After which, Eva Rose will also require intensive physiotherapy to build the muscles in her legs, as she wants to walk, run and play with her twin sister Grace Sophia and big sister Olivia.

At St. Michael’s school, pupils are encouraged to be aware of others less fortunate than themselves, be it locally or on a global scale.

Mrs Davies (Headteacher) was so impressed with Prep 4 pupil Macy (shown right) in her determination to help the ‘Eva Rose’ charity, that the school helped her to put her plans into action. The next account is in Macy’s own words:

Why I wanted to support Eva Rose – by Macy (Prep 4)

‘My sister was running a marathon for Eva Rose and I saw the video clip on YouTube. It made me feel sad for the little girl as her dream was to walk.

I went to Mrs Davies to see how we could help her and raise some money for her operation in America.

I decided to arrange a sponsored walk in school and a cake stall. I asked all the Prep 4 girls if they would help me and they were glad to help.

I arranged that, on the day we would sell; mocktails, cakes, bracelets, craft items and bits and bobs.

This proved to be very popular with all the children and we were all so grateful for everyone’s support.

I’m looking forward to finding out how much we’ve raised at the end of next week. I’ll keep you posted.’

We are all very proud of Macy and Prep 4 for their efforts, and are looking forward to an update!

UPDATE: The Prep raised £1031.60. Well done to all involved!

As expected this was to be a stylish affair, a fancy dress theme meant classmates got together to come up with some spectacular costumes, once again impressing staff with their effort and enthusiasm.

These events were marked with an awards ceremony.

Some of the light hearted awards included; ‘pupil most likely to become Prime Minister’ and ‘pupil most likely to marry into the royal family’. These awards were received to great applause by their fellow pupils.

Other awards had a greater message to convey, such as, faculty awards; William Isenschmid and Georgia Davies were presented with music ties for their continuous effort and commitment to the Music Department.

The “unsung hero” award. This year was awarded to Taylor Rees for being such a gentleman. This was presented to Taylor for being the pupil considered to be the most hard working and pleasant pupil in Form 5. Taylor is pictured below, appropriately dressed as Spiderman, with his classmates, the Avatars, Incredible Hulk and a Mexican.

It was a fun but emotional afternoon and a fitting way to end Year 11. Heartfelt thanks go to all the staff in orchestrating this event, with a special mention to Miss Jackson, Head of Form 5.

We eagerly look forward to pupils returning to us in September, with a string of excellent GCSE results and to continue their academic journey in the sixth form.

The pupils were given an introductory tour and were invited into the recording studio during the live on air broadcast of Phil Hoyles Morning Show.

One Prep four pupil, Priyanka Kaushal, had her voice heard by thousands as Phil Hoyles invited her to read the traffic and travel news live.  Priyanka impressed Phil Hoyles by delivering a flawless performance, speaking with confidence and expertise, for someone so young.

Photo: Priyanka Kaushal Prep 4.

Pupils later spent a session in a recording studio. The aim was to produce their own broadcast. This included news items relating to their school, local news, a weather report and the item which caused the most discussion – the music playlist.

The pupils then received a master class in professional editing. Pupils witnessed the editing out of any slight pauses and errors during the recording, until what was left was a seamless link of their own professional broadcasting material.

Photo : In the studio recording St. Michael’s 30 second advert. Jack Howard F3 and Amy Strelley F5.

The day did not end there. Following lunch pupils were invited, under the careful supervision and guidance of one of the studio’s top marketing experts, to create their own advert for St Michael’s. Material and ideas from this session would then be used in a final radio advertising campaign for the school.

During this process two pupils – Jack Howard F3, and Amy Strelley F5, demonstrated such confidence on air, according the the experts, showed such ‘great potential’, that they were selected to record the final advert.

Just before leaving, the orchestrator of this event, Mrs Kim Nicholas, our current Head of Music, grabbed a last opportune moment to have a celebrity photo with the radio DJs of the moment – ‘Badger’ and Mark Powell. A fitting end.

Photo: ‘Badger’, Mark Powell, Amy Strelly F5, Mrs Kim Nicholas, Head of Music and Jack Howard F3.

“An excellent, informative and productive day.”

Quote of the day: “Miss, can St. Michael’s have it’s own Radio Station?”

Thank you to all St. Michael’s School Council for taking part, and as always representing St. Michael’s in a positive and respectful manner.

Listen for yourself: Play Audio File Now >>.

What do you think? Also listen out for it again on The Wave, in the future.

On the 2nd of February 2013 St Michael’s school set off for Austria. We went on a coach for 25 hours, after lots of stops, mainly for food, we finally arrived at the hotel near Flachau. The drivers unloaded the coach and we were organised into rooms. We were not seen for two hours as we were exhausted from the tiring journey. After a good night’s sleep it was time to get ready for the first day on the slopes.

For five days it was an early start for the young skiers. Moaning and groaning we filed into the coach one by one, but there was always an air of excitement once everyone had finally woken up. Looking up towards the slope, nobody could see the mountain peaks on the first day as it was snowing heavily. We were separated into groups: advanced, higher intermediate, lower intermediate and beginner. After a long session of snapping on boots and ducking under skis, everyone was ready to go.

We skied through the mountains, soaking in the breath-taking sights that could be seen whilst curving around bends on blue and red slopes, trying not to fall off the side of the mountain. It was exhilarating. After five hours of skiing we trouped back to the buses to then be driven back to the hotel to get ready for our evening activities. The activities consisted of swimming, bowling, tubing and karaoke. Tubing involved shooting down a bob-sleigh run at terrific speeds on a rubber tyre. There was a lot of screaming.

A number of memorable events happened during some of the activities such as a snowball fight with the locals, Mrs Francis and Mrs Dow having a ‘bowl-off’ in the final of the bowling tournament (where Mrs Francis won!) and someone being knocked off their feet by a flying tyre. BUT the most hilarious event that took place was at the karaoke bar where Mr Rees, Mrs Francis and Mrs Dow sang their hearts out to ‘American Pie’.

During dinner after each ski day, three hats were awarded to three people who had made an idiot out of themselves during the day. Some examples of idiotic events were getting stuck on a chair lift and then not being able to communicate with an Austrian bus driver (*cough* Mrs Dow *cough*); skiing into a tree, dropping a pole AND a ski on the same chair lift and sprinkling sugar all over a plate of chips (by accident).

My personal highlight of the week was seeing all the teachers singing to ‘American Pie’.

We’d like to thank Mr Rees, Mrs Dow and Mrs Francis for taking us on another wonderful skiing holiday ☺

By Kinzah Khan and Sam Woodnut

Experience 6th Form life at St. Michael’s School and participate in a range of challenging A Level based activities.

Meet teachers and current pupils and discover the advantages of A Level study at St. Michael’s, Wales’ top performing GCSE and A Level school.

If you would like to attend the 6th Form Evening please contact our school secretary Ms. Phillipa Chappell in reception for further details on (+44) 01554 820 325 or email us at office@stmikes.co.uk.

They were given a safety talk from Matt the group leader and then as a team they set off to climb their very first rock face. It was important they all worked as a team, one feeding the safety rope into a safety bucket and another keeping the rope taut. They soon got the hang of using their hands and legs to shimmy up the rock face, it proved scary at first but with lots of encouragement from those watching below most of the group made it to the top. Then they were told they had to go back down the same way they had climbed up!

This did involve a lot of trust and teamwork to walk backwards down the rock face just hanging from a rope. Indeed, some of the girls were scared at first but soon found it was great fun and as one of the boys said, ‘amazing’.

After a well-earned packed lunch everyone got dressed in overalls and kitted out with safety helmets, wellingtons and headlamps to go pot holing. Our intrepid explorers approached the opening of the cave with caution through the cold flowing fresh water and into the darkness of one of Europe’s largest cave systems.

They scrambled up and over wet boulders further through the tunnels of the cavern.  Managing to stand upright and then they were told to be able to go further on their journey they had to be posted like a parcel through a small crevice in the rocks to continue their trail. Most of the group were small enough to be posted through and there is a great photo taken deep underground, showing the group – still smiling!

Next, they descended deeper and lowered themselves through a gap called the ‘toilet bowl’. Proving a large shock when they landed into a cold water pool!  Lots of screams and laughter followed as they continued to find their way out on their hands and knees, through into daylight and then paddling through fast flowing water up and over their wellington boots. It proved so exhilarating to find the cave opening and get back to dry land and the warmth of the minibus.

Lots of chatter of their adventures and an important decision as to what they were having for dinner but on one thing everyone could agree, it had been a GREAT DAY OUT!

Unfortunately, due to unexpected staff commitments and timetable clashes, the Form 3 Parents Evening will now be held on Thursday 31st January 2013 from 4:00PM – 6:00PM and NOT on Wednesday 30th as originally scheduled.

We apologise for the late notice and for any convenience this change may have caused. Please do not hesitate to contact the school office on 01554 820 325  if there are any problems or queries.

Did you know St. Michael’s School was first established in 1923 later settled into Bryn (Llanelli) in 1928? The founding members, a pair of brothers known as the ‘Rees brothers’ built the school’s reputation to strong academic success. Since then the school has continued to grow and thrive under the leadership of many headmasters, including the present Headteacher, Ms. Emma Lewis.

Download StMikes Christmas Newsletter 2012

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Top Student, was Head Girl, Aleena Haider from Swiss Valley, Llanelli. Remarkably Aleena achieved 5 starred A grades at A level in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Economics and French. Aleena also gained 11 starred A grades and one A grade at GCSE two years ago. She will now study medicine at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

The Top 15 Results

Aleena Haider, Daniel Jones (A*A*A*AA) from Ammanford secured his place to read medicine at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, Hoey Lee (A*A*A*Aaa) will study Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Pembroke College, Oxford and Bethany Somers (A*A*AAa) from Llanelli will read Veterinary Medicine at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.

To the delight of Head of Sixth Form, Mr Chris Stockton 10 students secured their places to read medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry which is another school record.

Members of staff, pupils and friends of Alyson took part in the annual Bike Ride from Bynea to Pwll over £500 was raised in sponsorship for charity.

Well done to all who completed the ride.

Please visit the Headmaster’s Maths Quiz page to download the question in Adobe PDF format.

Experience 6th Form life at St. Michael’s School and participate in a range of challenging A Level based activities.

Meet teachers and current pupils and discover the advantages of A Level study at St. Michael’s, Wales’ top performing GCSE and A Level school.

If you would like to attend the 6th Form Evening please contact our school secretary Ms. Phillipa Chappell in reception for further details on (+44) 01554 820 325 or email us at office@stmikes.co.uk.

The school was ranked 14th in the UK at GCSE Level in September 2007 by ‘ The Times ’ GCSE Level League Table of the Top 50 Mixed Schools. The school was then ranked 28th in the UK at A Level in September 2009 by ‘ The Times ’ A Level League Table of the Top 100 Mixed Schools which further established our schools excellent A level results.

Also pictured are Swetha Prathap and Rebecca Salini who came second.

The pupils from Form 2 have been studying Tudors in History and had to complete their own Hans Holbein portrait. The winning pupils are shown with their prizes in front of their work on display in the History room.

Cambridge – Aleena Haider from Swiss Valley, Llanelli has been offered a place to study medicine at Christ’s College and Bethany Somers from Hendy a place at St. Catherine’s College to study Vetinary Medicine.

Oxford – Daniel Jones from Ammanford has an offer to study medicine at St Catherine’s College and Hoey Lee from West Cross a place at Pembroke College to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

The school was also thrilled to learn that Hannah Washer from Manselton, Swansea has received an unconditional offer to study at The Royal College of Music.

The picture shows Chris Shepherd L6 and inspirational, A level Physics teacher, Mrs Hilary Lewis, with an image of NGC 7635, an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia, taken in school using the Australian telescope. We hope that all of the senior school Physics groups will use the telescope during the year.