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Dosbarth Birch - Mr Malkin
Croeso I Dosbarth Birch 2025-2026
Weekly Structure:
- Monday afternoons is our PE time. Please ensure children come to school with suitable footwear, a water bottle and no jewellery.
- Wednesday morning is Mr Malkin's PPA, and Miss Jefferies is in class.
- Friday mornings, we complete our 'Big Maths' tests and our spelling tests. We also practice our handwriting, working towards our pen license.
Contact Information:
- email - mrmalkin@llwyncrwn.co.uk
Visit from Cardiff City 14.10.2025
Shwmae Day 20.10.25
Christmas Surprise 28.11.25
Might Metals - Magnets 13.01.26
Friction Experiment 10.03.26
Techno Camp 17.03.26
Easter Activities:
To celebrate the upcoming Eater holidays, on Friday 27th April the school council have arranged a series of competitions for the pupils to compete in. Some challenges are to be completed in school, and some are to be completed at home. The competitions are:
Egg Roll: if pupils wish to compete in this activity, they need to bring a boiled egg into school on Friday.
Egg Decorating: at home, pupils need to decorate a boiled egg in any design they choose. The designs will be judged by Mrs Charles. These eggs need to be brought into school on Friday.
Handwriting: to be completed in school.
Scavenger Hunt: to be complete in school.
If pupils win a competition, they will be rewarded with prizes.
An Egg-cellent Day - 27.03.26
Spring Term 100% Attendance
Spring Term Dojo Champions
Mighty Mountain, Rippling Rivers Group Inquiry
Past Academic Years (Pre 2025-26)
Croeso i Ddosbarth Birch
Croeso/Welcome to our class page!
CLIC test - Friday
P.E. sessions - Monday and Tuesday
Thank you for your support, Mr Morgan. 
Contact details: mrmorgan@llwyncrwn.co.uk
Summer Term - Step Back In Time
Folly Farm
Diolch yn fawr to our ffrindiau in Blwyddyn Pump for supporting us in using some of the Cymraeg apps on the iPads!
Diolch to our families for coming along to support us during the ‘track events’ at Sports Day! This year, we also added ‘throwing events’ to make our Sports Day bigger and better! Here are some pictures from both the track and field events. We had lots of fun!
Diolch to Coach Dan from the Cardiff City Foundation for working with us over the last 6 weeks! We have looked forward to our time with you each week and really enjoyed.
We made some models of Celtic roundhouses using clay and some natural materials on top of card for the roof.
Our class trip to St Fagans - we spent time in Bryn Eryr, the Celtic Roundhouse, as well as exploring other important periods of Welsh history.
We have been learning about Celtic jewellery. We made some replica jewellery to be just like the Celts!
Why did Celts live in hillforts? We discussed some reasons why Celts live in hillforts. We threw some ‘weapons’ at our ‘enemies’ from both the top and bottom of the hill and also travelled up and down the hill to see who hand the upper hand. We found out that everything was easier at the top of the hill and more challenging from the bottom.
Spring Term - STEM-tastic
After deciding to adopt a rhino from WWF and doing lots of research we wanted to help spread the word about how everyone can help them. We made leaflets, information videos and scripts, and we presented to six different classes throughout the school. To watch our information videos go to the ‘School Video’ section of the website and look for ‘Dosbarth Birch’.
Great independent learning on show - sorting out equivalent volumes. Gwaith da pawb!
A very informative ‘live lesson’ from the Blue Cross based on ‘Living Things and Pet Habitats’.
Rhannau’r Corff
Why do seals have blubber? After learning about ‘Arctic adaptations’ we conducted a science experiment to find out for ourselves why some animals have blubber. We found out that we could tolerate the ice-cold water much better when we were wearing our ‘blubber gloves’!
We’re having lots of fun learning about ‘capacity’ and ‘volume’ at the moment. Here are some pictures from the last week:
Gwaith da! Excellent independent work from these two in the ‘Cymraeg’ area this week!
Lots of smiling faces, showing off our new books from the ‘Book Swap’!
It’s lovely to have some Spring sunshine! Gwaith da Blwyddyn 2 for working collaboratively to complete this task independently. After learning about climate zones, Blwyddyn 2 were able to complete these puzzles of the United Kingdom and of the world map. They used these to discuss the climate/weather in the UK and the climate zones on Earth.
Measuring capacity! This morning we inspected containers and made a prediction about their capacity, ranking them from the ‘largest capacity’ to the ‘smallest capacity’. We then filled each container with water and carefully measured is capacity. We needed to change the order from what we predicted, noticing that you cannot tell which containers hold the most or least liquid just by looking. It’s always important to measure.
We had such a fun session with Technocamps! We discussed what an ‘algorithm’ is before programming sprites and writing a code to create our own ‘Predator vs Prey’ game. Diolch to Rhys from Technocamps for your support.
Diolch to Miss Hughes and the Criw Cymraeg for organising a fun session where we could practice our Welsh language skills through sport!
A huge ‘diolch’ to Aled from A & S Animal Encounters for coming into Llwyncrwn today to help us launch our Spring Term topic - ‘Predators’. The children had the opportunity to meet and interact with: a marsh mongoose, a royal python, a black throated monitor lizard, a striped skunk and a binturong! The children learnt lots of facts and had the opportunity to ask lots of questions.
Light and shadow science investigation
‘YMA O HYD!’
Autumn Term
To bring our ‘Yma o Hyd’ topic to a close this week, we made models of our plans to redevelop the disused Cwm Colliery site. We evaluated all of the evidence that we have been gathering this term, such as: the responses from the ‘Parent Survey’ that we created, our walk around the locality, our ‘EPIC planning’ questions and what we’ve learnt about the coal mining history of Beddau and Cardiff Bay. All children made choices for their designs considering this evidence, with some opting to keep some of existing features of the Cwm so that future generations remember it’s important part in local history.
Mr Morgan set us a challenge to design and create a Christmas product, with a £10 budget, with the aim of making a profit. We conducted some product research, evaluated products, worked out costs, and designed and created the product. In the end, we made ‘Chocolate Snowmen’ selling them for 50p each. We were so pleased that we made a profit! This will go to buying some things that we think we need in class.
Christmas Party Time! Nadolig Llawen pawb!
Christmas Jumper Day!
Did we enjoy the pantomime? ‘OH YES WE DID!’
As part of ‘Anti-bullying Week’ we have been reading the story - Bahir’s Boots. A story about the experiences of a refugee and his struggles. Diolch to this visitor from Dosbarth Elder for sharing her story about leaving Ukraine and how kindness has helped her.
To raise awareness for Children in Need we completed some ‘Pudsey Problem Solving’ and created Pudsey or Blush using natural materials.
‘World Kindness Day’ - to celebrate World Kindness Day we made some ‘Kindness Flower’ each petal can be lifted up to reveal a kind message from one of our friends. We can use this as a reminder of how much we mean to one another when we are feeling upset.
This week we have been working on instructional writing, focusing on a set of instructions for ‘Building a Bonfire’. Today we adapted and then followed these instructions to build our own ‘model bonfires’ using natural materials.
Working together to match ‘spooky’ rhyming words to help us write some Halloween poetry.
Wow, what a fantastic ‘Harvest Assembly’! After just 5 weeks in the juniors the children did an amazing job speaking individually, rapping and singing about harvest. Thank you to the children’s families for coming to support them, we hope that you enjoyed.
Diolch to Reverend Dave Jones for hosting us at St.Michael’s church this afternoon. We started by watching a demonstration of a baptism. We looked around the church and talked about different features, sang songs, discussed the ‘Harvest Festival’ and had the opportunity to ask lots of interesting questions about Christianity.
We have been learning about how Beddau transformed from a community with a few farms, into how it looks today - and the link this has with the Cwm Colliery. We ended the lesson with an interactive quiz on Kahoot! Da iawn to those that finished on our final ‘Leaderboard’.
Diolch yn fawr to coaches Jamie, Simon and Luke from Beddau RFC that came in today to deliver a rugby session. The coaches were very impressed with the effort shown by all the children. Gwaith da pawb!
Today we launched our new topic, ‘Yma o Hyd’! Alongside Mrs McDonald’s class, we walked around Beddau. We noticed and discussed things that we ‘liked’ about our town, as well as things that we ‘didn’t like’ or ‘needed improving’. We will use this information throughout our topic to inform planning.
What a great first week back! The children have settled in to Dosbarth Birch really well.
Scroll down for school year 2023/2024
Summer Term - Iechyd Da!
We had a great time in Folly Farm!
Diolch to all of our parents and carers who came to support our summer ‘Eisteddfod’ festival. We hope you enjoyed as much as we did!
We have been learning about the General Election. Following this we conducted a class debate, asking ‘Which school subject is most important?’. Each ‘party’ created a manifesto, performed opening and closing speeches, and debated. Science and Technology won the ballot vote. However, we agreed that every subject is very important.
Diolch to Lisa and Squash Wales for coming in to deliver ‘squash taster sessions’. We really enjoyed!
Today we said goodbye to one of our friends who is leaving to go to a new school closer to home. We will all miss you. Good luck/Pob lwc, hopefully we will see you again sometime soon.
Fun in our first session with the Cardiff City Foundation
We had a great afternoon at the ‘Fun Tennis Festival’! We developed our tennis skills across five stations with the help of Llantrisant Tennis Club, Sport RCT, Tennis Wales and Tennis Squad.
The Bells of Cantre’r Gwaelod - head over to the ‘School Video’ section of the website to see us re-tell the traditional Welsh tale. Before filming, we worked hard to write play scripts. We also discussed the importance of expression, gesture and other aspects that would make us ‘become’ the character.
Experimenting with weight
This morning we walked to Tynant Woods where we explored the Nant Myddlyn river. We looked for some of the residents, followed the river’s pathway and discussed the impact humans have had on the river - through litter and the building of man made tunnels. Diolch yn fawr Councillor Julie Barton and Hazel Seymour for supporting us in this. The activities will be used to ‘launch’ our Iechyd Da topic, giving the children ideas to inform ‘EPIC Planning’.
In science, we devised an experiment to explore whether oxidised coins can be cleaned. We used the skills that we have learned in maths to measure out 100ml of different liquids - lemon juice, water, vinegar and cola. We then put the oxidised coins into the liquids and left them for three days. We found that cola cleaned the coins the best! Water was no good for cleaning the coins.
In P.E. this week we developed our passing and dribbling skills in hockey.
This week we listened to the Welsh folk tale, ‘The Bells of Cantre’r Gwaelod’. Mr Morgan challenged us to re-tell the story using music. Before composing our musical piece we did lots of work on developing our skills in key musical aspects such as rhythm, pulse, pitch and dynamics. We worked in groups and decided what instruments we would need to re-tell the story musically. After lots of practice we performed our final piece for one another. If you’d like to see our performances please go to the ‘School Video’ section of the website. We hope you enjoy!
Spring Term -
Let’s Explore
We had a great time in Techniquest! We explored with all of the different stations and enjoyed the show, ‘Wales, STEM and The World’!
This week we recapped ‘verbs’. We enjoyed listening to the ‘Superman’ song to help us remember.
To celebrate St.David’s Day week we have been reading legends about different Welsh giants. We enjoyed a hot seating/role play activity connected to the story of ‘The Rhondda Giant’.
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This week we helped Mr Furber solve a problem! We helped him to find the perimeter of different planters. We did this by measuring the length and width, and then calculated the perimeter. This will help Mr Furber complete any further repairs.
A big ‘diolch yn fawr’ to our families for helping us to create an animal using recycled materials. We were inspired by Welsh artist JK Brown who uses scrap metal to create animal designs. We have been impressing Mr Morgan, Mrs Georgiou and our friends with our designs this week, taking it in turns to present them in front of the class.
This week we had fun exploring and experimenting with the ‘north’ and ‘south’ poles of magnets. We used words such as ‘attract’ and ‘repel’ when explaining what happens when we bring the poles of the magnets together.
Dawnsio Gwerin gyda Dosbarth Elder
Diolch yn fawr to Rhys from TechnoCamps for coming in to deliver a fantastic Lego WeDo session! We discussed algorithms and coded the device we built to make it move around a track.
Diolch yn fawr Mrs Mearns a Blwydynn 6 from Ysgol Gymraeg Castellau for visiting us this week. Mrs Mearns and Blwyddyn 6 will be helping us learn ‘Cadw-mi-gei’ in readiness for our St. Davids Day Eisteddfod Celebration!
Experimenting with division when there is a remainder...
Let’s Explore Launch Day Investigation! We asked the question ‘How can we go faster down the slide?’. We devised an experiment where we chose different materials that we thought may make us travel faster down the slide. We predicted which we thought would be the fastest and used a stopwatch to time how long it took for our friend to travel from top to bottom. We discussed what we needed to keep the same and what we would change in order to make it a fair test. We repeated the experiment and discussed how this made our results more reliable. After lots of trips down the slide we found out that the ‘plastic bag’ helped us travel down the slide the fastest! We also considered why this might be.
Let’s Explore Launch Day! We walked to our local park where we considered and discussed the forces that are apparent as we used playground apparatus. We also thought about the materials that the apparatus are made from and why.
We read a story about ‘Morris the Messy Magpie’, a mischievous magpie that likes to collect things dropped by humans. Morris’ collection contains objects made from a variety of different materials. Morris set us a challenge to find things in our school grounds made from specific materials.
Autumn Term - This is Me
Diolch SportRCT for the Fun Christmas Fitness session this morning! We enjoyed making sure Santa was fit and strong for Christmas!
Thank you to all of the parents, carers and family members that supported us in raising money during the Reindeer Run. We had lots of fun and all managed to complete it!
Mr Morgan set us a challenge to create a Christmas product to sell at the PTA Christmas Event. We had a budget of £20, we researched, planned and designed the product ourselves. We have made Chocolate Snowmen and Chocolate Reindeer. We are really hoping to make a profit to help us buy new, lovely things for our class. Please come along and support us at the Christmas Event.
This week it was ‘World Diabetes Awareness Day’, this brave member of our class discussed what diabetes means for her in daily life. The children were really engaged and asked lots of thoughtful questions in a respectful way. As carbohydrate content in foods is an important factor in a diabetics life, we looked at the carbohydrate levels in some of our favourite foods. Following this we discussed why this is important for people with diabetes. A big ‘diolch’ on behalf of the children to the kind parents who sent in sweets for all of the children alongside some information on diabetes for all of children to take home. It was a lovely and very informative afternoon.
As part of ‘Outdoor Learning’ this week, the children completed a problem solving task using natural materials. ‘Can you make a 3x3 grid? Place objects in the grid. Each column and row must have 10 objects each.’
Wow! What creative presentations! The children wrote raps, songs and scripts to help them teach each other about different jobs that children had in the mine. Gwaith da!
This week have studied different artists use of colour. We looked pieces of art and expressed how they make us feel. Following this, we looked at artwork by Martyn Evans, we used his work as inspiration to create our own brightly coloured pictures of Beddau.
We’ve been working extremely hard to find out about different jobs that people had in the mines during the Victorian era. In groups we have conducted research and are working to present ideas in fun ways including through: songs, raps and role play.
Diolch yn fawr Mrs Harwood for coming in from RCT Music Service to teach us how to begin playing the recorder.
I am so proud of all of the children for delivering a fantastic Harvest Assembly today! The children worked really hard and spoke with confidence. Thank you to the parents and carers that were able to come along.
Today we visited the Rhondda Heritage Park so that we could experience what it was like for miners in Victorian times. We had a fantastic time, even though we decided that it’s definitely nicer being able to come to school every day, than having to work down the mine as a trapper! Diolch to all staff at the Heritage Park, especially to our miner friends Peter and Tony for showing us around.
We used hula-hoops to create a Venn to sort out what Beddau looked like before and during the Industrial Revolution
This afternoon we tested our theory that the pictures that we were investigating, were pictures of Beddau. We went for a walk and compared our images with Beddau today. We found out that some of us were correct! ⭐️ We were able to spot some familiar places.
Mr Morgan’s nan found some old pictures in her attic. We used our enquiry skills, investigating the pictures to find clues as to where it could be! We came up with three theories considering the evidence: Beddau, Pontypridd or Cardiff. We will continue investigating to find an answer!
We enjoyed our first session with the Music Service today! We were excited to learn that we will be playing recorders. Firstly, we began by learning about different families of instruments. Next, we discussed ‘beat’ and ‘rhythm’, as we clapped and stamped along to Yellow Submarine. Then, it was time to play the recorders - our new woodwind teacher said that we were the ‘best group she’d ever had’ after our first attempt at playing ‘Heavenly B’. We’re looking forward to next Wednesday!
‘This is Me’ Launch Day! The children did amazingly well presenting their ‘important thing’ to launch our new topic. All of the children listened really well and asked lots of questions. The children who chose to present were so brave and did fantastically! We had a wide range of topics including: different sporting achievements, drama, charity work, special toys and teddy bears, family and pets. Gwaith da pawb ⭐️
We have had lots of fun in the sun this week. We created some self-portraits using natural materials.
What a great first week! All of the children have started Year 3 excellently and have settled in really well. Gwaith da pawb! ⭐️
