Year 6 Ambassadors
Congratulations to all nine of our Year 6 Prefects who stood for election this morning. They did a fantastic job of their presentations during assembly. However, the children had to choose two. Congratulations to Miya and Caeson! In reserve, should we need to call on them, are Oliver and Sienna. We are very proud of them all.
Harvest Festival 19/10/23
Pastor Dave, our Chair of Governors, will be leading our Harvest Festival this year. We will be collecting items for the HCT Food Bank.
Parent Governor Elections
Your child will bring home a letter from our Chair of Governors today with a nomination form on the back. This information was emailed out earlier today with an EAS document providing more information for Prospective Governors (this can also be found on our website). We have 3 vacancies to fill. If we receive more than 3 nominations we will hold a ballot next week so that the posts can be filled before our next Governing Body meeting on 4/10/23. Parent Governors whose terms have come to an end are welcome to stand for a second term of office.
River Church Donation
We are extremely greatful to Pastor Dave and River Church (http://riverchurch.wales/) for their kind donation of £500 to school fund. School Fund is used to subsidise school trips, pay for parties, gifts, treats etc for the children. I'm sure parents will join me in sending a huge thanks to his church for their support.
Individual / Sibling Photographs
The photographer will be visiting on October 5th. The school will be open from 8:30am for photographs that include siblings too young to start school. Please note that pupils from Islwyn High should not attend this session as they are required to be in school. Siblings who are in Pontllanfraith will be photographed together during the school day.
Diary Dates for this term
As well as notifying parents in our school newsletter, dates for parents are now shared on the school website's calendar. https://www.pontllanfraithprimary.co.uk/calendar The calendar also shows whether clubs are running each week. Please remember we try to cover clubs rather than cancel them and so cancellation at short notice is very rare. If we do need to cancel we will let you know. Please do not routinely ring the office to check of clubs are running.
Clubs run by staff
The application form is now closed. Parents should have been notified by today if their child has a place in the clubs that you applied for. We apologise for any disappointment if some clubs are over subscribed. Clubs start next week, Monday 18/9/23.
Cardiff City After School Club
Parents of Y5/6 are able to apply for a place for children keen to attend an after school football club on a Tuesday. Places are limited to 20 children. Should we have more than 20 children we will run for Year 6 this half term and Year 5 next half term. Click here to apply. This form will close on Monday at 10:30am and you will be notified if your child has a place that afternoon. The club will start on Tuesday 19/9/23.
PTFA
You should have received the PTFA Newsletter earlier this week. If not please click here. Children will be bringing home templates for the competition this afternoon. Entry donation £1.
Communication between home & school
Please ensure that we have an update to date phone number and email address for you at all times.
Our telephone number is 01495 222128 & our email is PontllanfraithPrimary@sch.caerphilly.gov.uk
Please make sure you have made a note of this as emails to our old address are no longer being diverted.
Our website is www.pontllanfraithprimary.co.uk and our Twitter feed is @PontPrimary.
Individual teachers' emails and Twitter feeds can be found on the school website.
A guide to how we communicate and use Twitter, Google Classroom and See Saw can be found on our school website here. We will be launching See Saw for Nursery - Y2 very soon - staff are currently trialling its use. Please note we will not be using See Saw for messaging.
Attendance
Evidence shows that children whose attendance is above 95% are most likely to do well in school. To achieve 95% over the course of the year children need to miss no more than 2 weeks of school. This is extremely difficult if they take term time holidays. Please think carefully for booking. If you do, please also think about the timing of that holiday and what they may be missing. We cannot authorise more than 10 school days in any academic year and holidays are only authorised if your child's 12 month rolling attendance is above 95%. This is calculated just before the holiday to ensure accuracy therefore if you put the holiday request form in in advance we will not respond at that time and will hold the form on file until you are due to go.
An analysis of our data shows that whilst most children who go on holiday in Pontllanfraith have otherwise good attendance, there are a growing number of families whose attendance is not good, taking their children out of school in term time. These children are less likely to make good progress.
Welsh Government class children with attendance below 80% as persistent absentees. We had a significant number of children with attendance this low last year. Some as low as 50%. Therefore the Governing Body have decided that we should monitor attendance very closely and consider Fixed Penalty Notices if necessary.