Friday May 26th

After 33 years of teaching at Waunarlwydd Primary School, we can now confirm that Mr Jenkins will be retiring at the end of this academic year. I have no doubt that you will join us in thanking Mr Jenkins for his outstanding contribution over so many years. Let’s make sure that the last half term of the school year is a great success so that we can send Mr Jenkins (and Mrs Davies) off in style!

Help our Woodland!

Following the need for our woodland to be out of bounds (while the council have been completing essential work), we need to cut back and tidy up some areas. We are putting together a working party for Friday June 9th (during the school day -anytime between 9 and 3). A big thanks to those volunteers that have offered to help us. If you would like to join us, please let us know. Diolch!

Cluster RSE Parents meeting

All parents/carers are invited to a meeting at Gowerton Comprehensive School on Monday 5th June @4pm.  During the meeting, Jennifer Harding – Richards (Advisor for RSE and RVE) will be giving an overview of the RSE legislation and share the RSE code, guidance and expectations for schools (information leaflet).  In order to prepare for the event and answer any questions, please can you complete the following form, if you are attending, by Friday 26th May (12.00) – Diolch. Form for parents’ RSE meeting

It has been a wonderful end to a half term with the beautiful weather meaning the Nursery have spent most of their time outdoors in the sunshine. Carrying on with their work on number, morning Nursery took their clip boards around the school searching for numbers. Nursery rhymes were the theme on Welly Wednesday, with the highlight being rolling down the hill like Jack and Jill. Afternoon Nursery went to explore the woods for the first time this week and built an imaginary fire. The favourite activity though, was cooking biscuits in the shape of Numicon. Reception have been talking about how they have changed since being babies and sequencing a human timeline. They had fun listening to more of their favourite songs and playing our ‘Pwy ydy Pwy’ baby photo guessing game! Children learnt about their hand span and measured it with multilink and then took their learning outside to explore the lengths of sticks in the woodland. In P.E, children loved throwing and catching beanbags, balancing with bean bags on their heads and playing a beanbag relay race!

It has been ‘Gardening Week’ in Miss Tyrrell’s class and the children have been so excited to finally be able to use their beautiful outdoor garden again. Thank you to all the grown ups for your kind donations! Back in class the children have been learning facts about wild animals to help them write a fact file. They have put the animals in alphabetical order and used the turtle program on JIT to practise directional skills. Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howells’ class have enjoyed playing the glockenspiels this week, to accompany a song they have learnt to sing. The whole class had so much fun! The children also loved seeing their butterflies emerge from their cocoons and releasing them into their natural habitats. Highlights in Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class was also their beautiful butterflies emerging, releasing them into the outdoor area and watching them take flight! Children have also been busy planting fruit, vegetables and flowers to encourage pollinators as well as writing lovely character descriptions about elephants. Mr Reid’s class have enjoyed perfecting and performing their pirate dances in a Strictly Come Dancing style format. They’ve been working hard on their smuggler’s stories using writing targets and building confidence to write independently. They’ve also been working hard on maths skills including telling the time on analogue clocks and dividing with bigger numbers. Da iawn!

Mr Jenkins’ class have been learning to use mapping skills and co-ordinates to locate places. They have also made an animation and used coding to control a rocket to different planets. In numeracy they have been solving reasoning problems while in literacy children have been making story boards and acting these out using iMovie to create our performance adverts. Year 5 and 6 have loved using the field for lunchtime, daily mile and PE this week. In maths the children have been looking at probability and chance. The independent challenge was to present an A3 page about ‘What does it mean to be Welsh?’ The children used many different approaches and creative ideas to show their understanding. Gwaith wych!

Digital advice for parents

Dates for the diary

Monday June 5th – RSE information session for parents (16.00 to 17.00) at Gowerton Comprehensive School

Tuesday 20th June – Nursery sports day (time to be confirmed), Reception Sports Day (time to be confirmed)

Wednesday 21st June – Year 4, 5 and 6 Sports Day (13.30)

Thursday 22nd June – Year 1,2 and 3 Sports Day (14.00)

Friday June 30th – INSET DAY

Monday 3rd July – Nursery and Reception Parent workshops (9.15)

Mrs Evans/Mrs Thomas’ and Mr Reid’s class Parent workshops (13.15)

Tuesday 4th July – Miss Tyrrell’s and Mrs wallace/Mrs Howells’ class Parent Workshops (9.15)

Mr Jenkins’ class Parent workshops (13.15)

Wednesday 5th July – Year 5 and 6 Parent workshops (13.15)

Thursday July 6th – Summer Fair

Friday 14th July – Whole School Beach trip

Monday July 24th – INSET DAY

(Information about events specific to classes or cohorts will be sent out separately)

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday May 19th

Another great week of learning and laughing in Waunarlwydd! N week in Nursery has been all about numbers and Numicon. Morning nursery searched for numbers and Numicon in the right order and built towers numbered 1-10 on Welly Wednesday. It was very exciting on Thursday when they were able to go back into the woods for the first time for gym. After playing lots of number games they enjoyed throwing the leaves and jumping off the new logs. Both Nursery sessions have been practising their fine motor skills, threading pasta and cereal to make a necklace to take home. Reception have continued with their Marvellous Me topic, this week learning names for body parts in Welsh and using Welsh in our new hospital role play area. Children talked about favourite hobbies and have started listening to favourite songs, discussing why they like them and listening for the voice, instruments, whether it is fast or slow and loud or quiet. It was fun taking selfies and using the tools on SeeSaw to doodle on them! We have also talked about money, what it is for and how we use it and then had fun in the pretend toy shop paying for items up to 10p.

Miss Tyrrell’s class have been learning all about frogs this week. They have followed instructions to create some superb drawings of frogs, completed the life cycle and written sentences as part of their independent challenges. The maths focus this week has been making ‘groups of’ and adding equal groups. Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howells’ class are keeping a close eye on their caterpillars, now they have turned into a chrysalis. They have transferred them to the butterfly house, ready for when the butterflies push their way out of their cocoons! Children are so excited to see it happen! They have also enjoyed finding out more about wildlife at the start of their ‘On safari’ topic and wrote fantastic fact files all about the animals. Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class have enjoyed researching facts about lions as part of their sensational safari topic. Another highlight has been creating some beautiful silhouette safari art work and learning to tell the time. Children have also planted lots of different flowers to attract pollinators to their outdoor area. The pirate theme has continued in Mr Reid’s class this week with the children using a playscript and props to act out a smuggling scene. They have also enjoyed describing a pirate in Welsh using See Saw.

Mr Jenkins’ class have been learning about the Water Cycle and how we use water and keep it clean. Another hit has been writing their super adverts to sell their games and next week they will begin filming them using the imovie app. Y5 and 6 have enjoyed PE this week – rounders season has begun! In maths, the children have been working with co-ordinates, plotting shapes in all four quadrants. Art this week has been based on ‘The Arrival’. The children drew pencil sketches of important items in their homes. Great week!

Cluster RSE Parents meeting

All parents/carers are invited to a meeting at Gowerton Comprehensive School on Monday 5th June @4pm.  During the meeting, Jennifer Harding – Richards (Advisor for RSE and RVE) will be giving an overview of the RSE legislation and share the RSE code, guidance and expectations for schools (information leaflet).  In order to prepare for the event and answer any questions, please can you complete the following form, if you are attending, by Friday 26th May – Diolch. Form for parents’ RSE meeting

Help our Woodland!

Our woodland has been out of bounds for several months while the council have been completing essential work taking a large number of trees down from our woodland area. We are now in a position to further develop this wonderful space for our children. We are looking for volunteers with strimmers, hedge clippers or simply a pair of gardening gloves to help us clear the areas which have become overgrown. If you are interested in giving up a couple of hours of your time to help us, please get in touch and we will put together a working party. Diolch!

Kicks Sessions 2022/23

If you’re interested in finding out about FREE fun football sessions in the area, including girls only sessions, click on the following link for more information. https://form.jotform.com/SwansFdnKicks/Home

Digital advice for parents

Dates for the diary

Monday June 5th – RSE information session for parents (16.00 to 17.00) at Gowerton Comprehensive School

Tuesday 20th June – Nursery sports day (time to be confirmed), Reception Sports Day (time to be confirmed)

Wednesday 21st June – Year 4, 5 and 6 Sports Day (13.30)

Thursday 22nd June – Year 1,2 and 3 Sports Day (14.00)

Friday June 30th – INSET DAY

Monday 3rd July – Nursery and Reception Parent workshops (9.15)

Mrs Evans/Mrs Thomas’ and Mr Reid’s class Parent workshops (13.15)

Tuesday 4th July – Miss Tyrrell’s and Mrs wallace/Mrs Howells’ class Parent Workshops (9.15)

Mr Jenkins’ class Parent workshops (13.15)

Wednesday 5th July – Year 5 and 6 Parent workshops (13.15)

Thursday July 6th – Summer Fair

Friday 14th July – Whole School Beach trip

Monday July 24th – INSET DAY

(Information about events specific to classes or cohorts will be sent out separately)

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday May 12th

It’s great to see the sun shining at the end of another week at Waunarlwydd full of highlights. It’s been ‘M’ week in nursery. The highlight was visiting ‘The Farmers’ in Waunarlwydd where the children bought their own toast and drinks using their own money. There has also been lots of creative craft in both morning and afternoon nursery with junk modelling and painting in the style of ‘Mondrian’ using just 4 colours. Making monsters has also been a big hit with the children. Reception have started learning through their ‘Marvellous Me’ topic. Using a mirror they have looked at their eye colours to complete a class pictogram. Looking at faces, they created self portraits in different ways, firstly by looking in a mirror and using pastels and also using half a black and white photo of themselves and drawing the other half. In writing, children completed a basic fact file. The children have absolutely loved getting the wall bars out in gym this week to practice climbing and swinging.

Caterpillars and butterflies have been the topic in Miss Tyrrell’s class this week. The children attempted recount writing of the life cycle of a butterfly independently, as well as butterfly maths addition. Beautiful symmetrical butterflies were made by the children during their creative challenge. The trip to Swansea Museum to look at life before electricity had them all problem solving as it proved very tricky to match everyday objects to the ones used long ago. Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howell’s class loved seeing their caterpillars start forming into a chrysalis. They’re so excited to see them turn into butterflies! Year 1 loved going to Swansea Museum to learn all about electricity. Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class have loved looking after their caterpillars. They are getting ready to spin their chrysalis. They have also enjoyed learning about money in Maths and practising their pbuzz songs, the favourite at the moment is ‘I feel good!’ Finding out about the history of smuggling on Gower and acting out the story of William Hawkins Athur have been the highlights in Mr Reid’s class while the children have also loved using Popplet on the Ipads to generate and share ideas for their class assembly. 

Mr Jenkins’ class have been busy making adverts to develop their skills in persuasive writing. They have also enjoyed learning more about angles and have started making an amazing symbol of Wales ‘The Red Dragon’ in 3d mouldable materials. Year 5 and 6 have been writing non-chronological reports on their imaginary creatures based on their book, ‘The Arrival’. Some very creative ideas included! In maths, children have enjoyed looking at shape – drawing angles and shapes accurately. Although loud and slightly out of time, children have loved learning to play the recorder in music. 

Enterprise

Our Enterprise team have been hard at work preparing their wonderful products based on promoting positivity. They will be selling their products at a market in Castle Gardens on June 16th! Pop down if you get a chance!

Digital advice for parents

Dates for the diary

Monday June 5th – RSE information session for parents (16.00 to 17.00) at Gowerton Comprehensive School

WB June 19th – Sports Days (details to follow next week)

Friday June 30th – INSET DAY

Week beginning 3rd July – Parent workshops (details to follow next week)

Friday 14th July – Whole School Beach trip

Monday July 24th – INSET DAY

(Information about events specific to classes or cohorts will be sent out separately)

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday 5th May

We are delighted to tell you that Ms Kirsty Williams (our current Year 5 and 6 teacher) has accepted the post of Acting Deputy Headteacher, initially for a year, from September. Having held this position successfully in the past, there is no doubt that Ms Williams will be a huge asset to the whole school community within this role.

What a great week it’s been, finished off in style with a party to celebrate the King’s coronation. The party has proved be the highlight for most this week but there have been lots of other high points. Nursery have had a week of Coronation activities. They have made flags and crowns for the party and a big model of Caernarvon Castle. Lots of the classroom activities have been red, white and blue and the royal tea party, role play area has been a big success. Morning Nursery had a fun time on Welly Wednesday playing some traditional games; skittles, hoopla and boules. Reception have had great fun finding out about the coronation, and have been thinking about what they would like to be when they grow up. Children have sorted photographs of King Charles by age from baby through to adult and have designed and made their own crowns. They also enjoyed using a ten frame to explore number bonds to 10 using crowns.

What an interesting week Miss Tyrrell’s class have had learning about King Charles and the Coronation. ‘If I were a King/Queen for a day’ was the writing focus and generated some interesting responses as you can imagine! The children have also sequenced pictures of King Charles and put them into a timeline. Decorating crowns and Union Jack flags was the creative focus for the week as well using the JIT program on the i-pads to create Coronation pictures. Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howells’ class have also really enjoyed completing their coronation challenges this week, especially coronation bingo! Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class have loved the arrival of their very hungry caterpillars! They have grown so much already! The children have loved observing them! They have also had fun making paper butterflies fly doing some mini experiments in science. Mr Reid’s class have been working hard on independent activities this week by making a sketch portrait of Blackbeard and creating a pirate treasure map with coordinates. Taking inspiration from a BBC Strictly pirate performance, the children have also been working hard on their pirate dances which are coming on really well!

Mr Jenkins’ class have been learning how to write persuasive pieces of writing to sell treats. The children are then going to make adverts to sell the games they invented. In numeracy children have been busy using protractors to measure and draw angles. They have also enjoyed learning about the events that will take place on Saturday to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

PE is always a winner in Year 5 and 6 – developing balance and accuracy in throwing. This week in maths as well as learning about angles, the children have used their Chrome books to support their learning Whilst Year 6 enjoyed working with ‘The Welsh Whisperer’ to write a song about our school, Year 5 were hard at work making T-shirts, friendship bracelets, tote bags and bookmarks for their Enterprise project. Other hits have been planning their non-chronological report about an imaginary creature and choosing a location and designing a bug hotel to make next week. A great of learning and laughing for everyone

Personalised assessments

During the month of May, children in Years 2 to 6 will be completing online personalised assessments in Reading and Numeracy. These are not used as “tests” or have any form of high accountability stakes for pupils or the school. They do, however, provide us with some information about what your child can do well, and needs to do next. They will be delivered in an informal manner which minimises any potential anxiety. Please be assured that pupils will not be put under any pressure, and will see these as an activity like any other.

Digital advice for parents

This week’s advice centres around ’10 top tips for safely using Smart watches.’

Dates for the diary

Monday 8th May – Bank Holiday

Monday June 5th – RSE information session for parents (16.00 to 17.00) at Gowerton Comprehensive School

Week beginning 26th June – Provisional Sports days (details to follow)

Friday June 30th – INSET DAY

Week beginning 3rd July – Parent workshops (details to follow)

Friday 14th July – Whole School Beach trip

Monday July 24th – INSET DAY

(Information about events specific to classes or cohorts will be sent out separately)

Have a great Bank Holiday, see you all on Tuesday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday April 28th

It’s been a busy return to school for the summer term and there are lots of exciting plans for the term ahead. New topics have begun and, as always, the school has been full of learning and laughter. On a sporting note, a big well done to our Year 4 footballers who represented the school at a festival last week and to our rugby team that took on Gowerton yesterday. They showed great resilience in tough conditions and should be really proud of themselves.

After school clubs will resume next week. You should have received forms to sign your child up if they wish to attend.

There have been lots of highlights since our return after Easter. Morning Nursery have had a lovely 2 weeks exploring the letter L. They have counted and ordered ladybird spots, made ladybird crackers for snack, explored lines using paint, paper and natural materials and made loud and quiet sounds with instruments. They have learnt about litter and recycling and played ‘follow the leader’ in gym. Afternoon Nursery have been enjoying playing outside in the building site and on the bikes, learning to peddle. It was lovely to make new friends when the next Nursery intake joined us for the afternoon. Reception have been finding out about Spring, talking about the changes they can see around them. Children enjoyed their walk around the school looking for signs of Spring and creating posters to show them. They have also been looking at plants and finding out what they need to grow as well as drawing and labeling the parts of a plant and creating an addition flower garden! Of course, the big hit has been today’s wonderful community farm trip!

Year 1 have been learning about living, non living and used to be living things this week. They also predicted what will happen during their cress investigation and put spring words into alphabetical order as an independent challenge. Making groups of equal amounts has been the focus in maths this week and not forgetting their fantastic trip to the community farm to end the busy week! Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howells’ class have loved their adjective hunt this week, finding words to describe dangerous creatures. They then used new words and connected sentences to describe lions, showcasing their wonderful writing skills. The biggest surprise was getting to meet their very own caterpillars and start their caterpillar diaries.

Extreme mini beasts have been the talking point in Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class where the children researched interesting facts about poisonous dart frogs, spiders and snakes. There is also lots of excitement in the air with the long awaited arrival of their caterpillars. Mr Reid’s class have thoroughly enjoyed learning about famous pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy including 2 Welsh pirates Black Bart and Henry Morgan. The children have worked hard in making a timeline and creating fact files about them. They have also loved learning the moves for a pirate jig before beginning to plan and create their own.

Highlights in Mr Jenkins’ class this week have included reading the Welsh story of Ben the Scarecrow. Children have also completed their learning challenges on writing instructions and their science investigation on electrical conductors. In Maths the children have loved learning about 2d and 3d shapes and their properties. Year 5 and 6 really enjoyed their immersion day and beginning their new topic based around the book ‘The Arrival’. A highlight has been creating their own creatures using clay and identifying their features to help them live, learning about the importance of having an identity. As always PE has been a big hit. This week children played a target game using their ball skills and jumping. Brilliant!

Coronation Party

There will be a party and disco in school on Friday, 5th May to celebrate the King’s Coronation. Children can wear party clothes or red/white/blue or dress up as a King or Queen. Please could your child bring a small extra lunchbox with party food (for themselves) and an extra drink. Please note that pupils will still need lunch as the party will be in the afternoon.

Personalised assessments

During the month of May, children in Years 2 to 6 will be completing online personalised assessments in Reading and Numeracy. These are not used as “tests” or have any form of high accountability stakes for pupils or the school. They do, however, provide us with some information about what your child can do well, and needs to do next. They will be delivered in an informal manner which minimises any potential anxiety. Please be assured that pupils will not be put under any pressure, and will see these as an activity like any other.

Dates for the diary

Monday May 1st – Bank holiday

Tuesday May 2nd – PTA meeting 15.30

Friday May 5th – Coronation party (see above)

Monday 8th May – Bank Holiday

Monday June 5th – RSE information session for parents (16.00 to 17.00) at Gowerton Comprehensive School

Week beginning 26th June – Provisional Sports days (details to follow)

Friday June 30th – INSET DAY

Week beginning 3rd July – Parent workshops (details to follow)

Friday 14th July – Whole School Beach trip

Monday July 24th – INSET DAY

(Information about events specific to classes or cohorts will be sent out separately)

Have a great Bank Holiday, see you all on Tuesday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Dear parents/carers,

We’re using easyfundraising, a free fundraising platform that allows us to earn money for the school when we shop online. Easyfundraising works with over 7,000 online retailers, everyone from Tesco, eBay, Sports Direct, M&S, Boots, Just Eat, Booking.com, and everything in between.

Once signed up all you need to do is start your shopping journey at the easyfundraising website, use the browser extension or app (information will be provided when you register) and the retailer you shop with will send us a free donation based on how much you spend.

With the cost of living impacting everyone, this isn’t about asking you to spend more, but to make you aware that if you are making an on-line purchase anyway that by using easyfundraising you can give to us at the same time and at no additional cost to you. 

So please support us if you can by registering yourself today at http://efraising.org/HVAO41xXYm  it only takes 2 minutes and all you need is your email address.

Please also share with your friends and family if they would also like to help – the more the better to raise much needed funds !

Thanks for your support

Friends of Waunarlwydd Primary School

There will be a party and disco in school on Friday, 5th May to celebrate the King’s Coronation.

Children can wear party clothes or red/white/blue or dress up as a King or Queen.

Please could your child bring a small extra lunchbox with party food (for themselves) and an extra drink.

Please note that pupils will still need lunch as the party will be in the afternoon.

Thanks.

Friday March 31st

Firstly, on a personal note, I am extremely honoured to have been appointed as the next Headteacher of our amazing school and I look forward to continuing to work with the wonderful children, staff and families of Waunarlwydd in the years to come! After so many special years at Waunarlwydd, Mrs Davies will be retiring in the summer and I have no doubt that we will all work together to make her last term a special one!

As always though, this week has been all about the incredible children of Waunarlwydd and what a week we’ve had to end the Spring term! It started in great style with an outstanding performance from our school choir during the North Gower Partnership Music Festival at the Brangwyn Hall. The children were outstanding! Diolch pawb!

The week has ended in Easter style! The rain held off for our Easter Bonnet parade, there’s been a surprise visitor, Easter discos, hunts and much more. There have been lots of highlights!

Morning and afternoon Nursery have had a lovely week celebrating Easter. They have done egg rolling, egg and spoon races, made bunny masks, went on a digital egg hunt and had a lovely surprise when the Easter bunny visited. They practised their numeracy skills when they sang ” 5 Hot Cross Buns in a Baker’s Shop” and paid for their own hot cross buns for snack. Wow! Reception have had lots of Easter fun this week! They used their number skills to find the missing parts of eggs in their outdoor number egg hunt, they used phonic skills to build simple words on eggs and learned all about the life cycle of a hen.  To end the week they even had a visit from the Easter Bunny, an Easter egg hunt and enjoyed an egg and spoon race and a bunny hopping race in the yard. We have also had fun rolling different types of eggs down a ramp to see which one travels the furthest. 

Miss Tyrrell’s class loved sequencing the Easter story and learning about the life cycle of a chick. Another big hit was their awesome number work, where they learnt about capacity and practical measuring as well as creating tally charts and block diagrams. Brill! Mrs Wallace and Mrs Howells’ class have enjoyed creating their own Climate Change Superhero! They all decided what their first mission would be to help our planet. The children have also had fun weighing objects around the classroom and discussing their results with their partner. They also had a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny! Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class have had a great week. They thoroughly enjoyed making electric circuits while another highlight was creating artwork from recycled materials. Of course, another big hit was their Easter activities, particularly making Easter nests and their egg hunt. Mr Reid’s class have had a fab week. They particularly enjoyed their focus on dance and Yoga, while the introduction of dodgeball in PE was a big hit! Their comic strip creations were brill and they’ve enjoyed learning about mass, using their number skills effectively. The week ended in great style with their Easter activities!

Mr Jenkins’ class have had a busy end to the term. They have been busy looking at fractions of shapes and equivalent fractions. They also loved making Welsh Myth Games from the stories they have read this year and writing instructions on how they can be played, adding lots of pitfalls to them to make them especially hard. As it is coming up to Easter, they learnt about the Easter story and even had an Easter treasure hunt…lots of fun! Highlights from Year 5 and 6 this week have been investigating and exploring whether the shape of a boat affects the force needed to move it; the (rather wet and soggy) walk around the village looking for litter and bins and making persuasive posters encouraging people to make healthier choices. Plus, of course, our easter extravaganza!

**REMINDER – INSET DAYS**

Please note that the remaining INSET days for this year will be as follows:

Friday April 21st, Friday June 30th, Monday July 24th

Summer Term

We have lots of events planned for the summer but need to confirm some details. We will get a calendar of upcoming events out to you after Easter.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate in getting in touch!

Have a great Easter! Pasg Hapus!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher