Ysgol Gynradd Coedpenmaen - Coedpenmaen Primary School

Welcome to the Coedpenmaen Primary School Blog. As we reduce the amount of paper we send out to you as paper newsletters, our Blog is the place you will find up to date information about the activities at Coedpenmaen Primary. Link your home page to our Blog using the POSTS link from every page or WHY NOT MAKE OUR BLOG YOUR HOME PAGE! Take part in our on-line surveys or leave a comment on our Forum. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE RIGHT TO FIND THE LINK TO YOUR CHILD'S CLASS BLOG. DIOLCH!

Glee choir entertain!

We are very proud of Mr Carter and the Glee choir who have entertained at Sainsbury's and at Aspen House. DIOLCH!!!

A great show!

Bringing Christmas joy to Pontypridd

Thank you to Mr Carter and his fantastic Glee Club for singing beautifully in the town centre this morning. Thanks to our parents for coming to see us and helping us walk down to the town.

Christmas Events

30^th November 2015

Dear Parent / Carer

CHRISTMAS !!

With only 3 weeks left in school until the Christmas, I would like to update you all with a number of events.

Rugby and Netball

Due to the dark evenings, netball has now finished and will resume after the Christmas break.

As we have the Christmas Fayre on Thursday this week and the Christmas celebrations the week after, the rugby training will also now finish until after the Christmas break. We will let you know when these start back.

Tuesday 1^st December - Hazel, Holly and Sycamore classes to Cardiff Castle – Victorian Christmas

Nursery and Reception visit from ‘Birds of Prey’.

Thursday 3^rd December - Christmas Fayre - The Fund Raising Committee’s Annual Christmas Fayre is this Thursday, 3^rd December. The Fayre will be open straight after school, with a visit from a special person dressed in red (!) and with many lovely things for you to buy. All monies raised support the Fundraising Committee who work to support the school with classroom resources as well as IT equipment and lights/speakers for school performances. To support this as a school, we will hold a non-uniform day on Thursday 3^rd December, where we ask the children to bring in a bar of chocolate so that the PTA can run their ever popular chocolate tombola at the Christmas Fayre.

Friday 4^th December – Choir singing in Pontypridd - Please support our choir – they will be singing their hearts out around the Christmas tree in Pontypridd from 11.00-12.00 (outside NatWest Bank)

Monday 7^th December

Practises at Coedpenmaen Baptist Chapel for relevant classes

Trallwn Infants School watch Foundation Phase rehearsal

Tuesday 8^th December

Flu Vaccinations for Foundation Phase

Foundation Phase – ‘Baubles’ – at school – 10.00am

Year 3 and 4 – ‘Victorian Christmas’ – Baptist Chapel – 10.00am

Year 5 and 6 – Christmas Celebrations – Baptist Chapel – 6.00pm

Wednesday 9^th December

Foundation Phase – ‘Baubles’ – at school – 10.00am

Year 5 and 6 – Christmas Celebrations – Baptist Chapel – 10.00pm

Year 3 and 4 – ‘Victorian Christmas’ – Baptist Chapel – 6.00pm

Thursday 10^th December - Foundation Phase – ‘Baubles’ – at school – 10.00am

Photographs and Videos throughout concerts - The Governing Body is currently reviewing the school’s policy on taking photographs and videos of children. The school wants to ensure this is a thorough document that is fit for purpose. As a result, I propose the following for upcoming events, until the policy is finalised:

The school will record the event and make this available to families
that families be allowed to take photos/videos during the concerts and that these images are for your personal use only
any families recording the performances remain considerate to others not to block their view etc. and find an unobtrusive space in the hall / chapel.
NO IMAGES TO BE SHARED ONLINE unless of your own child, alone – not including other children whose families may not wish their images shared.
The school may share a small number of images on their website/blog/twitter account – but at all times pupils will not be named and only those images of pupils who have parental permission will be used.
If any concerns are raised with the school, the Head Teacher will assess them and make the final decision on whether families will be allowed to record the event
Any family who has a concern with regard to their child being included in images/video of the performance, we ask that you contact the school by Friday 4^th December at the latest

Monday 14^th December - Year 2 to visit Trallwn Infants School as a start to their transition to Year 3

Tuesday 15^th December - School choir at Sainsbury’s – 10.45-11.45am – please support them if possible.

‘Hapi Families’ meeting at school – 3.30pm. Families invited to school to give suggestions on family fun activities to start after Christmas.

Wednesday 16^th December - Years 1-6 – visit Muni for Pantomime – Jack and the Beanstalk – 1pm.

Nursery and Reception visit Santa at ‘Jump’.

Friday 18^th December

Beech, Willow and Oak to visit Vue cinema for ‘Star Wars’

Last day of term

4^th January – INSET Day

5^th January – children return to school.

We look forward to seeing you at some of our Christmas celebrations. The children are very excited about the opportunities over the next few weeks, as well as looking forward to the Christmas break itself!

Yours, Mrs Loveridge

Children in Need

Thanks to everyone for their generosity today!The school has raised a total of more than £426 - £252 from our yellow/dressing up/Pudsey day where children have been doing 'favours' for each other throughout the day and a fantastic £174 from our new Comic Club for selling their first ever publication! Thanks to CopyPrint for printing them for us!

Comic Club's first publication for Children in need

We are very proud of our Comic Club who have had their first comic published ready to sell for Children In Need on Friday. They set up this club themselves, with Mrs Loveridge's permission and meet regularly to plan their comics. We look forward to their next publication! Thank you to Copy Print for printing them for us!

100% Days Competition

Dear Parent/Carer

Last term our 100% days were won by Ash Class and Oak Class! This is the first time we have had 2 classes win the competition. Hopefully we can beat this next time!

As a result, we are having our next ‘encouragement’ for 100% attendance on

Thursday 19^th and Friday 20^th November.

Each class that has 100% attendance for these 2 days will have a special Friday afternoon treat!

We have noted that attendance on Fridays is lower than all other days of the week. This is a pattern that we, at school, as well as you as parents need to be aware of. Fridays are an extremely important part of our week where much of the learning throughout the whole week is brought together. Please help us encourage this need to attend school every day in your children.

Please note: if your child is genuinely ill, they should not attend school.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Loveridge

LOTS TO CELEBRATE

We have so much to celebrate this week! Our 4 Bronze Sports ambassadors have received their awards from RCT Sports, children from the school won in all 3 categories of Pontypridd Town Council's Christmas Card Competition AND year 3 helped @rhiannon_art complete our fantastic Values mural.

Hapi Families

Celebrating Independent Skills

As part of their LNF Rich Project, Hazel, Holly and Sycamore set up their exhibition stands to showcase their independent tasks. Pupils had to use clear voices when speaking to adults, answering many questions. The pride in their faces said it all. Thank you so much to the parents who were able to make this event, especially for going around all pupils and giving them positive feedback . Diolch O galon.

Halloween 2015

It's been a scary night in Coedpenmaen primary... Thank you so much to the PTA and their pupil helpers for all of their efforts. The children had a fantastic time!

Our achievement assembly

Da iawn to our stars and to Holly class for winning Dewi for having the most tocyn iaith!

Film club begins

We've had a fantastic lunch time meeting the new film club members. We started by watching E.T. And discussed the characters, music and emotions. We are looking forward to making our own films In time for Christmas! Watch this space!

5^th October 2015

Dear Parent/Carer

It is difficult to believe we are in October already! Hopefully you have been enjoying the sunshine! It has been a busy start of the term, with many classes going on exciting school trips, our new Nursery children settling in and Year 6 starting to feel their feet as the most responsible in the school

As usual, we would love to invite parents in to school to give the children even more opportunities to read. If you would like to volunteer, please see your child’s class teacher (or let me know) and we can sort out some days for you to come in. An extra bonus is that you would be able to earn ‘Time Credits’ for each hour you spend at school volunteering. These are vouchers which you are able to ‘cash in’ for treats either for yourself or your family (e.g. ranging from Spa Days to trips to ‘Jump’, the theatre etc.). More details about ‘Time Credits’ will be shared with parents in the next few weeks from Miss Bailey.

Please remember that the yellow lines around the school are to help your child remain safe on their way to and from school. We have also noticed that some families are using the staff carpark as a route in to school. If you are a wheelchair or pram/push chair user, this is the route for you to take. However, if all other families could use the steps, this will help enhance the safety of the children and avoid any risks related to cars being parked/reversing etc.

Thank you for such as fantastic response in your choice of the values you believe to be important for us to support in the children. The children are responding well to our first value of ‘respect’. Staff, governors and some older children have also contributed to the discussion. We now have an almost finalised list of the 12 Values we will encourage over the next 2 years. These are likely to include trust, perseverance, creativity, thankfulness, truthfulness, courage, forgiveness, responsibility, friendship and peace

Thank you for your fantastic support with our Macmillan Coffee Morning. We raised an amazing £716.73 which has been forwarded to the charity on your behalf.

Microsoft Office Codes We have a number of Microsoft Office codes available for those families who wish to use this free offer. Just send your email address to school and we can forward the details to you.

It has been a pleasure to meet many of you parents through our open-door policy. Please remember, if you have any concerns you are able to discuss them initially with the class teacher (before or after school is always best to avoid teaching times). If you needed to see me, please either pop in, or if I am not available, please make an appointment.

Please bring your dinner money in an envelope each Monday. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, we also ask that your child maintains the same arrangements for lunch throughout the week. This helps the accurate administration of dinner money.

Please also bring any money for school trips, music lessons etc. in an envelope marked with your child’s name, class and purpose of the money

After only a few short weeks at school, we have had many, many lost coats/jumpers etc. Please ensure your child’s clothing is labelled clearly with their name.

Beech Class – Unfortunately, Mrs Vukashin is not well at the moment. We are working to secure consistency for the Thursday and Friday sessions. Please be assured that all work expected of the children on these days has been carefully planned by Mrs Vukashin and Ms Green despite them not being at school on the Thursday and Friday.

6^th Oct Whole School Harvest

Year 3 assembly (Year 3 Parents invited) – 2pm

8^th Oct Kerbcraft – Year 2

14^th Oct Year 1 audio testing

15^th Oct Kerbcraft – Year 2

Faces Photography – individual & Siblings

Super Attender Assembly!

19^th Oct Hawthorn High School available for a ‘clinic’ to discuss concerns for transition / filling out forms etc.

21^st Oct PTA Hallowe’en Disco FP 3.45-5.00pm

KS2 – 5.00 – 6.15pm

22^nd Oct Kerbcraft – Year 2

1pm - Holly, Hazel and Sycamore class exhibition – parents invited

22^nd & 23^rd Oct 100% Challenge Days

23^rd Oct Last day before half term

HALF TERM Sat 24^th Oct – Sun 1^st Nov

2^nd Nov Return to school after half term

5^th Nov Kerbcraft – Year 2

9^th and 10^th Nov Parents’ Evening – in the school hall

12^th Nov Kerbcraft – Year 2

13^th Nov BBC Children in Need

19^th Nov Kerbcraft – Year 2

25^th Nov Kerbcraft – Year 2

3^rd Dec PTA - Christmas Fayre – 3pm – 5pm

4^th Dec School Choir singing in Pontypridd (11.00-12.00)

8^th Dec Christmas Concert Yr 3&4 - 9.30am Baptist Chapel

Christmas Concert Foundation Phase 9.30 – school

Christmas Concert Yr 5&6 – 6.00pm Baptist Chapel

8^th Dec Flu vaccinations for Reception

9^th Dec Christmas Concert Yr 5&6 - 9.30am Baptist Chapel

Christmas Concert Foundation Phase 9.30 – school

Christmas Concert Yr 3&4 – 6.00pm Baptist Chapel

10^th Dec Christmas Concert Foundation Phase 9.30 – school

16^th Dec Yr1–Yr6 Panto – Muni–Dick Whittington

16^th Dec Nursery and Reception – Trip to see Santa (to be confirmed)

18^th Dec Last day of Autumn Term

CHRISTMAS BREAK Sat 19^th Dec – Sun 3^rd January

4^th Jan Proposed INSET Day (to be confirmed)

Further INSET Days will be advised throughout the year.

Llangrannog The proposed dates for Llangrannog for Year 6 pupils transferring to Hawthorn High School are 16^th -18^th May. Details will follow when received from the High School.

WG Test dates The Welsh Government Tests for all pupils in Years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are between 3^rd - 10^th May 2016. Please avoid taking any absences during this time.

Attendance. We have now received our attendance target from the Local Authority. This challenging target is 95.3%. As always, we ask for your support in working towards achieving this goal which, as you may recall, was a recent focus as part of the school Inspection framework. Well done to Willow class for winning our first of this year’s 100% days.

Thank you ! Mrs Loveridge