24 October 2025
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
Ghostly goings on at LHS this week…
Spooky times call for social enterprise and we never miss an opportunity for creativity. As you can see from this priceless reaction below (!), the students of the Den baked and decorated some frightening treats and got arty with beads….
Thriller!
Meanwhile, in Theatrical Make-up on Wednesday, you would be forgiven for thinking you were on the set of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.
Apologies to our young people who may not be familiar with this video but for those of us growing up in the 1980’s, it was iconic! As the author of this blog, I reserve the right to take an occasional browse down memory lane. Years 7 to 13, find it on YouTube!
Many thanks to Miss Parry for sharing and imparting an interesting passion, and thanks to Ali Khan in Year 13 for taking these photographs. You’ve captured some spine-chilling snaps…
Sing it with me everyone….
🎶…it’s close to midnight
Something evil’s lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between the eyes
You’re paralysed…… 🎵
Over in the Art department, stonewall clay was the order of the day. Small stone ware ghosts were fired and stained to raise funds for some specialist resources for the students to use in their Art lessons.
Celebrating our diversity and the beauty of lights in the darkness
This week, many of our students and their families celebrated the very special festival of Diwali. We are incredibly lucky to have so many rich cultures represented in our school. So, as members of our school community were getting ready to celebrate the Festival of Lights this week, I was very keen to hear from the students themselves about their celebrations.
Diwali is observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. For Hindus it represents the victory of light over darkness. They celebrated in style on Monday, the 20th of October. For Sikhs, it marks Guru Har Gobind Ji’s release from imprisonment, a message that really resonates in recent weeks. Their celebrations were enjoyed on Tuesday 21st October.
It’s a time for family. Whilst Angadveer (Year 11) had his eyes to the skies through the fireworks, Sammy (Year 12) and her loved ones were hosting a feast this year.
Thank you to the students for taking the time to talk to me and reminding me, and all of us, that light overcomes darkness and knowledge overcomes ignorance. Lessons will carry with us into the weeks ahead.
More social enterprise in the wider community of Cardiff
As well as activities that benefit our school community, our new Sixth Form LDP group take up the remit of collecting donations for the Cardiff Foodbank.
We work in partnership with the Rotary Club of Llanishen to hold a collection on our school bus bays between 5-6pm on the third Wednesday of each month. Anyone can come along to donate items.
To make life easier, we invite anyone to drop donations off at our school reception. Our Sixth Form volunteers then sort and deliver the donations we receive. This week, they launched their ‘bring us your beans’ campaign! Any tins of any description are gratefully received in our school reception.
A splattering of culture – LHS at Jane Eyre
Last week Miss Lockwood and Miss Foley took A-Level English Literature students to see a play adaptation of the novel Jane Eyre, a text that is studied in Year 12. The play was being performed in the Theatre Royal in Bath in an intimate theatre hall. The play consisted of a one-woman show with a carefully and cleverly written script, condensing the novel down into key parts of Jane’s life.
Both teachers and students were impressed with the actress’ ability to change her voice and body movements so fluidly, for whatever character she was portraying. For some students it was their first experience of theatre and what a treat it was. The photographs they took are very in keeping with our Halloween theme…
Staff Seren yr wythnos
In less spooky news this week, our student Criw Cymraeg group have nominated Mrs Griffiths from Science for her use of the Welsh language. Staff can be nominated for their effort or their accuracy and pronunciation! Well done Miss! Da iawn!
Athletics Success
Next on the agenda today is lap around the athletics Awards Evening.
Following on from a successful season on track in 2025, Cardiff Athletics celebrated their athletes at their annual Awards Evening. It was so lovely to see alumni student and Olympian Jeremiah Azu spend an evening with the up-and-coming talent of Llanishen High School. A sporting example of how former students from LHS are now role models for aspiring younger athletes coming through the same athletic pathways.
A special shout/out to Abbi Beadle who picked up the ‘rising star award’ after her domination of the U15g age groups last year winning multiple gold medals. It was also great to see Kevin Feng, Rhys Pitt-Pladdy and Riley Nealon being celebrated for their commitment and achievements this past season. We are extremely proud of them all. Always Blue!
Go Flo!
Another notable success story from the summer athletics season is Florence Davies, who picked up her first Welsh International vest at the SIAB international that took place just prior to the summer holidays.
Who would have thought that when she volunteered for the race walk event for ‘team points’ a couple of years back, she would be representing her country in that same event two years on?
We’re sure former student and Commonwealth medallist in the Race Walk Bethan Davies will be extremely happy to hear that her legacy is inspiring other Llanishen students in this event years later.
We certainly do have some incredible ex-students for our current crop of talent to draw inspiration from on a daily basis.
Anyone who knows Flo knows how incredibly talented she is both academically and in a sporting context, so it perhaps no surprise that she has also been selected recently into the county U16 netball squad following an intense couple of rounds of trials. We are so proud of Flo and her commitment to excel in a variety of environments and we look forward to seeing what the future brings.
U13 Welsh Cup Win!
Congratulations to our girls who played against Cardiff High School in a highly contested game of football last Friday evening. At one point we were 2:1 down. In a roller coaster of a game, with only 20 minutes to go, we finally beat the opposition 3:2.
All the girls contributed magnificently to the game and created lots of opportunities.
Mrs Birch-Hurst would like to celebrate Ella Davies and Amy Gough from Year 7 and Amalie Carwardine from Year 8 on their debut for the team as the goal scorers! Amazing and well done to the following:
Year 8 girls: Lucia Lillywhite, Maisey Lillywhite, Alicia Brody (Captain), Mairin Anderson, Amalie Scourfield, Summer Beadle, Eden Idowu, Berry Frazer, Amalie Carwardine and Chloe Moss.
Year 7 girls: Amy Gough (Captain), Isla McCabe and Ella Davies.
Wrap Up Warm Campaign
Many thanks to everyone who donated to the Wrap Up Warm Campaign this year, contributing 2 full bins of coats that will be provided directly to vulnerable individuals, such as those experiencing homelessness, refugees, children in poverty, and survivors of domestic abuse. Extra thanks to Mr Shore for allowing us to dress him up to raise awareness of this campaign.
Pokémon Club Kicks Off a Fantastic New Term! 🎮
I absolutely love bringing you updates on some of the activities that take place at LHS that are new to me! In the words of The Pokémon Club Team…
We’re thrilled to be back at Llanishen High School’s Pokémon Club, and the first half term of this year has been a huge success! Led by our passionate newly elected President, Benji, the club is buzzing with energy, laughter, and friendly competition.
Our numbers have grown from just 6 members in January, after being founded by Jack, to an amazing 20 students this term! It’s been fantastic to see so many students getting involved, building friendships, and sharing their love for Pokémon.
One of our members, Will, describes the club as “fun, hilarious and really cool. We get to play Pokémon, have matches and trade. We have a tournament every term. Sometimes people get competitive because they care.”
His words perfectly capture the spirit of our club—engaged, enthusiastic, and full of heart.
To celebrate the release of Pokémon Z-A, we held a special fundraising event during break times on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th October. We smashed our target of £200! Funds raised will go towards further club activities and prizes for our termly tournaments. We are very excited to see Miss Daley get slimed as the result of our combined actions.
Thank you to those who helped our event, especially Rules of Play Cardiff, for being part of our journey—we can’t wait to share more adventures with you! — The Pokémon Club Team
If anyone would like to join this club, just find Benji or Miss Daley. They meet every Thursday after school.
Enrichment continued…
A big thank you to the staff who have shared their passions and hobbies in this inaugural half-term.
Part of the introductory phase is sharing intel about the different clubs on offer so that students can make informed choices for their next activity in the spring term of 2026. This week, we are featuring the LHS Darts Academy, and Samba Band!
Keep this under your hat… LHS Darts Academy develops numeracy skills by stealth. It is a game of precision and strategy and can enhance cognitive function.
It improves concentration and demands focus and precision. Even more importantly, it encourages social interaction, physical self-control and stress relief.
What about Samba Band? Samba Band develops physical and mental well-being through exercise and stress relief. The social and emotional benefits from community and teamwork, and educational advantages including cultural appreciation as well as the development of musical skills.
Playing Samba can be a rhythmic and energic activity that provides a good workout! For us, it’s the teamwork and collaborative nature of the activity that matters. Everyone must work together to create a unified sound.
So, there we go. That’s a wrap for the first half of the autumn term. Rest up in preparation for round two
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry, Headteacher