Individual / Sibling Photographs - Thursday 2nd October
The photographer will be visiting next week. 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 (we will make sure that children attending the Cross Country event are photographed before their lunch.
Harvest Festival 15/10/25
Care: We will be collecting items for the Food Bank at our Harvest Festival.
They would appreciate tins, jars and packet food as donations please e.g. rice pudding, tinned fruit, corned beef, tinned curries, hotdogs, teabags, sugar, pasta, pasta sauce, tuna, soups, microwave rice, rice, tinned tomatoes, jams, marmalade, meat balls in gravy, cereal, squash, biscuits, tinned veg, sugar etc.
PTFA Disco 15/10/25
Please note, nursery children should be accompanied by an adult, all children must be collected by someone over the age of 16 and children should not bring phones to the disco. If your child has not been in school on the day because they have been unwell, they should not come to the disco. Parents of children with ALN are welcome to stay if their child needs support.
Book your child's place by completing the form linked here.
Rocksteady
Our 5 Rocksteady Bands are already rehearsing for their end of term concert and the children appear to be thoroughly enjoying their lessons.
Achieve: We still have a couple of places left for our weekly music sessions. All bursary places for this term have been filled but there are still a limited number of spots available for parents who are happy to pay for lessons: one guitar player and one bass player (years 4-6). All bands already have a singer but there are also spots for an additional singer within each band. To book a spot you will need to contact rocksteady directly but if you were to sign up tonight your child will be able to join in as soon as tomorrow. To sign up visit rocksteadymusicschool.com or call 0330 113 0330 (Mon-Thurs 8am-8pm, Fri 8am-6pm, local rate) or email info@rocksteadymusicschool.com
Parents Evening
Parents evenings have been moved to accommodate our children taking part in a cluster football event. They will now be held on 11th & 12th of November and the link for electronic booking will be sent out the week before half term.
Clubs & Diary Dates for this term
Clubs start next week. As well as notifying parents in our school newsletter, dates for parents are 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.
Parent Forum
Thank you to those who attended our meeting yesterday.
This week we discussed the Islwyn Cluster Poverty Proofing work, our upcoming numeracy open days (in November - more to follow in a few weeks), equalities and the LA's approach to recording of discriminatory incidents, safeguarding procedures and the recent social media questionnaire.
We'd really like some more parents to join us! If you are interested, or have a suggestion for our agenda, please contact Mrs Tucker.
Poverty Proofing - Care
Islwyn Cluster Schools are committed to reducing the impact of poverty on children. We are taking part in a nationwide initiative run by Children North East and supported by Welsh Government. This work begins with an audit. Islwyn High School was audited last term and we will be audited later this term. The audit begins with a survey for parents which will be active until Friday 3rd October. We'd really appreciate as many responses as possible and so will send out reminders over the next week. Mrs Tucker has trained as a lead researcher for the initiative and a letter from her on behalf of the charity explaining more has been emailed out today. Paper copies will be sent out tomorrow.
HCT Christmas Toy Scheme - Care
HCT have launched their Christmas Toy Scheme for 2025. If any families are needing support HCT can be contacted by Facebook messenger https://www.facebook.com/share/166WpxAoMa/. All information is confidential and shared with Kari-Ann Tunkin & Hayley Thomas only.
Spotlight on Procedures
Social Media Strategy
Thank you to everyone who completed our recent questionnaire—58 responses is a fantastic turnout!
You may have noticed that our Instagram account has been temporarily deactivated. This is while we seek further advice following updated e-safety guidance. We're also exploring alternative platforms such as Class Dojo and SeeSaw to continue celebrating our pupils' achievements in a safe and accessible way.
We hope to share a draft of our updated Social Media Strategy with Governors on 8th October. In the meantime, and at the request of the Parent Forum, Celebration Assembly photographs will be shared via Google Classroom.
If you would like to update your photo permissions, please ensure you return the form linked here. This is especially important if you prefer your child not to be included in any social media content. While our account is currently inactive, it may be reactivated following advice from the Local Authority. There may also be occasions where children are featured on external social media platforms—for example, Sport Caerphilly have asked us to confirm which children should not be photographed at next week’s Cross Country event.
We understand that views on social media vary. Our account has always been used to celebrate school life, connect with our community, and share ideas with other schools. It has never been used for direct communication with parents—details of how we communicate with families are available on our website here.
Thank you for your continued support as we work through this process.
Uniform Donations & Requests - Care
If you have any outgrown school uniform in good condition, we’d be very grateful for donations. These help us maintain a small supply in school for those unexpected moments—whether it’s a muddy fall or a toileting accident—and also allow us to support families who may need a little extra help.
If you’d ever like to request uniform items, please don’t hesitate to contact the school office. We’ll always do our best to put together whatever we have available.
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 and analysis is now taking place of those with attendance below 90%. Whilst our attendance is recovering post pandemic, we still had a significant number of children with attendance was very low last year. Our first round of Callio emails will be sent out before half term alerting parents of children whose attendance is below 95%. The Governing Body continue to monitor attendance very closely and have requested that we issue Fixed Penalty Notices if necessary. A small number of parents were issued with warning notices last academic year.
To read more about our attendance procedures please visit our website linked here.
Safeguarding
Are you aware of Operation Encompass & our Safeguarding Procedures? To find out more please see our website linked here.