Monmouth Comprehensive School WINTER NEWSLETTER 2012 ‘Learning to Lead our Lives Dysgu Trwy Arwain’ Mae’r myfyrwyr a’r staff yn dymuno Nadolig Llawen I chi Students and staff wish you a Happy Christmas Christmas is always a wonderful time at school; it could not be anything else when there are so many young people all in one place filled with a sense of expectation and excitement. This year we will be putting up the Christmas tree, joining together for our Christmas Assemblies with the Head Girl and Boy, holding our annual Christmas Service at St. Mary’s Church on 19th December and our Year 7s will be travelling to Newport for the Pantomime at the Riverfront Theatre. Our Year 7s will also be holding a Christmas Fair on the 7th December as part of their enterprise project to raise funds to support their Summer Learning expeditions. We are hoping that as many people as possible can attend the Christmas Fair in the School Hall. The Governors have also arranged with our Caterers Redcliffe to provide a festive Christmas Lunch for all students free of charge. The lunch will be served to all students in Years 7 -11 on the last day of term, which is 21st December. On this day students will have their lunch with their Form Tutors and Year Group. The school day will end at 2 p.m. The Sixth Form will be having a special Christmas Breakfast on the day. This is also the time of year when we reflect on all that has taken place. It has been a very busy and exciting term but it has not been without its challenges. Just before the Autumn Break one of our students, Daniel Morgan was injured in an accident at the Monmouth Leisure Centre. Daniel is making a fantastic and rapid recovery and we are all looking forward to his return to school. When incidents such as this take place the support of the community is essential. In Daniel’s situation the community was tremendous in their support. I would like to say a special thank you to the Leisure Centre Staff and the School Staff who were outstanding, along with the Paramedic team, the Fire Brigade and the Ambulance Service. Daniel’s Year Group and Form Group were also superb in the way they have supported Daniel. I know Daniel has been very touched by all the cards and messages of support on Facebook. Daniel has asked that a big thank you can be sent to everyone. At our Carol Service we will be saying a special thank you to the Emergency Services and offering a prayer of thanks to all involved and for Daniel and his family. The support given to the school by parents is humbling. This year, through the Friends Association, you have raised over £6,000 to purchase resources and improve the environment of the school. Thank you. The Friends Association plays an enormous role in improving the quality of education for all students. They are a small group but they make a massive impact. Our Christmas newsletter has many articles about the many and varied learning opportunities that have taken place this term. Our students were to be found clambering over mountains looking at rocks, studying urban regeneration at the Olympic Site in Stratford in East London; going to the theatre at Cardiff; travelling to Dubai to take part in the F1 World Championships; raising money for local and national charities; laying a wreath on behalf of the school at the War Memorial; presenting to Heads of Services from across Monmouthshire on how to build a positive culture through restorative learning and also finding time to rehearse for our forthcoming school play, Bugsy Malone. The performances are on 31st January and 1st /2nd February 2013. Christmas brings us together as families, whether it is as one big family at school or with our immediate family. To all our families and all the families we belong to, the students, staff and governors wish you a Happy Christmas. R V Davies Headteacher YEAR GERMAN STUDENTS BRANCH OUT 11 The Year 11 German group visited a local business, as part of a scheme arranged by CILT, to see how German is used in an authentic business context. The business we visited was “Branching Out Europe”, based in Newport, which provides sales, business development and marketing services to businesses who are looking to grow their sales within the UK and internationally. Students had the opportunity to use their German in introductions, interviews and role plays. In addition to this, they were introduced to the importance of German and all foreign languages, in a business context by the Managing Director Del Jones. We hope to continue this link with students practising conversational skills further and seeing the importance of languages in the job market. Thank you for your support The Charity Committee have been extremely busy already this year. We have organised several events in school to help raise money for a variety of charities, whilst coming together as a whole school community to have lots of fun. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the committee members, which has been matched by the support of the school as a whole, we have already had tremendous success! September saw our annual harvest collection once again enable us to donate a large assortment of goods for Wallich Clifford; a charity supporting the homeless in Wales. At the end of September we raised £250 for Macmillan Nurses by participating in the national coffee morning appeal . In October we supported for ‘Go Green for the Size of Wales’, a charity dedicated to bringing everyone in Wales together to help sustain areas of tropical rainforest equivalent the size of Wales as part of a national response to climate change. Our ‘Go Green’ day was a day filled with colour and enthusiasm as we followed a green dress code and bake sale and even held a colour themed karaoke! In total we managed to raise a fantastic £1009 for this worthy cause. Our most recent, and most successful, fundraiser was Children in Need day. We raised a total of £1100 through a non-uniform day and the sale of Pusdey chocolates. Many students also completed sponsored activities, both as individuals or with friends, and 7GD made the highest bid in our giant Pudsey cake auction. Students of all years and many staff have also been involved in Operation Christmas Child again this year. After the success of last year’s collection, we have been offered the opportunity to follow our boxes on the next leg of their journey and help sort more donations in their Cardiff warehouse, before they are transported across the world. We ask regularly for your help as we try to support many worthy charities throughout the school year and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all students, parents and teachers for their enthusiasm and unstinting generosity on these important days. Ella Phillips (Y12) and the Charity Committee. PS….. Raising funds in excess of £1000 for ‘Go Green for the Size of Wales’, MCS was recognised as the highest fundraising secondary school in Wales and the students’ efforts have been rewarded with a white water rafting experience courtesy of the National White Water Centre in Bala. Well done MCS Charity Committee! Mrs Caswell & Miss Feldon Rugby Round Up Rugby Union Year 7 - Year 7 have made a great start to Rugby at MCS. In September the team came second at a District tournament - Harry Jenkins and Rhys Phillips were standout performers scoring many of the team’s tries. Despite a narrow defeat against John Kyrle, the team displayed terrific effort and enthusiasm against a bigger, more physical team and were rewarded for their performances with a convincing win against Ebbw Fawr in their next match. Robert Williams, Liam Martin and Josh Bicknell all making significant contributions to the team performance in these matches. Year 8 - Rugby Club has been very busy this term with an average of 26 Year 8 students turning up every week. With regards to fixtures the Year 8 team were unbeaten in the first tournament held at Llantarnam beating 3 very strong schools - Fairwater, Croesyceiliog and the hosts Llantarnam. We then went through to the next round of the competition held at West Monmouth School where an understrength team faced some strong opposition in the form of Gwynllyw, Llantarnam, and the hosts West Monmouth. The boys stood up to, and embraced, the challenge winning all but one of their three games by a good points margin and just coming up short by an unconverted try to the hosts West Monmouth in a game that showed grit and determination by all the boys concerned. Over half-term, nine of the squad attended a skills hub that was run by the WRU and the Newport Gwent Dragons as a form of talent identification. All the boys really enjoyed the experience and gained valuable feedback from the range of coaches who were present. Those boys who were lucky enough to be selected from this skills hub have the opportunity to represent their area in the Dewar Shield; which is a national tournament contested from teams all around Wales. Year 9 - The Year 9 Rugby team have made a good start to the year with comprehensive victories in 5 of their 6 matches in the group stages of the Welsh School Cup. The team managed to score a total of 214 points in their 6 matches so far this year and conceded only 49 points.