Pupils and teachers sat in on a Gaelic lesson (and didn’t understand a word!) and our pupils took part in a 5 nations football tournament, as well as trying the Irish sport of hurling. (Mrs. Bessell got really stuck in with this!) Chloe and Bethan from Year 4 stayed with the school’s headmaster and his family and Amy and Alys stayed with another host family.

All four girls were looked after brilliantly and were taken out on trips to the beach and the local fairground.

On our first day in the school all the Irish pupils welcomed us by lining up along the long entrance to the school, wearing hats bearing the Comenius partners’ flags and waving and cheering madly. Some other pupils played the drums, which we could hear in the distance as we approached. It was a marvellous spectacle and a warm, inspiring start to our visit.

Our teachers gave a presentation about St. John’s, Porthcawl and Wales and Alys presented the head teacher with a beautiful red wrought-iron dragon which her mother had kindly donated as a gift from us all. Our pupils also sang ‘Ar Lan y Mor’ to one of the classes and we all taught them a few snippets of Welsh. Mrs. Sarll was delighted to spot a Gaelic word which looked like a German and French word – ‘chorp’ means body, which is very similar to the German ‘Körper’ and the French ‘corps’, and of course, to the Latin ‘corpus’. Look out for Gaelic lessons in St. John’s in the future!

The Irish pupils entertained us with a fabulous concert, including some traditional Irish dancing from the school’s very own champion dancer. We were bowled over by the Irish hospitality and are grateful to Galleway chocolates for donating some of their fabulous choccies for our Comenius Day.

The whole trip was an enormous success and both teachers and pupils found it enjoyable and, of course, very educational. As a result of being in a Gaelic school, Mrs. Sarll and Mrs. Price are hoping that we can have a Welsh speaking break-time once a week to add to our already glowing linguistic reputation in St. John’s. The end of the trip provided a rather hairy moment when due to an accident, we could have missed the plane home! Alys’ and Amy’s reactions to this sums up the success of the trip perfectly: ‘Ooh! Great! Can we stay in Ireland for another week then? Or maybe we could move St. John’s? I’d like to live here’.

We will soon be showing all pupils a video of the trip and there will be photographs on display during Comenius Day (5th July). Chloe and Bethan are also writing a diary of the trip which they will read out in an assembly. We are very much looking forward to our Comenius Day and hope that all pupils will dress up in the colours of our partner countries (Turkey, Iceland, Germany and Ireland) or their national costumes, as well as contributing ideas (quizzes, games, crafts etc.) and food for our stalls. There will be a Fancy Dress Competition on the day.

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Miss Ledwell acted as our Returning Officer and ensured the ballot was fair. We are delighted to announce that Mr. Matthew Greenwood was voted into office for the Year 2010/2011 with 65% of the vote. The children agreed he had the qualities needed: being polite, kind, thoughtful, able to talk easily to adults and that he was someone who would think of others first.

Matthew commented “Thank you Year 2 for electing me. I’m going to try hard to represent Year 2. I’m happy to be the one you chose”

Well done, Matthew!

Mrs Carol Clint, Headmistress said, “The standard of these results is testament to the excellent work of the staff in our Science Department and the hard work and enthusiasm of our pupils. The general friendly atmosphere of the school and the mutual respect that staff and pupils have for each other, which is promoted by our smaller class sizes, are factors which play a big part in our pupils being able to achieve their full potential.

Another major factor is that, at St John’s, Science begins at an early age. We have a dedicated Science Lab for our junior pupils and even our Nursery children benefit from specialist Science equipment to make experiments fun.”

Year 4 recently took advantage of the nice weather and light wind conditions to experiment with different parachutes – with a teddy as a brave volunteer!

Our board of governors is made up of members of the local community including past parents, as well as representation from current parents.  Each governor brings specific talents and expertise to support the running of the school. The Governing Body shares the school vision of developing the individual child to their potential academically and developing confidence within a disciplined framework.

St John’s Alumni

Later in the morning our guests went on a tour of the village which included a visit to St. John’s church and an interesting talk by Mr. Gwyn Petty.

This was followed by a picnic lunch on the beach and a game of football on the beach with our Year 7 pupils.

We returned to the Crampton Hall for an excellent performance by the school’s rock band, comprising James Kearle, Daniel Shearer, Dylan Jones, Ben Pugh and Mrs. Howells, who brought the house down!

In the afternoon there was a full programme of sports with the French girls trying their hand a netball and the French boys playing football against St. John’s senior boys. The game on middle field resulted in a 7-2 win for St. Gilles, with Tom Newman and Keiran Clatworthy scoring the home goals, but the greatest drama was on bottom field where a close game stood a 3-3 for most of the second half, a hat-trick by James Kearle, but late goals from Tom Brown and Luke Griffiths secured a 5-3 win for St. John’s.

A very enjoyable day was rounded off with tea in the dining hall during which our visitors presented baseball caps, pens and t-shirts to St. John’s pupils. The French teachers commented on the friendliness and politeness of our pupils, and they have extended a warm invitation for us to visit them in France in the future.

Mr. Keating

A big thank you to all the runners and marshals who braved the rain to make this year’s event a success. Full results…

U13 Boys
Winner: James Middlecote—Monmouth Boys (22.13mins)
1st Cowbridge Comprehensive
2nd Monmouth Boys
3rd Brynteg Comprehensive

U13 Girls
Winner: Rosa Yates—Brynteg Comprehensive (23.14mins)
1st Cowbridge Comprehensive
2nd Monmouth Girls
3rd Brynteg Comprehensive

U16 Boys
Winner: Callum Sullivan—Brynteg Comprehensive (20.03mins)
1st Monmouth Boys
2nd Brynteg Comprehensive
3rd Cowbridge Comprehensive

U16 Girls
Winner: Jess Hegarty—Brynteg Comprehensive (22.46mins)
1st Brynteg Comprehensive
2nd Cowbridge Comprehensive
3rd St. John’s, Porthcawl

Congratulations to all runners!

Some of us could try on the fireman’s helmet, boots, leggings, jacket and gloves. Now Parents, the exciting bit is about to be heard! We all went outside to the fire engine and got to sit on the driver’s seat and put on the siren. We also had a go at squirting water from the hose and hitting a target. You might be shocked because the seniors were looking out of their classroom windows— getting a bit jealous because they did not get a turn!
By Jake Bromhead and Simran Dhaliwal, Yr3

• Quiet play days
• Trips to the beach
• Trips to the park
• Bowling
• Pottery painting days
• Visits to the Cinema
• Pantomime trips and Brecon Mountain Railway at Christmas
• End of holiday parties
Children can bring their bicycles, scooters, footballs and games consoles and parents are confident that their children are being kept occupied and stimulated over the holidays in a safe and secure environment.

For your peace of mind the Holiday Club is organised and run by one of our permanent members of staff who is NNEB qualified, and all trips outside school are taken in the school’s own minibuses.

For further information please contact the School Office on 01656 783404 or by e-mail at office@stjohnsschool-porthcawl.com