Coastlands School NewsBy the pupils of Coastlands Issue 15: February/March 2015

Wonderful Welsh WorkshopsRecently we had a visit from Ric-a-do, who did some workshops with us which were great fun. Mansel and Roland brought lots of musical instruments and went into each class to teach us some songs. They also told us stories and did a bit of acting. After an enjoyable day, we all went into the hall for a concert where we performed all our songs. It was a brilliant day.Thank you to the PTA who paid for them to come in.

WE ALL LOVE STORIES!Last month we had two big events to promote reading and stories. Firstly it was National Storytelling Week. Each class chose a story to work on during the week, and on the Friday we all got together and told our stories. Class One did an amazing telling of The Gingerbread Man. Both Class 2 and 3 chose narrative poems (these are poems which tell a story). Class 2 did The Owl and the Pussycat while Class 3 did The Highwayman.On World Book Day we all brought in a favourite book from home and shared them in a special assembly. There were lots of different types of books like picture books, joke books and football annuals, and some of the teachers brought in their favourites too.

Excellent Energy WeekIn the week after half term Class 3 ran their Energy Week. They had lots of things going on, like a campaign to get Class One to stop wasting hot water and a community project which involved showing energy saving films at Dale film night. They even had a visit from Jim Hughes who interviewed Elin, Aran and Luke for Radio Pembrokeshire. And the week was rounded off by a fantastic ‘weird weather’ fun day, which involved dressing up for a strange combination of weathers to highlight the effects of climate change.On the following week, Tim Brew from Operation Energy called to review how the class had got on. Comparing the energy readings from Energy Week to previous weeks, he found that the school had cut its energy usage that week by an impressive 10%! Thanks go to Kate Lock for her help in setting up the project.

School EisteddfodWe all enjoyed our school eisteddfod this year. We sang songs, played our instruments and entered special St. Davids Day competitions. Well done to everyone who took part and especially to the certificate winners.

SUPER SOLAR ECLIPSELast week we all enjoyed going out to see the solar eclipse. Mrs Burton brought some pin hole cameras in so we could look at it happening. It was amazing! Some of us looked in pans of water too.

Sladen swimmingWell done to Sam Beegan, Aran Lock, Emily Gray and Elin Gent for coming third place in the Sladen swimming gala.

School Council NewsWe have had some interesting meetings lately in which we have helped to make our lunch hour a happier time for everyone. We are now reviewing Golden Time for Mrs Thorpe.Yesterday we had some visitors who sat in on one of our meetings and talked to staff, governors and children about the school council. They were very impressed, especially with the way that the older pupils support the little ones. Well done school councillors!

EARTH HOUR: WILL YOU JOIN US?Do you care about the planet and the environment? Well, you might have noticed that at Coastlands WE DO! Last week we created some fantastic bunting showing pictures and short messages about what we love about our planet. This is being sent to the World Wildlife Fund in London to be used as part of their annual ‘Earth Hour’ campaign. Earth Hour is a global annual event where millions of people switch off their lights for one hour to show they care about our planet. It takes place on Saturday 28th March at 8.30-9.30 pm. If you visit http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/ you can register to join the event and see Coastlands already up there on the map! Thanks to Miss Lock for helping with this.

Eisteddfod arts and Crafts SuccessThere was exciting news again last week when we heard that some of our entries into the Urdd arts and crafts competitions had done well. Jacob, Maddie, Emilia N and Aran all won certificates and three Year 6 girls (Zoe, Ella and Elin) came first with their collage of dragon. The girls’ work is now going on to be entered into the finals at the National Eisteddfod in May. Well done girls.

With Epraise up and running, we mustn’t forget our Golden Rules. Can you find these important words and phrases in the wordsearch below:kind, gentle, try you best, polite, listen, truth, helpful, no waste

g e n t l e i e w s t j

a v t t y c o t e f u g

n d e e w r x i z e p o

o d u g f o t l p e y m

w t s e b r u o y y r t

a u y n s s e p d u o m

s d i t i n t e c i a g

t u e l i s t e n y o t

e d s e g t r e u p r h

h e y t r o o m n u b e

h e l p f u l c t u r l

l o a s h e l h u b b a

Sheila’s Peace ProjectRecently Class Two have been involved in a fantastic project in Sheila’s Peace, our local woodland. They have created new signs and a log circle so we can go down there to do our work sometimes. Class Three have been writing poems about a visit to the woods to read down there. Lots of other exciting projects are planned too.

Excellent EnterpriseClass Three have been really enterprising this term, raising money towards their Urdd Cardiff trip. They have made and sold fair trade chocolate cornflake cakes and organised a great ‘Weird Weather’ dress up day. But special thanks need to go to the girls (Elin, Ella, Zoe and Kayleigh)who have worked so hard making and selling jewellery, and running a jewellery making club. Well done!

Cackle CornerWhy did the Martian wear a belt on his teeth?He couldn’t find his braces.Why couldn’t the music teacher open the piano?The keys were inside.

Well done to everyone who took part in the DADS production of ‘Murder We Wrote’ and thanks to Mrs Thorpe. It was a great three nights.