Gwersyllt CP

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we come to the end of the first half-term of the new year, I wanted to write to you and reflect on what has been a busy—somewhat cold and certainly very wet—six weeks. Despite the weather, the children have enjoyed a wide range of activities and learning opportunities, and I think most of them would agree that they are ready for a well‑earned break (and the staff are too!) before we begin the next half-term leading up to Easter.

As always, the children have been fantastic, and I am very much looking forward to all the trips and activities planned for after half-term. Below is a reminder of just some—though not all—of the events and sessions that will be taking place. More will, of course, be added as we move through the term.

Dates (and Corrections)

Apologies- a couple of dates were incorrect last week- the fog has cleared and I’ve amended them.

• Year 5 Cycling: Thursday 26^th 27^th  February- for those that brought in return slips
• Eisteddfod: Friday 27^th February  – Welsh dress or red if pupils wish
• World Book day: Thursday 5^th March – Pupils are welcome to come in costume of a book character
• Yr 6 Art Murial workshop-Monday 9^th and Tuesday 10^th March
• Year 3/4 & Onnen Trip: Tuesday 10^th and Wednesday 11^th March
• Glan Llyn Year 6 trip: Commences Wednesday 11^th March – 13^th of March
• Parents Evening: Week Beginning 16^th March
• PC Stu Reeves Year 1 & 2 sessions: Wednesday 18^th March
• Attendance/Pupil of the term awards: Wednesday 25^th March
• PTA Easter Bingo: Thursday 26^th March
• Bedwen & Llwyfen Easter performance- Wednesday 25^th March @ 2pm

Nursery Spa Day

This week Dosbarth Glasbren had a Spa day to encourage us to think about connecting with others and building friendships. The theme of this years Children’s Mental Health week is ‘Belong’ the Spa day offered an excellent opportunity for the children to develop their sense of belonging! It also looks like they had a pretty relaxing time! 

Farewell

The school say farewell and a huge thank you to Ms Hayley Edwards who worked alongside Mrs Sailes and Dosbarth Onnen over the past year. We are extremely grateful for all the support, dedication and effort she has given to the class and wish her all the best moving forward. Diolch.

Have a lovely weekend and forthcoming week,

Welcome back! We hope you all had a fantastic couple of weeks. We’re delighted to say that, despite the weather, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed having the children back in school. We really appreciate the effort you made to get them in, particularly on that first Tuesday when conditions were quite challenging. Despite the dicey conditions, our attendance was still strong.

School communication

We want to let you know about an important update to how we communicate with you. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be transitioning from Teachers2Parents (T2P) to MyChildAtSchool (MCAS) as our main communication platform.

This change will not happen overnight. There will be a period where both systems run side by side to ensure a smooth transition. Eventually, Teachers2Parents will be phased out, and MyChildAtSchool will become our primary tool for messages and updates.

What does this mean for you?

• You will receive instructions on how to access and use MyChildAtSchool.
• During the transition, please check both platforms for messages.
• We will provide plenty of notice before Teachers2Parents is fully retired.

Message from County Catering

We wanted to make you aware of a change to the bread supplied in primary school meals this week, and to apologise for the short notice.

We have arranged with Dairylink to replace the white sliced bread with a 50:50 alternative across all primary school orders.  This change has been introduced to ensure we are compliant with the new nutritional regulations, which will soon become compulsory for all schools.

Unfortunately, we did not notify our school cooks in advance, which means they were unable to inform or prepare for any questions from pupils or parents.  We’re sorry for the oversight and for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any queries about the change, please feel free to direct them to the Catering team and they will be happy to provide further explanation.

Schoolmeals@wrexham.gov.uk

As we come to the end of a very busy week, I’d like to start with a few heartfelt thank-yous:

• Thank you for joining us at our pupil-led Christmas Fair. It was a little different this year, but I hope you enjoyed seeing the creativity and ideas the children brought to life through their stalls.
• Thank you for your generosity today in supporting the PTA Tombola ahead of the Christmas Bingo, which will take place next Thursday in the school hall.
• A huge thank you to the PTA, staff, and pupils for all the hard work that went into the Christmas Fair and the many events leading up to Christmas.

Finally, an apology for the frustrations with the school phones this week. We’ve been working closely with the county to resolve the issue. While the phones have worked intermittently, they have often been down. If you are struggling to get through by phone, please contact us via email. Although responses may not be immediate, this ensures we can receive your messages while the phones are unreliable.

Looking ahead to next week:

• Cinema Trips:
  • Year 1 & 2 – Monday
  • Year 3 & 4 – Tuesday
  • Year 5 & 6 – Friday
• Christmas dinner and Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday
• Llwyfen and Bedwen: Sing-along and Christmas Crafternoon on Wednesday afternoon. Doors open at 1:15 pm, event starts at 1:30 pm.
• Glasbren Performance: Friday morning at 10:00 am. Doors open at 9:30 am.

We look forward to seeing you at these events. Have a lovely weekend!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Christmas Market

We are excited to invite you to our Christmas Market on Thursday 4th December, from 3:00pm to 4:30pm.

This year will be a little different, as the event will largely be led by pupils and their classes, with a couple of external stalls joining us. Here’s how it will be organised:

• Key Stage 2 stalls – in classrooms
• Foundation Phase stalls – in Playmates
• External stalls – in the Learning Plaza
• Food and drink – in the hall

Please collect your children from their usual doors first, before entering through the front reception to enjoy the market.

Thank you for your support – we look forward to seeing you there!

Your child may be eligible for free school meal support.

This is more than just free meals in both primary and secondary schools—it can also include: ✅ Uniform grants ✅ Free school trips and music sessions ✅ Reduced costs on other aspects of education

Click the link below to check if this applies to your child:

https://www.gov.wales/free-school-meals-get-help-school-costs

Have a great weekend,

Cofion cynnes

Joel Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As we move past mid-November, it’s lovely to hear the sound of various classes beginning to practice for the festive season. There’s a real buzz around the school! You will already have the dates and times for these performances. There will be more information about coming to see these performances out soon.

Poverty Proofing

This week, we welcomed two visitors who audited the school to review the impact of costs on pupils’ education. We’ve always worked hard in this area, and Estyn’s recent visit agreed that we are strong at this aspect of school life. Of course, there is always room for improvement, and we look forward to their report to see what further positive changes we can make.

Pick-Up of Pupils

A quick reminder: whenever possible, please ensure pupils are picked up promptly at the end of the school day or after clubs. Staff often have meetings and commitments after school, both linked to work and personal, and waiting with pupils can impact these arrangements. Your support is greatly appreciated.

As always, thank you for your continued support and have a lovely weekend.

Cofion cynnes,

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The end of a very wet week, here is hoping there are a few drier days ahead. Apologies that the majority of my communication seems to be festive based. Its quickly becoming that time of year.

Christmas Dates

We have now confirmed Christmas times and dates for all performances. Please see the information lower down in the Newsletter.

Cinema Trips

Please note that payment is required as confirmation that you wish your child to take part in the cinema trips (again listed below in the dates). If we don’t receive payment the assumption is that the pupils do not wish to go on the cinema trip. In these cases, provision will be made for them in school on that day. 

Poverty Proofing

Gwersyllt CP are working alongside our cluster schools to look at the impact of proofing on families within our school. Two visitors will be in our school on Wednesday and Thursday next week. There is a chance that they will present during drop off in the morning on these days and may wish to ask questions. If you have a minute of your time whilst dropping your child/children off, this would be greatly appreciated.

Have a lovely weekend,

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back to the pupils this week, we hope everyone had a lovely week last week. As I write, we have 6 weeks of a packed half term ahead of us. December in particular, gets very busy. We will do all we can to communicate everything as soon as possible. Please do check updates etc as and when you receive them.

Change of Date

Previously, you will have received dates of many of the activities that are happening this term. We have two changes of date currently. Christmas dinner will now be on Thursday 11^th December rather than Wednesday 10^th December (This will also be Christmas Jumper day). Party Food will be on Thursday 18^th December rather than Wednesday 17^th December.

Data Collection

Just a polite reminder to bring in your Data collection forms as soon as possible, even if no changes are required. Many thanks in advance.

Children in Need

The school will be taking part in Children in Need next week (Friday 14^th November). Pupils are welcome to dress in non-school uniform, yellow or Pudsey clothing in particular. The recommended donation is £1.  Link for donations can be found in the newsletter.

Have a lovely weekend,

Cofion cynnes,

Next week is the final week of the current half term. A quick reminder that school is closed to pupils for a staff training day on Friday 24^th October. The final day for pupils is Thursday 23^rd October. Pupils will start back at school again on Monday 3^rd November.

Menu Change – Thursday 23^rd October

We are serving lunch in classrooms on Thursday 23^rd October. Due to this, we have had a menu change on this day. If you have already ordered for the 23^rd October please do check that this order is still in place. If not, it should simply be a case of reordering. Diolch and apologies for the inconvenience.

Cinema Trips

The trips planned for September should be payable by the end of next week. Please be aware that this is a non-curriculum trip. Therefore, pupils attending depends on payment and continued good behaviour. Those not attending will remain in school for these mornings.

Data Collection Sheets

After half-term, your child will be coming home with a Data Collection Sheet.  This is for you to check that all the details on the form are correct.  Please send back to school even if there are no amendments.

School crossing patrol

We have had a couple of incidents of pupils running across the road in front of the school before Nigel (our school crossing patrol) has been able to safely get stop traffic. Please make sure the pupils are cautious of the traffic when crossing the road. If they walk on their own please have this conversation with them. I have spoken to Year 1 upwards about this today in assembly

Harvest

A reminder that the school is requesting any non perishable food goods for the community cupboard for Friday 17^th October Harvest Assembly. Each class will create an offering to bring to the front at the end of the assembly.

Show racism the red card

The school are also having a wear red day to promote awareness of the above charitable organisation. If you wish to you can text ‘RED’ to donate £1 (Text ‘Red 5’ to donate £5 or ‘Red10’ to donate £10)

Forest Schools

During the course of the year, all pupils will enjoy the opportunity to take part in forest school sessions. From Year 1 upwards you should receive a text to confirm when these sessions are taking place just before they commence. These take place in nearly all weathers (high wind being the exception). Last week Year 1/2 enjoyed the deluge of rain we had. This week some Year 5 pupils were priviliged enough to try a range of Albanian food – ranging from pastice (a home cooked Albanian dish made with spaghetti noodles, feta cheese, milk and eggs) to chofte (a mince meatball- though we had it served burger shaped). Many staff turned up to this forest school session strangely enough. Thank you to Ermela for preparing this delicious food.

Have a great weekend

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Harvest

On Friday 17th October the school will be having a Harvest assembly. During this we will talk about the meaning of Harvest and how crops are shared with those who may need them. Towards the end of this, each class will bring a box of food to the front of the hall as an offering to the community cupboard. If you can spare just one item of non-perishable food (e.g. Pasta, a tin of fruit etc) could this be brought into your child’s class from Wednesday morning onwards please. Thank you so much, your support is greatly appreciated.

Wear Red Against Racism

On the same day (Friday 17th of October) we will also be wearing red against racism. As previously, all pupils are requested to wear red for this, now annual, event.  If you wish to you can text ‘RED’ to donate £1 (Text ‘Red 5’ to donate £5 or ‘Red10’ to donate £10)

School Clothing

Just a reminder to put your child’s names into all items of clothing. This makes finding and returning the correct clothes far easier.

School Trips and Ordering of Packed Lunches

Can we please remind parents that if your child is going on a school trip and needs an inhaler, can you please make sure they have it with them.  If they require other medication on the day please make sure your classteacher is aware and that you have filled in the medication form from the school office.

If you have pre-ordered a packed lunch from the school and your child no longer requires it (i.e. you are supplying a packed lunch for them) can you please make sure you cancel the packed lunch on ParentPay.  This prevents food waste and reduces the additional impact of preparing the sandwiches for our Kitchen Staff.  Thanks.

Outdoor Learning

Finally, the Year 5/6 pupils enjoyed a couple of days in the forest of Northop Coleg Cambria exploring outside learning activities. Below is just a sample of the activities they took part in. As always the pupils were fantastic and did the school and yourselves proud.