PTFA Uniform Sale Tuesday 18th February
Please note, our uniform policy does not include dresses, skirts & pinafores: please see here for more information about policy, covering this point, the wearing of jewellery, and bringing of bags, water bottles & mobile phones to school. Please note that all earrings need to be removed for PE.
High Standards - Strong Progress
We are delighted with our latest round of reading & numeracy assessments. You would expect, based on population average, around 15% pupils to achieve the highest scores but, from Year 2 to Year 6, we have 27% achieving this in reading and 23% in numeracy. We look forward to sharing individual progress with you at parents' evenings during the next half term.
Session Times
A huge thank you to everyone who completed the survey and to the Parent Forum for discussing the responses with me ahead of our Governing Body Meeting.
We consulted on our session times as we recognised the possibility that many working parents might appreciate an earlier start (and therefore an earlier start to Breakfast Club).
There were 32 parents who voted for an earlier start, reflecting that there is, as anticipated, some desire for this. However, when you consider this against the fact that we have 180 pupils in school, Governors decided that there was not enough of an appetite for change to make a change at this time.
A staggered end to the day was less popular (only 17 parents saying they would like this).
Therefore there will be no revision to school session times at this point.
Class Organisation Policy - Please share your views
A reminder that the next Parent Forum is Thursday 13/3/25. Ahead of the meeting we are asking parents to share their views on our class organisation policy. If you would like to join our Parent Forum, please email Mrs Tucker (TuckerJ58@sch.caerphilly.gov.uk).
We are eager to improve the class organisation policy to improve transition for children between classes and reduce complaints linked to our procedure. Your views would be very much appreciated: complaints around class organisation are upsetting for all and we have tried for many years to find a solution.
In common with many schools, we have to organise children into mixed aged classes and the composition of these classes can change annually.
Not organising mixed age classes is not an option - we are not funded for this. We recognise that many parents would prefer straight cohort classes but this is not within our gift. This policy review is about reducing complaints around a necessary procedure, within the constraints set out by Welsh Government.
For infants, unless there are exceptional circumstances (e.g. provision within an IDP), we organise according to dates of birth. From Year 3 up we do it subjectively and consider a range of factors. A prescriptive policy for placement of children in mixed age classes was written a number of years ago with Governors and is reviewed annually.
Most summers we have parents contact the school who are unhappy about the placement. This includes where it has been organised according to age as well as where it has been done subjectively. Often complaints are linked to a situation when a small proportion of a cohort are separated from the majority, or where their child is within a class where there are also children from the year below (and therefore parents perceive that their child is being 'kept back').
Nearly all parents who complain request that their child is moved to a different class. Our policy is clear that the views of parents about placement need to have been submitted ahead of class organisation.
If the policy were changed to organising according to dates of birth throughout the school, then perhaps it would remove the view that we have done it 'unfairly'. However, this has been debated many times with staff and governors and the outcome of that debate has always been that we should continue to organise subjectively: to "protect the teaching and learning interests of the school, making the best decision in the interest of all pupils, not one child or indeed one year group."
A complaint last year has also led to us reflecting on the way in which the classes are announced and how we can prepare the children. Your views and ideas around how this could be done would be very helpful (please bear in mind we cannot announce the classes any earlier than the Friday of the last week of term if there is the potential for any classes to be put over 30 by a late admission).
The policy shared here is last year's and there are some points that are now out of date (e.g. the LA was last inspected Summer 2024) but none of the revisions needed change the position that we find ourselves in.
A summary and the LA's leaflet about Mixed Age Classes is also share on website: https://www.pontllanfraithprimary.co.uk/information_1/mixed-age-class-class-organisation
To share your views please click here. The first question is multiple choice and we'd really like as many parents as possible to respond to this: we would like to see how parents would like the classes to be organised. Following that there are optional opportunities for parents to share their views.
Start to the Day
Parents are politely reminded that staff are responsible for supervising children from 9:05am when doors open and preparing for first lesson ahead of that. Other than exchanging a quick message on the door, please do not ask for an in depth conversation at this time unless prearranged.
Attendance
In Pontllanfraith Primary School we use the Callio approach in conjunction with the local authority. The aim of the approach is to further inform parents about attendance and how this will impact on pupils. The aim is for children to have attendance greater than 95%. 5% missed, over the course of a year, equates to approximately 10 school days.
What impact does low attendance have on my child?
In primary schools, around 90% of children with good attendance (less than 10 days a year absence) make good progress in Literacy and Numeracy. But less than 65% of children with around 15 days absence make the same progress. Parents can be very surprised at how quickly their children can accumulate 15 days absence within a year.
Regardless of the reasons for absence you will receive updates at the end of each half term informing you of your child’s attendance within the Callio banding. Please remember this is without exception and no offence is intended. No offence is intended.
Please visit our website for more information about attendance procedures. Our home page show the proportion of children across the school with attendance at red, yellow and green and is updated every 3 weeks.
Vaping information for parents
We have been asked to share Public Health Wales information about vaping among children and teens with parents (link here).
St David's Day & World Book Day
St David's Day falls during Half Term this year. We will celebrate on Wednesday 5th March (to allow us time on the Monday & Tuesday to practise performances and judge Eisteddfod entries). Children, as always, are invited to dress up in something Welsh themed e.g. a traditional costume, a rugby jersey or simply wear a red top & jeans. We will be holding two special assemblies (and will post video clips of the children performing and post them on Google Classroom for you to see). Criw Cymraeg will be judging the Eisteddfod homework.
It is our policy in Pontllanfraith not to dress up for World Book Day but it is not ignored. We will be doing our story swaps (teachers swap classes to read to the children) and giving out the book vouchers. Whilst this year it falls on Thursday 6th March, we plan to mark World Book Day on Friday 7th March.