Hello again.
I was delighted this term to have attended two evenings of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. Our Year 10 pupils performed an outstanding production of Romeo and Juliet in the Coliseum and were invited to repeat the performance in Theatr Brecheiniog in Brecon. It is unusual for a school to be invited to do a repeat performance and this says a huge amount about the talent, maturity and effort demonstrated by our pupils. At the Coliseum on the same night there were performances of Shakespeare plays by three of our partner primary schools, namely Oaklands, Aberdare Town Church School and Hirwaun. These young pupils also performed brilliantly.
We held our first Year 10 Expectation Evening for parents and pupils on November 22nd. It was an extremely successful event in which 78 of our Year 10 pupils were represented. I hope that the information we were able to share about the study requirements of Key Stage 4 was helpful and informative. The feedback on the night and since has certainly been very positive.
The second of my headteacher drop-in sessions will be held on Wednesday 6th December. As with the previous session it will run from 4 pm to 6pm and no appointment is necessary.
I was extremely proud to be part of the group that represented the school at the annual Aberdare Remembrance Day Service. It was my first time in attendance and I was both moved and impressed by the maturity and respect displayed by pupils from all year groups of the school. It was impressive indeed to see such a wide spectrum of the local community gathered together in a communal act of remembrance and we as a school feel privileged to have been able to play an active part in that.
The November examination series has now been completed. All of our Year 11 pupils sat GCSE Maths and GCSE Maths-Numeracy whilst about half sat English Language. I am pleased to be able to report that pupil attendance at revision sessions was good and that behaviours and attitudes during the exams was generally impressive. It is worth noting that many of these revision sessions took place during school holidays and on weekends so much thanks is due to the colleagues who gave up their spare time. Results will be published in January and we hope to see all the pupils attain their best possible grade thus placing them in a strong position going into the summer series of Key Stage 4 exams. Mock exams will take place later in December. Please check the timetable and encourage your sons and daughters to take them as seriously as if they were final exams. The information we glean from mocks informs key teaching and learning planning and decision-making in the months from January to June.
Between 6th and 21st of December we will be introducing our 12 Days of Christmas Attendance Challenge. It is a chance for those pupils who attend on each and every one of these days to take part in a daily prize draw and a final day prize draw for those pupils who attend without fail during this period. A letter from my colleague, Mrs Harris, will arrive soon outlining more details. We all know how important excellent attendance is and this will give us the chance to recognise and reward attendance.