As we approach the last week of a very busy term, please click here for this week's video from me which includes information about a visit from Talk the Talk, in relation to one of our school priorities this year - Literacy.  You can also read a little more information below on this excellent session with our Year 10 students.

I wish you all an enjoyable weekend.

Hugo Hutchison
Headteacher

Well done to the Leadership Academy who supported with the Primary Schools Cross Country Event last Friday morning. They were fantastic in marshalling the course and supporting all the runners.

Good job, everyone.

This lively Welsh barn dance takes place at the school tonight, Friday 17th October, with all proceeds going towards projects across the school.

We will have live music provided by Calennig - a long established Welsh folk band – so be prepared for a night of raucous folk music and dance!  Don’t worry if you don’t know the steps, there will be a caller in the band taking you through all of the dances.

There will be a fully licensed bar complete with snacks and hot drinks and a raffle will be held during the evening so if you’re looking for a fun night out, this could be the one for you!  If it's a last minutes decision tonight, you can still come along and pay on the door.

Monmouth Comprehensive School Boat Club Announces New Vice Captains

MCSBC is proud to announce the appointment of Barnaby Shaw and Amelia Charles as the new Vice Captains of the club. Their leadership, dedication, and passion for rowing make them ideal candidates to support the team and help guide the club through an exciting season ahead.

New Charity Partnership with the Co-op

In an exciting development, Monmouth Comprehensive School Boat Club has been added to the Co-op’s list of supported charities. This means that every time you shop at the Co-op, you can nominate Monmouth Comprehensive School Boat Club as your chosen charity. Your support will directly benefit the club and help fund equipment, training, and future rowing initiatives.

This achievement was made possible thanks to the efforts of Julia Harrison, whose work in securing this partnership is greatly appreciated by the club.

Support the Boat Club

Next time you're at the Co-op, please consider selecting Monmouth Comprehensive School Boat Club as your charity. Your contribution, no matter how small, will make a meaningful difference.

We are delighted to invite families and members of our community to the Early Encore Series Concert on Tuesday 21st October, 4–5pm, in the Atrium, Monmouth Comprehensive School.

This relaxed, after-school concert will feature performances from students across the Performing and Expressive Arts Faculty, including soloists and ensembles. It’s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy live performance and celebrate the creativity of our young performers.

All are warmly welcome – parents, carers, friends, and local community members.

To help us plan seating, please indicate your attendance using the link below or by scanning the QR code on the poster:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/monmouth-comprehensive-school/t-jxkmqnx

We look forward to seeing you there and sharing an hour of inspiring performances in our vibrant school Atrium.

Our AP students, supported by Mrs Downing and Miss Daley, are collecting items for the Food Bank in Monmouth and would be most grateful for your support.  Following a chat with the manager at the Food Bank, this is how they would like to split the items for students to bring in (but students may, of course, bring in items allocated to another year group, if they wish).

Year 7 – Instant mashed potato, biscuits

Year 8 – Breakfast cereals, sugar

Year 9 – Tinned vegetables, tinned or packet soup

Year 10 – Baked beans, tinned tomatoes, rice

Year 11 – Tinned puddings, custard

Sixth Form – Tea bags, instant coffee.

Toiletries accepted from all year groups.

The deadline to bring in items (to be brought to Form rooms) is Wednesday 22^nd October.  They can then be collected by the Food Bank, ready for distribution.  Could items please have lengthy use by dates.

Did you know you can download the BanktheFood app where you can find out what is needed at your local food bank?  Go to www.bankthefood.com for more details.

The Food Bank have asked us to pass on their thanks for your support – donations have dropped tremendously over the last two years and everything donated makes a huge difference to local families.

Year 7 Technology lessons this week were filled with winter crumbles and salads in jars!

Since September in English, Year 8 students have been studying Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo, and learning about the impact of World War One on the lives of soldiers and their families. As part of this, on Tuesday 14^th October we took Year 8 students on a tour of war memorials and the Regimental War Museum here in Monmouth, where they were able to look at original conscription books, touch a real grenade and a piece of shrapnel from a WW1 soldier, listen to a talk by the museum’s curators, consider the purpose of war memorials, and learn about Monmouth’s contributions to the war effort. We learned lots about the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers, and even studied a poem written about a soldier from this regiment who died, written by a soldier of that same regiment.

Year 8 did extremely well as a year group, behaving respectfully and politely to members of the public with whom we came into contact, and representing the school wonderfully. Drs Stephen and PJ Shaw, the curators of the museum, commented on the impressive behaviour and thoughtful questions that they were asked.

Year 8 will now be set two home learning projects to develop their understanding of WW1 and the impact it had on our community further: they will be asked to research and present on either a name that they found on the local cenotaph, or a family member who was involved in the war, finding out about that soldier’s life and military career; secondly, they will be asked to explore further any element of World War One context that interests them and present it in any way they liked. We intend to exhibit the work that is produced as a result of this in school for parents and governors on Remembrance Day, Tuesday 11^th November. We hope that you can join us to see these incredible projects!

Well done Year 8, you have made us all extremely proud; we can’t wait to see what you produce for your projects!

We had lots of fun celebrating ‘Wythnos Dysgu Cymraeg’ (Learn Welsh Week) and Diwrnod ‘Shwmae Su’mae’ this week, as well as reflecting on the importance of the language for us as a school.

On ‘Shwmae Su’mae’ day, everyone is encouraged to start every conversation in Welsh. Cymraeg belongs to us all and so it doesn’t matter how much Welsh you have, please just use it and celebrate it.

Year 7 and 8 developed their Welsh listening and creative skills by creating a ‘Shwmae’ doodle and discussed why we celebrate this day and the Welsh they are confident in using. Our staff and students participated in a video of us all saying ‘Shwmae’ together- Blwyddyn 10/ Year 10 even said it as a whole year group in assembly! Our fantastic Year 12 A level Welsh students led on creating a video where staff and students reflected on what they love about Cymru- places, songs, events and words.

Diolch to everyone who took part! It’s so important to celebrate our Welsh culture as a school and remember ‘Gwnewch y pethau bychain’ (Do the little things) and use as much Welsh as you can. Follow us on Instagram to see the videos mcscymraeg and mrsa_cymraegmcs.

In  light of the uplift in the number of oracy-based assessments in the new English Language and English Literature GCSE, we invited Talk The Talk to our school on Thursday 16^th October to deliver a workshop to Year 10 students to develop their communication and presentation skills.

Talk The Talk’s mission is to improve students’ oracy skills and their communication confidence to support positive life interactions and improved social outcomes.  They delivered an engaging masterclass aimed at developing speaking and listening skills, providing numerous speaking opportunities throughout the session.

Students were coached and supported to deliver a structured two-minute presentation at the end of the workshop. This will support Y10 learners to approach the forthcoming NEA on 12^th November with greater confidence and know-how.

World Mental Health Day took place this week and  we, ABUHB,  want local residents to know what support is available to them when they’re struggling with their mental health. 

Available in Gwent, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the 111 (Press Option 2) service offers urgent mental health help – all from the same 111 number. With locally-based, specially-trained well-being practitioners on the other end of the phone, the 111 Option 2 service offers direct access to local mental health services for callers with a wide range of needs. Available to children and adults of any age, the service offers bespoke, one-to-one advice, support and care to meet the needs of each individual. 

This service is easily accessed by calling 111 and pressing option 2. It's also free to call from mobiles and landlines, even when the caller has no credit left.  

We hope you will find this information useful.  

Find out more about the 111 (press option 2) service here: Mental Health Crisis - Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (nhs.wales)