHighSchoolOfficial new course and events as they are announced and stay in the twitter @learnloungewhs know. Add us on Facebook and twitter.

DIY WITH FAYE MEET THE ATTENDANCE AND WELFARE Mondays 9.30-11.30am. Starting 14 January OFFICERS A free 10 week course learning the basics of home Welfare Officers - 15 February, 5 April DIY including basic plumbing, using power tools, Attendance Officers - 22 February, 12 April building furniture, tiling and much more. Come All sessions will be 11am-12noon. along to see what new skills you can learn. Come along to meet our lovely team of Welfare and Attendance Officers. Come and ask them about how TEACHING ASSISTANTS they can help your family, ask them about their role Mondays 1-3pm. Starts 14 January 1-3pm and get their top tips on staying safe, looking after your A FREE 10 week course which offers a look at wellbeing, routines and much more. FREE refreshments expectations of teaching assistants providinga will be available. stepping stone to the full TA course. Suitable for all levels of learners. WILLOWS CINEMA CLUB Spring Term Screenings BASIC MATHS FOR ADULTS 5 February- The Greatest Showman Tuesday and Wednesday 9.30am-12.30pm 19 March- Christopher Robin Delivered by Cardiff and Vale College Family friendly films shown at 4pm on the big screen in the theatre. Just 50p each under 5’s free. Tuck shop IELTS (ADVANCED ENGLISH AS A available for snacks and drinks SECOND OR OTHER LANGUAGE) Tuesday 1.00-3.00pm. Starting 15th January REACH DROP-IN Fridays 10.30am-12.30pm Delivered by Cardiff Metropolitan University Come for coffee with the Reach Support Team and see DRIVING THEORY DROP-IN if they can help you access courses, support groups or things to do in your community. Wednesdays 1.30-3pm. Starts 16 January Want to learn to drive but worried about the theory IT’S CHILDS PLAY test? Come to our drop in where you can practise Friday 12.30pm-3pm. Starting 18 January theory and hazard perception in comfort and at your own pace. Staff will be available to offer help Contact Flying Start or your Health Visitor to book your and support and to explain some of the more place random questions the test asks you! All equipment provided. MEET THE DEPARTMENT Fridays 9.30-11.00am. Starting 18th January AN INTRODUCTION TO SCHOOL A chance for you to have a coffee and a natter and meet GOVERNANCE the heads of each department. Free tea, coffee and toast Wednesdays 6-8pm. Starts 16 January will be available. All welcome, bring the babies! Ever wanted to become a school governor but are unsure what they do or what the commitment BREAKFAST WITH THE HEAD would be? This course is a 5 week introduction FRIDAY 11 January. 9.15am to answer some of those questions. There is no You are all invited to enjoy a FREE full English breakfast with commitment to sign up afterwards, just come Mr Norman! It’s all very informal, ask him about school, tell along and find out more. him your worries or concerns and let him know what we’re doing right!Come and join us and bring a friend

28 Teaching and Learning Pupil voice RESEARCHED AND and charity BERA RESEARCH CONFERENCES: On the very first weekend of the academic year, the whole of our update Senior Leadership Team headed to London to the prestigious ResearchEd Conference. We attended a variety of workshops The Student Council have had a busy start run by leading professionals to the year and have been fully involved in in areas such as reading, an ambitious project on pupil voice. They cognitive development, have recently undertaken ‘Vocal Eyes’ scientific classroom inquiry and training so that they can manage an online advancements in pedagogy. digital platform that promotes participatory In November, we were one of democracy and allows every single pupil to the few schools represented feel part of the Student Council. Mr Sage at the notable BERA Annual launched the project during assemblies Conference where we met with and explained that the Head Boys and Girls academics looking at the future from each year group would be maintaining of educational research in Wales. regular communication regarding issues that The excellent practice gained the pupils feel strongly about. here will be used to advance our This followed the ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot teaching and learning at Willows where all pupils in Cardiff Secondary pupils High School. were invited to vote on current issues that they felt were priorities for young people. COACHING: Over 13, 400 pupils took part and the Willows results prioritised: 1) Ending knife crime, 2) Tackling homelessness and 3) Mental health. Based on these This term we have teamed priorities, knife crime awareness workshops have been arranged for the new with the high-profile charity, year for all year groups, Willows will be taking part and supporting the ‘Sock ‘Elevate’ who have helped it to Homelessness’ campaign on December 13th and mental health is one trained members of staff as of the priorities on Vocal Eyes for public discussion. teacher coaches. This will enable Student Council pupils have also been involved in the recent Iris Prize outstanding practice to be Education Day where they undertook training in LGBT+ awareness. They disseminated throughout our have been working on an Outreach project where they have written, classrooms. directed and acted in a mini film called ‘Vice Versa’ and this will be premiered on Friday December 14th at a film festival in the Willows Theatre. STUDENT With regards charity, Willows have supported the recent ‘Children in Need’ appeal and the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign with non- TEACHERS: school uniform days and cake sales. Both staff and pupils got in the spirit This term we have opened our and raised money for worthy causes. As an additional fundraiser, staff doors to ten students teachers enjoyed a curry night at the Spice Connoisseur in Taffs Well with the money across a variety of disciplines going towards the Marie Curie cancer hospice in Penarth. A good night was in collaboration with Cardiff had by all and was a lovely way to raise money for such a worthy cause. Metropolitan University and Aberyswyth / Bangor University. Our pupils are gaining insight into University life from these inspiring role models and the student teachers are gaining excellent insight into their chosen career from our staff. In addition to this, MFL and EAL student mentors have been visiting as volunteers to raise the performance and aspirations of our learners.

Willows Way | Issue 2 29 Get the Willows Waves Radio App Search Willows Waves Radio

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30 IMPORTANT DATES 2019

JANUARY 25 January – Meet the Department (Performing Arts/Music)

FEBRUARY 01 February – Meet the Department (Art/Photography) 08 February – Meet the Department (Welsh) 15 February – Breakfast with the Head 21 February – Year 8 Parents Evening 25 February to 1 March – Half Term

MARCH 08 March – Afternoon Tea with the Deputy Head 14 March – Photographs Year 11 28 March – Year 10 & 11 Parents Evening

APRIL 04 April – Year 7 Parents Evening 15 April to 26 April Half Term

MAY 03 May – Inset Day 09 May – Year 9 Parents Evening/Options 17 May – Breakfast with the Head 27 May to 31 May – Half Term

JUNE 14 June – Afternoon Tea with the Deputy Head Get the Willows Waves Radio App 28 June – Year 11 Prom JULY Search Willows Waves Radio 1 July to 3 July – Open House 05 July – Breakfast with the Head 11 July – New intake Day/New intake Parents Evening 18 July – Rewards Trip 19 July – Sports Day 22 July – Inset Day

Willows Way | Issue 2 31

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