On Feb 13th, a group of 37 yr 12 students will be heading “Stateside” for a cultural visit to New York and Washington DC over the half-term break. The students will be accompanied by Mr R Jones (Learning Leader – Year 12) and Mr D Thomas, Mrs K Wall, Mr R Williams and Miss S Selby. In New York, the group will visit the Empire State Building, go on a boat trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, ice skating in Central Park and many more places of interest. The group will travel to Washington DC, via Philadelphia, where they will visit attractions such as the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian Institute. The group will experience American culture by attending an ice hockey game between the Washington Caps v Montreal canadians. No trip to NY and DC would be complete without the opportunity to explore the range of shopping on offer! The trip is expected to be a fantastic experience for all students who are going.
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Plenty of wood on the fire, good food, poetry, prose and music made for a memorable weekend in a converted cow shed in West Wales. Twenty year 12 students took part in a weekend of creative writing workshops, run by the English Department, which culminated in a open mike evening on the Saturday. Everyone took part and we were treated to performances which included comedy stand ups, poetry readings, dramatic monologues and improvisation activities well past midnight. A great weekend all round, which we’ll certainly be repeating!
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Year 12 and 13 flew to Glasgow on Thursday Jan 29th in preparation for the 2009 County and Welsh Championships. They had an action packed programme of city tours, leisure activities topped by a netball tournament on the Saturday. Strathclyde University, our hosts, were outstanding in the planning of our tour and in the welcome that we received. We have offered a return visit to Swansea to extend the same welcome here.
The Netball was also a total success with all fourteen players playing in at least two of the games with an unbeaten record in all four matches. Our toughest opposition was Strathclyde themselves who we watched clinch the Scottish University top spot earlier that day against Edinburgh University. Olchfa 1st team beat Strathclyde 18 – 15. A combined Olchfa 1st and 2nd team then won convincingly against Caledonian University and Glasgow County B Under 17 teams. The scores were 11 – 8 and 18 – 4 respectively. For the final game to clinch the tournament Olchfa A team took to the court to play Glasgow A team and they won the game 18 – 5 .
As coach and 6th form Director I was so proud of these girls. Most of their preparation had happened prior to Christmas as they were heavily involved in January exams. They have put a tremendous amount of time and heartache into playing Netball on a Monday night in the Swansea senior league. It is a fiercely competitive environment where they have had to suffer significant defeats. Their wisdom and strength of character to learn from these heavy defeats will have a tremendous influence on their ability to cope with pressure, not just on the netball court but in a whole variety of tough environments. Well done ladies you have done yourselves, your families and your school very proud.
Can I also extend a huge thank you to Glenda Dowdell who assisted me on the weekend. The time she gave up and good care offered to the whole party was really appreciated. Our next plans are for a Caribbean tour, probably a return visit to Jamaica. Watch this space !
Bev Ryan
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Following the recent success of the Year 12 Oxjam, we are pleased to announce the charity committee raised close to £500 through a combination of ticket and cake sales. A number of bands made the line-up, giving lower and upper school a chance to work and perform together.
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Before Christmas 8DP raised £165 for the Oxfam Unwrapped campaign. With this money, the form decided to buy:
i) a camel
ii) mosquito nets
iii) home improvements
iv) safe water for 12 people.
All of the gifts will help some of the poorest people in the developing world. Thanks to all who supported their campaign.
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It was great to see a group of Olchfa pupils from Sketty Park arranging an intergenerational bowls match between themselves and the local team at the community centre.
You can read the report from the Evening Post here
Well done to all those involved!
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