On Friday year 12 geographers visited Mewslade Bay as part of their topic on Glaciated Landscapes.

The trip started with a ‘near-miss’ as Mr Todd, driving the school minibus dropped us off and left before we’d gathered our clipboards and equipment. Luckily, he returned a few minutes later.

The trip began with a 1/2 mile walk down Mewslade Valley from Pitton Cross. Here, students gained a good vantage point to observe the asymmetrical dry valley at Mewslade and learnt about how it formed during the last Ice Age. Next the students learnt about the formation of the scree slope at Mewslade and conducted a series of surveys to explore its structure and the role of freeze-thaw weathering. Students descended the scree slopes measuring the size and roundness of scree ‘clasts’ as well as the percentage of vegetation coverage. They will present these finding in class using a range of graphs and charts and use them to answer a series of research questions.

Following the scree survey, we ate packed lunches sat on the bank in the sunshine before walking, or rather ‘slipping’, our way along the 2mile stretch of coastal path to Rhossili, where we were collected.

Thanks to all the students involved who were keen and enthusiastic throughout, to Mr Todd for driving the minibus and to Nick Felstead, Lecturer in Physical Geography at Swansea University, who helped us out on the day too.

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Harri Williams in Year 7 wrote to Swansea City Council to ask if we could have a mobile skate park in the school or local community as he felt that it would be fun for him and the other pupils. This letter explains about the important of making pupils more active. Swansea City Council replied and told him how impressed they were with the letter (see attached) and put  him in contact with Jenna Thomas (5×60 officer) who has organised for the mobile skate park to come into MCS after school.

Last night 6 boys completed a trial session using the mobile skate park at the back of the school. This was something that they thoroughly enjoyed and is going to happen again next week for Year 8 pupils. Thanks to Harri’s letter the 5×60 officer is hoping to offer the mobile skate park on a weekly basis.

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We are pleased to announce that the Morriston Comprehensive Advent Calendar will begin on Tuesday 1st December.

 Every pupil in registration at 8.40 will receive a raffle ticket and will write their name and form on it.

 Form captains will then collect the raffle tickets and deliver them to the Wellbeing office – each year group will have a designated box.

 There will be a draw at 2.45pm each day and one lucky pupil from each year group will have a prize delivered to class.

On December 20th all pupils with excellent attendance throughout December will be entered in to a draw.

One pupil from each year group will win a Christmas hamper for their family.

One pupil will also have the chance to win a mystery prize!

There are books that have been recommended that you might like to read and Christmas Book ideas.

Please speak to Ms Butt in English for any more information.

Women of Steel – Girls on Tour: 12th November 2020

Ashleigh Davies, Caitlyn Alford, Tegan Evans, Divine N’Gossema, Rhianna Morgan, Caitlin Cooper, Thar Bevan, Megan Adams, Ella Thomas, Madison Turnbull, Madelyn Martell, Kacie- Lee Fyfield, Caitlyn Davies, Chloe Sloan, Tullia Phillips, Chloe- Angel Jamison, Kayla Burman- Evans, Paige Williams, Tabitha Thomas, Lauryn Ford, Natalia Dlugosz and Michaela Alemanno took part in the ‘Women of Steel- Girls on Tour’ event via TEAMS today (12th November 2020).

The event is organised with TATA Steel and The Wave Breakfast show. The girls heard from inspirational women who work in T.V., police, law, news, engineering, fashion and animal parks. The year 9 girls were impressed by their stories and benefited from their career advice and guidance. Inspired from the event, they have excitedly spoken about wanting to go to university and exploring careers based in the media, police, education and fashion.

Dear Parent / Carer,

On Tuesday, the Education Minister made a very important announcement that there will be no end of year exams for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in 2021.

The primary reason for her decision is that, due to COVID-19, the time learners will spend in schools and colleges will vary hugely and, it is impossible to guarantee a level playing field for exams to take place. She also highlighted that many learners are worried about the prospect of taking exams and the pressure they feel under to get through as much course content as possible.

What will replace the summer exams and how will the student’s grades be awarded?

At the present time we have very limited information on the detail of how student grades will be awarded. The information from the minister is;

• Instead of exams, WG and Qualifications Wales intend to work with schools and colleges to take forward teacher-managed assessments.
• These should include assessments that will be externally set and marked, but delivered within a classroom environment under teacher supervision.
• The expectation is that these assessments will form the basis for centre-based outcomes which will be linked to an agreed national approach to provide consistency across Wales.

Welsh Government have stressed that welsh students will not be disadvantaged when applying for or progressing to Higher or Further education. University offers should not change.

What does this mean for my child?

• Welsh Government has made it clear that because there will be no exam period in the summer, the present intention is that Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 students will remain in school throughout the summer term and be taught as normal to the end of the school year in July.
• Students will have continual assessment throughout the rest of the year. This means that now, more than ever, every lesson counts and they need to be working consistently in all their lessons.
• Teacher assessment will play a very big part in the final grades awarded to the student.
• Students will need to ensure that they are in school regularly, any prolonged absences will seriously affect their final grades as they may miss important assessments.
• If there are periods of self-isolation, students need to ensure that they are engaging fully in online learning and working closely with their teachers.

I hope this gives you some clarification on the situation; we will update you further when we receive details from Welsh Government, Qualifications Wales and the examination boards.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Regards,

Mr M Franklin

Headteacher