October 2015 Newaletter

Annwyl Rhieni,

Dear Parents,

We are well into the first half of the autumn term and the children are working hard to develop their skills within a creative learning environment. As you are aware, each class has been working on a different project allowing contextualised learning to take place. Don’t forget to have a look at your child’s class page on our school website so that you can support their learning at home.

Trips Year 3 and Year 4 had a super time when they went to Tredegar House for ‘eco week’ earlier on this term. They enjoyed learning about sustainability and different animals and their habitats as well as creating woodland craft. Well done everyone!

Congratulation to the Eco Committee A HUGE congratulations to the Eco Committee, Mrs McArdell and Miss Mears, for their work in preparing for our assessment day for the Platinum Award as part of the Eco School Award Scheme. The Eco Committee has been leading the school in sustainable development and global citizenship. Some of their initiatives include ‘plastic elastic’, ‘compost caddie’, and ‘litter picking’. Thank you to all the children, staff and parents for supporting us in these initiatives. We are delighted that we have been awarded the platinum award, the highest award in the scheme! The children gave a fantastic presentation to the assessor as well as to the rest of the school in a whole school assembly.

Attendance Last year, 2014 / 2015, we exceeded our attendance target of 96% with a fantastic 96.4% attendance. This was a great result, well done everyone! 3.6% of the absences were authorised and none were unauthorised. Our target this year is to achieve 96.5% attendance. We can only do this with your support.

Good attendance at school is vital if your child is to achieve his / her full potential. We monitor individual pupil attendance on a regular basis and are concerned that attendance for a number of pupils is already dipping below 95% this term. The following information from Welsh Government illustrates how your child’s attendance equates to a judgement. We hope you find it useful.

Attendance   What This Means
100% Excellent Your child has the best chance of achieving their full potential
95 – 99% Good Your child has missed up to 2 weeks of school in a year
90 – 94% Unsatisfactory Your child has missed up to 4 weeks of school in a year
85 – 89% Poor Your child has missed up to 5 ½  weeks of school in a year
80 – 84% Very Poor Your child has missed up to 7 ½  weeks of school in a year – over half a term
Below 80% Extremely Poor Your child has missed more than a whole half term of school

All holidays should be taken during the school holidays and not in term time. Any planned absence from school must be requested in writing. Such requests will be considered on an individual basis.

It is vital that all children are in school and ready to learn by 9am. The school doors are open from 8.50am for the children to filter into classrooms. The teachers start lessons promptly, as soon as the register has been called. Children arriving late are missing out on vital learning opportunities. Once again thank you for your continued support.

National Tests 2016

National Tests for 2016 for Year 2 to Year 6 will take place between 4th May and 10th May. All pupils must be in school to sit the tests. No absences will be authorised during this period.

PTA BBQ A BIG THANK YOU to the PTA for their hard work in organising the disco and BBQ last week. It was a great success. Thank you to everyone who supported this event. We will let you know how much was raised as soon as possible.

Raffle Prizes If anyone is willing and able to donate a raffle prize for our Christmas Fayre, we would be so grateful. Just let us know in school. Thank you!

Car Boot Sale On Sunday 11th October, the PTA are holding a car boot sale on the school yard (weather permitting). Gates will open at 9am for a 10am start and will close at 1pm. The cost is £5 per car. Refreshments will be sold on the yard. Please note that there will be limited access to the building.

Governors We have one vacancy for the position of parent governor. Nomination forms will be sent out next week with information about being a governor. For information for our new parents, below are the names and positions of members of our existing Governing Body.

Name Post Category Appointed by Expiry of Term
Mr Stephen Morris Chair Community Invitation 2017
Mr Shafiq Mohammed   Parent Parental vote 2017
Mrs Farzana Mohammed   Parent Parental vote 2019
Mrs Beth Rice   Parent Parental vote 2018
Mr Simon Morrish Vice Chair Community Invitation 2019
Prof James Birchall   Community Invitation 2017
Miss Ruth Cornelius   Teacher Staff vote 2019
Mr Sean Cullen   Staff Staff vote 2019
Cllr Matthew Evans   Local Authority Local Authority 2016
Mrs Ruth Jones   Local Authority Local Authority 2018
Mrs Ann Ferris   Local Authority Local Authority 2016
Mrs Chris Jackson Head teacher Head teacher Regulations N/A
Mrs Jenny Munslow Deputy Head teacher Associate Governor N/A N/A
Mr Gareth Jones SLT Associate Governor N/A N/A

Dinner Money Reminder Dinner orders and money need to be in school the Monday before the week you are ordering for. On Monday 12th October orders are due in for week beginning Monday 19th October. Thank you!

Cyber Bullying Meeting In November we will be holding a meeting for KS2 parents about cyber bullying. PC Thomas will be taking the meeting. We have a provisional date of Wednesday 25th November at 6pm. – to be confirmed next week.

Parental Consultations Consultations are being held on Monday 19th October – Wednesday 21st October. It is vital that all parents make an appointment to meet with their child’s class teacher to discuss progress being made and targets for development. On Wednesday 21st October, a representative from Duffryn High School will be in school from 3.30pm to chat to parents about transition arrangements to Duffryn High School either this year or in the next few years.   

Dogs and scooters on yard

We are concerned that there are an increasing number of scooters and dogs on the yard at the beginning and end of the school day. Please do not bring dogs onto the yard. If you bring a scooter please keep it for use on the way home and not on the yard. Thank you!

Harvest Festivals Next Wednesday 14th October we are holding our Harvest Festivals in school for Foundation Phase and KS2. The Foundation Phase festival is in the morning at 9.30am and KS2 is in the afternoon at 1.30pm. Parents are most welcome to attend. We are asking the children to bring in tins, dried food produce or fresh fruit and vegetables for our harvest display. The food will then be taken to SOLUS (formerly N.A.S.H. – Newport Action for Single Homeless) for distribution. They are always so appreciative of these much needed donations.

The Harvest celebration for the nursery will be on Wednesday 21st October. Again, parents are most welcome.

 

Thank you in anticipation of you continued support and co-operation,

 

C. M. Jackson (Headteacher)

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