Three weeks into the new year and we are in full swing now- all classes have started their new topics and hopefully you have managed to sign up to seesaw/class dojo in order to get a good idea of what is happening in your child’s class.
Just a few things from me,
Another Thank you
The pupils are doing a wonderful job at sticking to the healthy snack that we requested last year. With very few exceptions, pupils are consistently choosing fruit and veg for their snack at breaktimes. Remember pupils in KS2 can purchase fruit or water for 20p at breaktimes.
On that note, just a reminder that drink in class should be water or milk only- no juice please. We have water taps in the school that pupils can access if need be.
Breakfast Club
Please be aware that Breakfast club does not commence until 8am. Any pupils arriving before that time must be booked in to Playmates or wait with an adult for Breakfast club register to open.
Staff Goodbye
It is with great sadness that I inform you that Mrs C Harrison will be leaving us soon for a new role. Her final day at Gwersyllt CP will be October 6th. Mrs Harrison has been a huge asset to the school and will leave a large gap for us to try and fill. I am sure you will join me, and us, in saying a huge congratulations, thank you and all the best to Mrs Harrison in her future role.
Off the back of the message sent last week, I have had some communication with parents regarding the spread and allocation of assemblies/concerts. There are many reasons that have been taken into consideration when making this decision. However, I understand the disappointment that Year 1 and 2 pupils wouldn’t have the opportunity to perform a Christmas concert during the two years they will spend in these years. Off the back of this communication and with this in mind, we have decided that it will work on a rota basis with Years 1 and 2 performing a Harvest assembly this year and Years 3 and 4 performing a Christmas concert. The following year this will rotate with Years 1 and 2 performing a Christmas concert and Year 3 and 4 performing a Harvest festival. This means all pupils will perform both during their time in Years 1 and 2 and in Year 3 and 4.
There will be a whole host of Christmas activities, crafts etc for your child to enjoy at this time of the year in all classes.
Clubs
Over the next few weeks you may receive information on certain clubs happening either after school or during lunch hours, depending on your child’s year group. British sign language has already commenced with pro skills and netball starting shortly. More will crop up over the coming weeks.
School Dinners
A reminder to ensure that all dinners with school are ordered in advance. Due to universal free school meals, we are having huge numbers ordered. Even if a small percentage of these do not order it can mean shortage of food for pupils and potentially reduced portions. The canteen staff always cook to the number of orders placed.
Can I also ask that discussion about meal choices is had at home, we have had a number of the younger pupils upset as they feel they don’t like or want the meals ordered for them.
Thank you
And finally, a thank you for sending your pupils in uniform, looking as smart as they do. I have been particularly impressed with PE kits adhering to black and white as we set out in the prospectus. It makes a huge difference.
It is wonderful to have all the pupils back and fully settled into their new classes. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and managed to enjoy what little of the warm weather we had.
Just to update you on what the pupils are doing at the moment. All classes have started of the school term with a mini topic called ‘All about me’.
After this the topics will be:
Collen/Ceiriosen (Nursery/Reception) – Marvellous me
Llywfen/Bedwen (Year 1 and 2) – If you go down to the woods today
Onnen/Derwen – (Year 3 and 4) – Chocolate
Masarnen – (Year 4 and 5) – Scrumdiddlyumptious
Afallen/Celyn – (Year 5 and 6) – Give a little
I have taken photos of the classroom environments- please do take a look on the website blog today.
App communication
As you will hopefully be aware we have started using Dojo as a reward system which communicates to those at home the pupil’s successes. Through trialling this, we have learnt that it does many things that See saw does. Over the next half term we will trial use of these across the school as below:
Nursery/Reception/Year 1 and 2 will use Seesaw as they always have to evidence pupil work and communicate with parents. Dojo will be used simply as a reward system. Please communicate only via Seesaw as messages through Dojo will not be responded too.
Year 3 and above will not use Seesaw and will use Dojo for all purposes of rewards, photo evidence and communication.
Teachers will try to respond as soon as possible to messages sent between 8am and 5pm. Please understand that this may not always be on the same day the message is sent. Thank you for your consideration.
Changes to performances
In order to alleviate time and space pressure over the Christmas period we have decided to spread performances over the school year. From this year onwards performances will be as below:
Nursery and Reception – Christmas performance
Year 1 and 2 – Harvest performance (pencilled in for morning of 25th October)
Year 3 and 4 – Christmas performance
Year 5 – Christmas service in Church
Year 6 – Leaver performance (in July)
This means that all pupils will perform throughout the year and in a variety of performances throughout their time in Gwersyllt CP.
Classroom environments
The staff have spent a lot of time looking at the learning environments both in and out of the classroom this year. I thought I would show off the handy work so you get an idea of the space your child is working ing.
Collen/Ceiriosen (Nursery and Reception)
Llwyfen/Bedwen (Years 1 and 2)
Onnen/Masarnen (Years 3 and 4)
Masarnen (Years 4 and 5)
Afallen/Celyn (Year 5 and 6)
Finally we have been given information about the UK Space Agency’s “Space for Everyone” rocket tour landing in Wrexham, at Queens Square, 14th September – 18th September
The end of the last full week of school prior to the summer break. Before I write anything else, congratulations to Nancy in Harriers who was chosen for our Happy, Shiny award this year. Your name will join the plaque with the rest of the winners.
Just a reminder of a few events on the final three days:
Tuesday morning- Attendance and Pupil of the Term award
Tuesday 1pm- Ice cream treat for foundation phase pupils (Nursery to have equivalent in the morning session)
Tuesday 6-8pm- Year 6 leavers event on the school field
Wednesday 1pm – Ice cream treat for Ks2 pupils
School uniform
With a long break now and September a while away, just a reminder of school uniform and PE kit expectations. The following is from the school prosepectus:
P. E.
It is important for safety and comfort that pupils are dressed appropriately for P.E. as follows:
Indoor – soft plimsolls (NOT trainers), white T- shirt and black shorts.
Outdoors – trainers, white T-shirt and black shorts, tracksuit in cold weather.
The wearing of uniform is expected at all times. We believe that it should be smart, comfortable and easy to maintain. The present uniform is:
Winter
Grey/black skirt/pinafore/trousers and white or blue polo shirt, grey cardigan or sweatshirt.
Summer
Blue and white check/striped dress/grey/black trousers or shorts, white or blue logo polo shirt.
Sweatshirts, cardigans, polo shirts, fleece jackets and waterproof jackets all with the school logo, are available to purchase from School Trends (http://www.schooltrends.co.uk/primaryschooluniform). You are not obliged to purchase uniform with the school logo. You may purchase from other shops as long as the uniform complies with our colours.
Please put your child’s name on their articles of uniform, including shoes.
Jewellery and Make up
The wearing of jewellery is not encouraged and we recommend that it is removed for P.E. activities in accordance with Health and Safety Regulations. Make up should not be worn during the school day.
We are going to turn our attention to this in September. Over the past few years, with good reason, it had not been a priority. However, now that things have resettled, we wish for the pupils to return to these expectations. If pupils come into school not in the appropriate uniform a message will be sent home in the first instance. Please, do make an adult aware if there is a good reason for non-uniform.
Healthy schools
Also, a reminder for September that it is fruit and veg only for school snack. Drinks are to be water or milk only during the school day. We have a guide to healthy lunches avilable on the school website. However, All pupils will be universal free school meals from September onwards.
As we near the end of the School year we are starting to look ahead at next September. With this is mind, we hope your child enjoyed spending some time in their new class yesterday and that the information sheet they brought home about their new teacher, new class and new routine will be of some interest to you.
As you will probably know already, the class names are changing from September. They will be known as:
My Apologies for not getting this up sooner as we have much to celebrate this week.
We are however, heading into a very busy time. Sports days and unsettled weather always add difficulty and we will do what we can to get these events to go ahead.
A couple of great bits of news to share however.
Firstly, we recieved an email last week from the county welsh lead to say that the Criw Cymraeg plan that had been put forward by our pupils came second in selection from a panel. This means that the committee have won £200 for the school to use for welsh equipment and resources to help support and aid the plan but forward. I am very much looking forward to seeing what they do with this money.
My understanding is that the team have created a video that will be displayed in assembly on Friday.
Secondly, you may remember half a year a go I passed on the great news that our eco-committee had been awarded the eco committee bronze award. I am delight to say that the team, led by Mrs Howe and Mrs Harrison, have gone one step better and achieved the silver award. Please see the certificate below which sits proudly on our display.
I believe that the next step is now the much coveted Green flag. I look forward to seeing what September and beyond brings. Well done to the committee!
As always it has been lovely to welcome the pupils back to school for the final half term. The weather has been fantastic and the children have been enjoying preparing for sports day and having time on the school field.
School Jumpers
The warm weather does lead to a few issues though. With school jumpers coming on and off regularly, the likelihood of them being lost or misplaced increases. Can we kindly request that all jumpers have the pupils’ names in and that if pupils do take them off they place them in their trays, bags or lockers (A conversation I have had in assembly with them). On the topic of school uniform, at the end of every term, we collect items which have been left behind, if not collected, or the items that have no name in, we take them to the garage to be reused. Please do check here on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to see if there are any spare items to be reused or if a lost item is there.
Class Names
Just a heads up that next year we will be altering class names with the Welsh names of trees. We will send out the finalised names in the next couple of weeks so you can practice saying those names that you need to perfect. I know the staff and particularly Jo and Linda are already trying to get used to certain pronunciations.
This is something that we have been keen to do for a while as, when the school buildings joined, there wasn’t a through line, with some classes being named after birds and others having simple numbers. As we are a school proud to be in Wales we wanted to embrace this with Welsh names.
Techno Camp
We had a fantastic visit this Friday from Mr Clewitt and Bangor university. The year 5 and 6 pupils throughly enjoyed it and it is easy to see why when I took a walk into the classrooms today.
Fantastic stuff
Snakes and Magic
Our Barn Owls and Snowy Owls pupils came into a whole new world this Friday with the first of their school trip equivalent activities. The value fr money is amazin with the equivalence of four school trips happening over the next week or so.
App guides for families
This collection of guides provides parents and carers with key information about the most popular social media and gaming apps children and young people are using today.
The guides include a detailed overview of the app, outlining the age rating and key terminology. They also highlight the risks each app poses to young people and give detailed instructions on how to enable parental controls and safety settings.
This guide can also help parents and carers have a conversation with their child about a sensitive issue.
Before I write anything else, just a few summer pictures from our eco-committee of the good work they have been doing this year.
I am delighted to say that not only have they achieved the bronze award this year they have now put them selves forward for the silver award too. What a productive year they have had. Thank you to Mrs Harrison and Mrs Howe who lead them so expertly.
The Newsletter arrives a day early today as we school finishes for half term on Thursday rather than a Friday. We hope you all have a fantastic week ahead and fingers crossed the lovely weather continues.
A busy half term follows the break with sports days (see further down the newsletter- more information will be given prior to the events), leaving services and other classroom events and trips.
The classes will be covering the following topics before the summer break:
Barn Owls- Amazing Animals
Snowy Owls- Amazing Animals
Harriers- Mini beasts and habitats
Kestrels- Under the Sea (continuing)
Class 1- Viva l’Italia!
Class 2- The Great Outdoors
Class 3- Experiments
Year 5- Continuation of topic
Year 6- Transition
We are all looking followed to seeing the pupils back on Monday 5th June after the break.
We are pleased to say that we now have a Facebook Page dedicated to our Families. You can find this on Facebook under the name of Family Learning/Family Care at Gwersyllt CP. Please do let us know if you have any ideas on what you would like to see here.
We hope that you all have a good break over half term and look forward to seeing you all soon.
What a way to finish the week! The pupils look fantastic in their blue, red and white clothing and by the smiles on their faces I can tell they had a great day (please see the website for photos).
The school set up some good old fashioned garden games (in the hall) for the morning so each year group could have a go on these. The afternoon consisted of party food with further opportunities to enjoy some games. Coronation activities were completed in the classrooms. All of this plus the prizes given out yesterday in conjuntion with the classes competitions has made it a couple of days to remember.
Don’t worry if your child wasn’t victorious as every pupil should be coming home today with a bookmark and book to commemorate the day. Thank you to our wonderful PTA and Elaine Swindley for organising these pieces of memorabilia.
Lates
Just a reminder that doors shut at 8.50am on the dot for pupils to enter to their classes. I have, on occasion, tried to sneak pupils in after this time but this has led to pupils not being marked in the register and parents receiving a text of absence which understandably causes anxiety. If your class doors are closed please sign the pupils in via the front reception.
Gwersyllt CP 