30 January 2025
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rhieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
300th Edition!
As we launch into the 300th edition of the Headteachers Blog, I attempted some rudimentary mathematics. We release a blog every Friday for the 39 school weeks of the year, plus one on GCSE results day and one on A-Level results day. So, we’ve been celebrating the successes and adventures of our school community in this way for over 7 years….and counting!
So, the 300th edition needs to be a monumental one. LHS…you did not let me down. Here is a round up of stories and activities from one week in the life of our amazing school community!
Holocaust Memorial Day Service
On Monday 27th January, the week started with a solemn reminder of the atrocities that were uncovered on that day 80 years ago when Russian soldiers liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Alice Miles from Year 7 attended the Holocaust Memorial Service at the Temple of Peace. Alice is a member of the Cardiff and Vale Youth Senior Choir who were invited to sing the Shalom prayer to close the service. Alice met and spoke with the First Minister and a Holocaust survivor, Eva Clarke, who was born in a concentration camp. An incredibly moving experience.
Protest at LHS
“It happened; therefore, it can happen again.”
Primo Levi, Chemist and Holocaust survivor.
There are so many student-led initiatives at LHS that help to create a school where everyone feels safe, supported, and valued. There are many opportunities for students to get involved and be the change. We have our Rights Respecting Schools Pupil Steering Group, our Diversity Champions, our Peer Mentoring team and our Pride Alliance, to name a few.
The students also have the opportunity to explore ways to protest and to stand up against injustice through the school curriculum. The Expressive Arts department have been exploring how students can express their views through the medium of art. They were invited to select a cause that they feel passionate about. They then took their campaign to the corridors of LHS to share their passion and to carry out a relatively peaceful protest….
Our YOUTH most definitely has a strong voice!
If Year 7 were expressing themselves via the medium of Art, then our Youth Speaks team were equally skilled in the spoken word.
Last week, LHS hosted the first round of the Rotary Club’s annual debate competition with excellent results. We competed against Howells, who entered one junior and one senior team.
We entered four teams comprising of a mixture of new and experienced debaters – with our youngest team including two Year 7s! All of our debaters did a fantastic job and represented the school so well. We are so proud of you!
Our Llanishen 1 Juniors team included Seth Davies-Grey (Year 7), Hudson Gurney (Year 7) and Benjamin Samuels (Year 8).
Our Llanishen 2 Juniors team included Eleanor Hopkins (Year 9), Fleur Horton (Year 9) and Eloise Jenkins (Year 9).
Our Llanishen 1 Seniors team included Amna Khalid, Ananmay Banerjee and Jack Hegarty.
Our Llanishen 2 Seniors team included Fiona Garbutt, Jacob Parson and Maiwen Beynon-Bernard.
Our senior teams gave remarkable performances – with the judges deliberating for over 20 minutes to decide the winners. Both teams did exceptionally well but narrowly missed out on the victory to Howells.
Llanishen 2 (comprised of Eleanor Hopkins, Fleur Horton and Eloise Jenkins) won the heat with their fantastic debate on nature vs nurture – the judges were so convinced by both speakers that they couldn’t decide which side of the argument they agreed with!
They have progressed to the next stage of the competition, which the Rotary Club have asked us to host on Tuesday 4th February. The drama studio is booked and we are ready for round 2! We are hoping to continue our winning streak with the Junior competition and demonstrate Llanishen’s debating prowess!
Our Sports STARS!
Next today, we celebrate some absolutely amazing achievements in the field of sport.
First up, we would like to congratulate Poppy Plant and Amelie Langman who competed for the U15 Welsh Feathers against France last weekend.
They secured a staggering 86-30 win!
What an amazing achievement to have two of our stunning Llanishen girls representing their country together.
The PE department and the whole school community are all so proud of you!
We would also like to extend our congratulations to Louie Robinson-Shabani from Year 11 on winning a silver medal in the Welsh National Youth MMA Championships on Saturday 25th January! Another stunning achievement!
Our ASD Sports Superstars!
We would like to say a huge thank you to Cardiff Met for hosting an extravaganza of sport last week as part of an Insport series event. In all, twenty-four sports were on offer to the delight of our ASC students who took every opportunity to step out of their comfort zones and try activities such as curling, electric wheelchair football, golf, fencing, shooting (laser), tennis, and boxing (with pads) to name but a few.
The coaching staff were extremely welcoming and shared their expertise and patience with the group, modelling and instructing with their wealth of knowledge and encouraging our students who showed amazing listening, positivity, teamwork, curiosity and the resilience to stick at it!
A personal highlight for the staff was the judo where our student’s fitness, co-ordination, and flexibility served them well. Richard Branson’s quote ‘You learn by doing, and falling over’ certainly came into play (excuse the pun) as our students grappled (Katame Waza) and performed foot sweeps (Kari-ashi) under the skilful guidance of their sensei’s.
Equipped with traditional judo uniform (judogis) they really looked the part! Richard in-particular was in his element drawing on his experience of Taekwondo, impressing the experienced sensei with his clever techniques.
The sporting event also turned out to be a social occasion with Shaun meeting his basketball coach from his Cardiff Met team and Parish his Llanishen badminton coach. It was also a treat to see teachers and students from the Hearing-Impaired resource base and learning support enjoying the celebration of sport.
With their well-being cup well and truly filled, the trip reminded the staff of the positive impact of sharing new activities and being out of our comfort zone.
Why not challenge yourself today? Put down your pens and gadgets and try something new! You never know, you might surprise yourself!
Learning Support Star of the Week
For this edition, it is only right that we celebrate two stars! We would like to congratulate Josh Kendrick in Year 7 for a fantastic week and for putting 100% effort into everything he does. Well done Josh! Our second start is Alona Buriak in Year 10. This is awarded for fantastic participation on a school trip. Alona tried all the activities and smiled the entire day! She certainly makes us smile every day! Great stuff!
Brilliant Buddies!
As the spring term continues, our transition visits are in full swing again! This means our brilliant Year 7 buddies go back to their primary schools to talk to Year 6 about top tips for transition. Amalie, Amber and Mikey answered questions from Ton-Yr-Ywen pupils, telling them about lessons they enjoyed, clubs they’ve joined and sports they’ve excelled in. Only a year ago these three awesome young people were sat listening and asking questions. A year later they have done so much at LHS and had many experiences to share. Hopefully, Mr Mee and the buddies took away the butterflies Year 6 might have felt and replaced them with reasons to be excited.
Our Global Sustainability Champion 2024!
For the next piece today, we return to an incredibly enterprising young man. Ali Nehan Khan in Year 11 is the deserving recipient of a ‘Global Sustainability Award 2024.’ After his nomination last year, it was great to finally feel the weight of that trophy! I’ll let Ali tell you in his own words!
“I was absolutely thrilled when I received my trophy in the mail; it felt like finally receiving the bouquet for my hours of hard work and design.
My project, “The Vertico Kit,” was crafted to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Two: Zero Hunger.
During the summer, I spent time researching various agricultural methods such as hydroponics and aeroponics. I then started crafting a design for an indoor farming kit, which aimed to utilise 99% less water and 98% less soil.
When I joined Llanishen High School, Mrs Francis showed me an agricultural site within the school’s premises, and that is when I decided to enter the Global Sustainability Awards of 2024.
Although I was disheartened at first when I realised I would not be able to receive the award in person, I believe a very key lesson I learnt from this experience is the importance of patience, and how your hard work will always pay off. Sustainability has always been a key passion in my life, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store.”
I cannot think of better placed words for this 300th blog. The future is bright for Ali Nehan Khan. And if the roundup of student achievement in this blog is anything to go by, the future is looking brighter for us all.
Cardiff Area Rotary Young Musician of the Year 2024-2025
Finally, we end on a superb high note.
On a cold Wednesday evening in Whitchurch High School, Owen Holcombe from Year 13 was our Llanishen area representative in the instrumental section of the Cardiff Area Rotary Young Musician of the Year competition.
Owen kicked off the evening, and raised the roof, with his version of ‘Hit Me’ by Dirty Loops – a powerful and edgy song, with intricate rhythms and syncopation, alongside some truly outrageous drum fills and flamboyant stabs. His second piece, ‘Nosso Samba’ gave a fun Latin flavour to the programme. Again, Owen impressed with his techniques across the whole drum kit and clever fills in between the main bossa nova groove.
Given both adjudicators had backgrounds in the classical world and would have never heard of Dirty Loops, it was going to be very difficult for Owen to win the competition against some extremely talented string players and pianists. They did comment, however, on how much they enjoyed Owen’s ‘energy’!
Owen has also bagged himself several offers to study Music and Music Technology after A Levels, including at the prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music in London. A huge well done Owen from everyone in Llanishen, and thank you for everything you’ve given and continue to give to the Music Department.
Over his time at LHS, Owen has been the absolute embodiment of everything we value. A very talented but humble young man. An absolute joy and inspiration.
We know his attitude, skills, work ethic and amazing personality are going to take him on to great things in life!
I look forward to bringing you more news and updates next week.
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher