|
|
For the full PDF version of
our monthly newsletter, click here.
|
Abertillery Comprehensive School is holding an
Open Evening
On Thursday 4th October
Commencing at 6.00 p.m.
The Open Evening is for pupils and parents who are interested in coming to our school. This evening will give our prospective pupils an opportunity to visit the school and meet the teachers. Please could you inform any parents interested in looking at the school about this evening.
Mrs. J. Woodroffe Transition Manager
Year 7 Homework Club
A homework club just for Year 7 pupils will be held every Wednesday between 3.00 and 4.00 p.m. in Room 35. Pupils are welcome to come and do their homework or read quietly. Equipment, such as colouring pencils, stencils, some books etc, will be available for pupils to use.
A warm welcome to our new pupils in Year 7 who already seem to have settled in very well. Mrs. Owen and I have discussed how we are going to get them involved in our school council and felt that they needed a few weeks to get to know each other before they put forward any representatives for their year. So next week we are going to ask the forms to put forward at least two representatives who will speak on their behalf at their Year Council meetings and have their names put forward to go on the School Council. This is a great opportunity for Year 7 to have a voice and for them to raise any issues they may have or put forward ideas for improvement.
Mrs. J. Woodroffe, Transition Manager
Year 9
A warm welcome back for all of Year 9 who are now entering their last year of compulsory subjects.
Undoubtedly the year is going to be more of a challenge than previous years as you prepare for your option choices at the end of this year. The harder you work now, the greater the opportunities—set your targets early and aim high.
Have a brilliant year.
Mrs. J. Parry, Head of Year 9
Year 11
I find it hard, to believe that the year group I picked up in Year 8 are now in their final few months of school. How time has flown. The whole of Year 11 look extremely smart in their new uniform, a credit to the school. Make the most of these last months, work hard and most important, of all—achieve all you wish for yourselves.
Head Girl/Head Boy
Our Head Girl this year is Zoe Ashmead and our Head Boy is Ben Screen. Deputies are Steffi Wright and Nathan Taylor. This is a great achievement and they are already working hard organising the Year 11 Year-book and the all important end of Year Prom! I am sure they will have a very successful year. Well done.
Sporting Activities
Congratulations to Katie Tippins and Kirsty Williams (11 LB) who recently qualified for ‘Sports Leaders UK Level 1 Award in Sports Leadership’. They are now qualified to coach young people in various sports.
Buddies
Last year quite a few of our Year 11 pupils were chosen to be ‘Buddies’. Their tasks include making the new Year 7 pupils welcome in the school. As you can imagine, from a year 7 pupil’s point of view, this has been invaluable. They have taken their tasks very seriously, showing maturity and responsibility. Again, well done to you all.
School Council
On September 24th Abertillery Comprehensive School is going to hold an election for the school council. Pupils will have their chance to vote using the Council’s ballot boxes and booths. This will give pupils the opportunity to experience what it is like in a real election.
At least two pupils from every form have volunteered to be representatives for their year group. They will have twice termly meetings with their Head of Year.
Pupils from every year group will vote for two representatives from each year group to go on the School Council. Meetings will take place during school time.
We want all pupils to be involved in continuing to move our school forward. Every pupil must be able to have a voice and this way all pupils have an opportunity to be able to make a difference. We are asking pupils for ideas on Eco Schools, healthy living, working in the community and ideas on raising funds for a charity.
Mrs. J. Woodroffe Transition Manager
Weather forecasting competition for Schools
Earlier this year the Royal Meteorological Society launched the first UK wide competition for primary and secondary schools to make and deliver a weather forecast. Schools from across the country entered the competition, and according to the Society’s Chief Executive, Professor Paul Hardaker, “there were some very imaginative and entertaining entries and clearly some budding meteorologists in the making”.
After a difficult decision by the judges, the winners of the competition were Abertillery Comprehensive School and King’s Oak Primary school in Greenock. The award was presented at the Society’s International Conference on weather and climate in Edinburgh on Thursday 6th September.
This result is a credit to the efforts of teacher Jonathan Strand and his winning team. Each team member will receive an Apple Ipod and the Geography department will receive a laptop. Our congratulations go to Daniel Southcott, Jordan Bool, Kevin Siviter, Amy Hodges and Steven Griffiths. Well done!
Music Department
Extra Curricular Activities
Monday 3.00 -4.00 p.m. Windband. Wind, brass and percussion players
Wednesday 3.00—4.00 p.m. String Orchestra. String players only
Thursday 3.00—4.00 p.m. Choir. Absolutely everybody welcome. Pupils who have singing lessons must attend.
Friday 8.30—9.00 a.m. Senior Singers. Year 10 and 11 pupils only.
The other thing is some information about peripatetic lessons:
We are lucky to have a large number of visiting music teachers each week who offer lessons to pupils on a range of different disciplines. There is no cost in money for these lessons, only in time and effort from the pupils who wish to take them. Our team is as follows:
Guitar - Mr Fry, Monday
Singing - Miss Hooper, Monday
Woodwind - Mrs Hornsby, Tuesday
Drum Kit - Mr Richards, Tuesday
Strings - Mrs Liddington,
(Wednesday)
Brass - Mr Williams,
(Wednesday)
Tuned
Percussion - Mr Powell, Thursday
If you are interested in taking lessons on any of the above, now is the time to sign up. Go to the notice board outside the music room (Room 5). On each timetable, there is a time listed for new pupils who are interested in taking lessons to go and meet with the teacher to find out more and get their name on the waiting list. These lessons are a fantastic opportunity for you to get new skills and meet new friends, so give music some serious thought. If you have any questions at all, come and see me in the music room, I will be glad to help.
Miss Burgess. Head of Music
Year 10 Welsh G.C.S.E. top-up group.
On Monday 17th September , those pupils in Year 10 who did not opt for full course welsh will be able to top-up their G.C.S.E. by attending a lesson per week after school each Monday in room 42 with Mr. Jenkins. Please see Mr Jenkins to get parental consent forms.
Modern Foreign Languages Dept.
A ‘big’ congratulation to all pupils who sat their French & German GCSE examination at the end of the last academic year. Modern Languages staff are pleased to announce a further improvement in the success rate at GCSE level.
The department has a target to increase the amount of French, German and Spanish spoken within the classroom and all pupils have sentences in their books which they should be encouraged to read through and practise at home. This will improve their oral confidence immensely.
The Modern Languages Department is in the process of organising two trips abroad this year – one to Paris in January and another to Barcelona in July. Letters for these trips are available from the Modern Language teachers and we encourage you to collect these as soon as possible as places will be limited and based on a first come, first served basis. Both trips were extremely successful last year and pupils have given excellent feedback to staff about their experiences abroad.
For year 8 pupils who have opted for French or Spanish but wish to continue to study German, the class will take place on Wednesdays after school for one hour. This will allow pupils to continue to study two Modern Foreign Languages if they wish to do so.
For pupils in Year 11 wishing to improve their oral skills in preparation for their GCSE exams, there will be oral revision classes in French on Mondays after school with Miss Barichello and on Thursdays after school with Mrs Cairns for German. All pupils are encouraged to participate as this will improve pupil’s oral confidence immensely prior to the GCSE exam.
I hope pupils will continue to enjoy studying Modern Foreign Languages throughout this academic year and I will leave you all with something to think about:
“With Modern Foreign Languages ceasing to be compulsory in England and Wales, the numbers were inevitably going to fall again this year. It is hoped that the trend to give up Modern Languages at age 14 can be reversed. Young people are doing themselves no favours in the job market by cutting themselves off from Foreign languages at this age.”
“Employers must bear a substantial responsibility for the fall in Modern Foreign Languages numbers. Until they send out a much stronger message to young people that languages are important in the job market, GCSE numbers will be low and British industry will continue to struggle to compete in a global market.”
Dr John Dunford – Association of School and College Leaders August 2007
English Department
The English Department is trialing the new 'My Stickers' website this year.
Pupils receiving merits or 'good work' postcards in English are able to enter a code on the website which builds up points and enables them top win prizes. In the past, these have included iPods and PSPs.
The points can be taken to the on-line 'shop' and traded for access to games and treats for their on-line 'buddies'. Start collecting your merits now!
Miss L. Prosser Head of English
Duke of Edinburgh Awards
A group of children from Year 10 and Year 11 are about to embark in this exciting award. Their first activity will be a team building exercise at Bryn Bach Park before taking part in many other activities.
They will be taking part in the "Their Past Your Future" projects organised via the Imperial War Museum. There will be a visit to The London Imperial War Museum October and then on to France and Belgium in November. They will learning about the impact of conflict and will be exploring the ideas behind commemoration and remembrance.
This is an on-going award and it is hoped that Abertillery will be able to put many pupils forward for this award in the future.
Mr M. Williams
Mountain Bike Club
We had a good year last year even though the weather did its best to try to ruin it. Some rides had to be cancelled but several went ahead.
Our final ride for the Summer Term was to take the group to the Mountain Bike Course at the Scenic Drive in Cwmcarn. The ride was very demanding taking over an hour to climb up to the top of the mountain. All the pupils enjoyed the experience and found it much more challenging than anything they had done previously.
We hope to carry on with the club in the future and we would like to thank all the pupils for their commitment and excellent behaviour while participating in the activity.
Mr M Williams
Technology Dept.
GCSE Year 11 coursework deadlines:
Extra Curricular Activities
Child Development - child study to be completed by Christmas
Health & social care - Unit 1 should now be complete and submitted, Unit 2 due for submission in March
Textiles - Practical and written task to be completed by Christmas
Catering - work experience and coursework to be completed by October Half term
GCSE revision/coursework: Monday and Wednesdays after school session - Catering / Child Development / Textiles / Health & Social Care
SNAG is a pupil led group for anybody interested in healthy eating and lifestyles, wishing to contribute towards making school a healthy place. Meeting once half-termly.
Fruit tuck shop every Thursday break (selling a tasty range of fresh fruit).
Breakfast club: Monday mornings 8.00 - 8.30 a.m. Years 7, 8 & 9 in room 20 - tea/ coffee/ toast/ cereal / yogurts/ fruit
Textiles and Food Technology club - after school on a Thursday 3.00—4.00 p.m. Room 21
Department trip to 'Clothes show Live' in Birmingham on Wednesday 12th December.
Letters available in department.
Last year’s work: Any Year 8/9 pupils that wish to take home practical work from last year please collect a.s.a.p or it will be recycled.
British Food fortnight in Wales 22nd September - 6th October - watch out for activities taking place in your food technology lessons!!
History Dept
There is an after school History club for all Years on Wednesday from 3.00—4.00 p.m. The department will be showing historical films, helping pupils with homework and coursework. If you like History, you will enjoy this after school club.
Miss E. Handley History Department
Learning Support Dept.
Last year some pupils in Year 10 and Year 11 worked at Silent Valley Nature reserve along side rangers and other workers. They mended fences, cleared overgrown vegetation, planted trees and cooked over open fires. Activities took place in all weathers giving the pupils a good idea of what it might be like to do these jobs permanently. Pupils obtained OCN qualifications in woodland skills.
Congratulations to the pupils who achieved this grade they are:- Sammy Tahramanis, Matthew Bayliss, Anthony Challenger, Leon Meek and Richard Brown.
Mrs. M. Walker
Blaenau Gwent in Bloom
The school has again been successful in the Blaenau Gwent in Bloom competition in both the Biodiversity and General Gardens categories. Ryan Hughes, Kieron Ennis and Luke Bryant all Year 9 pupils will accompany Mr. Walker to the Abertillery Metropole to receive awards and certificates presented by Iolo Williams the television presenter of Welsh nature programmes.
Mrs. M. Walker Learning Support Unit
Mathematics Dept.
Congratulations to those in year 11 who sat the statistics examination in July. The results have been amazing and have reflected the hard work and determination to succeed. I hope that this will be reflected in the mathematics GCSE at the end of the year.
Also congratulations to the 38 students in the current year 9 who have achieved their level 1 in Application of number key skill.
Year 10 will also have the option of completing the statistics examination at the end of the year. In order to be entered they must complete the compulsory piece of coursework to the deadline issued. This coursework will be given later on this term.
A small number of year 9 will also have the opportunity to complete a GCSE equivalent examination in Financial Capability. If successful this will then be offered to everyone in year 9. We are currently investigating places to visit to highlight careers in use of finance, from banks to supermarkets, if you could help with this then please contact Mrs Harries in the maths department.
Outstanding Homework books and revision guides
Pupils will not be issued with the current homework book until they have returned last years. They will have to attend the homework session for that year group until this is rectified.
Homework Timetable
|
Year
|
Homework given
|
Homework collected
|
|
7 RW
|
Thursday
|
Tuesday
|
|
7PO
|
Thursday
|
Monday
|
|
Rest of year 7
|
Friday
|
Tuesday
|
|
8
|
Friday
|
Wednesday
|
|
9
|
Monday
|
Wednesday
|
|
10
|
Tuesday
|
Thursday
|
|
11a
|
Thursday
|
Tuesday
|
|
11b
|
Monday
|
Friday
|
Please ensure that your child completes homework set and if there are any difficulties they ask their teacher for help and/or attend the homework session for their year.
Year 7 – Monday Year 8 – Friday
Year 9 – Friday Year 10 – Tuesday
Year 11b – Monday Year 11a – Wednesday
Revision sessions
Revision for year 11 will take place on Monday and Thursday every week starting in two weeks time. For the next two weeks these session will be used to catch up on coursework. This is vitally important as, if there is no coursework there will be no entry into the exam.
Art Department
Study Sessions after School.
GCSE pupils are encouraged to stay behind after school at least once a week to work on coursework. It is an important term for Year 11 pupils and those Year 10 pupils who opted to take the GCSE a year early. Two units of coursework (sketchbooks) and two final pieces must be completed by Christmas. The Art and Design exam starts in January!
Congratulations to the talented pupils who worked extremely hard to achieve a GCSE in Art and Design a year early. These pupils, now in Year 11, need to stay focused to complete a second GSCE art discipline in a year.
The following teachers will be available after school for study sessions. Please take this opportunity to achieve your very best.
Miss R. Weaving Monday and Thursday
Miss J. Woodroffe Thursday
Mr I. Stephens Thursday
Art Shop
On sale are watercolours, oil pastels, paintbrushes and a set of pencils. We would like to encourage more pupils to use this equipment for homework. It is important to produce good quality homework using a variety of art materials. If you are interested in buying art equipment please see a member of the department.
Miss R. Weaving Head of Art
WIDER KEY SKILLS—Improving Own Learning and Performance (IOLP)
IOLP is a very important Key Skill being developed throughout the school, as part of the School Development Plan. To this end, pupils are being encouraged to take responsibility for Managing their own Learning.
One aspect of this is ensuring that homework is always written in planners and is completed on time, every time. Additionally, pupils are being asked to be responsible for their books by not leaving them in school (unless requested to do so for assessment purposes) and making sure they are brought to every lesson. It is also vital that pupils remember to bring bags, planners and appropriate equipment every day.
To aid IOLP, half-termly checks will take place as well as spot checks on a weekly basis. However, as caring parents your support on this matter is crucial and will go a long way to ensuring our children leave school with good life skills.
Mrs Lock Wider Key Skills Coordinator.
Design Technology Dept
A Design Technology Club for pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 will run on Wednesday evenings from 3.00—5.00 p.m. The focus of the club will be to look at areas of technology such as Electronics and Robotics. Pupils taking party in this activity will have the chance to enter local and national competitions such as the ‘Toyota Challenge’.
The workshop facilities will also be available for Year 11 pupils who wish to work on the practical element of their GCSE project. Again, this will be on Wednesday evenings from3.00—5.-00 p.m. For those pupils wishing to do work on their design folders, Room 8 will also be available at lunchtimes from Monday—Friday.
Year 11 pupils should note that their 40 hour coursework task (Designing and Making) needs to be completed by the end of the Autumn Term.
Mr. T. Payne Head of Design Technology
Get Creative, Get Interactive, Get2IT!
CC4G (Computer Club 4 Girls) is a award winning out of school club designed especially for girls, to help develop their ICT skills and better equip them for their future working lives.
Come and join our CC4G on Wednesdays from 3:00 – 3:40 in Room 56, with Mrs Ahmed. You can have a great time working with friends on a wide range of engaging online activities, from designing your own celebrity posters or magazine covers, to planning a fundraising campaign or mixing music.
Go on….Get2IT!
Mrs. Ahmed ICT Department
OASIS
OASIS is a project based in Abertillery Comprehensive School that is open to all young people in mainstream education from year 7 and above. The Oasis worker in Abertillery is Natasha, a qualified youth and community worker.
The project aims to help and support young people who are struggling to maintain themselves in education. We try to encourage young people in fun, exciting and motivating ways, so that learning starts to be seen from a different angle.
At Oasis we concentrate on everyone as an individual. Courses are specifically designed around each young person’s needs. We work on issues such as low confidence and self-esteem, anger management, appropriate behaviour, or just a bit of extra support in a subject area a pupil may be struggling with.
All pupils coming to Oasis have to be referred by their Head of Year. This term though a new drop in facility will be available for anyone needing a chat about an issue affecting them at home or school. This facility will be open to anyone and will be accessible on Wednesday period 6 or Thursday period 1. Any pupils wishing to access this drop in facility please ask your teacher before you leave lessons. Appointments for these sessions can be made in advance by going to the Oasis room.
Natasha Powles
|
