Rob’s Weekly Round-up

29 April 2022

Dear colleagues,

I hope this message finds you well ahead of the bank holiday weekend. 

I’d like to start by pointing you towards the recording of Monday’s meeting of Full Council. This was the last Council meeting before Thursday’s local election and a number of the Vale’s councillors, including the current Leader, Cllr Neil Moore, who is not seeking re-election took the opportunity to place on record their thanks for the work of staff over the past term, especially during the response to Covid-19. 

I also said a few words on the subject and would like to repeat here that while the last two and half years has been the most challenging time I have experienced in my career, it has also been the most rewarding. That is because I have seen how our teams responded to the huge challenges they faced. All staff, across all sites, did fantastic work and it will not be forgotten. 

One of the things that made us able to respond so well was a willingness of our teams to support those in exceptional circumstances and strive to ensure the best outcomes possible. I have this week seen two great examples of exactly this from our Learning and Skills team. 

I would like to congratulate Stephanie Buttwell who has been awarded a Kit award for excellence when working with and supporting families that have chosen to educate their children at home by the Education Otherwise Campaign. As part of our Elective Home Education team, Stephanie works directly with families and the award is a recognition of how much she puts into this. Llongyfarchiadau Stephanie.

This week has also seen the team behind the Cake Box at Ysgol Y Deri pick up three awards in the Regional Finals of the Young Enterprise Award. The Cake Box is a company set up and run by the YYD pupils. They were winners in the Best Customer Service and Best Presentation categories, as well as the Team Programme within the Additional Learning Needs category.

The success is first and foremost down to pupils Ross, Joe, Morgan, Callum, Ashley, Erin. John, and Joel. However, it would not have been possible without the support of a committed staff team made up of Steve Jones, Nadine Britten, and Anthony Doherty.

Class teacher Sue Williams said: “what a huge boost this will give to the confidence of our young people, for them to now know that they can compete on an equal basis with some of the most talented young entrepreneurs out there.”  I could not agree more. 

The team now go through to the All-Wales finals on May 18th. Pob lwc pawb. 

I’d like to remind you all that our Miles for Ukraine campaign comes to an end on Tuesday. We are now less than 200 miles away from reaching double our initial target. The response so far has been phenomenal. More than £12,000 has been raised along the way. Every contribution, both in miles or money, makes a difference so if you can add to either total please do. 

Finally, I’d like to end by urging you all to take a look at the categories for this year’s Staff Awards, for which nominations are now open. It is always great to see colleagues’ work first-hand or get updates on individual successes that I can highlight in these messages. However, I know there is so much more good work out there and want to see as much as possible recognised. This year’s awards will be bigger and better than even so if you know someone who deserves an accolade please put them forward. 

As always, thanks for your efforts this week. I hope you all have a great weekend. 

Diolch yn fawr iawn. 

Rob.