Dear Parent/Guardian,

Nursery, Reception and LSC1 are taking part in the Giant Wiggle for Action for Children. On Friday 14^th June, we’re inviting pupils to join us on a fundraising walk themed around The Very Hungry Caterpillar ^TM.

We’re asking everyone who takes part to make a £1 donation, so we can help vulnerable children in the UK build happy futures.

We’ve set up an online fundraising page for our Giant Wiggle event, please share it far and wide! You can donate online using this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/blaenbaglanprimary. Alternatively, you can also bring donations into school.

We’re really looking forward to our Giant Wiggle event. And to make the most of the wiggle-y fun, we’ll take part in crafting activities during the lead up to our event including making caterpillar and butterfly crowns/masks. If your child would like to dress up like The Very Hungry Caterpillar ^TM, all they need to do is wear a green top or pop some butterfly wings on if you have some.

This year we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar ^TM so we want the celebrations to be bigger than ever before. The money we raise together will go to Action for Children, to help disadvantaged, disabled and vulnerable children and families in the UK. If you’d like to find out more about the Giant Wiggle go to actionforchildren.org.uk/giantwiggle.”

Thank you for your support. Now let’s get our wiggle on for Action for Children!

Wiggle-y wishes,

Miss Kennedy

(Nursery Teacher)

Our Key Stage 2 classes will be studying “Mean Machines” this term.

This exciting topic will cover areas such as rollercoasters and robots.  One of the main focuses of our topic will be our “Rich Task” which involves lower KS2 planning a trip to a theme park and upper KS2 designing their own theme park.  This project will cover lots of different literacy and numeracy skills, with a strong focus on money and budgeting.

Homework for this term consists of three parts:

1.  Design a theme park attraction
2. Create a 3D theme park attraction
3.  Persuade people to ride your attraction

Homework can be handed in the week beginning 1st July 2019 and no later than Monday 8th July 2019.

For more details, please read our Mean Machines Homework.  If you are stuck and need some inspiration, click here.

Your child has undertaken a short, online personalised assessment for Numeracy (Procedural) and their feedback is now available for you to view.

The purpose of personalised assessments is to help all children progress, through understanding what they can do, the things they need to work on, and their next steps.

What is Numeracy (Procedural)?
Numeracy (Procedural) focuses on numerical facts and procedures – the numerical ‘tools’ that are needed to apply numeracy within a range of contexts.

How does the assessment work?
The questions are chosen from a large ‘bank’ designed for Years 2 to 9. Each question is selected based on the answer given to the previous question. If pupils get a question right they are given a slightly harder question next. If they cannot answer a question, or answer incorrectly, they receive a slightly easier one. All pupils will get some questions right and some questions wrong, as this gathers information on the limits of what each pupil can do at that particular time. This means all
pupils will receive an assessment that is unique to them.

What does the feedback tell me?
This feedback represents a snapshot of your child‘s skills at the time the assessment was taken. It provides just one source of information on your child’s overall knowledge and understanding. Your child’s teacher will consider this feedback, alongside other information they have on your child’s skills in numeracy work in the classroom, in order to plan their learning.

• The first section ‘The hardest questions I got right were on these skills:’ lists the areas in which your child gave correct answers for the most challenging questions.
• The second section ‘I may need to work on:’ relates to the questions answered incorrectly and the areas they may need to focus on.
• The final two sections ‘Most pupils with similar skills are able to … and are likely to move on to:’ relate to your child’s overall performance in the assessment and provide an overview of the sort of skills that pupils with a similar pattern of answers are able to achieve or are working
  towards.

Reports to parents and carers will be provided at the end of the school year, showing progress over time, based on a standardised score.  These will take the form of previous National Test reports.

Accessing Test Feedback

1.  Your child will need to log on to http://hwb.gov.wales using their HWB username and password

 

2.  Click on “HWB Tools” in the black banner at the top of the page.  Then select “Personalised assessments”

 

3.  Click on “Learner feedback”

 

4.  Click on “Numeracy (Procedural)

 

5.  Click on “Sample question (PDF)” to view an example of the type of question answered

 

Children in Years 2 – 6 will be sitting their National Reading test and National Numeracy (Reasoning) test in May this year.  Please visit our “National Tests” page for more information about the structure and content of the tests.

Also on the page, available to download, are examples of past tests.  Class teachers will be providing children with example questions throughout the year to ensure children become familiar with the layout and structure of questions etc.

However, should you wish to work on anything extra with your child at home, past papers give a good indication of the type of work your child will be covering throughout the school year in both reading and numeracy.

 

If you have any questions regarding the National Tests, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Croeso and welcome to Blaenbaglan’s new website!

We will regularly be updating our site with information about the exciting things taking place in school.

As you will see, on the right-hand side of most pages on the site, there is a link to our “Recent Posts” which will keep you up-to-date with our most recent school news.

In the “About Us” menu, you will find links to important pages such as “Term Dates“, “Attendance” and in the “Information” menu you will find links to our recent “Newsletters“.

There is a separate area for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 with links to your child’s individual classes.  Here you will find information on things such as PE days, homework and the topic being taught this term.  There is also a link to each class’s Twitter page.

Also in the “Information” menu are pages explaining our new “Bug Club” reading scheme, HWB and Welsh language development.

We hope you find the content of our new site useful and informative and that you will visit the site regularly!

Penblwydd Hapus Blaenbaglan!  Blaenbaglan turned 50 years old on 20th January 2019.  The school opened in January 1969.  We will be celebrating the school’s 50th anniversary throughout the year by carrying out different activities and welcoming some special visitors and past pupils.

Consent Forms were recently sent out to all pupils regarding parental consent to continue using HWB.  Since the GDPR data regulations have come into force, schools now need explicit consent from parents for their children to continue using HWB.

To download a further copy of this form, please click the link below:

HWB Consent Form

 

For more information about HWB, please visit our information page: HWB

 

We had two very successful film evenings for Years 3 – 6 at the end of term.  We watched Elf and Home Alone 2, munched on biscuits and sweets and warmed ourselves up with hot chocolate!  We loved wearing our pyjamas and cwtching our teddies in the school hall.

The money we raised will go towards purchasing STEM equipment for Key Stage 2.  We will keep you updated!

Thank you to everyone who prepared a Blessing Bag for those less fortunate this Christmas.

We were overwhelmed with the number we received.  The School Council helped gather everything and put it into Sharon’s car.

We had a lovely message of appreciation too.

Congratulations to our Coding Team who won first prize in the DVLA Coding Competition.  They each won their own personal Raspberry Pi (a mini computer) as well as £2,000 of ICT equipment for the school.  We are massively proud of them.  The team will now liaise with pupils to find out what they would like to spend the winnings on.  Early indications suggest Lego coding equipment!