Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has praised Prestatyn High School for raising funds for a £3.2m campaign to build a cenotaph honouring NHS and emergency services workers. The 999 Cenotaph campaign was set up to support the two million people currently working and volunteering within the emergency services, all of whom have shown commitment to public service throughout the pandemic.

Applauding their contribution to the campaign, James, who visited the school last week to congratulate the staff and pupils in person, said: “This is a fantastic effort by both staff and pupils at Prestatyn High School and I thank them all for taking part. “Our NHS and emergency service workers have always done a sterling job, but they have gone above and beyond over the past two years. Having a cenotaph to honour them will be incredible but raising the £3.2 million needed is no mean feat and therefore every little helps. “I put an appeal out to schools in the area to get involved and I am very pleased that Prestatyn High School decided to do so. I know their contribution to the cenotaph will be very much appreciated.”

Whilst there are various monuments dedicated to each of the emergency services, there is no one national monument where the NHS and emergency services are honoured together - which is why a 999 Cenotaph was proposed. This important monument is aimed to be located on Whitehall at the heart of Central London and is being sculpted by Philip Jackson CVO and supported by HRH The Duke of Cambridge.

Assistant head teacher at Prestatyn High School, Pam Hill, said: “We were very pleased to help raise funds for the campaign and thank James for letting us know about it. “It was an enjoyable day raising vital funds for a very worthy cause.”

On Friday December 3rd last year, staff and pupils at Prestatyn High School supported the 999 Cenotaph campaign by wearing a colour from the emergency services (red, blue, green or orange) with their full school uniform. They also made and sold key rings and cakes with the colours represented by the emergency services and in total raised £202.85.

Dear all parents and carers,

I do hope you are well and that you are coping well with the current measures and restrictions in place for COVID-19, hopefully we will see these measures removed as soon as possible. We are still awaiting further guidance on what measures will be in place as the risk level reduces, but for now all existing safety procedures remain the same.

Due to the rising cases before the Christmas break, as you are aware, the Welsh Government instructed all schools to have two planning days for COVID-19 at the start of this term and reschedule any INSET days that were due to have taken place on these dates for later on in the year. Working alongside, and in consultation with our local cluster primary schools we have decided to place these INSET days on the following dates:

8th July 2022

20th July 2022

These dates were chosen so that they had no impact on exam classes as they take place after the summer exams have concluded. This means that pupils and students will not be expected in school on Friday 8th July and that pupils break up for summer one day earlier on Tuesday 19th of July 2022.

See attached New INSET Days ltr school calendar with the term dates and the remaining INSET days highlighted.

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the dates provided.

Dear parents and carers,

Prestatyn High School are committed to working with our local community to ensure that all members of our society behave in a respectful way. We work very hard with our pupils to teach them how to be responsible, respectful and safe citizens in school and in our community. On occasion, a small minority of our students, and at time parents let us and the community of Prestatyn down.

All forms of anti-social behaviour are disgusting and we would like to assure our school community that we are doing all we can to address such issues and to educate our young people. We are working closely with the local policing team and the youth service to proactively address concerns. We encourage all of our parents and carers to reinforce the key messages with their children to ensure that they are behaving in a safe and responsible manner if they are out and about in the community. All parents and carers must encourage and ensure that their children are behaving well whilst in the community and check they know where they are. Without parents taking the leading role in the behaviour of their children, the police, youth service and schools will not be able to change their behaviour.

Prestatyn High school is determined to reduce all anti-social behaviour and we welcome information from the community so that we can identify and deal with all instances effectively.

North Wales Community Alert Poster

North Wales Community Alert Card (b)

As part of our partnership working with the local police team, they have asked us to circulate information about a 'Community Alert' system.

'North Wales Police have recently launched North Wales Community Alert to improve engagement with our communities. We are trying to share crime prevention advice, support and guidance as well as hear the views of our communities to enable us to understand any areas they feel would benefit from additional support.

On Friday 3rd December staff and pupils at Prestatyn High School supported the 999 Cenotaph campaign. The campaign was set up to support the two million people currently working and volunteering within our emergency services, all of whom have shown commitment to public service throughout the pandemic.

In Prestatyn High School staff and pupils supported the campaign by wearing a colour from the emergency services (red, blue, green or orange) with their full school uniform. We also sold key rings and cakes with the colours represented by the emergency services, all made by staff in school. In total we raised £202.85

Eco Club Sofia Jones, Head of Eco Club Prestatyn High School has an Eco Club and we are very enthusiastic about preserving the environment. Mr Rasmussen runs the club of about 10-15 students from Years 7-10, who come every Wednesday after school to do various activities.

We have planted hundreds of trees in the school grounds. We also have lots of insect-friendly flowers, a herb garden and several raised beds for vegetables and fruit. Over the last few years, we have used what we have grown to make pumpkin soup, strawberry ice cream, elderflower cordial, hash browns and even had a beetroot tie-dye session!

We are keen to make our school grounds as animal friendly as possible. Keep Wales Tidy helped us to install several bird and bat boxes. We have made mini-ponds and a dead hedge to provide habitat for insects to live. We allow part of the grass to grow longer to allow flowers to grow and give seed as well as feeding the birds. We make sure not to cut our hedges during the bird nesting season.

One of our most recent and expanding projects is our apiary. After attending the beginners’ beekeeping course with the Flintshire Beekeeping Association, Mr Rasmussen used some funding from Polli:Nation to acquire two nucs and two hives. We had whole school numeracy tasks based on bees to announce the arrival of bees to our school!

Since then, we have had hundreds of pupils come out to see the bees and watch them flying in and out of the hive. We are slowly building up the number of suits we have, to allow more and more students to learn about the wonderful lives of bees. During the summer term we were able to split one hive and catch a swarm to bring our total number of hives to four. They currently have a good supply of honey to see them through the winter (hopefully).

We have enjoyed the produce too! We have sold 40 jars of honey to raise money for our equipment and each member of our group was able to have a taster pot to take home. Soon, a local beekeeper will be running a session on using the wax we have collected from our hives. We look forward to spring when we can start to see the bees out in force again. The daffodil bulbs are planted, ready for their early foraging!

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board are offering any students that missed the opportunity to get their nasal flu vaccination in December when they visited the school, the chance to receive the flu immunisation at drop-in clinics that are due to take place over the next couple of weeks. The information for these is as follows:

There will be the opportunity for nasal flu immunisation to be offered on the following dates at a drop in clinics (no need to book):

Monday 10^th January: 16:00 – 18:00pm Maes Derw Health Centre, Llandudno Junction, Conwy, LL31 9AL  

Tuesday 11^th January: 16:00 – 18:00pm Kinmel Bay Child Health Clinic, 57 Foryd Road, Kinmel Bay, LL18 5BB 

Wednesday 12^th January: 16:00 - 18.00pm Colwyn Bay Community Hospital, Hesketh Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8AY 

Monday 17^th January: 16:00 – 18:00pm Maes Derw Health Centre, Llandudno Junction, Conwy, LL31 9AL 

Tuesday 18^th January: 16:00 – 18:00pm Abergele Clinic, Market Street, Abergele, Conwy, LL22 7BP  

Wednesday 19^th January: 16:00 - 18.00pm Colwyn Bay Community Hospital, Hesketh Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8AY 

Thank you 

Immunisation team (Children & Young People) 

57 Foryd Road, Kinmel Bay, LL18 5BB 

Telephone: 03000 856818 

Email: bcu.immunisationteamcentral@wales.nhs.uk 

With pupils returning on Monday, I would be grateful if you could please issue a reminder to all pupils and parents accessing school and public transport that face coverings are required for all learners in secondary education no matter the vehicle on which they travel.

All children aged 11 or over are required to wear a face covering at all times whilst travelling. It is parental responsibility to ensure that children have a supply of face coverings before travelling each morning and afternoon.

Some learners, however, need not wear a face covering. This includes those for whom doing so would create a medical risk, cause distress, and where a learner has additional learning needs.

A copy of the school transport protocol can be accessed via the following link  https://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/PDFFiles/Schools/School-Transport-Protocol-September-2021.pdf

Dear Parents and Carers -

I write to update you today about the latest announcement made by Welsh Government. Yesterday, the Minister for Education, Jeremy Miles, instructed all schools to use the first two days after the Christmas break as planning days to prepare for a “very high risk level”. This means that the 6th of January 2022 (Thursday) and the 7th of January 2022 (Friday) will now be used for planning for COVID-19 measures, not as INSET days. These changes to the days will have no impact on the date pupils will return and all pupils are still to attend school at 8.40am on the 10th of January 2022.

The planning days will be used to set the school up for very strict measures so that all pupils, students and staff are as safe as possible. We will also use this time to ensure that we are prepared for remote learning so that we are ready if we are ever asked again in the future to shift to online learning.

The 6th form mock examinations and all external examinations will continue as normal. These exams will also take place under strict COVID-19 rules.

A very important change that has been announced is that all staff and pupils are now asked to LFD test three times a week, beginning the week before they are to return in January. The Welsh Government have asked for all pupils now to test Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. All staff and pupils are to continue to test over the holiday and then begin to test three times a week starting on the 3rd of January 2022. This is to ensure we are safe over the holiday break and also to make sure we are as safe as possible for when we return. If any pupils or students did not collect enough test kits, please contact the school and we will arrange for them to be collected on the planning days.

There is no plan at the moment to return to bubbles and contact groups but this is a rapidly changing situation. As we all know, there are still lots of unknowns, especially with the rise of the new Omicron variant. I will be getting regular updates over the Christmas break and as soon as I have further information I will write again to update you.

Please ensure that pupils and students continue to follow the government guidance on social distancing and COVID-19 rules during the holidays.

Once again thank you for your support during this very challenging time, it is only with your support that we have been so successful in limiting the number of lost learning days due to the virus. Our attendance is one of the highest in the country due to our vigilance and hard work in keeping the whole community safe.

Have a lovely, safe Christmas

Best wishes

Neil Foley - B.Sc. MA.
Pennaeth Headteacher