F l i n t T i m e sD e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

We are appealing to parents and supporters of theschool to respond to a consultation over the future ofour sixth form. Flintshire County Council are puttingforward a proposal outlining an option that would leadto the potential closure of the sixth forms at Flint HighSchool and St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School.The two schools have been working in partnershipsince September to provide an enhanced, sustainableand high quality sixth form provision. Thisarrangement has already proved successful with 221students currently in the combined sixth form whichwell exceeds the Welsh Government’s minimumguidelines of 120.Last Monday, an open consultation meeting was heldat the school to provide an opportunity for people tofind out more about the options being proposed andto put forward their views. We were overwhelmed bythe response and would like to thank everyone whoattended.We have already received an outpouring of supportfrom students, parents, governors, friends of the schooland members of the local community in favour ofretaining the sixth form. Sandy Mewies AM and DavidHanson MP have both given statements expressingtheir concerns over the implications of such a proposaland there has been an incredible show of support fromhundreds of people who have left messages on ourspecially set up Facebook page called Flint HighSchool: Save our 6. We also thank the FlintshireChronicle, Flintshire Leader and Daily Post for theirsupport in helping us fight this proposal from FlintshireCounty Council.In Flint last Friday groups of our students staged anSOS Save Our Sixth Form campaign to raise awarenessof the school’s plight. They handed out flyers andtalked to residentsabout what thepotential closure ofthe sixth form wouldmean to them and thelocal community.The actor and formerstudent, Ian Puleston-Davies, who officiallyopened our newlyrefurbished sixth format Flint High inSeptember said:”I cannot believe that this situation ishappening. Flint High School is very special to me andI can see the tremendous amount of work that hasbeen put into the whole school to improve all aspects.The new sixth form facilities are fantastic, it’s awonderful learning environment and it’s clear to see

how happy the students are. I truly hope it will remainopen for the benefit of the students and the people ofFlint.”Just last week we learned that the school had retainedits Band 1 status for thesecond year running inthe All Wales Bandinglisting. It is one of justtwo secondary schools inFlintshire to achieve thisand one of only 20 in thewhole of Wales.To know that we havebeen awarded Band 1again is wonderful and itis a credit to the students,teachers, staff and governors. Having a sixth formhere means we have specialist subject teachers, someof whom would have to go if we lost our sixth form.Learners across all year groups benefit from thisexpertise and this will enable us to maintain ourexcellent standards. Let’s not forget that our sixthform is a vital part of our school family. I strongly urgeeveryone to have their say and select Option 2 on theresponse forms, that can be found at on the back ofthis newsletter, which councillors will have to take intoaccount before taking any decisions.Alternatively, we would ask parents and supporters togo online to complete the response form at:http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Resident/Schools/School-Modernisation-Area-Schools-Review.aspx or emailor write to Flintshire County Council.Please note that all communications must be receivedbefore 31st January. For further information about theconsultation please visit our web site at:www.flinthighschool.co.ukMeanwhile, we wish all the students, staff, families andfriends of Flint High School a Merry Christmas and aHappy New Year. Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn NewyddDda.

• Disturbed by the threat to Flint High School’s SixthForm, students come together to protest.

• Students enjoy making full use of the facilitiesoffered by the new Sixth Form.

• Children In Need – Students raised £175.00 bydressing up and baking and selling cakes for thisevent.• Students have been volunteering their skills to helpout at Abbeyfield and Pen Coch. They have been

involved in such projects as assisting with shoppingtasks, making Christmas cards with other students andgenerally being a great help within the local community.• 63 Students enjoyed an afternoon of ChristmasShopping at the Trafford Centre on Wednesday 4th

December . They spent time together shopping, iceskating, bowling and many other attractions that theTrafford has to offer.• To prove that their craft skills are alive and well,students busied themselves making their own Christmasdecorations for the Sixth Form study rooms tosupplement the arrival of their Christmas Tree onMonday 2nd December.

Flint High School is now involved in two new fundraisingschemes:

Its aim is to help schools like ours fundraise by askingbusinesses to nominate our school when purchasingtheir stationery, equipment and other supplies online. Itdoesn't cost anything more than a click and is supportedby leading business suppliers including Viking Direct,Staples, Euroffice, Microsoft, Dell, and many more.For every purchase the supplier will contribute apercentage of the sale to our school and it doesn’t costthe business a penny.If you run your own business, or work for an organisationthat could help our school, please go to 4schools.co.ukfor more information.

Easyfundraising is a free way to raise money for goodcauses, (including Flint High School) simply by shoppingonline! Shop with over 2700 top retailers includingArgos, John Lewis, Apple and Amazon.

It’s simple. When shopping online just go via thewww.easyfundraising.org.uk website, then click onto theretailer you wish to shop with. The retailer will then givea donation!

On Wednesday, 20th November, Flint High School wasvisited by “FilmClub on the Road”, FilmClub’stravelling cinema. They came with state of the artprojection and sound equipment, a huge screen,giant beanbags and enough popcorn to sink abattleship.

In the morning, 40 students and their teachers fromthe Gwynedd School braved the elements andwalked to Flint High School for a screening of“Monsters’ University”.In the afternoon, 160 Flint High School students weretreated to the animation, “ParaNorman”. At the endof both screenings, FilmClub facilitators talked aboutFilm Reviews and reviewing language.

Recently, Flint High’s FilmClub was pleased to havebeen nominated forFilmClub of the Year.Although we didn’t win wewere very proud to be oneof 15 schools nominated inthe U.K. Our nominationmust partly be attributedto the fact that some of ourFilmClub members havebeen very successful withtheir review writing over

the past few months. Elliott Rodber Yr 10, Jessica HenrysYr 8, Josh Price Yr 10, and Katherine Lindhorst Yr 11 haveall had their reviews published as “Reviews of the Week.”(FilmClub receives around 6000 every week).

Also Dan Daykin, a talentedyear 8 student won thenational competition for hisdesign for a new Iron-Manoutfit.

Natasha Holbrook, LeonWilliams & Katie Eytonwith some of the life-sizecut-out characters.

Following the release of the film, “Turbo”, FilmClub askedits members nationwide to design a snail mascot worthyof Turbo and his racing crew and were overwhelmed bythe amount and variety of entries they received from filmclub members. They received amazing mascots - somewere drawn, others painted and some were made usinga computer. They said all of their entries were stunning!Although our Film Club at Flint High didn’t win we had aspecial mention on their website:

Here is a still from Josh and Ben ‘s animation which wasmade using Green Screen technology.You can find a copy of the video under Library/LearningZone/Snails

Students studying Art or Photography had a surprisebonus when they visited London recently to viewpaintings and photographs at the National Galleryand the National Portrait Gallery.

After a longdrive toLondon, wearrived to findvarious streetartperformancesin TrafalgarSquare,including averyimpressiveYodaapparentlystanding inmid-air!On top of thefourth plinthin the Squarestands a giantblue cockereland we were

delighted to see the enormous Christmas tree, sentby the people of Norway, every year, as continuedthanks for their liberation at the end of the SecondWorld War in 1945.Apart from the impressive buildings and tremendousart on view inside them, students had theopportunity to explore the statues and areassurrounding the Square which led to BuckinghamPalace. Imagine the excitement when a largelimousine, with the Royal Standard flying drove pastand Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth responded to Flintstudent’s shock with a gracious wave. Sixth Former,Katie Brown, told us that she was so excited, she

forgot to take a photograph, but she could describe the‘powder blue outfit the Queen was wearing’.

Photography students had the opportunity to improvetheir portfolios with shots of famous landmarks andjoined Art students in looking at some of the finestpaintings in the world.Finally, Miss Evanspersuaded the coach driversto show us the famousChristmas lights in OxfordStreet, where we drove pastthe biggest Primark store inEurope, much to MrChampney’s disappointmentas he hoped to do someshopping (For the first time!)After a good drive home thecoach arrived at Flint at11pm allowing a group oftired but happy travellers toget home to bed.

Headteacher Mrs McCleanand asked her if he could doan assembly about thesetwo charities. He explainedto Year 10 students why thecharities are important andwhy we should raise moneyfor the charities.Some students decided notto wear Christmas jumpersbecause they wanted to getmore into the Christmasspirit.Both students and teachersgot involved in this day, itwas a great success and as a school we raised alot ofmoney for both charities.

Students and teachers wear christmas jumpers in aidof the charities “Save The Children” and “Make AWish”.

Earlier in the week James Davison, a Year 10student at Flint High School, approached

Almost 100studentsimpressed apacked church ina candle lit servicewhich took placeat the ParishChurch of StMary's and StDavid's in Flint onThursday 12thDecember. Froma serene andpeaceful openingto a rousingrendition ofWizard’sChristmas classicto conclude, therewas somethingfor everybody to enjoy with an array of talent onshow. All the students involved were simply amazing.

There were so many highlights but to name just afew, Charlie Molloy, Youseff Rhouni and MatthewBarnes gave a beautiful performance ‘Have Yourself a

Merry Little Christmas’. The choir had not only grown innumber but also in confidence. Their performance of theWelsh song ‘Nadolig Llawen’ was simply magical. Thenewly formed boys choir joined the girls for a 4 partarrangement of O Holy Night whilst the wind band gavea stirring accompaniment to the congregational carols.The talented wind players tackled a difficult arrangementof '20 Christmas Carols in 2 minutes' and 'Rudolf the RedNosed Reindeer.' Year 9 student, Elinor Cartwrightwowed us with her piano skills. The gospel singers didnot disappoint with their fantastic and hilariousarrangement of the Sister Act favourite ‘Hail Holy Queen.’All the soloists and ensembles impressed the audiencewith their talent.The evening ended with two very accomplishedperformances by the School of Rock made up of year 7and 8 students who have benefited from expert tutoringfrom members of the school band - TBA. They performedtwo Christmas Favourites – Slade’s ' Merry ChristmasEveryone' and Geldolf's 'Feed the World' before TBAjoined by Abigail Sherratt had everybody on their feetclapping andcheeringalong. At theend of thenight theperformersreceived kindwords ofthanks fromCouncillorRoberts and astandingovation.Miss Hyde andMiss Williamswould like tosay a huge welldone andThank you toeveryone whotook part. Weare very proudteachers.

For the first time this year we decided to enter teamsfor the Urdd swimming gala and we are very gladthat we did! The team consisted of the fabulous year7 and 8s - Lauren, Abigail, Brogan, Stephanie, Alice,Declan, Owen, Hannah and Kelsie with Nadine,Dominique and Olivia, year 9.The day started off well with Declan Wilkes winningboth the front crawl and breastroke and OwenWalters coming 3rd in the backstroke. The girls wereup next and Lauren Williams won both the frontcrawl and Individual Medley race in fantastic times.Alice Hyndman won her heat in the backstroke andcame 2nd overall and Hannah McGlue won thebutterfly heat and came a very close second overall.Brogan and Stephanie did very well in their heatsagainst very tough competition. With the year 7s and8s having done so well, the pressure was mountingfor year 9! Did they cope?? Of course they did! Theyall swam amazingly! Dominique Atkins stole the showwith an impressive win in a very competitivebackstroke race and then without much restobliterated the opposition in a very demandingbutterfly race! Nadine Beck was spurred on by herfriend's impressive performance and won theindividual medley race. With the individual racesfinished, we had the relays to look forward to. Theyear 7 and 8 girls competed solidly (and gave MissBreward a heart attack with a VERY close takeover!)Luck was on their side and they won the front crawlrelay with 25m to spare! They then went on to onceagain win in impressive style in the medley. KelseyGarret stepped up to the mark to compete with theyear 9s in their relays and they battled until the veryend coming a close second in both.Obviously having so many swimmers doing well waslovely but the thing that made me most proud wasthis team’s support of one another. I hope to see thesame thing in Cardiff next month when the year 7and 8 relay team, Lauren Williams, Declan Wilkes,Nadine Beck and Dominique Atkins go down toCardiff for the national finals. Da iawn chi a pob lwcyn Caerdydd!

On December 5th, after weeks of training at leasttwice a week and a lot of hard work, the day of theUrdd Gymnastics Competition finally came. Thegymnasts who competed last year knew how highthe standard would be and all the gymnasts steppedup to the challenge. They certainly looked the part

with Olivia Probert acting as hairdresser making surethey all had matching French plats and glitter spray!Diolch Olivia! First up we had the Key Stage 3 girls withDominique Atkins performing in the individualcompetition. Next up were our pairs, Annabel Jones andOlivia Carrington and Danielle Muia and Emily Chisholm.We also had two sets of trio's, Megan Harmes, DanielleWaite, Hannah Robinson and Dominique Atkins, NadineBeck and Sian Roberts. They all performed exceptionallywell against some very experienced club gymnasts. Nextup were Key Stage 4, Brittany Foster competing as anindividual, Lois Roberts and Abi Williams competing as apair. Just like the younger girls, they shone and made mea very proud teacher. In practice on Friday, MrSpearpoint said that these gymnasts are the mosttalented school gymnasts that he has seen in his wholeteaching career (I'm not sure but I think that is quite a lotof gymnasts!) I won't get the final results until afterChristmas, but every single one of our FHS Gymnasts didamazingly and has worked incredibly hard. Da iawngenod!

The BTEC Dancers are working hard on their firstassessment piece, which is a street dance assessment.They work solidly on a Tuesday evening doing an hour’stheory work after school (they all love this bit obviously)!They then go into the gym and do an hour’s hardpractical work, focusing at the moment on improvingflexibility (yes I hear awwwww Miss it hurts a lot at themoment!!) Georgia Watson has made the mostimprovement so far, da iawn ti! Ashleigh Smith, TiaWilliams, Alice Collins and Lauryn Gill will be going on astreet dance course with Urban Fusion just beforeChristmas that will allow them to work with our feederprimary schools preparing teams for the FlintshireDanceFest'14.

Year 7 have been fully committing themselves topractice so far and, thanks to Mrs Williams, they areforming into a fantastic team and some lovely playersare coming along. They played really well at thenetball play-night at John Summers against the other9 schools that attended. They lost against Connah’sQuay recently,  however they put up a good fightagainst a tough team. A fantastic performance byMasie Price-Roberts in defence! They showed theirtrue colours against St. Richard Gwyn where theywon 2-1 in their away match. Great work captainChloe Stewart. Keep up the good work year 7.

Year 8 are so keen and it’s great they have beenpractising twice a week. They were beaten by St.Richard Gwyn but played much better than in thehome match last month. They thrashed Argoed bothA and B teams and Castle Alun at the play-night lastmonth. Well done super shooters Hannah Wilson andHannah Gill, growling defenders Milly Taft and EliseProbert; and running around like headless chickens(in a good way) Kelsey Garrett, Taylor Garrett, JadeLloyd and Sarah Tunny.

The year 9s have been great this year and I have seenmassive improvements in all the girls’ performances.They played really well at the play-night but eventhough they lost to St Richard Gwyn, they still lookedfabulous. I blame the freezing cold for losing thatone.Thank you to Kate Pierce (again) for her outstandingcoaching during netball practices and Rhian Chittyfor helping out with the umpiring at St. RichardGwyn. GO FLINT!

Our year 7 team have been training hard and it hasbeen great to see them put their skills to the testagainst other schools. In the first playnight held atFlint, we took on St. David’s and Mold Alun. We wonone, drew one and lost one. The team showed greatpromise with outstanding performances from AdamWilliams, Matthew Barnes, Charlie Shone and CallumGallagher. In the next play night we faced Mold Alunagain and Buckley Elfed. This time, bolstered by thereturn of Thomas Davies from injury and a couple

more mid season signings, we managed one draw andthree wins. This team shows massive promise and I lookforward to many more wins to come. Well done to allteam players not just those mentioned, including thegirls who are doing a great job. Thanks to coaches RyanLloyd, Liam Lloyd, Ryan Pearce and Jacob Brown.

Unfortunately, having qualified in fine style for theCounty semi finals, Year 8 lost 4 – 1 to Castell Alun.Heads up son! The troops rallied and we struck back in afine 8 – 6 victory against Buckley Elfed in a friendly 7-a-side on our astroturf. Particularly well done to WillEdwards who did a fine job as a makeshift goal keeper.

We beat Hawarden in The Welsh Cup on penalties in anepic encounter, inspired by the legendary Dylan Schultz.We then faced Glan Clwyd knowing that victory wouldtake us into the national stages.We started poorly and by half time we were 2 – 0 down.Mr Roberts however gave a rousing team talk and thelads pulled their socks up and Charlie Hughes soonpulled us back to within a goal. It was an intense last 10minutes in which we piled pressure on the oppositionand rode our luck at the other end. Unfortunately, it wasnot to be and we failed to find the equaliser. The ladshowever showed great spirit and Mr Roberts wasextremely pleased with their attitude and effort.The next day the team had to pick their heads up andface Mold Alun in the County semi final. We took anearly lead but Mold Alun struck back immediately tomake it 1 – 1. At this point Flint turned on the style andMold Alun couldn’t live with us. There were somefantastic moments between Leon Beck, Charlie Hughesand Owain Edwards up front. Stefan and Kieon were ourever present rocks at the back and we cruised to a 4 – 2victory. Bring on the final.

And so to the final .... it’s over to Billy Alderson our sportsnews ace for his first-hand account of the game.

The referee blows his whistle to start the game. Quite achilly evening with most players wearing their underarmour to keep warm. First chance of the evening goesto Flint High, who pass it around the Maes Garmonplayers, Billy Alderson tries to cross the ball in, but a MaesGarmon player throws himself in front of the ball, cornerkick. Charlie Hughes takes the corner, lovely deliveranceLewis Roberts creates a lovely chance and he shoots, buthe misses .... how did he miss? That doesn’t stop Flintfrom playing well; Charlie Hughes shows off some of hisskills, taking a few players on and striking a powerfulshot, but it goes straight at the keeper. Maes Garmon areon the break now, their winger crosses the ball in; well atleast he tried to cross, but it went straight out. Steffan

Owen (Flint’s captain) launches the ball down the fieldto his left winger; Kieran Charlton Hughes who runs forthe ball but doesn't get there in time. Maes Gamon areback on the ball, although Owain Edwards comes inand sends the opposition flying. The referee has a

word with him and Owain, is luckyto carry on without a yellow card.One of the Maes Garmondefenders goes up to take thefree kick, the ball reaches his manbut it is headed out of play. Halftime Flint High-0 Maes Garmon-0.

The second half starts with a lacklustre ten minutes, the highlightof which is a Flint substitution -Harri Craig comes on for BillyAlderson, who looked like he wasrubbing his ankle (hopefully not amajor injury). Five minutes afterthe substitution Charlie Hughescrosses the ball in, but the crossactually transfers into a shot .....GOAL .... opening the score 1-0 toFlint High. Straight after thatOwain Edwards takes one of the

opposition on and laces it towards the goal, top cornerback of the net 2-0 Flint High. Straight after it KieranCharlton-Hughes makes a challenge on his opponentand forces him to the ground, the referee blows hiswhistle, Kieran isn't happy. Before things escalated MrRoberts (Flint High's amazing manager) substitutesKieran for Billy Alderson to return to the pitch. MaesGarmon take their free kick but they pass it straight toBilly Alderson, who then sends Charlie Hughesthrough. He once again places it in the back of the net,Maes Garmon are beginning to fall apart. Threeminutes later Flint High score once again, OwainEdwards gets his second goal, placing it out of thegoalie’s reach in the bottom corner. In the last 2minutes of the game, Tom (Buzzertron) Burrows scoresand makes a huge deal celebrating like a headlesschicken. The referee blows the final whistle, Flint Highyear 9's win the title and become Flintshire Champions,with a final score of 5-0.

Thank you Billy)

Cross CountryMrs Morris and myself took a record number ofstudents to Maes Garmon to participate in theCounty Cross Country. These were all volunteersso I was thrilled by our students’ response to ourcall to arms. All runners made a good fist of therace. Amoung our outstanding runners were:

� Alice Hyndman Year 7 4th

� Josh Evans Year 8 9th

� Harvey Tattum Year 7 12th

Alice and Josh go forward now to representFlintshire in the North East Wales competition in thenew year. We wish them pob luc.