Friday February 9th

We haven’t let the rain stop us having a great week at Waunarlwydd. A big thanks to our wonderful PTA for arranging two very successful discos. Some epic dance moves were on show and all the children had a fabulous time. Money raised will be counted and we’ll let you know the total after half term. Thanks to all our families for supporting the events. We’ve ended the week in style with an amazing ‘Truly Scrumptious’ assembly delivered by our incredible Year 2 pupils. I’m sure everyone that attended will agree they did themselves proud!

For their second H week, the Nursery have been looking at houses and homes. They have been learning about where different animals live and the different types of homes they live in. On Wednesday they walked a very long way, all around Waunarlwydd village looking at the buildings. They all walked and listened so well and were a credit to the school. Reception have been celebrating Chinese New Year. They enjoyed listening to the story of ‘The Great Race’ and putting the animals in order as well as retelling the story. They found out about the dragon dance and created their own dragon dance in forest school. The children loved discussing celebrations and trying Chinese food.

Year 1 have been learning about Chinese New Year this week. They celebrated by making lanterns, painting Chinese numerals and retelling the story of the great race in the small world area. They were very excited to find out which Chinese zodiac animal year they were born in and persevered really hard when putting all 12 animals in alphabetical order. By far, the favourite activity of the week was using chopsticks and tasting Chinese food, which was delicious! Year 2 have been working hard on their class assembly, learning their Supertato story with all the actions, their song and their individual lines. They have also enjoyed monitoring the weather this week looking at weather symbols, reading thermometers and learning about different temperatures. Year 3 have been working hard learning about different 2D shapes and vocabulary to describe them. They’ve also enjoyed having lots of discussions and finding out how to keep themselves safe online.

Year 4 have enjoyed writing explanation texts about how different kitchen appliances really work. They have also loved creating their final Andy Warhol inspired artwork. They look fantastic, with character sketches, printed in 4 different colours. Year 5 have really enjoyed multiplying fractions in maths, writing an explanation text about a clockwork mouse, swimming, rugby, creating pop art and learning greetings in French. Highlights in Year 6 have been their amazing printing linked to ‘Hugo’, talk for writing and developing their algebra skills in maths. They also thoroughly enjoyed the Addams family production..

Parent / Carer Feedback

A massive thankyou to all those that completed our parent/carer feedback form. Nearly 40% of families responded, which is a huge increase from our last questionnaire, when around 15% of families responded. Obviously we’d love 100% of families to respond but we’re going in the right direction. Your voice matters to us and is an important tool to use when looking at self-evaluation and school improvement. Some responses include:

92% feel that emotional and mental well-being is a school priority with 8% unsure.

97% know who to speak to if they need support with 3% unsure.

89% feel that the school regularly communicates with parents/carers with 9% disagreeing and 2% unsure.

82% feel that the school listens to parental voice with 2% disagreeing and 16% unsure.

94% feel that the school gives parents/carers opportunities to be part of school life with 6% unsure.

Other responses have given us lots of food for thought and we will provide an overview of your suggested strengths and your suggested areas for improvement after half term.

Keeping safe online

Follow the link for clear advice and ‘App guides for families‘

After School clubs

There will be NO clubs in the first week after half term. Clubs will begin again in Wednesday 28th February. we’ll let you know of any changes to clubs during the first week back. Diolch!

Teacher/Parent Meetings

There will be an opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss progress between Tuesday 12th March and Thursday 21st March. Details on how to book an appointment will be sent out after halfterm. diolch!

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a wonderful Half term, we’ll see you on Monday 19th February!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday February 2nd

Another great week at Waunarlwydd with loads of learning and laughter! A big well done to our netball team for the wonderful attitude and skills that were on show during the cluster netball festival this afternoon! As always there have been lots of highlights.

H week in the Nursery has been all about hands, hedgehogs, hoops,  hopping and lots more. They have been learning about habitats and built a home for a hedgehog on Welly Wednesday. The children have been trying to hop, playing games with hoops and thinking about what makes us ‘hapus’ and ‘drist’. The highlight of the week has been our new role play hair dressers where they have had great fun making appointments, washing, brushing and styling each others hair. Appointments available every morning! This week Reception have been thinking about birthdays and how we celebrate them. They have had fun playing birthday parties in the role play area and also explored mass and capacity, using balance scales to weigh toys in the classroom and filling different sized containers in the water tray.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle have been the important message in Year 1 this week. The children have been learning about what items can be recycled and have sorted rubbish into the correct bins. Another important message has been Healthy Eating, the children have learned about the Eat Well Plate and enjoyed saying a rap to go with each of the different food groups. Dwi’n hoffi and Dwi’n ddim yn hoffi (I like, I do not like) have been their sentence patterns in Welsh this week and they have loved recording themselves saying their food likes and dislikes. Year 2 have loved writing their own super fruit stories based on ‘Supertato’ and also learning about fair trade. They’ve been working hard preparing for next week’s class assembly. Year 3 have had a very creative week! They’ve been designing invitations for ‘Cafe Cynefin’ as well as thinking about what goes on food packaging before designing their own. 

Year 4 have enjoyed sketching portraits of the characters from their class book – Hugo Cabret. When learning how to play the PBone and PCornet, they have loved learning how to play more notes and accompany different songs. They sound so good! Year 5 have enjoyed solving tricky word problems in maths, writing a flowchart for a clockwork mouse, learning about the story of Moses in Judaism, learning about conductors & insulators, Ospreys rugby and, of course, swimming. Highlights in year 6 have included some wonderful explanation writing, developing their sketching skills linked to the characters of Hugo and fine tuning their netball skills. They have also showed off their independent skills when presenting their understanding of healthy relationships.

Parent / Carer Feedback

We’ve had an excellent response to our Parent/carer feedback form. Thanks for taking the time to complete, it’s provided us with further plans with regards to the strengths we can build on and areas to improve as a school. Remember, this is ‘OUR’ school and, as parents or carers, we value your voice as crucial members of the school community. If you haven’t already done so, we would greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this short form. It will close on Monday. Parent / Carer feedback form

Please DO NOT park on the zig zag lines outside school!

We are having reports of parents parking on the zig and zag lines outside school. Please remember that these are there to keep the children safe!

Dates for the diary (**Events involving specific classes will be sent out separately**)

Tuesday 6th February – Safer Internet Day

Thursday 8th February – School Discos (Tickets available at the school office)

INSET DAYS – We can now confirm that the remaining 2 INSET Days of the year will be on: Monday 8th April and Monday 3rd June

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday January 26th

Another superb week at Waunarlwydd and it has been great to end it with the sun shining. We had a real treat to end the week with an epic ‘Trilingual’ assembly performed by our ‘example setters’ in Year 6. We hope parents and families enjoyed!

It has been nice to get back to Sound of the Week in Nursery, with lots of G week activities. They learnt The 3 Billy Goats Gruff and acted it out on Welly Wednesday, practised scoring goals in gym and built homes for the Gruffalo and his friends out of blocks. The Gingerbread man story was a big success as they all had a gingerbread man to eat during snack. This week Reception have been continuing their work on winter. They thought about winter through their senses and used Welsh words for winter clothes. They also celebrated Dydd Santes Dwynwen on Thursday, finding out about the story of Dwynwen and making cards. On Friday we took part in the RSPB Bird Watch, using binoculars to find birds in our grounds and count them. 

Highlight in Years 1, 2 and 3 was their fantastic immersion day for our topic ‘Truly Scrumptious’. They were busy making pizzas and sandwiches, learning about food hygiene and safety, making advertising posters and role playing how to serve in our ‘Cafe Cynefin’. Keep an eye out for your invite, parents and families!

Year 4 have enjoyed taking part in the RSPB bird watch and collecting litter to help the Eco committee gather data. They have also enjoyed developing their hockey skills further. Year 5 have enjoyed finding the etymology of words, talk 4 writing, bird watching and litter picking, a study of Andy Warhol’s art, swimming, researching a clockwork mouse, seeing how doughnuts were made and rugby with the Ospreys. Wow!

The clear highlight in Year 6 has been the preparations for their ‘Trilingual’ class assembly. The children have been incredible, planning the assembly independently, preparing resources and being all-round superstars.

A huge thanks to our PTA chair Lara Sturgess for her generosity and time this week. As part of the ‘Truly Scrumptious’ topic, Lara brought her Dinky Doughnut van into school and taught the children about food hygiene, safety and the production process. To top it off, Lara ensured that every child in the school (and some teachers) took away some doughnuts to taste. Diolch yn fawr Lara!!

Parent / Carer Feedback

At Waunarlwydd Primary School we are fully committed to supporting the children’s emotional and mental well-being and providing the best possible education and learning environment. This is ‘OUR’ school and, as parents or carers, we value your voice as crucial members of the school community. We would greatly appreciate as many parents/carers as possible taking the time to complete this short form to help us move forward as a school by identifying strengths to build on and possible areas to improve and develop.  Parent / Carer Feedback form

January Eco Update 

Before Christmas we elected an enthusiastic committee of Eco Warriors. We have elected our Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Communications officer. During January we are taking part in the RSPB big bird watch. We are gathering data on the number of birds and species in our school grounds. Leading on from this we will be making bird feeders to encourage variety of species and growth of numbers of birds. In addition we have made a leap forward in our pledge to reduce plastic consumption in Waunarlwydd Primary. We are moving from single small milk bottles to reusable cups. This means we will reduce our plastic from 500 small milk bottles every week!!!!! If you have any ideas to help our Eco cause, please get in touch.

Community Friday (9th February)

The weather affected our Autumn event but we are determined to attempt another Community Friday on 9th February. If you could spare time to work with staff and children, please let us know. Our current priorities are painting the yards, gardening and the next stage of clearing the woodland. If you feel that you could help in any way, it would be much appreciated. (Unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits on offer)

Dates for the diary (**Events involving specific classes will be sent out separately**)

Tuesday 6th February – Safer Internet Day

Thursday 8th February – School Discos (Tickets available at the school office)

INSET DAYS – We can now confirm that the remaining 2 INSET Days of the year will be on:

Monday 8th April and Monday 3rd June

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday January 19th

It’s been a chilly but happy week at Waunarlwydd with staff and children working together on their new topics and there have been lots of highlights. A big well done to our football team for their superb performance in the cluster football tournament today. We can’t wait for the netball event in a couple of weeks.

The Nursery have been enjoying their second week looking at Winter.  On Welly Wednesday they were very clever and drew a snowman by following the instructions on QR codes and played a giant  snowman number game. Painting with powder paint on the ice outside was a great success (but very messy). Gym was fun, making up different actions to represent Wintery things, but ending with a snowball fight was definitely the highlight. Reception have been making the most of our frosty weather. The children have created different shades of blue by mixing white and blue paint and have then added some silhouettes of wintery trees. We have played some winter games in forest school and moved like snowflakes and made imaginary snowmen in gym. After noticing the ice in the mornings, we decided to explore making ice in different shapes and sizes, so we left lots of different pots of water outside overnight, some with food colouring in, some with toys in and some in shape moulds to find out what would happen. The next day we had lots of ice to explore and had fun trying to break it up in the water tray!

The weather has been perfect for year 1’s topic. The children absolutely loved going  on a winter walk to help them write their winter senses poem.  They have enjoyed looking at the weather forecast every day and discussing the changes in temperature and they made fantastic predictions when they left water in different sized containers out for the night.  You should have seen their faces when they found out what had happened to some of the water in the containers! Year 2 have loved learning the Supertato story with a story map and actions to support them. Making and counting amounts of money in Maths and playing lots of money games was another highlight. Year 3 have enjoyed finding out which countries our food has come from and calculating food miles. Another hit was learning their traditional Welsh dance.

Year 4 have enjoyed designing and using oil paint to print a piece of art work, learning hockey skills in PE and using symbols to represent an electrical circuit.  Year 5 have enjoyed showing off their number skills, multiplying 4 digit by 2 digit numbers in Maths, swimming, looking at positive relationships, creating light circuits, learning about the Torah in Judaism, reading Hugo Cabret, printing and learning 3^rd person patterns in Welsh. A busy week! This week, Year 6 have been working really hard scripting their class assembly. They have used great co-operation skills and are preparing their props. They can’t wait to show their parents and carers next Friday. During our art lesson on printing, they used their co-operation skills again as well as their independent skills. More co-operation was needed during the netball lesson, which focused on passing and shooting. 

Community Friday (9th February)

The weather affected our Autumn event but we are determined to attempt another Community Friday on 9th February. If you could spare time to work with staff and children, please let us know. Our current priorities are painting the yards, gardening and the next stage of clearing the woodland. If you feel that you could help in any way, it would be much appreciated. (Unlimited tea, coffee and bisuits on offer)

School Disco – Thursday 8th February

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday January 12th

Croeso Nol pawb! Welcome back everyone! We hope all our children and families enjoyed a happy and healthy break! It’s been a great start to 2024 with lots of learning and laughter as new topics are introduced. It’s ‘Wonderful Winter’ in Nursery and Reception, ‘Food Glorious Food’ in years 2, 3, 4 and ‘Lights, Camera, Action’ in years 4,5 and 6. Staff and pupils have been sharing ideas and we’re in for a terrific term.

New Nursery pupils

We will be holding taster days for our new Nursery pupils after half term. Afternoon Nursery begins straight after Easter. If you have, or know, any children that are 3, or turning 3 soon, and would like a place at our school, please get in touch as soon as possible.

After school Clubs

Our after school clubs will return next week. You should have received information about the clubs available and links to a form to sign up. Registration will close on Monday.

Our first PTA meeting of 2024 will take place on Monday 15th January at 14.30 in school. All are welcome to discuss the exciting plans for our school moving forward. If you can’t make the meeting but would like to be involved in future, please make contact with Lara Sturgess (Chair), Claire Burnes (Vice Chair) or the school office. Diolch!

We will let you know the dates for events this term when they are finalised next week!

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday December 22nd

It’s been a wonderful week at Waunarlwydd to end the Autumn term. A reminder that school returns on Tuesday January 9th for pupils. The children loved their Christmas trail and visit from Santa on Tuesday. Disco and party day on Wednesday was a great success with more of those amazing dance moves that were on show during the concerts. We ended the week with the school full of music and, both children and adults, having fun together. It’s been a great term and, moving forward, we’ve got some very exciting plans for our school, which will involve the whole school community.

As we end the term, I’d like to thank all the staff for the incredible effort they put into making everyday the best it can possibly be for the children. A huge thanks to the PTA for their hard work and putting together some great events over the term. Funds raised will make a big difference to the children and we can’t wait to put into action the plans for next year. Another massive thankyou needs to go to all the parents, families and wider school community of the school. Your support is crucial and very much appreciated, and I hope the message that this is ‘OUR’ school is being received loud and clear. Our final, and most important, thanks must go to the awesome children of Waunarlwydd. You are all very special young people and we can’t wait to continue learning and laughing together in 2024!

I would like to wish all the children, staff, families and wider community of Waunarlwydd Primary School a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday December 15th

Wow! What a wonderful, festive week we’ve had at Waunarlwydd. I’m sure you will all agree that the children were magnificent in their concerts and got us all in the Christmas mood. Another big thanks to the staff for their hard work and all our families for their support in making the week so successful. We now move onto our final week of the term, which will be full of celebrations and some special events that our pupils deserve to enjoy.

Dates for the diary

Tuesday 19th December – Christmas trail (and a special guest)

Wednesday 20th December – Party Day with DJ Dan

(Please can your child bring a plate/ small
lunch box of party food for themselves & please
could you provide an extra drink (children will
also need lunch).

Thursday December 21st – Christmas Dinner Day, TOY DAY (strictly no mobile phones or recording
devices)

Friday December 22nd – INSET DAY

Monday January 8th – INSET DAY

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday December 8th

A fabulous week at Waunarlwydd where the festive atmosphere is in full swing. On Thursday, we held our Christmas Fair which was kicked off in style by our amazing school choir. It was a huge success and testament to the wonderful whole school community that we are lucky to be part of. The success of these events rest on 2 things. Firstly, our incredible PTA, children and staff, without whom these events wouldn’t happen. Secondly to the parents, families and friends within our community for their ongoing support. It is very much appreciated! A massive thankyou to everyone involved. The amount raised was an incredible ***£1214.82***

Another big well done to the school football team. A superb effort this week, showing a great attitude and team spirit in their fixture against Parkland School! Ardderchog!

Next week is performance week with our Christmas concerts that children and staff have been working so hard on. You’re in for a real treat and we have some tickets left over if you have any family or friends that would like to come and watch.

A Big thankyou from Matthew’s house

Please see the letter of thanks below:

Dates for the diary

(**Events involving specific classes will be sent out separately**)

Tuesday 12th December – Nursery and Reception Concert (morning), Year 1, 2 and 3 concert (afternoon)

Wednesday 13th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (afternoon), Year 1, 2, 3 Concert (evening)

Thursday 14th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (evening)

Tuesday 19th December – Christmas trail (and a special guest)

Wednesday 20th December – Party Day with DJ Dan

Thursday December 21st – Christmas Dinner Day, TOY DAY

Friday December 22nd – INSET DAY

Monday January 8th – INSET DAY

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday December 1st

Wow, it’s hard to believe December is upon us. The term is flying by but our school remains full of learning, laughter and music everyday. Concert practice is in full swing and the children and staff are doing a wonderful job in their preparations for what I’m sure will be unforgettable performances. We ended the week with a magnificent class assembly performed by Miss Shaw’s class all about WWII. Gwaith wych!

A few reminders for next week. Our Christmas Fair will take place after school on Thursday 7th December. We hope you will be able to support the event and visit the amazing stalls and games as well as listen to songs performed by our incredible choir. A big thanks to our amazing PTA that have worked so hard and will continue to do so before, during and after the event. DIOLCH! As there will be a Christmassy photo booth at the fair, Thursday will be non-school uniform and, don’t forget that Friday 9th December is our annual Christmas Jumper Day.

Christmas Concert Tickets

You should have received a letter to claim your initial allocation of tickets. The deadline for completing and returning the form is 15.30 today. Remaining tickets will go on general sale on Tuesday 5th December at 3pm.

(**Events involving specific classes will be sent out separately**)

Thursday 7th December – Christmas Fair (non school uniform day)

Friday 8th December – Christmas Jumper Day

Tuesday 12th December – Nursery and Reception Concert (morning), Year 1, 2 and 3 concert (afternoon)

Wednesday 13th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (afternoon), Year 1, 2, 3 Concert (evening)

Thursday 14th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (evening)

Thursday December 21st – Christmas Dinner Day

Friday December 22nd – INSET DAY

Monday January 8th – INSET DAY

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher

Friday 24th November

Another fantastic week at Waunarlwydd, with the children continuing to make us all proud every day. It was great to welcome parents and carers from Year 4, 5 and 6 into school on Wednesday for some wonderful singing and a WWII workshop led by the children. We will be holding several events similar to this throughout the year.

Christmas Concert Tickets

You should have received a letter to claim your initial allocation of tickets. Please could the form and money be returned by Friday 1st December. Remaining tickets will go on general sale on Tuesday 5th December at 3pm.

Loads of highlights again this week. Nursery loved learning new rhymes and they enjoyed singing some on a large scale during Welly Wednesday. They wore elephant masks and performed ‘One Elephant went out to Play’ and jumped off the logs in the woods pretending to be the speckled frogs. They made ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs’ pictures to take home and found it very funny having their feet painted to make footprints. The new fire station role play is a bit hit. Reception have been learning all about the colours of the rainbow. They have been painting rainbows, joining up numbers to make a rainbow and using the ipads to take photographs of objects around the room to match all of the colours of the rainbow.  They have been talking about the properties of squares and circles using vocabulary such as ’round’, ‘straight’, ‘edges’ and ‘corners’, sorted shapes into different hoops and made some shape pictures using circles and triangles. We have also used language such as ‘on’, ‘under’, ‘beside’ and ‘in between’ to describe the position of a teddy and to give instructions to our friends. 

The highlight of the week for year 1 has got to be the visit to the fire station where the children witnessed a real-life emergency call-out!  They asked some very thoughtful questions as well as impressing the fireman with their excellent vocabulary. The sun shone for them during their autumn walk through Singleton Park where they enjoyed looking for signs of autumn.  In class, they have been very busy putting the finishing touches to their amazing 3d models of houses from The Great Fire of London. Year 2 also loved their brilliant trip to the fire station learning about the equipment the fire fighters use. It was very exciting when there was a real life emergency and the fire crew were called out to at the end of our visit. We then had lunch in the park and a beautiful autumn walk. Year 3 loved their school trip where they found out about how fire engines work and even saw the firefighters leave on an active call! Back in class the children have learnt how sound is made from vibrations and made predictions about our slinky sound science experiment. Then they all had a go at hearing how a metal slinky makes secret laser sounds! 

Year 4 really loved taking part in the parents workshop, showing their parents all of the WWII activities they have been doing this term. They are also enjoying learning the songs ready for the Christmas concert- ‘Aladdin Trouble’. Year 5 have enjoyed practising for the Christmas panto, finding the etymology of words and starting to plan an additional chapter for Goodnight Mister Tom. On top of this they loved the parents’ workshop, adding and subtracting fractions and finishing their work on propaganda. WoW! Year 6 loved sharing their learning with their parents and carers this week – singing, cooking and learning. As always, swimming is a highlight – although may be not next week as they have to swim in clothes! Year 6 have also taken the challenge of multiplying AND dividing by fractions in their stride. This week, the children have been busy planning a story based on ‘Carrie’s War’, our class story. Ms Williams can’t wait to read them. 

Dates for the Diary

(**Events involving specific classes will be sent out separately**)

Thursday 7th December – Christmas Fair

Friday 8th December – Christmas Jumper Day

Tuesday 12th December – Nursery and Reception Concert (morning), Year 1, 2 and 3 concert (afternoon)

WB 20th November – Book Fair in School

Wednesday 13th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (afternoon), Year 1, 2, 3 Concert (evening)

Thursday 14th December – Year 4, 5, 6 Concert (evening)

Thursday December 21st – Christmas Dinner Day

Friday December 22nd – INSET DAY

Monday January 8th – INSET DAY

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans

Headteacher