24 April 2026
24th April 2026
Dear Parents, Guardians and Students/Annwyl Rieni, Gwarchodwyr a Myfyrwyr
What a phenomenal round up of silverware in the first week back! We’re going to need a bigger trophy cabinet. We are delighted to start this week with a round up of just some of the amazing achievements across team sports. Thank you to everyone who has supported them, taxied them, fed them, hydrated them, and stood on the side line rooting for them.
Cardiff and the Vale Schools Football Champions!
It was a double whammy last Thursday afternoon and evening as Cardiff West hosted the finals of the Key Stage 4 girls and the Year 10 boys.
Massive congratulations to our Key Stage 4 girls who won their final on nail biting penalties (well done Issabell) against a very strong Glantaf side. LHS played brilliantly throughout and showcased some spectacular football during the game. In addition, the girls showed a fantastic team spirit throughout – and to the bitter end!
Victory for the girls was followed at 7pm by an outstanding performance from our Year 10 boys who also showed great team spirit and togetherness to overcome a talented Plasmawr side. Goals by Ethan and George sealed the win for the boys who defended brilliantly throughout the duration of the game.
Thank you so much to Mr Trelawny and his team for the energy that they have fed in to these achievements. They boost our whole school and spread that sense of pride.
National U13 Basketball Champions
Massive congratulations also go to our U13 Girls Basketball team who became National Champions after winning a challenging local competition, followed by a tough regional competition and finally winning the national finals. What a stunning line up!
These girls were absolutely brilliant, showing exceptional talent, resilience and teamwork along the way. In addition, massive shoutout to Eden who was named MVP of the tournament!
His 2nd Welsh National title in consecutive years!
So Nice!.. He did it Twice!! An excellent introduction to this next section that I must credit Luke Richards (Llanishen Boxing Club) for!
Congratulations to Kamil Omar in Year 11 for securing his 2nd Welsh National in consecutive years!! A monumental achievement for Kamil, Llanishen Boxing Club and LHS.
Winning the 60kg junior title last year in 2025 set Kamil up for an incredible season, adding the following titles to his impressive resume:
– British 🇬🇧 Silver medalist 2025 🥈
– WABA Boxcup Gold 2025 🥇
– NAGBCs Champion 2025🥇
– Algarve Boxcup Gold 2026 🥇
– Guerrilla Boxcup Gold 2026 🥇
– WABA Welsh National Champion 2026 🥇
Defending his title not only cements his status as the current best 2010/2011 born 63kg boxer in Wales but this also gives us huge confidence in Kamil going one better this year in June when the team travel to Scotland for the British GB Championships where Kamil will face the national champions.
It’s head down all in for his GCSE studies now! Kamil knows and shows what hard work, dedication and commitment can lead to in all areas of our lives. The message that Llanishen Boxing clubs preaches to all of our members. Well done from all of us here Kamil.
Monster Phonics – the launch
In completely different news, on Monday 20th April we were delighted to attend the city-wide launch of the universal offer of Monster Phonics for all Cardiff schools. Cardiff Council selected Monster Phonics as its city‑wide phonics offer because it provides an equitable, inclusive and cost‑effective approach that aligns with the Council’s values and its Inclusion Strategy.
We were very pleased to send members of LHS ALN, EAL, Literacy and SLT to the launch in order to plan for the introduction of the phonics scheme in our Key Stage 3 literacy and reading strategy.
As well as sending members of staff, we were also selected to invite some of our GCSE Drama students to become the physical representations of the phonics characters!
The ‘monsters’ handed out information booklets at the end of the presentation and interacted with delegates, who wanted to have selfies with them! It was great fun!
Well done to Ava Rose, Julia Macedo, Leila Knowles and Scarlett Plant – great sports!! I’m sorry I’m not sure who is in which costume!
A Season of Celebration in Our Pokémon Club
Now, an update from Miss Daly and her Pokémon crew.
“This year is packed with celebrations, and our club has been making the most of it! Outside of the club Charlie took the time to visit the European Championships, scoping out potential future competition, following the battles, cheering on his favourite competitors, and learning new TCG and VGC strategies from some of Europe’s best players.
There were Pokémon-themed exhibitions and activities happening at the Natural History Museum earlier this year. From art displays to interactive science events, it’s been a brilliant way to see how Pokémon inspires creativity and learning.
Our 30th Anniversary Celebration made this spring extra special and was a huge success for the Pokémon Club! Miss Daley surprised students and staff dressing as Pikachu for our anniversary event putting the Pika‑Pika in the school!
The anniversary sale was incredibly popular, with many excited to pick up Pokémon goodies while celebrating three decades of this beloved franchise. It was fantastic to see so many getting involved. A massive thanks to Learning Support for hosting, Mr Thomas from DT for customising some unique wooden cards for us, and Mrs Parry for her support in her blog.
The anniversary quiz was another big highlight, challenging members to test their Pokémon knowledge across generations. From classic Kanto questions to more modern Pokémon trivia, everyone took part with great enthusiasm, teamwork, and plenty of smiles. Congratulations to our pairs champions Owen and Logan, and our solo victor, Dylan P.
One of the most special moments this term was deciding who would become our first honourary member. Given the timing of their visit to Cardiff and their influence since the TV show was created there was only one choice. The original singer of the Pokémon theme song, Jason Paige.
In return he graciously signed a club poster for us. Having something unique signed by such an iconic figure in Pokémon history is a huge honour for our club, and it now takes pride of place as a lasting reminder of an unforgettable year.
We ended the celebrations with our Pokémon Club Awards Night, a wonderful opportunity to recognise the effort, kindness, commitment, and enthusiasm of our members. Awards celebrated not just winning, but equality, enthusiasm and being a great member of the club – values we are very proud of. It was also a chance to acknowledge two of our original members Liv and Jack, before they focus on their next missions!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this spring such a memorable season for our Pokémon Club. Here’s to many more tournaments, celebrations, and adventures ahead!
Summer Enrichment is up and running
The sun was shining on us on Wednesday (even though the winds were insane). It is great to feature one of the activities that is new for the summer, basketball. It was certainly energetic, inclusive and broadly in line with the general rules of basketball!
We had hoped to bring you some photos from our new Bridge Club which is being led by members of the local Bridge Club in Llanishen/Thornhill. Sadly, they were rudely interrupted by a burst pipe in the room they were using. We are talking ‘burst pipe on the most burst level you can imagine.’ Well done to everyone on the clean-up operation. So, we didn’t quite capture the first Bridge Club session, but we did capture basketball.
Breaking news…
And in breaking news at the time of writing (which is always a Wednesday evening), we would like to say how proud we are of our Year 9 girls.
Today, they took on a very strong Glantaf side in the finals of the CAVSFA at Cardiff West. Despite losing out to Glantaf, it was a brilliant final and a fitting performance to end an amazing season for these girls.
Let me tell you something, I would not want to be on the opposing side. These girls are fearless. They will be back. What a team.
That’s a wrap for this week, with the promise of so much more for next week!
Thank you for reading/Diolch am ddarllen,
Mrs Sarah Parry
Headteacher