Gwersyllt CP

Please find below the message as the newsletter- Followed by some of the wonderful stuff that has been going on this week (so please read on)

Remembrance

I have been asked to remind the school community that the Remembrance Service will be taking place at the cenotaph on Sunday at roughly 10.40am. The school have a wreath and it would be lovely if a couple of the school pupils would help us place it during the ceremony.

Healthy Eating

Over the course of the next term or so the school plan to have a reassessment of our healthy food systems. Healthy food and drink is an integral part of the pupils functioning at their best in school sessions and retaining the information and skills learnt. 

Mrs O’Toole, Miss Thomas and I are looking to work alongside the Pupil Wellbeing committee to improve this aspect of school life. In the meantime, can I ask in your assistance to be mindful of the snacks and lunch that your child/children are bringing in to school. Thank you for your continued support.

Other dates

There are a few other dates to make you aware of in a term that is going by quickly.

19.11.21- Non Uniform day for Children in Need

3.12.21- Non uniform for PTA (tombola)

10.12.21- Christmas jumper day

17.12.21- Christmas Party food day

21.12.21- Christmas dinner day

Classes may also be doing other events/activities so keep an ear out for communication on this front.

…and the other stuff

Plenty going on in school this week

Hi Viz jackets

Thank you to Brooke and her mum we have received 30 Foundation phase and 30 Key stage 2 jackets. Here they are in action.

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Fantastic modelling

We have also received documents on road safety (including an event to take part in) – please click to view or download

REMEMBRANCE

As well as an assembly to remember the pupils have been working on remembrance themed activities to remember and respect.

There has been a huge variety going on.

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Computational thinking

We have had a visitor in to give Class 1 and 2 a session on computational thinking. The pupils in these classes absolutely loved it.

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Finally- just a few more pictures, because, well, why not

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Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to all. I have placed a few announcements on the newsletter so please, if you haven’t already, do take a look at that which should be with you shortly, if it isn’t already.

Often I place pictures on the website of the classes and their work. I thought this time we would celebrate some of the wonderful activities that are going on with some of our, very much integral, school partners- Little Chicks and Playmates.

This week Mrs Howe and Mrs Wright have been kind enough to send through photos of the activities the pupils have been doing over the past few weeks. At the start of the week they were looking at superheroes (and didn’t they look the part). As well as that, every Monday afternoon, Little Chicks have bought in the services of a trained Forest School practitioner and have used Jaxon’s Wood to hone their skills.

It is safe to say the pupils have thoroughly enjoyed it!

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From Everybody at Gwersyllt CP, have a lovely half term. We look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 1st November.

Hwyl Fawr!

Dear Parents/Carers,

A couple of necessary messages from the Newsletter today. Apologies for the repetition.

Update Covid 19 protocol
We have had a change of directive regarding pupils under 5 who are displaying symptoms of Covid.

The advice from Public Health Wales is that children are at very low risk and lowest in children under the age of 5. There is no need to isolate unless your child has symptoms. There is no need to test with LFD or PCR which can be uncomfortable and distressing for them. However, there are several viruses that children get which can make them unwell and symptoms can be similar to those for Covid 19. If your child develops a cough, temperature, loss of taste, vomiting or diarrhoea then keep them at home, away from school or nursery, until they are better. If symptoms persist for more than 10 days or you are concerned please consult your GP.

In short the pupil should be off school until they are clear of any symptoms but are not expected to take or provide a negative test.
Thank you for bearing with us as the sands continually shift.

Late Attendance
Can we please request that families do everything they can to ensure the pupils arrive in the 8.40-8.50 window to enter their classes at the appropriate time. Recently, we have seen an increase in late attendance. As we have mentioned before, this upsets the child’s start to the day, as well as interrupting the flow of the class as a whole.
We are also finding this issue increases as families are not ordering meals at home and the time at reception upon late entry is increased to place these orders. This week the process has taken up to 20 minutes to complete. We are aware that traffic can be an issue at this time which is why the 10 minute window was introduced initially. Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

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: