16 May 2024
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rhieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
As we fully embrace the summer exam series, I must start this week by dusting off a few pearls of wisdom that have stood the test of time. A few words that are exclusively for our students…
To all students in years 10, 11, 12 and 13….
A few words from me as you go into the most important weeks of your school life so far. It has been a privilege to watch you grow into the fine set of human beings you are today. You have demonstrated the greatest resilience and character in exceptional circumstances over your time with us.
What advice can we offer for the months ahead? Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Don’t settle. Don’t be afraid to fail. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
So, don’t worry about failures. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. You are hard-working and amazing young people. Exams are important – so work hard. But the results don’t define you. The hard work you put in defines you.
So, limber up, especially your brain muscle…
crash helmets on…
Go get that cheese.
You’ve totally got this.
Mrs Parry
Tik Tok Sensation – Bronwen Lewis
Next today, it’s not a world I currently inhabit, but we do like to rub shoulders with Tik Tok sensations when the opportunity arises! That was recently the case for our Welsh department. In the words of Mrs Harry;
“Recently we went on a visit to Nantyffyllon Primary School in Maesteg with the Welsh Department to see the Welsh singer Bronwen. During the visit we re-wrote the well-known song ‘Shot gun’ by George Ezra into an engaging song celebrating what we love about Wales. We were encouraged to include as many words and phrases in Welsh as possible, to further celebrate our culture.
The following lesson, we had the amazing opportunity to join the Year 5 and 6 pupils to sing some of our own versions with Bronwen.
In the afternoon, we assisted Year 4 with the creation of a completely new Welsh national anthem and then had a fantastic opportunity to attend a live Bronwen Gig in the school hall. This included songs like ‘Yma o Hyd’, ‘Ti a Fi’, ‘Melyn’ by Coldplay and wrth gwrs ‘Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’.
Bronwen explained how she became a Tik Tok sensation during lockdown and how her following grew by 14,000 fans as she went viral with her Welsh language versions of famous pop songs. She is proudly bilingual and an instrumentalist, playing piano and guitar from childhood.
She also received international acclaim during her time on BBC’s ‘The Voice’ which brought Tom Jones to tears. Bronwen continues to promote the Welsh language through her fresh, exciting and heartfelt take on music and performance.
It was so great to hear Welsh songs and overall we learnt lots more Welsh in a fun and immersive way and had a very enjoyable time.
Diolch yn fawr Bronwen!!
gan Emily D, Gaby ac Alex 9J”
We also ski!
Next today, we are delighted to update you on the adventures of a team of Year 10 Llanishen Skiers! Huge congratulations to Deacon Evans, Ben Pink and Fin De’ath on winning gold at the regional schools ski competition on Wednesday 8th May. Deacon also secured two golds and Fin secured bronze in the individual races.
Deacon also won golds in both the discus and hammer at the U17s Welsh regional athletics championships on Saturday 11th May in Aberdare.
That is a serious collection of medals boys! Well done to you all. We are so proud of you and can’t wait for more updates.
We also do netball in style!
Please join Mrs Yeates and LHS in congratulating Amalie Langman from Year 8 and Florence Davies from Year 9.
Amalie and Florence won the U14s National Club Championship with their team ‘Dinas Devils’ last Sunday.
They demonstrated some outstanding netball play over the tournament and the girls did LHS proud.
They are now the best U14 team in Wales!! What an achievement! Here is the winning team…
And we do football!
Congratulations to Tiger Tobin and Lake James in Year 10. Tiger and Lake were both selected to play for Cardiff City U15 Academy.
On Thursday, a very proud Miss Thorne had the pleasure of watching them compete in the EFL U15 Floodlit Cup Final against Burton Albion F.C. Both boys played an absolutely fantastic game, and Tiger even scored the winning goal for Cardiff City in the final 2 minutes of the game. It was great to see two LHS boys representing Cardiff City!
We also celebrate successful sporting siblings!
Huge congratulations to this brother and sister duo!
They achieved excellent results last weekend at the South Wales Athletics Regional Champs.
Chloe Farmer from Year 11 secured gold in the 300m and younger brother Lucas Farmer from Year 9 won silver in the pole vault with a new PB.
Great work both!
We are looking forward to hearing about the rest of your season!
A beautiful day for a walk….
Also paying good attention to their physical and mental health and wellbeing this week were our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh crew. They took on their practice walk with flair this week. It was indeed a beautiful day for a walk, with stunning views across Cardiff and Caerphilly. They practiced their navigation and map skills ready for the expedition in July. Here they are accurately plotting their routes!
A beautiful poem with the most important of messages
We would like to finish to day by sharing an excellent spoken word poem that was written by Amie Wong in Year 7. Year 7 are studying spoken word poetry as part of an English scheme of learning on The Infinite by Patience Agbabi (who is also a spoken word poet).
Year 7 were tasked with writing a poem on something they were passionate about to be performed. I am sure you will agree that Amie’s was outstanding!
Racism
In a world where colours collide
And pride divides
Racism turns its ugly head
A poison we all dread
It’s a crime as old as time
A crime without reason or rhyme
Separated by skin
An endless cycle we’re in
But look beneath the surface
You’ll see worthiness and purpose
For what’s underneath is the key
For all of us to be free
So let’s break these chains
And erase the stains
Defeat the fear
And let love steer
Racism has no place
In our human race
Together we stand strong
Let’s prove them all wrong
So let’s rise above
And spread peace and love.
Amie Wong 7G
There concludes the brilliant and exhausting round up for this week!
Finally, we are hosting the next donation station for the Cardiff Foodbank on our bus bays between 5-6pm on Wednesday 22nd May. Any donations can also be dropped into our school reception area in advance.
Cardiff Foodbank are current asking for donations of:
SWEETS AND CHOCOLATE, LONG GRAIN RICE (UP TO 1KG BAGS), CONDIMENTS – KETCHUP, MAYONNAISE, SALT, OIL, SPONGE PUDDINGS/LONG LIFE CAKES, SAVOURY SNACKS, SQUASH, FRUIT JUICE (LONG LIFE, 1 LITRE), JAMS AND SPREADS, TINNED POTATOES, TINNED MEAT.
Well done to everyone on navigating an intense week. We look forward to bringing you more news and updates next week.
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher