As a school we have developed our own curriculum, enabling our learners to develop all four purposes of the curriculum – the starting point and aspiration for every child and young person in Wales.
Our three topics this term are: MO & Me! Time Travellers and Christmas Around the World.
MO & Me!
Health & Wellbeing
Within our first topic, learners will be shown how our school works and how they can achieve great things at Ysgol Maes Owen. They will share key information with their new teachers using our school’s PCP tools including; What makes a Good Day and a Bad Day, What’s important to and for me and their Relationship Circle. We will complete sessions on Children’s Rights and learn about their Responsibilities. They will be introduced once more to our Learning Superpowers and how the 5 ways to well being is embedded in our school. In this topic we will work on learners resilience, how they can work well as part of a team and the importance of great collaboration. We will also work closely with Jones Bros. learning about hazards and taking risks and developing our teamwork skills with a bridge building workshop.
Science & Technology
Children will use their engineering skills with collaboratively constructing a bridge in the Jones Bros. workshop. We will also continue to develop our resilience with coding, programming and debugging our school Micro:Bits. Finally, as we are learning about our school, children will have the opportunity to share what they like to do at play times and assist with designing a new purposeful school yard.
Mathematics & Numeracy
Children will be introduced to our school TTRockstar program and will take part in monthly tournaments. Linked with our topic they will be using all numeracy skills in making a numeracy fact file about themselves; using number, measuring and developing calculations for others to solve. In addition to these we will also be collating class data, developing, creating and interpreting graphs. And finally, as engineers and developers, they will be measuring school grounds and converting measurements.
Languages, Literacy & Communication
Throughout this topic, children once again can enjoy their reading books and Bug Club. They will take part in class discussions, debates and share ideas and opinions. This will lead into developing and publishing a safety campaign and writing manifestoes to support our pupil voice groups. They will also take part in a number of written tasks including informal letter writing and a Welsh autobiography.
Time Travellers
Time Travellers will become our second topic of the academic year. Each class will take an adventure back in time to a specific period. During their travels, they will learn about key events, key people and what is was like living during these times. At the end of the topic, each class will showcase their learning with a special event for parents and friends of our school - a Live Museum!
Languages, Literacy & Communication
We will continue to support children's reading using our Abacus Bug Club scheme. All classes will also take part in regular comprehension sessions and Guided Reading sessions with their class teachers. We will use or Ed Shed Spelling scheme to support learners with their phonic, spelling and SPAG work (Spelling, Punctuation and grammar). The skills shared within these sessions will equip the children with their literacy work throughout the term including; monologue writing, planning and creating a web page and leaflet making for their museum. Within our Welsh sessions, learners will continue to describe characters, using the skills to write about key characters from our topic. They will also use their Welsh language within our Shwmae! Su'mae! event, Harvest celebrations and Anti-Bullying tasks.
Mathematics & Numeracy
With the continued use of our Abacus Maths scheme, learners will apply their numeracy skills throughout our Time Travel topic with timeline work, and researching how numeracy was used during their class historical time. They will also take part in an authentic learning task with a Children in Need challenge, 'Double your Money!'.
Health & Wellbeing
Children will explore each historical time through physical activities. These include; a Stone Age fitness circuit, Ancient Greek Olympic games, Viking team tasks and a Victorian school drills. We will also support key charities and events throughout the term including; Hello Yellow, Wear Red for Anti-Racism Day, Children in Need and Anti-Bullying Week.
Expressive Arts
Within this area of learning, children will be creative in a variety of ways including; designing and making models and replica artefacts which are true to their historical period, using Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic shapes and create gymnastic routines, using inspiration from Roman soldiers, children will compose and perform movements to develop and perform a sequence and also take part in a Tudor style court performance.
Christmas Around the World
In our final topic of the year, each class will contribute to a whole school Christmas production with a focus on a key country. In class, we will creatively use the 12 Days of Christmas to learn about 12 countries including their Christmas celebrations and traditions.
Languages, Literacy & Communication
Our Abacus Bug Club scheme, regular comprehension sessions and Guided reading sessions will continue in addition to the use of the Ed Shed Spelling scheme to support learners with their phonic, spelling and SPAG work (Spelling, Punctuation and grammar). Children will research and learn about different Christmas celebrations and traditions. they will also learn BSL in performing a traditional Christmas song.
Expressive Arts
Children will create and decorate a Mari Lwyd mask, follow instructions to make a Pagoda manger, a Parol and a variety of other Christmas decorations. They will learn about aboriginal art, make Spanish castanets which will be used in a traditional Christmas dance, and use drums when performing a traditional Malawian dance. They will also compose learn and perform Christmas songs for our whole school Christmas production.