St. Gerard's end of year report 2007
10th July, 2007
St. Gerard's end of year report 2007 (enlarge photo)
Dear Parents,
Included in this news item is the end-of-year report and a list of term dates with one amendment.
The comprehensive picture of the academic health of the school via these various twice-yearly summaries is very reassuring and encouraging, even if one or two in the senior school may sometimes require discussion and a firm purpose of amendment!
I am taking the opportunity to pass on news of staff who are leaving and of some successes of which you may not otherwise be aware.
This term, three staff are leaving the senior school: Mr Mort, after 12 years, Mrs Benson after 7 years and Mr Dickins, after 2 years. We thank them for the work they have done and wish them well for the future. Mrs Houseman retires from teaching, leaving the junior school after 25 years' service in the early years, championing the phonic approach which has recently been so vindicated by research.
Mr Hanlon will be Head of Science to succeed Mr Mort and teachers of chemistry, French and history have been appointed.
Different age groups within the school have taken part in competitive events and done well:
Mrs Price [maths] took three of Yr8 to a mathematics challenge run by the UK Mathematics Trust at the University of Liverpool attended by representatives of 42 schools. They acquitted themselves very well, given it was their first such event.
Mr Mort [chemistry] took three of Yr12 to a science challenge run at the University of Wales: the Royal Society of Chemistry's Schools' Analyst Competition, in which they came 3rd out of 24 teams from schools in the north-west, winning a scanner for the school.
Mr Hanlon [biology] also took some Yr8 pupils to take part in a challenge at the university: the Salters' Festival of Chemistry. There were 14 schools represented and St Gerard's won the University Challenge, one section in the overall event. Sport
Mr Harrison and Ms Roberts continue successfully to enter teams for sports' competitions locally and beyond. The netball U16s were runners -up [to Rydal] in the Eryri Championships. As Eryri cricket champions last season, a group of boys entered the next stage of a Lord's Taverners' competition, involving a match against a team from Shrewsbury School on its ground at the end of April. They were beaten but the experience was certainly formative for them. Three of the team: Waleed Ahmed [Yr9], Ben Howarth and Faizan Asad [Yr8] are Eryri cricketers. In cricket also, James Hawley [Yr13] has had trials with Lancashire.
Eryri tennis champions [Yr9/10 girls]: Lucy Webb, Zoe Webb, Hannah Jones [all Yr10] and Rosie Lowe [Yr9].
Selected for the Welsh netball Talent Centre this year: Lucy and Zoe Webb [Yr10] and Rose Sutton, Jessica Watters and Alice Williams [Yr9]
Selected in netball for Eryri U14s: Lucy and Zoe Webb
Selected to represent Gwynedd: in netball: Helena Barr [Yr10], Hannah Knightly and Hannah Niesser [Yr7] in athletics: Danny Benson [Yr13] in gymnastics: Josh Jones and Holly Gulesserian [Yr10]
Representing Wales: in hockey and skiing: James Frost [Yr8] in sailing: Toby Collinson [Yr12], Henry Collinson [Yr10] and Gareth Henshall [Yr10] in golf: Jessica Watters [Yr9] and Toby O'Connor [Yr7]
Representing north Wales in rugby: Robert Jones [Yr8] Creative and Performing Arts
Mrs Cuthbertson [drama] and Mr Sammons [music], supported by several other staff, put on a triumphant Annie Get Your Gun just before the February half-term. It was a great collaborative effort and involved members from throughout the senior school and upper juniors.
This week, an evening combining performances in drama and music, supported by an impressive exhibition of art, both prepared by candidates for GCSE and A level and by others in lower years, was well-attended and appreciated. Other events
Yr10 and Yrs12/13 took part in different Careers Challenges organised by Careers Wales. These were team-building and enterprise exercises and were enjoyable as well as instructive.
Junior school sports day and swimming gala saw some excellent performances. The sports were won by the blues under the captaincy of Henni Hill and Bradley Roberts [both Yr6], with best achievers Emily Clark [Yr1] and Billy Songhurst [Yr2], the swimming gala by the reds under the captaincy of Lottie Brooke and Connor Tindall-Read [both Yr6].
The junior reading competition was won by Kazima Abbas in Yr1.
The public examinations went well and candidates approached them calmly and level-headedly. Results are due on August 16th for AS/A level and August 23rd for GCSE. Key Stage 3 and 2 testing in English, maths and science, now optional in Wales, was conducted internally in recent weeks and results included in reports.
One of our Yr 13 students, Bodhi Hunt, who has a place at Emmanuel, Cambridge for Natural Sciences in October, entered the British Biology Olympiad run by the Institute of Biology and was among 40 successful candidates chosen from more than 2000 of the country's best young scientists to go on to the next stage. Two other Yr13 students [Sarah Healy and Daniel Benson] were also commended in the same competition, as a result of which the Institute of Biology has awarded the school a certificate as "top school in Wales" by the Institute of Biology
Elise Songhurst [Yr11] achieved first prize in a nationwide English essay competition run by the Independent Schools' Association. It was our "first" first in this annual event.
The school will have its own website again in the coming weeks in time for 2007/2008.
Finally, I would like to wish everyone a happy summer - with, I hope, some sunshine too. The school office will usually be open during the mornings.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Parkinson