We had a fantastic 10th birthday week at Maes yr Haul. On Wednesday, pupils were visited by a gigantic hot air balloon, and were impressed by both the sound it made when the gas tanks were fired and the colossal size of the balloon itself.








We undertook many activities this week, including writing shape poems about the school, creating a time line from the year the school was open until the present day, and planning a balloon trip.










We also wrote letters to ourselves imagining our lives in ten year's time. We have sealed these in an envelope and pupils have bought them home to keep them safe until 2022!!

On Friday afternoon, we had an exciting competition, where pupils had to build the tallest balloon tower out of the fewest balloons in order for it to be more cost effective! (Balloons cost £2 each in this exercise) The results were very varied - As you can see from the pictures below!!









We rounded off the week with a party, enjoyed by pupils and teachers alike!! An enjoyable end to the spring term!!













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We are so proud of Scott Willicombe. After writing a lovely personfication poem about an imaginary land, Scott was chaired Bard of Maes yr Haul 2012!!
Well done Scott!

Our new class member Nibbles Jeff Jones has settled in well this term and is becoming more confident by the day. He has enjoyed exploring his 3 story mansion and has loved going home with the children for weekends and holidays. His favourite treats are apples and broccoli, and he enjoys playing on his wheel and playing hide and seek in his wooden log.

This term, Years 5 and 6 will be studying World War Two.

As part of this topic we visited Swansea History and Waterfront Museums and watched a moving performance by Theatre Na 'Nog, entitled 'The Andora Star.'

This play concentrated on an Italian family living in Wales at the time of World War Two. It followed their lives as they were driven from their home as a result of Italy's alliance with Germany.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the day and were enthusiastic to carry on their research and studies about World War Two upon their return to the classroom.

Class Jones enjoyed making their masks for our masked ball. Feathers were flying and glitter sparkling as pupils demonstrated their creativity and imagination. Watch out Alexander McQueen, we're after your job!!

Lauren from Dance Crazy came to school on 7th July to teach us how to waltz. This was in preparation for our Victorian masked ball on Tuesday 19th July. Pupils participated well when learning the dance steps, and, although initially the boys weren't so keen to dance with girls, (and vice versa), everyone got the hang of it by the end and an enjoyable morning was had by all!!

Pupils worked very hard to learn the script and songs for our class assembly and performed with gusto on the day.

The assembly followed the theme of poor children in Victorian times, a topic that we have been studying this year as part of our English, History and PSE schemes.

Thank you to all parents and grandparents who attended the performance and provided support (and fantastic costumes! ) We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed performing it!

This week's seren yr wythnos is Shannon Cheeseman.
She received her certificate for persevering and showing determination when tackling fraction work during Mathematics lessons.
Well done Shannon!!

Congratulations to Class 4/5 CJ - They were the healthy snack winners for the Spring Term.

For this, pupils were required to tally the number of healthy snacks they ate during morning break and the eco representatives then gave the results to Miss Williams-Jones every Thursday. As we had the most weekly wins, we were declared the overall winners for the spring term!

Our reward? Healthy fruit kebabs and smoothies of course!!

Many thanks to Mrs. Tandy and Mr. Davies who offered to make these with pupils. I'm sure you'll agree from the photographs that we all thoroughly enjoyed both making and tasting them!

























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This Friday's Seren yr Wythnos (15th April) was Celyn Woods.
She was given this award for always being polite and demonstrating good manners to both teachers and pupils.
Da iawn Celyn - You are a good example to others!

Pupils had a great time during Maths and Puzzle day! (Wednesday 23rd March) They solved problems, played lots of maths games and puzzles and made their own maths trail around the school.

Friday 18th March saw the pupils of Maes yr Haul 'Wearing something funny for money!' Year 4/5 really got into the spirit of things, as you can see from some of their costumes! Races were organised for the teachers too, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day!

As part of our topic on 'Space and The Planets,' we visited Techniquest, Cardiff Bay. Here the children explored the various inventions to find out more about how the world works.
They also visited the planetarium to find out more about space and the solar system. An enjoyable day was had by all!!

Well, it's been a very busy Autumn term. This term we visited Kenfig Nature Reserve and Sker Beach where we made sand sculptures. We also saw the rocks where the Samptampa tragedy occurred.

As part of ESDGC week we looked at Welsh culture, identity and heritage. We made love spoons, wrote poems about Wales and studied pictures by David Humphreys, recreating our own versions using chalk. We also designed a new Welsh flag as well as making Welsh vocabulary books for younger children.