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Issue 3 – Page 2

WelcomeWelcome to another wonderful edition of our schoolmagazine.

The excitement and anticipation of the Autumn Term isperfectly captured in our articles and images. As we allprepare for the dark and cold of winter we bring warmthto our homes with blazing fires, Christmas festivities andfamily togetherness. I hope this magazine will also bring asense of warmth, celebration, and of community.

I am grateful to all who have worked hard to capture themany aspects of the very special community we have atthe Prep School in the following pages. I trust you willenjoy it … and feel the glow.

Roger McDuff, Headmaster

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2013 Open Events

Friday 25 January, 3.30pm-6.15pmRydal Penrhos Blitz Chess ChampionshipsBooking required for this event.

Friday 1 March, 9.30am-12pmPreparatory, Pre-Prep and Early Years Open Morning

Friday 1 March, 2pm-4pmSenior School Open Afternoon

Wednesday 15 May, 9.30am-12pmPreparatory, Pre-Prep and Early Years Open Morning

Friday 17 May, 2pm-4pmSenior School Open Afternoon

FORPS & Society Events

Saturday 15 June 2013Leavers of the the 1980sAfternoon tea at 2.30pm at the School followed by3-course meal at St George’s Hotel, Llandudno.Booking required for this event.

Saturday 28 September 2013Leavers of the the 1990sTour of the School from 2.30pm and a 3-coursemeal at St George’s Hotel, Llandudno.Booking required for this event.

Book your place for Rydal PenrhosSociety events by emailing SarahRitchie, SJRitchie@rydal-penrhos.com

Early Years Fairytale BallPage 14

Maths at the PrepPage 5

Issue 3 December 2012

Pre-Prep Play ‘Whoops a Daisy Angel’Pages 8 & 9

Academic News

Dahl-icious day at the PrepWilly Wonka, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, the Twits and even Oompa Loompas were seentaking part in lessons at the Prep School’s celebrated Roald Dahl Day, on 13 September.

An array of fabulous costumes were on show in the classrooms of Year 3 to Year 6, aspupils really got into the spirit of the day, dressing up as their favourite characters fromRoald Dahl’s impressive catalogue of books.

In the afternoon, the children took part in creative writing, science and craft workshopsall based on the Big Friendly Giant – better known as the BFG – which is celebratingits 30th birthday this year. The highlight for many of the children, though, was makingand tasting their very own ‘snozzcumber’ sandwiches!

A fantastic £182 was raised throughout the day.The money has been donated to theRoald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, which helps to care for seriously ill anddisabled children.

Thinking and learning skillsThis academic year has seen the introduction of Thinking and Learning Skills lessons. These have begun in Year 2 with a sole

focus on learning the rudiments of chess. Rydal Penrhos Prep School boasts national,county and school players, and this extra lesson is proving to be an excellent foundationfor future players.

In Years 3 to 6 the lessons have looked closely at what makes an effective learner andhow we, as individuals, can improve our own capacity to learn. Year 3 came up with awonderful magic potion for effective learning made up of perseverance, creativity,healthy eating, exercise, discipline, mistakes, enjoyment, open-mindedness, ideas,

knowledge, courage, humour and questions. This is now displayed in their classroom to help them focus on being a successfullearner.

The second focus of our course has been on the art of questioning, how to construct helpful questions for research and howto make sure that our questions produce more than just a superficial answer. A simple technique some of the children have beenusing is the ‘three whys’ method, something you could all try at home. Firstly, ask a straightforward question such as ‘what areyou doing this weekend?’ and then follow up the answer with the question ‘why?’. Repeat this twice and you will find that thethird ‘why question’ almost always requires a deeper level of thought. Transfer this to research questions and children can beginto unearth some real gems of information.

Year 4 explore Roman history

To complement their study on the Romans as part of theirHistory lessons, Year 4 visited the Grosvenor Museum inChester.

During a guided tour ofthe city, the inquisitivepupils were keen to findout more about theAmphitheatre, theGladiators and thecriminal executions andeven had the opportunity to dress up as Roman Soldiers asthey marched around the fortress, Deva.

Back at the Grosvenor Museum, the pupils took part in aworkshop where they dressed as Roman slaves andprepared food. They also became Roman engineers andcreated their own model building of a Roman bath housewith a hypocaust heating system, finally they becamearchaeologists and lookedat artefacts and replicasfrom the past.

Before returning toschool, pupils spent timein the Museum’s Galleryworking in pairs tocomplete a worksheet,where teacher Mrs Culverdescribed the pupils as, “a real credit to the school, working hardto complete their worksheets and eager to find out the information andlearn more.”

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Issue 3 – Page 4

Tales of the jungle from authorPupils in Year 6 took a trip to the Senior School Library to hear a talk from children’s author Pauline Fisk.

Pauline entertained the pupils with storiesabout her experiences in Belize, trekkingthrough the jungle with her son, beingsurrounded by armed soldiers, getting toknow the Kekchi-Mayan people andworking with a gap-year project deep in thejungle. All of this formed part of herresearch for her novel In the Trees.Throughout the talk, Pauline showedvarious photographs from her trip andeven played Belizean music to set themood for the pupils!

The session finished with a short writing workshop where Pauline shared her Top Ten Tips for writing good stories beforeshe was quizzed by the pupils about her adventures and her career to date.

Following her workshop, Pauline commented, “I love going into schools. I very rarely find children anything but interesting andengaging, and they certainly were at Rydal Penrhos Prep School I was asked everything from the obvious – ‘how many books have youwritten?’ to the more obscure – ‘what wild animals have you met?’”

Christening service for Year 1As part of their Religious Studies lessons, the pupils ofYear 1 have been investigatingbelonging to a Christianfamily. The children discovered that people are christenedto welcome them into a family, and also into the family ofthe Christian Church.

Their investigations culminated in a christening serviceheld in the WedgwoodRoom, and led byReverend Sissons. Thechildren began theservice with a shortprayer and a song.Reverend Sissons then explained theuse of a candle, cross and waterduring the christening ceremony,before reading the story of Jesusbeing baptised by John the Baptist tohelp the children understand thesignificance of the water.

The children who were acting asparents and godparents of the baby,named ‘Lizzy Lily’, stood at thefront of the Wedgwood Room.Reverend Sissons christenedLizzy Lily by pouring water ontoher forehead three times andmaking the sign of the cross. Theceremony ended with the familybeing presented with a certificate, prayer book and acandle for the baby.

Issue 3 – Page 5

Creating a love of Maths….Numeracy is fundamental to all that goes on, from practical role play in Early Years through tothe maths table, cups and actions in the Pre-prep. ‘Doing’ maths is all-important and throughoutthe Prep school, whether with Maths Makes Sense or our Abacus scheme, children are activelearners.

At this young age maths is seen by children as dynamic and relevant. Various activities and eventsare held throughout the year to help children gain insight into the mathematical world andconfidence in their own innate ability.

Alison Hind, Head of Maths at the Prep school, says “We strive hard to foster great enthusiasm for, andenjoyment of maths with all children at every stage of their development. Learning key skills and then having theopportunity to apply these on a practical level and in ‘real- life’ situations, brings maths learning ‘to life’ here atthe Prep School. It is wonderful to see children opting to join the Maths Problem Solving Club as an extra-curricular activity, which is run during the summer term, and to celebrate the success of our Prep teams when theytake part in the Maths Challenge at the Senior school.

We know that the groundwork we put in now will influence their future relationship with the subject. We believewe are managing to do this successfully as so many of our pupils who move on from the Prep and through Seniorschool end up at university studying subjects that involve maths.”

A recent addition to the Prep pupils’ maths calendar has been the Primary Schools’ Maths TeamChallenge hosted by the Senior school Maths department.

Hannah Mew-McAdam, Abhishek Bathula, Ioan Peake-Jones and Morgan Kendall competed inthe challenge against nine teams from schools from around Conwy and Denbighshire. They weredelighted to take the prize for second place, only three points behind the winners.

The competition took place in the Memorial Hall and began with warm-up questions posed bymaths pupils from the Senior school’s Sixth form pupils followed by several competition rounds.After lunch, and with all to play for, there was a 40-minute Grand Final involving a relay teampassing the mathematical baton as questions were answered correctly.

The Senior school continues with the groundwork from the Prep and Dr Paula Rowlands, Headof Maths says “Mathematics at the senior school is a thriving and successful subject due primarily to the drive,enthusiasm and commitment shown by the staff. Broadly speaking, the aims of the department are to develop,maintain and stimulate pupils’ curiosity, interest and enjoyment of the subject by expanding their understandingof mathematics in its widest context, and showing how it relates to life outside of school. By teaching in a meaningfulcontext, we aim to provide opportunities for the pupils to use their skills creatively, through problem solving andinvestigation.”

Mathematics is a popular choice at A-level, and for the more able, the option of an additional A-level in Further Mathematics provides plenty of extension and challenge. For the InternationalBaccalaureate, there is a choice of three mathematics options, so that pupils of widely differingabilities can be catered for. Of the 101 maths students in the Sixth form, 11 are taking FurtherMaths, 42 A-level and 48 are studying for the International Baccalaureate – a clear indication ofthe love of maths at a senior as well as a junior level in the school.

Many events are held in the senior maths department, including lectures and trips. A highlightevery academic year is when the department enters many pupils for the UK Schools MathematicsChallenges at Junior, Intermediate and Senior levels. This year, for the first time, Year 6 Preppupils were also invited to take part, resulting in Matthew Harrison receiving a bronze certificate,while Gowri Pradeep and William Sissons, both achieved a silver certificate. In Spring 2013 thesame competition will be held with Prep school children entered once again.

Recent leavers from the Sixth form who studied maths have gone on to read for degrees at topuniversities and business schools such as Cambridge, Oxford, MIT (currently rated the numberone university in the world), Hong Kong (currently ranked the number one university in Asia), CityUniversity, Edinburgh, University of London CASS Business school and the Munich BusinessSchool, in topics ranging from Medicine, Physics, Accounting and Finance to Economics andEngineering. An indication from universities is that, even for studying Medicine, maths is adesirable subject.

Pupils taking part in Maths Makes Sense

Morgan, Hannah, Abhishek & Ioan with their medals

Above: Former HeadBoy Thomas

Warrington is nowreading Engineeringat Cambridge.

Left: JosefinBetsholtz is nowreading Physics atMIT, while EmilyWynn (right) is

reading Medicine atNewcastle University.

Will, Matthew & Gowri score well in Maths Challenge

The Maths Dept at Senior School

The music department at the Prep school has been a very exciting place to be this year, thanks to some new initiatives and thecontinued commitment of the pupils. While we continue to explore wide-ranging styles of music in our daily class singing andsinging clubs, it is instrumental music that has seen a great burst of activity.

As well as continuing their curriculum studies, every pupil in Year 2 has startedto learn to play the recorder, and every pupil in Year 3 the violin in their classmusic lessons. This initiative is inspired by ‘Wider Opportunities’, a governmentincentive that has been operational in state schools in England and which hasseen participating schools teaching instrumental classes for one year. Thesuccess of this programme has already inspired us to extend our instrumentalteaching to include 4SB and 5PW; both of these classes have been learning toplay brass instruments, guided by Mr Williams and our new brass specialistMr Jon Powell. There are plans to add other classes into the initiative in theNew Year.

Thanks to our new peripatetic teachers, we have more children takingup instruments, including the oboe, flute, saxophone and drums,making prospects for performances of the future very exciting indeed.

In short, our aim at the Prep school is very clear; to be part of a musicschool of excellence.

Peter WilliamsHead of Music

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Issue 3 – Page 6

Being Creative Music

Using an array of the school’s instruments, includingtrumpets, cornets, trombone and even a euphonium, pupilsin Years 3, 4 and 5 took part in a brass workshop. Pupilswere delighted to get the chance to try out each of theinstruments. By the end of the workshop, everyone wasblowing a note and playing basic rhythms to makeup asimple tune.

The workshop was a result of aninitiative by our new Directorof Music, Julian Whittaker, andHead of Music at the Prepschool, Peter Williams, toencourage each and every child to try outdifferent musical instruments during their time at school.

The brass instruments were such a hit with the pupils thata weekly workshop with pupils from Year 4 and 5 is nowtaking place (while Year 3 concentrate on learning theviolin!).

Festival performanceIn September, pupils from the Prep school andSenior school were lucky enough to performalongside the King’s Singers at the North WalesInternational Music Festival, in St Asaph Cathedral.

Prior to their performance, pupils took part in a dayworkshop with vocal coach Lyn Alcantara, whotrains the boys of King’s College, Cambridge andfrequently works with the King’s Singers.

Pupils worked on their own arrangement of ‘OliverCromwell’ before performing it with the King’sSingers in front of a packed audience at the Festivalconcert.

Director of Music, Julian Whittaker said, “The pupilssang with gusto and enthusiasm and I must commend themon their singing, behaviour and eagerness to learn.”

Our very own Brass Band!

Music at Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School is for all. Every childin the school is regularly involved in musical activities, whether ina class environment or musical ensemble. In addition toencouraging creative thinking and teamwork, a vibrant musicaleducation provides a fun environment for self-expression whilstrewarding children for hard work. We strive to nurture the talentof every child, through our innovative and well-structuredprogramme of musical education.

Julian Whittaker, Director of Music

Issue 3 – Page 7

Art Department News Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School is experiencing an explosion ofcolour in the art department as Suzy Walsh takes over as its Head. Sheaims to transform the style of working into one in which community,inspiration and enthusiasm are in abundance, and a range of schemesare implemented which bring both the pupils and their families togetherto create masterpieces!

Ms Walsh has designed a programme for the next year that takes thewhole school on one thematic journey each term. All the pupils in KeyStage 2 will produce work along this chosen theme, before combiningit to create a spectacular display at the end of each term. The ‘gallery’will then be open for parents, grandparents and friends to visit in orderto engage with what the children have produced, and celebrate theirwork. As part of this scheme, all the children have been given sketchbooks in which they can draw or paint any ideas they may have, eitherin school or outside school time.

Parents and grandparents will also be invited to participate in ‘FamilyArt Activities’ with the children. During these sessions the artdepartment will be open for all to experience the fantastic resources,and to work alongside the budding artists in the school.

The theme for the autumn term was ‘Just Me’. Ms Walsh chose age-appropriate ‘inspirational’ artists for each of the years; these artists thenbecame the base line for the children’s work, allowing them to exploreeach artist’s style.

For their ‘Just Me’ projects, Year 6 produced self-portraits and teacher-portraits in different mediums (ink, pen, collage) and styles. Year 5 didsome research into the contemporary Welsh artist Shani Reece James,who uses thick brush strokes and dark colours to create intensity in herportraits. To mimic her work in their own portraits, the children usedimpasto methods, adding texture to their work.

Year 4 took a different approach to the theme by looking atphotography by Bruce Nauman, who uses portraits of the face andbody as inspiration to create intriguing and abstract pictures. Incomplete contrast, Year 3 produced portraits of the royal family incelebration of Her Majesty’s Jubilee.

An important feature of this programme is that all the children willexperience the use of a wide range of different materials and styles. MsWalsh is planning for the children to create sculptures, collages, mosaics,felt quilts, and much more.Forexample, during the Spring term,as partof the theme ‘African Art and Design’, the children will get theopportunity to learn traditional African art techniques such as batik-making, African masks, puppets, musical instruments and African pots.

In the Summer term the children will be encouraged to venture outsideinto the forest school, collecting twigs and objects for the theme‘Woodland and Environmental Art’.

It’s going to be an exciting year for everyone in the Art department atthe Prep school!

Ali Al-Rawi

Holly Battersby

Kathleen Cheesley

Philippa Smith-Edwards

Ben Constantine

Joshua Peevor

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www.photoboxgallery.com/rppsPassword is angel

Pre-Prep PlayWhoops a

Daisy Angel

Pre-Prep PlayWhoops a

Daisy Angel

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Hockey Captain - Amy Bale

The Hockey teams have shown plenty of promise this season.Congratulations should go to the Under 9s, who were runnersup in the IAPS Hockey Tournament early in the season. AllUnder 9s have represented the school at some stage and havelearnt from this experience. Our U10s, U11B and U11A teamshave made good progress this season, with some excellenthockey played against Packwood and Liverpool College.Members of our U11 mixed team have been training hard too,

and although they have played only one match so far it was a veryconvincing one, with an 11-0 victory over Kingsmead.

Football Captain - Michael ThomasThe football season has been a busy one despite the inclement weatherdoing its best to spoil the fixture list. The season began with the Under 8and Under 11 teams visiting Manchester City’s training complex at PlattLane to take part in the annual IAPS tournament, with good performancesfrom both teams.

The U8 and U9 teams have played a number of fixtures and although theresults weren’t in their favour they gained invaluable experience fromrepresenting the school, many pupils doing so for the first time. The Under10 team played a fabulous game against Oswestry School, eventuallyrunning out as 6-0 winners after some quality football from the likes ofHarri Jones, Frankie Holmes and Teddy Roberts. The Under 11 team hada fantastic tournament at Ellesmere College and were cruelly denied goingthrough to the final of the main competition when they lost out on the‘Golden Goal’ rule in extra time against Abbeygate College. These season came to a close with a mixed bag of results across the teams,but improvement can certainly be seen across all of them. Congratulationsto all the players who have represented the school for football this year.

Hockey

Netball

Netball Captain - Brona Richardson

The U11 and U10 netballers have been working hard thisseason. Most notably, our U11s are Conwy Champions andgo through to Aberystwyth in May to the National Finals.However, all netball teams have a 100% record in theirmatches so far, any losses only being incurred against teams ofolder age-groups. All-in-all a lot of hard work has beenundertaken by the girls this year and this has paid off with asuccessful season to date. Congratulations to you all!

Sports and Clubs

Football

Swimming Captain - Finlay Hare

Our swimmers performed exceptionally well at the Urdd SwimmingGala, with eight qualifying for the finals held in Cardiff on 25 January2013.

Finan Close secured first place in the Individual Breaststroke, whileour Relay teams also secured themselves a place in the final withBrona Richardson, Keira Bonnington, Amy Bale and Cerys Cuddihy;along with Adam Lee-Browne, Finlay Hare, Finan Close and TeddyRoberts all representing the school in Cardiff.

Swimming

11

Chess Captain - Abhishek Bathula

The Preparatory School Chess Team has already had a very

successful term and promises much more for the rest of the year.

Fourteen children attended the Cheshire and North Wales Junior

Championships in October and three of our children were

crowned County Champions: Amrit Bolina (U7) along with Ali

Al-Rawi and James Smith who both won Under 9 events.

Abhishek Bathula and Jonathon Osbourn also secured second

places in their events.

The Chess Club itself is growing and has been enhanced by the

inclusion of pupils from the Senior School. Between ten and

fifteen come each week to play and also help coach our Prep

School Players and it is not uncommon to see someone from

Year 13 sitting down to play a game with a child from Year 2.

Rydal Penrhos School has also been instrumental this term in aiding

Mr Camp to set up the North Wales Junior Chess Association

which hopes to unite chess players across North Wales and provide

coaching opportunities and tournaments for all children. Rydal

Penrhos has kindly offered to host the first tournament, the North

Wales Junior Chess Championships on February 9th, 2013 so look

out for more details soon…

Year 1 Gardening Club has been busy getting ready for next spring. So farwe have sown sweet peas and sweet Williams in pots to plant out next year.We also hope to have lots of spring colour with daffodils, violas andanemones. In the school garden we have planted out cabbage plants andstrawberry plants, and we are experimenting with an early sowing of peasin pots.

Ski Captain - Keira Bonnington

Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School returned from the Welsh Schools SkiChampionships as Welsh Primary Champions!

Three teams travelled to the competition held at Llangrannog, all eager to takehome medals.

The ‘A’ team consisting of Ski Captain, Keira Bonnington, Ben Constantine,Alex Davies and Harri Jones all put in fantastic performances to secure the WelshPrimary Champions and importantly for the team, the Kelly Elson Trophy.

The ‘B’ team of Jennifer Dick, Chay Bonnington, Harri Jackson and Max Robinson finished in overall second place, securingthe silver medals. The ‘C’ team of Holly Battersby, Louis Gilmartin, Tirion Jones and Scarlett Spillane however missed out onthird position, narrowly beaten into fourth place.

Along with team success, many skiers secured individual medals withthirteen in total, 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze.

Skiing

Gardening

Chess

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Trips

Year 1 become art critics!To enhance their topic of ‘Ourselves’, Year1 visited Oriel Mostyn Gallery to see anexhibition titled ‘Open Spaces’ by JoLonghurst. Pupils studied the photographsof gymnasts and thought about thevocabulary they conjured up which includedflips, splits, confident, straight, and bendy.

Next pupils were armed with pencils and abig roll of paper and worked in pairs to draw around each other’sbodies. Pupils worked to fill the life-size bodies with things thatwere important and relevant to them. Starting at the feet andmoving up, the pupils drew things they like, which included foodand toys, before drawing pictures which represented what theywanted to be when they grow up. At the very top, family and friends were added before

choosing colourful papers and materials to make the bodies 3D.

Year 2 become trainee Celts

To learn more about the Celts, Year 2 took a trip to Wrexham’s

Plas Power Environmental Education Centre.

A fun filled and hands on day began with the pupils becoming

trainee warriors, dressing in tunics and painting their faces with

fierce patterns before they helped with

daily tasks around the roundhouse. The

pupils tried out wattle and daub, spinning

yarn, designing a shield, made clay pots

and even tried throwing a wooden spear!

Issue 3 – Page 12

Reception meet the Bears

Despite a wet and windy start, the children in Reception had a

fantastic trip to Colwyn Bay’s Welsh Mountain Zoo to learn more

about their topic of Bears.

Seeing the bears in real life prompted a number of questions

from the children including;

• Do the bears have strong muscles?• Is the water deep where they swim?• How long do they hibernate for?• Do they sleep all together?

Before returning to School there was just enough time to see the

penguins, sea lions and parrots!

Cerys

Ethan

Harry

Rhys

Hussain

Jasmin

Self Portraitsby Year 1

Year 4 visit St Joseph’s

To learn more about the church year, Year 4 took a trip to nearbySt Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church. Following a warm welcome bySister Joy, the pupils were asked to walk around the church choosingtheir favourite object and then to think of a question they wouldlike answered.

Next, Father Frank talked to the pupils about what happens in thechurch and he showed them some of his vestments, the clothes hewears during a service. There were four different colour vestments,and pupils would learn the difference between them on their returnto school.

Reverend Sissons commented, “The children behaved themselves very wellinside the church, because they knew that this was a sacred place and they mustrespect those for whom it is special.”

Issue 3 – Page 13

Year 6 visit Llanrug

Unlike last year, sun cream and sunhats were certainly off thelist for the Year 6 visit to Llanrug Outdoor Education Centre.Instead, full waterproofs and watertight wellies were the orderof the day – every day! This did not deter the pupils andaccompanying staff one bit, and the full five days of activitieswere enjoyed by all. Quarry walks, exploring the mines, gorgewalking, climbing and beach studies were the main daytimeactivities, the latter providing an opportunity for the competitivespirit to come to the fore as everyone, including the teachers,scrambled over slippery seaweed in search of the best rockpools to hunt out the biggest and rarest sp ecimens of sea lifeto show off to the group. Evening pursuits includedorienteering, night-lining and a night-time stroll in thecountryside. The week was rounded off with a session ofboating on the lake, when the sun finally decided to make anappearance before our departure.

Henry

Isabella

Jake

James

Liam

Lili SeyoneeTelor WilliamGabrieleHarrison

Jonah

Anna

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We will go to the Ball...

Issue 3 – Page 14

Early Years hosted a very special Fairytale Ball and invited Reception tojoin in the fun. Fantastic costumes and lots of dancing ensured everyone,including the Ugly Sisters, had a great time at the Ball!

www.photoboxgallery.com/rppsPassword is fairytale

Senior School NewsAcademic Results 2012

Issue 3 – Page 15

Pupils from Rydal Penrhos continue to reach new heights with recordachievements at the top of the A-level scale.

Out of 41 A-level candidates, 40% were awarded A* and A grades (the A* isawarded to candidates who score more than 90% in their final papers). Fourteencandidates achieved at least one A*, and the outgoing Head Boy, ThomasWarrington, was awarded 4 A*s, which has secured him a place at CambridgeUniversity to study Engineering. Eleanor Murphy, Natasha Kanvinde and GaryWu were awarded 2 A*s each, and Harriet Barlow, Nick Bellamy, Freya Cassia andWilliam Pullman also scored one apiece. The top grades were achieved in Biology,Chemistry, Design and Technology, English Literature, Mathematics, FurtherMathematics and Religious Studies. Just over 64% of pupils scored grades A*-B,which is an improvement on last year’s best-ever figure for those grades at theschool.

The results of the International Baccalaureate, saw an improvement on lastyear’s performance, with the 26 candidates earning an average points score of31.6, representing the equivalent to 2 A*s and an A grade for each candidate.Amelia Dunton, Deputy Head Girl, scored 42 points out of a maximum 45, andJoel Sugarman scored a very impressive 39. Amelia is going to study English atLeeds, while Joel will be studying Medicine at University College, London.

Year 11 candidates celebrated their GCSEs, with some excellent individual andsubject achievements. The results reflect the hard work that the pupils have putinto their exams, and the year group scored an average eight-and-a-half A*-Cpasses. A good number of subjects, including Biology, Chemistry, Drama, English,Physics, Spanish and Welsh achieved a 100% pass rate at A*-C.

A-Level candidates celebrate their results

Some of the International Baccalaureate class of 2012

Hannah Davies, Sophie Cashell and Lydia Davidsoncelebrate their GCSE results

Friends Of Rydal Penrhos SchoolIn October 2012, the newly formed FORPS held its first committee meeting – not only to discuss finalarrangements for the eagerly awaited James Bond-themed Christmas Ball, but also to start work on next year’sSocial Calendar.

In light of the tremendous response to the above event, FORPS intends to organise a Summer Ball in the SpeechDay marquee. In addition,we are aiming to plan wine-tasting events, business networking and career developmentopportunities for students, as well as supporting the already successful Amnesty quiz nights and ceilidh, and thetremendous work done by the Sixth form Charity Committee.

Early in 2013, FORPS plans to select a school project for fundraising. The aim is to support specific initiatives thatwill benefit pupils in both the Prep and the Senior schools. In addition to this, we also intend to continue supportinglocal charities – many of which have a strong and significant connection with the school. With this second aim inmind, we have exciting opportunities to work with two large corporates, who have agreed, in principle, to match-fund any money raised.

From a personal point of view, I would like to say that sitting around a table of parents, teachers and staff who soenthusiastically give up their own time to support the school is very inspiring. We would like to encourage everyonein both schools to attend events, buy the odd raffle ticket – and most importantly,to give us feedback on how wecan make our efforts on your behalf as effective as possible.

Sue Lawton, FORPS Chair

Rydal Penrhos Preparatory SchoolPwllycrochan Avenue

Colwyn BayLL29 7BP

Telephone: 01492 530381Email: prep@rydal-penrhos.com

www.rydalpenrhos.com

The Heart of the School...