A word from the Chair

On behalf of our school’s Governing Body, I am pleased and proud to share with you our Annual Report. This highlights the collective efforts that we’re all making to ensure our children and school thrives.

The last academic year has been another challenging one for us as we all tried our very best within a global pandemic. From Christmas 2020 through to February half-term in 2021, we were once again in ‘lock down’ and moved into a blended learning environment. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support during this time. We appreciate that it was not easy. It was, however, lovely to have all the children back in school from February, breathing life and vibrancy through every part of school.

During the year there were a few changes to both our staff and Governing Body.

We were pleased to appoint Miss Daniel as our permanent Head, following a period on secondment. It is no mean feat to lead a school during these times and we’re very grateful to her and the wonderful team at y Ffin for everything that they have done.

At the end of the year, we wished Mrs Serrano all the best as she took up a new role in another school, and to Diane Clough and Mandie Williams who have been key members of our Governing Body. Diane served as Chair of Governors for several years, carefully steering the school through some tricky times, and always had the children’s and staff’s wellbeing at the heart of everything. And Mandie Williams whose knowledge, commitment, and experience has been invaluable, particularly during the pandemic.

We have welcomed three new Governors to the team – Kelly Davies and Jon Taylor, who are both Parent Governors, and Nathan Thomas as a Local Authority Governor.

We’re immensely grateful to Ffrindiau’r Ffin for their continued support and enthusiasm. They have found creative ways of organising virtual fundraisers. #TaithYFfin was hugely successful. It was great to see children, staff, and families getting involved. There was lots of fantastic coverage on social media, and indeed in more traditional media too as Miss Daniel and one of our pupils were invited to talk all about it on Radio Cymru! The focus of the fundraising was to purchase some outdoor play equipment which the children will benefit from for many years to come. Other activities of theirs have included an amazing Winter Wonderland for each class, a surprise visit of an ice-cream van to school, Rainbow photographs, the Clwb 50 lottery, supporting the children’s Christmas card designs, and funding our Leavers’ Yearbook – a wonderful memento of our Year 6’s time at y Ffin. Diolch yn fawr Ffrindiau’r Ffin am bopeth.

One of the highlights for our school was winning the Dragons Virtual Cup! To create some additional fun, the Dragons Community team created a virtual cup competition for all the 44 primary schools who are part of its Tony Brown Gateway Rugby project. The aim of each round of the competition was get the most votes. As a small school this was always going to be a challenge. But thanks to our community, and people all across Wales who wanted to support a little Welsh medium school in a predominantly anglicised corner of Wales, we won the cup! And we had some famous support too - Cerys Matthews, Rob Brydon, and Elis James!

#TaithYFfin and the Dragons Virtual Cup provided us with fantastic platforms to showcase our wonderful school.

I hope that you find this report useful and informative and that it helps to shine a light on some of the activities and work that has taken place within our school. If you have any questions or comments about any of this or would like to find out more about the Governing Body, please do get in touch with me.

We are so lucky to have such an amazing school community. Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do to support our school – our little school with a big heart.

Dr Rachel Hughes, Chair of Governors