SCHOOLS
Email us your report to: info@seasidenews.co.uk
PORTHCAWL COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
ST CLARE’S SCHOOL
The emotional wellbeing of our pupils has been a huge priority to us at school with parents, carers and students experiencing pressure on their mental health like never before. Our students continue to amaze us with their resilience and adaptability, even during the most emotionally challenging circumstances. With the sharp focus on supporting our school community through these unprecedented times, we are absolutely delighted to share the news that we have been awarded the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools ‘School Mental Health Award’ – Silver Status. This is a nationally recognised award with a whole school focus on the mental health of pupils and staff, as well as an involvement with parents and carers and external agencies. In the process, PCS has committed to making mental health a strategic priority and to developing a positive culture that promotes mental wellbeing for everyone. Our new Year 7’s have settled really well and we have welcomed many out of catchment pupils into Year 12. Transition has begun already with Mrs Sloggett visiting our feeder schools and we look forward to Year 6 pupils visiting us later in the year. Our Year 6 Open Evening will be a ‘virtual’ event on 3rd November; details will be on our website www.porthcawlschool.co.uk, or call school on 01656 774101 for more information. Andrew Slade Head Teacher
It’s been wonderful to see everyone again and to welcome so many new pupils from Nursery to Sixth Form. Although we appear to be on the journey away from the pandemic’s worst effects and look to the future with optimism, we are ready to move seamlessly back to our Remote Learning Programme at any point. Our GCSE and A-Level results were excellent and consistently well above the national average. St Clare’s is in the top 5% of top-performing A-Level schools in the UK since 2018. We are celebrating our Day nurseries UK Top 20 Nursery Award. Our fantastic mini woodland area within our eleven acres of beautiful grounds for Forest School is the perfect location for little ones to explore, have fun and learn. Forest School is a great addition to our Nursery Curriculum, which already includes weekly Spanish, PE and ballet. Extra-curricular trips, clubs and a gradual return to extracurricular sports fixtures give us a welcome sense of a return to normality. September 2022’s admissions window is now open, with a limited number of scholarships available for entry to Year 7 and Year 12. Don’t miss our October Open Morning. Visit www.stclares-school.co.uk or call us on 01656 789966. Helen Hier Head Teacher
PORTHCAWL PRIMARY NEWS
FAREWELL AND ENJOY YOUR RETIREMENT On Friday September 24th, Nottage Primary said goodbye to the one and only Mrs Alison Missen as she retired after 33 years! During her time with us, Mrs Missen made a huge contribution not only to the Reception classes, where most of her career was spent, but to the wider school community. For much of her career she provided the school with an active link to the RNLI, especially when she served with the Porthcawl Coastguard. Many past pupils will have benefited from the beach safety assemblies she organised and all will have left Nottage with her sage advice ringing in their ears! She is also a font of local knowledge and again our pupils will all remember her interactive assemblies on the SS Samtampa which were enjoyed by pupils and staff alike. Mrs Missen will be greatly missed for so many reasons but perhaps most of all for the fun, inquisitiveness and creativity she shared with all her Nottage family, young and not-so-young! We are looking forward to hearing of her next adventures, maybe as one of her notorious assemblies when we are able to gather collectively again, but in the meantime we are sure you will join us in wishing Alison a long, happy and healthy retirement. From all of the Nottage family – diolch yn fawr iawn Mrs Missen a mwynhewch! 26 | seaside news
We have had a busy but exciting start to the new year. At the start of each term, we introduce our new topic with a C.O.O.L (Choose our own learning) day. On this day the pupils get to complete lots of fun and interactive activities as well as come up with ideas of what we can learn about over the next term. It is a great opportunity for the pupils to choose fun and engaging activities that are relevant to them. This term our topic is castles for our younger pupils and magic and potions for our older pupils. Pupils dressed up in a variety of costumes for their COOL days and we had wizards, knights, dragons, princesses as well as most of the cast of Harry Potter turn up to school! We also have some new additions to our Key Stage 2 playground. We now have three brand new pyramids as well as an outdoor play area. We are very grateful for the support from our parents who both funded and helped with the construction and already our pupils have enjoyed playing on the new equipment at breaktimes.
