Category: Kids

GWENFO SCHOOL NEWS

GWENFO SCHOOL NEWS

 

There’s been lots going on in school this month. Our
wonderful outdoor classroom is complete, and classes
have begun to use it. It’s a fantastic addition to
our grounds. We hope the living roof will provide
home to lots of wildlife and improve the air quality
around the road. Thank you so much to Cabot in
Barry for their support and time.
Huge thank you to the members of the community
who came to help us prepare the school grounds on
our Big Help Out day, and to staff for volunteering
their time at the Wenvoe Open Gardens to greet
those visiting. It was lovely to have so many people
come and see the work that has been put into the
school gardens.
Congratulations go out to our Year 6 children who
completed their cycle proficiency, and to Year 5 and
6 pupils who competed in the Vale of Glamorgan
Quad athletics.
Our Reception children wowed us with their class
assembly about respecting our world and we are so
proud of how much they have learned this year.
We are looking forwards to finishing out the school
with our Sports Day and Year 6 Leavers Assembly

 

 

Christmas Celebrated In Style

  Gwenfo School News – December Notes

Christmas Celebrated In Style

What a busy end of term it has been! We have celebrated Christmas in style, with total of 10 Christmas concert performances across our three progression steps. All of our children, from Nursery to Year 6, did an incredible job singing, dancing and acting to get us all well and truly in a festive spirit. Huge thank you to all our staff involved in the preparation and organisation of all those performances, and as always a big thank you to all our families for providing costumes, helping learn lines, and for coming along to support the children. We are so very proud! Thanks also go to those who attended, for the generous donations that will be split between the five charities that staff and pupils chose to support at our concerts; The Big Wrap Collection at St Mary’s, the Food Bank, The Huggard Centre, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Christian Aid’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Thanks and well done to all of our children who were involved in the unveiling of our school Advent Window, and those who took part in the Carol Service recently. It was a great pleasure to be involved.

We had a wonderful time on Christmas Jumper Day, enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner together with Santa hats and festive placemats.

We are so grateful for a wonderful term together and look forward to a relaxing break before coming back together in the New Year. On behalf of us all at Gwenfo, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Our Current Value Is Compassion

  Gwenfo School News – November Notes

It’s been another lovely month at Gwenfo. Our current value is compassion, and we have seen so many of our children living this value in school and at home. Many of our pupils attended the Remembrance Service at St Mary’s, representing both school and the Scouts, and we were so proud of how well our Head Boy and Head Girl did with their readings. We are so grateful for the ongoing generosity of our school family in their dedication to the charities we support, including recently supporting the Food Bank at Harvest and Children in Need. We are also grateful to the Book Council for a recent donation of books that the children have been able to take home.

Year 6 had an amazing time on their residential trip before half term, taking part in activities such as climbing and bushcraft. They hugely enjoyed their trip and were very tired when they returned to school! Huge thanks to the staff who took them for giving them such an amazing experience.

It was so lovely to have a visit from Vicar Lyndon and his wife Chris in assembly recently; we loved showing them our school and are so excited to be a part of their new adventure in Wales.

We continue to have wonderful sessions from Wild Thymes Forest School, Cardiff City Foundation and Forces Fitness, as well as weekly visits from Baxter the dog, from The Baxter Project, which all work to support our children’s well-being.

We are in the throes of our Christmas Concert practise and can’t wait to share the children’s hard work with their families. The song practise already sounds wonderful, and we are sure the children will do an incredible job. Across the school we are looking forward to our Christmas trips to the theatre which will take place at the end of November and in December.

When passing the school have a look out for our brand-new signage reminding people to park safely and respectfully on the roads around our school. We hope this will not only keep our children safe but also make driving past school easier, especially at busy times.

No Scout Post Again This Year

SCOUT CHRISTMAS POST AND WENVOE SCOUTS

We are sad to notify you that there will be no Scout Post again this year. Work is still progressing to try and restart it for next year. However, it is a major project and requires all parts of Cardiff and Vale Scouts to be in a position to collect, sort and deliver the cards.

Wenvoe Scouts has been going from strength to strength since the restrictions of the pandemic have been lifted. We now have 3 very active sections – Beavers (6-8 yrs), Cubs (8-10 ½ yrs) and Scouts (10 ½-14 yrs).

You may have seen our young people and leaders taking part in the Wenvoe Remembrance Sunday Parade. They were well turned out and organised. I was very proud of them all.

Scouts is a world wide movement for boys and girls. It enables them to make new friends and have amazing adventures while learning new skills and having fun. The younger ones do lots of craft and play games helping prepare them for more adventurous activities including hiking, camping, climbing, abseiling and swimming. They develop dreams which may take them into a future of work and play or just into the District Explorers (14-18 yrs) and Network (18-25 yrs) or on to the role of a Scout Leader.

Some areas are now starting Squirrels for the 4-6 year olds and we have dreams of that too, but need

extra help before we can expand. All leaders are trained and we take safety seriously. If you or anyone you know would like to help by becoming a leader, please contact me.

Big dreams cost money and require volunteer leaders to organise weekly meeting, outings and camps and ensure that the young people are safe while they have fun. We do need additional equipment. Some of this is expensive. If, in lieu of buying stamps you would like to donate to Wenvoe Scouts you can do this via https://www. justgiving.com/firstwenvoescouts.

To add a child to our waiting list please email 1stwenvoe.join@penarthanddistrict.or.uk with the name and DOB of child

 

We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Thank you,

Jane Fenton-May, Chair Wenvoe Scout Group

jfm@fenton-may.org

 

Playgroup Thanks the Volunteers

WENVOE PLAYGROUP NEWS AND EVENTS

Registered Charity, right in the heart of the Village.

Here at Playgroup, we would like to thank the volunteers in the Library, for allowing our afternoon children to visit over the past few months. We will be planning to bring our morning session children across for visits on our return in January 2023, so please make sure you all have a lovely restful Christmas.

There are many volunteers in the village who work hard to keep the village an attractive place to live. Here at Playgroup, we would like to thank all of our volunteers and friends who support us to keep us operating successfully.

We will be holding a raffle on Monday 19th December. If anyone can help with raffle donations, they would be gratefully received. Please send us an email to collect wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com or pop along to the group any weekday morning:

At the time of writing this, we can’t believe how quickly this Autumn Term is going. We are 5 weeks to Christmas Eve and much to plan. It’s always a special, magical time with our children.

We do hope to see you at our Christmas Fayre on Sunday 4th December. Lots of exciting stalls and the children will be able to visit Father Christmas/Santa/Sion Corn/ Pierre Noel/ St Nicholas or whatever you prefer to call him!

For now, all that remains is for us to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023.

 

 

Playgroup Waiting List

WENVOE PLAYGROUP NEWS AND EVENTS

Registered Charity, right in the heart of the Village.

Wenvoe Playgroup operate from the Village Hall, varied hours from Monday to Friday. For operating hours and much more please visit our website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk and read our ‘Statement of Purpose and Admissions found in documents. Wenvoe Playgroup is a registered charity, managed by a voluntary committee. We wanted everyone to know that we plan to be fully booked until July 2023 and have a waiting list for any spaces which may become available. Our waiting list for September 2023 is also very high and I would suggest if you are thinking of joining before December 2023, please send us an email to add your name to the waiting list wenvoeplaygroup@btinternet.com. It is never too early to put your name onto the waiting list. Some families apply when their children are a few months old, hence our waiting lists are up to September 2024. On Sunday 4th December, our Committee are planning to hold our Christmas Fayre, open to all, 1pm to 5pm. We hope that there will be lots of things Christmas, gift ideas, refreshments and a chance to visit Father Christmas/Santa. If you would like a stall at the event, please contact Louise 07912 781497. Watch out for the SANTA RUN on 10th December too. All families welcome. Watch out for the posters with QR codes for more details

 

October Notes

 

  Gwenfo School News – October Notes

We can hardly believe that at time of writing we are approaching the end of our first half term back at Gwenfo. It has been a busy and enjoyable half term full of new and exciting experiences. The children have settled in so well and we extend a very warm welcome to all our new children and their families as well as a warm welcome back to our wonderful school family. As we look forward to our half term break, we look back with gratitude on everything we have learnt in the last eight weeks.

The recent lovely weather has meant some great playtimes together on the field. We are enjoying being back together in the hall for assemblies and sharing our worship as a school. Our first value of the year is Generosity and we will be exploring how God shows generosity and how we can be generous to each other.

At the beginning of term, we spent time reflecting on the loss of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, thanking God for her long-devoted reign, and celebrating her life. We are so proud of the thoughtful responses our children had in our time of national mourning.

Years 4, 5 and 6 recently had an exciting trip to see Opus Pocus Live. They loved experiencing live mu-sic back in a theatre hall. We are now really looking forward to our Christmas trips! Year 5 successfully kicked off a year of class assemblies with an amazing assembly about Generosity. We loved the singing and dancing! Year 4 will be up next with Harvest and we know they will do us proud. At time of writing Year 6 are preparing to head off on their residential. We will be sure to ask them to feed back about it next month.

We would like to extend our thanks to all our families who supported our Wear Yellow for Mental Health Day. We have raised almost £200 for Young Minds. We are so grateful for the continued generosity of our school community.

We would like to welcome to our school community our new PGCE students who have just begun their first placements with us. We hope they feel a part of our school family and enjoy their time with us.

It Has Been A Wonderful Year

  Gwenfo School News May Notes

It has been a wonderful year here at Gwenfo. As we begin our summer holidays we say goodbye to some much loved members of staff. Reception class teacher Mrs Leach and LSA Mrs Edwards have begun their retirements. They have been fantastic educators and supporters in their time with us as part of our Gwenfo family. They will be sorely missed but we wish them well on their new adventures. We also say goodbye to Miss Sheanon who is returning to Ireland and to Miss Vowels as she works to get her PGCE. We are so grateful for all they have done for our school and the children in their time with us. Good luck both! Mrs Maunder begins her maternity leave and we wish her and her family well in this special time. We can’t wait to meet the new baby.
Our last month has been very busy. Year 6 have celebrated the end of their primary education with a wonderful Leavers assembly for their parents, a celebration service at Llandaff Cathedral with other faith schools and a fun packed day at Cosmeston. We know they will do us proud at their new schools in September and are excited to see what the future holds for them.
As a school we participated in Race for Life. Every class took part and they did an amazing job. Thank you to all parents who made a donation for Cancer Research. We celebrated our fantastic children with our end of year talent show. It was wonderful to see all the amazing talents our children have. Thank you to our Year 6 children and staff for organising and running the show. Years 2 and 6 have worked with Mr Rogers from the Local Authority, Year 2 completing road safety lessons and Year 6 taking part in cycling proficiency. Years 1 and 2 had a fantastic messy morning in the last week of term for the end of their Muck, Mess and Mixtures topic.
It’s been a lovely year, the children have learnt and grown and we are so proud of them. We hope all our Gwenfo family have a restful and enjoyable break.

 

Breakfast Club and Open Morning

WENVOE PLAYGROUP NEWS AND EVENTS

Registered Charity, right in the heart of the Village.

The Playgroup operates from the Village Hall and has been operating for over 50 Years. We are registered with Care Inspectorate Wales to care for 30 Children at any one-time from the age of 2 Years 4 months. We open 8.00am until 1.00pm Monday to Friday and on Wednesday and Thursday we offer care until 3:15pm.

Breakfast Club: Our breakfast club is open daily from 8.00am, where we support children across to Nursery and Reception class for 08:50am. Children may also remain with us into our 9am session until 12noon or 1.00pm.

Wrap around care: We collect children daily at 11:20am from Wenvoe Nursery and on into lunch club until 1.00pm or 3:15pm on Wednesday and Thursday. We also take children across from our morning sessions to afternoon Nursery for 1.00pm daily.

30 Hour Free Childcare Offer

Children from Cardiff and the Vale are benefiting from this offer. 12.5 hours are used for LEA Nursery and 17.5 hours per week can be allocated to time with us here at Playgroup. This offer is for children the term after their 3rd Birthday. To find out more, please visit our website: www.wenvoeplaygroup. co.uk

Tax Free Childcare: We accept payment via the Government’s Tax Free Childcare. Many parents at this time use this method to pay fees, or use alongside the 30 Hour Free Childcare to top up their extra hours/fees. Families set up a Tax-Free Childcare account and for example; for every £8 the family pay in; Welsh Government pay in £2. For further information go to www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Further information can be found on our website www.wenvoeplaygroup.co.uk

Our Statement of purpose and Admissions Policy & Procedure can be found in ‘DOCUMENTS’ on our website which may be useful for times and prices. However; if you want to know more, please email or phone. All contacts are on our website.

We are holding an open morning on September 9th from 9.00am until 12noon. Please feel free to bring your child along to view our provision or pop in and ask your questions. We do have limited space at this time. We have waiting lists started for September 2023; should you wish to be added to our lists please email.

Wenvoe Playgroup message of thanks.

We would just like to take this opportunity to thank a few important Volunteers from behind the scenes:

Our Voluntary RI – Russell Godfrey, along with our Voluntary Management Committee for their support with fundraising and management decisions.

Thanks to Darren Bellamy for putting up with our constant emails to update our website and Lisa for all her support in helping the group with Christmas and Easter fundraising efforts.

Thanks must go to Dave Pritchard, who has helped with painting and odd jobs for the group and is always there in our hour of need.

A big thanks must go to Chris Evans of Lawray Architects, who has worked tirelessly with the group to secure a shelter for the children to play outside in all weathers. As the cost of materials rose this year, in between receiving the grant money and paying for the equipment, we would like to thank Chris for the extra money he paid to finish some work.

We are so reliant and grateful to those who help us on a voluntary basis. Wenvoe Playgroup couldn’t do it without all you lovely people coming to our rescue. The children and staff are very grateful to have you all supporting us.

We are grateful to all the families who have supported us this year. Your generosity has been amazing, supporting fundraising, raffle prizes and tickets, and supporting the group with essentials throughout the past year.

In the past academic year, we were very sad to see Auntie Marilyn retire from Playgroup life. Marilyn has been a huge part of our community for the past 30 years, that I have known her. Marilyn has worked and supported the Playgroup for many years, most of it for the love of it! Marilyn was committed to our Village Hall and Playgroup and we would like to take this opportunity to thank her for everything that she has done in the community over many years. Thank you Maz x

From the end of this academic year, Auntie Fran will also be retiring, to enjoy travelling the world in term time. Fran has worked with pre-school children since 1998 and supported the group since June 2008. Fran will be greatly missed by all the children and staff. I know many parents past and present will be sorry to see her retire. We would all like to wish you a very happy retirement Fran. However, as Marilyn will know, retirement is never the end. I’m sure we will be calling on your help in the future.

We hope everyone is having a safe summer and we look forward to seeing our returning children and new families in September.

 

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