Welcome to our St Mary's Weekly Newsletter!
Let us Pray- Gweddiwn
November- Month of the Holy Souls
During the month of November, as a Catholic community, we pray for the souls of the faithfully departed that they may rest in the peace of Christ in Heaven.
The Messengers of Christ, led by Mrs Wilkinson have placed a book of remembrance and reflection on the prayer focus table outside Mrs Acton's office. Children and staff are invited to write the names of family and friends who have passed away and any words of prayer and reflection. During the month of November, we will offer up all the prayers and reflections within our book of remembrance during our weekly whole school assemblies.
Children in Need Day Friday 17th November
A HUGE THANK YOU to EVERYONE for your AMAZING support today! We have raised a FANTASTIC £534.25 to support the BBC Children in Need appeal
We have all had a great day! Thank you to everyone for dressing up and taking part in our whole school DANCEATHON on the junior yard. We danced to year group favourites- Baby Shark, Waka Waka, The Cha Cha Slide, The Macarena and Gangnam Style and then joined together to do Heads Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Amarillo! We all had a great workout in the sunshine and had lots of fun raising awareness about this very important cause.
Diolch to everyone for donating the cakes- the bake sale was a real hit and we all enjoyed having a bit of 'sugar' after all our dancing!
As usual, we have informed the BBC of our fundraising efforts and hopefully we will see our name on the TV on Friday evening! Fingers crossed!
This Weekend News!
St Mary's Choir are at Ty Pawb
Nightingale House Hospice -Lantern Parade- Saturday 18th November 4pm
Tomorrow, (Saturday 18th), there is a magical children's lantern parade through Wrexham to show support for Nightingale House. It starts at 4pm from Queen's Square and finishes in Eagle's Meadow. All children are welcome but please make sure you are able to accompany your children at all times. Diolch
Friends' Christmas School Fayre- next week Thursday 23rd November
Come and join us at our first ever Friends' Christmas Fayre next Thursday from 3:15 to 5pm! Each class have been very busy making a range of wonderful crafts for their year group stalls, and we can't wait to get into the festive spirit with all our families.
Santa Dash
If you are able to join us on our Santa Dash, please click on the link to book so we know who will be joining us! Diolch LINK
Storytime with Santa- during the Christmas Fayre
Own Clothes Day
Christmas Concerts 2023
Once again, we are pleased to be able to invite parents and wider family members to attend Christmas concerts in the junior hall in school this year. Sadly, the company who has professionally filmed our Christmas concerts for many years is no longer available to film our concerts. At present, we are doing our best to source some appropriate equipment to enable us to film the concerts ourselves and will do everything possible to be able to share the recording with families, free of charge. Miss Edwards is very kindly working with one of our parents who has offered his specialist advice and support to plan how the concerts can be filmed and shared with parents. More information to follow.
Tickets for concerts
This year, we will charge a nominal fee of £1.50 per ticket to enable us to purchase the video/sound equipment we require to film our own concerts. Tickets can be bought via ParentPay. In the first instance, you can order a maximum of 2 tickets in total not per performance by Friday 24th November. Please see your child’s ParentPay account to order the tickets. For example, choose either 2 tickets for the first performance or 2 tickets for the second performance or one ticket for each performance. If additional tickets are available, then we will let you know in order that you can order extra tickets again via ParentPay.
Polite Request regarding Babies and Small Children at Christmas Concerts
Wherever possible, we ask that you do not bring babies and pre-school children to the Christmas concerts. There are at least 2 concerts for each year group to support families to make childcare arrangements, where possible. The staff work so hard to prepare the children for the concerts enabling them to feel confident enough to perform in front of an audience. Any background noise can be very distracting for the children, and it would be a such a shame for any parent to miss their own child's speaking part. Thank you for your understanding. Please see Mrs Acton if you have any questions or queries. Diolch.
Erddig Rotary Club- St Mary’s Year 5 & 6 Concert evening- Monday 11th December- 6pm in Ty Pawb
Each year, up until the Covid- 19 pandemic, the Erddig Rotary Club have held an annual Christmas community concert within the borough and have invited a different school to take part each year. Last year, the Rotary Club were delighted to see the return of the community concert and asked St Mary’s Year 5 and 6 children to perform their Christmas concert in Ty Pawb theatre. Due to the success of the event, the Rotary club have asked us to perform our Year 5 and 6 concert again and we are delighted to accept the kind offer. We will be very proud for our children to perform in a community venue in Wrexham and look forward to sharing our children’s talents, skills and enthusiasm. The Rotary Club will be selling tickets at a cost of £5 each and all proceeds will be generously given to St Mary’s. This will include a glass of festive mulled wine and a mince pie. There will be approximately 100 tickets on sale on a first come, first served basis. Letter to be sent next week.
Attendance Matters
Please note school starts 08:55 and finishes at 15:15.
Please remember, children should not worry about having to stay off school if they are poorly. Children should only attend school if they are fit and well enough to do so. Routine appointments, holidays during term-time, days off for birthdays however, are not valid reasons to stay off school.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding with this very important matter.
Foundation Phase winners this week are:- Palodau with 95.2%
Dosbarth Palodau-95.2% Dosbarth Parotiaid-88.2% Dosbarth Pengwiniaid-87.3%, Dosbarth Robin Goch- 90%, Dosbarth Tulluanod-84.2%. Dosbarth Dryw- 85.2%
Key Stage 2 winners this week are:- Clywedog with an unbeatable 100%
Dosbarth Clywedog-100% , Dosbarth Conwy-93.1%, Dosbarth Alyn-92.2%, Dosbarth Dyfi-90%, Dosbarth Gwenfro-97.6%, Dosbarth Dyfrdwy-95.4%, Dosbarth Gwaun-98.5%
WHOLE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE TARGET - 96%
WHOLE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE- 92.1% (unfortunately we did not reach our target again this week- continued illness and a number of extended holidays being taken)
Please help us achieve our target next week!!
Free School Meals- Are you eligible?
May I remind all families who are eligible for free school meals to make an application via the link ‘Free school meals | Wrexham County Borough Council. This will not only provide your child with a daily free meal in school but will also allow parents the opportunity to apply for a Pupil Development Grant (PDG) | Wrexham County Borough Council to help with the cost of uniforms, resources, equipment and devices etc. By making your application, school will also receive the correct amount of funding from Welsh Government.
Please note:-
Your child is eligible to receive free school meals if you or your child receive the following...
• Income Support (IS)*
• Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA)*
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Income-related Employment Support Allowance (IR)
• Child Tax Credit - providing you’re not entitled to Working Tax Credit with an annual total income below the HMRC set limit
• Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Working Tax Credit 'run-on' - the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you are working you must be earning less than £7,400 per year (£616.67 per month) to qualify for free school meal
From September 1st, all primary aged children (Reception- Year 6) in Wrexham can have a free school meal as part of the WG universal offer. However, if you are in receipt of the above benefits, please remember to make an application via the links above as well to ensure access to the PDG and to enable school to receive the additional funding.
I urge all families to take up this wonderful universal offer. Diolch
School Dinner orders
Please ensure that school dinners are pre-ordered at home. Teachers should not be ordering meals in school, as previously advised by WCBC. Thank you
Patrwm Yr Wythnos
The Criw Cymraeg’s ‘Patrwm yr Wythnos’ (Phrase of the week) this week is: Wyt ti eisiau? do you want?
See LINK
Nursery & Reception-Lennon is going to Banana Ben's, Nelly went to a trampolice park, Ines is going to Chester Zoo, Noah had a sleepover with Granny and Grandad and Nancy went on holiday with Nanny.
Years 1 & 2-Joanna B is going to Legoland, Kharis is going to the USA, Martim is going to Shotton, Lily has passed Wave 3, Amelia W had a gymnastics certificate and Daniel went to martial arts. George smashed the 'birthday block' in Tae Kwondo, Georgie had a fantastic time meeting Santa in Center Parcs and Antoni has moved onto the next belt in Tae Kwondo.
Years 1 & 2 have Tennis Taster sessions next week!
Years 3 & 4 -George was the leader carrying the flag for Beavers in the Remembrance parade and Franek, Tony and Mitchell also took part in the same parade. George has just started i Cubs, Artur is going ice skating for the first time this week, Sophie passed Wave 6 and Alfie Jay has been performing tricks on his horse.Rozalia has a fencing competition this weekend- pob lwc! Noah went to Ninja Warrior last weekend, Emilia has her surgery today and Julia D is starting basketball lessons. Benj was Man of the Match in football and Vanessa moved up a dancing group.
Year 5-Ella has been selected to represent North Wales gymnastics in Cardiff next weekend, Erin has moved up to grade 5 in swimming, Iris has put her Christmas tree up, Sophia's nephew is coming to stay over this weekend, Sophie is going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Liverpool Empire theatre on Saturday. Jian is happy that India are playing New Zealand in the cricket, Theo's mum and dad bought him a new piano and Molly and Mollie are in a gymnastics competition soon.
Year 6- Sophia's netball team has won every match they've played this season
Local Support for Families
At this difficult time of austerity, please see some information about local services that are available to provide support to families in need.
Please contact school if you find yourself in a difficult situation and need some help/ support to signpost you to an appropriate service. Your requests will be handled in confidence and with sensitivity. Diolch. Mrs Acton.
If you need help from our foodbank there are a few simple steps to follow. THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP IS TO GET A FOODBANK VOUCHER.
In order to provide the most appropriate help for the circumstances of your situation we work with local agencies. If they feel you are struggling to put food on the table, they will issue you with a foodbank voucher. The local agency can also provide long term support if needed to help address some of the issues behind the reasons for your crisis. Agencies we work with include: Citizens Advice, housing support officers, children’s centres, health visitors, social services and some local charities.
1. GET IN TOUCH WITH US.
If you call or email our foodbank we can talk through your situation and put you in touch with a relevant local agency.
2. ARRANGE A VISIT TO THE REFERRAL AGENCY.
They will discuss your situation and supply you with a foodbank voucher where appropriate.
If you can’t afford food, you can call 0808 2082138 (freephone) to speak to a trained and independent Citizens Advice agent (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm). Please note this number is for people who do not have enough money for food – if you are a local organisation or charity that works with people who might need the food bank, please contact us directly.
Alternatively, please call 0300 330 1178 to speak to Wrexham’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau, who will be able to issue you with a food bank voucher if necessary.
3. BRING YOUR FOODBANK VOUCHER TO YOUR NEAREST FOODBANK CENTRE.
You can find a list of our local centres and opening times here. When you arrive, we’ll welcome you with a warm drink and our trained volunteers will chat with you about your situation. We’ll also discuss any dietary needs you may have and exchange your foodbank voucher for a parcel of three days of emergency food. We’ll also help to support you in any other ways that we can. Most of our foodbank centres offer a cafe style environment and our aim is to provide non-judgemental support at the point of crisis.
If you have any further questions our FAQ’s page may help, or feel free to give us a call.
Yellow and blue (YaB group ltd) is a social enterprise non profit project. Underpinning community projects including positive pathways, food provision and social isolation beating events and activities. With a digital vision within the community - we aim to support vulnerable groups whilst creating a vibrant, supportive and uplifting experience. Creating moments, chances and smiles when people need it most.
Please get in touch by emailing:- info@yellowandblue.org
Pupil Development Grant
The Welsh Government funded Pupil Development Grant is available to help towards the costs of a child’s school uniform and equipment, for those on a low income. Any child eligible for free school meals in the year groups listed below are eligible. However, those receiving free school meals due to transitional protection arrangement would not be eligible.
Depending on the school year your child will be entering in September 2021 you could receive a grant of £125 or £200. Link
Anyone eligible for free school meals and in the following year groups will qualify for the grant: Entering reception class in primary school, Entering school years 1 to 11, In a special school, special needs resource base or pupil referral unit and are aged 4 to 15.For any looked after children of compulsory school age who are not receiving free school meals, please email uniformgrant@wrexham.gov.uk for an application form.
Welsh Courses for Parents
Are you interested in becoming a volunteer in school?
Here at St Mary’s we are very keen to involve parents, grandparents and family members in the life of the school. We are always looking for volunteers to help out a wide range of activities such as school trips and walking the children to sporting events. We are also very happy to invite volunteers to share special skills, interests or experiences to enhance the children’s opportunities or provision e.g. gardening, sewing, sharing job skills/ experiences etc.
If you would like to be involved in any volunteer work for the school, please click on the link and complete and return the forms attached.https://stmarys-wxm.co.uk/about-us/forms/volunteer-form-2/
Please note:- All volunteers will be subject to DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) clearance. Thank you
Many thanks.
Welsh Government Announcement
Physical punishment of children is now illegal in Wales. Children have the same protection from assault as adults. This is to protect children and their rights. To find out more visit: http://gov.wales/EndPhysicalPunishment