Dear Parent/Carer,

Thank you for supporting our casual day to raise money towards the cost of Chromebooks. We raised £233.70 which means that we can buy one Chromebook.

What amazing castles children have brought in today! We have been overwhelmed by the response! Thank you very much for supporting your child with these. They are on display in the top hall so please take the time to have look during Parental Consultations if you are able to.

Mrs Hayes commenced her maternity leave and for the next two weeks, her class will be covered by Miss Lewis.  After that, Miss Lucas will be taking her class. Both members of staff have previously worked in the school on supply.

Our Eisteddfod takes place tomorrow morning and all children will be participating in this, either by singing or by saying a poem. Children may wear Welsh or home national costume, team kits or uniforms from organisations such as Brownies.

Alternatively, children can wear school uniform but with a t-shirt or top in their house colours which are:

Ebbw – Green

Severn – Blue

Usk – Yellow

Wye – Red

Parental Consultations take place on Tuesday 5th March and Wednesday 6th March. For children in Mrs Hayes’ class, Mrs Jarrett will be available for you to look at the children’s work and then, later in the term, we will hold a separate session for you to meet with Miss Lucas.

A children’s DVD will be running in the nursery if you do not have any babysitters. All children who are brought back to school, apart from Year 6, who will go in with their parents, will be expected to go to the nursery for the DVD.

There will be no school clubs on Tuesday or Wednesday because all teachers will be meeting parents. The only exception is the Newport County Football Club, which is not run by the school.

Miss Spray’s Games Club will also not take place on Thursday because she is on a course.

On Thursday it is World Book Day. Children do not need to have a special costume though and it is fine if they wear an item such as a badge about their favourite character or bring their favourite book. (A separate note was sent out just before half term.)

Also on Thursday, Mrs Couch is running two sessions called Reading with Your Child. There is a Foundation Phase one from 9.00-10.00am and a Junior one from 2.15-3.15pm. in each session, parents will have the chance to do an activity with their child.

On Friday, Class 4J are visiting Newport Library to meet children’s author and illustrator, Shoo Rayner. It is also  International Women’s Day and Class 5M are visiting the Riverfront Theatre for an event.

Attendance

Congratulations to Candice Lin and Theodoric Voda who won the Half Termly Early Bird Draw! They will each receive a £.5.00 giftcard. Well done also to Class 1/2D   who had the highest attendance last month with a total of 94.9 %

National Tests

The National Tests in Literacy and Numeracy will take place from Tuesday 7th May until Tuesday 14th May.

You will be able to see samples of test papers at Parental Consultations and Mrs Couch will be available to answer any of your questions on them in the main hall.

Please note that no holiday will be authorized for the month of April leading up to these tests.

Hometime

Please collect your child from school on time. Some parents are taking advantage of staff goodwill by continually collecting children late.

Please park safely also, and do not block either the school car park or the drive of neighbour to the school. Several support staff work a shorter contract and leave earlier than other staff and, on occasions they have themselves been unable to collect their child from school because the exit from the car park has been blocked by a parent.

Future Dates

Our final INSET day of the year will be on Thursday 4th April, when the school will be used a polling station for the bi-election in Newport West.

The Friends of St Woolos Meetings will take place on Wednesday 13th March at 2.45pm and 5.30pm.

Anyone interested in helping with fund-raising in any way, is very welcome to attend. We are hoping to change the way we approach fund-raising and really would like your ideas about this. You are welcome to attend either meeting.

The World of Work in Wales Fortnight takes place from Monday 18th March until Friday 29th March. If you, or any family members or friends, would be willing to come in to a class and talk a little about your job and perhaps about your school days also, please contact the school. We are very keen to help children find out more about the world of work and this is a development leading on from our very successful Aspirations Project. We already have some local entrepreneurs who are willing to come in to join us but would love it if we had any adults connected with school who could join us.

Yours sincerely,

H Vaughan

Headteacher