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Dear Parents/Carers,

We are now almost at the end of another very busy year at Pentrehafod. Through the hard work

of students and staff the school continues to go from strength to strength and we were delight-

ed to hear, on July 17th, that the school has achieved the Rights Respecting Schools’ Gold

Award. This is the highest achievement for any school in the UK and we are one of only a very

few secondary schools to achieve it. This success is due to the commitment of students and

staff to ensure that the rights of the child is very much at the heart of all we do at Pentrehafod

School.

I am delighted that this term’s Y Pentref has been co-written by students from year 7 and 8

who have been working as part of a Young Journalists’ Club. They have been our cub report-

ers, trained by a journalist, in how to capture the news. Members of our school staff have also

assisted, ensuring that thinking, writing and digital skills combine. I hope you enjoy these stu-

dent led stories.

A very warm welcome to our new year 7 students. This has been a busy, exciting transition

week and we hope they have enjoyed it as much as we have.

As ever, thank you for your continued support. On behalf of the staff, I hope you all have a re-

laxing, restful summer, with family and friends. We look forward to working with you again in

September, as we move nearer to the completion of the new Build. We also look forward to

seeing all our students in their new uniforms and thank the Student Parliament for their excel-

lent work here.

With very best wishes Mrs. J. Ford

Headteacher

Summer Term 2018 Issue 4 Pentrehafod has changed its school uniform in order to be ‘dressed for success’.

By Molly Lewis

Pentrehafod Comprehensive School has decided to change its school uniform following a re-

quest from the Student Parliament cabinet. The students felt that the uniform needed to be

changed as it has remained the same for 18 years: black jumper, white polo shirt and black

straight leg trousers.

Mrs Ford, head teacher of Pentrehafod, said, “They felt that fashion and times had changed and

I think they wanted a more grown-up look.”

Mrs Ford sent them to investigate what uniform they wanted and after a great deal of whole

school consultation, they came back with the blazer, the pale blue shirt, the blue and copper tie

and the jumper with the piping.

Mrs Ford said she thinks one of the benefits of the new uniform is that they will feel smarter

and have a greater sense of pride in the school. Mrs Ford added that she is happy with the blaz-

er and feels students are “dressed for success” and that the new uniform will also represent our

school with “real pride”.

Head girl, Sumaiya Choudhury, said she likes the new uniform as it’s “very smart”. She then

went on to say that at the beginning, many of the boys felt they didn’t like the uniform but,

once they wore it, they felt smarter and overall it would make our school more mature.

Sumaiya added, “I know we’ve been to other school conferences and they believe that the new

uniform is better and smarter.”

Chinese students visit Pentrehafod for a very Welsh morning

By Daisy Keirl

A large group of Chinese students, aged 8 to 12, visited our school on July 6. The little diplomats

were met by 15 students, selected from form 7.1, to represent all Welsh children and schools in

Wales.

One of the 15 said, “All the students were thrilled to be given the opportunity of a lifetime and

make new friends.”

After the little diplomats arrived and met everyone, they went to a music lesson, led by Mr Kiley,

and learnt a traditional welsh song, Sosban Fach. One little girl was amazing at playing the key-

board and impressed everyone in the room. Then everyone went back to the library and had re-

freshments with Welsh cakes baked by Chair of Governors, Mrs. Margaret Hughes.

The little diplomats then performed martial arts, sang, played instruments and read a poem. After

that they had a maths session and then learnt two Welsh dances in a traditional Twmpath, led by

Mrs. Sara Jones.

Before the students left we all had a Welsh themed lunch, with lots of cheese!!! We all waved our

special visitors goodbye and had one last photo.

One of our Chinese guests, Agnus, said, "The passion of the Welsh students and the way we were

welcomed at the entrance of the school. The students are very polite, always saying thank you,

please and you’re welcome.”

The Swansea adviser and leader of this trip, Jimmy Lin, added, "I think this is excellent, they

have been learning to play and sing a song this morning and also been dancing as well. I think

this is a good experience for them. Fantastic."

On behalf of myself and the other students who had this amazing opportunity, that we can cher-

ish for the rest of our lives, we would like to thank the little diplomats for choosing our school to

visit, Miss K A Davies, Mrs Ford and Jimmy Lin for arranging the day, Mr Nicholls and last but

not least, Mrs Richards for choosing us to represent Wales.

School term and holiday dates 2018/19

INSET Days

Monday 3rd September 2018

Monday 5th November 2018 6 Monday 7th January 2019

Friday 12th April 2019 Monday 22nd July 2019

Term Term be-

gins Term ends

Mid-term holiday Term

begins Term ends

Begins Ends

Autumn

2018

Monday

3 September

Friday

26 October

Monday

29 October

Friday

2 Novem-

ber

Monday

5 November

Friday

21

December

Spring

2019

Monday

7 January

Friday

22 February

Monday

25 Febru-

ary

Friday

1 March

Monday

4 March

Friday

12 April

Sum-

mer

2019

Monday

29 April

Friday

24 May

Monday

27 May

Friday

31 May

Monday

3 June

Monday

22 July

Pentrehafod students “have a go” at teaching!

By Lee Hill

Year 10 students have been finding out what life is like on the other side of the desk: actual-

ly being a teacher.

The students, aged 14 to 15, have been teaching younger students in Year 7 and 8, as part of

their Welsh Baccalaureate course. Known as the community challenge, the plan is to give

students experience of being a teacher and perhaps inspire a future career as a teacher.

Year 10 student Zander-Lee Evans, who tried standing in front of a class, said: “Teaching is

super hard but enjoyable.”

He added, however, “I wouldn’t like to do it again as it’s very stressful.”

Year 8 pupil, Konnor Davies, who was in the lesson, said, “They are more like us, more our

age, so we have a good connection.”

On Tuesday 3rd July we officially opened the Margaret Hughes Library. The Library has

been refurbished thanks to the Foyle Foundation, which has enabled us to create a Learning

Street and select books suitable for Year 5 to Year 11. Mrs. M. Hughes was pleasantly sur-

prised by our dedication, which was an honour bestowed on our Chair of Governors, who has

been so instrumental in the school’s development for many years.

On Thursday 5th July we travelled to Cardiff to see “War Horse” by Michael Morpurgo, which is

celebrating its tenth anniversary. The pupils and staff were treated to an excellent performance of

his acclaimed novel, which gives an insight into the close bond between a young boy and his horse

during World War I. This emotionally charged play captures your attention and the puppets are so

convincing that you believe that you’re watching actual animals. The group thoroughly enjoyed

their experience and are looking forward to our next theatre trip in December.

On Friday 6th July, a group of Year 7 pupils visited Oystermouth Castle. We were given an in-

teresting tour of the key areas of the castle and told about important aspects of its history.

The pupils were able to take plenty of photographs, which would remind them of their visit.

The castle is currently being excavated further and will be holding various activities in the

summer. We hope to be able to return to the castle very soon to learn about more of its histo-

ry as well as using our imaginations to create art, drama and creative writing.

We have had Techniquest in to run a session with our Y9 classes in order to motivate and encour-

age their numeracy skills. The pupils had to design, plan and budget for their own music concert.

We have had external speakers from Swansea University to talk to our Y11 MAAT pupils

about aiming high and choosing the correct paths to earn them 'big money'.

The United Kingdom Maths Trust (UKMT) challenge has taken place with Elijah Campbell-Ball

and Ieuan Chelley both achieving bronze with 50 marks; both were best in year and best in school.

On May 16th it was National Numeracy Day where all KS3 classes celebrated through prob-

lem-solving tasks. Y7 had to design their own cake, Y8 had to create, budget and plan their

own party and Y9 had a go at building some iconic buildings our of paper.

Finish line in sight for Pentrehafod’s New Build

By Oliver

The transformation of Pentrehafod Comprehensive School is gathering momentum with the

bulk of the work expected to be completed by November.

The whole school is being given a makeover with a new library, classrooms and reception ar-

ea. Workmen began the transformation in November 2016 and have been able to work around

the life of the school, allowing the students to carry on with their lessons with little disrup-

tion.

Mrs Ford, the head teacher, said the transformation was already planned when she came to

the school and was necessary as the original school was in such a bad state.

Looking around, you can really see a change to the school; the students’ attitudes have

changed because they are really excited to be part of the transformation.

One pupil said, “I can’t wait to be part of the new school”.

Another pupil said that they were excited to be having a new uniform to coincide with this

exciting time ahead.

Pentrehafod School in Swansea have been crowned the U15

boys Welsh Schools' Football Association winners of 2018.

The boys trained hard in preparation for the final and were joined on

the day by friends, family and members of staff offering their sup-

port in what was a very tense game. The opposition were very phys-

ical and although there was little to choose between the two teams,

Pentrehafod's natural footballing ability shone through in the second

half, with the winning goal being scored in the final

few minutes. The boys battled hard and played with grit and deter-

mination to become worthy winners.

The team was faced with a dilemma when they were told they were

unable to use their usual black kit with only a week to go. However

Ray Pennock, from Macron, who is an ex student of Pentrehafod

School, stepped in to offer his help. A special assembly was held where Ray presented the

boys with their new kit, and Lee Trundle made an appearance to give the boys some tips

and encouragement.

Over 200 schools entered the competition so it a great achievement, one that all staff and

fellow students at Pentrehafod are very proud of.