Friday May 3rd
Another great week of learning and laughing together at Waunarlwydd! Thanks to those parents that were able to attend Miss Shaw’s workshop about our plans to introduce SEESAW as a home/school resource. The response was very positive and we’ll be holding a repeat workshop for other parents that may wish to learn more. The arrival of the chicks caused great excitement throughout the school and I’m sure there will be requests coming for new house pets.
I had the pleasure of joining the Nursery on their visit to the ‘Farmers Arms’ in Waunarlwydd and it was wonderful to see so many former pupils serving the children. Diolch!
Lots of highlights as always! Morning Nursery have been learning about using money this week. They have been ‘buying’ their morning snack and playing in the shop role play area. The best part of the week though, was going to The Farmers on Tuesday. The children ordered the toast topping and drink flavour they wanted, and paid for their order, learning how we use money in real life. They then had a great time playing in the playground. Thank you to the Farmers for a lovely morning. It was especially nice to have ex pupils serving. This week Reception have continued to learn about the Very Hungry Caterpillar. They looked at butterfly wings and created their own symmetrical butterfly pictures. The children have talked about the food that the hungry caterpillar ate and sorted into healthy and unhealthy food. In maths they have talked about what happens when you take away from a group of objects and played take away games using a dice.
It has been a very exciting week in Year 1 as the chicks have finally arrived! What an amazing experience it was for the children to actually watch some of the chicks hatching out of their eggs. The children have been practising how to hold them very gently and are realising how very noisy they are! Some of the tadpoles have grown back legs so the children have been looking closely at the daily changes. Year 2 have also been excited by the arrival of the chicks! They have really enjoyed watching them hatch, feed and interact with each other. The children have been working hard acting out ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ story using puppets and a diorama that they made. They learned the story Pie Corbett style and have used lots of expression in their story teller voices. Year 3 loved meeting and holding the chicks as they’ve hatched this week and talking about the lifecycle of a chick. They’ve also been working hard on improving their confidence when adding larger amounts of money.
Year 4 have enjoyed learning an information text all about Polar bears, using Talk for Writing – they’re experts at thinking of actions to go with their words now! They have also been fantastic at learning about penguin huddling, the reasons why they do it and also completing a science experiment finding out where the warmest place of the huddle would be. Year 5 have enjoyed writing a glossary, playing welsh games on Blocket and interpreting graphs in maths. The highlight was their duathlon day at Gowerton Comprehensive School. A big thanks to all at Gowerton for arranging! This week, Year 6 have started preparing for their non-chronological reports on polar animals. They worked hard on their glossaries and learnt a complex paragraph of information using Talk for Writing. In PE, as it was raining, they went to boot camp – 10 different activities in a circuit. Ms Williams is still aching after joining in too! In ‘Discovery Time’, the class are looking forward to designing and making a new game based in a polar environment. Year 6 also participated in their first Philosophy for Children discussion about loneliness and how it can impact someone’s life. Ms Williams was impressed with the children’s very thoughtful and mature responses.
We are working hard to develop our school grounds and would like to invite any willing parent/family volunteers to help. If you can give up an hour or so on any Friday to help with outdoor painting, planting and gardening, please get in touch. Tea, coffee, biscuits and huge thanks provided!
Online safety – Tips for parents
Dates for the diary
Thursday 9th May – Technocamps workshops (whole school)
Friday 10th May – Worthwhile Walk and fun day in Dunvant Park **POSTPONED**
27th to 31st May – HALF-TERM
Monday 3rd June – INSET DAY
Week beginning 17th June – Sports Days
Friday 5th July – Whole School Beach trip
Week beginning 8th July – Year 6 transition week
Remember this is ‘OUR SCHOOL’ and, as always, if you have any queries or concerns, don’t hesitate in making contact!
Have a great bank holiday weekend! See you on Tuesday!
Mr Jamie Evans
Headteacher
