21 December 2023
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rhieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
We’ve made it! 2023 – that’s a wrap! But before we depart, here is a bumper round up of festive fun!
LHS Christmas Concert 2023 – no one does Christmas like we do!
On Thursday 14th December we enjoyed a magnificent Christmas Concert, our annual evening of music, dance and drama. We commend our junior choir, senior choir, orchestra, drama club, dancers, and solo performers. A highlight of the evening was also our Signing Choir who were absolutely captivating. It was life-affirming and joyous to see students from Year 7 through to Year 13, along with returning Alumni and members of staff, performing together with such passion, enjoyment and inclusion. It was the first opportunity to see our new Year 7 students taking to the stage, and they did not disappoint! Here is a montage of just a few of the highlights….
We can already spot some emerging superstars!
We would like to say a special thank you to the following people:
- All of our talented and dedicated students for superb performances
- Mr Fox and Elinor Maizey for creating an amazing set
- The PTA for keeping everyone fed and watered
- To our parents and carers for supporting your wonderful children
But I would like to give particular thanks to Mrs Brown, Miss Gronow, Mr Grimstead and Mr Wolverson for bringing the greatest show together! They are a remarkable faculty and the students have the most incredible respect and love for them. They most definitely deserve a good rest over Christmas! I just hope we haven’t broken them completely!
Thank you to the audience for contributing over £400 in the retiring collection for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales. The school choir also raised £1,100 in just three hours of singing for City Hospice in St David’s last week!!
Before we leave this item, here are a few highlights from their very original re-writing of the 12 days of Christmas that was a well kept surprise!
(500 shoes was a bit of an exaggeration Ruben!)
Vlogmass 2023!
Now we are well and truly in the Christmas spirit, our students and staff would like to wish all of our readers a Nadolig Llawen and Blwyddyn newydd dda!
Please follow this link to our You Tube channel where you will find Vlogmass 2023 that has been filmed and edited exclusively by our Student Comms Team, notably Mr Will Landricombe.
An industrious Christmas and a makeover!
It has been a very busy couple of weeks in the Autism base, including the making up of over 100 recipes in a jar to sell for the students’ ASDAN project. Students have done everything from finding the recipes, to a costing spreadsheet, making all the jars and then selling and delivering them. We are so proud of them for their hard work.
They have also had some Christmas baking fun, making individual gingerbread houses from scratch and decorating them with as many sweets as they wanted! It would be fair to say that they made an entire gingerbread village!!
An addition to this, the spirit of Christmas has been very alive in the Autism base grotto! Staff in the Hub classes surprised their students with a festive act of kindness. In secret they performed a shed make over! With recycled objects, charity shops finds and kindly donated decorations from the community they got creative and wove their Christmas magic! Mrs Parry and Mr Maidment came for the unveiling of the Christmas grotto and since then it has been a cosy, magical place to enjoy, relax, socialise and get excited for the festive season. Not forgetting of course, a special surprise visitor who came this week for a lovely chat and to hand out some yummy treats – yes, the big man himself Father Christmas! There is certainly a lot of kindness in the air this Christmas – Nadolig Llawen!
Teen Fest Trip staring Mr Williams and Miss Walters!
Let us now briefly step away from all things festive to tell you about our recent trip to Teen Fest. In the words of Miss Walters….
“On Wednesday 7th December Mr Williams (our new Head of Department) and I took 12 Year 9 students to Teen Fest, at the All-Nations Centre. After a manic half an hour trying to source keys for the minibus, off we went.
During the day at the event the students were given the opportunity to visit various tech stands, such as new start-up company, My group went firstly to a company showcasing their new game. I am not a gamer in any sense of the word but even I got involved. They made actual viruses and did some urban planning. The group with Mr Williams saw a really high-tech robot, discovered the mysteries of Bletchley Park and learnt all about advanced dental procedures.
Our next session comprised of going to see the Royal Welsh Engineers. We did the hand eye co-ordination test and Mr Williams got the highest score of the day, much to his delight. The students were also highly competitive. Next, we visited a company who utilised both video and animation software and students got to handle and practice using a professional grade camera. Needless to say, I spent most of time trying to hide from the camera!
For our final activity of the day the students were split into two groups. Their task was to come up with new tech that would assist disabled people. Both groups thought up fabulous ideas and our very own Noah Davies showcased his groups idea to the whole room.
The students were amazing. We all really enjoyed our day, and Mr Williams networked the heck out of the businesses there. So hopefully some companies will host an event at LHS in the near future, and we both look forward to taking more students again next year.”
Not only did they have a fantastic time, but one of the groups won Best Design for their ‘Carbon Spectacles.’ Well done team!!!!
LHS sings EVERYWHERE this week!
Back on the festive trail to a very wet and cold Monday when our Senior and Junior Choirs visited the residents of Ty Coch Nursing Home to spread some Christmas cheer and warmth. The incredibly grateful members and staff were treated to a range of traditional and modern Christmas songs, including special performances from Katie Gill, Ruben Kelman and Eve Payne. From Ty Coch we braved the weather and ventured across to Boots and M&S Llanishen where the choirs busked in conjunction with Cardiff East Rotary Club in aid of Tŷ Hafan.
Tuesday afternoon saw our A Level Music Students perform at the Llanishen Rotary Club Annual Christmas Luncheon, held at the Llanishen Golf Club. Katie Gill, Reuben Smith, Dylan Goddard, Tom Holroyd, Owen Holcombe and Charley Lewis performed a wide variety of repertoire, ranging from musicals, Christmas favourites and even classical pieces in preparation for their A Level recitals in March.
If, after reading this or perhaps even watching one of these events, your child would like to have instrumental or singing lessons at the school they are able to sign up here https://www.cfmusiceducation.co.uk/learn-to-play/sign-up-for-tuition/, and our extra curricular programme will restart again in the New Year.
Awesome Alumni
Also this week, it was lovely to welcome back Callum, who is currently studying for a degree in English at Birmingham University. Callum even came in on his birthday to speak to our Year 13 English Literature class about how they might approach their studies and revision in the coming months. Having excelled himself in the subject at A Level, he offered some great advice and guidance. He even gave them his email address in case they had any further questions. It’s always fantastic to see our former students giving something back to our current students.
Final foodbank collection of 2023
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our monthly collections for the Cardiff Foodbank in 2023. It has been great to support the Rotary Club of Llanishen in their relentless efforts and we look forward to working with them again in 2024. Here’s Keeleigh with the 7D foodbank collection.
Learning Support Stars of the Week!
This weeks SOTW goes to Ava Sweet in Year 7 for her fantastic singing and participation in the Nurture Christmas pop up shop!
Our second SOTW goes to Kaylem Hadley in Year 10. Kaylem has been fantastic all term and working hard at everything he does. Kaylem even asked his friends to get in on the action and join him for a picture.
Well done Ava and Kaylem!
Final flourish…
I shall sign off 2023 with a few photos that will put a smile on your face. First, our visit from Wilson the therapy dog on Wednesday 20th December, followed by a rather sticky Mr White who took the custard pies from Year 11 with good grace!
We wish you all a very healthy and happy Christmas break. Then we shall do it all again in 2024!
So now it is time to say goodbye to the mischievous elves that have been causing havoc at LHS. No doubt they will be back with more shenanigans next year.
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher