Category: Kids

Christmas Concerts

The time is going so quickly and it is hard to believe that we are now firmly in the throes of practising for our Christmas concerts!
We have had a very busy few weeks and the children have engaged in super learning experiences:
Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a wonderful party as a grand finale to their Happiness Topic.
Years 3 and 4 enjoyed a hugely enjoyable trip to Pizza Express as part of their Global Gourmet topic. They had great fun learning about and experimenting with ingredients with tasty pizzas being made by all!
Year 6 pupils visited Abernant for a 3 day residential trip. During their visit, they engaged in activities such as raft building, zip wires and abseiling. The children were an absolute credit to school and their families.
The Soroptomists paid a visit to Year 6 pupils recently; they gave freely of their time and spoke to the children about Kiva, an American charity which supports families in developing countries to become entrepreneurs.
We were very sad at the end of last term to say goodbye to our wonderful school cook, Mrs Sian Farrugia. Sian has taken up a new post working for the Salvation Army. We are delighted to welcome Mrs Nicola Perkins to our Wenvoe team.
Christmas is fast approaching with all the excitement and preparation that entails in school! We are

(this article is to be completed)

 

 

FREE Childcare

 

First of all apologies for not sharing our news of late. We have been very busy since the Summer with many changes that are taking place at Playgroup. The biggest change took place in October when we signed up to the Welsh Government’s 30 Hour FREE Childcare Offer with Cardiff. Many children in Ely and Caerau are benefiting from the 30 hour FREE Childcare with the Playgroup and Gwenfo Nursery. However, there are still more children who could benefit from FREE Childcare. Children who live in Cardiff will be benefiting from the FREE Childcare Offer in 2019 as they expand across all areas of Cardiff. Children can access care at Wenvoe Playgroup as it is all about where the Child lives and NOT where the provision is.

FREE Childcare is available the term after the Child’s 3rd Birthday, until they enter reception class. Both parents must be working 16 hours or more per week at minimum wage if both live in the same household. One parent families can also claim if working 16 hours or more per week. If you would like more information, then please get in touch. There are many ways to contact us on our website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk

Unfortunately, The Vale of Glamorgan don’t plan to pilot their 30 Hour FREE Childcare until September 2019 and then we understand it is other areas of the Vale that this will be on offer. It looks like Wenvoe Children will have to wait a little longer. The Government have proposed that it be available to all areas by September 2020, so we are planning now by extending our hours and moving forward building our provision. We have been piloting a breakfast club and will offer breakfast club 5 mornings a week from January 2019. We will keep you all updated via the What’s On and our Website moving forward.

We understand that the Vale of Glamorgan Family Information Services (FIS) will be dealing with enquiries for all Vale of Glamorgan Children. If you google the Vale of Glamorgan 30 Hour Free Childcare Offer, minutes from the decisions with responsible persons are shown. This is all the information we have at this time.

Due to a high intake in January, we have now started a waiting list for April and beyond. Children who are  registered with us from 2 years and 4 months will have first choice of extra sessions as the offer becomes available. So please don’t miss out, register your interest today. The FREE Childcare offer is coming to the Vale so make sure we have your child’s name on our waiting list to contact you.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all Parents and Persons in the Community who support us here at Wenvoe Playgroup and wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

 

 

October Report

 

We have had such a busy half term – they say time flies when you are having fun and that is certainly true of us here in school!

Our Value this half term has been ‘Generosity’; Year 4 led a super Class Worship, to which family and friends were invited. Many thanks to all the children and to Mrs Ford, their class teacher.

Years 5 and 6 spent a day with the Glamorgan cricket team at Sophia Gardens; they watched a match, and also dressed up in kit and played some cricket themselves! Years 3 and 4 enjoyed a trip to Barry Island, as part of their topic work. A great time was had by all! Year 6 are preparing to visit Abernant for their residential visit next week. Thanks must go to Mrs Gordon, Mrs Crouch and Mr Rhys, who give feely of their time to accompany the children.

Vicar Jon welcomed Year 5 to St Mary’s, where they learnt about Baptism and Eucharist. Thank you Vicar Jon!

Years 3 and 4 have been learning to play the glockenspiel and will be putting on a performance for parents and carers on October 18th.

As part of looking after the world all around us, the children have been busy litter picking and weeding our school grounds. They did an excellent job!

Last Friday, pupils and staff dressed in yellow to raise funds for child mental health. We are very proud to have raised over £140 for this excellent cause.

Our Scholastic BookFayre was as popular as ever. Mrs Edward, Mrs Webber, Lily, Shea and Daniyal ran the book sale for us – they did a grand job, raising over £360 for school – this will enable us to invest in some books for our school library.

Many of the children enjoy participating in school clubs – this half term, Mrs Jones has run both Infant and Junior choirs; our netball and football clubs are also extremely well received.

Best wishes from us all at Gwenfo.

 

 

Young Volunteer Award

 

Congratulations to Hannah, 1st Wenvoe’s Beaver Leader, who has won the Scouts Cymru “Young Volunteer Award" of the year. This national award recognises the achievement of a young adult volunteer (aged 18 – 25) for their dedication, enthusiasm and leadership in Scouts in Wales. We are thrilled Hannah has won this!

Hannah, who was previously a 1st Wenvoe Beaver herself, has led and regrown the 1st Wenvoe Beaver Colony, which was struggling to stay open. In a year, since September 2017, she has re-energised the colony and kickstarted an awareness of the amazing activities and opportunities Scouts offers in our village community.

Hannah has led Beaver numbers increasing from 4 to 20 in five months! She leads a team of six adults volunteering on a flexible basis and is also developing two Young Leaders (aged 14-18).

Hannah‘s role in re generating the group and demonstrating how much fun volunteering is has been invaluable. It‘s been wonderful to see her leadership skills, confidence and enthusiasm for Beavers grow through her first year as Beaver Leader. Well done!

Congratulations to Arjinder, Brady, Ilan and Naeve, 1st Wenvoe Scouts, who came joint second (out of 7 teams) in the District Scout Gamer Hike (navigation and c omputer game challenge) this month!

 

 

 

September Activities

 

We have had a busy start to the term, entering several categories within the Wenvoe Village Fair. We were thrilled to hear that artists, handwriters and bakers all did so well! We are currently busy designing our scarecrow for St Mary’s Scarecrow festival as well as practicing with our choir to sing at the Harvest Service.

We have all voted for the Year 6 children, who all have a job in school, and have a brand new Head Boy (Alfie) and Head Girl (Tia). We know that they will be busy helping Miss Starke over the coming year. Other jobs including School council representatives ( ensuring all children have a voice), eco committee members, who look after our wonderful grounds, as well as health and safety representatives and tuck shop monitors.

Our Value this half-term is generosity and we plan to organise a harvest collection at the end of the half -term to donate to the local food bank. Families always donate so generously so please do pop in if you would like to add to our collection. A list of items we are collecting will appear on the school noticeboard shortly.

At Gwenfo we love to welcome visitors and volunteers so if you have some free time we are always looking for helpers to garden, read or share their expertise! Do pop in for a chat if you are interested!

In the words of our school mission statement we look forward to a really happy year living and growing together in a Christian Way!

 

 

Wenvoe Playgroup Welcomes Newcomers

 

We hope that everyone had a lovely summer holiday?

Just to remind you, we open on Wednesday 5th September at 9am to commence the Autumn Term. Parents are welcome to stay and play with our younger members between Wednesday and Friday of this week to re-introduce the children to the group after the 6 week break. If unsure please email us at wenvoeplaygroup@btinterent.com

If you have recently moved into the Village then Welcome to Wenvoe. Here is a little bit about us.

Wenvoe Playgroup is a registered charity and operates Monday to Friday from 9am at the Village Hall here in Wenvoe. We care for children from the age of 2 years and 4 months to 4 years and 11months. We work alongside Gwenfo Nursery to support parents by offering wrap around care. The majority of our families at this time are attending playgroup from 9am with a lunch box from home, then staff walk the children across to the Nursery for the afternoon session until 3:30pm. The cost of this is £16.50 per day.

We also collect children from Gwenfo Nursery daily at 11:20am and walk them across to the Playgroup until 12:45pm for a cost of £8. Children may attend a minimum of one day and up to five days a week.

On a Wednesday the children may be collected at 11:20am or stay in our care until 3:15pm for a cost of £16.50. Children require lunch, a boxed lunch to eat at 12noon.

Our wrap around care continues to grow, supporting the parents needs as best we can. We hope to introduce Breakfast Club soon; however, it all depends on numbers who wish to use our service. We will be assessing this on our return as some families who are registered with us have shown interest. Is it something you may be interested in for your child who is attending morning nursery at Gwenfo? Do you need care for them from 8am until nursery opens? If so please get in touch with us either by visiting us from 5th September or via email wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com

It can become very confusing with the flexible support on offer, so please email us your questions and we will do our best to support you.

We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you on 5th September. In the meantime, please visit our website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk and view our Statement of Purpose for further information.

 

 

Developing the Village Hall Garden

By the time you are reading this, we will be well into the summer holidays and in relaxation mode.

Over the summer term we have been very busy developing the Village Hall garden here at Playgroup and I must admit it looks blooming marvellous.

Who are we? – Wenvoe Playgroup is a registered charity, managed by local residents and parents of the group. We were originally set up in 1969 by a group of parents/residents to offer care to Children of pre-school age (We celebrate our 50th Birthday in 2019 so watch this space).

The Person in Charge on a day to day basis is myself Sandra Morgan. I was born in Rectory Close here in Wenvoe (let’s say over 50 years ago) and came to work for Wenvoe Playgroup in 2008 to save it from closure. I have worked with pre-school children for nearly 25years, adjusting to many childcare & education changes along the way.

Over the years the group has been lucky enough to have numerous fantastic Committee members, who have supported the groups needs with their fundraising efforts and support.

Of course, we wouldn’t have such a successful playgroup if it wasn’t for the wonderful, dedicated staff who support the children on a daily basis.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff; Kim, Fran, Jeannette, Charlotte, Heulwen & Marilyn for their hard work and dedication over the past years and to our current Committee, Jody, Amy, Emily & Sarah for their dedication and support to the group at this time. A big thank you must go to Lisa and Darren who have supported the group behind the scenes for many years and hopefully for many more years to come.

From this September we are expecting high numbers of children and I would urge anyone thinking of joining the group to contact us to show their interest. You can contact us by visiting our new website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk

There are many photographs on our new website to view along with other information which you may find useful.

On the website you will find ‘The Statement of Purpose’, this will show our operating times & costs, along with everything you need to know. If you need a little explanation on how we can support your children with Gwenfo Nursery then send us an email or pop in and see us on Wednesday 5th September when we are open from 9am until 3.15pm.

(If wishing to telephone please do so when we return on Wednesday 5th September from 9am).

I look forward to seeing everyone in September

 

Sandra x

 

 

Another School Year Come and Gone!

 

Well, we can’t believe that another school year has come and gone!

We would like to say a very big thank you to our PFTA who have raised over £4000 this year. We really do appreciate all their tireless work in raising funds to enhance the children’s learning experiences.

The children have enjoyed super school trips this past year; Years 1 and 2 visited Green Meadow Farm where they saw Dipsy the Cow being milked, rode on a tractor and enjoyed a lemonade ice lolly. Reception children visited Porthkerry Park; they went bug hunting in the woods, ran through the meadows with butterfly nets and built dens in the woods; the den ranger tested to see if they were waterproof by throwing a bucket of water over them! Great fun was had by all.

Year 6 had their Leavers Assembly last Friday. It was super occasion, with the children sharing memories of their time in Wenvoe. There was a lovely slide show of baby photos and the staff and children alike all enjoyed guessing who was who! Following the Leavers Service, they then went to Cosmeston Lakes for a barbecue. We wish them every happiness and success as they move onto the next stage of their education.

Our musicians and choristers gave a wonderful musical soiree on Wednesday when they entertained family and friends with their wonderful recitals. Thanks must also go to our music teacher, Mrs Jones, for her excellent work and dedication.

Councillor Penrose (Vale of Glamorgan) and Alun Cairns, MP, visited school this morning to present certificates for the runners up and winner of the Vale of Glamorgan 500 Word Writing Competition: Highly Commended was awarded to Sienna Kelly, Amelia Rees, Poppy Davies, Taryn Tyson and Oliver Fulthorpe; In third place was Tori Bellamy; second place went to Rhys Hill; the winner was Milly Jorna. A very big well done to all who took part and of course to the winners.

We are very sad to say goodbye to Miss Kerry Williams, our reception teacher, who leaves us today to return to Pembrokeshire. Mrs Woodiwiss, our dinner supervisor and LSA support is also leaving today. Mrs Maunder is beginning her maternity leave today. We wish them all every happiness for the future.

We wish you all a very happy summer – fingers crossed that this beautiful weather continues.

WE look forward to seeing you again in September!

The Gwenfo Team.

 

 

1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 17