CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER

15^th December 2016

Dear Parent / Carer

With Christmas almost upon us, I wanted to update everyone with events at school. 

 

As usual it has been a jam packed half term with interesting and exciting activities for everyone.  From thinking about soldiers on Remembrance Day to the Roald Dahl ‘Sleepover’ in Cardiff; pizza parties and cinema afternoons for Good to be Green rewards, achieving the Healthy Schools (Phase 3) award, the Christmas Fayre, fabulous concerts and visiting the Muni for the Panto or Rumble in the Jungle to meet the man in the bright red suit!

 

Our pupil groups have been very active too.  The Digital Leaders have begun working and started off by visiting Admiral in Cardiff to find out more about using social media, the Eco Council have been encouraging us all to switch off the lights more often and the Glee Choir have entertained school, parents and the community with their Christmas tunes.  The school council have begun working with Governors to raise awareness of dog fouling on the bridge leading to school.   We ask that if you are aware of local residents who allow their dogs to foul on the bridge, that the local authority is informed:

//forms.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/StreetCare/AnimalFouling/ContactDetails

 

The Eco Council are also involved in the Local Authority’s Christmas Card recycling scheme and ask that you send as many old Christmas Cards to school as possible in the new year.  PLEASE don’t just through them out…ask friends, family and neighbours so that we collect as many Christmas Cards as possible.

 

The ‘Parents’ Forum’ has had its inaugural meeting, and has been set some tasks in preparation for the next meeting in the new year.    We will keep you up to date with their work which includes considering homework, attendance etc.  Thanks also to all the parents who attended parents’ evening to discuss their children’s progress.  As always, we had a great turn out!

 

The PTA’s Christmas Fayre was again very well attended – boosted by the inclusion of the Glee Choir to entertain during the evening.  The PTA raising £713.55.  Your support of the PTA is much appreciated – as they are working hard to raise funds to support the development of the school grounds.   Monies raised from the sale of Concert tickets etc. through the school’s Private Fund is also used for the benefit of the children and will be supporting the development of the school grounds as well.

 

Our Value next half term is THANKFULNESS, perfect for the children to think about after the excesses of Christmas.  Through this, we will be considering how thankful we need to be for what we have, and remember those who are not as fortunate.

 

A number of parents of Year 1 and Year 2 children are waiting for their children beyond the school fence at the back of the school.  Year 1 and 2 parents are requested to enter the school yard to collect their children to ensure the children’s safety and for school staff to know that they have been handed over to responsible adults.

 

Attendance - This term we are absolutely thrilled that we have rewarded 68 children for 100% attendance.  This is the highest amount for an Autumn Term ever!  Spring term usually gives us the highest amount of 100% attendance pupils, so we will hopefully see this increase too.  Children with the very best attendance also received a special award in the Summer Term.

We are currently at 95% for our whole school attendance.  This is below our target set by the Local Authority of 95.4%.  You will all be aware that attendance is a core feature of the school’s Inspection process.  The school has previously had recommendations to improve attendance, and as such I ask for your continued support in sending your child to school as often as possible.  

Well done to Sycamore class who won the best class attendance of the term, and Sycamore and Beech who had the most number of children who achieved 100%.

Please note: if your child is genuinely ill, they should not attend school - it remains the responsibility of parents to inform the school n the first day of absence if a child is not well enough to attend

Tues 3^rd Jan      INSET Day – no school for children

Wed 4^th Jan      Children return to school

Mon 9^th Jan      Techniquest kits at school

Tues 10^th          Techniquest kits at school

                           PC Rob – Year 4 – Internet Safety

Fri 13^th Jan       INSET Day – no school for children

Thurs 19^th Jan   Football/Rugby after school starts back (Years 5 and 6)

Fri 20^th Jan       PTA Cake Day

Tues 7^th Feb     Safer Internet Day

Fri 10^th Feb       Proposed visit to HHS – Year 5 and 6 – to be confirmed

Mon 13^th Feb   Cultural Diversity Week

Tues 14^th Feb   PTA - Valentine Disco

Wed 15^th Feb   Show Racism the Red Card Workshops (Yr 5 and Yr 6)

                         Anti-Bullying Workshop - Accessibility Wales (Yr 4)

Thurs 16^th Feb  Year 5 – PC Rob – I didn’t think

Mon 20^th Feb – Fri 24^th Feb – HALF TERM

Mon 27^th Feb   Wythnos Cymraeg – Welsh Week

                         Author Visit for KS2

Wed 1^st Mar     Eisteddfod

Thurs 9^th Mar   Class and Group Photos

Fri 10^th Mar      Proposed CLUSTER INSET Day –TBC

 

**Welsh Government Tests are between 3^rd – 10^th May 2017.  We ask that every effort is made to ensure that pupils in Year 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are in school during these test dates**

 

We are having a slight swap around of staff in January.  Miss Baldwin will work in the Nursery until the summer with Mrs E Davies.  Mrs L Davies will return to working in Reception / Year 1, and Miss Richards joining Mr Carter in Ash class.

 

We have also had concerns raised about parking on the yellow zigzags at the rear of the school.  Please be advised that Traffic Enforcement Officers may be patrolling in the New Year.

 

I wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

 

Yours, Mrs Loveridge (Headteacher)

ATTENDANCE

Please find below copy of letter re: Attendance sent to families on Friday 9th Dec 2016

Dear Parent / Carer

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

As you are all aware the Welsh Government and the Local Authority have placed a strong focus on regular, good school attendance.  This is then continued at school where we are challenged by the Local Authority to meet targets, set by them, to raise levels of attendance across the whole school.  Many of you will also be aware that attendance also forms part of the school’s Inspection Criteria and was a recommendation in the previous Inspection (2012) with ‘satisfactory progress’ being judged in the re-visit in May 2015.   We aim to ensure that any future Inspections show that we have made at least ‘good’ progress!

Our target, set by the Local Authority, is 95.4%.

The school is currently below this target, even though we have not yet completed a whole term with current attendance now at 94.9%. 

In order to achieve the minimum of 95% target for every child’s attendance at school we will be introducing a new initiative which will begin at the end of this term and I would like to request your support to help us reach, and hopefully exceed, our target.

We have already started a part of this initiative:

• texts were sent out last week which let families know your child’s class attendance, as well as identifying the class with the best attendance.  This will continue on a weekly basis

As well as this, each child will have a letter sent home at the end of each term.  This will identify which ‘band’ your child’s attendance is in, as detailed below:

• Green Letter      if your child’s attendance is 95% or above – Excellent attendance – meets Welsh Government target for your child.

• Yellow Letter     for attendance 90% - 94.9% - this attendance needs a slight improvement to meet targets
• Amber Letter     86% - 89.9% - this attendance is monitored closely at school
• Red Letter           Below 86% - This attendance is a considerable cause of concern.  If improvements are not made the school has no choice but to follow Welsh Government and Local Authority procedures.

We also have a series of rewards for good attendance:

• The best class each week has an extra 10 minutes play on the following Monday
• Any class achieving 100% for the full week receives an extra treat (for example pop and biscuits etc.).   Ash class won this last week!
• Children who have achieved 100% at the end of each term receive a certificate, as well as a small prize
• Children who achieve 100% for the full year receive an amazon Gift Voucher in the Summer Term.

I hope that you find this information useful and look forward to working with you to meet our school targets.   Our Attendance Policy is available on the Parents’ page of our Moodle website.

BUSY WEEKS!!

Please check our Twitter feed, Class Dojo and Class Blog to see how busy all the classes have been over the last few weeks!