Shwmae bawb

It was lovely to welcome students back to school after everyone had a well-earned break over the half-term. We have all been blessed with glorious weather, which usually puts a spring in everyone's step.

After 19 years as our school receptionist, Mrs Jones has decided to retire, and will leave at the end of this current term. Mrs Jones has been exceptional throughout her time here, going above and beyond to support everyone at school. We will miss her terribly, and so will students and families, who frequently tell me how brilliant she is.  An advert for this post may be found later in this newsletter.

We have the annual event of Monmouth's Got Talent next Thursday 13th March, held at MCS in the School Hall. Organised by our Head Students, alongside the Head Students at Haberdashers, this is always a great celebration of diverse musical acts and other artistic performances. Please do come along and support our students if you are able to - details are further down this newsletter.

Today is an INSET Day being run across the county for all secondary schools. Led by the exam board WJEC, it is focussed on the preparations for the reformed GCSEs, the first wave of which start in September this year. Every Level 2 qualification (GCSEs and BTECs) is being amended in the next few years, which means that there is a lot of additional work in store for schools to ensure we are fully prepared.

Finally, we celebrated World Book Day at school yesterday, with a plethora of events, staff dressing up and other activities. There have been some incredible efforts. Particular praise to the English and SRB teams, who once again have been exceptional.

Cofion cynnes

Hugo Hutchison
Headteacher

Following on from the school's recent success of outstanding Noda nominations, we would also like to congratulate all the MCS students that are part of Mayhem Youth Theatre group Monmouth for also receiving the following amazing Noda nominations for...

'Six the Musical'

'Footloose the Musical'

'Oliver'

We wish each and every one of them all the very best of luck at the 'Noda Awards' presentations to be held at the Celtic Manor Newport in June. 

Rugby success

Congratulations to Year 11 student Miles Chambers, playing for Dragons Amber v Dragons Black earlier in the week.
 

To celebrate St David’s Day this year, all Form groups from Years 7-13 took part in a challenge to decorate their Form room door with a Welsh theme, showing what Wales means to them and linking the Form’s identity. The students all loved taking part in this challenge and the effort made was exceptional. The judges found it extremely difficult to judge the winners due to the high quality of displays, but the overall winners were:

Blwyddyn 7/ Year 7
Winners - 7KRO (230)
Special mention to 7CEV (157) and 7APR (147) for 2^nd place

Blwyddyn 8/ Year 8
Winners - 8MGR (151)
Special mention to 8CSE (217) for 2^nd place

Blwyddyn 9/ Year 9
Winners - 9EPR (253)
Special mention to 9ARI (246) for 2^nd place

Blwyddyn 10/ Year 10
Winners - 10MPE (159)
Special mention to 10LJO (158) for 2^nd place

Blwyddyn 11/ Year 11
Winners - 11JLE (117)
Special mention to 11TBU (119) for 2^nd place

Sixth Form
Joint winners 12SPP (268) and 12TYO (254)

www.ticketsource.co.uk/monmouth-comprehensive-school

Tickets may also be purchased on the door

You may also pay on the door

Recently, our Y13 Uniformed Protective Services learners have had a few interesting lessons getting “hands on” with equipment and historical artefacts as part of their Unit on “Outdoor Activities and the Uniformed Protective Services”.

Here Liam can be seen wearing all the clothing and equipment needed for vertical caving, and the class handle clothing and weapons from WW2 - it was the surplus clothing from WW2 that enabled mass access to outdoor activities within the UK.

Please note that if your child missed their vaccinations due to being absent or unwell on Monday or Tuesday this week, a member of the ABUHB school nursing team will be in contact over the next week with regard to catch-up clinics.

Last month a number of our Year 10 and Year 11 students put their Maths skills to the test in the UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Intermediate Mathematical Challenge — a 60-minute, multiple-choice test, designed to promote mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency in using mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems. We are so proud of the students who participated in the challenge and over 60% of our participating students received a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award.

Taran Evans, Sebastian Crane, Bartek Skrzypnik, Efa Kear, Will Chalk, Emma Goddard and David Casadesus-Hall performed brilliantly, achieving the Bronze award, which is awarded to the top 50% of students who participate in the UK.

Reuben Leather, Tom Summer, Adrian Sadzikowski, Dominic Phipps, Alisa Sameliuk, Alice George, Chloe Thomson, Abi Farr and Nye Jupp had amazing results and each achieved the Silver award, which is awarded to the top 25% of students who participate in the UK.

A special congratulations goes to Tom King, Oliver Young and Oscar Evans who were outstanding and each achieved the Gold award, awarded to the top 8% of students in the UK who take part in this challenge.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this challenge.  

Gwent Music Monmouthshire showcase will take place on Monday 31st March at Monmouth Comprehensive School at 7pm - the concert will feature county ensembles as well our Monmouth cluster orchestra and school orchestra, choir and jazz band. Tickets are available here 

https://ticketlab.app/event/30674-Gwent-Music-Monmouthshire-Showcase-Concert-Adult-Ticket-tickets#/

Our lower school production has launched with our students and they have been busy auditioning all week. The standard was wonderful and students should be very proud of themselves. Callbacks will be announced next week and will take place the following week. Please check your music Google classrooms for updates. 

We are the Wellbeing Ambassadors. As the WA, we strive to support and develop the emotional wellbeing of younger members of school. We’re not here to judge, we’re here to understand and listen to individuals while keeping conversations private, and we are aiming to become a group where anyone can come for advice or someone to talk to.

We are available every wellbeing lesson (Tuesday, Lesson One) in the library and students can also find our details on the display board in the atrium.

Art Technician - closing date 12 noon, Wednesday 12 March

Design & Technology Technician - closing date 12 noon, Wednesday 12 March

Deputy Head of Technology Faculty - closing date 12 noon Monday 17 March

School Receptionist - closing date 12 noon Wednesday 19 March

Online Safety for Parents and Carers, 5:30pm to 7:00pm at Monmouthshire Comprehensive School, NP25 3YT, Thursday 20^th March

This online safety training session provided by SWGfL will furnish parents with an insight into popular technologies and how young people utilise them. Demonstrating the massive benefits and potential pitfalls, the interactive presentation provides parents with advice, strategies, and resources to help them understand and engage with their child’s online lives in a healthy, positive, and productive way.  

SWGfL are a charitable trust dedicated to empowering the safe and secure use of technology through innovative services, tools, content, and policy, nationally and globally. We are proud to be a world leader in online child safety, a founding member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety as well as an advisor to Governments and a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre. Our vision: Everyone should benefit from technology, free from harm.  

Subscribe to the SWGfl free monthly newsletter to receive their latest news, content and tips about Online Safety, Security and Educational Technology.

Pedestrian surveys, conducted by Severnside Transportation Data Collection, are scheduled for one week commencing Monday 10th March.

The objective of these surveys is to conduct an analysis of pedestrian traffic patterns and volumes within the designated areas, especially during peak school commuting times.  The resultant data will serve to inform an understanding of pedestrian infrastructure and any associated issues.

The surveys will be carried out utilising specialised camera equipment, specifically the Afidus Camera. These cameras will be affixed to either existing street furniture or extendable masts.

The camera installation locations are detailed to the left. MCC recognise that these locations are situated along pedestrian routes serving several Monmouth schools.

While the surveys will record visual data, please be assured that all data is protected in accordance with Severnside’s Data Protection policies. Monmouthshire County Council will receive only anonymised pedestrian volume and flow data; video recordings will not be provided. Severnside’s Data Protection Statement can be found below.

Severnside’s Data Protection Statement                             

Our approach to Data Protection relies upon a sound understanding of the regulatory environment

Which has been underpinned by legal advice. We utilise privacy by design principles whenever possible, maintain relevant policies retain appropriately trained staff and have robust governance measures in place. Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) / Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) have been Generated for each method of data processing. They are maintained to ensure we only capture the minimum amount of data necessary to meet business needs and handle or process that information in an appropriate manner. We have mapped our internal data flows and assessed any risk to data processing activities whilst an ongoing internal audit programme confirms process compliance.

Severnside TDC follows the government specifications on Data Protection and our policy covers all our survey work when dealing with personal data. All video footage will be deleted from our servers after 3 months to follow this directive.

We are registered with the ICO, and our Certificate Number is ZA485867.

Any queries should be directed to:

Gareth Freeman
Peiriannydd Cynorthwyol - Traffig / Assistant Engineer - Traffic
Cyngor Sir Fynwy / Monmouthshire County Council
Ebost / Email: garethfreeman@monmouthshire.gov.uk

The initial closure highlighted some potentially significant disruption to service delivery both in terms of MCC services and our wider partnership essential services – with compromises also to our blue light response.

The essential maintenance and resurfacing of the Wye Bridge still needs to go ahead – but the initial schedule of works and anticipated disruption has now been significantly reduced – hopefully resulting in as minimal disruption to service delivery as possible.

The current proposals are as follows:-

• Start Date: 22nd April 2025
• Duration: 10 weeks
• Work Hours: Overnight from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM
• Traffic: The bridge will remain open to traffic during the day.
• Pedestrian Access: Always maintained, even when the bridge is closed to traffic at night.
• Workdays: Sunday night to Thursday night (no work over the weekend).
• Emergency Services Access: Access to emergency vehicles will be maintained at all time.

It is recognised that some service provision may still be compromised and it may be necessary to follow the diversions when the bridge is closed – in particular Care at Home/Community Nursing – which may need some pre-planning or service disruption considerations. However, it is felt that the current proposals help to facilitate a more business-as-usual approach.

An MCC Webpage has now been reintroduced to ensure residents and partners are kept informed of these works as details progress prior to and during the resurfacing. Weblink below:-

Wye Bridge resurfacing - Monmouthshire

Our Highways Team will also be hosting a drop-in session at Wyesham Community Hall on Thursday, March 13^th to answer any questions or address any concerns. If anyone wishes to attend, please do – details to be shared once confirmed. In addition to this drop in session, we propose to host a short TEAMS meeting in early April to provide wider partners/ MCC services with the opportunity to ask any questions in relation to these scheduled works.

Please consider if this will continue to cause disruption to your service area and what arrangements you may now need to put in place for this 10-week period. Again, with the new proposals, disruption is only overnight, with the ability to facilitate emergency access and the pedestrian access over the bridge not being compromised – this has enabled many of the initial concerns to be overcome.

Once the Teams meeting date is agreed and scheduled – an invitation will be circulated.

Monmouth Tennis Club - Junior Tennis Coaching.  Age 14 and under Junior tennis lessons are available with Chris Friend at Monmouth Tennis Courts. Six-week block booking - 24th and 31st March, 7th and 28th April, 12th and 19th May, 5pm - 6 pm. The cost is £36.00 members/£48.00 non-members.

Please contact chrisfriendrtc@aol.com for more information.