St Illtyd’s initiatives promote Lasallian values

The past few months at St Illtyd’s Catholic High School have been very busy with a number of initiatives that promote Lasallian values and development among the students and staff, including First Give Success, Hay Festival 2022, the garden project, a trip to the theatre and dinghy lessons, along with a farewell to the Year 11s.

First Give Success

The Year 9's have been working hard learning about Social Issues within our community and how Social Action can make an impact. Students have been raising money and raising awareness for local charities as part of the First Give Programme. Each tutor group was represented in the Grand Final with four local charities being represented. These were Vision 21, Llamau, Cardiff People First and St. Vincent de Paul (SVP).

The Grand Final took place on Tuesday June 28th where students presented what they had been doing as part of their Social Action for their chosen charity. It was very difficult for the Judges panel to make a decision, but the winning for group was:

9DCB

The presenting team consisted of:

Isata Kamara

Victoria Kamara

Olivia Manzenza

Linda Amin

Millie Gold

Rawan Al Fadhli

Ava McDonald

On top of the £94.35 9DCB had raised for their local charity SVP by sponging teachers, a raffle, cake sales and competitions, they were also presented with a £1000 cheque to give to their charity from First Give.

A huge congratulations to all involved. We look forward to working with First Give again next year.

Steph MacLennan, Head of Faculty for Expressive Arts and Head of PE

Hay Festival 2022

We were delighted that this year, after two years' absence due to Covid, the Hay Festival was a live event once more. We applied to the Arts Council of Wales Go and See Fund to cover the cost of a coach, and we were delighted to receive funding that enabled us to do this. However, we had so much interest from pupils and because the school felt strongly that pupils have missed so much over the last two years, that we decided to cover the cost of a second coach, meaning that twice the number of pupils were able to attend.

At the event, pupils listened to much-loved author Dame Jacqueline Wilson talk about her new book for Young Adults, “Baby Love.” Former Children’s Laureate and author of over 100 books, Jacqueline Wilson is one of Britain’s bestselling children’s authors. Pupils also listened to Yvette Fielding, television’s first lady of the paranormal and presenter of Most Haunted, talk about her new book, “The House in the Woods” and bestselling author and “Queen of Teen Thrillers,” Sophie McKenzie talk about her new book “Truth or Dare.” Our pupils got the opportunity to ask the authors questions about what inspired their writing and how they got into writing and were also able to meet authors for book- signing in the bookshop.

Overall, this was an amazing day and all pupils thoroughly enjoyed the day. We are extremely grateful to the Arts Council of Wales for funding one of the coaches for this trip- we would not have been able to take so many pupils without their support.

Here are some of the comments from staff, pupils, and parents on the day:

I had an outstanding time at Hay Festival and thoroughly enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson! Every year we take pupils who have no interest in reading, and I am always amazed by how many of these pupils leave the Hay Festival suddenly enthused with books and ideas and, from there, go on to develop a love of reading. it is such a valuable experience!
Mel Cooper- English Teacher & Literacy Co-ordinator

My daughter, who has not picked up a book in years, came home completely inspired by her visit to the Hay Festival. She bought three books at the book shop and has spent the half term break reading a whole book. I cannot thank you enough.
Luisa May - Parent of Year 9 pupil

It was lovely to see the students engage in listening to the different authors and participate in asking questions. The students enjoyed having some independence and exploring the area, buying books, and eating good food. Overall, it was a successful trip which I think was beneficial for students.
Verity Tucker - Maths Teacher

We enjoyed being able to explore on our own. We realised that reading is not that boring and we
both really enjoyed Jaqueline Wilson as we have watched Tracy Beaker.
Aleisha Thomas & Tanisha Saunders - Year 7 pupils

The Hay Festival helped inspire me to do some writing myself and helped me to be confident. It showed me how to end stories and I learnt about the different paths to writing.
Isis Owoahene - Year 7 pupil

The Hay Festival was an amazing trip which inspired me to start reading again after many years. I had great fun watching the authors on stage and asking them questions, exploring, and buying books from the bookshop and walking around the rest of the venue. There were many things to do- shop at the wide variety of stalls, rest and read books on the giant deckchairs and get books signed at the bookshop. It was a good day and I would highly recommend!
Lexi May - Year 9 pupil

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Garden Update

This term has seen work continuing on the garden project at St Illtyd’s. Mr Nick Sparrow, our Careers Wales Careers Adviser has been out in the garden every Friday with a team of pupils from the Inspire 2 Achieve project and other targeted pupils.

They have worked extremely hard every week- digging and weeding to get the garden ready for the next stage of development. They put a membrane in place in key areas of the garden to suppress weeds from growing back. They also sowed wildflower seeds in front of our forest area to create a wildflower meadow. These seeds were donated to us as we are taking part in “Superbloom Schools”- a nationwide project to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Pupils from Eco Club spent a session out in the garden weeding.

Pupils who are following the Duke of Edinburgh Award have been spending time in the garden as part of their volunteer hours of the programme. They have started work on the Reflection Garden (see Spirituality Page for more on this), designed by our Chaplain Victoria Wonnacott.

A small group of pupils have been working with teacher Maggie Powell to create beautifully decorated stepping stones that will be used in the garden.

We have also been working with the Council’s Coed Caerdydd project. This project aims to increase tree coverage throughout the city and to care for our existing woodlands. We invited Chloe Jenkins from the project to our school.

She conducted a tree survey, recording which trees we already have at the school and seeing what we can add and where, in order to maximise our green space. Chloe and her team will be providing support in the garden and will be providing us with trees and shrubs in the autumn term.

As you can see from the photos, the garden project is a real team effort and we look forward to bringing you more updates in future issues of the Illtydian.

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Goodbye and Good Luck Year 11

It has come to that sad time of the year when we have to say goodbye to another cohort of pupils. On their final day at St Illtyd’s, Year 11 pupils took part in the ritual that is “shirt signing” before attending a lively Leavers Assembly in which they took a trip down memory lane looking at a PowerPoint of photos from their five years at St Illtyd’s and took part in an Awards Ceremony. Pupils enjoyed a buffet lunch before departing. We wish all our Year 11 pupils the very best of luck for the future.

Cluedo Theatre Trip

Just before the Easter break, a large group of our Year 9 pupils together with our Year 11 GCSE Drama pupils went to the New Theatre to watch a performance of “Cluedo”, a drama based on the popular board game. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the performance and thought that the character of the Butler was particularly funny.

Two pupils got to speak to two of the actors whilst waiting for the coach to arrive, which was a wonderful opportunity for them. One Year 9 pupil said "It was great to finally go on a trip- it's been so long since we've been on one!"

One of our teachers observed - "This has been a wonderful opportunity for our pupils. After two years of Covid restrictions, it has been fantastic to see life get back to normal and to witness excited faces setting off on the trip. We are extremely grateful to the Arts Council of Wales for their generous funding and for making this event a reality."

Luisa May, Community Focused Schools Co-ordinator

Dinghy Sailing at St Illtyd’s

This term has seen the launch of a brand new after school club at St Illtyd’s - the Dinghy Sailing Club. Pupils have been learning all about the theory of how to sail dinghies in after school sessions with Mr Ben Weekes, and then got to put all their skills into practice on an “Introduction to Sailing” course at Llandegfedd Lake and Watersports Centre in Pontypool. Two groups of pupils were able to attend this course on two separate days.

The first group had an introduction to the dinghies, then pupils enjoyed time sailing on the lake in beautiful weather. Pupils also had time to take part in a bonus activity - jumping off a large paddle board into the lake- very welcome on a hot day!

Group two started their day with a dip in the lake followed by lots of water sports activities to develop confidence both in and out of the water. An amazing day was had by all pupils on both days.

We are extremely grateful to the Reardon Smith Nautical Trust who funded both the RYA Start Sailing Handbooks used in our theory sessions along with the two dinghy sailing days. Their support has allowed pupils to enjoy this wonderful opportunity. We would also like to thank all the staff at Llandegfedd Watersports Centre, and we look forward to visiting there again soon.