Keep up to date with life at St Clare’s by regularly checking in here to see what’s going on in and out of school.
We also produce a newsletter every half-term which is emailed out to parents. Go to the School Life section to see them all.
Latest News
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St Clare's Nursery launches Forest School
25th April 2021We are delighted to announce that St Clare’s School Nursery has launched Forest School. We have a fantastic mini woodland area within our eleven acres of beautiful grounds so it’s the perfect location for the children to explore, have fun and learn. Forest School is an approach to learning that takes children into the great outdoors whatever the weather to explore the natural environment. Children
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Be Well Comments on the Return to School
29th March 2021While there is relief and excitement about returning to school after the latest lockdown, this may well be laced with a degree of apprehension or even anxiety for some parents and/or children. This document, compiled by our Cognita Wellbeing Team is designed to help families as they transition out of lockdown and back to school – which is where children will be able to thrive
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Annual Voice of the Parent Survey Results
23rd March 2021We would like to take the opportunity to thank you for completing our annual ‘Voice of the Parent’ survey. We had the highest response rate and NPS to date this year. Your support and feedback is invaluable and it meant so much to us all reading your positive comments supporting the school. Please see the feedback from the survey, together with the actions the school
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Enhancing Learning with Artificial Intelligence
24th February 2021At St Clare's School, we are committed to inspiring our students every day, while ensuring our teachers are equipped with the very best learning tools and resources. To that end, we are delighted to have introduced CENTURY, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered learning platform, to our classrooms. From April last year, students at 16 schools in the Cognita family benefited from learning using CENTURY during lockdowns and further disruption caused by
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St Clare's fast-tracks new programme to equip its students with personal digital devices
22nd October 2020As further Covid-related restrictions start to come into force tomorrow, St Clare’s School, part of the global Cognita family of schools, has fast-tracked a new programme to equip all students from Year 9 to Year 13 with their own personal digital device for use in school and at home. This will enable these students to be taught at home through online learning when they return
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Global Effort for Young People's Well-being amid COVID-19
26th September 2020Students at St Clare's joined over 55,000 children and young people around the world to draw attention to the vital role of mental and physical wellbeing in education. Covid-19 has put the spotlight on young people’s wellbeing more than ever before. On Friday 25 September, St Clare’s collapsed the curriculum to mark Global Be Well Day – a worldwide event led by Cognita, the group of over 75 schools of which St Clare’s is a member. The
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St Clare's celebrate best GCSE results in the area
22nd August 2020Pupils at St. Clare’s School, Porthcawl celebrated exceptional GCSE results again, having significantly outperformed their peers across the UK. Our Class of 2020 made us so proud with the award of their GCSE grades, with 51.8% at Grade 7+ (A*/A) and over 97% of grades awarded at 4+ (C+). Headteacher, Helen Hier, said, “We are so proud of these students who overcame immense challenges during
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Top-performing Sixth Form celebrates A-Level success
17th August 2020St Clare's Sixth Form continues its track record for outstanding results at A-Level, with Year 13 students achieving 76.3% of all grades at A*/A and 100% at A*/B, securing places at the most competitive universities, including many in the Russell Group. The 2020 A-Level grades build on the excellent results seen in previous years with another 100% pass rate. This year, 76.3% of grades were
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Our Back to School Parent Survey Results
2nd July 2020100% of parents agreed that their child benefitted from returning to school Whether teaching online or offline, you can be reassured that St Clare's pupils are getting the very best education and that our well organised school leadership team has mitigated health risks to ensure the safety of all our pupils. Our parents trust that we can deliver an uninterrupted education whatever twists and turns
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Summer describes what it's like having kidney dialysis during coronavirus crisis
17th April 2020Summer K, aged 12, is a Year 8 pupil from Bridgend. Summer has chronic kidney disease and lost both her kidneys when she was very small so she has to attend University Hospital Cardiff 3 times a week for dialysis sessions. With every dialysis session lasting 4 hours plus travelling time, it means Summer misses 3 afternoons of educational experience so up until now, her
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St Clare's students become published illustrators as part of global story writing initiative
4th March 2020Students from St Clare’s School can see their work published today as part a global project involving over 50 Cognita schools in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Hundreds of children have collaborated to create Lyla, Louis and the Magic Lift - a unique and fantastical book aimed at 10 and 11-year-olds, which has been released to mark World Book Day. This is the second year
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WJEC Chief Examiner for Art & Design officially opens our new Art Block
6th February 2020St Clare’s School held a celebration event last week to mark the official opening of our fabulous new art facility and pupils from Year 5 to Year 13 took part. It was opened by VIP, Mr Steven Knapik in a rather unique way! Mr Knapik is a former teacher at Pen-Y-Dre High school, and received an MBE for services to young people in Merthyr Tydfil
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Headteacher's Christmas Message
19th December 2019Dear Parents I would like to thank all the pupils, parents and staff for another great term at St. Clare's. The Autumn Term is one of the busiest but also the happiest in a school. There is nothing better than watching pupils from the age of three learning their lines and singing their hearts out in the Christmas Nativity. I totally understand that as a
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Mad Hatter's Tea Party
18th December 2019“This afternoon my sister and I attended the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at St. Clare's School in Newton near Porthcawl. It was organised by the Year 7 pupils, to give something back to the community. In doing so, they learned how to organise an event, raise money and communicate with people. The food was lovely, sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes and scones. We were beautifully entertained with
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St Clare's raise almost £2,000 for local cancer charities
22nd October 2019Three special visitors were surprised and delighted to receive much-needed funds raised by St. Clare’s, Porthcawl for their cancer charities. Senior and Sixth Form students and staff sported pink back in September to run a “Race for Life” and raised almost two thousand pounds for four cancer charities. The race took place as part of St Clare's Enrichment Programme Founder of local charity, Cost of
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St Clare's celebrates another brilliant set of GCSE results
29th August 2019Pupils at St. Clare’s School in Porthcawl are celebrating excellent GCSE results today, having significantly outperformed their peers nationally. A staggering 91.2% of grades achieved were 4+ (A*-C) while 43.5% of grades awarded were 7+ (A*/A), compared to 67% and 20.6% respectively compared with the UK national average. Almost 25% of all grades at St Clare’s were 8 or 9, the latter being the equivalent
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St Clare's Sixth Form celebrate another brilliant set of A Level results
15th August 2019Sixth Form students from St Clare’s near Porthcawl are celebrating another year of excellent A Level results that trump the national picture. A superb 65% of grades were A*/B compared to 51% nationally while 40% of grades were A*/A compared to 25.2%. 21% of students achieved AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects. Straight A students Straight A students were Tim Pottage, Sam
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St Clare's Summer Art Show
1st August 2019The art and design department would like to say a huge thank you to pupils, parents and friends of St. Clare’s for attending our Summer Art Show. We are very proud of our talented artists and designers and delighted so many people attended the exhibition. Pupils worked in various media, including textiles, printmaking, digital design and film making, showing the diversity of talent that we
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St Clare's Family Fun Day
1st August 2019St Clare's Family Fun Day was the perfect opportunity for the whole community to come together this summer. The 11 1/2 acres of magnificent grounds was the perfect backdrop for the event with fairground rides and a giant inflatable bouncy castle and inflatable slide nestled amongst the trees so families also enjoyed zorbing, and a live performance from Simon and Shelley Huntley's band. There was a
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St Clare's first Nursery Graduation ceremony
31st July 2019The end of Upper Nursery marks a significant achievement at St. Clare’s as the boys and girls prepare to move up into Reception class in September. The 'Busy Bees' (Rising 4s) celebrated their nursery graduation last Friday as proud parents, grandparents and siblings came to celebrate this important milestone in the children's lives. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when they watched the
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Nine year old Chloe's charity walk
14th May 2019Year 4 pupil Chloe undertook a gruelling 24 mile charity walk on Saturday to help a local medical centre’s campaign to raise money for a thyroid cancer support group. She saw that the Porthcawl Group Practice was raising money for the thyroid cancer support group, which plays a hugely important role providing a network of support for people with that cancer. Thyroid cancer is something
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St Clare's Art & Design Department
2nd May 2019St Clare's Art & Design Department It’s been an exciting and very busy term in the Art and Design department. Years 11, 12 and 13 have been working very hard on their portfolios and on their personal topics for their forthcoming examinations. The art room has been a hive of activity! Pupils have been working hard in their lessons, during lunchtimes and have been engaging
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St. Clare's first ever Spelling Bee
25th February 2019Last week our Senior Hall was buzzing with excitement for our first ever Spelling Bee which was organised by Head of English, Mrs Kelly Burns. Six primary schools accepted the challenge: Coychurch, Cwmfelin, Maes Yr Haul, Oakleigh House Prep, St Mary’s RC, Trelales and of course St Clare’s Prep. Competition was fierce, with each schools’ top Year 5 or Year 6 spellers all competing to
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Cost of Cancer Christmas Card Competition Winners
27th November 2018Founder of local charity, Cost of Cancer, Nicky Moss surprised and delighted pupils at St. Clare’s, Porthcawl when she arrived to announce the winners of a special Cost of Cancer Christmas Card competition. The four winning card designers were Presley, Odette, Lucy and Theo who all won prizes and will have their winning designs printed. Nicky Moss, Founder of Cost of Cancer knows first-hand how
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St Clare's pupils clean up at Newton Beach
16th October 2018St Clare’s decided to help clean up the plastic waste we unfortunately now find in our oceans and on all of our beaches / coastal areas due to modern day living. As anyone who has watched Blue Planet will know, at least 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the oceans every year where it chokes, entangles and poisons marine life. The clean-up is
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World Teachers' Day
3rd October 2018St. Clare's is calling on all parents in Porthcawl, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan to help them mark World Teachers' Day, a global UNESCO initiative at the start of October. World Teachers’ Day (WTD) is an annual celebration that recognises teachers and the contribution they make in all parts of the world. It will take place on Friday 5th October 2018. To try and
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Race for Life
3rd October 2018Staff and pupils from St. Clare’s School, Porthcawl, once again made a tremendous effort to raise money for three cancer charities last week. Boys and girls from the Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form came to school in pink sportswear to run the Race for Life and fundraise for Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK, Cost of Cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness. More than
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St. Clare's celebrate GCSE achievements
23rd August 2018Pupils at St. Clare’s School in Porthcawl are celebrating excellent GCSE results today, having significantly outperformed their peers nationally. A staggering 95.6% of grades achieved were 4+ (A*-C) while 51.3% of grades awarded were 7+ (A*/A), compared to 61.6% and 18.5% respectively across Wales. Almost a third of all grades at St Clare’s were 8 or 9, the latter being the equivalent of an A**
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St Clare's celebrate A Level Achievements
16th August 2018St. Clare's Sixth Form students are celebrating another year of excellent A Level results that trump the national picture. A superb 78% of grades achieved were A*/B compared to 52% nationally while 16% were A* - almost double the national results. Straight A students were Freya Harding and Megan Greenwood who have confirmed places at top destinations. Megan, Deputy Head Prefect, achieved an A* in
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CSI Crime Scene Transition Day at St Clare's
2nd July 2018Pupils and staff were shocked to find crime scene tape everywhere as they arrived at school. There was a total of 3 dead bodies scattered across the school’s beautiful grounds. But it all turned out to be the handiwork of Jon Williams from Crime Solvers who’d set up the crime scenes early that morning. A real life Senior Investigator, Jon guided St Clare’s team of
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St Clare's Scientists Win Shell Bright Ideas Challenge for the 3rd year running
5th June 2018This year the pupils have won £2,500 prize money for the school, individual prizes and a trip to London to compete against the other regional winners with the chance to win another £2500. 'Straight Outta Science' win for Wales The winning team is called 'Straight Outta Science' their captain is Jaynee Winslade-Gregory and team mates are Susmita Dutta, Dylan Bebbington and Izzabel Woodward. The team's idea is
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Ex-pupil Hannah Bluck presents her Wales Women Rugby shirt to school
8th May 2018Ex-pupil, Hannah Bluck, 20, returned last week to present the school with her Welsh rugby shirt. Multi-talented athlete has represented Wales in three sports Hannah, from Porthcawl, has represented Wales at football, basketball and now rugby. Despite only picking up a rugby ball a year ago, she was one of 10 uncapped players to be named in the Wales Women squad for the 2018 Six
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St Clare's Nursery scoops Top 20 Award (Wales) 2018
1st May 2018Top 20 Award for St Clare's Nursery The small day nursery at St Clare’s School in Newton, Porthcawl was delighted to be recognised as one of the Top 20 Nurseries 2018 (Wales). Passionate and committed staff The passion, commitment and motivation of the staff along with boundless energy means pupils make amazing progress and are really enthusiastic about learning and playing. The environment is a
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80th Anniversary Celebrations
25th April 2018When the Mother Superior of an Irish Catholic Order was asked to make the trip to South Wales to set up a convent she left with a grim warning ringing in her ears: “Don’t go to Wales, it’s a hot-bed of non-conformity.” Eighty years later Eighty years later, St Clare’s School situated in the picturesque village of Newton on the outskirts of Porthcawl has good
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St Clare's helps the planet with a beach clean-up
1st February 2018As anyone who has watched Blue Planet will know, at least 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the oceans every year where it chokes, entangles and poisons marine life. Here at Clare’s School in picturesque Newton on the outskirts of Porthcawl, we decided to help clean up the plastic waste we unfortunately now find in our oceans and on all of our beaches
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The Seussical
4th January 2018"Oh, the thinks you can think, when you think about Seuss!" These were some of the first lyrics heard in St Clare’s production of SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL. And boy, what thinks were brought to life on the stage in this fresh, fun, and family friendly musical. You’d have to be living on another planet not to at least be somewhat familiar with the source material
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Children in Need Charity Day
21st November 2017Find out just how St Clare's raised so much money for the Children in Need Charity!
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Day at the Museum
13th November 2017Four GCSE and A-Level History students from St Clare's, an independent school near Porthcawl, South Wales took part in Takeover Day last Saturday and joined volunteers at Porthcawl Museum.
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St Clare's Prep Speak Out-Stay Safe with the NSPCC
23rd October 2017Pupils from St Clare’s School near Porthcawl got involved in an exciting fundraising event and raised well over a thousand pounds to help the NSPCC be there to keep even more children safe.
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World Teachers' Day 2017
5th October 2017Today is World Teachers' Day! World Teachers’ Day is an annual day commemorating teachers and the contribution they make in all parts of the world. It's a great opportunity for us all to celebrate and applaud the fantastic teachers we are so lucky to have at St Clare's.
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Annual Prize Day at The Grand Pavilion
4th October 2017Porthcawl’s famous Grand Pavilion provided the perfect stage to celebrate the achievements of the past year and reinforce ambitions for the coming year for St. Clare’s which continues the tradition of rewarding its young achievers with its Annual Prize Day ceremony.
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Excellent GCSE results at St. Clare's, Porthcawl
24th August 2017St. Clare’s School in Porthcawl are celebrating excellent GCSE results today!
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St. Clare's students celebrate A-Level success!
18th August 2017Sixth Form students from St. Clare’s School are celebrating another year of excellent A Level results, with a 100% pass rate and 34% at A* or A grades.
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Three Peaks Challenge
1st August 2017A small team of staff from St Clare’s set themselves a towering challenge and embarked on the gruelling Three Peaks hoping to raise at least £500 for The Global Fund for Children UK Trust. The four-strong team left Porthcawl in 26 degrees of sunshine and drove straight up to Yorkshire ...
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Stunning Artwork Steals the Show!
7th July 2017St. Clare’s opened its doors to the public for its annual Summer Exhibition. Staff, parents and family members of pupils past and present gathered to admire the large collection of work. We were delighted to welcome our Guest of Honour, the recently elected Mayor of Porthcawl.
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'Voice of the Parent' wins National Award
8th June 2017A ‘Voice of the Parent’ programme run at St Clare's School in Newton near Porthcawl, part of the Cognita group, has won a 2017 Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence) Award.
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St Clare's win Shell's Bright Ideas Challenge for Wales!
19th May 2017We're excited to announce that St Clare’s are national winners of Shell’s “Bright Ideas Challenge” for the second year running. We have also won third place across the UK.
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Extremely high standard in Unit 3 English Language GCSE
27th April 2017Year 10 students have completed their Unit 3 English Language GCSE. The exam was completed over the last 2 days and filmed for the exam board Eduqas. Students had to present on a topic of their choice to an audience and respond to questions. 100% of students achieved a distinction or a merit including 11 ‘distinctions’ which is over half the year group graded at
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Welsh Hearts present defibrillator to Head Boy, Tom Hood
26th April 2017We're very proud of our Head Boy, Tom Hood. A former pupil of Oldcastle Primary, Tom's ambition is to become an orthopaedic surgeon. Currently studying A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths, Tom has applied to read Medicine. He has organised his own unpaid work experience placements during the summer holidays for the last two years at the Princess of Wales and Santa Maria hospitals
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Going the Eggstra Mile for Ty Hafan Hospice
11th April 2017Thank you so much to all our lovely parents, pupils and staff who have donated more than 250 Easter eggs, books, toys and vouchers for the sick children at Ty Hafan, Wales’ first children’s hospice for life-limited children and their families. We will be delivering them on Wednesday, 11th April in time for Easter. The Ty Hafan appeal at St Clare’s School was organised by
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Excellent reviews for the Nursery
21st March 2017On 8th March, Grace Munday and I (Lucia Quantick) went to Porthcawl Library for the Book Quiz. We had to read The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird. Mr Emanuel accompanied us. There were 5 schools competing; St Clare's, West Park Primary, Porthcawl Primary, Nottage Primary and Newton Primary. When it [...]
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Lucia and Grace represented St Clare's in Porthcawl Library's "Book Quiz"
14th March 2017On 8th March, Grace Munday and I (Lucia Quantick) went to Porthcawl Library for the Book Quiz. We had to read The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird. Mr Emanuel accompanied us. There were 5 schools competing; St Clare's, West Park Primary, Porthcawl Primary, Nottage Primary and Newton Primary. When it [...]
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CSI Workshop Day
10th February 2017Pupils and staff were shocked to find crime scene tape everywhere as they arrived at school today. There was a dead body near the dining hall, one on the rugby pitch and even a skeleton in Gardening Club’s polytunnel! But it all turned out to be the handiwork of [...]
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House X-Country on Newton Beach
27th January 2017After an early lunch, boys and girls from the juniors (Y3-Y6) and younger seniors (Y7-Y9) walked down to Newton Beach to take part in the House X-Country races. Overall Results for the whole school Years 3-9 have been added up . 1st Britons ( 65) [...]
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WJEC selects "outstanding" AS/A2 Textile Design work to go on tour
12th October 2016Welsh examining board WJEC went to to independent school St Clare’s to choose pieces that will tour England and Wales for "outstanding" work for INSET for GCSE and AS/A2 Textile Design work, including a huge textile stag affectionately known as Derek.
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Pupils celebrate superb GCSE results at St Clare’s School
25th August 2016Pupils and teachers at St Clare’s School, Porthcawl are celebrating after another year of excellent GCSE results. 88% of the pupils gained 5 or more A* to C grades, with 29% of students attaining grade A*/A at GCSE and 74% of students attaining a C grade or above in English [...]
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A Level Excellence for St Clare’s Students
18th August 2016Students at St Clare’s School, Porthcawl carry on the school’s tradition of achieving strong results with a fantastic 100% overall pass rate with the most A* grades ever! St Clare’s achieved 36% of grades at A*-A. This compares to 27.7% of students across the whole of Wales who achieved grades [...]
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The Lion King is a roaring success!
1st July 2016It was a visually stunning and magical week of Musical Theatre for St Clare’s School’s production of the Lion King. You couldn’t help but get goosebumps on your goosebumps as the lights went down and Rafiki (Kate Layland) began summoning the animals to Pride Rock. Theatrical Director, Hayley Corthine, had [...]
