Dear All,
Last week was such a lovely week!
Welcome to our remaining Nursery pupils who are returning today!
Roald Dahl Week
The week is Roald Dahl Week and on Thursday we will be marking Roald Dahl Day by holding a draw based on a challenge to draw a design of either a favourite Roald Dahl character or to create a new one. A prize winner from each class will win a Roald Dahl book.
Roald Dahl texts this week are:
Reception – The Enormous Crocodile
All Y1/2 classes – The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me
Class 3P – The Twits
Class 3/4B and 4J – Fantastic Mr Fox
Class 5M, 5/6M and Class 6 – The BFG
(Children will not need to be dress up. We will wait until World Book Day for costumes.)
Contact Details Card
Each child took home a pink Contact Details card to be updated. (If your child was away, there will be a spare copy in the classroom.)
Please return these by Friday morning at the latest so that they can go into one of three draws in Nursery, Foundation Phase and Key Stage Two, for a £5.00 gift card. These cards are really important because they provide us with up to date details.
Communication
To save wasting paper, we will only send home a newsletter to the eldest sibling in the family except when there are forms where individual responses are needed. Once more parents are registered with ‘Schoop’ we will be able to send out more messages that way.
The code number is 3690 and the app is free and suitable for Apple and Android phones. (Just to reassure you, we see all applicant names and have to verify them.)
Class Topic Letters accompany this newsletter.
Spare copies of all of these will always be available at the office if you ever need any.
The Diary Dates sheet will come out later in the week once we have had confirmation of all of our events.
Reception parents are invited in for a sharing session about the Enormous Crocodile on Thursday afternoon, at 2.45pm, and they will be having a separate letter about this.
Clubs
All school run clubs will commence in the week beginning Monday 17th September.
We are lucky that staff are prepared to run clubs voluntarily and so, rather than limit opportunities, we will rotate clubs where necessary on a half termly or termly basis. We are running slightly fewer clubs this year because during the coming year, teachers will be required to attend more after school meetings, either here, or at other schools, and there is less time available for them to run a club.
However, we will ensure that we will provide as many after-school experiences from other organisations, like NewportLive, as we possibly can.
Minecraft will continue to run an after-school club on a Monday. This club is a paying club and they will be sending a separate letter home about this.
Classes and Staffing 2018-19
|
CLASS |
TEACHER |
SUPPORT STAFF |
|
NURSERY |
Mrs Davies/ Mrs Agland |
Mrs Ramzan, Mrs Sobey |
|
RS |
Miss Spray |
Miss Collins |
|
RDJ |
Miss Driscoll/Mrs K Jones |
Mrs Bashir |
|
Class 1H |
Mrs Hayes |
Mrs Abbas |
|
Class 1/2D |
Mrs Dickenson |
Miss C Jones |
|
Class 2S |
Miss Spearey (Mrs K Jones/Miss Pretty-Maternity cover) |
Miss Winfield |
|
Class 3P |
Mrs Parry |
Mrs Dorman |
|
Class 3/4B |
Miss Bishop |
Mrs Luckett |
|
Class 4J |
Mrs Jones |
|
|
Class 5M |
Mrs Morton |
|
|
Class 5/6M |
Miss Murphy |
|
|
Class 6P |
Miss Watkins |
Mrs Fowler |
|
Planning, Preparation and Assessment cover (PPA) |
Mrs Couch Mrs K Jones Miss Pretty Mrs Barton |
Mrs Jarrett |
|
Intervention programmes |
Mrs Couch |
Mrs Luckett Mrs Fowler Mrs Graham Mrs Parkinson Mrs Jarrett |
(Apologies to Miss Murphy who has a B.Sc., rather than a B.A., which I mistakenly wrote last week.)
Attendance
Thank you for ensuring that your child is on time first thing in the morning. Fewer children have been late.
Mrs Couch manages attendance and she will be sending some general information to you later in the week.
Money
Please send trip money in with your child so that they can give it to their class teacher. This helps us and also gives your child some responsibility. It also means that teachers can tick them off their trip lists etc.
Please do not come into the office unless it is absolutely essential. Morning door staff are very happy to pass on any messages that your child is unable to.
Uniform
We are really proud of our pupils and we want to set a high standard so that they can be proud of themselves in their uniform both inside the school and outside.
They’ve made a great start!
(Please label all items, including PE dappers and lunchboxes.)
Please remember that no jewellery is permitted except a watch, neat stud earrings or one ring. No fashion bracelets are permitted.
School Meals
If you receive Income Support or Child Tax Credit, you may be entitled to Free School Meals, and we have application forms in schools. If your application is successful, you do not need to take the meals up unless you want to. However, by registering, you will help the school to obtain some extra funding so it is a useful thing to do regardless of whether you take up the meals. Free School Meal forms are available from www.newport.gov.uk or from the Information Station.
There are a number of outstanding ParentPay debts. These must be paid by the end of the week please.
Chartwell’s are increasing the cost of school meals to £2.15 in October.
Funding
Like many schools, we are struggling financially and this coming year is particularly challenging for us. Amongst other fund-raising activities, we intend to work on a small project to contact local businesses for sponsorship for various items of equipment.
If you, or any family members, are able to recommend anyone to approach though a connection you may have, I would be very grateful to hear from you.
We have stopped the Bonus Ball competition because we had so few people now taking part.
In a few weeks’ time, I will hold a meeting of The Friends of St Woolos for any parents interested in organising or helping with fund-raising events.
Curriculum
There is a programme of curriculum reform currently taking place across Wales and schools are working towards the implementation of the Successful Futures Plan produced by Professor Graham Donaldson for the Welsh Government. We have already begun to adapt our approaches and our curriculum ready for when the changes come in and this will continue throughout the year. As Deputy Head, Mrs Couch is our Curriculum Manager and she is leading this process across the school from Nursery to Year Six.
First thing in the Morning and Hometime
Thank you for your cooperation while we change some of our routines to make everything more manageable for the children and you.
In the morning, from 8.40am, two members of staff will be outside to take any messages from you. If you are a Foundation Phase parent, you are expected to stay with your child on the Infant yard until the side door opens and not expect older siblings to look after them.
Junior parents may leave their child on the top yard. If you want to wait, you will need to do so by the front railings (either inside or out) so that the side area can be kept clear. You are welcome to leave your child and go at 8.40am if they are a Junior.
When the school opens, Junior children will now go in through the front door, just as they do at breaktime. This door will also open at 8.40am.
At home time, the Year 1/2 doors by the mural and at the front, will be opened from 3.25pm, allowing you to pick up your child a little earlier if you want to. If you are a Y1/2 parent, you do not all have to come at this time though. By having a ‘collecting window’, this will help to stagger the collection time and ease congestion around the school at the end of the day.
Finally….
We are all thrilled that we have opened a new class and the school is now at full capacity for classes and will not grow any more. This is ideal for us because we feel that the school is at its optimum size which enables us to still know all of our pupils.
The school has been on such a journey and this is continuing. We will shortly have use of the Boxing Club which relocated to St Mary’s Baptist Church, because the school has grown and needed the space. Newport Sporting Club were very good neighbours of the school while they were on our site and I’d like to wish them the very best of luck in their new location.
During the next few months, refurbishment work will take place on the Boxing Club building (which we do not have to pay for) which will enable us to use the building for variety of purposes for both pupils and parents.
Another piece of excellent news is that Newport City Council successfully applied for the school to become part of the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools’ Funding Scheme. This means that the building and grounds will be extensively renovated to bring them up to the standard of new schools. An architect has already visited several times and has begun to draft plans for the project. Our school, together with Caerleon Comprehensive School, will be the biggest projects under this scheme taking place in Newport during this next round of work,
This is a very exciting year for us all!
Yours faithfully,
H Vaughan
Headteacher