Trinity Saint David Newsletter 1

Transforming education...

Transforming lives

The seal on a new future Two major developments have placed the University of Wales Trinity Saint David at the forefront of innovation in Higher Education in the UK. In November, Wales’ newest university received its Royal Charter, its Statutes and its Royal Seal – bringing together two of the country’s oldest

institutions at Carmarthen and Lampeter.

In December, the university agreed on another partnership, with the Swansea Metropolitan University. This new relationship will create a major new higher education institute for the whole of South West Wales.

Working with schools

Professor Medwin Hughes,Vice-chancellor and Dr Brinley Jones, President

Transforming education: Glyn Jones, Pembrokeshire College, Professor Medwin Hughes, Jacqui Weatherburn, Coleg Ceredigion and Barry Liles, Coleg Sir Gâr

and further education colleges across the region will also be the driving force for a new educational network, offering the full range of educational opportunities, from worldclass academic research to highly-focused vocational courses.

“We have started on a journey that will transform education in the region and will offer new opportunities for students from all over Wales and beyond,” said Professor Medwin Hughes, Vice-chancellor.

The University will be

developing ground-breaking courses that are tailored to the needs of Wales and the UK. There is innovation, too, in the way education is delivered, including workplace courses where employees can take advantage of the skills and experience they have already gained. It builds on Trinity Saint David’s reputation for flexible methods of learning that meet the needs of modern students.

“Creating this new University – and

working on the further partnership with the Swansea Metropolitan University – creates major opportunities to work with agencies and employers, offering far more people the chance of gaining higher skills,” explains the Vice-chancellor.

“The new institution also allows us to invest heavily in the resources at our two campuses, in Lampeter and Carmarthen.

The community atmosphere here is now matched by the very best in facilities.”

Unlocking the door on rare treasures The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is working to ensure that a remarkable collection of rare books and manuscripts is made available to the public after being a well kept secret for decades.

The University’s special collections are on a par with some of Britain and Europe’s biggest universities, with manuscripts dating back to 1279.

After being kept out of sight of most people in the Founders’ Library on the Lampeter Campus, these treasures are now available for students to use in their studies and the public can also view and investigate even the rarest works.

One of the next steps will be to digitise much of the material so that it can be placed on the Web – the first online exhibition was launched this summer. The catalogue

describing the Special Collections is already freely available world-wide via the Internet.

“Rather than museum pieces, the collection is a vital resource for teaching, research and scholarship at the University and beyond,” said Sally Wilkinson, Head of Learning Resources at the University.

What’s in the collection The collections include more than 35,000 books and pamphlets printed between 1470 and 1850, along with eight medieval manuscripts and about 100 more recent manuscripts.

There are 69 incunabula – books that were printed in the first 50 years after the invention of the press in 1450 – 680 books from the 16th

century, 6,250 from the 17th and approximately 12,500 from the 18th.

“The range of subjects is also impressive,” said Caroline Pilcher, Curator of Special Collections at the University. “There is a considerable amount of material relating to Wales, including early Welsh Bibles, prayer books and hymns, catechisms, sermons and ballads, and Welsh translations of religious classics.”

The collection was created by some of the University’s greatest benefactors since its foundation in 1822 – Thomas Burgess, Thomas Bowdler and Thomas Phillips – and the creation of the new University will do much to achieve their vision of a major educational institution for Wales and the world.

Carmarthen Campus: 01267 676767 | Lampeter Campus: 01570 422351 | www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

A voice for the countryside The University of Wales Trinity Saint David will make a key contribution over the next few years to fields vital for the future of rural communities around the UK. The University will use its unique location to help develop new policies and strategies to educate students who can make a valuable contribution in the field.

The Wales Institute of Sustainability which has been established at the University deals

with much more than just the environment; it will also stimulate debate and develop policies in such areas as the economy and culture.

“The Institute will establish projects to develop ideas and test them,” said Meri Huws, Director of Innovation, Skills and Community at Trinity Saint David. “It will also bring experts together through seminars and other means to discuss and develop policy.”

The Sustainable Development Commissioner for Wales, Peter Davies OBE, has already been appointed Professor of Practice in this area.

A Memorandum has also been signed by the Prince’s Trust, the University, the University of Wales and the Society of Chartered Surveyors, RICS. The aim is to consider planning policies within the rural context, drawing on the expertise of the

An innovative campaign to encourage more males into teaching The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is leading the way with plans to close one of the major gaps in education.

It will also offer excellent career and job opportunities to a key group of students.

This year, the School of Initial Teacher Education and Training will launch a campaign encouraging male pupils in secondary schools to consider a career in education.

This could help solve one of the education sector’s major concerns – that the lack of male teachers is leading to a lack of success among boys. In Wales, there are more than 11,800 female primary teachers whereas less than 2,150 are male.

One person looking to contribute to this number is Iwan Taylor, a mature student in his final year of a BA in Primary Education with QTS. He says, “This challenging course has given me a solid foundation from which to begin my career in education. I have had a wide range of experiences to enable me to become an effective practitioner in the classroom and to make a positive contribution to children’s education and lives.”

“Leaving full-time employment was a huge step but I settled in immediately Iwan Taylor

thanks to the homely atmosphere and close community, while the advice and support of lecturers and University staff have made for a valuable experience.”

But there is still a long way to go to recruit men into teaching, according to Head of School Marian Thomas.

“The differences in achievement and attainment of boys in primary and secondary schools has been an issue aired regularly in several reports over the last twenty years – in Wales and beyond.”

“According to the General Teaching Council for Wales last year, women comprised 84.7% of registered primary school teachers.”

According to Marian, there is great demand for male teachers.

One school appointed three male students from the University last summer.

campus in Lampeter within the field of anthropology, archaeology and landscape.

The work will include planning for the future, with a new masters’ degree in the field of Management of Rural Landscapes.

“There is no other centre of this kind,” said Meri Huws. “Other organisations concentrate on planning in towns and cities but it is important to develop specific policies for the countryside.”

A new Business School aims for the future A range of innovative and contemporary courses are being created as a number of departments across the campuses of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David come together to create a new Business School as a powerhouse for the local economy.

Academics from both campuses have been busy meeting and working on a range of courses that will be offered from September 2011 onwards.

In addition to popular courses that are already available, such as Business Management, Computer Science, Information Technology and Tourism – new programmes will include topics such as ‘Internet Computing and ‘Managing Civil Society Organisations’.

These are timely courses that offer opportunities for careers in emerging fields and are suitable for new ideas such as ‘The Big Society’.

Another branch of the school will be the Work-based Learning department, which will work with employers across Wales to support staff development programmes and ensure that they meet the standard.

The new Business School has already been successful in attracting major sources of European funding, with staff working on various projects

including CIME (Creativity and Innovation in MicroEnterprises).

CIME is a European project with four partners: the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea Metropolitan University, South-east Ireland Regional Authority (SERA) and the Ireland and Kilkenny Board of Enterprise.

The project aims to support businesses using creative techniques that stimulate innovative practices and raise competitiveness among SME participants.

“This is an exciting time for the new university,” said the Head of the School of Business, Conny Matera-Rogers.

“We are focusing our efforts and work, not only on the current students, but also on engaging further with businesses and communities in South West Wales, so that we can help each other to meet the challenges of the current economic climate.”

Breaking the mould – new School of Creative Industries unites University and College The new School of Creative Industries is leading the way for university education in Wales.

The School demonstrates a new model of collaboration based on a partnership between Trinity Saint David and Coleg Sir Gâr, bringing together the strengths of both organisations.

The goal is to create an excellent provision within the field of art, design, film and media in South West Wales.

New appointment Exciting developments are already underway, including the recent appointment of Helen Humphreys in the Fashion department at Coleg Sir Gâr.

Hailing originally from the Gwendraeth Valley, Helen has extensive fashion experience,

including as buyer for the designer Amanda Wakeley.

She will be part of the team teaching on the BA (Hons) Fashion degree and on other new courses.

Looking forward From this September, Trinity Saint David will be validating all the school’s courses, which operate across several different campuses.

“The new provision builds upon the strength of the courses which previously ran at both institutions,” explains Caroline Thraves, Head of the School.

“Colleagues from both organisations are working hard to ensure that the new partnership develops continuously, that both academic cultures unite and that all students are able to benefit from the new provision.”

An education revolution in the workplace Trinity Saint David leads the way A team from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David is leading the development of a variety of new courses in the workplace.

This means that workers can earn credits for the skills they already possess and for mentoring their colleagues.

Members from the Professional Practice and Work-Based Learning team are currently developing the two projects - LATERAL and Mentoring – which will be available at no cost to workers in small or medium sized businesses.

LATERAL was created to help employees identify and gain formal accreditation for the skills, capabilities and higher-level information they use at work, awarding credits which lead to a certificate, diploma, degree or postgraduate qualification.

The purpose of ‘Mentoring our Workforce’ is to offer training with credits to members of staff acting

as mentors – basing the training on practical work and on improving the relationship between the individual learner and the needs of their company.

Each individual learner will receive support from module tutors, academic advisors, a programme coordinator and workplace mentors.

As students at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, they will also be offered support from the Student Services Department and the Learning Resources Centre.

LATERAL staff are also collaborating with a number of Sector Skills Councils, such as the Care Council for Wales, to ensure that the sector’s needs are being met while planning and organising credits.

Both schemes will aim to use new technology in order to reach various workers. The intention is to create resources available online for the iPhone and iPad, while e-books will be available to support learning. There will also be further contact via blogs and twitter.

Caroline Thraves

Encouraging women into information technology A number of women enjoyed a taste of a career in the field of computers and information technology thanks to a partnership between the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the promotional body W-Tech Wales.

W-Tech visited the Lampeter Campus to hold a day of talks and workshops to demonstrate the opportunities available to women within the field.

According to recent statistics, only 15% of professionals in the information technology sector in Wales are women.

“E-skills UK predicts that 180,000 new people are needed for new jobs within the industry across the United Kingdom and that 5,000 of these are needed

in Wales every year,” says Roisin Mullins, Lecturer in Information Systems at the University’s Business School.

The topics included CCTV, the experience of information technology workers in Antarctica and Greenland, making digital video and broadcasting over the Internet.

“As a result of this event, we intend to organise similar events, in order to address the increasingly important issue of employment opportunities in the United Kingdom.”

The event was organised

by Women @ BCS, a subgroup of the Chartered Institute for Information Technology, and was supported by Chwarae Teg, Wales Software Alliance, Women in Technology and Technocamps.

Forthcoming events at the School of Classics

Staff make their mark in Atlanta

Staff and students from The School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies recently took part in The Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting at Atlanta – the largest gathering of biblical scholars in the world.

Among the conference’s 6,000 participants and taking part in some of the 200 sessions were Professor D. Densil Morgan, Dr Catrin Williams, Dr Kathy Ehrensperger and Dr Bill Campbell from Trinity Saint David.

“As well as being an enjoyable event, the conference also proved fruitful in terms of networking, profile building and confirmation of the School’s reputation as a leading department within the discipline of Biblical Studies,” says Professor Morgan.

“A busy timetable for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David staff included chairing and participating in committees and seminar launches, delivering and overseeing papers, attending editorial board meetings, talks with publishers and planning sessions

for research projects and conducting a PhD viva.”

The School also held a reception during the conference, securing a large attendance of around 150 people, including many of the key biblical scholars from the UK, USA and continental Europe.

The reception included a literature display featuring work by School members, while Professor Morgan gave a wellreceived address on recent organisational developments, clarifying the School’s status and role as a leading research department for the future.

Says Professor Morgan, “Potential candidates were also met with during the conference itself – one of whom has since confirmed that she will be registering with us as a full-time Lampeter-based student in September 2011!”

“In addition, contacts made during the event have led on to a number of new projects for staff at the University.”

The School of Classics at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David is the senior Classics department in Wales and runs weekly research seminars each year, inviting exciting guest speakers to share their wisdom on areas relating to both research interests and taught modules at the School. Those who attend have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the most recent studies in the fields and to meet some of the leading scholars in those areas. Undergraduates, postgraduates, staff and others with an interest in the Classical world are all invited.

The School also runs a shared seminar series with colleagues in Swansea University, as part of the work of the KYKNOS group – the Swansea University and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Centre for Research on the Narrative Literatures of the Ancient World. KYKNOS is a unique concentration of scholarly expertise on all aspects of ancient narrative literature, and is establishing itself as a leading international centre. Professor Stephen Harrison, Oxford, a leading authority in the field, will give a paper at Lampeter in March. Look out for more information on the website, www,trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

From Greek tragedy to pop culture The University of Wales Trinity Saint David has recently teamed up with the University of Bristol and other European institutions to support the IMAGINES project.

The project takes a fresh look at the connections between antiquity and modern cultures, from theatre and music to comics and film.

Last autumn, staff and students from Trinity Saint David took part in IMAGINES II: Seduction and Power at Bristol University – the second in a series of major international conferences focusing on the reception of antiquity in the

performing and visual arts.

Marta Garcia Morcillo, from the School of Classics, explains “Scholars from Europe and the United States attended the conference dealt with the impact of relationships between gender, sexuality, eroticism and power

in the Ancient World and their impact and influence in postclassical imagery.”

“Topics discussed included representation of gender – from Greek tragedy to pop culture and cinema, and the modern images of female and male characters from

ancient myth, literature and history such as Helen of Troy.”

The conference began with a public lecture by Professor Martin Winkler from George Mason University in Washington DC, followed by silent movies screened to specially composed live music.

The event also included a public talk and exhibition at the Bristol Gallery by Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Eric Shanower.

The next conference in the series, on Magic and the Supernatural, will take place in Mainz, Germany, in 2012.

University course wins prestigious international award A module from a Master’s degree at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David has won a prestigious international award.

The module HumanAnimal Interactions in Anthropological Perspective, a core element of the MA Anthrozoology, has just been announced the winner of the 2010 Humane Society of the United States, Animals

and Society Distinguished Course Award.

This award recognises excellence in courses concerning the humananimal bond, human obligations towards animals, the status of animals, and related topics and is issued by the Humane Society of the United States, the largest animal protection organisation in the US,

in association with the Animals and Society Institute.

The module is authored

by Dr Samantha Hurn, co-ordinator of the MA Anthrozoology within the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology.

Dr Hurn said “Winning this award is such an honour as the competition is open to entries from around the world, and

Dr Samantha Hurn

entries are judged against some tough criteria by a panel of specialists in the field. To have the course recognised in this manner shows that anthropological approaches to humananimal interactions

Sealing the fate of the Newport Ship The Newport Ship is at the heart of a new collaboration between the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, the British Museum and Cardiff University. European funding will allow new research on what kept the ship watertight: the tars and pitches used to seal and repair the hull.

Tars and pitches are black sticky substances produced by heating wood.

They have an ancient history of use as all-purpose waterproofing agents and adhesives. In medieval times their role in ship building and maintenance led them to acquire vital strategic and political importance for the developing European seafaring economies and naval fleets.

The legend is true!

Experts from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David are aiming to show that one of Wales’s greatest folk tales is more than just a myth.

They will use the latest techniques to try to learn more about the legendary land and the people of Cantre’r Gwaelod – the Welsh Atlantis that is reputed to lie beneath the waters of Cardigan Bay. The new project by the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology will prove that the story is true and can be proven by studying the way in which Wales’ landmass changed at the end of the last Ice Age.

can make important contributions to understanding how humans think about, and treat other animals.”

Dr Hurn’s book, Humans and Other Animals: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on HumanAnimal Interactions, which addresses many of the themes covered in the Master’s degree, will be published later this year

by Pluto Press (for more information, or to place an advanced order, please contact the publisher: pluto@plutobooks.com)

This project, funded by the prestigious Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship scheme, will bring French expert Dr Pauline Burger to the UK for two years. She will use analytical chemistry techniques and experimental modelling to work out what kinds of tar were used on the ship, how they were made and where they came from.

Maritime archaeologist Nigel Nayling of the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology at the University has overseen the research and conservation of the Newport Ship since its discovery in 2002 and describes the project: “This is the first systematic study to map the use of tars and pitches over a whole vessel. Knowledge of the origin and manufacture of these materials is crucial to fully understand the construction and repair of the ship and also offers us the chance to examine the economics behind the use of these substances in the shipyards of medieval Europe.”

Experts at the University prove the legend of the Welsh Atlantis

They will show the evidence to school children and local people and will further investigate the evidence that lies under the sea.

“Until about 6,000 years ago, parts of Cardigan Bay were definitely dry land and features such as the underwater forest at Borth near Aberystwyth are a test to the fact that large tracts of forest extended through parts of this area in the past,” said Dr Martin Bates.

“Now we’re hoping to show the pattern of the land under the sea to a wider audience through a series of innovative projects.”

The first of those will be an outreach

project to local primary schools, starting in the spring of next year.

It will include taking children to see the submerged forests and to hear the story of Cantre’r Gwaelod being told on the beach.

“Later this year we hope to develop a dramatic interpretation of the story, both artistically and scientifically, for delivery at local theatres throughout South West Wales.”

“We also hope to develop research projects across several disciplines in the Cardigan Bay area, gathering evidence about the land under the sea and the people who lived there at one time.”

Geiriau Bach (Small Words) – a great achievement An innovative scheme to place the Welsh language within the reach of small children from English speaking backgrounds has been praised by the Welsh Assembly Government.

As a result, Geiriau Bach is expanding into new parts of Wales and may expand further in the future, with its groundbreaking techniques for teaching practitioners.

The project, which has been developed on the Carmarthen

campus, means that young children in English medium schools get an early taste of the language in a lively and fun way.

Led by the School of Early Childhood, non-Welsh language classroom assistants, teachers and others working with children aged between 3 and 7 are being coached to teach the language to their young pupils.

With ten groups in different areas of Wales, from Caerphilly to Haverfordwest and from Swansea

to Llandudno, the project had a further boost in August, with a promise of funding to train classroom assistants until March 2013.

Later this year, new groups will be set up in south-east and northeast Wales, and the School will recruit in Aberystwyth and Llanelli too.

Students will gain the Certificate of Higher Education in Welsh for Bilingual Practice in Early Years (Level 4).

Books for Lesotho – students head for Africa A consignment of new books were delivered to a college at the other end of the world, thanks to a joint project involving the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Working with the Lesotho College of Education in Africa, the goal is to improve standards of teachertraining students in order to improve the country’s primary and nursery education.

The book project, which is supported by the Waterloo Institute in Cardiff, was developed after a group of 13 students from the School of Initial Teacher Education and Training spent three weeks at the college in Lesotho.

The students and their lecturer, Eileen Merriman from the School of Early Childhood, taught in primary schools and visited local nursery classes, spending time with lecturers who recently set up Lesotho’s first Certificate Programme in Early Childhood Education.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the

College is the lack of resources to train students, who, as teachers, will face a lack of resources with which to educate the children,” said Eileen Merriman.

After spending some time in a nursery class with a student teacher, it became clear to Eileen that they did not have any story books for use while teaching English.

“The aim of the Lesotho Book Project is to correct that deficiency, providing enough English language story and picture books to start a library – to help lecturers to train student teachers and to help teachers to teach the children.”

51 different titles were

bought and delivered to Lesotho by 13 students and three staff members.

Combined with toys to be used to make story sacks to support the storytelling.

Because many parts of Lesotho are very remote, the schools form clusters in order to share books on a rota basis so that all the children have a variety of stories at their disposal.

Currently, Eileen is working with bookshops in nearby South Africa to ensure that multiple copies of specific text books are being developed, for example books on child development or children’s activities to use with students in lectures.

The emphasis is on including Welsh as part of the Foundation Phase where young children learn through play and experience.

At the end of September, the Enterprise and Learning Committee at the Welsh Assembly published a report that recommended giving more support to Geiriau Bach and advocated long-term security for the project.

The committee praised the project’s “ethos and methods”.

New book on Geoffrey of Monmouth Dr Karen Jankulak, lecturer at the Univeristy’s School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies recently published a book about Geoffrey of Monmouth, a twelfthcentury cleric who was the first person to compose a detailed and continuous history of Britain from its origins to the domination of the Anglo-Saxons.

Geoffrey’s writings were enormously popular throughout the western European world, and he is credited with bringing ‘The Matter of Britain’ (including Arthur) to a much wider audience. His major work, the Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the

Kings of Britain), relates the reputed mythical history of Britain, from its first settlement by Brutus, a descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, to the death of Cadwalader in the 7th century, taking in Julius Caesar’s invasions of Britain, two kings, Leir and Cymbeline, later immortalized by William Shakespeare, and one of the earliest developed narratives of King Arthur.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, part of the Writes of Wales series by Dr Jankulak, illustrates the close ties between Geoffrey’s notion of British and Arthurian society and other materials from medieval Wales and Ireland.

Innovations in rural healthcare Healthcare services in rural areas of Wales are set to receive a huge boost as the University of Wales Trinity Saint David establishes a centre of excellence to guide policy and training in the field.

Wales Institute of Rural Healthcare bring a wide variety of educational institutions, local authorities and voluntary bodies together to create a framework that meets the needs of employers and rural communities.

“The University’s location in the countryside of South West Wales provides an excellent

opportunity to develop new areas of academic and vocational excellence, in order to respond to the needs in the region and to create employment,” said Dr Sue Davies, Head of the School of Social Justice and Inclusion.

A key part of the Centre’s work will be research into the best ways of working in rural areas whilst analysing present methods. There will be a special emphasis on the additional difficulties faced by health and social care workers in rural areas.

The Institute will add to the work

undertaken by the School of Social Justice and Inclusion and School of Sport, Health and outdoor Education where special courses focus on collaboration across disciplines.

The University has also been working with the Hywel Dda NHS Board on a project to train rural workers who can offer a wider range of care services.

“We are responding to employers’ needs,” said Dr Davies. “We are helping to create a workforce for the future, particularly in the rural areas.”

Hundreds go for Gold Ceremonies celebrating academic success at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David do not only take place during the summer.

In December, approximately 450 sixth form students received their results after having completed unique courses preparing them for study at university level.

The students were among the latest to take advantage of the University’s Going for Gold Scheme and there are hundreds more in the process of following courses this year.

In addition to getting a glimpse of the kind of study they would follow at university, students also receive a certificate and a Level 4 qualification.

According to the scheme’s director, Vaughan Salisbury, it is a valuable qualification on a CV and the University encourages students to mention the

scheme while making their UCAS applications.

Nearly 30 schools and colleges are taking part – mostly based in West Wales, but with some as far as the Rhondda and Neath Port Talbot.

Hundreds of pupils each year attend the University of Wales Trinity Saint David on a residency to study courses on a wide range of topics such as study skills, curriculum based studies that contribute to the Welsh Baccalaureate as well as other courses related to the A-level curriculum.

The Going for Gold Scheme is able to take

advantage of many more specialist departments accross the University – a course in the Chinese language and Philosophy.

In addition, Dr Mererid Hopwood from the Associate Faculty is collaborating with Dr Errietta Bissa and Dr Magdalena Ohrman from the School of Classics, to develop an exciting new course.

The new module entitled ‘From Homer to Harry Potter’ will offer the opportunity to study some of the main trends in ancient and modern European culture, philosophy and literature.

The response to the courses has been excellent, says Vaughan Salisbury, and they offer additional subjects and value to the schools.

“Hopefully this experience will inspire more young people from all backgrounds to continue their studies at university,” he said.

Inspiring children Young children will be inspired with a wide range of entertaining tasks outside the classroom, thanks to materials being developed at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

This is the latest success for the University as it helps Wales to pioneer in the field of play-based learning, for children between three and seven years old.

Canolfan Peniarth, the University’s Educational Resource Centre has won a Welsh Assembly

Government contract to create books, CD Roms, a handbook for adults, posters and challenge cards for the Exploring the Environment.

The goal is to help children learn about the environment by developing skills that include scrutinising and comparing, exploring, listening, asking and answering questions, making decisions and solving problems.

The challenge cards will provide the children with practical tasks, for example how to recycle empty

plastic barrels and use them to grow cherry tomatoes and strawberries.

Much of the emphasis within the Foundation Phase is on being out in the fresh air and the new materials will give children the opportunity to work by themselves or with others.

The resources are being produced in English and Welsh and will contain 16 informative reading books. The CD Rom will make it possible to project pictures from the books onto interactive whiteboards in the classroom.

Gwydion Wynne, the Centre’s Director, said “The project aims to produce materials to support learning and teaching on Knowledge and Understanding of the World – a meaningful and relevant curriculum that focuses on exploration and discovery in the open air.”

“We hope that the material will add value to children’s experiences of discovering and exploring their environment for themselves outside the traditional classroom walls.”

Calls for Monitoring of Hydration for Optimum Athletic Performance A study by Dr Karen Reid from the School of School of Sport, Health and Outdoor Education calls for sports coaches to ensure adequate provision of fluids and access to weighing scales at training and competition venues, to help cut down the number of athletes competing while dehydrated.

The study, presented at the British Nutrition Foundation’s conference in London is the first large scale study in the UK to investigate hydration knowledge, attitudes and practices of athletes and sportspeople, participating at a national

level in both team and individual sports. It shows that 46% of athletes rely on their coaches for hydration information but only 6.3% of athletes ‘often’ use simple and effective weighing measurements, before and after exercise, to estimate their fluid requirements.

It is widely acknowledged in the sports world that dehydration increases cardiovascular strain, thermal strain, glycogen utilisation (in turn depleting valuable stores in the body), muscle lactate production (contributing to muscle fatigue) and the

School of Theatre and Performance Third year students from the School of Theatre and Performance are working on two performances to demonstrate the depth and breadth of their acting skills, honed during their training at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Random is a new production devised, produced performed the group investigates the power and influence of information and choice. It is set in a waiting room where a group of different individuals have been selected at random. They have all been summoned by letter, but do not know why they are there. Will they be able to reach a consensus?

And in March, the graduating students will present Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop musical satire on the First World War.

A chance to sing with Bryn!

Students from the University of Trinity Saint David will have a chance to sing with the world’s leading baritone, after Bryn Terfel agreed to take part in G[yl! – the University’s Arts festival.

Members of the Trinity Saint David choir will be among 200 voices in the special concert at Aberglasney Gardens in the Tywi Valley, under the baton of the Festival’s Artistic Director, Eilir Owen Griffiths.

“It’s a privilege to work with Aberglasney in hosting the concert,” said the University’s Vice-chancellor, Professor Medwin Hughes.

“The annual arts festival has welcomed international artists such as Karl Jenkins and Catrin Finch and it’s wonderful to add Bryn Terfel to the list.

“The festival continues to go from strength to strength, demonstrating the University’s commitment to the arts and ensuring that

world-class events are held in this region.”

G[yl! is also part of the University’s commitment to strengthening links with the communities around Carmarthen and Lampeter, by making an important contribution to their artistic and cultural life.

A series of events are being organised, including a major prize in honour of singer Stuart Burrows, a former student of the University.

perceived rate of exertion. Yet, Dr Reid’s research shows that many athletes still compete dehydrated and that their knowledge about hydration and practices for monitoring hydration levels is limited.

Dr Karen Reid commented: “There is a substantial body of previously published research indicating that many athletes compete in a dehydrated state and there appears to be no correlation between sweat loss and fluid intake during exercise. This suggests that athletes are not drinking at a rate that relates to their individual sweat rates.”

Celtic connections The mythical Welsh princess, Branwen, will cross the Irish Sea once more thanks to an international project led by Ysgol Theatr, Cerdd a’r Cyfryngau (the School of Theatre, Music and Media).

In March, the school’s students will perform a musical, portraying Branwen’s story through the medium of acting, puppets and animation work. The aim is to perform the work in both countries.

The project demonstrates how the University of Wales Trinity Saint David makes the most of all sorts of schemes in order to offer unique opportunities for students.

The University will be collaborating with organisations in Ireland, via a scheme called CORACLE which develops links between creative and cultural communities in both countries.

“The School is one of the main training centres for aspiring performers and actors in Wales,” said Head of School, Iestyn Llwyd.

“It was clear to staff that CORACLE offers exciting potential to develop many opportunities.”

Since the story of Branwen from the Mabinogion takes place in Ireland and Wales, it was an obvious choice, he adds.

By March, Iestyn and Eilir Owen Griffiths, Music Tutor and Cultural Organiser, will have written a script and songs for the production.

The CORACLE scheme is funded by The European Union via Interreg.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is working with Swansea Metropolitan University, Coleg Sir Gâr, Pembrokeshire College and Coleg Ceredigion to create a dual sector university. This means that the institutions will work as a group to provide progression routes and choices for students as well as programmes of study that respond to the needs of employers in the region

Carmarthen Campus: 01267 676767 | Lampeter Campus: 01570 422351 | www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk