Historic buildings from around Wales are re-located to showcase

Funded by Welsh assembly 

They have recently used national lottery funding to create three new galleries.

Gallery 1: ‘Life is’ – How people lived and worked throughout time in Wales – Children are encouraged to immerse themselves in the history, sitting on farm equipment or dressing up. 

Gallery 2: ‘Wales is’ – Wales as a nation from 2500 years ago to present day. Considers the life of welsh language. 

Gallery 3: ‘Workshop’ – About craft and making, it explores which materials have been used to create certain things throughout time. Children can make things within this gallery. 

St Fagans is the Largest provider of learning outside the classroom in Wales. 

They run the following workshops (some of which are currently available online as ‘virtual workshops’ during the current pandemic). 

- Victorian School 

- 1920’s shop 

- Traditional Toys

- Wash Day pre Electricity 

- The Celtic warrior grave – Investigative skills 

- Tudor religion and belief 

If I were to take a class here I would explore the Celtic Warrior Grave which focuses on Children's investigative skills, using items discovered around the warrior 'grave' to identify Wealth, time, location etc. With older children I would explore the 1920's shop focusing on packaging and the lack of plastic within the shop and the impact of plastic on the environment since.

The creativity approaches were especially interesting in relation to art, developing creativity. Creativity is a form of self-expression and confidence in yourself is needed to allow expression. Therefore, the well-being and positive environment is essential in allowing expression and would definitely be something I would look to adopt. The different resources, podcasts, and a learning festival all assisting in developing pedagogical practices to further pupils learning and well-being, relating to the Four Purposes, as well as sustainability and the environment. 

Simon Johns 
10AM-11AM 

 

The session began by a number being on the screen and that number was 7,800 and we as students had to guess what is the question to this answer? Some of the questions were, 

Some funny questions within the chat, a very fun and engaging way to begin the session. The answer to this question is how many hours a child spends within school. But the real question is how many hours of this answer students should spend on wellbeing. This has shocked me as I didn’t realise how little hours children focus on wellbeing.  

 

What is the Organisation? 

Supporting wellbeing and mental health has an impact on pupils learning. The organisation is about wellbeing. This is the single contributed outcome within the classroom. Well-being has always been considered a massive on-going this for years. These days people are more aware of it as now it's become a topic however it has not become a problem.  

Today is all about explaining what wellbeing moans and this is how the company Gwylan was formed. Simon Johns was originally a teacher where he suffered with his own wellbeing as he took on too much and was under pressure. One day he was going into teach a lesson on the subject Maths and unfortunately that day collapsed in front of the class where he then came home to recover. He expressed his feelings through dominos, if you take out one then that is a way of the dominos falling over meaning had ‘domino’ days where he was struggling then there was no doubt the pupils in the class were having dominos days. As a student teacher this stood out to me and was effective. 

The organisation created exercises so that students were able to do these throughout the day to focus on their wellbeing.  

Breathing exercises are effective as you can take that outside of the school setting as well and pass onto other people. In the long-term we could be a healthier nation.   

 

This organisation is working well all universities in Wales and they are starting to fund research as they feel that wellbeing is crucial. One thing that was said during this day was ‘happy teachers mean happy pupils’ this has stuck with me as it really strengthens development within the classroom. Teachers that need to make the learning environment a happy environment. Wellbeing surveys now is very low, and this goes for staff as well but who do we turn to during these times? The curriculum is changing and there is a lot more focus on this topic.  

Due to covid the future isn't scaffolded which may have an impact on wellbeing as exams are being cancelled and universities are changing. This organisation is planning to expand and collaborate with people to include everyone good practise as we all benefit from working together.  

 

As someone who suffers with anxiety It was helpful listening to how wellbeing is being dealt with these days. Its lovely to listen to people who have put an organisation together focusing on how we can make wellbeing better.  As teachers we need to make sure our wellbeing is healthy, so the students are healthy also.  

I was interested in the creation of a film club within school to promote film literacy, analysing film, and providing well-being for pupils. Films could support pupils in expressing themselves and empathising with others, being a mirror on the world around them. The films relating to society and culture would be insightful to explore Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+, and other movements. There were lots of learning opportunities with the films, looking at the story, setting, sound, camera, character, and colour. Pupils being able to make their own films, giving them another avenue to express themselves and relate to others, with Into Film providing support for creating films. Applying their learning to film could also be an excellent assessment for learning tool, pupils, making films or animation to show understanding.

The website provides support and activities which will help incorporate well being into the classroom as an integral element. 
I aim to take all of the information and findings into practice by ensuring that well being is the basis for all learning to take place effectively.

 

There are different packages they offer to the schools – silver, bronze and platinum, and these offer different length programmes and additional development skills for staff members. For example, the gold and platinum package offer access to teacher mentoring scheme whereas the silver package does not, but all packages offer a 2-hour session a week which can be a combination of PE and classroom-based learning.

 

There is a not a specific football focus with the programme – instead they focus on invasion games where transferable skills are developed. The programme aims at supporting and developing the confidence of the teacher, so they are able to deliver the skills themselves and differentiate lessons to suit pupils needs. For example, rather than all pupils having to dribble the ball in an exercise, you could give the choice of carrying the ball, bouncing the ball or dribbling the ball. 

 

They use booklets (differentiated for different ages and includes additional extra time challenges for MAT pupils) to link the programme to the curriculum where they use league tables to encourage mathematical skills and links to nutrition for literacy and health and wellbeing skills for example. I particularly liked this link to mathematical skills as it goes to show that maths can be linked to real life contexts and to the interests of pupils. The use of reading tables and inputting data into tables or graphs for examples can be linked to football league tables making it suit the interests of some pupils in the class. 

They have offered home packs and have supported 270 pupils during lockdown with these pack – they included a football, skipping rope, cones, Swansea socks and a booklet with tasks and activities for the children to complete. 

 

The parent engagement programme allowed parents to attend sessions to have an understanding of what the pupils were learning and the techniques that were introduced to support their learning. This enabled parents to take these skills and techniques to support their child at home. The pupils thrived with the support of their parents. Again, I particularly liked this aspect of getting the parents/carers involved to show parents the skills children learn in school and the techniques we used. In the video, a parent stated that techniques have changed since they were in school so keeping parents/carers up to date with the techniques and we use should help parents to support their children at home.

The idea behind Pause Points for primary schools is to create and take advantage of natural pauses in the school day to support wellbeing.

The supportive resources help to make an allowance to take time out of teaching and help to structure the unstructured moments.

The impact has been recognised by Estyn and is the subject of university research at the moment.

The Gwylan resources are available for a free monthly trial.

Cross-curricular themes, bringing Science with Art would be an interesting avenue to explore with Techniquest, once they are open once again. This could involve visits that support learning and relate to the curriculum, giving them authentic experiences. 

The Techniquest talk was very interesting. As a child, I went to Techniquest in primary school several times. It was interesting to find out that Techniquest is 70% bigger with state-of-the-art exhibits for example make your own virtual firework. I have always considered Techniquest as a primary based educational environment, so it was interesting to hear that they are now moving away from that and offering areas for secondary school pupils also. I really enjoyed today and will be visiting Techniquest in future. 

 

 

I found this a really enjoyable and interesting presentation. It has given me a lot of ideas about how I could use this within my teaching and hopefully be able to trial some of these within PTE2.  

 

I am really passionate about health and wellbeing and believe it is such a key aspect for pupils to develop and practice. I really liked the idea of ‘Pause points’ and taking time throughout the day to have some time away from traditional learning and more of a focus on wellbeing. The breakdown of focussing on 1. Physical wellbeing 2. Emotional wellbeing 3. Spiritual wellbeing was also useful.

 

The ‘domino’ analogy was a really powerful and insightful, this will definitely be something I will be mindful of during my own personal and professional practice. Having used Yoga within my foundation phase PTE placement I was able to experience first-hand how well the pupils responded to the activity and also how much they enjoyed it. Lots of the skills and strategies discussed during the presentation are life skills that can have a major beneficial impact and I am motivated and excited to begin working alongside pupils to develop these skills.  I will definitely be accessing the Gwylan website and resources to use within my future practice. 

Domino effect – understanding that pauses are needed throughout the day to avoid burnout. 

PauseUP / Gwylan Pause Points - https://www.gwylan.co.uk/#pausePoint

There are a number of ways that wellbeing exercises can be incorporated into secondary education that can contribute to improved wellbeing of students. 

I will use free apps/resources to incorporate mindfulness into my lessons.

Augmented Reality

AR Moilin – certain designs have been created that children can draw and then use an ipad to see their work come to life in 3D.

Photopea - Editor

Spark AR: tool for creating content/filters for Instagram and Facebook cameras. The filter you create can be shared across devices in the class for students to use. Can also be used when showing objects – making pictures 3D (useful with artifacts). 

https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/learn/getting-started#optimizing-your-texture-to-export-to-Spark-AR-Studio

We were given a demo of using LOGIC programming to a write a song. In the school this would be used by getting children to create lyrics around topics important to them. After brainstorming ideas they can then write lyrics, find a tune that works well and record the lyrics to go with the music.

With a KS2 class I would visit St Fagans and link the visit to the old shop. The museum runs a workshop based on the shop and I would use the session for the children to compare the shops of today with those of the past. How are the products packaged, how are items weighed, what items are available, how did people pay, is the money the same as today?  I would also talk about the lack of plastic packaging, how milk was in bottles, how paper bags were used and link it to the environmental concerns of today. Would love to take children to visit St Fagans as it looks at the past but in an hands on way.

The session reinforced what was highlighted at the ALN conference this week with reguards to the importance of building relationships with pupils’, in order to create an inclusive environment where wellbeing is at the forefront.  The session highlighted that as a teacher our wellbeing is just as important as the pupils: ‘happy teacher = happy pupils.’

 

The session introduced the importance of having ‘Pause Points’ throughout the school day, in order to provide the opportunity for pupils and teachers to pause and have a few minutes to stop and think. This is something I would definitely like to incorporate into my practice going forward

Roedd y profiad lles gyda Gwylan yn hynod o ddefnyddiol a buddiol ar gyfer fy nyfodol fel athrawes ysgol gynradd. Yn ystod fy nghyfnod fel cynorthwyydd dosbarth, roeddwn yn ymwybodol o bwysigrwydd iechyd a lles plant. Er hynny, galluogodd y sesiwn gyda Gwylan i gael dealltwriaeth ddyfnach o’r hyn y gallaf ei wneud i gefnogi anghenion lles disgyblion. Dywedodd John, ‘teachers set the climate within a classroom’. Anogodd hyn i mi ystyried fy rôl fel athrawes ysgol gynradd a sut y gallaf effeithio ar eu bywydau mewn ffordd gadarnhaol a buddiol. O ymarferion anadlu, i ioga, i weithgareddau sy'n arafu cyfraddau'r galon i leihau lefelau pryder, roedd y sesiwn yn addysgiadol iawn ac yn caniatáu i mi fel darpar athrawes i ennill syniadau ar gyfer fy nisgyblion yn y dyfodol ar sut i reoli eu hemosiynau.

 

Newton House 

 
Parkland

Idea for in class: Takeover day.
Children visit and learn about the castle. Then spend a day writing up what they've learned in class and practice presenting it to peers. Then return to castle with parents and children present what they've learned to their parents in the castle.

A trip to St Fagans would align to the four purposes, specifically becoming ethically informed citizens of Wales and the world. 

Similarly St Fagans would be an ideal backdrop for delivering the humanities aspect of the curriculum thanks to the buildings that have been brought from all over Wales. This would allow students to learn about differing regions of Wales and understand the cultural differences that apply in each. 

When planning a trip, it would be important to consider the location, size of the site and the topics being discussed, this would likely be more appropriate for KS2 pupils.

Lloyd Eveleigh

Swansea City Education Programmes:
The use of football is exceptionally engaging for many pupils as it is a genuine interest to many of them. Integrating league tables into numeracy was particularly brilliant and seemed it would be extremely engaging.

Pendine Outdoor Education Centre:
I liked the emphasis on how teaching is happening everywhere and not just in the classroom. The importance of teamwork to overcome challenges was something I found to be the same as what I try to encourage in my class to develop cooperative learning.

They are built around; 

1. Sustainable and circular futures 

2. Owning your wellbeing 

3. Creativity and cirriculum 

4. Learning to collaborate, collaborating to learn 

My intended outcome was to gain more knowledge about who they are, what they do and what they want to achieve. I also wanted to learn whether I would be able to use their courses and workshops to further my future development. As a business teacher I believe the curriculum is pushing towards becoming more enterprising and gaining knowledge about what Cymbrogi futures do this has inspired me. 

Cymbrogi Futures is a social enterprise delivering educational programmes through a unique learning ecosystem aimed at empowering today's learners to shape tomorrow's sustainable world. Along with all the workshops and residential they hold, they do so much more. During Covid-19 they have adapted their programme to a blended learning experience to ensure that students and staff did not miss out. They have also created a workshops for all AofLE's and these can be tailored for each residential or teacher where needed.

My intensions were to find out who Cymbrogi futures and what they do and whether I can use them in the future, and from all the hard work the team put in I believe I have achieved this. 

HT 

Swansea city council - focuses on using football to engage pupils and incorporate it into the classroom. The session discussed how football league tables could incorporate numeracy to allow for a more fun and engaging approach to teaching.

Pendine outdoor education centre - this session was extremely engaging and it brought back a lot of childhood memories! I really like the fact that teachers are encouraged to get involved in the activities as it allows positive relationships between teachers and pupils, as well as pupils with each other, to be developed. The session emphasised the importance of of person-centred and experiential learning for child development and the positive impact residential trips have on pupils development, particularly their independence and also their wellbeing.