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Author: JamesE

Latest News

Friday 28th May

It’s hard to believe that we’ve come to the end of another half term during a year like never before. Let’s hope the sun that we’ve been promised stays around so that we can all enjoy a wonderful last half term.

The last few weeks have been full of  learning and laughter with lots of highlights to mention. Nursery highlights have been playing in their pizza restaurant and Royal Palace, making potions and having fun in the big outdoor sand pit. They are becoming excellent at writing their names and are ‘signing in’ every day. Reception and Year 1 have been learning through the topic of ‘Marvellous me’ and they’ve had loads of fun guessing baby photographs and seeing how much they’ve all changed!  Reception have been discussing feelings through the story ‘The Colour Monster’ and finding strategies to cope with difficult emotions such as sadness, anger and fear. They have also enjoyed exploring their senses by playing games with smell/ sound pots and learning about how to keep healthy, from healthy foods to toothbrushing. Year 1 have also enjoyed learning about their senses and have loved watering their cress seeds everyday, investigating which conditions are best for seeds to grow. Their creativity has been clear with wonderful work in the style of the artist Arcimboldo where they created fruit faces as well as practising their colour mixing techniques when painting portraits of their friends. Year 2’s enjoyment of their ‘Go Wild’ topic has been clear and they have become experts in all sorts of African animals, clearly shown in their wonderful report writing and jungle artwork. Other highlights have been programming the Beebot and planting in their beautiful outdoor area (in between the rain).

Mr Jenkins’ class have thoroughly enjoyed learning about plants and have even grown some of their own (the radishes are ready to pick but the sweet peas need a few more weeks). Other highlights have included the invention of their own plants with ‘special abilities’, using maps outside to design their own treasure hunt trails and continuing their project work on topics ranging from cars to birds of prey. Miss Horseman and Mrs Tucker’s class have also enjoyed learning about plants and developing their understanding of pollination and the life cycle of a flower, while other highlights have included learning about foods from around the world and showcasing their awesome creative skills with their animal print drawing. The return to Narnia has been a highlight in the year 5 and 6 classes and, after improvising their written additional chapters, the children have created playscripts, which they have now turned into blockbusters. Before filming, they developed their locations, different camera angles and scene summary. As a group, they composed their score, trying to create the mood of the scene. Each child has acted on screen and taken a turn behind the camera to direct a scene. Hollywood, here we come! Ms Willams’ class have thoroughly enjoyed creating their papier mache character masks. A highlight in Mr Reid’s class was their investigation into lung capacity while in Mrs Wallace’s class there were some interesting results in their financial education budgeting challenge (some super savers and others who went bankrupt very quickly).

All in all, a fun-filled few weeks with lots of quality teaching and learning! Now it’s time to recharge our batteries for the last half term of the year!
 Staff updates
We say goodbye to Mrs Wallace for a while today and we wish her every happiness as she looks forward to welcoming her baby son into the world in the coming weeks. Enjoy every minute! We can’t wait to meet him! Miss Fender will cover Mrs Wallace’s maternity leave and we’d like to officially welcome her to the Waunarlwydd team!
Sports Days and events
We will still be holding our annual Sports Days, although local and national restrictions currently prevent us from welcoming families onto the school grounds. They will take a different form to previous years, in line with risk assessments, but I can assure you that the emphasis will be on participation and enjoyment. We are hoping these can take place during the week beginning 28th June (weather dependent). More details will follow closer to the time, along with plans for other celebratory events!
As we end this half term, another huge well done to all the children for being awesome, a massive thankyou to all staff for their commitment to the pupils and a big thanks to parents and families for their continued support! A reminder that we all return to school on Monday 7th June and the final day in school for children is Wednesday July 14th! 
As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in getting in touch with us! Have a great half term! See you all on Monday 7th June (hopefully with some sunshine).
Mr Jamie Evans (Deputy Headteacher)

Latest News

Friday 16th April

The first week of the summer term has been a successful one. The sun has even decided to join us. Long may it continue! It’s been a busy week across the school with lots of learning and laughing in every classroom. There are so many highlights to choose from! Our Nursery children have had great fun playing and learning with numbers and Numicon, while it has been lovely to welcome another 3 children to our afternoon session. Numicon has also been a big hit in Reception this week with the children learning about odd and even numbers, ending with an outdoor Numicon hunt. They have also thoroughly enjoyed playing on their new slide (Thanks Mr Trowbridge). Year 1 have made the most of the wonderful space they have to learn about keeping healthy by exercising, designing a healthy lunchbox and sorting fruit and vegetables. Well done Year 1! The highlight for Year 2 was drawing pictograms about themselves, which they were also able to do using IT. Great digital skills Year 2! Mr Jenkins’ class have loved their map work this week, using the school grounds to challenge themselves, while Mrs Horseman and Mrs Tucker’s class have enjoyed learning how to become eco warriors by reducing plastic pollution. Year 5 and 6 have also been busy this week with landscape art and gardening the highlights in Ms Williams’ class. Creating their films as part of our Senedd work and their daily miles have stood out for Mr Reid’s class, while planning EPIC ideas for their Narnia topic and developing basketball skills were the highlights in Mrs Wallace’s class. All in all, a very busy and happy week in Waunarlwydd Primary School.

We look forward to welcoming back Mrs Davies as Headteacher on May 4th, as she approaches the end of a successful and challenging secondment as National NAHT president. I’d like to give a huge thanks to all the staff, children and families for your support during my time as Acting Headteacher.

As we continue to move our way through a challenging period, risk assessments will remain in place and we thank all children and families for continuing to follow safety guidelines. Let’s make sure that working together as a whole school community remains the Waunarlwydd way as we look forward to a bright future!

INSET DAYS – After such a disrupted year for the children, we want to see them in school as often as possible. Therefore, we have allocated the minimum 2 INSET days to the end of term (Thursday 15th and Friday 16th July). The final day for pupils in the summer term will be Wednesday July 14th.

As always, if you have any concerns or queries, don’t hesitate in getting in touch with us. Let’s hope the sun keeps shining. Have a wonderful weekend. See you next week!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Latest news

Friday March 26th

We’ve come to the end of another strange term and I think it is really important to reflect on what has been a successful return to on-site learning. Children, staff and families have risen to the challenge and made sure that Waunarlwydd can be proud of it’s response during a very challenging 12 months or so. Now it’s time to recharge the batteries over the Easter break in preparation for a Summer term full of learning and laughter.

We say goodbye to Mrs Leyshon-Breeze today and we wish her every happiness as she looks forward to welcoming her baby daughter into the world in the coming weeks. We look forward to meeting her! A big thankyou for all that she has contributed to the children and school!

A huge thank you to all families for their contributions to Red Nose Day. We were able to raise a massive £375.45. Diolch yn fawr!

Breakfast club will resume after Easter. We have needed to follow strict safety guidance, which has resulted in the setting of a capacity. Please contact the school if you require more information.

There will be no changes to our timings, routines and risk assessments following the Easter Break. Thanks again for your support in making sure that we work together as a whole school community!

Please remember, if you have any concerns or queries, let us know!

Have a great Easter! Let’s hope the sun shines! See you all on Monday April 12th!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Latest news

Friday March 26th

We’ve come to the end of another strange term and I think it is really important to reflect on what has been a successful return to on-site learning. Children, staff and families have risen to the challenge and made sure that Waunarlwydd can be proud of it’s response during a very challenging 12 months or so. Now it’s time to recharge the batteries over the Easter break in preparation for a Summer term full of learning and laughter.

We say goodbye to Mrs Leyshon-Breeze today and we wish her every happiness as she looks forward to welcoming her baby daughter into the world in the coming weeks. We look forward to meeting her! A big thankyou for all that she has contributed to the children and school!

A huge thankyou to all families for their contributions to Red Nose Day. We were able to raise a massive £375.45. Diolch yn fawr!

Breakfast club will resume after Easter. We have needed to follow strict safety guidance, which has resulted in the setting of a capacity. Please contact the school if you require more information.

There will be no changes to our timings, routines and risk assessments following the Easter Break. Thanks again for your support in making sure that we work together as a whole school community!

Please remember, if you have any concerns or queries, let us know!

Have a great Easter! Let’s hope the sun shines! See you all on Monday April 12th!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Latest News

Friday March 19th

What a pleasure it has been to walk around our wonderful school this week. Having the school full of smiles and laughter is exactly how it should be! Staff are so happy to have their classes in front of them and the children have responded to their return magnificently. It has been great to end a successful week with Comic Relief. We’ve had all sorts of characters through the gates today – superheroes, wizards, doctors and sport stars to name a few! Thank you so much for your donations! We will let you know how much we have raised next week.

There may well be a few bumps in the road as we move forward, but if we continue to work together and communicate we can look forward to a bright future at Waunarlwydd! A big thanks for your support and, in particular, for following the safety guidelines at drop off and pick up time. Please remember that we are on the end of the phone or email if you have any concerns!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Latest News

Friday March 12th

Foundation Phase have enjoyed another great week in school and we are all extremely excited about the return of our awesome KS2 pupils on Monday! If you haven’t read the important information regarding Monday’s KS2 return, please visit the school website (Wednesday 1oth March. Latest update – KS2 return ). I’m sure there will be a mix of emotions in KS2 children and parents on Monday morning. Just remember that we are here to help! If you have any concerns, please pick up the phone! If we keep working together as a whole school community, I am sure that we will make this next step as safe and successful as possible!

See you all on Monday! Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Latest News

Friday March 5th

We can now look forward to welcoming our KS2 pupils back to school on Monday March 15th. As you will see in the newsletter sent by Swansea’s Director of Education (texted earlier), there are now firm plans in place for this return. Full details of our plan in Waunarlwydd will be sent next week. All the staff and Foundation Phase children are extremely excited to welcome the children back safely. KS2 children will continue to receive online learning and two live check-ins next week!

Although we were missing our wonderful KS2 children, our younger pupils did a great job celebrating St David’s Day and World Book Day in school with some awesome costumes on show! Great work!

Another big thank you to Foundation Phase parents for following Government Guidance (One parent, social distancing, masks) at the start and end of the school day. It is really important that we continue to work together on this as we prepare to welcome back KS2.

Reminder – Lateral Flow Tests for Staff  

Staff are continuing to take Lateral Flow Tests, for signs of Covid19 in asymptomatic people, twice weekly.

In the event of a staff member displaying a positive lateral flow test:

  1. The staff member will need to immediately self-isolate with their family members and arrange for a full PCR test as soon as possible.     
  2. We will notify you of a positive result in your class via text. If the staff member has been in class within 48 hours, children and staff working in the class will be asked to self-isolate until the PCR test result.
  3. If the PCR test is positive, 10 days self-isolation will be required for staff and pupils identified as close contacts. 
  4.  If the PCR test is negative, the class can return to face to face teaching. 
  5. We will notify you of the outcome of the PCR test as soon as possible.

As always, if you have any concerns regarding wellbeing, home learning or any other issues, contact us as soon as possible!

  Have a great weekend! Let’s hope the sun keeps shining!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

evansj737@hwbcymru.net