Headteacher's Blog Post - Saturday 27th September 2025

Our pupils have made a fantastic start to the new academic year! We are so very proud of the way in which our newest members of the Bishop Vaughan family have settled in, and of the way in which the pupils in the other year groups have acted as role models and sources of support them as they’ve done so.

As ever, the year begin with our now well-established induction days and enrichment fair, these enabling all pupils to become acquainted with the important information about the year groups they’ve joined and providing opportunities to learn about the dozens of clubs and activities available to them at lunchtimes and after school. For an indication of these, many of them are advertised on this link, however our pupils are advised to keep an eye on the noticeboards in or outside their year bases, as the list is always expanding!

Another well-established tradition for September is our Annual Festival of Peace. This month, we celebrated our fifth annual festival, and our theme was ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, thus linking our festival to the theme of the Church's Jubilee Year. There were some incredibly thoughtful and creative interpretations of the theme with exhibits from every academic department which were showcased in our Main Hall for a full week.

The central exhibit was the Science Department’s towering lighthouse in the centre of the hall, with a rotating light as a real lighthouse would have, this symbolising that Christ is our light and that He is at the centre of our lives, making us safe and guiding us on our journey. Similarly, we are called to reflect His light and His message, acting as beacons to others, and the twinkling fairy lights around the remainder of the exhibition symbolised this, as did the beautiful light boxes created by the RE Department.

The Art Department’s extensive contribution complemented those of PE, History, Maths, Sociology and in fact every single department, combining with stalls representing the cultures that make up our community and the Junior Legion of Mary’s beautifully-decorated stall to remind us of our shared values and to explore the conditions for peace in our world.

During the week, we welcomed very many visitors, including the following:

the Deputy Lord Lieutenant (as the King’s representative in the region), the High Sheriff of West Glamorgan, the Master of the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales, the Leader of the Council, our Assembly Member, the Cabinet Member for Education, the Director of Education, the Deputy Lord Mayor, both Directors of Education for the Archdiocese, local Councillors, the Project Team for our new school, our School Improvement Advisor, Canon Jason Jones, Canon Pelosi, the Vocations Director, several members of the clergy, Governors, Education Department Officers, Headteachers and pupils from cluster schools, Gideons UK, representatives of the Bishop Vaughan Society and numerous further guests.

Guests enjoyed tours of the exhibition guided by prefects followed by refreshments and a performance from the choir. Feedback was extremely positive, and it included the following comments:

“Amazing day – amazing message – amazing young people! Very proud!”

“A beautiful example of unity in diversity!

“A wonderful and inspirational event!”

“An excellent and uplifting experience!”

“As always, the pupils shone!”

“Thank you for an afternoon filled with hope and joy!"

“If I could bottle this atmosphere, I would!”

“What an honour to have been invited to such a beautiful celebration!”

“Thank you for such a lovely celebration! May it – peace – begin with me!"

“A wonderful celebration of the many cultures that make up the Bishop Vaughan family! God bless your wonderful school!”

“A pleasure to visit! An excellent event – thank you for inviting me!”

“A wonderful occasion – a school that has high values reflected in behaviour!”

“An inspiring, caring and hugely passionate cohort! A pleasure to have attended!”

“A positive celebration of the wonderful values that are clearly embraced in the school! Well done to all of the staff and learners who worked on this!”

“Inspirational, heart-warming and a pleasure to attend … there was a palpable spirit of celebration inside the hall. … The enthusiasm for celebrating diversity and peace was authentic, topical and clearly embedded at Bishop Vaughan.”

“Thank you so much for the warm welcome at Bishop Vaughan’s Festival of Peace. It was a truly special experience, and I’m so grateful to have been part of it.”

I was genuinely impressed by all the pupils I met. Even the youngest in Year 7 spoke with such clarity and pride…. It was clear how much the festival means to them, and how beautifully they’ve embraced the theme of Pilgrims of Hope.”

I would like to say thank you for the invitation to the wonderful festival. It was quite a privilege … There was definitely a feeling of peace and harmony.”

This is always such a very special event, and we’re delighted to place it at the start of our school year – aligning with the International Day of Peace in mid-September – so that its message can permeate throughout the remainder of the year. It has been particularly lovely this year to have the Jubilee Year theme with which to work and we very much hope that our pupils will indeed continue to be the ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ that they have proven themselves to be thus far.

Many of our pupils from throughout the year groups (even our new Year 7s) gave generously of their time to support this week’s Year 6 Open Evening, running activities in the departmental rooms and guiding parents, carers and prospective pupils on tours. These visitors spoke of the school’s sense of a “real heart”. They complimented our pupils’ kindness, commenting on their eloquence frequently. We’ve focused extensively on oracy and developing pupils’ confidence in speaking, so this was lovely to hear. The Open Evening followed transition days in which we welcomed pupils from our local primary schools. The days were certainly action-packed and lots of fun!

The new prefect team have now been appointed following a competitive selection process. They have already made an excellent start to their work. Jasmine and Joseph, our Head Prefects, spoke beautifully at the aforementioned Open Evening and those present will have heard how eloquently and sincerely they spoke about their school experience.

In other areas of school life, our Year 7 boys’ football team won their first football game last Thursday in the Welsh cup! A fantastic achievement! In addition, a large group of pupils is currently enjoying a residential weekend visit to Llangrannog! We hope they have a wonderful time!

This is already a rather lengthy blog post, so we’ll conclude it here, but as you can see, our pupils really have made an exceptional start to the year, as I stated at the outset. Llongyfarchiadau i bawb! Rydym yn falch iawn ohonoch chi. Dymunwn flwyddyn wych i chi o'ch blaen!

Mrs Pole