54 Education


THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 30 2015


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Golden ticket to Palace for Eilish and Alastair Pupils get into film at Stepaside


Film Club: Stepaside pupils at the new after school club. FILM CLUB at Stepaside School


is now into its second year. Pupils in year six were given the choice in September to enrol in this After School Club. Almost the whole class opted to be part of the club. This national initiative allows the


school to order films which are placed onto a wish list by its own pupils. At Stepaside C.P. School, the club runs fortnightly with the


screening


of the chosen film and then pupils are encouraged to write reviews on the ‘Into Film’ website. also


opportunities


Gold award: Eilish John and Alastair Davies with their Duke of Edinburgh certificates TWO former Ysgol Bro Gwaun


pupils have been awarded their Gold Duke of Edinburgh awards. Eilish John and Alastair Davies were among hundreds of young achievers from across the UK, who attended a recent award ceremony at St James’s Palace in London. Eilish, who is a former Head Girl


and Alastair, a former Deputy Head Boy, achieved their awards through the school and Duke of Edinburgh Pembrokeshire. At St James’s Palace they were with their


presented prestigious


Gold award by the awards patron and founder - HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke spoke highly of the


recipients’ achievements while Welsh actress Ruth Jones (Nessa from Gavin and Stacey) presenting them with their certificates. Eilish and Alastair - who are both from Goodwick - worked through the five sections of the D of E programme over two years, culminating in a final week-long expedition at Lochaber, Scotland in August 2013. Both


students experienced a


lot of fun while taking part in the programme’s activities, as well as gaining


valuable experience and


improving their self confidence. They would like to thank Ysgol Bro Gwaun and Duke of Edinburgh Pembrokeshire for their support and guidance throughout the whole award programme – from Bronze, through Silver to Gold.


After leaving school last July,


Eilish is now studying Biomedical Science at Cardiff University, while Alastair is studying Earth Science at Durham University.


Year 4 girls excel at swimming finals SIX year four Pembrokeshire


school girls excelled at the National Urdd swimming finals, held at the Cardiff National pool on Saturday January 24. Caera Lewis from Pembroke Dock


Community School won gold in the breast


stroke, Rhiannon


from Solva Community school, took silver in the backstroke


Clapham and


Nia


Llewellyn from Ysgol Glan Cleddau Haverfordwest, won 2 bronze medals in the freestyle and butterfly. Nia was also in two of Glan


Cleddau relay teams, who along with Clarisse Wrathall, Enfys Griffiths and Catrin Edwards, won two silver medals in the freestyle and Medley relays.


Also a special mention needs to be given to Élan Roberts from Ysgol Glan Cleddau, who was part of the original freestyle relay team who unfortunately could not make the finals.


Pembrokeshire schools are really proud of the girls achievements, managing to win a medal in all of the events in their age group. Go girls!


Left to right: Nia Llewellyn, Caera Lewis, Rhiannon Clapham for free


There are cinema


screenings and film making workshops at school. Mrs Williams, film club organiser at the school said: “We have


been able to watch and review a wide variety of films including some that young people would not normally get to see. We have tried to include different genres and also films in different languages.


This club gives the youngsters opportunities to widen their viewing habits and gives them a purpose and an audience for their writing.” Mr Harries headteacher said: ‘The Film Club is a very worthwhile after school club and we are very grateful to Mrs Williams for running it.


School, we are currently running many after school clubs including ukelele, fitness, football, science, drama, tag rugby and netball.”


Younsters review education A GROUP of young people are to


question Pembrokeshire’s education chiefs on their record. PUNC – the Pembrokeshire’s UN Committee of young people - will hold its first hearing into the County Council’s progress on children’s rights to education next month.


The hearing will be held at the


Merlin Theatre, Haverfordwest on February 4. The


Councillor


youngsters will Sue


Perkins, Member for Safeguarding


question Cabinet and


Children's Services and Kate Evan- Hughes, Director of Children and Schools, on a recent Council report on achievements in education and areas for improvement.


will


Following the hearing PUNC publish its own report


and


recommendations. formally


Pembrokeshire County Council signed up to


the United


Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in March last year. The most widely adopted human


rights treaty, UNCRC is a list of rights for children, to be safe, free from discrimination


and protected from


harm, and to have their views taken into account.


Pembrokeshire is one of a few


local areas to adopt the UNCRC and to establish a committee of young people to oversee progress.


It has also set up a Children and


Young People’s Rights Office to further develop this work. PUNC will review the Council’s progress every year on a particular theme relating to children’s rights.


Plaid's concern at snail’s pace improvement ESTYN'S annual report has found


that standards in primary schools have declined this year and significant challenges remain, says Plaid Cymru. It identifies the importance of building the capacity of the education workforce for effective implementation of key Welsh Government policies such as the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, the Foundation Phase and the new National Curriculum.


Shadow Education, Skills and


Welsh Language Minister for the Party of Wales Simon Thomas commented: “One key challenge highlighted by Estyn is to improve pupils’ numeracy skills. Standards in primary schools have declined this year and, in many cases, this was due to weaknesses in pupils’ numeracy skills. It is a concern that Estyn


teaching is the


has found “too many teachers lack the appropriate mathematical knowledge to exploit opportunities to develop pupils’ numeracy skills.” “Excellent


most


effective way to raise standards in the classroom which is why the Welsh Government has to invest in comprehensive training for teachers and support staff.” “A Plaid Cymru government would cut red tape to enable teachers to focus on teachers and head-teachers to focus on leading on education standards. This would include looking into bringing professional managers in to deal with the administrative functions head-teachers currently undertake and building the status of the profession.”


At Stepaside C P


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