Year Groups

Nursery

Hi, I am Mrs. Humphreys and I will be teaching the Nursery class this year, assisted by Miss Looby. We hope to build upon the wonderful experiences the children have received in Playgroup last term.

They will learn lots of new skills and knowledge provided by carefully planned play experiences to extend their previous individual knowledge and understanding of number, mathematics, language, literacy and communication including Welsh language and culture alongside topic work.

We will endeavour to make the children happy, confident and ambitious learners in a safe, caring environment.

Year Reception, Year 1 and 2.

Hello. My name is Mrs. Hughes. Mrs. Jones, Miss Dorricott, Miss Francis & Mrs Woodward also work in our class.

The learning experiences in our class are developed through our topics. We have a new topic each term and pupil voice means that everyone has a big say on what we want to learn. We are very lucky to have a lovely outdoor area so we are enjoying learning challenges both inside and out.

We use Seesaw as a home-school link. We can share photos and videos of what we are learning at school and you can also add comments or photos from what you have been doing at home. We love sharing these items on our Clevershare whiteboard.

We want your child to be happy in school so they can do their best and learn lots of new things in. We look forward to sharing exciting and successful learning time with your child.

Have a look at some of the things we’ve been up to:

Year 3 and 4

My name is Mr John Jones and I am the Deputy Headteacher at Ysgol Derwenfa. and the Year 3/4 Teacher. I am priviledged to work with a fantaastic team in Year 3/4 including Mrs Roberts (Teaching Assistant and ELSA), Mr Andrew Jones (Headteacher - PPA Cover) and Mrs Anna Humphreys (HLTA - Management Time Cover) and Miss Emma Jones (Acorns and Nurture Teacher).

This is my second year at Ysgol Derwenfa. Previously, I taught at Southdown Primary School in Buckley for six years after completing my degree in Primary Education at Bangor University. I have recently completed my Masters as part of the National MA in Education (Wales) and I am passionate about lifelong learning.

One of my main areas of interest is Health and Well-being and providing learners with enrichment opportunities across the curriculum. I deliver a range of extra-curricular clubs both at lunch time and after school.

I keen to develop strong home-school links so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Have a look at some of the things we’ve been up to:

Year 5/6

Hello, my name is Mrs Cartwright and I am the Year 5/6 teacher. Mrs Roberts (Teaching Assistant and ELSA) also work in our class. In Year 5/6 we have exciting topics that we can explore and learn about together, these can include: World War 2, Victorians, Healthy Living and many more! At the start of each term we gather pupil voice and opinions to see where they want to take their learning.

We love using the outdoors to build enthusiasm! We can often be found in the forest building dens, creating pieces of art and learning about the wildlife. With the help of the New Curriculum, we are embracing new learning opportunities and giving children the chance to experience real learning experiences.

We use lots of ICT in Year 5/6 and love creating videos and using QR codes to enhance our learning. Throughout the school Seesaw is used, we use this to celebrate your child’s achievements, track learning and Year 5/6 are challenged to make explanation videos for younger children in topics such as Maths and Science.

To aid with the transition to high school, we have close links with both local high schools and encourage learners to take ownership and be independent in their learning.

We look forward to helping your child to grow into an ambitious and capable learner in preparation for their transition to high school.

Have a look at some of the things we’ve been up to:

Intervention/Nurture Groups

Hello my name is ____________ and I run the Acorns and Nurture groups daily.

Acorns is a small group of children who need extra support in their Literacy and Numeracy skills. We use a mix of practical, written and digital strategies to develop confidence and knowledge of a range of basic skills.

Have a look what we’ve been up to in Intervention:

Nurture:

Nurture is designed to support children’s well being, self esteem and confidence. We share through circle times, confidence building games and stories. Children are grouped by their needs following a Boxall Profile assessment and groups can be mixed for collaborative work.

In 2023, we achieved the National Nurturing Schools Award through Nurture UK. We would like to thank Mrs Hughes, Mrs Cartwright and Miss Sieminski for all of their hard work in order to achieve this prestigious award.

Here is a video made by the children to describe what Nurture is in our school:

Have a look at some of the things we’ve been up to in Nurture:

Please see below a list of websites/apps to help support your child’s learning