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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We would like to thank Ty Tanglwyst Dairy for sponsoring the goody bags for each child. The money raised will be given to Barnardo’s who support local projects which help disadvantaged under 5s to learn and play.

A fun time was had by all!

The current and previous additions of St John’s new letter are now available here…

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!

Out and about on Election Day? Why not visit St John’s School in Porthcawl?
We are holding an Open Day from 9am – 4pm on 6th May 2010. Call in for a cuppa and a chat, take a tour of the school and see St John’s in action. All welcome!!

For further information please call 01656 783404 or email the school office

• All pupils who sat external music exams last term –
           Bradley Thorne who passed Grade 1 trombone with distinction
           Bradley Thorne who passed Grade 1 drums with merit
           Stefan Farmer who passed Grade 2 flute
           Martha Sanders who passed Grade 2 cello with merit
           Dominic Hoven who passed Grade 2 piano with merit
           William Mead who passed Grade 2 piano with distinction

• Martha, Stefan and Alicia who attended the National Children’s Choir of GB  in Petworth, Surrey

• William Mead who attended the National Children’s Orchestra of GB  in Port Regis

They all had a marvellous time and worked very hard rehearsing for 6-7 hours everyday. The concerts were outstanding.

• Ieuan Briers who has been offered a place on the BTEC performing arts course in Gorseinon College

• Thomas Skalitzky-Newman, Stefan Farmer, Annabelle Morgan and Chloe Atkinson who rehearsed so hard for the BYT performance of Mulan. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled but it is rescheduled for August.

On Tuesday 27th April we were able to enjoy a Brass demonstration by the owner of CAVMS music, John Leech. He showed and played us the cornet, trumpet, French horn, euphonium and trombone. Samuel Bevan then tried the cornet – very successfully! Everyone enjoyed and appreciated John’s lively personality. At present we have 4 brass players in our school, who are all very fine musicians. We also have a very highly regarded Brass teacher, Mr. Terry Lax. We also have teachers for strings, saxophone, flute, guitar, percussion and piano. We have a waiting list at present for drum and piano lessons.

On Tuesday 2nd May Yrs 6 & 8 will be attending an integrated arts day. Each group will spend a ½ day in St. David’s Hall in a Gamelan workshop and a further ½ in the museum’s art galleries. Everyone is very excited at the prospect.

Good luck to all musicians practicing hard for all this term’s external exams

Mrs D Mead