Current activities

The Library Christmas Tree 2009 - it's story

Five members of the BWHS Sixth Form took part in a rather unusual activity during the last week of November when they collected the christmas tree that had been donated to the school by Mr. Julian Gibson-Watt.

The pupils and the school's Librarian Mrs. Esther Sargeant climbed into the school's mini bus and headed off to the estate farm on an errand that had been arranged by Year 13 pupil Hope Hobbs and her father. Together they all chose a tree from several that had been cut and laid out for them. There was then much hilarity as the five pupils, watched and photographed by Mrs. Sargeant, struggled to get the very large tree into the small bus! Extensive hoovering of the mini bus had to be carried out much later I may add!

Mrs. Sargeant took the following photos to show the dedication of the Upper Sixth to the school and Christmas cheer. The tree stood proud in the T. H. Jones Library covered in hand-made decorations with a theme of 'Hearts and Stars' which had been made by Mrs. Melinda Kennedy and the school Eco Group. Every lunchtime throughout December, staff and Sixth Form pupils took turns to read a story in front of the tree.

We would like to extend our special thanks to Mr. Julian Gibson-Watt for donating the splendid tree.

As well as the magnificent tree, the school had a "chained library". This usually means that expensive, mainly reference, books are chained by their corners to the shelving to prevent their exit from the library.  The Sixth Form did a take on this and decided it would be ironic and eco friendly to ‘chain’ words.  Endless paper chains were made from yesterday's newspapers and hung very effectively in the windows and around the room for the joy of all.

Visit from Nick Bourne

Nick Bourne AM for Mid and West Wales, also Leader of the Opposition in the Welsh Assembly, visited Builth Wells High School and spoke to Year 11 pupils on the life and role of being a politician in Wales.  This formed part of their Welsh Baccalaureate course.  He is pictured here with Headteacher Shan Davies and younger pupils.

Rotary Young Chef Competition

The first round of this year’s Young Chef Competition took place in Builth Wells High School last Thursday 19th November.

Judges on the evening were Peter James from The Drovers Rest in Llanwrtyd Wells, Shaun Bailey from Fontana Café and Restaurant and Rotarian Colin Davies.

All the competitors showed a range of skills with the dishes they produced leaving the judges with a difficult job of deciding the final placings.

The overall winner was Sadie Jenkins who produced a meal of Feta Cheese and Mint Parcels, Herby Chicken followed by a Strawberry and Raspberry Fool with homemade Shortbread Biscuits. Runner up was Scott Davies; other winners were Tom Richards, Nicole Robles Mann and Bronwen Davies.

Sadie will now go on to represent Builth Wells High School in the zone final early next year. If she is successful in that competition she will be returning for the District Final which is to be held at Builth Wells at the beginning of March 2010.

BBC Trust - Public Consultation

Mrs. Esther Sargeant, Mrs. Melinda Kennedy, Nia Griffiths and Tom Turner voiced their opinions about BBC programmes and services at a BBC Trust Audience Survey at the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells. They gave their views on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Red Button and met Janet Lewis-Jones, National Trustee for Wales, members of the Audience Council for Wales and Sian Lloyd from BBC Wales. An Audience Survey for pupils is currently being planned in the "Audience With....." series.

National Theatre Wales - November 2009

Pupils and staff of Builth Wells High School were pleased to be present at the live online launch of The National Theatre Wales in the Gallery Space of the Wyeside Art Centre. Tamzin Simpson, Marketing Director, was pleased to welcome members of the school to such an auspicious event.

Captens and Is-Gaptens - September 2 October 2009

Congratulations to our newly elected Captens and Is-Gaptens (Captains and Vice Captains) of Builth Wells High School.

Their role within the school will include such duties as; leading their forms, representing the school and inducting new pupils.

Welsh Air Ambulance visit - 27 June 2009

Tom Turner meeting the crew of the Swansea based air ambulance after winning their christmas card painting competition.

Welsh Canoe Championships 20 June 2009

On Saturday 20 June 2009 a team of 12 pupils took part in the Welsh Canoe Championships in Cardiff Bay. The 12 man kayak team got into the final and Craig Rytz in Year 10 came second in the U18 final. 12 pupils took part in a least 2 races. Very many congratulations to the whole team.

Builth Wells – Mönchengladbach Exchange Visit 12 – 19 June 2009

16 pupils accompanied by Mrs. Loraine Pedelty (Head of Languages) and Mrs. Lesley Tomlin (German Teacher) took part in the recent exchange visit. We travelled with Veolia Coaches and all the travel arrangements were very good. During the week the pupils kept a written record of everything they did and the diaries will be entered for the “Emma Page Award” to be awarded at the next Prizegiving.
The pupils enjoyed one family day, spent 2 days in school and 2 days out on visits, one in which their penfriends also took part.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, including the visits, the opportunity to speak German, the chance to experience family life in another country and make new friends. Many pupils wanted to stay longer and they said that they would like to go again.

This trip was extremely enjoyable and successful and marked our 10th anniversary of visiting Mönchengladbach.

Pupils and staff from Mönchengladbach will come to Builth Wells from Saturday, 3rd to Friday, 9th October 2009.

Children's Commissioner for Wales visits our school 16 June 2009

Builth Wells - Lycée Blaise Pascal Colmar Exchange 8 - 13 March

As part of our upper school French exchange 19 Pupils and 3 staff spent a very enjoyable week from Sunday 8th March – Friday 13th March in school and out on visits to St Fagan’s and Cardiff Castle, the Centre For Alternative Technology, Big Pit, Swansea and the Waterfront Museum. We held a social evening at the Wyeside with a Buffet followed by a performance of “Wheeler Street”

We returned to Colmar 1st – 7th April. We had time in school and visits to Freiburg, Turckheim, Munster, Strasbourg and Basel.

An extremely successful exchange. see more photographs