We are currently very short on members - the two co-chairs and vice-chair have had to leave us this year, so we now are down to (1) Acting Chair and Secretary and (2) Treasurer.
Please consider joining the committee - you don't require special skills or qualifications, just flexibility and a willingness to help our with events and attend meetings. Over the past few years, our activities have raised funds that have gone towards buying science equipment, musical instruments, textbooks, reading books, art workshops, magazine subscriptions, cooking equipment and more. The information screens in the various hallways were brought to life with networking devices funded by us and we paid for a 3D Printer in the design department. We've helped fund books and equipment for Art and Design, Music, Modern Foreign Languages, Sciences, Geography, IT - in fact, almost any department that has asked for help was able to get something. We've also contributed to afternoon tea/party time for leavers - paying for professional photography and decorations/catering, given away drinks and snacks on the "Dathlu Llywyddiant" - the evening of celebrating success for all students - and we've welcomed new students to the school with Easter eggs for young ones in the annual Easter egg hunt. There is money left in the kitty to pay for outdoor seating - there are still issues relating to security and vandalism prevention that need ironing out for that to go ahead - but it will. All of these things and more - are only possible with a PTA to fundraise - the local authority budget does not provide for them. They don't give you a free cup of tea when you're waiting for your children to come back from Glanllyn either! Meetings are normally held once a term but at present all activities have been put on hold. This might mean that the Ffair Nadolig is missed this year, so please contact us if you are able to spare a couple of hours every other month.
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Left: Ioan and Catrin during the race weekend. Right: Ioan on the podium with his medal
Photos are taken by Eleri Morley, Catrin’s Mum. Congratulations to Ioan Higgins, Year 11, Angharad Morley, Year 10 and Catrin Morley, Year 7 who competed in the Welsh National Dry Slope Ski Championships at Pontypool on Saturday 8th September and in the Welsh Open Championships on Sunday 9th September. In a large field, with skiers coming from all over Britain and Ireland, Ioan Higgins won Bronze for the fastest male Welsh skier Under 16 and Catrin Morley won Silver for fastest female skier Under 14. Gwynllyw are currently looking for one female and two male skiers to complete the teams for the Welsh Schools Championships on 14th October. Please contact Julia Hawkins on [email protected] if you are interested. You do not have to be an expert skier – if you can snowplough turn on a dry slope, you can be in the team.
The first bus arrived back with its weary travellers at around 7.30pm - and there was a sudden mass exodus of parents leaving. The hall emptied in about 30 seconds flat - all excited to see the return of the children. It was a lovely sight to see so many young ones come along to meet brothers/sisters returning. The only thing no-one was looking forward to was the return of the smelly trainers and soggy clothing. But that's a sure sign of a good fun-filled week, right? The first of many, our new year 7 pupils can look forward to returning to Glanllyn in years to come. https://www.facebook.com/groups/yggpta/ Our Facebook group for parents chat is closed to members only to provide security - you can request to join or ask a friend to add you. Parents, grandparents, carers and other guardians, as well as pupils are all welcome to join. Chat/ask questions in Welsh or English - both welcome. We are over 320 members - all we ask is that you remain respectful f each other and mindful that there are children in the group when posting. All of our links for groups, Facebook pages, Twitter, etc. can be found on this site.
If you are not on Twitter, our occasional Twitter Feed can be found on the "Home" page.
This is just a small portion of a group of young adults with the most fantastic talent, look out The West End....South Wales is hot on your tail.
We've had rain, snow, more snow.....but it hasn't stopped us - much.
We've had a very successful couple of parents evenings, with over £120 raised between two of them, and a further £247 of sales (gross) were made at the Urdd preliminaries held in the school on Saturday 10th March, 2018. We would have loved to have been there for all of the parents evenings, but lack of volunteers and members illness/other commitments has meant we missed a couple of them - yr 10 and yr 12/13 - which means missed opportunities for fundraising to us, less chance of helping the school. Please contact us if you are able to help out on any of the dates/events we advertise.
We've offered to help the school start up a mini Spanish reading group - by funding some magazines, and we are looking to fund further projects this year. We are firm believers that you reap what you sow - some of the funds that have been raised directly as a result of the 6th form pupils hard work will be given to them for their use - whether it is towards their formal 6th form dinner on leaving, or to help them furnish their common room. We are continuing in our quest to raise funds for outdoor seating - though this is an expensive project - and there are difficulties to overcome regarding safety/security at the school, to ensure anything installed does not attract vandalism. Don't forget your company may offer MATCHED FUNDING, which means they will match any funds you raise if you can help us out with an event. As always, our CLWB 200 is available for you to join at £1 /number/month. We have 2 months to sell as many of these tickets as we can - the PTA gets to keep the money. You never know when you'll be lucky.....Either way, win or lose, the school and its pupils benefit. If all are sold, it's a £300 boost to the funds. Tickets £1 each, or available in books of 10. Please help us to sell them by distributing them yourselves (we'll bring them to school for your child to collect) - or purchase at the upcoming parents evenings or Eisteddfod prelims. Don't forget, you can still join our monthly school lottery, Clwb 200.Just a quick update - The raffle was going to be drawn at the Christmas Concert.
As this was cancelled, that became impossible. All tickets whether sold or unsold, need to be returned to Sarah White in the office or a member of Cyfeillion Gwynllyw where possible, before the new mini-fair, which will be on Friday 15th December. We hope to draw the raffle at this event, providing all tickets held by parents are returned. Tickets will continue to be sold at the mini-fair - your help to sell them/other items, during Friday lunchtime, would be greatly appreciated, as would any donations of cake, chocolate and small gifts for resale. Thanks in advance for your assistance and understanding.
The amount of time people spend on social media is constantly increasing. Teens now spend up to nine hours a day on social platforms, while 30% of all time spent online is now allocated to social media interaction. And the majority of that time is on mobile - 60% of social media time spent is facilitated by a mobile device. Having missed this last year due to prior commitments, I went along to this years Internet Safety "parents evening". I was surprised to say the least, that aside from Mike and myself, your PTA co-chairs, there were only THREE other parents in attendance. The information you missed related to social media, cyber-bullying and grooming. You will have the opportunity to speak with PC Thomas when she attends some of the other parents evenings in the near future. I've added a new website section containing some of the information shared on the evening, along with important website links. Please try to take a look at them. *Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/how-much-time-do-people-spend-social-media-infographic
Just before school started back, our Co-chair Mike along with Cyfeillion members/parents Leeanne, Julie, Glyn and Michele had an informal chat/meeting with our new headteacher. Amongst ideas and topics discussed were parent volunteers being allowed into school (subject to necessary DBS checks, of course). Our member Michele is keen to help out organising the library, especially now as we've said goodbye to our librarian, Helen Thomas, who moved away from the area at the end of last term. The 6th form pupils will now be taking an active role in management of the inventory - a bit tough for them as currently, there is no library management system. Michele is currently looking for funding to buy a library management system, so if you have any expertise/ ideas that might help with this, let us know. As you may know, Cyfeillion donated several hundred pounds to pay for books last year and a lot of the funds already raised will be used this year to buy new reading books and magazine subscriptions for both the English department and Geography. We discussed communication with school and the various departments. This is essential not just for parents communicating directly with the school, but also important for Cyfeillion to understand the needs of the various departments better, in terms of fundraising for specific projects. Having raised the point that the Governors lists/staff members are out of date on the school website, this is being looked into. Hot topic - changes to uniform/policyWith regards the school uniform Miss Bolton said she has no plans to change the uniform but will be taking a look at uniform policy, so that all staff/pupils will have clear guidance should there be a recurrence of this year's soaring temperatures. The issue surrounding the water coolers will also be addressed. Oxbridge aspirations?
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About usNews and views from the PTA. We're a small committee of people trying to fund-raise for the school, so your children can have a new book, a new bench outside, or even a party, without breaking the bank. Archives
September 2018
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