Pontypridd High success in a prestigious writing competition
The Seren Programme aims to support the aspirations and ambitions of the most talented and most able learners in Wales. Their competition, launched across all schools in RCT, required schools to submit one excellent piece of writing per year group. Students were tasked with writing an article for a magazine about climate change. This task challenged them to write at an academic standard and show off their thinking.
We are delighted that two students from Pontypridd High School were judged winners in their respective year groups. This is a very prestigious competition and Tomos Jones (Year 8) and Remy Tobin (Year 9) deserve great credit for the quality of their writing.
Remy Tobin won the Year 9 category. They produced a perceptive and mature piece of writing that demonstrated outstanding knowledge of the wider social, economic, and political issues standing between the government and real change. The powerful concluding statement left a mark on their readers who were left reflecting whether we can be 'too radical' in the fight against climate change. They crafted a powerful argument with vocabulary fitting of an academic piece of writing.
Tomos Jones won the Year 8 category. He made his views clear from the outset with his punchy heading: Humans harvesting havoc. Tomos cleverly weaved a wide range of persuasive techniques into his writing, exposing the reader to the awful implications food waste has for the environment. He demonstrated excellent wider knowledge by skilfully engaging with quotes from David Attenborough and Guilherme Leal. His tone captured the formality of academic writing, which is no mean feat for a year 8 pupil!
This success is very well deserved and congratulations to Tomos and Remy from everyone at Pontypridd High school.
Jess Williams (English Faculty) and Marie Sidoli (Aspire lead)