Headteacher's blog 17.11.2023 - Milford Haven School

Shwmae, welcome back to this week’s blog. Please read on to join us in celebrating some of the wonderful things we have had to celebrate this week and don’t forget to check out our upcoming events for some dates to add to your diary.

Celebrating last week's

Classchart Champions

Featured News...

Proud School

We are extremely proud of MHS pupil Riley who was recently nominated for The Service Children Ambassador of the year award in the Service Children Awards Cymru 2023.

We are happy to announce that Riley went on to win The Service Children Ambassador Award and attended a ceremony recently where he collected his trophy.

Da iawn Riley, staff and pupils at MHS are super proud of you

keep up the inspiring work.

Christmas Fayre

We can’t wait to welcome you all to the annual Christmas Fayre on Thursday 7th December. From 6pm you can come and do your Christmas shopping with a wide variety of fantastic local businesses selling some amazing products ready for you to do your Christmas shopping.

Wonderfully festive refreshments will be available from luxury hot chocolate from Get Loaded to homemade Welshcakes, brownies and of course mince pies.

Please note photographs and video will be taken at this event for marketing and PR purposes. If you wish to opt out of having your photograph taken please see a member of staff.

Proud School

One of our Prefects, Harry Armstrong, represented his school impeccably in the community by performing The Last Post and Reveille at the Remembrance Day service in Johnston.

Photographed are Harry, Reverend Marcus and Local Councillor Aled Thomas.

Ms Morris was disappointed to miss this event but was attending the Milford Haven service in Milford Haven and laying our school wreath the the Head and Deputy Head Prefect Team.

Outdoor Learning

Our Outreach and Nurture pupils have joined forces to use pallets from our outdoor learning area to make birdboxes.

If you would like to get your hands on one they will be up for sale at our annual Christmas Fayre.

Well done to these pupils who have done a fantastic job at recycling the pallets and turning them into something amazing.

MHS Drama Club presents…

On stage 6th,7th,8th February 2024, our biggest and best show yet.

With an original script, our Drama club students have been working extremely hard bringing this fantastically funny, suitable for all ages, Pantomime to life!

Tickets will go live on Friday December 1st.

If you would like to sponsor this years production, please get in touch with jcrolla@milfordhavenschool.co.uk

Reading – Darllen

After publicising last week’s staff and pupil reading challenge, we thought this week it would be good to share the wide range of reading opportunities parents should look for to encourage their child to read more, making it routine in the household and when with the family.

Here are some ‘Top Tips’ for promoting and increasing the amount of reading children can do at home:

Look for reading opportunities all of the time! For example, news articles, magazines, comics, recipes and webpages.

Make reading books part of the family, so read and discuss books with the whole family and friends.

Encourage a love of reading!

AOLE Highlights

This week's highlights from our AOLE departments.

A huge da iawn to Hafan class for completing a beach clean at Gelliswick beach last term as part of the ‘Great British Beach Clean’.

These wonderful young ladies have been awarded with a Bronze Crest Award for the project work they completed last year as part of the First Lego League Challenge in which they achieved an award for their Robot design in the regional tournament.

Our year 9 music class have recently undertaken a dementia awareness course in conjunction with the WNO.

We are excited to be the first secondary school to participate in a project with the local cradle choir, more details will follow soon!!

#ethically informed students

Lots of activities and events were held in school to promote the use of Cymraeg all week following Diwrnod Shwmae which fell on dydd Sul this year. Over 500 pupils took part in our ‘Cwis Diwrnod Shwmae’ with a winning form in each year group.

Bingo, a Kahoot challenge on the theme of ‘hydref’ were enjoyed during amser cinio on dydd Llun and dydd Mawrth, before pizza making and dodgeball (Blwyddyn 7) on Wednesday. Caraoce Cymraeg was our last break event full of ‘hwyl a sbri’ as always. Over 250 pupils gained a cerdyn Cymraeg for attending. Diolch to Miss Sizer, Mrs George, Miss Ace, Mr Edwards and Mrs Jenkins for organising.

The Senedd Cymraeg met this week too to discuss next half terms events. A coffee drop in is planned and a return of Mr Ed Holden, beatboxer Cymraeg in mis Rhagfyr.

Da iawn to the group of Year 7 pupils who were using their Cymraeg on a beach clean on dydd Gwener. They collected sbwriel of all types on Traeth Gelliswick.

Remembrance Week

A big thank you to our Head Prefects Rebecca and Michael who were joined by Deputy Head Prefects Catrin, Zack, Megan and Olivia and Headteacher Ms Morris to lay a wreath and join the rest of the town in remembering those who gave their tomorrow for our today at Milford Haven Town Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph.

Milford Haven School remembers

We are so proud of the pupils decorum and respect during this weeks Remembrance assemblies. All pupils from all years listened as we gave thanks to our fallen.

Diolch to Miss John and the Humanities ambassadors for all of their hard work raising awareness and selling poppies during Remembrance Week.

Sport News

This week's highlights from our sports teams

Champions Alert

U14’s Pembrokeshire Champions

This group of talented girls took on Pembrokeshire schools on Tuesday 16th November to become Champions and have been given the chance to represent Pembrokeshire in the next round!

First up they played YHT, taking a 6-0 Win! The girls played some amazing Hockey, making strong passes and worked as a great team to get the ball across the goal line!

Goals Scored:

Olivia D

Pippa J

Molly B

Players Player– Pippa J

Coaches Player– Molly B

After a game break, we took on YBG, finishing the game with a 9-0 win! The girls had excellent drive down the line and showed good ball control.

Goals Scored –

Ruby D

Pippa J

Annabelle G

Olivia D

Players player – Pippa J

Coaches Player – Milly D

In the final game in the pool rounds we took on YCE. This game was very quick and gave the girls a good challenge, they really had to show good short sharp passes to get past their defenders! The girls kept working till the final whistle to take a 3-1 win!

Goals Scored–

Pippa J

Players player– Pippa J

Coaches player– Molly B

This lead us to win our pool and take on Haverfordwest in the final! The girls were really focused on getting the win, showing good communication to feed the right balls to the players and get the shots off at goal. We finished the match with a 3-1 Win!

Goals scored–

Annabelle G

Molly B

Ruby

Players player – Pippa J

Coaches player – The all team!

Massive DIOLCH to Evans Coaches for sponsoring our playing kit

u16’s

#TeamMHS

Boys YEAR 9, 10 & 11 (u16s) v Ysgol Haverfordwest High – 14-11-23

Final score: Winning 30-24

Next stop is the NBA

An AMAZING performance from our very own basketball players today! Showing some excellent teamwork, dribbling, passing and shooting skills

They fully deserved their win, and what an entertaining experience taking these boys to their game. Top quality entertainment and even better individual skills, the team was led well by Zach. There was some excellent performances from Isaac, Zach, Jaime, Joey & Deanthony

. Excellent defending by Corey, Tommy, Ethan & Henry

, and some great passing skills from Aryan, Joe & Dylan and an entertaining performance from Ollie

and coached well by our assistant coach Cruz

Diolch bois, I fully enjoyed the performance!

Players Player: Zach Powell

Coaches Player: Jaime Sitoe

Diolch to Altrad UK, Ireland & Nordics for sponsoring our kit and to Evans Coaches for our top quality transport as always

MHS vS HH

Last week Milford Haven took on Haverfordwest High in fixtures this week and represented MHS with a positive attitude.

U16’s Hockey 6-1 Win!

The girls started strong from the whistle, they used the width of the pitch to pass the ball beautifully around there team, getting lots of shots on goal! Moving forward the girls need to have more confidence in the D to get the shot away first time.

Goals scored:

Daisy T

Chloe B

Maddie P

Players player: Chloe B

Coaches player: Gemma S

YR9 and YR8 Netball

Great effort from the girls tonight, against a tough Haverfordwest High sides. They all step up to the challenge and played so lovely phases of Netball. Plenty of opportunities to improve, which attending training will solve.

Goals scored

Seren

Players Player: YR9 Ffion W

YR8 Annabelle G

Coaches Players: YR9 Seren P

YR8 Sophie O

Massive DIOLCH toEvans Coaches for sponsoring our playing kit

Hot Chocolate Friday

Da iawn to last week's HCF pupils

Extra-Curricular

Latest news on extra-curricular and well being activities

Enrichment
Please use the link below to access our current Enrichment booklet for the autumn term:
https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/enrichment/

Wellbeing Friday’s
Please use the link below to access our current Wellbeing Friday schedule for the autumn term:
https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/wellbeingfridays/

Cluster Band
The new Milford Haven Cluster band is rehearsing in Steynton Hall from 1.30 – 3.00pm on a Friday afternoon. This band is an exciting new opportunity for pupils throughout the Milford Haven Cluster to perform with others. If you would like to take part, please speak to Mr. Sanders-Swales or Mrs. Jenkins in the music department.

Drama Club
Join Drama Club and take part in our annual school production.

Creative Classwork

Some wonderful work produced at MHS

Welsh Phrase of the Week

Cymraeg Yr Wythnos

‘Plant Mewn Angen‘

‘Children in Need‘

UNICEF RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Article of the Week

BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD
The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.

Dates for your Diary

Please note that these are subject to change.

Follow the link below for our full parent calendar.
https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PARENTS-September-2023-2024.docx.pdf

Family Forum – Fforwm Teulu

This half terms Family Forum will take place on Monday 20th November.

If you have any topics you wish to discuss then please can you email the address below parentforummhs@gmail.com

All parents are welcome to attend from 5.30pm in the Steynton Hall. An agenda will be shared ahead of the meeting.

Announcements

Letters Home – Llythyrau Adref

As we move into the second half of autumn term, we wanted to remind you all of the uniform expectations here at MHS. Please use the link below to access a uniform reminder letter that has been sent out today to all parents/carers:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/…/Uniform-letter…

Uniform Shop – Siop wisg

If you have any MHS uniform at home that your child has grown out of please consider donating it to the MHS pre-loved uniform shop. We have an on-site uniform shop that pupils and parents can access anytime they need for jumpers, t-shirts, trousers, coats and more. Any donations are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off at reception. We are needing some larger size sweatshirts and t-shirts.

Important Announcement – Cyhoeddiad Pwysig

An important reminder that Milford Haven School is a nut free school.

We have several pupils with nut allergies and more who have joined us this September.

Please remember not to bring nuts into school. This includes all nut types and all products containing nut based spreads such as Nutella and Peanut Butter.

If you are unsure if something contains nuts please check all packaging for allergy information.

Important Information

Please click the link below for full details of our term dates as well as the school calendar.

Website Link: https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/school-calendar/

A reminder that copies of all the letters we have issued this academic year can be found on the ‘Letters Home’ page of our school website. It is advisable to check this page on a regular basis to ensure that you stay up to date with school information. Link to ‘Letters Home’ website page: https://milfordhavenschool.co.uk/letters-home/

GCSE POD is a fantastic resource which Milford Haven School continues to promote amongst learners and their parents/carers.

GCSE POD holds a wealth of support for a range of subjects, with some content specific for KS3 as well as KS4. Learners are encouraged to use their MHS Google log-in to access the site and start exploring the site which could prove extremely beneficial for our KS4 learners.

Please look at the following parent site tour where you can see what is on offer: https://bit.ly/2P1hJKZ

Young person’s mental health toolkit from HWB.

Below is a link to the young person’s mental health toolkit from HWB, designed for 11 to 25-year-olds. Here you will find six playlists to direct you to a wide range of online resources to help you through the lockdown and beyond. In each of the playlists you’ll find self-help websites, apps, helplines, and more that are here to support your mental health and well-being.

Please remember: if you’re finding it difficult to cope, make sure you speak to someone you trust. Who this might be is different for everyone, but it might include family members or carers, a teacher, a helpline, or a doctor. How you feel is important and lots of people are here to help if you need them.

Link to toolkit: https://hwb.gov.wales/…/e53adf44-76cb-4635-b6c2…/en