November 2016 Newsletter

November 2016

Annwyl Rhieni,

Dear Parents / Guardians,

We are now well into the second half of what is always a very busy term in school. You will soon be aware of school being full of music, song and verse as we prepare for our Christmas concerts. It is the time of year when our schemes of work and curriculum planning allow us to focus on drama, singing, music, speaking and listening and performance. These activities give children an opportunity to excel, grow in confidence and shine in a non – academic, but equally vital, way.

In order for us to maintain our high academic standards and to ensure that all children reach their full potential, we will still be covering all aspects of the Foundation Phase and National Curriculum that we have planned to cover. Our detailed programmes of work, curriculum plans and high ratio of staff to pupils, are designed to ensure maximum coverage and progression over the year, taking annual events into consideration.

Harvest

Thank you for joining us for our Foundation Phase and Junior Harvest Festivals; they were both really super. The children sang a variety of lovely songs, recited stories, rhymes and autumnal poetry. A BIG thank you to our visiting speaker, Mr Bafico, who is also one of our grandparents; the children thoroughly enjoyed listening to him. Also thank you for the produce that you sent in. The food was given to SOLUS (formerly N.A.S.H. – Newport Action for Single Homeless).

Parental Consultations

We were delighted to share your child’s progress with you during consultations last week. The partnership between home and school is vital if children are to flourish and reach their full potential. We almost achieved 100% attendance. If you were unable to attend please arrange a mutually convenient time to see your child’s teacher.

Attendance to date

Last year, 2015 / 2016, we exceeded our attendance target of 96% with 96.18% attendance. 3.46% of the absences were authorised and 0.36% were unauthorised. Our target this year is to achieve 96.5% attendance. This target has been set by the LA. We can only achieve it 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 via the office or the school website. 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.

Attendance figures up until Friday 4th November are:

Reception          97.97%

Year 1               97.59%

Year 2               97.07%

Year 3               98.07%

Year 4               96.62%

Year 5               96.35%

Year 6               94.84%

Average attendance across school is 96.93%. Congratulations to Reception and Year 3 for the highest attendance figures to date.

ParentPay – We are delighted with the way our new online system for booking and paying for school meals is working.  Hopefully you are also finding it an easier and more reliable way of ordering meals for your children.  Just a reminder that the cut off time each week is midnight Tuesday for the following weeks orders – you can though order a few weeks at a time if you wish to.  Any issues please contact the school office.

Pupil Participation Groups

We have a number of Pupil Participation groups who have been selected by their peers to represent pupils across school in a variety of ways. Pupil Participation groups include: Learning Squad, School Council, Eco Committee, School Nutrition Action Group, Criw Cymraeg, Digital Leaders and Playground Pals. The groups are an integral part of our school and ensure that pupils have a say in many aspects of school life. Well done to all the pupils in these groups for all their hard work.

Super Ambassadors

Congratulations to Darcey Taylor and Evan Williams in Year 6 on being elected as our Super Ambassadors this year. Darcey and Evan will be working with staff and pupils to continue to promote the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the role of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

P.T.A.

A BIG THANK YOU to the P.T.A. for organising and running the fancy dress discos before half term. The children thoroughly enjoyed them. The P.T.A. quiz night is this Friday, 11th November. Tickets are available from PTA Committee members on the yard or via the office. The quiz night is always great fun so please come and support us! The P.T.A. Christmas Fayre is on Friday 9thDecember. (Information from the P.T.A. will follow shortly). On the day of the Christmas Fayre, the children can come to school wearing their Christmas jumpers. School will close at 3pm and reopen at 3.10pm. All children must be picked up from school and will need to be accompanied by an adult to the fayre. Thank you!

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!

Sport

The school rugby, netball and football teams have all taken part in Newport Schools tournaments. The rugby boys played five matches. They won four and lost one, coming second overall. The netball girls played seven matches. They lost two, drew two and won three. The football children played two matches. They lost one and won one.  Well done to all the children who took part. Not only did they play well but they were impeccably behaved! Thank you to all the staff for organising participation in these events and to parents for helping with transport.

Christmas Concerts – Dates and times of the Christmas concerts are as follows:

Foundation Phase dress rehearsal                            Wednesday 30th November 10am

Foundation Phase concert                                      Thursday 1st December 10am

Foundation Phase concert                                      Friday 2nd December 10am

KS2 dress rehearsal                                                  Tuesday 6th December 10am

KS2 concert                                                                  Tuesday 6th December 6.30pm

KS2 concert                                                                 Wednesday 7th December 10am

KS2 concert                                                                 Wednesday 7th December 6.30pm

Nursery concert                                                          Monday 12th December 10am

Nursery concert                                                          Monday 12th December 1.45pm

Tickets will be available from school over the next few weeks.

Christmas Parties

The Foundation Phase Christmas party is on Tuesday 13th December and the Junior Christmas party is on Wednesday 14th December. On their party days the children can come to school dressed in their party clothes.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner is on Thursday 15th December.

Applications for Reception 2017

Parents can now make an application for Reception for September 2017. Go to www.newport.gov.uk and follow the instructions under school admissions.

Children in Need

On Friday 18th November, the children can come to school wearing something ‘spotty’ or Pudsey Bear related in aid of Children in Need. We are asking for a donation of £1 from everyone. Thank you!

London Marathon

Congratulations to Mrs Parker on finally securing a place to take part in the London Marathon. Mrs Parker has been applying for six years, so as you can imagine, she is VERY excited. Her chosen charity is ‘AbleChildAfrica’ which supports inclusion for children and young people with disabilities in Africa. We have taken ‘AbleChildAfrica’ as our designated charity this year to support Mrs Parker. Throughout the rest of the year we will be carrying out a number of events to raise money and support Mrs Parker.

Road Safety

Please, please can I remind parents of the importance of not double parking or parking irresponsibly when dropping children off or picking them up. There WILL be an accident if this continues and you WILL receive a fixed penalty ticket from our PCSO.

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

 

 

C.M.Jackson

Headteacher

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