Friday 25th June

It’s hard to believe we are coming towards the end of June but the learning and laughter hasn’t stopped. Nursery have really enjoyed playing in their new vet role play this week. After planting sunflowers last week, they have painted beautiful pictures after looking at Van Gough’s painting. The highlight in Reception has been talking about the beach and buying items in their beach shop. The children also loved making patterns with shells and experimenting to see what floats and sinks. Year 1 came up with super ideas during EPIC for activities around the classroom relating to our new Summer topic. They also enjoyed doubling and halving in maths as well as planting sunflower seeds. All the children were extremely proud to show their ‘All about Me’ posters to the class with thoughtful questions asked by lots of children. Year 2 have loved learning all about the seasons in Maths, adapting ‘The Lighthouse keeper’s lunch’ story to write their own stories in Literacy and using their digital skills to make green screen fact reports about African animals.

A highlight in Mr Jenkins’ class has been learning about the similarities and differences in animals. They have also learnt about keeping safe watching the NSPCC pants film, while they thoroughly enjoyed the start of their Euro football tournament! Mrs Horseman and Mrs Tucker’s class highlight has been learning about space; researching facts about the solar system, finding out the distance of planets from the sun in outdoor learning and descriptive writing of Pandora. In Mr Reid’s class food miles has been a focus – using scale and measuring to work out costs of food miles – this was a challenge for them to apply their skills! Plastic pollution was also a topic of interest – researching the problem plus designing and explaining their own inventions. The chairs went on strike in Miss Fender’s class this week with the children writing letters to persuade their chairs to return. Children also enjoyed drawing shapes in the yard for maths focusing on area and perimeter and exploring the Minecraft Sustainability City to learn about recycling. Watch out parents, as in Ms Williams’ class, this week we have enjoyed learning how to use persuasive tricks! The children used these techniques to write letters and design posters about pollution. Another highlight was their final shot-put lesson this week where they could all see a significant improvement in our throws. Well done everyone!

Reminders

A reminder that we will holding sports days for classes next week (unfortunately, due to restrictions still in place within schools, parents will not be able to attend). Children should wear sports kit on the following days:

Thanks for your continuing support!

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

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans (Deputy Headteacher)

23 06 21 Letter to parents and carers FINAL

Friday 18th June

Another week of happy learning in Waunarlwydd. ‘T’ week in Nursery has seen the children having great fun following a trail made of twigs, searching for objects beginning with T and ending up in the ratty tunnels. Our Reception children have been busy finding out about parts of a plant, what each part does and what a plant needs to grow. More dinosaur discoveries in year 1 this week with fact finding, sorting, making dinosaur shapes and even dinosaur addition. There has been lots of learning about caring for the environment in year 2, as well as team challenges in preparation for sports day. Caterpillar update – they’ve started making chrysalis!

Congratulations

Thanks for your continuing support!

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

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans (Deputy Headteacher)

Friday 11th June

It has been great to see lots of smiling faces back in school after the half term break. Once again, there has been an abundance of enthusiastic teaching and learning with great results.

There has been loads of fun had during S week in Nursery. Designing a superhero is a highlight, along with learning about floating and sinking and guessing what is in the smell pots. It’s been like Jurassic Park in Reception this week with lots of learning about dinosaur facts, labelling dinosaurs, making dinosaur fossils in playdough, painting dinosaurs, counting dinosaurs and ,of course, playing with dinosaurs!  Year 1 have been enjoying their new topic ‘Go Wild’. They have worked together to read and sort facts and have been extremely creative when making jungle pictures independently. They have also had lots of fun learning how to programme a robotic bee bot. The big news in year 2 has been the arrival of their caterpillars. The life cycle of a butterfly will be a focus and excitement levels are high with each child naming their own caterpillar. The children have also enjoyed learning how to draw monarch butterflies.

Annual reports

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).

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

Please follow the link for details of banded book bags available from Swansea Central Library.

Banded Book Poster 28.04.21

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

14 04 21 Letter to parents and carers FINAL

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

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