School News - Friday 18th September ‘26
Year 3 Visit to Caerleon Roman Museum
As part of their enquiry project this term, Year 3 enjoyed an exciting visit to the Roman Museum in Caerleon. During the trip, the children explored the Roman collections in the gallery, tried on replica Roman armour, visited the historic Baths and Amphitheatre, and took part in an engaging virtual workshop, bringing their learning about the Romans to life. These experiences will support the children with continuing their enquiry back at school. A BIG diolch to those parents who supported us with the trip.
Our Woodland Area
We are delighted to share some updates with regards to our school woodland area. Over the summer break we have been working alongside the LA Tree Team to revitalise this space. Improvements have included: removing waste, replacing our log circle, cutting back overgrown areas, and creating woodland seating areas. This fabulous space will be used by children across the school, enhancing both their learning and wellbeing.
Curriculum Summary
Our school curriculum comprises of all learning, assessment and wider experiences that we provide for our children. They develop their skills and knowledge through our creative and innovative, enquiry curriculum which is rooted in authentic contexts and inclusive of all learners. Children are challenged to become increasingly effective learners who develop positive learning behaviours.
As a school we continue to keep our curriculum under review, and as a result of feedback from all stakeholder, we make refinements to ensure our curriculum responds to the needs and interest of the children, offering them a broad and a balanced curriculum which ignites curiosity and encourages an interest in lifelong learning.
We have updated our visual summary to illustrate: how our school community have engaged in developing our curriculum; how our curriculum meets the requirements of the Curriculum for Wales; our approach to learning progression and assessment; and how we intend to continue reviewing and developing our curriculum.
Our Curriculum Summary can be accessed here.
Four Purpose Characters
In school we continue to use our Four Purposes characters which were designed and re-created digitally by the children when we refined our school curriculum in line with Curriculum for Wales. These characters have features which reflect the statements outlined in the Four Purposes, our school aims.
The characters are:
'Ethical Earth' for ethical, informed citizens
'Ambitious Ace' for ambitions, capable learners
'Healthy Heroes' for healthy, confident individuals
'Creative Crew' for enterprising, creative contributors
The characters are visible in the classrooms and used with the children during lessons to reflect on their learning. Please talk to your child at home about the Four Purposes characters and their learning. Year group specific information leaflets for parents are available from the school office.
Creating a Love of Reading
Reading is at the heart of every child’s learning journey and plays a vital role in their success both in and out of school. We are delighted to see so many children enjoying reading and developing a love of books at home as well as in the classroom. Regular reading helps children build fluency, confidence and comprehension, allowing them to make strong progress in their reading skills. Within school reading is promoted across all areas of the curriculum, helping children to develop knowledge, vocabulary and curiosity in all aspects of their learning.
As a school we encourage reading beyond the school day, sharing strategies and resources with families so that parents understand how reading is taught and how they can best support their child. A huge thank you to all those parents and carers who attended our Reception Reading Meeting on Monday of this week. The session provided an opportunity for us to share how we approach the teaching of phonics and how we begin developing early reading skills within school. We also provided parent/carers with a number of reading resources which can be used at home to support the children when learning to read.
We look forward to welcoming our Year 1 and Year 2 parents/carers on Monday 21st September at 4:30pm for the Y1/2 Reading Meeting, where we will be sharing strategies that can be used in school and at home to support children as they progress on their reading journey.
The partnership between home and school is invaluable, and we greatly appreciate the way families encourage and support reading outside of school. Together, we can help every child become a confident, enthusiastic reader and foster a lifelong love of learning. Please read our first Reading Newsletter.
Cardiff Metropolitan University Partnership
As you may be aware we have developed a strong partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University over a number of years. The partnership enables us to work closely with the university to provide Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for PGCE students. As a school we benefit from the opportunities the partnership creates for our school and very much look forward to continuing our work with the staff and students from Cardiff Metropolitan University. During the course of the year there will be PGCE students based in school, they will be working closely with the class mentors under the supervision of Mrs Zahr who is our Senior Mentor.
Family and Community Engagement
You will have received an email informing you of a number of family and community engagement events, including: PTA events, parent workshops, curriculum celebrations, etc. These are illustrated below. Please do come along and get involved.
Whole School Wellbeing
At Glasllwch Primary School, the health and well-being of all members of our school community is at the heart of everything we do. We promote and support high levels of well-being through our vision and values as well as through our school curriculum. Please access our Wellbeing webpage here.
Learner Reviews
This term teachers have been meeting with groups of learners to set targets, these may include: personal/social targets, literacy, numeracy and digital competence. All children Y1-Y6 have targets; they are regularly referred to throughout each day. Learners self-assess their progress towards their targets and together with teachers and support staff, agree when targets have been met and new targets set. You can view your child's individual targets through SeeSaw, in the file named 'Learner Reviews'. Please talk to your children about their targets so you can support them at home in working towards them.
Intervention Programmes
Occasionally your child may receive additional support in Literacy or Numeracy in the form of ‘intervention programmes’. These programmes are to either support your child with a skill or concept that has been taught but they haven’t grasped or to extend their learning further. Whole class literacy and numeracy lessons usually take place each morning. Intervention programmes are additional sessions which usually take place in the afternoons. They are shorter sessions for between 20 – 30 minutes. It may be that your child only needs to participate in a session as a one off, for a particular concept or it may be that they need to participate in the complete programme over a number of weeks. If your child requires regular intervention, you will be informed by your class teacher.
PTA Family BBQ
A big thank you to the PTA for their hard work organising and running the Family BBQ this evening. It was lovely to see so many people there to support the event and have an opportunity to get everyone together at the beginning of the school year. All funds raised are used to provide learning resources and experiences which benefit the children. Diolch!
Year 6 - Secondary School Applications
All current Year 6 parents/carers will have received a letter this week with information on how to apply for a place at Secondary School for your child. The application window is from 18th September to 31st October 2026, places allocated will be available on 1st March 2027. Please make sure you put down more than one school choice, as in the past when only one school is applied for - if there is no availability or you do not meet the criteria you will not be offered another school. This causes unnecessary distress to your child and yourselves.
Please apply within the application window to - www.newport.gov.uk/schooladmissions
Reminder - School Photos
Colorfoto will be in school on Wednesday 23rd September to take individual and in-school sibling photographs of all pupils. Please ensure your child wears their school uniform to school that day, even if they would usually have P.E.
Welsh Phrase of the Week
‘Pryd mae dy ben-blwydd?’ – ‘When is your birthday?’
Upcoming Events
Please visit our school calendar to access diary dates for the year ahead. We will continue to add dates to the calendar as we move through the school year. Please note – upcoming dates for the week ahead can also be found on our home page.
Thank you in anticipation of your continued support. Wishing you a restful weekend.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs J. Munslow
Headteacher
‘Today’s Learning for Tomorrow’s Stars’
BELIEF - OPPORTUNITY - EXPECTATIONS
