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LeaderThe Issue 11 • Summer 2015

Learning to Lead our Lives

The Leader celebrates the achievements and experiencesof our students and chronicles the life of the school

The Leader celebrates the achievements and experiencesof our students and chronicles the life of the school

TheLeader Issue 11 - Summer 2015

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Student Design & Technology Work

John Hamilton Lauren Isaacs

Charlotte Edge Bronwyn Crabtree

Caleb England

William Morgan

James Hunt Jack Bishop

Tom Buffin Will FennWill Meadmore

Jonathan Hilton Luke WhitingDavid Watkins

Maizie Morgan

Callum WheatleyAmelia Ralphs Jake Davies

Joell Williams

Robert Bowen


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2 Student Design & Technology Work 3 Welcome3 Editorial4 A Year in the Life...6 Reflections on a busy year7 Student Art8 Why would anyone row?12 Sporting Round-up 16 Clothes Show Live 201417 Literary Festival 18 Summer Learning 2014 23 BBC Young Reporters’ Day 24 Ben Hopkins 25 The Duke of Edinburgh Award26 April and September27 Three Peaks Challenge 28 Engineering Projects 30 Charity Matters 32 Ciaran Mann and the Army Cadets 33 Student Art 34 Out of School Achievements 38 Mock Election at MCS 39 A Capital Workplace 40 Sweet Success 41 Learning with Friends 42 Belgium History Trip 44 MCS Eisteddfod 46 Behind the scenes of Sweeney Todd 47 Student Art 48 Musings at MCS 49 World Book Day 50 Greece Sports Tour 54 Madrid Football Tour 2015 56 Music at MCS 58 Ballad of Remembrance 59 Student Art 60 The Great ‘Eggsperiment’ 61 Eine reiche und erfullende Erahrung 62 World Challenge Bolivia 67 Young Ambassadors 67 Fencing Academy 68 Monmouth’s Got Talent70 Iceland Explored 71 Sculpture Workshop 72 5x60 / Academy Programme at MCS 73 Restorative Award 74 The Royal Marines 76 Austria 2014-2015 78 Lower Sixth Interview Skills Workshop 79 Work Experience 80 Notre Voyage Français! 81 French Debate81 Wolfstone Translation 81 My experience at MCS 82 Sports Literacy Competition 85 Vocational86 Living and Learning in a New School 87 Student Design & Technology Work 88 As I start... As I leave...

Contents

He also went on to write, “As one cyclein the school’s life is completedanother begins, growing out of anddrawing life from the experience of thefirst and the contributions made bygenerations of teachers and pupils,parents, governors and friends”.

This edition of our school magazinedoes exactly what Mr Alderton says, itdraws together the threads ofexperience at our school as we prepareover the next years to build a brandnew school. Mr Alderton’s words willbe with us all “there will be changeand change is life” as shown in thepages of ‘The Leader’.

Vaughan DaviesHeadteacher 2015

In 1977, J. Alderton, the Headteacher of Monmouth SecondarySchool, wrote in the school “Celebration Magazine” about theopening of a new school on our current site and reflected: ”No oneknows what the next 10 years or the next 25 will bring. We onlyknow that there will be change and that change is life”.

Welcome

Time marches on, another year has passed and you have beforeyou the latest edition of The Leader.

Editorial

We have added a new destination toour repertoire this year – a group ofour footballers visited Real Madrid overEaster and, I can quite honestly say, it’sa long time since I encountered suchexcitement following a trip – fromboth students and staff! Apparently,Gareth Bale drove straight past them,but I’m sure it wasn’t deliberate!

As always, I send my thanks to oursponsors for their continued supportof The Leader. Without their adverts,we couldn’t produce The Leader andsend it home for you all to read, free ofcharge.

Wendy BakerEditor

School Photography by Des Pugh,Official School Photographer

A Year in the Life...A Year in the Life...TheLeader Issue 11 - Summer 2015

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Most important news first – noducklings!

Our Summer Showcase on 19 Junebrought to an end a fabulous year forthe Department of Performing andExpressive Arts closely followed bySummer Learning Week and theinaugural Monmouth Children’sLiterary Festival.

The school welcomed authors andpoets to perform in the SummerMarquee, entertaining students fromMCS, HMSG and MonmouthSchool.

Summer Learning saw our studentsranging far and wide, working inschool and, in a voluntary capacity,out in the community. Details maybe found on page 18.

We also welcomed Greg Woods fromthe WRU who presented the schoolwith the WRU Schools for RugbyAward. We were delighted to seesome faces from the past for thepresentation - John Phillips, John Evans, Stuart Baber and

Jon Osborne - who haveall supported rugby at MCS over theyears.

Our new intake visited us during thefirst week of July for Welcome toWales, their taster days and theirWelcome Disco, warming up readyfor September.

Luke Richards won Designer of theYear at the 2014 D & T Design Showwith a thoughtfully designed storageunit for student accommodation.This event is always visuallystunning, displaying the exam workof our talented students.

Our Peer Mentors received theirtraining and certificates during Julyand our trips went out toLlangrannog (see page 45), Belgiumand the Battlefields (see page 42)and France (see page 80).

World Challenge set out for Boliviain the summer, details and photos ofwhich may be see on pages 62-66.It looks to have been a most amazingexperience for all involved.

Awards Evening brought a change ofpace this year as Savage Skillsbounced around the Sports Hall ontheir mountain bikes in a stunning showof strength and agility, emphasisingto all there that hard work anddedication certainly pays off.

MCS student Felix Hales co-composed a remembrance song, intribute to the Bosley Brothers fromthe Monmouthshire Regiment,which was played on Radio Wales on Friday 7 November. Felix’sthoughts on this, along with lyrics,may be found on page 58.

In December, our Y7 studentstransformed the Hall with theirChristmas Fair and ourmusicians took part in aconcert at Dingestow VillageHall and in the MonmouthCandlelit Procession. Reindeersappeared at the school,encouraging two strangeelves to appear for a photoopportunity!

The pantomime trip, annualCarol Service and Christmaslunch rounded off the termand Y12 Physics students LaraGordon and Megan Kinniment-Williams proved that FatherChristmas really does exist for ourChristmas Newsletter -somethingwe were all very glad to hear.

The annual Ski Trip went out justafter Christmas, with skiers andsnowboarders having a fantastic time(see page 76).

January saw rehearsals steam aheadfor Sweeney Todd, and withoutinterruption from floods or heavysnow this year (although high windsdid bring down the marquee!). OurFaculty of Performing and ExpressiveArts took the audience by storm withsome stunning performances fromthe cast (see page 46 for moredetails).


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Twitter erupted with a deluge of welldeserved praise and audience

members bravely purchased

pies during the interval (it’sok, they came from Marks &Spencer and Wigmores not MrsLovett’s Pie Shop!!). Later inJanuary we were delighted towelcome The Band of Her Majesty’sCommando Training Centre RoyalMarines. It was a fantastic day forstudents and staff, culminating in athoroughly enjoyable concert in theSports Hall (see page 74).

Our Geography/Geology studentsvisited Iceland in February (see page70).

March saw us gazing to the skies(safely, of course) as we viewed thepartial eclipse, an exciting momentfor those studying astronomy.

Easter trips included the Sports tourto Greece (see pages 50-53), theHumanities trip to Munich (see page61) and the football trip to RealMadrid (see page 54). Tweets wereflying thick and fast as students hada wonderful time on all three trips.

Josie Harrison, one of our Y8students, entered the Glass Prize2015 – School Section – with her‘Sword of Agincourt’.

Following a flurry of website andTwitter activity, we were delighted

to hear that Josie had won thatSection, achieving over 200 more‘likes’ than the second placed entry

(see page 36) and winning the

school a glass kiln fromWarm Glass UK.

Our students took part in a MockGeneral Election in May and, as wego to press,our winningparty is ThePurple Party(see page 38for moredetails of thecampaign).

Our CharityCommitteehas, as usual,risen to thechallenge offundraising atthe school (seepages 30-31),coming upwith a varietyof events forthe studentsand staff totake part in.

Our Twitterfollowers haveincreased toover 1,000 this

year but we are more than happy toincrease this figure – please follow uson @LearnWithMCS to catch up onevents at the school.


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Emily Pardington Head GirlI'm told that all good things must come to an end and itcertainly feels like that's the case as my time as Head Girlreaches its conclusion. It's hard to believe that it's over ayear since I was putting my presentation together,brushing up on my speech and standing with all the othernervous candidates waiting for my chance to speak to theSchool Council. I'm sure that I wasn't the only person whoconsidered withdrawing my candidacy on the day but I'mglad that I didn't because the last year has been a fantasticexperience and one that I've really enjoyed.

I didn't expect to be selected as Head Girl, there were somany strong candidates that I didn't think I had a chance,so I was more than a little surprised when I heard myname called out! My surprise very quickly turned to joy as I took the news in and then, if I'm honest, a little bit of fear when I thought about the responsibility I'd taken on and thespeeches I'd have to make.

My first speech was at New Entrants’ Evening in July and it was a realpleasure to speak to the new students who would be joining us inSeptember and share with them my memories of joining Y7. Coming to anew school is a daunting experience and I'd like to think that I helped themfeel welcome and overcome any worries that they may have had. Our nextouting was in September when we gave a speech at Awards Evening andhad the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of students throughoutthe school who excelled in a particular subject or sport or been recognisedfor putting in an outstanding effort. This was very much the biggestaudience that I'd ever spoken to and the biggest that we would speak to allyear, it was also the worst my nerves would be throughout the year too! Imanaged to get through my speech thanks to some controlled breathingand, by the end of it, realised that I actually quite liked speaking in public.From September onwards we were kept quite busy and we were fortunateenough to enjoy a meal with the Chairman of Monmouthshire CountyCouncil, lay a memorial wreath on behalf of MCS at the Remembrance DayParade in November, speak at the Open and Pre-Sixth Form Evenings as wellas speaking at various assemblies, writing articles for the school newsletterand meeting with school governors.

I think that the most important speech we made was to Y11 students whenwe spoke to them about the Welsh Baccalaureate qualification because theywere concerned that it didn't hold value as a formal qualification. I reallyenjoyed explaining how interesting we'd found it and how universities weremaking offers including Welsh Bacc so I was delighted when my own offer,from a university in England, came through recognising the WelshBaccalaureate.

We've had a lot of fun throughout the year too. Serving Christmas lunch tothe whole school is an experience not to be forgotten and the smell ofhundreds of plates of dinner scrapings will live with me for a long time!However, the most fun that we had would have to have been helping toorganise Monmouth's Got Talent with our colleagues from MonmouthSchool and HMSG, I really enjoyed getting to know our fellow Head Boysand Head Girls. It wasn't easy to select just four acts from all the brilliant actsthat we saw and MCS put up some stiff competition on the night. HarryLloyd and his accordion wowed the crowd and we really did think thatLucinda Merrett had won the show with her amazing rendition of KTTunstall's ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ only to be beaten into secondplace. The evening was a fantastic success and we raised over £2,500 forlocal charities.

More recently I've helped to select the new Head Boy and Head Girl and theirDeputies for next year and I know that the school will be safe in their hands.My last duty will be the Y13 Leavers’ Reception when we'll remember thetime that we've spent together and say goodbye to the school that has beensuch an important part of our lives for so many years. I think that might bemy most difficult speech.

I've thoroughly enjoyed being Head Girl and working with Michael, Jack andThea to support the school. I've learned a lot and, hopefully, given a littleback.

Michael Ellis Head BoyThis year has been the busiest year of my life, but also theone I am most proud of. An exciting journey that I hadn’tenvisaged and one that has been totally breathless. Wewill all question our legacy and I do quite a lot - have Imade a difference? Have I really inspired youngergenerations? Were my speeches actually any good? Thefact is I don’t know and never will know.

I have enjoyed my time as Head Boy - I have done someamazing things, met some fantastic people, judged someextra-ordinary talent, worked with a brilliant team,attempted at least to make the place a happy more smileyplace than it was without me and taken my place in awarm and welcoming community.

At New Entrants’ Evening I made my first speech, whichwas a great time to do so as it was where my journey at

MCS began back in 2008. It was a great opportunity, to make hundreds ofnew members of our community feel welcome and as happy as I was madeto feel all those years ago. On Year Six Taster Days it was a pleasure to help outwith CREW giving me the first feeling of responsibility in a school situation.

As Head Boy I was very excited to be invited back to Overmonnow PrimarySchool to play a part in their Leaver’s Assembly and the investiture of theirnew team of officials.

Open Evening was an inspiring event which really showed off our fantasticcommunity spirit and being able to encourage more students to come toour oversubscribed school was a tremendous feeling. It was also anopportunity to answer real questions from real people, making a realdifference. The evening was well organised with a lot of parents and,particularly, future students interested in our school.

Christmas is a special time of year and hearts filled with generosity as theSchool and Accuro Catering provided a free Christmas lunch for all students.With much festive cheer, a sparkle of ‘Frozen’, some Christmas tunes andreindeer antlers at the ready, the officials and prefects merrily served up,tidied up and washed up for Christmas! Even if Y10 looked like they didn’twant to be there, we still kept smiling and attempted to make them smiletoo. Reading at the Carol Service the night before had been a real honourand helping the younger Readers was also a pleasure. We developed, with thehelp of Chair of Governors, Mr McLester, a real team spirit.

Our big event was Monmouth’s Got Talent which started at the auditionswhich were fun and we encountered some fantastic talent which we wereable to showcase the best of on stage in March and at the Semi-Finals.

Monmouth’s Got Talent Semi-Final ticket sales were initially quite low but,contrary to all expectations, an audience numbering more than one manand his dog arrived to see our semi-finalists who left us with an impossibletask. Who would go through? This was a decision making experience Iwouldn’t wish on anyone else!

The Monmouth’s Got Talent Final was something I wasn’t looking forwardto but, in the end, the hard work of a big team of officials from the threeschools paid off. Exceptional talent, teamed with the best raffle we haveever had, made it a sure fire winner in fundraising terms.

Although many thought the legendary Harry Lloyd should have been thewinner, taking the event by storm with his accordion playing, it was not tobe and Monmouth School’s Max Weedon was a worthy winner and willcertainly stand out on the festival stage.

As I write this article, a full circle has turned as we interview for ourreplacements – helping to appoint those who would step on thetremendous merry-go-round that I, and the rest of the team, have been onthis year. Interviewing for our replacements was difficult but I’m sure thatPhilippa Parry and Reuben Pierrepoint will fare well and will probably writebetter farewell letters than me next year!

It will seem strange to leave and, to be honest, I don’t want to. I want tosee the School grow and blossom in its new environment and to see thenew Head Boy and Girl do better than I have ever done. I hope to come backsoon but now I will return my head to its rightful place, which is in aMechanics 3 past paper. I have some A-level grades to get (hopefully).

Reflections on a busy year


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Student Art

Emma Arnett

Abigail Birchall

Dorothy Laidler

Jeena Sriphan

Charlotte Berrow

Isabelle Sadler

Tom Finn

Chloe Tabberer

Bailey Hopkins

Kayleigh Clarke


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Why would anyone row?Rowing takes time to getto be good, it’s very hardphysical work and theweather can be awful, sowe asked the school’srowers why they do it...

Rowing is a lifestyle, it takesdedication and effort. Morningsessions before school and eveningsessions. It takes hours of coreworkouts and ergo practice.Nobody has a perfect stroke ornever has anything they can'timprove on. You can only get fasterand stronger and push your limitsevery time you row.

Everyone has bad days where theyleave the boat club annoyed andwishing they did better but it onlymakes that rower stronger andmore dedicated, to go back nextsession and correct what wentwrong last time. It takes failurebefore you can succeed. Blistersaren't painful anymore, they aremore like battle wounds that showyou how hard you have workedthat session, they don't hurt after awhile they are just a living memorythat are reopened every time youpush yourself to your limits.

The best parts of rowing is thecrew working together, the clicksof gates every time you take astroke. The happy faces andenjoyment after a successful raceor training session. It's the peoplesaying we are crazy but they don'tunderstand what rowing means tous. It is past being just a sport tous, it's part of our lives.

Olivia Wells, Y10

Why do you row?“It’s good fun with my friends” - Louis, Y10“It’s addictive, I find myself constantly trying to find ways to get faster

and better.” - Emily D, Y9“It is a very stress releasing sport, which I really enjoy.” - Mia, Y10“I enjoy racing all over the country.” - Tom H, Y9“It motivates me to do even better in school.” - Anna, Y9

“It’s fun and it’s great for my fitness.” - Megan, Y9

Why do you get up early in the morning to row?

“Because I am dedicated.” - Charlie, Y9“Rowing is fun, especially before school.” - Wulf, Y11“It’s one of the things you have to do

in rowing and it’s more practical for revising.” - Harry B, Y11“It starts the day off really, really well.” - Josh, Y9

“Hard to get out of bed, but worth it

every session for the progress made.” - DC

What is the bes

t thing for

you about rowi

ng?

“Friends, winning &

teamwork”

- Sam M, Y10

“Working and succe

eding with friends”

- Blake, Y9

“Being able to feel li

ke I have achieved

something worth doin

g.” - Tom, Y10

“Being with friends and winning.”

- Sophie, Y9

“A good comment from

the Cowtons

is golden.” - Cassie, Y9

“Racing is exciting.”

- Jacob, Y10

How does it fee

l when you

row well in a c

rew?

“Like heaven and im

mensely satisfying”

- Charlie, Y10

“It feels great tha

t your training h

as

been successful” -

Molly, Y9

“Incredible, I feel l

ike all the hours o

f practise

have paid off” - S

am B, Y10

“I feel proud of m

e and my crew.” - Rob, Y9

“Amazing. It’s one of

the best feelings.”

- Eloise, Y11

“Every time it makes me smile and p

roves

that the hard work, early

mornings

and blisters pay o

ff.” - Katie, Y9

“It feels like there

is no resistance a

gainst

the water at all.” - Jack

, Y9

“It gives you a se

nse of pride and

achievement.” - D

arcy, Y9

Don’t blisters o

n your hands h

urt?

“They hurt, but they

are also a trophy

of your progress a

nd something to be

proud of” - Emily S, Y9

“Yes they do and th

ey look gross,

but I might as well get th

em from a

sport I enjoy.” - M

illie, Y9

What is it like when you fall in?“It’s like a heart sinking feeling” - Coby, Y10“There is an impending sense of mockery!” - Harry D, Y11“Cold. I speak from much experience!” - Cassie, Y9“I got a rush of adrenaline. I actually

pretty much liked it.” - Charlie, Y10


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Training toSuccessIt has taken hours and hours of trainingin all weathers, but I have finally met mygoal for the year.

I have my first Great Britain cap, twolycras, a couple of shirts and a hoodie.Not forgetting winning the gold medal!

The journey started twelve months agoafter winning the NationalChampionships. There was a lot oftraining and my first GB trial inNovember, cold and bleak in EasternEngland. I managed to hold my ownagainst some very tough opponents, whohad a lot more experience than I did. Ihad done enough to win a place on theGreat Britain potentials training camp inFrance just before Christmas. Stayingaway with people I hardly knew, thesegirls have now grown to become goodfriends through the trials and trainingthroughout the year.

Several more trials in February and Aprilcombined with the never ending landtraining of core strength circuits, weightsand ergos to make for a long Winter’spreparation for the Summer season.This type of training is a key focus forthe junior women as Great BritainRowing push the triallists to raise theirstandards for international rowing.Then, I was finally chosen in the top 20in the country for the finals trials at theGreat Britain training centre near

Reading. I felt this was an amazingachievement in itself as I spent so longoff the water with the floods atChristmas, which the River Wye is sowell known for. I was able to stay withinthe top ten girls throughout the entireprocess.

The final trials were hard work with lotsof head-to-head racing over fourphysically intense and mentally drainingdays. At the end, the athletes were left toworry as the coaches had a summarymeeting which went on and on. It was aheart breaking moment for those whodidn’t make it. Finally, I had made it andI was ecstatic, with my Mum there withme to celebrate. I returned home for acouple of days in order to pack, whichwas followed by a three week trainingcamp in Marlow with my new crew. Ilived with three wonderful and verydifferent families during this time awayfrom home.

Then the day came to leave; off to theairport to fly to Bordeaux in France,where we raced our quadruple scullingboat in the Coupe de la Jeunesse (TheEuropean Championships). After anopening ceremony and a nervous wait

for our first race, our plans fell into placeand we won our heat. Fantasticnews…we had the fastest time in theheats going into the final.

After a hard and fast start, we gained asmall lead. Building our rhythm, westretched out to a length’s lead at halfwaywhen the crews behind began to chasehard. Approaching the finish, we keptour cool and remained focused on thegoal. We won; relief, delight, exhaustionovertook us all. My whole family hadtravelled to France to see me race and toshare my success with them was veryspecial.

Standing on the podium with thenational anthem playing was anexperience I will never forget. It made allthe training and major financial costsworthwhile for my parents and me.After a summer’s rest, I am even moredetermined to do all the training andtrials again this year, but this time harderthan ever before with the goal ofcompeting and winning a medal at WorldJunior Championships to be held in Riode Janeiro in August 2015.

Emily Richards


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Captain’s Reviewof the YearWe began the 2014-15 season with thesame determination and focus as in ourprevious years. I had been named ClubCaptain at the end of the summerseason, a position that I was honoured to

take after five years of rowing for theClub and as Vice-Captain the yearbefore. Captain of the Club is aprestigious and important role,especially with our membership rising toover 75 athletes, the most we have everhad!

Our year began as normal with wintertraining. For rowers, winter is the time ofyear that involves cold, early morningsand long distance ergo pieces to build afoundation for the season ahead. Thefocus of this year was particularly on

the 30 minute pieces which can only bedescribed as two minutes of powerfuland focused rowing, followed by 28minutes of ever-increasing exhaustion asthe end draws nearer. Never the less,every single athlete applied themselves

fully to the pieces (perhaps regrettingthe lack of exercise taken through thesummer). Soon, the once gruellingsessions became just another part of ourextensive training programme.

The competitive season opened at ourlocal event, Monmouth Autumn Head.This was a successful first event for theclub, with four crews bringing in medal-winning performances. Lauren Waycott

and Emily Richards both won theirsingle scull races with Emily winning thetitle of ‘fastest female sculler of the day’,following on from her success with theGreat Britain team in the summer. Oursecond event was a new one for us. Cityof Bristol Autumn Head is a 3,300mrace down the river and into the heart ofBristol docks, rowing past the SS GreatBritain. What with some very tight turns,and several bridges down the coursecombining with other boat traffic, it wasa challenging but very rewarding course- especially for J15 (Y10) boys

Sam Bainbridge and Louis Proctor whowon their double sculls event, and forSam Morgan who won his single scullsevent. Well done boys.

Soon after these came our first fewfundraising activities of the year. Ourclub must be self-sufficient in terms of

money for equipment; both purchaseand maintenance, race entries and manyother running costs so fundraisers are ofgreat importance. Over £300 pounds

was raised at the Iceland Bag Packingevent in December with all the athletesgetting stuck in with a smile: a big thankyou to Sarah Bradley who kindly gave upher entire day to help organise and runthings. This followed £180 from the“Swish” event in September and afurther £700 was raised at the RaceNight in January, and what a greatevening it was. A big thank you to allthose athletes and parents who helpedwith all these events, and especially toMark King, the Chairman of the Friendsof MCSBC, who organised and ran theRace Night evening.

Soon we were racing at Wycliffe. Theseraces are held on a beautiful (if oftenvery (!) cold) section of the canal inGloucester with the December eventcovering a distance of 2,000m and thefollowing February event coveringaround 3,500m. In December, we hadthree wins from a large entry of 26crews, including the Sixth Form GirlsQuad, Emily Richards in her Single andfor myself and Seamus Cooper in a

Double, a further second place for MollyJames in her Single and the two J18 BoysQuads who both came third in therespective categories. It was also the firstracing event for many of the new Y9squad members. In February, the WJ15(Y10) girls octuple (coxed by JacobSutton) came to a convincing victoryover their opposition. Good job girls andJacob.

More recently, the WJ15 girls (againcoxed by Jacob Sutton) picked upanother win for the club at Avon CountyHead, showing their increasing

development and excellent competitiveattitude. This was again a large entry ofsome 17 crews from our club and whilstwe didn’t all win, the atmosphere ofmutual support was just great. Well donegirls.

The National Junior Sculling Head gaveour athletes the chance to row on theOlympic Lake in Eton against the bestcrews in the country. Eight crews went tothis event from all years and theyprepared well and raced hard to performwell in their categories. This was asatisfying end to another successfulwinter season of training, fundraisingand of course, racing.

The Half Marathon fundraiser in Marchwas a particularly strenuous event and,quite possibly, the most challenging interms of mental strength. Nonethelessevery single athlete in the club, from Year

9 to 13, participated with a reallypositive (and, in some cases, aninevitably competitive) attitude. Nearly£10,000 was raised, which is aphenomenal total, surpassing theprevious years’ totals. This included GiftAid which our charity, The Friends ofMCSBC, is able to claim. A massivethank you to all athletes and I’ve got tosay, you guys did an awesome job withthe sponsorship. A big thank you to

Graham Jephcote for organisingprovision of all the lifesaving drinks andsnacks on the route and at the finish, andthank you to the many parents who gaveup their day to ensure our safety and thesmooth running of the event.

Currently, our summer regatta season isunderway bringing with it a new style ofracing new to those less experiencedathletes in the club; side-by-side racing.These ‘sprint’ races will be only 1,000mor less in length for most events, butrequire athletes to reach the very peak oftheir power, strength and mentaltoughness. Events at Birmingham,Evesham, Shrewsbury, Monmouth,Nottingham, Ironbridge and Glasgowbeckon in the term ahead and I wish allcrews good luck in their races.

A final thank you to Mr and MrsCowton for providing such tremendouscoaching and organisation for us, and forallowing us the opportunity toparticipate in the great sport that isrowing. It’s been a great year to beCaptain!

Ben Metcalfe


11


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AthleticsTowards the end of the Summer term2014, MCS took four squads to theNewport East Athletics Competition.Each squad, competing against fiveother schools, had to finish in the toptwo in order to qualify for the South

Wales competition. The U14 and U16boys squads and the U16 girls squadfinished third in their respectivecompetitions but the stand outperformance on the day was from theU14 girls who finished second,qualifying for the South Walescompetition the following week.

At the South Wales competition therewere noticeable victories for Y7 studentsJosie Harrison (Javelin) and HannahJenkins (1500m), competing against arange of Y7 and 8 students. As thecompetition is a team event, every pointand place in each event mattered. Thegirls went into the final event, the relay,in third place but a fifth place finishmoved the girls down to fourth. All thegirls tried their very best but narrowlymissed out on qualifying for the WelshFinal.

Squad: Harriet Kearsey 7SN, Josie Harrison 7PY, Hannah Jenkins 7SN,Darcey Maguire 7TR, Jess West 7KO,Natasha Makondora 7VE, Sophie Pope7VE, Katie Kearsey 8NJ, Darcy Birkett8NJ, Taryn Birkett 8AL and SophieRichards 8NJ

HockeyGirls HockeyHockey is continually being played at acompetitive level in MCS. Students in allYear Groups have participated in theSouth Wales Hockey League and have

had numerous successesin a number of fixtures.This has been evidentby all teams finishingin the top half of eachLeague table in allrespective age groups.

Boys HockeyBoys’ hockey is onceagain gaining inpopularity with anumber of boys bothtraining and playingin competitive fixturesfor the school. TheU12, U14 and U16squads all represented

MCS in the South Wales Tournament.The U12’s and U14’s competed inSwansea with the U14’s finishing in thirdplace, only one place below being able toqualify for the Welsh Final. The U16squad competed in Brecon and finisheda respectable third place against somestrong opposition.

Greece Sports TourA number of the hockey players went ontour to Greece where they undertook anumber of training sessions and playedtwo competitive fixtures. The level ofhockey on display was exceptional with

the Y10 and 11 girls playing someoutstanding hockey against some strongcompetition. One of the main highlightswas the Mayor of the City welcoming usto their community and thanking us forpromoting hockey in their area.

NetballIt has been a rollercoaster season for theY9 Netball Team, with two squadsattending training on a weekly basis theydemonstrated exemplary commitment.They started with a few tough gamesand were unlucky with the outcomes,but the season finished on a high with awin - well done girls!!!

The Y10 Netball Team had aphenomenal season winning all theirgames and coming second in the SouthEast Wales Netball League. The girlsmissed out on the League top spot ongoal difference to a strong Bassalegteam. The team has made fantasticprogress since the start of the year andwe are sure they will go on to achievegreater accolades as a team and asindividuals in their respective Leagueteams. A big well done to Ellie Johnsonand Melissa Brooks for consistentlyplaying with confidence and encouragingtheir team mates.

The Y11 Netball team have demonstratedexcellent team cohesion this season.Focusing on their GCSE’s, the girls havebeen unable to train regularly, butdespite this they have gelled together incompetitive situations and won three outof the three games they played. HollyAinge led by example, giving 100%every time she took to the court.

Sporting Round-up


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FootballGirls football has had a fantastic yearwith high numbers attending trainingeach week. The U13s team representedMCS in the Newport County Girls CupCompetition. The girls went through thetournament undefeated, winning allseven games without conceding a singlegoal and were crowned Champions.Hannah Jenkins and Amber Stamp-Dunstan finished the tournament jointtop scorers with seven goals each. Theteam went on to represent NewportCounty in the Area Finals in Exeterwhere they finished 5th overall. Abrilliant effort from all girls involved.

Under 13’s Girls NewportChampions: GK - Cerys Hughes 8VE,Honor Buckley 8KO, Holly Morgan 7MD,Gabriella Doody 8VE, Natasha Makondora8VE, Hope Woods 8PY, Hannah Jenkins8SN and Amber Stamp-Dunstan 8VE.

The Y7 team have had an incrediblysuccessful first year at MCS led byCaptain Johnny Dunckley. The WelshCup started early in the season withMCS winning convincingly 6-0 and 8-0versus Chepstow and West Monrespectively. The next round led totougher opposition in Croesyceiliog andonly a last minute strike from Ryan Davies in extra-time saw Y7through to the last 32. MCS were drawnaway against a strong Caerleon teamand, despite an early goal from

Dan Brain, Caerleonwere too strong andMCS crashed out ofthe Welsh Cup with a3-1 loss. To get that farin the tournament,however, was a fantasticachievement whichraised their confidencein the Newport Cup.

The first round of theNewport Cup saw a

strong performance v Llanwern withMCS finishing 5-3 winners. This wasfollowed by a tense 3-2 Quarter Finalwin against Newport High. St Julian’sprovided stern opposition in the SemiFinal but MCS showed their quality withgoals from Dan Brain (2), Johnny Dunckley(2) and Lewys Bevan resulting in a 5-2win. MCS then progressed to theNewport Cup Final where they were

drawn against St Joseph’s, a team theyknew little about. The Final was playedin great conditions whichsuited MCS. It was anervy first half but MCSmanaged a goal just beforehalf time; Hywel Williamswith a neat finish from aLewys Bevan cross. Thesecond half saw MCScreate numerous chanceshitting the crossbar fourtimes. St Joseph’s managedto pull a goal back with tenminutes remaining from afree kick but MCS had themajority of possession andwere determined to find a winner. Withjust three minutes remaining, Dan Brainscored a low drive from within the sixyard box to seal the victory and MCS were crowned Newport CupChampions! Well done boys!

Y7 Football squad for Newport CupFinal: Jack Watkins, Gabe Unsworth, RyanDavies, Harry Johnson, Hayden Morris,

Callum Wood, Dan Jones, Dan Brain,Lewys Bevan, Hywel Williams, JohnnyDunckley (Captain), Emyr Pullen, ZakWoods, Zak Morgan, Alex Doody, TomPerks.

Y8 had a brilliant season, winning 12 outof their 15 games played. They wereunlucky to be knocked out of the WelshCup by Chepstow in a thrilling 5-4match with Chepstow going on to finish4th in the whole of Wales. Y8 also madeit to the Gwent Cup Semi-Final wherethey again met rivals Chepstow whocame out on top once again in anotherclose game. Y8 eventually got theirrevenge by beating Chepstow 1-0 in theNewport Cup Semi-Final making it totheir first Final. Unfortunately, Y8 lost 2-1 in the Final to Newport High Schoolin a thrilling match. Ben Hopkins hasbeen a standout player this year, scoringvital goals throughout the season andfinishing top goal scorer. Captain DanKeane has also had a fantastic seasonmaking crucial saves and leading theteam brilliantly. Dan Brain and RyanDavies, both in Y7, have done brilliantly,playing up a Year Group and becomingessential players for the Y8 team.

Y8 Football Squad: Dan Keane (C), Ben Pilot, Theo Haycock, Jay Harris, Ryan Davies, James Greaney, MatthewJones, Frank Pemberton, Ben Hopkins, Ben Drinkhall, Dan Brain, Sam Williams,Ben Davies, Archie Hayward, JacobPerrella, Scott Jackson, Callum Llanfearand Harry Newell.

Y9 are fast becoming the nearly men ofMCS reaching three semi-finals in theirthree seasons since joining the school.This season has once again beensuccessful with good wins in a numberof games culminating in a narrowNewport Schools Semi-Final defeat toBassaleg. The highlight of the season wasthe thumping 4-1 Quarter-Final win


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over reigning Newport and GwentChampions St Julian’s, away from home.Sean Swann finished as top goal scorerwith a combination of pace, power andskill that proved too much to handle formost opposition defences. Jordan Suttiehas made excellent progress over the lastseason with Joshua Ellis once again astand out performer in goal. Greg Powellalso proved he can play pretty much anyposition on the pitch with success.

Y9 Football Squad: Joshua Ellis, Jacob Dover, Rory Meredith, Kyron Smith,Harrison Nash, Greg Powell, LarssonBrown, Harry Williams, Liam Martin,Jordan Suttie, Louis McPherson, AndrewBeames, Sean Swann, Ben Jones.

Y10 were unlucky with their defeats inthe Cup this season, where theyrepresented MCS in the Welsh Cup,Gwent Cup and Newport Cup. Nathan Hawkins finished the season topgoal scorer and was also MoM during athrilling penalty shootout win overChepstow in the Gwent Cup 4th round.

Y10 Football Squad: Toby Lane, TamerPullen, Ellis Brown, Luke Brooks, BaileyHopkins, Tom Walker, Will Pritchard, LewisDavies, Joe Pemberton, Robbie Atkinson,Sam Vaughan, Nathan Hawkins, JoeBayliss, Jack Wear and Henry Williams.

Senior FootballThe long Senior football season came toan end with a match against old rivalsCaerleon which doubled up as aNewport Schools Semi-Final and aGwent Schools Quarter-Final as theschools were drawn together in bothcompetitions. Despite taking a 3-0 leadwith goals from Samuel Oxley (2) andCallum Wheatley, Caerleon mounted aspirited last 10 minutes and turned thegame on its head completely against the

run of play to make it 3-3 and take thegame to extra-time. After just oneminute of the additional period, Caerleontook the lead and, despite dominatingthe rest of the game, MCS could not findthe elusive equaliser and were knockedout of both competitions. CaptainCallum Wheatley has led by example witheffort, determination and no shortage ofskill all season. George Baynes has heldthe defensive unit together but a special

mention must goto all the Y11swho stepped uptwo Year Groupsto represent theSenior team andoften be amongstthe best players inany game. SamuelOxley, JordanHeales, MatthewMacdonald andKieran Knight allplayed regularlyin the Seniorteam.

MCS First XI: Morgen Jeffs, MatteoMerola-Scott, Kieran Knight, GeorgeBaynes, Max Goodridge, Joseph Coombes,Jake Coombe, Henry Corcoran, AlexCleaves, Ted Atkinson, MatthewMacdonald, Oliver Franklin, JordanHeales, Samuel Oxley, Callum Wheatley,Perys Pullen.

RugbyThe Y7 team have showed great promisethis season under the leadership ofCaptain Ollie Scriven. Commitment totraining has been fantastic throughoutthe year; even in bad weather there weregood numbers out in the mud, wind andrain! This has helped the boys gel as ateam and this has been reflected in theirperformances on the pitch. In the tengames played this season, MCS wonseven, drew one and only lost twice.There have been some standout

performances this season, notably fromMorgan Wainewright, Ollie Scriven, JonPearce and Harry Johnson who have alsorepresented the Y8 rugby team. In total,38 students have represented the Y7rugby team this year; hopefully nextseason we will be able to field two teams.During the summer term, the Y7 rugbyplayers are developing their skills andfitness in preparation for next season byplaying Rugby Sevens, a shortened formof the game. In late April, a RugbySevens festival was held at MCS whichsaw thirty MCS students make up threesquads which took on teams fromBassaleg, Brynmawr and St Julian’s.MCS A team went on to win thetournament beating Bassaleg School 21-19 in the final thanks to a last minute tryfrom Jon Pearce. Overall, Y7 rugby hashad an incredibly successful year and itis fully expected that this success will becontinued next season. Good luck fornext season boys!

Y7 Rugby Sevens team; Callum Wood,Johnny Dunckley, Troy Taylor-Morgan,Jamie Strachan, Jonathan Pearce, LewisRichards, Oliver Scriven (Captain), HarryJohnson, Bailey Nash, Beau Cole.

Y8 have had a much improved seasonthis year, winning four out of the fivegames they have played. CameronOgilvie, James Ashton and Jay Harrishave been standout players and wererewarded with playing up a Year Groupin League fixtures. Ben Pilot andCameron Ogilvie have captained theside well this year with Hunter Guthriefinishing top try scorer. The squad hasshown great potential this season butmust start attending more trainingsessions ahead of a tough season in Y9 as they will be playing in both thePontypool District League as well as aQuad Nations English League.

Y8 Squad:Michael Van Den Bergh, OwenBishop, Josie Harrison, Cameron Ogilvie,Ruben Wallace, Josh Hamblin, Jay Harris,Joe Ridgway, Brian Rowlands, Ben Pilot,Callum Lanfear, Hunter Guthrie, JamesAston, Aaron Hickmans, Josh Lewis, Tom Bush, Isaac Cooper, FlynnRuddiforth, Jonathan Pearce (Y7), HarryJohnson (Y7), Ollie Scriven and MorganWainewright (Y7).

Y11 Rugby League This season’s Championship SchoolsArea Tournaments got underwaythroughout the months of November


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and December, with MCS progressingconvincingly through the tournament,booking a place in the Quarter Finals.

The Quarter Final saw MCS travel toCroeseyceiliog where they once againrecorded another convincing 50 pointsto 6 victory with an excellent display ofRugby League.

MCS then travelled to St Joseph’s for theSemi-Finals. The game showcased the talent Wales has in Rugby League in the area with some outstandingperformances from Nathan Brooks,Paris Thomas, Euan Gillespie

and James Mearalong with up andcoming Y10 starsEllis Brown and Jack Wear. Onceagain, an excellentdisplay of ferociousdefence and clinicalattacking, led toMCS overcoming St Joseph’s 28-14.

Monmouth travelledto Taffs Well on the 7 May wherethey put in an

outstanding performance in the WelshSchools Final. MCS went into the half time interval trailing 12 points to 20 with all thepoints coming from our captain,Nathan Brooks,converting from twooutstanding tries.The second half wasplayed at a ferociouspace and was end toend stuff. Furthertries came from

Paris Thomas and Dan Whistance, bothagain converted by Brooks. Brooks thenwent over for our final try but failed withthe conversion which would havelevelled the scores. Instead MCS trailed28-30. MCS continued to pressurise thePencoed defence, but MCS hearts werebroken in the dying moments whenPencoed broke away scoring a convertedtry to regain their Welsh School trophywith a 36-28 win.

Squad: Jack Davies, Lewys Bufton, Alan Hawkins, Jack Wear, James Mear,Euan Gillespie, Dan Whistance, ParisThomas, Nathan Brooks, Ellis Brown,Owen Walters, Jordan Heales, MichaelRidgway, Jack Moore, Kieran Knight,Louis Macfarlane.


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Not only did we practice our designskills in the educational hall, we foundinspiration from up and comingdesigners who were showcasing theirtalent in the many catwalk shows foundaround the eventing area.

We took a particular interest in the Julien MacDonald display as it wasrelevant to our current project on theWelsh Designer’s A/W14 collection aselements of his work is being used toinspire shift dresses that we are in theprocess of making.

Upon entering the Hall we had a chanceto capture our own perspectives on

everything to do with the fashion world.We discovered new experiences and learntequally about the design process as wellas the production of the garments themselves.

The day was full of learning andexperiences that we will carry throughour course with us and we can look backon as we proceed to design and makemore creations.

After wandering around all the stalls inthe Hall, we gathered together to watchthe main show. From the show we learntthat because the garments were designedfor the catwalk and not everyday use,they can use simpler constructionmethods instead of a more coutureapproach, like the French seam. Thedesigns varied from swim suits to luxurygowns for us to gain inspiration for ourcurrent and future designs.

As we got onto the coach and travelledhome the atmosphere was buzzing,everyone was discussing what they hadlearnt and just how much time andeffort would go into each and everygarment that was made. Everyone had awonderful day and I’m sure that theywill all be attending next year as weknow we will be.

Naiomi Armitage, Hatty Weaver,Alice Glen, 10RP

Clothes Show Live 2014

As part of our textiles GCSE course we visited the NEC inBirmingham to experience The Clothes Show Liveexhibition. The event was highly educational, fascinatingand fun all at the same time.


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Literary Festival

The three schools collaborated to invite a diverse group ofpoets and authors to perform, speak and sign books invarious venues across Monmouth.

The inaugural Monmouth Young Peoples’ Literary Festival,held between 23rd and 27th June, gave more than 1000

students from ten schools the chance to get involved anddiscover new writing as well as classic works. Studentsalso took part in poetry writing workshops during theweek using Monmouth as their inspiration.

On Wednesday morning, Daniel Morden, a professionalstoryteller and author of Tree of Leaf and Flame and DarkTales from the Woods, chatted with students atMonmouth School and in the afternoon Philip Wells,more widely known as 'The Fire Poet', joined students inthe MCS marquee.

Mr Wells had stopped off during his epic 1,000 milesbarefoot walk through England and Wales, from StMichael's Mount to Anglesey, followed the footsteps ofBards, Romans, Neolithic dreamers and, according to thelegend, Christ himself. The 1,000 miles represents the1,000,000,000 children living in poverty in the world.

On Thursday Leo Aylen entertained students from thethree schools in the marquee. Mr Aylen’s poems areminiature plays in a variety of settings and include riddles,puns, verbal acrobatics and audience participation. In notime at all he had the students tongue-tied and in gales oflaughter!

On Friday, students surprised members of the public withimpromptu pop-up poetry performances outside ShireHall in town, inside Waitrose and at Coffee #1.

This will be an annual event at MCS and 2015 will see thePoet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy in attendance.

Students form MCS, Monmouth School and HMSG, united through their love of reading, organised aweek-long event which has raised the bar for young peoples’ Literary Festivals.


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Summer Learning 2014

A Summer to RememberFor Summer Learning Week, Y7 went on residential trips to arange of activity centres including Talybont, where my Formstayed for three days. The Year Group also got involved withmany summer related activities on site.

My Form were away for the first half of the week, having agreat time at Talybont. We chose our rooms and who we sharedwith, and settled in. We then had tea at the centre - pizza orcheeseburgers - which was really tasty. The staff were all reallyfriendly, gave us a warm welcome and we all settled in quickly.

That afternoon we were split into activity groups and taken byminibus to a canal. It was very exciting to be out on the waterwith some of my friends. We paddled in pairs for a few hours,splashing and having great fun in the gunky water. We all

jumped in and took some “selfies” under our upturnedcanoes. We returned to the centre for tea followed by a gameof football. At 10pm we were told to go to our bedrooms andcalm down after all the excitement of staying away from home.

The following morning, after a full English breakfast, we hada room inspection - my room achieved a full 4 out of 10 (mumwould be proud!)

We then set off on a river walk which led to a waterfall whichwe had fun messing around in, followed by a refreshing lunchand change of clothes back at the centre, then another game offootball.

We went to get the bikes out of the shed at the centre, theywere a bit tricky to get used to but we all managed to adjust tothem. We did an obstacle course including a limbo which wasa battle between my two mates - Aaron and Eloise - buteventually Aaron got the lowest possible bike limbo. After the


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obstacle course we went on a bike ride alongside the canal andup a hill; we did a bit of follow the leader during the journey.

We soon returned for tea, pasta and meatballs, it was great! We had a good chat and caught up with what the other groupshad been doing; we all had an amazing day!

Outside after tea we joined in with a few activities and games,followed by another game of football, Mrs Edwards was ourcaptain. A lot of people surprised us with their football skills.

Time for bed; we all settled down, had a chat and eventuallywe went to sleep.

The next day we went orienteering and roamed around thecountryside looking for checkpoints, we met some friendly,wild ponies, which we were distracted by, but we got back ontask and it was a great day for it. Sadly, we had to go homefrom a brilliant three days. We had such a great time!

The rest of the week wewere at school, off timetable, getting involvedwith a load of activitieswe wouldn’t normallydo. First we went to atent to listen to a famouspoet tell us his storiesand rhymes as part ofthe Literary Festival. Wealso took part in Zumba,made piñatas, and lotsmore.

I’d just like to thankMCS and Talybont forsuch a great week!

Jay Hardy, 7VE

Young Enterprise and Sense of Wales

Monday - It’s A Knock-Out/Orienteering On the first morning, all Y9s took part in It’s A Knock-Outwith each Form Group working in small groups andexperiencing different team building activities.

Our group had an obstacle course which includedapproximately five activities. The best activity, crawlingbetween hay bales while being underneath tarpaulin, wasextremely hot as this was probably the hottest day of the year


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so far. Other activities included wellie throwing, guessing theflags (which nations were involved in the World Cup)andthree-legged football. We had fun, too, racing through tyredrills - doesn’t sound too hard does it? Well, you try it in waterlogged wellies!

Orienteering was in the afternoon - we stayed in the samegroup as the morning and were given instructions to find ourway around Monmouth. Teaching staff were at checkpoints tosign your paper. The winning team had a prize - I think!

Tuesday - Young EnterpriseDuring our Integrated Curriculum lessons in Y9 we have beenplanning our Young Enterprise event. Working in small groupswithin our Forms, we had to set up our own business and sellproducts or provide a service to make the highest profit. Theday was great fun and many stalls were able to display theirproducts outside in the sunshine. Lots of cake and sweet stalls,ice creams sellers, tie-dye t shirt stalls, wooden plaques, XboxFIFA tournament, guess the name of the teddy, and lots more.My team and I ran an Xbox FIFA tournament.

Wednesday - Sense of WalesY9 had a day off-site to experience different locations in SouthWales. Our group was lucky enough to visit CardiffMillennium Stadium. We had a tour of the stadium whichincluded going into the Welsh Rugby and Football changingrooms. We were surprised that they had a separate changingroom for rugby and football. The player’s names are labelledon their clothes hooks and their shirts were on display. Wewere also allowed to walk through the tunnel to the pitch, itwas huge!

Other groups went to Millennium Centre, Welsh Assembly,Castle Coch, and Big Pit.

Thursday - WalkEach Y9 student was able to choose which walk they would liketo do. The Kymin, Skenfrith – Swan Walk or the Skirrid.

The Skirrid walk was my choice. We were taken on two busesand dropped off at the bottom of the mountain. Another hot


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day, so lots of water was required to get us to the top. The walkstarted quite easy and then it suddenly got really steep. At thetop the view was amazing, you could see for miles!

Friday - Dragon’s DenIn the morning Y9 Form Groups found out the results ofTuesday’s Young Enterprise. We were given an envelope withour profit. A group from each Form had to give a presentationon their business enterprise. The finalists were then able topresent to the rest of the Year Group in the afternoon and theDragon’s awarded the best group.

It was a really fun week with lots of variety, my favouriteSummer Learning Week so far.

Henry Williams, 9PN


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BBC Young Reporters’ Day -Meeting the DeadlineMarch 19th was BBC YoungReporters’ Day, an event whichgave young people like us achance to shine. In our Forms,we created our own BBC stylenews reports.

Our Form reported on a range ofsubjects, from fundraising to keepingfit, and I was lucky enough to beinvolved in filming a weather report.Every member of the class played a keypart in making the report. Somepeople used technology to film andenhance, while others were writingscripts or in front of the cameras.There was a brilliant atmosphere andnot one moment was wasted in tryingto make the 3pm deadline.

However, it didn’t all run smoothly. Webattled with noise from the dual-carriageway, problems with the lightand low batteries on the filmingequipment, but as a Form weovercame these obstacles and learntfrom our mistakes. It was an inspiringand very worthwhile experience whichwe all enjoyed. I can guarantee thateveryone next year will enjoy it too!

Alice Barrell, 7MD


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Ben Hopkins

I compete in two very different sports -football and Mounted Games. Both areteam sports but both are very different.Mounted Games is a sport that we, as afamily, are all involved in. My dad rodefor Great Britain and Wales as a child andnow trains the successful MonmouthshireGames teams and he is also the 2015Welsh Team trainer. My mum, who alsocompeted at Mounted Games in heryounger years, now looks after myponies and exercises them whilst I’m atschool. I also have a younger brotherwho rides too.

Whilst Mounted Games isn't anOlympic Sport it is on the pathway and,who knows, one day I may be at theOlympics! It’s now a sport that involves23 nations around the world and recentlyIran has joined our association. Due tothe success of our ever-growing sport,we have the chance to travel the worldand meet people of all nationalities.

To be able to travel the world andcompete doesn't come easy, it involveshours of practice and a specialpartnership between horse and rider. Ihave a very special pony - his name isMerlin, he's 12.3hh and 19 years old.My parents bought him for me when Iwas eight years old and although it’s notbeen easy, we have worked hard andgained many international titles. Merlinis well known all around the world, hecurrently holds eight World titles, aEuropean title and numerous Britishtitles. He is the most successful ponythere has ever been in Mounted Games.

Whilst owning a superstar pony doeshelp in the quest for major titles, I traindaily not only with Merlin but with other

ponies on our yard. In between playingfootball and school work, I can ride up tothree ponies every day during thesummer months.

We start our season training in earlyNovember, as we have Welsh Trials inFebruary and March. Riders from allover Wales attend these trials, all whomhave been selected by their county in thepast. It involves many hours of coldnights and frozen toes but this year thisall paid off! I attended the trial torepresent Wales at the Royal WindsorHorse Show which tookplace in May this year. We travelled to NorthWales for the trial andcompeted in a series ofraces in front of the panelof selectors who at the endselected myself and Emma Lockyer, both from8CK, to represent Wales atthe home of the Queen andPrince Philip. We are bothreally looking forward to representingWales at such a prestigious show, whichis the chance of a lifetime.

Once we knew we were going toWindsor, we set our eyes on trying tomake the European squad travelling toCluny in France this summer. Once again,a trial was organised and a series of racestook place and not only did Emma and Iget selected, so did Erin Beach, who isalso a Monmouth Comprehensive student!This is an amazing achievement for allthree of us, as riders from all over Walescame to the trial and for all three of us toget in from one area is just unheard of.At this point I also want to say that whilst

I was selected to represent the Under14's at the Europeans, my youngerbrother Sam, a Raglan Primary Schoolpupil, was selected on his pony, Elle, torepresent Wales in the Under 12competition. I have since heard that notonly will I be representing Wales in theteam competition I have also beenselected as an individual too!

Finally, the year was looking really good,when the opportunity came up to possiblygo to the World Team Championships inthe Under 17's competition. My dad

and I decided to showsome interest and, whilstnot telling my mum, let theselectors know I wasavailable for team selectionto travel to Florida inNovember. I didn't think Iwould be selected as this isthe older age group, butmy year got better whenmyself and Emma Lockyerwere both selected! We

will travel to Florida in the USA inNovember this year to represent Wales atthe World Team Championships!

Its going to be a tough year - I’ve movedup an age category from 12's to 14's, I’mthe reigning World Individual and WorldPairs Champion as well as BritishChampion with my county team, but allof my successes have only come with agreat pony and a great support team. Inthe future I hope that I can take it all asa positive and develop a career involvingsport in some way. I’m fortunate to beable to travel the world and it’s all part ofgaining experience that will hopefullyhelp me as I develop a career.

Sport is something I love, whether it be football or competing on my

ponies, it’s something I always take seriously and always strive to be the

best I can. I've learnt that to be a champion, you have to have highs and

lows, you have to be committed and you have to always try your best.


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The Duke of Edinburgh Award

The numbers of students participatingin the Award at Bronze, Silver and Goldhas increased steadily over the lastfour years with over 160 studentsinvolved this year.

The Award encourages students not only to become moreindependent, but also to learn new skills, learn the value ofworking in the community and to enjoy the great outdoors.

The Silver and Gold Award students completed their practiceexpeditions at Easter in cool windy conditions in the Blackmountains near Abergavenny.

The Gold assessed expedition takes place in the last week ofJuly in the Lake District in some of the most outstanding butarduous landscapes in the country, over four days with threenights camping with students covering 21km every daycarrying everything they need for the duration.

The Silver expedition takes place later in the Summer term inthe Black Mountains over three days with two nights camping.

The new entrants to the DofE Award at Bronze Level learntcamp craft, navigation and survival skills on their practiceexpedition in early June in the Wye Valley with an overnightcamp at the Biblins campsite near Symond’s Yat. Theirassessed expedition took place during the Summer LearningWeek at the end of June, again in the Black Mountains. Forsome this was the first time they had walked with full kit inwild country and camped out overnight - needless to say theywere very excited about it!


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April and September

LS: Last Thursday, how good was that?Were you nervous?

BD: I was, because I’ve always wantedto meet Ashley. When I found out hewas coming I was excited!

LS: I was nervous standing up and makingmy speech. I said to your Dad that I feel lessnervous playing! The only nervous time forme in the summer was at the start of myinnings against Whitchurch (when LS andBD defied the league leaders for an hourand denied them valuable bonus points).Was that your best batting performance ofthe summer?

BD: No! I didn’t get many runs, but Ihad a good all round game for Wales – Idropped a catch though! I didn’t get awicket, but in the first innings I went inat number 8 and made 15 before I wasbowled by a left-armer.

LS: You batted well that day. George(Williamson, Y11) batted well that day too.Between the three of us we managed to batfor over half the innings against the leagueleaders and stopped them taking the point.What was your best bowling of the summer?

BD: Taking five wickets in an innings for Wales against Middlesex and getting [former England captain] Michael Atherton’s son out. That was at

Radleigh College.

LS: Tell me about playing at big stadiumslike Gloucester.

BD: It was my fifth game for Wales. Inmy first game I took one wicket, in mysecond I took two, third I took three,fourth I took four! My Dad said: “I’llgive you £10 if you take five wickets in agame for Wales”!

LS: That was all over Facebook!

BD: Yes! When I got my first wicket, Ilooked over at Dad and he held up a £10note! I felt good. I knocked out a righthander’s leg stump by bowling it roundhis legs. I could see he was steppingacross too far. It spun a lot.

LS: Big question is whether Dad gave youthe tenner? He’s notoriously tight!

BD: Yes! He also offered me £50 if Itook 50 wickets in the summer!

LS: He’ll learn not to do that, you’ll costhim a fortune! You played for the first teamas well. Did you take a wicket on one leg?

BD: No!

LS: I did when my calf muscle went! Ifinished an over coming in off one pace andfortunately the batsman hit it straight up inthe air! You played for the first team too,which is quite an achievement at the age of12. Go on, talk me through that!

BD: It was pretty special. I bowled eightovers and took four wickets. It felt like areal achievement, not just to play but todo well - I led the team off the pitch atthe end [an honour given by teams to thebest performer].

LS: What was the difference betweenbowling at first team batsmen and othertypes of cricket? You’ll have to remind me,

it’s a heck of a long time since I played firstteam cricket!

BD: I reminded myself that I’m playingfor Wales, so I had to convince myself Iwas good enough to be there. A goodbatsman is always a good batsman at anylevel. You’ve just got to try to work themout.

LS: How do you do that? I was alwaystold to watch a player’s feet.

BD: I always bowl my stock deliveryfirst and I see how they play that. Onelad in a county match came in at number5 and loved to angle his bat. I kept ontrying to spin the ball, but it wasn’tworking. I bowled a quicker one thatskidded on and because of the angle, itsquirted off his edge and was caught. Sowhen I’ve played against first teambatsmen, it’s the same. You have to workthem out.

LS: As I’ve coached the Under 9’s, you cansee that they all play the same way, the wayI teach them because they haven’t playedenough cricket to develop their own styleyet. You get a lot of coaching input, but doyou find that you have to work out yourown game for yourself?

BD: I have one to one with Lee Herring[Cricket Wales coach] whose son is theGloucestershire wicketkeeper. He haschanged my batting and that has helped.It worked, but I’ve gone back to how Ifelt more comfortable, and that has beeneven better!

LS: So there are times when you’ve ignoredyour coaches? As a coach I would say therecomes a time when you have to do that. Thecoach isn’t out there in the middle with you,you’ve got to make those decisions. In the

Year 8 student Ben Davies is an exceptional cricketingtalent. The 2014 season saw him chosen to representWales in the Under 12 County Championship.

Ben’s appearances coincided with one of the best winning streaks Wales had forsome time, culminating in a win over champions Yorkshire. Ben also made hisdebut for Monmouth CC first team, taking four wickets in his first appearance.Liam Stubbs is Monmouth Cricket Club’s Sunday League captain. Despite theirage gap, Ben and staff member Liam Stubbs regularly featured in the sameMonmouth Cricket Club team last summer. Here Ben and Liam talk about lastseason and compare notes from opposite ends of their playing days

The interview starts with Ben and Liam discussing Junior presentation night at the club, where the awards were given out by ex-England player and coach Ashley Giles.


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last home game of the season I had to totallychange my batting stance to combat a ladwho was bowling unbelievably wide. Youplayed in that game.

BD: I didn’t!

LS: You did! I was fielding on theboundary for you!

BD: Oh yes!Both [together]: Cow corner!

LS: So what about next year, when doescricket start for you?

BD:The first training session for Walescomes up soon, Gwent training startsafter Christmas.

LS: And Cricket at MCS will start againafter Christmas too.

BD: Of course.

LS: You’ll be going up an age group nextyear, what’s the competition like?

BD: Hard. But I’m confident I’vebowled well enough to keep my place. Iknow I have to work on things likefootwork. My coaches are always tellingme where I need to improve. I cameaway from Wales’ sessions last seasonand told my Dad what they said and he

said “Right, let’s get working on that”. Iwent back and they were pleased withmy improvement.

LS: I’ve got a theory about footwork –cricketers keep doing well on Strictlybecause we’re a bit lighter on our feet!

BD:We’re always on the move!

LS: If someone from school wanted tofollow in your footsteps, what advice wouldyou give them? Where should they start?Did you have a choice, given who your Dadis? My son didn’t have a choice!

BD: My Dad was very keen to get meinto cricket and I loved it. I remembergetting my first helmet, gloves and batand being really excited. Fearnley glovesand a Slazenger bat! It can be difficult ifyou don’t have the kit.

LS: Both the club and the school provide kit.

BD: Yes. Just playing gives a buzz. Iloved just being involved. I wanted to bea wicketkeeper but I’m a bowler now. Ifyou’re playing at a high level, they wantyou to work at all parts of the game,you’ve just got to play and work hard at it.

LS: True, even at my age, you keepimproving. I hit a fifty late on in the seasonand it was my best inning for donkey’syears. But I played in a really strong sidein the Midlands for a long time and didn’tget much batting opportunity because I wasseen mainly as a bowler.

BD: It helps to play in a good side.We’re strong at Monmouth, we’ve hadplayers like Frazer Kilgour [NewZealand professional].

LS: Which of the players you play with do

you look up to?

BD: Josh [Grey, Monmouth CC vicecaptain and former MCS student].There are always fireworks when he bats.

LS: And of course all the coaches….including your Dad!

BD:We’ve got some amazing coaches atMonmouth. We’re doing well as a JuniorClub now.

LS: The Under 11’s were runners up intheir league and your team [Under 9’s] didwell.

BD: Welsh cricket seems strong. We’dnever beaten many County sides beforebut we won a lot of games this summer,beat a lot of strong Counties.

LS: I’m going to move this conversation onbefore you mention beating Yorkshire!

BD laughs.

LS: Your Dad put it on Facebook and Icouldn’t bring myself to press ‘like’! What’sthe aim for next season?

BD: Promotion for Monmouth andkeep improving.

We have always been interested inmountain climbing, but never did wethink that we would have conquered theThree Peaks Challenge in less than 24hours when we were just 13 years old.For this we had to walk up Ben Nevis inScotland, Scafell Pike in England andSnowdon in Wales (the highest peak ineach country) all in 24 hours or less.Despite the appalling conditions we allcompleted the challenge within thedemanding time limit.

In August 2014 we teamed up withEmily and Luke Richards as well as threeparents, as the fourth parent was

responsible for driving us between thethree mountains, making hot chocolateand porridge when we finished each one.

Everyone found it tough as it rainedhard for at least 90 percent of the time.There were strong winds at times and

snow and ice at the top of Ben Nevis. Wehad to change clothes after eachmountain as we were soaked to the skineven with full waterproofs. With our hotchocolate and porridge to keep us going,we pulled through the moments ofdisbelief and lack of confidence, pushingourselves to the top of those wonderfulpeaks. Unfortunately we could notappreciate the views due to it being darkor raining too much to see far!

We finished within 23 hours with Emilyand Luke and the adults completed itwithin 24 hours.

Katie Kearsey & Sophie Richards

Three Peaks Challenge


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Engineering Projects The computer will know if you sit in the wrong seat!For the fourth consecutive year, Engineers from GeneralDynamics UK have set our Sixth Formers problems to solve aspart of the Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW).GD has just won a huge contract to supply the army withvehicles and gave us challenges related to this, though wecould quickly think of civilian applications for our solutions.

Problem One was to create a system that could automaticallysense who was sitting in each seat of the vehicle and checkif they were authorised. We could see this as also useful inlarge conferences, industrial control rooms, aircraft, or evenhospital waiting rooms. After clarifying the brief withengineers on a visit to GD in October, the group set to withtheir research and development. Sam Winder dismantledsome old electronic bathroom scales to see if they could bemodified to detect a person on seat; Rory Bennett researchedradio tags similar to those used on items in shops; Lewis Bellordered an Arduino microprocessor and started programming;Oliver Hedges started writing code for the database anddisplay on the base computer; Tim Ford worked on a radiodetector. Two days in the Engineering Department at CardiffUniversity in December saw the device progress from atangle of wires on a breadboard to a final package, withsome tricky soldering required. Georgia Howe starteddrafting the 25 page professional report that would explainall the decisions the group had made. By February thecomputer could definitely tell that you were sat on the demo“hotseat” and would identify you as “authorised”, “knownbut unauthorised” or as “a dangerous unknown intruder”.

How do you move 700kg in a confined space?Meanwhile the other group chose a mechanical challenge.GD have to install a huge amount of electronics into the newvehicle, but it is a very cramped space for engineers to workin. They would prefer to assemble and test all the gearoutside in the comfort of the workshop and then install asingle complete rack. However, it weighs 700kg and needsmoving and lifting inside the vehicle once posted throughthe small door.

For lifting, the team considered hydraulic rams, pneumaticballoons, screw threads and scissor jacks. Chris Moraninvestigated a wide variety of ingenious methods for movingthe device around. Megan Kinniment-Williams, Lara Gordonand Annika Prince used their Further Maths A Level skills toanalyse forces, angles, stresses and stability. Meganproduced a sophisticated animated 3D computer simulationof their chosen design. Bryn Bloodworth spent hours refininga complex powered Lego prototype. The team then wanteda more solid working model, so at Cardiff University theyheaded for the Mechanical Engineering workshop. AggieMorgan was soon foraging for suitable nuts and bolts.Whilst the university technicians machined parts to order, acamera crew turned up wanting to film and interview youngengineers for the Welsh Government!

Both groups had to hone their presentations, first for seniorengineers on a second visit to GD and then for the judges atthe National Awards Ceremony at the Celtic Manor in March.Their stands were busy all day and both groups were


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nominated for awards. As ever, thanks to GD UK, these projectshave given Sixth Form Physics students an insiders’ insightinto real life professional engineering and demanded acommitted team effort over several months. They have had toexplain their work on paper and display at a large public event.

The UK Big Bang Science and Technology FairOne of the EESW teams from last year was asked to presentat the National Exhibition Centre in March. General Dynamicsgenerously agreed to sponsor the accommodation, travel toBirmingham and pay for parts to improve the device.

The group had developed a device that would automaticallydisplay relevant messages to soldiers, yacht crew in a race orstewards at a large festival, as soon as they entered a specificarea. Miles Isted s’Jacob successfully integrated a GPS

receiver, radios, microprocessors and display panel whilstKenzo Fagan taught himself how to program the basecomputer that matched message to position. He was stillwriting code, and Amelia Ralphs was still hacksawing metalin the hotel room the night before the event, but it wasfinally all assembled and packaged, declared working, andworn with pride by Captain Rupert (or was it Pippa?).

This was Mr Green’s full size mannequin, more used toRoman armour than state-of-the-art electronics, but she/heattracted a lot of attention to our stand.

All the team, including Charlie Burge and Taran Goodbandhad to deal with primary age children, computer expertsfrom Google scouting for prizewinning ideas, and real lifesoldiers keen to give us their opinion of devices they wereissued with. The Celtic Manor had been a big event, but thiswas huge!

At the end of September, we held our own Macmillan CoffeeMorning in the Meetings Room, where we had homemadecakes, biscuits, tea and coffee, that didn’t last long! A fantastic£184.50 was raised to support Macmillan which aims to ensurethat no one faces cancer alone.

Our Monday breaktime meetings for the next couple of weeks,were spent planning the first big event of the term on 17thOctober. As a Committee, we decide upon which charities wewould like to support, and Clic Sargent was close to many of ourCommittees’ hearts. It is the UK’s leading cancer charity forchildren and young people, and also their families. They provideclinical, practical, financial and emotional support, to help them

cope with cancerand get the mostout of life. For thisevent, we chose a‘bright colours’themed non-schooluniform day. Wealso held our everpopular bake sale,in the hall at breaktime for students

and staff to enjoy. We raised a total of £1,145.66 for ClicSargent, which we were very proud of.

November was upon us, which only meant one thing - Childrenin Need! The national theme this year was ‘Superheroes’ whichwe made as our non-uniform theme. Students and staff got

involved with the day. Wedecided that we would hostour own ‘MonmouthComprehensive School StaffBake Off’, to get all theteachers involved. Our ‘BakeOff Champion’ judged bythe panel at break time onthe stage, includingMichael, our Head Boy, andcatering students. They came to the decision to crown Miss Mortimer-Davies as the champion for her literature inspired cake! Students were invited to take part in the ‘Design

your own SuperHero Form Tutor’competition, andthen sponsoredtheir Form Tutors todress up as thatsuperhero. The daywas a hugesuccess, raising atotal of £1,180.47.

With the Christmasseason dawningupon us, students

and staff got busy making up their ‘Operation Christmas Child’ boxes. We managed to be ‘the biggest contributor’ from Monmouth area this year, with 127 boxes going off todisadvantaged children, whowould have otherwise receivednothing for Christmas.

Our Christmas Charity this year was Home Start, a charity whichhas a base in Monmouth. HomeStart is a national charity that helps parents to build better livesfor their children. The school chosethe theme for the non-uniform this time, which was the popularDisney film ‘Frozen’! The Charity


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Charity MattersThe Charity Committee hit the ground runningthis year. Only a few weeks back in school andHarvest was upon us. Our competition this yearfor Forms was for the best decorated box of food.This was won by 13PB, with their fantasticscarecrow designed box! The whole of theschool responded fantastically to our requests ofnon-perishable foods, and Monmouth Food Bank,who we donated this year’s collections to, were‘so impressed and thankful for the donations’.


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headingCommittee held a bake sale, which included fantastic snowmenand reindeer cakes. We raised an amazing total of £1,169.22.

The New Year started off with theValentine’s Day delivery service inFebruary. This has been a traditionfor several years, delivering heartshaped chocolates, marshmallows,and roses to students and staffmembers. The delivery service was ahuge success, raising over £150 forSave the Children and their Ebolacampaign.

After Valentine’s Day, the next bigevent was Comic Relief in March. Planning this event was a bigtask and we knew that in order to make the day successful andraise lots of money, the day would have to go smoothly. Westarted planning the day weeks before the actual event,planning everything from live entertainment, to a ‘red’ non-school uniformtheme, to the bakesale. On the day ofthe event, it wasgreat to see everyoneenjoying the live actson the stage andwith the bake saleselling out in underhalf an hour, we

knew that all our hard work had paid off. After counting all themoney we had raised on the day, it was incredible to realise ourtotal of over £1,300! This showed just how much our hard workhad paid off, raising the most amount of money for a charitythroughout the academic year. Comic Relief was our last bigevent and it was certainty the highlight of the year.

In May, came our last non-uniform event, raising money for theVelindre Cancer Centre which supports patients and theirfamilies dealing with cancer, funds ground-breaking research,supplies specialist equipment and the most up-to-date trainingfor staff. As this was our last event it was great to see everyoneenjoy the day. This charity was chosen after the Head Teacher ofYstrad Mynach Primary School contacted the school asking us toparticipate in a fundraising target reaching across primary andsecondary schools in Wales. Their aim is to raise £100,000 – wewere the first secondary school to respond and were happy tojoin this community spirited mission!

In total close to £5,000 was raised this year for various charities,and we believe this reflects the effort every single member of theCharity Committee has put in, alongside the efforts of allstudents, staff and parents who get onboard and always givegenerously. We wish all the very best success for the CharityCommittee in the future, and look forward to hearing all aboutthe wonderful events that happen next year.

Dorothy Laidler, Lizzie Price and Alex Davies

Joint Charity Committee Heads


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Ciaran Mann and the Army Cadets

I joined the cadets in Monmouth inJanuary 2012, when I was 12 yearsold. The cadets is a really good placeto learn new things and, in the last 2½years, I have learnt first aid, fieldcraft,how to fire a range of different rifleslike the I98 general purpose cadet rifleand outdoor navigation. I have beenon a lot of weekend camps and twoweek summer adventure camps wherewe do canoeing, cycling, rock climbingand go out on tracks where we dirt-bike. We also do proper army cadetexercises like outdoor expeditionswhere we camp out and do longdistance walking and practice on thefiring range.

Last year, in 2014, I was chosen frommy detachment to represent themduring a visit to Belgium to take part inthe 100 year commemoration.

Whilst we were there, we paraded inmany different places but the mainarea was under the Menin Gate, wherewe paraded with all the veterans and

the regular soldiers. It was reallyinspiring to see how many peoplewere there.

We also visited the German cemeterywhere every grave was a mass grave,to save space. I found this quite sadbut, at the same time, I understoodwhy the Belgium people needed theirland to farm after the war. We visitedthe Allied graveyard and it was a lotdifferent because there were no massgraves. There were some marked withVictoria Crosses and we were told theirstories and how they got their medals.A number of graves had otherreligious symbols such as the Star ofDavid.

This trip was a really proud moment inmy life because I was able to representmy detachment. I learnt a lot whichmade me more confident in myknowledge of the history of that time– I would like to repeat this visit in thefuture.

My name is Ciaran Mann from 10RP. This is my story about thearmy cadets and my visit to Belgium to witness the 100thAnniversary of the start of WW1 - I hope you enjoy reading it.


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Student ArtStudent Art

Charley Bicknell

Cameron Bradbury

Hannah Pope

Millie Sutton

Charlotte Fisher

Bethany Trotter

Chloe Rushe

Jack Thomas

Johaze Basarte

Maizie MorganKirsty McIntosh

Kirsty McIntosh

Jeena Sriphan

Harriet Woods


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Out of School AchievementsMiles Everett (7MD) came 3rd in his firstrace - the Novice Class in the WYA WelshZone Championships at Milford Haven.

Finlay Waters (8TR) joined MonmouthRowing Club in April 2014 and provedthat, even after only six months, successis possible. Fin, a Junior 13 sculler,competed at Monmouth Head inSeptember and managed to achievesecond place at Junior 15 single sculls. InNovember, he travelled to Stourport onSevern and entered a 2½ mile Junior 14single scull race and won, overcomingstrong opposition from three localcompetitors. Finlay loves the freedom ofbeing on the water and puts his successdown to eating far too many yoghurts!

Sixth Form student Molly Brickley-Clarksang with the National Youth Choir ofWales in June at St David's Hall,performing Brahm's Requiem with theBBC National Orchestra of Wales andBBC National Chorus of Wales. Theperformance was broadcast live on BBCRadio 3. Their next event was aworkshop in Llandrindod Wells followedby a summer residential course andconcert in North Wales. The Choir thenperformed at the BBC PROMS in July andAugust.

Anna Ward 9LG completed the TwoMoors Way with her Dad in July (in thereally hot weather). After boarding thetrain at Bristol they arrived at Ivybridgenear Plymouth and walked acrossDartmoor and Exmoor to arrive atLynmouth on the coast. They walked104 miles in four and a half days. They

rough camped most of theway which meant that Annahad to carry her share of thecamping gear and rations in

her rucksack!

Anna signed the official book at theVisitor Centre in Lynmouth, and was toldshe was one of the youngest tocomplete the walk.

Laura Pritchard (10BG) cycled from herhome in Llanishen to Chateauponsac inFrance (a total of 515 miles) during thesummer holidays. This involved manyhours of training, accompanied by herDad, and her endeavours raised over£530 for Bridge2aid (a dental healthcarecharity). They started their training inApril, slowly building up their dailymileage and adding weights towards theend of their training to simulate theluggage they would need to carry.School finished on Friday and Saturdaymorning saw them on their way on thethree day journey to Poole where theycrossed to Cherbourg. It took them ninedays to work their way to the South ofFrance, enjoying the spectacular sceneryand meeting many interesting and veryfriendly people along the way.

One particularly memorable day wasspent cycling alongside the River Loire,enjoying the scenery and flying along at18-20 mph. Their final mileage was anincredibly 604 miles, door-to-door.

Y10 student Harry Dorey-Jones cycled anamazing 600 miles in France andBelgium with his Granddad in aid of theRoyal Marines Association raising£2,025. Harry’s Granddad travelled upfrom Devon especially for the SuccessAssembly at the beginning of the school year and enthralled Y10 with hisaccounts of the bravery anddetermination of war heroes. The RoyalMarines also gave Harry the bicyclewhich was loaned to him for the fundraising event.

Tyler Rymer (7FD) took up falconry overthe summer holidays - a very excitingactivity.

Charlie Breton (9MI) auditioned for a rolein a film, ‘Sing Street’, as the lead characterwho starts a band. For the auditionCharlie not only had to memorise linesbut choose and perform a song.

Elizabeth Walker (8JW) won first prize inKington Agricultural Show in September2014 for her brownies. She also gotthird prize for her Pizza.

Ollie & Eddie Trumper’s ewes won FemaleChampion in the Yearling Ewe Class andOverall Champion at Chepstow AgriculturalShow and Monmouth Show. Ollie wasalso crowned Champion Young Handlerat Monmouth. They followed this up bywinning Overall Breed Champion at Uskin September. The boys work with theewes, halter training them in the monthsleading up to the Shows then, trimmedand washed, the ewes are ready for theirbig moment. Both boys are in 10LM.

Holly Jones (11BT) represented herYoung Farmers Club Raglan, in theGwent Field Day which is one of themany events Young Farmers hold. Shewon the Under 16s Floristry competitionand, by winning this, she had theopportunity to go to Hillary’s florist inAbergavenny for an evening class whichhelped her to prepare for Malvern. Bywinning the Field Day, Holly went on torepresent Gwent at Malvern AutumnFlower Show where she came 16th outof 32. Holly also competed at LlangattockPloughing Match where she enteredboth the U16s Floral Competition andthe Adults. Holly came first in the U16scompetition, with her arrangement in afootball boot.

Parents have been in touch to tell us about the many and varied activities our students are involved in and I think wecan safely say that you couldn’t find a group of prouder parents, and rightly so.


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Holly’s Work Experience took her toPosies in Monmouth which shethoroughly enjoyed. “I learnt everythingfrom button holes to hand ties,bouquets to arrangements and nowprovide the flowers for MCS Reception”said Holly.

The Red Rug Jazz Band - Dafydd John(electric guitar), Dylan Sluiter (drums),Tom Morley (piano), Rory Gordon(trumpet) and Joe Archer (double bass) –performed at Abergavenny Jazz Festivalat the end of August.

In October, the Y11 boys were invited byMike Skelton, the Jazz Festival organiser, towatch the Nigel Price Quartet. He wantsto promote the band to play at his jazzevents in Abergavenny by supporting morewell-known bands then, hopefully,having their own jazz night.

Tom, Dylan and Rory also took part in aworkshop at Ronnie Scott’s Club,following up as a support band in theevening.

The Red Rug Trio - Tom, Dylan and JoeArcher from Gwynllyw ComprehensiveSchool - play monthly at LlansantffraedCourt Hotel.

Tom also had an audition at the RoyalWelsh College of Music and Drama andhas been awarded a place on the JazzPathway in the Advanced Conservatoire.In March, Tom performed at NACE in St. David’s Hotel as a member of RoyalWelsh College of Music JuniorConservatoire.

Our Art students got First and Third prizein the Public Vote at the Penallt Art “Peg it Up” exhibition in October. Poppy Sproul (Y12) came First and Harry Sully (Y10) came Third.

Kirsty Holford and Jess Worthing, havebeen successful in achieving their SilverBritish Gymnastics Award throughMonmouth Gymnastics Club.

Ben Mills (9BA) continued his successwih the Air Cadets (Abergavenny 2478Squadron) by representing Abergavenny2478 in the Welsh Wing Northern

Section Swimming gala and came first inthe 50m backstroke. Based on this result,he was then selected to represent theNo1 Welsh section at the Regional ATCgala at RAF Cosford. Ben swam against15 year olds and came fifth in hisindividual backstroke event and was partof the winning team in the individualrelay. During the ATC Summer Camp heachieved the ‘Most improved Cadet’and, on 30th November, Ben qualified asa 1st Class Cadet after completingassignments and tests.

Emma Lockyer and Ben Hopkins (both inY8) was selected to compete in theWorld Individual Mounted Games.

Ben and Emma have also been selectedto represent Wales U15s at the RoyalWindsor Horseshow at Windsor Castle inMay, in front of the Queen. This event isa World Championship event.

Following this competition, Ben andEmma will travel even further afield toFlorida to compete in the U17s WorldTeam Championships. (See page 24 forarticle from Ben).

Alice Sullivan (8CK) is a scout with 1stClearwell and Sling Scouts. In Novembershe gained the Scouting Poppy Awardbadge for work that she did forRemembrance Day. As well as completinga number of set tasks such as researchinga family member who was in the FirstWorld War, she baked scores of cupcakesand decorated them with an iced poppy.She then sold these cakes around hervillage and raised £128.99 for Colefordand District Royal British Legion. Shemade more cakes with a friend and soldthese in Coleford town raising a further£87. The Chairman of the Legion haswritten to Alice telling her that hermoney will go towards the welfare ofThe Armed Forces Community, particularlythe families of those whose loved onesdied in the defence of our country. In histhanks to her, the Chairman invited Aliceto a presentation ceremony in April 2015where the Branch would like to honourher achievement.

Alice is a keen archer and is a member ofThe Bowmen of the Dean. On November30th Alice took part in her first archery competition, the Junior County

Indoor Championships. Alice shoots arecurve bow and showed trueenthusiasm for the competition eventhough she was a bit nervous.

Matthew Ford (9NJ) swims with MonnowSwimming Club and has entered twoOpen competitions.

The Greater Gwent Fast WaterCompetition was held on 26th Octoberat the Newport International Pool andsaw Matthew competing in five races:50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 50mBreaststroke, 50m Freestyle and 200m IM(Individual Medley) where he achievedthe following results: 50m Freestyle -gold; 50m Backstroke - gold; 200 IM -gold; 50m Breaststroke - silver; 50mButterfly - gold.

November saw Matthew competing inthe South East Wales Sub-RegionalCompetition, again at the NewportInternational Pool. He swam in tworaces, the 100m Freestyle achieving aBronze place and the 200m IM placing6th overall for his age group.

Liam Keating has helped raise over£12,000 for the new skatepark inMonmouth. He has been a member ofMOSP for three years and in those threeyears he has helped raise money byhelping PCSO Joe Facchiano serve up anItalian meal and helped with plant sales.He collected sponsor money for his mumto do the second longest zipwire inBritain, made cupcakes and sold raffletickets at fundraising coffee morningsand a concert. The new skatepark wasofficially opened in May 2015.

One evening, in November, Y8 studentGeorgia Mulvaney’s mum sufferedsomething called a Spontaneous CoronaryArtery Dissection. This is a tear in thelining of a coronary artery, which causesa clot to form and a heart attack follows.It is fairly rare, affects more women inthe age group 35-55 and can be fatal.Georgia called out to wish her mumgoodnight and immediately noted fromher response that she was unwell. Dadcalled an ambulance and whilst theywaited for the paramedic teams to arriveshe kept mum calm, talking to her,helping to let the paramedics into thehouse, fetching things and relaying


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messages. Mum and dad were veryimpressed by Georgia’s mature attitudeto the scene and her presence wasincredibly helpful to her mum. Whenmum returned home from hospital shehelped to look after her and has triedvery hard to keep her stress levels low.

Mum advises “We have discussed whathappened and what she would do if itwere to reoccur and we were alone. Ifeel confident that she will take the rightaction and will know what to do. It musthave been scary for her to watch ithappening but she never faltered.”

Mrs Mulvaney added “Next year, when Iam a little further out from SCAD, I'd liketo contemplate organising a fundraisingevent and I know Georgia will be a greathelp and an ambassador for the Charity.”

Tae Kwon Do Academy - Jack Zsigo hasreached his blue belt (4th Kup).

Fencing - Welsh Youth Foil - Iwan Hazlewood & Joe Smith (11PT) wonthe U16 Boys Bronze Medals.

Alex Smith (7MA) took the U12 BoysBronze Medal.

Kellen Jenkins (9BA) achieved his senior1st Dan Black Belt on 6th December2014. The grading took place inWhitecross Sports Centre in Hereford.Unfortunately Kellen sprained his ankle afew weeks later which put him out ofcompeting for a little while.

In February, several students from MCSwere involved in a production of Joseph and the Amazing TechnicolorDreamcoat, as part of Monmouth MusicTheatre Youth. It was the Youth Group’sfirst show since setting up, followingstudent involvement in the adult societyproduction of 'Oliver' last year. Harry Sullyplayed Joseph, Jay Hardy was thenarrator, Jacob King and Josh Morganplayed Pharaoh, Lydia Harding playedMrs Potiphar and Josh Ellis played Jacob.Also in the cast were Anna Crossley, Katie Mapp, Phoebe Sadler and TedRawlins. In addition to performing, theyalso contributed hugely to theproduction, scenery and programmes.

Supporting behind the scenes wereMichael Ellis and Jess Netherway.

Dan Jones (7AH) is a keen sports personand is involved in a variety of differentsports. He came joint first in his agegroup in his annual Swim ClubChampionships in November 2014where he competed in front crawl, backstroke, breast stroke (all 100m), butterfly(50m) and the 100m IM (IndividualMedley).

Dan has been attending the after schoolswim club on Thursdays and joined in aswimming gala with MCS Y8s at HMSGshortly after joining the school. He hasalso recently started Sport4life atMonmouth Leisure Centre and plays inthe school football team as well as hislocal club.

Tom Berry (8HA) received his certificatefor advancing to 1st Class Cadet in theAir Cadets with Usk Squadron.

James Hopgood and Joe Curtis (8TR) weresuccessful in passing their 2nd Star Tae-Kwon-Do Black Belt grading exam,involving techniques, patterns, sparingand Korean language and history. Theexam took place in Cardiff in Octoberand means that they are now half waythrough the four year syllabus toachieving their 2nd Dan Black Belts.

Y8 students Cameron Ogilvie and JoshLewis have both been selected, fromaround 100 boys, to play in the U13Herefordshire County Rugby Team. Theyboth travel to Bromyard RFC everyMonday evening to train and havealready beaten the Black Country U13s49 - 0. Cameron’s position is flanker andJosh plays scrum half.

Ellen Coombe won her round at theAbergavenny Eisteddfod, in the 11-15years category.

Philippa Parry (Y12), India Marshall (Y10)and Anna Thomas (Y9) have beenselected to represent Wales at the WorldScout Jamboree in Japan later this year.Philippa will be providing us with anupdate in next year’s Leader magazine,detailing their time inJapan.

Y11 student Erin Bryce gained selectionfor the Welsh Youth Swimming Squad(2015/2016 season). She also won two‘Welsh Champion’ places at the WelshShort Course Championships (held inSwansea just before Christmas) - the 15& 16 year old, Backstroke 100m and200m categories.

Strangely it was her 3rd place in the 50mBackstroke at this event which wasspecial - the 1st and 2nd places went to16 year olds, but her swim as a 15 yearold put her in 2nd spot in the all timeWelsh Rankings for 15 years old girls.

Ischia Day (7MD) had four works in anexhibition of art in Chepstow Museum.This follows on from the exhibition ‘Sitesof Inspiration’, which featured originalworks by William Turner and SamuelPalmer, based around Tintern Abbey andthe Wye Valley. She had two sketches ofthe Abbey on show, plus a pencildrawing of an owl over the Abbey and aprint of a window arch. Ischia is a verykeen and talented young artist.

Y11 students Daniel Whistance, James Mear and Euan Gillespie havespent the last year training with, andplaying for, the Dragons Under 16's teamand attended a tour to Poland.

Sam Bevan and Dan Whistance havestarted training for this year’s Tug of Warwith Herefordshire Young Farmers,pulling for the club of Pontrilas. Lastyear they were winners at the rally and atThe Three Counties Show and runnersup at national level.

Harry Lloyd (12HW) achieved a HighlyCommended in the prestigious NicholasBacon International Relations Essaycompetition.

Y8 student Josie Harrison entered TheGlass Prize 2015 in the school categorywith an amazing glass sword called 'TheSword of Agincourt' and won, receivingover 200 more votes than her nearestrival. Josie has won a glass kiln for theArt Department, who are delighted!


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Sixth Form students Herman Bal, Alice Gable, Frances Dowle, Megan Kinniment-Williams and Reuben Pierrepoint were all acceptedonto the UNIQ Summer SchoolProgramme run by Oxford University.

Sixth Form student Amelia Ralphs hasbeen volunteering for the Tall ShipYouths Trust for the last four years,working with disadvantaged youngpeople from a variety of backgroundsand teaching them life skills through theconjugate of sail training, on their 72’round the world racing yachts.Following this work, Amelia was invitedto sail on these yachts for the RolexFastnet Race and Campaign as a WatchLeader of an all-female crew – a hugeprivilege for Amelia who will be theyoungest crew member. Amelia will beteaching 12 novices how to sail and racethe boats throughout the campaign and training weekend. Amelia’s futurecareer goal is to work in sail training.

Ollie Chilcott (8VE) has continued to playviolin with Greater Gwent Orchestras. Hehas been selected to represent WorcesterYouths at waterpolo in the MidlandsLeague.

Bethan Morgan (12AC) has been selectedfrom hundreds of applicants for aprestigious five day work experienceplacement at the Royal MeteorologicalOffice Headquarters in Exeter.

Y10 students Max Roberts, Jack Wear andBret Thomas were selected to play RugbyLeague for SE Wales, claiming a 28-0victory at Cardiff Arms Park in May.

James Whittaker (12TY) successfullycompleted the Wye Valley WarriorCycling Sportif – a 79 mile event thattook place in May. James is lookingforward to taking part in his secondSportif in Cardiff in June.

James Phillips (11BF) was reappointed asthe Mayor’s Cadet in May 2015.

Jack Whittaker (13CC) played the part ofSonny in X-entricity’s May performanceof the musical Grease, in Ross-on-Wye.In October they will take the musical toThe Courtyard Theatre, Hereford.

It has also been great to receive someupdates from former students at MCS.

Ollie Alexander (Thornton when atschool) has not only achieved success asan actor, starring in, amongst otherthings, The Riot Club and Sky Atlantic’sPenny Dreadful but has also, with hisband Years and Years, scored a numberone hit with their track ‘King’. The bandalso topped BBC’s Sound of 2015 list –all this before they have released theirfirst album.

The group have already had a verysuccessful year, playing coveted supportslots with Clean Bandit and Sound Of2014 winner Sam Smith, as well asperforming at a number of UK festivalsincluding The Great Escape, Bestival andLatitude.

Heather Robertson left Monmouth SixthForm in the Summer of 2014, to go toHolme Lacy College to study Agriculturebut got in touch to tell us about herSuffolk Punch Heavy Horse, Yasmin.

“You may know that the Suffolk Punch isa rare British breed of Heavy Horse, withonly 500 left in Britain today. I considermyself to be very lucky to own such abeautiful breed of Heavy Horse. This yearmy Suffolk Punch, Yasmin, and I havetravelled all three regions of Wales. Ourfirst show was in Abergavenny, where Iwas placed first in Young Handlers andthird for Best Other Heavy Horse.

Our second show was in West Wales. Wewere placed third for Young Handler andfirst for Best Other Heavy Horse or ShireOver 15 Years Old. This came as asurprise as Yasmin managed to stand upto a very well-bred Shire Horse (theSuffolk Punch is a lot shorter andstronger than the Shire, and, most of thetime, a Suffolk Punch would be placedlast in a class of Shires or Shire Crosshorses, especially in Wales).

Our third and final show of the seasonwas in North Wales, a non-competitiveshow, full of Heavy Horse breeds. Yasminwas the only Suffolk Punch at the showand she managed to win the hearts ofmany people, a firm validation of theSuffolk Punch personality. This goes toshow

that, no matter what you come upagainst in life, there is always a chancethat you will come up on top. If youdon't get placed there is always anotherchance around the corner. You just haveto have a little luck, and the rightmoment to have your chance to shine.”

Jessica Stephens, winner of the SusanWhite Award for Young Cook of the Year2014, gained a catering apprenticeshipat Kate Humble’s Humble by Nature inPenallt.

Emma Hatton (Boyle when at school), hashad great success, landing a leading rolein the West End as Elphaba in themusical ‘Wicked’.

Zak Williams headed to France aftersecuring a professional Rugby Leaguecontract playing for La Reole. Zak visited the school with his shirts from representing Wales U19Commonwealth, winning bronze, GreatBritain Students XIII, and Wales U18where Zak was vice-captain.

Oriane Pierrepoint has been awarded theprestigious title of NADFAS RBA Scholar,after having two pieces of work selectedfor the Royal Society of British Artists’(RBA) annual Exhibition. Oriane’s workwas on show throughout February at theRBA’s Rising Stars exhibition at LloydsRegistry Gallery in London.

Each year, the MonmouthshireDecorative and Fine Arts Society(MDFAS) selects the highest level workfrom local A-Level students to besubmitted for this competition entry.Oriane was one of 19 students selectedand the only from Wales to have theirwork displayed alongside professionalartists. Her work portrays a window intothe effects of living with Alzheimer’sdisease. Oriane is now studying art atuniversity.

Sarah Brice has successfully auditionedfor the National Youth Theatre of GreatBritain, joining the likes of OrlandoBloom, Helen Mirren and Daniel Craig asa member of one of the most prestigiousYouth Theatre organisations in thecountry.


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Mock Election at MCS

Planning for the election began backin January, when students from Y7 to13 volunteered to take part in thisdemocratic process. Some wanted tocampaign on behalf of existing parties, but others argued that theWestminster parties did not representtheir views, so they decided to set uptheir own. By polling day, a total ofeight parties competed for the votes ofthe school: Labour, Conservative, Lib

Dem, Green, UKIP, Purple, the SocialistWorkers Alliance and the UnitedJustice Party.

The first stage of the process for us in the school Labour Party was to meetup to establish our manifesto, andbegin discussing what strategies touse to win over the voters. Several ofus took part in a discussion withformer Monmouth MP Huw Edwardswhen he visited the school to talk to usabout his political career. Mr Edwardswon election to the House ofCommons on three separate

occasions, so had lots of wisewords to help us prepare ourcampaigns.

When we returned from the Easterholidays, we welcomed our localcandidates to come and speak to us.Five out of the seven candidatesfighting to represent Monmouth inParliament found time in their busyschedules to visit the school and takepart in our hustings. They spoke

about their policies beforeanswering our questions. Itwas interesting to hear whatthey had to say, and try to pickthrough their “politicians’responses”.

Before the hustings, those ofus who were involved in theschool mock election hadlunch with the candidates. Itwas a fascinating experience,

giving us the chance to discuss andshare our opinions and beliefs with thepoliticians who want to represent usall in Westminster.

As the big day drew closer, electionfever began to build. The candidatesvisited each Year Group to outline theirpolicies in special assemblies and webegan to cover the school withcampaign posters. The Labour Partyset up a stall in the Hall each Thursdaywhere we encouraged students to signour petition about the EducationMaintenance Allowance.

On General Election day, just as thenation voted, so did we. Y7 to 11 casttheir ballots during the IntegratedCurriculum lesson using real ballotboxes borrowed from the Council.Sixth Formers voted in the schoolpolling station in the Hall. The schoolprefects were our trusted electionofficials for the day, guarding theballot boxes and carefully counting thevotes.

With the votes counted, when wearrived at school on Friday 8th May, wetuned into the ‘School News’ todiscover the result. The Election ResultSpecial broadcast was watched inForm rooms across the school.

After a hard fought campaign, thePurple Party emerged victorious. Theschool was won over by their ever-present propaganda posters and no-nonsense, neo-liberal policies.

Mr Grant, who organised the schoolmock election, explained: “It was greatto see that democracy is alive and wellat MCS. Our students ran brilliantelection campaigns, capturing theimagination of the school community.This year’s Green Party candidate forMonmouth was a former student; Iexpect to see more of our studentsaiming for political careers in future.”

Charlie Cooke, 10BG

On the same day as the General Election on 7th May,students at MCS took part in a school mock Election.


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A Capital Workplace

I was successful in securing a graduateinternship with Hewlett Packard, a globalI.T. company, working at their UKheadquarters in Bracknell. Sincegraduating in 2014 and, after applyingand going through the various stages ofgraduate job application processes, Isecured a job in the Tech Procurementteam at Capital One (Europe) Plc inNottingham.

Leading up to my Internship, I did nothave a particular role in mind, so Iapplied for a numberof different positionsthat were availableat that time. Myeventual role inProcurement wasachieved somewhatby chance, as myoriginal applicationto Hewlett Packardwas to work in their HR Department.Unfortunately, I received a phone callinforming me that I had beenunsuccessful in progressing to the nextstage of the HR internship but I wasasked if I would be interested in havingan interview for a Procurementinternship; the role that I was ultimatelysuccessful in securing.

The interview process for internshipsvaries from company to company, some(like my own) involved a number oftelephone interviews, with others beingby way of on line psychometric testsleading onto telephone interview(s) and then, if successful, to one or twoday assessment centres; taking part ingroup work leading to presentations tothe panel and one to one interviews. Thisproved to be a good grounding for theprocess of applying for real life jobs, asmany of the techniques used are verysimilar.

HP employed a number of graduates andwe all attended an “internship” dayorganised by them, giving us anopportunity to meet each other. The dayconsisted of a series of talks about thecompany, and we were also given a listof various properties available to view at

that time so that we could organise ouraccommodation. At the end of the dayI was in a shared house in Reading withfive other graduates, all from differentUniversities and Departments within thecompany.

My year on placement left me withmixed feelings about life after university.Throughout my study period I neverreally knew what I wanted to do in termsof a career. Working in Procurement fora year gave me the opportunity to try

something new whichI found interesting.The overall experiencewas invaluable, as itgave me an insightinto how largeorganisations operateboth externally andinternally. It wasnot, however, all

plain sailing, and I experienced severalhigh and low points throughout my timethere. Many of the tasks were verymundane and left me feeling that officelife was not for me. Training was oftencarried out sat in front ofa computer screen andthere was limited opportunityto integrate with otherteams or Departments asthere was little focus orattention paid to teambuilding days which give allemployees the opportunityto meet, regardless ofposition within the company.

My Internship experiencechanged the way I wentabout applying for jobs inmy final year of university.I realised that my numberone priority wasn't whether or not thejob specification was the perfect one forme or if it was the one with the largestsalary. I learnt that I valued more theenvironment I would be working in andthe further professional trainingopportunities available. This led me toCapital One as it was voted one of thebest workplaces 2014 in the UK and

Europe and at that time they wereadvertising for a Procurement graduate!

I am now nearing completion of my firstyear working at Capital One, and it hasreally been evident to see why they areone of the best workplaces in the UK andEurope. The work ethic and culture hereis amazing!! Since starting in July 2014I have completed two professionalqualifications working towards being amember of the Chartered Institute ofProcurement and Supply and, in theshort space of time I have been here, Ihave taken part in a FIFA competition(the winning employee won a PS4).

Capital One employees also raise moneyfor various charities which the companymatches. This year, in aid of Children inNeed, the company organised a StrictlyCome Dancing and Red or Blackcompetition. I have recently taken part ina Swimathon to raise money for theMarie Curie Foundation, team buildingtrips to Alton Towers, and I have alsobeen lucky enough to go to a fewCapital One Cup matches as well.

I don’t think there couldhave been a better fit ofcompany for me to workat than I have foundworking for Capital One.The job might not beexciting every single dayor keep me at the edge ofmy seat but the peopleand the culture here atCapital One never makecoming into work a choreor anything to dread on aSunday evening. Themost important thing Ihave learned in my verybrief working life is, if like

me and probably many others, you don’thave any idea on what you want to do asyou leave school/university, finding acompany or environment where youwould be proud and happy to work,regardless of the role, will make workinglife all the more easier.

James Stitt

After leaving Monmouth Comprehensive School in 2010, I opted tostudy Economics and Government at De Montfort University inLeicester, a four year course that included the opportunity to applyfor a paid internship in year three.


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I have beenmaking cakes fortwo years now andoriginally started off just makingthem for my close family’sbirthdays.

However, within the past year I have beenmaking cakes for not only my family but alsofriends as well. My first fondant cake was formy Auntie’s 40th Birthday.

I received some great feedback from therestaurant and this gave me the confidence todo more. I started making cakes for all thefamily occasions, trying out varioustechniques and designs. I have became verypassionate about baking and decorating cakesand find it very rewarding.

I am mainly self-taught, using hints and tipsfrom the internet and guidance from a familymember who works in a cake shop inColeford. After completing my workexperience at ‘Make a Cake’, and with thesupport of my family, I decided to go intobusiness for myself.

I have completed my hygiene certificate andregistered with Forest of Dean Council andlaunched my facebook page Hollieejo Cakeson the 1st of April.

I have made cakes for various occasionsincluding baby showers, special birthdays andhave been approached to do a wedding cake,which I am very excited and can’t wait tocomplete this order.

Hollie Fuszard, 11SS

SweetSuccess

Many parents have supported theFriends during the year. A growing teamhas helped to organise a range ofactivities; many others have taken onadmin roles they can do from home andhelped out at events run during the year.

The FA’s annual Quiz and Curry Night isheld at the end of September,welcoming new families to the school.2014’s ‘Heroes and Villains’ quiz was agreat success and we are alreadyworking on ideas for this year.

The FA has long aimed to establishregular First Aid courses in the school,for students and their families. Togetherwith Heartstart Monmouthshire, we arerunning sessions every term. So far thisyear over 40 people have received trainingat MCS. This British Heart Foundationinitiative aims to teach Emergency LifeSupport Skills to as many people aspossible. Courses are free and available

to anyone aged 10 years and over. Oneparent has now trained to be an instructorand we’d love to have more on board.

Nearly 100 parents have attended thefree weekend Parent Workshops run overthe last two years. These have aimed tohelp parents communicate effectivelywith their children, and to identify andunderstand the varied approaches tolearning, so that they are better able tosupport them. The workshops have beenvery well received. This year we havebeen able to offer free childcare tosupport parents wishing to attend. Wethank staff from Puddleducks in Raglanfor their fantastic support. We have newideas for future workshops, and wouldwelcome your input – so watch thisspace! The workshops are free, fundedby the monies raised by all who havesigned up to support Monmouth

Comprehensive Friends Association atwww.easyfundraising.org.uk.

This year the FA has made a donation tothe Monmouth Literary Festival, tosupport the committee of studentsorganising the event.

The FA is due to hold its annual prize drawin the summer term to raise valuablefunds for the school. We have also enjoyedsupporting the Charity Committee’s bakesales throughout the year and providingrefreshments at both the schoolproduction of Sweeney Todd and theSummer Showcase. This summer, for thesecond year, parents will further supportthe school by helping the invigilatorsduring some of the busiest exams.

We are pleased to be able to offerparents the opportunity to buy good-quality second-hand uniform. We welcomeall contributions of uniform, which canbe dropped off at the school Reception.

The Friends Association provides aninformal, friendly but very direct way forparents and friends to support ourschool. Meetings are held once everyhalf-term. Everyone is made welcomeand business never takes that long!There are always refreshments – andoften home-made cakes! If you can’tattend meetings, there are many otherways to support the Friends – look outfor our Newsletters and emails, visit theschool’s website, or chat torepresentatives at school events.

All parents, guardians, teaching staff,non-teaching staff and governors areautomatically members of the FriendsAssociation. Please consider gettinginvolved, in whatever way you can. Itreally will make a difference. We lookforward to welcoming you and your ideas.

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Learning with FriendsThe MCS Friends Association provides a valuable link between home and school. Its work actively contributesto the life of every student, not only by raising funds but also by harnessing members’ enthusiasm, skills andexperience for the good of all. It aims to support parents and encourage a sense of community.



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Belgium History Trip

I could hardly say that I enjoyed thebus journey there however. Travellingwith forty-eight Y8’s and five Historyteachers almost killed me – and thatwas just the trip to Reading Services!But we made it to our hostel inBelgium (after countless Disneysongs) with the help of Paul, ouroutstanding bus driver.

The hostel was so welcoming –within the hour, we were all satenjoying our three course meal and

acting as if we were back at Monmouth, excited for the weekahead of us. The cooks were lovely, but spoke Flemish –crushing my dreams of having a conversation with a French-speaker in French (not that I would be able to say much morethan ‘hello’, ‘how are you’ and ‘thank you’).

On the second day, we set off into the town of Ypres (apparentlynot pronounced ‘wipers’ but ‘eep’) and visited the Cathedral,the In Flanders Fields Museum, the Hooge Crater Museum andcafé, the Bayernwald German trenches, Tyne Cot Cemetery,Essex Farm, and the Langemark German Cemetery. The daybrought both laughter and tears, leaving us all a bit emotionally

drained on the bus journey home.But the teachers hadn’t finished withus yet, as we were rushed back outagain straight after dinner to gobowling! Had Mr Davies been there,I’m certain that we would have beenback much before half past ten andwould have been sent straight to bed,yet Mr Lewis insisted that we stay upand socialise in the games-room untileleven before we were allowed toretire to our dorms!

The next morning, both of my roommates suffered a cold wetflannel to the face at a quarter to seven (5:45 standard Britishtime) when they refused to acknowledge the light pouringthrough the windows. I’m a morning person. Following one stillrefusing to move, she had her duvet removed from her bed,much to her annoyance. I apologised for this, but it was mostlydeserved.

I think that it must have been told to us at least twenty times thatmorning that it was essential for us to bring a coat on the tripthat day, as it was forecast to rain all day and we were going tobe walking a fair amount. Somehow, I managed to pack neither

Taking the WW1 History trip to Belgium was a big step for me, as I know it was for a lotof people. One’s first trip abroad (excluding England) without parents is rather dauntingfor quiet country dwellers like ‘us Monmouth folk’. I know a lot of people were going forthe 220,000 tonnes of chocolate produced every year, and even one who was going in hopeof buying a hundred-year-old bayonet (I won’t name the specific teacher) but for me, thetrip was a great chance to start enjoying history and all its splendours.

a coat nor a jumper in myrucksack – and they were right:it did rain all day. We walkedVimy Memorial Park, VimyRidge, the NewfoundlandPark, the Thiepval Memorial,Mametz Wood, Tyne CotCemetery (to lay a wreath at a

family member’s gravestone) and various other memorials thatwe decided to visit in passing. They were all very emotionallymoving places, made even more sombre by the relentlessdownpour. By the time we returned to the bus, I was soakedthrough to the skin and shivering like it was the middle ofwinter.

A warm shower fixed that, and we were all soon looking forwardto the whole-day trip to Bellewaerde Theme Park the next day –apart from one teacher, who was very upset that she didn’t findher bayonet.

The following morning, both my roommates got up as soon asI drew the curtains, having learnt from their mistake theprevious morning. After we were all dressed and had breakfast,the coach set off for Bellewaerde. It was an amazing day out foreveryone (teachers included – I saw them on the swingcarousel!) and when we got back to the hostel, we all had todress up in smart, casual attire before walking into Ypres townto watch the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. Wecouldn’t really see much, but the atmosphere brought a tear tomost people’s eye, including Mr Lewis’.

When we returned, a talent contest was held, with songs,comedy acts, and even a table tennis demonstration with neithera table nor a ball. It was a very interesting evening to say theleast, and we saw a lot more than was anticipated. It was fun

though, which is, I guess, allthat really matters.

On the last morning of ourstay, we all hurried to pack oursuitcases before breakfast andfound that what had once fitinto them was now spillingover the edges. After muchhassle and frustration though, we managed to thank the ownerof the hostel and board the coach with all bags packed on theway to our final destination: Bruges.

If ever there was a place to buy gifts for family and friends,Bruges was that place. It had chocolate shops, souvenir stalls,book stores, restaurants, fabric retailers, games shops – anythingyou could ever want. But all too soon, it was time to return toCalais port for a 2.20 departure. The crossing was a little rough,and we didn’t make it back to Monmouth until the early hoursof the morning, whereupon everyone was reunited with theirfamilies. I don’t think that the teachers could have been thankedenough for what they did for us. I mean – Y8’s aren’t exactly thebest people to spend the best part of a week with. But the trip isstill running, which is a good sign that they weren’t too scarredby the experience.

Overall, I don’t know one person that I have spoken to about thetrip that hasn’t thoroughly enjoyed it. I even hinted to Mr Lewisthat I wanted to go on the trip again – with little success I mightadd. But I would recommend the trip to anyone who likeshistory, and even those who don’t think they do. It has openedmy eyes to history and, more importantly, the world around me- a phenomenal experience.

Cassie de St. Croix, 9NJ


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- Summer Term 2014

Eisteddfod Ysgol Gyfun TrefynwyMawrth 27ydd March 27thMonmouth Comprehensive School’s Eisteddfod


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The Monmouth Comprehensive 2015 Eisteddfod was held on the27th of March. It was a jam-packed day full of exciting events suchas dancing, class songs, singing, fashion shows, music and, themost important part of the day, the Chairing Ceremony of the Bard.

Facing a sea of red, the official 2015Bard was Katy Mather in 9GD (DorrisJones) with the poem ‘Fy Arwr’/‘MyHero’ which discussed how authorswere her heroes as they told her aboutthings she may never experience in reallife.

Some performances that really stoodout were: Heidi Walliman on the pianoand Bethany Piper (Y7) on the violin,Jay Hardy and Gabby Doody singing,Scott Jackson performing a guitaraccompaniment to their song andLivvie Davies from Y8 singing a Welshsong and playing the ukulele. We alsoenjoyed Ella Young singing and GracieChadwick singing with her guitar, bothfrom Y9. Our Form performed onstage for the second year runningwhich was really fun. We can’t waituntil next year!

By Daisy, Emily and Arwen. 8PY

This was the first Chairing Ceremonyusing our new, handmade chair kindlydonated by Mr and Mrs Clarke whoare parents of past students. Mr & MrsClarke donated the chair as a thankyou to the school as their daughtersperformed on stage in the Eisteddfoda number of times.

The Welsh Faculty look forward tomany more Chairing Ceremonies usingthis beautiful chair but Katy has thehonour of being the first MCS studentto be awarded the Chair.

Miss Pearson


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On the 14th of July 2014 a group of Y7 and Y8 students set off fromschool to the Urdd centre inLlangrannog. The activities that theytook part in included: dry slope skiing,tobogganing, go-carting, quad-biking,archery, walking, climbing, horse-riding, high ropes, beach trips andeating the best ice cream in the world!

All of the staff were extremely nice andall spoke fluent Welsh which reallydeveloped our speaking skills. The

Fy ArwrYm mhedwar ban y byd,Mae llawer o awduron,Yn ysgrifennu am byd newydd. Maen nhw’n...Ddoniol a diddorol,Siaradus a swnllyd, Gwych ac anhygoel,Gyffrous a thalentog.Ond maen nhw’n...Dawel a hyfryd, Gyfeillgar a chefnogol, Dewr ac ysbrydol,Ddylanwadol a charedig.Ym mhedwar ban y byd, Mae mil o awduron,Yn gwneud pobl yn chwerthin,Crio gyda thristwch,Sgrechian gyda ofn,Ac wylo gyda hapusrwydd!Rydw i’n dwli ar fy awduron,Achos maen nhw’n gwneud fymywyd yn well nag erioed.

Gan Dorris Jones

food was also very nice; there was atleast one hot meal a day. As well asthis there were snacks throughout theday.

We all highly recommend the Centrebecause it is a great experience andopportunity for students in our school.The surrounding area is picturesque,especially the beach nearby.

Daisy, Arwen and Emily, 8PY


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Behind the scenes ofSweeney Todd

Throughout my life I have been on stage in shows acting froma young age but, over the past years, discovering that there wasmore to drama than just acting led me to take on various rolesbackstage during ‘Schools Will Rock You’ which in turn led tome discovering a new found passion for drama.

I knew that for this production I wanted to be heavily involvedbackstage, and being chosen to be the ‘Director’s Assistant’ wasa role which I looked forward to fulfilling. Starting off withauditions, it was wonderful to be heavily involved with thecasting of the show. With over a hundred people auditioning, itwas gratifying to see the amount of talented people we have atMonmouth Comprehensive School. After casting was revealed,rehearsals were quickly underway.

Visiting London in October to see ‘Sweeney Todd’ was a highlyinspiring trip which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, but we soon

realised the work we had ahead of us in order to successfully pulloff this challenging production. With rehearsals picking up pace,the looming pressure of what we had all undertaken wasapparent, but just seeing everything come together during theweeks leading up to the shows meant that all the hard work waspaying off. My role as the Director’s Assistant allowed me to bea part of everything from the start to the very end, revealing justwhat goes into putting on your own production.

Watching the final production, after months of work, was trulyrewarding, and confirmed to me that what I had chosen to go touniversity to study was, indeed, what I wanted to go on to do inthe future. I will (if all goes to plan) go to AberystwythUniversity this year to study a joint course in Theatre Designand Drama and Theatre Studies, combining my love for dramawith my passion for art and design. Being a part of this year’sschool production has not only introduced me to what I may bedoing on a larger scale in the future, but also given me thedetermination to have a career being involved in something likethis in the future after University.

It was a sad feeling knowing that this was my last everproduction I will be part of at school, but I have no doubt thatall the members of staff at Monmouth Comprehensive Schoolwill carry on inspiringstudents like me long after Ihave left by successfullyproducing numerous showsin the years to come.

Dorothy Laidler

At the start of the school term being told that theschool production was going to be ‘Sweeney Todd’ wasan exciting yet daunting experience. It was a completecontrast to the previous school production of ‘SchoolsWill Rock You’, going from the highly energetic songsof ‘Queen’ to the macabre story of a murderous barberset for revenge.


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Student Art

Bradley Smith

Sally West

Merrydith Russell Merrydith Russell Millie Sutton

Charley Bicknell Thea Ward

Zoe Barrett

Sarah Arnett

Kelsey Thomas

Cyd Rawlins

Hannah Coburn

Kelly McGurk


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Musings at MCS

The ultimate aim was to produce piecesof poetry for a national project calledCyfoeth Cymru Gyfan, ‘Sharing Treasures’,which is a government backed schemefrom Amgueddfa Cymru, NationalMuseum Wales. This scheme culminatedin two exhibitions of work inAbergavenny and Chepstow Museum,which ran until the end of September.The museums hung students’ writingalongside artwork inspired by the Abbeysat Llanthony and Tintern, by artists suchas the Buck brothers, Palmer, Turner,Hodges, Sandby, Tudor, Grimm, Buckler,Craxton, Gill, to name a few. Alsofeatured was the work of Walter SavageLandor and William Wordsworth.These exhibitions were a huge culturalevent for Monmouthshire and studentsworked with dedication to produce work that reflected the seclusion andbeauty of the once remote valleys ofMonmouthshire.Particular congratulations go to RhiannaRoberts (8KO) and Finty Evans (10CG)who had their poem ‘Fragile’ displayednext to JMW Turner’s work ‘Interior of

Tintern Abbey’ (see photograph).Matthew Plumb commented:“To engage with learners and staff atMonmouth Comprehensive was anabsolute joy. The commitment shown bystudents to attend what was effectively aclass out of school hours (although I dotry to make my workshops fun) is a realtestament to a willingness to excel whichis clearly encouraged by a committed andpopular staff.‘Sites of Inspiration’ was a tough project.To write poetry inspired by Romanticpainting was not easy. The end result, thebeautiful display at Chepstow exhibition,was a show-case not just of excellentpoetry by students, but the school as awhole. It was a real pleasure to talk withmembers of the public about the pieces,the pupils, and the school, and thecollaboration of school and museumcreated a really sweet vibe. I shouldn't have a favourite, and Idefinitely cannot name names, but I amconvinced one of the group is a sure-firestar of the future. Everyone keep writing.”

Mrs M. Mortimer-Davies

In October Muse, the Creative Writing Club, were fortunate to begin a series ofpoetry sessions with nationally renowned Welsh poet Matthew Plumb. Anambassador for modern Welsh poetry, Matthew Plumb’s sessions allowed studentsto immerse themselves in poetry with a specialist, whose passion and dedicationto the art was clearly evident throughout. As always, the students of MCS workedwith determination and produced some of the most profound and thoughtfulpoetry Mr Plumb had seen in students their age.


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World Book DayWorld Book Day in March resulted in some stunning book themed cakes. There was considerable baking anddecorating talent on show which resulted in a great deal of deliberation before the joint winners were announced -Eve Rawlings with a Willy Wonka cake and Kyle Handley-Jenkins with a Lord of the Rings offering.


50

The opportunity that we were given to play rugby inanother country was brilliant and the facilities wereamazing. We had our training sessions on the 4G pitch atthe sports camp and we played our first fixture on it.

Our first game was difficult because we had never playedtogether before, it was a team put together just for Greecebut that didn’t stop us and we had a convincing winagainst the local team.

We had more training sessions on the 4G pitch backat the sports camp to prepare us for the next gameso we went to our next game feeling very confidentas we had already beaten the team before. We hadmany changes to our team due to injuries but, onceagain, we came back with a massive result putting15 tries on the opposite team. The opposition weregreat as they never gave up and they all had a greatattitude to rugby.

The U16 team also won both of their fixturesagainst the local team with many different aged boysplaying from Years 9, 10 and 11. Overall, the rugby in Greecewas outstanding, coming back with a win from every game.

Harry Jenkins, 9LD

Rugby

During our week away inLoutraki, Greece, we took part inthree days of sports. I, along withmany other girls, took part innetball which was coached byChristine; Christine has had over25 years of coaching experience andwe were very lucky to have her joinus again for the third year. Christine

built upon our netballknowledge and skills by leadingdrills and games.

Throughout the week ournetball improved and we werethen able to demonstrate this inthe netball tournament at theend of the week. The teamswere fairly matched and thisled to a very interesting fewmatches, the results wereamazing and the experience was extremely beneficial. All thatwe learnt will stay with us for a very long time and we are now ableto apply it all to our netball back in the UK.

We would all like to say thank you to Christine, Miss Phillips, Mr Devonald and Mr Jones for building our confidence, netballskills and giving us a very enjoyable few days on the Sports Tour.

Ellie Johnson, 10RP

Netball

Greece Sports Tour


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My older sister went on the Spain Sports Tour in2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it so when theletters came out and the new destination wasGreece I decided to put my name down.Throughout the week I took part in dance -there were five 90 minute training sessionswhich were run by a qualified dance instructor. She taughtus many techniques which we could use in dance and this helped brilliantly whenworking on the choreography she had prepared. This was very tiring but learning andperforming the dance was a lot of fun! Dance was supported by Miss Owen and MrsEgan and they got stuck in and performed the dance with us which was great.

We did a lot during the week and visited many places, including visiting a themepark, the Acropolis in Athens, Mycenae, Epivardos and Loutraki beach. As well as all the trips,the teachers organised a quiz and a disco.

Overall, I had an amazing week and I’m sure everyone else who went did as well. The wholeSports Tour was a great experience, it was so lovely to spend time with friends and meet newpeople outside of school. The teachers were also great and organised so much for us to do.I highly recommend this Tour so if you’re thinking about going, you definitely should!

Ellen Williams, 9GD

Dance


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This year’s hockey teams showed a great deal ofskill and improvement from the beginning to theend of the Tour.

Both the A and B teams put a lot of effort into eachtraining session and into the fixtures held against theGreek teams. We each had a chance to play withpeople we do not normally play with in school and theGreece Sports Tour was a great experience for boththose who are familiar and unfamiliar with the sport.

Even though not every hockey fixture went the way wehad hoped, each member of the A and B teams experiencedplaying against someone who was either younger or older thanthem, helping develop their skills as anindividual.

In the matches played on the GreeceSports Tour 2015, there were somefantastic goals scored from both ourteams and, even though the matchesdidn’t always result in victory, MCSdidn’t go down without a fight!

Everyone played extremely well for MCS,despite the hot weather that was sometimesoff-putting and everyone tried to the bestof their ability during the fun trainingsessions and in the competitive matches.

Monmouth came home feeling very proud of everyone whoplayed hockey on the tour as everyone improved their individualperformances as well as playing for a team.

We look forward toseeing the resultsfrom the hockeyplayers on nextyear’s Sports Tour ofSpain and Gibraltaras this year’s wastruly fantastic!

Bethan Mayo,10WM

Greece 2015 was a trip to remember. The weather was so hotand sunny, it was hard not to catch a tan! Day 1 at the theme

park was so exciting (regardless of the lackof sleep). The rides had a lot to live up to butthey rose to the occasion.

Day 2 saw us begin our training and onWednesday we travelled into Athens toexplore the Acropolis. The views fromthere were breathtaking and I woulddefinitely recommend a visit.

On Thursday we were back at training,playing volleyball in our spare time. Wevisited the ancient site of Mycenae andthe Theatre at Epidaurus on Friday,finishing off the day with a trip to the

beach. It was a bit wild and windy but worth it!

On Saturday we woke up feeling sad – today we were leavingfor Heathrow and the UK. Greece 2015 – what a Sports Tour!!

Alice Livesey, 10WM

Hockey


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After arriving at the sports camp in Greeceon Saturday, we spent Sunday at a themepark before heading back late afternoon towatch two very entertaining games of rugby.

First thing after breakfast on Monday morning we took part in a relatively easy sessionto get us ready for that night, the first game of the tour. All throughout the week weplayed on lovely 4G surfaces, which were on site at the Sports Camp.

After making our way down to the 4g pitches, we had another gentle 10 minute warmup to get us ready for the game ahead of us. Before the start of the game, the ref madeus walk out to the edge of the pitch and give a little wave and a clap to everyonewatching – a really nice touch, I thought.

From minute one we struggled to get a foothold in the game and that showed as wewent into half time 4-0 down. With morale low, we picked ourselves up heading intothe second half - only for it to be knocked back down by two very fast goals, 6-0! Afterthis we managed to keep them out for a good period of time before they snuck in onemore goal just before the final whistle. This was to be cancelled out at the last minuteby a lovely header from Ryan Mills, beating both defender and keeper, assisted byNathan Brooks.

After a few rest days where we did various activities out and about in Greece we hadanother training session, trying to work on playing as a team. On the Thursday we tookto the field again. Within five minutes we looked to be playing well and we got a goalto show for our efforts - another assist from Nathan Brooks, setting me up for a simpletap in. After this, goals came from Nathan Brooks and Ben Hopkins. Unfortunately we

gave away a late penalty which allowedthem to snatch the draw.

We finished off the week with one lasttraining session where a wide range ofpeople on the tour joined in and playeda tournament.

Overall the tour was a great laugh, thesports camps’ facilities were very goodand the days out were brilliant. It's atour I’d recommend to anyone!

Nathan Hawkins, 10BG

Football

Students Holly Ainge, Samuel Andrews,Phoebe Bailey, Ryan Bamford,Thomas Bamford, Olivia Barber,Emily Barker, Victoria Barker,Yolanda Beetge, Georgia Bevan,Joshua Bicknell, Eric Blair, NicoleBradshaw, Mae Brickley, NathanBrooks, Eloise Brown, Leah Brown,Karrie Browne, Rhiannon Burchell-Haslett, Bethan Carlton, Tia Childs,Lauren Compton, Rhya Cooper,Bronwen Crabtree, OwenCraddock, Francesca Crilly, NatashaDaly, Emma Davies, Thomas Davies,Hollie Dawson, Angel Donaldson,Caitlin Edwards, Tori Edwards,Joshua Ellis, Becky Embling, Lilly-Mae Etheridge, Charlotte Fisher,Katherine French, Hollie Fuszard,Emily George, Euan Gillespie,Samantha Gittings, Hunter Guthrie,Amy Hallam, Joshua Hamblin,Sophie Hardy, Jay Harris, JosieHarrison, Nathan Hawkins,Charlotte Heath, Aaron Hickmans,Benjamin Hopkins, Jamie Hosford,Hannah Hough, Amy Howells, CianHutchinson, Alice James, DarcieJames, Emily James, Tasha James,Meggie Jarrold, Hannah Jenkins,Harry Jenkins, Eleanor Johnson,Adam Jones, Coby Jones, HarrietKearsey, Katie Kearsey, Codi Kindy,Molly Large, Jessica-Mae Light,Olivia Light, Elsa Lilly, Alice Livesey,Amber Love, Charlotte Marchant,Kirsty Maylin, Bethan Mayo,Georgina Mayo, James Mear, RoryMeredith, Lucinda Merrett, EloiseMoreby, Ellie Murtha, Serena Natt,Emma Norman, Regan Paddock,Georgia Parry, Kaitlyn Phillips,Freya Pierrepoint, Ben Pilot, SophiePilot, Cara Powell, Fenella Price,Lauren Price, Callum Pritchard,Alice Richards, Sophie Richards,Scarlet May Richings, MichaelRidgway, Rhianna Roberts, LaraSchandlinger, Tazmin Scoles,Annika Scrivin, Beatrice Smith,Lauren Smith, Lydia Smith, LewisSnell, Ross Sykes, Chloe Tabberer,Matthew Terrell, Rhoddi Thomas,Jesica Tingle, Keanna Townsend,Charlotte Uttley, Frances Vaughan,Grace Elizabeth Wainewright,Reuben Wallace, Olivia Wells,Elizabeth Widdicks, DominicWilliams, Ellen Williams, HarryWilliams and Molly Williams.

StaffEmma Biddle, Dan Devonald, DaveEgan, Louisa Egan, Carly Hagerty,Pete Jenkins, Alyn Jones, RowanJones, Ryan Mills (former student),James Murphy, Ricky Newman, Jon Owen, Kate Owen and AimeePhillips.


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Our first day in Madrid saw us on afull tour of the Santiago Bernabeuwhere we revelled in awe at the sheerenormity of a stadium draped in acentury of footballing history. Evenin an empty stadium, every studentfelt the powerful atmosphere thatthe Bernabeu generated. Thechanging rooms and the hundredsof professional trophies were trulyinspiring to our players and everyplayer was eager to take to the pitchthemselves to show off their ability;but not before the evening’sentertainment!

We were lucky enough to be in townfor a professional basketball match,a local derby nonetheless. RealMadrid faced off against local rivalsMovistar Estudiantes in theBarclaycard Centre in downtownMadrid. The electric atmosphereand exciting play charged the team’scompetitive spirit ready for a hardweek of training.

Stepping off the coach in Valdebebasfelt like a dream we were waiting towake up from. The facility stood infront of us, at our disposal for awhole week. We were guided in ourfootball by our assigned coach,Danny, who sought to improve ourability as individuals and as a team.Playing and learning in thescorching heat forged together twoteams to be reckoned with - all thatwas left for our teams was to provethemselves.

Game day one had arrived; everyonewas giddy with anticipation at theprospect of finally playing a match.So, after a mornings preparation atValdebebas, we travelled to our firstfixture and after inspirationalspeeches from Danny, Mr Penny,Mr Michael and Mr Williams wewere ready to play.

The first match was preceded by agreat show of sportsmanship fromboth sides with each team enjoyingthe competitive spirit. As kick offcame, Team A was ready and,despite some initial woes, the teamwere steadfast and were propelled bythe likes of Matt Macklin, Jack Mayo, Henry Corcoran andSam Oxley to a 6-2 victory; Oxleygrabbing a world beating four goals.

The second game brought evenmore excitement with an impressiveperformance from all players, namelySam Oxley who scored anotherbrace and, from the spine of theteam, Alex Cleaves, George Baynesand Callum Wheatley who were fiercein the face of a very athletic team;Charlie Rodgers also put in a hugeperformance to see his team through.

Another day of training helped uslearn even more than we had beforefrom Danny and a tour of theValdebebas facility fuelled ourpassion to become better. As gameday two approached, the daunting

prospect of playing two fiercelycompetitive teams faced us. Thepressure of game day two wasastronomical in light of the necessityto match up to our first matchperformances but every singleplayer showed the heart and passionfor the game that had brought themto Madrid in the first place. Matchday two kicked off in a far moreheated manner on the back of a fiery motivation speech from Mr Williams. The competition wasfierce in game one and Team A hadto fight with all their energy torecord a well-earned 2-1 victorybehind another fantastic performancefrom Matt Macklin with goals fromSeb Harvey and an unstoppable Jack Mayo. The second match hadall the prospects of a hard battle,prospects that were realised withinminutes of kick off. Both teamsfought and fought well but, despite astandout defensive performancefrom Matteo Merola-Scott, the teamcould not hold on for a second victory.

Before we could leave there had tobe an Awards ceremony. Byunanimous decision Matt Macklinwas voted the Player’s Player of theTour, Tour Captain Callum Wheatleywas awarded the Coaches Player ofthe Tour Award and Sam Oxley tookhome the honours as Top GoalScorer with six goals in two games!

Amidst the competition andfootball, a fantastic squad of team-mates was formed. The whole tripwas truly inspirational and everyperson formed relationships andbettered themselves both as peopleand as professionals. Everyonethoroughly enjoyed the trip and itwas an experience that will stay withall of the students and staff forever.

Ben Colewell, 12DM

Building up to the tour, the excitement of both the playersand the staff was palpable. From the kit fitting to the earlymorning meet at the bus bay, everything was building up toa once-in-a-lifetime trip to the prestigious Valdebebastraining facility of Real Madrid C.F.

Madrid Football Tour 2015


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The tour was supported by a number of local businesses who helped make the tour a reality through sponsorship. Sulzer supplied tracksuitsfor the players to travel in and look the part around the hotel, training ground and city with Mokos Mexican restaurant and Chris Webbleyproviding training kit for the six sessions at Real Madrid. Celandine supplied the team with new playing kit which will be used over thecoming years by MCS football teams. Many thanks to all these sponsors who helped make the trip the experience that it was.

Music at MCS


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Music For YouthOn 6th March, 10 school musicensembles and nearly 70 studentsattended the Regional Festival of MusicFor Youth hosted by Gwent MusicService at Newport Centre.

Students had been working hard inpreparation for their 10 minuteperformance recital, with manystudents performing in several groups.The groups included; Orchestra, WindBand, Brass Quartet, Jazz Band, GleeChoir, Gospel Choir, Folk Band,Musical Theatre Ensemble, Cello and BassEnsemble and Percussion Ensemble.

The performances were fantastic andthe feedback received from the Musicmentors was very positive, with manycomplimentary comments and supportto help improve as Musical ensembles.It was an afternoon of Music by MCSand the mentors said they thoroughlyenjoyed it, as did our students and staff.For more information about the festivalvisit www.mfy.org.uk; photos of theevent can be found at the officialGwent Music Service Facebook page.

My Day at Music for Youth!On Friday 6th March 2015 MonmouthComprehensive School went toNewport to perform at Music forYouth. We took lots of different groupsincluding Orchestra, Wind Band,Musical Theatre, Jazz, Senior Choir,Percussion and Glee Choir. We hadgreat success there and the judges werevery impressed, they said, “In theafternoon Monmouth ComprehensiveSchool took over the place!” Howeverthey said that they very much enjoyedour performances and they wished ussuccess in the next round. Now we willhave to wait and see whether we getthrough to the next round!

Katherine Gunter, 7MA

Awards for Tom Morley andDylan Sluiter

Performers at MYF: Ryan StAmand, Rhiannon Birchall-Haslett,Ellen Coombes, Lily Jacks, DylanSluiter, Tom Morley, NatashaChandra, Annika Prince, FintyEvans, Josie Evans, Joe Phelps, CydRawlins, Frances Dowle, Elsa Lilly,Charlotte Edge, Jess Netherway,Megan Kinniment-Williams, SimeonJones, Luke Hartley, ReubanPierrepoint, Jamie Barker, PippaMorgan, Lucinda Merrett, FelicityWalsh, Hannah Pope, Mabli Powell,Harry Sully, Dan Follows, AliceGable, Sophie Pope, Gracie Follows,Bethany Piper, Heidi Walliman,Arhonwen Evans, Lucy Powell, LucyGeorge, Daisy Lester, BronwenDavies, Amber Snaith, Cassie de stCroix, Ollie Chilcott, Ella de stCroix, Holly Ikin, Ted Rawlins, MollyHole, Josh Morgan, Mike Slack,James Askew, Jospeh Scott, LucyHale, Josie Harrison, Ischia Day,Anna Moore, Alex Fielding, ArwenVan der Horst, Amelia Lane, FreyaPierrepoint, Eliza Mayo, KatherineGunter, Eabha Strong-Wright, HarryMorgan, Rhys Walters, CameronPardington, Zach Salmon, EleanorNicholson, Louisa Hasler, MollyBrickley-Clark, Florence Mayo,Bethan Morgan and Owen Warner.

Greater Gwent Youth Brass BandHannah Pope, Jessica Netherway,Natasha Chandra, Annica Prince, ZoeMcCarroll and Becky Welton allperformed in the Greater Gwent YouthBrass Band this year. They wereawarded 3rd place at the NationalYouth Brass Band Championships andwill also perform at the NationalFestival of Music for Youth inSymphony Hall Birmingham in July.

Commemoration of WWIWhen Felix Hales, heard the true storyof the Bosley Brothers from theMonmouthshire Regiment, hisresponse was to write the music tothis ballad of Remembrance for boththe Bosley Brothers and to all theextraordinary young soldiers whoshared and still share today, the finalmoments of life with each other inbattle. More details may be found onpage 58.

1000 Voices ConcertMCS students performed at the 1000Voices Concert at the MotorpointArena in December in aid of theNoah’s Arc Appeal. Daisy Lester,Lucy Powell, Cassie De St Croix,Molly Hole, Ella De St Croix,

Lucy George, Rhianna Roberts, Alice Sullivan, Bronwen Davies, Harry Sully, Gracie Follows,Merrydith Russell, Mabli Powell andDan Follows.

Friends of Dingestow Students once again provided anafternoon concert for the Friends ofDingestow group at the village hall thisChristmas - well received by all.

Twinning AssociationAs part of the Carbonne/MonmouthTwinning Association 40th AnniversaryCelebrations Musicians and Linguistshosted a Concert at St Mary's Churchon Friday 1st May. A large audiencewas in attendance and studentsprovided an informal evening of variedmusical performances including Choirs,Chamber Orchestra, Folk Ensemble,Jazz Ensemble, vocal/instrumentalduets as well as several soloists.

The evening was a great success andwas well led by the confident A LevelFrench students, providing excellentcompering for the concert.


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Music Gradings

Grade 3Taryn Birkett Flute Emily Brown FluteKatie Edmunds Clarinet Josie Harrison Clarinet Daisy Lester ViolinGabriella Middleton FluteRhianna Roberts Piano (Merit)Charlotte Uttley FluteHeidi Walliman Harp (Merit)

Grade 4Arhonwen Evans FluteRachel Geen ViolinCasey Kwok PianoKatie Mapp Trumpet

(Distinction)Eliza Mayo ViolaCameron Pardington Drum KitMike Slack Drum KitIoan Williams Tuba (Distinction)

Grade 5Ollie Chilcott TheoryBeth Kinniment-Williams CelloElsa Lily TheoryAnna Moore FluteAnna Moore TheoryAnna Moore ViolinGeorgia Parry Clarinet (Merit)Cyd Rawlins ClarinetCyd Rawlins TheoryDylan Sluiter Drum Kit

Grade 6Oliver Chilcott ViolinCharlotte Edge CelloKerry Kwok PianoReuban Pierrepoint CelloAmber Snaith CelloLauren Waycott CelloElla Young Violin

Grade 7Frances Dowle Clarinet Zoe McCarroll Tenor Horn

(Merit)Jessica Netherway Euphonium

(Merit)Bethany Piper ViolinHannah Pope Baritone

(Distinction)Becky Welton Tenor Horn

(Merit)

Grade 1Joe Arnold Drums (Distinction)Ischia Day Piano (Distinction)Amy Howells ViolinCerys Hughes Piano (Merit)Eloise Moreby ViolinAlice Powles Flute

Grade 2Emily Bowley Clarinet (Merit)Emily Bowley Piano (Distinction)Charlie Cooke Rockschool GuitarSophia Fenby ViolinAlice Hancock FluteJamie-Lee Lewis Alto Saxophone

(Merit)Tristan Nicholas Rockschool GuitarRhianna Roberts ViolinKalil Rodgers CornetOliver Rowlands Tuba (Distinction)Annika Scrivin ClarinetSam Williams Violin


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WW1 At Home: Monmouthshire Regiment

Ballad of RemembranceWhen Felix Hales, a Sixth Form student from MonmouthComprehensive School, heard the true story of the BosleyBrothers from the Monmouthshire Regiment, his responsewas to write the music to this ballad of Remembrance for boththe Bosley brothers and to all the extraordinary young soldierswho shared, and still share today, the final moments of life witheach other in battle.

In September 1914 the Bosley brothers joined theMonmouthshire Regiment. In 1915, after a short stay inYpres, the battalion were back on the front line on April 17th.Here they were to stay, without relief, for the next 17 days. Onthe afternoon of May 2nd, 1915, a shell landed among themachine gun section. Corporal Thomas John Bosley (Tom),of Tredegar had to write to his parents at home in Wales wherethey lived at No. 9 Park Hill, Tredegar, informing them of thedeath of his beloved older brother and their son, Frederick

William Bosley (Fred):

“I do not know how to write this letter, which is to convey such badnews and to give you all such a blow. Poor Fred was killed by ashrapnel bullet at about 4 p.m. on Sunday May 2nd. He diedinstantly. He and Lieut. Martin were killed by the same shell.They buried them in an open space by a wood and I followed hislast remains to the grave where the Colonel read the burial service.I cannot write anymore” Tom.

“Imagine seeing your own brother killed in front of you andthen imagine the strength it must have taken to bury him” said18-year-old Felix who is studying Music and History A Levels.“I have an older brother and it must have taken extraordinarycourage. When I read the letter Tom then had to write hometo his parents informing them that Fred had died, I reallywanted to do justice to the letter. Also to the love Tom had leftbehind, whose perspective the song is also written from”.

The Monmouthshire Regiment had been formed in 1908 asthe Territorial Army unit for the county and was made up ofthree Battalions drawn from different areas of the county.Abergavenny was the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion (‘3rdMons’) which included two companies from Abertillery, oneeach from Blaina, Sirhowy, Tredegar, Ebbw Vale and Cwmand one company from Abergavenny.

Tredegar War Memorial, where Frederick Bosley isremembered, is situated in the lower end of the grounds ofBedwellty House and Park, Tredegar. The house and parkwere constructed in 1818 as the home of Samuel Homfray, theIronmaster at Tredegar Iron Works. The land on which it issituated was owned by Lord Tredegar and was later given tothe people of Tredegar (all apart from a small section). Thewar memorial was unveiled on the 14th December 1924, bythe then Lord Tredegar.

1914 The Great WarMe and the boys of Monmouth leave for the causeWe wear smiles of love, smiles of hopeMy brothers strong heart pulling my ropeWe marched through the darknessSailed through to the dawnFor each other and the land we called home

Remember the stones we used as grenadesThe branches we snapped and the rifles we madeThe cries of laughter carry through the treesAs we race through hills to fight in the fields You wounded in battle I fought on aloneUntil dusk settled and mum called us homeThe sweet voice of our mother calling us home

I’ll stand beside you, I’ll carry your nameI’ll wait beyond forever, I’ll carry the flameI’ll write letters to heaven, pin wishes to starsFollow the rainbow till I’m back in your armsI’ll count every blessing turn every stoneI’ll light every candle, until you come home

Staring at a cross - granite and pearlYour name in flowers, your flag neatly furledIn the half-light of the evening I’m asking My LordWhy the shadow of a cross looks like a sword?No songs, no hymns, just the memories we own And the voice of your mother calling you home

Remember the stones we used as grenadesThe branches we snapped and the rifles we madeThe cries of laughter carry through the treesAs we race through hills to fight in the fields You wounded in battle I fought on aloneUntil dusk settled and mum called us homeThe sweet voice of our mother calling us home.

Location: Tredegar War Memorial, Bedwellty House and Park, Morgan Street, Tredegar, NP22 3XN

Music written by Felix Hales and performed by Felix Hales and Isabel Bridgeman. Lyrics by Felix Hales and John Birch.

Many of the men whose details appear in the variouspages of the Tredegar Memorial section were membersof the Monmouthshire Regiments and have no knowngraves. Most are commemorated on the wall panels ofthe Menin Gate at Ypres.


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Student Art

Sarah Hunt

Johaze Basarte

Jeena Sriphan

Sally West

Olivia Blanch

Beth Tudball

Johaze Basarte

James Whittaker

Emily Bagshaw

Maizie Morgan

Sarah Hunt

Emily Bagshaw


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The Great ‘Eggsperiment’

In order to win the challenge, and the chocolate, thewinning team will get to fire a real egg into a frying pan tohit the centre of the target, with one shot! How are 7MAfeeling so far?

“It's great to do something new...it's like engineering....learning about forces, angles and variables.”

“I love the competition,it gets us all stoked up to win!”

“It’s hard just using set equipment. Our first design wasn't very good but we kept

going and now have a working one!”

“I like working in a team tosolve a problem because weall get ideas from each other.”

“This challenge is fun, I amlearning the different stages of a Scienceexperiment and usingnumeracy in a real way to help us win.”

7MA are very enthusiastic aboutthe project and are developing awide range of skills. Will theywin the chocolate?... we willhave to wait and see!

This term, Year 7 have been set a complex challenge during their Integrated lessons. They have todesign and build a catapult which can fire an egg up to two meters. Sounds easy? Not when they arejudged on accuracy!


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Eine reiche und erfüllende ErahrungThe first day we arrived I saw historycome to life with a guided tour aroundDachau concentration camp. The wholegroup were tired after our non-stoptravel from school to the airport but this didn’t stop us from feelingcompletely overwhelmed and emotionalfrom the experience. Our tour guide was tremendous; the atmospheresurrounding us changed dramatically assoon as he started speaking about thereality of the camp. Everyone wasdefinitely shell-shocked and speechlessfor the bus journey back.

I also had so much fun in our ‘downtime’. I grew to know and become closerto lots of people on the trip which addedto the experience. We had a lovely timerelaxing in the evening at our hotel, itwasn’t all relaxing though! We spentone of our nights travelling in to the citycentre on trams - this was excitingenough for everyone! A couple of hourswere spent exploring the area and thenwe sat down to have some food; it wasinteresting to see the city from adifferent perspective at night wheneverything was buzzing. On the wholethere was a good balance betweenleisure activities and the historicalpursuits.

The highlight of the trip for me and lotsof my peers was driving up into the Alpsto get to the Obersalzburg DocumentationCentre. The bus drive alone was beautiful.The peaks of the mountains were coveredin snow but it was a lovely sunny day.The snow surrounded DocumentationCentre was useful in consolidating myknowledge of the Nazis in Germany; itwas easy to absorb the stream ofinformation from headphone speakersand images as we moved around theCentre. We walked through the Centreas if walking through history. There wasan added, unexpected experience ofgoing down into the gas chambers thatwere beneath the building, a spookywalk for everyone.

We were able to absorb the informationwe had received on a balcony area onthe side of the Centre. There was afantastic view of the Alps, we could alsosee the ‘Eagles Nest’ (Hitler’s retreat highup in the mountains), also surreal to seein real life. Everyone took lots of photosand then we finished off with an ice-cream in the local town.

The last day was incredible. We had awalking tour around Munich using tramsto get around. Our tour guide retracedthe steps of the Nazis through Munich, wesaw places like Munich University (whichthe White Rose Group - a non-violentintellectual resistance group - attended),a view that Hitler painted as a youngster,and the cathedral Frauenkirche.

Of course, we ended at the famousHofbrauhaus to have our traditionalGerman meal which was for starters saltypea and bacon soup, pork anddumplings for main and a beautiful berrypudding. The building itself wasincredible and unimaginably vast.

Overall this trip left us not wishing toleave for another four days! We saw somuch in such a short space of time but itdefinitely left us wanting more; which inmy opinion is what defines a successfultrip. This was a great excursion that I willnever forget - an eventful and fulfillingexperience.

Leonora Ellis, 10HF

Earlier this term we went on a trip toMunich. I really enjoyed it, though itwould have been a better start if thebuses had turned up to take us to theairport; but one taxi trip later, we wereready to set off! My favourite parts ofthe trip involved our visit to Nuremburgand exploring the bunker near theEagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. If I hadthe chance, I would do it all again!

Owen Warner, 10HF

The Munich trip was very enjoyable andwe crammed as many activities as wepossibly could into what time we had.My favourite thing that we did was visitNuremburg because it showed a timelineof History that we have learnt in school.I really liked the fact that we were able togo down into the bunker system on thetrip.

Tom Brice, 10HF

The students who embarked on this challenge were incrediblybrave and committed from the start. Their fundraising ideas wereunique and successful; from a ‘Night at the Races’ to polishing theschool silverware in preparation for Awards Evening, the team putin the hard graft. They earned every penny and had alreadyachieved incredible feats before even stepping on the plane.

Whilst on expedition, there was challenge and reward aroundevery corner – altitude hurts, but gives breathtaking rewards(pardon the pun!). The challengers were a pleasure to shareincredible Bolivia with. I will always remember crying withlaughter on an overnight train, huddled in my sleeping bag, thegenuine bonds formed at the orphanage we spent time at, and Ihave definitely returned home with a new found respect fortarmac.

I cannot overestimate the value of participating in a WorldChallenge Expedition. Beyond the obvious benefits of how it lookson a CV, and how jealous the pictures make people on Facebook,these expeditions make you grow as a person. Even Mr Murphyand myself came back knowing more about ourselves than weknew when we left.

I am endlessly proud of our young people, who are motivated bythe challenge of fundraising, not phased by the thought of notshowering for a few days, and excited by the prospect of divinginto the unknown and embracing a new culture. Each challenger isresponsible for leading the expedition for a day. On this day, theyare responsible for organising transport, booking accommodation,budgeting and generally running a tight ship! Below are thereflections of Mr Murphy, and a selection of those young peoplewho took on ‘Bolivia ‘14’.

Miss Feldon


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World Challenge

Following the success of the 2012 World Challenge expedition to Northern Morocco,I soon found myself searching for a new destination and a new challenge for a teamto embark on. Bolivia seemed to offer the perfect mix of physical challenge (thewhole expedition was above 3,000m sea level, and treks offered summits of 5,500m),valuable community work, cultural difference and diversity, and spectacularscenery. On no level did it disappoint.

Following the success of the 2012 World Challenge expedition to Northern Morocco,I soon found myself searching for a new destination and a new challenge for a teamto embark on. Bolivia seemed to offer the perfect mix of physical challenge (thewhole expedition was above 3,000m sea level, and treks offered summits of 5,500m),valuable community work, cultural difference and diversity, and spectacularscenery. On no level did it disappoint.


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I nominated myself to be leader on the firstday of expedition! Everyone arrived veryearly, with a mixture of excitement andanticipation, at school ready to board thebus to the airport. Whilst at the airport,Richard, our Expedition Leader and I

headed to the currency counter to collect our$10,000 for the trip!! We boarded the planeand, after a short stop in Miami, 16 hoursof flying later we landed in Bolivia!!

We witnessed first-hand how dodgy(!) theBolivian driving was, but we made it safelyto our hostel in La Paz with help from Danand Sophie, our Spanish speakers. We thenspent the rest of the day acclimatising to thevery high altitude and exploring the city -and trying not to get lost!!

Stephanie Davies

After yet another early morning start, wesoon faced the difficulty of not havingenough Boliviano’s to pay for the Hostel,as we hadn’t changed all of our dollarsyet. After a little bit of bargaining andnegotiating the exchange rate, wemanaged to sort it. Then, becausenothing could ever run that smoothly inBolivia, we realised we were actually onetaxi short, to take us to Cemetario (what

was basically one very large cemetery)where we would catch our bus to take usto Copacabana and our Acclimitisation

Trek. Claire ordered another one, andMr Murphy, Claire and I waited at thehostel for it to arrive. We were soon alltogether again in the right place at theright time!

On the long bus journey, we had a shortstop, where we had to get off of the bus,to board a boat to take us across a shortstretch of Lake Titicaca. At the ferryport, several members of the team posedfor their photo with... a llama! After theboat journey, we gotback on the bus,before arriving atCopacabana andfinding a nice spoton the beach tocamp. Miss Feldondecided it would bea good idea to teachus all some LatinAmerican dancing!So, catching the eyesof the locals, wedanced some Sambaon the beach, beforetaking a swim in the freezing LakeTiticaca. After the boys fetched somefirewood, and some members of theteam went to the market, we had abarbeque on the beach to the backdropof a beautiful sunset. Then, despite thethunder and lightning, many of us stayedup for a little sing song under the stars,before going to bed, pretty early(again..).

Chloe Mansell

Waking up on Copacabana Beach to amorning thunderstorm presented my first

challenge as leader forthe day. Havingbreakfast and packingup our tents in therain felt like too mucheffort this morningand, to add to the fun, I have a fear of thunder andlightning! Richard,our Expedition Leader,had to take some timeto decide whether itwas safe to take theboat over to the islandwhere we would do

our Isla Del Sol Acclimatisation Trek. As wewaited, we were joined by some veryfriendly but wet dogs that Sean and Lewis

decided to name and adopt as our own.When we finally got onto the boat and theskies began to clear, the challenges we facedin the morning were forgotten. The entirehour journey was spent singing along toChloe’s ukulele which even made the driversmile. Singing often lifted spirts throughoutthe expedition and became a great way tointeract with the locals.

Once we arrived, we set off walking andexploring some of the island, carrying our

main packs, food for the three day trek,tents, cookers – the lot! Many struggled withour first experience of the altitude. Despitethis, we stuck together, took it slow, andenjoyed the amazing views above LakeTiticaca, giving us great photoopportunities! Camp for the night was oneof my favourite locations – we arrived at apristine sandy beach and we were invited tostay in a local’s back garden. We had plentyof time before bed, therefore many bravechallengers took no hesitation in taking theopportunity to have a swim in LakeTiticaca - not many people can say theyhave done that! The lake was freezingthough…

Some gooey rice for dinner didn’t dampenanyone’s mood that evening – especially theboys who made it very clear they were fedup of carrying it and just wanted it eaten!The evening was spent laughing at oldschool memories and talking about our


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Bolivian experience so far. We had so muchto talk about even at the early stages of ourexpedition. Sunrise the following morningwas a beautiful sight to wake up to. I wishI could be back and experience it all againwith the new friends I made a long way.

Claire Baker

I was leader on the second day of theAcclimatisation Trek. We set off at 9amand walked for about three hours headingtowards the south of the island. The walkwas hard with one particular steep

incline and we had to take regular breaksdue to some aches and pains within theteam. We accidentally annoyed aBolivian lady when we stopped in asquare in a little village without payingher, safe to say we left quickly when shewas shouting at us! One of the highlightsfor me of the day was Evie’s excitementat a tree that looked like a llama, I thinkthe majority of the group got a photo ofit. When we had finally reached our

destination, we all sat down and the boyswent off to explore whilst the girls sataround singing, with Chloe playing herukulele. We even started to write our ownsong, based on our experiences so far. Itwasn’t long before our singing attractedattention and some of the little girls inthe village came to sing with us, theirfavourite was the hokey cokey. We evenused our phrase book to learn heads,shoulders, knees and toes in Spanish!Although the walking was hard, gettingto spend time with children from thelocal village made it so worthwhile!

Sophie Macklin

I was leader on August 2nd, which was theday of the festival in La Paz. It was one ofthe more relaxing days, but I still organiseda few meetings to discuss the team budgetand what we were doing for our final meal.I think my day as leader went quite welloverall, although it was quite difficult to geta big team, with lots of ideas and excitementto listen sometimes. I feel the day was quiteorganised and we all had a good time eitherwatching the festival or out shopping. Thefestival began in the morning and went onuntil gone midnight, an endless (televised!)procession of live music, dancing and peoplewearing the most elaborate costumes. Wewere really lucky to catch this annual eventand I will definitely remember it!

Louisa Hasler

Waking up at 6:55 in -14ºC weatherwearing five layers, the group stumbledto the jeeps narrow-eyed and begging

the jeep drivers for some in-car heat. Iremember this day waking up wishing Ihad just hidden away from the leaderrole but as it turns out it was actuallyquite an enjoyable day. The drivers werewearing thin fleeces and weresinging/dancing as they mounted therucksacks onto the roof of the jeeps. Ourdriver, Des, had mentioned earlier in thejourney that he had spent ‘much money’on his in-car speakers and so he waskeen to provide a showing of them at anygiven time - even at 7am in weather thatconstantly reminded you to always leavespace in your water bottle overnight.

We set off and headed for the Sol deMañana Geysers where hot springsawaited us. We all stripped down tobathers, still at minus temperatures andentered the hot springs that bubble attemperatures of around 40ºC – amassive relief after the cold nights thatwe had been experiencing. We hadallotted ourselves around 20 minutes oftime to relax in the ‘hot tub’, howeverinevitably this ended up being closer to40 minutes, obviously. As we plucked upthe courage to exit the relaxing water, wereadied for our next destination – Uyuni.

We arrived in Uyuni in the dark and asthe night drew to an end we settled downin the luxury(?) of a local hostel, whichfeatured two (intermittent) toilets and ashower which provided some water.Now I come to think about it, maybe theplumbing between the two were linked?(I’ll leave you to think about that.)

Tomorrow’s task: Find alternativeaccommodation.

Lewis Chapman


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It was my day as leader today. Theprevious evening I arranged with everyoneto meet down at the orphanage at 9 o’clock,having brought their own breakfast on theway. Everyone seemed to be on time todaysurprisingly, maybe that was down to theindividual door knocking that I had to do tomake sure everyone was awake!

When we arrived, I split everyone intogroups. I got out the blue paint and somepeople finished off painting the outsidewalls. Some others carried on with thesanding of the white walls; whilst otherspainted the sanded white walls. I sent agroup of four challengers, led by Steph, to go

out and buy some coloured oil paints, so wecould start painting over the floor markingsof the sports courts in the courtyard area ofthe orphanage. We could use one section ofthe white wall to paint a mural, to includewhatever we wanted, so paint was broughtfor this too. Sean led the mural team, andthey cracked on with a great design whichreflected the key features of Bolivia. Anothergroup started to wipe down the windowframe edges where some people (not naming

any names) may havedecided that they too needed a splash ofblue paint! I mustadmit, I found it quite stressful makingsure everyone hadsomething to do, asthere were lots of littlejobs today tocomplete, rather thanone main task, buteveryone seemedhappy and got alongreally well which

made it easier. We stopped for a welldeserved lunch at 12.30pm, where wehad soup and then an amazing maincourse. The children gave out salad,vegetables, mayonnaise and ketchupfor the centre of each table. Thenwe each got given a plate with amassive piece of breaded chickenand rice. We were also treatedtoday with Fanta and Coke fordrinks! Due to this treat, wewere all a bit scared that theymay have thought today was

our final day at the orphanage, whichit wasn’t! After lunch, we carried onworking until tea which was supposedto be at 4.30pm. After waiting for awhile, we were told that it would beanother 20 mins as the children weremaking us cookies! I asked Alan, the childpsychiatrist who spoke English, what hewanted us to do tomorrow, to check theyknew we were coming for one more day!

The cookies were delicious. After tea,everyone was tired so we packed everythingaway. For our evening meal, everyone sortedthemselves out with their share of the groupmoney so the responsibility for spends was

shared. Overall, I feel that I managed asleader, but was definitely ready to pass onthe leader pack to Leah by the end of theday!

Lizzie Price

During my day as team leader we werevolunteering at the orphanage in Uyuni.The day before we started to paint thewalls of the orphanage so during my daywe continued to do so whist the childrenwere at school. I also had the job ofbuying train tickets for all of the team toget back to La Paz at the end of theweek. Whilst the team were painting,myself and a few others went to the trainstation to buy them. On one of the wallswas a series of different murals and as ateam we sanded them down and added adesign of our own. Later on when thechildren had finished school theyprepared and served us our lunch whichwas very kind. The most common dishwas chip soup which was surprisingly

tasty. I really enjoyedmy time at theorphanage, teachingthem games andeven losing to themat sport! Our finalday with them wasparticularly specialwhen they taught usa dance, andperformed a showfor us which theyhad prepared. Afterthe show, we alldanced together fora while, sharing our different dancemoves!

For our dinner I gave the team a setamount of money to spend each and weate out in a restaurant in Uyuni. I wasnervous at first to lead the team, butwhen I did, I was happy that it wasn’t ashard as I thought it would be and I wasproud I had done it. The experience ofleading, along with the whole expeditionhas improved my independence a lot,and I look forward to travelling in thefuture.

Leah Bradshaw


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For all of us who embarked on taking on Bolivia In thesummer of 2014, our World Challenge started long beforewe boarded the plane at Heathrow. It started way back inJanuary of the previous year when all challengers startedto take ownership of their expedition by attendingdestination and itinerary meetings and planning the finerdetails of exactly who, what, and where we, as a group,would visit in Bolivia. Ideas then quickly turned toplanning and organising fundraising activities to pay forthings like transport to and from the airport as well asindividual fundraising activities to help cover the cost ofthe expedition. Preparation also took the form of spendinga night in -5 degrees Celsius in the middle of the Forest ofDean in mid-February as part of our preparationweekend! This camping experience encouraged teambonding and developed the essential practical skills forexpedition life like risk management, hygiene, safetyscenarios, cooking and camp craft. The days untildeparture literally flew by and before we knew it ‘Build upday’ had arrived and only 24 hours remained until weboarded the plane at Heathrow, ready to take on one of themost amazing destinations in the world.

Bolivia is a country synonymous with adventure and thiswas true from stepping foot off the plane in La Paz (theworld’s highest capital city 3,650m above sea level) until

take off on the flight back to Miami. The strongindigenous culture runs right through the very fabric ofBolivia - it is a rich tapestry of history of the ancientcivilization combined with its 21st century title of a globalcity. The itinerary we undertook in Bolivia was, literally,incredible - from the hustle and bustle of La Paz, to thevast expanse of Lake Titicaca, the breath-taking Salts Flatsto the south, the Bolivian desert and the very humblingexperience of working in an orphanage in Uyuni, meetingthe amazing children who called it home. For me, thehighlight of the expedition lay in the spectacular vistas ofmountains, glaciers and lakes as we trekked along theCordillera Traverse's high-altitude trails, and I was luckyenough to be part of a team of challengers who scaled PicoAustria, and took in uninterrupted, panoramic views fromits 5,335m summit.

As a team of challengers, everyone conquered theirsummit. For some it was raising the substantial amount offunds needed to undertake such a trip and for others it wasbeing challenged both physically and mentally in ways thatmany had not anticipated, but one thing is for sure it is atrip that will live long in the memory of students and staffalike, and one that I am immensely privileged to have beena part of.

Mr Murphy

The Programme at the school aims to empower and inspireyoung people to become role models and leaders through sport,by developing their confidence and skills in order to increasephysical participation in others. This approach will empoweryoung people to make their own decisions throughconsultation, leadership and ownership.

The students were selected following recommendation by theirPE teachers for showing excellent leadership andencouragement in lessons and extracurricular activities.

Our Young Ambassadors (Luke Rees - South East Wales PlatinumAmbassador, Ellis Brown, Olivia Wells, Ellie Johnson, Jake Coombe,Alice Livesey, Bailey Grant, Natalie Davies - Platinum Ambassadorand YA Intern) are now working towards the following agenda:

This year at MCS we have launched the Young AmbassadorProgramme with the aim of supporting the Sport Wales missionto get ‘Every child hooked on sport for life’.

Young Ambassadors

Joe Smith attended a pre-season trainingcamp in France - La Rochelle - andthoroughly enjoyed his second trip, steppingup as one of our seniors and really improvinghis standard through the week.

The season’s results from the competitivefencers have been pleasing this year. At theWelsh Youth Foil 2014, Joe Smith and IwanHazlewood took Bronze medals in the U16Foil, whilst Alex Smith took Bronze in theU12 Foil. In the Welsh Youth Epée, Iwan tooka Silver Medal in his new discipline.

The Spring Term of 2015 saw us entering the

British Youth Championships Regional Qualifiersat both Foil and Epée, where Iwan won theEpée competition, qualifying for the Finals inMay, and came 5th in the Foil, losing to thesilver medallist. He was the only MCS fencerto attend these two competitions. We wish himluck at the BYC Finals in a few weeks.

Iwan also attended a refereeing course and is wellon the way to qualifying as a referee this term.

This summer, there is an opportunity for thefencers to attend a training camp in Hungary,and to train with Olympic Silver MedallistAlaaeldin Abouelkassem.

Monmouth Comprehensive School Fencing Academy has had a very positiveyear. Numbers have remained steady at around 14 members, with five ofthose attending Team Melia Cymru FC outside school for extra training. Ofthese, four have competed at Welsh Events throughout the year.

Fencing Academy

• Increase healthy lifestyles and participation in physicalactivity in their school

• To promote the positive values of sport in and through sport

• To be an ambassador and role-model advocating PE andschool sport

• To be the young person's voice on PE and school sport in ourschools and communities

• Bring the inspiration of major sporting events to schools andcommunities e.g. London 2012, Glasgow 2014

• To get every child hooked on sport for life!

They have recently conducted a school survey where it becomeevident that disability Sports are not promoted in the School. Asa result they decided this would be their focus for the summerterm.

They have attended a Disability Sport training Course, andapplied for a £500 grant to spend on equipment.

Olivia and Bailey presented to a Dragons Den style panel for themoney, they were persuasive and emphasised how they woulduse the money in an inclusive Sport festival to promote andencourage sports such as Boccia and Archery.

They will be running inclusive sports clubs in the Sports Hall atbreak times.


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Monmouth’s Got Talent &Junior Monmouth’s Got Talent

Having been to Monmouth’s Got Talentin previous years, we all knew how muchwork was needed to plan and put onsuch a celebrated event in Monmouth’scalendar.

The challenge of putting on an event aslarge and as well-known as Monmouth’sGot Talent was more than worth it,knowing that the money raised wouldmake a significant and lasting differenceto many people’s lives.

Our search for talented students beganbefore Christmas, and we were veryimpressed with the amount of interestwe received. Our sign-up up sheetshowed that we had an exciting andinteresting set of auditions ahead of us,with a very difficult decision to be madeat the end of them. The audition processrevealed a wide range of talents hidingamong our school’s students.

We saw more than twenty people at theaudition including singers and musicalduos and, for the very first time in thiscompetition, an accordion player. We putthrough 12 musical acts to the Semi-Final, which took place at MCS. Tomake the tough decision on who to putthrough for the Final, the four of us(Michael, Emily, Jack and myself), werejoined by guest judge, Holly Hall,Deputy Head Girl of HaberdashersMonmouth School for Girls.

The Semi-Final performances werebeautiful, moving and accomplished,making the final decision very difficultand bringing the judges to the brink ofan argument as we chose our four acts.

The MCS finalists were singers AliceGable and Lucy Merrett, duo George

Baynes and Taylor Brown and accordionplayer Harry Lloyd, who went on tocompete against eight acts fromMonmouth School and HMSG at theexciting final at the Blake Theatre.

Thea

Whilst the evening didn’t start at TheBlake Theatre until 7pm, our workstarted at 3pm, setting everything up.During this hectic time we needed tohost a technical rehearsal for the acts,ensuring that the acts were comfortablewith performing and the audio levelswere okay. We were then hard at workorganising the raffle, reserved tickets,and refreshments to ensure the eveningwent as smoothly as possible. Showtimearrived and The Blake was packed withpeople, all eager to see the high calibre of

Fundraising for Home-Start and The Monmouth Defibrillator FundThea Ward and Jack Whittaker

An important part of the whole process runningup to the MGT Final was Junior Monmouth’sGot Talent. Students from Monmouth’sprimary schools - Kymin View, Overmonnow,Osbaston, The Grange and Inglefield House -took part in the contest, before the Senior Finaltook place in March. The Final of this eventwas judged by two MCS Sixth Form Officials,the Head Boy and Head Girl of Monmouth

School and HMSG and the Mayor, Jane Gunter.The evening of the JMGT Final was busy,exciting and very entertaining. Talents rangedfrom singing and dancing to rapping and circusskills! The winners of Junior Monmouth’s GotTalent - a group of students from The Grange,who impressed us all with their circus skills -went on to perform on the stage at The BlakeTheatre at the Final of Monmouth’s Got Talent.

talent that was on show. To start theshow, we had the winners of JuniorMonmouth’s got Talent, a group of boysfrom The Grange, performing withDiablos and Unicycles. The performancewas very interesting to watch and wehope the talented group of boys carrytheir success through to secondary school!

Before we could get started with themain event, it was important tointroduce the judging panel; a formerMonmouth Girl’s school student whowent on to study dance, Mrs Gunter,Mayor of Monmouth, Mr Les Modget,Monmouth Festival Chair, and Mrs K Hagg, the Head of the Home-Start branch in Monmouth, whotook the opportunity to play a shortvideo showing how Home-Startsupports local communities.

The curtain rose on the first half and, asDeputy Heads, we took turns going intothe theatre to watch the performances,ensuring that everything was in order forthe intermission, including refreshmentsand the raffle. Personal highlights fromthe acts I managed to sneak a peek atincluded the interesting and fullsounding solo performance from LucyMerrett on her guitar and loop pedal,which really brought something else tothe competition. The duo of GeorgeBaynes and Taylor Brown also stood outin the first half, with their soulful andmelodic rendition of ‘Better together’ byJack Johnson bringing a positiveatmosphere to The Blake.

The intermission brought a flurry ofsales of refreshments and raffle ticketswith every penny increasing the totalraised.

As everyone settled back into their seats,the second half was underway - again Ionly managed to spot certain acts, buthighlights included Harry Lloyd (whosepop melody on the Accordion left theaudience totally speechless after such adisplay of unorthodox, high qualitytalent) and Alice Gable (whose uniquevoice and guitar style left a lastingimpression on the judges and the

audience). With the second act over, thejudges left to deliberate over the talentthey had seen, andcome to a conclusionon who was to win thegrand prize of playingat Monmouth Festival.Whilst they were hardat work trying to make adecision, it was up to usto announce thewinners of the raffle.With all of the prizesdonated by businessesin town, including atray of no18 browniesand four bottles of winecourtesy of Prego’sItalian, it was nice to seethe local businesses inMonmouth supportingthe event and making afew lucky audiencemembers very, veryhappy.

After the raffle, thejudges were ready tomake their finaldecision. In third placewas Alice Gable who,the judges said,impressed them withher ‘strong voice andguitar combination’.

Runner-up was another MCS student,Lucy Merrett, who the judges saidcreated ‘her own innovative music’. Thewinner was announced as Max Weeden,from Monmouth School whose medleyof intricate and complex guitar pieces,from the Flight of the Bumblebee to theFamily Guy theme song, led the judgesto summarise his performance byclaiming that ‘He could play that Guitar!’.

I feel all of the acts should be proud ofthemselves, especially those from MCS,who not only managed to secure secondand third in the main competition, butdisplayed the high standard of talent thatour school can produce.

Jack

It was decided by the Committee that themoney raised by MGT would be donated totwo incredible causes; Home-StartMonmouth and Monmouth’s fund to equipthe town with two defibrillators. Home-Start works with volunteers offeringfriendship and practical help to familiesstruggling to cope with day-to-day life andhave at least one child under the age of five.Ticket sales and the raffle raised around£2,300 pounds for the chosen charities.


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MONNOW CYCLESBicycle Service & Repairs


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Day 1Our journey began at the eye wateringtime of 3:30am, joining the otherstudents and waiting for the teachersand the bus at the bus bay. We loadedour gear onto the bus and wavedgoodbye, full of excitement for ouradventures ahead. When we arrived atthe airport, we checked in and madeour way through security, stopping tohave breakfast where Mr Curnowdropped his coffee all over the floor!This, and the fact that Dr Connern wasabsent, made us late to the plane as thefinal call was being made! After thisdrama, and a three hour flight, we safelyarrived at Keflavik airport where wemet our tour guide and bus driver forthe duration of our trip. We thenproceeded to travel to the Blue Lagoon,a geothermal spa, admiring thestunning scenery on our way. It was anamazing experience and we didn't wantto get out!!

Once, out, we had lunch in the poshrestaurant. It was awesome! Wrappedup warm, we made our way to the busto go to Reykjavik, the capital city, forshopping. There, we enjoyed some tastyice cream before heading to our hotel,Hotel Cabin. On arrival at the hotel, wefound it to be packed with otherschools. We checked in and headed offto our room to sort ourselves out before

dinner where there was a wide range offood on offer. After dinner, we hadsome free time where we could chill inthe hotel, before heading to bed, whichwas well needed.

Day 2After waking up and heading tobreakfast, we proceeded to leave to touraround the Golden Circle. First stopwas Thingvellir National Park, whereyou can see the plate boundaries of theNorth American and Eurasian plates.We walked through the plate boundary,taking in the outstanding views. Nextstop was Gullfoss, a massive waterfall,where two waterfalls meet. Afterabsorbing the beauty of such a site, weheaded to lunch there where we had a

traditional Icelandic lunch. Jagomanaged to cut his finger with a butterknife! After lunch, we drove to thegeysers, a spring of water characterisedby a huge discharge of water. We spenttime wandering around, observing theGeysers in action. Following this, wewent to a crater where we collectedvolcanic rock. Our final stop of the dayfound us at Hellisheidi GeothermalPower Plant where we saw a video ongeothermal energy in Iceland and theinside of the power plant, where it stankof sulphur! Driving back to the hotel,we stopped off at the local hospital forJago and then it was back to the hotel,where we had dinner and chilled in thehotel. After our busy day, we went tobed and stayed up late chatting.

Day 3After waking up 10 minutes beforebreakfast, we rolled out of bed and wentto breakfast in our pyjamas. We sang‘Happy Birthday’ to Jess as it was her18th birthday and then found ourselveslocked out of our room as we hadlocked the keys inside! We quicklyprepared ourselves for the wet andrainy day ahead and left the hotel forSkogar, one of many waterfalls. Mr Curnow almost fell over on the iceleading to the waterfall. It was hilarious!From Skogar, we travelled toReynisfjara, a black sand beach with

Iceland Explored


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basalt columns. Not going to the sea, weobserved this wonderful phenomenon.We traveled to the local town of Vik forlunch and shopping then on to the

famous volcano Eyjafallajokull, wherewe saw a video on the famous eruptionof 2010 and the effect on a family wholived in the vicinity of the volcano. Wespoke to a woman who witnessed theeruption. Following this, we went toSeljandsfoss waterfall, where theweather took a turn for the worse, butthat didn't stop us admiring thewaterfall.

Driving back towards Reykjavik, westopped at a shopping centre where wewent in an earthquake simulator, whichsimulated an earthquake of 6.5 on theRichter scale. It's safe to say wescreamed, a lot, in particular Becky!This was not the end of our day. Wearrived back at the hotel to get ready forbowling that evening. At the bowlingalley, we had pizza, ice cream and cake.Bowling was very competitive,especially amongst the teachers;Brother Curnow, Sister Fry and PapaConnern! Back at the hotel, we hadtime to chill and start to pack. Weskyped members of our families andproceeded to go to bed.

Day 4This was a sad day for all involved.After getting up for breakfast at 6.30am,we ensured that everything was packedand headed onto the bus, where certainmembers of the group slept all the wayto the airport. We had plenty of time tospend our last Kronas and head to thegate. We boarded the plane set forhome. The arrival in the UK was a sadmoment as we realised our adventuresin Iceland had come to an end. Afterregaining the back of the bus we settleddown for our journey back to Monmouth,looking through the many photos wehad taken. Our parents were theregreeting us on our arrival back at school.

We only wished the trip was longer butit was an unforgettable four daysexploring Iceland. We would love to goback for more Viking adventures!Thank you Mrs Fry, Mr Curnow andDr Connern for organising this incredibleexperience!! We are gutted we will notbe here for next years trip to Italy!!

Becky Large, Sarah Arnett and Jess Scrivin, Y13

Sculpture Workshop

“Participating in the Sculpture Workshop was the mostenjoyable art lesson I have ever had at school because we were

allowed to express our style of art work in our own way.”

“Making the art sculptures allowed us to design and expressour style individually; it was nice to see how classmates’

final outcomes differed in style.”

“A very different and modern way of working opened our eyesas to what art means to other people outside the classroom.”

“Creating the sculptures allowed us to explore using a differentway of working whilst expressing our own individual styles.”

“The Sculpture Workshop was a whole new and very differentstyle of art work that really allowed us to express ourselves.”

“The Sculpture Workshop was amazing. It opened my eyes to a weird and wonderful new art form

I had no idea existed. The activity was fun and I learnt a lot because of it.”

“The Workshop was a refreshing break to the normal workingdynamic. Expression, experimentation and individualism shone

through, amounting to creative final pieces. It was a fun, enjoyable experience.”


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5x60 / Academy Programme at MCSMonmouth Comprehensive School runs a thriving programme of extra-curricular sporting activitieswhich is delivered as part of the PE Department, 5x60 and Academy programmes. The 5x60 andAcademy programme aims to provide a wide range of opportunities for all students within the school.As a national programme through Sport Wales, 5x60 tries to expose students to activities thattraditionally will not be found in the curriculum and focuses on increasing participation to get youngpeople ‘hooked on sport’.

The details below show how the programme has grown over recent years and how many more students are now participatingin at least one of these sessions every week. We are well on track for record attendances this year with the Summer Termattendances still to be recorded.

Introducing activities such as Kayaking, Indoor Rowing, Handball, Table Tennis and Virtual Spin has seen more students takingpart and enjoying sport which is our primary aim. Add to this specific Academy sessions such as Fencing, Water Polo, Tae KwonDo, Street Dance and Equine and there really is something for everyone. Students will be completing a School Sport Surveyduring the summer term based around their opinions on school sport. Following completion of this, the 5x60 and Academyprogramme will be looked at to see if there are any sports our students want to do that we are not currently offering. Thisongoing programming is essential to keep students engaged, enjoying what we can offer and supporting the fantastic workthe PE Department do.

The 5x60 programme has also seen students in the school delivering activities, gaining experience and coaching qualifications.This leadership is essential to provide wider skills and develop excellent student links. Our Young Ambassador Programme willsupport this and continue the work that has already been implemented.

If you can think of any activities that are currently not offered by the school or you are interested in volunteering in sport pleasecontact our Community and Sport Development Officer, Paul Sullivan ([email protected]).

Academic Year

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015(Autumn & Spring Term Only)

Total Number of Attendances

8,499

11,458

9,751

% of Students taking part in a 5x60 / Academy Session

32.69%

40.19%

41.41%


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Restorative Award

This was to be a very important day forMCS as we were going to be the firstsecondary school in the UK to beawarded the Restorative Justice Council’sQuality Standards Mark.

The award is to recognise the work doneby the school to ensure that we have astrong relationships between students

and staff, allowing us all to develop and succeed - academically, socially,emotionally and physically.

Students have been asked to take intoconsideration the ways in which theiractions can have an effect on theteaching staff. Together, as a school, wehave been able to strengthen therestorative approach and become atighter community as we begin tounderstand one another.

The restorative process has gone fromstrength to strength and although therewere worries at the beginning, we havenow come to the point where we areable to use the approach in a classroomsetting as well as in our own personallives. Across the school, relationships

have strengthened and somerelationship breakdowns, which somebelieved could never have been restored,have been put back together.

The restorative approach has had ahugely positive effect on the school as awhole, and together we hope that wecan continue this and make our schooleven better.

Bethan Edwards, 12TY

On Tuesday 9th September, Monmouth Comprehensive School was paid avisit by some special visitors: Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner, Ian Johnston, the Chief Executive Officer of the Restorative Justice Council andthe Welsh Assembly Member for Monmouth, Nick Ramsay.


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The Royal MarinesEarlier this year, Monmouth Comprehensive School was delighted to host the Bandof Her Majesty’s Commando Training Centre Royal Marines.

The day was a huge success, withover 150 students taking part inworkshops throughout the morning.It was the experience of a lifetime forstudents to be able to sit alongside theMarine’s Concert Band, StringQuartet and Function Band. Thefeedback about the MCS youngmusicians was incredible with the Sgtin Charge of Strings commentingthat they had not seen a StringOrchestra like it on all their schoolvisits and compared them to the elitefrom across schools in England. Hecommended their ability, theirensemble skills and focus. It reallywas a pleasure to watch.


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To see all in the Dining Hall dancing to the Marine’sFunction Band over lunch was fantastic, with both staff andstudents enjoying the music. To end the day, close to 400students were given a talk on the career opportunitiesavailable through the Royal Marine’s Commando TrainingMusic School and Band, inspiring many students to decide tofollow music further as a career.

The concert that followed was superb - students and staffwere blown away by the Corps of Drums and left schoolwith a big smile on their faces. Two talented students

were invited to perform in the concert band - Rory Gordonon trumpet and Josie Evans on trombone - which was awonderful experience for them both.

Mrs Ritter, Subject Leader for Music, took the opportunity tothank the Band of Her Majesty’s Commando Training CentreRoyal Marines for giving students this wonderful opportunityto work with professional musicians - “It was a fantastic day”she said “Our students were inspired and motivated by thisexperience”.


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This was the second time I havebeen to Austria with MCS and itwas the best week I’ve had in ages.

I was in the advanced ski group but the tripprovides for all levels of skiers/snowboarders.Our days out on the slopes were amazing and alot of lessons were learned over the week byeveryone but I think the hardest thing was to getenough sleep at night to ensure we woke upearly to start the next day!

The evening activities were great and we alllaughed our heads off every night.

I would definitely go on the ski trip again and Irecommend it to anyone considering it for2016.

An amazing trip overall and I would like to senda massive thank you to Mr Williams and the restof the staff who came with us.

Ellie Williams, 10HF

Austria 2014-2015


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8, 12, 16 Seater Minibuses • 40 Seater CoachQuality at it’s best Private Hire, Airports, Weddings, etc

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A S C PHILLIPS


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Lower Sixth Interview Skills Workshop- Summer Learning Week

The day began with a series of activities relating to thecourses we wanted to pursue, as well as touching on thesubject of our strengths and weaknesses which provedchallenging. It also shed light on the workings behindinterviews such as looking at the three main points to takeinto consideration in an interview; our strengths andweaknesses, open-ended questions and questions for theinterviewer. For our strengths, we chose from an array ofadjectives, three that we thought best described us. Wefollowed this up by analysing each and their relevance as astrength in an interview. After that, we did the same forweaknesses, however we were to choose a negative adjectiveand 'flip' it - making a positive out of a negative. For example,if we chose the adjective 'indecisive', then we would 'flip' it sothat instead of being unable to make a definite decision, itwould mean that we would look at all options available andweigh them up.

To round off the morning, the lecturers presented us with amultitude of example questions which we had to sortthrough and decide which were ideal to ask in an actualinterview. There were also several 'bad' questions, such as:

‘I'm worried I might struggle - how many people fail?’

In these cases, we then changed them into more suitableformats, while still retaining the original intention of thequestion, for example:

‘What support do teachers offer in case I feel like I'm struggling?’

This, in turn, helped us gain an even more detailed insightinto the interviewing process.

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to put what we hadlearned into practice in a mock interview held by thelecturers. To all intents and purposes, this mock interviewwas treated just like a real interview. All of us were respectedand considered as adults, and the lecturers were informative,direct and honest.

We thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, and we can definitelysay that it's helped prepare us for real interviews, whether it'sfor university or a job.

We would like to thank the lecturers of Cardiff MetropolitanUniversity for an informative day - they been a great help toall of us who were involved. We would also like to extend ourgratitude to everyone else involved in the organisation of theworkshop.

Today has been a huge success and will only help us in further interviews.

Callum Wheatley

I feel that this day has enlightened me.Michaela Bowen

It’s helped me feel more prepared for University.Chloe Miller

It has really benefited me for the future and I'm really grateful for being able to take part in this workshop.

Annie Pell

I think that it was a great opportunity for students to havea very realistic formal interview and then be able to discussand evaluate their performance so that when they do it for

real, they can give their best possible interview.Mr Price,

Metropolitan University

On the Tuesday of Summer Learning Week,we were visited by a group of lecturers fromCardiff Metropolitan University, who taughtus a variety of essential skills and tips to usefor interviews.


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For my work experience placement I wentto Total Look Salon, Monmouth. TotalLook don’t normally take students forwork experience but I went in and askedand I had a mini interview with one of thestylists, Beccie.

A few weeks later they got in touch withme and asked me to take in a CV, sayingthey would contact me again. They saidthat I would have to go for two interviewsas they were treating it as if I was applyingfor a job. I handed my CV in and, twoweeks later, I had a letter asking if I wouldlike to come in for an interview which Idid, following up with a second one a weeklater.

They asked many questions such as whatmy hobbies were, why I was interested inhair and beauty and why I would besuitable for the job. Finally, they said Icould go to Total Look for the week to domy work experience.

It was great there - I got to do a lot morethan I had expected such as shampooing,helping with perms and taking colours offas well as simple things like sweeping up,taking phone calls, arranging appointmentsand taking money!

After my work experience finished theyoffered me an apprenticeship and I havenow been working at Total Look for a fewmonths and it’s been brilliant. In theholidays I work full-time and during termtime I do Friday evenings and Saturdays. Inow have my own training head andcombs; also I have started blow drying andnatural drys. Pat, my boss, is veryencouraging and the other girls who workthere are lovely and loads of fun!

I will be leaving school this year and goingstraight there to start my training in cuttingand, hopefully, be going down to Londonto Sassoon’s, just like the other girls, if I amlucky!

Phoebe Bailey

I was lucky enough to visit Bri-mel Farm inOkotoks, near Calgary in Canada for mywork experience. The Farm is owned byrelatives so this was a greatopportunity for me to carry out mywork experience further afield. Icouldn’t go in the usual workexperience period in November asOkotoks would be knee-deep insnow, so I went the last two weeks inAugust 2014.

Leaving Heathrow at 1 pm, I arrivedin Calgary 11 hours later, straight in to afull day of work, having gained eight hourson the way. Whilst at the Farm I learnedhow to drive the tractor, helped clear up

200 bales of hay from the fields and gotacquainted with the horses.

The first three days of work experiencesaw me getting up at 6am and joining mycousins feeding the horses,cleaning out the stablesand working out in thefields.

We visited a horse show inEdmonton where mycousins both competed ina dressage competition.Michelle won her categoryand her daughter Megancame second in hers.

The rest of the workexperience was taken up with exercisingthe horses, both the show horses and thehorses on livery at the ranch which meantthree of us taking out a total of 45 horseseach day. Every day three of us hadto groom the horses for 20 minutesand then clean the saddles andbridles after each riding session –fortunately it was usually one saddleper five horses or we’d have been inthe stable all night!

Calgary is the home of the CalgaryStampede which takes place everyJuly and although this was August, Istill saw cowboys in full attire in thelocal Walmart – Stetsons and all!!

At the end of the two weeks, wevisited Bamf, taking a four hourhike to the top of Johnston’s Canyon inBamf National Park – the second highestpoint of the Rockies – which gave us anamazing view. Surprisingly, there was no

snow on our route but plentyto be seen on the peakssurrounding us.

I didn’t suffer too much fromjetlag in Canada but on myreturn it took me about fourdays to adjust - including afull 16 hour period of sleep !!!

I had an amazing time for mywork experience and look forward to goingback after my time in Sixth Form. I wouldlike to work my way from the East side ofCanada, over to Vancouver on the West

Coast then down the coast and back acrossthe US.

Euan Gillespie, 11JM

I spent a week at Nimbus Records, themusic recording company in Wyastone formy work experience.

While I was there I was able to work in themain office as well as visit the recording

studios and help out, making andpackaging CDs. The wholeworkplace was completely chilledwith a lot of really friendly peopleand an office dog – plus there wasunlimited tea!

Of course, some days did consistof simply inputting data intospreadsheets but on other days Iwas able to help out inextraordinary situations. I spentone day in the manufacturingDepartment where I was shown

how to make and shrink wrap CDs and thenext day I was able to go down to theconcert hall and play a Steinway piano!

I think the best day I had was when I wasable to sit in and listen toan actual live recordingthat took place in thestudios. I spoke to the techcrew as well as theperformers and Iexperienced the musicfirst hand. It wasincredible. I really didlearn a lot from my weekat Nimbus Records, it wasan amazing experience.

Charlotte Edge, 11SL

Other interestingplacements included:James Oubridge - Abu DhabiNational Hotel Group

Georgia Savoie - runner for Films@59

Wulf Scouller - The American HistoryMuseum in Britain

Dan Waterstone - building a robot atSheffield University Robotics Lab

Caleb England - brewers assistant atKingstone Brewery

Georgina Haycock - horse behaviourtraining at Your Horse & Pony Matters

Work Experience


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Notre Voyage Français!

Going on the French trip was a veryexciting opportunity for everyone to learnnew things, taste new food and get to gripswith French culture and tradition.

The lodging that we were staying at was agrand building called Le Château! To reachLe Château we had to get on a coach,which would take us to a ferry (six hours)to go across the channel (a further hourand a half) to France. Whenwe finally got to LeChâteau we were allexhausted from travellingfor such a long time and wethought we could relax inour room for a while… butwe were wrong as we weredragged out to do activities(oh, the horror!).

Our first full day at LeChâteau was very excitingbut it started offsssslllloooowww… We crawled out of ourdorms but there was no time to throw asidethe covers and greet the day with a smilebecause we were all desperatelyconcentrating on how to put one foot in

front of the other, we wereso tired! We went into thefood hall (slowly) where wewere greeted by the freshdelicious smell of FBC,(freshly-baked-croissants).We were all ravenous so weate with gusto! We hadbarely any time to lick thepastry from our fingersbefore we all got whiskedout to listen to stories fromour guide. Personally, Iadored the stories and wascaptivated by all of them, unfortunately myfellow group just wanted to go to themarket (the notion of some people!). Wefinally got to the Rue Market and mygroup were squealing with excitement at allthe assorted goodies ‘cough’ loom bands

and sweets ‘cough’ Whilethey all squabbled aboutwho got sweets first, I tookthis opportunity to buysome honey for dad andsome cola for myself! Butenough about me, let`s geton with the second activity!

The second activity wasvery exciting, as we all piledinto the coach to go to oursecond destination, thechocolate factory! When we

got there, we were welcomed by the sweetsmell of chocolate, wafting from the littlewooden building in front of us. Wecrowded down the walkway to this big,white room filled with chocolate!

White chocolate, dark chocolate, milkchocolate, you nameit, it was there. AFrench man came into explain to all of ushow they makechocolate and give usa few facts, e.g: dark chocolate isextremely good foryour arteries. After he

had shown us how to make it(and cleaned up our salivafrom the floor) he led us intothe gift shop where we weregreeted by rows and rows ofchocolate! There were alsosome cocoa beans in thecorner, which we could takefor free and try. No one likedthem at all, even though theyhad only had a nibble! Theonly person who liked themwas my brother, who gorgedon them and took some

home, (typical!)

Now we move onto our last activity of theday, The Snail Farm! As we rushed off thebus we were greeted by a quaint little caféwith a women standing in front of it. Thewoman was very nice and took us aroundthe back to take a look at the ‘escargots’*ahem* snails in their pen. There werehuge planks of wood on the ground andunderneath were hundreds and hundredsof snails; the snails were encircled in a wiremesh with electric fencing around it (just

in case there was a mass snail breakout!)We found out the snails loved rhubarb andonly moved around a lot at night. She thentook out some snails for us to hold - theywere really slimy and icky! We were thenshown a slideshow on how the snail disheswere prepared - turns out they made snailbiscuits, snail pate and snail jam. We thengot to the best bit of the visit, TASTING!They all tasted really nice and I would havebought some if I hadn’t forgotten mywallet!! Oops.

(Our French Trip!)Bonjour my fellow students! In thisarticle I will be telling you aboutYear 7’s “fantastique” French trip. By Adam Arnett


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The next day, we were told to get up brightand early to get to the last activity I’m sureeveryone was looking forward to, ParcAsterix! The biggest, some might say best,theme park in France. When we got there,we were gobsmacked at all the rides; water

rides, loop-the-loop rides, wooden ridesand chute rides!! We had a healthy fourhours of rocking rollercoasters before wehad to go back to Le Château for dinner,(which was steak with a side serving offrogs legs and snails!) Next morning wepacked up our stuff and clambered ontothe bus to go back home.

It was, in my opinion, the best school tripever! Here are some other opinions fromEllis and Harry:

Harry, “I really enjoyed the French trip, myfavourite activity was Parc Asterix with allthose fantastic rides and attractions!’”

Ellis, “I loved the French trip, my favouriteactivity was Parc Asterix!”

All in all it was an amazing experience and,before I go, let`s give a round of applauseto all the teachers who helped arrange thetrip, they must be exhausted.

This is Adam Arnett, signing off!

French DebateThree of our Y13 French Students Ellie Clutton, Annie Pell and Kelly Dixon, were runners up in a debate on “Reality TV” competing against Crickhowell, HMSG andMonmouth Boys. They were victorious in their 1st round against Crickhowell andrepresented the school with confidence, fluency and convincing arguments.

Well done girls!

WolfstoneTranslation

In February, a Y9 MFL group participated in a translation workshop provided by SilkeLührmann of Wolfestone Translation Ltd. Students were asked to watch an advert inGerman and translate the meaning and then attempt to rebrand this company in English.All students found the experience motivating and cannot stop singing the advert for aGerman supermarket ! The Faculty look forward to inviting Silke to work with our Sixthform linguists on translation too, in preparation for their exams.

My experience at MCS My name is Susi Schult and I work as a teacher in Celle which is located in Northern Germany.

I had the great pleasure of being a guest at Monmouth Comprehensive School for two weeks in March. The purpose of my visit wasto get new ideas for my own school as well as the development of the school system in Lower Saxony in general.

My impression is that Monmouth Comprehensive is an exceptionally good school as far asschool structure and teaching approaches are concerned. I really do like the idea that`everyone matters’. Teachers are very dedicated and professional in dealing with mixed-ability groups.

I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of staff as well as students, who explained to me howthe school works. I was also able to observe a variety of different lessons and talk to differentteachers.

I would like to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to get an insight into the school.Everybody I met made me feel very welcome. Very special thanks go to Ms Snook who waslooking after me very kindly and to Mr Davies who is the most amazing Headteacher I haveever met (sorry Mr Davies, I know this has embarrassed you!)

I can’t wait until students visit my school in Celle.

Auf Wiedersehen and Tschüss.

Susi E. Schult


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Sports Literacy CompetitionNewport Dragons Visit

by Benedict Pask-Williams, 7AH

On Wednesday 17th December I went to Newport tointerview the Dragons Rugby team where I met Owen Evans.Owen Evans is a prop in the Newport Gwent Dragons. Wewere able to interview him and ask him some questions.

One of the first questions that I asked him was “What is yourmost memorable moment and why?” He said that his mostmemorable moment was his first game when he scored twotries. I also asked him who he was friendly with on the teamand he said “Nathan Buck”.

Evans was also asked whether he has any superstitions androutines that he follows when playing rugby. He said that hissuperstition is that he always puts his rugby boots on in acertain order; right boot on first, then his left boot and thenhe ties his right laces and then his left.

Evans described his worst injury as the time that he tore aligament in his knee and his leg was just hanging loosely. Hesaid that one of the most embarrassing moments in hiscareers was when he had his shorts pulled down on therugby field!

I learnt that Owen Evans started playing rugby when he waseight years old. He originally wanted to be a football playerbut he kept getting sent off for tackling, so his dad got himto play rugby instead.

The one thing that Owen Evans said that happens to allrugby players is that they all develop a superstition and thatnerves affect them all.

FACT FILEName: Owen Evans

Weight: 119kg / 18st.

Age: 25

Height: 188cm / 6ft 2

Born: 19/02/1989

Clubs: Cross Keys

Llandovery

Llanelli

Newport

Honours: Wales U20

MCS Visits Newport Countyby Katie Kilbourne

Recently I entered the Monmouth Comprehensive School‘Sports Literacy’ competition. For this I had to write abiography on a rugby or football player of my choice. I choseto write about a woman called Casey Stoney, Captain of thewomen’s England football team. I thought she would be aninteresting and different person to write about because a lotof people think that most sport stars are male. I like to seethings from other points of view.

I found out that I had won the competition: two tickets tosee Newport County play and beat Stevenage on Saturday13th December. I felt very pleased with myself as I wanted totry something new and I succeeded.

Newport County played very well; they scored two goals inthe first half by striker Aaron O’Connor and defender, DarrenJones. Aaron was sent off for a late challenge in the last fiveminutes of the game. The final score was 2-0.

To my surprise, a trip had been organised for the Mondayafter the weekendmatch. It was to meetand interviewprofessional footballplayers from NewportCounty AFC. Togetherwith the othercompetition winnersfrom various years, wewent to NewportStadium for the day.We were given a tour

Interviewing the players:Aaron O’Connor Q: How do you feel

about women infootball?

A: I think it’s good.They get morerecognition nowthan they usedto get. I think everyone should haveequal rights.

Q: Have you always wanted to be afootball player?

A: Yes I have, I never really thoughtabout being anything else.

Q: What subjects did you enjoy atschool?

A: P.E, I.C.T, English – I really enjoyreading. It was always importantfor me to get an education just incase football didn’t work out.

Q: Have you got a favourite book toread?

A: I like sports related books, so my all-time favourite is ‘Gazza: My Story’,which is Paul Gascoigne’sautobiography.

Yan Klukowski Q: Favourite

premiershipteam

A: Liverpool,haha!”

Q: What hobbies do you have apartfrom football?

A: I enjoy playing different sports. I’malways trying different ones out.”

Q: How do you feel about women infootball?

A: It’s grown a lot! There are somefantastic players and the games nowhave good T.V. exposure.

Q: What would you be doing if youweren’t a footballer?

A: I always enjoyed school so I wouldprobably be a teacher, maybe P.E.My wife is a P.E. teacher. Educationhas always been important to me. Imade sure that I got my degree justin case football didn’t work out.

Andy Sandell Q: What hobbies

do you have?

A: I enjoy boxing,cricket, lookingafter my horsesand watchingsport on T.V.

Q: Have you always wanted to playprofessional football?

A: No actually, when I was younger Iwanted to be a marine but I wasn’tallowed because I had asthma!!

Q: What were your favourite subjects atschool?

A: Of course I liked P.E, I also enjoyeddoing Drama.

Newport CountyInterviews

by Daniel Keane

Aaron O’ConnorQ: Who was your inspiration when you

were younger?

A: Paul Gascoigne. It is a shame that hismore recent behaviour means that heis not really an inspiration foryoungsters today.

Q: What are you and your team’sambitions this season?

A: We definitely think that we can getpromoted into League 1. We arecurrently sixth in the table which is inthe play-offs. We are three points offautomatic promotion so there is areal belief that we can do it.

Q: What advice would you give toyoung people who would like to beprofessional footballers?

A: I would just say to make sure thatyou try and give one hundred percent in every training session andmatches, and don’t give up. If youare rejected by a club, don’t let yourconfidence go but prove them wrong.

Q: Where is the best stadium that youhave ever played at?

A: Wembley: we were promoted intothe Football League in the play-offfinal against Wrexham. We beatthem 1-0.


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of their changing rooms, eating area, rehabilitation centreand games room. After the tour we went over to theVelodrome and had lunch. The Velodrome is an arena fortrack cycling. It was massive and there were seats all around.

After we ate, all of us went back to the Footballer’s relaxingroom and three of the players from the team joined us - YanKlukowski, Aaron O’Connor and Andy Sandell (captain). We

interviewed them, had good conversations and learnt a lotabout the players. It was a really good experience and I’mglad I went. I can see you can achieve anything when you putyour mind to it! The trip was a new exciting experience for me.

I suggest everyone should enter competitions, not necessarilyfor the prize but for the experience. Try something new younever know what could happen!

Andy SandellQ: Do you like the fame of being a footballer?

A: No, not at all. I hate it when I’m doing my shopping andpeople want autographs and selfies. It makes me feel reallyawkward.

Q: How long have you been at Newport?

A: This will be my third year at the club.

Q: How do you feel before a match?

A: I get nervous like everyone. Being nervous is normal; it justshows how much you care about the game.

Q: Who’s the best player you’ve ever marked?

A: Adnan Januzaj, who plays for Manchester United, he is atremendous talent and one to watch for the future.

Yan KlukowskiQ: Who’s got the worst taste in fashion on the team?

A: Probably Andy Sandell. He wears these baggy jeans and oldman jumpers.

Q: Who’s the best at FIFA in your team?

A: Haha – probably Ismail Yakuba.

Q: What would you say to do if we make a mistake on afootball pitch?

A: Just put it to one side and forget about it. Even the bestplayers on the planet make mistakes; you wouldn’t benormal if you didn’t make them.

Q: What formation do you and your team play?

A: We play 3-5-2 which is the formation that ManchesterUnited play. This allows us to play wing backs. Thisformation hasn’t been very poplar over the years but nowtop teams are using it.

Player Fact-files by Hayden Morris

Yan Klukowski Fact-fileYan played for Southampton Academy. He started football at six years old.His best friend at the club is Andy Sandell, the Captain. At school Yan’s favourite subjects were P.E. and science.Steven Gerard inspired Yan and it worked.When Yan has retired he wants to be a teacher.He wears Hypervenom boots.The biggest team he has played against is Man United.The hardest player Yan has gone up against is Adnan Januzaj.

At the club the food they eat a lotof is pasta and potatoes.Yan is Polish.

Andy Sandell Fact-fileHe is the Captain.The biggest stadium he has playedat is Wembley.The best player he has come upagainst is Didier Drogba.He is a defender.He has been at the club for three years.He drives a BMW.He wears Hypervenom boots.Andy played for Bristol Rovers and he got £17.50 and one pintper week.The worst injury he has had was a broken foot.Diego Maradona was the player who inspired Andy.At the club his best friend is Yan Klukowski.His wife has a horse business so when he retires he will workwith that business.His favourite subject in school was drama.One of his hobbies is cricket.He supports Tottenham Hotspur.The hardest team he has played against is Chelsea.


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Having worked so hard, and flourishedin the practical environment, we areproud to be able to say that all those

completing the course this year will leave having passed their relevantqualifications. A special mention shouldgo here to Lewys Bufton and Ben Philpotts, who are leaving theirPublic Services course with no less than adistinction. Well done boys!

For many of our students, theopportunity of attending thesevocational courses has enabled them tomake informed choices about theirpathways after Y11 at MCS. Throughthe enjoyment and enthusiasm for theConstruction Course, several studentshave gone on to apply to further theirskills in the construction trade comeSeptember. One such example is Jack Moore, who has already beenoffered a place on the Bricklaying courseat Hereford College. This enthusiasm is mirrored in our Animal Care and Motor Vehicle students, with Daraywn Skidmore, Verity Harris andEmily Gleed all deciding to return toColeg Gwent for Animal Care andAgriculture courses with Connor Brinepursuing an apprenticeship with Audi.

For Stacey Jeffs and Daisy Biggin, thevocational learning experience has been

slightly different, having successfullycompleted their Hair and Beautyqualifications in working salons. Thereports for these girls have been

outstanding, with both girls hoping tofollow up apprenticeships in the industrynext year.

We are very proud of the achievementsof our vocational students this year, andwish them every continued success in thefuture! Well done everyone!

VocationalAs exams draw near and we come to the end of another successful round ofVocational provision with Coleg Gwent and ISA Training, it is time to celebratethe wonderful achievements of our Year 11 students.


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Living and Learning in a New School

In 1977, Monmouth welcomeda new school building for itsstudents. In 2015, at the time ofwriting, we are just weeks awayfrom the ‘ground being broken’announcing the commencementof the construction phase ofanother brand new school.Some might see this as the start,but to misquote one of our morefamous elder statesmen, ‘it’s notthe start but it is, perhaps, theend of the beginning’.

This year we have seen ourcommunity’s aims, values andvision ‘morph’ into architectural plans,artists drawings and computer aided‘fly throughs’. The School Council hasled a range of consultation processeswithin the school and has beeninstrumental in ensuring that everystudent has had the opportunity tohave their point of view heard andbeen able to comment on theconstantly developing plans; fromdining to drama, learning to libraryand from toilets to technology.

Teaching teams, parents andgovernors have all enjoyed engaging

with the Monmouthshire CountyCouncil 21st Century School Team ledby Mr Simon Kneafsey and Miss Cath

Sheen on how this once in a lifetimeventure will enhance opportunities foryoung people and their families inMonmouth, now and for decades tocome.

In mid-April the Local Authorityreceived final confirmation from theWelsh Government that funding wasnow in place in the form of a letterfrom Huw Lewis, the Minister forEducation and Skills. An extract fromour deposition to the minister bestencapsulates our vision for learning,living and achieving in a new school.

“The developing curriculum andreviewed national qualifications aredesigned to support the development

of core transferable skills that will beexamined and assessed through abroad range of new qualifications andsettings. The Welsh Baccalaureate andthe new suite of GCSE’s will developindependent thinkers and problemsolvers. A range of authentic learningenvironments are required if studentsare to develop, achieve and flourish.Presentation and performance spaces,independent learning spaces as well asIT rich and traditional learningenvironments need to be availableflexibly if we are to continue to raiseachievement and respond to studentsneeds within the school and theirwider community. The walls separatingclassrooms need to be broken down,both metaphorically and literally if weare to prepare students for learningand living in the 21st Century andbeyond”.

So, hard hats and high vis jackets atthe ready, let the build begin!

“The change from the old school could certainly not go unnoticed. We had moved from an old building which had survived two World Wars to a very new, modern concrete building which was to be a typical scene of the sixties and seventies.

It was one of the first buildings of its kind in Monmouth and, most certainly, the largest and itwas the centre of attention. Everyone was talking about it and my friends and I were no

exception. I couldn’t wait to start there: Monmouth Secondary School could be really proud!”

The Monmouth Secondary School Celebration Magazine of 1977


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Student Design & Technology Work

Amanda, Laura, Jay, Jamie

Alice, Caitlyn, Henry

Jacob, Nicole, Abbie Charlotte, Louis, OliviaBen, Alice, Max

Alex, Luke, Grace

Flo James

Seth Barrett

Cameron Bradbury

Hannah YoungmarkBradley SmithBradley Smith Hannah Kay

Hazel Facey

Iwan Roberts

As I start... As I leave...

My first year at MCS has exceeded all my expectations. Atfirst I was a bit intimidated but now I really feel like I fit in.I’ve enjoyed making friends and taking part in excitingevents such as the school’s mock General Election. I haverelished the freedom and the opportunity to takeresponsibility for my own learning and I have learntresilience to face every challenge.

Alice Barrell, 7MD

I was excited but a bit apprehensive because I didn’tknow many people and there were loads of really tallpeople. I have fond memories of doing Sweeney Toddwhere I made friends from Y7 to Y13. I made reallygood friends with Cassie who I do Celtic Group withand run Fold Group with. We do lots of concerts and Iam the leader of the orchestra. I have really enjoyed myfirst year at Monmouth Comprehensive School.

Bethany Piper, 7TK

When I first started at Monmouth Comprehensive School,I was very excited. My first lesson was Physical Education– it was amazing because I love doing football, rugby,basketball, athletics, longball and rounders. My first friendswere Will and Toby. Since I started maths, I have learnedrotational symmetry.

Thomas Endicott, 7PK

As I have an older sister who came to the school twoyears before me, I knew more about MCS before Ijoined. I was most excited about the PE experiencesand I was right to be. During the time I have spent atMonmouth Comprehensive School I have enjoyed somany of my PE lessons including gymnastics,swimming rugby, cricket and many more. My firstimpression of the school was welcoming but slightlydaunting. I felt more confident coming up to the schoolbecause I had a lot of my primary school friends withme in my Form.

Grace Shields, 7JH

When I started Y7 lots of thoughts came through my mind.As I met Mrs Gardiner for the first time, I was amazed tosee someone so willing to help everyone that needed it. I metmy friend Joe here and he was so polite. My favouritesubject is music and my music teacher is Miss Manners.She is helping me to apply to Britain’s got Talent.

Alex Dart, 7TK

Moving school isn’t easy for anyone, especially during thetransition from secondary school to Sixth Form. Joining a yeargroup of 150 students who are brought together by a five yearfriendship is even more challenging. Every single student and everysingle teacher was as welcoming as the other. Within weeks, a friendof mine said to me “James, I forgot you joined at Sixth Form; it feelslike you’ve been here since day one!”

James Hawkins, 13DA

During my time at MCS, I’ve experienced things that I wouldn’t havedone otherwise, such as traveling to Bolivia and developing who I am asa person. Due to the support and opportunities that I’ve been given, mylasting impression of MCS is of a school that gives continuous supportallowing you to be the best that you can be.

Chloe Mansell, 13DA

Seven years. All started with a kid; ankle bashers, high strapped bagand a fear of his head being flushed. Now, a young adult withconfidence on his side. As the last Bowen to walk the corridors, Isay thank you.

Robert Bowen, 13EC

As the end of my seven year attendance at Monmouth Comprehensivecomes to an end, I am sad to say goodbye. This school has let me grow asa person and to become who I am today. To achieve all that I thought Icould, and strive for the success that I deserve. Along the way I havemade many friends, not only with the students but the staff here. Theyhave supported me throughout my learning and taught me many things,not only in lessons but through their friendship and advice on life. So asI prepare for my next adventure into the world, and say my goodbyes tothe school, my lasting is impression is that I am leaving behind a goodfriend in which the people will always hold a special place in my heart.

Paige Lewis, 13CC

This school has taught me that hard work pays off. It has shown mehow to be successful by working independently whilst remainingpart of a larger team. My lasting impression of the school is thatit is a warm and safe place. I will always remember my time here.

Tilly Greenstreet, 13CC

My journey has been a real rollercoaster ride. MonmouthComprehensive School has been an exciting and enjoyable environmentand without a doubt a school community I would call ‘home’, where Ihave made lifelong friends. Although some would say cliché, it has reallygiven me the incredible tools and valuable experiences for my future, andit will definitely be hard to leave.

Juliette Hagg, 13JB

This year I am reporting a little differently for the final item. I have interviewedstudents as they start in Y7 and leave in Y13.

A. Hack

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