Flintshire school reports record numbers at opening evening

Prospective students and their families turned out in their hundreds to attend Argoed High School’s recent open evening.

More than 600 people came to the event, beating last year’s record attendance, for what was a jam-packed evening with a host of engaging and exciting activities for young visitors to experience.

Paul Smith, headteacher, said: “It was brilliant to meet so many families and to see the excitement on the faces of children who will be starting their high school life with us next year.

“I would like to thank all our staff for putting on an extensive variety of immersive activities for children throughout the event, and to our own amazing students who did such a fantastic job of helping visitors find their way around the school and assisting in the different subject areas.

“It is a very exciting time for us as we prepare to move into our high-quality, state of the art school next year, which will accommodate 700 students.  With excellent facilities and outdoor sports areas alongside the primary school for 600 children, and a nursery and specialist speech and language unit, we are so lucky to have this investment into us and the community.

“Our school ethos will carry through to our new school environment; we have high expectations of our learners, and our central aim is to enable each individual to succeed.  We want them to be happy, healthy, aim high and be independent learners with an appreciation for lifelong learning.  Everyone is valued for his or her own personal qualities and talents.  Our motto is ‘learning together, working together, succeeding together’ and this is what runs through everything we do.”

Student leaders gave an insight into some aspects of school life that they believe are strengths of the school.  

Luke Roberts spoke about the invaluable opportunities to have an input into how school is run through the school leadership team, and Caitlyn Devin highlighted the benefits of having such a wide  range of subject options at year 9.  Millie Turner spoke about the wonderful opportunity for year 10 students to have a work experience week organised through school, and the many advantages this offers to students.

Two year 7 students spoke about their favourite subjects and clubs and how they had already settled in and made friends. 

A former student, who left the school after completing year 11 in the summer, returned to talk to the audience about the fantastic support he had received throughout school after starting year 7 with crippling anxiety.  He said that the support he had received was transformative and had built his confidence, resulting in him performing in the school’s Matilda show and achieving 5A* and 4As in his GCSEs.

Student helpers from years 7 to 11 were on hand to assist in each department, as well as prefects who took families on tours around the school.

The PE department put on gymnastics displays and offered fitness tests, a murder mystery was enacted in the drama studio, and in art visitors could try their hand at creating oil pastel monoprints.  

In English, there were a host of interactive activities for children to try, and there were games on Blooket in the Spanish classroom, more speaking games and quizzes in Welsh, Horrible Histories-Stupid Deaths in history and Geoguesser on Chromebooks in geography.  Coding activities and website animation proved popular in the ICT department, in science there were dissections and chemistry experiments, and mathematics staff engaged children with activities including ‘Mathswatch.’ 

Parents could also drop into the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) HUB for an informal chat, and the student support area offered Lego therapy, mindfulness, as well as information about the summer club and activities. Islay, the school’s wellbeing dog, also made an appearance to meet students. 

The school also offered an accessible open evening an hour earlier on the same night to accommodate any pupils who may be joining the Social Communication Resource or Speech and Language Resource.  

School year 7 applications are now open, and close on 6th November.  For any queries about your child joining Argoed High School, please contact the school on 01352  756414, or email contact@argoedhs.co.uk.