Wrexham: Headteacher to retire from Ysgol Bryn Tabor
Originally from Rhos, he studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama with early dreams and aspirations of becoming an actor.
This brief but thoroughly enjoyable acting career even included playing a teacher on S4C's Pobl y Cwm, as well as Theatre in Education at Theatr Clwyd in Mold.
After completing a PGCE in 1992, Mr Williams taught in South Wales at Bedwas Junior School for five-years before relocating back to North Wales and teaching at Ysgol Y Llys in Prestatyn for three-years.
It was after only a few years at Ysgol Bodhyfryd in Wrexham that Mr Williams was appointed headteacher of Ysgol Rhewal, near Ruthin, for four-years.
In 2007, he proudly became headteacher at Ysgol Bryn Tabor where he has remained ever since.
"There are many things I enjoy about the job", Mr Williams said.
"Each day is different and it's hard to predict what will happen next. No day is boring.
"I'm lucky to work with some great staff and I've found this at every school I've worked at. It's so good to have supportive colleagues around me. I really enjoy seeing the pupils each day and it's lovely to see their enjoyment and curiosity about the things they learn.
"The children at Bryn Tabor are great and I'm now at the age where some of my former pupils are returning as parents. I'll certainly miss the staff and pupils when I retire."
Sign up for Leader newsletters HERE
Throughout his career, Mr Williams has been no stranger to learning a few important lessons himself.
He says the biggest one has been to remain positive, and to not rush making decisions.
"If possible, speak to other people and seek advice before making up your mind", he said. "Especially when important matters are being discussed."
As for the highlights, there have been too many to recall.
Mr Williams said: "I really enjoy it when the pupils do well in sports or creative activities. Our hip hop and disco dancing team won at the National Urdd Eisteddfod in 2011 and it was brilliant when our athletics team won the Flintshire and Wrexham Urdd inter county competition.
Read more
"I've always been competitive and still enjoy our end of year rounders match between the staff and year six. We're on a 17 year winning streak so I'm hoping to go out on a high."
Most of all, it's the staff and pupils who have made the job enjoyable, and Mr Williams will be greatly missed by all he has worked with over the past 18-years.
He adds: "I'd like to thank all of the staff and students that I've had the pleasure of working with. I'm fortunate to have so many happy memories to look back on."
We'd like to wish Kevin a very happy retirement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
a day ago
- Scotsman
Director Paul Andrew Williams on returning to EIFF with his intense new film Dragonfly: ‘Brenda Blethyn was up for anything'
Writer/director Paul Andrew Williams is back at the Edinburgh International Film Festival with a quietly gripping film starring Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn. Interview by Alistair Harkness Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Backtrack to the 2006 Edinburgh International Film Festival and director Paul Andrew Williams is hanging out at the National Gallery of Scotland. The occasion is EIFF's 60th anniversary party, a splashy event hosted by Sean Connery. Film industry luminaries Brian De Palma, Steven Soderbergh, Tilda Swinton and Charlize Theron are floating around, socialising amidst the Titians, Rembrandts and Monets. Williams, meanwhile, visiting the festival with his debut gangland thriller London to Brighton, is marvelling at the fact he's there at all. 'It was mind-blowing,' recalls the director now. 'In a way it was like, 'What's going on?' Because we'd come from nowhere.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On a Zoom call ahead of the EIFF premiere of his new film Dragonfly, Williams isn't exaggerating with this last statement. Made on a shoestring with a cast of unknowns, London to Brighton arrived at that year's event with zero awareness, yet it turned out to be a properly auspicious debut: one that subverted expectations by rooting its genre elements in the raw, social-realist traditions of Mike Leigh and John Cassavetes, but was also shot through with the sort relentless tension you might find in The Terminator (James Cameron is one of Williams's filmmaking heroes). He ended up leaving the festival with a best director award and a raft of five-star reviews, including from this critic (it remains the best debut I've encountered at EIFF). Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn in Dragonfly, written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams | Contributed 'We actually had a little screening of it the other day,' says Williams when I ask how he feels about it now that he's had nearly 20 years' perspective on it. 'You know what's good about it? You never get that freedom again where nobody's waiting for it, nobody's expecting anything of it. You're literally in a position where you're going: 'F*** it; we're all in the same boat; it's everyone's first movie; let's just see what we can do and be as truthful as possible.' It really was a good moment. And I'm very grateful, because it obviously changed my life.' Though he admits he had no idea how to navigate the industry following London to Brighton's reception — 'I had a massive case of imposter syndrome' — he's got no regrets about his subsequent career, which has allowed him to make six movies, write and direct a play in London's West End and direct TV like Broadchurch and the recent Disney+ miniseries Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Indeed, TV is where he's mostly been working over the last decade, though he did make a forceful return to cinema with 2021's horror-adjacent gangster thriller Bull. Now he's back with Dragonfly, which reconfirms his status as one of the most exciting British filmmakers currently working. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Starring Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn, it's certainly among the best things he's done, an unnerving, quietly terrifying drama about loneliness, connection and prejudice wrapped up in a story about two women finding each other at the right — or perhaps wrong — moment. Blethyn plays Elsie, an older woman who's been living by herself in her bungalow, but has recently had a fall and now has her daily needs attended to by overworked private carers paid for by her absent, guilt-ridden son (Jason Watkins). Riseborough is her mysterious neighbour Colleen, an oddball from the West Country, with off-kilter energy and an enormous, frightening, mixed-breed dog called Sabre. Suspicious of everyone, but especially of the parade of carers doing the bare minimum to help Elsie out, Colleen takes on the job of looking after Elsie herself, insinuating her way into her life and gradually forming a bond that's quite sweet and funny and almost childlike in places, and almost like a romance in others. 'Yeah, I'd call it a romance,' nods Williams. The air of dread never quite subsides, though. As Williams gives us more and more glimpses into Colleen's isolated existence, he demonstrates again that knack for infusing realistic drama with genre elements, deftly navigating plot turns here that take us into psycho-thriller or even horror territory. And in fact, there's a pretty effective jump scare late on that would give Ari Aster a run for his money. 'It does have a jump scare,' laughs Williams. 'It was mad watching it with an audience. I had no idea it would have that effect. But it is all grounded for me in reality. And I think our own preconceptions influence the horror of what's going on, because you see the dog and you're like, 'That dog's gonna rip someone's head off.' Our preconceptions generate fear and I think the same goes for Andrea's character.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's certainly a remarkable performance from Riseborough. She inhabits Colleen so completely you don't really know what the character is capable of — and yet there's a real vulnerability to her too that Riseborough makes sure to let us see. As for the character's West Country accent, Williams wrote Colleen with that in mind, but didn't specify it in the screenplay and was delighted when Riseborough showed up with the same idea. Make sure you keep up to date with Arts and Culture news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. She was, confirms Williams, impressive to watch on set. Ditto Blethyn, who gives real dignity to Elsie as she endures the indignity of ageing with on-the-clock strangers showering her, preparing her meals and taking her to the bathroom. 'Brenda was up for anything. She went from being in Vera, being the star of this very lucrative and popular show, to sitting in a dressing gown and nightie in the back room of a bungalow with an oil heater and a mirror. And that was it.' Though Williams started writing Dragonfly during Covid as a way of figuring out if it was ever going to be possible to make a film again, the conversations about isolation and community that emerged during lockdown fed into the film. It's not an issue movie, but he hopes it'll open up a broader conversation about our roles in society. 'Elsie is based on my nan and has elements of my mum; Colleen has lots of elements of things that have happened to me that I relate to very clearly,' he says. 'But I just wanted to sort of write this thing where it's just these two people getting on, and then we subvert that and question our preconceptions about who these people are. I think there are people in this we could all do with paying attention to a bit more without judging.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Wales Online
2 days ago
- Wales Online
Wrexham owner makes Premier League comment for the first time as fan worries emerge
Wrexham owner makes Premier League comment for the first time as fan worries emerge Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney has revealed that the club's ambitions go beyond just reaching the Premier League, as he shared the concerns some fans have raised Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds' ultimate goal is to help Wrexham lift the Premier League title (Image: Leon Bennett/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images) Rob McElhenney has unveiled an ambitious new target for Wrexham to clinch the Premier League title. The North Wales club have experienced remarkable success under the joint ownership of the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator and fellow Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds. Following their acquisition by the duo in February 2021, Wrexham have been catapulted from the National League into the Championship after securing three consecutive promotions. The celebrity owners have made their intentions crystal clear from the outset - to guide the Red Dragons all the way to the top flight. McElhenney, who has recently applied to officially change his name to Rob Mac, has now disclosed that their aspirations extend beyond merely making up the numbers, with the ultimate prize being Premier League title glory. However, whilst the 48-year-old is keen to achieve that milestone at the earliest opportunity, he emphasised during an interview with S4C that progress must be built on solid foundations. When questioned about whether Premier League status remained within reach, McElhenney said: "That's the way the pyramid is set up and why not us? Why should that be reserved for other towns, for other cities? "It doesn't mean it's going to be easy and it doesn't mean that it's just going to happen quickly. It could take many, many years for it to happen. We're going to make a push to do it as quickly as possible, because we don't know any other way to do it, but we're going to do it the right way." Article continues below Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney wants to achieve success in step with the community's wishes (Image: S4C) Whilst many supporters might relish the possibility of challenging for the top flight, McElhenney revealed how some Wrexham fans had voiced reservations to him. He explained this stemmed from the potential consequences for their club, which has never competed in the Premier League, alongside insufficient supporting infrastructure. Wrexham's home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is currently operating at a diminished capacity of approximately 10,000 this season as construction work on a new stand takes place. Additionally, the club remains without a permanent training base following the previous loss of ownership of their former facility at Colliers Park near Wrexham. "We're going to do it [reach the Premier League] in the same way that we've been doing it from day one, which is asking the town," McElhenney said. "I sort of jumped the gun early on and just assumed that that's what the people of the town wanted for their club, and that that wasn't necessarily the case. "I had a lot of very long conversations with people that said, 'Well, we might not be ready for that. The town might not be ready for that and the club might not be ready for that.' Watch Welcome to Wrexham season 4 on Disney+ This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more from £4.99 Disney+ Get Disney+ here Product Description Welcome to Wrexham is back on Disney+ for a fourth season. Fans can watch the series with a £4.99 monthly plan, or get 12 months for the price of 10 by paying for a year upfront. Article continues below "We have to make sure that we're always checking in with the community to make sure that this is what they want. It was a crazy pipe dream four or five years ago where we got laughed at by the media and by the world, but I don't think anybody's laughing anymore." He added: "We don't want to build something that's unsustainable. As glorious as it might be to be promoted to the Premier League, it would be equally as tragic to be relegated again, because that can very quickly create that spiral downwards. "Is the ultimate goal the Premier League? Yes, of course. Is it winning the Premier League? Yes, of course. But that actually isn't the number one goal. The number one goal is building something for the next generation and leaving something behind that is sustainable for the rest of its existence."
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Wrexham owner wants to WIN the Premier League as fan concerns shared – 'Not laughing now'
Wrexham's Hollywood co-owners have disclosed their lofty aim to win the Premier League someday, while also stressing the need for the Welsh club to grow sustainably Rob McElhenney has revealed an audacious new goal for Wrexham to win the Premier League. The Welsh side have enjoyed unprecedented success under the co-ownership of the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator and fellow Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds. Since being bought by the two actors in February 2021, Wrexham have been propelled from the National League into the Championship after achieving three promotions in a row. The A-list pair have made it clear from day one that they want to take the Red Dragons all the way to the top flight. McElhenney, who recently filed to legally change his name to Rob Mac, has now said that their ambition stretches even further than that as they aim to one day lift the Premier League title. However, while the 48-year-old is eager to reach that target as soon as possible, he stressed in an interview with Welsh broadcaster S4C that it would need to be done in a sustainable manner. When asked whether he still thought Premier League status was achievable, McElhenney said: "That's the way the pyramid is set up and why not us? Why should that be reserved for other towns, for other cities? "It doesn't mean it's going to be easy and it doesn't mean that it's just going to happen quickly. It could take many, many years for it to happen. We're going to make a push to do it as quickly as possible, because we don't know any other way to do it, but we're going to do it the right way." While many fans might welcome the prospect of pushing for the top tier, McElhenney disclosed how some Wrexham supporters had expressed concerns to him. He said this was due to the impact it would have on their club, which has never played in the Premier League, and a lack of supporting infrastructure. Wrexham's home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, has a reduced capacity of around 10,000 this season while work to build a new stand takes place. Meanwhile, the club is still without a permanent training facility after previously losing ownership of its old base at Colliers Park near Wrexham. "We're going to do it [reach the Premier League] in the same way that we've been doing it from day one, which is asking the town," said McElhenney. "I sort of jumped the gun early on and just assumed that that's what the people of the town wanted for their club, and that that wasn't necessarily the case. "I had a lot of very long conversations with people that said, 'Well, we might not be ready for that. The town might not be ready for that and the club might not be ready for that.' "We have to make sure that we're always checking in with the community to make sure that this is what they want. It was a crazy pipe dream four or five years ago where we got laughed at by the media and by the world, but I don't think anybody's laughing anymore." He added: "We don't want to build something that's unsustainable. As glorious as it might be to be promoted to the Premier League, it would be equally as tragic to be relegated again, because that can very quickly create that spiral downwards. "Is the ultimate goal the Premier League? Yes, of course. Is it winning the Premier League? Yes, of course. But that actually isn't the number one goal. The number one goal is building something for the next generation and leaving something behind that is sustainable for the rest of its existence." Sign up to our newsletter! Wrexham is the Game is great new way to get top-class coverage Wrexham AFC is the arguably the fastest-growing club in the world at the moment thanks to a certain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The Dragons have achieved two consecutive promotions and are cheered on by crowds from not only North Wales but also from all over the globe, thanks to the success of the Disney+ documentary 'Welcome to Wrexham'. But does it have a dedicated, quality source of information piped through to your inbox each week, free of ads but packed with informed opinion, analysis and even a little bit of fun each week? That's where Wrexham is the Game steps in... Available every Wednesday, it provides all the insights you need to be a top red. And for a limited time, a subscription to 'Wrexham is the Game' will cost fans just £15 for the first year.
