Have a fantastic half term all! What an incredibly busy half term it's been!
Platinum Green Flag
Firstly, a huge congratulations and many thanks to Miss Ferguson and our Eco Committee for all their hard work in preparing for our Platinum Green Flag assessment last week. Our assessor said:
"Many thanks for the time given by you, the staff and pupils during the recent visit. I was really pleased by the pupil and staff’s long-term and continued enthusiasm for the programme, and the recent excellent work carried out throughout the school.
"I am excited to hear about your next steps when the Eco-Committee look at their environmental review for this year. It was great to meet them and to see their enthusiasm for helping the environment."
Harvest Festival
A huge thank you to our Chair of Governors, Pastor Dave from River Church, for leading our Harvest Festival and to Mrs Reeve for organising our Harvest Loaf and Harvest Table. Thank to you all for your kind donations which have been given to the HCT Food Bank, and also for HCT for talking to Dosbarth Oren about their work in the community as part of their topic this term.
PTA Disco
Thank you to our amazing PTA for putting on our disco tonight. The children had an amazing time! Check out Twitter later!
Dosbarth Melyn
Dosbarth Melyn's parents' evenings will now be held the Wednesday and Thursday of the first week back - a new booking form will be sent out tomorrow. Please make sure you book again. Miss Rooke and Miss Ferguson will both be there so that we can give you all information about progress this half term.
Both teachers will continue to teach the class but from Monday 6th November the majority of their time will be spent with Miss Ferguson. Miss Rooke will teach the class on Fridays and will visit them for weekly digital learning lessons.
Clubs - important
Clubs will resume on Monday 6th November, however there will be no Digital Leaders / ICT or Gymnastics that week as Miss Rooke & Miss Ferguson will now have parents' evenings to complete that week.
Please visit the website calendar to check whether clubs are running: https://www.pontllanfraithprimary.co.uk/calendar
Changes to PE
Miss Rooke and Miss Ferguson will be switching roles and Miss Rooke will be teaching Digital Learning across the school. This means that there will be some changes to our plans for PE. Further information will follow from class teachers after half term. Miss Rooke will be delivering digital learning whilst teachers have PPA. Music lessons with On the Beat will continue. There are no changes to arrangements for sessions with Gateway Rugby (Dosbarth Porffor, Mondays) or Cardiff City (Dosbath Melyn, Gwyrdd, Glas & Porffor).
Uniform Policy - jewellery
Children are not allowed to wear jewellery to school, with the exception of small stud earrings, or watches (not Smart Watches). Please do not allow your child to wear jewellery, as it can be dangerous. If a child does come to school wearing jewellery, they will be asked to remove it.
For safety reasons, watches and earrings are not allowed during PE and games lessons and must be removed before the lesson.
We understand that some children may have newly pierced ears, however they cannot take part in PE whilst wearing earrings. We cannot accept taping of ears in the interim.
Please note that the school and the Local Authority do not advise the wearing of jewellery, and cannot accept responsibility for its loss or damage, nor for any injury which the jewellery may cause. We advise that any children wishing for their ears to be pierced do so in the six week Summer Holiday.
Attendance
We will be sending out our Callio Attendance Letters after half term. These go out to all families regardless of reasons for absence. No offence is intended. Callio is a procedure common to school across the region, not just Pontllanfraith or CCBC. Schools are charged with the task of raising attendance so that most children have attendance above 95% and therefore the best possible chance of success in school.
Of particular concern at the moment is the percentage of children whose attendance is below 85% (red). A reminder that our Governing Body have decided that we will consider Fixed Penalty Notices. I have contacted a small number of parents to meet with me this term to discuss the reasons for their child's frequent absence. If you do receive a request to meet please do attend: if I am unable to meet with you, then I have no option but to refer to the Education Welfare Service.
Parent Volunteers - we need your help!
This is an appeal for more volunteers! A huge thank you to those who have helped us with our trips this half term. They couldn't go ahead without you! We very nearly had to cancel the trip for Dosbarth Glas & Porffor this week as we did not have enough adults. I engaged a supply teacher to support at a cost to the school to enable the trip to go ahead. However, this cannot be a long term solution. If you are willing to join our list of volunteers, please contact the school office PontllanfraithPrimary@sch.caerphilly.gov.uk - all volunteers will need an enhanced DBS check but we will arrange this.