Dear Parent/Carer,
Well done to Y5 pupils who have completed their three-week swimming course!
They made tremendous progress and were incredibly well-behaved whilst attending Spytty International Sports Village.
Events this week:
Monday – Y1 Hearing Screening – School Nurse team
Wednesday – Harvest Festival. Please send in tinned or packed items to share with the homeless and those in food poverty. Please send in any fresh fruit and vegetables on the day.
Class 1H – Visit To the Library
Thursday – School individual photographs. We will operate a queue system for all baby and toddler photos. Please arrive at 8.30am if you would like a photo taken with a baby or toddler. Once these photos are done, individual pupil photos will be taken.
Class 1/2D Visit To The Library
Also on Thursday, Year 1/2 classes are visiting Liverton’s Opticians on Charles Street.
Friday – Class 2S Visit To The Library
Parental Consultations
Children have brought home a pink slip about Parental Consultations on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th October. Please return your reply slip by Wednesday. We will operate a first come, first served system for choices, but please bear in mind that if you have children in several classes, then these appointments have to be arranged to fit in with every teacher.
Every child will have an appointment allocated and they will bring the appointment slip home on Friday.
If sufficient parents sign up to Schoop we will be able to run a text booking system next March.
Please download the free Schoop app if you haven’t already done so. Please sign up to your child’s class and club groups.
(Please do not sign up to staff or Governor lists. These will be removed from view shortly and are not for parents.)
School Dinners
All debts owing must be paid as soon as possible. Chartwell’s, who provide the school dinners, will charge the school otherwise and we are unable to pay these debts for you.
Several parents have had many reminders about the level of money owing. We are no longer able to provide any more meals to parents who have outstanding debts.
If you owe dinner money and have been contacted by the school and your debt still remains unpaid, you will be asked to bring a packed lunch for your child.
Any parents who think that they may be eligible for free school meals are welcome to get an application form from the office.
Clothes for a Cause
The Clothes for a Cause Collection will take place on Tuesday 16th October. Bags are being sent home today. Please bring clothes bags in and leave them at the back of the Infant yard. They will not accept school uniform but will accept all other clothing, belts, shoes, etc. If you need additional collection bags, these are available from the office. This collection is very helpful for us because we will receive payment at the rate of 50p per kilo for school funds.
Our Financial Situation
Some of you may have seen a recent article in The South Wales Argus about our current financial situation and I thought that it might be helpful for you to know more about this.
The school has grown over many years from just five classes to its current situation of eleven classes and a large Nursery. With the exception of just one year about fourteen years ago when the school received some additional revenue from Newport City Council, we have funded our own growth. This means that the school and Governors have managed the budget really carefully to ensure that there has been sufficient money to pay for the cost of additional teachers, furniture and room refurbishment and also prevent any redundancies.
This year, with the full support of the Governing Body, we appointed an additional teacher in order to create an additional class and reduce the very large class sizes in Key Stage Two. The Governors have always sought to protect essential posts from redundancy and to put the needs of the children first and we are lucky that they are so forward thinking in this. The school is at full capacity now and this means that we can plan confidently for the future. We have a clear and very well-managed budget plan for the next three years to restore our financial situation to a very solid base.
We are always as creative as we can be about experiences for our children and take every opportunity we can that will benefit them. However, we intend to have a very intense fund-raising drive as well because there is always the challenge for us to buy as much equipment for the children as we can.
If you think that you would be willing to help us with any aspect of fund-raising through helping with events or helping with grant applications, please look out for the table in the middle hall on Parental Consultations. Thank you though, as ever, for your continued support for the school.
Miss Bishop
Miss Bishop is currently away from school and she has asked me to share with parents and pupils the reason why. Unfortunately, she has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. The prognosis is very good but this means that she will be absent for a while to receive the necessary treatment. She also asked me to apologize to you for any inconvenience that this has caused to the class.
However, I am sure that you join with all of us in the St Woolos family, in sending her our warmest thoughts, prayers and best wishes for the speediest of recoveries.
Yours sincerely,
H Vaughan
Headteacher
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PHOTOGRAPHS
Name of child: Class
I would like my child to have my child’s photo taken with …………………………………………(Brother /Sister)(All children will also have their photo taken on their on.)
Signed:……………………………………………………………. (Parent/Guardian) Date: ……………