News from MCS

Dear all

We were delighted to offer the benefit of David Hyner's expertise and experience in supporting students to all Year 11 parents at an evening session as well as to many Year 11 students this week. He will be back in March to once again work with students to support their preparations and motivate them as exam season approaches. Thank you all for your positive feedback about this.

As you will know from a separate email to all parents and carers, we have Estyn visitors coming to MCS in the final week of this half term. They are keen to hear from all involved with the school, so please do click the link on the email to add your views to the inspection process. The parent and carer meeting will take place on Monday 13th February at 5pm at the school. Please click here to view the short video I recorded at the start of the week.

Finally - Sister Act - just a handful of tickets left! Grab them whilst you can. It is, I'm told, an absolute triumph and I look forward to seeing it on Saturday. 

All the best for a restful weekend,

Hugo Hutchison
Headteacher

We are having a tremendous run with this show with amazing performances from our students and superb support backstage.

At the time of sending out this newsletter, the following tickets are still available:

Friday night - 4 Tickets
Saturday afternoon - 5 tickets
Saturday night - SOLD OUT

The MCSFA Curry & Quiz takes place next week on Friday 10th February with a closing date to book of 4pm on Monday 6 February, to allow Chartwells to liaise with us re: numbers for the night.

This is always a fun (and competitive) evening, so come along and show us how good your team is!

 

The annual Careers and Higher Education Fair (CHEF) takes place at Monmouth Comprehensive School on Wednesday 8^th February 6 - 8 pm.

Over 100 representatives will be present from all major occupational areas, as will all local Further Education colleges and many Universities - including Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol.  To coincide with National Apprenticeship Week (6-10 February) we have expanded the number of Apprenticeship Providers and Training Organisations who will be situated in the Main Atrium.  Careers Wales will be delivering Apprenticeship workshops during the evening.  The school is pleased to be able to welcome back delegates who have been supporting the Fair for many years and are looking forward to seeing many new, exciting stands from many different sectors.

CHEF is aimed at Years 9-13 but all students and families are welcome. MCS also welcomes students from across the region to what will be a major event.

The CHEF booklet may be accessed by clicking HERE.

It's that time of year again when we ask our students to send in an audition video for the three school Monmouth's got Talent competition.  This is an amazing opportunity to showcase your talent and represent your school at this ever popular event.  If you would like to enter, full details are given below:
 

 

Football

Girls Football

U13 Girls

MCS U13 girls have had an outstanding season so far with hopefully more success to come. Pictured above is the U13 Girls squad who beat last year's Welsh Cup winners in the Last 16 of the Welsh Cup. They will now face Lewis Girls in the Quarter Finals. Superb achievement so far to get to the last 8 schools in Wales.

Our U13 team (above) also found success in the Newport County EFL Cup which they won. They went on to represent Newport County at the Area Finals held at Bristol City, agonisingly losing 1-0 in a tightly fought semi-final against eventual winners Bristol City.  A superb achievement and the future of girl’s football at MCS certainly looks bright.

U15/16 Girls

The success of girls football continues with MCS being able to field an U15 and U16 team for a number of fixtures this year. This is great experience for MCS in preparation for the first U18 Welsh Cup competition next season.

Boys Football

Year 9

Unfortunately, due to two early Cup exits, Year 9 have not been able to achieve the success they had last year. However, a number have players have played up a year group and, with a number of local friendlies to come, there is still a lot to play for this season.

Year 10

Our Year 10 and our U15 team competed well in both the Newport and Welsh Cups but unfortunately lost in the early rounds. They have their eyes on retaining the Gwent Cup which will be held later this term.

Senior Football

Our Senior squad are still going strong in both the Newport and Gwent Cups with two quarter-finals to come this term. They have overcome two disappointing losses in the Welsh Cup competitions well and have been captained brilliantly this year by Callum Uttley. 

Football Honours

Year 7 students Elisabeth Jackson, Isla Davies and Myla Blatch have represented Newport Schools U12s.

Year 9 students Liam Brain and Lucas Harris have represented Newport County U14s.

Kian Davies has International honours representing Wales Under 15s and received his first caps at the UEFA Development Tournament.

Rugby

First XV Rugby Union

MCS First XV are currently sitting top of the East Wales 1 East Schools and College League. MCS picked an opening 24 points to 15 win on the road against Caerleon. This has then been followed by the double over Chepstow School with a home win of 25 points to 5 but the away fixture was a closer affair with MCS coming away with a 6 points to 3 win.

Year 7 Rugby Union

Year 7 have had great numbers training on Thursday nights after school. With over 25 players in the Year 7 squad all coming with a range of experiences, some new to the game and many competent players, they have all had the opportunity to represent the School Team this season. Monmouth RFC have provided coaches to support the development of these players and we look forward to continuing our partnership. MCS have only managed to play the one game so far this season against a strong Caerleon team who eventually came out winners.  

Hockey 

Hockey has had another disappointing start to the year with the Astroturf being out of action since the start of October. We had fantastic numbers at training at the start of the year and even though we have not been able to train recently, we have competed in the South East Wales Tournaments with our U12 and U15 Girls squads.

We have also been competing in the League competitions with some excellent results and performances at U12 and U14. We look forward to the U16 team starting their matches next week.

Cross Country

Students have competed in a number of inter schools Cross Country events this academic year with the most recent being the South East Wales Cross Country Championships. Big congratulations to Will Chalk in Year 9 who came 3^rd and Lucas Harris in Year 9 who came 10^th. Both boys have now qualified for the Welsh Championships on Wednesday 15^th of Feb. Best of luck boys.

Netball

Our Year 9 Netball team have kicked off their league campaign as they finished their Year 8 season with a fantastic win against Newbridge, who are always our closest contenders. The team have played a number of friendlies where they have not been defeated and we are hoping these results continue into the League and that they can remain undefeated for a second year running. Wish them luck!

MCS is being represented in the South East Wales Under 14 Netball squad by three Year 9 students - Lola Jones, Beatrix Morgan and Ava Powell. These girls have participated in many matches for the squad, recently being crowned Inter-County Champions.  A fantastic achievement, well done girls.

BE Football For Her

BE Football is a programme that focuses on the importance of teamwork and character development that supports the new Welsh Curriculum. The programme aims to develop girls’ character skills through football activities and extra-curricular clubs led by trained Football Influencers.

MCS took a group of six girls to attend training in Cardiff to become Football Influencers where they developed leadership, communication, teamwork and marketing skills. Bronwen, Rosie, Kacey, Izzy, Lizzy and Isla will now put these skills into practice with their challenge being to try and influence as many girls in KS3 to attend their fun football training sessions after school on Wednesdays which is being launched after Easter.

 

Our Year 10 and Year 12 Public Services students were visited this week by the Army Outreach Team who delivered a careers presentation and elite skills academy workshop.

After exploring the different career pathways within the army inside the classroom, they then participated in some engaging team building activities. All students worked superbly and demonstrated excellent team work skills.

Year 12 students then tested their leadership qualities by delivering the practical session to some of our Year 9 PE students. Well done to all involved and thank you to Corporal Jones and the team for a great morning.