The RP Weekly: 23 October
The weekly digital newsletter from Rydal Penrhos School.
The RP Weekly
23 October 2020
Senior School
Pupils collect free iPads ahead of fire-break lockdown
Rydal Penrhos has issued free iPads to pupils for their remote learning during the “fire-break” lockdown announced by the Welsh Government.
The school has led the way with safety measures during the coronavirus pandemic, providing a safe and happy environment for Prep and Senior pupils to get the most out of their education. In addition, Rydal Penrhos’ management team have been committed to putting a concise and structured plan in place for the second lockdown.
There was plenty of excitement in the air as Year 9-13 pupils visited the school briefly in their own group bubbles to collect their iPads under the supervision of staff. These will be a critical aid to their learning at home during the first week following the half-term break.
This is part of the school’s substantial financial investment in IT this summer, which saw state-of-the-art servers installed, a newer version of iSAMS to improve parent-teacher communications and free iPads for each pupil from Year 3 to 13, together with an electronic pencil for the younger years.
These iPads are intended for daily use both during school lessons and for homework tasks when pupils are in school as well as coming into their own when they are in lockdown.
All teachers will also have an identical iPad and the intention is that during the “fire break “ period online learning is set to be structured as much like a normal school day as is possible, to ensure consistent academic provision despite COVID-19.
John Waszek, Executive Principal of Rydal Penrhos, said: “We believe this investment will have a marked improvement on the educational opportunities for Rydal Penrhos pupils and on their personal and academic progress."
Sixth Form
More than 25% of Y13 apply for Oxbridge places
More than a quarter of Rydal Penrhos’ Year 13 group are looking to continue the school’s rich history of successful Oxbridge applicants next summer.
Head of Careers Mike Farnell revealed that over 25 per cent of pupils are applying for Oxbridge places this year, with Rydal Penrhos’ exceptional teaching staff playing a leading role in advising and guiding during the application process ahead of the 15 October deadline.
Three pupils have applied for Medicine, with others looking to study History, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics and Law.
The latest batch of hopefuls are looking to follow in the footsteps of past pupils who have also achieved the same feat, with Edward Patrick and Cassie Parry being the latest after gaining the necessary grades to confirm their Oxbridge places earlier this summer.
And in recent years, Ben Gibson, Imogen Camp and Elinor Davies, who spent almost the entirety of their education at Rydal Penrhos also moved on to Oxbridge and are further proof of what an all-round education at the school can provide from an academic perspective.
Preparations are now well underway for the current Year 12 group in terms of university preparation. They are currently receiving career lessons weekly ahead of some big decisions, which includes specific time to begin preparing for their respective Oxbridge applications.
In addition to these sessions, the school has also put on a virtual Careers Programme that has enlisted the help of some prestigious universities that will further assist pupils’ decision-making process before they begin the next stage of their journey.
Mr Farnell, said: “Our careers team and personal tutors have many years’ experience of preparing applicants and give sound and timely advice to our young people.
“One of the greatest challenges in the current climate is gaining work experience. To counter this we have a significant number who have applied for online programmes to meet employers and discuss careers, many others have begun MOOCs to enhance their learning and we are hosting a number of subject-specific university talks.”
Rydal Penrhos recently celebrated their best-ever A Level results, which saw a 51.9 per cent pass rate at A*-A – the highest in the school’s history.
Harvest Service
Food Drive brings an incredible response
The Rydal Penrhos family came together to further lend their support to the local community during an unprecedented time of crisis.
Both Prep and Senior School pupils, staff and their families generously donated a large number of items for Rydal Penrhos’ annual Harvest Food Drive, which was part of the Harvest Festival Celebrations on Friday 16 October.
There was some concern that during the COVID-19 restrictions donations may suffer because of the greater effort required to shop and collect, but in the event the offerings that came in exceeded past years and were a testament to the desire the pupils and staff had to do their bit in these difficult days, when many families are struggling severely.
All donated items were collected and taken down to St John’s Church and were on proud display during the school’s first-ever virtual Harvest Service, which was the final act of the half-term and was live-streamed on Rydal Penrhos YouTube channel.
The Service saw a host of pupil contributions from the likes of Camilla Simmons, Wilfred Jones, Noah Roberts and Amelie Skinner from the Prep School, with April Williams singing ‘Change of the Seasons’, written by her father and the school’s Director of Music, Peter Williams.
Highly decorated vocalist and Year 13 pupil Tegid Goodman-Jones sang ‘O del mio dolce ardor’ by Gluck, whilst instrumental music from the second movement of Mozart’s Clarinet concerto was performed by Niamh Cook.
Senior Head Boy Richard Wolfendale and Head Girl Anna Parry-Williams also lent their support to the event with readings, with the service overseen by the Reverend Nick Sissons, Chaplain of Rydal Penrhos. Network Services Manager Gareth Robinson was in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly from a technical perspective.
Rev’d Sissons organised the collection and delivery of the goods on Monday 19 October 19th to Rydal Penrhos’ local Food Bank in Rhiw Rd Colwyn Bay.
Nancy, who is in charge of the volunteers at the Food Bank wrote: “I just want to say a massive thank you again to Rydal Penrhos School for your Harvest Festival donations to us. This will help us immensely and it’s very much appreciated. Many many thanks.”
This is the latest in a series of charitable initiatives put on by the school throughout the academic year, with their recent Hello Yellow Day raising hundreds for children’s mental health charity, Young Minds UK.
Prep School
Craft Club get creative with recycling activity
Rydal Penrhos Prep School pupils got creative and learned all about an important environmental issue during a recent after school activity session.
The hugely popular Craft Club is part of the exciting set of activities devised by Rydal Penrhos’ dedicated staff team at the end of their typical day in and out of the classroom, which further develops valuable early skills in their field of interest.
Each pupil has gained a significant amount during their first half term of Craft Club, with the group ending a successful few weeks with another task which involved using recycled CDs and bits of scrap paper to make artistic birds.
In addition to igniting their creativity, the session also saw the studious and inquisitive pupils ask plenty of insightful questions about the process of recycling, why it’s important, together with the short and long-term benefits of for the climate.
Rydal Penrhos Prep School has been at the forefront of environmental initiatives thanks to the sterling work done by the Eco Committee under the leadership of teacher Julie Woodthorpe.
This continues to be at the forefront of the school’s pupil leadership programme that has increased in significance across all year groups since the appointment of Lucy Davies as Prep School head.
The programme of after school Clubs and Activities is open to all Rydal Penrhos pupils from Reception through to Year 6 and will be available following their normal lesson times at the end of each day.
The Prep School’s exceptional teaching staff have produced a diverse series of clubs and activities to enjoy throughout the academic year, which will further develop key skills in a relaxed setting away from the classroom.
They are focused on five categories:
- Creative Arts
- Performing Arts
- Reading, Games and Quizzes
- Sport and Activity
- Wellbeing and Personal Skills
Senior School
Preventing 'learning loss' at RP
Rydal Penrhos is doing everything in its power to prevent the upcoming coronavirus pandemic lockdown from causing “learning loss” in pupils.
Learning loss is something that has recently been investigated and published in a report from the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) report, which detailed the impact of school closures for specific year groups so soon after the first national lockdown earlier this year.
It read: “There is no research that can show us what the educational impact of COVID-19 school closures might be. Never in our lifetimes have so many schools for so many children been closed.
“However seasonal learning and summer learning loss is well documented and shows achievement typically slowing or declining over the summer months.
“The decline tends to be steeper for maths than for reading, with some pupils returning to schools after their summer holidays having lost ground by up to two or three months, with disadvantaged children lagging behind their better-off peers. Even a relatively short period of missed school, for example, due to illness, will have consequences for learning development.
“But with students now facing up to six months without consistent, ongoing guidance from their teachers and the structure offered by a classroom, and with 55 per cent of teachers from the most disadvantaged areas reporting concerns that their students are learning for less than one hour each day, researchers have estimated that disadvantaged students could be facing learning losses of between four and six months.”
Rydal Penrhos has been at the forefront not only regarding COVID-19 safety measures on-site but also with online learning to ensure each pupil still get the most out of their education.
This will be further aided this week by the distribution of free iPads to those year groups who will be unable to come into school during the second lockdown, which will impact their first week back following the half-term break. Teaching staff will also be putting on full online lessons and will be on hand to offer advice and guidance to each pupil throughout the week.
These measures are a further indication of how Rydal Penrhos is adapted exceptionally to an ever-changing situation surrounding COVID-19, going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure each pupils’ potential is maximised.
Art
Department thrives during COVID-19
Mark Sherrington, Head of Art at Rydal Penrhos, lifts the lid on everything going on at the department during the first half term of the academic year.
During the last half of the term at Rydal Penrhos, we have been trying to keep the curriculum and educational experience as strong and broad as possible up here in the Art Department. This has not always been easy in a practical subject that often involves sharing equipment and materials but it has certainly tested our ingenuity and fitness levels!
Mrs Morris and I were both conscious that many of the pupils were desperate to get back into the Art department and make a mess again, experimenting with materials and working on a larger scale and with more freedom than is sometimes possible at home.
We were also very aware that for many, school is often a young person’s only experience of Art and we felt it was vital that we made sure that their education and experience was diminished little by the last year.
We set about planning how we could deliver the same projects, as usual, often having to box up materials and keep them separate for different bubbles, arranging the room differently and learning how to teach without sitting next to a pupil and demonstrate more from the front.
We have both learnt that what you say in your introduction needs to be better or clearer and that an example on the board or demo seems more essential this term.
Year 7 pupil at Rydal Penrhos have been looking thoroughly at our own faces in the mirror, concentrating on how to draw the features of the face, learning new techniques and trying out new materials.
One of the real bonuses of teaching the Year 7 when they come to the senior school is that they seem to have no fear in terms of materials because of course they have had such a good experience with Mr Morris at Rydal Penrhos Prep. We looked at Picasso’s last self-portrait and had a go at doing our own huge versions, using all the skills we had learnt. One of the bonuses of having everyone at a separate desk is that we can do bigger work!
The results so far have been dramatic and the pupils are already showing rigour in their approach.
Mrs Morris has been determined to work large too and has adapted her natural forms project in a similar manner. Unfortunately, we have not been able to follow these through to the active and busy lino printing stage because of the logistics involved with sharing rollers and ink and the numbers involved. We could always revisit that way of working later in the year.
The results however have been some of the best Mrs Morris has ever produced and the work could easily be mistaken for GCSE standard. She chose cream paper to work on so that the pupils could add white later and because it almost works as a mid-tone. As always with Mrs Morris, the range and ways of working were individual and brave.
Year 9 I always feel is an important year in school Art teaching because for many it is their last time doing any formal Art education.
As a result, I was determined the pupils would be both challenged and busy, using still life as our theme. It is usually the time we start pupils really looking and evaluating the standard of their own work ready for success at GCSE. It is a time you can get ahead as an Art teacher by teaching them skills and techniques that mean in Year 10 they are already armed with the skills ready for a good grade at GCSE.
I set about teaching them basic measuring and drawing techniques as well as challenging them by suggesting they try drawing the “negative “space or the air rather than the objects.
Then the pupils were asked to bring in objects from home and we set up each student with their own stage or still life set up so that social distancing could occur but that the same accuracy and rigour could be maintained from previous years.
We put a grid into their box or stage so that the drawing could be more accurately plotted. It has been hard only being able to “correct” drawings after the pupils have left the studio but the results so far look as strong and as impressive as ever but although it is early days the drawing already look as good if not better than previous years.
Year 10 have made a remarkable start considering the potential setbacks and the work they did during the lockdown period has clearly set them on the right path. We have started a project based on reflection and so far managed a range of drawings and just completed some prints. The future looks very bright for this self-motivated and talented group.
The exam classes have been very busy with the GCSE students working hard on a verity of different projects, all self-generated and with a wide range of media.
Our group of photographers in the lower sixth have probably made the most progress and because it is a small group we have been able to use the darkroom as well as the local environment to fill a whole workbook in one term. They have now been given their own themes to work on over half term and we are excited to see what they will return with.
Lara in Textiles has been working on her massive instillation piece and this is likely to be the talking point of the exhibition in the summer.
Niamh has been working hard on a series of etchings that she intends to use in a creative manner next half of term and Luiza has continued with her nine portraits of her peer group which she intends to hang in a large long line. Harry has continued to knock out a canvas or final piece a week using landscape as his theme. He has recently produced a series of monoprints but may well return to painting for his final exhibition pieces.
All in all a very busy and productive half of the term. I am delighted we have been able to maintain most of what we would normally do in the first half of the September term and even more pleased that the standard and amount of work has not dropped and in some cases has improved!
This half term period will be a time to regroup but perhaps redouble our efforts next half of term so that all our pupils, but especially our exam pupils, are in a secure and strong position for the new year, whatever that may bring.
Mark Sherrington
Head of Art - Rydal Penrhos
Forest School
Pre-Prep continue to benefit from sessions
Some of Rydal Penrhos' youngest learners are continuing to benefit from a highly successful outdoor education initiative despite the current COVID-19 measures.
Each member of the Rydal Penrhos Prep School community has adjusted tremendously well to learning in a socially distanced manner thanks to the sterling work put in by the school's exceptional staff team, who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that learning experiences and development remain unaltered during this uncertain time.
This includes the continuation of Forest School sessions, which are a fantastic way of boosting additional skills and communication in a fun, safe and happy environment that children might not necessarily get from the classroom.
This has been particularly evident in the Pre-Prep department, who took part in two exciting sessions prior to the half-term break which coincided with their classroom topics.
Year 1 and 2 have been exploring the human senses -and started with the sense of smell - which involved them walking around the picturesque Forest School site situated on the Rydal Penrhos campus looking for things of a "smelly" nature.
According to Prep School head Lucy Davies, they found some "pretty smelly things", with the year groups taking their findings back into a lesson environment to discuss further.
Reception class children also got the opportunity to enhance their learning at the Forest School facility and their topic was on Bears.
They found out about a Bear's habitat, which is normally in the woodland area, before getting creative under the supervision of staff to create their very own Bear Caves to round off another hugely productive half term from the enthusiastic pupils.
Rydal Penrhos Forest School makes use of our unique woodland setting to promote an innovative approach to outdoor learning.
DofE
Silver Award hopefuls complete practice expedition
Pupils on the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award got some valuable experience ahead of an upcoming milestone.
The candidates at Rydal Penrhos have shown exemplary effort during the first few weeks of the academic year as they look to attain their Silver Awards, which is one step below a prestigious Gold accolade that also results in a trip to a royal venue in a special presentation ceremony.
Due to COVID-19 measures across the country preventing the pupils from taking part in their usual excursions, they did manage to fit in their practice expedition prior to the local lockdown, which took place in the heart of Snowdonia and was led by the school’s passionate Duke of Edinburgh programme leader, Dr Jim Lewis.
Despite weather being less than kind to the contingent on the first day, they split into two groups and hiked from Dolgarrog to the Ogwen Valley, tackling remote bogs and mires, mist and driving rain.
Each pupil showed tremendous resilience throughout day one of the expedition, building key skills such as teamwork and communication in the process.
Fortunately for staff and pupils alike, the weather was much sunnier on Sunday for their final day of trekking, which allowed them to take in the picturesque landscape and changing autumnal colours of the woods before finishing off a very successful expedition in Betws-y-Coed.
This will stand them in good stead ahead of the Silver qualifying expedition in the coming months, which will be held in a safe environment once coronavirus pandemic restrictions are relaxed.
Rydal Penrhos has had a significant amount of success from its Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme in recent years, with many pupils going on to achieve the Gold standard.
The school is a DofE Directly Licensed Centre and offers all three levels of the Award, beginning with Bronze in Year 9, continuing on to Silver in Years 10 & 11, and culminating with the prestigious Gold Award in Years 12 & 13.
