Dear Parent/Carer,
I hope that you had a lovely half term!
Huge thanks to Jenny Chen in Year 5 who gave a presentation about Chinese New Year last Friday! Well done and thank you also to past pupil Bradley Cox who is currently in Y12 at The John Frost School and who spoke to Year 6 pupils. He talked about life in high school and the subjects he is currently studying. It was lovely to welcome him back for such a polished presentation and to hear how he is doing.
This morning Salman Akalay and Khadija Manjang won the half term Early Bird draw. They both receive a £5.00 gift card .
Today, Year 2 pupils visited Newport Wetlands as part of their topic work and tomorrow Year 1 pupils are having the same visit.
Our assembly on Wednesday will be taken by Canon Mark from Newport (St Woolos) Cathedral.
Also on Wednesday, the Foundation Phase classes are holding their annual Daffodil Day in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The items will be on sale in the Nursery, once you have collected your child.
Daffodil badges in aid of Marie Curie are also on sale at the office for a minimum donation of 50p.
We are celebrating St David’s Day on Thursday with our usual Eisteddfod. Children can wear national costume, their house colours or uniforms of organisations they belong to such as Brownies or Tae Kwon Do. House colours are:
Ebbw – Green
Severn – Blue
Usk – Yellow
Wye – Red
We are marking World Book Day on Friday with book-related activities. Children may bring in their favourite book or dress up as a favourite character if they would like to.
(A letter was sent home about these three activity days before half term so if your child was away, please ask for a copy.)
On Friday afternoon, the Eco Team representatives from Year 5 and 6 will attend the annual Women’s World Day of Prayer at St Paul’s new church in town (the old Post Office).
Attendance
We are extremely concerned by the growing number of children who have been arriving late at the main school door, after the start time of 8.50am. Last week, forty eight children arrived at school late and this total is far too high. During our last Estyn inspection, punctuality was identified as an area to be improved and whilst there was an improvement, this is now getting worse again and has to improve. There is no choice with this.
If your child arrives approximately ten minutes late every day or a week, that means that they have lost fifty minutes’ worth of education over the course of the week. If this is added up over just one half term of six weeks, it amounts to five hours (300 minutes) which is nearly a day’s worth of education lost in one half term alone. This is a greater amount when half terms are longer.
I know that the vast majority of you do everything that you can to enable your child to be in school on time but it is vitally important for those parents whose children who are frequently late, that there is an improvement as soon as possible.
Thank you for your co-operation with this.
Parents’ Evening
A reminder that our Parental Consulations take place on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th March. Appointment slips will be sent out on Wednesday. I hope that everyone will be able to attend these important consultations.
Because this is the final consultation for Year 6 pupils, they will be able to stay with you and go in for the meeting. If you do need to bring a child with you, they will need to go to the Nursery where a DVD will be running.
Lip Balm
Children are only permitted to bring lip balm to school if parents have written a note or contacted the office. Any lip balm must be labelled, or in bag with the child’s name on, and given to the class teacher. This is to ensure that they are not shared around to other children. If you would like a copy of our Administration Of Medicine Policy, please ask at the office.
Next Monday
The Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon in aid of St David’s Foundation, which provides hospice care in Newport, is taking place on Sunday 4th March.
This is advance notice that the Foundation Phase pupils will be doing their own mini Pink ‘Run for Fun’ in school on Monday 5th March and will be supporting the same charity. Please look out for the special note coming home about this.
Bonus Ball
There is a roll over this week.
Yours sincerely,
H L Vaughan
Headteacher