caring yields a flourishing learning environment school
TRANSCRIPT
Caring Yields a Flourishing Learning Environment
The newsletter is compiled by Keri Trigg,
Ben Capener and Richard Williams Want anything adding to the Newsletter?
Email [email protected]
SCHOOL RAISES
OVER £9000 FOR
CASEY Back in September, Mrs Pryce set us the chal-
lenge of raising £2,000 for Wales Air Ambulance in
memory of former Year Seven pupil Casey Breese,
after his tragic death last summer. Mrs Butler, head
of Year Seven, said: “The whole school community
got behind this and raised money. Casey was a well
-loved boy and everyone wanted to join in and re-
member him by doing something worthwhile in his
memory.” The whole school was eager to meet this
target, and took part in events such as the Charity
Fayre, disco, concert, sponsored walk, covering a
helicopter shape with 2ps, and collecting loose
change. With everyone rallying round to support
this worthy cause, the target of £2,000 was quickly
surpassed, but we weren’t stopping there. The
cheque grand total of £9,025.22 was presented by
Oliver Lewis to Air Ambulance paramedic Karen Da-
vies and fundraising co-ordinator Anne Lewis, in an
assembly attended by members of Casey’s family.
Other pupils and staff who have also had their lives
touched by the work of Wales Air Ambulance joined
Oliver in handing over the cheque.
Canu Cyfle Newtown High School
Newsletter!
Written by Keri Trigg
Latest News
Students make the splash! A number of students from Newtown High School have taken part in
the Urdd Swimming Gala competition held in Cardiff. Twenty two oth-
er local authorities had sent students to compete in the nationwide
event where the representatives would take part in a number of heat
events with the aim to progress to the final. Representing both Powys
and Newtown High School were Luke Griffiths and Luke Evans in the
year 9 relay team, whilst Jamie Burns and Aaron Speed-Philips made
up the year 10 relay team. Amber Speed-Philips (Year 11) competed
in both the 100 m Breast stroke and the 100m Back stroke finishing 7th
in both. Luke Griffiths also competed in the breast stroke and finished
6th.
The winners with their certificates
Written by Ben Capener
Latest News
High School prove they’re up to mark Newtown High School is the first
mainstream school in Powys to be
awarded the Careers Wales Quality
mark. The mark is awarded to estab-
lishments who have proven that
they have procedures in place which aim to improve the outcome for
learners. Mrs Downing, head of PSRE, ensured that the school
achieved the targets set by Careers Wales and will continue to make
sure that Newtown High School carry on providing the best career op-
portunities for their students.
Spring Concert Newtown High School will be holding a Spring Concert on Tuesday,
May 1. The concert, ‘Newtown Rocks’ will be held in the school hall at
7pm. A wide variety of musical talent will be showcased, including all
music types from rock to jazz, as well as a performance from the
school’s Glee Club. Prices will be £3 for adults and £2 for concessions,
with all proceeds going towards musical activities.
Written by Ben Capener
Written by Keri Trigg
If your child is off school for any reason please contact us using…
Tele: 01686 626304
Text: 07969793389
Email: [email protected]
Latest News
Spelling Bee Four Students from Newtown High School will progress to the regional
final of the French and Spanish spelling bee held in Llandudno, North
Wales. Year 7 French pupils took part in a 50 word spelling bee in their
individual classes where the winners would progress to compete
against each other in a 100 word spelling bee with the aims of pro-
gressing to compete in the regional final. 4 pupils emerged successful-
ly and will now have the chance to represent Newtown High School
on the 27th April in the final. The students will have their spelling skills
put to the test as they must correctly spell a total of 150 words to en-
sure success. Good Luck!
The winners with their certificates
Written by Ben Capener
Latest News
Students discuss changes to town Members of the “I Love Newtown” group came into Newtown High
School and held a conference with younger members of the school
about what they would like in the town. Architect Doug Hughes dis-
cussed with the pupils the proposed changes to Newtown. Students
responded well with questions asked and represented our school in
an excellent and polite manner.
Members of the I Love Newtown group with Llais Cyfle
Written by Richard WIlliams
Online counselling service is back! Kooth.com is the online counselling advice service for Young People,
if you’ve got a problem and you cannot talk to a friend, teacher or
parent, then speak to the people at Kooth. It’s all anonymous and
you can post topics with other people who also may be able to help
you out. Visit it at kooth.com
Written by Richard Williams
Latest News
Poem success! A poem written by Cherie Bridges, Year 11, has won the school’s 2012
Rotary Young Writer Competition, and will now
proceed to the District round, representing New-
town. Cherie wrote the poem, which had to be
on the theme of Olympic Dreams/Olympic Spirit,
entitled ‘A Seed of Faith’, winning a £25 cash
prize. She was successful at the District level and
has also won the National compeition. This makes
her the 2nd pupil in a 2 year row to win this. Here
is her winning poem.
Written by Keri Trigg
Cherie Bridges, Year 11
A Seed of Faith
She sat.
Draped in shadows and ill kept secrets;
Eyes hazy, clouded with thought;
Lips parted, breathing out hopelessness;
Smiling weakly as she fought.
Her hair dripping down skinny shoulders,
Hands lying; all empty and still,
Head tipped upwards as she stared at
What she could and what she will.
But through the fog of unclear feelings,
Troubled hearts and aching minds,
Drifts the whisper of forgotten
Melody and hope refined.
Her eyes grew large and sparkled softly.
Her smile faded then began to glow.
As time appeared and shook with surety,
What was futile, what was slow.
I watched the seed of faith take root as
This small girl took firm hold of
The net that caught her dreams and
stopped them,
Woven by facts and caste by love.
She shook them out and caught them
nimbly,
Folding them with utmost care,
Slipping them in her back pocket
Soaked with tears and warm with prayer.
Nothing had changed, as you may guess,
The darkness was still there.
But nestled in her illogical reflection,
Was a tiny bud which cried ‘I Dare.’
I dare to dream, I dare to fall.
I dare to rise, I dare to crawl.
I dare to push, I dare to wait.
I dare defy the cast of fate.
The bud now grew and bloomed within
her,
I saw it blazing in her eyes.
You need no greatness to be great as
Only those who labour rise.
Latest News
Written by Keri Trigg Going the distance Mr Dewi Owen, Assistant Head Teacher, will be running the London
marathon on April 22 to raise money for Save the Children. Mr Owen
will putting on his sprinting shoes next month to run the 42 kilometre
race in the capital. “I am doing lots of training at the moment,” said
Mr Owen, “£2,000 is the target I want to reach.” You can make a do-
nation by visiting www.justgiving.com/Dewi-Owen. You can also do-
nate by text by sending ‘DEWI99 £1’ to 70070 to donate £1; replace
the 1 with the amount you wish to give. To find out about his cause,
Save the Children, visit www.savethechildren.org.uk.
Written by Keri Trigg
Lost your stuff?
Check with the Student Office in the Humanities corridor
Summer Activities
Getting bored in the summer? Why not take part in a range of fun
activities including sport, art and many more! Powys County Coun-
cils have joined up with the Holiday Activity Team to provide people
aged 7-26 with a number of fun activities to keep away the summer
blues!
For more information got to http://fis.powys.gov.uk/ and then click
on “What’s on”.
Feature
Ski Trip! This February Half Term, a group of 26 students travelled to Saalbach
to test their skiing skills out on the Austrian slopes. Accompanied by Mr
Midgely, Mr Thurston, Miss Wood and Miss Wainwright, the group left
school on Friday, February 10th and headed for Dover to catch the
ferry to Calais. Lauren Martindale, Libby Stephens, Ellie Owen and Lu-
cy Roberts, all Year 11, kept a diary of their exciting trip. “We had a
great view from our balcony,” they said, “and a TV, although most of
the channels were in German!” They were able to spend six days on
the slopes, a challenging feat for those of them who had never skied
before. “There was a lot of falling over, especially trying to get off the
ski lift,” say the girls. The group took a shine to their instructor Geurnof,
who told them to call him G-Man, and even tried to teach him some
Welsh during their lunch break, “After 10 minutes we managed to
teach him ‘sut wyt ti?’,and he taught us some German.” As well as
skiing, they also went bowling, ice skating and had a party on the last
night. “They played some great music for everyone to dance to. It
was certainly a great way to finish our holiday.”
The students in their kit
Feature
Written by Keri Trigg
The girls with the G-Man
Doing some skiing And they've fallen over!
Interact
Bon Appetit! Eight students from Newtown High School have put their cooking skills
to the test in the ‘Young Rotary Chef’ competition. Each student was
tasked with the challenge of preparing, cooking and serving a
healthy three course meal on a budget of only £15! The pupils would
have to get the taste buds of the 2008 Wales Chef of the year, Neil
Roberts, tingling if they were to emerge successful. The students were
given a total of two hours to produce their meal. Mr Roberts chose
Rayne Harbon (Year 10) as the eventual winner with Jessica Morgan
(Year 10) as runner up and Lauren Trigg (Year 10) coming in at third
place. Rayne had produced a marvellous three course meal which
included: stuffed mushrooms as the starter; pork in madeira sauce as
the main course and finally for desert, Pots au Chocolat. Catering
teacher Mrs Mills said that Rayne’s competition winning banquet was
“Excellently planned” and deserved the victory. Rayne will now have
her catering skills tested even further as she will now prepare a meal
for the Rotary club in one of their future meetings. Good luck!
The winners of the Young Chef competition
Written by Ben Capener
Interact
Sound of Success! Four budding musicians from Newtown High school have emerged
successful in the recent ‘Newtown Rotary Young Musician’ competi-
tion and now have the opportunity to compete on a district and then
possibly, national level. Both categories saw some very talented indi-
viduals rise to the occasion in search of national acclaim. Only the
winners and the runners up could progress to the next round and after
twenty auditions, Newtown High School music teacher Mr Robin
Midgley chose the winning contestants. In the Instrumental category,
Jack Taylor was the winner and Kate Metcalf the runner up. The vo-
cals category was won by Naomi Headley closely followed by Millie
Evans. Both winners were extremely happy to have won the competi-
tion. Naomi Headley, who has performed with the Newtown Musical
Theatre Company, added that she was “Very excited for the next
round.” Jack Taylor, who is a member of local band ‘Misty Blue Trio’,
felt that the competition was a “Great opportunity” and that
“Coming out on top was a great feeling”. All four contestants will now
be entered into the ‘Regional Heat’ competition, held on Saturday
March 10th, where they will have their chance to compete against
other winners in the district.
(L-R): Jack Taylor, Naomi Headley, Alana Ord and Kate Metcalf
Sixth Form
Student gets a taste of military life Callum Lewis, Year 12, recently took part in a five-day residential army
training course in Rhyl. Callum was lucky
enough to be accepted into one of the 50
places on the Army Insight Course, which
took place between 6th February and 10th
February. Based at the Kinmel Camp army
barracks, the group were able to get a taste
of life in the military through activities such as
leadership, gruelling physical training and
staying out for three nights in the wild prac-
tising patrols and ambushes. “I had a brilliant
time,” said Callum, who plans to join the Ma-
rines after completing his A Levels, “I would
recommend the course to anyone interested
in a military lifestyle.”
Callum Lewis, Year 12
Written by Keri Trigg
Water Aid With International Water Day being held on 22nd March, Newtown
High School’s Interact Club has decided to raise money for the charity
Water Aid. Water Aid aims to overcome poverty and provide people
with clean water and sanitation and Interact is hoping to do what
they can to support them. A number of sixth formers have put their
names forward to collectively swim the equivalent length of the Eng-
lish Channel in a week at Maldwyn Sports
Centre. There will also be a host of other
money raising activities being held to fill
buckets of pennies for buckets of water!
Written by Ben Capener
Sport
Olympic Skills Day! With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games fast ap-
proaching, it was decided to give our Skills Day on March 5th an Olym-
pic feel. The Key Skills lessons for Key Stage 3 pupils used the Olympics
as a theme, and for one of the sessions, Key Stage 3 pupils had the
opportunity to take part in a sport offered by clubs from the local
community.
Written by Ben Capener
Cross Country Students
Sporting success! Students picked for Powys
The Welsh schools indoor athletics championships were held in Cwm-
bran in march of 2012. Newtown High School pupils from year 8 com-
peted, with Jordan Dean earning himself a tremendous 1st place in
the triple jump category. Mat Howart (Shot put), Toby Price (Vertical
jump) and Jordan Dean (Triple Jump) have been selected to repre-
sent Powys after success in their individual categories. They will com-
pete in the Welsh Sport hall Athletics Championships in Cwmbran.
Cross Country in Dolerw Park
A number of students from Newtown High School have taken part in a
cross country held in Dolerw park in February. The pupils achieved
some notable successes especially in the team events. The year 8 and
9 boys team achieved first whilst the year 10 and 11 girls attained se-
cond. Just some of the students who attained success are; Harry Ow-
en 2nd, Dewi Hughes 5th, Charlies Humphreys 6th and Keiran Stacey 7th.
Some students have been selected to compete for Powys in the Brec-
on March 2012. Some of the students that have been selected are
Naomi Rees, Shauna
Turberfield, Lauren Teasdale, Harry Owen, Charlie Humphreys, Chris
Jones, Dewi Hughes, Kieran Stacey and Callum Love
Sport