IB Graduates 2017

Coleg Llandrillo's International Baccalaureate (IB) students are celebrating after receiving their International Baccalaureate Diploma qualifications. Every student passed and several students gained scores that place them in the top 15% in the world!

Mae myfyrwyr Y Fagloriaeth Rhyngwladol yng Ngholeg Llandrillo yn dathlu ar ôl derbyn eu Diploma. Mi wnaeth pob myfyriwr basio ac enillodd nifer o fyfyrwyr sgôr sy'n eu gosod ymhlith y 15% uchaf yn y byd!

www.gllm.ac.uk/news/2147489491

CAS and the Dementia Friends

As part of the students' ongoing CAS project - Dementia Friends of Rhos on Sea (in conjunction with Rhos on Sea working towards their Dementia Friendly Village) students at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos Campus have begun raising awareness.

In June 2017 (June 15) they baked cupcakes and hosted a Cupcake sale. Lizzie and Morgan brought in the cupcakes they had made and decorated to sell to staff as part of the fundraising event as well as the IB students sharing the fundraising page online through their social media sites.

This term, students are learning how to crochet in the hopes of creating crochet Dementia Octopus toys and sensory blankets for the Winter Fayre stall on December 2nd. This stall will be manned by members of the steering group for Dementia Friendly Rhos on Sea with students of Coleg Llandrillo and hopes to raise awareness, advertise future training events to become Dementia Friends and encourage the shops and businesses of Rhos to pledge to become Dementia Friendly. 

Rotary Youth Speaks District Winners 2017

The Rotary Club of Colwyn Bay held their annual Youth Speaks public speaking competition last night when 8 teams from local schools and colleges competed to win and progress to regional finals. 
Each team, consisting of 3 students - the Chairperson, the main Speaker and the Vote of Thanks were able to choose any topic to discuss and debate for the evening's competition.

Coleg Llandrillo entered two teams - Team A discussing the highly topical Brexit and the Single Market with the B Team focusing on Animal Testing for Cosmetics. The teams were made up of members from the newly created Quibble Club of Coleg Llandrillo and this was their inaugural competition. 

Unfortunately the B Team suffered a crushing blow in that one team member was unable to attend the competition and IB student Morgan Hogan, who has been chosen to fight for her place on the Wales team in Cardiff this summer, spoke of her disappointment. Morgan is hoping to represent Wales in Bali, Indonesia in the World Schools Debating Championship after winning the coveted award of 'Outstanding Debator' in the North Wales Schools Debating Championship in Bangor last October.

From left to right: IB students Keziah Lewin and Morgan Hogan

Team A however took to the floor in style, articulating the effect Brexit would have on the UK and just what the single market was. They responded in detail to the questions posed and showed a depth of knowledge and a passion for their subject.

All students spoke of their enjoyment of their first public debating competition and they are looking forward to future events with the Quibble Club, with their next outing to Manchester's EYPUK in February. 

From left to right: Iman Amica, Thomas Porter, Luke Spellman

The winners of the Senior section were the Coleg Llandrillo team of Iman Amica, Thomas Porter and Luke Spellman. The winning Intermediate section was the Rydal Penrhos team of Sydney Johnson, Kevin Farrell and Cerys Cuddihy.

Why study IB at Llandrillo College?

Could you benefit from a broad and balanced education? Are you looking for a valuable and international alternative to A Levels at school? The IB Diploma (International Baccalaureate) develops inquiring, knowledgeable and passionate young adults, whilst also offering a prestigious qualification.

As part of the Diploma Programme, you will study six subjects, three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level. These will include English Literature, a second language, Mathematics and a science.  

You will also study three core elements: The Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge (TOK), and Creativity, Action, Service (CAS).

 

Llandrillo College has over 30 years experience in delivering this qualification and the facilities available here at Rhos and the surrounding area all serve in making it an exciting alternative to school, A-Levels and BTECs.

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/VBBDt-1Cz7I?list=PLEbFeT6Udw4xmhNSn9Se6uGFCil33CiOH

 

Come along to one of our Open Events or contact Gemma Campbell to arrange a Taster Day and see for yourself just what the IB can offer you.

Upcoming Rotary Competition - Young Musicians

The Rotary Club runs a number of Youth Events and Competitions. The first up this year is the Young Musician competition. Show off your vocal or instrumental skills, classical or modern in this fantastic Rotary competition.

The first heat is in Colwyn Bay on the 24th November 2016. Please email Gemma for an entry form.

Past competition winners can be seen here:

https://www.gllm.ac.uk/news/2147484953/

Plas Menai CAS Trip 2016

The annual CAS trip this year took place at Plas Menai, allowing students to gain valuable activity hours as well as team building and improving communication skills.

The first 'challenge' was Gorge Walking. It was at this point one student realised she had left her nails on...Thankfully it was the last of the mild autumnal days and Afon Ddu Gorge was spectacular in all its autumn finery. Cai Evans and the Plas Menai leaders Matt and Glyn led the gorge walk reaching the waterfall by mid afternoon. Gemma Campbell with Ava and Alex followed their progress on the gorge's path, taking photographs and exploring the local area on foot, keeping nice and dry (and all importantly warm!)

Upon the return to the centre, students jumped in the shower to warm up before meeting in the dining hall for tea. After debrief a number of students opted to go to the climbing wall  - one of the oldest in Wales! A quick warm up with fun bouldering began the evening's activities before students harnessed up and spent a good couple of hours on the wall led by Glyn, the Plas Menai instructor.
Those who didn't take part were in the Recreation room where Gemma engaged in a close match of table tennis with Alex and Honor snoozed in her room.

After the wall, all students gathered in the bar area to take part in the Board Games Challenge. Cai and Alex had warmed up with a game of Yes and No before all undertook the Harry Potter Trivial Pursuits quiz. It was a nail biting finish with Daisy and Alex reaching a tie break with 6 cards apiece. Alex finally won with his quick buzzing and the giving of the correct answer.

Next up the group split in to two teams - Cai led one team and Gemma the other. Here students and staff pitted themselves against the timer in an attempt to describe the word on the card in Articulate. Amusing examples shall be kept between staff and students to save blushes! Although I do believe stickers may well be the future in positive management! [WORD: Retirement - example: What do you get when you finish working? Guess: stickers!]



The next morning, aching and tired after the previous day's activities, the students made it to breakfast but not all were as willing to take part in the water sports activities lined up. Andy, one of the Plas Menai instructors kindly offered to take one group off to do the Ropes course whilst Keziah, Daisy, Luke and Cai decided to brave the elements and enjoy the morning kayaking on the Straits. Other options were sailing or wind-surfing. Alex continued to photograph and film throughout the morning, documenting the other students' mastery of their respective activities. The photos and films will be made available to students next week.



Finally lunchtime dawned and the students wearily returned to college after their multi-activity residential. The nails were thankfully pretty much intact, with the loss of only one being attributed to the wearing of a wet suit on the first morning! Gemma kindly gave the permission to return home early - to warm up and sleep!

 Although tired, all students thoroughly enjoyed their time, pushed the boundaries of their own limits, scaled new heights and in the process made firm friendships (and laughed a lot!) Huge thanks must go to Cai Evans for gamely getting involved in the cold and wet activities and bringing the evening's board games. Matt, Glyn and Andy, the Plas Menai instructors for making the activities fun and enjoyable and all off the students for participating in the outdoor activities in the (mild) November weather!

Digital Storytelling with the Poppies at Caernarfon Castle

Coleg Llandrillo students

On Tuesday 11^th October, 20 IB & A Level Media Studies students took part in a digital storytelling workshop exploring the emotional impact of WW1 through the ceramic poppies installation “Weeping Window” at Caernarfon Castle.

 Coleg Llandrillo students worked in conjunction with Wales for Peace and 14-18 Now to record and document, explore and question, film and photograph the poppies themselves, the artist Paul Cummins, Lady Sainsbury, Tom Piper and those first few visitors to the castle to discover, in the 100 years following World War 1, how we remember and how Wales has and continues to search for peace.

"Weeping Window" at Caernarfon Castle

The initial concept came from artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper’s installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ at the Tower of London in Autumn 2014. Caernarfon Castle is the first venue to host the sculpture in Wales and our students were one of the first visitors to experience this, thanks to the WCIA who manage the Wales for Peace project.

Cameron Doherty (Rhyl), an A Level Media Student said of the experience “It has been great to put in to practice, aspects that we have only previously studied from textbooks.” The Media students worked closely with Tash, Sam and Mark from C1 Media on using DSLR cameras, soundkit and editing software.

 Media Studies and IB students during the editing process

The IB students chose to explore both the artistic approach utilising filmic captures combined with the audio recording of the bilingual poem taken from the 2014 Urdd ‘Wonder/Tybed’ as well as the documentary approach exploring the history and the message of the exhibition and Cymru Dros Heddwch Project. IB student Keziah Lewin (Craig y Don) engaged wholeheartedly with the brief; suggesting a stream of abstract considerations, angles and images to use in support of IB student Morgan Hogan's (Dwygyfylchi) bilingual recording of the Urdd 2014 poem. Keziah stated " I enjoyed learning about the different photography techniques and learning how to use iMovie effectively, to put the shots we had taken, together."

IB students meeting wth Tom Piper and Lady Sainsbury

These videos will form part of a national memorial video commemorating the centenary of WWI. The students developed the ideas, shot the video and edited them all in the space of four hours - a fantastic achievement. The organisers were very complimentary - this was the first College group they had worked with and they were impressed by their attitude, enthusiasm and engagement, especially given how little preparation they had had.

Rob Hughes, the Gen Ed Programme Area Manager, so impressed with the work undertaken, has secured an exhibition of photographs and film outtakes of the day to be used in a college exhibition hosted at the Rhos on Sea campus in November. Dafydd Evans, CEO also passes on his thanks to the students for their commitment and hard work.

For more information on the exhibition please visit: http://www.wcia.org.uk/wfp/Poppies.html