Latest news with #AmmanValleySchool
South Wales Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- South Wales Guardian
A Level results day 2025: Carmarthenshire students celebrate
On Thursday, August 14, students across the county received their grades, with 94.9 per cent achieving A*-E at A-level and 87.1 per cent reaching the same grades at AS Level. Shari, a student from Amman Valley School, said: "For my A-levels, I had 3 A*, A and a B which I'm really happy with and next year I'm looking forward to studying History at the University of Oxford." A total of 23.6 per cent of A-level students achieved A or A* grades, while 18.7 per cent of AS students earned an A. Councillor Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education and Welsh language, said: "Congratulations to our young people across Carmarthenshire who have received their A-level and AS results today. "These results are a testament to your hard work and dedication. "I would also like to thank the teachers, support staff, families and friends of our A-level students for the support they have shown. "I wish you all the very best in the future." Chief executive Wendy Walters and director of education and children's services Owain Lloyd also praised students in a joint statement. They said: "Congratulations to Carmarthenshire's A Level and AS students on their results today. "On behalf of Carmarthenshire County Council, we would like to thank you for your tremendous efforts as well as extending thanks to your support networks."
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The Independent
28-04-2025
- The Independent
‘Out of a horror movie': Brave teacher who restrained teenage attacker recounts school stabbing
Once at the forefront of the south-west Wales' decimated mining industry, Ammanford is a small and fairly unremarkable Welsh market town nestled at the foot of the towering Black Mountains. But in April last year, the town was flung into the national spotlight after a teenage girl pulled out a knife and started attacking two teachers and another pupil during morning breaktime at Amman Valley School. On Monday, the now 14-year-old girl was detained for 15 years after being found guilty of their attempted murder at Swansea Crown Court. It was an incident that shocked the nation and raised fears over the safety of children and teachers in schools. Speaking to the BBC, a former assistant head teacher who restrained the girl during the attack at the 1,800-pupil school likened the event to "something out of a horror movie" Darrel Campbell took hold of the girl while she still had a knife in her hand. He said: "I've had countless sleepless nights. The incident is like it happened yesterday. As soon as I saw the knife, I was just focused on the girl. She said she was going to kill [the pupil]. "I ran after her. I grabbed her right hand which held the knife, I put her into a headlock and dragged her back. Everything else is a blur." It was just after 11.15am, when a public address system at the school announced a 'Code Red' alert, with children placed into lockdown as sirens from arriving emergency vehicles flickered outside. Seeing that something serious had happened, some students, instead of returning to their classrooms, chose to vault the school fence to escape. Dozens of parents turned up outside the school gates, desperate for news as rumours spread quickly that a teenage pupil had gone on the rampage with a knife inside the school. It wasn't until 3pm when the parents were reunited with their children and details began to emerge of what happened inside the school. The attacker, who was 13 at the time cannot be named for legal reasons, pulled out a knife from her pocket after being questioned over her uniform by teacher Fiona Elias while outside a school hall. 'I am going to kill you, I am going to f****** kill you,' the girl said as she stabbed Ms Elias. Another teacher, Liz Hopkin, stepped in but was also stabbed, suffering serious injuries to her back, neck, legs and arms. Two male staff members arrived, but the girl managed to push past them and attack another schoolgirl, before Mr Campbell restrained her in a neck hold to end the violence. At Swansea Crown Court, where the girl was found guilty of the attempted murder of the two teachers and school girl, a jury heard how both attacked teachers thought they were going to die. 'I thought she was going to kill me – she went for my neck and there wasn't anything I could do to stop her,' said Ms Hopkin. At the time of the attack, Mair Wyn, who has been a governor at Amman Valley School for 34 years, said: 'It is a complete shock for the community. 'It's an excellent school, the pupils are such lovely children and I can't understand why this issue has happened, it's unbelievable really.' The trial heard how the girl had been previously caught with a knife in her backpack during a search in school toilets a year before the attack. Mrs Elias said she was excluded before being allowed back in school on the condition regular bag checks were done on her. 'We didn't do a lot, she settled back in really,' the teacher said. 'More should have been done,' a parent not wanting to be named told The Independent. The attack comes amid rising fears over knife crime, particularly inside schools. Mr Campbell told the BBC: "I'd like to think it was an isolated incident, I'd like to think it would never happen again in any school in Wales. But schools are a reflection of society, and it is something that the authorities, the Senedd, have to look at." An investigation by The Independent last year revealed four attacks were happening on children or teachers each week, with rural police force areas such as Lancashire and West Mercia among the worst for the number of incidents. Anne Longfield, former children's commissioner for England, warned that knives and knife attacks were an 'urgent crisis', while calling on the Labour government to drive intervention through community-based pilot schemes. She told The Independent: 'Hardly a week passes without seeing the horrific consequences of serious violence and knife crime. It can happen anywhere, including, as this terrifying case shows, in schools. "This is an urgent crisis. There can be a chilling sense of inevitability for many of the most vulnerable children, that they can fall through the gaps and become at risk of involvement in violence or exploitation. 'We need to be much quicker to support the most vulnerable children and their families, through schools, youth work, and mental health support as early as possible. Latest Home Office figures show there were 50,500 offences involving a sharp instrument in England and Wales in the year ending March 2024, up 4 per cent from the year before. Separate Ministry of Justice figures show that in the year ending March 2023, 17 per cent of people cautioned and convicted for possession of a knife or weapon were aged 10 to 17. Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told The Independent: 'The evidence shows too many young people are still getting these weapons online, so we are introducing stronger age verification checks and significant fines for tech executives who fail to swiftly remove knife crime content on their sites.' Back in Ammanford, life continues for students and parents at Amman Valley which boasts Welsh rugby stars Shane Williams and Hannah Jones as among its former pupils. Local Senedd member Adam Price, who is a former pupil at the school, told The Independent: 'What we need is a full national inquiry into school safety in schools - this was a disturbing incident, and the consequences could have been worse. 'We need to realise that this could happen anywhere.'
The Independent
27-01-2025
- The Independent
Girl shouts ‘I'm going to f****** kill you' during stabbing attack at Ammanford school, jury hears
A 13-year-old girl shouted 'I'm going to f****** kill you' as she stabbed two teachers and another teenager at a Welsh secondary school, a court heard. The girl, who was a pupil at the school, later said 'I stabbed her, oopsies' and 'that's one way to be a celebrity' in comments to police after her arrest. Jurors at Swansea Crown Court were shown CCTV of the attack on two teachers at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, also known as Amman Valley School, in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on 24 April last year. School staff could be seen trying to talk her down after she stabbed assistant head Fiona Elias multiple times with a fishing multitool, before turning on Liz Hopkin when she tried to intervene – stabbing her in her in the back, neck, legs and arms. When she pulled the blade from her pocket she shouted 'I am going to kill you, I am going to f****** kill you,' the court heard. The girl managed to injured another teenager before she was disarmed and police arrived, prosecutor William Hughes KC told the jury. The defendant, who is now aged 14 and cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted to three counts of wounding with intent, but denies attempting to murder the three victims. Opening the trial on Monday, Mr Hughes told the jury the teenager had taken the multitool knife from her father's fishing equipment intending to use it on staff. 'She did so, the prosecution say, with the intent to kill,' he told the court. Jurors were told victim Ms Elias had previously found a vegetable knife inside the defendant's bag at the start of school year, resulting in her temporary exclusion. Afterwards, her father would search her bag every day and the school had permission to carry out daily checks, but on the day of the stabbing she had left home before he could carry out his usual search, the jury heard. Although she remained silent in police interview, the teenager made several unsolicited comments to police after her arrest, Mr Hughes added. She said 'I stabbed her... oopsies' and asked 'are they dead' while in the back of a Dyfed Powys police vehicle, later adding: 'I'm pretty sure this is going to be on the news so more eyes will be looking at me. That's one way to be a celebrity.' Searches of the teenager's home uncovered a notebook depicting one of the victims, annotated with phrases including 'burning a person', 'they could die' and 'cut their mouths and eyes', the court heard. Paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service treated the victims at the scene, although Ms Hopkin had to be flown by air ambulance to hospital with four stab wounds. Mr Hughes told the jury the defendant does not deny taking her father's multitool to the school and using it to attack the victims. 'She does dispute she did so with intending to kill one, two or all three of them,' he added. The trial continues.
