Mawrth 26
Exciting developments today at Ysgol Nannerch. Mrs Davies has been working hard to improve the outdoor area for Dosbarth Branwen and the children love it! They have had lots of fun in the mud kitchen and reading in the cosy reading den.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
Dydd Gwener 17eg Ionawr
Wow this week Dosbarth Nant Ddraig have worked really hard this week!
Our Space themed topic is in full flow. We've thought about what we knew about Space already but we've really started on our focus now 'I wonder why they looked to the sky'. We've started to think about the reasons why humans have always explored the sky. This has led us to our first focus of exploring the life and discoveries of Galileo.
We've been focusing on our instruction writing topic in our Language work. We've looked at the different features of instruction writing and learning how to write clear step-by-step instructions. Mrs Foster asked us to write instructions to make cheese and crackers. Then she acted out our instructions, which was funny, she was like a robot making lots of mistakes. We then went back through our instructions and changed them to make them clearer. For working so hard, we got to make cheese and crackers as a snack.
Dydd Gwener 6ed Rhagfyr
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig had an exciting visit from 4ward Futures, who delivered an amazing workshop all focused on companies in Wales work in the space industry. The class got to ask Alex some interesting questions such as 'Why are space suits white?' and 'How the Sun is warm?' It was fantastic to see the children buzzing about what Alex was discussing with them and it's led to an exciting project for after Christmas.
Dydd Gwener 22ain Tachwedd
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
I am so proud of the children in class this week.
We've started our work on the Christmas Concert; we've been learning our lines and practising singing the songs. The class have taken it in their stride and it's been amazing hearing their singing voices as they buzz with excitement for the play.
Obviously, school hasn't been the same this week. However, the class have focused fantastically, even if it has been snowing during our learning. They have started to write letters to our catering company about their use of palm oil and how they haven't used any logos to show if it is Responsibly Sourced Palm Oil (RSPO) or not.
I can't wait for the children to finish their letters and receive a response to their questions.
Dydd Gwener 8fed Tachwedd
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig have had an exciting few weeks. With Remembrance Day approaching next week, the children were given an intriguing task of researching the soldiers we have buried within our churchyard. The children have been working in groups to create a PowerPoint to commemorate the soldiers. It's included a problem-solving activity of locating the graves within the churchyard and writing instructions, so that others can find them too. The class have found some amazing links to their own lives and their fascination with the past has been fantastic to witness.
In our Outdoor Learning session this week we had a creative task of creating our own games using natural materials. It was lovely to see the children bonding and playing each others games. There were some twists on some classic games, such as, 'Reverse Jenga' where you had to build the highest tower using sticks in a pattern.
Dydd Gwener, Hydref 25
Over the last couple of weeks in Dosbarth Branwen, we have been apple themed after we collected a huge array of apples from the orchard. Our highlight was making apple crumble!
We were able to use our numeracy skills to help us as we had been learning the terms 'more than', 'less than', and equal to. The crumble had equal measurements of butter, sugar and flour.
We have welcomed visitors to school over the last couple of weeks which has been lovely, including some new faces for Nursery 2025 during our Open Afternoon. It was a super event with some fantastic children who enjoyed the provision in our school hall. It was all linked to our wonderful class book, One Winter's Day. Nursery and Reception enjoy using this space in the afternoons, and have had lots of fun exploring this book. One of their favourite activities was practicing their fine motor skills to add 'hoops' to the mouse's tail!
Towards the end of the week, we were introduced to our new class book, The Squirrels Who Squabbled. It's a funny story about 2 very different squirrels, Plan Ahead Bruce and Spontaneous Cyril! The children noticed how the book rhymes throughout the story and our looking forward to investigating rhyming after half term.
Have a fantastic half term everyone. Mwynhauwch!
Dydd Gwener 18eg Hydref
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
This week has been a busy couple of weeks in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig.
Last week we were lucky enough to play in the Rural Mold Football Festival. Children in the class spent the afternoon representing Ysgol Nannerch in some very tricky games. They used our school value, perseverance to keep going in these tricky games. Da iawn pawb!
We did a science experiment this week; exploring the greenhouse effect. Mixing bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, we created carbon dioxide. We used cling film to trap the gas and measured the temperature of the gas for 10 minutes. Over the ten minutes we discovered that when they’re mixed the temperature drops and then when covered with cling film the temperature rises by a few degrees Celsius over the 10 minutes. This helped us understand how deforestation is part of climate change.
Dydd Gwener 11eg HydrefDosbarth Branwen
This week we celebrated Harvest in St Michael's church. It was lovely to bring our wonderful community together and for the children to take time to share what they are thankful for. I was very proud of Dosbarth Branwen. It was the first time for some of the children to stand in front of a full church, they were fantastic as they performed their song, poem and prayer. A big well done!
The children have been busy learning about woodland habitats in school, and they were delighted to share what they have been up to on Welcome Wednesday!
The time and detail which they spent planning and creating their dioramas was super. They proudly took them home this afternoon.
Another exciting activity this week was our very own harvest. We collected a wealth of apples from the school orchard! The children have some wonderful ideas of what they would like to do with them. I'm sure we will have some yummy treats. Their first idea was to do so apple painting. I've enjoyed watching the artists-in-the-making create some masterpieces!
Dydd Gwener Hydref 4ydd
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
The past few weeks have been filled with exciting visitors coming to Dosbarth Nant Ddraig!
We had Will from Technocamps come to school and show us a coding website called MakeCodeArcade. Will showed us how to create characters on MakeCodeArcade, we then used these characters to create our own games. We used block coding to make levels and obstacles for our characters to avoid.
Aura came to our class to deliver Dragon Sports Leaders Training. We got to play some fun games like Simon Says and the Jail Game. The training was so that we can learn how to create our own games and lead these on the yard at play time. We explored how we can make games easier and harder for the children playing them.
This week we had a rainforest workshop. We have been looking about endangered animals in the rainforest. We learnt about the slow norris, which are extremely poisonous. We discovered the pangolin is the only mammal with scales and the scales are made of keratin, the same material as our finger nails but a lot thicker. We’ve looked at palm oil and made awareness posters to explain to people the pro’s and con’s of palm oil.
Dydd Gwener Medi 27fed
Dosbarth Branwen
Dosbarth Branwen have had a fantastic week. In outdoor learning we created dens and new hedgehog homes. In our story, a very kind hedgehog gave all of his possessions away to help other animals stay warm, even though his home had blown away in the wind! We wanted to make new homes for him.
We have been learning about harvest and all the things we are grateful for. The children created some super artwork and have been practicing singing! They sound great!
We had lots of fun practicing our Cymraeg during PE and playing lots of team games.
Well done Dosbarth Branwen for all your hard work.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
Dydd Gwener, 20ed Medi
We’ve had a brilliant few weeks in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig!
The children have settled in to our class routines and it’s been lovely to see their enthusiasm about their learning. The books we’ve been exploring in class are ‘There’s a Rang-Tan my Bedroom’ by James Sellick and ‘Running Wild’ by Michael Morpurgo, which are linked to our topic.
These past few weeks we’ve enjoyed learning about rainforests; we’ve discovered there’s four layers in the rainforest called the forest floor, understorey, canopy and emergent. In our Forest School session, we used natural materials to re-create the different layers of the rainforest and explained what it was like in these layers.
On Monday we celebrated Diwrnod Owain Glyndwr. As a class we did research in to Glyndwr’s life and found some interesting facts about the Welsh Hero. We used these facts to create a drama performance about his life. It was great fun and the children were very creative.
In our Cymraeg session this week with Miss Wiggins we were learning to talk about ourselves and our family. To help us talk about our families we used materials to re-create them such as Play-Doh, we can’t wait to make more creations to help us to talk about our families and ourselves.
We can’t wait for next week’s learning!
Dydd Gwener, 23ed Medi
Dosbarth Branwen
We’ve had a wonderful week back in Dosbarth Branwen!
The children have settled in beautifully, and it’s been a joy to see their excitement and energy as we begin our learning journey together. We’ve spent time connecting, exploring our classroom, and diving into some fun activities. It’s been a great start, and I’m so proud of how well they’ve embraced being back at school.
This term, our learning is based around Animals Through the Seasons. It will be led by a class book as a stimulus for the children to decide what they would like to learn.
Our first book is One Winter’s Day by M Christina Butler. It’s a lovely story about a kind hedgehog who loses his home in a storm! We had fun exploring our outdoor area to gather natural materials which we then used to create a clay hedgehog! The children have shown a keen interest in building a new home for the hedgehog so we're looking forward to that!
We had fun with Miss Wiggins during outdoor learning time. This will be every Wednesday afternoon.
We have been working hard and having fun learning and practicing our sounds! We looked at the shape of our mouth when we made the sound. Miss Roberts could fit a whole apple in her mouth when she said 'a a a apple'!
Next week, Wellies in the Woods starts! There are still a couple of free spaces if you wish to join up.
Headteacher’s Blog Medi 6fed
Croeso yn ol! Welcome back.
It has been lovely to see everyone back at Ysgol Nannerch this week. The children have all settled in well to their new routines and classes and are getting to know the new staff members.
Over the Summer holidays, staff have been busy preparing the classrooms and the teachers have planned some exciting learning opportunities for both classes. Staff from across the federation are working together, sharing ideas to make the learning fun and engaging for all our children.
The children in Dosbarth Branwen have been exploring and learning about hedgehogs and have read the story ‘One Winter’s Day’ as part of their topic. They have enjoyed making clay hedgehogs and using the outdoor area lots this week. Dosbarth Nantddraig have already done their first Science experiment, having shared how much they have enjoyed Science last term.
We are looking forward to welcoming parents into school on Friday to meet the teachers and see the classrooms. The children will share what they have been learning about in their first week back at school.
From next week, I will be handing the responsibility of the Blog over to the children. They are excited to share their weekly news with everyone themselves. I look forward to reading the Blog next week.
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher’s Blog Gorffennaf 19
And just like that it’s the end of another year. I would like to say a big thank you to all the children for a fantastic year. They have all worked so hard and make Ysgol Nannerch a fantastic place to be.
This week our year 6 children visited London for a 3 day residential trip. They had a wonderful time and were able to experience so many of the sites and sounds of the city. Our children also impressed the gift shop owner at the Tower of London with their manners, in fact she was so impressed that she gave them all a free pencil in appreciation. Da iawn pawb!
On Thursday we said a sad farewell to Mrs Biddle, Miss Mac, Mrs Styles and Miss Williams. The children prepared a heartwarming assembly for the staff followed by lots of tea and cakes. The hall looked beautiful and as always it was lovely to see so many parents and members of our school community attending. We wish all our staff leavers all the very best for the future.
And finally…
May each day of your summer holiday be a wide-open page, waiting to be filled with new friends, unexpected adventures, and stories of sunshine.
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher’s Blog 12 Gorffennaf
This week we started by celebrating our Blwyddyn 6. We all went to the church for the leavers service. The children and staff have all worked hard on the service. I was really impressed by their singing and the performance of the parable of the talents. It was lovely to hear all the memories of their time at Ysgol Nannerch. I also enjoyed listening to the Year 6 class mates memories and hearing about what they will miss about their friends. It has been a pleasure to get to know our Year 6 children and we wish them 'pob lwc' in their chosen high schools.
On Wednesday we held our Federation Funday where Nercwys children came over to Nannerch for the day. Everyone had an amazing day, which included the giant inflatables in the morning. A big thank you to Mrs Fowles for helping to organise those.
A special mention goes to the children from Dosbarth Nantddraig who planned the activities for the children to enjoy. They had glitter tattoos, face paints, games and slime making. It was lovely to see the children sitting with their new friends at lunchtime. We had very tired children at the end of the day full of tales to share with parents and friends. Da iawn pawb!
Mrs Taylor
Dydd Gwener 5 Gorffennaf
What a busy week we've had in school this week. On Monday the whole school had a visit from the 'Repair cafe' The children learnt all about the importance of reducing and reusing to become ethical informed citizens.
On Wednesday afternoon Dosbarth Nantddraig visited the church. They had a lovely time learning about the different aspects of the church. The children took part in hands on craft activities all about stained glass windows, prayers, baptism and more.
We had another visit from the library van and the children enjoyed choosing new books to read and share with each other.
Well done to Dosbarth Nantdraig for winning the Biodiversity Flintshire schools project! The children created a video to show why nature is important in Flintshire and they won! On Thursday, members of Flintshire's biodiversity team visited school to present the award and discuss ideas with the children about ways to enhance the biodiversity in the school grounds.
Headteacher’s Blog Mehefin 28ain
Mae hi’n boeth! It is hot!
We’ve had another busy and exciting week at Ysgol Nannerch. There was much excitement on Thursday when we held our moving up day. The children welcomed the new children into their classes with open hearts. It was lovely to have Mrs Foster with us for the day and to see the new Year 3’s already looking at home in their new classroom. One of the benefits of being a small school is that our children already know each other so well that they take this next step confidently.
It was wonderful walking around Ysgol Nannerch on Thursday afternoon hearing and seeing all the children excited about their learning. We finished the day with happy children and happy staff!
On Friday we had another Open the Book assembly. The children are growing in confidence each week and it is fantastic to see how much they can now lead these assemblies themselves. Da iawn pawb.
Headteacher's Blog Mehefin 21ain
The children have had so much fun this week at Ysgol Nannerch. On Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending the Jambori with Years 1 and 2. The children were brilliant. They sang with enthusiasm and had excellent manners, da iawn pawb.
On Thursday we were lucky with the weather and held a very successful sports day. I was so impressed with how well the children supported each other and cheered each other on. Thank you to Mrs Fowles for organising the ice cream van which was a perfect end to the sunny day.
Dosbarth Branwen
Dosbarth Branwen have been taking part in a Melting Investigation during our Science lesson. They predicted what will happen to certain foods when they get hot and have been writing up the steps of the investigation and the results.
We have been focusing on temperature in Maths, looking at hot and cold places, and discussing changes in the temperature we are currently seeing. We talked about how it can get really hot, so we must be careful during this type of weather.
We explored the weather forecast and how different pictures represent the different types of weather. Year 2 have been reading temperature off thermometers.
Year 2 had a fantastic time on Tuesday with Mrs Styles and Mrs Biddle at the Jambori singing different Welsh songs with lots of different schools. The Nannerch children represented the school beautifully.
Miss Mac and the rest of Dosbarth Branwen staff are so proud of all of the children who took part in sports day on Thursday. It was so nice to see you trying your best and cheering each other on during all of the races. You all put big smiles on our face and you even brought the sun out! 🙂
We have had a class discussion about what we can do to help our for our 'FUN DAY' at Nannerch and Dosbarth Branwen are looking forward to creating some invitations and banners over the next couple of weeks. Da iawn pawb!
Dosbarth Nantddraig
The weeks seem to be flying by as we approach the end of the year. Yesterday we were blessed with the most marvellous weather for Spors Day! All of the children in Dosbarth Nantddraig were absolutely fantastic, they showed each our school values throughout the afternoon, particularly great perseverance as they tired, Miss Roberts even put the cross country was the final race! There was wonder community spirit and compassion as they supported each other.
Sticking with the sports theme, we have been practicing rounders in preparation for the Rural Mold Small Schools tournament!
Our maths focus has been time in the lower juniors. The Year 3 and 4 enjoyed playing games and making clocks to help their accuracy when telling the time on an analogue clock.
Year 5 and 6 have focused on probability, linking it to our previous work on fractions!
Superb efforts all round.
Miss Roberts
Headteacher's Blog Mehefin 14fed
This week we were under starters orders as the children in Dosbarth Nantddraig took part in the Brownlee Foundation Triathlon. All the children had a fantastic time, swimming, cycling and running. They all came back to school with huge smiles and medals for taking part.
We had another visit from the library van. This is a great opportunity for all children to choose a book to read and take home. The van will come every 3 weeks and we hope that this will help to further develop a love of reading in our children.
PC Mark visited years 2 and 6 on Monday to talk to the children about keeping safe. We always learn so much from these sessions.
We have been busy practising for sports day, when the weather allows!
Finally we finished our week with another fabulous Open the Book assembly. These always provide us with opportunities to think and reflect on our own values, faith and beliefs. Look out for football and dance club starting soon after school.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
This week Dosbarth Branwen have been working hard finishing their memory books as well as exciting comics, linked to their previous story writing.
We have practiced for Sports Day and the children are very excited to show you all how well they are doing next Thursday.
We have been learning lots of Welsh songs - Year 1 & 2 are going to the Jambori next Tuesday and they are ready with their beautiful singing voices and dance moves.
In Maths the children have been measuring different objects around the classroom and have been recording the length or height in CM or M.
They have taken part in more exciting music lessons with Mrs Styles and are all learning some fantastic musical phrases that even Miss Mac is struggling with! Da iawn Pawb.
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week to set off the Mold Alun school to participate in the Brownlee Foundation triathlon! This is always one of the highlights of our summer! It is a fantastic opportunity for all children to have a go at a triathlon in a fun, non-competitive but professional event.
Every pupil attended and crossed the line with a smile on their face. They were all very proud of their new medals, t-shirts and goodie bags on the journey back to school! Da iawn pawb.
This week Year 6 also had a visit from PC Mark, as well as heading back to Mold Alun for another PE transition event which they thoroughly enjoyed.
Back in school Dosbarth Nantddraig have been given the very import event of organising and hosting Nantlwys Federation Fun Day which will take place in July. Their initial ideas sound very exciting so stay tuned to see the ideas turn to reality!
Have a wonderful weekend and we will see you Monday for another fun filled week of activities and challenges.
Headteacher’s Blog Mehefin 7fed
Croeso yn ol! Welcome back.
This week, in assembly, we have been talking about hope and what hope means to us. We’ve been trying to use hope in our everyday interactions with each other. We have also started to work towards a whole school reward. Using the children’s suggestions, we have set up a rewards jar and are now earning pompoms for ‘above and beyond’ behaviour and effort. Worship leaders are doing a fantastic job in helping to plan and lead collective worship in school. Diolch.
In P.E this week, the children have been practising for sports day, they have been suggesting events and practising their skills. The field is cut and the track is marked all ready to go!
Breakfast club has been a success this week. We are grateful to be able to offer this free provision and it's been fantastic to see so many of the children starting their day with a healthy breakfast with their friends. Dosbarth Nantddraig have had a fun day today at Talacre Beach along with Dosbarth Dewi from Nercwys school. It is lovely to see so many friendships building across our two schools.
Thank you to Miss Cox who, along with the children, has been working hard to update our entrance foyer display. Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen 🙂
A fantastic first week back.
The children have been busy this week taking part in a Science investigation called the 'Salty Potato experiment'. They have been looking at salt and how is can be bad eating too much. We also discussed where else we might see salt i.e. - grit salt, in the sea, in our tears! They enjoyed watching what was happening to the potatoes.
They have worked together to write some wonderful nature stories in our Diamond Den area. We discussed describing words and our senses to create a very imaginative story, thinking of different animals and objects around us.
We have started looking at length in mathematics - Reception children have been comparing lengths, Year 1 have been looking at non standard units and Year 2 have been measuring in cm.
There has been some exciting Music lessons with Mrs Styles, we may have some new recorder players soon!
Da iawn pawb!
Dosbarth Nantddraig
The highlight of our week was certainly the trip to Talacre beach. Luckily the rain stayed away and we were even greeted by the sun!
Throughout the day we learnt lots about the formation of the sun dunes and about who lives within them. It was fascinating to hear how the eco-system has changed and how it used to support each of the species who once lived there, for example the ponies would eat the shoots of the trees to stop them growing, and the toads would eat the flies so they don't irritate the ponies!
The children thoroughly enjoyed hunting for special finds on the beach. Although I think a run around and free-play with the Nercwys pupils to was probably their favourite part!
Earlier in the week we were able to get outdoors and film our nature videos. This involved a lovely walk down to the Nannerch woods! Back at school, they worked together to edit their videos.
A super week!
Headteacher’s Blog Mai 24fed
Miss Roberts deserves a special mention this week as she has been successful in securing grant funding to develop our Hub classroom and for resources for outdoor learning. Dosbarth Nantddraig have shared their ideas about which resources they would like for outdoor learning. As part of the grant, staff received fire training to learn how to safely light fires. We are looking forward to having campfires in our outdoor learning sessions soon! We are hoping to develop the foundation phase outdoor area with some of the funding too.
The foundation phase children enjoyed their trip to Wepre Park on Wednesday. Despite the wet weather! The had a walk around the Rosie pond to see the wildlife and nature and learnt lots of new facts from the park ranger.
On Thursday Year 3 to Year 6 had an online workshop with the author, Stephen Pass. He read chapters from his book and the children had a go at writing their own poems and raps. We hope that this session with a real author will help inspire some budding authors in Ysgol Nannerch.
Next half term promises to be a busy one with more school trips, sports days and summer events. We will also prepare to say goodbye to our Year 6 children. We have lots of plans in place for some exciting changes for September. More information coming soon!
Have a lovely half term and we will see you all when school reopens on Monday 3rd June.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
We have had a wonderful last week in Dosbarth Branwen. On Wednesday we went to Wepre Park and had a fantastic walk around the beautiful area discussing the wildlife, the pondlife and the fascinating different shaped trees. The children all enjoyed the trip and drew their favourite minibeast of the day!
We have looked at 'Speaking out and staying safe'. We watched a video from Ant and Dec and then looked at the different ways we can stay safe and speak to a trusted adult, inside and outside of school.
The children have also created some beautiful Nature Art during our Outdoor learning, working in teams to produce different woodland animals or pictures using Natural Resources.
We have started creating Welsh 'Stori' books based on Healthy Eating, recapping our knowledge of story writing.
Have a lovely Half Term everyone,
Miss Mac 🙂
Dosbarth Nantddraig
We became film producers this week, planning in small groups a video to show, 'Why we think nature is important in Flintshire'. As it was very soggy, we weren't able to capture of the video footage we wanted, so we have that to look forward to when we return. I am however excited by the super plans, I can't wait to see the wonderful storyboards come to life!
It's been lovely to hear so much Welsh language being spoken this week. Dosbarth Nantddraig have been working on their Welsh orage in Cymraeg sessions. They have been discussing what they like to do on the weekends, using the past tense. This ties in well with our diary writing, so Welsh diaries will be produced soon!
Have a lovely half term pawb :)
Headteacher's Blog Mai 17fed
We have chicks! Exciting news. On Thursday, just as we were about to go through to assembly, the first chick hatched! This was hugely exciting news and we all gathered around to see. Soon after another chick hatched making it two new feathered visitors that day.
In assembly we started to read the story called ‘Oscar’s Bad Day’. We hope that this will help us to see things from other people’s perspective and think more deeply about our reactions to other people’s behaviours.
Dosbarth Nantddraig have been busy working on a new display for the entrance foyer all about our values.
On Wednesday I attended a meeting of other church school leaders with Mrs Downes. It was a fantastic opportunity to share ideas with other church schools in our diocese.
Last week I was thrilled to be able to send home my first special postcard from the Headteacher in recognition of above and beyond behaviour. Da iawn Will!
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
This week the children have been learning about the inside of their bodies. They have been excellent at identifying where the organs should go by placing them on our felt body and are starting to learn about what each of the organs provide to our bodies.
Year 1 and 2 have finished their fantastic stories and are ready record themselves reading them to their peers! Reception have been little superstars and have already read their story out to their friends, da iawn pawb.
In outdoor learning we made 2D shapes using natural resources and working as a team and listening to each other to make estimations.
Nursery have been working hard with their Numicon and we have been having fun singing counting songs, learning Welsh and joining in the rest of the class with the Daily Mile.
Another fantastic week, well done everyone! 🙂
Dosbarth Nantddraig
Our diary writing is underway in Dosbarth Nantddraig. This week's focus was writing in past tense, chronological order and with emotive language.
We worked together on a Big Write to pen an extract from a diary with emotive language. I was very proud of the fantastic range of adjectives, similes and personification which the children used!
In Topic lessons Dosbarth Nantddraig have used some fantastic numeracy skills to create a timeline. We added significant events between 2014 and 2035... this involved some creative thinking of what may be to come in the next 11 years. UFOs, new languages and even a UK Eurovision win may well be on the cards.
We also thought about what makes our wonderful school unique. We gathered our ideas in a Carroll Diagram and reflected on how lucky we are to enjoy the super outdoor space in Nannerch. Next week we will be putting our appreciation into practice by beginning to plan and create a video titled, 'What we love about nature in Flintshire'.
Da iawn pawb.
Headteacher's Blog Mai 10fed
It's been a short but fun filled week at school. The children have enjoyed being outdoors more in the sunshine this week. It was lovely to see Dosbarth Branwen busy digging and bug hunting today. Dosbarth Nantddraig have also been spending time outside being inspired by nature. I am sure there will be some fantastic creative writing coming soon.
Today we had another Open the Book assembly which was great fun and helped us to learn more using our core values of wisdom.
In assembly we discussed how to acknowledge 'above and beyond' behaviour. Soon staff will be sending a little note home as and when they hear of someone going above and beyond. I am also very excited to send a special postcard home from me when someone impresses me with their behaviour, attitude and efforts.
Enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts! Mwynhewch yr haul!
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher’s Blog 3ydd Mai
We finally have some sunshine and warmth! What a difference it makes to everyone. It’s been lovely to see the children enjoying being outside more. Yesterday some of the year 3 and 4 children took part in the Elwyn Owen football tournament at Deeside Leisure Centre. They played brilliantly, winning all games in their group until they were finally defeated in a penalty shootout. I am very proud of them all.
On Thursday we had a visit from Erica from Mad Science. The children were enthralled by her interactive presentation. They also learned a few new things about forces and energy.
On Thursday, the children from playgroup came to join us for the morning. They were very well behaved and all the children enjoyed eating together at lunchtime.
The children have been taking good care of the eggs and watching their progress. They can’t wait until they begin to hatch.
In assembly this week we discussed rewards and why we should behave well and obey our new rules. I was so impressed with the children’s answers. We agreed that ‘above and beyond’ behaviour deserves to be recognised and celebrated. I have left the children with the task of thinking how we can do this.
I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
What an exciting week!! We've also finally had some sun!🌞
We outdoors and the children have taken part in scavenger hunts! We collected natural resources, and used adjectives to describe them! We had some fantastic examples; 'crunchy leaves, bright blue skies, wavy grass, spiky sticks' and many more! This will support our story writing.
Also this week we have been practicing our football skills.
We enjoyed an exciting Mad Science Assembly and have have been inspired to create some little experiments ourselves over the coming weeks.
The children have been looking at weighing objects within Mathematics lessons, standard and non standard units and year 2 have also be reading grams and kg on scales!
Da iawn Dosbarth Branwen! Have a lovely weekend
Dosbarth Nantddraig
The highlight of the week for Miss Roberts was the Elwyn Owen football tournament over in Deeside Leisure Center. 8 pupils represented Ysgol Nannerch and they were a joy! Fantastic manners, super teamwork and so incredible football skills. As one of very few small rural schools there, they represented them proudly by making it to the top 16, only being knocked out after a nail-biting penalty shootout.
Back in school there has been lots going on; Mad Science, an Adobe workshop, online Cewri Cymru/ Welsh Giants lessons and continuing to develop our literacy skills in the outdoors through our nature journals.
We explored many different poems about nature before selecting some of our favourite parts to 'magpie' in our own writing.
I can't wait to share some of the fantastic poetry which is currently being written!
Headteacher's Blog Ebrill 26ain
Is it Friday already? What a quick week it's been. This week I had the pleasure of accompanying our year 3 children to William Aston Hall in Wrexham. There they had the wonderful opportunity to play their xylophones alongside other children and with the BBC Now orchestra. It was very moving to hear and see all the children playing along together. I'm sure it's an experience that they will never forget.
In assembly this week, we talked more about compassion and how to show our kindness to others. We welcomed Mrs Yeardley and Reverand Kathy back into school for another fantastic Open the Book assembly on Friday. The children always enjoy the opportunity to take part in these special stories.
We held a full Governors meeting on Thursday at Nannerch school where we discussed the developments with our behaviour policy. We look forward to welcoming some of our Governors into school over the coming weeks to see all our hard work.
There was much excitement today as Erin and Lila brought in eggs and an incubator. We will be watching and waiting for the eggs to hatch!
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher’s Blog Ebrill 19eg
It’s been another busy and fun filled week this week. The children have started work on their new topics focused on health and well being. They have also started to take part in the daily mile and are enjoying the benefits of the additional exercise. The older children are using their Maths skills to track their miles too. Da iawn.
In assembly this week we continued our discussions about our new rules. The children voted and agreed to keep the new rules which are; to learn, to be safe, to listen and to be respectful. The school council were responsible for counting the votes and informed me of the official outcome via an email letter. What a great use of digital skills in a real life context.
Dosbarth Branwen have enjoyed getting outside more this week with lots of fun, messy play.
Pupil voice has been strong in Ysgol Nannerch this week with children in Dosbarth Nantddraig discussing ideas to further improve life in school. There have been lot of suggestions for improving play times and being healthy. Bendigedig!
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week's blog is coming from Erin and James and we have a lot coming up for you today:
Some of our highlights this week are that we have learnt that identity is everything about you that's different and unique.
We are going to be focusing a lot on Health and Wellbeing so we began the term by thinking about what a good day would look like, and what a bad day would look like. This is to try and make more good days for everyone!
We are working on a Playtime Project to timetable different activities for each day! This will include sports and other activities for anyone who doesn't fancy doing sports. Some of the ideas include an Art box and a reading area.
We have been doing teamwork games like a ball game where you had to pass the ball around the class without leaving your chair or speaking. In this lesson we also did the 5,4,3,2,1 method which is you find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you are feeling in that moment.
We are also doing the daily mile everyday! Our aim is to always complete more miles that the previous week. Wish us luck.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Dosbarth Branwen
A wonderful week in Dosbarth Branwen, we've even had some sunshine .🌞
We have been discussing story writing and planning what we would like to write our stories about. We created large story maps on the yard and have then transferred our ideas onto paper! We also discussed characters, titles and settings. The children have come up with some fantastic ideas and I cannot wait to see their stories in a few weeks time.
We have been working hard with our timetables during our mathematics lessons and have learnt some very catching songs to support our learning!
The children have been very creative this week during their music lesson with Mrs Styles and have explored their football skills and team work skills during PE.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody 😊
Headteacher's Blog Ebrill 12fed
Croeso yn ol! Welcome Back
It was a wet start to the new term but thankfully the sun is shining now as I write this blog. There have been lots of exciting activities happening around school this week. On Wednesday The Cat's Protection team visited school to run fun filled hands on workshops with both classes. This fits our theme of compassion purrfectly! The children really enjoyed learning more about how to care for cats.
On Thursday, PC Mark visited school to talk to everyone about keeping safe and the dangers of drugs. The children always listen well and learn so much from PC Mark.
Year 3's are busy preparing for our visit to William Aston Hall for the Theatre Clwyd music event. Whenever I am at Nannerch I always enjoy hearing the musical instruments, whether that be violin, guitar or xylophone. Dosbarth Branwen were also enjoying exploring rhythm this week with Mrs Styles. What a musical school, bendigedig!
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher's Blog Mawrth 22ain
Pasg Hapus!
What a fantastic and fun filled week we've had this week. There have been lots of Easter crafts and Easter themed activities happening this week. On Thursday we opened our school to under 5's from the local community who took part in the 'Wellies in the Woods'. It was lovely to meet everyone and all the children had lots of fun exploring the school grounds. The highlight of my week was spending the morning with Dosbarth Nantddraig exploring our school values in depth and designing a new display for the entrance foyer. Watch this space...
On Friday it was all about Easter with a fantastic visit to the Church. The children delivered an amazing Easter service which involved sign language, poetry, prayers and an interactive re-telling of the Easter story, da iawn pawb. We finished the day with an Easter egg hunt in the sunshine.
Congratulations to Miss Roberts who has now been appointed as the permanent Deputy Headteacher of the Nantlwys Federation!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter break and I look forward to seeing everyone back in school for the Summer term.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
A wonderful last week in Dosbarth Branwen 💪
The children have been busy crafting lots of Easter craft and enjoying Easter hunts outside in the beautiful sunshine 🌞
The children took part in a beautiful Easter service in the Church and spoke very clearly reading out their poems and working together in groups to speak in time. They also sang beautiful for their 'Hot Cross Buns' Makaton song 🎵🎵
We have practiced spellings, phonics and lots of work based around the Easter Story! 😊
Have a wonderful Easter Holidays everyone and we will see you soon! 😊
Dosbarth Nantddraig
It has been a busy end to the term! We recently had a visit from St John's ambulance to teach the junior children vital first aid skills. I was very impressed at how much they all remembered, particularly the steps you must take to keep themselves safe and help others when you are the first on the scene. This was by using the acronym DR ABC.
We ensure all our pupils have annual first aid training and this session highlighted the importance of this as I could see the confidence that some of the children had! I'm sure there are some future NHS heroes amongst us.
Also this week, we have been planning something very special! Dosbarth Nantddraig have teamed up with the Nannerch Under 5s group to help them develop their new outdoors area! The children have planned the practical steps which they must take to make the project a success. They started by creating a questionnaire for the staff and visit the site to create a map! I can't wait to see the project come to life in the new term and see what fantastic ideas they come up with!
Da iawn pawb.
Miss R
Headteacher's Blog Mawrth 15
Spring is in the air this week with lots of colourful activities happening around school. We waved goodbye to our Robin Wood group on Wednesday. It's been a bit quieter without them in school but the children have still had lots of fun. In assembly this week, we talked about our rights and how we can use these to help make our new school rules. The children all worked together really well and shared lots of sensible ideas. I'm sure the children who went on the residential trip will sleep well tonight. Many thanks to Mrs Foster and Miss Roberts for taking the children on this trip and looking after them all so well.
Mrs Taylor
Dydd Gwener, Mawrth 15fed
ROBINWOOD RESIDENTIAL
This week, Miss Roberts and some of the Ysgol Nannerch pupils joined Ysgol Nercwys at Robinwood residential in Wrexham.
We had a full filled, jam-packed couple of days! The children were absolutely fantastic and I was very proud of them representing our two super schools so well. We overcame challenges, tried new things, made friendships and had a marvellous time.
One of my highlights was the zip line; every child had a go and made it extra fun by having a dance competition as we zipped! This seemed to be a theme of the week as we had a lot of fun singing and dancing our way through the week.
Another highlight was the blind-folded teacher race to the top of the climbing wall!
I'm already looking forward to the next residential- London with Year 6! 
Miss R
Headteacher’s Blog
Mawrth 8fed 2024
This week has passed by really quickly with lots of exciting activities happening. On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day. As a passionate reader myself, this is always one of my favourite days of the year. It was lovely to see the children talking about their favourite books and sharing their love of reading. The book swap was a huge success with everyone having the opportunity to take home a new book to read. All children have also been provided with book tokens to spend on discounted books.
This week, all children have been discussing their rights and behaviour in school. Staff listened carefully to the children’s ideas and will now work on these suggestions to build our new positive behaviour policy.
On Friday we said our official goodbye to Mrs John with a special assembly at Nannerch school. It was lovely to see her again and to see so many parents and past staff members in our school again. This is a testament to Mrs John, who is held in such high regard within our community.
Next week we will be sending Dosbarth Nantddraig children off on their 3 day trip to Robin Wood so we expect school to be a little bit quieter without them. We can’t wait to hear all about it when they return next Friday.
Dosbarth Branwen
This week has been a very exciting week in Dosbarth Branwen. We had so many interesting costumes for World Book Day, from Snow White, to Batman, witches, a princess and football players!
We have redesigned book covers, talked about the features of a book and we have also made some wonderful bookmarks.
We have been creating timelines of old and new toys. We sorted the pictures, discussed different dates and then lined them up in chronological order. We used our team work skills and patience.
The children have been very creative with their crafts for Mother's Day and have put so much effort into their cards and crafts.
Have a wonderful weekend, stay safe and get ready for some designing and baking next week! 🙂
Dosbarth Nantddraig
We have been super busy planning, organising and running events this week!
First up was World Book Day. The children organised our book swap; they created invites, catergorised the books, made sure each donation was marked with a certificate of thanks and then ensured that every child went home with a new book!
That was quickly followed by our leaving celebration for Mrs John. Year 3 and 4 all wrote and performed acrostic poems, whereas Year 5 and 6 wrote some of the lovely memories of Mrs John. It was a special moment! Mrs John was both laughing and crying with emotion.
On Friday we spent some time reading some 'Big People, Little Book' books about inspiring women in honour of International Women's Day. It followed an insightful discussion about the progress that has been made over the last 100 years and our goal of complete equality in our futures.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend and all the wonderful Mums are spoilt! The children have created some lovely treats for their Mums- photos will follow next we so no surprises are ruined!
Headteacher's Blog Mawrth 1af
We've had a fantastic week this week celebrating Welsh week. Today was our Eisteddfod. We welcomed Mrs Yeardley into school to judge our competition winners. The children have all worked very hard and produced some fantastic work.
The highlight of my week was joining in with dough disco in Dosbarth Branwen on Thursday, we all had so much fun. It was lovely to open our doors to families on Friday to celebrate and share our Welsh week work.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Nantddraig
Wel, roedd Wythnos Gymraeg yn hwyl!
It was been so lovely hearing so much Welsh language being used around school this week.
We started the week with a very special visit from Mrs Meaden, as part of her role for the Welsh advisory team in Flintshire. Dosbarth Nantddraig had a fun afternoon practising their Welsh conversations using 'dwi'n hoffi...'
As part of our Eisteddfod competition, the children researched 3 Welsh artists who inspired them. They learnt a little about them, and their style of art, before creating their own masterpiece of 'My Favourite Place in Wales'.
It was heart warming to see the different places the children chose; from their homes, favourite holiday destinations, family walk locations, to their church.
Mrs Yeardley was extremely impressed and had a very difficult task when judging the entries!
Dosbarth Branwen
Da iawn Dosbarth Branwen for another fantastic week. You have all worked so hard with your Eisteddfod entries. You all produced a beautiful piece of handwriting, a wonderful piece of artwork, a mind blowing castle and spoke with lots of confidence in your recitation in front of the whole school 🙂
You have created Success Criterions for your writing in language and have worked hard with fractions during your Maths sessions.
You have shown your excellent gymnastics movements to your friends during a performance during PE and have given each other feedback on your performances, Gwaith da pawb.
Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Headteacher's Blog Chwefror 23ain
It's been a short week this week as we welcomed everyone back after half term. On Tuesday some of the children from Dosbarth Nantddraig took part in a graduation ceremony for their work with the Children's University project. Their behaviour and manners were excellent. Da iawn pawb! Mrs John was very proud to see Nannerch pupils up on stage during the ceremony. She was impressed by how much their confidence had grown over the past few months.
This week, Dosbarth Nantddraig children spent some time reading to Dosbarth Branwen children. It was a pleasure to watch the children's faces absorbed in story telling and sharing a love of reading. Bendigedig!
I have seen some fantastic castle models arriving ready for Welsh week next week when we will be celebrating and exploring our Cynefin. We look forward to sharing our work with you then.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
This week Dosbarth Branwen have been looking at fractions and practically making halves and quarters using playdough.
We have been putting together our final designs for our toys that we are going to be making for the Toy Museum that we will creating. 🧸🚗✈️
We have started our wonderful art creations for the Eisteddfod next week. Nursery have designed a daffodil using different coloured tissue paper.
We have been looking at posters and why they are important. This in prepare us so that we can create our own adverts for our toys!
Da iawn Pawb! ⭐️😄
Dosbarth Nantddraig
A busy first week back. I have been very proud of Dosbarth Nantddraig this week. Some of the children went to university(!) to pick up their degree from the Children's University, whilst the other children became teachers back in school by buddying up with pupils from Dosbarth Branwen to listen to them read and tell them stories.
We have been preparing for lots of exciting things which will be happening in school over the next couple of week, including our school Eisteddfod and World Book Day. More information to follow!
In our literacy work we created a COLD WRITE advertisement, combining our prior knowledge of adverts and our digit skills. We are looking forward to learning more next week.
Have a lovely weekend everyone! 😄
Headteacher's blog - Chwefror 9fed
And just like that it was the end of half term!
It was lovely to welcome parents into school this week for parents evening. The children have been busy enjoying their last swimming lesson and writing letters. The threat of snow stopped play on Thursday but we were back open again on Friday. It's been a very short but busy half term. We are looking forward to celebrating wonderful Wales with our Eisteddfod after half term.
I would like to thank all families and staff for making me feel so welcome in my first half term at school.
Have a lovely half term break and we look forward to seeing pupils back on Tuesday 20th. School is closed for staff training on Monday 19th.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Nantddraig
A fun filled final week of the half term.
One of the highlight this week was our last swimming session over in Holywell leisure centre. We're really enjoyed our early morning coach ride and swim! This week we managed an extra long session to play 'Islands' with the floats!
This week was Internet Safety Day. We have been discussing the importance of keeping our personal information safe, the steps we take to ensure this.
We also looked to the past and the future, considering how technology has evolved and how it might look in the future. It was really interesting considering the potential of how much technology might support people's day to day lives. 👨💻
There's lots of information for parents on this week: https://www.childnet.com/help-and-advice/parents-and-carers
Have a super half term!
Miss R 😊
Dosbarth Branwen
Fantastic last week of term in Dosbarth Branwen 😊
Lots of excellent letter writing and the producing our letters to the Toy Maker as a word document 👨💻
In Maths we have been estimating the lengths of certain objects within our classroom.
We have been looking at forces in Science, we investigated push and pull objects in preparation to decide what type of force will will apply to our Toy creations to have after half term.
We have spoken about the Chinese New Year and completed some beautiful crafts 🎨🖍
It has been wonderful to meet up with parents this week in parents' evening and for the children to show off their wonderful work they have been doing 👏
We hope everyone has a wonderful Half term! Stay safe, have fun and we will see you soon 😀
Headteacher's blog -Chwefror 2il
It's the end of another fantastic week at Nannerch school. This week we continued the story of Joseph and talked about how he never gave up hope. We also thought about how our words can affect others and how we can create a happy ever after for ourselves and others. We had another visit from Open the Book and enjoyed another interesting story. I enjoyed talking to Dosbarth Nantddraig about their Science investigation and watching Dosbarth Branwen perform some superb rolls in gymnastics this week.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Nantddraig
We have had lots of fun with Science this week! We have been investigating forces and the impact they have on an object.
First up was gravity, with the question, 'Will a heavy item fall quicker than a light item?'
We worked together in small teams to try and create a fair test. This meant it was important to consider lots of different things, to make sure that everything stayed the same, other than the 1 variable we were changing. This was the weight of the item we were dropping.
We quickly learnt that it was quite tricky to make everything the same! Our results varied but we learnt that if you take away air resistance, all object will fall at the same speed.
We have also been working on developing our story telling this week, we have used time connectives and chronological order, alongside exciting descriptive words to bring our stories to life! There have been some great team work.
Well done Dosbarth Nantddraig. Next week is the last week of swimming and we're looking forward to an extra long fun session!
Miss Roberts 😊
Dosbarth Branwen
Super week in Dosbarth Branwen 🌟
We have started writing our letters back to the Toy Maker. He is going to be so thankful for their wonderful ideas 💭
We have been looking at friction this week during our Science lessons! The children tested toy cars on different surfaces to see which had the most and least friction and why? 🚗
The children have been showing of their fantastic gymnastics skills during PE and watching each other perform their movements! 🤸♀️
We have been listening to lots of excellent readers, witnessing some beautiful handwriting and watching them identify certain sounds!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone 😊
Headteacher's Blog Ionwar 26 fed
It's been another busy week in school. The children are now in full flow and enjoying their new topics. They have also enjoyed using our new spelling programme (more on that soon!)
In assembly we started the story of Joseph and talked about what is fair and unfair. We discussed how it is important to be proud of our achievements but not to boast to others. Very sensible discussions from all the children, da iawn.
It has been lovely to see the sun today, long may it continue!
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Nantddraig
A lovely week in Dosbarth Nantddraig. One our the highlights was creating mini teddy bear sculptures to represent us. We began the design process by creating an adobe express of all our favourite things. We then sketched what we would like teddy bear to look like. It was lovely to have a creative afternoon bringing these bears to life! They really are like mini us!
On Thursday we celebrated Dydd Santes Dwynwen. We really enjoyed learning about Saint Dwynwen, the patron saint of love in Wales.
In our literacy work we have been making finger puppets and putting our instructional writing to the test when seeing how accurately our friends could recreate our puppets. After some editing and redrafting, we we able to write very clear step-be-step instructions.
Miss Roberts :)
Dosbarth Branwen
This week Dosbarth Branwen have been introduced to 'Spelling Frame'. It is a fantastic resource on the computers / iPads where the children can practice their sounds and do their weekly spelling test. There are a number of different games and challenges for them to complete and they are having lots of fun finding their way around the website.
Bar graphs, block graphs and pictograms have been made to show the results from the Snow Experiment a few weeks back. We had an estimate at how long the snow in the tray would take to melt. Once we found out the result, the children have represented their data practically and using Hwb 🙂
We have looked at the features of letter writing and the different types of letters that we can have. We have created lists in our books and the children come up with some super ideas. We will be continuing to look at the importance of letters and will be starting to write our own ready to send back to the Toy Maker.
We have introduced this week, Welsh books to go home with each of the children as well as their English books. It would be nice to share their story at home with somebody, practicing their Welsh vocabulary. We are also re introducing TICW this week! He is looking forward to all of his exciting journeys at his new friends homes. Please read the instructions in his go home bag and remember to brush his shiny teeth 😄
Gwaith da Dosbarth Brawnwen,
Miss Mac 🙂
Headteacher’s Blog 19fed Ionawr
Mae hi’n rhewi – it is freezing.
We had a very frosty start to the week this week. The children have all settled well into their normal routines. On Tuesday Dosbarth Nantddraig enjoyed their second swimming lesson and on Thursday PC Mark came to talk to us all about internet safety and bullying. In Dosbarth Branwen, PC Mark talked to us about who to call in an emergency to keep us safe.
In assembly this week we talked about our talents and how we should share them with others. We also talked about how we should practice our talents and how this links with our Christian value of perseverance.
Our new sign for the front entrance of the school has arrived and we look forward to seeing it up soon.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
Dosbarth Branwen have been extremely busy this week!
We have been sharing our favourite toys with each other and writing fact files about the toy that we brought into school 😊
We have been doing gymnastics in PE, moving like puppets and watching certain clips from films and we have been working on our fine motor skills within Dough Disco 🕺
We have been developing our money skills, our Cymraeg, discussing toys and colours 🎨
Our visit from PC Mark taught us some very important numbers that we will need in an emergency 9️⃣9️⃣9️⃣
Dosbarth Nantddraig
On Monday Dosbarth Nantddraig celebrated Dr Martin Luther King day. We learnt a lot about his life, the difficulties that black people faced at the time and how he brought about hope and change. The children worked with their talking partners to write and deliver a presentation all about Dr Martin. I loved to see the different approaches children took, the enthusiasm they showed and the amazing facts the shared! Parents, take a look at the presentations on Seesaw.
Another highlight was investigating Jac's inquiry question: Are toys for children, adults or both?
I expected quite the debate, but I was surprised that there was a unanimous opinion that toys are definitely for adults and children! Lots of the class shared lovely stories of how their parents enjoy playing with their toys too.
We learnt about an American artist KAWS who creates structures of toys which are displayed in museums or sold as collectables for adults to enjoy. We are creating our own KAWS design of a teddy which represents us.
We have been practicing jumps, patch and point balances which has been fun.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss R
Headteacher's Blog 12fed Ionawr 2024
It's been a wonderful first week back at Nannerch. Thank you to all the children, staff and parents for making me feel so welcome.
On Tuesday we had a visit from Mrs John to wish us a happy new year. It is always lovely to see her. On Wednesday I held an assembly and shared some information about myself with the children. Ask them to tell you about my secret talent! We also welcomed Mrs Styles to our staff this week.
It has been lovely to see the children's smiling faces and enjoying being back with their friends. I have been so impressed with their manners. I'm sure all the children and staff are ready for a restful weekend after a busy first week back at school.
Mrs Taylor
Dosbarth Branwen
Fantastic first week back for Dosbarth Branwen 😊 We have been busy getting back into our routine and have all settled in very well.
We have been looking at an old mysterious building and have wondered what was inside it. Who worked there? What it is? The children have come up with some excellent ideas! ✍️
We have started investigating different coins in maths and we will be ordering coins and paying for certain things with the correct amount.
I have heard some wonderful Christmas news from all of the children and enjoyed hearing about some of the exciting toys they have had. 🧸
I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks and our new topic..... GAMES AND TOYS! 😊
Dosbarth Nantddraig
2024... Dosbarth Nantddraig have spent some time reflecting on our achievements last year, and our hopes and dreams for the year ahead. We talked about resolutions and the steps we can take to be happier each day. 
Our first genre of writing this term is instructions! We got crafty making different items by following instructions. We had some super class discussions about what we already know about instructional writing so we are ready to expand our learning! ✍️
We're looking forward to the term ahead with 'Toys and Games' as the theme. The first big question we decide on is- What are the most popular games on the present, the present and the future?
Our first investigation was comparing some of our favourite Christmas gifts from 2023 to Miss Roberts' favourite gifts in 1999!
We have really enjoyed getting to know both Mrs Taylor and Mrs Styles this week... and their secret talents! We all shared some of our own talents too.
Headteacher's Blog 15fed Rhagfyr 2023
Christmas Concert week was amazing!
The school hall was transformed into a real theatre with black out curtains and stage lights. The children did a brilliant job of projecting their voices, singing beautifully and being confident in front of the vast audience. Much thanks to all the staff who work extra hard anyway but magic up costumes, props and dance moves.
The raffle had many prizes thanks to the generosity of the parents and we raised a lot of money for the PTA who sold mince pies and mulled wine. It was a lovely final end to 2023 - who didn't feel all warm and Christmassy inside after seeing the performances!
Not only did we have our concerts, but we also had the Christingle service in St. Michael's Church. Yet again the children took part sharing the meaning behind it and the history of the Christingle with their confident voices and lovely singing.
The Christmas lunch also happened this week with all the staff assisting to ensure a real family feeling.
Onwards to next week and our final week of 2023!
Headteacher's Blog 8fed Rhagfyr 2023
Well the frosty weather didn't last long. Back to rain this week. The schools are looking very festive despite the weather with Christmas trees up in both schools.
We were fortunate to have Bodfari donate a real tree to Nannerch and it's a whopper! So tall that we struggled for ideas for how to get the star on the top! The stage is out - and impressive - thanks to our kind volunteers. All week I have heard the children singing their songs in readiness for next week.
Friday afternoon saw the whole school travel to Theatr Clwyd for the Panto (Oh yes we did!). What a way to end another fun week!
Cofion, Mr. Moore.
We have had a super exciting week in Dosbarth Branwen starting to make our Christmas Craft alongside practicing for the Christmas Nativity! 🎄
We have started Welsh story maps talking about ourselves and are developing our Welsh Oracy skills ready to film next week! 📽
Both year 1 and 2 have created fantastic Diaries and have been adding flip flaps to improve their writing even move this week! Reception have talked about their day in the life of Oliver and Nursery have been tracing their names and identifying letters in their name ⭐
Another fantastic week, with lots of Christmas stories and events!! We also LOVED our trip to the Pantomime 😊 OH YES WE DID!
Headteacher's Blog 1af Rhagfyr 2023
And just like that ❄️December has arrived. The frost 🥶 is making our special places look amazing and wintry. Snow, at the moment, is not landing or affecting us and hopefully we will make it to the holidays without any disruption🤞.
Clwb Cwtch held their first session in Nannerch giving the opportunity for parents with babies/toddlers to learn simple Welsh phrases. It also introduces a few new parents to our wonderful school and we may even see them start here in a few year.
Nercwys held a non-uniform day where pupils brought in a bottle for the Christmas Fair and had a lot of fun with, not one, but 3! mischievous elves. The next couple of weeks are going to be interesting! The clothing donations collection held by the Friends of Nercwys was collected and we raised over £110! The next collection will be around March next year so keep an eye out 👀.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Brawen
The stage is up and the Elves are back!! 😁⭐🎄 What a very exciting week we have had!!
Dosbarth Brawen have been busy making bird feeders during our forest school lesson and have talked about ways to be eco-friendly 🌳
We have been practicing very hard for the school play and it's starting to look amazing! ⭐
The children have started to write their Diary hot writes all about their day as Oliver and are producing some beautiful pieces of work! 🙎♂️
We are so excited that Christmas activities are in full swing and our class is feeling super Christmassy thanks to the children making wonderful decorations 🎅 Da iawn pawb!! 😁⭐
Headteacher's Blog 24ain Tachwedd 2023
It has been a great week for both schools. Mrs Taylor (New Headteacher) visited Nannerch last Friday and visited Nercwys this Wednesday. She spent a bit of time getting to know the pupils and the staff
Christmas concert rehearsals are very much the focus so that we can give a great performance and celebrate this special time of year.
First experiences music continues to be successful in both schools with clear improvements week on week.
The date for the ‘Friends of Nercwys’ Christmas Fair at Nercwys has been confirmed as Thursday 7th December 5.30pm. It has been shared widely on social media.
A surprise visit from Mrs Meaden was very welcome by Dosbarth Nantddraig. She came in her official capacity in her new role. It was lovely to see her back here.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
This week we have researched Guiseppe Arcimboldo and his artwork! We have started to create our own portraits using fruit and vegetables linked to our topic, Oliver's Vegetables 🍏🍎🥕🍅 The children's artwork is going to produce a beautiful bright display in our classroom.
We have also been working on adjectives and word banks ready to use to write our diary hot write! 📝
They have listened to the story of The Nativity and completed some wonderful stain glass windows and other crafty bits using different resources 😊
Last but not least, we have been practicing the Christmas play and WOW it's so exciting already 🎅🎄😁 We cannot wait!!
This week in Dosarth Nantddraig we have been focusing on our new Big Question: Do animals help us, or do we help animals?
This has been met with lots of enthusiasm as we really are a class of animal lovers. Inspired by Remembrance Day, this week we have been talking about animals in War. We learnt about their roles and the risks they faced to help us. Many different animals have been involved in war, including dogs, horses, cats and even bears!
One of our favourite tasks was learning about famous animals, who were recognised for their bravery! This includes Gustav the pigeon, Jet the dog and Warrior the horse. We were very pleased to hear that The Dickin Award was introduced in 1943 as a bravery medal for special animals!
This week we have been busy learning the songs for our Christmas production! Luckily they very enjoyable, as they are also very catchy, so I'm sure parents will be hearing them at home!
In PE we are focusing on dance. This week we worked in pairs to create our own coded dance using our bodies and movement. One example a pair created was to use tapping to represent numbers. They all paired up to see if they could crack the code!
Headteacher's Blog 17eg Tachwedd 2023
It seems that 🎄Christmas🎄 is definitely in the air now with all the usual Christmas TV adverts on the television. There seems to be quite a few Christmas emojis but not many relating to the actual event 🌟 just over 2000 years ago. I can't even find a 'donkey' emoji!
As we move towards the Christmas period we see our schools starting their rehearsals for the Christmas plays which always prove to be popular with the children and the parents.
Today we are all dressed in our own clothes with 'Yellow' and 'Spotty' items worn to show our support for BBC Children in Need. The money we have all contributed towards will be sent straight to Pudsey so he can spend it where it is needed most. Thank you for your generosity.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
In numeracy this week we have been looking at graphs presented to us and have answered questions based on the results shown. Reception have created some fantastic Pictograms practically and have discussed what we have done 🙂
We have been highlighting the features of a Diary and have created some excellent talk for writing story maps to help us towards our hot write.
We went on a lovely walk down the school lane to explore our senses. We had a talk about what we could see, feel, touch, smell and hear! The children come up with some fantastic describing words which we wrote back at school all together 🙂 We were very lucky that the weather held off!
We have also started our Christmas Nativity practice, WHIIPEEEE!! 😄
Dosbarth Nantddraig
We have been celebrating Diwali in Dosbarth Nantddraig. Firstly, we learnt all about the Festival of Light which began on Sunday 12th November and is ending today, Friday 17th November. It is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains.
We created Rangoli designs using our numeracy skills. They are usually made using coloured rice or powder on the floor, but we were creative as the wind was very strong this week! We decided whether our design would have reflective symmetry or rotational symmetry. Dosbarth Nantddraig came up with some wonderful designs, using a range of materials including flowers and chalk!
In our Language lessons we have been preparing for our class debate which is happening next week!
Headteacher's Blog 10fed Tachwedd 2023
What a lovely week back in school after the fun of the first half of the autumn term. The pupils in both schools have been busy learning about Remembrance. They have created prayers, poems and paintings. They also researched the meaning behind various aspects of the service and servicemen who gave their lives.
Both schools held a poignant service and I was really proud of how each pupil showed their respect by observing a minute silence.
I really enjoyed seeing the pupils perform their sign language songs which they learnt in just 1 hour! Roedd yn anhygoel!
Dosbarth Branwen have been busy mirroring each other in PE this week! We have been learning to communicate non-verbally and through movements with our body! They did a super job at taking the lead in pairs, mirroring each others movements and listening to instructions set🏃♀️👟
The children have taken part in a senses lesson where they have practically tested all 5 of their senses! From eating pasta, to smelling mint sauce, feeling different objects, listening to different kinds of music and writing a list of what they can see, they have really tested themselves and wrote some amazing describing words! 👀
We are getting better at telling the time 🕑🕙 looking at the opening times for Oliver's Milkshakes shop and seeing what days the shop is open, answering some very tricky questions!
They have added to their Welsh vocabulary discussing what they like and what they don't like and have also been recorded singing some wonderful songs together as a class.
It was so nice to see everybody back and we've had a super first week 😁⭐
Dosbarth Nantddraig
What a super first week of the half term!
Dosbarth Nantddraig have had two very enjoyable workshops courtesy of New Directions. The first was learning crucial life saving skills. They all had a chance to practice CPR and bandaging skills.
Secondly, we were brushing up on our British Sign Language. There was a lot of laughter and I was extremely impressed at how quickly they were picking it up. They even signed along to Louis Armstrong's song 'What a Wonderful World'. Check out the video!
As part of our topic Our Magical World, we took part in a STEM challenge to clean water. Firstly, we had lots of fun creating the muskiest water we could, we then had 45 minutes to work together in teams to try and clean it!
There were lots of interesting methods used- some more successful than others! But we all learnt a lot. At the end of the challenge we were able to decide on the most successful methods and we just this to repeat the challenge as a class!
In forest school we designed and created some Christmas craft which will be sold as part of our numeracy challenge for the school faire.
We hope next week is just as super!
Headteacher's Blog 20fed Hydref 2023
A late entry to the blog as it is now Monday.
Friday, as we all know, was a very interesting day. The rain having not stopped caused mayhem around the county and staff struggled to get to both schools. The decision was made to close both schools, which is never taken lightly, and always focuses on safety of both pupils and adults - along with parents. Thankfully everyone made it home safely.
This week saw our autumn term parent evenings across the federation and it was great to see so many parents coming in to see their child's work. If you didn't get to make it last week you can arrange a time with your child's class teacher which is convenient to both.
However - the rain was not the highlight of the week. The amazing amount of work happening in both schools was the highlight for me.
This week in Dosbarth Branwen we have been taking part in obstacle courses outdoors! We have been following commands and remembering certain steps! 🏃♀️🏃♂️ During our music lessons, we were creating more routines and following counts from Miss Mac, alongside Harvest Festival practice and Welsh songs 🥁🎼🏴
We have completed our instructional writing for our Oliver's milkshake. Therefore, next week we can make them 😁🍎🍊🍌 The children have also been measuring amounts and making fruity ice cubes during our Science lessons! We cannot wait to try them next week!
Da iawn pawb!
Headteacher's Blog 13eg Hydref 2023
Autumn arrived today disguised as Winter with the amount of ☔ rain! We were so lucky with the warm weather recently and both schools have taken full advantage. 🌾Harvest is now in full swing with our children preparing for the service in each village. It is great to hear the children singing their harvest songs 🎶 in full voice- you would think there were 🌟200🌟 children in our school!
Cofion, Mr Moore.
Dosbarth Branwen have been very creative this week conducting musical routines together following a set of given rules. They have been playing musical instruments and have been listening to each other very carefully 🙂 Next week, we will be practising our routines and performing them in front of the rest of the class. The performances will be getting recorded and uploaded onto Seesaw for you to see.
We have been singing lots of Welsh songs, talking about where we live, alongside who is in our family. We have also been watching and singing along to Fflic a Fflac.
The children have been writing their instructions ready to make their milkshakes next week. We are excited to try all of the different flavours that we have decided on. 🙂
Reception have received their special writing glasses and rings which is super important for our beautifully neat work 😄
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week we visited the church for the Stations of the Cross. There were different activities at each station, each which represented a different type of harvest.
We made pots out of clay which represented the harvest of the earth.
We weaved, representing the harvest of animals (cloth). Everyone planted seeds to grow cress (for our egg butties!) to represent the harvest of food.
We made an origami boat to represent the harvest of the sea.
We also tasted different types of bread to thank God for food, and the farmers their hard work. We discussed the process of making bread, from the farmers growing and harvesting the wheat, to the yummy bread on out plate.
The final activity was to collect 5 pieces of fruit which represented the values of patience, humility, joy, peace and generosity. This linked to the story of the slaves escaping Egypt. It was lovely to learn about 5 values which are different to our school values.
Through the week we continued harvest celebrations in forest school, making bird feeders and creating a harvest patchwork (nature) quilt!
Headteacher's Blog 6ed Hydref 2023
That was a really fun week! From Monday in Nannerch, where I heard all kinds of musical tunes being beaten out on the xzlophones 🎵 with the music service and ended on Friday with being told off by Foundation pupils for being late arriving at Nercwys at lunchtime 🤣 (I had been at Nannerch all morning).
On Wednesday I went to St. Asaph for a school leader's meeting with the Diocese. It was great to hear about work being carried out in other Church in Wales schools and meet the Diocesan team.
I hope everyone had a fun and varied week like mine!
Cofion,
Mr Moore
What a fantastic week in Dosbarth Branwen 🙌
We have been measuring each other using standard and non-standard units using blocks, hands, feet and metre sticks 📏
They have also taken part in an Autumn scavenger hunt where they worked in teams to find certain natural objects in our outdoor areas 🍂🍃🍁
They have all worked fantastically as part of a team in PE completing races, relays and listening to tricky commands! Da iawn everyone, Miss Mac 😁
Dosbarth Nantddraig were delighted to have the first forest school session of the year this week. They were learning all about autumn and seed dispersal.
As part of Black History Month, we are learning about different people of interest each week! This week we have learned about American artist Alma Thomas. The children looked at a selection of her artwork and discussed what they thought each one represented. We had a fantastic variation of answers from, crocodiles to mountains to rockets! I'm looking forward to seeing how they recreate some of Alma's famous pieces!
Headteacher's Blog 29ain Medi 2023
Well, here we are at the end of September already! It is great to see our newest and youngest pupils have settled in so well to life in our schools. It is like they have always been here - part of our family. They are so keen to share with me what they are doing and demonstrate their new skills.
Despite the usual weather patterns of rain then sun, the pupils have all had chance to get out and enjoy our wonderful outdoors again this week.
We were also lucky to welcome Mrs John into both schools (bringing a wave of joyful happiness) as she visited to launch the Children's University initiative.
A full Governing Body meeting was held Thursday evening in Nercwys where we welcomed new members. There will be another meeting shortly as my secondment from Wrexham comes to a close at Christmas; the process is underway to find a permanent headteacher for the Federation.
Cofion,
Mr Moore
There has been a lot of ICT this week in Dosbarth Branwen 👨💻👩💻
The children have been using HWB to create bar graphs and block graphs presenting results of how they get to school. They have also been typing up Welsh conversations that they wrote earlier in the week with a partner 🏴 Learning how to type capital letters, change the colour and size of their writing and to move downwards.
The children have also been persevering with puzzles. They have also been using sticks to create their own ‘Stickman’ and they have been labelling their large human sized cardboard figures in both English and Welsh ⭐
In Dosbarth Nantddraig we are exploring our big question, 'Where does water come from?'
This week we have been learning all about the water cycle. The children have created excellent diagrams to explain all the different steps, adding some super facts! Robbie's favourite fact was that all the water on Earth comes from prehistoric times!
On Tuesday we celebrated European Languages day. We took part in an Adobe Express live lesson with other children from across the UK! Everyone learnt lots to new skills (Miss Roberts included!) which we have enjoyed using to help us practice our Welsh conversation skills.
A class favourite is currently the Esti-Maths challenge! Each day we have a photo of a vase with different items inside. We have to estimate how many items there are, revising our estimate after each of the 4 clues. It sounds simple, but we're all using many different numeracy skills, and ultimately, it's a lot of fun!
Headteacher's Blog 22ain Medi 2023
Another week where I have enjoyed seeing our pupils fly in to school (some actually with their coats on like capes🦸), ready to learn and with huge smiles on their faces😄.
The immense amount of ☔rain has affected some parts of our day but we have all found some little bits when the rain cleared so we could get outside - where we enjoy the most🌳. The pictures below show how keen we are to get outside!
Dosbarth Branwen
Oliver's Milkshake 🥛🍇🍌🍎 - this week we have been looking at Pie Corbett approach, talk for writing! We have been creating maps to help us with instructional writing in which we will use when writing our instructions in the upcoming weeks.
Welsh - We have been looking at emotions and explaining how we are feeling 🏴
Maths - This week we have be using numicon pieces with reception, identifying which is which. Year 2 have been looks at different numbers and Year 1 have been sorting groups of objects.
Science - we have been discussing man-made and natural materials with all of the children. Talking about our environment and the objects around us in the classroom.
PE - This week has been an active week. We have enjoyed a lovely walk around the school grounds, took part in a cosmic yoga session and done some wonderful dancing 🕺🎵
We have had a focus on handwriting and phonics throughout the week, witnessing some beautiful work from the children! ⭐ We have nearly finished our large cardboard cuts outs of our bodies ready to use next week within maths, Welsh, language and science!! 😃
Another super week in Dosbarth Branwen 👍
Miss Mac
Grace and James have written the Dosbarth Nantddraig blog this week!
We have had a lovely week, we have been writing postcards to Mr. Hills because he sent us postcards all the way from Vietnam. We have been learning how to write informally and use time connectives and conjunctions!
Recently we visited The Rhug Estate and we had a blast feeding the deer. We have learnt a lot all about trees. We decided that we wanted to learn more about animals, so one of our big questions will be 'Do we help animals, or do animals help us?'
On Friday we all had a good laugh playing dodgeball in PE. It's one of our favourites!
One of the big things we have been doing this week, is working in our committees! Every committee had a meeting to plan lots of exciting and new things which we can introduce in school. We're in the school council!
Headteacher's Blog 8fed Medi 2023
Well, Autumn Term 2023 finally started! (and the weather turned up)
This week began with the entire Federation staff descending on Nannerch to have a packed training day with Mike Rosser and Barbara Lees-Ransford.
It was brilliant to see the children's faces on their return to school this week. So many smiles and happy faces. It doesn't take long to forget we have ever been away. A lot of activities have taken place in this short week and we even have a trip for KS2 next week.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen had a fantastic first week back in school!! 😁☀️⭐ All the children have been excellent, sharing, playing together, making new friends and enjoying their time inside and outside of the classroom! Lots of smiles throughout the week and a few very tired faces today!! Bring on week 2!! 😁
Dosbarth Nantddraig
What a super first week back in Dosbarth Nantddraig! Blwyddyn 3 have settled in wonderfully. There's been lots of laughs and fun had by all.
We had a lovely surprise when we returned to school as Mr Hills had sent us all an individual postcard all the way from Vietnam! We have begun to plan our return postcards!
We looked at a picture book called The Book of Mistakes, which showed way in which "mistakes" can blossom into inspiration. We then created our own artwork, beginning with a splodge of paint which we used as inspiration for the picture!
It was a warm week, we enjoyed being outside. In PE we again used our creativity and teamwork to use a range of equipment to create new games! Miss Roberts had a lot of fun playing them all, although the children beat her top score in every game!
Next week we are visiting the Rhug Estate in Corwen!
Headteacher's Blog 14eg Gorffennaf 2023
Well that was a week! I must say that the Leaver's Service was a special highlight of my time here so far. I was really impressed with how they had prepared everything as a class. The younger pupils saying what they really liked and would miss about the Year 6's brought a tear to everyone's eye. We are lucky to have such special surroundings and places to hold these important life events.
Also it was great seeing the twitter feed fill up with pictures from Cardiff. It seems they all had a brilliant time - what a way to end their time at Ysgol Nannerch.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
This week we have had a very creative week in Dosbarth Branwen. We have been:
- Creating God's eyes out of sticks and wool.
- Sewing different patterns.
- Painting butterflies with water colours.
- Making snakes out of paper.
- Exploring what we can make with cardboard boxes.
We have also been continuing with our maths booklets and have had a fantastic live online session on Marvelous Minibeasts from Dwr Cymru.
In PE we have been playing different games with partners, communicating and trusting our partners.
3 more days to go 😊
Miss Mac.
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week's highlights from Ysgol Nannerch are written by Jac, Osian, Bea, and Erin.
At the start of the week, we designed a self-propelled model car made from recycled materials like cardboard, tissue paper, elastic bands, paper, and wood. We are looking forward to racing them!
We also had our year six leavers service and at the end, we had tea and cake! Yum
We did forest school; we completed our God’s eyes and dream catchers.
On Thursday and Friday, we researched different countries and their famous landmarks like the Eiffel tower. Did you know it is 330 meters tall? We researched interesting facts about the countries too, such as the shortest amount of time anyone was King in France was only 20 minutes long and it is legal to marry dead people in France, wow! And did you know that in the Taj Mahal it changes colour into pink, white and gold?
Cardiff blog
This week the Year 6s went to Cardiff on a school trip and made lots of memories and went on great adventures.
When we first arrived at Cardiff, we went to the Senedd we saw the golden mase, after that we had some nice ice cream then we went on a walk, and we went to the park. It was great to meet some more people our age.
Towards the evening we went bowling and Lilly bought two slushies and she was so hyper when we went back to the dorms.
On the second day we went to the Cardiff Principality stadium, and it looked so cool because the seats were assorted colours, the blue represented the waves, and the green represented the hills. Some of us sat in the royal family's seats and the president of the stadium after that we went to a gift shop and some people bought souvenirs.
We walked from the stadium to Cardiff castle, and we had a massive tour. It was interesting learning new facts about the history of Cardiff. After touring the castle, we visited the gift shop and we looked at lots of souvenirs.
After Cardiff castle we went on a speedboat!
At first, it was slow, but after we passed the orange buoys, the speedboat went so fast that the boat's nose went under the water, Callum felt like he was going to fall off! It was incredibly fun, some of us went pretend surfing on the boat.
We watched the new Matilda the musical at the Urdd on our last night. Dharma was in her sleeping bag jumping around while we were watching the movie, everyone was munching on snacks.
On the way back to Nannerch we stopped at “The big pit,” this is where people used to mine coal, and the cave is so small that most of us had to duck. The deeper we got, the colder it was and in one part it was freezing! We also learnt how to communicate with wires, the instructor tricked Dharma into thinking she was going to get an electric shock. At one point we all turned our torches off, and it was pitch black, we learned about how children used to be working like that all day.
On the journey back it took 5 and a half hours to get to Nannerch. By the time we got there, we were all tired from doing all the activities!
Headteacher's Blog 7fed Gorffennaf 2023
Another week another trip. Our lucky KS2 class headed off to the Alun where they competed in a Triathlon which enabled the children to have a go at running, cycling and swimming. Events from 6 July – 19 May – Brownlee Foundation (thebrownleefoundation.org) And as usual our children represented our school perfectly.
I really enjoyed the celebration event following the completion of the Summit to Success project. It was really powerful to hear the children passionately sharing their experiences which I hope they will carry with them and build on them for life. The other highlight for me was our family breakfast club. The sausage and bacon baps were very well received.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
This week has been a lovely week!
The children have been very creative making comics and creating story books. They have been creating their own characters and putting together fantastic pieces of writing.
They have been working through maths booklets putting all their skills they have learnt this year to the test and they are all doing amazing!
During PE, we had a big game of rounders on the field and the children played together very nicely. Mrs Biddle even showed us her bowling skils! It was a lovely afternoon and we have some very talented sportsmen and women.
The children have designed ‘walking into next year’ shoes, writing the things that they like, their favourite areas, their age, their favourite colour and their favourite story book.
They have planned a ‘letter to my future self’. We will be writing them up next week and they can then keep these letters to read back on. They are writing about their memories, what they are proud of and what they want to learn next year in their new year group.
One more full week to go 🙂
Dosbarth Nantddraig
The pupils of Dosbarth Nantddraig have all contributed to this week's blog.
On Monday we invited our parents into school to see what we have been doing in our Summit To Success programme. It was nice to show our all our experiences and some of us stood us and presented our highlights. For some, it was quite nerve wracking, but they did a super job and felt proud of themselves.
The triathlon was definitely one of the highlights of the week! Callum and Xander were in fierce competition, trying to cross the line before one another. We all had a goodie bag, which included popcorn(!) and a medal. After our triathlon, we had lunch on the big field, and we were calling out to the pupils from other schools to encourage them! It was good fun.
In forest school we made God's eyes, out of 2 sticks to make a cross and wool, dreamcatchers out of willow and wool and some of us painted something in the forest school area! Jac thought that the painting was very fun as he had to look carefully at the details to capture what he could see.
Next week in the last full week of school! It will be very busy with the Year 6 Leaver's service and their trip to Cardiff.
Headteacher's Blog 30ain Mehefin 2023
The last week in June came quickly. This week we have had our ‘move-up’ days allowing the children time in their new classes and new teachers. All the children were kind and helpful supporting the nursery pupils who had a full day and the Year 2 pupils who experienced the excitement of KS2. The transitions to high school continued too with all our Year 6 children returning to school full of the buzz from their new school and, sad as it is that they are leaving, we are all really pleased and proud of how excited they are to move on.
A helpful visit from PC Mark this week in Nannerch to have a chat with Year 4 and Year 6 to help them make good choices. It was great to have a joint trip with Nercwys School for a walk up Penycloddiau which happens to be the largest hillfort on the Clwydian Range and one of the largest in Wales. How lucky we are to have these amazing places right on our doostep.
Hillfort: Penycloddiau - Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB
Cofion, Mr Moore
Dosbarth Branwen 🙂
This week we have been busy adding to our memory books that the children are going to be able to take home before the summer.
The have been writing letters for their teachers 👩🏫 and writing what they have enjoyed this year. They have also been answering questions based on the pictures 🖼️ they could see in their books, writing full sentences.
During Maths we have been recapping multiplication skills and have been completing our RM maths challenges on the computer 💻.
We have completed our spelling tests and guided reading activities and the children have all read 📚 to their teachers, very well! DA IAWN PAWB.
All children had a fantastic day in their new year group/class. We welcomed our new nursery children 👋 who had a wonderful day and settled into the class very well. Reception and year 1 enjoyed moving into the next year group and the year 2 children had an excellent day in year 3 🙂
Miss Mac.
Dosbarth Nantddraig
Anna and Alice have written this week’s blog:
This week we have done lots of fun things...
At the start of this week, we did forest school with Mrs. Pierce, we did some different activities and challenges like balancing different objects, like leaves and stones. We also did a challenge called grab the stick. Pc mark came in and talked to different years groups and we watched some videos.
On Wednesday we went for a walk up Penycloddiau with Nercwys school, the Denbighshire Park rangers and Paul. We learned all about the people that used to live there on the hillforts and the history of Penycloddiau.
On Thursday we had our moving up day, it was so nice to meet the new year 3s. We did outdoor maths, we were given a number each and we had to join together to make the total Miss Roberts gave us. We did some arts and crafts about our favourite things, it was so fun getting to know everyone moving up.
On Friday, we had a service with Mrs. John. We talked about adventures and what they would bring. She told us all about what she is taking on her next adventure to a kid's university. We also did rounders in P.E with Miss Roberts, we learned how to do some underarm and overarm throwing.
Headteacher's Blog 23ain Mehefin 2023
The weeks are whizzing by now as we approach the summer break and we are fully in ‘Sports Day’ season. On Thursday Nannerch held their sports day and it was a brilliant success. So many stories of pupils being kind and demonstrating fair play. Nercwys’ sports day is next week and I expect much the same.
Our Y2 pupils attended the annual ‘Jambori’ event in Connahs Quay where they celebrated being Welsh sharing songs and having fun. It was lovely for the pupils to see Mrs. Meaden there too!
Cofion,
Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen 🙂
What another busy week we have had in Foundation Phase ⭐
The children have been labelling the features of a letter and have started writing their own letter to a chosen person about their trip to the Sea Aquarium 🐠🐟. They have been really focusing on their presentation and layouts. Next week we will be using our ICT skills to type up our letters using Hwb.
They have been singing lots of fantastic Welsh songs and then showing off their wonderful singing voices at the Jambori. The children all had a brilliant time and made us very proud!! 🏴
Sports day - ALL children performed excellently during sports day this week! We practiced the races ready for the big day and everyone did brilliantly. It was such a wonderful afternoon seeing all the parents and families coming to support their children 💛
They have completed their weekly spelling tests and have worked on handwriting techniques and presentation. Its lovely to see the children being proud of themselves when they complete a beautiful piece of work.
Da iawn Dosbarth Branwen, I am very proud of you, Miss Mac 😁
Dosbarth Nantddraig
In Dosbarth Nantddraig, one of our highlights of the week was on Tuesday, when we spent the day as College students! A huge thanks to Performing Arts department at Llandrillo College for hosting us. The children spent the morning in the studio filming a news and weather production. They produced the whole show, from the presenting to the filming, the sound and control desk to even being runners. We have some future TV stars amongst us.
That afternoon they put on the most fantastic performance of 'Revolting Children' from the Matilda Musical. Miss Roberts and Miss Cox were overwhelmed with their enthusiasm and energy!
Sports Day was another high. A big thank to Newydd for the Hydration Station. The delicious drinks and juicy fruit kept the children refreshed on what was a warm afternoon. Miss Roberts was very proud of the sportsmanship, effort and encouragement which each of the children showed. Da iawn Dosbarth Nantddraig.
Headteacher's Blog 16eg Mehefin 2023
Keeping cool and hydrated has been the order of the week. Lovely weather to get outside when we can, and we are lucky to have such beautiful outdoor area to enjoy it with plenty of shade!
I had a lovely end to the week meeting lots of new families who came to the Babies and Toddlers group which was hosted in our hall on Friday. They made the most of the space and had a great time. I also went over to see our local Playgroup for their open day event meeting even more families.
All the reports back from the aquarium trip were extremely positive and saying how wonderful our children were representing our school.
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
This week we have been:
exploring the outdoor areas, creating dream catchers out of different natural resources such as pinecones, sticks, leaves, feathers etc.
learning about the values: 'perseverance' and 'trust' this week. Guiding a partner blindfolded around an obstacle course and taking turns requires a lot of trust!
using different materials to build boats such as Lego, spaghetti and marshmallows and different recycled crafting bits and worked together in pairs to communicate.
We have had a wonderful school trip to the Sea Aquarium in Rhyl 🐠. The children saw lots of different animals 🦈 and were able to touch a few, including a Starfish. They also watched a lovely Sea Lion show in the Sunshine and enjoyed their dinner together as a class in the cafe area, surrounded by the turtles.
We have had a 😶🌫️ calming Friday afternoon completing some mindfulness activities and have listened to some Zenn music, making us feel lovely and relaxed. We have completed lots of Phonics this week and in Maths we have completed some maths mats recapping previous learnt skills.
We have had a fantastic week in school and have enjoyed the sunshine 🌞 very much! :)
Miss Mac
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week's blog is written by Bea, Erin and Ellie. Here are some of our favourite parts of the week.
In forest school we did an OPAL tree 🌳 survey, we used lots of skills including grid referencing and map reading. We used a key to identify the names of different trees. We found out where our school is on a map 🗺️, the co-ordinate on the grid were 16:69. We also learnt about What 3 Words, this is a very good app which gives every 3 square meters an individual code of 3 words. This can help to save lives if you are lost in water or on a mountain ⛰️!
In Summit to Success we were acting out a scene of an 🩹 injured hiker. It was important that we were confident so that we could project our voices to the audience. We also did a dance off 💃, which turned into the conga!
Next week is Sport's Day which we are looking forward to! It is also Ellie's Birthday 🎂! This week we have been practicing so that we are prepared for the big event.
We completed our 🎨 painting of a picture from the book Leaf. We used different materials including water colours, ready-mixed paint, pastels and pens.
Headteacher's Blog Dydd Gwener 9fed Mehefin 2023
A very warm (not too hot – yet!) welcome back after half term to everyone👋. This week has been extremely busy in both settings. The inspection reports have been very well received and many people have contacted school via letter, email and phone to congratulate us. I have passed all the comments on to Mrs Meaden who was really pleased😊.
We have had our governor committee meetings this week and I’m looking forward to the full governing body meeting next week so I can meet everyone.
An enjoyable week in Nannerch - the children were so excited to go on their nature walk and the pictures say it all. I can't wait to see the living wall come to life when the plants are fully grown!
Cofion,
Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen 🙂
The children have been doing lots of phonics activities, sounding out and games.
They have been crafting within the classroom, creating some nice bits for upcoming days and have been working together to complete challenges.
During PE they had a big game of rounders where they all tried really hard and enjoyed themselves out in the sunshine.
We have been reading letters from Michael Recycle and helping to sort his rubbish by creating pictograms, bar charts and block graphs in their maths books. They have drawn the graphs and filled in the information independently.
They have also started creating posters on the computers on 'How to look after my pet'. They are using the 2Simple app to create their posters using lots of different text styles, colours and sizes. Outside this week the children have been using different types of equipment to make mini beasts houses and having been painting some wonderful outdoors pictures. The children have been looking at floating and sinking during science and have made some of their own boats⛵ to test in the water🌊.
Dosbarth Nantddraig
This week we have been spending a lot of time outdoors🌳.
In 🌳forest school🌳 we have been identifying and investigating lots of different habitats and using iDial to identify different leaves🍃.
As part of our Summit to Success project we went on a nature walk👣 to the woodlands. We were able to spot different habitats long the way, including where an owl🦉 had slept the night before and a badger’s toilet!
We practised being still to see how much more we could see👀 and hear👂 around us. Some of us were able to spot a goldcrest bird which was exciting.
We had two visitors from 4Ward Futures! First was a super interesting talking all about the possibilities of a career in engineering. Secondly, we have been gifted the equipment to create a living wall! As part of our topic, we have been thinking about how to improve different areas around school and this will be a great way to transform one of our walls and support the bees too!
Headteacher's Blog Dydd Gwener 26ain Mai 2023
Our recent Estyn report is now available to read. Nannerch Primary School | Estyn (gov.wales)
The lovely weather continues 🌞! This week has been another 🐝 hive of activity in both schools.
The last six weeks have passed very quickly and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of getting to know the staff and pupils. Thank you to everyone for their dedication and support in moving all the children onwards. Our pupils are so very lucky to be educated in our unique and 🌈 beautiful settings 🌳.
At Nannerch I saw the children doing their maths tasks outside surrounded by nature, choosing their own preferred place to work in/on/under - it was very peaceful. We were also lucky to have Your Space from Wrexham come to deliver an assembly on Autism Awareness as a thank you for raising money.
Dosbarth Branwen
We have created 🌊ocean scenes this week working in groups putting all our creative ideas together. We have also sorted ♻️recycling during our Numeracy session. We have created outdoor art making the rainbow fish🐠 and have redesigned the recycling label to make our own.
We a day looking at the #FourPurposes on Wednesday doing activities and posters based on each one! We have added these and expanded on our classroom display.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
It's been a beautiful week and Dosbarth Nant Ddraig have been making the most of it with lots of outdoor learning. In maths we are learning about angles📐, so we explored the outdoors to find a range of angles, using our protractors to accurately measure.
We have had a few different visitors in school, including an assembly from Don't Touch, Tell! They are drug and alcohol safety specialists who shared the important message of what to do if we come across these substances to keep ourselves and others safe!
Following our letter to Paul Mullin, it was arranged to have a visit from the charity 'Your Space', which he is an ambassador for. We welcomed them and they shared different ways we can all be an ally to people with autism.
As we head into the final half term, we would like two wish our two Year 6 pupils who are taking part in the Trochi the best of luck. They will be heading to Ysgol Maes Garmon in September so will spend the month of June there, further developing their Welsh language skills. Pob lwc🍀!
The last half term promises to be just as full and busy with Leaver Services and Sports Day.
Enjoy the rest and the weather. See you all in June. Hwyl fawr!
Cofion, Mr. Moore
Headteacher's Blog Dydd Gwener 19eg Mai
A return to a full five-day week for all pupils was a chance to get back to normal. There has been a lot of activity outdoors this week at both schools with all our pupils enjoying the benefits of fresh air in these stunning settings we are so lucky enough to be learning in. There were so many pictures shared with me for the blog! I have tried to add as many as I can. Keep an eye on our twitter too as we add more pictures as the week progresses.
Dosbarth Branwen
Lots of work on phonics and capital letters this week. They have also made animal habitats following letters from different woodland animals. PE more tennis practice and retelling on Michael Recycle story book.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
It’s been a busy week! We celebrated #OutdoorClassroomDay at the beginning of the week. The weather was perfect, and we all love making the most of our super outdoor spaces. The children have been sharing their ideas for some upgrades too which they are looking forward to planning and designing with a budget.
We focused on the value of perseverance in Summit to Success. We worked together in teams to complete an obstacle course; it was challenging and took a lot a teamwork, but we had a lot of fun getting wet!
In forest school we have been investigating the habitats of different animals. We used a combination of natural materials and clay to make model animals. More to follow on this best week!
A big well done to the girls' football team who represented a Nannerch at the Fox Parry Shield in Deeside. I was so proud of the team for putting our value of perseverance in practice when they had some really tough matches! The girls grew in confidence every match and thoroughly enjoyed meeting new and old friends from lots of different schools. Mr Hills was very proud to hear how they had done too!
Miss R
Headteacher's Blog Dydd Gwener 12fed Mai
After the fun and pageantry of the Coronation weekend we started out last four-day week for a while and another action-packed week was had by both schools. The weather has been a good mix of warm sun and heavy rain. This seems to never stop the children from wanting to be outside and thankfully the rain cleared quickly so they could. As a Federation I have seen both schools making the most of the outside as and when they could this week.
The highlight for me this week was the Community Picnic project as part of #TheBigHelpOut coronation initiative. I was so proud of the pupils who came up with the idea and then planned it all from start to finish; decorations, food and even entertainment. It was brilliant to meet the parents, families and local members of our community and to welcome them into this special place.
This is also a week tinged with sadness as we say a sad farewell to two extremely valued members of staff. Mrs Barlow and Mr Hills. Mrs Barlow is leaving us to work a bit closer to home. We will miss her caring and kind nature. She has been so supportive to every child in the school - I did try to get her to stay but it wasn't enough. She will always have a special place in the children's hearts 💖 and we wish her the very best of luck🍀.
Mr Hills has been absolutely amazing and has made this place sparkle even more during his time here. Even though I have only been here 3 weeks – everyone tells me how wonderful he is and how they are going to miss him. We wish him well and safe travels on his trip/work adventure and hope he keeps us updated. I have told him we need a ‘Blog’ entry every Friday! Tạm biệt và chúc may mắn🍀.
Cofion,
Mr. Moore
In Dosbarth Branwen this week, we have been looking at acrostic poems and creating our own related to the ocean.
Maths - year 2 have been completing maths mats and challenges, year 1 have been measuring and reception have been measuring sea snakes using cubes.
Welsh - children have been asking for objects ga I..... and Mr. Hills has recorded the children in pairs and it's been uploaded to seesaw.
Science/art - the children have been planning their ocean scenes ready to create and look at materials next week.
Confidence boost - we have been thinking and talking about why we are confident, what things we might feel confident doing and what makes us happy.
Headteacher's Blog 5th May 2023
A fast four days in school due to the bank holiday but so much was packed into them. A flurry of activity has seen everyone preparing for the historic event of the Coronation👑.
It was great to see the KS2 class involved in the Awakening project with Paul this week. He is really enthusiastic and passionate. Our children are very fortunate to have him work with them. The legacy speeches the children came up with in a short space of time was 'hairs on the back of the neck' stuff.
As we enjoy our long weekend and celebrate the Coronation I shall leave this picture here for you to consider which afternoon tea person you are. For me, I am: C2B
Have a great weekend,
Mr. S Moore
Headteacher's Blog 28th April 2023
Well this week has gone extremely quickly. Children and staff in both schools have been working on their preparations for the Coronation with events taking place at both schools over the coming weeks.
It was amazing to see the sea of red, white and green as the pupils showed their support for the very successful Wrexham teams – both men’s and women’s. I received a fantastic persuasive letter from the children (and Mr Hills) politely requesting this day of celebration, which the pupils chose to include a fund-raising aspect. How could I say no?
I have managed to learn a few more names this week, met a few more parents and I am starting to get used to the different routines of both schools.
Monday night saw staff from both schools go to Ysgol Bryn Coch in Mold where we shared examples of work from across all age groups with the other schools in our cluster. It was great to hear so many positive comments about the high level of work and range of experiences our pupils receive.
As we head off for an extra-long weekend, I hope Mr. Heulog☀️ makes an overdue appearance.
Cofion,
Mr. Moore
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
An action-packed week in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig. The children investigated heart rates and how exercise can increase it. It was interesting to see the different results for different exercises. To chill out after, they created some Coronation Cocktails for the King - I must say that there were some delicious concoctions! Pulses were raised again with some fantastic cricket on display - I believe we have some budding cricketers in our midst. It was lovely to see everyone wearing red to celebrate the success of Wrexham's football teams and raising money for a great cause. A Super project - food share was really successful! Thank you all for your support. Da iawn pawb!
Dosbarth Branwen
In Language this week we were labelling the features of a diary. We have also been learning how to turn sentences from present to past in preparation for diary writing. This was tricky but we all did so well!
In Maths we have continued our learning of capacity and we did this through solving problems in year 1 and 2. Reception and Nursery were using different vocabulary using capacity.
We were working with our talking partners where we were given capacity problems to solve using practical methods.
We all completed RM maths which we enjoy.
PE this week was tennis, we were introduced to the game and were learning how to hold a tennis racket correctly. We also had a great Cricket session with Alan Davies - Thank you!
In Cymraeg we continued exploring our emotions and that of our story character, 'The Rainbow Fish'. We described how he felt all through the story. Lots of gymraeg pob dydd through the week which is helping us with regular phrases.
We are all very proud of our final artwork display of S.L Lowri. 'Coming out of School'. This we have explored historically and compared to coming out of school today.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Headteacher’s Blog 21st April 2023
Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you as the new Headteacher of the Nantlwys Federation. This has been a very interesting week where I have tried hard to learn a lot of new names and faces. It has been a pleasure to see the pupils working hard and having fun after their Easter break. Everyone I have met in the school community have been so welcoming - Diolch yn fawr!
I was intrigued to see the wide variety of ideas the children were generating in Dosbarth Branwen for their Coronation Big Help Out community event and look forward to their final decisions.
The weather seemed to be improving and we had a couple of sunny days which sadly haven’t lasted but did give the children time to learn and play outside more.
Reports will be sent out on Friday 14th July.
Details for Parent Appointments have been emailed:
Foundation Phase – Tuesday 2nd - May Miss McCormick
Juniors – Wednesday 3rd May - Miss Roberts
I am looking forward to meeting you all in the coming weeks. If you wish to discuss anything, please get in touch.
Mr S. Moore
Dosbarth Branwen
In Language this week we were sharing our Easter news and then writing an Easter diary as a cold write. Diary writing is this terms language focus.
We have created a Pie Corbett, Talk for Writing diary map of the 'Rainbow fish' to use when we begin writing a diary as the fish!
The children have added linking words to the start of sentences and we have discussed why they're important in diary writing.
In Maths we have been measuring. We have started to look at measuring capacity. Reception have been looking at full, half full, empty, nearly empty and nearly full. Year 1 and year 2 have been looking at measuring in ml. We will continue this next week solving some capacity problems. Nursery continue to fill and empty different sized containers which they are using super vocabulary linked to capacity.
In Humanities this weeks focus was sharing. We read the Rainbow Fish story and started to discuss why sharing is important and what we share and how it makes us feel. The children then drew around their hands and wrote things that they share and how it makes them feel.
In PE we performed yoga with an under the sea focus. The children are really enjoying their mindfulness and zen music at the end of the day on a Thursday 😊 This is supporting our relaxation and ways we can cope when we are feeling upset or anxious.
During Expressive Arts the children have created some wonderful ocean paintings, painting and learning about the different layers of the ocean and labelling them. We are going to be creating a mini display in class to showcase their artwork and we will be continuing to add to this.
We used our senses at the end of the week, children looked at a few different photographs of the ocean and talked about their five senses and what they might sense under the ocean. We will then look at the habitats around us in school and compare them.
Fantastic first week in Foundation Phase, the children have blew Miss Mac away 😁⭐
Dosbarth Nant Draig
In Dosbarth Nant Draig, it was an exciting welcome back to the new term. The topic for the term is "Cariad" where the children will explore the importance of Health and Wellbeing; in terms of physically, mentally, and socially. Part of this is the Summit to Succeed project which the children started to gather ideas for and completed questionnaires and used their pupil voice to share thoughts.
In maths, they continued to develop their conceptual understanding of time including looking at progression and converting between different formats of time. I was very impressed by the attitude to learning demonstrated, especially when some of the children were introduced to new ways of displaying the time and worked independently to find methods to convert.
In English, the class used their creative skills to come up with unique figurative language to describe all manner of things. The artistic language demonstrated was fantastic to see with the children able to create similes, metaphors, personification, exaggerative terms, and even some puns. Their Cymraeg was on display too as they completed a questionnaire with each other using their Welsh language skills and then started designing powerpoints about famous Welsh athletes and their impact on culture in Cymru.
As part of the Cariad topic, the children considered the importance and impact of ethics. They analysed different scenarios and discussed what would be an ethical way to act. Mr Hills tells me that it was incredibly heart-warming to hear their outlook on life and how to treat others; both friends and strangers.
Mrs Meaden's last blog 29th March 2023
A very big thank you to everyone for all their kindness during my time as Headteacher, I really enjoyed my last week although I was feeling emotional.
I was lucky to join the team at Ysgol Nannerch. Mrs John did say when I joined that it was a very special school and I would totally agree with this description. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and felt supported by a wonderful team and supportive Governors.
I was so proud of all our learners and the team during Inspection. I am pleased with the initial feedback the Inspection team gave as it does recognise what a lovely school Ysgol Nannerch is. Everyone’s pride in their school was obvious to the team. I am sure everyone will enjoy celebrating the report when it is published in May.
A big thank you to Miss Roberts and the team for organising such a fantastic last day for me and everyone. I had asked could they please make sure they didn’t have the Easter egg hunt without me! The learners were able to share all that they had achieved this term with their fashion show – everyone was so impressed with the clothing. Thank you so much to Dharma and Flynn’s mum for supporting the project and making it even more special. She gave the project work with 4ward Futures a little more sparkle. Everyone enjoyed looking at the work that had been produced.
Can I say a very big thank you to everyone for all the very kind gifts. I am really appreciative, it was so lovely coming home with so many memories of the children complimented by the card and frame. Everyone has been extremely kind and my family all enjoyed sharing the wonderful cake. I am very lucky that Mr Moore is a warm hearted replacement and has kindly said that I am always welcome in school.
The team kindly made sure that we finished the day in style by booking 5 courses and cocktails at the Fat Boar. We would all recommend this experience. A good night was had by all.
Headteacher’s Blog 24th March 2023
Wow, what a week!
Everyone has worked so hard to showcase our lovely school. A big thank you to our fantastic learners, parents and the wonderful staff. We have been one big team and this has been obvious to the Inspectors.
We will be able to celebrate a positive Inspection report. I can’t share any detail at this point as it is still confidential but I am smiling alongside the staff. I can share that the lead Inspector said that I could move forward into my part time position happy in the knowledge that the schools are in a good position for Mr Moore to take forward. Mr Moore joined us for the Inspectors’ feedback and was very positive about all he had heard.
A big well done to all the staff and learners for giving of their best throughout the week. Thank you to our lovely families for all your support.
Dosbarth Branwen
What a fantastic week we have had in Foundation Phase. We have had so much fun completing our activities and independently challenging ourselves in the different Continuous Provision areas.
In Maths we have been presenting survey results practically in pictograms, block graphs and bar graphs. We have also started looking at fractions. Making pizzas and sorting pictures.
In Language and RE we went for a visit to our Church in Nannerch to collect information for our non-fiction books. Thank you to Mrs Wright and Mrs Yeardly for supporting our visit and making it so informative! We have now started creating our class non-fiction book writing up the facts that we found out in Church. We cannot wait to see the end result of our book. The children have also been sequencing the Easter Story.
In PE the children completed a circuit to be strong like the three little pigs. They worked so hard for 40 minutes taking little breaks throughout. They did press ups, sit ups, burpees, shuttle runs and many more tricky activities - pupils were great at noticing different effects on their bodies and how their pulse rate was going quicker as they were carrying out more exercise.
In Welsh we looked at welsh foods, sorting them into iach (healthy) and afiach (unhealthy). We also drew the welsh flag.
This week within Science and Technology we have took part in an 'eggsperiment'. We were testing different landings to see if our eggs would crack. The children made predictions and then we peer/self-assessed what had happened during the experiment.
During Art we have created some beautiful Easter gardens that are now out in our area outside of classroom - da iawn pawb.
The children have completed so many challenges including playdough, maths outdoors, language outdoors, designing Easter eggs with repeating patterns, making stained glass windows, sorting letters and numbers, designing a cross with our school values and many more.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
An action-packed week for Dosbarth Nant Ddraig. It started with their CASLOE project looking at sustainability. As part of this they made their own Thai Dye t-shirts (a huge thank you to Lou!). They are looking extremely stylish!
The children also learnt all about biochar and its positive effects on sustainability and growing vegetables. They have planted some tomato plants; some in biochar and some in "normal" soil to see which is most effective.
To further develop their digital skills, they created animations on iPads and in maths they created their own clocks and explored time changing.
I was so pleased to hear that the class raised £39 for World Water Day - well done!
Headteacher's Blog 3rd March 2023
It was lovely to welcome everyone back to school on Monday. The learners are becoming very used to welcoming Visitors into school. We welcomed the Director of Education Mrs Claire Homard and the Leader of the Council Mr Ian Roberts into both schools on Monday. They were really interested in all the children’s activities and chatting to them about their work and school life. Cllr Roberts was particularly interested in hearing about the school meals, any difficulties we were having and was keen to see what the children were served and chatting to them about the food.
We then had the candidates for the Headteacher’s post visit both schools. They were all impressed at our hardworking learners. It was lovely to see their reaction to the fabulous outdoor facilities in both sites.
Within our Staff Meeting on Friday we discussed the feedback from our School Improvement Advisor following the recent Learning Celebrations/ Book Scrutiny/ Observations of work. We have completed this process for Literacy, Numeracy and for Digital evidence. The vast majority of the report was extremely positive with some suggestions for future improvements.
Everyone enjoyed their St David’s Day activities and their Welsh activities this week, they are looking forward to the Eisteddfod.
Our Brenin yr Wythnos this week are Erin And Dougie P for the value of Community, da iawn!
Dosbarth Branwen
Maths
This week in maths we have been completing Esti mysteries - we have worked hard to estimate and read clues to find our answers. We have also completed some challenging mental maths activities alongside RM maths on the computer.
Language
Over the next few weeks foundation phase and going to be creating a nonfiction book based on our local church. Therefore, this week we looked at the features of fiction and non-fiction books and sorted them into a table in our language books.
PE
Relating to St David's day, nursery to year 2 all started to learn a welsh folk dance this week in PE. Everyone worked so hard to keep in time with each other and we managed to perform a lot of the routine that we wanted.
St David's Day
Many different activities were completed today such as handwriting entries for our handwriting competition that will be announced during our Eisteddfod, an art competition where the children studied daffodils and completed observational paintings of them. We learnt about St David's and made paper chains and welsh flags. We then had welsh song practice and welsh poems practice.
Beebot
One of the projects we are starting is a coding project using beebot. We have this week recapped our knowledge on how to use beebot by following programming sheets and we have also created some of our own to follow. We have so many more exciting activities to do over the upcoming weeks.
Map reading
We have looked at a map of the school and have discussed and labelled where each area of our school is on the map. We have also discussed directions from room to room using forwards, backwards, left and right. We will be using this knowledge to create our own maps next week.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
With it being St David's Day this week the class have been placing a focus on Welsh language, history, and culture; in particular in regards to Y Cynefin. This has also included preparing for the Eisteddfod next week.
The children have been magnificently learning a Welsh poem all about families (Fy nheulu a Fi). They then used this for their handwriting competition, and I can see that there will be some tough choices for the judges to make.
As part of the creative side of the Eisteddfod they have looked at different Welsh artists and started to create digital art of Welsh landscapes in the style of these artists. I am incredibly impressed by the standards presented.
Headteacher's Blog 17th February 2023
A super week. I loved seeing our learners thrilled faces yesterday as they returned from the Gymnastics competition. The competition was in Flint High and we were able to take eight budding gymnasts. Mr Hills tells me that every single one of them was wonderful and set a great example with their efforts and behaviour. Not only did the whole team receive commendations for their skills, but they won a total of 10 medals, including 1st and 2nd in the "overall" category. I was equally pleased to hear that they had been so supportive of one another. Mr Hills and Miss Cox said that they were a pleasure to take to the competition.
I have tweeted the lovely photos.
It was lovely to welcome the Open the book team again. A big well done to our Brenin yr Wythnos to Nel for the value of Perseverance and Emily for the Value of Community.
Rev Kathy gave us a reminder about Messy Church on the theme of Frozen. They will be making a snow globe, Sven cakes, Olaf socks and Troll in Veg. This is at New Brighton Church from 4pm to 5.30pm on Sunday.
Have a restful and enjoyable half term everyone.
Another busy week for Dosbarth Branwen
Everyone has enjoyed the morning challenges - this week the learners have had numerous challenges to complete in the morning including coordinate activities, handwriting practice and active workouts.
Language: This week the learners have created an iMovie to support our work on Cynefin they picked an area in the school to talk about in their movie. They had to plan who was saying what and think about expression. Everyone worked together to practice their roles. They then took pictures of the area they were going to talk about and then recorded an iMovie on an iPad.
Maths: Year 2 have been practicing their 2,5,10 times tables, they also completed money-based activities. Year 1 have been working with tens and units practically and written and have also looked at money. Reception have looked at number formation and number bonds up to 5 both practically and also written.
PE - This session was used this week to revisit previous gymnastics skills, they were then given an opportunity to perform for their peers.
Welsh - Beth wyt ti'n hoffi? What do you like? Everyone thought about what they liked. They developed their Oracy skills in Welsh and then had the chance to write them.
Spelling and reading - The learners have completed their spelling tests and have worked through guided reading activities.
Dosbarth Nant ddraig
A lovely last week of the half-term in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig. The children followed algorithms and investigated debugging instructions when necessary. From this, they looked at how to ensure that instructions to make a paper aeroplane were comprehensive and easy to follow.
They had their final swimming session of the term. I heard that their skills have advanced and that they thoroughly enjoyed having a play in the pool with floats and balls.
Have a lovely half term!
Headteacher’s Blog February 10th 2023
Another busy week. We had another successful learning celebration with a focus on Literacy this time. It was such a pleasure looking through the Learners’ work with our School Improvement Advisor, Mrs John and Mrs Gunes. Our Learning Scrutiny involves different forms of monitoring pupil standards. This term we have looked through pupils work and evidence of their learning within Literacy, Numeracy and DCF (Digital Communication Framework). Last term we used Pupil Voice as a focus where pupils were asked to show us their learning, show us their books and how they thought they were progressing. We are very proud of all the outcomes this year already, pupils showing confidence in their abilities and able to show high standards throughout all year groups in both schools. We have both schools working together and we can see how supportive working as a Federation is, so much so that one of our partner schools Ysgol y Foel, Cilcain may join us.
We have had Governors subcommittee meetings this week: We have had Health and Safety, and Curriculum sub committee meetings this week. Staffing and Finance sub committees will be meeting next week with a Full Governors meeting on 15th February.
It was a week full of activities in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig. In English, the children completed their hot writes of a script - they clearly have some creative minds and there are some budding writers in the class.
The children also looked at the importance of internet safety and "stranger danger". This was a message which they considered thoughtfully and then produced some great work reflecting on it.
Mr Hills looked at the concept of Ffrindiau'r Byd - Friends of the World. This was in the context of Y Cynefin and how we all love for and care for our Cynefin. The children contemplated how they are ethical, informed citizens of their school, Cynefin, and the World.
They took part in a webinar which introduced the topic of sustainable clothing. It was fascinating to learn that clothes can now be made out of fish scales or mushrooms in order to be eco-friendly and that seaweed can be used to make water bottles which biodegrade.
Branwen
We have finished our fact files, edited and used AFL (Assessment for Learning) strategies to improve our work. We love using the purple polishing pencils and stampers in our work to show what we have improved and learned.
Nursery have been busy exploring where they live and been learning Welsh colours and numbers. They are continuing to enjoy The Three Little Pigs role play and acting out the story - great oracy Nursery!
In Maths we have continued to challenge ourselves in our weekly Esti Mystery and also partitioning Tens and ones, learning number bonds and multiplications.
Headteacher's Blog 3rd February 2023
The week has passed by quickly for everyone with lots of exciting activities for our learners. It was good to see Mark Waters from 4Ward Futures and his team back in school, it was lovely to see Della Thomas one of our Governors supporting with the project.
This has been an eventful week for me as I gave my resignation to the Governing Body. This was very difficult to do as I really enjoy the role but as I am not getting any younger I wanted to reduce my pace of work. My new role is part time so I will have more time for my family. Nannerch is a wonderful school with extremely supportive staff. The learners are all brilliant, everyone who visits agrees. We also have a supportive Community who are always willing to help in any way they can. I am glad I have a little more time to enjoy the school.
We had a lovely Open the Book Assembly again today, we finished the story of Jacob and Esau. A big well done to everyone who supported the Open the Book team in acting out the story. A big well done to our Brenin yr Wythnos, Gwyn for our value Wisdom and Albert for our values Compassion and Community.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
A fascinating and practical week for Dosbarth Nant Ddraig as they continued their exploration into the digital revolution. It was a fun way to look at it by thinking about their favourite toys and things to play with.
In languages, they started to write scripts in both English and Welsh. Mr Hills tells me that their Welsh language scripts are wonderful and I can't wait to see the subsequent weather reports that they're filming.
It was a great life skill that they developed when choosing an aspect of mathematics to teach to their peers. Having to think how to explain the concept and then come up with questions was lots of fun for the children.
Dosbarth Branwen
A super week exploring how to write a fact file and for Year 2 how to develop a fact file on the computer using Hwb JIT 2Write. A lot of perseverance was shown in Year 2, especially when the whole of Wales network for schools went down whilst we were in the middle of saving and printing our final drafts!
Nursery have been busy creating different houses for the Three Little Pigs and have explored different strengths in materials. They have been using the super new role play area to act out the story too.
We have all been finishing the 3D map of Nannerch and we will share this with you next week as it is amazing - Thank you Mrs Biddle for all your patience with assembling all this!
In Maths we have been using addition and subtraction to support our mental recall and also use for our Esti Mysteries. Reception have been practising their number formation to 10 and are counting and adding to 10 and 20. Da iawn!
Thank you for your patience in using the front entrance for the time being whilst we sort out the infant matted area.
Headteacher’s Blog 27th January 2023
Another busy week but at least we haven’t had any issues with the weather! Everyone continues to work hard and engage with our theme, Y Cynefin. I love all the creativity in Dosbarth Branwen. The new construction area looks so inviting. I have been so impressed with the learners modelling and more importantly the wonderful explanations given about what they have been creating.
We had a real treat this morning as we had another very successful Toddler’s session held in school. I think everyone really enjoyed the morning. Everyone enjoyed their snack which was delicious and healthy. It was lovely to see Mrs Yeardley our Bishop’s visitor and governor who is a regular visitor leading our Open the Book services. She was visiting today in her role as Nain instead.
The theme of our Worship was everyone working together as a team a big thank you to my helpers Alice, Osian and Bea who took part in the story. They took on larger roles than I had planned. Thank you to Erin for leading us in prayer.
Da iawn to our Brenin yr Wythnos -Flynn and Lila who were both recognised for the value of Perseverance, a big well done to both.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
This week the children began to look at the industrial revolution and how it affected Y Cynefin. They were very knowledgeable and were able to explain how they knew the world had changed over time, and then used this to think of various inventions and when they might have happened on a timeline of the last 200 years. They then thought about how the world has changed so rapidly in recent years due to the digital revolution and how our lives are consequently so different.
Mr Hills had some very active and practical numeracy challenges, including investigation the area, perimeter, volume of numerous igloos and their building blocks. At the end of the week, the children took part in the RSPB's Big Bird Watch; identifying the species and looking at the data to find the mean of each species over the years.
The children began their project of recording a Welsh-language weather report by building a vocabulary bank ready to create a script and record.
Dosbarth Branwen
We have had a lovely week, full of enthusiastic pupils and so much learning. We have been constructing different types of houses linked to our class story, The Three Little Pigs. Pupils have been constructing on large and small scale and been problem solving to achieve their end product.
Our 3D map of Nannerch is coming together and we are now researching different buildings in Nannerch to create a fact file in our Language lessons. We have used historical sources to find out when school was built and why the school had a bell. What school was like from a recount of a lady who came to Nannerch in 1929. Some pupils have decided to research the Cross Foxes, the Church, Postbox and Penbedw.
As part of our 3D map we have had to make roads. We decided roads were either made from concrete or tarmac, a surface which was very 'strong and grippy'.
Pupils were then set on a challenge through a science investigation working out how to make 'tarmac'. Pupils used sand, glue, paint and water to create a mixture which when painted became really hard and bumpy. Pupils loved exploring, independently solving problems. These are some of the questions which were being asked through the process:
'Why is my mixture too watery?'
'Why is mine too dark or too light?'
'How can I make mine stronger?'
'Mine is too thick!'
Whilst discussing their problems others were able to help and support or give advice as to how they had made theirs differently. We all learnt so much and enjoyed the task! The following day the 'tarmac roads' were amazing - very strong and grippy. We can't wait to show you the display when it is finished!
Our topic, Y Cynefin, is already proving to be very successful in terms of engagement and skills being developed. Da iawn pawb!
Headteacher's Blog 20th January 2023
What a week with the weather. I hope everyone has managed to stay safe.
It was such a shame we had to close school on Wednesday, but I hope everyone enjoyed their extra day and enjoyed all of the snow. Nannerch resembled Narnia on Tuesday and looked even better on Wednesday from all the photos.
Everyone has loved all the snow based activities in school. A big thanks to Teaching staff for being so creative.
We don’t take the decision to close school lightly. I set off for Health and Safety training at 7,45 am and eventually reached Northop at 11 am. The A55 had been closed due to a multi vehicle collision, this demonstrated that we had made the right decision.
Some families are asking about potential disruption following announcements from the teaching unions. I am afraid I have no further information at this point, I am expecting guidance from Flintshire and my Union but as yet I haven’t received that. I will update families as soon as I receive any further information, many thanks for your patience.
The Open the Book Service was lovely again today. We had the beginning of the story of Jacob and Esau. A big well done to our Brenin yr Wythnos for this week, Freddie for our value ‘Wisdom’ and Jonas for the values of ‘Community, Compassion, Wisdom and Perseverance’! Very well done boys.
Chinese New Year Lunch on Monday details have been shared and we look forward to a Chinese Themed lunch.
Have a lovely weekend and enjoy what is left of the snow.
Dosbarth Nant ddraig
This week the children had snow much fun doing lots of practical challenges. They were set a challenge of building an igloo. In order to do this, they had to evaluate which boxes out of a selection would be the best for making building blocks. Using their scientific knowledge they then started their engineering project. Mrs John told me how lovely it was to see the children working as a team, organising each other and teaming up outside their usual friendships and age groups. Mr Hills was overjoyed to hear the children discussing which of the Four Purposes they used with the consensus being that they were ambitious, enterprising, healthy, and ethical during the process.
It's wonderful to hear of the confidence building as the children continue their swimming lessons. They are becoming much more efficient at independently getting ready and are showing comfort at being in and around water. In their P.E. lessons, they are focusing on balance and precision during gymnastic classes, thinking about how to be accurate and not rush through moves.
They have been exploring the Welsh alphabet and its phonetic characteristics - using these skills to understand that once they have a solid grasp of the letters then they can read and write any Welsh words.
Dosbarth Branwen
This week we have produced some excellent handwriting, Mrs John is very proud of us with our efforts! Year 2 are trying really hard to use a cursive style in their handwriting practice and some pupils are now applying these new skills into their independent writing.
Nursery have been really enjoying The Three Little Pigs and their 'brick' house has had a makeover! Thank you Mrs Whitehead, Mrs Barlow and Nursery, it looks fantastic and a lot of fun. Nursery have been learning the letter 'p' this week and made some super pig masks!
Pupils in Year 1 and 2 have engaged in 'Esti Mystery' challenges based around estimation, deeper level thinking and problem solving. We are enjoying these so much that we are asking Mrs John for more every week!
Year 1 and 2 have begun their spellings again this term so please check your child's reading folder.
Reception have been learning how to use a new computer programme which is helping them order numbers and recognise values and numerals. Da iawn Reception!
The highlight of the week was definitely being challenged by Miss Mac and Mr Hills to build an igloo and use scientific knowledge and investigation of the best way to build one. Pupils worked so well together from Nursery to Year 6 and the teamwork was outstanding. The skills gained from this was construction, engineering, teamwork and testing materials and their strengths. We are hoping it may still be there on Monday - fingers crossed!
Headteacher's Blog 13th January 2023
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda /Happy New Year!
I hope everyone has enjoyed the festivities and family time.
Our theme for Monday’s Training Day was Wellbeing, we really put Ysgol Nannerch on the map. We had invited Ysgol Nercwys, Ysgol Y Foel, Cilcain, the Bryniau federation – Caerwys and Lixwm and also Ysgol Sychdyn. We also invited Mrs Downes to join us from the Diocese and Mrs Borthwick from Flintshire. The Training Day was led by Mr Paul Griffiths from the Awakening Programme. A big thank you to Paul, he has moved into the area and has kindly given his time to support the schools. Mrs Downes is trying to look for funding to fund a special project with him in Nannerch school. Mrs Borthwick also thinks he will be able to support the County’s work in this area.
The children quickly got back into their stride with a good attitude to their school work following the break.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
To start 2023 off with aims and targets, the children set personal goals for 2023. They wanted to continue building on the skills they have learned in the past and strive to reach new heights in their lives. To further look at the year ahead the children also created a calendar of religious festivals from around the world to help each other understand and appreciate the diverse cultures and traditions in our community.
The topic for the term is Y Cynefin. The children will get to think about and discuss why they feel a belonging to their local community, area, and culture. This will be done through studying and reflecting on the history, geography, and environment. It was a pleasure to see their enthusiasm and wonderful ideas.
The children delved into the Four Purposes of the Curriculum for Wales which are to provide learners with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to achieve their full potential and live fulfilling lives; to support learners in becoming responsible, resilient, and effective contributors to society and to promote Wales, its culture, and its languages.
Dosbarth Nantdraig
To start 2023 off with aims and targets, the children set personal goals for 2023. They wanted to continue building on the skills they have learned in the past and strive to reach new heights in their lives. To further look at the year ahead the children also created a calendar of religious festivals from around the world to help each other understand and appreciate the diverse cultures and traditions in our community.
The topic for the term is Y Cynefin. The children will get to think about and discuss why they feel a belonging to their local community, area, and culture. This will be done through studying and reflecting on the history, geography, and environment. It was a pleasure to see their enthusiasm and wonderful ideas.
The children delved into the Four Purposes of the Curriculum for Wales which are to provide learners with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to achieve their full potential and live fulfilling lives; to support learners in becoming responsible, resilient, and effective contributors to society and to promote Wales, its culture, and its languages.
In English with Miss Roberts, the children started to look at the features that are found in a narrative. They explored why these features are present and what effect they have. Mr Hills introduced some games in maths to make times-tables fun and continue building a good foundation of mathematical knowledge.
Branwen
We began our topic Y Cynefin and immersed ourselves into our local area! We began looking at our school and went on a tour around rooms we had never been in before - hard to believe in a small school! Pupils wrote notes on their clipboards and then used this information in their humanities lesson. The following day we looked around the village noticing special features of the village and buildings. We visited the Old School House which pupils couldn't believe how tiny it was and that it used to be Nannerch school in the 'olden days'!
Since returning to school we have begun creating a huge village map of Nannerch using construction and junk modelling - it is already looking fabulous. Year 2 had problems to solve using cardboard boxes whilst turning them into Nannerch building that they had chosen to work on.
In Numeracy with Miss Mac pupils carried out a Welsh Survey asking everyone around the school where they lived. The questions were in Cymraeg and I was so impressed! Pupils used their data to create bar charts and pictograms. They were able to tell me the least and most popular areas that people lived.
There are no spellings this week, they will resume next Friday :)
Today we had a wonderful assembly led by Matt Reid a member of the North Wales Crusaders. He talked to the learners about the sport, health and fitness and also the importance of hydration which was made into a fun task with a water race.
He has given some complimentary junior tickets which will go out on Monday. A big well done to Callum who won the family ticket by asking the most interesting question.
He also gave the Brenin yr Wythnos awards out to Madoc for Perseverance and Grace for Trust. A big Da iawn to both. We did say that these were important values within his sport. Trust is really important within a Team sport and Perseverance is a must to improve skills.
Headteacher’s Blog 17th December 2022
Winter has definitely arrived, everywhere is beautiful but very difficult underfoot. It was such a shame to have to cancel the evening performances this week but it would have been too much of a risk. I really hope the forecasters are correct and we will be able to enjoy both concerts on Monday evening.
A big well done to all our stars, Dosbarth Branwen gave a wonderful performance they were all fantastic. The Christmas concert always feels like the start of Christmas to me. The learners were absolutely fantastic. They had so many lines to remember, they were all word perfect. Mrs John didn’t have to prompt them at all. They sang beautifully with lots of smiles and enthusiasm. You could see the enjoyment on Parents/ Grandparents faces as they watched the concert. They had also taken notice of our school priority and managed to use lots of Welsh too. A big achievement, da iawn pawb!
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig were equally brilliant on the Tuesday they took us out of this world and on a space adventure. Four aliens landed and whilst trying to repair their very impressive spaceship (Thanks Mrs Barlow and Anna for making it!). They were all told the Christmas story and the message of Christmas. The learners were extremely impressive and they all supported one another. Miss Roberts was in the front and ready to give prompts - but she wasn’t needed. She was kept busy starting the spaceship noises as the aliens entered the stage. Everyone loved the production we had lots of smiles from Parents tinged with a little sadness as Year 6 parents realised it was their last Christmas concert. We had community visitor Bob Dukeson whose children came to the school – he told me how impressed he was, he thought they were fantastic. Paul Griffiths @awakening who has just moved into the area also came to watch. He has been supporting our Wellbeing programme and enjoys visiting Nannerch as his local school. His fiancé is a Performing Arts specialist, she also enjoyed the concert and commented that we had some talented young people.
A big thank you to all the staff who have worked so hard to support the learners in their concerts, it is very much appreciated. We have a fantastic team at Ysgol Nannerch.
Everyone enjoyed Christmas lunch, a real celebration!
Well done to After School club staff as always for producing some wonderful Christmas activities for our learners. A treat for everyone and lovely keepsakes for families.
Criw Cymraeg are working hard to think of further improvements in school following our school Partnership visit. They have just had a tour of school and they are thinking about how we can improve our displays to demonstrate to any visitor that we are a contemporary school in Wales. They have had lots of super ideas and suggestions.
A big thank you to the PTA which are always brilliantly supportive and provided refreshments. It is definitely Christmas time with the learners’ concerts and the smell of mulled wine and mince pies in the air. Thank you for all your efforts as always. It was lovely to see Mrs Pierce helping too.
We ended the week with a lovely Christingle Service spreading the message of Christmas to all. Everyone made their Christingles on Thursday morning, Mr Hills was impressed at the learners’ knowledge from previous years. We all went to Church for the Service with the Open the Book team. They had organised the event and supplied all the oranges, ribbon, cocktail sticks, candles and most importantly of all sweets. Year 6 had the opportunity to make theirs in Church – Blue Peter style.
The Rev Kathy led the service with Mrs Yeardley. We had a reminder about the meaning of the Christingle service and its German origins. We then watched Mr Bob Dukeson being transformed into a Christingle – everyone had a chuckle as Rev Kathy took the cushions to pad him out and wrap him in orange material. She added a sash and some knitting needles to complete the transformation. The learners – Dharma, Anna and Isobelle led the prayers and we sang some songs from the Christmas play. It was lovely for our Families to join us and see the Open the Book team and the lovely worship opportunities they bring. As always, we celebrated our Brenin yr Wythnos on the Friday and it was nice to do it in Church with the Community there. Well done to Dharma for the Value of Trust and Freddie for the Value of Wisdom.
Have a lovely weekend and we can all look forward to the Concert on Monday evening. Can we have all pupils in school for 5.30pm please We have the Panto on Tuesday – many thanks to the PTA for paying for the bus to allow us to go. We have the Christmas Fayre on Wednesday 2-4pm including a PTA Cafe and big celebrations on Thursday with our Party and then After School Club have organised a film night. Everyone can then enjoy the well-deserved time with their families. We will look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on the 10th January.
Headteacher’s Blog 9th December 2022
The week has rushed by in a flurry of activities and Christmas concert practice. Everything became more exciting as we saw the snow start to fall just as everyone was arriving in school this morning.
A huge thank you to Miss Williams and Mrs Whitehead for planning a wonderful Christmas Cookery Club this week! I showed our visitors how vibrant and engaging the cookery club was, mince pies, banana Santa’s and white chocolate snowballs – yum! A huge amount of skills being developed and a whole lot of fun.
Many apologies that we had to cancel the football match this week. we rang Ysgol Gwernymynydd first thing this morning as we didn't think it was safe to have learners playing football in these conditions. It is better to reorganise for the new year than have anyone injured for Christmas.
School Improvement – As part of the Schools Partnership Programme we have enjoyed welcoming the Headteacher of Ysgol y Foel, Cilcain and a member of the Senior Leadership team from Ysgol Sychdyn, into school. They have watched lessons, had a learning walk and spoken to Learners about our Welsh priority. The Learners made us very proud as they showcased their skills and knowledge. They were so enthusiastic and very proud of their achievements and the school, especially Grace and Isobelle who told them about the extra activities that we do to promote 'Cymraeg pob dydd'. They then started to ask me about our celebratory occasions in school - Callum and Dharma told them about the recent Jambori and the Eisteddfod. They loved the competitions. They could see the progression of skills throughout the school although the early years pupils stole their hearts with their lovely Cymraeg welcome song. The visitors will then provide a report with all that we can celebrate as well as any next steps for improvement. A big thank you to all the staff who support the learners in such a supportive manner.
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
I'm happy to say that the Christmas play for Nant Ddraig is sounding excellent. I've refrained from actually watching any of it so that it can be a surprise for me on the night, but I've caught moments as I go through the hall and can hear the delightful singing.
The children have been thinking of, designing, and creating games ready for the Christmas Fayre. They are extremely creative and enterprising! It looks like a lot of fun will be had at the different stalls and challenges.
In maths, the children have been challenging each other on their times tables. It's been a fun and competitive environment and Mr Hills tells me that they have really enjoyed stretching their minds.
Branwen
We too have been very busy finalising our Christmas performance in readiness for next week! Pupils are singing beautifully and we have been practicing how to project our voices which is tricky!
We hope our families like their surprise letter which will come through the post! Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have completed a beautiful letter each addressed to their families or pets. Each one is very unique and pupils have thought really hard about the content of the letter. Year 2 have focused on their handwriting and punctuation. We are so proud of our learners for all their achievement and progress already this school year!
Many thanks to the Open the Book team for leading our celebration service. Da iawn to our Brenin yr Wythnos Dougie in Dosbarth Branwen for Wisdom and to Ava in Dosbarth Nant Ddraig also for Wisdom.
We can look forward to our Christmas Concerts and the Christingle service next week.
Headteacher's Blog 2nd December 2022
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas … and sound like it too! The stage is up and everything is set for all the Christmas period.
A big thank you to Bodfari Environmental for donating such a gorgeous Christmas tree. Well done to Mrs John and the learners who accompanied her for choosing such a lovely tree and for decorating it so beautifully. It looks stunning in the hall ready for all our Christmas events.
It is lovely to see and hear everyone starting to practice in preparation for the Christmas Concert. They are also enjoying thinking about crafts for the Christmas Enterprise Fayre. A big thank you to staff for covering absences in a way that hasn’t impacted learning and has kept everyone smiling.
Dosbarth Branwen had a special visit from Explore and set up in the hall as a surprise was a Stardome! Our own planetarium for the morning - it was truly amazing! A big thanks to the PTA for making this possible. All the learners including Nercwys also said a big thank you for allowing them to visit. The Stardome gave pupils a real feeling of being in Space and seeing the star constellations in the sky. We were blown away by our pupils knowledge and so much so, the Explore team said they have never been to a school like it with so much knowledge and enthusiasm! We are so proud of our super pupils!
The staff from Nercwys were extremely complimentary about all the lovely displays showing pupil progress when they came to visit. Nannerch pupils and staff are looking forward to a visit to Nercwys in the near future.
Everyone has loved their visit to Dangerpoint and I was impressed to hear how much they had remembered. This is a super trip which engages pupils thoughts and knowledge of 'keeping themselves and others safe' as well as an environmental programme which our older pupils engaged in. We had compliments from Dangerpoint on learner enthusiasm, attitude and their knowledge across the Federation in all classes.
Congratulations to Thomas and Anna for being awarded Brenin yr Wythnos – Thomas had his for Wisdom and Anna had hers for Community. Da iawn!
A big thank you for all your kind gifts towards the Christmas Fayre. Everyone has been wonderfully generous as always - Mrs Fowles' office is full of treats!
Dosbarth Branwen
The Early Years learners are enjoying practicing the Christmas play with their friends, they are all little stars. They are enjoying the songs and trying very hard. I could also hear them telling Mrs Barlow and each other what they would like on their Christmas list. I hope Santa is listening, they are all very good!
In Maths this week we have continued the theme of time focusing on O' clock and half past and our older pupils have moved on to quarter past and quarter to - a super challenge.
Year 1 pupils have been continuing to count in 2's but have explored this through multiplication practically. Year 2 have used inverse methods of adding and subtracting when checking the accuracy of their answers. Reception have completed a star challenge this week, counting stars and adding gems to all the stars in the sky. Super counting as they worked out which star had more or less gems.
Within guided reading based activities Reception completed a visualisation task, Year 1 responded to the piece by completing an autumn picture, colouring it in and grouping word endings. Year 2 wrote independent stories about their picture. A phonics focus this week was to try and correct pupils mispronunciation on the sounds, v, th, f and ensure they are using the correct sound to the correct word.
Pupils letters have been edited and the hot write has been produced. Purple polishing pens have been in force to support pupils progress through teacher feedback. A lot of hard work and progress during this genre - well done!
DangerPoint was a super trip, we were so thrilled to meet up with Chaos again! We had to find how many times he had misbehaved and we found him in dangerous places as we visited lots of different rooms. It was great to have spent time with our Nercwys friends and Year 2's particularly enjoyed the time chatting and building new friendships.
On Thursday when we arrived back to school from Dangerpoint we went into the hall for a special service with Mrs John. We hung decorations on the Christmas tree and watched the lights glow. We listened to the story of the Christmas Nativity and how Mary and Joseph needed refuge with Baby Jesus. The story was full of compassion, perseverance and courage. At the end of the service a letter fell out of the story Mrs John was reading and Mr Hills caught it! When he opened it Jenson read it out to everyone and it was from our cheeky elves! They were hiding as per usual and very excited to return to some magical fun!
Dosbarth Nant Ddraig
As December started the class has got into the full swing of Christmas. It's filled me with excitement as I have gone through the hall and listening to the rehearsals. I'm eager for you all to see the performance soon! Miss Roberts and Mr Hills tell me how proud they are of the children going beyond their comfort zone to perform their lines and project their voices.
As part of the World Cup, the Welsh FA have launched a Show Racism the Red Card project. Within this, the children have researched traditional cakes from different countries in the world and have designed ones to represent multi-culturism.
As the term approaches an end the topic of Space comes to a close. Mr Hills asked the class to explore the first moon landings and research the facts and conspiracy theories. Using this, the practised forming an opinion using evidence.
It was really fun to go to DangerPoint again; this time with a twist. Instead of talking about staying safe we were discussing all the things that we could do to be sustainable and help prevent climate change. We learnt some really interesting facts such as it's really inefficient to let wet clothes dry on radiators; the best method of transport is to go on an electric train and that if you recycle one aluminium can it is enough energy to power a tv for 3 hours!
We are pleased to be able to upload our blog onto the new Nantlwys Federation Website. We are still waiting for photo changes on the website and some minor adjustments from the website builder so please bear with us! Have a lovely weekend everyone.
