A message from the head
Hello and welcome to our second newsletter. We had a really busy and exciting first half term back in school. The children have engaged in some fantastic learning opportunities based around our topic of Celebrating Differences and have enjoyed opportunities to attend a range of after school clubs. Our football (big thanks to Darryl for his coaching) and rugby teams are up and running and both have performed admirably in recent tournaments. I would also like to thank the parents for their attendance at Parents Evening and the Open Afternoon which provided a great opportunity for me to meet some more of you and keep you updated on things that are going on in school. The two class assemblies that have been performed were also brilliant and it was great to chat to some of you afterwards, I'm looking forward to seeing what the other classes come up with.
I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone a bit better and seeing what potential this school has. It was a privilege to drop into lessons this term and see some of the great work that our teachers and children do. We have lots of plans to keep developing in the weeks and months to come and are always open to new ideas; we're currently planning an exciting Science and Technology project for the Spring Term- watch- this space for more details!
Many thanks for your continued support, as always, my door is open for anyone wanting to stop by and discuss any matters relating to school and their children's development.
Mr Milinczuk
Christmas at Ynyshir
Christmas is coming and we've got big plans to make sure that this time of year is as special as possible for our children.
The PTA have made a fantastic effort in raising money for the school through various events such as raffles, coffee mornings and discos. Due to these efforts we have been able to fully fund the Christmas trip to the Pantomime for Reception to Year 6 at the Colosseum in Aberdare on Wednesday 4th December and for Nursery to have breakfast with Santa on 10th December at Fuze.
We will also be hosting our usual Christmas Festival where the children make items to be sold and design games to be played. In addition, we will be hosting a children's shopping day where children will be able to purchase small presents for their loved ones and wrap them up with the help of some of Santa's elves. There is even a rumour that Santa himself may be dropping by with a free present for each of the children! Further details will be sent out in due course.
Attendance
Thank you for your efforts with attendance. It is really important that children attend school as often as possible to enable them to reach their potential. Please can everyone make sure that their children are here on time. The morning sessions are really important and if children are routinely late they will be missing essential learning.
Our target-93%
This term-94.44%
PTA Corner
Welcome/Croeso to the PTA Corner
Thank you for all your recent purchases of Rotary Raffle Tickets & Sweet treats
For these events alone we have raised a total of over £1000 which all goes into the funds for future use
We would like to provide a special thanks to the following:
Peter Williams for the Rotary Raffle
J&B Plastering LTD for the Football Kits
Lidl Stores for Cake Donations
Parents/Guardians/Family/Friends of the School Network
Without your generosity and support these numbers wouldn’t be possible to give the school the best opportunities possible on our journey forward
We have a number of upcoming events which we would appreciate your support on whether this be attendance or donations:
Christmas Festival
Christmas Jumper/Costume Drive
School Uniform drop
If you have any questions, suggestions for events or are interested in Joining please see below list of the following members:
Tracy Lockyer
Tina Watkins
Sam Harty
Nicola Fawkes
Linda Williams
Emma Sharp
Leah Roberts
Hannah Ferns
Ashley Jones
Alex Thomas
Remember the fundamentals of the PTA- We are dedicated to children's educational success, health, and well-being through strong family and community engagement.
Dates for the HALF term
- 28th November- Football tournament at Porth Community School (as this is being held on the school site we are unfortunately unable to invite parents to watch on this occasion).
- 2nd -4th December- Estyn revisit
- 4th December- Pantomime at Aberdare Colloseum for Reception-Year 6 (free of charge)
- 10th December- Fuze- Breakfast with Santa for Nursery
- 10th December- PTA Movie night for Years 1-6
- 12th December- Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day.
- 13th December- Christmas Festival 1pm- Details to follow
- 17th December- Christmas Concerts- 9.15am- Nursery and Reception, 1.15pm- Mrs Davies, Mrs Davies and Miss Evans' classes. 4:30pm- Mrs Prichard, Miss Greenman and Mrs Smithers' classes.
- 18th December Christmas Concerts- 9:15am-Mrs Davies, Mrs Davies and Miss Evans' classes. 1.15pm- Mrs Prichard, Miss Greenman and Mrs Smithers' classes.
- 19th December- Party on a plate with a visit from Santa. Children's shopping day (See PTA section for details).
- 20th December- Last day- School finishes at 3:15pm as usual.
- Monday 6th January- Inset
- Tuesday 7th January- Children return to school
Other activities
Some other events that have been going on this term:
- There has been a Parent's Group running on a Monday afternoon by Pipyn focusing on health and wellbeing. This was a great success and finished at half term. It has been replaced by an Air Fryer course for parents which has also had great participation.
- Missy Lender has been teaching basketball to Mrs Greenman's class this half term. She will move on to other classes during the year.
- Year 6 have started swimming lessons.
- Rhondda schools rugby have been coaching our year 6s and we have taken part in our first tournament.
- Darryl has kindly volunteered to coach our football team and we have a number of tournaments lined up.
- We enjoyed welcoming you in to demonstrate Times Table Rockstars and Numbots and encourage you to keep working on these with your children as they really do make a difference.
- We had a really successful Children in Need that was organised by our year 6 children and managed to raise £405.85.
School Council Update
This term we have been working hard to get to know our peers and understand what they feel we could do to help the school improve. We held an assembly advertising the role of playtime buddies and visited classes to invite children to apply for this important. We have made our choices carefully and wisely and the new playground buddies have made a great start. We've also made sure that every class has a school council suggestion box to help us come up with new ideas. We are currently in the process of choosing new equipment for the school yards. On anti bullying week we made anti bullying videos. In addition to this, some of us visited the Ynyshir Cenotaph to pay our respects on Remembrance Day. It's been a busy term!
Estyn
As you are probably aware the school is currently in monitoring with Estyn, the Welsh inspectorate. Since the initial inspection in June 2023 the school has made great strides forward and we are all very proud of the progress we have made. On the 2nd December a team of inspectors will be visiting the school again to monitor our progress against the recommendations in their report. We are very excited to welcome them back to our school and to share all of our hard work.
Credits:
Created with images by • oksix - Christmas fireplace in the room