Friday May 26th

We’ve come to the end of another half-term and we’ve ended it in great style with our Queen’s Jubilee celebrations! The sun has shone and we’ve all had a great day! Let’s hope for more sunshine over the half-term break! Thank you for your continued support over the latest half-term! The Queen’s Jubilee wasn’t the only reason for excitement this week as the children have enjoyed a fun-filled week full of learning and laughter!

It was the turn of years 3,4,5 and 6 to enjoy a fabulous visit from the mid and west wales fire brigade on Wednesday. A massive thanks to John Bates and his team for giving the children such a wonderful experience – although a couple of teachers didn’t enjoy the soaking they got from the hose quite as much as the children! We were reminded of the importance of smoke alarms at home! If you would like a Home Fire Safety Check (including free smoke alarms if needed) call 03706060699.

The morning Nursery had a lovely treat on Tuesday when they went for a surprise visit to Waunarlwydd Park for P week. They had great fun playing on the equipment and with the balls and frisbees, and enjoyed a biscuit before coming back to school. Afternoon Nursery loved listening to Nursery songs and rhymes with the highlight being a fun carpet session on Wednesday, singing and dancing to lots of traditional songs. ‘See the Bunnies Sleeping’ is definitely our favourite!

Continuing their Spiders topic this week, Reception have become authors, writing their own versions of ‘The Very Busy Spider’ and recording them using the iMovie app. They have also been busy planting sunflower seeds and plants for their outdoor area.

Miss Tyrrell’s class have thoroughly enjoyed planning the jubilee party by making bunting, flags and crowns. There have been some wonderful observational drawings of the Queen and they designed some wonderful crowns using 2D shapes as jewels. Mrs Horseman and Mrs Wallace’s class have welcomed Mrs Wallace back with open arms and thoroughly enjoyed making their jubilee crowns, flags and bunting. 

Highlights in year 2 include making their own minibeast fact books with a front cover, glossary and blurb. Finding out fun facts about spiders was also a big hit! Year 3 have continued their ‘What a wonderful world’ topic and have thoroughly enjoyed creating posters including facts about different continents. Another big hit has been the start of their papier mache globe project.

It’s been another busy week in Year 4 with the children completing their dioramas for their animation work. They have also looked at patterns in number and their times tables facts. We have read welsh stories and also learnt about the names of clothes, colours and the weather.

A clear favourite for Year 5 and 6 this week was the fire engine visit and squirting the hose (mostly at their teachers). The children have also enjoyed their slot drillio using blooket and quizlet! 

A huge congratulations to Milly Harris, Jamie Lloyd, Brooke Whalley and Rian Williams on their selection for the Swansea Schoolgirls rugby team! Well done girls, great effort!

We have been overwhelmed with more donations of plants and seeds to develop our outdoor areas. A big thanks to Lara Sturgess, Ameen and Emma (Victoria Rd shop), Pontarddulais garden centre, Aled and Tina (Big Day Productions) and Country stores. Much appreciated!

Dates for the diary

Friday June 24th – INSET DAY

Monday June 27th – INSET DAY

**Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th June – Provisional dates for sports days

Thursday July 7th – Provisional date for pupil/parent workshops.

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

Have a wonderful half-term break! Let’s hope the sunshine stays!

See you all on Monday June 6th!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday May 20th

This week began with a superb visit from Menter Iaith Abertawe, who worked with all children from Nursery to Y6 teaching and playing fun playground games through the medium of Welsh. All the children had a great time! Diolch!

Morning Nursery enjoyed lots of fun activities for P week but the highlight was the surprise pizza party to say goodbye to Mrs Eaton. Afternoon Nursery have loved learning and joining in with the 3 Little Pigs story and had a great time playing with paper planes on the field.

Derbyn (Reception) have been learning all about spiders this week! The children enjoyed making their own fact files about spiders and using spider legs to work out number bonds to 8. They created spiders in the woods using natural materials and made marvellous monoprint spiderwebs. Another highlight was their gym session where they moved in different ways like a spider, responding to the classical piece ‘Pizzicato’ by Leo Delibes. Miss Tyrrell’s class have had a great week learning about frogs and have discovered some very interesting facts, as well as learning about the life cycle of a frog. They loved listening to the story ‘Oi Frog’ and made up their own silly rhyming sentences before writing them independently. Other hits this week included their mini-beast hunt during forest school and practising their addition and subtraction skills whilst solving mini-beast problems.

Mrs Horseman and Mrs Tucker’s class thoroughly enjoyed writing some fantastic mini beast fact files this week, researching facts about a minibeast of their choice. The children loved going on their minibeast hunt in outdoor learning and collecting natural materials to make a bug hotel. Mrs Evans and Mrs Thomas’ class have continued to develop their outdoor area and their planting garden is looking fantastic. Other highlights include creating their ladybird factfiles and making branch minibeast games using JiT on Hwb. The week ended with a wonderful visit from Harley the lizard!

Year 3 have been getting stuck into their new topic, using their awesome creative skills to produce some amazing art work – sketching one of the 7 wonders of the world. They have also been resourceful when using atlases to find and learn about different countries of the world.

Lots of highlights in Mr Jenkins’ class this week. Children have been sharing their concerns over air pollution in science. They have also been creating dioramas in readiness for their animation work. In numeracy the children have been solving problems using areas and perimeters and looking for patterns in number. Creatively, children have continued to draw and paint in the style of Nick Holly. Their gymnastics lessons are progressing well, with the creation of some wonderful sequences using balances.

Year 5 and 6 have had a great week, engaging superbly in their independent projects, applying skills across the curriculum to create factfiles about countries of their choice. A highlight for Year 5 has been the shelter building with Miss Shaw, while the biggest hit for year 6 was their Circus eruption workshop at Gowerton Comprehensive School where they were joined by all the other schools within our cluster.

We are developing several outdoor areas across the school. A huge thanks to the parents/families that have donated seeds and plants. Any more donations will be gratefully received!

Dates for the diary

Wednesday May 25th – Year 3 to 6 Fire Engine Visit

Friday May 27th – JUBILEE PARTY – we will be celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee! Non-school uniform – red, white and blue clothes would be great.

Friday June 24th – INSET DAY

Monday June 27th – INSET DAY

**Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th June – Provisional dates for sports days (Please note that these dates have been altered)**

Thursday July 7th – Provisional date for pupil/parent workshops.

We have other trips, visits and events planned for the summer term. We will let you know details as soon as we can!

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

Have a great weekend! See you all on Monday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Another week of learning and laughter in Waunarlwydd, full of highlights! Morning Nursery showed off their gymnastic skills in the hall this week, negotiating an obstacle course for O week. They also loved working in groups to make nests for a baby owl on Welly Wednesday. Afternoon Nursery have been colouring and sticking to make an amazing ocean picture to take home.

This week Derbyn (Reception) have been busy finding out about frogs! Children loved exploring rhyming words through the story ‘Oi Frog!’ They made lily-pad number lines and used them to take away by jumping backwards. They have also made a fact file about frogs, created some wonderfully dark and cool homes for frogs on Welly Wednesday and responded to ‘The Frog Song’ in our dance session.

Miss Tyrrell’s class have thoroughly enjoyed learning lots of interesting facts about ladybirds and writing a fact file. They also loved following instructions on how to draw a cartoon ladybird and asking and answering questions with a partner to guess the mini-beast.

Mrs Horseman and Mrs Tucker’s class have started their new mini topic of minibeasts this week and enjoyed completing a KWL grid with lots of things they would like to find out. The children enjoyed making some fantastic minibeast ‘grassheads’ in outdoor learning and have even planted their own sunflowers too. 

It’s been a very exciting time in Year 2 with their outdoor garden centre officially up and running. It is going to be an extremely colourful part of our school very soon! Another highlight for the children has been the creation of animations to show how their sunflower seeds are growing.

Year 3 have made a great start to their ‘What a wonderful world’ topic, having fun using a variety of methods to learn about the different continents. Another highlight has been developing their skills when playing rounders!

Year 4 have enjoyed creating story boards to tell the story of how air quality is affected by natural and human influences. They have also loved looking at the work of Nick Holly and how he used the landscapes of Swansea in his art work, while in numeracy they have been revisiting how to calculate simple areas using centimetre squares.

Year 5 have been learning about Antarctica, building an igloo out of bottles and using their origami skills to make penguin characters, which they used in their puppet shows. Of course, the main highlight was having the yard to themselves for 3 days without Year 6.

Year 6 had a wonderful time on their residential at Margam Park. Shelter building, bonfires and the cooked breakfast were some of the highlights but top of the list for the teachers were the numerous compliments received about the behaviour, manners, kindness and sense of humour shown by the children. They were a pleasure to spend time with! A big thanks to their teachers for giving up their time! Enjoy catching up on some sleep!

Staffing updates

Next week we say goodbye to Mrs Eaton after 17 years at Waunarlwydd. Mrs Eaton has worked in various roles over the years and made a huge difference to so many children of all ages. We’d like to say a massive thanks to her for the dedication, flexibility and positive attitude she has shown! She will be missed but I’m sure you will join us in wishing Mrs Eaton all the very best in her new role! Good luck and make sure you keep in touch!

The 23rd May will see us welcome back Mrs Wallace following maternity leave. Mrs Wallace is returning part-time and will be job sharing with Mrs Horseman in Year 1 and 2. Mrs Tucker will remain as a member of staff.

Dates for the diary

Wednesday May 25th – Year 3 to 6 Fire Engine Visit

Friday June 24th – INSET DAY

Monday June 27th – INSET DAY

Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June – Provisional dates for sports days.

Thursday July 7th – Provisional date for pupil/parent workshops.

We have other trips, visits and events planned for the summer term. We will let you know details as soon as we can!

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

Have a great weekend! See you all on Monday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday May 6th

It’s been another busy week at Waunarlwydd with children enjoying the start of new topics! There have been loads of highlights to choose from this week!

Morning Nursery have had great fun searching for numbers and Numicon in the woods and going on a number hunt around the school with their clip boards. Morning and afternoon Nursery have been singing lots of Nursery rhymes with afternoon nursery really enjoying their first experience of activities on the school field. Reception have been learning all about ducks and birds. They loved reading the story ‘The Best Nest’ and working in groups to collect materials and make their own nests on Welly Wednesday. They used the ‘5 Little Ducks’ song to help with taking away and worked hard to draw and label the parts of a bird. 

The overwhelming highlight for Year 1 and 2 was their wonderful visit to Singleton Park, looking for signs of Spring, identifying lots of different flowers and wildlife and, most importantly, having fun! Other high points have been using wow words to improve Spring sentences, writing spring poems, building bird nests and creating their very impressive ‘Garden centre’ role play areas.

Year 3 have been rounding off their ‘Dream the Impossible’ Topic by creating BFG movie trailers. There has also been some amazing independent writing when setting the scene for a spooky story and the childen are looking forward to finishing the topic with a movie afternoon on Monday. Year 4 have thoroughly enjoyed the start of their new topic, ‘Our wonderful world.’ The children have been looking at maps of our world, continents and started to look at our environment and what affects the quality of the air we breathe. The legends of year 5 and 6 have enjoyed writing their own legends based on the Lady of the Lake. As always they have loved Big Maths, Beat That, especially those that beat their best ever scores. Year 5 have loved developing their swimming skills, with the Year 6 children working together in different groups, developing teamwork skills. This should come in handy during their residential at Margam next week!

Personalised assessments

Over the coming weeks, children in Years 2 to 6 will be completing 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 9th May to Wednesday 11th May – Year 6 Residential (Margam)

Wednesday May 25th – Year 3 to 6 Fire Engine Visit

Friday June 24th – INSET DAY

Monday June 27th – INSET DAY

Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June – Provisional dates for sports days.

Thursday July 7th – Provisional date for pupil/parent workshops.

We have other trips, visits and events planned for the summer term. We will let you know details as soon as we can!

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

Have a great weekend! See you all on Monday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Thursday 28th April

It has been great to welcome back our wonderful children after the Easter break. All the staff are very excited about the summer term ahead and all the opportunities the children can look forward to! Staff and children have been working hard planning new topics and it has been incredible to see such enthusiasm towards learning during our first week back.

Ukrainian refugee fundraising

It gives us great pleasure to announce the grand total raised from our sponsored events and cake sale before Easter, which will be donated to the Red Cross Ukraine appeal! A massive thanks for all your support! Through the outstanding efforts of the whole school community we were able to raise the magnificent sum of :

£2480

Summer term after school clubs

Due to a lack of staff availability for school related reasons, we are delaying the start of our after school clubs this term. Clubs will begin on the following weeks and continue until the end of term unless told otherwise.

Years 1, 2 and 3 – Cwl Cymraeg and Creative Kids will commence the week beginning Monday 9th May.

Years 4, 5 and 6 – Sports clubs will commence the week beginning 16th May.

Forms will be sent out next week with details if you wish your child to attend.

Dates for the diary

Friday April 29th – School’s Bank Holiday (Queen’s Jubilee)

Monday 2nd May – Bank holiday

Wednesday 4th May – Year 1 and 2 Singleton Park Trip

Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th May – Year 6 Residential (Margam)

Wednesday May 25th – Year 3 to 6 Fire Engine Visit

Friday June 24th – INSET DAY

Monday June 27th – INSET DAY

Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June – Provisional dates for sports days.

Thursday July 7th – Provisional date for pupil/parent workshops.

We have other trips, visits and events planned for the summer term. We will let you know details as soon as we can!

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

Have a great long weekend! See you all on Tuesday!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday 8th April

We’ve come to the end of another great term at Waunarlwydd and what a busy week to end with! Our Easter celebrations have been full of fun – Easter egg hunts, Easter discos and even a visit from a very special guest! Our incredible children all enjoyed completing their sponsored runs which, along with the Year 5 and 6 cake sale, has seen us raise a great sum of money which will be donated to support refugees. We will continue collecting sponsorship money after half term before announcing our grand total! A huge thanks to the firefighters that visited our younger children this week. The children thoroughly enjoyed asking questions, firing water from the hose and learning all about the life of a fire fighter. A big well done to our football teams that have represented the school in tournaments this week! We look forward to many more sporting events during the summer term.

As always, a huge thanks for your ongoing support! We can now look forward to a summer term full of learning and laughter! Have a wonderful Easter Break and we will see you all on Monday 25th April!

Friday 1st April

After such a long time, it has been amazing to welcome parents back into school to meet with teachers. We hope it has been as worthwhile for you as it has been for us!

Another week full of highlights in Waunarlwydd Primary School!

Morning Nursery thoroughly enjoyed using clues from photographs on the ipad to search for monsters on Welly Wednesday. They also enjoyed investigating materials that were magnetic and non magnetic, while afternoon Nursery have started their Easter craft and are looking forward to their first Easter in school. Reception children have loved getting out and about searching for signs of Spring and labelling parts of a plant. Year 1 have found out lots of information about how to be safe in the water and enjoyed writing all about what the RNLI flags mean.  They have also enjoyed learning about electricity and making their own circuits. Year 2 have enjoyed making superhero maths games, writing Spring poems and completing their awesome junk modelling.

All the children thoroughly enjoyed the visit from the RNLI and learnt so much. A big thanks to all involved!

Year 3 have continued their BFG focus, designing their own giants and completing their soundproofing Science investigation to help out the BFG. They also had a great time developing rounders skills in the sunshine. Year 4 have been busy this week investigating all the countries in Europe where the Celts settled in the past. They have also learnt about roundhouses and Hill forts, looking at aerial photographs of Wales and Swansea and finding the remains of hillforts that can still be seen today! Year 5 and 6 have enjoyed using spreadsheets to work out profits this week. This is in preparation for their cake sale next week, where they will be fundraising for the Ukrainian refugees. In drama, they enjoyed role playing different situations that refugees find themselves in. It has also been great to see all the Year 5 and 6 children developing their swimming skills over the past few months.

A big thankyou to Councillor Wendy Lewis for her donation of £300. This has been used to purchase PE equipment for use across the school.

Reminders

Lots of Easter activities have been planned for next week. Please note that BOTH Wednesday 6th April and Thursday 7th April are non-school uniform days.

Reminder – Children break up on Thursday 7th April (Friday 8th April is INSET DAY)

As always, thanks for your support and, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate in getting in touch!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday 25th March

Firstly a huge thanks to all for the contributions towards our Comic relief fundraising last week! Together we raised a magnificent £696.

Another busy week full of learning and laughter! Morning Nursery had a great time at Gowerton Library on Wednesday, enjoying stories and choosing a book to bring back to class (see below for events run by the library). Afternoon Nursery have spent every day enjoying the sunshine outside and have had fun in the giant sand pit and riding the bikes and cars for the first time.

Reception children have loved learning more about fire engines, discovering how fire engines have changed over time and spraying numbers outside with their fire hoses. Year 1 and 2 met more real life superheroes when the nurses came to visit. They asked really thoughtful questions and learnt so much! A big thanks to the wonderful nurses! The BFG has been the stimulus for Year 3 this week, with the highlight some fantastic independent diary writing based on Sophie’s experiences after she meets the BFG.

Year 4 have loved learning about the Celts in the Iron Age and their fights with the Romans. They have also been making Celtic knots, which have been tricky! They also enjoyed reading lots of poems and picking out favourites to write and read on World Poetry Day. Year 5 and 6 have had an exciting week of enhanced provision. Shelter building, batik printing, making a water filtration system and clay sculptures were just some of the amazing activities. It was great to see the children directing their own learning and working together!

Parent/Teacher meetings

Our teachers are looking forward to meeting or calling parents and carers next week. We politely request that face coverings are worn inside the building and if you are feeling unwell please contact us to rearrange your appointment.

After school childcare facility – Expression of interest

We are looking into the possibility of resuming an after school childcare facility (run by an outside agency) at Waunarlwydd Primary School. We are asking for initial interest. Unfortunately, the facility will only be able to run if there are sufficient numbers. The after school club would run until 17.25 each school day at an estimated cost of £12 per session, with payments made a month in advance. Please only complete the following form if this is a facility you would be interested in using! Please ignore if you have already completed the form! Diolch!

https://forms.office.com/r/b1A3PgW3b2

Gowerton Library events

Reminder

Friday April 8th is an INSET DAY. Last day of the Spring Term for children will be Thursday April 7th!

Staff are busy preparing Easter activities for the last week of term. We’ll send out the details next week!

As always, thanks for your support and, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate in getting in touch!

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the sunshine!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher

Friday 18th March

What a fun-filled day to end the week! The sun has been out for us to enjoy all our Comic Relief fun. A big thanks to you all for your support of such a worthwhile cause! We’ll let you know how much we’ve raised next week! Another big thanks to DJ Dan for organising and running our ‘danceathons’. The children have had a ball!

Another week full of highlights! The Nursery have loved listening to and retelling the story “What the ladybird Heard” and painting their own ladybirds. There was excitement in afternoon nursery with the children having milk and fruit for the first time. This week has been all about real life heroes in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Reception have enjoyed making shape fire engines, exploring different ways to make a ramp that will help the fire engines go further and faster. Year 1 have loved writing all about their personal heroes and making their own emergency vehicles, while the new ‘vets’ role play area has been a big hit. The highlight in Year 2 has definitely been junk modelling, creating some awesome emergency vehicles. A big thankyou to PCSO Breslin for visiting the children, answering questions and showing them around his police car.

Year 3 have had a busy week, creating carbon dioxide to inflate balloons, using the literacy shed to inspire story starters and working on their body shapes and movement during their Real PE session. Year 4 have continued their journey through time, completing their Ancient Egyptian Research work and beginning to learn about the Iron age, Celts and Romans. Year 5 and 6 have loved their morning science experiments on the theme of growth, thank you Swansea University. They have also really enjoyed learning circus skills with Circus Eruption and writing persuasive letters to organise a fundraising event.

Parent/teacher meetings

Parents/carers will have the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher during the fortnight beginning Monday 28th March. You will be able to book an appointment using SQUID from Monday 21st March (we will send a text when the booking system is live). These appointments will be face to face. However, if you would prefer to speak with the teacher over the phone, please contact the school to arrange a suitable time for the teacher to phone you.

Reminder

Friday April 8th is an INSET DAY. Last day of the Spring Term for children will be Thursday April 7th!

Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in COVID cases within the school. As with any sickness, we wish anyone that has tested positive a speedy recovery and hope that any symptoms are mild!

As always, thanks for your support and, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate in getting in touch!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Deputy Headteacher