All the latest news from St Illtyd’s Cardiff

Appointment of Archbishop Mark O’Toole

On April 27th, 2022, Pope Francis named Bishop Mark O’Toole as the 8th Archbishop of Cardiff in succession to Archbishop George Stack.

A small group of pupils from St Illtyd’s, along with Head Teacher David Thomas and Deputy Head Teacher Paul Moriarty had the privilege to be invited to St David’s Metropolitan Cathedral by Archbishop George Stack on the day of the announcement to meet the new Archbishop-Elect- Mark O’Toole.

On hearing of his appointment, the Archbishop-Elect said:

“I am grateful and humbled by the trust that the Holy Father has placed in me. I face the task ahead both with excitement and a certain trepidation, conscious of my own weaknesses. Throughout my life I have learnt to trust the Lord’s will more deeply, and in these days of Eastertide especially, I have taken much comfort from Jesus’ word to his Apostles, “Do not be afraid. I go before you …” It is with this deep sense that the Lord goes before all of us in this new mission, that I fully embrace this new calling in my life.”

Archbishop-Elect Mark O’Toole was installed as eighth Archbishop of Cardiff on Monday  June 20th at Cardiff Cathedral. We look forward to welcoming Archbishop Mark to our school later this term. His visit will be covered in the Autumn issue of the Illtydian.

We would like to thank Karol Steckiewicz for the photos with this article.

All the news from St Illtyd’s is available to read on the latest school newsletter The New Illtydian.

One of the most popular features of the newsletter is the Spirituality Page compiled by School Chaplain, Victoria Wonnacott, which includes the following articles:

Launch of two school groups

We have two brand new school groups launching at St Illtyd’s this year. We have the Youth in Action Group which will be focusing on the school, community charity and volunteering in the local SVP centre and shop. The other group is the school Chaplaincy Team who will be focusing their attention on the spirituality and inclusivity of the school. Both groups will work alongside each other to help deliver the school charities latest campaigns and fundraising events for SVP and CAFOD. These groups enable the students to gain a valuable skill set and experience that will develop them as ethically informed citizens.

If you would like more information on joining then please see Mrs Wonnacott or if you would like to see the amazing things the students will be doing please follow us on our Chaplaincy Twitter : Chaplain@chs_illtyds.

The Month of Mary

May was the month of Mary and as part of our devotion to Mary pupils from 7VD and 8LG competed to see who could make the most 3D paper flowers in an hour to adorn our altar in the school hall. 8LG made us 40 beautiful flowers but were just beaten in number by 7VD who managed 52 flowers! All the flowers were displayed in the school hall for the entire month of May with our Lady of Fatima statue.

The Garden

A big thank you to our Duke of Edinburgh pupils; Chloe Simons, Karson Fury, Lisa Wibley, Calice Powell, McKenzie Lovell and their leader Mr Tay who have been helping in the garden once a fortnight. They have been helping to create a Reflection space for the school, digging through the soil was not easy work, especially in the recent heat but they made good progress and it is taking shape. The semi-circle space will hold the prayer/reflections stones that we hope the students will make over their time in St Illtyd’s.

The prayer stones will sit around two water features that will eventually be overlooked by a statue of Our Lady surrounded by flowers and an archway. The plan for the garden is ambitious but achievable and we look forward to creating a beautiful space of learning, reflection and growth for everyone at St Illtyd’s to enjoy.

St Illtyd’s Pupil Profile

This term our pupils have been learning and following the theme of Compassionate and Loving from the Jesuit Profile. An example of the theme in action is the First Give programme in school, which has enabled the pupils to research and understand the hardships of those who are less fortunate and have fallen on hard times in South Wales.

Thanks to charity involvement and presentations to the pupils it has opened their eyes and shown the pupils how we all can be more compassionate to each other and loving by our actions and words. Year 9 pupils in their groups have launched fundraisers for their chosen charity and have done a remarkable job in engaging all pupils and staff with events, posters, and presentations. This, along with many other actions within the school, has meant that compassion and loving has been core within our school community this term.

 Welcome Year 6

It was wonderful to meet the Year 6 pupils from our feeder schools: St Cadocs, St Peters, St Albans and St John Lloyd Primary School who had a great time during the School Chapel service. After a moment of reflection and prayer we went on to act out the parable of the colours finishing with the pupils creating a rainbow full of their talents.

It was also a great opportunity for the Year 6’s to meet three of our lovely Year 9 pupils who read in the transition service. It was lovely to see them excitedly receive a small gift bag from the school to welcome them into our school community. Thank you to the Catenian Association for donating so many rosaries to our school, it has meant that we were able to give a portion of them to the Year 6 children to ensure that the new students start with the foundation of the Rosary.