Llantarnam School
Encyclopedia
Llantarnam School is a state-funded and non-selective comprehensive school
in the Cwmbran
suburb
of Llantarnam
, Torfaen
in Wales
. It provides education for approximately 1,500 students between the ages of 11 and 19.
s such as the Ebbw River
, Afon Llwyd
, River Usk
and River Monnow
. These are also the names of the four Houses in the school.The two smaller buildings are referred to as the Design Technology Block and the Science Block.
Each of the three main buildings have three storey
s or levels and a main access corridor on the first level which are referred to by students and faculty as Llwyd Corridor, Usk Corridor and Monnow Corridor. The school's canteen is located in Llwyd Building but there had been a second canteen in Usk Building up until 2006. What was Usk Canteen is now the Sixth Form
study area. (see below)
Both the Science
block and the Design Technology
block house other subjects as well as their own. The Science block contains three classrooms and one Science prep room which links the two Science classrooms. The third classroom is used as a Physical Education
theory classroom and has a set of computers connected to the schools network. The Design Technology Block contains two workshops, three Design Technology classrooms and an Art
classroom. These classrooms all have smaller rooms used for storage.
Usk Building contains two Geography
rooms on the top floor, a staff room
, threeDrama
classrooms, three Religious Studies
classrooms, the Headteacher's office as well as the other main school admin offices. The ground floor contains student's toilets and staff toilets, a classroom and a sixth form area which contained a locker room (now Offices), and it contains Sixth Form toilets, a common room
, one classroom which is also used as a Sixth Form Study Area and the offices of the Director 14-19 who is currently Mrs L. Davies and the Welsh Baccalaureate Co-oridnator who is currently Ms F. Campbell as well as the office of the Careers Advisor. The sixth form area also includes a small Sixth Form garden.
area which can be used for other sports.
Llwyd Canteen is now the only area available for students and teachers to buy food and drinks. The canteen serves both hot and cold food and has a variety of vending machine
s so that students may purchase food even when the canteen is not open. The canteen is dependent on the school's internal debit card system, with students topping up their accounts in Llwyd and Usk blocks via simple ATM
s.
Sixth Form Study Area (Formerly Usk Canteen)
The Sixth Form Study Area has a number of uses but its primary use is as an additional study area for the school's Sixth Form. However, it is also used as an exam hall and as a classroom. The Sixth Form Area is located in Usk Block and is the only part of school that younger students are denied access to. The Sixth Form Area contains a common room, a class room, two offices and toilets. The area also includes a garden.
Learning Resource Centre
The Learning Resource Centre has two purposes, it is a library and a computer room that the entire school can access at break and lunch times. Teachers can book the area for their classes at all times with the exception of 1st Period where the area is strictly for Sixth Form use only. At all other times any student may use the facilities, but during break and lunch times, Sixth Form take priority over all other year groups.
Expansion
Llantarnam school has been popular and over-subscribed since 2003 and currently (2009) has 1,500 students on roll. The 6th Form has expanded to 300 students and funds from the Welsh Assembly Government have helped the school build a new 6th Form Study Centre, which opened in September 2009.
includes a group of students who are designated prefects, with students in Years 12 and 13. At present, only Year 12 students can apply to become prefects, with successful applicants resuming their role in Year 13. Prefects are expected to patrol areas of the school at break times to prevent disruptive behaviour as well as being attached to departments and a year 7 or 8 form group. As a general rule-of-thumb, the prefects are expected to help out at other occasions such as Open Days.
The senior students comprise four students who have been elected to the positions of Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl by members of the staff and sixth form. All four students have to be prefects to be eligible for nomination. They are elected during the summer term after Year 13 go on study leave and after Year 12 return from study leave. Like the prefects, the senior students are expected to help out at occasions such as Open Days, however their role in such events is greatly expanded. The senior students are also responsible for organising such events as the sixth form parties and the OAP Christmas party. All four senior students also attend school council meetings.
Both Prefects and Senior Students can be identified by the distinctive badges that they wear on their ties. All senior students have blue badges with their position named on their badge (so the Head Boy's badge reads Head Boy, the Head Girl's badge reads Head Girl, the Deputy Head Boy's badge reads Deputy Head Boy and the Deputy Head Girl's badge reads Deputy Head Girl.) The prefects badges are available in numerous colours but are mainly either blue or yellow, although red badges are available. All prefect badges have the word prefect written on them. The font colour is gold with the badges all shaped like shields with a gold border. The text is written diagonally across the badge.
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
in the Cwmbran
Cwmbran
Cwmbrân is a new town in Wales. Today forming part of the county borough of Torfaen and lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbrân was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbrân means Crow...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Llantarnam
Llantarnam
Llantarnam is a community and suburb of Cwmbran in the county borough of Torfaen in southeast Wales.Llantarnam Abbey is a Cistercian abbey founded in 1179 as a daughter house of Strata Florida Abbey...
, Torfaen
Torfaen
Torfaen is a county borough in Wales within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It was originally formed in 1974 as a district of the county of Gwent and in 1996 it was reconstituted as a unitary authority.-Education:...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It provides education for approximately 1,500 students between the ages of 11 and 19.
Layout of the site
The school is split into three main buildings (one of which is split) with two smaller buildings on site. The main buildings are named Ebbw, Llwyd, Usk and Monnow after local riverRiver
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s such as the Ebbw River
Ebbw River
The Ebbw River is a river in South Wales.The main Ebbw River is formed by the confluence of the two minor Ebbw rivers, Ebbw Fach, and Ebbw Fawr ....
, Afon Llwyd
Afon Llwyd
The Afon Lwyd is a small river in south Wales which flows from its source north of Blaenavon, through Abersychan, Pontypool and Cwmbran before flowing into the River Usk at Caerleon, which subsequently flows into the Bristol Channel in Newport. The name is Welsh, meaning "Grey River".Historically...
, River Usk
River Usk
The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain of mid-Wales, in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east by Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and...
and River Monnow
River Monnow
The River Monnow flows through south-west Herefordshire, England and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales.- Border River :For much of its short length it marks the border between England and Wales before it joins the River Wye at Monmouth. The Wye is also half English from Monmouth until it meets the...
. These are also the names of the four Houses in the school.The two smaller buildings are referred to as the Design Technology Block and the Science Block.
Each of the three main buildings have three storey
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
s or levels and a main access corridor on the first level which are referred to by students and faculty as Llwyd Corridor, Usk Corridor and Monnow Corridor. The school's canteen is located in Llwyd Building but there had been a second canteen in Usk Building up until 2006. What was Usk Canteen is now the Sixth Form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
study area. (see below)
Both the Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
block and the Design Technology
Design Technology
Design and Technology is a school subject offered at all levels of primary and secondary school. In some countries such as England it is a part of the National Curriculum. It is offered in many countries around the world such as Brunei, Bermuda, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Jordan...
block house other subjects as well as their own. The Science block contains three classrooms and one Science prep room which links the two Science classrooms. The third classroom is used as a Physical Education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
theory classroom and has a set of computers connected to the schools network. The Design Technology Block contains two workshops, three Design Technology classrooms and an Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
classroom. These classrooms all have smaller rooms used for storage.
Usk Building contains two Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
rooms on the top floor, a staff room
Staff room
A staff room is a room in a primary school, middle school, high school, college and/or university where the teachers and/or school staff talk to each other, discuss work, eat, drink and socialise...
, threeDrama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
classrooms, three Religious Studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
classrooms, the Headteacher's office as well as the other main school admin offices. The ground floor contains student's toilets and staff toilets, a classroom and a sixth form area which contained a locker room (now Offices), and it contains Sixth Form toilets, a common room
Common room
The phrase common room is used especially in British and Canadian English to describe a type of shared lounge, most often found in dormitories, at universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. It is generally connected to several...
, one classroom which is also used as a Sixth Form Study Area and the offices of the Director 14-19 who is currently Mrs L. Davies and the Welsh Baccalaureate Co-oridnator who is currently Ms F. Campbell as well as the office of the Careers Advisor. The sixth form area also includes a small Sixth Form garden.
Leisure Centre
The Leisure Centre encompasses a swimming pool, changing rooms (Male and Female), a classroom, a small staff area as well as a basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
area which can be used for other sports.
Significant locations around the school
Llwyd CanteenLlwyd Canteen is now the only area available for students and teachers to buy food and drinks. The canteen serves both hot and cold food and has a variety of vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
s so that students may purchase food even when the canteen is not open. The canteen is dependent on the school's internal debit card system, with students topping up their accounts in Llwyd and Usk blocks via simple ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
s.
Sixth Form Study Area (Formerly Usk Canteen)
The Sixth Form Study Area has a number of uses but its primary use is as an additional study area for the school's Sixth Form. However, it is also used as an exam hall and as a classroom. The Sixth Form Area is located in Usk Block and is the only part of school that younger students are denied access to. The Sixth Form Area contains a common room, a class room, two offices and toilets. The area also includes a garden.
Learning Resource Centre
The Learning Resource Centre has two purposes, it is a library and a computer room that the entire school can access at break and lunch times. Teachers can book the area for their classes at all times with the exception of 1st Period where the area is strictly for Sixth Form use only. At all other times any student may use the facilities, but during break and lunch times, Sixth Form take priority over all other year groups.
Expansion
Llantarnam school has been popular and over-subscribed since 2003 and currently (2009) has 1,500 students on roll. The 6th Form has expanded to 300 students and funds from the Welsh Assembly Government have helped the school build a new 6th Form Study Centre, which opened in September 2009.
The role of senior students in Sixth Form
The Sixth FormSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
includes a group of students who are designated prefects, with students in Years 12 and 13. At present, only Year 12 students can apply to become prefects, with successful applicants resuming their role in Year 13. Prefects are expected to patrol areas of the school at break times to prevent disruptive behaviour as well as being attached to departments and a year 7 or 8 form group. As a general rule-of-thumb, the prefects are expected to help out at other occasions such as Open Days.
The senior students comprise four students who have been elected to the positions of Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy, Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl by members of the staff and sixth form. All four students have to be prefects to be eligible for nomination. They are elected during the summer term after Year 13 go on study leave and after Year 12 return from study leave. Like the prefects, the senior students are expected to help out at occasions such as Open Days, however their role in such events is greatly expanded. The senior students are also responsible for organising such events as the sixth form parties and the OAP Christmas party. All four senior students also attend school council meetings.
Both Prefects and Senior Students can be identified by the distinctive badges that they wear on their ties. All senior students have blue badges with their position named on their badge (so the Head Boy's badge reads Head Boy, the Head Girl's badge reads Head Girl, the Deputy Head Boy's badge reads Deputy Head Boy and the Deputy Head Girl's badge reads Deputy Head Girl.) The prefects badges are available in numerous colours but are mainly either blue or yellow, although red badges are available. All prefect badges have the word prefect written on them. The font colour is gold with the badges all shaped like shields with a gold border. The text is written diagonally across the badge.