Croeso nol! Welcome back! And a huge welcome to all our new starters! We had a lovely first day back with the children yesterday and are very much looking forward to the coming year.
Dates
We will be holding a meet the teacher session for parents of children Reception - Year 6, after school on Tuesday 19.9.23 until 4:15pm. Please note this is a general session and if you require a personal conversation this needs to be arranged separately.
Parents' evenings will be held on Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th October - parents will be invited to book times week beginning 25th September.
CCBC term dates can be found here. We have informed the LA but the page hasn't yet updated to reflect that we have one more planned INSET day this term: Friday 27.10.23.
Intervention Support & ALN Provision
Teachers are currently working with Mrs Tucker as ALNCo to identify children for intervention support this term and to organise ALN additional support for those who have allocated additional support hours by the LA. We have also have a number of new starters to consider. Class teachers will be in touch by the end of next week to confirm provision.
Getting to know your child
Keep an eye on your email next week: teachers will be emailing you a form to complete that will help them get to know your child. It's really helpful for us to know about their interests outside of school and things that are important to them.
Clubs
A list of clubs that are on offer on Mondays and Wednesdays this term, which age groups are eligible, when they will be held and information about how to apply for a place, will be sent out before the end of the week. Clubs will start week beginning 18.9.23. Please note that we cannot take an unlimited number of children. If clubs are over subscribed we may need to operate a waiting list.
A football club for Years 5 & 6 will be run by Cardiff City on Tuesdays - information will follow next week.
PTA
Are you interested in joining in with our PTA this year? All parents are automatically members and are encouraged to get involved in whatever capacity you are able to offer. Whilst the committee meet regularly throughout the year, we also need a wider group of volunteers to help at events. If you'd like to get involved or find out more, come along to our AGM this Sunday at 5pm to elect the committee and discuss future events.
School Dinners
All primary school children in Wales are now entitled to a free school meal. Please don't forget to complete the order form though so that we know which option from the menu your child prefers. The order form and menu are sent out each Thursday. We are anticipating that we may have an increased demand on the kitchen and canteen over the next few weeks - please bear with us if there are any teething troubles!
Snacks
All children Nursery - Year 2 are offered free milk every day. We also offer a good selection of fruit plus other healthy food options from time to time. Although the milk is free, we ask for a donation towards the cost of snacks (£1.50 a week or you can pay half termly - £12 for this half term). School fund is used to subsidise this so that we can offer snacks to all children.
Years 3 - 6 can purchase fruit for £1.50 a week. We are unable to provide milk for sale.
Children are encouraged to bring a water bottle with a sports top to school so that they can drink throughout the day. This should only contain water and should not be in an energy drink bottle (Lucozade, Prime etc). We do not advise children bring expensive water bottles to school - if they do it is as their own risk.
Important - arrangements for the end of the day
A reminder that all children from Nursery to Year 2 need to be collected by someone over 16. Please let the school office know if someone different is collecting them. We ask that this is done in advance or by telephone if it is short notice. Parents of children from Year 3 up may choose to meet their children somewhere other than the door. For example, this may begin by asking them to meet you somewhere else on site if you are collecting younger siblings and then may progress to meeting them somewhere else or eventually walking home as they get older. You will know your own child and what is appropriate for them at what stage. We ask that you let your child's class teacher know (by email) what arrangements you have in place and remind your child that if something goes wrong, and they cannot find you, they should return to the school office so that they are safe. Teachers' emails are available on our class pages on our school website. Please DO NOT take another child home without that parent’s knowledge.
Other News
Over the summer we've had a new outdoor shelter built outside Nursery and Dosbarth Coch to enable the children to have greater access to the outdoors throughout the year.
Well done to everyone who took part in the Blackwood Library Summer Reading Challenge - it's been wonderful to see their tweets congratulating our children. Don't forget to tag us on Twitter @PontPrimary if you have something to celebrate. We're also happy to advertise out of school activities for the children and will retweet clubs and sports organisations. Please note we don't use Twitter to engage in conversation and accounts are not constantly monitored - please use email if you wish to get in touch.
This year we will be working with On the Beat to develop our delivery of music across the school. Children from Reception to Year 6 will receive a weekly music lesson. Dosbarth Glas and Dosbarth Porffor had their first sessions today. This term we'll also be working with Gateway Rugby on a Monday (Dosbarth Porffor) and Cardiff City on a Tuesday (Dosbarth Melyn, Gwyrdd, Glas & Porffor). They start next week. Miss Ferguson will also be delivering PE to Dosbarth Glas on a Wednesday and Dosbarth Coch, Oren, Melyn and Gwyrdd on a Thursday. Please ensure your children are dressed for PE: a reminder that our uniform policy can be found here.
A new school website is being developed and we hope to have that up and running by the end of this half term. The current website has had only minor updates this summer as a result.
Important - change of email address
Finally, please make a note that the school email address is PontllanfraithPrimary@sch.caerphilly.gov.uk - it changed last year but we have had a divert system running for a year that has now ended. Emails to the old plfja address will no longer arrive.