Dear Parent/Carer,
Thank you very much for your understanding during the recent snow situation.
I know that some parents are hospital staff who have been working in difficult situations over the past few days and I’m sure I speak for all of our school community when I say thank you to them.
As always, we look at a number of factors when making the decision to close and we receive advice from Newport City Council. All school decisions to close are always made in consultation with the Chair of Governors. It might be helpful for you to know that an enforced school closure does not affect a pupil’s attendance percentage. Also, should a child be unable to get to school because of severe snow conditions, even if school is open, their attendance percentage is not affected. This is because the Welsh Government provide a special code to be used on attendance records in special weather circumstances.
Daffodil Day
Thank you for your great support for our Foundation Phase Daffodil Day last Wednesday! Well done to Foundation Phase classes also for working so hard beforehand to make the items to sell! They raised £ 131.45 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Foundation Phase ‘Run for Fun’
The Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon in in aid of St David’s Foundation on Sunday , was postponed and the Foundation Phase ‘Run for Fun’ has been postponed for today.
I’ll let you know when we have a new date for this.
Eisteddfod
We are holding our St David’s Day Eisteddfod on Tuesday. 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
Parental Consultations
Our Parental Consulations take place on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th March.
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 supervised DVD will be running.
All parents or carers are expected to attend these Consultations so I hope that this helps as many of you as possible will be able to attend. They are a great opportunity to hear lots of good news about your child’s work.
Nursery Mother’s Day Concerts
On Wednesday Nursery will be holding their Mother’s Day Concerts at 10.30am and 1.30pm.
Netball Tournament
On Wednesday children are taking part in a Netball tournament at The Newport Centre.
The Reception Classes will be visiting Newport Wetlands for their trip on Wednesday.
Class Assembly and World Book Day
On Friday, Class 2MS are doing their Class Assembly which will start at 9.15am. Jayne Bryant AM, our Welsh Assembly member, will also be joining us for this assembly. All family members are welcome to attend this.
We are marking World Book Day on Friday with book-related activities. Children may bring in their favourite book (with a name inside) or dress up as a favourite character if they would like to.
Mother’s Day Sale
At breaktime this week the Friends of St Woolos will be selling items for Mother’s Day. If you would like your child to buy an item, please send them in with some money. Items will be priced from 50p to £2.00
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.
Communication and Website
We are in the process of looking at the ways we communicate with you as a school and we are also reviewing our school website. It would be helpful to get your thoughts on these. A questionnaire will be coming out to you about this at Parental Consultations this week which it would be helpful if you could complete either on the evening or later.
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.
Bonus Ball
There is a roll over this week.
Yours sincerely,
H L Vaughan
Headteacher