‘Newyddion Darland’
Check out the first edition of ‘Newyddion Darland’ on the school website or click the link below. Our new fortnighly newsletter will keep you up to date with all the latest school news, achievements and successes.
Newyddion Darland – Issue No.1
school open Tuesday 12th December
School will re-open tomorrow (Tuesday). Exercise care coming to school. Uniform to be worn, but pupils may wear boots. Y11 exams – Maths am, Option A pm.
School closure – Monday 11th December
Darland High School will be closed tomorrow owing to the inclement weather and the freezing conditions forecast, which may render parts of the site unsafe. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause
Darland Snow Update – Part 2
Straffords and Prices Buses will be collecting students at 12.20pm.
DARLAND SNOW UPDATE – Part 1
The school will be closing at 12.20pm (lunch still available).
Staff onsite all day.
Splashing the Cash for Pudsey
Staff and students wholeheartedly sponsored the BBC’s ‘Children in Need’ this year by hosting a cake sale and non uniform day. The grand total of £1747.81 was raised and pictured are Year 9 students with Kath Pearson and Matt Davies from New Directions who kindly donated cakes too.
Thanks to everyone for contributing cakes to make our fundraising a success.
Balfour Trust Support for Duke of Ed at Darland
The Balfour Trust have donated the sum of £500 to Darland High School.
The money is being used to support the important work being done at the school with engaging students in outdoor activities and community work.
This year, the money will be used to develop the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme. Mike Jones, who is a governor at the school , said ‘ I have worked in partnership with the Balfour Trust for two years and they have been really helpful and supportive of our students and staff. I know that Mr Coyne and the other staff who put so much work into developing the programme at Darland are really pleased because the money will enable students to complete their bronze award and begin their preparations for next year’s silver award work’.
The photograph shows the cheque being presented to Darland students Liam O’Toole, Deputy Head Boy and Abby Royce, Deputy Head Girl by Mr Mike Thompson of the Balfour Trust.
Defibrillator for Darland and Rossett Community
6 Year 9 students from Darland High School, along with Assistant Headteacher, Lisa Easton, entered a competition run by the North Wales Ambulance Service, as part of the National ‘Restart A Heart Day’ in July. The competition was to win the school a defibrillator. It required entrants to put together a short video to explain why defibrillators are important and how students could disseminate the CPR skills they had learnt as part of ‘Restart A Heart Day’, to others in order to raise awareness. We are extremely proud to say that the entry from Darland was successful and, having won the competition, we will now be receiving a state of the art defibrillator which will be installed just outside the school for use by the school and the community of Rossett. The defibrillator will be presented to the students in a special assembly on Friday 27th October.
‘Hot Chocolate’ Friday
As part of the reward system here at Darland, students enjoyed ‘Hot Chocolate Friday’ with the Pastoral Team. They were excited to receive their nominations from staff and brought along a friend to enjoy the experience.
The students were Imogen McCann (Yr11), Rufus Edwards (Yr7), Rico Cupit (Yr8) and Tyler Morris (Yr8)
Da Iawn
Cyber Bullying Performance
Darland were pleased to host a short concert by solo singer/guitarist Sion Hill. Sion gave two performances, to Year 7 and Year 8 respectively. They were treated to some of his own material and also enjoyed singing along to some well known covers. As well as entertaining the students with his musical talents, Sion also spent time talking to them about key issues including cyber bullying, resilience, self-esteem and appropriate use of social media. His performances were well received and all students enjoyed the experience.
GCSE Press Release 2017
Year 11 pupils at Darland High School were celebrating a terrific set of exam results. 65% of the year group achieved the ‘gold standard’ of five good GCSE passes including English language and Mathematics. Particularly impressive was the increase in the number of students achieving the very top grades, with 24% of the cohort achieving at least 5 A or A* grades.
A delighted Peter Agnew, headteacher, commented:
‘This was the first year of the new GCSEs, representing a definite raising of the bar for students everywhere. It is a testament to the hard work of our students and staff that we have been able to continue our improving trend at Darland.’
Among the high number of pupils who did exceptionally well were:
Owain Williams of Gresford : 10A* and 1A
Eva Sharples of Wrexham : 10A* and 1A
Bethan Davies of Wrexham : 9A* and 4As
Daisy Nelson of Gresford : 7A* and 5As
Adam Williams of Wrexham : 7A* and 4As
Also worthy of commendation were the triplet Malone sisters, Katie, Poppy and Morgan of Wrexham, who between them amassed 10A* and 11As
ISM Award for Darland
More than 15% of all GCSE students at key Stage 4 took and achieved and A*- C in music. This puts Darland in the top 13 schools across Wales. In recognition of the excellent work and achievement we have been awarded the ISM Silver Certificate in Music.
Congratulations to Mr Winterbottom for his commitment to music at Darland. Well Done.
“We Can Save A Life”
Year 8 students have learnt life saving first aid skills with the Red Cross as part of their Health and Well Being morning. Other sessions included emotional well being, risky pictures, solvent abuse, contraception and a session from the Youth Justice Service.
Thank you to our deliverers for a very informative morning.
Darland Students Represent North East Wales
Darland students have represented North East Wales in the Welsh U14 Inter Counties Netball Tournament held at Bangor recently. Some fantastic netball was played and they achieved a fabulous 3rd place behind teams from Cardiff and Glamorgan.
Pictured are Year 8 students Sasha Aldridge (GD), Elizabeth Wilkinson (GS), Frankie Thomas (GA) and Megan Adcock (WA)
Wrexham Lions Peace Poster Winners Announced
Four Year 8 students have been recognised by Wrexham Maelor Lyons Club for their Peace Posters and have been presented with Certificates of Appreciation and prizes at a presentation at Glyndwr University today attended by Cllr John Pritchard, Mayor of Wrexham and Lady Mayoress Ann Pritchard. Also present was Ann Monslow who organises the annual event within the Wrexham Maelor area. The competition is open to local students aged 11 to 13 years of age.
Pictured are Ella Lloyd (2nd), Megan Royce (4th), Megan Adcock (1st) and Emily Benion (3rd)