Together we can do great things

Gyda’n gilydd, gallwn wneud pethau mawr

Headteacher/Prifathro Mrs S Parry

Headteachers Blog Number 150 Blog Prifathro Rhif

2nd July 2021

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rieni,Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr

Sports Days 2021

I would like to start today with my sincere thanks to Mr Trelawny and his PE staff and students. Mrs Birch-Hurst deserves a special mention for her services to the wacky races. This may well be one of the positives that has come out of our COVID mitigation planning. Each year group is having their own sports day in their bubble, and the organisation of the day has meant that all students have been thrown into a variety of activities that they have embraced with such joy and enthusiasm. The day included baseball, dodgeball and wacky races as well as the elite athletics races and events.

It has been a long time since we have seen so many children laughing and just enjoying being with their friends in that setting. It was wonderful to see so many of the staff letting their hair down too! Although, many of them did have a water gun at their disposal. There was a strong argument from the students that we should have a race where the staff have to embrace the obstacle course whilst the students have the hose, buckets, water guns and water balloons at their disposal. I have noted this for consideration.

The PE department did arrange for a professional photographer to capture the day. We will share these in due course. In the meantime, I will leave you with some of my more amateur photographs of Year 7 and 8 in action. I think they speak for themselves! Let’s start with the wacky races……

Llanishen High School, Heol Hir, Llanishen, CF14 5YL Phone: 029 2068 0800 Fax. 029 2068 0830 Email: [email protected] www.ltanishen.cardiff.sch.uk Twitter@lanishenhs

The skill level did improve once Mrs B-H clarified which way up the bucket should be placed upon one’s head… then we moved onto the passing of the water balloons – they need to be passed along the relay without breaking…..harder than it looks!

And the space hoppers…

Thanks to our wonderful Year 12 students too. You were fabulous. More to come next week.

Olympic inspiration!

We are so proud of our LHS alumni who have been selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the . Both enjoyed many years of LHS sports days in their times!

Seasoned Olympic gold medalist, Elinor Barker, is not the only LHS alumni headed to Tokyo! She is joined by Welsh 1500m runner Jake Heyward. Jake is "over the moon" to be selected for his first Olympic Games. The former European U20 champion has overcome a longstanding Achilles injury that threatened his Tokyo hopes. Jake earned his place after finishing third at the Olympic trials, and is ' sole representative in the Team GB Athletics squad.

Lead Creative Schools Initiative

As part of an initiative to develop creativity in our young people, the school is thoroughly embracing the Lead Creative Schools project. Year 9 have undertaken an ambitious project to design, construct and paint seating and benches from old pallets and other abandoned materials that would have been destined for a skip. The benches will be put to good use around the redgra area of the school. This is the area allocated to the Year 9 bubble at break time. So they can enjoy the fruits of their own labours. Here they are at the design and decoration stage….

Meanwhile, our Year 12 students have also been participating in the Lead Creative Schools project. They have been constructing an outdoor pizza oven from sustainable resources. We are very close to being able to cook our own pizza’s, using ingredients sourced from our LHS garden. I would make reference to ‘The Good Life’ but our students would give me that perplexed look they’ve got down to a T.

Meanwhile, in the Textiles department, Year 10 have been making iPad/phone holders as part of a focus on mental well-being and relaxation techniques. They could be the next big craze!

So, all in all, it’s been a week of frenetic energy, organised energy, and creative energy. Well done to our Year 10 students who are rising to the challenge of their Shakespeare assessments in English and the first part of a qualification in financial education. Year 9 are responding well to their English oracy assessments and have mightily impressed their teachers with their choice of topics and presentations.

Still to come this term….. Year 7 and 9 reports are to be issued to parents. We have our Year 7 and 9 online parent consultation meetings. We have our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver and Gold COVID safe activities to come in the last week.

So, with another busy two weeks ahead, I look forward to bringing you more updates next week.

I will also be issuing separate communications to parents in the early part of next week to confirm the arrangements for the summer results days and the current plans for schools for the autumn term.

Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,

Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher