Welcome Back to a Fantastic New School Year!

What a fabulous first half-term we have had! It has been wonderful to see everyone settling back into school, embracing new challenges and making the most of the exciting learning opportunities that have come their way.

We have made a fantastic start to our new topic, “What’s on the Menu in 2050? Can Bugs Save Wales and the World?” 🐛🌍 This exciting topic has encouraged us to think about the future of food, sustainability and how we can help to protect our planet. We have been exploring some big questions, sharing our ideas and discovering how the choices we make today could shape the world of tomorrow.

Throughout the term, we have enjoyed a range of exciting experiences that have brought our learning to life, giving us opportunities to get hands-on, work collaboratively, explore new ideas and develop our curiosity. From practical activities and investigations to creative challenges and memorable experiences, there has been plenty to keep us busy and engaged!

Read on to discover what we have been up to so far and find out more about the fantastic learning experiences we have enjoyed this half term. We have lots to celebrate, and this is just the beginning of our exciting journey!

We hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved half-term break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for another brilliant term full of learning, laughter and adventure! 💚

We started the term with an exciting visit to Dr Beynon’s Bug Farm in St Davids 🐛🌍 We immersed ourselves in the fascinating world of insects and invertebrates, explored the importance of biodiversity and sustainability, and discovered how bugs could play a role in feeding the world's growing population. From our tropical bug experience and interactive workshops to a sustainable food tasting session, there were plenty of opportunities to get hands-on with our learning. We even had the chance to sample edible insects and cricket cookies! Would you be brave enough to give them a try?

On our return journey, we stopped off at St Davids Cathedral, where we explored its beautiful stained-glass windows. This linked to our RVE learning, as we investigate how Welsh art and stained-glass can express spirituality, values and beliefs. The visit provided lots of inspiration for our own creative artwork later in the term.

It was a fantastic start to our topic, sparking curiosity, encouraging discussion and getting us thinking about the big question: could bugs really help save Wales and the world? 🌱

Language, Literacy and Communication 📚✍️

This term, we have been using literature to fire our imaginations as we immersed ourselves in Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson. We followed Maia’s exciting adventure from England to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, exploring the unfamiliar sights, sounds and wonders of her journey along the way. The story inspired us to think carefully about how authors bring settings to life and create vivid images in the minds of their readers.

To round off the term, we channelled our creativity into writing some powerful poems describing Maia’s journey down the Amazon. We carefully crafted our words, experimenting with a range of poetic devices, including similes, metaphors, personification, repetition, alliteration and onomatopoeia, to capture the beauty, mystery and energy of the rainforest. Our aim was to transport our readers deep into the Amazon, allowing them to imagine the rushing river, the sounds of the jungle and the incredible world unfolding around Maia. We were incredibly proud of how we used language creatively to bring her adventure to life!

Science and Technology 🔬🐛

How many bugs live beneath our school field? That was the big question we set out to investigate this term! As part of our exciting topic, we became young scientists, exploring the world beneath our feet and discovering just how much life might be hiding in the soil.

We began by making predictions and trialling different worm-charming techniques to see which strategies would be most effective at encouraging worms to come to the surface. We then put our mathematical skills to the test by calculating the area of our investigation site and using this information to help estimate how many worms might live beneath our field. Finally, it was time to get outside, test our strategies and see whether our predictions matched our findings!

Throughout the investigation, we developed our scientific enquiry skills by observing carefully, testing ideas, collecting data and comparing our results. We discovered that being a scientist is all about asking questions, investigating possibilities and using evidence to draw conclusions. Who knew there could be so much going on right beneath our feet? 🌱🔎

Are bugs the superfood of the future? This was the big question we explored next as part of our exciting topic.

We began by investigating the meaning of sustainability and considering how our food choices could affect the planet. We researched the benefits and challenges of eating insects, weighing up the arguments for and against including bugs in our diets. This sparked some fascinating discussions as we considered whether insects could provide a sustainable source of protein for the growing population.

Of course, we couldn't investigate the future of food without getting hands-on! We bravely took part in bug taste-testing and explored some creative culinary possibilities. We designed our own bug pizzas, used the Pestaurant recipe book to inspire our very own insect-based recipes and followed instructions to make a chocolate-coated cricket cake! 🦗🍫 These activities encouraged us to think outside the box and consider how insects might feature on menus in the future.

Throughout our investigation, we developed our research, design and practical skills, following instructions, exploring ingredients and sharing ideas. To finish, we brought together everything we had learnt, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of eating insects and formed our own opinions on whether bugs really could be the superfood of the future.

It certainly gave us plenty of food for thought! Would you be tempted to try a bug pizza or a slice of chocolate-coated cricket cake? 🌱

Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) 🎨🌈

This term, we have been exploring how stained-glass windows can express spirituality, values and beliefs. Our visit to St Davids Cathedral gave us the perfect opportunity to admire its beautiful stained-glass windows and discover how colours, patterns and images can be used to communicate meaningful messages and tell important stories.

Inspired by what we saw during our visit, we ended the half-term by creating our very own stained-glass windows! We carefully considered our choice of colours, shapes and symbols, thinking about how our designs could represent ideas, values and beliefs that are important to us. We loved seeing how everyone's creations were unique, reflecting their own ideas and creativity.

It was a wonderful way to bring our learning to life, combining our artistic skills with our understanding of how art can communicate powerful messages and express what matters most to people. ✨