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Christmas 2014 Eisteddfod yr Urdd Meirionnydd Results 2014

1st – Yr. 7 and Under 19 Creative Dance Composition

1st - Ifan Llywelyn – Yr. 7-9 Brass Solo

1 1st – Anest Eirug – Yr. 8 Prose 1st – Seren Jenkins – Yr. 7 & 8 Design & Technology

Above - 3rd – Ifan Llywelyn – Yr. 7-9 String Solo Left - 2nd – Sophie Neal – Yr. 7 – 9 Woodwind Solo 2 Above - 2nd – 15-25 Yrs Ensemble Picture: © Lluniaullwyfan.com

2nd – Catrin Huws – Yr. 7-9 Harp Solo

3rd – Beca Williams– Yr. 7-9 ‘Cerdd Dant’ Solo

3 International Harp Festival Mared Pugh-Evans’s musical career is going from strength to strength following her recent success at the 3rd Wales International Harp Festival held in Caernarfon from 20 – 26 April. Mared was one of three young harpists to win a £1,500 scholarship in the Youth Section for students 19 years and under. In the first round, 17 contestants from 8 countries presented a programme of 15 minutes to the panel of renowned judges: Jeremy Huw Williams, the noted Welsh baritone; Imogen Barford, Head of the Harp at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London; and Helen Davies-Mikkelborg, the well-known harpist based in Denmark, but originally from . The adjudication panel selected six harpists to move forward to the second round to present a different programme of 20 minutes to include a set piece by noted Welsh composer, William Mathias. Candidates were given the opportunity to present either his highly popular 3 Improvisations or one movement of his rarely heard Sonata for Harp. Mared said: “When my teacher suggested I play a movement of the Sonata, I was a bit concerned because I’d never heard it before – but the second movement is a lovely, lively dance-like piece and was a challenge to learn.” Following the second round, the three judges named Mared as the winner of the £1,500 scholarship presented by the Friends of Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias, and Linda Simanauskite, Lithuania and Cassandra Tomella, Italy as winners of two £1,500 scholarships furnished by the Sickle Foundation. All three winners entertained the visitors to the Festival in a short lunchtime concert on Thursday, and later Mared was invited by Dr Rhiannon Mathias to join her in a presentation about her composer father, who studied at Aberystwyth University, arranged especially for the students of the Pagoda Arts Centre in Liverpool. The children from the Chinese cultural centre were treated to a performance of the 2nd movement of the Mathias Sonata for Harp before hearing from Rhiannon what life was like in the composer’s household. This is the pinnacle of an already successful 12 months for Mared, having won the Junior Blue Ribband at the Denbigh National Eisteddfod last summer and the Junior Prize of the Pencerdd Gwalia Festival in Bridgend a year ago. Mared is taught by Caryl Thomas, Head of Harp, at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

4 Yr. 11 and 13 Leavers We wished yr. 11 & 13 leavers well as they left school to begin their study periods, before sitting their external exams. More pictures are available on the website.

Christopher Gillison, Iestyn Morgan-Jones, Siôn Jones, Liam Davies and Rhydian Davies

Sioned Newman, Cara Evans, Ffion Morgan, Ffion Edwards, Anwen Morris and Beca Davies

Ffion Griffiths, Elan Elidyr, Beatrice Edwards, Eilir Huws and Marged James

5 Penweddig 40 Exhibition As part of this year’s celebrations, an exhibition was opened at Ceredigion Museum by Mme Carol Izri, the school’s deputy headteacher. The exhibition was organized by Dr. Marion Löffler, vice chair of the Association of Friends of the School, and Carrie Canham, Ceredigion Museum’s curator. The exhibition ran until the end of June, and thanks to those who lent items for display.

Singing Through Summer Jordan Jones Yr. 10 attended a residential course in Godalming, Surrey, for two weeks in August. He was accepted to the Youth Musical Theatre following a successful audition where he had to act and improvise, and was assessed on singing technique and delivery, dance technique and movement improvisation. The theatre company performed 'Ali & Nino' at the end of the course in Bracknell and Jordan says "I looked forward to the experience. There is a connection with Ceredigion as the producer of the theatre graduated from Aberystwyth University." Jordan is following in the footsteps of Sam Ebenezer, former Head Boy of the school, who was chosen as a member of the theatre company two years ago.

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6 Ceredigion Athletics Results Congratulations to the pupils who competed in Yr. 9 Boys in May. 300m – Aron Cowdy – 3rd 800m – Gethin ap Dafydd – 2nd Yr. 7 Boys 1500m – Thomas Evans – 1st 800m – Jac Jones – 1st 1500m – Siôn Evans – 1st Yr. 9 Girls Hurdles – Cai Jones – 1st 800m – Hana Bailey – 1st Shot – Joseph Gwillim – 3rd 1500m – Catrin Skym – 1st High Jump – Huw Taylor – 1st Long Jump – Sharna Allmark – 3rd Long Jump - Siôn Evans – 2nd Relay – Penweddig – 3rd

Yr. 7 Girls Yr. 10 Boys 100m – Lisa Cowdy – 1st 100m – Jack Rimmer – 2nd 800m – Sioned Wallwork – 1st Shot – Lewis Ellis Jones – 1st 1500m – Sioned Wallwork – 1st Discus – Gwion Morgan Jones – 3rd Hurdles – Gwenllian Thomas – 3rd Shot – Caitlin Davies – 3rd Yr. 10 Girls Relay – Penweddig – 2nd 100m – Ffion Roberts – 3rd 300m – Sioned Evans – 3rd Yr. 8 Boys 1500m – Ffion Wyn Roberts – 3rd Long Jump – Tommy Sandford – 3rd Hurdles – Sioned Evans – 3rd Javelin – Ffion Roberts – 2nd Yr. 8 Girls Discus – Lucy Ankin – 2nd 300m – Sioned Rimmer – 2nd High Jump - Emily Woodward – 2nd 1500m – Dwynwen Davies – 3rd Relay – Penweddig – 3rd Long Jump – Mary Grice Woods – 1st

7 Victores and Victrices Ludorum 2014

Pictured with Headteacher Mr. Gwenallt Llwyd Ifan are Penweddig’s 2014 Victores and Victrices Ludorum. Back row (l-r) Osian Rees-Jones, Kieron Owen, Jack Rimmer, Ffion Wyn Roberts, Aron Cowdy, and Stephanie Lucas. Front (l-r) Huw Taylor, Dwynwen Davies, Bryn Griffiths and Lucy Ankin (Captains of winning house ‘Hywel’ at this year’s sports), Lisa Cowdy and Abigail Thompson. Head of PE Clem Thomas said: “It was a very successful day, having been cancelled on two occasions due to inclement weather. It’s a pleasure to see how enthusiastically Penweddig pupils compete against each other on school sports day.” Pictures of the day, along with the results, are available on the website.

Sixth Form Prefects 2014-2015

Enthusiasm, a love for language and setting a good example are the goals of Penweddig’s Prefects for 2014-2015 . Dafydd Rees was elected Head Boy and the Head Girl is Mabli Mair. Assisting them are their deputies Siôn Cowdy, Siriol Dafis and Megan Meredith, and the Prefects this year are Jeno Lewis, Gwern Penri and Tomos Watson

8 Innovation Success at Penweddig The innovation awards run by the WJEC is a celebration of innovative and different high quality A-Level and GCSE work within Design and Technology. The top 20 projects within Wales were selected by a team who had representation from the Welsh Assembly Government, industry, commerce, HE and WJEC. Congratulations go to Ioan Evans, formerly of Year 12, whose AS work was selected. Ioan’s project of a sheep lock and lift system gives owners of show sheep a hassle-free preparation platform. Ioan’s device was displayed at the events exhibition in Venue Cymru, Llandudno on 22 and 23 September and at the SWALEC Stadium, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on 6 and 7 October, where Carwyn Jones, First Minister of the Welsh Assembly announced the winners. According to Gerallt Williams, Head of DT at Penweddig: “We were very proud as a department for Ioan’s work to have been selected for this prestigious award / exhibition. It was great news for the DT dept and Penweddig, that Ioan’s work was recognized and selected through the whole of Wales. Ioan worked hard on the practical element, and produced a very marketable product.” Swimming Medals Seren Griffith, Dylan Skym and Sioned Wallwork, all from Yr. 8, recently took part in the ADASC (Aberystwyth District Amateur Swimming Club) Gala at Plascrug Leisure Centre. Seren came 3rd in the 100m crawl, butterfly, breastroke, individual medley (IM) and the 800m freestyle. She also came 2nd in the 100m backstroke. Dylan came 3rd in the 800m freestyle, 100m fly and 100m backstroke, and also came 4th in the 100m front crawl and 100m breaststroke. Sioned came away with medals for 1st place in the 100m freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, IM and in the 800m freestyle.

Rugby Success for Yr. 7 Pupils Eight Yr. 7 pupils were part of a team that took part in a Rugby Festival tournament organised by Llanidloes RFC . After a day of competing against four teams, the boys faced Builth Wells in the final, and beat them 14 – 7. They were awarded the title of ' Under-12 Winners 2014’

9 Siwan’s Aiming High Siwan Burrell, Yr. 12, was selected to take part in an Air Pistol Shooting training camp, in November, in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Having represented Great Britain in the Junior International Shooting Competition in Bisley, Surrey over the summer, where she won Bronze in the Grand Prix competition, and Gold in the final, Siwan looked forward to her next challenge; “It was an honour to have been asked to the training camp and although I was excited, I was also quite nervous about it.”

‘Top of the Bench’ Winners Penweddig School are the winners of the ‘Top of the Bench' chemistry competition (Mid Wales region), held at Gregynog on October 14. The competition is held annually by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Pictured (l-r) are Joey de Sousa, Rose Gillison, Cari Taylor and Caredig ap Tomos, and they will go on to represent Mid Wales and the school in the final at Loughborough next year.

Humanitarian Service A total of £3500 was raised in the 2013-2014 year, and cheques were presented to several charities in the annual Humanitarian Service. Among the charities this year were Cystic Fibrosis, Christian Aid, Angharad Ward at Bronglais Hospital, Air Ambulance, World Book Day, Tŷ Hafan/Stroke Association, Apêl Angharad, Alice Ward at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Children in Need, Race for Life, Teenage Cancer Trust, DEBRA, Amnesty International, Macmillan Cancer Support and Jeans for Genes.

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10 'Ras yr Iaith' Baton Presented by Penweddig After receiving the honour of creating the first ever Ras yr Iaith baton, Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig were proud to present it to Siôn Jobbins on behalf of Mentrau Iaith Cymru. The baton, which was sponsored by Mentrau Iaith Cymru school I’m very glad that we also finished (the national network of Welsh language Rhedegthe baton with beeswax from dros W.I. Griffiths of initiatives) was passed from hand to hand along Comins Coch. There’s certainly strong local, as the Ras route from Machynlleth to Cardigan on well as national, symbolism to the baton,” added Friday 20 June 2014. yrGerallt. iaith! 2013 “It was a pleasure and an honour hRâs gyfnewid drosfor yr iaith Penweddig to have been asked Gymraeg o Senedd-dy Machynlleth i Glyndwr ym Machynllethto create the first ever Ras yr Iaith ar y 13 Medi 2013baton. We wereAberteifi very glad Medi that 2013 the i Gastell Aberteifi ar ddydd Sul 15 Medischool 2013. was asked Dathlu’r to iaith support Gymraeg a Bydd unigolion, teuluoedd,new buesnesau event to Cryfhau’n celebrate cymunedau the Welsh etc etc yn talu £50 i noddilanguage 1 kilomedr and Tynnu culture pobl – at something ei gilydd a chario baton y ras. Bydd Râs yr Iaith Hybu mudiadau lleol yn uno gwlad a thref, poblwhich o wahanol is very close to the heart of oed a chefndir a hefyd siaradwyr Codi proffil cymunedau Cymraeg, dysgwyr a’r di-Gymraegeveryone wrth associated Hybu iechyd with gorfforol the school,” i ni gyd redeg a dathlu’r saidGymraeg. Gerallt. Codi arian Dewch i redeg,Ras yr Iaith cefnogi (‘the language a dathlu! race’) is a www.rasyriaith.orgrelay fun run@YRas_cy for the Welsh @YRas_en language. It was held on Friday 20 June and ran through the centre of Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, Tregaron, Lampeter, Gerallt Williams, Head of the Design and RasyrIaith_Flyer_01.inddAberaeron, 1 , Llandysul, Newcastle26/02/2013 19:06 Technology Department at Penweddig and Wyn Emlyn, and finished that evening in Cardigan. Moon of Dole were responsible for creating the The kilometres along the route were sponsored baton: by local businesses, societies, schools and clubs. “Wyn is a former pupil at Penweddig and now The profit from the Ras was then reinvested into has a child as a pupil here too. It was over a initiatives which promote the Welsh language. coffee that I mentioned to him that Penweddig Ras yr Iaith is based on other hugely successful had been asked by Mentrau Iaith Cymru to language runs in Ireland, Brittany and the create a baton for the first ever Ras yr Iaith. Wyn Basque Country, and a delegation from Ireland kindly offered to create the baton from an old and the Basque Country ran in the Ras this year. piece of oak he had retrieved from an original desk at Ardwyn school in Aberystwyth, which was later the first site for Penweddig. Wyn then whittled the wood into the shape of the baton and I decorated it with the Ras yr Iaith triskel logo as well as the name of the sponsors, Mentrau Iaith Cymru,” explained Gerallt. “Engraving the Ras logo and writing on the baton was quite a tricky job,” Gerallt confided “because of the shape of the baton. As well as using and original piece of oak from the old Ardwyn 11 Sports Results Gymnastics Success Rugby Delun Roberts, yr. 8, came 3rd in Britain, in the National Development Plan 10 – 13 yrs Tumbling Wednesday 22 October 2014 finals. Under 13: Penweddig 17 - Cardigan 7 Following her success in July at the Telford Sports Under 15: Penweddig 49 - Cardigan 5 Centre, Delun said: “It was a difficult competition Senior Team: Penweddig 29 - Cardigan 0 – I didn’t know how things would work out. Wednesday 1 October 2014 My second run went wrong, but I managed to Yr. 11: Penweddig 45 - Tregaron 14 complete the finish correctly.” Yr. 9: Penweddig 55 - Tregaron 0

Football Wednesday 1 October 2014 Yr. 7: Penweddig 6 - Tregaron 1

Hockey Wednesday 22 October 2014 Senior Team: Penweddig 2 - Cardigan 1 Yr. 9: Penweddig 1 - Cardigan 2

Wednesday 1 October 2014 Senior Team: Penweddig 5 - Tregaron 0 Yr. 9: Penweddig 5 - Tregaron 0

Netball Wednesday 22 October 2014 Yr. 8: Penweddig 33 - Cardigan 0 Yr. 10: Penweddig 9 - Cardigan 12 Wednesday 1 October 2014 Yr. 8: Penweddig 10 - Tregaron 4 Yr. 10: Penweddig 12 - Tregaron 8

‘Cysgu’n Brysur’ Around thirty performers from across Wales were selected to participate in the Urdd Youth Theatre’s musical 'Cysgu’n Brysur', and among the actors were Jordan Ainslie- Rogers, Dylan Edwards, Kelsey Thompson, Ceri Jones, Llew Evans and Elin Haf . The production was performed at Pier Pressure nightclub in July. With music composed by Bromas, and musical direction by former- pupil Rhodri Taylor, the play was based in a classroom where the audience saw a snapshot of the life of sixth formers as they reflect on events in their lives. "Preparation of the show took about 30 days” says Ceri Jones, " with long days from 9 am until 10 at night, of singing, acting and dancing." 12 Teenage Cancer Trust Concert In July we had a feast of entertainment in the school hall as pupils and staff raised money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The Teenage Cancer Trust has been most helpful to both teenagers and their families, providing much needed support and advice whilst the young people have been undergoing treatment for cancer at the TCT unit in Cardiff.

Scholarships for Yr. 13 Pupils Scholarships worth £3000 each were awarded to Eilir Huws and Meinir Williams, formerly of yr. 13, by Coleg Cenedlaethol Cymraeg. They were among 42 pupils from across Wales who decided to study at least 66% of their degree course through the medium of Welsh.

Homework Club Every night the school runs a Homework Club where pupils can use the Resource Centre’s facilities during out-of-school hours. The club starts at 3.30 and a member of staff is present to assist pupils with their work, especially with Welsh spelling and grammar. The club ends at 4.45 and 4.15 on Fridays.

13 End of Year Show & Barbecue This year's show was opened by former member of staff Mrs. Pam John, on a warm summer’s evening in July. GCSE and A-Level DT and Art department work was exhibited, and the Society of Friends of Penweddig hosted a barbecue. Pictures of the evening are available on the school website.

Adding to the Collection… Sioned Wallwork, Yr. 8, travelled to Somerset at the end of October, to represent Aberystwyth Swimming Club at the Millfield Open Meet. Sioned said: "There were competitors from Wales, Southern England and London and the atmosphere was competitive and social." She won gold in the 100m freestyle, silver in the 50m freestyle, bronze in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 50m backstroke .

Emily’s Singing Successes Congratulations to Emily Jones, Yr . 11, on being selected as a member of the Training Choir of the National Choir of Wales. A former member of Only Kids Aloud, Emily will attend six days of training at Monmouth in March 2015. She won the Aberystwyth Rotary ‘Young Singers ‘ competition in mid-November with a performance of ‘Silent Worship’ by Handel. Emily will go on to represent Aberystwyth Rotary in Carmarthen next February.

14 FfotoAber Competition Two of Penweddig’s pupils came first, second, and third in the secondary school section of this year’s FfotoAber competition. Jeno Lewis, Bl. 13, won first and third prize, while Llŷr Williams, Bl. 7, came second. Their work on the theme of ‘Growing and Thriving’, is currently being displayed in Canolfan Arad Goch.

Jeno Lewis – 1st

Llŷr Williams – 2nd

Jeno Lewis – 3rd

15 Chief Bard’s Visit The Chief Bard Ceri Wyn Jones and the Urdd visited the school in mid-October, as part of their tour of Ceredigion’s secondary schools. Sessions were held with year 8 pupils to develop skills, techniques and ideas about poetry.

Maes-P In the middle of their summer tour this year Y Bandana and Y Ffug called at Penweddig to entertain staff and pupils. There was also a performance by the local group The Bird and the Beards in the school hall. Pictures of the concerts are on the school website.

Left - Y Ffug

Below - Y Bandana

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