On Thursday, 10th October, Olchfa will be marking World Mental Health day by taking part in the ‘Hello Yellow’ campaign for the mental health charity, Young Minds. Pupils and staff are asked to wear a yellow item e.g. a T-shirt/hair band/socks etc. The aim of the campaign is to show young people that their mental health and well-being is a priority, as well as to raise vital funds for Young Minds. Please note that pupils must wear their school uniform as normal, except they may swap an item for something yellow, or wear a yellow item additionally. Pupils do not have to take part if they do not wish to.  Any pupils taking part in Open Evening should return to school in the evening in their day-to-day uniform. 

We would like to take this opportunity to signpost you to the Young Minds website: https://youngminds.org.uk/ 

The website contains many fantastic resources that parents can use to support their child’s mental health, and has more information about the Hello Yellow campaign should you wish to explore further. 

 If you wish to make a voluntary donation to support the excellent work that Young Minds undertake, you may do so through the Olchfa Gateway App/webpage, which is now open to donations. 

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Year 13 recently went to Pwll Du and Year 12's went to Oxwich to collect data to use for their A Level courses. Year 13 carried out a random sampling technique to compare the means of organisms growing in different locations of Pwll Du. Year 12 carried out systematic regular sampling to discover whether organisms change over an environment. On both occasions the students collected a huge array of data which has been used to draw conclusions about the environments. On both sampling trips members of the public approached members of staff stating how well behaved and respectful the students of Olchfa school were.

On Monday 17th June, Olchfa pupils engaged in iThink and iDiscover Science sessions with their peers from Spain. They learned about the coastal processes, landforms and ecosystems found in the Gower.

Having explored food chains and trophic interactions of rocky shorelines with Jack Gourlay, Ceri Humphris and Rebecca Conibear, on Tuesday, students from the two schools put in to practise their scientific protocol on Rhossili headland.  They battled challenging windy conditions to collect data on native grassland species. They were also able to do some bird species identification. One group was lucky enough to see a group of Atlantic Grey Seals. Students also participated in a coasteering adventure run by RipNRock which involved rough ocean swimming and cliff jumping. Students showed excellent resilience and determination to complete a series of increasingly intimidating cliff jumps. 

During the same week,  Olchfa and Spanish students took part in an iThink lesson about coastal erosion and longshore drift. 

On Wednesday the students visited a sunny Three Cliffs Bay. Students from both schools were able to see the results of this geographical process whilst undertaking geography fieldwork on the storm beach.  Alongside the fieldwork, students walked through the sea arch they had learnt about on Monday before experiencing the eroded cliffs up close during a rock climbing activity organised by local adventure company RipNRock. Students showed excellent team working and communication skills as they worked together to help each other up and down the steep rock face