The Spring term will bring a renewed focus on preparing for assessments that contribute to qualifications. Pupils at St Cenydd access a range of GCSE, Vocational and A level qualifications. Each of these has their own form of assessment. Pupils will not only sit formal exams in the summer term but may also have non examined assessments to complete throughout the year. Non examined assessment (NEA) can take many forms for example practical assessments in Design Technology and PE, speaking assessments in English, Welsh or French or written assessments such as Geography field work. These NEA tasks have already started and will be finished in the coming months. In some cases, they can contribute up to 60% of the total qualification, so it is vital that pupils achieve their best in these to secure the highest possible grade in their final qualification.

It's important that all pupils to understand how they are going to be assessed and the rules that exam boards set for those undertaking their qualifications. There are several useful documents on the school website under the exams page that deal with this. Teachers have already outlined the guidance for these different types of assessment, and it is vital that your child follows this advice. For pupils in year 11 and the Sixth form there are mock exams in January which will help to prepare them for their final exams in May.

As we approach the exams, we will be placing more emphasis on revision in lessons and assemblies. There are shortcuts to some excellent free resources on the school website under the revision page. These include BBC bitesize which now has exam board specific resources. In almost all cases your child will be sitting WJEC qualifications at GCSE and A Level. This ensures that they are covering the correct topics and assessment objectives. There is also access to the Power up Wales site which provides qualification specific resources and more general links to careers and wider advice. We always place a firm emphasis on personal wellbeing for pupils sitting exams. We have placed links to resources from Young Minds which are an excellent source of advice. There are also support pages for parents/carers who’d like advice on supporting their child through their exams. Please take the opportunity to track your child’s progress on their reports via Go4Schools and please attend their parent/carer evening to discuss with their teachers how you can best support them as they prepare for their next assessment.

The start of the 2024 academic year has been a very exciting term for our scholars. In September, we launched our two separate Scholars groups during registration.  Key Stage 3 Scholars are working hard to plan for the future by exploring career pathways through the SEREN programme. Key Stage 4 Scholars are busy thinking about their choices and pathways after their GCSEs. 

September saw the launch of our registration spotlight resource which aims to provide enrichment opportunities and discussions during registration. Tutors are given a menu of activities to choose from all linked to a common theme. Some of the themes covered this term include: second hand September, European Day of Languages and Remembrance. 

In October, we launched our first St Cenydd scholars competition. We asked students to submit a piece of creative work based on one of the themes they had explored in registration. We were blown away by the talent that was showcased in these entries!

The top 5 entries were:

• Cariad Chamberlain (Y10)

• Eva Hurley-Williams (Y9)

• Grace Finch (Y8)

• Layla Green (Y7)

• Prabh Kaur (Y9)

In November, our competition winners, along with ten other scholars, attended a rewards trip to Cardiff. This was the perfect opportunity to celebrate their hard work and creativity. They visited Cardiff Museum to learn about art and activism and then had the exciting opportunity to attend a Senedd meeting at Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay. Students bumped into Hefin David who said he would like to come in and work with the pupil Senedd at St Cenydd. 

Across the autumn term, a group of scholars have been taking part in the Leadership for Change programme run by The Economist. Students had the opportunity to listen to talks from industry experts and come up with their own project which they pitched to the judges. Huge congratulations to Rosie Mantle and Tegan Jennings-Lewis who made the top 10 shortlist for their project around creating safe spaces for girls in schools. 

In the new year, we are looking forward to welcoming a PhD tutor from The Brilliant Club to work with a small group of Year 7 and 8 students. We will also be taking part in the Topical Talk festival for the second year. Two of our scholars have also pitched their ideas for a school newspaper - we look forward to seeing their first publication in the new year!

Attendance is the key to success at St Cenydd. Missing school is missing out, as days missed can have a significant impact on your child's progress. We have a dedicated attendance team, who work with the wider pastoral team to monitor people attendance across the school. We also work in partnership with the Education Welfare Service at CCBC. 

Improving attendance is a strategic priority for the school and we secured an above average increase last year. This year we will be using staged interventions for pupils who's attendance remains a concern. 

We are always keen to work with families to overcome any barriers that prevent regular attendance at school. Even the odd day of absence across a year can significantly affect your child's overall attendance. Sometimes illness can impact attendance, and where absence is unavoidable for genuine reasons we rely on good communication with families. We work with a range of outside organisations to help pupils with more complex issues reintegrate into school. 

If you'd like to discuss your child's attendance, then please contact their Head of Year in the first instance. Mr Dickinson oversees attendance in all year groups.

CCBC have further information on school attendance here.

As you will have seen earlier in the week, pupil absence can be reported using the classcharts app after half term. Below are the instructions on how to do so:

• Open Classcharts app

• Click on the child you are reporting absent (if multiple children at school)

• Click on Report Absence found in green tab at the top of the page and then select Report New Absence

• Enter date of absence

• Provide reason for absence

• Submit

• When reporting absence for more than one child please click on the second child and repeat the process above.

If you are currently unable to access Classcharts, please continue to report your child’s absence by telephone - 02920 852504.

Parent/Carer Classcharts accounts

All parents/carers have been invited to join, and should have access to Classcharts for Parents. For those parents/carers who have not yet used Classcharts a Parent Access Code was emailed home in early September. If you require the Parent Access Code again, please contact the school.

Instructions for Parents to login to Classcharts for the first time:

• Open www.classcharts.com/parent/login

• Enter your email address

• Choose ‘I don’t have an account yet’

• Enter your parent access code and name

• Choose a password

• Click Log-in!

More information regarding attendance and punctuality can be found here.

Class Charts has become our main channel for communicating information to parents and carers. You will be able to use Class Charts to keep track of your child’s behaviour, view attendance records, access their weekly timetable, track scheduled detentions and view announcements from the school.

If you have more than one child, you can access Class Charts information about your children from a single, centralised parent account.

Class Charts for parents and carers can be accessed through Class Charts iOS and Android apps. If you haven't already done so please download the app and set up your account. You should have received a Parent Code from the school to set up your Class Charts parent account. Please contact reception if you haven't received a code, but please be aware that we can only email the code to the designated contact on our system. Please ensure that any changes to contact details (email / mobile numbers / emergency contacts) are kept up to date and shared with the school.

This parent account quick start guide provides further information on how to set up and use your account (please note that not all the features in the guide are enabled). 

You will have also seen that you will be able to use Class Charts to report pupil absence from November onwards. Please see the instructions below on how to report your child's absence.

• Open Classcharts app

• Click on the child you are reporting absent (if multiple children at school)

• Click on Report Absence found in green tab at the top of the page and then select Report New Absence

• Enter date of absence

• Provide reason for absence

• Submit

• When reporting absence for more than one child please click on the second child and repeat the process above.

If you are currently unable to access Classcharts, please continue to report your child’s absence by telephone - 02920 852504.

Parent/Carer Classcharts accounts

All parents/carers have been invited to join, and should have access to Classcharts for Parents. For those parents/carers who have not yet used Classcharts a Parent Access Code was emailed home in early September. If you require the Parent Access Code again, please contact the school.

Instructions for Parents to login to Classcharts for the first time:

• Open www.classcharts.com/parent/login

• Enter your email address

• Choose ‘I don’t have an account yet’

• Enter your parent access code and name

• Choose a password

• Click Log-in!