 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
|
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||
|
School News 2007 ‘The best carol service we have ever had’ was the comment from our head teacher Mr Steve Bowden, about our annual Christmas carol service held in St. John’s church Cymer. Each year this concert gets better and better with a range of traditional and modern carol readings and musical items. Thanks to the hard work of Music Curriculum Co-ordinator Miss Beth Morgan and her staff this was an outstanding carol service – now the standard is set for next year!
Our 'Melody' Choir It was a busy time for Miss Morgan because she followed one successful event with another. A first for our school, Miss Morgan organised a ‘Christmas Swing’ concert with Rhondda Cynon Taff Big Band and our own school choirs, Harmony and Melody. It was a relaxed affair with the audience singing along to most of the songs. Miss Morgan wishes to thank all her students who took part in both these performances and special thanks to staff who helped out in the background and members of The Friends of Porth County.
Our 'Harmony' Choir Another busy term ended with the traditional staff pantomime. This year’s version of Scrooge was well received by a packed audience of staff and students. Plenty of weird costumes, a lot of fun and plenty of audience participation ensured a great way to entertain students. Our friends from Ysgol Hen Felin made their annual visit to start our Christmas concert with their own version of festive songs. Students in Year 7 spend a day working with industrialists from a range of businesses. This event is part of their World of Work activities which is co-ordinated by Mrs Nicola McCarthy in partnership with Education Business Partnership. We strive to expose our students to a variety of ‘work experiences’ in order to better prepare them for the outside world of work. Year 11 student Josh C was in the news for his work on a website he designed about Global Warming. Josh entered a competition organised by the Welsh Assembly Government called ‘Climate Challenge Champion for Wales.
OUR WELSH INTERNATIONAL RUGBY PLAYER Everyone was thrilled and excited to hear the good news about former student Morgan Stoddart. Morgan gained his first cap for Wales when he was chosen to play in the International Rugby match against South Africa this month. We have all watched Morgan’s career with interest and waited and waited for that special moment when he would play for Wales! Not only did he play in the match but he also managed to score a brilliant try! According to Rhondda ruMorgan gby coach Chris Jones, Morgan’s success is no surprise to him. “He is a lad that trains hard and is totally dedicated to the game, we are all very proud of such a deserved success,” commented Chris. UNPACKED LUNCH DANCE PERFORMANCE Teaching young children about the importance of keeping fit and eating healthy is always a challenge. Physical Education and Sport School co-ordinator Mrs Angela Williams from our P. E, department has been working with the children in our junior schools for the last two years to develop their understanding of dance, sports and the healthy life style aspect. Children from Aberllechau, Alaw, Ynyshir, Trealaw and Porth junior schools performed a selection of dances on the theme of healthy lifestyle with the help of UWIC dance tutor Mrs Sally Varrall and her 3rd year dance students.
With the support of the Welsh Assembly and the Sports Council of Wales these young children can now tell you how to keep a healthy heart, what a glutimus maximus is and how many fresh fruit or vegetables you should eat per day.
Year 6 student Demi Carter of Aberllechau Junior School commented, “We were all nervous before we started because the hall was packed with people but in the end we really enjoyed ourselves.”
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD SHOE BOX APPEAL It’s that time of year again when we bring our neatly packed shoe boxes to school for the annual Samaritan’s Purse charity appeal. You only have to come to our main office to see the pile of boxes that staff, students and visitors deliver on a daily basis. These boxes of presents and clothes will be delivered to children all over eastern Europe and will certainly put a smile on their faces! Year 11 school journalist Tom Griffith and student school photographer Kally Pugh also of Year 11 had the opportunity of visiting the head quarters at Pontyclun where the shoe boxes are transferred on to the vehicles to take them over to countries all over Eastern Europe. Tom interviewed organisers Ted and Margaret Bird about the charity work of Samaritan’s Purse. Look out for his article in this year’s School Year Book. These photographs were taken by Kally.
Our hall was packed with over 400 families, friends and not forgetting our wonderful young students. Yes it was our Achievement Evening organised by Mrs Ceri Grech which brought families together to celebrate the talents of our students. We all know what a busy community our daily school life is but it is truly amazing to hear how busy the life of some of our young students is. The awards cover a vast spectrum:- sport, dance, community, cheerleading, journalism, radio, drama and music.
The evening culminates in the presentation of our main Key Stage Awards. Students are chosen for their outstanding contribution to school life and this year’s winners are: Key Stage 3 Sheryl Edwards and Josh Stacey Key Stage 4 Hannah Morgan and Jarrad Wright Key stage 5 Ross Davies
One of the most amazing awards during the evening was for those two students who had achieved 100% attendance over 5 years. Year 12 students Dewi Russell and Jessica Lloyd have not been absent for any session during this time! What an incredible record which totally amazed everyone present. Congratulations to them both!
Year 13 Welsh Baccalaureate students have just returned from a successful visit to Normandy. One element of the Welsh Bac. course is to learn a foreign language. This may be easy for some and not for others. So what better way for our students to improve their French language than to spend a week with friends on an adventure holiday in France! Not only did they have to tackle assault courses, make their own lunch but they were set challenges every day to go out into the community to develop their language skills.
One student who had an unforgettable trip was Leigh Edwards. Leigh suffers from cerebral palsy and has difficulty walking, hearing and he has poor sight. Yet this did not deter Leigh when it came to his turn to abseil down the 20ft tower! Accompanied by our Learning Support Assistant Mrs Bev Cook our brave Leigh tackled everything with gusto! In his words, “I did things I never thought I would and I hope I have given other young people who are disabled like me the confidence to go on such a visit as this.”
Year 11 students successfully completed their week’s work placements. Good feedback was received from staff who were out visiting students at their places of work. On their return to school many of our students admitted that they had learnt a lot and were looking forward to moving on to the big wide world. After visiting our Fuel Up Fayre our students are more informed about health and fitness issues. Almost 60 outside agencies took part in this fayre which was held in the Dutch barn where they displayed their stands. Throughout the day all classes visited the fayre in turn to try out the range of fitness challenges, taste the ‘healthy’ food or find out some interesting facts.Thanks to Trealaw Communities First and their food co-operartive initiative, staff are now receiving fresh supplies of fruit and vegetables for only £2.50 a pack. What a bargain for good quality food! Everyone from our Headteacher to the caretaker is on their list of customers. If you really want to know what life is like after the 6th form why not ask those who really know? That’s the reason why some of our former students such as James Parsons returned to school to talk to some of our newly registered Year 12 students. This meeting was just one of a range of activities organised during this induction week which is organised to prepare all new students for our 6 th form. Assistant head teacher Mr Mike Cronin commented, “We believe it is important to prepare our students for life in our sixth form in the most comprehensive way possible. That is why we use the first few weeks of our autumn term o ensure that students are aware of what is expected of them. We also try an encourage them to look ahead to the time when they will leave us for further education or the world of work. To this end we try to offer a programme that meets their education and vocational needs.”
GCSE RESULTS PRESS RELEASE 2007 Porth County Community School celebrates the best results in its history with an impressive 51% of students achieving 5 A* – C grades at GCSE level. This fantastic success comes on top of the best ever ‘A’ level results recorded last week. Students enjoying their results
Head teacher Steve Bowden said, ‘These are the best set of results in the history of the school. 116 students, 51% of the year group, achieved at least 5A* – C grades in GCSE, GNVQ and BTEC courses.’ ‘There were some exceptional performances with 16 students in Year 11 achieving at least 5 A* or A grades in their exams.’ ‘There were also some very impressive results achieved by Year 9 and 10 students. Large numbers of these year groups achieved GCSE passes either one or two years early in mathematics, science, Welsh, religious studies and PE.’ ‘This year our students have made a tremendous commitment to their studies. Their parents and teachers should be extremely proud of the students’ achievements.’ Assistant Headteacher Mr Peter Rees The following students achieved outstanding results and are all worthy of recognition: Emma Baynham 10A*’s, 2A’s Eleanor Jefferies 9A*’s and 2A’s Bethany Smith 9A*’s, 1A and 1B Lloyd Edwards 7 A*’s, 3A’s and 1B Sally Williams 5 A*’s, 5A’s and 2 B’s Charlotte Ellis 3 A* and 7A’s Darren Westcott 1A*, 9A’sand 1B Joel Evans 2A*’s, 7A’s, 1B and 1C Natasha Winterburn 6A*’s, 1A and 4B’s Adam Hawkins 6A’s and 3B’s Owen Jones 6A’s, 3B’s and 2C’s Jessica Lloyd 3A*’s, 2A’s, 5B’s and 1C Zoe Brookes 2A*’s, 4A’s, 4B’s and 1C. Sophie Dando 1A*, 4A’s, 3B’s and 3C’s Jordanna Dally 1A*, 4A’s and 6B’s Ashleigh Machin 5A’s, 5B’s and 1C Sophie Warne 5A’s, 5B’s and 1C
Year 13 Students Richard, Mazin, Nathan and Gavin discuss their results ‘A’ Level Results Porth County Community School is celebrating a fantastic set of results as records tumble with the best overall post 16 results in the history of the school! The overall ‘A’ level and BTEC pass rate is 97%. 70% of the grades achieved by the students are at A – C and a fantastic 29% of all the grades achieved have been at the highest possible level of grade ‘A’ ! Twenty students achieved the equivalent points score of three straight A grades in their sixth form courses and an amazing total of 53 students achieved an ‘A’ grade in the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ). This demanding new course, which is equivalent to an A grade at ‘A’ level, has had a significant impact on student examination performance. All students at Porth County Community School have completed components of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ). Steve Bowden, Headteacher of Porth County Community School said, ‘We are delighted with our results and extremely proud of the achievements of all our students. The majority of them will be heading off to universities all over the UK as a result of their success.’
Another satisfied student receives her results Top five students in Porth County Community School:
EISTEDDFOD 2007 Our 7th Annual Eisteddfod was another successful day with the hall packed with students enjoying all the events. Each of the four houses, Ty Melyn, Ty Gwyrdd, Ty Glas and Ty Coch were well represented. Most popular was the disco dancing with some amazing dancing and outfits to match! Also getting a resounding applause were the funny English and Drama sketches performed by Year 8 and 9 students. It takes a lot of courage to get up on our stage in front of almost 500 students and everyone who took part deserves a huge ‘well done’. Also ‘well done’ to our Year 10 ‘chair dancers’ who performed in both the morning and afternoon sessions and also to Josh Coles, Charlotte Stanford, Hannah Morgan and Dale Button for all their hard work behind the scenes.
Here are the final results – and well done to Ty Gwyrdd! Cadair Gareth Thomas - Lloyd Thomas 10B Cadair Y Llywodraethwyr - Holly Webber 7B Cwpan Y Prifathro - Chloe Evans 8T English Writing Competition - Elisabeth Jones 9B English Writing Competition - Marcus Chinock 9R
House Results
CAREERS CONVENTION 2007 Once again our school is leading the way in Careers when we organised our successful bi-annual Careers Convention. We are the only school in the Rhondda to hold such a convention and one of the very few in RCT to do so. Head teacher Steve Bowden commented, “We believe that it is essential that our students have as much information as possible about the range of vocational opportunities on offer to them. By inviting in to school a range of employers, companies, local agencies and organisations our students and parents have the chance to find out about as many employment avenues as possible.” Alongside opticians, photographers, hairdressers, radiographers were recruitment agencies, colleges, universities, the armed forces careers officers as well as careers advisors from the National Health. The longest queue of the evening was the young people who waited to see the advisors from Careers Wales. Year 10 student Josh Coles certainly benefited from the evening. “I thought it was a very useful evening because I found out quite a bit about the different universities and I got to talk to employers that I wouldn’t really have met before.” Just recently our school was one of the first in Wales to be awarded the Careers Wales award for our efforts in Work Related Education. “This is thanks to the hard work and commitment of our staff and our team effort in everything that we do,” said head teacher Steve Bowden.
|
|
|
 |
||
