Isherwood calls for urgent action on A Level 'fiasco'

North Wales Member of the Welsh Parliament  Mark Isherwood is calling on the Education Minister to urgently address the A level downgrading fiasco which has resulted in hundreds of students missing out on University Places.

Students across Wales have accused the Welsh Government of "abandoning them" after 42% of grades were lowered by the exams watchdog.

Since the results came out on Thursday morning, Mr Isherwood has received  numerous emails from affected students, parents, Head teachers and Teachers in North Wales expressing upset and concern about the downgraded ‘A’ and ‘AS’ Level results.

He wrote to the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams MS, the next day (Friday), calling on her to give the matter her urgent attention and to put students out of their misery by confirming her intended course of action.

Mr Isherwood said: “The whole situation is absolutely appalling and demands urgent attention.

“The Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee has been recalled and will now meet tomorrow (Tuesday), but every day of waiting is a day of torture for the affected students who desperately need answers now.

“I have received emails from students who have missed out on places to some of the UK’s top universities, including Oxford and Durham, because of this fiasco. Their future plans have been completely turned upside down by this fiasco.

“The process used to determine final grades is clearly flawed and it appears that it is students from disadvantaged schools who have been affected the most.  

“One student who contacted me attended a Wrexham sixth form that does not have a high A/A* record when looking at historical data, however they were given Centre Assessment Grades of A*A*A*AA and held an offer for the University of Oxford,  yet the standardisation process awarded them ABBBB. As the student stated “How can they justify downgrading me from A* to B?”

“This student is not alone, I have received many emails of similar cases, and the fear is we will see more cases of downgrading when the GCSE results are published this Thursday.

“This is not a matter that can wait, the well-being and the future success of our young people is at stake and the Education Minister must take action now to ensure that every student in Wales is treated fairly.”

Town councillors embrace the green agenda

* Town councillors Sheena Grindley and 

Austin Cheminais give some attention to one of the planters.

A group of local councillors have been helping to make the town centre look a little more colourful

Because of lockdown Derwen College students, who usually take care of the planters and troughs in and around Castle Street, couldn’t to do their usual summer planting.

Town councillor Austin Cheminais, who is also the town crier, explained: "We noticed a few weeks ago that they were looking pretty neglected and needed some attention.

"Derwen College were able to supply some plants but as it is not fully operative couldn’t plant them.

"Myself and my wife Jane along with my fellow town councillors Sheena Grindley and our newly co-opted member John Palmer took on the task and were out over a couple of days.

"Hopefully, the planting should provide an attractive display well into next year."

He added: "It’s been a very pleasant couple of days chatting and catching up with friends and local residents some of whom we’ve not seen since lockdown started way back in March.

"Both residents and tourists alike were pleased to see the planters and troughs getting some attention."

Llangollen actor helps make broadcasting history

* Dyfed Thomas as Eurwyn.

* The full cast of Rybish, from left, Mair Tomos Ifans (Val), 

Betsan Ceiriog (Bobbi), Dyfed Thomas (Eurwyn), 

Rhodri Trefor (Nigel), and Sion Pritchard (Clive).

An actor from the Llangollen area has made broadcasting history by becoming the first in the UK to complete a comedy drama series during the Covid-19 lockdown – by creating a bubble for the cast and crew in a closed down pub.

Production of the new sitcom Rybish (Rubbish), set in a recycling centre, was brought to a halt in March by the coronavirus crisis but undeterred Caernarfon-based Cwmni Da came up with a plan to carrying on filming.

Members of the crew self-isolated for a fortnight before resuming and they were tested regularly throughout the shoot.

They included Dyfed Thomas, a native of Rhos, who now lives just outside Llangollen.

When they were not working, the team were holed up in an empty pub, The Beuno, in Clynnog Fawr on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula.

The company built their own recycling centre on an old landfill site at Carmel, near Caernarfon.

They used fixed cameras which were remotely controlled to film the remaining episodes in the six-part series which will be screened on S4C in the coming months.

Director Sion Aaron said: “We’d filmed three episodes of Rybish before the health crisis.

“As we were filming the very first take of the fourth episode, we had a call from the office to tell us to drop tools due to the increasing risk of the spread of the coronavirus.

“When lockdown started to ease we were able to form a bubble, the cast of six, the writer and producer and myself, so we could live together after taking over the Beuno which closed years ago, and work together to film the remaining three episodes.

“Before the health crisis we had already decided to film the series in a unique way which meant the camera operators and sound recordists could work remotely anyway.

“We created a new role as we had, what we Christened our Covid Cop, on set at all times to ensure compliance with Covid-19 regulations.”

According to Sion, the sitcom revolved around daily life at a remote recycling centre in Gwynedd and follows the six members of staff as they go about the daily grind of their working lives and what they get up to.

He added: “ It’s brilliantly written and although the comedy is subtle it’s very funny.

“We built our own recycling centre after hiring skips from Gwynedd County Council who gave us fantastic support.

“Most of the action takes place in the workers’ cabin, the type of hut you see at every recycling centre.

“We wanted to film it in a similar style to Big Brother or 24 Hours in A&E, that type of fly-on-the-wall approach that would enhance the character-driven script. “We did that before lockdown so the final three episodes look exactly the same in style as the first three.

“It meant we could resume filming after lockdown, as maintaining a cast bubble to work separately to the crew wasn’t too difficult.

“The Beuno has been closed for years and last orders was called a long time ago but the fact that we stayed there meant we could work together and we really did get to know each other too which was a big bonus.

“I know some soap operas are also back filming but they are using camera techniques that make it look like the actors are far closer than they are. We didn’t want that.

“As most of the action in Rybish takes place in a workers’ cabin that just wouldn’t have worked. There wouldn’t be enough space, and it would've been harder for the cast to relax into their characters.

“We believe ours is the first scripted comedy series in the UK to be completed in this way, during the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Producer and BAFTA Cymru award winning writer Barry Jones, who penned Rybish, was delighted to get the filming wrapped.

He said: “The fact we built our own set in such a remote setting meant were isolated and didn’t have members of the public stopping by.

“It also helped that we did the filming in a unique way. We had the cameras in a fixed rig mostly above the actors. I wanted it in that style as if the viewer is getting a sneaky look at what is going on.

“We wanted Rybish to be character-based with the comedy coming because we get under the skin of the characters, so finding the right actors was very important, and a process that took a long time, but we're a hundred percent certain that we got the best cast possible in the end.

“It was a joy to see characters, that had been words on paper for so long, come alive in such a rounded way. We want the audience to associate with the characters so they can hopefully see elements of people the recognise in them, and we believe the cast took that to another level with their performances throughout the series.

“With regards to storylines, we wanted to keep them as realistic as possible. It would have been easy to write an over-the-top sitcom with crazy plots like workers at a recycling site finding a suitcase stuffed full of cash in a skip, but that isn’t what we wanted. 

“I’m not sure a comedy drama has been filmed in quite this way before. It’s very Welsh and I don’t just mean in linguistic terms. The comedy and situations have very Welsh connotations ."

He added: “It took me a long time to write and I spent days sat in huts at council recycling centres just listening to staff and observing what goes on and what they talk about. It gave me a real insight and lots of ideas."

It was an exciting time for Caernarfon actress Betsan Ceiriog, 22, who plays a character called Bobbi in Rybish, as it’s her debut TV role.

Betsan, who graduated from St David’s University Cardiff with a performing arts degree in July 2018, said: “I was thrilled to land the role. I had an audition and sent in a recording of myself. I already knew a couple of the Cwmni Da team so that helped.

“My character Bobbi is a university student who has graduated and is working at the recycling centre for the summer to get some money so she can travel.

“It was a fantastic learning experience especially as we were allowed to put in a bit of ad-libbing some and the plan now is to land more acting and TV parts and or musical theatre roles.”

Cwmni Da general manager David Parry Evans was christened the Covid Cop on set after taking on the role of ensuring coronavirus regulations were strictly complied with.

He said: “It was my job to ensure we had sufficient supplies of hand sanitizer and that everything was wiped kept clean and sanitised. If a camera operator needed to go into the cabin on set then I’d ensure it was deep cleaned afterwards.

“I had my two metre rod to ensure everyone moving around the set was two metres apart and wearing a face mask. I was obviously quite good at the job hence the Covid Cop nickname I was given."

llanblogger warns against bogus emails

Llanblogger is warning against “phishing” emails which used our name as an introduction to a local person whom they wished to scam.

Late last week the recipient of the emails, who doesn’t wish to be identified, received two of them from someone who claimed to be originally from France but was now living in the United States.

This person said they were struggling with cancer, had only a few months to live and had been unable to access a large cash sum left to them by a relative.

The sender told the recipient they would be glad to receive their response and informed them they had got their contact details from llanblogger’s web address.  

Attached to one of the emails was a picture of a clearly sick woman lying in a hospital bed.

The recipient said: “No doubt if I had responded to the emails they would have gone on to ask me for money ans possibly also steal my personal data.

“This is clearly a scam which was using the name of llanblogger to gain my confidence.”

Llanblogger editor Phil Robinson said: “I thank the local recipient for alerting me to this and would warn anyone else who receives email like this never to respond and to simply delete them.”

Legion leads VJ Day commemoration in town square

* British Legion standard bearers play a key role in the ceremony.

Llangollen Royal British Legion led this morning's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of VJ - Victory over Japan - Day in Centenary Square.

The special ceremony to commemorate the end of the Second World War in the Far East had to be curtailed due to the coronavirus situation and there was not be the usual march through town led by the Silver Band. 

The group from the branch including its standard bearers formed up at the war memorial to be joined by 15 of the Legion's riders.

The Service of Remembrance, led by the Vicar of Llangollen Father Lee Taylor, began shortly before 11am. 

Everyone taking part in the parade wore face coverings and were spaced out to meet social distancing requirements.

Although there was no march or band the traditional two minutes' silence was observed and pre-recorded versions of Last Post and Reveille were played before the laying of a poppy wreath took place along with the recitation of the moving Kohima Epitaph which includes the famous line "for your tomorrow we gave our today".

The ceremony ended with prayers and a blessing from Father Lee.

To coincide with the ceremony in the square the tenor bell - the heaviest of the eight bells at over 16cwt- in the tower at St Collen's Church was tolled 75 times at 11am.

* Father Lee Taylor leads the service.  

* British Legion branch chairman Phil Stroud

recites the Kohima Epitaph.

* Onlookers watch the ceremony in the square.

Inner Wheel donates £100 to Beirut emergency appeal

Last Wednesday afternoon Llangollen Inner Wheel held a picnic in the garden of their secretary, Angela Jeffries. 

Due to the generosity of members they were able to donate £100 to charities working in Beirut to help with the recent disaster.

Headteachers voice disappointment at AS and A Level results

The Federation of North Wales Secondary School Head Teachers has put out a statement about Thursday's AS and A Level results.

It says: "We cannot over-state how disappointed, confused and concerned we are about the A-level and AS results our young adults received today.  

"Although the headline data for Wales shows slight improvement, this is not a full reflection of the reality in schools. There are huge disparities in the outcomes of individuals which we cannot track, justify or explain. Pupils’ grades have moved up and down in ways we do not understand.  

"As schools, we were asked to consider all our internal and external testing data to create rank orders of learners’ centre assessed grades. We did this with professionalism and fairness to the students we have supported for the last 7 years. This data in many areas has been dismissed, devalued and discounted. Our rank orders have been overlooked and students moved within them making the allocation of grade impossible to fathom and unfair.

"Many universities have downgraded their offers with the absence of international students, resulting in more available places, so many of the young adults involved will thankfully be able to attend the university of their choice.  However this is not enough. 

"Our pupils’ grades will be with them for the rest of their lives, they will be on their CV for ever. COVID-19 has already disadvantaged them, but life after COVID, within a recession-hit country, means their outcomes will be even more important than ever as they enter a challenging job market. Our students have worked for these grades and deserve them; an algorithm that dismisses this is immoral. If there was ever a time for trust it was now. 

"As professionals, we were promised that any anomalies in school data would be discussed, to allow schools to provide the evidence to justify the centre assessed grades. This had not happened - we have been given no opportunity to provide evidence and no conversations have taken place. This has been a statistical model, over reliant on AS outcomes and historical data, and dismissive of the opinion of a profession who supported their students over many years. 

"We were grateful for the WJEC announcement about the review of the appeals system as currently it is unworkable and inhibits our ability to challenge the unfairness of these outcomes. The A-level results day is usually one of the happiest of the year. This year our children were hurt, confused and left wondering what had gone wrong, just as we are. 

"This week’s results have challenged our confidence in the system and call into question the structure we have previously trusted; however, our fears for next week’s GCSE results are beyond words. We would request that changes be made now to protect the life chances and wellbeing of our children and avoid the confusion and heartache our A-level students have had to face."