Gwersyllt CP

A busy week at Gwersyllt CP (I probably say that every week) with the Successful Futures projects really gearing up. We have the Harriers, Kestrels and Class 1 welsh celebration events happening next Tuesday, the music, dancing, art work I have been seeing makes me believe it will be an event to really enjoy when it happens. Please do try and come along.

There is very much a welsh theme happening next week, as well as the celebration event we have the pupils readying themselves for the Eisteddfod. The Eisteddfod will take part on Wednesday morning for Foundation Phase and Thursday and Friday afternoons for Key stage 2. Of course, there will be plenty of pictures of this in next weeks blog.

The Year 5 and 6 also have their own Successful Future project, running and organising an Indian restaurant. The level of detail that is going into it is immense. Pupils have been phoning and emailing businesses, calculating costings, planning dances and researching hot foods and how best to cool the mouth down afterwards. I entered the classroom on Monday to find pupils in anguish having tried a birdseye chilli. They taste better cooked!

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The new build continues to move ahead at speed. Of all the discussion I have had about what the school require I never thought I would have pick out a kitchen range (Out of my comfort zone). We also had a meeting about the audio and visual equipment in the new hall. It sounds fantastically impressive.

Finally I leave you with this image from the foundation phase yard at lunch time. You could tell the sun was out.

It was a pleasant change to have a week without the threat of snow and even the occasional treat of blue skies.

Firstly a big thank you to all the parents and close family that came to the family event put on by Mrs O’Toole and Miss Edge this week. Another great turn out and it is wonderful to see the pupils faces light up when they get to share school experiences with those close to them. Unfortunately it was a busy time so, though I managed to pop in, it was only briefly. Hopefully, I will be able to spend more time at the others that will be going ahead.

On Tuesday the year 6 pupils visited Dangerpoint to learn all about remaining safe in a selection of environments from home and road to train line and substances. They behaved themselves impeccably and had a great time. Thank you to the parents who accompanied the school for the trip.

We also had a guest visit the school to discuss the new 21st century learning plaza in the build for September. He discussed the plans with the Digital Dynamos and members of the school council. They gave suggestions which will add to the current plan. Please see below for the plan and the pupils wishlist. Have a great weekend.

 

A busy week with the weather playing havoc, as it is want to do this time of year. Please remember, if you are unsure about whether the school is opening please check the Wrexham School Closures page as we endeavor to put it on there as soon as a decision has been made. We will also text out to parents as soon as we possibly can. A huge thank you to everyone who made it in on those days. Attendance is one of our Estyn recommendations and days like those we have had this week do make a big impact.

In other news this week- The Year 5 and 6 pupils represented the school at the Indoor Athletics. Mr McAteer joined them and had nothing but high praise for the pupils and how the carried themselves through out the day.

The Year 5 and 6 pupils also had the opportunity to try out some Indian food this Friday. They are looking at in India in their topic and hopefully picked up a few things about the taste, textures and culture of the country.

This week Family learning and Wellbeing organised many future events for the the school. I recommend you keep your eyes peeled for these being advertised around the school, in the newsletter and on the relevant website pages.

Finally,  we have added a new Early Years page to our website. Hopefully this will give parents more of an insight into their pupils days and weeks while they are in Barn Owls and Snowy Owls.

Have a great weekend and let’s hope the weather is far less temperamental next week.

 

I can’t believe we are at the end of the third week back after the holidays and almost half way through the first half term.

As always a week full of activities. Poking my head into the classrooms this week I have noticed that the pupils are getting stuck into their class and group topics. Year 5/6 have been focusing on India (indeed they have the opportunity to go to sample some Indian food next week) and Class 2 have been looking at construction. A quick look at the outside of their classrooms indicates something very interesting is going on- and the inside is equally as colourful and bright.

The year 5’s took part in Sport’s leader training this Monday. Our current crop to an amazing job with their role and frequently visit the Foundation Phase yard to encourage play. Our next group have big shoes to fill but I am sure they will do a great job.

The school council are meeting regularly at the moment. They have introduced a competition this week in assembly and have been looking closely at what changes could be made on the new school yard for next year. Please look at the School council page for copies of minutes and agendas.

Finally, thank you for your careful walking and understanding on Wednesday. The ice was particularly bad and we have so many pathways and car parks to try to grit.

Have a great weekend.

Happy New Year everyone and welcome back. A relatively quiet week this week with everyone finding their feet after the break.

The KS2 team invited in the Dogs trust to discuss all elements of pet care and caring for the animals. All pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 and an hour session which involved expert discussion, photos, powerpoints and the opportunity to ask questions.

The School Council met this Friday and took part in a self evaluation. This term the School Council are going to be meeting regularly to make a difference to the running and organisation of the school. They will meet, at the very least, every month and the minutes of these meetings (plus other information and photos) will be displayed on the School Council Web page. The first set of minutes will be included shortly alongside the self evaluation results which can also be seen below.

A short week but it has been great to get everyone back into school.

So here we are, the end of the first term of the year. It still felt hectic, even after it followed on from the Christmas concert week.

Family learning went out into the community again to meet, greet, perform and generally put a smile on everyone’s face. Please see the Family learning page for more details.

Mr Martyn Davies joined us for celebration assembly. It was an absolute pleasure to give out so many certificates to all the pupils from Nursery through to Year 6. All of them so deserving of what they received. I know Mr Davies was hugely impressed.

On Wednesday Years 1-6 went, enmasse,  to the cinema. They all had a great time. How we got all of them on the bus, through all the traffic and back again in time I’m not sure. A Christmas miracle perhaps.

Nursery and Reception watched a performance with puppets. I could hear it all going on and they sounded like they were having a great time.

The majority of the school council visited the site of the new building on Thursday to an official steel beam signing ceremony. Governors, members of the council and the head of education in Wrexham joined us for this event.

 

Finally, a big thank you to Miss Parry in Year 5/6 (Class 5) who left us today. Mrs Parry has stepped into the role with great aplomb and has settled into the school fantastically well. We wish her all the best for the future.

Have a great Christmas and wonderful New Year everyone. We will see you back on 8th January 2019

And so we finish our penultimate week at Gwersyllt CP before we break up for the festive period. There has been much to celebrate this week, starting of course with all the fabulous concerts and performance that the pupils and staff had worked so hard to create. I was fortunate enough to see each one and enjoyed every minute of them. The pupils performed fantastically and should, rightly, be proud of themselves. Thank you to all you came to support the pupils and the school. It was a pleasure to see you all there and have the opportunity to meet so many parents and other family members.

There has also continued to be hard work outside of the concert times. Mr McAteer’s class were trialling the new IZAK9 equipment the school has (Thank you to Miss Roberts for the training on that) and Miss Parry’s class were working hard on researching and writing about Christmas around the globe when I popped in.

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You will probably have noticed the steel structure is going up quickly on the build site. Steve the site manager very kindly brought in two parts of the structure for the pupils to sign- They will now forever be a part of the development and a part of Gwersyllt’s on going history.

Miss Edge and Mrs O’Toole continue to work hard on the family learning performances, one was held on Friday with two more next week (please see the family learning page for more detail).

I feel particularly festive today due to all the Christmas jumpers on display. Da iawn again to everyone for taking part.

Have a great weekend one and all, and see you next week for a few treats before we finish on the 21st December.

Another busy week filled with festive activity this week. Tuesday saw our annual Reindeer run. All classes took part in this, wearing antlers and chasing Santa. Those that took part were then treated to a biscuit and drink for their efforts. All money raised was for Nightingale House. Great job all involved!

Thursday saw all the staff mucking in and serving the pupils Christmas dinner. We are proud to say that all pupils were served, with request of gravy or no gravy, in double quick time. Everyone got a brussell sprout. Thanks to the dinner team for making this such an easy task.

We also got a visit from St John’s Ambulance teaching the Year 5 and 6 pupils some very important First aid skills. Hopefully we will have some photos to follow this.

Finally, yet again, Family learning have been very busy. Please visit their section of the site to see what they have been up to this week.

Have a great weekend

Mr J Moore

So the final week of November has been completed and when the pupils arrive back in school on Monday we will have started December. Advent calender’s will be opening and decorations will start going up ( if they haven’t already). Next week will be the reindeer run, held for Nightingale hospital and then the following week will bring a whole host of performances.  I look forward to seeing many of the pupils parents at these concerts and I can only say that from what I have heard so far they sound fantastic.

Our first festive event of the year was held in the foundation phase hall on Wednesday and was a pleasure to be at. It was my first Christmas Fayre at Gwersyllt CP and I was really delighted to see how many people came to support the event and, in doing so, support the school and the PTA’s efforts. Everything raised by the PTA and supported by you goes back into the school, funding further PTA events and ultimately benefits and helps the pupils. The money helps fund pupil excursions and without it many of the trips the school puts on would not be possible. So once again, a huge thank you to everyone who came, helped out and a big thank you to the PTA for their time, effort and hard work.

On a personal note it was great to finally meet Santa.

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Elsewhere around the school it has been business as usual. There have been plenty of Site meetings, many of which have been focusing on keeping aspects of the old school and preserving the buildings history. The old sign will remain as part of the buildings outer wall and the old school bell will have pride of place in a presentation box internally within the school.

STEM club has commenced and I was fortunate enough to see Mr McAteer and the pupils enjoying getting stuck into the machinery and parts that were available to them.

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Finally, we had a great turn out for the Crafternoon held for Year 3/4 in the KS2 build. Thank you to Miss Edge, Mrs O’Toole and all those that came for making this a success.

Welcome to the new website for Gwersyllt Cp. Hopefully over the coming weeks, months and years there will be a variety of information added to this site which will enable all those linked to the school to access information easily and present a clear view of the what is going on in the school environment.

As you can imagine we have reached the time when the school, the teachers and the pupils are gearing up for the festive season and the halls and corridors are starting to fill up with songs and excited chatter. Over the coming weeks we have fayres, trips and concerts being held in and out of school. I am sure there will be more than a little hard work as well.

Thank you to all that made the kind donations to the PTA today for non uniform. I know it is greatly appreciated and goes along way to helping with the Christmas fayre. I look forward to seeing everyone there on Wednesday from 2.30pm.

Also thank you for your patience with the traffic lights outside of the school I have been informed that they will be going soon (if they haven’t already, by the time you read this) and haven’t helped the traffic on what is already a very busy road. Speaking of which, the school and staff really appreciate the understanding and continuing help shown by all those parking and walking to the school using the designated route.

I have had the opportunity to visit the new build site regularly over the last few weeks and I am very excited by what the project promises. It seems to have moved at a good pace recently and there should be visible signs of extension work starting soon.

Please find some photos and the build plan below

Finally, it was lovely to be able to pop into the Book and Brew morning on Thursday and have a cup of tea. The event was organised by Miss Edge and was a great way to start a very cold morning in November.