Croeso yn ôl! We hope everyone had a lovely half term.
Diolch!
Thank you on behalf of River Church Foodbank for your donations before half term. We are very grateful.
Yesterday Dosbarth Coch went to Blackwood Miners’ Institute to see The Frog Prince, supported by funding from the Arts Council for Wales. Dosbarth Gwyrdd and Dosbarth Glas went to St Fagan’s to support their respective topics (Gwyrdd had a workshop in the Celtic Round House whilst Glas went to look at the Newbridge War Memorial). Thank you to our parent volunteers who made these trips possible. The teachers reported that they were very proud of our children.
Number Confidence Week: Help Your Child Love Maths Open Day Sessions tomorrow & Friday
As part of Number Confidence Week, our juniors enjoyed a special online assembly this morning, courtesy of Barclays Bank.
Tomorrow and Friday, we’re excited to welcome you into school as part of our work with the National Numeracy Schools and Families Project. This initiative supports stronger partnerships between home and school, helping parents understand how to support their child’s numeracy journey through open sessions and practical resources and helping children to believe that they can achieve in maths.
Morning sessions begin at 9:30am in the upstairs hall. Please wait to be let in via the main ‘Girls’ Entrance’ door. We won’t be able to let parents in with the children at drop-off, but we’ll aim to welcome you in as quickly as possible once registration is complete.
Afternoon sessions begin at 2:00pm, with doors opening at 1:50pm.
Booking closed on Monday to allow teachers time to plan. However, if you missed out, we may be able to add you to Friday’s sessions (not Thursday’s) if you contact us first thing tomorrow morning. Please email your child’s teacher or contact the office, who will check availability and get back to you.
If you attend the afternoon session, you may take your child home at 3:00pm. If you wish to collect siblings, please go directly to their class. For Dosbarth Coch, please wait at the usual gate—staff will be on hand to help.
Don’t forget to scan the QR code at the session to share your feedback—your opinions really do count!
Parent Forum
Our next Parent Forum will be held on Tuesday at 2:30pm, ahead of the Governors’ meeting the following week.
We’ll be discussing Class Dojo as a communication tool, feedback from the Maths Open Day sessions, and our upcoming parent survey where we will be seeking feedback on our revised transition arrangements last summer (this will be linked to feedback from parents’ evenings).
Remembrance Day
We are proud of our strong links with the British Legion, who visit us each year for our in-school Remembrance Day Assembly. This year’s assembly will take place on Thursday morning.
Care: We will also lay a wreath on behalf of the children, parents, and staff at the Pontllanfraith War Memorial on Saturday at 1:00pm. Families are warmly invited to join us.
Parents' Evenings Tuesday and Wednesday next week
Thank you to everyone who has booked a Parents’ Evening appointment—we’re delighted with the response. If you haven’t yet booked, please contact the office, who will liaise with your child’s teacher to arrange a time.
A reminder that appointments are 10 minutes long. If you feel you need more time, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange a separate meeting.
To help us prepare and keep to time, we’ve sent out a form asking if there are any specific topics you’d like to discuss (see links below).
Dosbarth Coch Mrs Reeve
Dosbarth Oren Miss Williams
Dosbarth Melyn Mrs Tucker
Dosbarth Gwyrdd Miss Rooke
Dosbarth Glas Mr Davies
Dosbarth Porffor Miss Wills
Next week: Antibullying Week / Odd Socks Day / Children in Need
Care: Anti-Bullying Week begins on Monday with Odd Socks Day—a fun way to celebrate individuality and what makes us all unique. Children are encouraged to wear their wackiest socks to show their support!
Care: On Friday, we’ll be supporting Children in Need with a non-uniform day. We kindly ask that donations be made directly via the Children in Need website.
Christmas
Christmas at Pontllanfraith begins with our much-loved PTFA event, Step into Christmas, after school on Thursday 27th November. We’ll be decorating the school on Friday 28th.
From Monday 1st December, children are welcome to wear Christmas jumpers in place of their usual school jumper (uniform should still be worn otherwise).
We’re currently planning our Christmas concerts and will share full details soon, including how to book tickets. For now, here are the provisional dates to help you plan ahead:
In School (Infant Hall):
• Dosbarth Coch: Morning of Wednesday 10th December
• Rock Steady Concert: Morning of Friday 12th December (for parents of children having music lessons)
At Riverchurch:
• Dosbarth Oren: Afternoon of Wednesday 10th December
• Dosbarth Melyn & Dosbarth Gwyrdd: Afternoon of Tuesday 9th and Morning of Thursday 11th December
• Dosbarth Glas & Porffor: Morning of Tuesday 9th and Afternoon of Thursday 11th December
We’re very grateful to Pastor Dave and Riverchurch for once again hosting our concerts—it creates a wonderful festive atmosphere and allows more families to attend.
Our annual pantomime trip to Blackwood Miner’s has been booked (in response to overwhelming support from parents) for Y1- Y6 on Tuesday 16th December. More details to follow soon.
Christmas Dinner & Party Day is December 18th .
End of term is 3:30pm on Friday December 19th.
Pont’s Favourite Carol
Our older children, who go carol singing each year, would love to know your favourite carols to help them choose this year’s setlist. Please click here to share your favourite!
Please help our lovely admin team!
Care: We kindly ask for your support in helping our wonderful admin team keep things running smoothly.
Morning drop-offs: Please aim to arrive on time. If you are late, we ask that you complete the signing-in form quickly and include lunch choices if needed. Booking dinners in advance for the week really helps. Please email teachers if at all possible rather than asking for messages to be passed – the office staff can then just alert teachers to the fact that there’s an email for them.
While Mrs Presley and Mrs East are always happy to help, mornings are an especially busy time. Late arrivals often mean they need to leave the office to escort younger children to class, which can delay phone answering and gate access as well as the checking of registers and preparation of dinner orders for the canteen.
Afternoon calls: A small number of parents are calling weekly to check if clubs are running or to pass on messages about pick-up arrangements. To help reduce disruption, please check the school calendar on our website, which clearly shows club dates. We do our best to avoid cancelling clubs and will always contact you if there’s a change.
Spotlight on Policy and Procedure – Curriculum Information
When we organise mixed age classes we are aware that parents are often under the misapprehension that children are ‘repeating work’ or being ‘held back’ if they are in a class with children from the year below.
Curriculum for Wales - Achieve, Believe, Care - Building confidence, self-belief and greater ambition
At Pontllanfraith Primary, our curriculum is designed in line with the Curriculum for Wales, which places learner progression at its heart. We understand that mixed-age classes can raise questions for families, particularly when children are grouped with peers from different year groups. However, under the Curriculum for Wales, learning is not confined to age or year group boundaries. Instead, teachers plan learning based on each child’s individual progress, ensuring that all learners are supported and challenged appropriately. As stated in the national guidance, “assessment plays a fundamental role in enabling each individual learner to make progress at an appropriate pace” and should be used to “identify the next steps in learning” rather than to label or limit learners’ potential.
Our topics are carefully structured to build on prior learning for all, allowing children to revisit key concepts in new and deeper ways as they progress from Nursery to Year 6, applying and extending skills across different contexts, but not repeating topics. The Curriculum for Wales encourages schools to design learning that is “authentic, purposeful and builds on learners’ prior knowledge and experiences”.
You can read more about how we apply these principles in our curriculum on our school website.