HORSE RIDING SHOW

Sarah McKnight from Dyffryn Taf School, along with other young people from the area, took part in the RDA, Riding for the Disabled Association, annual show last week. Sarah, who is in Year 10, attended the show held at the riding centre in Bowlings, Havefordwest, and was awarded fourth in the Horse Care competition on the day. The show was a fantastic event and all involved had a great day. Sarah attends the centre every Friday for riding lessons and the show was a chance to demonstrate her talents in the saddle and the horse riding knowledge she has learnt.

EISTEDDFOD

Ellen Mason, a Year 12 pupil at Dyffryn Taf School, won the 'Composing for Voices' competition at the recent Urdd Eisteddfod held in Conwy. The competition, adjudicated by Dr. Pwyll ap Sion, was open to pupils in Years 10 to 13 and involved creating a vocal composition with competitors choice of Welsh text. Ellen, who went under the psuedoname 'Melonig' for the competition, won with 'Cenwch i Dduw', a piece based on Psalm 96. Ellen was awarded the Tlws Coffa Gerallt Richards at a ceremony at the Eisteddfod in Conwy. Ellen has competed in the Urdd Eisteddfod for over 10 years, but it is her first time to enter this competition. Other Dyffryn Taf pupils who were successful at the Eisteddfod were Catherine Griffiths from Year 9, who came first for her photography work in the photography and computer graphics competition for Years 7, 8 and 9. Catherine also came third for her black and white prints in another photography competition. Catrin Jones from Year 9 came second for her photography work in the computer graphics competition.

Fund-raising event

Pupils from 7H at Dyffryn Taf recently worked together on a fantastic form fund-raiser. Katie Symmonds, Cerian Davies and Phoebe Palmer from the form were voted by their peers to lead the event and were responsible for a lot of the planning, preparation and organisation. The whole class were then involved in putting on a cake sale in the school reception at break-time and lunchtime. They also ran a 'Guess the Name of the Teddy' competition. The pupils are all animal lovers and are particularly fond of dogs, so chose to donate all the money raised to the charity Many Tears Animal Rescue (MTAR). This is a small rescue centre based in South Wales, but has dogs in foster homes throughout the UK. They take in and re-home primarily ex- breeding dogs who are no longer required; those on 'death row' in the pounds and those whose owners are no longer able to keep them.  MTAR also has a small cattery which enables them to take a small number of cats. Through their fund-raiser 7H managed to raise £101.32 for this worthwhile cause. "We are really happy with the amount of money we raised and we hope it will make a difference to the animals at the rescue centre," said Phoebe Palmer. "This is the first fund-raising event we've done since being at Dyffryn Taf. We've all really enjoyed it and hope to do another similar event for a different charity next year," said Cerian Davies. "We would like to thank everyone in the form for making the cakes and bringing them in and to everyone who supported our event by buying cakes and entering the competition," said Katie Symmonds. RUGBY SUCCESS

Dyffryn Taf School's 1st XV rugby squad have retained the title of the South West Wales 1 league winners for the second year. This year the title was shared with Maes-yr-Yrfa as both schools finished top with the same points and unfortunately due to time constraints the deciding match was not played. The very strong Dyffryn Taf team have only lost one match in the past two seasons, which is a fantastic record. As many of the boys will be leaving the school this year, this title was an excellent way to end their time playing for Dyffryn Taf. "This is an exceptional achievement given the quality of the league," said Mr. Graham Evans, head of boys PE at Dyffryn Taf. "The team has demonstrated a great team spirit and desire to win in many nip and tuck games throughout the season. It will be a very long time before this exceptional achievement is repeated. The boys have been a pleasure to work with throughout their secondary school life and deserve the success they have achieved," added Mr. Evans. The school has benefited considerably from the work being done by all rugby clubs in the area. Whitland RFC has been particularly important in the development of this group of players as many are involved with the club outside of school and are able to benefit from the region's progress. Whitland Youth have also had a very successful season, winning the League, Cup and 7s competition - an amazing triple achievement. "This relationship and working in tandem between club and school is definitely driving up standards and will surely pay dividends for the senior sides in the school's catchment area in years to come," said Mr. Evans. The team will now endeavour to continue its success on a demanding four-match tour of South Africa in the summer where they will also be accompanied by the Year 10 squad. It is hoped that this tour will build on the success of the school's inaugural rugby tour to Canada in 2006. This tour is part of the PE department's policy to embark on regular overseas touring in order to provide pupils with as wide a range of sporting experiences as possible, both on and off the field.