Headteacher's Welcome

 Mr. Peter Ward 

I am proud, privileged and delighted to introduce you to Bedwas High School on behalf of the Pupils, Staff and  Governors.  I hope you will find our website interesting, useful and informative and that it affords you a flavour of the life in Bedwas High School.

Bedwas High School is above all a happy, friendly school where pupils and staff care about each other and offer a safe and supportive working environment that enables all to flourish.  Our members of staff are committed to supporting our pupils’ needs both in and out of the classroom.  Exam results have improved annually over the last four years.  Extra Curricular activities and school trips are vast and offer all pupils every chance of success and worthwhile educational experiences.

School teams and groups regularly enjoy success in a wide range of sporting, Drama and other events.  Regular inter school competitions, musical events and Drama productions have become the norm and are an outstanding success.

Our last Inspection Report (March 2007) was truly outstanding and extremely rewarding for Staff, Pupils, Parents and Governors.  This report, together with the wide range of prestigious awards received by the school in recent years, is clear testimony that we are, without doubt, living up to our school mission statement of “Caring and Achieving”.

The Report summary stated:

“The school’s particular strengths are the extent to which everyone works together to achieve high standards across the school, the inspirational leadership of the Headteacher and leadership team which enables staff and pupils to achieve their potential and the drive towards achieving excellence and the emphasis placed on continuous improvement and high standards across the school is outstanding”.

 We are all extremely pleased and proud of such high commendations.

A selection of comments from our Inspection Report can be found on this site.  These clearly recognise and acknowledge the very high and outstanding standards of our school.

Our work and success in a wide range of areas has been recognised and rewarded by receipt of a high number of prestigious awards and achievements.  (See section on Awards and Achievements).

In 2001, our school received the Welsh Secondary Schools Award for our “Support to Pupils” and a Barclays New Futures Award for our work with the community.

We were also one of the only two Secondary Schools in Caerphilly LEA to pilot the Healthy Schools Initiative.  Having successfully completed all our initiatives for the first 3 years of the scheme we were Nationally Accredited in 2004 as a “Healthy School”.

In 2002, we received the highly prestigious Schools Curriculum Award.  Only eight secondary schools in Wales received this award in 2002.

In March 2003, we again received the highly prestigious Welsh Secondary Schools Award for our project “Cygnet to Swan” which clearly recognised our excellent work on the transition and induction of new pupils into our school.  In April 2003, we received a second Barclays’ New Futures Award for our work in community projects.  In 2004, we received a highly commended award from the WSSA for our work on School Improvement and a BT Award for a project on sustainability and communication.  We also gained the Investors in People Award in April 2004 and the Basic Skills Quality Mark in December 2004.

In January 2005, we received our third Welsh Secondary Schools award in recognition of our pioneering work on Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship.  In 2005, we received our third Welsh Secondary Schools award in recognition of our pioneering work on Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship.  In 2005 we achieved two Impetus awards and the silver award for Eco Schools.

In July 2006, we achieved the European Green Flag Award for Eco Schools.  We were the first secondary school in Caerphilly LEA to hold this award.

 In March 2007, we were runners up in the all Wales Eco School of the Year competition.

In June 2007, we achieved the renewal of our Investors in People award and in July 2007, we won the British Council for Wales award for “Excellence in International Education (secondary sector)”.

In the Autumn Term of 2007, we were awarded our second Basic Skills Quality Mark, our second Investors in people Award and the Careers Wales Quality Mark.

In March 2008 we were the winners of the All Wales Eco School of the Year competition.

 Such a lengthy list of awards, for one school, is clear testimony of the high standards of our work.

 The pupils, staff and governors are extremely proud of these achievements and we are determined to continue to build on these successes in the future.

 At Bedwas we believe we can “make a difference” for our pupils.  We have clear and strong evidence that we actually achieve this.

 We believe that all our pupils can achieve success whatever their particular talents, abilities and backgrounds.

 We provide a wide range of learning opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom, in order to motivate and challenge our pupils in ways which recognise their different aptitudes and aspirations and value their achievement.

 We expect our pupils to achieve and we provide them with the opportunities, encouragement and support to do so.

 Successful and happy school days depend largely on the partnership between school and home and the support that parents give to their children.  At Bedwas, we place a high value on this partnership and we actively encourage parents to work with us closely to ensure the happiness and success of the child during their vital school years.

 There is always a warm welcome for parents at Bedwas.  If you wish to find out more about our school or if you wish to make an individual visit to the school, then please do not hesitate to contact us.