Gwersyllt CP

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The end of the penultimate week and the final full week as we have a training day on Friday 31^st March 2023.

Firstly, thank you from myself and the PTA all those that have given generously today for the PTA Easter Bingo. As always, your support is greatly appreciated.

The Bingo will take place in the hall and I believe that eyes down is at 6:30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Gwersyllt CP wins an award

You may be aware through the local paper and websites that Gwersyllt CP was nominated for an award across Flintshire and Wrexham schools this week. I am delighted and proud to say that we won school of the year across the 2 counties on Wednesday. We have an award coming to us soon and we hope to celebrate it in assembly when it is delivered. My understanding is that it does involve parental feedback, a huge thank you to everyone who put our name forward for this.

And a huge thank you from me to the staff and pupils, who, as usual, are fantastic.

Online safety

This is becoming a huge facet of school safeguarding as use of devices rises year on year. 

For your information in the past couple of weeks the school have:

• Identified an online safety lead
• Created a new policy which is to go to Governors on Wednesday
• A process to go through for inappropriate use has been created to be referred to by all staff
• Learner, staff and visitor agreements have been drawn up. These will be created on forms to sign in the Summer term 
• The school have signed up to Project Evolve – This surveys pupils and identifies knowledge weakness then putting forward lessons for the class- To commence in September alongside resigned agreements
• Booked online safety training on 26^th May for all staff
• Created a log sheet for incidents 

Our filter system, Smoothwall, also reports any inappropriate searches to the safeguarding leads. This is a new feature which we hope to use increasingly as we move forwards.

Have a lovely weekend,

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Firstly, a huge thank you for taking part in, and given generously to, Comic Relief today. Although I am not here today, I have it on good authority that they looked fantastic in red and joined in enthusiastically with all related aspects throughout the day.

Just a reminder that Tuesday 21^st March is Rock you Socks off day– A day for the pupils and staff to wear odd socks for World Down Syndrome Day. World Down Syndrome Day (WBSD), is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. There is no link to put forward money, as with comic relief, but we will be selling gingerbread socks for £1, at break time. We have just under 300, so plenty for all. These will be sold until we run out. So get your purchase in quickly.

Glan Llyn

The majority of our year 6 pupls have had a wonderfult time in Glan Llyn. Hopefully we will have some photos to share next week.

Have a lovely weekend,

Reading – Tips for Home Reading

Hints on helping with reading at home

As a parent/carer, you play an important role in helping your child learn to read. Research shows that children who are helped at home make better progression at school. Reading with your child can be fun and very rewarding. It also shows that you value their efforts. If children enjoy reading, it will benefit their whole education. They are also more likely to carry on reading as adults. 

Choosing what to read

Choose any books that appeal to your child, for example, stories or information books on hobbies/interests such as football or animals. Vary your reading together. It does not have to be schoolbooks. Newspapers, magazines, recipes, games instructions can be read together and still be part of the process of learning to read with enjoyment.  We can also borrow books from the local library to read together.  Your children may keep choosing the same book because it is a favourite. This is all part of learning to read. Children enjoy being read to, even when they are fluent readers. 

How can I help?

• Find a quiet, relaxing place away from distractions such as TV/devices
• Sit comfortably in good light and talk to your child about their book
• Read for about 10 minutes; a regular short time of quality is better than a long session which happens only occasionally
• Ask why they have chosen the book
• Talk about the cover and title and what the story might be about
• Ask them to tell you who wrote the book or point to the author
• Look at the pictures and ask them to tell you where the story takes place
• Ask who they can see in the pictures (especially in picture books)
• Try to be supportive and positive during the reading time
• Encourage your children to look closely at the print
• Read the first page or two together until your child is ready to continue alone
• Encourage your child to point to each word as they read aloud. Where possible wait for your child to decode words
• Encourage the use of clues such as the look/sound of the letters, what would make sense and the illustrations
• Do not sound out words which are not phonetic e.g., “because”
• When a mistake is self-corrected or a previously unknown word is recognised, praise highly
• Encourage expressive reading by drawing attention to punctuation
• Help understanding by talking about the story or text – the setting, the plot, the characters
• Discuss the kind of people the characters are and the way they behave
• Talk about the kind of story it is (adventure, fantasy, science fiction, myth…)
• Encourage your child to refer to words and passages in the text to support their opinions/thoughts
• If your child is finding a book difficult, help out by reading it together

If they get stuck on a word, you could:

Let them read on, so they can work out the word themselves from the context. Point to a picture if it will help them guess the meaning, give them the first or last sounds to help them. Read along with them then pause, prompt, praise if they get it right. Read the word for them. When they are confident with sounds, let them sound out unknown words – break longer words down in to syllables

Remember – Practice, with praise, makes perfect.

If you have any concerns about your child’s reading please contact the class teacher.

 A bank of helpful phrases to use can be found below when reading with your child;

• Who is in the story?
• Where is the story set?
• Can you use the pictures to tell part of the story?
• How do you think the story will end?
• What do you think will happen next? Why do you think that?
• Do you like the characters? Why?
• Who is your favourite character and why?
• What happens in the story?
• What did the characters say? Why?
• How did a character scare, upset or help another character?
• Has anything in the story ever happened to you? How did you feel?

• Did the story make you think of something that has happened to you or someone you know?
• Can you explain why you think a character did that in the story?
• What does this word/phrase tell you about the character or setting?
• What does the word ‘X’ tell us about ‘Y’?
• Find two ways in which the writer tells you about an event/setting/theme, character  
• Which words did you like the most? Why?
•  In the story ‘X’ is mentioned a lot. Why?
•  What other words/phrases could the writer have used?
•  What do you think the writer meant by writing ‘X’? Which words do you think are the most important in this sentence/paragraph/page? Why?
• Does the front cover give us any clues about the story?
• What is your favourite part of the story and why?

Any reading you can do with your child is helpful, even reading words in the supermarket or road signs etc!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As the Easter break nears, we are starting to look ahead at the Universal Free school meal roll out for Year 1 and 2 (Year 3 to 6 are to follow in September). There may be some slight alterations to the pupils dinner time structure as we try to accommodate this extra update. However, we are hoping it will be a reasonably smooth transition.

It is important to remember that, despite every primary child eventually having free school meals, filling in the form for extra financial support in and out of school is still crucial. Free school meals have always been the most advertised but a small part of the grant access that can be attained.

 

If in doubt, please visit the website : Pupil Development Grant (PDG) | Wrexham County Borough Council.We have also sent out a letter with further information and added a regular reminder on the newsletter. Please do see what is available.

Have a good weekend,

School closed today due to adverse weather. Online learning made available.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Regarding the school closure and the adverse weather, we will keep you updated on the situation as and when we can. Some of you may be aware that schools in Flintshire have uniformly decided to close tomorrow and move to online learning.

As things stand, such a decision has not been made in Wrexham. The forecast for this evening and over night is further heavy snow with the potential to stop later on in the morning.

As a school, we will monitor the situation locally, including the health and safety of the school site. We will not know the full extent of what we will be dealing with tomorrow until we visit the site and get a picture of the conditions for staff travelling in. I will aim to let you know the decision by 7.30am.

If a decision is made before that I will communicate this to all as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience,

Mr J Moore

Due to adverse weather the school is closed today. Online learning to be made available to those that wish to access it

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Wow what a busy week, We had a fabulous St David’s Day with Eisteddfod assemblies for Foundation Learning and Key Stage 2. Many certificates were given out for all the fabulous work and baked goods created over half term. Thank you for joining in so enthusiastically with both your time and effort with this.

Here are some of the fabuous costumes worn.

The celebrations will continue for our older children and activities and events will continue over the next few weeks for Key stage 2.

Please see some of the fabulous work created.

The following day saw World book day for the majority of pupils. Those that dressed up looked fantastic and I know that they enjoyed the activities they were set.

Parents Evening

It is Parents evening for most of next week. Please enter via the front reception. The doors will be open and signs will lead you to where your child’s class is. Please take an available seat- there should be some samples of your child’s work to look through whilst you wait. We look forward to welcoming you.

Dates for your diary

March 17^th – Comic Relief- Pupils are welcome to sport their Red noses and wear red. A link will be sent via Parent pay to contribute to this wonderful cause.

March 21st- A day close to our hears- World Down syndrome Day- We ask pupils to wear odd socks- No contribution needed but we will be endeavouring to sell our gingerbreads at £1 a piece again.

Have a great weekend

Monday 27^th February 2023

Dear Parents/Guardians, 

National Strike Action by Members of the NEU 

I am writing to inform you about strike action that is being taken by members of the NEU and to advise you about arrangements for the school on the days of strike action. 

The teaching trade unions have recently balloted their members in relation to their dispute with the Education Employers about teachers’ pay.  As a result, members of the NEU have voted to take national strike action on the following dates: 

• Thursday 2nd March 2023 
• Wednesday 15^th March and Thursday 16^th March 2023* 

The action will result in class or whole school closures across the country.    

What does this mean for our school? 

Teachers in our school who are members of the NEU will be on strike on the above dates if the dispute is not resolved by then. 

How will this affect my children? 

The decision to close the school or send pupils home is never taken lightly, but where staff have elected to take lawful industrial action, I have no choice but to take appropriate steps to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all pupils.   

Following undertaking a risk assessment, the decision I have made is that on the days of strike action: 

the school will be open only for pupils in the following classes: 

•  Barn Owls (Nursery) 
•  Harriers 
•  Class 1 
•  Class 2 
•  Class 3 
•  Class 4 
•  Class 5  

who should attend school at the usual times. 

I appreciate that closing some classes will cause inconvenience for families and it is not a decision that I have taken lightly. I can assure you that in forming my decision I have taken into account the well-being of all pupils and their families and school staff. 

We are aware that class closures inconvenience parents and carers and so I am writing to give you advance notice of the likely impact of the action on this school.  

Please note, staff have the right to change their mind on strike action prior to and on the day. If there are any changes to the above actions the school will let you know as soon as possible.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Yours sincerely, 

Mr J Moore 

Head Teacher 

* A letter will be sent out prior to these dates to ensure clarity on any actions

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Though we have reached the end of another long term, and we hope you have a lovely week next week, there are just a couple of things to draw your attention to for the week straight after half term.

Dates for the diary

Eisteddfod-You may well have had some news already about challenges, tasks and competitions for the pupils leading up to St David’s Day. Of course the big day is on Wednesday 1^st March and we are inviting pupils to wear traditional Welsh clothing or to wear red for the day. 

World book day-The following day we have World book day on Thursday 2^nd March. Pupils are welcome to come dressed as their favourite book characters and will be digging a bit deeper into their faourtie books and authors during the day.

Hopefully there will be plenty of pictures so show after these two events.

In other news- our forest school half days continue to be a roaring success. Even when the weather isn’t at our best it doesn’t dampen our spirits. Our new tarp ensures that we can stay dry aswell.

…and because of our super design and technology skills, we have plenty to feed the wildlife too.

On Wednesday, a group of 4 Year 6 boys visited St Mary’s Brymbo primary school to take part in a Maths problem solving event. they acquitted themselves very well and just fell shy of being in the prizes.

And finally, we have started placing our school staff avatars up on the wall. We thought some of the pupils may enjoy playing guess who with the faves 🙂 There are still a few more staff to go however.