Ysgol Gyfun Pantycelyn Llanymddyfri / Llandovery
Panel Top
News and Achievements
Headteachers Report
Staffing
It is very pleasing to be able to report that Miss Ann Jenkins has settled in very well indeed and is already making a valuable contribution to the Technology Department and also a very positive contribution to the ethos of the school as a whole. It has been a pleasure to visit her catering lessons for young people in Years 10 and 11. We already have interest from some to study a food related subject in the Sixth Form next year.
Mr Aled Lewis continues his teaching support work in the SEN Department and is also working closely with the Inclusion officer to help Pantycelyn pupils. He is also timetabled to assist in the Teaching of Games to Years 7, 8 and 9, particularly to some of our pupils who are in need of considerable SEN support.
We are also delighted to be able to offer Dr Huw Jones a placement in the Mathematics department at Pantycelyn as part of the Welsh Assembly’s Graduate Teacher Programme. He has settled in well, helping the whole ability range.
Again this term we have had many changes in the support staff in our SEN department. Late last term, Mrs Kim Price and Mrs Emma Howells took up employment as support assistants in Llangadog Primary and Mrs Rhiannon Jones moved to a new job in Llandrindod. They have been replaced by Mrs Kim Jones and Mrs Sheree Stephens, both of whom have settled in well. We are also grateful to Mrs Elaine Atkinson for volunteering to help in the SEN department until she returns to University. Mrs Eluned Jones has sadly decided to resign her post as a support assistant due to ill health. We wish her all the very best for the future.
Performance Management
Examination results
Once again this year it was very rewarding to share the examination successes of our young people on Thursday August 17th and Thursday August 24th. It is always a pleasure to report our successes to the local newspapers, although they do not always publish my statements to them word for word! My thanks to the staff, the parents and the young people themselves for their considerable efforts.
Our Year 13 students were able to follow the courses of their choice whilst our Year 11 cohort have been able to follow worthwhile courses either here at Pantycelyn or in a range of other further education establishments. It is important to explain that of the 77 fifteen year olds ( normally Year 11) on the school role in January 2006, eight were unable to secure any GCSE equivalent qualifications as :-
2 were in Year 10
2 were school refusers
2 had profound special needs and
2 had followed courses at Coleg Sîr Gâr.
These eight youngsters obviously then have an effect on the A* – C and A* – G percentages published for Pantycelyn.
Pupil Numbers
At the time of entry, our school role stands at 404 pupils:-
Year 13 39
Year 12 42
Year 11 67
Year 10 77
Year 9 67
Year 8 59
Year 7 53
Information from our primary schools for the next few years indicate the following numbers:-
Year 6 71
Year 5 48
Year 4 63
As you can see, our numbers in the Sixth Form are increasing sadly with no guarantee of any additional funding due to the very unfair National Pupil Funding System (NPFS) being used by ‘ELWa’ now subsumed into the Department of Lifelong Learning and Skills (DELLS) of the Welsh Assembly Government. At Key Stages 3 and 4 our numbers are falling and therefore significant budget cuts can be expected for many years unless our County Council take on my concerns in their plans to restructure the funding arrangements for all schools in Carmarthenshire.
School Improvements
Since the last report we have been able to continue our “rolling programme” of maintenance and decoration around the school. Over the summer holidays, we decorated the following rooms:-
Biology Lab
Chemistry Lab
Textiles Room
Classroom H2 and
The School Admin Office.
The caretaker has also replaced the six sets of steps leading into the six rooms of the cabins. He has also rearranged the work areas/sinks in the Textiles room as requested by staff. I am also very grateful to the staff in the Technology department for the excellent units manufactured in school to house the new computers for our second computer suite funded from our successful 16 plus bid for enhanced IT provision as part of a Common Investment Fund (CIF).
Cilycwm Road Bridge
We were approached right at the end of the summer term, by Network Rail and McAlpine, to see whether we could help them with the replacement of the railway bridge. This lead to several site meetings during the holidays with ourselves, several county dependants, McAlpines and Network Rail. Following discussions with the County Council, we have secured a fair settlement for the inconvenience caused to us by allowing plant etc to be stored on our playing fields. My thanks to Cllr Ivor Jackson and Mr David Dyer for helping me to secure these funds for the school rather than for the County’s Education budget!
We have had such excellent day to day working arrangements with McAlpine that they have also helped us with the removal and replacement of our derelict desk store and the removal of a dozen or so tree stumps around the caretakers workshop, all at no financial cost whatever to the school. On the afternoon of Friday 22nd September, following the closure of the road, we were able to take a group of “budding” Civil Engineers over to the site to see for themselves the complexity of the task of replacing the bridge.
My thanks to Mr Dai Morris and Ms Deborah Elliott the Civil Engineers from McAlpine and Network Rail respectively.
School Transport
We have worked very closely with County Transport and our local bus companies to reduce the need for Pantycelyn pupils to cross the busy Cilycwm Road in the morning. The smaller buses now pull into the swimming pool car park to drop pupils off in the morning and to collect them at night. Other coaches have changed their route to drop pupils off on the school side of Cilycwm Road. The only cause for concern now is the First Cymru Service. County are now looking into modifying its route to allow First Cymru pupils to be dropped off at the school gates as well.
The situation at the end of the school day is much safer as all pupils are collected from either the car park or from in front of the school with buses parked right up to each other.