Headteacher's blog 29.09.2023 - Milford Haven School

Shwmae, welcome back to this week’s blog. Please read on to find out 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...

Well done – Da iawn

Da iawn to Miss John’s form who have busy celebrating European Day of Languages by using their HWB time to learn a new language using Duolingo. Many are learning Spanish, French or Portuguese and some of the girls are learning Dutch ahead of their Hockey Tour to Amsterdam.

Da iawn, Parabéns, Bravo, Goed zo, Bien,

Subject Clinics – Clinigau Pwnc
Please find below a subject clinics timetable that will be running until Christmas (new amended timetable after Christmas). There are lots of different subject sessions available as well as access to the Library after school for a quiet space to study. Please encourage your young person to make the most of these sessions throughout the year in order to prepare as best as they possibly can for their GCSE exams.

Proud School – Ysgol Falch

We are aware many young people are carers and they invest a lot of time and energy into looking after a family member. However, this can sometimes have a negative impact on their wellbeing. As a school we believe that all young people should have the opportunities to thrive but sometimes there is a need for additional support. Our Young Carers programme ‘You care, We care’ allows our young carers to have time to have fun, make new friends, share concerns and thrive.

The Investors in Carers award is a wonderful framework of raising awareness within our school community. The Investors in Carers also provide support to the Carer Lead and work in collaboration in order to support carers.

We are proud to announce that we have been recognised by Investors In People with a Silver Award. The standard is a challenging one to meet and is seen as a measure which reflects our commitment to carers within our community.

Ms Morris, Headteacher said “On behalf of pupils and staff I would like to say diolch yn fawr to everyone involved in achieving this well deserved award. At Milford Haven School we have a team of staff who are here to ensure the wellbeing of our young carers and provide essential care and support. We couldn’t be prouder of our young people and the inspiring ways in which they thrive under exceptional circumstances”.

HOHA News

The latest news from our Heads of House & Achievements

On Friday 22nd September, 251 of Milford Haven School’s Year 7 pupils celebrated a very successful end to their Aberdaugleddau Anhygoel two week project. Aberdaugleddau Anhygoel, or Amazing Milford Haven, is a purpose built curriculum which incorporates lessons and experiences all aimed at recognising the fantastic town we live in, and the place of our young people within the town. The project culminated a literacy challenge, in the shape of writing of a persuasive letter aimed at encouraging more tourists to visit Milford Haven;

The celebration assembly, held in Steynton Hall included a number of pupils reading their letters to the audience which consisted of their fellow classmates and some very special guests. This took an enormous amount of courage as many of our young people have not spoken to such a large audience before. All pupils read with confidence and delivered their messages very eloquently. They certainly impressed our outside visitors who included Sue Kenny from Milford Haven Museum, Muhammad and Parvina from Milford Haven Mosque and Hollie Phillips from Milford Haven Port Authority.

Our guest of honour was Makala Jones, a Milford Haven legend in her own right! Makala, who enjoys sea swimming, recently completed the Channel swim. This absolutely incredible challenge saw Makala swim the 21 miles between England and France. Makala completed this epic challenge in just over 16 hours. Pupils and staff, especially Miss Mansell; were amazed by this incredible feat and many felt inspired to complete their own challenge – although Miss Mansell might start with swimming Gelliswick bay as her first challenge! As well as speaking about her own achievements, Makala gave an inspirational talk to pupils encouraging them to set themselves their own challenge and more importantly, believing in yourself. Makala was very clear in her message; nothing is impossible!

Pupils and staff at Milford Haven School would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to celebrate the amazing work our Year 7 pupils completed in their first two weeks. After half term we will be launching our next challenge and we are already confident that Year 7 will rise to the challenge! Da iawn pawb!

AOLE Highlights

This week's highlights from our AOLE departments.

Congratulations to our pupils Eva and Seren who have gained not one but 2 certificates each in recent exams.

Both girls achieved their LAMDA acting award, Eva sat grade 3 and Seren grade 5, and both had a distinction in RSL musical theatre- Eva in grade 4 and Seren in grade 6!

Dr. Francesco Del Giudice, a distinguished chemical engineer from Swansea University, recently visited Milford Haven to inspire Year 11 students. He led a session on practical chemical engineering, focusing on pumping water between tanks at different levels and fixing system leaks. This hands-on experience highlighted the importance of problem-solving skills in chemical engineering.

Dr. Del Giudice also emphasized chemical engineering’s role in industries like pharmaceuticals, especially in producing life-saving drugs like penicillin. This connection between chemical engineering and medicine resonated with our students, showing them the potential impact of their studies.

His visit showcased diverse career paths in chemical engineering, motivating students to consider this field for contributing to society. Thanks to Dr. Del Giudice, our students are now more inspired to explore opportunities in science and engineering.

Reading Behaviours
Pupils have been working on visualising a text as a strategy to help them understand what they are reading. Here you can see different paragraphs of the given Harry Potter text interpreted as drawings by the students.

Sport News

This week's highlights from our sports teams

u12’s – 5-1 Winners

Boys YEAR 7 (u12s) v Ysgol CAERELEN – 28-9-23

An excellent away win tonight in the first round of the

v CaerElen, eventually winning 5-1, after only leading 1-0 at HT. All of the boys played well and fully deserved the victory against a stubborn side.

Exciting times ahead with this cracking bunch of boys, an excellent start to year 7

Da iawn

The boys will now play either Dyffryn Taf or Strade in the

2nd round.(Home) – Fixture TBC

Goals scored by:

Rio

Chester

Flynn

Players Player: Rio

Coaches Players: Ethan

Jack’s captain speech:

‘It was a good game as all the players played well, against an organised CAERELEN team. A proud captain and keeper, and into the next round of the Welsh cup’

Massive DIOLCH to Ogi for sponsoring our playing shirts

& DIOLCH to Evans Coaches for our top quality transport as always

u15’s Rugby

Boys YEAR 10 v Ysgol HaverfordwestHigh – 26-9-23

The boys played in a very tough game, against a very well organised team, eventually losing the game 46-5. The boys never gave up and gave it their all, with a few players playing their first ever game of rugby. Onto to the next game next week against Penrhyn Dewi.

As always a PROUD Mr Edwards, PE department & the whole school for never giving up

Massive DIOLCH to Tŷ Hotels for sponsoring our playing shirts

& DIOLCH to Evans Coaches for our top quality transport as always

U15’s Football

4 – 0 LOSS

YEAR 9-10 Girls v Ysgol CAERELEN – 28-9-23

Great effort from the girls this evening, just wasn’t meant to be. They all step up to the challenge and played so fantastic football given the conditions.

Players Player:

Ruby W

Coaches Players: Ffion W

Massive DIOLCH to Ogi for sponsoring our playing shirts

& DIOLCH to Evans Coaches for our top quality transport as always.

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/

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

Surf Club
Surf Club is back, Outer Reef have launched their after school surf club, scan the QR code to book.

Coding Club
Year 10 Computer Science pupils will be back running MHS Coders every Friday Break 1. This half term our coding club is running a competition to create a Halloween themed game in Scratch. Competition entries need to be submitted before Friday 27th October, prizes and points up for grabs!

Creative Classwork

Some wonderful work produced this week at MHS

Welsh Phrase of the Week

Cymraeg Yr Wythnos

‘Helo i’r hydref!‘

‘Hello autumn!’

UNICEF RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Article of the Week

IDENTITY
Children have the right to their own identity – an official record of who they are which includes their name, nationality and family relations. No one should take this away from them, but if this happens, governments must help children to quickly get their identity back.

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

Announcements

Please see a letter from the Headteacher about the Chromebook Scheme at MHS coming to an end:

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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