Education leaders meet at Rotary

Mrs Fiona Greville, head teacher of Llantwit Major Comprehensive School joined Mr Peter Howe, Principal of Atlantic College at this meeting of Llantwit Major Rotary Club at the West House Hotel.  It was the first time the heads of the two important educational institutions had met and they did so at the invitation of Llantwit Major Rotary Club President, Gareth Rees, himself a former Vice Principal of Atlantic College.  In welcoming the guests Gareth Rees said that the Rotary Club was pleased to have had close connections with the school and the college over many years.  The Interact Club now established for years twelve and thirteen in Llantwit Major School was one of the largest in Wales and has encouraged ‘sixth form’ students to provide numerous acts of service in the community.

Peter Howe who attended the dinner with his wife, Sally, said that he had been principal of the college for nineteen months  Originally from Canada he had worked for Proctor and Gamble (the multinational consumer goods company) before moving into education.  There were now seventeen United World Colleges in seventeen countries and four continents.  The first to be established in 1962 was at St Donats with the aim of bringing together young people to foster international understanding.  The success of UWC word-wide owes much to what has been achieved at St Donats over more than fifty years. Mr Howe said he was particularly pleased with the links the college has with the community in addition to the strong academic success of its students.

Mrs Greville had been a teacher at the comprehensive school before first becoming deputy head and more recently head teacher.  The school, which now has approximately one thousand pupils was established as a  secondary modern school in 1950 before becoming a comprehensive school in 1973. A huge fire destroyed much of the original school building in 1991 with a replacement section being completed in 1994. Happily a major new build replaced  the older buildings in 2016 and which are joined to the previous build to provide a wonderful facility.  The school has a budget of £4.3 million and has achieved excellent examination results in recent years.  One consequence of this is that for the last two years the school has had a waiting list for new pupils. Mrs Greville was delighted with the strong ties the school has with Llantwit Major Rotary particularly through the successful Interact Club.

The evening ended with the guests answering many questions.  All agreed to continue working more closely together in future for the benefit of the organisations and the community.