News; 2022

Titus’s dream of becoming a professional rugby player has moved a step closer as England selectors will be assessing his talents this past weekend.

Spirituality day is a bridge that connects outdoor education with the Christian faith. The founding Headmaster of St David’s College’s John Mayor wanted to create an awareness for his pupils of a deep sense of spirituality.

Last Tuesday, January 25, we held an internal training session organise by the British Dyslexia Association on the topic of a dyslexic friendly classroom. At St David's College we strive to use innovative techniques that facilitate learning and association of ideas for any of our students. We believe in people and the global set of their abilities, which is why helping students with dyslexia reaching their maximum potential is part of our DNA.

St David’s College is renowned for discovering and nurturing the talent of our pupils and nowhere is this more evident than in the case of Old Davidean Molly O’Leary.

Molly left the school this summer after studying A’levels in fine art, geography and English literature.

She is now at Lancaster University studying fine art and is enjoying every minute of it.

Following a period of rigorous inspection by the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC), The Outdoor Education Department at St David’s College has been issued with their prestigious ‘Gold Standard’, which represents the highest award for quality Outdoor Education provision and Outdoor Learning.

St David’s College is delighted to report that most of our Sixth Form students who have applied to go to university have already been offered places.

The week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.

The Captain of St David’s College Netball Team says she’s over the moon to be playing fixtures again across North Wales. For almost two years regular matches weren’t possible because of Covid regulations.

Jess Kavanagh is the embodiment of never giving up. Our 32-year-old PE teacher has endured ruptured ligaments, a punctured lung and broken ribs to play rugby for Wales Women’s National Rugby Team.

In Summer 2023, more than 50,000 Scouts from all over the world will gather in South Korea for the World Scout Jamboree, and one of the lucky participants will be Year 10 pupil Thomas.

National Apprenticeship Week (7-13th February) is a week-long celebration of apprenticeships.

BTEC Business Studies pupils Louis, Luke, Amelia, Elen, Esi, and Jasper wanted to do something a little different with the social enterprise element of their course and decided they’d like to raise money for a humanitarian crisis appeal.

Forest Bathing, most commonly known as “passing time in the woods” it is proven to reduce stress hormone production, improve feelings of happiness and free up creativity.

A beautiful legacy is to be left by this year’s Head Girl in the form of a new fruit orchard that is to be established in the grounds close to the Battlements.

St David’s College annual ski trip to the Italian resort of Ponte di Legno has been hailed a huge success, with 20 skiers from the school hitting the slopes during the half term break.

Every 21^st of March the World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.

Red Nose Day is one of the biggest charity events in the world. We are doing our part here at St David’s College.

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for maths enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about maths, and eat pie.

Congratulations to our Head of Design and Technology, Martin O’Leary who has recently been appointed as WJEC Principal Examiner for A Level Engineering.

Today Thursday 3rd March 2022, we are celebrating the annual World Book Day. While Covid has brought many challenges, more people have turned to books and at St David’s College, we won’t let the moment pass without sharing our love of reading and creating a buzz around stories – fact or fiction.

Yesterday, March 01, we celebrate St David’s Day, patron saint of Wales and our schools name sake. Years 5 & 6 gathered this morning in the Minstrel Hall with the rest of the school joining us online via Teams due to Covid precautions. Our Chaplin Mr. Edward Gray opened the assembly taking us through what this day means and why we celebrate it.

Our team of four composed of Thomas Barcley, James Taylor, Olivia Goodwin, and Will Greenhalgh were presented with the awards for winning the heats.

St David’s College is hugely proud to announce that Amelie Chandran (year 8) has been selected to represent Wales in Badminton.

St David’s College corridors were alive this Easter break as year 11 pupils took advantage of our dedicated Easter Revision Camp. This residential intensive support programme gave pupils the opportunity to stay over and focus on Maths, English, and Science in preparation for their upcoming exams this Summer.

Eco-Schools encourages young people to engage in their environment by allowing them the opportunity to actively protect it.

Having a cousin trapped in the middle of the conflict in Ukraine certainly brought the war too close for comfort for Maria in Year 11. Find out her full story.

Last week we saw our 1st XV Rugby Team head off on tour to Gibraltar. After the past few years we’ve really missed not being able to get away and the opportunity for our pupils to get back to our annual trips away has been at the forefront of our minds.

British Science Week is a nationwide event and there are lots of events and activities taking place around the UK, at St David’s we organised a raft of fun events to celebrate the different sciences.

Our Years 5, 6, and 7 students visited Chester Zoo on Wednesday, 25^th May.

St David’s College is rightly very proud of the exceptional quality of food served in the Dining Hall, and in the upcoming weeks a new menu is being introduced that will hopefully tickle the taste buds of our pupils and staff.

Before Jirina Mala decided St David’s College was the school for her, she had never even been to Wales...

Outdoor Education is at the core of the St David’s College and with the good weather on the horizon, this weekend has seen the start of welcome return to the traditional summer expedition season at St David’s College.

Today St David’s College played host to Rygbi 711 u13s Girls 7s Rugby Tournament. The tournament saw more than 100 girls from schools all over the area come together to compete for the St David’s College Cup.

This weekend has seen the start of welcome return to the traditional summer expedition season at St David’s College.

St David’s College is proud to reveal that another one of our outstanding young Rugby talents has been selected to play for Wales Rugby League U19.

St David’s would like to congratulate Harry Boyle and Erin Moore on becoming our new Head Boy and Head Girl! Choosing the new Head Boy and Head Girl is always an eagerly anticipated event at St David’s College, as it’s one of the biggest honours the school can bestow.

Yesterday we have enjoyed our first sports day back at Eirias Park since COVID19. It has the first sports day back in

The end of the year is here, and what could be more fitting than a special mention of our Geography Department at St David's College.

Last Saturday, the 18th, we celebrated the 1^stXV Rugby annual awards dinner at St David's, but with a twist: we treated ourselves to a hog roast at school.

Last week we were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Pete Leavers, former Head of the Outdoor Education department. Our prayers continue to be with Pete family at this difficult time. Rev. Tim Hall took some time to reach out to some of the staff and pupils who worked with Pete and asked them for some of their memories.

Year 12 BTEC Outdoor Pupils, recently completed an overnight 'Canoe Expedition' as part of their course, and as a training expedition, ready for a longer one next October.

Our Juniors took on the challenge of wakeboarding at Glasfryn Wake Parc this weekend. They all smashed it!

St David’s College is very proud to reveal that three of our business pupils have won a national business award.

At St David’s College we strive to use innovative techniques that facilitate learning and association of ideas for any of our pupils.

Today Wednesday 8^th of June our Year 12 pupils had the honour to receive the visit of Anna from Bangor University in the Mostyn Gallery.

St David’s College has an incredible estate team, some have been with us for many, many years keeping the school grounds looking beautiful and the buildings ship-shape.

At St David’s College, we keep on working on our mission to save the planet. We have been classify as bronze members.

We are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Independent School of the Year Awards in the "Innovation Award for an Outstanding New Initiative". We are incredibly proud to be listed alongside some of the best boarding schools in the UK as well as the best independent schools in the UK.

At St David’s College pastoral care and safeguarding our pupil's education is at the top of our agenda.

St David’s College is delighted to announce an excellent set of GCSE and BTEC Level 2 results from our year 11 group

With the recent inspirational success of elite sport capturing the hearts and attention of the public and press, once again the spotlight shifts towards PE and its Purpose.

St David’s College is proud to report an outstanding set of A-Level and BTEC Level 3 results from our year 13 group this Summer.

St David’s College has always been at the forefront of Design education. In 1986, having spent some time in industry (Engineering) Mr Martin O’Leary joined an already successful and ground-breaking Design Technology Department.

We are very proud to announce that the old Davidean Aiden O’Leary was one of a group of eleven intrepid cyclists who pedalled their way from Llandudno, North Wales, to the Balearic island of Ibiza this summer.

Pastoral care is the provision a school makes to ensure the physical and emotional welfare of pupils. It is the essential foundation upon which learning can take place.

Congratulations to St David’s College pupil Ben Hay for being selected as a National Finalist in the World Skills UK Mechanical Engineering CAD Competition

Over the Exeat weekend four separate Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition groups have been out exploring the mountains and coast lines of the United Kingdom. Two Silver level teams of Year 11 pupils set out on the Anglesey Coastal Path, while the Year 13s went further afield and completed a four day crossing of the Lake District.

On September 21, people all over the world mark the International Day of Peace. This day has been designated by the UN General Assembly as a time to enhance the values of peace by engaging in a 24-hour period of nonviolence and a cease-fire.

St David’s College Head of Humanities, Matthew Roberts, believes to be a good teacher you need to have lived a little first.

“...so you’ve had different experiences and know a little bit about life.

“It’s also about keeping in touch with what’s going on in the world.”

All Year 12 pupils took part in a specially designed Leadership Day last week, as part of their introduction to life as a Sixth Former at St David’s College.

As an entity that promotes tolerance and helping others and over the years we have helped in many projects.

Sixth Former Maria Kazala Laski says she first discovered St David’s College on social media and says the decision to join two years ago has been one of the best ones she’s ever made.

This term, Year 8 have been studying unicellular organisms in everyday use so what better way to celebrate St David's Harvest Festival than by making their own bread?

It was a great pleasure to present former pupil, Ben Hay, with his Team Wales hoodie as he prepares to represent Wales in the WorldSkills National Finals in Mechanical Engineering: CAD in Middlesborough on 14^th November.

Last year to much excitement Girls Rugby was introduced to the sporting curriculum for the first time, and now they have even designed their own kit.

Our Headmaster Mr Russell is incredibly proud to be coming home with a win in the Indepdendent School of the Year 2022 Awards. St David's took top sport in the "Innovation Award for an Outstanding Initiative". Massive congratulations to Mr Lycett and the rest of our outstanding PE & Sport Department for their amazing work to win this award.

This weekend in Llangranog, the St David’s College Ski Teams were in winnings ways. The boys’ Team A held off stiff competition from schools from all over Wales to be crowned as the Welsh Schools Champions!

Match Report by Joe Kennedy-Lynch (year 9). After playing in the thrilling encounter, Joe took the time to write up the match report about our game against Ysgol Y Creuddyn a few weeks ago.

The chocolate advent calendar is a modern tradition at Christmas, but with the cost-of-living crisis, families are finding it harder to afford such luxuries. After hearing about this in their form time, a group of students from Year 10 Cader House chose to do something about it.

St David’s College Ski Team was established in the 1970s and for the last 30 years Snowdon House Parent, Jonathan Demery has been involved along with other members of staff in the early years.

Places on the annual ski trips Mr & Mrs Demery organises to the Alps have always notoriously sold out in days as they are so coveted, and many pupils who are lucky enough to go often say it’s one of their highlights during their time at St David’s.

This Half Term saw the return of our annual Battlefields Trip. Pupils studying history at St David's College traveled to some of the sites of the most important battles of the First World War and laid a wreath to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Read the full story of the trip and see some of the pictures here.

Homegrown rugby talent received a welcome boost this week with the announcement that St David’s College and RGC (Rygbi Gogledd Cymru) partnership will continue.

On Wednesday 7th December 3 teams from St David’s College entered the Badminton Wales Top School Competition for the North Wales region. This was St David’s first competition for 10 years and the teams were expecting to participate and gather experience for future tournaments, under the leadership of team manager Oliver Chandran.

We hope you enjoyed our beautiful Carol Service held at St Paul’s Church, in Craig y Don. The last time parents were allowed to attend was in 2019 because of Covid restrictions, and so this years’ service promised to be an extra special one.

Today saw the return of the STEM / Christmas fair at St David’s College. The event was organised by Sixth Form pupil and STEM Ambassador, Edwin Thompson alongside Head of Science Mr. Andrew Goodwin.

Last Sunday saw almost every single border, and a good number of day pupils representing their house in this year's 'House Orienteering' event. Based around the extensive school grounds and surrounding hillside, the pupils had exactly one hour to find as many of the hidden markers as possible.

Our school prefects spent this Wednesday evening putting together some very lovely Christmas hampers last night for the PTA Christmas Raffle that is taking place after our school Carol Service.

Today St David’s College welcomed Welsh Rugby Legend, Scott Quinnell. An enormous figure both on and off the field he earned 52 caps for Wales (7 as captain), as well as 3 for the British and Irish Lions and making 41 appearances for Wigan Rugby League.

The STEM Fair will be back at St David’s College on December 12^th and this year’s event is being organised by talented Scientist, Edwin Thompson.

Last weekend, Agatha Favill was crowned the British Girls Champion at the British Schools Ski Championships at Stoke dry slope. The competition was fierce with schools from Wales, England, and Scotland invited to challenge for the coveted titles with 184 skiers competing in total including some from other boarding schools in the uk. Not only did Agatha win the individual Championship, she also won the Boyd-Anderson Trophy for the fastest skier in a team that achieved a finish time.