Maesteg School Spring Term Newsletter - Issue #3

Welcome to the Spring Term newsletter!

We really hope you are enjoying the new mobile friendly newsletter, which is the best way to enjoy all of our news in the palm of your hand.

With plenty going on and lots to celebrate, let’s get started with Issue #3 of our newsletter. You can also keep up to date with the latest news by following our Twitter (MaestegSchool) or our newest social media channel on Instagram (MaestegSchool)

You can also visit our website maestegschool.co.uk for up to date news and information.

Our newsletters are an indication of the wealth of talent we have in Maesteg and the attitude of our learners to their school and to their learning. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading through them. 

The end of the Spring Term 2021 sees Maesteg staff and pupils once again busily preparing for the ensuing exam season! Our older pupils are busily preparing revision notes, mind maps and timetables and planning activities for A levels and GCSES! As a parent who is going through the same experience, I wish all parents the very best of luck over the next few months in supporting their children through this very arduous, exhausting and trying experience.  

We have also been busy ensuring that our pupils can once again enjoy life outside of formal learning and our newsletter contains the wonderful examples of extra-curricular opportunities that thrive at Maesteg School thanks to our committed staff.   You will also be glad to hear that we are going to be working on the production of our school show, Mary Poppins and look forward to inviting you all to our first performance!

We continue to develop our new Curriculum for Wales alongside our primary schools and continue to be impressed with the attitude to learning that our pupils are displaying when they are developing new skills building their hedgehog homes for example. 

Our pupils and our staff make me proud every day but I have never been more moved than by their response and reaction to the passing of one our year 9 pupils, Millie Carter. Millie was indeed a very special young lady and teachers and pupils have worked hard to raise money for the Welsh Air Ambulance in her memory.  We will continue to celebrate Millie’s life and always remember what she stood for - Keep doing what you are doing and live your best lives.  

Have a restful Easter break, HJ

Finally, the time has come for us to bring back the previously successful whole school production at Maesteg school. The Expressive Arts department is proud to announce that the next show, set to open in October 2022, will be Disney’s ‘Mary Poppins Jr’.

Based on one of the most popular Disney movies of all time and the Broadway musical that played for over 2,500 performances and received multiple Olivier and Tony Awards nominations, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins is capturing hearts in a whole new way: as a practically perfect Broadway Junior musical!

The jack-of-all trades, Bert, introduces us to England in 1910 and the troubled Banks family. Young Jane and Michael have sent many a nanny packing before Mary Poppins arrives on their doorstep. Using a combination of magic and common sense, she must teach the family members how to value each other again. Mary Poppins takes the children on many magical and memorable adventures, but Jane and Michael aren’t the only ones upon whom she has a profound effect. Even grown-ups can learn a lesson or two from the nanny who advises that “Anything can happen if you let it.”

Auditions will take place on Wednesday 28th April and Wednesday 4th May. All the information can be found outside the drama studio. Hope to see you there! 

Last month, the Maesteg School community tragically lost a very special pupil, Millie Carter.

Millie was a happy, caring and extremely resilient young person. She will be greatly missed by everyone.

In Millie’s memory, Mrs Sparkes and Mrs Fleming have been fundraising for the Wales Air Ambulance by taking part in a range of endurance events. Between them they will complete the Cardiff Half Marathon and an Ultra Marathon this month. 

A group of Year 7 students took part in creating a large scale Snoopy as part of the Dogs Trust project; A Dogs Trail.

Their design was all about mindfulness, the outdoors, places they enjoyed going and about having a sense of gratitude.

He’s named after Sid our School Intervention Dog! 

We have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this adventure and cannot wait to see ‘SID’ on location in Porthcawl - watch the video below for information on how to find him!

With examination season already underway, we revisit our pupils making the news when BBC came to Maesteg School to ask how they felt about the government’s stance on examinations for 2022:

Pupil’s are taking inspiration from Cardiff University’s ‘Hog friendly’ team as we begin to transform Maesteg School grounds into a safe haven for hedgehogs and all wildlife.

Our students will be setting cameras up soon, to see if any of our small prickly friends have been taking a walk on site. Did you know the the hedgehog population is down by 75% in some rural areas and our Year 7 Hedgehog Champions are hoping to change that.

Keep an eye out for hedgehogs, especially as we get to the warmer days of spring. We will be keeping you up to date on a special collection of homes that we are making for the local hedgehogs awaking from hibernation.

Maesteg School celebrated World Book Day 2022, 25th Anniversary on March 3rd with a fun filled day of activities. 

Our Mighty Maesteg Book Swap was a roaring success with many staff members bringing in pre-loved books and taking home a new book to enjoy - the mighty book swap continues to run in the Coffee Shop. 

Miss Harwood said “ I couldn’t quite believe when I opened my new book to discover it was a book I had been wanting to read for a while. I can’t wait to get reading it. When I have finished reading it, I will be passing onto the next person at The Mighty Maesteg Book Swap!”

We also enjoyed seeing each faculty dress up as some of their favourite literary character. Amongst some of those were Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz and Where’s Wally? A variety of World Book Day activities took place in pupils lessons throughout the day with the message for all children ‘you are a reader’! Lessons were filled with lots of exciting, celebratory ways to promote reading for pleasure on World Book Day, and all year round. 

Our pupils benefited from a £1 book voucher to put towards a book purchase of their choice. Plans are already being put in place for next year’s celebrations! Please enjoy some highlights from the day in the video below:

You may remember last year that we shared the very exciting news (see the tweet above) that every Maesteg School pupil who had entered the Young Writers poetry competition, had a poem that was selected for publication. Pupils from year 7 and 8 had their poems printed in copies of This is Me! and Empowered: Hear My Words. We found a selection of brave pupils who were happy to recite their incredible efforts on camera, so please enjoy in the video below. Congratulations to our published poets!

Pupils from year 9 - 13 entered the #MyPhotoMyFeeling competition. This is a national competition and this year we were lucky enough to have 7 pupils shortlisted and 4 pupils have their work displayed in the final exhibition which can be found via this link:

What is Show and Tell?

The following pupils work was shortlisted

- Beauty in the Unexpected by Holly Williams

- Light in the Shadows by Lola Videan

- Vibrance of Nature and Magnified by Cerys Bailey

-  Beauty in Shadow form - By Kate Davies

-  Behind the Mask by Lola Videan

-  Lost in Beauty by Tia John

-  Unity by Bethan Thomas

From the shortlist, four Maesteg School Pupils have their work displayed in the final Exhibition. This is an incredible achievement as there were over 12,000 entries nationwide.

“I am incredibly proud of all the pupils who took the time to enter this competition and has really brought together positive mental health and their creativity through photography. This is our second year taking part in this excellent and worth while programme and we have managed to have Maesteg pupils represented in both exhibitions. This just goes to show how talented our pupils are.” - Mrs Ward

We hope you enjoyed our Spring Term newsletter. and all the latest news from Maesteg School. Wishing all our readers a restful Easter break - we will see you in the Summer Term. Take care and see you very soon!

Email: admin.maestegschool@bridgend.gov.uk

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