11 July 2024
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rhieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
Awards Evening
On Thursday 4th July we hosted one of the most enjoyable experiences of the school year – the annual Awards Evening. Congratulations to everyone who received an award for effort and achievement.
Mr Mee was our host with the most and kept us entertained throughout. The musical interludes were captivating. Katie Gill wowed with her rendition of Never Enough. Gabriel Roberts left us speechless with his performance of Extract from Ballade No.1 by Chopin. And resident band, Kujo (Freddie, Robert, Oscar and Abigail) performed a very energetic rendition of Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Only at LHS!!
Congratulations also go to those who received special awards across a range of subjects including excellence in languages, music, history, creative writing and mathematics. Here are a few photographs to celebrate just some of our amazing students. We would also like to thank our PTA for funding the vibrant balloon arch!
Congratulations also go to those students who received awards as champions of the Autism Base, Hearing Impaired Resource Base and Learning support. You are all superstars. We also share our immense respect for Araon Grant who was awarded the Taj Champenois Award for Wellbeing. This award is donated to recognise a student who has overcome personal difficulties to excel and achieve great things.
The evening was given one last sprinkling of joy thanks to the inspirational words delivered by Thomas Newman. Thomas is a former LHS Head Boy currently studying Law at St Anne’s College, Oxford University.
LHS Mock Election
Our thanks go to Mr Mann and our six electioneers for staging a strong debate ahead of the actual general election. On 1st July, Freya Curtis stood for the Green Party, Lily Morgan stood for labour, Ruben Kelman stood for Plaid Cymru, Jacob Thwaite stood for the Liberal Democrats, Morgan Howden stood for the Conservatives, and Fin Webster stood for Reform.
The challenging debate covered issues such as the economy and cost of living, young people and education, NHS and the care system, green energy, crime and Welsh independence. On Thursday 4th July, LHS voted… and the results are in.…
In registration this week, the students have had the opportunity to compare our school vote with the actual UK results, the implications for Wales, and whether first past to post is a fair voting system.
Reading for Pleasure Library – Librarian’s work experience trip to Rhydypenau Library
In other news, our librarians have been out and about last week.
LHS’s new ‘Reading for Pleasure library’ could not run without the enthusiasm and time of our amazing ‘student librarians’ who volunteer at break and after school.
Last Friday, Mrs Hazeltine-Rees and Mrs O’Hanlon, took eighteen librarians from years 7 to 10, on a work experience trip to Rhydypenau library and Hub.
The fantastic staff there – Jen and Anna – gave the librarians an insight into how they catalogue, organise and promote books and the community events they run. They even had a tour of the secret basement book storage and the community garden and reading shed!
Following this, the librarians were set to work creating displays in teams. They had to select books, display and promote them to a particular audience according to a brief given. As you can see from the photos – they created some fantastic displays!
Jen and Anna patiently answered the diverse range of questions our brilliantly curious librarians had and inspired them to come back brimming with ideas to improve our school library.
Thank you so much to the fantastic staff at Rhydypenau Hub and library. Remember, everyone can sign up for a free library membership – just pop into your local library and ask the helpful staff!
Our school library is always looking for funding and donations to improve and update the quality of books available to pupils. If you would like to donate books (modern fiction books only please suitable for age 11-16 – we are especially looking to grow our graphic novel and Manga section at the moment) to the library, or if you would like to donate or sponsor us to buy new books, please contact Mrs Hazeltine-Rees. Thank you!
Year 6 into 7 transition day!
Friday 5th July was our main transition day for our incoming cohort. They were absolutely delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with them.
The transition day was an opportunity to make new friends and for Year 6 to spend the day in their actual form group ahead of September. Each form group toured the school to get a sense of bearings for day 1 in September! They experienced some lessons, met our buddies team, took part in a bonding tug of war, and had the opportunity to ask any questions.
Thank you for throwing yourselves into the day Year 6. The next time we see you will be in September when you will be looking incredibly smart in your new uniforms! In the meantime, have a great summer break.
A career in construction?
Also last week, we were very grateful to Bouygues UK for delivering an assembly to highlight the variety of career opportunities from trades to professions and the variety of pathways to those jobs, including employability skills.
Bouygues UK is a leading construction and property development company in the United Kingdom. It is part of Bouygues Construction which employs 32,500 people around the world.
They have customers across over 60 countries and build to create spaces, connections and opportunities. In the UK, they aim to improve daily life for millions of people by regenerating communities and creating buildings that welcome life in all its diversity, within sectors such as housing, healthcare, education, science and research and data centres. https://www.bouygues-uk.com/
D of E Bronze!
We wanted to give a massive shout out to our DofE bronze expedition team. They had to battle the elements with great determination and resilience. Camping in the rain – an unforgettable experience with chums. Day 2 was slightly kinder with the appearance of the sun and red arrows against the backdrop of the sea and beautiful Welsh coastline. Well done everyone!!
Raising awareness of Dyslexia
Finally today, the Learning Support department would like to commend Abi Lovatt in Year 8 on the amazing work she is doing to raise awareness of Dyslexia in our school community.
Abi asked if she could create a PowerPoint to present to the school. She has so far presented to two of our Year 7 form groups, Learning Support staff and students, and is keen to roll it out to other forms as well. We are currently renewing our Bronze Dyslexia Award and will shortly be assessed for Silver.
Well done Abi, you have done an amazing job!
By the time I finalise and send this blog, we will enjoying the final night of our amazing school production of Footloose. I can’t wait to bring you some highlights next week as we wrap up for the summer break. We still have much ahead in the final week including our infamous school sports day, rewards trips, the Isle of Wight, New York, Spain, and fond farewells. Until next week….
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher