Shwmae pawb

We are in the midst of pre-public exams for Years 10-13, which is a process that aims to do several things: give the students experience of exam conditions and requirements, in advance of the real exams in the summer; provide evidence to teachers about the progress that students are making, and where we need to focus work for improvement; provide updates to students, parents and carers about what grades they would currently achieve; provide motivation for future work and revision plans. 

As well as teaching the curriculum content itself, we teach students how to revise, which is an area of learning itself to which we need to give sufficient time. We usually teach this through subjects, rather than have lessons solely on revision techniques. For example, in science, each topic contains within a sequence of lessons a particular revision technique that can be practised in the context of the science content. We also focus on good study habits, mainly through assemblies and discussion in tutor groups through the Wellbeing Curriculum. If you have any questions about any of this, please contact your child's Form Tutor in the first instance. Pob lwc/good luck to all students who are in the midst of their pre-public exams.

Finally, can I please highlight a really easy way that you can contribute to fundraising for the school community? Easy Fundraising just needs a simple sign up, and if you then shop at various online retailers, they then donate to MCS Friends. We are really grateful to everyone who has signed up so far; if everyone who reads this signed up, then it would make a very significant difference to the amount of funding MCS Friends receives, which in turn goes towards supporting the School. Examples of this support include funding summer learning activities for everyone, and additional discrete support of disadvantaged students. If you can, please click here to sign up.

Best wishes for the weekend ahead.

Hugo Hutchison
Prifathro/Headteacher

Year 9 student George Sims was selected to represent Wales in Northern Ireland in the Celtic sailing Cup recently. Despite the stormy weather conditions and being one of the youngest sailors, George managed to finish 9th overall and helped lead Wales to second place. 

Well done, George.

George first started sailing aged 7, following his two older brothers into the sport. For the past three years, he has been part of the Welsh squad and has represented his country on several occasions. He sails all around the UK and Europe, from Weymouth to Scotland, Plas Heli to Lake Garda. He currently concentrates on sailing a Topper but hopes to transition in the next year into a 29er, a pre-Olympic boat, helming for his brother Harry. 

Training and competing takes place throughout the year, even in minus weather temperatures! Training involves not only boat skills, but fitness and tactics. Some weeks he can be on the water every weekend as well as some evenings. 

George is currently competing in a National series where he is consistently achieving top 10 finishes out of up to 100 competitors, then hopes to compete in the Nationals and World Championships in the summer. 

He loves time on the water but also spending time with teammates! 

David Casadesus-Hall attended his first regional Power Lifting competition last week.

Despite being the youngest and lightest in his age category (16-18 years), Year 11 student David still managed a very impressive performance and has qualified for the Nationals, taking place in six weeks.

Over the three lifts, David managed a squat of 150KG, a bench press of 90KG and a deadlift of 187.5KG, all at competition standard, with a total of 427.5KG.

Good luck in the Nationals, David.

Congratulations to Callum Thomas, a Further Maths Student in Year 13.

Callum was a winner in the 2024 Further Maths Support Programme Desmos graphing Christmas Competition.  

Desmos is an advanced graphing and teaching tool for maths and is used to deepen students' understanding of geometry, graphing, functions and domains and ranges.

Here's what to do...

If your child feels unwell during the day, they should speak to the teacher taking their lesson who will call someone from the PSO team to talk to them, find out what is wrong and liaise with Healthcare.  Our Healthcare Support Worker will talk to the student and call home to request that a student is collected, if necessary.

Please remind your child of this process – students should not be calling/messaging home directly, either during lesson time or during break.  Our system means that we are quickly aware that a student is unwell, that we know where to locate them and that we can then ensure they are somewhere comfortable and supported whilst awaiting collection.

If, however, your child contacts you, please contact the school (01600 775177), explain the situation and we will then locate and speak to your child.  As mentioned above, Healthcare will contact you if your child needs to be collected.  Please note that we will only contact the people who are named in SIMS as contacts for your child.

Second Hand Uniform

As you may be aware, the MCS Friends Association runs a second-hand uniform service that provides good quality and value for money second-hand uniform to parents and raises funds for the school. In order to make the uniform accessible to parents, we partner with a charity shop on Monmouth High Street and we share the profits with the charity. We have recently moved this service from Bridges Community shop to the Magic Cottage charity shop next to Shire Hall.

We are very grateful for any uniform donations, but please drop them at the reception in school or into The Magic Cottage Charity shop itself (next to Shire Hall), so that the school can benefit from uniform sales.

Please note that any uniform dropped at the Bridges Community shop will no longer generate funds for the school.

Many Thanks,

MCS Friends 

Did you know that over 8,000 retailers will now donate to MCS Friends for FREE, every time you use easyfundraising to shop with them?

When you sign up to support us, then click into your shop (Amazon, eBay, Tesco etc), easyfundraising receives a small donation from your purchase in that shop. 

It costs you nothing extra and only takes a couple of minutes. 

Please use the QR code below to get started or go to

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/monmouthcomp

MCS Charity Committee is pleased to announce that a total of £77.64 was raised from the sale of refreshments at the Careers and Higher Education Fair at the school last week.  The money raised will be donated to Bees for Development.

Thank you to all who donated to such a worthy cause, at a very successful event at MCS.

The Charity Committee is delighted to announce we raised a fantastic £122.61 for the British Heart Foundation from our Valentine’s Day fundraiser, in which students sent a Valentine’s message to someone special to them. A big thank you to members of the Charity Committee and students who were cupids on the 14th and helped deliver the cards.

We are teaming up with the Welsh Blood Service to help save lives in Wales.

Sixth Form students may join us on 24th March for a blood donation session at Monmouth Comprehensive School - 10.30 am to 12.30 pm and 2pm to 4 pm.

(It's not too late to book, appointments are still available)

"Did you know that hospitals in Wales require 350 blood donations a day to support patients in need? We can’t supply our hospitals in Wales without you! Giving blood is quick, simple, and entirely safe. And the best part? You’re saving lives.

We need blood donors from all backgrounds to give blood to meet the daily demand and ensure we have enough for hospital patients. Just one single blood donation can help up to three patients as it can be split into its different components and used in various ways to help patients recover.

Giving blood is one of the most selfless gifts you can give to another person. By giving blood, you are potentially saving lives and helping patients with specific conditions recover and lead a normal life."

Who can donate blood?

The Welsh Blood Service encourage and welcome most adults to give blood. There are some reasons people can’t donate, but not as many as people think! Anyone who fits in with the criteria below may be able to give blood:

If you are:

• Between the age of 17 and 66 (for your first donation)
• Weigh over 7 stone 12 pounds (50kg)
• Healthy and not subject to medical exclusions

Sixth Form students should use the link below to book:

https://forms.office.com/e/nNJSvSLheW

Find out more about the Welsh Blood Service by clicking this link:

Home Page - Welsh Blood Service

As part of her PhD within the Department of Psychology, Katie Niven (Nottingham Trent University) is conducting a PhD research study with parents of adolescents who have experienced incidents of problematic social media (primarily cyberbullying and sexting).

Katie is looking to conduct online interviews with pairs of parents and carers and has approached the school to ask if any of our parents/carers would agree to being involved.

If you feel you would like to find out more about this research, please contact Katie using the QR code on the poster, or the link below, to obtain a participant information sheet and consent form:

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ntusurvey/participant-information-sheet-and-consent-form-parents-carers

Dementia Aware + Information Sessions continue...

Join one of our FREE information sessions to help you understand more about supporting those living with dementia.

To celebrate the launch of our dementia hubs Dementia Friendly Swansea and Dementia Friendly Gwent are providing FREE training sessions for people living with dementia, their family, friends, carers, and professionals, or for anyone who would simply like to learn more about how we can improve the lives of those living with dementia. These sessions are two hours long and will take place in person. Refreshments will be provided for attendees.

PLEASE BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE:

12 Feb 10am-12pm
The Riverfront, Newport

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1145322423199?aff=oddtdtcreator

12 Feb 1pm – 3pm
The Riverfront, Newport

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1145333897519?aff=oddtdtcreator

6 March 10am – 12pm
Wellbeing Information Centre, Abergavenny

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1145323165419?aff=oddtdtcreator

6 March 1pm – 3pm
Wellbeing Information Centre, Abergavenny

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1145332603649?aff=oddtdtcreator