October 20th
Many, many thanks to the ‘Friends Of Waunarlwydd’ who have worked so hard help turn our ‘outdoor classrooms’ idea into reality. Thanks especially to Kelli and to Lara for linking up with the local community to source benches and tables (thank you, Mr Caghill as well). Your combined efforts have made a huge difference for our pupils.
We’ve had our annual scrutiny visit this week as part of the Welsh Government’s ‘Schools’ Categorisation’ programme (see panel to right for more information). On Thursday we were able to share details of the progress we’re making with regards to standards, quality of planning and the well-being levels of our children. We have been categorised again as a ‘Green’ school so there is much to celebrate but also lots of hard work for the year ahead in order to make sure the excellent plans we already have in place are sustained for our learners. We couldn’t achieve any of this without you, or without your governor representatives who continue to do a terrific job on your behalf, and so a big “thank you” for this support and input too.
October 13th
In preparation for this term’s topics and themes, all of our children have now visited a number of sites of Welsh interest across south Wales (thank you to all staff and kind volunteer helpers who made this possible, by the way!). These places of interest include Pembroke Castle, Big Pit, Castell Coch and St Fagans. I’m sure you’ll have gained an idea from our Twitter feed of the sorts of days your children have enjoyed but for more idea of how these experiences fit in with this term’s learning themes, please see our class pages.
We’ve registered to take part in UK Parliament Week in November. This will be an exciting opportunity for our learners to find out more about the way UK democracy works and how it all began. If you want to join in at home too, we’ve uploaded some resources onto the home page to help you. Amongst other things they give some great ideas for local visits.
sQuid
As you know, the local authority has recently changed arrangements for payment of its school meals service to an online system. Please note that whilst we will try and help as much as we can with your queries, we only act as agents for this service and operate no control over it ourselves. We are happy to issue messages on behalf of sQuid but cannot change the arrangements set by the Local Authority, including the requirement for payments to remain up to date. If you have questions relating to your personal account then please contact the LA’s finance department on 636000.
October 6th
We’re using Welsh in ever increasing contexts across the curriculum. ‘Shwmae Week’ next week is going to give us lots of chances to showcase our talents and test them out too. We will be making ‘Shwmae’ videos to share with our partner schools (and receiving from them too), as well as holding a Shwmae poster competition.
September 29th
It was good to welcome ‘Bloom’ to our school this afternoon as part of our Harvest celebrations, and to be able to support their efforts to help refugees in crisis. Thank you to all of you who so generously donated food items.
September 22nd
We’re kicking off the term with a series of trips and visits which give our learners chance to celebrate their Welsh language and heritage. The experiences are serving as first hand starting points for this term’s topics and themes. The visit to Pembroke castle in particular proved one to remember. Check out our twitter feed for photos.
We’ve also enjoyed visits to St Barnabas Church this week, to share in their Harvest celebrations. Thank you to everyone involved who made these visits possible.
September 15th
We’ve enjoyed a fantastic opportunity to work with Theatr na nOg this week. The production is titled ‘Eye of the Storm’ and through in-school workshops along with a follow up visit to watch the production at the Dylan Thomas Theatre we’ve been able to explore expressive arts skills as well as a science and technology mini project too.
September 8th 2017
It’s been great to welcome everyone back to school this week and to watch our learners (and staff!) settle into their new classes so well. Don’t forget about our ‘meet your new teacher’ sessions which are happening next week. The newsletter you will have received yesterday will have given you the details but here is a reminder of the dates in case you need it:
Tuesday 12th September15:30 – 16:00 Year 3-4 classes with Mr Evans & Mr Jenkins
16:30 – 17:00 Year 5-6 classes with Mr Reid, Ms Williams and Mrs Wallace.
Wednesday 13th September
16:00 – 16:30 Year 1 & Year 2 with Miss Tyrrell, Mrs Evans/Mrs Thomas & Miss Horseman
All the rain and sun over the holidays have combined to help make everything grow in our outdoor classrooms, and our pumpkins in particular are proving a success. Thanks to Mr Trowbridge’s efforts we have 6 new planters to fill this autumn. All contributions for these will be gratefully received.
2017-2018
Summer Term update
July 14th
Rehearsals for next week’s production of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ are nearly complete. Scenery, staging and music are all ready and waiting to support the big event.
Don’t forget to come and listen to our choir performing at the opening event for Waunarlwydd’s carnival at the rugby ground on Sunday as well.
July 7th
“Attitudes and actions that respect the rights of others, and teaching approaches that place individual dignity, participation, the interests of the children and non-discrimination at their heart” result in the best learning outcomes and opportunities.
Covell, K et l (2010)
June 30th
A successful Celebration Week saw pupils hosting friends and family in workshops which showcased their learning this year, as well as an International Day. Check out our twitter feed for a fuller picture!
The ‘Friends of Waunarlwydd’ Summer Fayre raised a total of £745. Thank you to everyone who supported this so generously to help build funds to continue with our outdoor improvement projects. Thank you as well to our team of volunteers who undertook a terrific amount of work to make this fun filled event such a success, and so enjoyable for our pupils.
June 23rd
It’s our annual ‘Celebration Week’ next week. It’s a week when our children can not just showcase the skills and knowledge developed this year, but celebrate our international links too. Your children will be running workshops from Monday. Please check with your child’s class teacher for more information. We hope you’ll be able to come along and join in the celebrations.
June 16th
We’re cleaning up and clearing our Woodland Walk’ this week. If anyone’s available to help, even if only for half an hour, please let us know.
Chinese Celebration Week this week has provided us with the chance to try out new skills and talents. Working with the Confucius Institute, our children have experienced Chinese dancing, calligraphy, paper sculpture as well as Chinese cookery, discovering skills and talents they never knew they had. It’s been a great opportunity to find out about another culture as well as to test out their creative thinking skills within new and lively contexts. A big ‘thank you’ to the team for their enthusiasm!
June 9th
It’s been ‘Healthy Schools’ week here at WPS this week. Everyone’s been busy celebrating plans to eat well, stay safe and look after our environment.
Our annual sports’ days were supposed to play a part in all of this as well but unfortunately we were beaten by the weather and so these have now been postponed to next week. Nursery managed a scaled down version using the school hall and were well-supported by family and friends cheering them on – thank you!
We enjoyed a visit from the Royal Mint this week too. As part of their roll out of the new pound coin pupils were treated to their ‘schools’ partnership’ plan which let us find out all about the new coin as well as the Mint’s history and its work.
May 19th
‘Pupil Voice’ has formed the backbone of WPS since well before we were used as a launch for the first ever school council in Wales, back in October 2006. In September we embarked on a new school year with the endeavour to revitalise this voice, and to this end today we started our new ‘Senedd’ forum groups. Each one is led by a school council member and focuses on a key aspect of school development. The profile of each forum runs as follows: MISSION, CURRICULUM, SAFETY, LEARNING ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, DIGITAL, HEALTHY SCHOOLS, ENTERPRISE, ECO, CRIW CYMRAEG. Every pupil has selected one of these groups to be part of and as such is now contributing weekly, in a tangible way, to the school’s on going plan.
We’ll keep you updated about the progress of this exciting ‘next step’ as the weeks roll on.
May 12th
Our choir produced a sizzling performance this week, as part of the North Gower Schools’ celebration at the Brangwyn Hall. They were well-supported in the audience by family and friends, and sang with confidence and pride.
April 28th
Two of our school council members represented us well this week, at CCS’ ‘Pupil Voice’ forum held at Olchfa School. They contributed interesting ideas to the debate about Swansea’s future, and the sorts of services young people need it to provide.
Spring Term update
April 7th
The handing over of cheques totally more than £2000 to two very worthy causes has provided a thrilling conclusion to our ‘Worthy Week’. In addition to this, yesterday’s cake sale organised by the friends of Waunarlwydd raised almost a further £200 which will be out towards the cost of extra seating in our woodland walk. Many thanks to everyone involved.
Thank you as well for the support you’ve offered again this term. We start back to school on April 24th, and hope you enjoy a wonderful break between now and then.
Before we sign off for Easter, I want to bring a competition to your attention. KS2 pupils are invited to enter a Dylan Thomas-inspired competition in celebration of International Dylan Thomas Day. Entry is free and all of the details can be found here:
Good luck, everyone!
April 4th
24 staff walked nearly 24 miles as part of our annual charity walk on Saturday, all the way from Rhossili to Mumbles. On Monday it was the turn of pupils to join in. The sun shone for us to walk 5 miles along the cycle track to Dunvant Rugby Ground and back. Building on Foundation Phase’s ‘Score a Goal’ event last week, our pupils worked hard and showed resilience (our assembly theme for this term) in their efforts to raise funds for 2 very worthy causes; ‘Hands Up for Downs’ and ‘The Paul Popham Foundation’. We round things off with the annual ‘Carly Day’ on Thursday which will give families and friends the chance to join in as well. Please help us spread the word to make April 6th 2017 a day to remember!
March 31st
A big ‘thank you’ is offered to everyone at St. Barnabas for making all our classes feel so welcome and for providing us with an astonishing ‘Easter Experience’. Our children thoroughly enjoyed themselves (as did the grown ups!) and it’s given us the perfect start for our Worthy Week which begins this weekend.
March 24th
Some of our school council, along with Ms Williams, joined Pennard Primary And Mayals Primary on a visit to St Cadoc’s school in Cardiff yesterday. They wanted to see how decisions were made in other settings. This particular primary school uses extended debating groups to discuss and plan for issues relating to all of school’s activities ranging from classroom standards to eco awareness and healthy eating campaigns. We are using what we have learned as part of our plans to revise and extend the role of ‘pupil voice’, especially in our decision making processes.
March 10th
Our choir performed superbly well in the Brangwyn Hall this week. ‘Saints And Hymns’ was as an event which allowed schools to join together to celebrate our national day with music and song.
Our pupils represented the school so well and made us all extremely proud.
March 3rd
Our Y6 pupils enjoyed a wonderful time away on their residential visit to Borfa this week. They climbed, walked and enjoyed time away together, building friendships and confidence.
Our new ‘Learning Leaders’ forum met this week as well. This pupil group is helping shape our plans as a Pioneer School charged with the task of crafting the new curriculum for Wales. The forum has explored the four core purposes (from Successful Futures) and restyled some of the language used to make it more learner-friendly. They are checking our new school development plan for 2017/18 to make sure our priorities are the right ones, and our plans as well, to make sure our topics and themes are engaging and creative.
February 17th
The new law aimed at improving support for learners with additional needs was passed by Wales Government in December (2016). The term ‘SEN’ (‘Special Educational Needs’) is replaced with ‘ALN’ (Additional Learning Needs) and the bill also does away with the system of statementing. Instead, it seeks to create a single plan (the individual development plan (IDP)) to replace the existing range of statutory and non-statutory SEN/LDD plans for learners, ensuring equity of rights regardless of the learner’s level of need or the education setting they attend.
We’ve uploaded the ‘easy to read’ guide published by Wales Government (see right hand column) to help explain some more of the detail, but if you have any further queries please pop in to see us.
February 10th
Our successful partnership with Gowerton School was again in evidence this week. In preparation for the forthcoming joint concert at the Brangwyn Hall, our musicians enjoyed an instrumental day on Thursday. The ‘shared science’ teaching and learning programme continued as well, with Ms Williams making a return visit to Gowerton to take part in a lesson.The school council is focusing on planning for this term’s annual charity event, ‘Carly Day’. This is due to take place later next month and pupil representatives are considering a range of options for this year’s charity. If you have any suggestions you’d like the school council to consider, please contact Ms Williams.
The school council will upload their plans for the day onto the website as soon as arrangements have been finalised.
February 3rd
Wales’ National Schools Categorisation was published this week. A ‘Parental Guide’ for the process has been uploaded (right hand column) for you to find out more about this process and its links with school improvement.
January 27th
Our Right of the Month for January has been the ‘Right to be Heard’. Mr Reid’s class led a special assembly for family and friends today, celebrating this important right. As part of this month’s focus, our school council has been thinking again about how our pupils’ voices are heard across all school decisions and planning some new links with councils in other settings so that we can share practice as well as learn from others.
Our Criw Cymraeg has been learning from others too. You will have seen from twitter feeds, the criw working with Ann Thomas, our athrowes bro, to check on their progress with helping to make the use of Welsh a more regular part of playtimes.
Learning from our resident artist, David Marchant, Years 5 and 6 are reaching completion of their project exploring Kyffin Williams’ Mabanogion sketches. The prints and painted sketches they’ve produced are superb. We’re looking forward to sharing them in our art exhibition later next month. Mrs Melen’s and Mr Evans’ classes have produced some wonderful mono prints this week too, drawing from their current story books, while Ms Williams’ class has been busy designing their stained glass windows ready for the batik work next week.
January 20th
It’s good to learn from others and this week has given us plenty of chance to do just that.
We started the week trying out our story writing skills with learners from all over the country. Logging onto BBC Radio 2’s ‘500 Words’ site on Monday morning gave us the chance to take part in a live online literacy lesson. The site gives plenty of tips on how to write interesting stories and is worth a visit.
We also joined up with schools from all over Wales to check on the progress of all the plans we’re working on as a ‘Pioneer School’. We’re really enjoying the chance to explore expressive arts as a lead in to our topics and themes. Mrs Wallace and Miss Horseman travelled all the way to North Wales to share some of this practice as well as to find out from others which parts of their projects were going well.
Our pupils are looking forward to sharing this exciting work with you as part of an expressive arts exhibition later next term, as well as through our annual ‘Celebration Week’ in June.
January 13th
We’ve continued to work with David March this week on our Kyffin Williams inspired project focusing especially on Kyffin’s pen drawings to accompany the Mabinogion stories. Y5 have experimented with pen and ink as a drawing medium.
Our 4th INSET day for this year will take place on February 17th. We’ve produced and collected a wide range of resources aimed at making ‘creativity’ the focus and starting point for all teaching and learning. Staff will use this opportunity to work as a whole group, collating and organising these resources in order to make them more easily accessible for learners and teachers alike.
January 6th
Welcome back, everyone. We hope you enjoyed a good Christmas break. Our return to school this week has been a pretty creative one. We hosted Llanrhidian Primary School on Tuesday, for a shared INSET focusing on ‘Creative Learning and Aesthetics’. Staff explored a number of different skill areas within art and design, such as batik, printing, marbling and sculpture. You’ll have seen some of their fantastic work on our Twitter feed. We had a great time experimenting with a range of techniques and look forward to introducing them with pupils as part of their topic work this term. Keeping with the theme of creative and expressive arts, later this term as well our pupils will have the chance to perform at the Brangwyn Hall with Gowerton School and the rest of its partner primaries, in a concert of instrument and song. We’ll let you know more details about this as well as about the instrumental day we’ll be taking part in at Gowerton, as soon as they’re confirmed. We hope you’ll be able to join us.
Autumn Term update
December 9th
This week has been a week of fabulous productions! Through 8 separate performances FP pupils presented ‘The Night Before Christmas’, KS2 pupils raised the roof with their ‘Cinderella’ pantomime whilst Nursery pupils thrilled with their ‘Happy Birthday, Jesus’ spectacular. There are lots of bleary eyed children and adults around the school today but without exception, everyone would agree it was all worth it. We have been inundated with thanks and congratulations, all of which are very much appreciated. The children, as usual, made us incredibly proud.
An after school football tournament rounds off the week, and we are looking forward to taking part in our annual community carol service which takes place in Sardis Chapel on Sunday at 6pm.
December 2nd
The Christmas Fayre raised over £500 this week. Thank you to everyone involved in organising it and to those who turned up such great numbers. Your efforts are helping us progress rapidly towards our plan for a wooden train for the Foundation Phase playground.
Y3/4 children took the train to Swansea this week as part of the culminating activity in their World War 2 theme for this term. They used their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills to plan the journey using timetables and to buy ingredients for their ‘war time rations’ soup. They visited the market, considered ‘best value’ options before purchasing and took time to make a video in Castle Square comparing the current view to the war time one. St Mary’s Church featured as an iconic centrepoint during the city’s 1941 blitz. The rebuilt St Mary’s Church not only hosted our picnic lunch but provided a fascinating insight into what it was actually like to live through that terrifying week by providing us with an exhibition of images and first hand recounts. We even got chance to talk with someone who had taken refuge in the basement of the Ben Evans store in the night of the worst attack. Once back in class, the children used multi media Apps to design and produce a documentary summary of all they had learned. This documentary is currently being played on the foyer screen so please feel free to pop in and take a look.
We were back at the market again on Friday for our choir to perform as part of the city’s Christmas entertainment programme.
November 25th
St. Barnabas Church helped to get our Christmas celebrations off to a flying start this week by providing us with a very special introduction in the form of ‘The Christmas Experience’. Each class was invited to visit the church and watch an amazing Nativity production complete, with a real life ‘baby Jesus’!
As always, we were treated to a very special welcome and the children (and grown ups) thoroughly enjoyed the event. Many thanks to everyone at St Barnabas church who worked so hard to provide such a memorable event for our youngsters.
November 18th
David Marchant has been with us again this week, helping our Y5 pupils continue to explore the Mabanogion stories. This week, they have been practising landscape drawings in the style of Kyffin Williams. They have selected the story of Branwen to recreate in pen and ink, again in the style of Kyffin Williams, before adding text.
Pudsey Bear featured big time today. We had a non-uniform day, with children arriving in pyjamas and all things spotty. They decorated and sold biscuits too. The real highlight of the day though was the spectacular performance from Mrs Cornish and Mrs Howells, whose rendition of the theme from ‘Ghostbusters’ truly had to be seen to be believed.
Thank you for helping us raise an amazing total of £620. Watch out for our name on the ticker tape at the bottom of the screen tonight!
November 11th
The ‘Friends of Waunarlwydd’ have met with pupils to discuss plans for playground equipment. These include the addition of a wooden model train, some more games and wall charts as well as some sail canopies for our ‘Cornel Cwtch’ as well as for our outdoor classrooms in Forest School.
School Council met with local authority Health and Safety Officer, Nicole Overton, this week too. They showed Ms Overton their plans for extending our outdoor classroom into the area of land which the ‘Community Heroes’ from TSB cleared for us in the summer. Ms Overton also helped them risk assess their plans for designating an area of land for den building too.
November 4th
The week kicked off with a Halloween disco, organised by the Friends of Waunarlwydd. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this such a fantastic event for our children to enjoy. Our Y5 pupils have been working with local artist, David Marchant, as part of our involvement as a Lead Creative School. The children are excited to take part in this. They will be finding out a little more about their Welsh heritage by exploring the Mabanogion stories along with Kyffin Williams’ pen illustrations in his ‘Mabanogi’ body of work. Mr Reid’s class enjoyed a brilliant visit to the Sony factory in Bridgend as part of their ongoing involvement with the ‘Ospreys in the Community’ project too.
Bonfire Night happens this weekend. We hope all our families enjoy an exciting Saturday evening, and a safe one as well!
October 21st
This week we have said “goodbye” to two great staff members who you will all know well because of their special links with families. Mrs Jones, our retiring Admin Officer, and Mrs Morgans our SENCo, are both leaving the school after many years working alongside pupils and their families. Both have contributed so much in helping to build a strong, caring community in our school and like you, we share lots of positive memories. We wish them well in their new adventures but are going to miss them lots.
Mrs Lisa Lewis takes over from Mrs Jones after half term and Mrs Nicole Thomas (who currently job shares with Mrs Evans) takes over the role of SENCo from Mrs Morgans.
October 14th
We were pleased to host Swansea’s Environment Centre this week as a venue for their Forest School training. A number of schools from across the region attended, making use of our grounds and outdoor learning classrooms as a base for exploring curriculum enhancement.
KS 2 pupils have been making the most of the good weather too by spending lots of time outdoors measuring vegetables and plants as part of numeracy topic work, and weaving willow in order to make a roundhouse.
Well done to Mr Evans’ and Mr Reid’s classes who shared joint ‘first place’ for best attendance this week with 99.3%. A fantastic effort, Y3/4!
October 7th
You’ll have noticed from the twitter feed that the cake sale raised £500 for Macmillan Cancer Support. This represents a magnificent effort by all involved, and our children really enjoyed the event too.
You may remember that in the summer term Locws International staged an arts event Art Across the City International Contemporary Public Art Festival, that saw Bristol-based sculptor, Rich White create a new temporary site-specific artwork in the grounds of The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.
We successfully submitted a bid to be part of this exciting initiative and as a result secured an arts residency for our pupils. The residency focused upon a new artwork in situ, providing an opportunity for pupils to experience an exciting new piece of contemporary art. Our children worked with local artist, David Marchant, collecting ideas and information to inspire and develop their own work in response to what they saw and experienced.
You will have seen some of the finished work as part of our Summer Exhibition but from this week the work is now being exhibited at Swansea’s Grand Theatre. Mr Reid took along some Y4 pupils to the opening of this exhibition on Wednesday. They were thrilled to see their work on display for everyone to enjoy and also had time to explore the work created by others in the project too. You will have seen some of the photos from the visit on our Twitter feed but if you want to see a little more, the exhibition is housed at the Grand Theatre between now and October 15th.
We had a visit from Ospreys player, Nicky Smith, this week too, as part of our participation in the ‘Ospreys in the Community’ programme. The initiatve aims to develop pupils’ key learning skills and our KS2 pupils put their oracy and thinking skills to good use, interviewing Mr Smith about his role within the team, expectations and his training schedule. Their questions yielded some good answers!
September 30th
Friends of Waunarlwydd are holding a cake sale today in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Pupils have a ‘non-uniform day’ as well with proceeds going to the same worthy cause. You’ll have seen photos on our Twitter feed from the harvest celebrations earlier in the week. Thank you to friends and families of pupils in Mrs Wallace’s class for coming along to enjoy their special assembly with us. Thank you as well to St Barnabas Church for making our young learners feel so welcome during their ‘harvest’ visit on Monday.
Our Twitter feed has been particularly busy this week, sharing all the lovely creative themes your children have been exploring. Be sure to check it out for yourself. There are some pictures as well of the Y3/4 visit to the World War 2 exhibition.
Don’t forget we have an INSET on Monday (3rd). Staff will be joining the other schools of North Gower at Gowerton School to explore means of making the teaching and learning your children enjoy, even better than it already is. We are looking forward to the “Excellent Teaching” session which is being led by Mr Nick Jones
September 23rd
This week has had a real ‘community’ feel and sense of purpose to it. A number of volunteer helpers have started to work with us, and some of these have signed up for training in one or both of our ‘catch up’ programmes too. The annual Gowerton School roadshow rolled up and proved as successful as ever in introducing our oldest pupils to some of the adventures awaiting them at Years 7 and 8. Our teachers have been sharing ideas about classroom practice with our partnership schools and we enjoyed a fantastic creative arts focused after school session with Arts Council Wales. The ‘Open the Book’ programme with St Barnabas commenced as well and our plans to share harvest celebrations with them are well underway. Contributions will be shared with the foodbank in Gorseinon this year. Families and friends of pupils in Mrs Wallace’s class are reminded of the invitation to join us for their special harvest assembly on Wednesday 28th!
eSafety – Advance date notice, workshop for parents / carers
30 Nov, 4.30pm – RIGHT CLICK WORKSHOP (UNICEF): Internet Safety Matters
September 16th
The ‘meet your new teacher’ events this week proved a success with lots of families attending in order to check out plans and arrangements for this year. Thank you for loaning your support in such numbers, and for the positive feedback we’ve received too. If you have any further questions about the use of ‘j2e’in particular, please don’t hesitate to ask.
It’s Mr Reid’s class’ turn to take part in the ‘Ospreys in the Community’ initiative this term. Mr Reid is taking part in the introduction this morning and the new plans for this third run will commence from next week. We’re pleased to have the chance to participate in such a well-thought out activity which helps our young learners prepare for the world of work by giving them chance to use their rapidly developing literacy, numeracy and digital skills in such a wide range of meaningful contexts.
Our Friends of Waunarlwydd Association has some plans for the Macmillan fund raising event which is due to take place later this month so watch out for their newsletter which will tell you more. They have a number of activities planned this term, including some film nights. If you’re able to help out in any way, please let us know. Your support would be very much appreciated, I’m sure!
September 8th
Welcome back, everyone! You will have received our Autumn newsletter giving an overview of events this term but if you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
As you know, we’re kicking off with a series of ‘meet your new teacher’ events next week. Please come along to find out more about weekly routines in your child’s new class, homework/J2e information, etc. You’ll have chance to ask specific questions of your own as well. The opportunity will help us to make sure your child’s start to the new year is the best it can be.
The fine weather has helped with our children’s start too, boosting their chance to learn outdoors. Check out our twitter feed to see them picking blackberries in our woodland walk and using all sorts of natural materials to create colour palettes.
The fine weather has done nothing to make us forget that Christmas comes at the end of this term though! Our very own artist, Karen Treharne, has produced a series of Christmas cards which are being sold in aid of ‘Old Mill Foundation’ (click on the right hand column to see a few samples). Please see Mrs Treharne if you’d like to purchase and support this worthwhile cause.
Last of all, thank you to all who responded to the parent and carer questionnaire exercise last term (more than ever before). Your many positive comments were much appreciated and have encouraged staff enormously. The suggestions for ways to further improve were really useful and have already been added to our development plan for this year. We’ll send out a summary response as an update before half term.
Summer Term update:
July 20th
So, having chosen the wettest day of the year for our ‘community gardening day’ we went on to select the hottest evening of the year to stage our Y6 Leavers’ Concert. Struggling for enough air to breathe at times (one dad was convinced we had the heating on), Y6 pupils nevertheless managed to provide the performance of their lives. It was awesome! Families and friends turned up in huge numbers to enjoy some seriously good singing, a little dancing and a few not so good jokes, mostly undertaken in the persona of unsuspecting school staff. Thank you to everyone who braved the tropical conditions to lend support to our oldest learners before they move on, although the biggest thanks are reserved for the performers themselves who reminded us all of why we are going to miss them so much. Well done one and all, and good luck for the next step of the adventure.
As we close for the summer holidays this afternoon a big ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ as well to everyone else: Miss Thomas, Miss Hood, Miss Francis and Mrs Batcup who are leaving us, learners in other year groups along with friends and families who have contributed so much again this year. Together we are making WPS the place to be! Thank you, colleagues, for helping to make our school a happy, safe place to achieve in.
July 15th
Everyone has had chance to meet their new teachers this week. For most of us this has involved taking just a few steps along the corridor but for our Y6s it has involved a slightly longer walk as they enjoyed three days of ‘welcome’ activities at Gowerton School. For Y2 pupils, it has been a chance to spend a day finding out a little of what it will be like to become a KS2 learner. You told us this was what you wanted when we asked you about it this time last year and so we really hope it proved helpful.
Foundation Phase managed to dodge the showers and complete their postponed sports’ day too, which was well supported by family and friends – thank you all!
Everyone finished the week with the offer of a free bible provided by a charity called ‘Bibles for Children’. Thank you to our governor, Rev Ian Davies, for coming along to present these.
July 8th: Chinese Celebration week
Confucius Institute has provided us with a week of exciting experiences which have helped our learners gain a better understanding of Chinese language and culture. Our children are developing well as global citizens. They celebrate the entitlement to a “right to a nationality” and love learning about other countries and alternative lifestyles. Check out our twitter feed for a better idea of everything they’ve got up to this week!
July 1st: Community Engagement
It’s sunny today but it wasn’t sunny yesterday when 5 parents and a team of ‘Community Heroes’ from TSB combined efforts to transform some sad and neglected areas in our grounds and woodland walk.
A major thanks to everyone who gave up not just their time but the warmth and comfort of an armchair and a cuppa, to make a real difference for our youngsters. Your work is so much appreciated and on behalf of everyone who will gain from you hard work, thank you for your kindness and generosity of spirit!