LAST WEEK
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award
On Tuesday 10th December pupils in year 10 who have completed all their sections for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award were invited to the Princess Royal Theatre to be presented with their badges and certificates. Pupils have successfully completed 6 months of volunteering, physical activity and developing a skill. The group completed a practice expedition in Margam Park before their final expedition around the Gower in the summer term. Congratulations to everyone on your achievement!
CyberFirst Girls Competition
Four girls from 8JLE took part in the The CyberFirst Girls Competition which aims to inspire girls interested in technology to pursue a career in cyber security. Girls worked together as a team in school as well as at home for 5 days straight. Girls have done really well in the competition scoring over 4500 points! Even though they didn’t make it to the semi-finals, the girls have still learnt plenty of new skills. When the competition concluded, two of the pupils decided to apply for the Digital Leaders recognition within the school with success.
Top of the Bench Chemistry Competition Swansea University 2024
Two mixed teams of year 8 to year 11 pupils attended Swansea University on Thursday December the 12th to take part in the prestigious ‘Top of the Bench’ Chemistry Competition. The event involved competing in a Kahoot quiz against pupils in the same year group from other schools. This was followed by a team practical activity in the lab using indicators and titration method. Both teams did fantastically well in the Kahoot’s quizzes! We gained 4 podiums; Samuel Gibbon and Dylan Jarvis each taking 3rd place, Tanisha Hussain 2nd place, and Maisie-Kate Rowland gaining 1st place in year 10 out of 61 teams!
Both teams gained maximum points for safety in the lab, and displayed excellent teamwork and practical skills throughout the lab session!
Students Participate in the National GCHQ Christmas Challenge 2024
This holiday season, students from Year 7 to Year 11 took part in the national GCHQ Christmas Challenge 2024. The competition featured seven tricky puzzles designed to test the students’ problem-solving and teamwork skills. Both students (and some of our staff) enjoyed working together to solve each puzzle, aiming to uncover the final Christmas message. The challenge was a great way for everyone to engage and have fun during the festive period. One of our Year 11 teams stood out by completing all the codes and revealing the message in an impressive time of just 1 hour and 49 minutes! Their quick thinking and collaboration made them the fastest team, achieving something many thought would be near impossible. Congratulations to the Year 11 students for their outstanding performance! Well done to all the participants for their hard work and enthusiasm in making this year’s challenge a success.
Yr Ysgol Ganol/Middle School
Year 7&8 have been working hard in preparation for Christmas. There have been lots of fun activities such as Christmas Jumper day and a 2 km Christmas Fun Run for year 8 in order to raise funds for charity. 6 pupils each from Year 7&8 were invited for their half termly Hot Chocolate with the Headteacher in order to acknowledge the hard work and effort they consistently put in. Well done to those! Finally, as the last week of term approaches, there will be an awards assembly to celebrate a number of achievements across the year groups and many pupils will be invited to watch a Christmas film as a reward for their efforts this term.
Huge well done to year 8 for running their Christmas Charity Run in aid of the eye cancer charity CHECT today, great effort by all in raising money for this deserving cause.
Christmas Netball
A lot of fun was had in the Christmas Netball competition
THIS WEEK
As far as the last week of term is concerned, throughout the week there are activities planned for different year groups. When these activities are not going ahead there will be normal timetable with normal lessons as far as possible, but teachers will also be responding to the level of attendance in a class.
Art Department Non-Examination Assessments
This week our Year 11 pupils who are studying GCSE Art, Photography and or Textiles will be completing their final non examination assessments. This will provide them with the opportunity to complete all work to the highest possible standard before starting the examination Unit in January. The timetable for this is:
| Monday Dec 16th | 11A Art AJH EA7 8:55 – 14:55 11B Art DNO EA6 8:55 – 14:55 |
| Tuesday Dec 17th | 11A Textiles DNO EA6 8:55 – 14:55 11A Photography MLA EA8 8:55 – 14:55 |
| Wednesday Dec 18th | 11B Photography MLA EA8 8:55 – 14:55 |
| Thursday Dec 19th | 11C Art AJH EA7 8:55 -14:55 |
Year 9 Options
Please click on the link to access a letter regarding information about the Year 9 Option process at YBB. Letter Mr Williams has already spoken to pupils in their individual classes.
I will write again to parents and carers later in the week to provide some important information/reminders for the start of the Spring Term 2025. Remember that Monday 6th January is an INSET Day for staff and all pupils will return to school on Tuesday 7th January.
