A lot going on this week- I just wish I had the chance to capture all of it.

All our great topic are still going on and the school is a vibrant action packed place to be during the day.

This is true of Jaxon’s wood- which at the moment is being used every Monday after noon by Little chicks. Outside expertise has been brought in and the pupils are enjoying every minute of it.

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While this was going on I had the privilege and good fortune to join Harriers in their classroom and outside areas. Being no expert in this area- I asked them to do their jobs (they are the experts). Watching them go off and be busy was a joy.

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Class 3/4/5 continued to work on their samurai inspired art pieces using recycled resources. You may recall last week we had a zoom meeting looking at how these bits and bobs could be used.

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Finally, Year 3 continue to use their mission stations to look at a variety of activities. Apologies for the mess!

A busy week this week at Gwersyllt CP with many things going on (Sometimes it takes a huge portion of time to take the photos).

Key stage 2 pupils where fortunate enough to receive a zoom call from a doctor from the University of Liverpool. Some of the classes explored the earth layers and volcanic eruptions, whilst some classes looked at space.

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This wasn’t the only zoom call Classes 3,4,5 received. On Friday they brought in a few bits of cardboard etc and enjoyed a call showing them how to make a samurai.

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This is linked to their topic of Japan. Last week we posted some lovely photos of the classroom environments that were being created- here are a few more.

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Reception were using pupil voice to trial out some tests using conkers. they decided they would like to see if they sink or swim. You will be amazed at the answer to that but I will let the children tell you. I wonder if some of the older pupils could tell us why?

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And finally, a huge thank you to one of our parents who came in to school to talk about the Kestrels topic body and bones and her area of expertise. We also got to meet a new friend.

And below is some of the work we received from the pupils. Da iawn pawb!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I wanted to take the opportunity to show a few examples of some of the topic work that has been taking place this week. Particularly in Year 5/6 relating to Art and DT (or in New Curriculum for Wales speak-Expressive arts and Science and Technology).

You may be aware that the new topic is Japan and the pupils this week have spent a large portion of there time creating a classroom that embodies this. Some of the Art work has been stunning and, along with the displays that are going up, really demonstrates the pupils skills.

See below for some examples:

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Dear Parents/Guardians,
Great news this week as Gwersyllt CP has been awarded the Lockdown Award – for Outstanding contribution to Family Engagement, Communication and Innovation. Well done and thank you to all the staff (with a particular nod to Mrs O’Toole and Miss Thomas- who created and compiles a lot of the evidence) for all the effort that went into this during all the difficult months.
This award is given to schools that have supported children and families throughout the ‘lockdown’. It’s aim is to celebrate and acknowledge the dedication, support, guidance, care and nurture that you have provided during the epidemic.

Diolch to everyone involved.

Anti social behaviour

If any parents feel concern about acts of anti social behaviour in the community the school would always recommend reporting this to the police through 101 or using the following link- https://www.north-wales.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

If you feel worried that it may impact your child’s day then please do make a member of staff aware. Though we can rarely act on events outside, being aware of possible issues, whilst also seeking some help from outside agencies can always improve situations moving forward.

As I mentioned briefly on the newsletter, we have started trialling new aspects to our planning this year in preparation for September 2022 and over the course of the year there will be increased communication to try and keep everybody in the loop as to what the school are doing moving forward. We will also be asking you, as parents, to have a say in certain aspects of this.

Our trial initial centres on a more child led approach to planning the class topics (something that has been done in different guises over the years).

All classes will be trialling this over the Autumn term with many classes having commenced already. The idea in its simplest terms is that the children will write down ideas and questions based around the topic they will be covering. they will decide, alongside the classteacher, what they will be looking at and covering initially. Over the course of the topic and, hopefully, on a weekly basis the children will continue to add questions and ideas as there knowledge, understanding and interest increase. This means the activities should be tailored to the pupils current needs and keep them continually engaged.

Below are a couple of examples:

Welcome back one and all,

As we have only had two days with the pupils this week, there is little to report on. However, there are just a few things during the new term to draw your attention to.

Start and Finish Times

Welsh government have made it mandatory for schools to return to their original start and finish times. This means that doors will open for pupils between 8.40-8.50. They will close after this point and pupils will be signed in as late and asked to go through reception. It is vital pupils are on time in order to start the day in the best way.

Can I also request that reception staff are spoken to politely when signing in late (please see new code of conduct policy below). It is necessary for the above process to take place in order to ensure that all pupils are accounted for and safe.

Finish times are now:

Foundation Phase (Snowy Owls, Harriers, Kestrels) – 3pm

Key Stage 2 (Classes 1-5) 3.10pm

Code of Conduct Policy

The school has a new code of conduct policy. this can be found on the website at https://gwersylltcp.home.blog/ under the forms, policies and letters section.

Attendance Policy

Just to make you aware that a new attendance policy from county is imminent. This will be taken on by the school. One of the main changes in this county policy will be that holidays are no longer to be authorised by schools. This means that, while holidays can be taken, they will be classed as unauthorised on the attendance record. This policy will be on the website when it comes into action.

Nasal Flu

If there are any outstanding forms for Nasal Flu please can we request they are sent to us by Friday 10th September 2021.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and see you for the first full week next week.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you all had a lovely summer. With a lot changing over the summer holidays I thought I would just put up a few sections of the guidance to clarify expectations over positive cases and identified contacts.

Symptomatic:

Any staff member or learner who has any of the three cardinal symptoms of COVID-19 – new persistent cough, fever and/or loss of taste or smell – should not attend the school setting but should self-isolate, arrange a COVID-19 test and notify the school of this.

Where a learner becomes unwell at the school or setting with possible symptoms of COVID-19 they should be sent home immediately to self-isolate and arrange a COVID-19 test.

Positive Case:

If a PCR test is positive, the person must continue to self-isolate and complete the full self-isolation period of at least 10 days. Day 1 is the day immediately following the day they first had symptoms.

If they do not have any symptoms but have tested positive, they must self-isolate for at least 10 days, starting from the day after they took the test.

They may have to self-isolate for longer (up to 14 days), if they have certain variants of the virus. TTP will let them know if this is the case.

Contacts

Children under 18 (or anyone over 18 with both vaccinations) will not be required to self-isolate if identified as a contact but contact tracers will still call to provide advice and information. This will usually involve increased testing over the 10 days.

I hope this change in information provides a bit of clarity. This could change under certain circumstances but is the guidance currently.

Many thanks,

Mr J Moore

Dear Parent/Guardian, 

As promised on the newsletter last week, I wish to update you on the processes that are changing for the Academic year 21/22. 

My apologies for all the information below. 

It has just been confirmed to us this morning that start and finish times of schools are to return to normal from September.  

Start times 

This means that all the classes start times will revert to 8.50 as they were in March 2020. As was the case then, the doors will open at 8.40 to allow 10 minutes for pupils to arrive at school and enter the classrooms. 

Unlike this year, the pupils will be using the school lockers again and not always entering directly into their classrooms.  

Barn Owls and Snowy owls will remain the same and enter by their cloakrooms. There will be a member of staff to direct them at the door. 

Year 1 and 2 (Kestrels and Harriers) will enter at the same point as they have this year opposite the home bargains gate. 

Classes 1,2 and 4 (Mrs Moore, Mr Edwards and Mr McAteer) will enter at the old school entrance. 

Classes 3 and 5 (Miss Roberts and Mrs Jones) will enter at the front most entrance on the front yard. 

Don’t worry though a member of staff and signage will be on these entrances to help for the first week. 

Finish times 

Barn Owls and Snowy Owls will exit by the same class doors (Barn Owls at 11.20am and Snowy Owls at 3pm) 

Year 1 and 2 will exit via the doors they entered at 3pm 

All KS2 classes will exit via their class doors at 3.10pm. 

Again, someone will be on the yard to help if needed. 

Playmates 

As they have this year, Playmates will enter and exit through the front Reception 

Little Chicks 

Little Chicks are to be picked up at 2.50pm at Barn Owls entrance. 

Breakfast Club 

The use of breakfast club will remain unchanged next year 

School uniform 

Again, this will be unchanged. We will continue to ask pupils to come to school in their PE kit on the days chosen for PE. 

Other changes 

It is understood that school bubbles will not be maintained in school, however we are looking at fewer pupils mixing at the moment so will keep them in broader Year groups at Playtimes and lunchtimes e.g. Year 1 and 2, Year 3 and 4, Year 5 and 6 will have their lunchtime in those groups. This will be trialled upon return on 2^nd September 2021. 

Have a lovely summer, I hope to get some photos up of the events that have taken place at the end of this week. 

Kind regards Mr J Moore 

Just a quick update to show some of the fabulous artwork going on through out school. My apologies this should have been sent out on Friday but time has caught up on me.

Firstly, we have a stunning picture by Luke W in Class 5. A piece of work that he should be immensely proud of inspired by Van Gogh’s the Yellow House. Da iawn Luke and I’ll let the picture speak for itself.

Secondly,we have a collection of stunning work from Class 2-

Take a look below

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Return to school

Finally, just to assure all parents that I will sent out information about the procedures for September by the end of the week. We are just waiting on a final word from County on the situation.