Blog 4.12.20 - Milford Haven School

Covid 19 has impacted all of us this year, however it most certainly has not stopped us getting into the festive spirit here at MHS! There were sadly many events that had to be either cancelled or tweaked this term to be Covid safe, but as you will see in today’s blog our staff team have worked hard to keep the school calendar alive and bring you as many of our annual Christmas celebrations as is possible.

MHS Tags on the Tree 2020

Some members of our school team were horrified to see a Christmas tree being put up in November, but it was all for a very good cause as you will see…

A few weeks ago a Christmas tree at Milford Haven School was decorated with tags, and on each tag was the anonymised details of a child living within our catchment area. These are all children that are affected by deprivation and have been referred to PATCH for the toy appeal this year.

All members of our school staff team were invited to take part in ‘Tags on the Tree’. All they had to do was pick a tag off the tree, buy a gift for that child up to the value of £10, wrap the gift attaching the tag they took, and then pop the gifts back under the tree.

Many of our departments decided to forgo traditional Secret Santa this year instead donated gifts to PATCH via ‘Tags on the Tree’, this year has been very humbling for many of us and we are possibly more aware now than ever of the great need within our school community. This is just one of many school projects that are in the pipeline to inject as much support as we can into our community over the coming months, with Christmas in particular set to be a challenge for many so every little bit of help will no doubt go a long way.

Special thanks to Mrs Wilcox and Ms Morris, they were both very eager to do something extra this year to give back to our own community and so we have combined their ideas to make the ‘Tags on the Tree’ project. Our amazing staff team, and indeed the whole community of Milford Haven, is well known for its generosity so a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported this project. Over 60 gifts have been collected by staff here at Milford Haven School, evidence that together we can make a real difference to local families and the Christmas they experience this year.

MHS Santa Fun Run 2020.

Our Santa Fun Run this year has been a phenomenal success, with the event selling out in just 3 days!

Over 100 people are signed up to take part, and we have already started receiving photos and videos of staff, pupils and their families completing the challenge. Da iawn to everyone involved, and a special thanks again to Milford Haven Round Table for their sponsorship. The deadline to complete your run is Wednesday December 9th, and we look forward to celebrating and sharing with you online more photos of this fantastic event.

Christmas Cards

Festive cheer is more needed than ever this year, and so we know that lots of our pupils will want to send Christmas cards to their friends and teachers. In order to make this as safe as possible in light of the dangers of Covid19, we have come up with a very simple plan. ‘Post boxes’ will be placed in all form rooms, and pupils will be asked to post into these boxes any cards they wish to send to MHS staff or pupils by the end of the school day on Monday 14th December. Cards will then be held for 72 hours as per guidance, and all cards will be given out across the school on the last day of term.

Christmas Jumper Day

Every year we traditionally hold a Christmas Jumper Day at MHS, and 2020 is no exception. On the last day of term, Friday December 18th, all pupils and staff are invited to donate 50p and wear a Christmas jumper.

The money raised has over the years gone to different charities, this year all funds raised will be split across the four chosen House charities- Sandy Bear, PATCH, Greenacres and Get the Boys a Lift. Due to Covid 19 we have been very limited in the fundraising opportunities available this year for us to raise money and support these fantastic local causes, so thank you in advance for your support.

Traditionally the MHS Christmas Concert marks the start of the festivities for our school family, and although we cannot hold this event in its usual format we will be bringing you an online version over the last week of term. Entitled ‘A different kind of Christmas’, every day over a 5 day period we will be sharing with our school community festive readings and a selection of musical performances. This special online event will begin on Monday December 14th, please keep an eye on our social media platforms and school app for further updates.

Nominate your Neighbour

2020 has been one of the most difficult years that many of us have experienced, but in the face of adversity our community has come together and become stronger than ever. We know that there are people within our own community that need a helping hand and are especially vulnerable to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Milford Haven School and Milford Youth Matters have together obtained funding for 50 mini hampers, to help support some of our most vulnerable community members. Christmas and the month of December can be hard for some families in a normal year, and these mini hampers will hopefully help alleviate some of the additional stresses and strains currently being created by CVD and the surrounding restrictions.

Nominations are now closed, but we look forward to sharing with you further updates on this very special project.

During these difficult and ever changing times of CVD19 we have worked hard to keep our school calendar alive, however there are some face to face events that simply cannot be replaced with online or remote alternatives.

Sadly, due to the current restrictions in place, we have had to postpone the Senior Certificate Evening which was calendared for Thursday 17th December 2020.

Given the nature of the event and it’s audience, combined with the restrictions which are likely to be in place following Christmas, the proposed new date for the event is Thursday 1st July 2021. We will of course review this closer to the time, but we are ever hopeful that we will be in a very different position towards the end of this academic year.

For any Year 11 and 13 leavers who wish to receive their certificates before the event in July, they can be collected from the Main Office from 1st Dec onwards.

We have attached below some useful information from Welsh Government for parents and carers. This includes details on the Track & Trace system currently in operation, and also when and for how long you may need to isolate.

https://gov.wales/…/test-trace-protect-information-for…

All parents and carers in all year groups have been issued login codes for our school app WEDUC, this is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with us and stay up to date with school life.

Please contact us if you need any support getting started with the app, or have any trouble logging in, so we can help you get connected.