Ysgol Gymraeg Calon y Cymoedd staff professional development visit to meet school improvement plan targets
Teachers from Ysgol Gymraeg Calon y Cymoedd visited schools in Denmark, Sweden and Spain in order to attain targets within the school improvement plan. Teacher Elin Morgan tells us about the Taith project and what has been implemented in the school as a result.
Our project involved three countries and we had a different focus in each one. The focus in each country came from our school development plan and from talking with staff about the needs of our children and what we need to develop.
In Denmark, there was a focus on outdoor learning, in Sweden bilingualism and then in Spain there was a focus on well-being. As we were visiting these different countries we gained a lot more than the aims. In Sweden we aimed to look at developing our bilingualism, but we also picked up a lot on well-being. Although the original focus of the visit to Spain was well-being, we collected many ideas to do with bilingualism which we look forward to developing in our school.
It’s had such a big impact. I would say it’s allowed us to see good practice, but also to realise what we’re doing well ourselves which was really positive. We have brought something back from each country.
We visited Denmark during their special business enterprise week, and recently held an enterprising week at our school based on practice we saw. We tried to mimic it as closely as we could and it was very successful. The children really enjoyed. Children from years 3-6 created products in the mornings such as keyrings, food and games and then were paid for their efforts with vouchers. They were then able to go around the different stands and spend their ‘money’.
When we were doing the business week, it was a whole shutdown so it wasn’t like normal lessons. In the morning they would go in and they would create the projects. Then in the afternoon they had time to go and spend. The pupils came up with all the ideas and had to do all the marketing. It was like they were making their own businesses. The pupils were so engaged and developed many life skills including the value of money, budgeting, numeracy, collaboration, problem-solving, and creative thinking.
In terms of outdoor learning the main takeaway is that we are in the middle of developing our outdoor area with an emphasis on an outdoor kitchen. We have bought an outdoor oven/ BBQ in order for the children to have the opportunity to develop their cooking skills. We also wish to create an allotment within our school, and use this produce within our cooking. We hope by implementing these new ideas and equipment our children will become more independent and resilient in their everyday life as cooking is an important life skill. In Denmark we were so impressed with how the children develop their independence by having the opportunity of cooking using produce from local shops that would have been thrown out otherwise. The children were using equipment such as knives, peelers, pans and pots and cooking soup and making flatbread to sell to the children in the afternoon. The opportunities these children received were so great and we hope to do the same for our pupils.
In Sweden, while the primary focus was on bilingualism, the most significant outcome was the enhancement of student wellbeing and classroom environment. We observed the use of different shoes for indoor and outdoor activities which we have now implemented in our school. We saw that changing shoes when moving from outdoors to indoors signalled to pupils to calm down, settle and prepare to learn. From November to December 2023, this practice was piloted in Year 5 and 6 and subsequently adopted school-wide in January 2024 due to its success. It has led to noticeable improvements in pupil behaviour and wellbeing. They are more comfortable, less noisy in class and are more focused and ready to learn. For the younger children it has certainly developed their independence of putting on their shoes and recognising their left and right feet!
Since this visit we have also started to incorporate more practical lessons, aligning with the Curriculum for Wales, by providing varied and engaging learning experiences for our pupils.
In Spain, the primary focus was on student wellbeing; however, we gained significant insights into bilingual education. We observed the effective use of an Oxford program to develop pupils’ oracy skills in English, which was particularly impressive as students aged 6-7 were nearly fluent. The program emphasized speaking and vocabulary use before reading and writing. The visit has had a profound impact on our approach to bilingual education. Inspired by the success in Spain, we have begun developing a plan to enhance oracy skills through the medium of Welsh. This is an ongoing project aimed at improving our pupils’ bilingual abilities.
Definitely apply. Although a lot of work went into the application it was a whole school initiative. We have been so impressed with what we’ve learnt and implemented that we applied again to enable our pupils to experience these all important mobilities. In Garw Valley, we have a lot of children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and many haven’t left Wales. The thought that we can now take them to Spain, some for their first time abroad will be an incredible experience.
It’s been an amazing experience for us as teachers and the funding has given us the opportunity to professionally develop. It has definitely inspired us and made us excited to trial new techniques and pedagogical principles in order to develop ourselves as teachers but also to ensure we are giving the best learning experiences to our pupils.
