The following letter has just arrived through county.
Funded Childcare for Children (6-11) – Summer Holidays 2022
Free childcare is available for children aged 6-11 over the summer holidays where the families are on a low income and where the child’s development or wellbeing has been affected by Covid-19.
Applications are open now and must be completed by a professional working with the family or the child.
The funding will provide a maximum of two half-day sessions per week (maximum of 6 hours per session) or one full day session per week (maximum of 10 hours per session).
Firstly, let me start with the great news from the newsletter that, due to our successful summer fayre, we managed to raise £1200 for the school. We look forward to being able to use this money for the pupils, either to help them out educationally or put a big smile on their faces.
Again, a huge thank you to the PTA for the time, effort and energy they put in to make this happen. the weather attempted to dampen our mood but for a couple of hours we had glorious sunshine.
Speaking of glorious sunshine, the pupils are making the opportunity to get out more for the final week or two of this year. Barn Owls had little hobbits in on Wednesday and many of the parents came down to work within Jaxon’s wood (now officially opened) with their children.
There was a broad variety of activities in waiting from hammocks to assault courses and for the ten minutes I managed to make it down for the pupils (and parents) seemed to fully enjoy it.
The fun didn’t stop there for Barn Owls as some of the little chicks went on to use the parachute for a whole host of games and activities.
We have enjoyed the last of our sports days this week (thank you again weather) and the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils extoled the virtues of sportsmanship and athletic ability as all the pupils through out the school have.
A huge thank you for those that came out to support them.
The weather next week is looking very toasty so please ensure that the pupils are equipped with water, have been sun protected and have taken hayfever allergy tablets if required.
Just a quick message to say a huge thank you to all involved regarding the summer fayre this weekend.
Despite the weathers best effort it didn’t manage to wash out the event and we had a successful few hours in the sunshine.
So thank you to the staff involved, those that were running stalls, all the pupils, families and friends that came to support us and were so generous with their time and donations.
In particular, a huge thank you to our PTA, without them we wouldn’t have a summer fayre at all.
I thought I would use this opportunity to give you the information we know about universal free school meals from September onwards.
Phased roll-out of Primary Free School Meals for the youngest children from September 2022 on-wards
From the new Autumn term on-wards (5th September 2022) all Reception children will be offered Free School Meals. This is an important step in reaching the shared ambition of ensuring no child goes hungry while in school.
In response to the current rising cost-of-living, Welsh Government and Wrexham LA are committed to implementing this scheme quickly and would ask for your patience as we build catering capacity to ensure a successful phased implementation and work towards a whole school roll-out over the next three years.
Wrexham LA are working with the Welsh Government to develop a process for you to be able to request a free meal for your child/children in Reception from September, trying to avoid any unnecessary burden for you. Further information will follow by the end of term. Please rest assured that if your child is currently in receipt of free school meals and/or any other associated benefits, these will not be affected.
The above message has come directly from County. Our expectation is that universal free school meals will then be rolled out for Year 1 and Year 2 later on in the year. Of course, we will update you with further information as soon as we have it.
Scrumdiddlyumptious
This term our Year ¾ classes (Dosbarth 1 a 2) have been looking at the topic ‘Scrumdiddlyumptious’. Amongst the many activities this term the pupils have baked bread and created a salad. They have looked with some depth at Fairtrade and the journey that food goes on before it gets to our mouths (and after).
They have looked at the nutritional benefits of food and the growing costs.
On the 22nd June 2022, the pupils enjoyed a gorgeous day in Jaxon’s wood with Little hobbits. They created Elderflower drink, their own kebabs, cooked around the fire and enjoyed their very own calzone pizza.
An extremely busy week back, though I think that may be the same for the remaining 5 weeks. We have had the planetarium in from Explore (formerly Techniquest) this week- allowing for all the KS2 pupils and a handful of Foundation phase and parents to experience the Earth, stars, space and planet in a giant Dome. I apologies for the lack lustre photographs but it did look hugely impressive from inside.
On the same day we also had National Rail in to discuss the new railway works that will be happening locally to our KS2 pupils.
To round that day off the staff had their first training session on Inspire Maths. A new Maths product that we are trialling currently to commence in September. More at another date on this.
Finally, we were delighted to invite in our first group of Nursery pupils who are commencing in September. They had a wonderful session in Jaxon’s wood and we look forward to them joining us in a few months.
We also had a visit for our Snowy Owls pupils from a farmer. She discussed her role and the tasks she undertakes. We also delved into her delicious milkshakes at milkshake shake she runs. Mmmmm
Sports Days
The dates for the sports day are as follows:
Early Years – 7th July
Year 1 and 2 – 27th June at 1.30pm
Year 3 and 4 – 15th June at 1.30pm
Year 5 and 6 – 16th June at 1.30pm
Hope fully you will have had some communication about these events. We are looking forward to seeing you there.
Non School uniform
There is a non-school uniform day to support the PTA and summer fayre on Friday 17th June. The tombola prizes requested are:
Nursery/Reception – sweets and chocolates
Years 1 and 2 – toiletries
Years 3 and 4 – Snacks (crisps, popcorn, biscuits etc)
Years 5 and 6 – Bottles (alcohol to be handed in to staff)
Summer Fayre
The school summer fayre run by Gwersyllt CP PTA is to be held on 25th June from 11am to 3am.
I hope you have all had a good week. Just a few things to mention below.
Jumpers and Jackets
As the weather gets warmer we find that the lost property collection is piling higher and higher. Through the course of the day many pupils will wish to take their cots or jumpers off if it gets to hot. To ensure that they don’t lose them if the mislay them please do put their names inside.
Bryn Alyn Information Evening for Year 4/5 pupils and parents.
Bryn Alyn has requested the use of the school hall to deliver an information evening for potential pupils and parents of the school. This is open to Year 4 and 5 parents and pupils and will allow the opportunity to learn a little more about the high school and ask some questions.
Doors will open at 4:50pm on May 25th, the meeting will take place in the main hall. We expect it to finish no later than 5.45pm.
Please join us if you can for this session.
Other Dates:
26th May- Jubilee celebration
27th May-Staff curriculum day. School closed to pupils
Live Performance
It feels like it has been a while but we were fortunate enough today to have the KS2 pupils in to watch a live performance of the classic ‘The Hobbit’ tale. Staff and pupils thoroughly enjoyed this performance and came out of the hall singing it’s praises. We are already looking into another performance for this time next year.
Jaxon’s Wood continues to flourish
The staff continue to work hard to make this area the best it can be and the pupils continue to enjoy using it. We are also accruing materials for it at a quick pace. Mrs Davies, who has worked hard on Jaxon’s wood from the beginning, accessed some grant money to get some intriguing new resources (see below). The grant will also cover some staff training alongside the three Level 3 Forest school practitioners who are currently accessing training.
In the News
Dosbarth 3 were in the news for their hard environmental work with PETA. See last weeks news for more info and the links below for the news.
I hope you have all had a lovely week and have an even better weekend. Just a couple of things to update you on.
New School Intercom
Those of you who have tried to access the school during the school day will know we have a new school intercom installed. A member of staff will beep you through the gates once you have pressed the dial button. The gate which opens is the left hand gate (you may need to slide the bar across). Upon leaving can we request that visitors close the gate behind them. Many thanks.
Social Media
A couple of months ago, I wrote to parents regarding our ongoing concern about pupils in our primary school using social media and doing so, on some occasions, unmonitored.
This is an ongoing worry and we are finding that pupils are doing it at a younger and younger age. In many cases, the social media we hear about is created for children and adults aged 13 years and over. Though the school discuss these issues in class through internet safety lessons and community police sessions we can not monitor their use.
Please do be aware of how your child may be using their phones. Previously, we have had concerns over the use of Tik Tok and the mimicking and communication channels it created but new apps are being made available constantly. Another particularly worrying app is ‘Omegle’ which randomly pair up callers around the world and allows them to talk to each other. Clearly, this is unsafe and open to misuse.
Through peers and friendship circles many children hear about apps that they don’t fully understand the details of and how they open themselves up to potential dangers. At this young age they are vulnerable and close monitoring and open communication is one way of lessening this risk.
As a school, we will do all we can to keep you informed on these aspects.
..and finally
A few lovely pictures of the pupils in action this week.
Year 3 and 4 have continued to focus on their topic of scrumdiddlyumptious this week with some wonderful bread baking being done. The smells emanating from the room was wonderful.
It has been all go in Dosbarth 5 this week. The pupils have been studying a book called Flotsam and investigating several sand covered trays. Within these trays were several hidden objects that would act as clues to whom the variety of character may be. As you can imagine there was plenty of discussion.
The class have also been using jelly babies (you heard that right) to look into sound waves. This picture and video doesn’t do the effect justice.
And every now and then I receive a piece of work that I just have to show off. This piece came from a Year 4 pupil who had spent her lunchtime in the sun drawing. I think you can agree that the pictures look great.
Scroll down to see a few lovely pictures for the week
Jubilee day
Gwersyllt CP will be hosting a celebration day on Thursday May 26th for the Jubilee. There will be a special menu on from the canteen, a complementary book has been ordered from Welsh Assembly Government and we are asking all pupils, if they wish, to get dressed up as someone well known from the last 100 years.
Birthday Cake
We have had some queries regarding birthday cake being brought in. We are now happy for it to come in the class but ask that you give consideration about whether it needs to be a whole cake or can be separate cakes (this makes it much easier for many of our classes).
Request for holidays
We kindly ask that holiday requests are made on the correct form which can be found on the forms section of our school website. Holidays requested without this form may well be recorded as unauthorised.
As you are aware, the new policy means that the majority of holidays will be recorded as a ‘g’ in the register which means unauthorised holiday absence. However, it is important that the school can make this distinction wherever possible.
Thank you in advance.
Eid
Snowy Owls celebrated in their class. They wore pyjamas, enjoyed some delicious pastries and were luck enough to receive a gift back from a special member of the class 🙂
Scrumdiddlyumptious
Many classes in the school are looking at aspects of food at the moment. Barn owls created a sandwich.
and class 2 were created a mixed salad
PETA
Finally Class 3 (Dosbarth 3) were awarded a very special certificate for their hard endeavours. They have been raising the awareness of concerns around animal welfare and, in particular, orcas. Dai iawn Dosbarth 3.
Gwersyllt CP 