Summer Newsletter 2021

Ysgol Y Grango July 2021 This term:

Summer Newsletter Page 2. Important Info
Page 3. Stiwt Donation

Headteacher’s Message Page 4. Summer Reading
Challenge

Dear Parents, be pleased Page 5. Language
I hope you enjoy the latest
newsletter which will give you a to welcome Page 6. Nurture
small taste of some of the activities
enjoyed by pupils. Unfortunately, Sophie ones Page 7. Nurture
owing to the pandemic, we have been
unable to offer the breadth of and Joanne Page 8. Big Book Week
extra-curricular experiences which
is usual in Ysgol y Grango. However, Chalk to the Page 9. Wellbeing Activities
as restrictions have relaxed, some
activities have taken place. Trips teaching Page 10. Sports Filming
were organised to Rhyl and
Llangollen for years 7 and 8 nurture assistants’ Page 11. Food Exam
pupils. Year 10 pupils have been
accessing a First Aid at Work team. We Page 12. Leaver’s Assembly
course provided by the TRAC team.
Pupils have continued to support a hope they Page 13. Provisional Results
number of charities and donations
have been sent to the Stiwt and the will enjoy Page 14. Year 11 Art
British Legion. Year 11 received
their provisional GCSE results in their time informed of new Welsh
June and we will be looking forward Government directives
to seeing them again in August to with us. affecting the daily life of the
receive their final results. school. Technicians, caretakers
Best wishes and cleaners have also provided
At the end of this term, we will be essential support, enabling us to
saying goodbye to Mrs Yvonne to Mrs Heather Macdonald, who will maintain a safe and clean
Girvan, one of our higher level environment for everyone in the
teaching assistants. She has worked be starting her maternity leave at building. They have all coped
at Ysgol y Grango for 27 years and admirably with the enormous
I’m sure her name will be familiar to the end of this term. demands placed upon them.
many of you. She has become part
of the fabric of Ysgol y Grango and On a final note, it has been an Finally, I would like to thank all
we will greatly miss her contribution extremely difficult year for us all; parents for your continued
to school life. We would like to the effects of COVID on both the support and understanding in
thank her for her hard work and local community and our school have exceptionally difficult
dedication and wish her well in the been unprecedented. To begin, I circumstances. I wish you all a
future, enjoying a happy and healthy must thank the pupils. They have healthy, safe and enjoyable
retirement. In September, we will coped brilliantly with the safety summer break and we look
be welcoming a number of new staff measures and regulations we have forward to welcoming our pupils
to the school. Mr George Morris will had to put in place in school. They back in September.
join us as head of the English have worn their masks, followed the Hopefully, pandemic allowing,
faculty. Mr Daniel Pinedo Marin will one-way systems, sanitised their we will be able resume normal
join the technician team and we will hands regularly and accepted the service from next term!
fact that they were unable to
socialise with friends or relatives in SJ Garthwaite
other year groups; and all this Headteacher/ Prifathro
without argument or question. They
have been excellent ambassadors
for our school and we are very
proud of them. I would also like to
thank the teaching staff here at
school for ensuring that pupils’
education has suffered as little
disruption as possible; they have
delivered live lessons, provided work
online and, when pupils have been
able to attend, ensured that a
rigorous catch up programme was
implemented. The administrative
staff have worked tirelessly,
keeping parents updated and

Website: www.grango.co.uk Phone: (01978) 833010 Facebook: Y Y Grango Twitter YsgolyGrango

Dates for your Important Information
diary:
Uniform Policy
Tuesday July 20th -
School closes for summer All pupils should be in the correct uniform for
school, wearing shoes, skirts and/or trousers
Thursday 2nd Sep: that meet the required standard. All pupils
School opens to need to wear a blazer and tie which can be
Year 7 students at purchased from Ram Leisure. In colder
8.50am-3.10pm weather, pupils can also opt to wear a plain,
navy blue, V-necked jumper. Parents are
Monday 6th Sep: requested to contact school should their
School re-opens to child not be in uniform for any reason.
Year 8 - 11 students Should you require any advice in regard to uniform before you pur-
8.50am-3.10pm chase items, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Please note that leggings, jeans or skinny trousers are not
Results Day: appropriate for school wear. Trousers and skirts should not be skin
tight, but tailored in style and suited to a work like environment.
Thursday August 12th - School shoes should be plain black, without additional colour or
School open 9am-11am logos. Plain black trainers are also acceptable, again without
additional colour or logos.
Upcoming Teacher Ysgol y Grango wishes to be fair and consistent in the application of
Training Days: the uniform policy and, from September, inappropriate footwear,
leggings, jeans and tight, short skirts will not be accepted as school
Wednesday 1 Sep 2021 uniform.
Monday 1 Nov 2021 We would like to thank parents for their support and cooperation in
this matter.
From September...
Mobile Telephones
Masks will be optional for staff
and pupils. However, visitors From September, we will be restricting the use of mobile phones in
to school will be required to the school building. Pupils should not have their phone out in a
wear a mask and masks on lesson, unless the teacher has requested their use. On entry to a
school buses, public transport classroom, pupils will hand in their phone to the teacher, who will
and in taxis are mandatory. return them at the end of the lesson. We want to ensure that every
pupil is fully focussed whilst in class and isn’t being distracted by
We will be maintaining the their phone. Pupils may use their phone at break and lunchtime,
one-way system and regular outside of the building.
sanitising. Once again, we would like to thank parents for their support and
cooperation in this matter.
We will be able to see parents
but by appointment only
(masks will be mandatory).

Funding Local Grango students at The Stiwt
Arts collecting the counterweight.

Although fundraising efforts in school New Facilities for
have been minimal this year, we were School
able to help support local arts by
using the money raised from an “Own A new bike shed has been
Clothes Day” to buy one of the stage weights from The Stiwt erected on the school
Theatre, Rhos. grounds this term, paid for
by the county.
Brian Jones who works with The Stiwt said “Our sincere thanks to
all the students and staff of Ysgol y Grango for the kind donation The bike shed is part of the
of £450 towards our continued efforts to ensure that everyone school initiative to
who visits our theatre has the best experience possible.” encourage a more healthy
lifestyle and it is hoped it
Miss S Jones, who organises Pupil Voice in school, accompanied will persuade more students
two year 7 students as they collected the counterweight from to use their bikes to travel
representatives of The Stiwt, alongside local MP Simon Baynes. to school.

As of last month, The Stiwt had raised £2,285. The Football Association of
Wales has also provided
Kellogg’s Delivers for Students funding which has been
matched by Wrexham
Ysgol y Grango took delivery of several shipments of cereal from Kel- Council to upgrade the
logg’s this term. current school astroturf
The local cereal producer made the delivery as part of their pitch to a 3g pitch.
community support. They have also made deliveries to local food
banks, churches, clubs and outreach programmes. The funding is part of plans
In school, the Nurture department has set up a breakfast area for to establish Wrexham as
those students who wish to access it and it has been well received. the spiritual home of
Many thanks to Kellogg’s. football in Wales by creating
football hubs in Wrexham
Jessica Trunks and Joshua Duncan-Jones (Year 10) secondary schools.

The work should begin in
November.

English Summer Reading Challenge

Clean Air Workshop for Year 7 To encourage students to do a bit more
reading over the summer holidays, the
4 English department has created this
Summer Reading Challenge for all students.

Simply read a book and cross out whichever
of the boxes describes it .
A book can count for more than one box
too. So for example: ‘Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone’ is A BOOK ABOUT
MAGIC, but it is also A BOOK ABOUT
SCHOOL and is A BOOK WRITTEN IN THE
20TH CENTURY.

This is Bingo, so whoever crosses off all the
boxes will win a prize when we return in
September.

Good luck!

The reading challenge will be posted on the
school website and social media channels, or
students can pick up a paper copy before the
end of term.

On national “Clean Air Day” Year 7
students took part in a whole day of
STEM activities all based around clean
air. They researched, conducted in class
experiments, went outside to do some
field work and also did some designing.
The students designed a sign to be used
in clean air traffic zones based around
Wales, their designs have been entered
in to a competition, of which the
winners sign will be used across any
50mph clean air zones in Wales.

SEREN Foundation Pupil Language
Modern Languages Event Ambassadors

Congratulations to Corey Jones, Emily The new PLA’s are Corey
Curtis, Lacey Vallance and Osian De Jones, Emily Curtis, Osian
Silva in Year 8 for taking part in the De Silva, Isabel Matthews,
Seren Foundation’s language event, Angharad Holmes, Jasmine
in partnership with Jesus College, Greenway, Alfie Williams,
University of Oxford. The event took Finley Jones, Seth Northall
place over 2 days, during the Easter holidays. The pupils had and Lacey Vallance.
the opportunity to see what life as a language student at
Oxford University is like, as well as taking part in workshops By the end of Year 8 they
and quizzes with other pupils from across Wales. Special will have completed their
congratulations goes to Corey training in partnership
Jones, for winning a prize, with Bangor University and
coming runner up in a will take up their new role
competition with over 100 in the school, to raise the
entrants, to create a brand profile of modern foreign
new word with a definition. Je languages. They are a
suis très fière de vous tous! group of talented linguists
Madame Sloan. who are keen to promote
languages in school and
Year 10 Physics Mentors beyond. GThoeiNnugrtfuorrewGaarrdde,n
they will have some
Several potential future scientists from year 10 were chosen exciting opportunities to
to participate in a Physics mentoring project hosted via a live work alongside Bangor
link to Cardiff University. During the sessions, the pupils University and other
learned about the world of the physical sciences and the role schools in the North Wales
of science and engineering in everyday life. area.
It is hoped that the project will inspire pupils of secondary Diolch! Thank you! Merci!
school age to think about pursuing a career in science .
Gracias! Danke! Go raibh

maith agat! For keeping

languages alive.

Emily Curtis and Corey Jones Year 8.

Ocea Richards,
Emma Coombes,
Lydia Young and
Imogen Richards

5

Nurture Garden Nurture Class in Rhyl

The Nurture groups have On June 24th, the Year 7 Nurture group were
been busy weeding and lucky enough to be given the opportunity for
clearing the Nurture garden a trip to the beach.
so it can be used to grow
plants and vegetables. The group travelled in the school minibus
with Miss Roberts and Mrs Price to the sunny
seaside and spent time on the beach, playing
in the arcade, playing beach games and
walking along the front.

The weather wasn’t perfect but they had
enough sunshine to enjoy
themselves.

Well done to all the students who
behaved impeccably and had a really fun
time.

“I’ve never been to the
beach before. I had the
best day, collecting shells
on the beach!” 7n Student

A Maths Masterclass Seren, Faith and Jamie with
their certificates.

Seren Williams (Year 10), Faith
Maxwell (Year 9) and Jamie Fortune
(Year 9), have all been commended by
the Further Maths Support Programme
Wales on completing their "Maths
Masterclass".

Congratulations on this achievement
and on all your hard work.

6

Nurture Trip to Llangollen Ciaran documented his
experiment.
On July 9th the Year 8 Nurture class were given the
opportunity for an adventure in and around Llangollen for Ciaran receiving his prize of a £10
their end of year trip. Amazon voucher.

Students were given the chance to explore Valle Crucis Abbey Emily Preston (left) and Freya
and Plas Newydd House and learn about the people who lived Evans, both in Year 10.
there. They then made a stop by the aqueduct and enjoyed
some ice cream by the river. 7

These outings are a chance for Nurture students to experience
places they
wouldn't normally
visit and learn the
history of these
places by exploring
them.

The students all
behaved
impeccably and
represented the
school really well.

Students Excelling in Sports

Huge Congratulations to Emily Preston and Freya Evans in
Year 10.

Freya has been asked to train with the Severn Stars under 17s
netball team. Freya is 2 years younger than the max age,
which showcases her ability and skill level.

Emily has been selected for the under 16s Welsh Hockey
Squad. This is a fantastic achievement and an huge honour to
be chosen to play for her country.

Ysgol y Grango is very proud of both Freya and Emily.

Many congratulations to them and we wish them the best of
luck in the coming season.

Library News

Big Book Week

Ysgol y Grango celebrated all things book related this term with our

Big Book Week from May 24th—May 28th.

This included a week of activities for students to join in with both in

school and online through social media. Activities included: Guess

Who character profiles, with clues around school for students to

guess who the famous literary character is. Our Big Book giveaway

with free books available for students to take and keep. Book Blind

Dates, where students could borrow an unseen book from the

library. Book film screenings, where different year groups could

watch a book adaptation during lunchtimes. Competitions for

students to enter included story writing and bookmark design. We

even had book extracts read out each morning by a disguised

mystery guest broadcast to first lesson. Students could listen to the

Mrs Holmes reading reading and try to guess who the reader was.
‘The Princess Bride’
during Big Book Week All in all, it was a great success and gave students the opportunity to

Ocea Richards and think about reading and books and why they are important in both
Ben Roberts
education but also just for fun.
8
Thank you to everyone who helped organise and Jasmine Greenway
support these activities. and Jaydon Williams

Competition Winners

As part of our Big Book Week, Students were able to
participate in two competitions: Our 100 Word Story
competition asked students to write a story about a hero
or a heroic event. Our Bookmark Design competition
asked students to design a hero-themed bookmark.

Congratulations to our winners Ocea Richards (Year 10)
and Jaydon

Williams (Year 8) who each won a
£10 Amazon voucher, and to our
runners-up: Ben Roberts (Year 9) and
Jasmine Greenway (Year 8), who each
won a book voucher.

Thank you to all the students who got
involved and produced such amazing
work. A selection of the bookmarks are
now available in the Library.

Wellbeing Activities Celebrating Pride

This last month has seen Ysgol yGrango Ysgol Y Grango is proud
participate in a series of wellbeing to support PRIDE month
activities as part of World WellBeing by launching our own
Week. Pride club in school. This
club will provide social
The aim of WellBeing Week is to provide opportunities for all
young people with the tools and LGBTQ+ pupils and their
knowledge to help manage their mental allies. It is a safe place
health. Now in its third year, World for pupils to socialise and
WellBeing Week promotes an overall feel accepted. We
awareness of wellbeing, including social, physical, emotional, explore social issues and
financial, career, community and environmental wellbeing. look to find solutions.
PRIDE club takes place
To make sure as many activities were available to as many students each Wednesday in DT2
as possible, we decided to run WellBeing Week over several weeks. with Mrs Rhodes.
Students could participate in activities such as baking, board games,
anime art, fun quizzes, coding, film club, ping pong, hot chocolate Jasmine Greenway and Corey
and a chat and even student vs teacher races. Jones baking cookie

Organised by Miss S Jones as part of the Pupil Voice, the activities
were chosen to engage students in some fun and give them an op-
portunity to let off some steam.

The activities have been running since half term and have been well
received by all students. Many thanks for the efforts of Miss Jones
for setting it all up.

9

Geography MAT Sports Filming for Year 9 Students
Activity
A group of Year 9 More Able media creativity during the
A group of Y9 pupils and Talented students were activity.
were involved in a Seren given the opportunity to take
Masterclass on Ocean part in a sports filming and Many thanks go to Miss Evans
Plastic. Through a editing activity in May. and Miss Griffiths for organising
variety of activities, the the activity.
pupils explored the The students were asked to
reasons behind plastic plan, film and edit a short
pollution and the sports programme. This
journey plastic takes included filming a team game,
from their homes to the recording a commentary,
ocean. The pupils filming interviews and editing
compiled their research the footage all together.
to complete a
‘storymap’ at the end of The students were split in to
the session. groups to complete the tasks
Fantastic work by all and used school iPads and Mac
involved! Well done. computers to each create their
own short sports programme.
All the students worked hard
and behaved well, with
everyone demonstrating their

Football Success for Grango Student

Well done to Aled Thomas in Year 9 for being awarded Ysgol y
Grango’s Sports Personality of the Month for June.
The school and PE faculty are extremely proud of the achievements
Aled has had within football, playing for Everton Academy and even

being awarded Player of the
Season when he was in the under
12s age group.
Aled’s dedication to both school
and football continues to be out-
standing alongside his
commitment to football. A
deserving winner of this award.

Well done!

Aled Thomas Year 9 in his Everton Kit

10

Year 11 Food Technology Exam Industrial Light
and Magic Zoom
Well done to all year 11 students who have recently
completed their food and nutrition practical exam. This
years exam brief was to create three dishes based on
fish cuisine. It is evident from these photos that all
students completed the task to a very high standard,
there were some excellent skills and techniques
undertaken during the exam to achieve these
outstanding outcomes. Well done to you all, you should
be very proud of yourselves! Da iawn!

Year 10 students were
given the opportunity to
participate in a live Zoom
presentation by special FX
company Industrial Light
and Magic.

The Zoom event included
guests currently working
within the film and graphics
industries, who talked
about their experience and
the kind of careers students
could have in those
industries.

It was a brilliant
opportunity for students to
see the exciting work they
could be involved with,
including guests talking
about their time working
on films such as Star Wars
and Jurassic Park.

11

Ysgol y Grango said goodbye to the Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly
pupils on May 28th at the annual Leaver’s
Assembly. This included awards issued by
the Headteacher Mr Garthwaite and Deputy
Head Mrs Williams.
Year 11 Progress leader; Mr Cathrall,
presented a PowerPoint trip down memory
lane for the student’s with photos and
videos gathered from throughout their time
at Ysgol y Grango. Students enjoyed seeing
how they’ve all changed and hearing from
their fellow students.
Mr Garthwaite presented awards for
excellence to students from each
department and special awards to recognise
the extra efforts some students have made.
Students receiving awards included: Blake
Davies, Lilly-Anne Gibson, Griff Painter, Louis
Dickens, Jack Edwards, Chloe Jackson, Emily
Roberts, Tom Davies, Jessica Clarke, Celyn
Lee and Ceiran Jones, as well as Head Girl
and Boy: Carys Woodall and Ben Wynn.

We are immensely proud of the efforts these
students have made in a remarkably difficult
year.

12 All of Year 11 together on their last day of school.

Provisional Results Day

Year 11 students were welcomed to school on June 18th to
collect their provisional GCSE results. These results are subject
to moderation by the exam board but give students an
opportunity to see what they can expect in August.
While in school, inflatable activities were set up for the
students in the sports hall. With no Prom again this year, it
was a good chance for students to have some fun together
before finishing for the summer.
Once again, our Year 11 students have worked hard and
outdone all expectations of them. This year group in particular,
have had a difficult year but they have demonstrated how
adaptable and resilient they are.
Well done to an amazing group of students.

13

Year 11 Final Art Pieces

Well done to our Year 11
students who have excelled as
usual with their artistic ability.
Students would usually have
the opportunity to exhibit their
work in an end of year show,
which cannot take place this
year. However, we are
immensely proud of the work
they have done.
Well done.

YOUR LOGO HERE