2016 Christmas Newsletter

Penyrheol

Charity Week Book Fair Battlefields Trip & Much More!

Autumn Term 2016 www.penyrheol-comp.net

Many activities have taken place this term

A Message from the HeadTeacher Dear Parents and Pupils Last year’s Year 11 achieved the third best results ever in the history of our school. In one particular performance measure they achieved the highest result ever for Penyrheol. This was the fact that 21.5% of them gained at least 5 A*/A grades in their GCSEs. A fantastic performance! The Welsh Government has again categorised Penyrheol as a Grade 1 for Standards in their national categorisation process.

As ever, our pupils have been involved in many visits and activities this term, some of which you can read about in this newsletter.

It has been a great relief to see the removal of the old C Block from in front of the Leisure Centre in recent months and the reinstatement of the car park. This should help to ease congestion on evenings when both we and the Leisure Centre have activities running on site.

I am delighted to say that plans are well underway to turn our red gra area into a state-of-the-art 3G pitch.

We are hoping this development, which will be of benefit both to the school and the community, will take place between March – June 2017. We are also hoping that we can upgrade or completely renew the outside changing rooms in readiness for September 2017.

Our Christmas Carol Concert takes place at St. Catherine’s Church, Gorseinon, at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 14th December this year. We would love to see you there supporting our orchestra and choirs as we celebrate together the Christmas story and our pupils’ talents.

Term ends at lunch time on Friday, 16th December, and the Spring Term begins for pupils on Wednesday, 4th January.

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i gyfeillion Ysgol Gyfun Penyrheol.

Yours sincerely

ALAN TOOTILL Headteacher

Important Dates & Information SPRING TERM

TERM DATES 3rd 17th Jan Feb 2017 2017

HOLIDAY DATES 20th 24th Feb Feb 2017 2017

TERM DATES 27th 7th Feb Apr 2017 2017

SUMMER TERM

TERM DATES 24th 26th Apr May 2017 2017

HOLIDAY DATES 29th 2nd May Jun 2017 2017

TERM DATES 5th 21st Jun Jul 2017 2017

Important Dates Inset Days

Governor News

This term we welcome a new Vice Chair of Gover-

Tuesday 3rd January 2017

nors to the school. Mrs. Karen Shadrach will support the Chair of Governors Mr. Jeff Bowen.

Friday 17th February 2017

Many thanks to school governors Mr. Mark

Friday 7th April 2017

A full calendar of events is available to view on the school website.

All school publications, including our Annual Governors Report, Prospectus etc. are available to view online at www.penyrheol-comp.net

Staff News

As the the Autumn term draws to an end, we say a

fond farewell to Mr. J. Wallace (Science) who leaves us for pastures new.

We wish Mr. Wallace the very best for the future and thank him for his service to the school, not only in the science classes but also on the stage, as he regularly got involved in our school productions!

Griffiths and Mrs. Mary Bradley, whose terms finish this year. We are currently advertising for two new Parent Governors and elections will be taking place soon.

Student Voice often invite our School Governors to their meetings and this year has been no exception.

Mr. Nigel Richards took part in the Year 11 Mock Interviews, two members attended our December meeting to present the new Behaviour Policy and Mr. Mike Cahill attended Student Voice to get a feel of what really happens at the meetings!

“I was invited to attend the Student Voice meeting and was very impressed to see the structured approach of the meeting by the staff and the pupils, giving everybody the opportunity to express their concerns and record feedback.

This forum gives them the opportunity to feel involved with the decision making progress during their learning years�.

Mr. Mike Cahill

Article 13: You have the right to find information

Young Entrepreneurs For the first week in December, we had a ‘Half

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n Thursday October the 20th, seven of Penyrheol’s finest entrepreneurs represented our school in the semi-final of the Young Business Dragons Competition in The Marriot Hotel in Swansea.

This year the theme in question was ‘Health and

Fitness’ and the team had to think of an innovative product which could promote this industry. Their idea was a pair of ‘Headfit’ headphones which could monitor calories, distance travelled and other useful data such as hydration levels.

Despite not winning on the day, all judges agreed that Penyrheol Comprehensive School gave a fantastic performance.

The pupils involved in this exciting venture were: Danny Devey, Ethan Rigby, Steffan Davidson, Andzejs Dubjaga, Charlotte Arnesen Williams, Lucy Curtice and Lauren Francis.

New Library Assistant Congratulations to Abby Hughes (7U),

who has been awarded the role of Assistant Librarian due to her hard work and commitment to the Book Fair. Abby will now help the Librarian to prepare and catalogue new stock, arrange displays and help with library events and general library duties.

Price’ book fair which was held in our Library Resource Centre. Year 7 pupils were invited to run the fair as a business venture and had the following responsibilities: • To advertise the Book Fair to pupils and staff.

• To set up the books and display the goods to encourage high sales.

• To run the book fair in their own break and lunch times on a rota basis.

• To run a prize draw raffle in association with the fair • To take payment for any books sold and give change where necessary.

• To pack up the Book Fair ready for collection at the end of the week.

• To tally all monies and work out the percentage of FREE books rasied for the school in book sales.

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and

are thrilled to announce that they sold £700 worth of books in total and earned £70 worth of FREE books for the school library!

A special thank you to Mrs N Evans, Mrs C

Hyndman & Miss C Francis for overseeing the project in their own break times.

Penyrheol Rugby News “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”

Babe Ruth

Penyrheol Rugby has had another fantastic start to the school year with all year groups being able to field teams during friendly and cup competitions, all showing a determination to improve their skills and enjoy rugby.

The start of the year brought new pupils to the rugby field, some who have shown themselves to be very

impressive in terms of their rugby abilities. All players have shown some great potential and are improving week by week. Hopefully, over the next few weeks a few more players will join the set up and we will be able to create an extra team meaning more game time, enabling the pupils to develop further. If you are in Year 7 and interested in joining the rugby team please get in touch with Mr Tucker.

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s for the other year groups...all teams have started as they left off from the last academic year, playing positive rugby and competing to the best of their ability. Below is the information regarding the fixtures and results played by each of the year groups thus far in the term.

Teams Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11

Players 31 26 23 24 22

Fixtures* 7 6 7 6 7

Won 7 4 4 3 3

Loss 0 2 3 3 4

Draw 0 0 0 0 0

*Fixtures include games played during festivals

Primary School Rugby

Penyrheol Rugby is continuing to work closely with all of its 5 feeder Primary Schools delivering rugby

sessions across the schools with over 250 pupils taking part in 73 sessions this term alone. The ability to work closely with these primary schools will not only help the pupils in their transition between primary and secondary school rugby, but also help to alleviate some of the concerns the individual pupil may have when getting ready for transition.

For regular information on Penyrheol Rugby ,

Penyrheol Rugby News A

Girls Rugby

fter the success of last year’s Girls Rugby Festivals, girls from Years 9 and 10 have merged together to make the first official Girls School Rugby Team. After training for the last couple of months they will play their first school fixture at the end of the Autumn Term. Good luck girls! Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing sports and hopefully it will not take too long before we start to see some of the girls representing the Ospreys and onto the full Welsh team as they continue their career after leaving Penyrheol.

These are the girls who make up the squad for the first fixture: Year 10: Lauren Francis, Lauren Evans, Jodie Adams, Alisha Jenkins, Megan Jenkins, Ellie Bell, Grace Thomas, Lidia Smith & Sophie Davies. Year 9: Phoebe Tucker, Taylor Derrick, Katie Jones, Sofia Evans, Thierry Evans, Olivia Thomas, Paige Owen-Morgan, Gina Matthews, Krystle Davies & Carly Lewis.

Year 10 & 11 Rugby Leaders

Congratulations go to the following pupils on successfully completing their Rugby Coaching Award in Tag Rugby. This award was made available to the pupils to help them achieve the 10 hours of community volunteering needed for Year 10 and also for the Year 11s to go towards their GCSE practical assessment.

All players are now officially signed off and able to coach and referee Tag Rugby in primary schools and in the community.

Year 11: Harris Williams, Connor Ling, Rhidian Lerwell, James Hoskins, Rhys Salter, Ryan Jones, Ben Jones, Andrew Griffiths. Year 10: James Beech, Joe Burder, Steffan Davison, Aaron Smith, Daniel Devey, Jack Herbert & Owen Benfield.

School Honours

Penyrheol Rugby would like to congratulate the following pupils from Year 10: Ollie Price, Joe Burder,

Danny Devey & Aaron Smith, who have been selected to represent Penyrheol for the Swansea School Boys 2016-2017 Season.

We would also like to Congratulate Year 11 pupil and former Swansea School Boy, Rhidian Lerwell, on being selected for the Ospreys West U16 squad for the 2016-2017 season.

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astly, Penyrheol Rugby would like to take this time to thank all the staff for their understanding in letting pupils attend the festivals by sometimes having to leave lesons a little early and also to the continued support from the parents. Without this and the determination from all the pupils, Penyrheol Rugby would not exist.

y , please follow @PenyrheolRugby on Twitter

Other Sports News Girls Football

We have two very strong teams playing in the

Boys Football

Boys Football has started well this year in

Welsh Schools FA Cup this year.

Penyrheol, with all teams having mixed success.

he Y7 and Y8 (U13s) team began with a 7-0 win against Gowerton at home, then followed up on that success with a hard fought 4-1 home win against Cefn Hengoed. The team had a bye in the next round, so must wait until January to find out who they will play in the national rounds.

he Year 7 and 9 teams made it through the first rounds of the Welsh cup but have now been knocked out by stronger opponents.

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The Y9 and Y10 (U15s) team started with an im-

pressive 8-1 win at home to Bryntirion and followed that with a resounding 10-1 win away to Bishop Vaughan. The team have also now reached the National stages of the Welsh Cup Competition after a good win over Morriston (7-4).

Girls’ training is on a Thursday after school. We

train outside, weather permitting, or in the sports hall during inclement weather. All girls are welcome.

Cross Country

Inter schools 1000m relays have been taking place and the results are as follws:

Year 8/9 County Champions Team Darcey Bass, Charlotte Masters & Libby Thomas Year 7 Boys - Came 7th place.

Year 7 Girls : A Team - Came 10th place.

B Team - Came 3rd place.

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The Year 10 team narrowly lost out in a thriller against Pentrehafod unfortunately losing on penalties.

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ll teams have started well in the league competitions with the aim this year to try to get at least 2 age groups into the finals.

On an individual level congratulations to Josh

Bainbridge of Year 10 who is currently in the Swansea School boys team and progressing very well through the school boys cup competition.

Netball

Here are the results for our Netball matches this

term: Year 7 - Played 1 training match v Bryan Tawe & lost Year 8 - Played 4 games. Won 3 - Lost 1 Year 9 - Played 4 games. Won 4 Year 10 - Have won all matches this term and competed well in the Urdd All Wales tournament in Cardiff.

Year 11 - A steady start with mixed results from a team of girls who are really enjoying their netball!

Welsh Training Squad: Lauren Evans County Squad members: U16 Lauren Evans & Lauren Francis U14 Lia Moruzzi-Jones.

Development Squad: Caitlin Morgan.

5 x 60 News Children are Enjoying Getting Healthy!

It has been yet another busy term of 5x60 here at Penyrheol. Over 150 boys and

girls have taken part in football tournaments for Years 7 and 10, with tournaments for Year 8 and 9 starting now and running until Easter. The breakfast clubs on Mondays and Fridays have remained popular with the new one on a Wednesday (Badminton) growing week by week. A Thursday session may be added soon.

Basketball Hitting New Heights!

Basketball sessions will lead to pupils representing the school in a regional

tournament in the New Year before hopefully progressing to the regional final for the third year running.

‘AYP (Active Young People) Fitness and Swim’ at the Leisure Centre after school is always busy as pupils can sign up for only £15 a month. This enables them to use the leisure facilities through Active Swansea ,saving money if they attend regularly.

Pick a Sport...any Sport!

Welsh Weightlifting, after two successful taster days will be coming back as an

after school club in 2017 and we will also see the return of the Girls Cricket, Rock Climbing, Skating and Parkour sessions.

Wishing you a happy Christmas and a fit & healthy New Year!

Ricky

(AYP/5x60 Officer at Penyrheol)

Article 6: You have the right to life & to grow up to be healthy

Rock of Ages

As usual this year’s school production was a huge success and with packed houses every night!

This was a fun production to choose and you could see as an audience member how much the pupils were enjoying themselves. Dressed in 1980s fashion and very silly 80s wigs, the pupils embraced the era and totally went for it!

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was lucky enough to see the production on two nights and therefore got a chance to see both casts, both of which had different strengths, but both casts gave a hugely enjoyable performance.

The ensemble was massive and always difficult to

manage in such a large number, so congratulations goes to the director for getting them on and off the stage so effortlessly...each and every one enjoying the songs and moves of the era!

The set was simple and effective and the

audience enjoyed being sat at cabaret seating as if in a bar. This really helped the atmosphere and there was a definite buzz in the audience from the beginning.

As always there were some star performances and

these included both Sammie John and Isobel Bass who shared the lead part of ‘Sherrie’, Lera Sidorenko as Hilda, Megan Jones as Anita and Dena Davies as Constance. It was particularly pleasing to see so many boys involved, proving that drama can be as cool as sport! A personal favourite of mine amongst the boys was Dean Thomas who played a small ensemble part as the band manager, but was impeccably costumed and one to watch out for!

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ongratulations goes to every member of staff and every pupil who was involved both on stage or off who proved how important the arts are in and outside of school. Performing Arts offers children the chance to grow in confidence, work in a team and develop many skills along the way and hats off to Penyrheol for embracing this ethos. We look forward to next year’s production whatever that might be!

ROCK ON!

Languages Week Footballer Lee Trundle Visits the School D

uring September, we were thrilled to welcome footballer Lee Trundle to the school where he spoke with pupils about the importance of learning another language.

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ee said the footballers who speak another language have a huge advantage in getting ahead, especially those who wish to be invited to play for teams in other countries.

The pupils were excited to meet Lee but not half as much

as the staff were by the looks of all the selfies that were taking place...and we couldn’t help noticing how similar Mr. Trundle is to our very own Mr Benney!

Face Painting

Croissants Anyone?

unch-time face painting took place during Languages Week where pupils gathered together to have a face paint of a flag to represent a European language. They had to say a greeting in another language in order to get it for FREE!

available during break times in Languages Week as a simple and fun...not to mention delicious way of introducing French culture and tradition to the pupils.

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Croissants & Pain au Chocolats were

Article 30: You have the right to learn & use the language of your family

Charity Week

Fabulous events took place during our charity

Shivvers were running down spines as pupils

The main event of the week was...

I’m a Student Get Me Out of Here!

Madame Zelda!

week this year, with all year groups coming up with their own ideas for fundraising.

visited...

...Penyrheols very own Mystic Meg, who for the simple sum of only 50 pence, told fortunes from her booth which were uncanningly accurate!

...which was held in the theatre with a packed audience of excited pupils. Eight Year 11 pupils dared to take the plunge and were served ‘Critter Cocktails’, ‘Cricket Lasagne’ and ‘Insect Semolina’ amongst others. Kieran Moruzzi-Jones, who left school earlier this year came back especially for the event and unexpectedly took the crown and is now our reigning ‘King of the Jungle’!

There were...

Spinning

...bikes in the foyer during the week, where staff and pupils took turns to cycle for charity and probably needed to after all the gorgeous...

Cakes ...that were being sold to raise funds!

At the end of the week, we dedicated our ...

Non-Uniform Day ...to Children In Need and this alone raised a mighty £742.00

Raises ÂŁ2451 Book marks and locker covers were designed and

made...sponsored silences took place and there were quizzes, competitions and raffles galore.

Christmas Shoeboxes for Romania Key Stage 3 pupils collected 144 shoeboxes this year...full of presents for the Romanian orphans.

Mr Paul Hare from the Romanian Aid

Foundation collected the boxes from Penyrheol and will deliver them to the Romanian orphanages in time for Christmas. We are hoping he will return in the New Year to tell us all about his experience and share some photos with us of the children opening their presents.

Other favourites included the Photobooth and the Henna art stall was particularly popular!

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ongratulations to everyone that took part, by helping out or donating. The atmosphere was fun and the pupils threw their all into the ethos of the week.

We are pleased to announce the the funds raised will be donated to the wonderful Tš Hafan Hospice.

A formal presentation of the cheque will

take place at our next Student Voice meeting in the New Year.

Penyrheol Comprehensive On the 24th November, the annual Penyrheol Comprehensive Awards Evening took

of last year’s Year 11 pupils and as alwa

Our guest speaker this year was Miss Fern Healey, an ex-pupil who returned to offer some very insp

onto another path. We should all be shaped by the mistakes we make and not flawed by the relayed to pupils who were una

The winners of the 30 awards are listed below...all of whom receievd trophies or plaques and a chequ

wonderful achi

1.

Memorial Award for outstanding service to the School

Alex Lang

2.

Penyrheol Award for outstanding service to the School

Olivia Budge

3.

Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in English

Maddy Shadrach

4.

Achievement Award for most praiseworthy effort in English

Lauren Donaldson

5.

Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Mathematics

Lewis Dennis

6.

Achievement Award for most praiseworthy effort in Mathematics

Kelsey Harrendence

7.

Marion Williams Award for best GCSE performance in Science Subjects

Nathan Brenton

8.

Achievement Award for most praiseworthy effort in Science

Elizabeth Buckland

9.

Art Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Art

Sophie McCallum

10. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Business Studies

Rebecca Carruthers

11. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Child Development

Cerys Jones

12. Award for best GCSE performance in Design Technology

Abigail Nicholson

13. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Drama

Kieran Pritchard

College Swansea Vocational Award for best performance in 14. Gower Engineering

Lewis Dennis

15. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Geography

Hannah Berrell

Article 6: You have the right to gro

Award Winners 2016

ook place at Penyrheol Theatre. The evening celebrated the outstanding achievements always the evening was a huge success.

nspirational words. Fern’s message was about the importance of failure and that each failure sets you y them. Pupils and staff alike were very impressed by her speech, the content of which was unable to attend the evening.

eque. Photographs were taken so pupils and their families would have a permenant keepsake of their achievements.

16. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in History

Ffion Griffiths

17.

Georgia Saunders

Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in ICT

18. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Media Studies

Matthew Roberts

19. Lloyds Bank Cup for best GCSE performance in Modern Languages

Hannah Everest

20. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Music

Amelia Maguire

21. Performing Arts Achievement Award for best contribution to Music and Drama 22. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Physical Education

Joshua Hill

23. Sporting Achievement Award for commitment to Physical Education

Ben Harris

24. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Religious Studies 25. Award for best performance in Vocational Studies

Olivia Budge

26. Excellence Award for best GCSE performance in Welsh

Kailam Evans

27. Thomas Award for Special Effort

Ellie Sloots

28. Community Council Millennium Award for the best contribution to the Community

Olivia Budge

29.

30.

Lewys Edwards

Leah Moorhouse

Headteacher’s Award

Sarah Davies

Catherine Williams Award for outstanding GCSE performance

Hannah Berrell & Adam Dicks

row up & reach your full potential

In line with our new Behaviour and Achievment Policy, we recognise pupils fo At the end of each half term, two pupils from each year group are nominated for: ‘The Bes Each of these pupils receive 4 achievement points which c

Top Achievers - October Nominations Art

Y7 - Madison Todhunter-Jones & Kirsty Watkins Y8 - Mollie Arnesen & Alexandria Buzenchi Y9 - Alexandria Wilson Alex Messer & Tilly Morton-Lewis Y10 - Abbie Messer & Laurie Pennock Y11 - Jenna Davies & Zoe Donne

Business Studies

ICT

Y7 - Akira Walters & Ffion Johns Y8 - Sophie Lewis & Harry Cunliffe Y9 - Carly Lewis & Molly Austin Y10 - Chloe Williams & Sam Cousins Y11 - Josh Jenkins & Charlotte Belton

Media Studies Y10 - Iona Beynon & Alice Whitby Y11 - Isabella Viggers & Megan John

Y10 - Thomas Davies & Chloe Jones Y11 - Stela Kovacheva & Joshua Lewis

Modern Foreign Languages

Design & Technology

Y7 - April Coslett, & Hari John Y8 - Lili Thornhill & Kyle Harris Y9 - Brandon Burder & Thierry Evans

Y7 - Ceira Gibbs & Mia Evans Y8 - Naomi Boyes & Ryan Matthews Y9 - Chloe Hier & Edan Reid Y10 - Jordan Lingham & Dylan Court Y11 - Bethan Turner & Jasmine Robinson

English Y7 - Ieuan Jones & Kelsy Pratt Y8 - Libby Thomas & Rhys Delaney Y9 - Eleri Thomas & Chloe Hier Y10 - Nathan Pyart & Lauren Evans Y11 - Tamzin Thomas & Georgia Crahart

Geography

Y7 - Owen Matthews & Ffion Matthews Y8 - Leon Clarke & Libby Thomas Y9 - Edan Reid & Naomi Boyes Y10 - Ruth Jones & Owen Barnfield Y11 - Matthew Davies & Hannah Rowley

History Y7 - Joe Bates & Millie Everest Y8 - Megan Davies & Kyle Harries Y9 - Alyssa Patrick & Isobel John Y10 - Sam Ruggles & Thomas Davies Y11 - Joshua Lewis & Zoe Donne

P.E

Y7 - Leo Thomas & April Coslett Harri John & Jasmine Mclean Y8 - Harri Houston & Kelcy Hooper Adrian Dare & Arwenna Griffiths Y9 - Lexington Bonham-Clatworthy & Darcie Bass Lewi Davies & Ffion John Y10 - Joe Burder & Lauren Evans Ollie Price & Caitlin Thomas Y11 - Rhidian Lerwell & Jenna Davies Ryan Jones & Georgia Williams

Science Y7 - Harri John & Laith Hazell Y8 - Emily Ling & Aleksandr Badger Y9 - Molly Bates & Lexington Bonham-Clatworthy Y10 - Kimberly Randlesome & Jessica Cowen Y11 - Caitlin Cavalucci & Kelsey Poole

Welsh

Y7 - April Coslett & Niamh Thomas Y8 - Cameron Stanlake & Ben Lawes Y9 - Emily Thomas & Ffion John Y10 - Andzejs Dubjaga & Robert Potter Y11 - Jessica Hier & Caryl Jones

For Outstanding Practice A

Y7 - Seren Nayland & Alden Wilkinson, Y8 - Meagan Eames & Amy Evans, Y9 - Neave Bell & Etha

ils for effort and attitude above and beyond what is expected of them.

Best Effort Made in a Subject Area’ and ‘The Best Attainment in a Subject Area’ ich contribute towards prizes throughout the year!

Top Achievers - December Nominations Art

Y7 - Fletcher Rutherford & Cody John Y8 - Kyle Harries & Rowan Bowden-Hookway Y9 - Emily Thomas & Edan Reid Y10 - Millie Smith & Isabelle Allan Y11 - Dominic Waters & Kelsey Poole

Business Studies Y10 - Zackery Whitehouse & Ethan West Y11 - Ewan Bevan & Aimee Hartup

Design & Technology Y7 - Holly Isaacs & Ashleigh Shanks Y8 - Jade Jenkins & Alex Buzenchi Y9 - Caitlin Braden & Katie Jones Y10 - Nathan Pyart & Rhys Jones Y11 - Tom Muoneke

English Y7 - Olivia Llewellyn & Ffion Johns Y8 - Lilly Thornhill & Joshua Willis Y9 - Ella Whitton Stroud & Luc Roberts Y10 - Iona Beynon & Charlotte Arnesen Williams Y11 - Thomas Muoneke & Kelsey Poole

Geography

Y7 - Wiktoria Lessner & Lesnia Kowska Y8 - Arwenna Griffiths & Emily Ling Y9 - Hannah Maiden & Shriya Patel Y10 - Zak Harrison & Kimberley Randleson Y11 - Charlotte Belton & Jonathon Lewis

History Y7 - Mali Scoberg & Ethan Bowers Y8 - Lucy Havard & Teagan Thomas Y9 - Hariet Powell & Lexington Bonham-Clatworthy Y10 - Isabelle Allen & Abbie Messer Y11 - Eve Davies & Dena Davies

ce Across the Year Group:

ICT

Y7 - Charlotte Benney & Mali Scoberg Y8 - Sophie Lewis & Libby Thomas Y9 - Louise Allen & Edan Reid Y10 - Sam Ruggles & Ffion Berrell Y11 - Mitul Patel & Jack Herbert

Media Studies Y10 - Nathan Pyart & Phoebe Dene Y11 - Dominic Waters & Eve Davies

Modern Foreign Languages Y7 - Leo Thomas & Soren Neyland Y8 - Chloe James & Jayden Jones Y9 - Michaela Williams & Luc Roberts Y10 - Iona Beynon & Catrin Thomas Y11 - Ellie James & Sean Ramsey

P.E

Y7 - Jacob Dennis & Ffion John Ben Seager & Ellie Jo Rees Y8 - Lewis Mason & Olivia Street William Picton Jones & Naomi Boyes Y9 - Damon Watts & Lia Moruzzi Jones Josh Court & Caitlin Morgan Y10 - Josh Bainbridge & Rebecca Davies Luke Davies & Chloe Fagg Y11 - Andrew Griffiths & Sarah Young Luke Goddard & Holly Edwards

Science

Y7 - Emma Morgan & Jocelyn Benjafield O’Sullivan Y8 - Libby Thomas & Anwenna Griffiths Y9 - Edan Reid & Abbie Delve Y10 - Abbie Messer & Sam Cousins Y11- Charlotte Belton & Stela Kovacheva

Welsh

Y7 - Amelia Cooksey & Ellis Edwards Y8 - Libby Thomas & Naomi Boyes Y9 - Jessica Garratt & Molly Bates Y10 - Lauren Evans & James Beech Y11 - Danielle Griffiths & Nia Thomas

Ethan Roberts, Y10 - Oliver Jones & Tom Seager and Y11 - Jenna Davies & Angel Gelemerov.

Rights Respecting Schools Anti-Bullying ‘Webinar’ In October, pupils visited Bryntawe

Comprehensive School to attend a ‘Webinar’ on anti-bullying. Penyrheol were one of six schools that took part and enjoyed sharing their best practices with the other schools.

This month’s discussion took place over the web with a live link up to Sally Holland who is the current Child Commissioner for Wales.

Sally Holland and the pupils discussed anti-bullying policies and how schools deal with bullying in general.

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he pupils will be returning on a regular basis to discuss various issues and all findings are fed back to Student Voice and acted upon.

Global Citizenship At Penyrheol, for some years now, we have

supported pupils in Africa, by sending school uniform donated by our Year 11 leavers through the charity Educate the Kids.

This year we have extended that programme to

include other comprehensive schools in the area.

We agreed this through our Rights Respecting Schools PLC. Hopefully we will soon have a photograph of pupils in Africa putting the uniform to good use.

The Big Conversation

Rights Respecting Ambassadors attended the

October meeting of The Big Conversation at the Dylan Thomas Centre this term, where the topic of discussion was ‘Homelessness’.

Article 12: You have the right to say what you think

Imperial War Museum Every year, pupils visit The Imperial War Museum in London as part of the R.E. curriculum and this year was no exception.

The museum hosts the Holocaust Exhibition which forms the focus of the trip for the Year 9 pupils and evokes strong feelings amongst them. Here are a few of the comments that have been made by the pupils since returning from their visit:

“ On Friday 4th November, I visited the Imperial War Museum and found much of my visit very emotional. The Holocaust section with the shoes, dolls and other toys that once belonged to Jewish children was very moving, and for me, illustrated just how many innocent people became victims. I also found it upsetting to learn that the Nazis didn’t care that they killed over six million Jewish people. I am thankful for the school arranging this trip which was an amazing opportunity to learn more about this important part of history.”

Bethan Williams “The Holcaust exhibition was fascinating and informative. The displays were amazing, especially the model of Auschwitz. I saw videos of survivors and listened to stories of those who lived through the Holocaust and were deeply affected by it...some even losing their whole family.

Another of my favourite displays in the museum was the WW1 trenches. I liked this display because you could walk through the trench while listening to the sounds of life in the trenches. It was very effective. Overall it was a great experience and I will definitely go back again!”

Harriet Powell “My favourite part of the museum was the planes that hung off the roof and the tanks and armoured trucks that we could look around, but the part I found the saddest was the Holocaust Exhibition where there were little children’s clothes that had been left at the camp and a small doll in a glass cabinet - This made me very sad.”

Samuel Richards “In my opinion, the most interesting part of the Holocaust Exhibition was the model of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Alongside the model there was a cabinet which held left over clothes, shoes and toys from the young victims of the camp. This was very upsetting.”

Jay Roberts

Article 37: You have the right not to be punished in a cruel way

Battlefields Trip I

n October the History Department took 61 students from Years 9-12 on a tour of the First World War Battlefields, which was once again an outstanding success, with the students representing the school and the local community magnificently, as they always do.

The tour took place over five days and four nights, the first two days spent in the wonderful Belgian town of Ypres, the scene of four years of bitter battles between the British defenders and German attackers.

Saturday morning was spent in the magnificent In Flanders Fields Museum at the Cloth Hall in Ypres

and the afternoon at Sanctuary Wood Trenches and Museum. During the evening the party joined literally thousands of people at the famous Menin Gate for the Last Post Ceremony. It was a very emotional occasion and even staff who had visited before, were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people present, paying their respects to the soldiers who defended Ypres during the war.

On Sunday, the party had a tour of the infamous Somme Battlefields. We were guided around the

Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge, through the tunnels and trenches, with everyone marvelling at the enormous memorial on the ridge, which this year was shrouded in a cold, eerie mist.

The final two days were spent at Disneyland Paris – something the students needed after such an

emotional three days. Disney presents inevitably filled the bus on the way home, after a Tuesday morning trip on the River Seine and a guided tour of Paris. There is no doubt that the tour was a resounding success and Dr Rees would like to thank all his colleagues for their valuable contributions and of course great company. He intends to run a trip in October 2018 to Normandy and Paris and would welcome expressions of interest from pupils!

Duke of Edinburgh Award Congratulations go to our 18 pupils

who successfully completed the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition this year.

Over the past year, these pupils have

regularly attended after school sessions and weekend training days in order to develop competency in navigational skills.

It was a big commitment and they maintained high spirits throughout.

We now have 18 Year 10 pupils

signed up for the Bronze Award this year. They have already started their adventures with one group coming across some very friendly bullocks! We wish them all the very best in facing their challenge!

Mr Wallace has supported the DofE

programme since setting up in September 2015. We wish him well in his new school but will be very sad to lose his support.

We will miss the mischievous ele-

ment he brought to DofE ‌ and Ms Steel will miss his delicious flapjacks (Thank you Mrs Wallace!)

Team 1

Isobel Bass Caitlin Cavallucci Georgia Crahar Megan Jones Lera Sidorenko

Team 2

Cai Davies Matthew Davies Jack Herbert Tom Herbert Jonathan Houlston Ryan Jones

Team 3

Kyla Evans Iestyn Holmes Hannah Miles Christopher Parry Rhodri Thomas Isaac Thorne, Dominic Waters

Beyond the School Gates Many of our pupils at Penyrheol are involved in outside activities. If you would like to shout about it...here’s your chance!

Libby Thomas

Nathan Evans

Libby plays with Morriston Cricket Club

and this year was voted ‘Coach’s Player of the Year’. In addition to this honour, Libby was also part of the team that won the Undefeated County Cup.

Libby is shown here with her latet two awards. Congratulations Libby!

Nathan represented Wales in the Unified

World Champoinships in Massa Cara this October and was thrilled to win the following medals: 2 x Golds, 3 x Silvers and 1 x Bronze!

All medals were won in the in the under 13s categories.

Nathan is working hard in order to be

selected for Team GB in 2024, when he will be 20 years old! You can do it Nathan!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all our readers!

Article 15: You have the right to meet with friends & join groups & clubs