St Illtyd’s take on social action projects

First Give 2023

This year Year 9 learners at St Illtyd’s Catholic High School again took part in the First Give Programme where learners gain an understanding of Social Issues within the community and then complete a social action project to raise awareness and funds for their chosen charity - who try to combat or assist people affected by their chosen Social Issue.

There were seven entries to this year's First Give Final and each group had a different charity that they contacted and chose to represent in their in-school social action projects.

The Grand Finale took place on Friday May 26th where the charities were invited into school and a range of judges listened to the seven groups pitch and present their social issue and what they had done to represent their respective charities.

The winning team would be given £1000 to donate to their chosen charity (donated by the First Give programme).

This year's winning team was: 9AWI.

The team consisted of: Aaron Hughes, Logan Collis, Sophia Bautista-Paget, Bethabara Opare, Cybil Usialele and Danny Ulanmo. They chose to represent the charity 'NOAH'S ARK CHARITY'. A representative from the charity was there to accept the £1000 donation. Our photos show 9AWI on the day of the presentation with both the Head Teacher David Thomas and a representative from Noah’s Ark (some learners were missing due to a school trip). Isabelle Haines was also presented with a special commendation award.

Steph MacLennan, Head of Expressive Arts Faculty

Special Commendation- Isabelle Haines.jpg

Concert at St David’s Hall

Back in May, Music GCSE pupils had an enjoyable time attending a concert at St David’s Hall to listen to BBC NOW performing Tchaikovsky piano concerto No1 performed by Daniel Ciobanu and Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances conducted by James Feddeck in his debut with BBC NOW. It was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to listen to live music.

Julie Smith, Head of Performing Arts

Our School Production - Annie

The school production of Annie proved to be one of the highlights of the year with all the hard work in rehearsals and preparation being rewarded with an amazing production. A huge thank you to all our sponsors and to all who donated towards the production.

Julie Smith, Head of Performing Arts

Welcome to the Expressive Arts Faculty

Here at St. Illtyd’s the Expressive Arts Faculty is divided into six areas: Music, Art, Drama, Photography, Skills Challenge and PE. It is an exciting area where learners are taken away from traditional textbooks and provided with a range of experiences where we develop key skills such as communication, team building, public speaking confidence, decision making, problem solving and building relationships.

The vision of the faculty is for all learners to become CREEDER’s. For this, learners are provided opportunities to explore and experience a range of disciplines within the faculty, to allow learners time to reflect and respond on the work they do and for them to be creative and express themselves through the topics being taught.

The aims of our faculty are:

· To engage, motivate and encourage learners to develop their creative, artistic and performance skills to the full.

· To encourage the development of knowledge, skills and values that can help learners grasp the opportunities and meet the challenges that arise in their lives.

· To engage learners physically, socially and emotionally, nurturing their well-being, self-esteem and resilience.

· For learners to become more confident, which can contribute directly to enriching the quality of their lives

· To be accessible to all learners and can expand the horizons of every learner.

We provide our learners with several extra-curricular opportunities such as instrumental lessons, choir, orchestra, band, art club, whole school production and several sports clubs including Rugby, Football, Gymnastics, Netball, Athletics and Baseball.

Steph MacLennan, Head of Expressive Arts Faculty

BBC Journalist Garry Owen visits St Illtyd’s

Following their visit to BBC Wales in April, Year 9 pupils starting GCSE Media Studies in September had the chance to listen to BBC Wales News journalist Garry Owen when he visited our school in June. Garry explained that journalists have to be neutral in their reporting and emphasised that news is all around us.

Garry spoke about the skills that all successful journalists have and that our pupils can develop in everyday life:

· Communication skills- the importance of listening and talking

· Initiative to get what you want

· Adaptability- being able to jump into a situation quickly

· The ability to absorb facts quickly

· The will to work all hours and all days

The talk was very informative, and pupils learnt a lot about careers within the media, particularly journalism. Pupils were able to ask questions at the end of the talk.

We would like to thank Garry Owen for giving his time to come and speak to our pupils. We would also like to thank Careers Wales Business Engagement Adviser Adrian Cole for arranging this session.

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Visit to BBC Wales

In September St Illtyd’s introduced a brand-new GCSE subject- Media Studies. The subject will be taught by teacher Miss Leah Dalby. To introduce this new subject, Year 9 pupils who have opted to take GCSE Media Studies in September had the exciting opportunity to visit the new BBC Wales building in Cardiff city centre.

Our group was met by Abi and Sian. We were given a tour of all floors in the BBC building. We visited a radio studio and learnt how it can be adapted for use by different radio stations, we visited a TV studio and watched a programme being filmed and we visited the studio where Wales Today and S4C news is filmed.

We also got to see what happens behind the scenes in the galleries and got an insight into how links between TV programmes are handled. We even got a glimpse of Wynne Evans (the man from the “Go Compare” adverts) before he went to present his radio programme! Throughout the tour, we learnt a lot about the vast array of career opportunities at the BBC.

After a fantastic tour, our group then took part in a speed networking event in which pupils were able to talk to various BBC employees including a journalist, a radio producer and two apprentices. We also got to meet an ex-St Illtyd’s pupil who is now a video journalist for the BBC. The group also got a fantastic insight into the digital world of the BBC website and how employees can monitor which news items are the most popular and by which demographic they are being read by.

We would like to thank Abi and Sian for a fantastic visit. Our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the visit- they learnt a lot about BBC Wales and were able to ask lots of questions. We would also like to thank Adrian Cole, Business Engagement Adviser at Careers Wales for organising the visit for us and for accompanying us on the visit.

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Easter Assemblies

Easter was a great opportunity for St Illtyd’s Catholic High School to celebrate the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We wanted to show the importance and significance of Jesus’ life to us as a Catholic school, to remember all that Jesus has done for us at the cross and to remind us that Jesus is alive today.

We dramatised a short play with three songs and managed to show the life of Jesus in just 20 minutes during Easter week assemblies. Mrs Smith taught the songs and Ms Powell directed the action. It was a challenge, but the students approached the play with great respect and maturity, and they developed their characters well. With a great cast of dedicated students and enthusiastic teachers, we rose to the challenge, and it was a meaningful Easter assembly.

Pupils involved in the Easter assemblies were- Jadon Libon- Year 7, Ellie Anderson- Year 7, Crystal Tamleu- Year 7, Joseph Bailey- Year 8, Isis Owoahene- Year 8, Hollie Burke- Year 8, Kiera Acton- Year 8, Jessica Joseph-Chinemerem- Year 8, Elijah Bediako- Year 8, Jacob Cowling-Loyns- Year 8, Isabelle Haines- Year 9, Bethabara Opare- Year 9 and Linda Amin- Year 10.