22 Jul 2005 - Bryngwyn Matters number 35 (Summer 2005
Happy Retirement
A number of staff are leaving us at the end of year. Mr David Bugler, Head of Biology, is taking up a new teaching post in Bristol. Miss Joanna Thomas, the former Head of the Art Department, is leaving the profession to set up her own business. Mr Geraint Thomas is leaving us to take up a full time music peripatetic post and two long-standing members of staff are retiring after many years of service to the school. Dr Gerry Davies stands down as Head of Science and Mrs Verona Brown retires from the Technology Department. We wish the first three every success in the future and the latter two a long, happy and healthy retirement. Pob lwc i chi gyd!
Congratulations
Congratulations are also extended to Mr. Neil Angeloni who as a former pupil came back to us, initially as an ICT technician, but then became so enthused with the thought of teaching that for the past year he has been with us as a Graduate Teacher Trainee. He successfully passed his course and unfortunately we now have to lose him as he takes up a full time teaching post at St John Lloyd.
Enterprise Success
Well done to the two teams of Business and Communication Studies pupils who recently participated in the Carmarthenshire Business Enterprise Competition held in the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. Tom Simms was awarded the shield for the speaker who gave the 'Best Sales Talk'. The team, 'Willie's Wonder Worms' won the shield for the overall 'Business Enterprise Challenge' and the 'Compost Crew' team was awarded with a framed Certificate of Merit. The aim of the day was to promote setting up a business selling organic worm compost by using a wormery. The pupils had a wonderful day and a big thank you to Mrs Vicky Harries and Mr Neil Angeloni who accepted the invitation to take part and accompanied the pupils.
U.K. Maths Trust Challenge
Even though our team altered in its composition, our success in this National competition was maintained. As last year, our team of Matthew Lelii and Carl Turner from Year 9 and Matthew Corbridge and Justin Powell from Year 8 won the South Wales section of this competition. When representing our region in London against the top 60 schools in Britain we finished a very creditable 16th overall and after the first of four rounds we were named as one of the top 5. Very well done indeed!
Inter-Schools Quiz
The annual Coleg Sir Gâr schools quiz involving Bryngwyn, Coedcae, St John Lloyd and Glan Y Môr produced the usual nail biting finish. With ten rounds of ten questions it was nip and tuck all the way with the lead changing hands several times. Last year we took a one point lead into the final round only to be overtaken by Coedcae. This year our team of Megan Barnard (Year 7), Karim Bouleghlimat (Year 8), Stephanie Saddington (Year 9) and Gareth Richards (Year 10) took sweet revenge when they turned a one point deficit after round 9 into a one point victory in the final round.
Tregwaith
Year 9 pupils had a day of activities organised and run by Careers Wales West. The year group was divided into twelve groups, each representing a district of a fictitious town 'Tregwaith'. They had to make decisions as single, employed 24 year olds representing their respective districts. By the end of the day they had learned about taking on the responsibilities of adults in their local communities, the skills needed for successful employment, the difference between gross and net income and lots more. The feedback from the pupils was excellent with the vast majority indicating that the day had been a very worthwhile experience.
Sporting Digest
Athletics
Daniel Thomas (Year 10) and Rhys Webb (Year 8) are the Dyfed Champions at 1500m and 80m hurdles respectively. Daniel went on to gain 5th place in the Welsh Schools Championships at Brecon whereas Rhys has to wait a little while before his age group compete at national level. Rhys also captained the successful junior boys team that won the Llanelli Schools competition and represented the town in Haverfordwest in the NASUWT cup.
Tennis
In the School competition run by the PE department Andrew Gardner won the Year 10 competition in a closely fought battle with Daryl Jenkins, Dale Cooke became the Year 8 champion after beating Ben Gardner in the final and the Year 7 and 9 competition are at the semi-final stage as we go to press.
Rugby
Luke Lewis, Steffan Youngman and Chris Williams (Year 9) will be touring South Africa this summer with the West Carmarthenshire District U'14 team.
Cricket
The Year 7 team have earned themselves a place in the Dyfed final and are waiting to play the winners of the Pembrokeshire and North Carmarthenshire match for the title.
Robert and Rohan Nangalia together with Nathan Richards and Zain Ikram have all gained county caps this year and Zain, despite being a year young, has represented Wales at U'15 level in matches against Yorkshire and Oxfordshire. He also played for the Glamorgan academy against a touring side from Australia.
?Joseph?
The music department, under the leadership of Mrs Ellen Evans and ably assisted by Mr Geraint Thomas, put on an excellent production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' at the end of term. The performances over three nights were well attended and the audiences thoroughly enjoyed the musical talent on show, both on stage and in the orchestra. Particularly worthy of praise are Benn Williams (Joseph) and Sammy Lelii (Narrator) who lead by example and are surely destined to perform in the West End one day!
Exciting Times Ahead
Many of you will already have met Mrs Ellana Thomas, our new Community Development Officer, based in M5. Mrs Thomas took up her position in April and her role is to provide extra curricular activities for pupils and open up the school to the wider community. Next term there will be an after school activities programme. A grant of £1000 has been obtained from the Sports Council of Wales to offer new opportunities for girls, such as dance, aerobics, body ball and circuit training. £712 from Sportlot will allow Boxercise mixed classes to take place and in the pipeline are a 'Personal Grooming' programme in partnership with Coleg Sir Gâr, a Healthy Eating Club in partnership with the local Health Board and the Health Well Being Project, a 'Save Easy' club, a 'Baby Sitting' course etc. etc. We are now registered as an eco friendly school and are looking to recycle as much of our paper and plastic waste as possible. Year 7 and 10 pupils have already been involved in environmental projects in Llwynhendy and Felinfoel and Year 7 pupils met some of the 'Scarlets' rugby squad after a litter pick along the cycle track between Felinfoel and the rugby club.
SATs Results
Year 9 pupils produced the best ever SATs results in Science and Maths, with 74% and 73% achieving level 5 or better respectively. The English department were so dissatisfied with the quality of the marking of the English scripts that they have been sent back on block for remarking. The result of which we will not know until September.
A number of staff are leaving us at the end of year. Mr David Bugler, Head of Biology, is taking up a new teaching post in Bristol. Miss Joanna Thomas, the former Head of the Art Department, is leaving the profession to set up her own business. Mr Geraint Thomas is leaving us to take up a full time music peripatetic post and two long-standing members of staff are retiring after many years of service to the school. Dr Gerry Davies stands down as Head of Science and Mrs Verona Brown retires from the Technology Department. We wish the first three every success in the future and the latter two a long, happy and healthy retirement. Pob lwc i chi gyd!
Congratulations
Congratulations are also extended to Mr. Neil Angeloni who as a former pupil came back to us, initially as an ICT technician, but then became so enthused with the thought of teaching that for the past year he has been with us as a Graduate Teacher Trainee. He successfully passed his course and unfortunately we now have to lose him as he takes up a full time teaching post at St John Lloyd.
Enterprise Success
Well done to the two teams of Business and Communication Studies pupils who recently participated in the Carmarthenshire Business Enterprise Competition held in the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. Tom Simms was awarded the shield for the speaker who gave the 'Best Sales Talk'. The team, 'Willie's Wonder Worms' won the shield for the overall 'Business Enterprise Challenge' and the 'Compost Crew' team was awarded with a framed Certificate of Merit. The aim of the day was to promote setting up a business selling organic worm compost by using a wormery. The pupils had a wonderful day and a big thank you to Mrs Vicky Harries and Mr Neil Angeloni who accepted the invitation to take part and accompanied the pupils.
U.K. Maths Trust Challenge
Even though our team altered in its composition, our success in this National competition was maintained. As last year, our team of Matthew Lelii and Carl Turner from Year 9 and Matthew Corbridge and Justin Powell from Year 8 won the South Wales section of this competition. When representing our region in London against the top 60 schools in Britain we finished a very creditable 16th overall and after the first of four rounds we were named as one of the top 5. Very well done indeed!
Inter-Schools Quiz
The annual Coleg Sir Gâr schools quiz involving Bryngwyn, Coedcae, St John Lloyd and Glan Y Môr produced the usual nail biting finish. With ten rounds of ten questions it was nip and tuck all the way with the lead changing hands several times. Last year we took a one point lead into the final round only to be overtaken by Coedcae. This year our team of Megan Barnard (Year 7), Karim Bouleghlimat (Year 8), Stephanie Saddington (Year 9) and Gareth Richards (Year 10) took sweet revenge when they turned a one point deficit after round 9 into a one point victory in the final round.
Tregwaith
Year 9 pupils had a day of activities organised and run by Careers Wales West. The year group was divided into twelve groups, each representing a district of a fictitious town 'Tregwaith'. They had to make decisions as single, employed 24 year olds representing their respective districts. By the end of the day they had learned about taking on the responsibilities of adults in their local communities, the skills needed for successful employment, the difference between gross and net income and lots more. The feedback from the pupils was excellent with the vast majority indicating that the day had been a very worthwhile experience.
Sporting Digest
Athletics
Daniel Thomas (Year 10) and Rhys Webb (Year 8) are the Dyfed Champions at 1500m and 80m hurdles respectively. Daniel went on to gain 5th place in the Welsh Schools Championships at Brecon whereas Rhys has to wait a little while before his age group compete at national level. Rhys also captained the successful junior boys team that won the Llanelli Schools competition and represented the town in Haverfordwest in the NASUWT cup.
Tennis
In the School competition run by the PE department Andrew Gardner won the Year 10 competition in a closely fought battle with Daryl Jenkins, Dale Cooke became the Year 8 champion after beating Ben Gardner in the final and the Year 7 and 9 competition are at the semi-final stage as we go to press.
Rugby
Luke Lewis, Steffan Youngman and Chris Williams (Year 9) will be touring South Africa this summer with the West Carmarthenshire District U'14 team.
Cricket
The Year 7 team have earned themselves a place in the Dyfed final and are waiting to play the winners of the Pembrokeshire and North Carmarthenshire match for the title.
Robert and Rohan Nangalia together with Nathan Richards and Zain Ikram have all gained county caps this year and Zain, despite being a year young, has represented Wales at U'15 level in matches against Yorkshire and Oxfordshire. He also played for the Glamorgan academy against a touring side from Australia.
?Joseph?
The music department, under the leadership of Mrs Ellen Evans and ably assisted by Mr Geraint Thomas, put on an excellent production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' at the end of term. The performances over three nights were well attended and the audiences thoroughly enjoyed the musical talent on show, both on stage and in the orchestra. Particularly worthy of praise are Benn Williams (Joseph) and Sammy Lelii (Narrator) who lead by example and are surely destined to perform in the West End one day!
Exciting Times Ahead
Many of you will already have met Mrs Ellana Thomas, our new Community Development Officer, based in M5. Mrs Thomas took up her position in April and her role is to provide extra curricular activities for pupils and open up the school to the wider community. Next term there will be an after school activities programme. A grant of £1000 has been obtained from the Sports Council of Wales to offer new opportunities for girls, such as dance, aerobics, body ball and circuit training. £712 from Sportlot will allow Boxercise mixed classes to take place and in the pipeline are a 'Personal Grooming' programme in partnership with Coleg Sir Gâr, a Healthy Eating Club in partnership with the local Health Board and the Health Well Being Project, a 'Save Easy' club, a 'Baby Sitting' course etc. etc. We are now registered as an eco friendly school and are looking to recycle as much of our paper and plastic waste as possible. Year 7 and 10 pupils have already been involved in environmental projects in Llwynhendy and Felinfoel and Year 7 pupils met some of the 'Scarlets' rugby squad after a litter pick along the cycle track between Felinfoel and the rugby club.
SATs Results
Year 9 pupils produced the best ever SATs results in Science and Maths, with 74% and 73% achieving level 5 or better respectively. The English department were so dissatisfied with the quality of the marking of the English scripts that they have been sent back on block for remarking. The result of which we will not know until September.