Ysgol Stanwell School 2XL Summer Newsletter 2012 Sporting Excellence

School Productions

Clubs & Activities Contents

 Greetings from the School

 School Calendar 2012/13

 School Trips 2012/13

 School Holiday Dates 2012/14

 Eco-Schools

 Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

 Outdoor Pursuits

 Writing Competition

 Department News

 Year Group News

 100% attendance pupils Greetings from the school

It is with great pleasure that I look back through the achievements of the past academic year. Our students’ successes across a range of fields are exception- ally impressive and the staff and governors of the school are very proud of all they have achieved. On a whole-school level, we have enjoyed many highlights this year. Our pro- ductions of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘High School Musical’, our multitude of sporting achievements and the academic dedication of our students all com- bine to make Stanwell an exciting and focused learning environment. We feel proud to be part of such a successful school and I would like to take this op- portunity to thank our students, staff, parents, governors and friends in the wider community for their support this year. I wish you all a happy and relaxing summer break.

Mr D. Jones, Headteacher.

School Announcements

 AS and A level results are published on Thursday 16th August

 GCSE results are published on Thursday 23rd August

 First day of Autumn term for students is Tuesday 4th September. Monday 3rd Sep- tember is an INSET day for staff only

 Students wishing to sign up for peripatetic music lessons should attend a meeting at 2PM on 11th September in the auditorium School Calendar 2012 _2013 Monday 3 September INSET DAY Tuesday 4September First day for pupils 9 October OPEN DAY 30 October HALF TERM 6 November Year 7 Pastoral Parents' Evening 13 November Year 13 Parents' Evening 18th to 21st December -School Production 18 December - Miss Saigon Friday 21 December LAST DAY OF TERM 25 December CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 1 January CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS Monday 7 January INSET DAY 22 January Year 11 Parents' Evening 29 January Year 9 TEAMX Parents' Evening 5 February Year 9 WORKL Parents' Evening 12 February HALF TERM 19 February Year 11 Options Evening 26 February Year 8 TEAMX Parents' Evening 5 March Year 8 WORKL Parents' Evening 12 March Year 12 Parents' Evening 19 March Year 8 Options Evening Friday 22 March LAST DAY OF TERM 26 March EASTER HOLIDAYS 2April EASTER HOLIDAYS Monday 8April First day of Summer Term 16 April Year 10 Parents' Evening 7May Year 7 TEAMX Parents' Evening 14 May Year 7 WORKL Parents' Evening 28 May HALF TERM 25 June Award Ceremony (provisional) 2 July New Year 7 Parents' Evening Wednesday 17 July Last day of term Proposed Extra-curricular Trips for 2012/13.

These are the proposed trips for the academic year 2012/13. There may be some alterations and additions throughout the year. A regularly updated calendar can be found on the school website.

18th September Geography Department Year Group 11 Tenby

October German Department Year Group 13 Germany

Overnight October Art Department Year Group 9 & 10 London

1 week October / November French Department Year Group 9 & 10 France

October Geography Department Year Group 8 Cadbury World

22nd for 2 weeks October Outdoor Education Department Year Group 12 & 13 Morocco

24th 28th October Geography Department Year Group 10 & 11 Iceland

November Art Department Year Group 11, 12 & 13 London

Overnight November Welsh Department Year Group 6th form Glan-Llyn

9th 11th November Welsh Department Year Group 9 Glan-Llyn

20th 23rd November Geography Department Year Group 12 Field Studies Centre

22nd 23rd November History Department Year Group 8 London

7th December Textiles Department Year Group 9, 10, 11 The Clothes Show

A Saturday December German Department Year Group 9 upwards Birmingham

January Art Department Year Group8 London

2 days February Geography Department Year Group 9 & 10 London, Olympic Sustainability Proposed Extra-curricular Trips for 2012/13.

February Half Term Art Department Year Group 9, 10 & 11 Europe

February Half Term Skiing Year Group 10, 11, 12 & 13 Austria

4 days March Geography Department Year Group 11 & 12 Barcelona

7th 10th March French/Welsh Department Year Group 8 Euro Disney, Paris

March Geography Department Year Group 12 Regeneration in Cardiff Bay

14th 15th March History Department Year Group 12 London

March / April German Exchange Year Group 8 & 9 Germany

22nd 26th March RE Department Year Group 6th form Rome

21st 25th March History Department Year Group 10 Berlin

April Geography Department Year Group 8 Bristol Zoo

Easter Holidays Skiing Year Group 8 & 9 Austria

Easter Holidays Sailing Year Group 12 France

14th June History Department Year Group 7 Cardiff Castle - Jousting

27th 28th June History Department Year Group 9 France

2 days July French Department Year Group 7 France

July Art Department Year Group7 Cardiff School Holiday Dates

2012/2013

Inset Days 2012/2013: Monday 3rd September 2012 Monday 7th January 2013 th Thursday 18 July 2013 Friday 19th July 2013 Monday 22nd July 2013

School Holiday Dates

2013/2014 Eco-Schools Mrs J Laity

Over the last few months Eco-Stanwell com- Fairfield Eco meeting mittee members have been very busy working On June 26th 2012 , members of Eco-Stanwell together to make Stanwell School more envi- attended an Eco ronmentally friendly. Here are some of the meeting at Fairfield projects they have initiated: Primary School Fairtrade - members where ideas and pro- visited the ‘Fair Do’s’ gress were discussed. shop in Canton and par- This was followed ticipated in a workshop by a group gardening based on Fairtrade activity, where pu- products. The group are pils helped prepare hoping to introduce some more Fairtrade and improve an outside area of the school. products into Stanwell in the near future. Future events Energy Awards - each term the committee Charity and Eco Fund raising project select pupils/staff who have given time and After the success of a joint charity and eco effort into saving energy at the school. This fund raising event in 2012, where over £200 highlights the need to save energy through was raised for Marie Curie, members of both simple measures such as turning lights off committees are asking for pupils, parents and when leaving a room. Members were pleased staff to hold onto any unwanted items of cloth- to present awards to: ing, bedding and paired shoes until next year. Mrs T Davis The Bags4Schools scheme involves these recy- Miss L Donovan clable items being exchanged for money. The Mrs J Edwards Thank you and please continue to support this worthwhile initiative.

Recycling– Eco-Stanwell members have been busy designing and displaying posters around the school trying to encourage the school community to dispose of waste in an environ- mentally friendly way. We have received con- next event will involve all proceeds going to a siderable support for this initiative across the charity that Stanwell pupils will elect in the school, which is very pleasing. new academic year. - Samuel James of Year 7 collected an im- pressive 3,000 Christmas cards for the annual Stanwell Conservation area recycling competition. Well done to Sam for Plans are underway for a new conservation such a great effort! area at the school. Pupils from the committee

-Water bottles are still avail- STANWELL SCHOOL WATERBOTTLES and members of the primary feeder schools able in the school shop if pu- helped to design a suitable area for this outdoor pils are keen to support this classroom. This is very much an ongoing pro- project and help to reduce our ject and Year 7s have been involved in con- waste of plastic cups. structing many bird, bat and bug boxes during Look out for these water bottles they will be on sale from the the Cosmeston sustainability day. school shop!!! All profits going to Water Aid.

“Thank you to all who have supported the Eco Stanwell cause!” Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Miss H Jenkins

This year has seen the largest number of par- ticipants to date and the Bronze students have successfully completed their expedition section of the Award in the rain! For Bronze and Silver students there are another 3 sec- tions to the Award; volunteering, skills and a physical section. These are completed for a specific length of time and the participants must obtain their evidence.

The expedition section of the Award is usu- ally the most memorable for the participants. Training for this section has been conducted All the pupils should be congratulated on pass- on the Thursday evenings in school and has ing the expedition section of the Award, espe- included the Country code, map and naviga- cially in the poor weather. Pupils must now tion skills, escape routes, teamwork, camp complete the remaining sections of the Award craft and first aid. Pupils received certifica- on their eDofE account online before they can tion of attendance for the first aid course gain full certification. which was tailored specifically for the events they could encounter on their expedition. Many thanks must go to all the staff who vol- unteer to supervise the expeditions, those who The Silver participants completed their prac- help deliver the training throughout the year tice expedition on the 22nd—24th March and and those who help with the distribution of the their assessment the week later in the Brecon kit. Thank you also to those parents who help Beacons. The Vale Duke of Edinburgh ensure the kit is returned in an acceptable state! Award officer assessed the groups and re- viewed their presentation highlighting the aims of their expedition.

They were certainly luckier with the weather than the Bronze participants who, in the month of June, have been soaked to the skin! Due to the large number of participants, the practice expedition was split into two groups, one on the 21st—22nd June and the second group in the 26th—27th June. The pupils walked from Nash Point to Candle- Next year there are 178 Bronze and 70 Silver ston, taking in the amazing scenery and ex- participants enrolled on the Award and those periencing the second largest sand dune in interested in the Gold level will receive infor- Europe at Merthyr Mawr warren. The as- mation in September. sessed expedition was completed in the Gower.

“pupils should be congratulated on passing the expedition section “ Outdoor Pursuits Miss H Jenkins

Year 7 visit to the Velodrome ness and have also learned to paddle in both the canoes and kayaks. They have had to dem- onstrate a number of paddling skills in both crafts during the 6 weeks as well as handling the boats and equipment correctly.

Thirty Year 7 pupils had the opportunity to visit the Velodrome in Newport earlier in the summer term. The pupils were provided with all the equipment and given coaching on rid- ing the fixed wheel bikes around the track The pupils have also had a chance to go in the safely. The GB team are using this same large inflatable rafts that are used on the white track prior to the Olympics for their training water course. Their confidence in the water so the pupils had access to top class facilities. and the craft has grown immensely. Well done It was a fantastic day out; one pupil even to all those who completed the 6 week session commented that it was the best day of their and we look forward to many more exciting life! It was an absolute pleasure to take the outdoor pursuits activities next year! pupils on this new experience and the coach said how impressed he had been with their behaviour. Well done to all who participated and don’t forget to look out for the track cy- cling competitions in the Olympic Games this summer!

Year 8 Paddlepower

Pupils in Year 8 and Year 9 were given the opportunity to have taster sessions at Cardiff International White Water Centre. Following on from these taster sessions, a group of 14 pupils from Year 8 have completed a six week Paddlepower course, levels 2—5. Pu- pils have gained greater water safety aware-

“best day of my life” Creative Writing Competition Winning Entries

‘Sky Full of Lights’ of Pen y Fan. When we got to the top, we saw Maxine Pwele (Year 7) horses the size of ants grazing on the grass. Lights shimmering across the indigo Suddenly an icy chill came over me, I real- sky like reflections on water. The ised it started snowing. The beautiful view natural wonder’s magic grows changed; the sky darkened. stronger as flickering shades of Many horses fled for the safety of the sur- green, pink, blue, violet spread across the sky. rounding cliff. I stayed, rooted to the spot, You cannot help but stare in awe at this won- unable to move, gazing at the scenery of stag- derful yet mystifying event. It helps us to re- gering views. member how beautiful nature is and what it’s capable of. As the horizons brighten, the Shortlisted Entries: lights dim. Dawn deprives us of the spectacu- ‘The Trenches’ by Harry Jowett lar display. The Aurora Borealis. The North- ‘The Wonder of Africa’ by Emma Davies ern Lights. The night beauty. ‘Hanami’ by Lily Machlab ‘Around the World’ by Henry Carter ‘Freefall’ ‘Africa’ by Ellie Ritchie Ray Vandyck (Year 8) ‘Around the World’ by Lowena Diment I stepped out into the great abyss, ‘Rainforest’ by Sophie Egerstrom the wind howling like a deranged wolf, as I hung in mid-air for a split Thanks to our judges: second. Then I was plummeting towards the Tomei Browne, Suzie cloudy blanket, like a strange dream, as I Collins, Nils Deeg, slowly turned like a planet in orbit. Then I hit Channing Davies, Mor- the barrier and turbulence rocked my figure, gan Harley, Tommy before I emerged out like a fish meeting the Higgins and Jason surface. Buildings came into view. I yanked Machlab. the toggle and I was pulled back from my freefall forever.

Pen y Fan Beth Macmillan (Year 8) Aching feet, sore legs and tired arms; it’s worth it for the breathtaking views

“Creative Writing Competition” Department News

Art Ms R Lewis Penarth National Museum Wales / Amgueddfa Cymru Heights Pupils from Years 8, 11 and 12 all visited Year 8 The National Museum of Wales during the pupils course of this school year. The pupils found a have pro- number of exciting and useful resources duced during their visit. They were fascinated and superb inspired by works on display in the galleries artwork by artists including such as Au- exciting gustus and animation using the latest technology such as Gwen John, Ipads. They have been working with profes- Shani Rhys sional animator Ewan Morris Jones and rep- James and resentatives from Ffotogallery. Francis Ba-

con. ‘Invisible Scars’ Workshop

A selected group of Year 8 pupils took part

in a day workshop with visiting artists Ma- ciej Hoffman and Nicola Tucker. Both artists Primary Visits have exhibited work relating to difficult is- Many Y6 pupils from our feeder schools sues such as the Holocaust and surviving had the opportunity to visit the Art trauma. Pupils were encouraged to express Department and take part in a ‘taster’ lesson their own personal experiences, or family focusing on the technique of monoprint. For stories, through the creative use of mixed all pupils it was a chance to see the vast media. array of exciting work on display in the Art

Paris Visit rooms and to ask questions about future KS3 A number of pupils from Years 9 to 13 thor- work. oughly enjoyed a trip to Paris. The pupils visited several galleries to conduct research into their class themes and were astounded by the diverse range of the work on dis- play in the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay and the Pompidou Cen- tre. By Rebecca Hardess (8M) By Rebecca Hardess The low tempera- tures did not Global Canvas Award 2012 dampen spirits After submitting their fantastic work into as the pupils visited the David Shepherd Wildlife competition, the Sacre Coeur and three pupils from Years 7 and 8 were selected enjoyed a leisurely to have their work displayed in the Natural stroll in Montmartre. History Museum, London: Aimee Lintern (7L), Alexandra Ruge-Hayes (7A), and Rebecca Hardess (8M). Well done all!

‘Pupils were encouraged to express their own personal experiences, or family stories through the creative use of mixed media’. Business Studies Mrs J Macnamara

On Monday 18th June, ‘TopNotch’ repre- dors, the other teams that were competing sented Cardiff and Vale at the Young En- and invited guests. terprise Welsh Finals held at 'The Royal At the finals, ‘TopNotch’ were awarded the Welsh College of Music and Drama'. The 'Daily Telegraph New Media Award' for the group had already been very successful in advertisement that the group created to pro- order to reach this point. At a regional level mote their product, the ‘Cwtchi’. This is a they had already won ‘Best Trade Stand product that has been designed to protect and Interview’ and ‘Best Company’ at the iPads and phones, manufactured from recy- Cardiff and Vale Regional Finals. cled wetsuits. Each ‘Cwtchi’ had its own

design, with the current promotions linked ‘TopNotch’ did really well and presented to the Olympics. The winning advertise- themselves in a very mature and profes- ment will now go to London to compete in sional manner. They were competing the UK finals. against seven other companies on the day; Well done to all those students who took many of their competitors were older stu- part in the scheme this year! The students dents from Year 12, which made their have demonstrated an excellent range of achievements all the more remarkable. entrepreneurial skills. Some of the profits On the day, the students had to create a generated from all teams have been donated stand that represented their product and towards sponsoring Ganesh at the Pooc- brand and be interviewed by a range of dif- cholai Children’s Home in India and Ash- ferent judges. They then had to give a five grove Cafe. minute presentation to an audience that comprised of a range of business ambassa-

‘Presented themselves in a mature and professional manner’ Drama Miss L Maddy

This has been an extremely busy but suc- Tragedy and some spotlighted their work during cessful term for the Drama department. Stu- a Year 9 assembly. dents in both Key Stages 4 and 5 have ex- Other achievements include: celled in preparing for their GCSE and A Thomas Elliot (Year 13) joining the 2012 level written examinations, covering a wide summer cast of The National Youth variety of set texts such as: ‘A Midsummer Theatre of Wales. Night’s dream’, ‘The Chairs’, ‘The Rose Danielle Evans (Year 13) joining the 2012 Tattoo’ and ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’. summer cast of Youth Musical Theatre Year 12 students have also been practising UK. their theatre reviewing skills and enjoyed Katie Alstead (Year 10) attending a final re- visiting the Theatre Royal, Bath to watch call for ‘It’s My Shout’ films. ‘The Kings Speech’ and the Royal Welsh Alexander Collins (Year 9) participating in College of Music and Drama to see ‘The Mark Jermin’s Swansea showcase. Merchant of Venice’. Emily Price (Year 13) and Sian Smith (Year 9) appearing with Orbit Theatre Company’s production of ‘Annie’ at The New Theatre, Cardiff. Thomas Elliot, Ross Foley, Jessica Steed (Year 13), Beth Cowley, Seren Vickers and Mikaela Wood (Year 12) attending the Young Actors Studio at the ‘Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’. Sian Smith (Year 9) attending an Italia Conti Summer school completing a Musical They have also produced some outstanding theatre course. examination performance pieces. Both the GCSE and A Level examiners said that they This term, the Year were impressed with the innovative devised 8 and 9 production work shown and that it was amongst the of ‘High School best that they had seen! We wish our Year Musical’ has been 13 students the best of luck on their quest in the main focus of further education, especially Miles extra-curricular Braithwaite and Jessica Steed who have work. Staff and chosen to study acting at and Liverpool In- pupils have dem- stitute of Performing Arts and Bournemouth onstrated great University, respectively. commitment and Key Stage 3 pupils have also been showing dedication to pro- great enthusiasm in lessons and have en- ducing what has gaged with schemes of work based on, ‘The been a spectacular Lost Valley’, ‘Melodrama’, ‘The Grimm’s project. It has been Tales’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. a true example of teamwork, proving that Year 10 have produced pleasing devised when “we’re all in this together”, excellence work based on the stimulus of the Aberfan can be achieved!

‘We’re all in this together!’ Design Technology Mr N Gifford

It has been a very busy and rewarding year in Tom Gillanders, Ella DT with the department moving into two Mott-Riley and Ellie new teaching rooms. Both rooms have been Way were singled out as fitted out with new equipment including; a displaying true creativity desk top laser, A3 Scanners, A2 Printers, a in their projects, in par- sublimation press and a CAM embroidery ticular Tom who decided system. Students studying graphic products to use concrete to make a and textiles will now be able to produce arte- desk light. All three have facts to the highest professional standards. been nominated for the Needless to say, both facilities are proving to Student Innovations be a fantastic resource for both the school and the depart- ment.

Students Award in October and we are anticipating great have once again displayed the highest level success in this prestigious competition. of creativity and com- mitment, with many AS Product Design. spending evenings and AS students have also wowed the visiting weekends in school moderator who felt that the students, ‘clearly completing their understood the principles of good design and coursework and have how to use design tools like their sketchbooks’. all been praised by vis- Alana Thomas’ Cath Kidson inspired dress iting moderators. was singled out for of particular praise as was A2 Product Design. Joe Tucker with his design for a new foot- bridge to be placed in Cardiff Bay Once again the visiting moderator was im- pressed with the range and creativity of work GCSE Design & Technology on display, stating, ‘Your students at Stan- This year has been a very successful year with well clearly students once again producing some out- understand standing design work. Ailsa Jones was identi- how to design fied by the moderator as producing an excel- and produce lent food product. fantastic work’.

“displaying true creativity in their projects” Design Technology Mr N Gifford

Olympics and have produced some fantastic Graphic Products students have produced a work. number of impressive Year 8 pupils have exceeded all expectations in designs based on an their practical work, creating sophisticated and ethical clothing com- exotic meals for athletes as part of their Olym- pany, most impres- pic theme. sive of which was the Year 7 pupils have been very enthusiastic and submission by Beth produced some fantastic and creative cakes. Carter. Her range of

products dis- played an empathy for the company and en- vironmental concept which again impressed the visit- ing mod- The Olympic theme has run through other pro- erator. jects as well with many hotrods being designed to promote the Olympic games. The RMT Year 7 textiles pupils have been working on a focus cushion project. Pupils are enjoying this pro- area was ject and have produced some excellent work topped by this term. The bag project in Year 8 continues Jay Ka- to be a success. Pupils have produced a range puria who developed a design to store CDs. His attention to detail of bags includ- was impressive and ing Boot bags, hand bags, tote bags and drawstring worthy of praise from the bags. WJEC. After School Club KS3 After School club continues to be popular. During the year, many pupils are encouraged During the summer term, to attend the workshops after school to com- students in DT have been working on projects which have the Olym- plete projects and to increase their machine pics as a theme. skills or for any extra support. Food Technology students in both Years 7 and 8 have been working on the topic of the

“Year 8 have exceeded all expectations” Economics and Politics Mr J Boggan This is only the second year in which the school has offered a ‘Social Sciences’ prize Year 13 Government and Politics students and this year it was awarded to Callum Mas- have busy extending their knowledge of US ters (pictured below) from Year Twelve who Politics—in particular examining fascinating has studied Economics with success from issues such as whether the President possesses GCSE onwards and now plans to apply to too much influence and whether the US Con- read it at degree level after his A2 examina- stitution still effectively protects citizens’ tions. Callum said: ‘No other subject I study rights. makes me think in quite the way Economics does!’ Year 12 students were given the opportunity to attend a Model United Nations Conference at Our summer term is dominated by the exami- Ty Hywel in Cardiff Bay. The main agenda for nation period. Examinations have never been discussion was the Global Food Challenge more topical in nature and this makes the sub- where issues such as population and the envi- ject more enjoyable and relevant both to teach ronmental issues of food production to help and learn. The A2 paper included questions ascertain whether the world can feed a grow- about the number of taxi licenses granted by ing population were discussed. Each group of Cardiff Council—if there are too many, driv- students represented an individual country. We ers struggle to make a living, too few and were invited to send two delegations. Owen there is likely to be more anti-social behaviour Davies, John Ellis and Oliver Bird repre- in the city centre. Perhaps inevitably there sented Iraq while Jordan Geach, Caitlin Ellis was an essay question on our staying out of and Amy Le Grys spoke on behalf of the UK. the euro and an A/S one on the economic ef- fects of a weak currency. One GCSE paper Politics students also contributed to a BBC pondered whether the benefits of the Olympic online Schools Question and Answer session Games will exceed the costs and considered in May where they were invited to contribute whether or not the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets to a live debate. The panellists included MPs have too much power. Another considered the from the 3 main UK political parties and also economic effects of cuts in Government included the colourful and famous individual spending budgets and what the options are for George Galloway. redundant workers in areas of high unemploy- ment.

The Year Nine pupils enjoyed a division of labour simulation which replicates factory life. Based in competitive teams, particularly productive workers included Chandni Kerai, Erin Duffy and Evgenia Brusnitskaya. These pupils have also been especially com- mitted throughout the year and deserve praise for their achievements.

‘No other subject I study makes me think in quite the way Economics does.....’ English Mrs M Williams

Many thanks to Jade Eastwood, Amina Saf- As part of the Literacy Programme in Stanwell, dar, Carys Wilson and Aaron Wingren of pupils take part in a reading challenge in Year 7 who formed the impressive ‘Times which they are awarded different certificates Spelling Bee’ team appropriately named for completing a certain number of books. Two ‘Stanwell Legends.’ They were all excellent pupils have absolutely smashed the record for competitors and, despite not winning, fought the gold award in one year. Esther Buckton until the end. They battled in a tense online and Maxine Pwele both achieved their ‘Gold’ heat and had worked really hard to prepare for certificates by Christmas and have continued to this by learning difficult words and by partici- read avidly throughout the year. Esther man- pating in the activities that were available on aged to read a whopping 56 books and Maxine the website. This was great fun and really a fantastic 38! Well done girls; an incredible helped them to improve their spelling and learn achievement. more ambitious and interesting vocabulary. Thank you to all of those that entered in the Coming up to Stanwell from primary school first heat, it was very popular this year and it can be a daunting experience for some pupils. was encouraging to see so many pupils who This term, 8 Year 7 pupils have tried to make wanted to improve their Literacy skills and the transition easier by giving a presentation to represent their school at the same time. If any Year 6 pupils and their parents. In English les- pupils want to get a feel for the Spelling Bee sons, they wrote their experiences down and Championship and practise their spelling with prepared scripts on topics they had been con- the interactive games available, then log on to: cerned about before starting Stanwell, like bul- www.timesspellingbee.co.uk and use the ‘Play lying, making friends and scary teachers! They and Train’ games. This would be fun for par- worked hard to make their presentation infor- ents and pupils! We look forward to another mative, but most importantly reassuring, and fierce competition next year. did a fantastic job speaking in front of the packed auditorium. Thanks to them, we have Every year, the Stanwell English Award is no doubt the Year 6 pupils will be thoroughly given to one deserving Sixth Form pupil. This prepared and excited for September. year, no other pupil was more deserving than Year 10 pupils visited Cardiff Castle to watch Harry Wood. Throughout Year 12, Harry has an open-air performance of Shakespeare’s proven his commitment to English in numer- ‘Macbeth.’ The rain held off for the first half ous ways. His effort in lessons has been out- but both pupils and staff still enjoyed the per- standing. As well as working hard to succeed formance despite ad- academically, as part of his Welsh Baccalaure- verse conditions! All ate qualification Harry chose to complete his pupils in Year 7 to community service by becoming a Year 7 Year 10 were invited buddy in English lessons. Very quickly, Harry to take part in a Crea- became invaluable in lessons and pupils would tive Writing Competi- fight over who he would work with. Even tion, ‘Around the when he completed his required hours, Harry World in 80 words’. continued to help in the lessons. He should be We had a total of 180 entries and the judging very proud of what he has achieved this year panel found it a challenging but very enjoyable and he will make an excellent teacher one day. experience selecting the winners. Winning en- tries are printed at the front of the newsletter.

‘encouraging to see so many pupils who wanted to improve their Literacy skills’ Geography Ms H Morgan It has been a very busy term in the Geography department. Year 7 pupils have been learning about the impact of Climate Change on the world around us. The pupils have been finding some innovative solutions to the problem of fossil fuels and preparing for an alternative future. They could definitely give David Cameron a run for his money! Year 10 students have successfully Year 8 pupils have been studying Tropical completed a Decision Making Exercise as Rainforests and enjoyed a visit to the part of their GCSE course. Pupils undertook education centre in Bristol Zoo, where they an investigation into Wind Energy and chose were able to get a little too close to some of where a potential wind farm site could be the animals that live in this hot and humid placed in Cumbria. Their aims were to have climate. As you can see from the photos as little social, environmental and economic below, some of the girls got into the mood by impact as possible. Don’t worry readers, it’s becoming tigers for the day! not going to be situated off the coast of Penarth!

Year 9 students have made excellent progress at the start of their GCSE studies Our Year Eleven students have now with a visit to the London Olympic Village completed their GCSE course and sat their and sporting venues, highlighting issues of examinations in June. We wish them all the urban regeneration and the benefits of very best for the August results and hope that London hosting the forthcoming Olympic many of them will return to Geography for games. their AS Level studies.

“Geography is important because it is relevant to all that we do and opens our eyes to the world we live in.” Geography Ms H Morgan As part of the AS Level course, Year 12 buy a bowl of rice. It really made them students have visited the River Ilston in the appreciate their own lives, realising how Gower and also Cardiff Bay to undertake fortunate they are. fieldwork investigations in preparation for their AS examinations. As expected, the rain came down on both days, but it definitely didn’t dampen their spirits! Year 13 have completed their Geography experience at Stanwell and, on behalf of all the department, I wish them all the best with their Higher Education options. The Cosmeston Cross Curricular day enabled all Year 7 pupils to make shanty town housing from scrap materials. This team- Coming Soon...... building exercise also encourages pupils’ thinking skills. They designed and The Geography Department is looking constructed some very sturdy dwellings, but forward to: we are not sure that they would want to live in them permanently!  The Year 10 Tenby Fieldwork investigation

 The GCSE Iceland visit in October 2012

 The Year 8 “Geography of Chocolate” visit to Cadbury World

The Year 6 pupils were introduced to the Geography department during a series of Primary Liaison visits. Pupils played the Paper Bag game to understand the difficulties facing people living in poorer countries of the world. They worked very hard for little pay and only earned enough to

“Geography is found in everything we do and everywhere we go.” History Mr G Morgan

It has been another very busy and enjoyable As part of their term in the History Department. preparation for their course- Year 7 pupils have been investigating what work, fifty-five life was like in medieval society and the chal- Year 9 pupils lenges faced by the rulers of that era. They recently visited have been learning about medieval religion, the beaches of town and village life, as well as the gruesome Dunkirk to details of medicine, medical interventions and study the he- the Black Death. A large number of Year 7 roic mission in which 338,000 Allied troops pupils have also recently experienced the were saved from the advancing Nazis. The drama and excitement of a jousting contest at group visited sites such as Dover Castle, Cas- Cardiff Castle. sel — the scene of valiant resistance from Welsh Guards, and the memorial to the Battle of Dunkirk, which was symbolically con- structed from the quayside on which soldiers trod on their way back to Britain. The trip was a roaring success and a great time was had by all.

During the Easter holidays, Year 10 pupils travelled to Berlin. They visited historical sites in Berlin with particu- Year 8 have been enthusiastically studying lar emphasis on Nazi the Industrial Revolution and its significance Germany and the and legacy in the present day. They have also Cold War. Sites in- spent the term investigating the many aspects cluded Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, of the Great War. In particular, they have de- the Olympic Stadium, Checkpoint Charlie, the veloped a good understanding of the complex Brandenberg Gate and the Reichstag. On a causes of World War One and have consid- lighter note, pupils watched, listened and ered its on-going relevance. danced to tribute acts such as Freddie Mercury and Diana Ross and had a lively meal in the Year 9 have been studying the rise and fall of Hard Rock Café. The pupils thoroughly en- the American economy. They have been look- joyed themselves and were a credit to the ing at the causes of the Boom and the dra- school. matic Wall Street Crash. They have worked exceptionally well all year and their impres- Years 11, 12 and 13 have been busy preparing sive work will no doubt be carried through for their examinations. We wish them all the into Year 10. very best of luck for their results in August.

“It has been another very busy and enjoyable term in the History Department. “ Information Technology

Mr P Davies

Primary Liaison Leon Appiah (9O), Jac Ursell (9O), Kira The summer term saw our feeder primary Geach (9A), Mark Crothers (9A), Benjamin schools bring their Year 6 pupils up to the IT Tanner (9T), John Wall (9M) and Joseph department to complete a transition multime- Fettah (9W) dia project on e-safety. In addition, St An- Homework Club drews primary in Dinas Powys brought their Year 6 pupils to complete an iPad based tran- ICT clubs for both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage sition project which took place in the school’s 4 have been very well attended again this year . new iPad suite.

Key Stage Three

Year 7 and 8 pupils have enthusiastically taken part in their ICT lessons this year with large numbers attending homework clubs. Our plan next year is to offer a wider variety of homework clubs including an iPad club. Outstanding achievement in Year 7 came The Key Stage 3 ICT Games Design saw over from: Menna Bafaqih, Rebecca Bratby, 40 pupils regularly attend games design club Annie Higgins and Naomi Hills who showed each week. excellent endeavour with their classwork. Sixth Form:

Key Stage 4 Year 12

Year 11 and Year 10 pupils produced some Computing students produced some excellent excellent coursework for their Dida Unit 1. programming projects for their AS coursework Danielle Carey (11M), Laura John (11M), of particular note were Allister Hill, Ben Bethan Mattey (11M), Dewi Fford (11O), Ware and Jack Bowers. Applied ICT pupils Samuel Harry (11E), Daniel Skentelbery also produced some excellent spreadsheet and (11T) and Sion Thomas (11O) produced database modelling coursework notably Katie some excellent Graphics and Games Design Jones and Allister Hill. coursework. Year 9 pupils who have also worked very hard in class are: Liam Quinn Year 13 (9R), Ella Dyer (9X), Alice Holder (9X), Cerys Young produced some excellent Multi- Joseph Coole (9A). Pupils who have signifi- media and graphics A2 coursework. Best of cantly progressed and improved their work luck to all our Year 13 students in their exams! ethic from the start of Year 9 are Liam Meaden (9A), Charlie Richardson (9M),

“pupils have enthusiastically taken part in their ICT lessons this year” Maths Miss E Murphy

It has been a successful year in the who not only qualified for the next round of Mathematics department. Years 11, 12 the Intermediate UKMT Mathematical chal- and 13 have taken their GCSE, AS and A lenge, but achieved a distinction and medal in Level examinations respectively. We say the IMOK Olympiad Hamilton challenge. goodbye and good luck to our Year 13 Well done Balaji! students and look forward to welcoming back In April, the top sets from Years 7 and 8 took some Year 11 pupils for AS Maths and Fur- part in the National UKMT Maths challenge at ther Maths in September. Junior level. Congratulations to Year 8’s Jonathan Wright, who achieved the best Year 10 have now finished the GCSE Maths score in the school and a gold certificate. course. They will be concentrating on revi- Other gold certificate winners were Liza Kiss. sion techniques and practising past papers as Seren Marsh, Bill Sims (all Year 8), Daniel preparation for their GCSE exam in Novem- Anderton and Osian Boland (both Year 7). ber. A weekly homework club will run from Well done to all the pupils that took part in the September and will be open to all pupils. challenge, in particular those that achieved a gold, silver or bronze medal. This year a selection of our Year 9 and 10 pupils have attended the Royal Institution During March, all Year 7 and 8 pupils partici- Mathematics Masterclasses which were held pated in World Maths Day. The pupils thor- at Glamorgan University on a Saturday oughly enjoyed the online Maths Challenges morning. The course ran throughout the competing against people from all over the spring term and was enjoyed by all the pupils world. Congratulations to Lauren Ellis (Year that attended. Participating pupils were: 7), Victoria Hill and Alex Langrish (Year 8) Sayalie Borade, Chandni Kerai, Anastasia who achieved the top 3 scores in the school on Mirza-Davies and James Senior (Year 9) World Maths Day. along with Megan Doran, Zola Har- This year the Maths department has welcomed greaves, Balaji Krishna, Imogen Sibert selected pupils from the feeder Primary and Rebecca Te Water Naude (Year 10). schools to take part in extended Maths lessons at Stanwell. Two pupils from each of the pri- mary schools have taken part in the lessons which have been scheduled once a fortnight, throughout the year. Feedback from the pupils and staff has been very positive. We look for- ward to working with these pupils when they join Stanwell in September. The weekly Year 11 homework club and half term revision session was again successful this year. The feedback was extremely positive and students were thankful to be part of the men- toring system. A special mention to all our Year 12 pupils who gave up their valuable time; the mentoring scheme would not have Congratulations to Balaji Krishna, Year 10, been so successful without them.

‘We say goodbye and good luck to our Year 13 students’ Media & Film

Mr I O’Rourke

It is most satisfying to look back on a produc- excellence. tive year in the department; so many things The department has also been extremely busy have happened and so much has been achieved. with extra-curricular activities this term. This has Year 9 & 10 students have started to become included the production of the promotional mate- confident media analysts, with two examina- rial for ‘High School Musical,’ with the principal tions under their belt and some very promising photography by Year 13 Media student, Kate pieces of early coursework – especially their Humphreys. Members of the department also self-devised Comics and Science Fiction Con- continue to provide back stage support and assis- trolled Assessment. This work will be on dis- tance for the shows. The department also contrib- play in the Autumn Term in time for Open uted to the design and production of the pro- Day.

Year 11 applied themselves throughout the year to the task of becoming thoroughly pre- pared for their GCSE examination. This in- volved the production of a coursework folder reflecting their very best work, and sitting a written examination in June. Outstanding coursework was produced by Jacqueline Dich, Zac Ghazi-Torbati and Daniel Skentelbery. This year’s paper focused on Music Industry Websites and Music Magazines. Both topics stimulated great interest and enthusiasm on the part of pupils, many of whom naturally enjoy gramme for the Stanwell School Awards Cere- these aspects of media output in their personal mony. lives. The Media Studies Awards for GCSE and A Year 12 seem to have relished their first year Level were won this year by Daniel Skentelbery of A Level study, and have just finished the (Year 11) and Emily Davies (Year 13). Dan has first two of their four modules. The first mod- worked enthusiastically and consistently, produc- ule was a series of coursework pieces that ing an outstanding coursework folder, whilst tested their creative and analytical skills to the Emily received this year’s A Level Media Prize limit and the second was a tough external exam for her consistently high standards of attainment. that focused this year on magazines for older people. Students of note for coursework excel- Film Studies lence include Madeline Lynch, Phoebe Page In 2010/2011, a group of students began the year and Mikaela Wood. studying for a new A Level in Film Studies and they have recently completed the first whole cycle Year 13 have concluded their two year pro- of this new subject. Congratulations are due to gramme of study and we wish them all the very that intrepid first bunch! The standard of the ac- best for their exam results and future choices. tual filmmaking for the coursework element has We have seen some of the most accomplished been outstanding within the new cohort. In par- coursework pieces ever from this cohort par- ticular, Elis Jones and Alex Van Den Brom have ticularly from Emily Davies, Sam Green and impressed. Jordan Holt for their originality and technical “Outstanding coursework was produced” MFL Mrs T Davis

For this year’s Eisteddfod Year 7 French pu- It was a pleasure pils created a poster about themselves enti- for the teachers to tled ‘Moi’. The winners were: Rhys Jones and Maxine Pwele. witness the pupils show their aware- For Year 8 French pupils ness of different the title was: ‘Ma chambre cultures. idéale’ (my ideal bed- room). The winners in the Congratulations to poster competition were Dylan Kingston Seren Marsh, Amy Hick- and Bethan ery, Jessica Hawkins and in the 3D/ model section Hearne who made Elizabeth McCulloch, an outstanding effort to communicate in French and Welsh and Bethany Fitt and Amy The stage items was won Walsh who won the quiz. by Anton Elliott, Daniel Owusu, Tristan Worssam, Gregor McBeth and Ryan Lane.

Year 8 German pupils

were asked to create a

poster about themselves entitled ‘Ich’. The win- ners were: Seren Marsh and Rowena Cameron.

The Summer term has been a busy one for the

MFL Department. July the 2nd saw the arrival We celebrated Easter this year with a big of 46 German pupils from our partner school in ‘Ostereierjagd’ (egg hunt). The winners were Staufen. The exchange is celebrating its 30th Lily Winnan (8), Grace Loweth (8), Stuart anniversary this year which is a huge achieve- McGavin (9), Megan Doran ( 10), Holly ment. Flynn (11) and Joseph Keenan (12) The German children stayed with pupils in Year 8 and Year 9 for ten days. They came to The annual visit to France was again a great lessons in order success with both staff and 55 members of to get a taste of Year 8 thoroughly enjoying their cultural ex- what a British perience. school is like. Pupils had the opportunity to see a number of famous Parisian landmarks as well as spend- The children all ing a day in Disneyland where a special St. enjoyed an ex- David’s Day celebration was taking place! cursion to Big

“celebrating its 30th anniversary this year which is a huge achievement.” MFL Mrs T Davis

Pit. This in- cluded an under- ground tour and a chance to look at the exhibi- tions.

There was also a trip to Oakwood The pupils visited Nausicaa, Boulogne’s aquar- which was great ium where they got to see some very interest- fun and rather wet ing specimens of sea life. for some pupils!

In addition, the German children visited Cardiff, as well taking part in a treasure hunt in Penarth. It was all rounded off with a farewell BBQ at Penarth Lawn Tennis Club. The visit was

They also had the chance to barter for trinkets at the morning market in Wimereux.

voted a great success and the Year 8 pupils are already looking forward to the return trip next Easter.

The French department has enjoyed a visit to the seaside town of Boulogne in July. 43 pu- pils from Year 7 spent two days practising One of the highlights was most definitely mak- their French and sampling the delights of ing and, bien sûr, eating our own crêpes in a French culture and cuisine. traditional restaurant. C’était super!

“pupils from Y7 enjoyed a visit to the seaside town of Boulogne” Music

Mrs J Richards

The end of the Easter Term in the Music de- The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is an annual partment culminated in two noteworthy contemporary classical music festival which events. The first was a superb live perform- presents a programme of exciting contempo- ance of the A Level Music set work rary repertoire featuring the works of UK and (Shostakovich String Quartet in E minor) international living composers. Stanwell Music given by the Richard Hillman Quartet. The Department has had links with John Metcalf, viola player, Bernard Kane, was a past student Artistic Director of the Festival for many years and we were able to arrange a presentation – and this year, on the 8th May we were de- and performance of the work for Stanwell pu- lighted to welcome Craig Vear, one of the pils, alongside other sixth formers from Radyr UK’s most interesting and innovative young Comprehensive, Cowbridge Comprehensive, composers to school. He had been commis- Cardinal Newman and Monkton House sioned to write a new piece which received its Schools. This was followed by a revision ses- world premiere on Monday 7th May during the sion for all students in the new Lecture Thea- festival. tre. It really was such a privilege to hear the The piece’s title was The Passing of Captain work played so superbly, and the students Robert Scott and was performed 100 years af- found the experience a tremendous benefit. ter Scott’s ill-fated expedition, which set off from Cardiff in 1910, reaching the South Pole At the same time, rehearsals were ongoing for in early 1912. It is being written for 3 male the Key Stage 3 concert which included hun- voices, bass clarinet, cello and electric guitar dreds of our pupils and took place on the 29th plus a treated ‘Ghost’ string sextet and dif- April in the auditorium! Another fantastic fused generative soundscape drawn from success, again following Stanwell tradition Scott's diaries and letters, Antarctic field re- and presenting lots of the ensemble groups as cordings and hymns. Craig himself spent a well as Year 7 in performance. Very well long time in the Antarctic on a residency and done to everybody. we were so fortunate that he held a composing workshop with our Year 10 musicians, fol- lowed by a performance of the Scott piece for Year 7.

Practical Examinations Pupils have worked diligently to prepare for their practical assessments in GCSE, AS and A Level Music this term. A number of Year 10 GCSE pupils took the practical module a year early and the visiting examiners at all levels were really impressed with their performances. Coursework was presented after a great deal of creative effort and we are sure that everyone has done their best to achieve their potential. Fingers crossed for a good set of results in Au-

gust.

Pupils have worked diligently to prepare for their practical assessments in GCSE, AS and A Level Music this term. Music

Mrs J Richards

On the 29th June, an ICT specialist from CCVG Music Development Service spent a day run- ning two workshops for Year 7. Over 70 pupils were led through a series of activities using the impressive facilities of the school’s new Ipad room, where they used the Beatmaker2 App to Pictures of some re- record their group ideas. hearsals and the poster from the show. Rotary concert Once again this year, Stanwell hosted the County It is not possible here to list the individual annual Rotary Club competition, where and impressive musical achievements of all junior schools and members of our depart- our pupils. So many are members of County ment presented prepared musical items in ensembles, but also an increasing number aid of charity. Many thanks to all those involve themselves in WNO and National who performed – again to such a high Youth projects –from which they benefit standard – and to all pupils and staff who tremendously. The latest successful appli- helped to organise and support the event. cants for County membership are: Alex Whitfield (Year 7) – High Schools’ Brass High School Musical Band; Tomas McSorley (Year 7) – High Schools’ Choir; Robert Cavaye (Year 11), The end of a Summer Term in Stanwell Alasdair Cavaye (Year 10), Rebecca Te- would not be the same without the traditional Water Naude (Year 10), Thomas Sharpe Lower School musical! Members of the cast, (Year 8) and Imogen Sibert (Year 10) were crew and orchestra have been working tre- all successful in their audition for the mendously hard. A terrific amount of dedica- County High Schools’ Orchestra; Ella Max- tion and work has been put in by teachers and pupils alike. It is an ambitious project, well and Thomas Turton (both Year 12) but the achievements are spectacular. Mas- have been accepted into the Youth Choir; sive congratulations to everybody involved, Robert Cavaye has also been accepted in including all the backstage and set crew. the Youth orchestra and Ray Vandyck (Year 8) will be joining the Youth Wind Band. Very well done to all.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL — “an ambitious project, but the achievements are spectacular”. Music

Mrs J Richards

WNO singing club high security at the palace and sniffer dogs Three pupils from Stanwell - Maxine Pwele, were weaving around the room. We moved on Emily Alford (both Year 7) and Olivia North quickly to a wide gallery full of huge portraits, (Year 8)- were recently part of the WNO din- gold and yet more gold. It really was a very impressive sight. ner held at Buckingham Palace and attended We sang for a long time and everyone already by Prince Charles. Maxine has very kindly had dead legs. But then we were told that written an account of the event for us: Prince Charles was going to come and every- one became super excited! We heard the click- Welsh National Opera’s Singing Club ing and saw the flashing of cameras and we knew His Highness was on his way up the Emily Alford, Olivia North and I are members splendid staircase. of WNO’s Singing Club and we enjoy it very So there we were, singing our hearts out as His much! In term time we meet every Saturday at Royal Highness came up the stairs and looked, the Welsh Millennium Centre, and for the past listened and smiled. After we’d finished the year we have been working on a specially song, Prince Charles and the people with him commissioned new opera ‘Face in the Mir- applauded while smiling joyously. He then ror’. We did staging as well as singing and came over and spoke to us about the tour, re- it’s all been great fun, but hard work too! We hearsals and what it’s like to be a Singing even went in every single day of the half term Club member. Everyone was just smiling and holiday from 10-5, including the bank holi- nodding, everyone was in total awe! days! By now we’ve toured around 4 different We were all overjoyed with how well it had venues; Western-Super Mare, Port Talbot, Gloucester, and finally Cardiff. These were gone and that we had sung in Buckingham Pal- professional performances, with lighting, ace! WOW! What a night! stage managers and lots of props and the au- diences loved it. But that’s not all we’ve been up to! Recently we, as Singing Club, were invited to sing at a WNO gala event... in Buckingham Palace! This exciting occasion was held in honour of the company’s patron, Prince Charles. We were singing in one of the main galleries as the guests were arriving. On arrival, we entered the palace through a back entrance and climbed many steep stair- cases that led us to a small room where we Well done girls and thanks to Maxine for writ- had the ‘highest quality’ royal sandwiches ing such a descriptive account! For anyone before the performance. It seemed that every- who thinks that they may be interested in join- one still couldn’t believe we were actually ing the WNO singing club – there is no formal eating lunch inside Buckingham Palace, it audition process, and it is for pupils aged 10 – was just so amazing! 14. (See Mrs Richards for further information.) Then we went through a very grand room to get to where we were going to sing. There was

Pupils have worked diligently to prepare for their practical assessments in GCSE, AS and A Level Music this term. Music

Mrs J Richards

Many thanks to the music pupils who per- Vietnamese woman. Look out for casting no- formed so beautifully tices from September! in this year’s Award

Ceremony. The win-

ner of last year’s pres- tigious Richard Fice Award, Peter McDonough, played solo euphonium – to rapturous applause! –

and the final musical item was given by some of the Lower 6 A Level musicians, who performed ‘Valerie’. This was arranged by Joseph Keenan for a group of backing in- Performances are scheduled to take place on December 17th -20th inc (4 nights) in the strumentalists and star school auditorium. Information regarding vocal soloist, Year 12’s ticket sales will be available on the school website in the Autumn Term.

Instruments for loan and Peripatetic Music Beth Cowley. So many lessons people have sent congratu- lations for the excellent There are a small number of school orchestral standard of performance – instruments available for loan (including an great stuff, guys! oboe and bassoon!). These are available for free, but lessons will need to be paid for. Any- one interested should see Mrs Richards.

STOP PRESS!!! Every September, peripatetic teachers hold a meeting so that existing and potential learners Following the tremendous success of can sign up for lessons –this will be held on ‘Phantom of the Opera’ last year, we are de- TH lighted to inform you that Stanwell will pre- SEPTEMBER 11 IN THE SCHOOL sent ‘Miss Saigon’ at the end of next term. AUDITORIUM. Interested pupils should ex- Set in 1975 during the final days of the cuse themselves from class at 2.00pm and go American occupation of Saigon, ‘Miss Sai- to the auditorium. gon’ is an epic love story about the relation- ship between an American GI and a young

‘Presenting Miss Saigon’ Physical Education Mr I Summerfield

It has been another good term for the P.E. De- They also played two exhibition matches against partment with many excellent performances. club teams; Bromborough and Chester, who The term started with very heavy rain which were two years their senior. They put up a fantas- forced two important Rugby and Football fix- tic fight against both teams and were compli- tures to be cancelled. mented on their high standard of basketball by many coaches that observed their matches. All The Senior Rugby team performed particu- girls thoroughly enjoyed the day and were out- larly well in the Welsh schools competition standing assets to Stanwell School. reaching the Semi-final stage. After being postponed several times, the match vs Duffyn Taff school was played at Whitland RFC. Both teams were very well matched and at the 79th minute were drawing at 12 points. Un- fortunately a loose kick and poor chase re- sulted in the opponents replying with an ex- cellent counter attack and scoring in the last second of the game. The Stanwell team has showed they can play at a very high standard this year and are only losing a handful of players due to their age. With a very strong Year 10 group entering senior rugby in the coming season, next year could be very prom- ising for Stanwell. Special mention goes to; Rebecca Egerstrom, Tizzy Birch-Hurst, Georgia Atkinson, Shanice In May, the Year 9 Girls Basketball team trav- Donovan, Niamh Teague, Lucia Attanasio, elled to Wrexham to play in the Final of the Kelsey Murray, Amelia Rowlands and Sally Welsh Schools Basketball Tournament. Jones. Through their hard work and exceptional per- formance they managed to obtain an impres- sive 1st place. Netball

Congratulations to the Year 9 netball team who reached the county finals in April. The team came 4th overall and played exceptionally well. In the Vale tournament the Year 9 girls came 1st.

All our players have had a fantastic season and special mention goes to Olivia Hamzelou. Well done Olivia on an outstanding netball season!

‘hard work and exceptional performance’ Physical

Education Mr I Summerfield

Tennis

At the time of writing, the U13 and U15 boys’ and girls’ tennis teams had all got through to the AEGON regional tennis tour- nament. All the teams won the Vale round of the competition and now progress to the fi- nals where they will play schools from South Wales. There were some tough matches in the earlier round but our experienced players made it look easy. We now look forward to them playing at the David Lloyd tennis centre Athletics Congratulations to Phoenix Kaged (relay) in July where they will hopefully do as well and Sophie Boyle (200m and relay) who and progress even further. The teams consist have been selected to represent Cardiff of: and the Vale athletics team. Both girls per- Niamh Sweeney, Liberty Smith, Seren formed well in the middle championships Marsh, Grace Samuel, Will Marsh, Tom to be selected for the team. In other athlet- Marsh, Ethan Hutchings, Spencer Robin- ics competitions there were impressive son, Milly Williams, Annabel Richards, wins for Clare Halligan, Annabelle Olivia Dwyer, Olivia Hamzelou, Georgia Birch-Hurst and Maddie Lloyd. Atkinson, Rhys Fford, Niall Seeley, Jacob

Grant and Scott Dutfield.

“there were impressive wins” Physical

Education Mr I Summerfield

Congratulations to all pupils who have repre- sented the school in athletics this year. Football There have been some good individual per- formances. In the Junior Championships Clare Halligan (Year 8) came 2nd in the 100m and Annabelle Birch-Hurst (Year 8) came 1st in the high jump. Maddie Lloyd

Congratulations to the Year 11 Football team who won the Cardiff & Vale Cup. They beat Barry Comprehensive 4-3 in the final, scoring the winning goal in the dying seconds of the match. They came back from 3-1 down, showing great team spirit, determination and individual skill throughout the game. Well (Year 7) won the 1500m in the Year girls done to all involved. Championships. Sophie Boyle (Year 11) and Phoenix Kaged (Year 10 ) were both Team line up - selected to represent Cardiff and the Vale in (Back row L — R) Fraser Hodgkins, Dewi the inter-counties in July. Fford, Lloyd Phillips, Curtis Boddy, Sam Thank you to the PTA who supplied the new Jones, Riyad Auckbarally, Scott Taylor, athletics kit which was proudly worn by pu- Liam Walker. pils at the recent athletics competitions. We are very grateful for the PTA’s continued (Front row L— R) Joe Dyer, Myles Hard- support and I am sure our readers agree that ing, Harry Roberts, Max Bramhill, Sam the girls and boys look very smart indeed. Sellick, Dan Spear.

“great team spirit, determination and individual skill” Psychology Miss K Hall

AS Psychology ogy Award. Malita has been an excellent stu- dent of Psychology, achieving a very high stan- Year 12 students have recently returned to dard in all her examinations so far and demon- school after working on their Welsh Bacca- strating an enthusiastic and conscientious atti- laureate. During this time a number of stu- tude to learning. She is looking forward to dents carried out investigations into various studying Psychology at University next year. A aspects of Psychology. For example Amy number of other students are also intending to Palin produced an excellent piece of work continue their Psychology studies at University comparing the treatment of schizophrenia in (Jordan Holt, Emily Price, Roxanna Rohbani Wales and China. Other students investigated -Eivazi and Matilda Shepherd) and we wish topics such as childcare, forced marriage and them and all our Year 13 students the best of eating disorders. Students are now in the proc- luck for the future. ess of designing their own Psychology experi- ments to be carried out over the summer holi- Next year days and then written up and analysed in Sep- tember. Many different topics are being ex- The Department is looking forward to welcom- plored and we look forward to seeing the re- ing a new member of the staff to the school next term.

We are also continuing our commitment to in- creasing the use of ICT in lessons and next year will have access to a department set of laptops. This will allow students more opportunity to work independently on their own projects and have access to internet resources during all les- sons.

Another development for next year is the intro- duction of Health and Social Care at AS Level. The course is designed to give students who are interested in a career in Health, Social Care or Early Years services an introduction to some of sults next term. the knowledge and skills they will need work- A2 Psychology ing in these areas. The course covers a variety of topics such as communication skills and pro- The Department bids farewell to a number of moting good health. Students will be visited by excellent students this year. Congratulations a number of Health, Social Care or Early Years to Malita Chimuzi on winning the Psychol- professionals as well as having the opportunity to visit a range of services. “The Department bids farewell to a number of excellent students” Religious Education Mrs J Skilton

Aung Sann Suu Kyi’s Dilemma RE Student Voice To provide a link to topical issues with the The RE Student Voice Group has been meeting visit to Europe of the Pro-Democracy Leader regularly and Morgan Crimp, Lex Hermogeno, from Burma, Year 8 pupils have been examin- Amy Hickery and James Lewis are pictured ing the life of the Buddhist Nobel prize winner here discussing their future plans. and elected leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy in order to provoke challenging questions about the decisions we make and the service of others. Pupils have designed posters on the theme of rights and responsi- bilities.

RE Club Update RE Club have been The group have a badge designed by the Year 8 busy completing their entries for the “Spirited Arts” competition. Year 8 pupil Morgan Crimp is pictured with his entry and Morgan also received the Carol Evans RE award at this year’s award ceremony.

I have chosen a starfish because it’s got many legs reaching in all different directions so different religions go different ways but unite as one. In this case the starfish legs are going Year 10 Looking Back different ways and unite in the middle. Year 10 have spent some time reflecting on the issues they have studied during the first half of Eisteddfod winner Jessica Hawkins. their GCSE course and have produced some The group have recently made their own badges striking posters for display in the RE Depart- using this award winning design with the help of ment. Here is Ellie Trott’s composition. the DT department.

today 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day Year 11 Full Course GCSE Year 11 have been the first to take the Full 18 million people die Course GCSE Religious Studies. They took the each year from poverty first exam in Year 10 and have completed the related- causes course by sitting a second exam this summer.  They have all worked extremely hard and we today 1.1 billion await their results with interest. people live on less than $1 a day

“RE provokes challenging questions about the decisions we make”

Mr P Johnson Science

Chemistry Science Council The Chemistry department has appointed two This term has seen the first meeting of the Year 12 students to represent the School on the newly formed Science Council which local Industrial Community Advisory Panel comprises of representatives from each of which meets regularly at the industrial site in the Year Groups. They will meet at regular Sully. Isabella Macgregor and Lloyd Allen intervals to discuss issues raised by the will sit on the panel and discuss matters pupils that they represent, ranging from concerning the running of the industrial complex resources to methods of teaching and and how it impacts on the local community and assessment. This serves as a vehicle to our environment. They will report back to allow pupils to have a say on how the school, with particular emphasis on issues linked curriculum is delivered within a large to the curriculum. department and already, some very Physics important and interesting issues are being The Physics department has had a very busy raised. term with more students than ever taking the AS The representatives are : Year 7: Harris and A level WJEC practical examination Khan, Year 8: Esther Buckton, Year 9: modules in the first few weeks after Easter. We Jessica Boland, Year 10: Zed Strong have also been very pleased to see so many Year 12: Henry Stephanakis (Biology), students attending the department both after and Molly Crowther (Chemistry) and Andrew before school for additional GCSE and A level Richards (Physics). Two other support. Best wishes to all with their representatives will be appointed when examination results. school begins again in September. Biology Two highly enjoyable projects have taken place Science Club continues to thrive and give in the Biology department this term. Firstly, Year 7 pupils a chance to get together after Year 9 pupils have participated in a workshop school on a Wednesday to construct and run by Techniquest which gave them an insight trial various designs and experiments. into the problems faced by paralympic athletes, Some of the themes this term included : especially those using wheelchairs. ‘Magic Writing’, Chromatography (in a Some 20 pupils in Year 8 have been working ‘who shot Mr Burns’ special!), building with researchers from the University of volcanoes and making aeroplanes and Glamorgan on a project called ‘Let’s Talk About parachutes. Pupils, especially Scott Genes’, this Bagshaw, Osian Bowland, Ben Croll, project looked Samuel Hancock, Moses Lawley, Rob at the links McKellar, Niall McSorley, Alex between Whitfield and Kota Wirth, have shown environment initiative and creative talents in many of and cancer. these tasks.

(see separate page overleaf for a full report).

“some very important and interesting issues are being raised”

‘Let’s Talk About Genes’

The highlight of this term in the Biology department has been the participation of a group of 20 Year 8 pupils in a “I have really enjoyed this project. I project run by the University of Glamorgan on the subject think that this project will/could be of cancer genetics – called Let’s Talk About Genes and I very beneficial to other kids our age. I have learnt a lot and enjoyed being Don’t Mean Trousers. creative. Everyone is really friendly Researchers from the Faculty of Health Sport and and I have felt confident to talk to people about cancer and genetics”. Science, led by Dr Rachel Iredale and Kim Madden, have been working with the pupils for the last few months to Dr Rachel Iredale, Principal Investigator, said explore the feasibility and acceptability of discussing “Families share lots of things – their genes, cancer and genetics with school children. their environment and often behaviours and attitudes – which can increase or decrease the risk of getting cancer. Kids need to be more aware of the role that family history can play in health and disease and need to be exposed to messages that are relevant to preventing cancer, such as healthy diet, lifestyle and sun awareness”.

Using funds secured from Tenovus, the Welsh cancer charity, the researchers explored the interaction between the genetic and the environmental influences on cancer using stories, games and creative activities. The children worked with an animator and some musicians to produce a Rap. Both the pupils and the researchers hope that the rap will convey to other children their age what they should know about cancer, inheritance and the role that The pupils would like as many people as families play in health and disease. possible to watch the Rap on YouTube. We hope that it will be viewed 20,000 times by the The pupils involved found the whole project both fun, end of the year - http://www.youtube.com/ interesting and, most importantly, informative. The genomicspolicyunit insight that pupils gained has proved to be valuable, and is best described in their own words:

“I think it would be useful for other young people to know about parents passing things on . This could cause kids stress which is unnecessary.” Welsh Mrs C Flaherty

It has been yet another busy term for the Congratulations to Kathleen Ahearne from Welsh department. We are delighted with Year 10 who was awarded the Ann Johnson the increase in the numbers who attend Memorial cup for Welsh and Music. Welsh club on a Wednesday. We would Kathleen is a very conscientious student like to give a special thank you to Robert who has produced outstanding work in Brown and Harry Newman for their en- Welsh. She shows a passion for the lan- thusiasm and efforts. Da iawn bechgyn! guage and culture and has contributed to lessons with great enthusiasm throughout her time here at Stanwell.

A bilingualism workshop held during the Transition INSET was organised by the Welsh Department and Huw Barton from Also, congratulations to Jessica Raby of Ysgol Gynradd Evenlode. The aim of the Year 13 who was awarded the Alwyn workshop was to increase the confidence of Prosser Memorial cup. Jessica studied teachers from both the primary schools and Welsh at A level. During the course she has from Stanwell to use more incidental Welsh shown great enthusiasm for the Welsh lan- in the classrooms and around the schools. guage and culture and has been a commit- Resources have been uploaded on to ted student who has made outstanding pro- MOODLE under the heading of Datblygu’r gress. She hopes to continue her studies in Gymraeg. Feedback from the primary Welsh and Art at university. schools and Stanwell staff was very posi- tive.

‘Yet another busy term for the Welsh Department’ Welsh Mrs C Flaherty

On the 20th of June, Geraint Scott from Year 7 pupils have been working hard the Urdd organisation came to Stanwell and with enthusiasm and some out- to give a presentation to Year 8 about standing results have been achieved, the Urdd activity centre in Glanllyn, especially by Juliette Cavaye, Caitlin Bala, North Wales. We are organising a Duggan, Lauren Ellis, Maxine Pwele trip to the centre for Year 9 next year to and Carys Wilson in Year 7 and Seren enjoy the many activities offered by the Marsh, Will Marsh and Joe Short in centre in a Welsh language environ- Year 8. ment. Many Year 9 pupils have also been working particularly hard towards their end of Key Stage 3 levels and out- standing results have been achieved by Sarah Brabham, Georgina Bartlett, Evie Chatham and Olivia Dwyer. Ha- zel Doran, Gaby Harding, Maisie Hallett, Seren James and Sally Jones have also been extremely positive and hard-working throughout the year. On July 5th, the organisations Vibe and Year 10 pupils have been busy dealing SWOOSH came to the school to pro- with the demands of the new GCSE mote the National Eisteddfod and the course. In the Spring they completed a Welsh culture. The Eisteddfod is being four week project which culminated in held in the Vale of Glamorgan this Au- a controlled assessment worth 15% of gust. Their presentation was enjoyed by the final grade. Dal ati!!! many of the pupils and they were en- We, of course, wish our GCSE Year 11 couraged to attend the event and take pupils, Year 12 pupils, Georgina Att- part in many activities, such as Zorbing wood, Lauren Gimber,Charlotte and enjoying listening to Welsh bands Goodway-Sims, Kayleigh Porter, as well as watching the more traditional Eloise Procter and Madison Ramsden events. & Year 13 pupils Bryony Edwards, Jessica Raby and Lucy Nicholls the very best of luck as they await the re- sults of their external examinations.

Wishing you all a very restful and en- joyable summer. Gwyliau hapus!

‘The Eisteddfod is being held in the Vale of Glamorgan this August’

Workskills Mr. R Deighton-Jones

Some of the pupils on their Congratulations to the ten Year 11 students Ab- work experience place- bie Shaw, Bethan Shaw, Corie Wolfenden, ments. Daniel Harvey, Dean Hotchkiss, Emma Smith, Jake Simmons, Scott Dennison, Taylor Knight and Tris- tan Lewis who all completed the BTEC Extended Certificate qualifi- cation gaining two ‘B’ grade GCSEs. Good luck to all students and make sure you get Not only have they gained an academic qualifi- your booklets completed cation but also raised money for charity. please! They celebrated their success on a wind- swept Barry Island in May undertaking some voluntary work The Year 9 students have been undertaking the short with the Visible Ser- course Level 2 BTEC in Money and Finance Skills, they vices department at completed the course in June and achieved accreditation. the Vale of Glamor- Congratulations to James Pemberton, Austin Squire- gan Council. Well done and keep up the volun- Wood, Thomas Jones and Lewis Carde on success- teering work. fully passing the course.

This term the Year 10 pupils have been using the Workskills course to prepare for their Work Experience Placement in July. Here are a few of the students and their prospective placements.

Georgia Murray Sully School

Jaq Allen McDonalds LauraTucker Welsh Hawking Centre

Katie Way The Yard Graphic De- signers Unfortunately, the poor weather has prevented us from Kyle Strenstrom Pizza Hut undertaking as much volunteering work as we had planned this year, we hope for an improvement in the Vishal Patel City wide Auto Centre weather and to take part in more partnership work with Wei Haw Ong BT the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Keep Wales Tidy next term. Caylum Petherick Spar Stores

Jake Campbell NSW Auto Repairs

“prepare for their Work Experience” Year Group News Year 7 Miss R Sterlini and Mr M Baldwin

The list of awards and achievements for this year is most impressive. Year 7 pupils have all 7E made a wonderful effort to achieve such high Many congratulations to Olivia Price- standards in these diverse areas. The level of Milne and Katy Rotherham, who along commitment has been exemplary and we are with a small group of friends, raised the confident that this year group will continue to £950.00 for Latch, a Welsh children’s make a superb contribution to school life. cancer charity that supports children who 7T are being treated for cancer or leukaemia at Chloe Adney has won a medal in Sea Cadets the Children’s Hospital for Wales. A and is now proud to be a Colt. Emily Alford fantastic contribution, well done to performed at Buckingham Palace for Prince everyone involved. Congratulations also to Charles with her singing group at his Welsh Elin Gray who has passed her grade 4 National Opera Dinner. Will Branson has piano exam. Alex Whitfield has achieved a started sparring in boxing recently. Grade 4 piano award. He also coaches Lowena Diment swam 100 lengths in 1hr lacrosse at Evenlode Primary School every 15mins with Rhoose Lifeguards and she has week and coaches Sailing at Cosmeston. also passed her Grade 1 piano exam. Nathan Alex also sails for Penarth and Cardiff Bay. Evans has been put forward for Cardiff and Idrees Maskeen has been selected to play Vale boys football trials by his PE teacher. cricket for Cardiff and The Vale U13. Well Benjamin Jones is pleased to now be the done to Harry Smith who has been captain of his football team. Ben Jones gained selected to play football for Cardiff and 100% in his Geography exam. Jodie Knight The Vale County Schoolboys (U13). has won a medal and a trophy in football. Georgia Midwinter has been promoted to Georgeana Pugsley has been very busy Assistant Patrol Leader in Scouts. Good raising money for the LATCH charity with a luck to Lucy Dutfield who is preparing for group of friends. They raised a staggering £950 her Grade 2 Clarinet exam and Kota Wirth by organising a talent contest in All Saints who is preparing for his Grade 7 Violin Church hall. Georgeana is also going to be exam. Ben Roderick is currently working going on ‘Got To Dance’, performed on the hard on his Grade 3 Guitar and Grade 5 Strictly Come Dancing Tour and will be Piano. He has also achieved his brown belt competing in Oceana. Elspeth Robertson has in karate. been selected to sing several solos in her 7A Performing Arts Academy’s Spotlight Summer Show and is looking forward to 7A have been a very busy form this year. performing. Niamh Sweeney was very pleased Well done to Alexandra Slack who won to get through to the school tennis finals. bronze, silver and gold medals in the Welsh Chelsea Williams has won a place on Dance U13s karate finals. Jade Eastwood Angels and will be performing in Disneyland competed in a swimming gala at Cogan Paris. Harrison Ashby, Scott Bagshaw, Stuart Bird and Jodie Knight have all leisure centre in November and was st nd impressed subject teachers and received fortunate enough to attain 1 and 2 place postcards home. in her races. She has also sat her Grade 3

“£950 pounds raised for LATCH!” Year 7 Miss R Sterlini and Mr M Baldwin piano exam and is awaiting her Grade 2 flute competitions and Haaris Khan has shown he has exam. Alexandra Ruge-Hayes was runner- a natural talent for boxing by wining all five up in an art competition that was entered by matches he entered this year. Congratulations go Stanwell school and as a result, her work was to Eve Barker who has managed to obtain her displayed in an exhibition in the National Grade 2 on both violin and piano, and Tomas History Museum in London. Alexandra McSorley who won first prize in the singing Crandon is part of a dance group called contest during this year’s school Eisteddfod. Popstars, who performed on the Strictly 7X Come Dancing tour in the new theatre in Cardiff this year. 7A has been very busy Holly Courtney and Chloe Taylor enjoy dance fundraising; Rebecca Johnson has raised an and have been involved in the dance show impressive £120.00 for Cardiff Dogs Home Strictly Come Dancing. Lauryn Perkins entered and Menna Bafaqih, Olivia Griffin and a competition with the group Dance Angels and Stephanie Knight have all raised a her team won 7 out of 10 awards and were substantial amount for Children In Need. presented with a trophy! Many members of the Finally, Dafydd Morgans and Henry form have participated in some of the many clubs Carter have been part of the Year 7 Stanwell available; Lia-Maree Dyer and Mason Dargie football team that came second in the Cardiff enjoyed joining the tennis club and the and the Vale School League. Overall, an football club. Mason has represented Stanwell excellent year! School, playing striker and scoring 5 goals.

7M Daniel Anderton has also played football and rugby representing the school in both sports this 7M pupils have proven throughout the year year. Niall McSorley has represented the school to be exceptionally hard-working, both in at rugby, playing in every game this season! school and in extra-curricular activities. A Seren Mirza-Davies participates in many sports number of pupils have been involved in fund clubs at school and has been to the USA raising activities; these include a sponsored participating in gymnastic competitions. bounce, (Saumik Dhar and Matthew Charles) cake making for Sport Relief Simran Sandhu took part in sports relief fun run (Emily Bull, Samanta Caramella-Vickery, completing the 1 mile run. Gwilym Humphreys, Emily Cook, Lucie Isaacs and Olivia George Lush, Chloe Taylor, Holly Courtney, Taylor) and nearly all of the class Lia-Maree Dyer, Cerys Johns, Katie Hudd & participating in the Sport Relief Mile. On a Lauryn Perkins made gingerbread and shortbread and sold it in the Dining hall sporting front we have also excelled, with extension. They were raising money for Children Libby Smith winning several tennis in Need and made over £20.00. trophies in various tournaments. Lucia Gwilym Humphreys has also auditioned for Cavaliere has won over five horse riding CBBC Vet school and has made it through to the

“7X making cakes for Children in Need” Year 7 Miss R Sterlini and Mr M Baldwin next round so he may well be on TV in the going to Stuttgart and has also taken part in the summer holidays! He will be going to Leeds Kayaking Regetta in Cardiff Bay. Tom Trezise to film shortly. has been part of a ‘Street Dance’ club, George Lush joined the eco-committee and performing at the Memorial Hall in Barry. Rhys has helped with all the activities as charity, Jones is attending the Summer WASA (Welsh fairtrade and eco-friendly work. He was also Amateur Swimming Association) for five events. a part of the team who designed and Amelia Chick and Olivia Powell have introduced the school water bottles. represented the school in three competitions for The whole form agree that they love the food cross country running. Naomi Hills has achieved that is available in either the dining hall or her Grade 4 playing the clarinet and is now the sandwich bar. working towards her Grade 5. 7W 7W have been very busy again this summer 7R term. Robert Brown entered the Welsh Members of 7R have once again been heavily Eisteddfod Speaking competition and came first. Adam Hearne and Macauley Winton involved in extra-curricular activities. Morgan have both played for the school football Evans, Cameron Jenkins, Joe Munn and Joe team which came second in a recent semi Stephens-Collins play football for Sully A team finals cup game. Richard Lee and Joshua and recently won the U12s Vale of Glamorgan Lewis have been accepted into the Mike Football League. Thaine Baker plays rugby for Fowler Football Academy. Maddie Lloyd Dinas Powys U12s. His team recently came 4th in came 4th in a cross country athletics event the International Mini Rugby Series and he was competing against schools from the whole of South Wales. Joshua Meek came 1st in selected as the players’ player of the tournament. the Art Eisteddfod competition. Anna Morgan Evans has recently started playing ice Pringle passed her Grade 2 piano exam and hockey for the Cardiff Devils and has already Frazer Wilde participated in a recent been chosen to play for the U14 team. Thomas Badminton tournament, with the team Griffiths is a keen tennis player at Windsor coming second. Finally, the pupils helped Lawn Tennis Club where he plays for the U16 their form tutor raise £397 in sponsorship team. 7R’s achievements also extend beyond money for a charity skydive over Swansea. sport. Ellis Hawkins-Payne has had a poem 7O published in a poetry book called Express Yourself. Juliette Cavaye has passed her Grade 4 Morgan Ashton and Sam James have set up their own football team ‘Penarth U13’. They Modern Dance exam and won the dance play in the local league. Amelia Chick, Lily competition in the Eisteddfod. Lastly, Iman Haq McJennet and Olivia Powell have raised has received a silver award in Kumon Maths. over £900 for LATCH. Andrew Flanigan has worked hard to make improvements with his swimming, achieving personal best times at the Cardiff International Meet. Andrew has been selected for the swim team that is

“Eco-committee design pupil water bottles.” Year 7 Miss R Sterlini and Mr M Baldwin

7K Grade 8 flute exam. Sophie Page will be appearing in a show ‘Stars in the Making’ in 7K have had a very busy time since Barry. Finally, Sam Hancock’s scout group won Christmas. Ethan Harris and Rhys Wookey the Patrol Camp for Cardiff and the Vale. both play for the Sully A football team and recently won the Under 12s Vale of 7L Glamorgan League Cup, while Sam First of all, congratulations to 7L (Morgannwg) Hancock, Sam Salisbury and Sam for winning the Eisteddfod this year along with Stapleton all play for the Penarth Town side. st Ethan Harris also made it into the Mike 7X and Owen Day for being awarded 1 prize in Fowler Soccer Skills Academy and Sam the French Competition. Alana Stokes competed in an individual competition at The VA Hancock won ‘player of the academy’ in the Freestyle Soccer Academy over Easter. Gymnastics Sand Dollar, USA in January and finished a fantastic 6th out of 600 competitors. Olivia Davies, who is also known as We also have some talented musicians in the ‘Penarth’s Best Dancer’, along with Sophie Chapman and Megan Jenkins and their form; Owen Day has recently sat his theory exam streetdance squad, appeared on the Strictly in Piano and is awaiting his result, Emily Come Dancing tour, and are soon to be seen Skinner is Grade 3 in flute and Elysia Hickery appearing on the TV programme ‘Got to will be playing the clarinet in the band for the Year 8 and 9 production of High School Musical Dance’. Megan Jenkins will also be ice- skating in a gala in July. Ethan Harris has this summer. Congratulations to Rachael-Leah joined Glamorgan Athletics Club and will Lewis, Oliver El-Jawhari, Jack Lee, Helena soon be seen competing in the 100m race and Heron, Abbey Carter, Genna Harris, Kabir Antonio Peacock has recently come 2nd in a Knupp, Fawziya Ali, Gemma Brinn, Aaron 1500m race. Jessica Johnson came 3rd in a Wong and Emily Skinner who were all lucky Welsh gymnastics competition in January. enough to come in the top 100 pupils in the year We also have several charitable pupils in 7K. to receive the most housepoints and given the chance to go on the Oakwood Reward Trip. Kitty Dunning completed an 8 mile sponsored walk for Oxfam and raised £99 Genna Harris, Kabir Knupp and Helena and Olivia Davies recently helped organise a Heron have had 100% attendance this year. fundraiser for LATCH, which raised £950. Aaron Wong had the highest score in the year Among 7K’s other achievements are several group in the World Maths Day competition. musical ones. Sam Hancock, Madeline Oliver El-Jawhari and Elysia Hickery have Lloyd and Jacob Mills will all be playing in both been nominated to receive an award for the band for the Year 8 and 9 production of Academic Achievement at this year’s Awards High School Musical this summer and Ceremony. Well done to all for their excellent achievements. Madeline Lloyd will soon be taking her

“8 mile sponsored walk for Oxfam “ Year 8 Miss L Jenkins and Mr G Penny Grace Loweth (100% attendance), James There have been numerous interesting and Price (100% attendance),Linda Saji exciting events involving the year group since (100% attendance), Charlotte Way (100% Christmas. Pupils have been participating in the canoeing club, where they have received expert attendance), Harry Williams (100% instruction at Cardiff International White Water attendance), Francesca Le Guilcher Centre. A highlight has been the Year 8/9 (Stanwell Linguist Award KS3), Olivia production of ‘High School Musical’ with its Barrett (Drama Cup KS3), Lewis many rehearsals and three evening performances. Campbell (Young Musician Award KS3), The annual Eisteddfod was very successful with Charlotte Hardy (Young Musician Award pupils showcasing their talents on stage and in KS3),William Gale (Mrs Y Crotty Rugby homework competitions; well done to all those Shield), William Marsh (Junior involved. All pupils have made mature decisions this year regarding their GCSE subject choices Sportsboy), Annabelle Birch-Hurst ready to begin in Year 9. The ‘Let’s Talk About (Junior Sportsgirl), Morgan Crimp (Carol Genes and I Don’t Mean Trousers’ project was Evans Award RE), Ben Turpin (Miss fun, informative and a great success! Nancy Jones Cup progress) and Joseph Green (Miss Nancy Jones Cup progress).

Llongyfarchidau mawr! A huge congratulations to the following pupils on receiving an award in the school’s annual Award Ceremony: 8T Congratulations to Victoria Pemberton Tristan Goodway-Sims (Outstanding Progress), and Hollie Day who have both been Rebecca Humpage (Outstanding Progress), accepted to play a part in ‘Fame Junior’. Megan Jones (Academic Achievement), Jessica Hollie has also completed grade 2 theory Martin (Academic Achievement), Paul piano and grade 4 piano. Paul Monaghan Monaghan(Academic Achievement), Thomas competed in the school Eisteddfod with a Morley (Outstanding Progress), Ellen O’Rourke singing solo and has just completed his (Academic Achievement), Jonathan Wright grade 4 singing exam. Congratulations to (Academic Achievement), Gregory Cole (100% Ella Buehner Gattis who achieved a attendance), Thomas Collins (100% attendance), distinction in her Grade 5 theory and Grade

“The annual Eisteddfod was very successful with several pupils showcasing their talents on stage.” Year 8 Miss L Jenkins and Mr G Penny

4 Euphonium. She also came 3rd in toppers Well done to Joel Price on completing Grade (sailing) with CYRC. Anna Jones completed 4 guitar. Ben McCullagh has represented Grade 1 guitar. Fingers crossed for Joanna South Wales running long distance. Clare Hourihan who had a call back for a short film Halligan has represented the school in an with Shout Production Company. Well done to athletics tournament. Finally, well done to Ella Emma Spray who achieved a merit in her Robertson on passing Grade 4 piano! Da Grade 5 ballet exam. Seren Marsh was a iawn! member of the tennis team which won the Vale of Glamorgan tennis tournament.

Congratulations also to Seren on achieving 8A Grade 5 piano with merit. Charlotte Hardy Tristan Worssam has been performing with passed her Grade 5 flute with merit, she also the 30th Open air Everyman Production at St sings in the school choir. Sali Harmes will be Fagan’s. Victoria Spray has been working in performing in two Ascendance Theatre the community with the police. Bethan performances with Solar. Congratulations to Hearne has completed Grade 4 trumpet and Tomos Marsh who plays for Sully A Grade 2 piano with merit. She has also joined football— the team won the football cup and the Sea cadets. Well done to Grace Samuel league. Llongyfarchiadau i bawb! who won the National Badminton Tournament representing the school. Esther Buckton has been busy raising money for Ty Hafan. 8E Harry Williams has been very busy Good luck to Sophia Holmes who is preparing representing the school at several sports. to take her Grade 3 singing exam. Also, good George Roberts was in the winning team for luck to Alice Durham who is also about to Sully A football. Congratulations to Spencer complete her Grade 5 flute and Grade 4 piano. Robinson for captaining the school rugby team Elizabeth McCulloch has had a poem and a to victory this year. Congratulations also to story published. Emily Glaze has passed Grade Owen Lloyd who was a member of the 2 piano and is currently working towards Grade winning rugby team and also been nominated 3. Abigail Mock has completed Grade 2 on the for the Cardiff School Rugby Trials. Gwych! drums. Good luck to Elizabeth McCulloch and Amy McAndrew, both have been chosen to swim in Gemau Cymru, the Welsh mini Olympics. Chloe Poole has passed her Grade 5 Music theory and Grade 5 piano. Good luck to Sonal Kerai and all the ladies participating in the Race for Life in the summer. James Adney has been promoted to Sully A football team.

“Llongyfarchiadau Mawr” Year 8 Miss L Jenkins and Mr G Penny

8M 8W Congratulations to Morgan Rees for receiving Well done to Sam Wiltshire who is moving up an award for being a valuable and versatile to book 4 guitar. Adam Yusuf has a brown football player. Well done to Amy Bond who strip 2 in karate and has won player of the year nd rd came 2 in the butterfly race and 3 in the in football. Samuel Lawrence has completed backstroke race in the British Swimming Grade 6 performing on the drums. Lauren competition. Olivia Barrett is currently acting Jennings-Slater came 2nd overall in a on the Sky 1 TV programme ‘Stella’. Ffion gymnastics competition. Well done to Beth McGowan will be completing her Grade 4 MacMillan who has completed her Bronze intermediate ballet exam. Rhys Capener came level in lifeguarding and floor gold in nd 2 in the shooting District Competition. Jamie gymnastics. Cameron McJennett-House Cross has received a level 2 sailing award. came 2nd in the 1500m race. Good luck to Rosina Peterson was scouted for the Welsh Shazel Prosser who will be completing her basketball team. Well done to Rebecca Grade 5 ballet exam. Anhygoel! Hardess who has a piece of artwork on display in a London Museum. Arbennig! 8O Congratulations to Rachael Salisbury on passing her level 6 ice skating NWA exam and 8X good luck with her solo in the Cardiff Summer Congratulations to Caitlin Ellis on passing her Gala. Tom Pascoe has been busy representing Grade 5 piano and Joe Burge on passing Grade Sully at cricket and the Vale at football. Well 5 guitar. Congratulations to Seren Lewis on done to Emily Wooster who won two silver achieving 3rd in a gymnastics competition and medals in the Welsh Regional Championships completing Grade 6. William Marsh has been for Athletics. Congratulations also to Megan busy representing the school at several sports. Jones on achieving a distinction in her brass He was a member of the team which won the exam Grade 4. Lloyd Hanson took part in an Vale tennis tournament, served as captain of the International Swimming gala in Germany. He football and athletics teams and was also a achieved a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly. member of the rugby team. Emily Pearce Fingers crossed for Lloyd who will also be moved up a class in kayaking and completed 3 completing his Grade 4 trumpet exam soon. levels. Good luck to Rhiannon Pearce who is Well done to Faye Bramhill on achieving preparing for Grade 2 after successfully passing Grade 2 in her violin exam and coming 2nd in Grade 1 piano. Ethan Hutchings won the the discus. Talentog iawn! Dinas Tennis Tournament. He is also a member of the school’s athletics, rugby and tennis teams. Ardderchog!

“valuable and versatile football player” Year 8 Miss L Jenkins and Mr G Penny

8R 5x60 tournament. Bendigedig! Congratulations to Izaak Lee on completing Grade 4 guitar. Frankie Norton and Benjamin Walsh are both are members of the victorious It is clear that the year group has made a Sully A football team. Morgan Hayman considerable contribution to extra-curricular attended a charity football training session activities this year and all the pupils mentioned organised by the FAW and this involved deserve great credit. playing a match against the Welsh disabled football team. Well done to Matthew Rogers who has successfully completed guitar Grade 4. Da iawn!

8K Rebecca Humpage was pleased to be selected for the Lily Ann Rogers award while Thomas Lam was awarded the Dow Corning award for his achievements. Sam Jones has beaten his personal best for the 100 metres sprint. Kaylan Coombs was awarded the Manager’s player for Cogan B football team while Basil Crack has been nominated clubman of the year for his rugby club. Abby Mills has raised £200 for Breast Cancer Care. Robert Harvey has finished formulating his second Music Technology song. Morgan Rose has become the Welsh karting champion. Dylan Jones has secured his orange belt in judo. Talentog iawn!

8L Well done to Tom Collins who has represented the school at athletics. Elizabeth Ingram has passed Grade 5 ballet with a merit and Grade 3 singing. Good luck to Amy Walsh who will be completing Grade 4 in Performing Arts. Olivia North sang at Buckingham Palace for Prince Charles with the WNO, she is currently preparing for her Grade 4 singing. Well done to Megan Lim who won the National Badminton

“ considerable contribution to extra-curricular activities” Year 9 Miss R Povey& Mr A Meddins

There have been many exciting and interesting which was a very humbling experience. events taking place for Year 9 this year. Pupils have begun their GCSE courses in all subjects and have coped well with the challenge this has presented. Pupils received valuable business advice from guest speakers in the recent Dynamo Project. The Proto Toy Day was a success with some in- teresting and innovative designs being shown. It appears there are some budding entrepreneurs in Year 9!

There was considerable interest in applying for courses at Barry College next year. All pupils performed very well in their interviews and thor- oughly enjoyed the taster sessions at the college. 9T Shanice Donovan is a member of the Stan- 100 pupils also travelled for a fun-filled day to well Girls’ football team that won the league Oakwood after receiving the most housepoints in and also is a member of the Girls’ basketball Year 9. team who are Welsh Champions! Lucy Sharpe has been busy performing in Many pupils have helped Mr Baldwin with the the Orbit Theatre production of Annie. Ver- Year 6 transition days and new parents’ evening, ity Tucker has passed her modern dancing as well as Year 7 parents’ evening - all pupils exams. have been extremely helpful and have repre- sented the school with distinction. 9E Isaac Dyer is a member of the Cardiff City 36 members of the year group have been in- Development squad and Sam Jennings is a volved in the excellent Year 8/9 joint production member of the Swansea City Development of ‘High School Musical’. squad. Edward Drake has been busy play- ing for Penarth Rugby team. Euan Procter Year 9 students have had many memorable and has been regularly attending rock climbing at inspiring visitors during the term. Carol Evans Bolders. Mathew Bennett was a member of from the Malarchi Pooncholai Trust spoke to the the Newport Football Academy team who year group about an Indian orphanage and fol- won their league. lowing this the pupils raised enough money to sponsor two orphan children. Also, Hannah Wil- 9A liams from the Vale Volunteer Bureau spoke to Tom Hann powered through a sponsored the year group about the valuable aspects of vol- cycle ride from Penarth to Pontypridd and unteering - many pupils were subsequently in- back - it was for Pedal Power and the John spired to put their names forward for this. Fi- Ellis Tay lending library. Jacob Grant has nally, Godfrey, a Headmaster from Lesotho (see played tennis for the school team this term. photo) spoke to the year group in an assembly

“Pupils raised enough money to sponsor two orphan children ...” Year 9 Miss R Povey& Mr A Meddins

9M ships. William Brown is a member of the Joshua Lewis has had trials for Cardiff Year 9 football team and Thomas Moreton County football. Alex Candy has been busy is a member of the school badminton club. playing Rugby for Penarth and Football for Sully. Rhys Fford won the ‘Road to Wim- 9K bledon’ tournament at his local tennis club. Rebecca Egerstrom is the goalkeeper for the Sarah Brabham has passed her Grade 1 pi- Welsh Girls’ football team and has attended ano exam. Ludwig Mai, a German student, Welsh football training camps. She also met is shadowing Max Shepherd for the last 4 Olly Murs on her 14th birthday before watch- weeks of term. ing his concert! Scott Dutfield has played 9X tennis for the school team and has played Harry Jowett is working towards his Grade football for Sully this term. Kenn Rufo took 7 Piano. Alice Holder and Kate Wilkins are part in the Penarth fun run. He ran 5km and involved in a tap dancing show for charity at raised money for Lesotho. Edward Herbert the Paget Rooms. Emma Davies’ cricketing has passed his Grade 4 trumpet. Niall Seeley career has progressed further – she has now has represented Penarth Tennis Club at U14 achieved her 4th cap for Wales and has had level. trials for England! Kwabena Fordjour took 9L part in U15 Athletics competition final at Ioan Morgan-Jones came 1st in a swimming Leckwith; he ran in the 100m and the relay. gala at Cogan Leisure Centre. Max Scott has 9W been busy performing as Ryan in Stanwell’s Sian Smith was in the Orbit Theatre produc- tion of ‘Annie’. Amelia Rowlands passed her Grade 6 trumpet exam. Katie Moger en- tered the “Race for Life”. Josh Whittaker has been very busy playing cricket for Dinas Powys, and Football and Rugby for Sully. Joe Fettah has been involved in boxing for a club in Rhoose. 9O Lauren Jones has raised £90 for cancer re- search by completing the race for life. Mollie Britton and Lydia Ferriday have been lucky enough to hold the Olympic torch in Cardiff at the Coca Cola festival. Calum production of ‘High School Musical’. O’Neill was a part of the cast for ‘Les Miser- Other pupils that must be mentioned for their ables’ outstanding performance are the Year 9 net- 9R ball team; they won the Vale Netball Tourna- Sophie Gracia-Thomas has taken part in ment and also came 4th in the South Glamor- rowing regatta. Harriet Alderman and gan County Netball Tournament. The Year 9 Emily Franks were in the cast of High Girls’ basketball team (above photo) were School Musical and are also taking part in champions at the Welsh Schools Basketball the UDO Welsh Street Dance Champion- finals. Well done!

“ ... have represented the school with distinction. “

Year 10 Mrs K Chellingworth & Mr H Roberts

time. As the summer term draws to a close for Year 10T 10 pupils, we can look back over a very varied Kathleen Ahearne has passed Grade 6 clarinet and successful year. Pupils have had to work while Cengizhan Ziyaeddin has been part of hard as they prepared for their external GCSE Cardiff Blues U16 training squad. Calum exams and we are now looking forward to re- McWilliam has completed a 100 mile charity sults day in August. Good luck to everyone bike ride in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and who has worked so diligently. Many subjects Hannah Green took part in a fun day in aid of have already completed coursework assign- Ty Hafan and raised £505. Calum and his ments and pupils realise the importance of time friend Tom Geen were part of the team who management and meeting deadlines. won the Vale football U16 for Cogan. Ollie A ‘Work Experience Preparation Day’ has Jones and Jack Powell took part in the Young been completed and students found it both fun Enterprise and Jack had the honour of being and informative. All Year 10 pupils completed the ‘Top Notch’ managing director. Well done their Work Experience and found it very useful to Namika Birchall who helped to raise £750 and inspiring. in aid of a local sports club and to Chloe Tho- We are very proud of Suzie Collins who car- mas who has completed her Bronze Medallion ried the Olympic torch through Barry; she has in life saving. also been able to share her experience with 10E some local primary schools. Many members of the form went to the Gower on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. A

special mention must be made of Tamsyn Harrington who saved a man’s life when he fell overboard and got his leg caught in the an- chor. Tamsyn and her dad were sailing in

Barry when she heard cries for help and re- leased him from the anchor chain. Well done Tamsyn. Katie Way went on a midnight char- ity walk (6 miles) raising money for Ty Hafan.

As usual the take-up for Duke of Edinburgh Luke Morley was part of the Young Enter- has been impressive, unlike the weather during prise team that won an award for the best ad- the expeditions! The end of year reward trip vertisement at the Welsh finals. Congratula- was very popular and congratulations to all tions to Ben Dain-Smith and Thomas Dwyer pupils who went. Pupils and staff had a great who have passed their Grade 7 guitar exams.

“We are very proud!”

Year 10 Mrs K Chellingworth & Mr H Roberts

Emma Donovan has been performing in a came 9th in an air rifle competition. Seren dance show at the Paget rooms. Robinson played an important part in the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ musical. Well done to 10A George Kynaston for representing Wales at Amrit Banga and Ben Chalke have been basketball. working towards their Bronze Duke of Edin- burgh this year. Ben Chalke has also been 10X working towards his Grade 3 saxophone. On the sporting front, congratulations go to Daniel Parselle has achieved his Grade 4 Joel Ringer who has been chosen for the Car- electric guitar and Richard Arthur is work- diff Blues U16 Academy and Lambert Ka- ing towards his Grade 3 drums. Phoenix longo who has been selected for the Cardiff Kaged has been a member of the school ath- schools under 18s. Elliott Davies and Thomas letics team participating in many competi- Chandler have been taking part in the Duke of tions throughout the year. Finally, Georgia Edinburgh bronze award. Rebecca Thompson Carde is preparing for an upcoming show has just taken her Grade 7 in singing and she is jumping competition. Good luck Georgia! now awaiting her results.

10W 10W is a sporty form as shown by Fletcher

Mace who is through to the second set of trials

for Cardiff City FC while Rhys Savory is a

member of the Cardiff Blues U16s squad.

Spencer-Jon Ward-Henry has played for the

Wales under 15 rugby league squad and is a

member of the Cardiff Blues U16s squad. Ja-

mie Hitchen has been playing for Cardiff and

Vale 1st XI and has made his debut for

Penarth’s senior 1st XI. Jade Detheridge has 10M passed her St John’s First Aid course, Yas- Fiona McGavin has recently signed up for mine Cole helps out at a youth club for dis- the Cancer Research ‘Race for Life’. She will abled teenagers and Emily Thomas has be running later in the year. Jay Kapuria achieved distinction in Grade 7 ballet. Well represented the school in the Welsh Finals of done to everyone. the Young Enterprise scheme with his group ‘TopNotch’. Alasdair Cavaye has recently passed his Grade 5 viola with distinction and

“Good luck to everyone who worked so hard.”

Year 10 Mrs K Chellingworth & Mr H Roberts

10O 10K Congratulations to Elisabeth Britten on Tom Farmer has completed his level 1 squash passing her Grade 6 drum exam with a merit coaching course. Tommy Higgins has been and Rebecca Te Water Naude on passing successful in his Grade 3 clarinet exam. Nils her Grade 5 violin with merit. Courtney Deeg was part of a percussion ensemble which Bridge has been a valuable member of the played in St David’s Hall. Emma Bright is a trampoling team. Hywel Ainsworth was member of the “TopNotch” Young Enterprise very proud to represent his Army Cadet De- team which went into the Welsh finals. Eliza- tachment as a guard of honour when the beth Trott is preparing for her Grade 6 singing “Barry at War” plaque was unveiled. Well exam and she is also looking forward to a con- done to Ailsa Jones for winning a DT award cert later this month. Elinor Brunker and and Matthew Holder who was named Mid- Ellie Jones have both been involved in charity dle Sports Boy. A special mention must go to work raising money for Marie Currie and rd Daniel Hourihan for coming 3 in a recent Shine. high diving competition. 10L 10R There are some very keen and talented per- Well done many pupils who have taken part formers in 10L. Catrin Morgan was an extra in local sporting activities. Cea Jay Morgan in the Sky TV show “Stella” while Gabrielle has captained the Cogan B football team. Ed- Williams has won a Silver Medal at the “Stage ward Betts, Jack Goldsworthy and Joel Coach” drama school. Kate Coker has contin- Freebury-Jones have played in the Penarth ued her excellence in athletics by representing Patriots basketball team. Congratulations the school successfully. also to Peter McDonough who has passed Grade 8 with distinction on the euphonium. A talented musician, Peter is also preparing to take his Grade 4 piano and is now playing second euphonium for the Tongwynlais Brass Band. Megan Wookey is making a name for herself in the Guides as she works towards her ‘Young Leader’ qualification. Special congratulations go to Utako Wirth who has achieved A* in her GCSE German exam this year.

“TopNotch!” Year 11 Ms L Bekker & Mr B Crompton

Since Christmas, Year 11 have been preparing themselves for the forthcoming GCSE examina- Thomas Williams (11A) and Matteo tions and deciding on their options for Septem- Holmes (11K) were invited to compete at ber - whether to stay at Stanwell and study A the Sainsbury’s 2012 School Games in Levels, to study at college or to seek employ- London in May. Harry Roberts (11E) ment. To aid this process, there has been the 6th was selected for the Welsh Under 16 Form Options Evening, intention interviews and Rugby Squad. He took part in an interna- assemblies to introduce the new subjects avail- tional tournament in Wellington, England able in the 6th form. which included teams from England, Canada and the USA. Also, Erin Intentions interviews have been carried out with Murray (11T) has represented the Welsh all the pupils to help and support the ladies football team at Under 17 level, choices they make post-16. All this preparation scoring against Finland. She has just been has been to give the pupils the best chance of awarded a 2 year FUTSAL scholarship success in their GCSEs and to ensure they make with Cardiff City. informed choices regarding their future studies and career paths.

The GCSE examinations started on Monday 14th May and ended on Monday 18th June, during which time formal revision sessions were held in Maths, English and Science; further ses- sions were arranged by other departments in or- der to consolidate learning and ensure key skills were refreshed immediately prior to the impor- tant external exams. Attendance at the formal revision sessions averaged 85%, which shows the enthusiasm and commitment of Year 11 pu- Nine Year 11 pupils have successfully pils. completed a BTEC Level 2 in Public Ser- vice at the Military Preparation School in This has been a very exciting year for Year 11 Cardiff. The pupils took part in a very with regards to their sporting impressive parade and drill formation in achievements. Several indi- an evening Award Ceremony in May. viduals have had great suc- Both Daniel Harrison (11K) and Liam cess in their particular fields. Hudd (11T) spoke about their time at Samuel Jones (11A) has MPCT and went on to win awards; the been signed up by Premier Award for Public Speaking and Best PFT League champions Man- respectively. Alex ander Huntley (11M) chester City on a two year won a Citizenship Award and Matthew contract with their youth Allen (11M) won Most Promising Stu- team. dent. All pupils were presented with a portfolio of their achievements.

“This has been a very exciting year for Year 11 ...” Year 11 Ms L Bekker & Mr B Crompton

The Year 11 Moodle pages have been successfully developed and enhanced throughout the year. They have proved to be an invaluable source of information to pupils and parents with details of exam timetables, GCSE re-sits and homework clubs being published on them. In par- ticular, key information was communi- cated to pupils once the GCSEs had com- menced and pupils were on study leave. The Year 11 Senior Football team were proud winners of the Cardiff & Vale Cup. They suc- Details of arrangements for results day cessfully reached the final against Barry Com- will be published via Moodle and the prehensive beating them 4-3. This was a massive school website, so please keep checking achievement considering the match had been for updates. postponed three times and they played the final after their GCSEs had commenced. Max Bram- Indeed, we look forward to results day on hill (11T) was presented the trophy in the Year Thursday 23rd August where we hope 11 final assembly in May to a round of thunder- that the pupils’ hard work will be suitably ous applause! rewarded with excellent GCSE grades.

Sixteen Year 11 girls were invited to attend a We wish Year 11 every success and look prestigious event in Barry Memorial Hall to forward to seeing many of the pupils re- mark International Women’s Day in March. The turn in the 6th form. We wish those not theme of ‘Connecting Girls—Inspiring Futures’ returning to Stanwell all the best in their provided the pupils with inspirational and chosen career paths. thought-provoking presentations to help them aspire in society and their chosen careers. Speak- ers included Lieutenant Colonel Caroline Whittaker of the 203 Field Hospital Volunteers, who was awarded the Royal Red Cross First Class for services in Iraq, and Deputy Chief Constable Colette Paul of the South Wales Po- lice. Emma Hughes (11M) wrote a letter of thanks to Councillor Janice Charles, who organ- ised the event, thanking her on behalf of the pu- pils for the hospitality shown to them, in particu- lar the delicious cream tea!

“We wish Year 11 every success ...” Mrs A Mansfield Year 12 & Mr M Gershenson

It’s been a busy couple of terms for the Year Barrie Clark of Swansea University spoke to the 12 students. The new prefect team has been students about the advantages of studying at this appointed with 24 of the year group being cho- level and Caroline Coleman-Davies, also of sen to fill these positions of responsibility. Swansea University, led our Higher Education The Senior Student Leadership team were se- evening providing parents with vital informa- lected from this group; Lloyd Allen and Cath- tion about the UCAS process and financing the erine Porteus are the new Head Boy and university years. Head Girl with Harry McDonough and Beth Hopkins as their deputies. Jemima Bushby, The Problem Solving Essential Skill task was Daniel Seal, Joseph Keenan and Charlotte incorporated into our Higher Education week. Preece are the senior prefects who will assist Students were introduced to the UCAS process, and support this leadership team. given a presentation on gap year choices by ‘Lattitude’ and were provided with an opportu- Since their return from study leave for their nity to attend a ‘CV Writing and Advice on external AS examinations, the students have Seeking Employment’ workshop. been focusing on completing several elements May we take this opportunity to wish all our of the Welsh Baccalaureate qualification. The students the very best of luck for their AS ex- vast majority of students have completed one amination results and hope that they all fulfil week’s work experience and all have been the requirements for returning to study at Stan- working on the Individual Investigation on a well in Year 13. AS results will be available for subject area of their choice. Work has also collection from 10am on Thursday, August been completed on several of the Essential 16th from the sixth form area. Skills, namely ‘Improving your Own Learning and Performance’ and ‘Problem Solving’. The Catherine Porteus and Lloyd Allen, the Head year group has also enjoyed sessions with Boy and Head Girl. some guest speakers; Damaris spent the day with the students working on a ‘President for a Day’ workshop and the Friends of Israel deliv- ered a presentation on Israel and the Arab World. In addition to this, the whole year group visited the Museum of Wales, St Fagans as part of the Heritage and Culture element.

Students have also started to consider their post A Level options. The vast majority at- tended the UCAS Higher Education Fair at Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Uni- versity of Wales College Cardiff Open Day in April. These were opportunities for students to speak with various institutions and visit aca- demic departments of interest in order to help them in their decision. Individual students have also been attending various university open days up and down the country. ‘the new Head Boy and Head Girl have been appointed’ Mrs A Mansfield Year 12 & Mr M Gershenson

WO1 val. He also sang for the Cardiff Bay Rotary Good luck to Lisa Gourley who is working Club in a fundraising event for Cancer Re- towards the ISTD intermediate Grade 8 Mod- search. Good luck to Mikaela Wood who will ern Theatre Dance Qualification and to Joe be representing South Wales in the Trampolin- Ingram who is composing music for the Penarth Operatic and Dramatic Society pro- ing competition in the Gemau Cymru (Welsh duction of ‘Twelfth Night.’ Joe is also a Games) which will be held in July. She will also member of the National Youth Orchestra for begin her third year on the YAS acting course at Wales. Congratulations also to Andrew Rich- the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. ards who is this year’s Senior Rugby Team Finally, well done to Alana Thomas who won Player of the Year. an award for her services to Stanwell School in WO2 this year’s award ceremony. Samuel James has been working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and Jessica WO5 Green has been working towards the silver. Well done to Jessica Leighton-Price who has Well done to Georgina Attwood who won the completed her National Award 3 Dance Lily Ann Rogers cup for endeavour at our an- exam, to Jonathan Wise who has been work- nual awards ceremony and to James Porteus ing towards Grade 3 on the guitar and to Oliver Oswin who has been working to- who has been chosen to play cricket for wards the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. Penarth’s first XIs. Both James Chaffey and Leah Dalby has had a final call-back for a Hamish Couper have completed the EESW BBC Wales short film production, Amy Engineering scheme and good luck to Laura Palin has been working with Penarth Youth Elder who will be running the Race for Life Action and the Vale Youth Forum helping to on July 15th; she has raised £150 thus far. set up youth events and Charlotte Preece has gained two gold medals in the first part WO3 of her swimming club championships. Well done to Tom Murray who won the Play- Charlotte has also been supporting the Drama department with the choreography for ers’ Player award for the Penarth Youth the Year 8/9 production of High School Mu- Rugby Team, to Joshua Ellis who has passed sical. his Grade 8 exam on the trumpet, to Joseph Visiting the Nursing and Midwifery depart- Keenan for passing Grade 8 exams on the ment at the University of Glamorgan. cello and in singing and to Beth Hopkins for passing Grade 8 on the saxophone. Good luck to Kirsty McGarrigle who is currently fund- raising for the Joshua Foundation.

WO4

Well done to Taite Drew who won both the ‘Highly Commended’ and Most Promising Singer awards at the South Glamorgan Festi- ‘students have been attending university open days’ Mrs A Mansfield Year 12 & Mr M Gershenson

WO6 EESW Engineering scheme. Well done to Alex- Well done to Emily Woodley who has passed andra Phillips who has achieved fifth place in a judging course for the trampoline, to Seren a trampolining competition. Vickers who has passed Grade 6 saxophone and has also been accepted into the National WO9 Youth Orchestra for Wales and to Alex Benja- Well done to Bethan Morgan who received an min who won the Rotary Club award for award for academic achievement, to Allister Community Service at this year’s awards cere- Hill who received the Information Technology mony. Miles Jones has been playing for the award and to Ben Ware who was awarded the Senior Rugby team whilst Rebecca Rumsam has been involved in this year’s Young Enter- A. P. Bartlett cup for Computing at this year’s prise scheme. award ceremony. Rebecca Trigg and Alexan- dra Nickels have been working towards the WO7 Duke of Edinburgh gold award. Alex has also Well done to Harry Wood who won the Eng- been working towards Ice Skating tests, field lish Award at this year’s awards ceremony and moves 4 and 5. Andrew Ott is a member of for playing in the Senior Rugby team, to Law- Penarth and Dinas runners and Sol Whiteside’s rence Middleton who has earned Grade 5 in band, The Knox, has recently been playing gigs Music Theory and to Adam Jones who has around the Cardiff area including one in the won a WWT photography competition. Clwb Ifor Bach. Adam has also been working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and is taking part in the expedition to Morocco which will take place during the summer holidays. Cath- erine Porteus has been working towards Grade 8 violin and will be accompanying the Cardiff County and Vale Youth Orchestra on their tour to Florence. John Ellis has been supporting younger pupils in Homework Club.

WO8 Gwynfor Parr is playing for the senior rugby team and has also been chosen to play for the Welsh under 18s academy squad in bowls, Thomas Downey has won a place in the Na- tional Youth Brass Band of Wales and is a re- serve for the National Youth Wind Orchestra. Students visit the MediCentre at the University He has also been chosen to play in the Liberty Hospital Wales. Big Band. Thomas Lewis has taken part in the sailing trip to France and has also completed

‘Students have started the UCAS process’ Mrs R Connor, Mr K Watkins and Year 13 Mr R Relph

The Spring term began in earnest with the our students with a mock lecture based on an January examinations. The majority of the excerpt from the film ‘Antz’ , in order to pre- year group were involved in either re-sitting pare them for the style of learning and teaching AS units or working towards new A2 modules. they will experience at undergraduate level; The results for these examinations were pub- even setting students a task to complete and lished in March and showed a definite im- submit for assessment. Further preparation for provement, with a high percentage of the year higher education included a most entertaining group improving upon their grades and indeed and interesting address given by Barrie Clark exceeding their A level target scores. from Swansea on the realities of university life. Tom Hay from Glamorgan University also gave a very informative talk on student finance. Year 13 were also fortunate enough to experience a very inspiring assembly given by Dr Mark Pic- ton, who shared with the students recent experi-

Virtually all UCAS applications were com- pleted and submitted on time and students have now made their final decisions. Con- gratulations go to all members of the year ences from his expedition to Antarctica. group who have been offered conditional places. Of course, many of our students have immersed themselves in a range of extra-curricular activ- For much of the second half of this term, com- ity ranging from music and sport to charity pletion of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualifica- work. Sinead O’Brien was voted Winning tion has been an important factor for our stu- Players’ Player for the Satellite netball team in dents. They have worked hard to cover all ele- Canton. Laura Soltys has passed Grade 8 pi- ano. Kieran Jones and Matthew Rodwell have ments of this qualification, and it has been en- enjoyed a successful season with Dinas couraging to see the vast majority of Year 13 Football Club. Congratulations must go to rewarded for their efforts with the ‘Welsh Jasmine Vincent who has raised £2000 for Bacc’ featuring in many of the offers they the Joshua Foundation charity and is heading to have received. New York in the summer to further support the charity. Alex Samuel and Zachary McCaul Visiting speakers have once again contributed took part in a local five a side football tourna- to the pastoral programme and this year have ment. Zachary McCaul also played rugby in a included Dr Julian Gould-Williams from Car- team which finished 3rd in the Youth Tourna- diff University Business School. He provided ment.

“Many of our students have immersed themselves in extra curricular activity” Mr K Watkins, Mrs R Connor and Year 13 Mr R Relph

Otto Putland managed to raise £300 for the Teenage Cancer Trust by doing a press-up challenge which entailed completing 1000 press-ups in a range of unusual places around Penarth and Cardiff. He has also become the 4th fastest swimmer at the Welsh National Swimming Competition.

Ashley Vickery completed a sponsored dive into the River Taff in order to raise money for cancer research.

Iestyn Penry-Williams and Lucie Thompson Thanks must go to Rhys Ward and Cerys have helped to design the new conservation Young, our hard-working Head Boy and Girl area in school. Zoe Tucker is planning a vol- who have led our senior prefect team with dedi- untary trip to Ghana over the summer holi- cation and commitment throughout the year. days, where she plans to teach in an orphan- age; she has also become involved in conser- This academic year drew to a close with the vation and building projects. Liam Pace and year group photograph and final assembly. This Joshua Rees have made their first regional was a fitting way for students to reflect upon appearance for the Penarth table tennis team. their school life in a light-hearted and nostalgic Hal Szary has been involved in local fundrais- manner, before embarking on the intensity of ing to support people in need in Penarth. Tom the examination period, which we hope went Pain has been teaching sailing to aspiring well. We now look forward to the Valedictory young sailors in Penarth; he has also been cho- Dinner at the Mercure Holland House Hotel in sen to represent Great Britain in the Under 18 Cardiff on the 13th July and wish all members of sailing squad and has been elected as the Year 13 the very best, not only for Results Day young persons’ representative for Penarth on August 16th, but in everything they do in the Sailing Club on the Welsh Platform. future. We have enjoyed working with them.

“We wish all members of Year 13 the very best” 100% ATTENDANCE SEPTEMBER – JUNE (HALF TERM) 2011-2012

Please see below for a list of pupils who achieved 100% attendance this year – our biggest number ever! Attendance plays an integral role in success at school and all our ‘100%ers’ are to be commended on their fantastic achievement.

Year 7 Name Reg Name Reg Name Reg Baker, Thaine 7R Peacock, Antonio 7K Harvey, Robert 8K Bratby, Rebecca 7T Robinson, Adam 7X Hayer, Jorawar 8L Bushby, Noah 7A Scrivens, Joseph 7X Hermogeno, Lex 8X Carr, Jake 7O Smith, Harry 7E Humpage, Rebecca 8K Chamberlain, Olivia 7R Smith, Liberty 7M Ignacio, Jonathan 8M Croll, Ben 7T Whitfield, Alexander 7E Jones, Anna 8T Donlan, Gwyn 7K Jones, Gwennan 8M Duggan, Caitlin 7R Jones, Kyrsty 8L Year 8 Dutfield, Lucy 7E Jones, Megan 8O Eastwood, Jade 7A Name Reg Loweth, Grace 8A Ellis, Lauren 7W Cole, Gregory 8W Mock, Abigail 8E Friedl, Tobias 7R Collins, Tom 8L Price, James 8M Griffiths, Thomas 7R Crimp, Morgan 8O Rees, Morgan 8O Harris, Genna 7L Ellis, Caitlin 8X Rees, Morgan 8M Hills, Naomi 7O French, Elias 8W Saji, Linda 8A Howe, Georgia 7O Frost, Nathan 8W Shamte, Maya 8O Jenkins, Megan 7K Gale, William 8L Turpin, Benjamin 8L Khan, Aymen 7K Geen, Emily 8A Way, Charlotte 8L Knupp, Kabir 7L Glaze, Emily 8E Williams, Harry 8A McConkey, Jack 7L Grafton, Isabel 8R Wiltshire, Samuel 8W McSorley, Niall 7X Grosfils, Daniel 8O Wincott, Calum 8W McSorley, Tomas 7M Hanson, Lloyd 8O Morgan, Kathryn 7A 100% ATTENDANCE SEPTEMBER – JUNE (HALF TERM) 2011-2012

Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Name Reg Name Reg Name Reg Barber, Simon 9R Chalke, Ben 10A Beeslee, Lauren 11A Chapple, Alicia 9O Fisher, Liam 10A Boudier, Nicholas 11K Chatham, Evie 9W Frost, Jacob 10R Carter, Eve 11W Cummins, Lauren 9E Gale, Laura 10A Dumitrescu, Sebastian 9X Howe, Benjamin 10T Duggan, Jessica 11A Dyer, Ella 9X Monaghan, Siena 10A Hall, Joseph 11T Dyer, Isaac 9E Paley, Phoebe 10X Hodgkins, Fraser 11W Evans, Megan 9W Thorne, Emma 10K Gillingham, Holly 9L Turton, Robert 10M Johnson, George 11E Guerrier, Rhodri 9X Union, Sian 10X Pollock, Joseph 11A Hallett, Maisie 9L Weston, Jake 10O Prusak, Sofia 11R Herbert, Edward 9K Wooster, Daniel 10X Jones, Jack 9W Skentelbery, Daniel 11T Lieu, Kerstin 9T Thomas, Sion 11O

Mahdi, Samir 9K Turton, Thomas 11R McConkey, Joshua 9E Moreton, Thomas 9R Warren, Ralf 11T

Seeley, Niall 9K Tuthill, Peter 9T

Learning to Excel

Ysgol Stanwell School