Following the open evening at Ysgol Treffynnon, John Weir, headteacher, congratulated staff and students. He said: "I have never felt so proud after receiving so many compliments about the school, and in particular about the many bright, happy, students who volunteered to come back after school and help out. Our students were true ambassadors for the school and themselves."

"To receive such positive feedback and praise from so many parents is fantastic; they commented on how positive all the staff are about working at the school, how happy and committed everyone is, and how wonderfully polite and helpful our students had been. Ysgol Treffynnon is now their local school of choice and a school they could be proud to send their children to."

More than 300 people queue to attend the open evening.

Mr Weir, who won the Pearson's Silver Award for UK Secondary Headteacher of the Year 2022 and is in line to win the Gold award in November, gave a passionate address to a packed audience on the night. Rob Chesters, director of learning, went on to talk about the school's excellent pastoral care for students.

Mr Chesters introduced some of the school's new Year 7 students, Jayden Muia and Jake Johnson, who spoke about how much they were enjoying their first few weeks at Ysgol Treffynnon and how the school's transition residential had helped them immensely.

Ayanda Parkies and Lewis Bowen from Year 11 shared the impact of student voice and the academic support they are receiving, which is giving them the confidence to believe they will be successful in achieving the GCSE grades despite the impact Covid has had on their learning.

Mr Chesters commented on how amazing and confident the young students were and how well they presented to the audience.

Darren Higgins delights children with a science experiment.

Ysgol Treffynnon students showed parents around the school's facilities and provided information about organised activities in each subject area for the children to take part in.

The languages, literacy and communication faculty organised a range of activities from match the books to their blurbs, to Shakespearean graffiti, murder mystery Cluedo and acrostic poetry.

In expressive arts, Year 11 music students gave singing performances with piano and guitar accompaniment. Year 7 student, Harley, performed pieces from his grade 1 drums exam, and visitors were able to try the keyboards, piano and xylophones.

The art department organised a print making activity as well as games and activities from the Tate website with student helpers on hand to assist visitors.

MaisieJones, Year 11, explains some of the artefacts to children in the history department.

Children had the chance to make personalised Ysgol Treffynnon acrylic keyrings cut with the laser cutter in the science and design technology faculty and 3D printed a wrench to the same specification as the one used by NASA scientists onboard the International Space Station.

There were more hands-on experiences in science including a heart and rat dissection to examine mammalian anatomy, looking at biological specimens under the microscope, and combustion demonstrations.

In humanities, there were a range of interactive geography-focussed learning opportunities from using map references for prizes and decorating cakes with map symbols to a geographical photo booth. Visitors explored information panels created by history students and were also able to handle Second World War artefacts and vote for the most useful object.

Parents watch their children taking part in one of the many activities on the night.

More activities were on offer in the mathematics and numeracy faculty such as puzzles on how to rescue a frog from a well, designing a clock using only the number 2, and others to test multiplication skills using TT Rockstars.

The health and wellbeing faculty held various cookery sessions including bread making in the food technology department which visitors were able to take home with them. In physical education, Ysgol Treffynnon students ran a badminton session coaching some of the young visitors in how to serve and smash.

Brand new prospectuses were available for parents to take home, and the children were given an Ysgol Treffynnon branded drawstring bag containing a pencil, pen, ruler, pencil case, highlighter and notepad.