YSGOL ABERCONWY GOVERNING BODY ANNUAL REPORT TO

YSGOL ABERCONWY GOVERNING BODY

ANNUAL REPORT TO PARENTS: JUNE 2022

The Governing Body consisted of (as of 28.06.22):

LEA Representatives*: Cllr S. Cotton (2015), Dr. B. Bignold (2017), Cllr E. Leighton-Jones (2014).

Parent Governors: Ms C. Ryan (2013), Mr M. Barber (2017), Mr P. Hughes (2014), Mrs K. Bond (2015), Mr M.

Royle (2017), Mr M. Teasdale (2022).

Teacher Governors: Ms J. Hughes (2012) and Mr R. Burrows (2012).

Staff Representative: Mrs J. Meredydd (2015).

Co-opted Members: Mrs P. Hart (2015), Mrs H. Roberts (2016), Mr T. James (2012).

*Please note that at the time of writing LEA representatives are due to be updated following recent local elections.

All governors can be contacted by writing to the clerk to the governors, Miss Lynn Jones at the school.

The Governing Body met as a Full Governing Body on 6 occasions. Committees for Personnel & Finance met on 3 occasions.

The Governing Body determined the budget, the curriculum and the staffing establishment of the school in the light of the

budget

allocation made by Conwy LA. The budget statement is attached. Appendix A.

Individual members of the Governing Body have attended Governor Training sessions. These include: Understanding School

Performance Data. Additional Learning Needs, Looked After Children and Exclusions, Extremism and Radicalisation and School

Development Plans and Safeguarding.

The Governing Body have reviewed and adopted the following policies during 2021/22: Access to Pupil Records, Admissions, Critical

Incidents, Anti-Bullying, Dignity at Work, Capability-Deficiency at Work, Child Protection, Cover for Absent Teachers, Recruitment

and Retention, Drug and Alcohol, Grievance, Initial Teacher Training, Language, Communication and Literacy, Redundancy,

Personnel, Educational Visits, Pupil Attendance, ALN, RSE, Curriculum, Staff Disciplinary, Gifted and Talented, Leave of Absence,

Peer Review, Control and Restraint, Pay, Preventing Extremism and Radicalisation and Gender Identity.

Exam Summary

A summary of the school examination results for 2021 is attached as Appendix B.

The School Curriculum

Our school curriculum is divided into three stages over years 11-18 (National Curriculum Years 7 to 13).

There are 5 lessons per day, each of 60 minutes’ duration. There are 25 lessons in the week. The School’s Curriculum meets the

requirements of the National Curriculum and incorporates policies of the Governing Body and the Conwy Education Authority.

Copies of National Curriculum orders, school policies, and the curriculum statement of Conwy County Borough Education Authority

are available for inspection at the school.

Key Stage 3 – Years 7 to 9

The curriculum for these years is common to all pupils. It builds on learning undertaken in Key Stage 2 in partner primary schools

and develops further the knowledge and skills required for study at Key Stage 4 and beyond.

All pupils study: English, Maths, Science, Welsh, Design Technology, a Modern Foreign Language, Art, Music, Physical Education,

History, Geography, Religious Education, ICT and Personal Social and Health Education. In year 7, a number of subjects combine

to provide some “project based learning” which offers pupils the opportunity to learn in a wider thematic context.

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Starting in September of 2022, year 7 will embark on the new Curriculum for Wales. Pupils will study two projects concurrently for

10 weeks each before moving onto the next two projects. This means through year 7 they will have completed eight projects

across the new areas of learning experience (AOLE).

Key Stage 4 – Years 10 to 11

All pupils continue to follow the core National Curriculum of English, Maths, Science, Welsh, Physical Education, Religious

Education, Personal Social and Health Education and the Welsh Baccalaureate. Pupils also have the opportunity to continue to

choose courses to be

followed in Years 10 and 11.

The Sixth Form Years 12 and 13

A large proportion of Year 11 pupils return to the Ysgol Aberconwy Sixth Form to undertake one- or two-year courses. The

majority

undertake courses which lead to three A level or Btec subjects plus the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate. An extensive range of

courses are offered including courses in

collaboration with other providers. Conwy LINC provides an extensive range of vocational

and non vocational courses in

addition to this.

Pupils with Additional Learning Needs

The Learning Support policy aims to build upon an ‘Inclusive’ approach to meeting the needs of students. Current structures in

place to do this include:

· Learning Support intervention programme.

· Catchup programme for development of literacy and Numeracy skills

· Social Inclusion – Student Support Centre (Hafan)

· Designated In-class support across the curriculum

· Aberconwy Centre for Dyslexia (ABCD)

· ASD Hub ‘Pontio’ offering tool box, reg and lunch club.

· 1:1 and small group support.

· County provision for pupils with ASD (Tegfan)

The ALN register had totals as indicated in the table below for the year 2021-2022 :

Year

School

Action

School

Action Plus

Statement

Totals

140

109

272

The school has started to make the relevant changes in line with the ALN transformation and are on track to move Year 7 and 10

on to the new system by the end of July 2023. The school uses Eclipse which is the software designed to ensure accurate recording

and evidencing of ALN documentation that feed into the new IDPs (Individual development plans) which will replace the old IEPs

(individual education plans).

The new ALN system emphasises increased collaboration, and the importance of providing support and information to ensure that

children, and their families participate as fully as possible in decisions that affect them.

The Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator is Mrs C. Hodgson and the named Governor for Special Educational Needs is Ms C.

Ryan.

Pupils with Disabilities

The needs of pupils with a particular learning need or disability are taken into account in organising and managing the

environment

for learning at Ysgol Aberconwy. Differentiation in the content and method of curriculum delivery for identified

pupils is utilised as

appropriate.

All areas of the school are accessible to disabled students with disabled access points in place. The building is fully DDA

compatible.

A full accessibility plan is available from the school.

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Statement on Welsh Language Provision

Ysgol Aberconwy is an English medium secondary school, with Welsh taught as a second language across all ages and ability ranges.

The school conforms with the requirements of the National Curriculum in Wales and delivers a programme to study Welsh as a

Second Language (Full Course) up to the end of KS4.

Outside formal Welsh lessons, Ysgol Aberconwy aims to ensure an ethos which realises the communicative potential of both

spoken and written Welsh and creates opportunities to emphasize Wales’ heritage. As such, developing a bilingual school

community is a priority.

Pupils have the opportunity to continue to study Welsh as a 1st language up to GCSE level. Lists of good/fluent pupil learners

identified are circulated to encourage all staff to communicate in Welsh in informal situations and staff are encouraged to greet

pupils in Welsh. All house assemblies contain some Welsh language content and the annual Christmas service and musical events

are bilingual. The Welsh language and culture have a particular whole school focus during the annual St David’s Celebration week

with assemblies, activities and competitions.

The school website has a Welsh language option and all parental letters, newsletters, the school promotional material and the

pupil planner are bilingual.

Bilingual signs and posters are displayed prominently around the school, e.g. canteen, main entrance, hall, library etc. and the

Welsh Phrase of the Week is promoted on the pupils’ information screen. Visitors to the school are greeted in Welsh by office

staff.

All pupils that have followed a Welsh medium education in the primary are placed in LLC form groups and are assigned a Welsh

speaking form tutor giving them the opportunity to use the language on a daily basis. A ‘Cic i’r bore’ resource has been developed

for year 7 and 8 registration periods raising awareness of important dates and events on the welsh calendar and increasing the use

of Welsh using a variety of engaging strategies..

The school are about to embark on the ‘Siarter Iaith’ scheme as the pilot secondary school in Conwy. This is designed to further

develop the use of the Welsh language across the school by both pupils and staff as well as in the local community.

Details of arrangements for pupils to participate in sport and extra-curricular sports activities.

Post covid, the school have begun to re-establish the range of sports and activities which are run as lunch-time or after-school

clubs. Activities offered include netball, football, badminton, rugby, dance, athletics, cricket, cross country, 5 a side football (staff

and pupils), tennis and yoga (staff).

The objective of this provision is to provide a wide range of opportunities for students to participate in a wide variety of sports,

gaining the confidence, motivation and fundamental skills to participate and choose to do so.

The school aims to enrich the pupils’ education through a range of curricular and extra-curricular sporting competitions. The

school competes in Welsh National Cups for football and netball. The Rugby side have competed in the Eryri School competition

and there are opportunities for successful pupils to represent Conwy, Eryri and Welsh Schools through leagues and competitions.

School teams are entered for boys and girls football, rugby, netball, cross country and athletics.

Ysgol Aberconwy have had a particularly successful sporting year:

• Athletics – 7 students represented the Conwy schools at the Eryri Championships, with Rocco Castellanos (Year 10) and

Jacob Edghill (Year 12) winning, and going off to represent Eryri at the Welsh School Championships in July.

o Jacob Edghill – Won Gold in the Welsh U17 Long Jump championships in June 2021.

o Alfie Shiland – Won Gold in the Welsh U13 800m and Bronze in the 1500m at the Welsh championships in June

2021.

• Cross Country – Louie Orton Davies, Mabel Orton Davies & Alfie Shiland all represented Eryri Schools at the Welsh

Championships in Feb 2022.

• Football – All school years entered into the Welsh cup with varying success. The girls U14 team, reached the ¼ finals.

o Sophie Rawling - Represented the Welsh U17s in the European Championship Qualifiers in Sweden. She also

represented Wales U16s in their UEFA Development Campaign

o Harrison Shone – Welsh Regional Development Squad and represented Conwy Schools Football.

• Karate – Macey Williams Represented Wales in Croatia in June 2022.

• Equestrian – Maddison Maguire qualified for the Royal International HOYS in 2022.

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• Cricket – Shana Kelly has played a variety of fixtures for Wales Cricket against English Counties and International fixtures.

• Boxing – Luke Corcoran has represented Wales in various bouts during this academic year.

• Hockey – Lucian Barnett has represented the Welsh Hockey side, and will be soon travelling to Switzerland to represent

the national side in the Summer of 2022.

• Triathlon – Ewan has been selected for the Welsh under 15s Triathlon team to represent Wales in August 2022.

• Swimming –

o Ewan Leonard – Won 2 Gold medal, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze at the 2022 Welsh Junior Championships in April 2022.

o Martha Jones, Lucas Thomas & Enzo-Shiland Griffiths– Qualified to compete at the Welsh Championships in

April 2022.

Healthy Eating and Well-being

Ysgol Aberconwy’s IACH Health and Well-being provisions are widely regarded as a

model of best practice. We were one of the very first schools to employ a health and

well-being lead and since then we have responded to the health and well-being needs

and behaviours of both our whole school student and staff body. We favour a

preventative approach to our work and the 5 ways to well-being is at the heart of

everything that we do. Student groups such as the IACH group, school council and

sports ambassadors also lead strategic health campaigns that address specific health

needs of specific year or social groups.

The Youth Sport Trust has selected Ysgol Aberconwy as one of only 9 schools across the whole of United Kingdom that represents

what they regard to be a ‘Well School’. We are extremely proud to be the only school in Wales to be awarded this pilot school

status. We currently have researchers from Manchester University working with students and staff to identify how other schools

could model our journey towards becoming a ‘Well School’.

We were also selected as one of a very small number of schools in North Wales to trial the Welsh Government’s ‘Whole School

Approach to Mental and Emotional Health’. Mr Rhydian Jones (Health and Well-being lead) was the first teacher to be trained as a

Mental Health First Aid Instructor. He has since trained and accredited 52 Conwy council and Ysgol Aberconwy teaching and non-

teaching staff members as Mental Health First Aiders. All year 7 students have been trained as mini-mental health first aiders as

well as ‘Restart a Heart’ physical first aiders during their PBL (project based learning) health project.

Ysgol Aberconwy is the first secondary school in Wales to be awarded the ‘Corporate Health Standard’ for our IACH intervention

work with our school staff. The assessors were extremely complimentary about how staff well-being was given such a priority at

Ysgol Aberconwy and how our IACH programme was focal to our school priorities and was apparent in our whole school ethos.

We have presented our IACH work at the Public Health Wales National Conference in Cardiff as well as to all of Conwy’s secondary

and primary schools’ healthy schools representatives. We share our health and well-being work with our primary feeder schools so

that there are consistent messages about what a healthy and balanced lifestyle looks like. The PBL IACH project that is taught to all

our year 7 students teaches the importance of a holistic approach to the equal importance of My Body (Physical Health), My Life

(Social Health) and My Mind (Mental Health). Ysgol Aberconwy has also featured as an International School Health Research

Network Case study school of best practice.

Students and staff have presented our PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) and Relationship Sexuality Education program

at national PIXL (Partners in Excellence) conferences in Cardiff. We have also shared this work at Erasmus conferences where the

previous Children Commissioner, Sally Holland praised: ““Young people, parents and employers all recognise that education

should be about more than just qualifications … so it’s really encouraging that this programme recognises and develops the

talents, interests and rights of all students at Ysgol Aberconwy”

We are preparing for the top tier of The Healthy Schools programme. School assessments have restarted this year and we look

forward to welcoming the National Quality Award assessors to Ysgol Aberconwy during the next academic year.

The new curriculum allows us the opportunity to further develop our IACH, PSHE and RSE provisions and we are very excited about

the prospect of introducing swimming, trampolining, indoor/outdoor cooking and forest schools into our curriculum offer for next

year!

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Community Fundraising

Ysgol Aberconwy’s fundraising appeals continue to go from strength to strength. Last year we raised a school record £3,107

towards Children in Need. Joshua, one of our year 7 students, even managed to raise £320 himself by cycling all the way up to the

summit of Snowdon!

Our 6

form chose the UNICEF Ukraine appeal as our other charity appeal this year. They successfully raised £2000 via bake sales

and their own personal GoFundme pages. We are confident of exceeding £3500 once the funds from the ‘6

form versus Staff

Challenges’ and the whole school sponsored walk are totalled.

In addition to these appeals we have established a strong partnership with Conwy Foodbank with regular appeals and collections.

We have also partnered with the Church in Conwy with over 30 of our most in need families benefitting from monthly ‘Bags of

Love’ food hampers being delivered to their door. We have student and staff volunteers that help with the food packing,

distribution and who raise funds to ensure the continued success of this invaluable scheme.

Confucius Classroom

The school’s programme funded by the Chinese Government allows pupils in the school to study

Mandarin and Chinese culture. A

teacher is provided by the Chinese Government. Local Primary Schools also benefit from the

facility.

Term Dates 2022 – 2023

AUTUMN TERM 2022

*Staff Training Days

*01/09/2022

*02/09/2022

Term Start

05/09/2022

Half Term Close

28/10/2022

Half Term Open

07/11/2022

*Staff Training Day

*23/12/2022

End of Term

23/12/2022

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

SPRING TERM 2023

*Staff Training Day

*09/01/2023

Term Start

10/01/2023

Half Term Close

17/02/2023

Half Term Open

27/02/2023

End of Term

31/03/2023

EASTER HOLIDAYS

SUMMER TERM 2023

*Staff Training Days

*03/07/2023

Term Start

17/04/2023

May Day

01/05/2023

Half Term Close

26/05/2023

Half Term Open

05/06/2023

End of Term

20/07/2023

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Toilets

The school has extensive toilet facilities maintained to a very high standard by the PFI contractor. Its new block, designed in

consultation with the school council, provides a high quality easily supervised, open access toilet facility that has proved very

popular with pupils.

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Budget Update

Outturn

2020-21

2021-22

Staff Costs

3,908,286

4,200,544

Premises

668,397

654,356

Transport

-4,323

13,779

Supplies & Services

544,796

657,376

Total Net Expenditure

5,117,156

5,526,055

Total Resources available

5,295,071

5,845,505

Reserves carried forward

177,915

319,450

Resources

2020-21

2021-22

Reserves brought forward

38,451

177,915

Pre 16 Allocation

4,339,006

4,565,507

Post 16 Allocation

585,735

590,489

EIG Allocation

56,772

63,075

Professional Learning Grant

14,100

24,171

Other Grants

261,007

424,348

Total Resources available

5,295,071

5,845,505

Total Net Expenditure

5,117,156

5,526,055

Reserves carried forward

177,915

319,450

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Destinations Information

Destination of Year 11 (2020 – 21)