Penalty Shoot Out

On Thursday the 11th July, 37 children from Years 5, 5/6 and 6 took part in the Maes-y-Coed  Penalty Shootout.  We all walked up to the Maritime Astroturf.  We were split up into two groups of 18 and 19.  The first group were split into four groups. The 19 children went over to the other side of the Astroturf to take penalties against a guest goal keeper AKA Mr Hall.  The children needed to get at least 3 to get to the next round.  Lots of money was raised for our school and our local football club.  Many thanks to Barclays Bank.

Written by Annaleigh Hall and Ffion Davies

PC Rob talks about anti social behaviour

On the 8th May PC Rob Thomas came in to speak about anti social behaviour. We learnt about what to do and what not to do in a place for the community. We drew a park that had to appeal to all the community; that means children, adults, babies, elderly people, teenagers and pets. Once we had drawn the park we went through some of the anti social things that would happen to it and he told us some stories about what he'd seen as a policeman.  Then we swapped over parks and put post-it notes on things we could do to ruin their park with anti social behaviour. Then PC Rob Thomas showed us some real life pictures of anti social behaviour.

By Elinor and Holly

Golf Festival

Year 5 took part in a golf festival at the Maritime Astro Turf on 26th April.

The pupils participated in a variety of activities related to golf. The children practised their putting and striking skills and played lots of competitions against each other. Hopefully a few of the children will take up golf in the future.

Girls Football

Girls from year 5 and 6 classes participated in the New Directions South Wales 6 a side football tournament at the Cardiff City House of Sport.

They were in a group with Lytchard, Cwmlai, Newton, St Josephs Catholic and Tonypandy and were unbeaten in all games. They won 5 games and drew 1 qualifying for the finals day on May 1^st.

Finals day:

Girls played:

Pontybrenin Lost 3-1

Evenlode won 4 -2

Ysgol Y Wern won 2-1

Quarter final – drew 1-1 with St Davids then lost on penalties!!!!

Pontybrenin went on to win the cup after beating us in the group game and that was the only game Maesycoed lost over the two stages!!!!

Science Week - Body

We investigated  - How the body starts to break down food

• we learned that starch is used for energy.  It is a complex sugar and can't be absorbed into the blood until it is broken down into simple sugars.

• we made a starch solution by mixing rice with water.  When we added iodine the solution turned blue-black (this happens when iodine comes in contact with starch).
• we had fun making a saliva solution by rinsing water around our mouths and spitting it into a cup.  When we added this to the starch solution and iodine the blue-black colour slowly disappeared, showing the starch had changed.
• we found out that we have an enzyme called amylase in our saliva and this starts to break down the complex sugars in starch into simple sugars.

Science Week - apples

The children investigated - How can we prevent an apple from turning brown?

• we observed slices of apple and found out that they turn brown when they are left out in the air.
• we used the internet to research why this happened and to find ways to prevent it.
• we found out that when you cut an apple, phenols in the apple react with oxygen and make the apple brown.
• we tested lemon juice, orange juice, water, wrapping the slices in cling film and putting slices in the fridge.
• we learned that it's important to have a 'control' slice of apple with nothing done to it, to compare it with the others.
• we planned our investigation and thought about how to make it a fair test.
• we found that the lemon juice worked best.