Heading to Space in Gawunmeisgyn

In mid November staff and students at Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School in South Wales were ‘over the moon’ when astronaut Major Tim Peak popped in on a surprise visit. The former Apache pilot, flight instructor, test pilot and current European Space Agency astronaut had earlier received a letter from the school, telling him all about their exciting school project and it was during his visit to Wales this week as part of his UK tour called ‘My Journey To Space,’ that he decided to surprise the young learners at Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School by calling in to see them all.

Teacher Sarah Dyer had previously written to Major Tim Peake to tell him about their latest school project, in line with a new Wales Curriculum Reform, and inviting him to call in whenever he was in the vicinity. 

The new curriculum will be taught to those up to Year 6 from September 2022 and in prepartation various AOLE teams have been created in Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School  to prepare for the new curriculum/. The Science and Technology team consists of 3 teachers (Sarah Dyer - Science Coordinator / Rachel Hughes - ICT Coordinator /Donna Newman- DT Coordinator).

In order to launch the topic with a topic immersion activity or visitor staff researched companies and providers to establish an effective hook to begin our new topic.They happened to stumble upon Tim Peake’s event in Cardiff on 15th November and joked about how wonderful it would be if Tim was able to visit our school! We sent an email to his agency inviting Tim to our school and to our surprise a couple of weeks later we had an email to say that following his show at St David’s Hall in Cardiff the previous night, and heading to his next venue, Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, Major Tim Peake would be delighted to make a slight detour to visit the school!

Staff  initially kept this a secret from the children but dabbled into our new topic before he visited to generate some interesting questions as well as decorating  the playground and made welcome / croeso banners in anticipation.They  didn’t quite believe he would be visiting until he actually arrived.  He was absolutely charming and couldn’t be more accommodating, talking to staff, answering questions, posing for photos, signing books etc.  He even brought a personalised signed book and photo for the school which we will look forward to displaying as a reminder of our special visit.The pupils were incredibly excited despite the rainy day - it did not dampen anybody’s enthusiasm and delight for our new visitor.It was fascinating to hear Tim’s story and listen to the answers to the pupil’s questions.

Councillor Joy Rosser, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council Cabinet Member for Education and Inclusion Services, said: “It is wonderful that Major Tim Peake took the time to surprise the young learners at Gwunmeisgyn Primary School, who have been working so hard on their own Space project.

“The children have really immersed themselves in their school project, so to have a real-life astronaut drop in to say hello has been the icing on the cake for them.”

Andrew Llewelyn, headteacher at Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School, said: “I was a huge pleasure and privilege to welcome Major Tim Peake to our school on his surprise visit. It is a day that will live with our students and staff for the rest of their lives - it is not every day we have a real-life spaceman in our school!
“He is a true inspiration to many and showed a great interest in our Space Project. We thank him sincerely for taking the time out of his busy schedule to drop in to see us all.”
It has certainly hooked the children (and staff!) on our new Science and Technology topic and their enthusiasm and thirst for learning about our new topic has been fuelled by Tim! We have started our activities and learning within the school - pupil voice has it’s part to play and what the children now want to learn about has definitely been inspired by Tim's input.It was an amazing real-life experience for everyone at Gwaunmeisgyn!

Quotes from the pupils  - 
Oluchi - ‘It was such an honour, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Tim Peake. He is such a role model for people.’
Keira - “I would love to be an astronaut when I am older, he is like my idol”

Deri Primary School and All Saints' School Gresford. – Finalists in the Rees Jefferys Road Fund Competition

The Trustees of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund are celebrating 150 years since the birth of their benefactor William Rees Jeffreys with a major UK-wide Competition. his major UK-wide Competition is offering up to £150,000 for solutions that best respond to a fundamental question: What’s your vision of the way in which our roads (motorways, highways, or streets and footways) could best work for us all as we square up to the challenges of the next 50 years?​ ? 
For William Rees Jeffreys, safe and appealing roads and streets were the key to a better quality of life for all. The Judges were pleased with the range, number and quality of entries, and that many entries showed a ‘strong alignment’ to the views of William Rees Jeffreys.
Visit the Competition website at www.rjrf.uk to find out about the shortlisted entries,
 
The key requirement of the Competition was for innovative ideas, creatively presented, and the Trustees noted how well many entrants responded, sending in entries that included songs, poems, videos, paintings and models.
 
‘It was refreshing to hear from some new voices to the sector and be presented with some very well-thought out ideas,’ said Ginny Clarke, Trustee and Chair of the Judging Panel.
 
‘I am delighted with the breadth of ideas, the quality of thinking and creativity, and especially pleased to get 142 entries,’ added Trustee Andy Graham.

Says Ginny Clarke, Trustee and Chair of the Judging panel: ‘On behalf of the Trustees, I’d like to thank each and every person who contributed to these 142 entries. The standard was consistently high, and we were thrilled to receive so many entries in the Competition’s first year.

Congratulations to Deri Primary School who were finalists in the Primary Competittions
Their project was entitled Moving motorways - a safer way to travel for you and our planetThis team has designed a moving motor way. The solar powered motorway, made out of recycled plastic, will move like a conveyor belt to transport cars across long distances. This will help reduce road accidents by limiting opportunities for people to breach the speed limit as well as reducing car emissions. This project is about safer ways to travel for us and our planet, and the panel were impressed that children had used STEM skills to engineer their own moving models.

and to All Saints’ School, Gresford who submitted a project about Sustainable Travel. All Saints’ School is committed to promoting walking, scooting, cycling and other sustainable methods of transportation to and from school. To do this, the school has a peer-elected group of children who work together as ‘Active Travel Champions’ who encourage new ways to promote active journeys to and from school, including for those who live further away. These children need to use a car or bus, so the Champions worked with local businesses that had car parks that could be used by parents for drop off and collection times, so allowing them to walk, jog, scoot or cycle the rest of the way to school
Both schools received a prize of £2000

The Trustees also commented ‘We were also really pleased to see that so many entrants responded to our “be creative and innovative” brief, sending in entries that included songs, poems, videos, paintings and fly-thru models.
‘As Trustees, we will be reaching out to many new individuals and organisations in future, several of who came to our notice through this Competition.’
The competition was managed on behalf of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund by Landor LINKS.

challenge has now expanded to include primary, secondary and FE College categoriesIn 2021 ‘The Great Give Away’ offered a total of £20,000 in prizes for schools in a prize draw and lucky dip.

The DVLA STEM Ambassador team transitioned the event finals online in 2021 as the event could not be run at the RDLC centre in Swansea due to current Covid regulations.

90 schools joined the live streamed event on 7^th December. Hosted by BBC news presenter Sian Lloyd, the audience were treated to a lively overview of past entries, video interviews with past winners and the brilliant themed coding programmes that pupils created over the years.

Congratulations to Blaen Baglan; Montgomery; Blaenrhondda; Narberth; Llanishen; Oakleigh; Alun High; Elfed; Glyncoed; Rhosddu; Clase– some of the many primary and secondary schools who received from £750 up to £2000 in prize monies to purchase IT resources for their schools.

Over the past 7 years the DVLA have donated >£200,00 to schools in Wales.

Register today to access all of the new resources focusing on Climate Change (#COP26).
We would like to see at least 1000 schools taking part in Wales  in 2022!

Register for the Great Science Share

The Great Science Share for Schools is the award-winning campaign that invites 5-14 year olds to share their own scientific questions and investigations, to raise the profile of science in schools and communities, and inspire young people into science and engineering.

Themed activities and lessons are brought to teachers and educators, to inspire you to ask, investigate and share scientific questions you’re curious about
Watch this introductory video from Campaign Director, Dr Lynne Bianchi

This year’s campaign links to the issues discussed in the world global COP26 conference in November 2021, leading up to the campaign celebration on 14th June 2022.

Register today to access all of the new resources focusing on Climate Change (#COP26).
We would like to see at least 1000 schools taking part in Wales  in 2022!

ASE Wales: Down on the Farm. Wednesday 26 January 4.30 - 5.30pm. Online

Find out about engaging bilingual cross-curricular STEM projects for primary school children tailored for the new Curricuolum in Wales.

As former primary school teachers, the NFU Education team understand the challenges faced by the profession so Farming STEMterprise has been designed with three main goals in mind: to save teachers time and reduce workload; to spark learners’ passion and enthusiasm for STEM subjects and to convey important messages about food and nutrition through a cross-curricular, project-based approach.

Farming STEMterprise engages learners through real-life, meaningful problems as part of engaging cross-curricular projects. The projects take children through each stage of setting up a farm shop business: considering seasonality when deciding which crop to grow, growing their own ingredients, considering nutrition when designing their recipes, using market research to test their ideas out with potential consumers, working within a budget when buying additional ingredients, learning knife skills when making their products, calculating expected profit, designing responsible packaging and more.

Join the creator of Farming STEMterprise for a 30 minute introduction to the projects and how you can use them in your classroom and find out more about Cows on tour and Farmer time as well as CREST Awards and other relevant projects.

Register here.

STEM in Storytelling. Twice-daily sessions January 31 - 4 February. Online

World Book Day 2022 will take place across the country on Thursday, 3 March. National Storytelling Week is a chance to promote and encourage storytelling in your classroom and takes place 29 January - 5 February, 2022.

Join us for 15 minute sessions during the week - Monday to Friday at 12.45 and 3.45 - when STEM Ambassadors will be reading an excerpt from a book and providing a short discussion about the book afterwards with a link to STEM and careers. Details of each book will be highlighted on the eventbrite page and on twitter #STEMinstorytelling

You can join the session live or request a recording of the session and all participants who attend the event will be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of the book.

Register here.

RSPB Big Schools' Birdwatch. January to February

Like so many things, Big Schools’ Birdwatch was a bit different in 2021. But in 2022, we’re really looking forward to things being more normal, with teachers and pupils once again coming together to count the birds they see at school.

Taking part is as easy as 1,2,3 1. 

1. Register today, and we’ll send you a fantastic pack with everything that you and your class need to take part in Big Schools’ Birdwatch. All our resources are differentiated to support curriculum learning and are available in Welsh. 

2. Get counting in your school grounds! Your free pack includes helpful ID resources, handy survey sheets plus everything you need to know to get your Wild Challenge award. 

3. Submit your results online. It’s easy to do with your class interactively on the whiteboard. We really want to know what you see, even if you see nothing at all.

Register here.

Planet Super League: Schools vs Climate Change

The competition will run Monday 10th January 2022 - Sunday 20th February 2022 (6 weeks)

Schools vs. Climate Change is a national schools competition ran by Planet Super League to raise awareness of climate action, whilst having fun and scoring green goals. The aim of the competition is to educate pupils and their families to reduce their carbon footprint, as they represent their school and compete to be the Schools vs. Climate Change champions. Planet Super League work with more than 50 professional football clubs to promote climate action in a fun, competitive way.

There are over 100 activities to choose from on the Planet Super League website, that can be completed as an individual, as a class or at home, these include:

• Youth Voice - encouraging pupils to have their say on climate action.
• Meat free meals - Visit the PSL kitchen for recipe ideas.
• Leg Power - Encouraging active travel to school.

Every activity completed will score green goals and help your school climb the league table.   Details here.

Nominations for the Primary Science Teacher Awards 2021 are now open!

Do you know a teacher who deserves recognition?

The awards are open to all practising primary teachers (full or part-time) who:

• are innovative and creative in teaching science;
• inspire colleagues and contribute to developing science in their school;
• engage pupils in the excitement and fascination of science.
• support colleagues both in their own and other schools, either locally, regionally or nationally, to raise the profile of science and the quality of primary school science provision

Closing date for this year's nominations is January 14th 2022. Details here.