Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Rights of the child : January 2024 - Article 14

Right to be the best that we can be.

 

It's been a very cold week, but our school has been welcoming, cosy and warm.  

This week our new community kitchen has seen some action!  Miss. Short and Mrs. Thomas have both been working with children, teaching them some life skills as well as nurturing their development and education and they cooked some delicious cookies! 

 

We wish our Y5/6 football team the best today as they take part in the NGP cluster tournament at the Elba.

 

Free School Meals for Year 4

A message from the LA: 

Further to previous correspondence, we are pleased to announce we will be rolling out free school meals to all year 4 pupils from 19 February 2024 (after half term). Please note this will be automatic and there will be no requirement to apply for the meals. We aim to roll out to further year groups as soon as possible and will update you on our progress in due course.

 

Welsh Government official visit 

Due to our excellent Estyn inspection Officers from the WG Additional Needs department are coming to school next week to visit us and see our excellent practice supporting our pupils who have ALN.

 

Estyn stated : 

The school is preparing well for the transition to the new national additional learning needs arrangements. Provision for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) is a strength of the school, it is well thought out, supports pupils’ needs well and greatly valued. The additional learning needs co-ordinator works well with qualified staff to provide purposeful sessions that meet the pupils’ needs, particularly in improving their communication skills. There are purposeful individual development plans for pupils, which include opportunities to review progress regularly and involve professionals, parents and pupils. The school tracks the progress of ALN pupils effectively and reports are detailed and rigorous. As a result, nearly all pupils make good and often better progress against targets in many areas of learning across school.

 

Parent /Carer Workshops - 2.30pm - 4pm

We are very pleased to announce that Fran Pugsley ( Swansea Bay Emotional Health and Well-Being Practitioner) who some of you have already met , will be delivering the following parent/carer workshops in school. Please contact Mrs. Beynon in the office to let her know you will be attending. 

 

21^st Feb - Emotional Regulation Part 1 

6^th March - Emotional Regulation Part 2 

10^th April - Big Emotions - Anger 

1^st May - Big Emotions - Worries 

12^th June - Self Esteem & Resilience

3^rd July - Positivity 

 

Attendance

Attendance is extremely important to your child's learning.  Please ensure they attend everyday and only take days off when they are very poorly.  If you look at the statistics below I'm sure you will be surprised at how quickly odd days here and there add up. We really want every child in our school to exceed and thrive, and by attending school and having attendance of over 95% is key.

 

Holidays in term time

 

We are receiving an unprecedented number of holiday requests for term time holidays. Holiday requests during term time are actively discouraged as it negatively impacts on the pupil’s ability to engage with the full curriculum.

 

Whilst we totally empathise with our families who submit term time holiday requests,  parents and carers do not have the automatic right to withdraw their children from school for a family holiday and will be reminded of the effect that absence can have on a pupil’s potential achievement.

 

Parents and carers must apply in advance for permission for their child to go on holiday during term time (2 weeks minimum notice for a family holiday).  Forms can be obtained from the office. Schools can only agree to absence of more than 10 school days in a school year if they believe there are exceptional circumstances. If a school does not agree absence and the pupil goes on the holiday or a trip, the absence will be unauthorised. 

 

Parents and carers are advised that a fixed penalty notice may be issued by the local authority when permission for a holiday has not been authorised by the school. 

 

 

Dates for your diary:

February 5th - Y6 to visit Gowerton Comprehensive

February 6th - Y4/5 to visit The Big Pit

February 9th - Dydd Miwsig Cymru/Welsh Music Language Day (see below)

February 9th - Golden time DISCO in the hall - FoP.  (during school time)

Half Term - 12th - 16th February 2024

February 22nd - Individual photos by Roz & Kirsty

February 29th - Health Visitor for drop ins.  (please pop in if your are interested)

 

Swansea Council Keeping Safe Online – Tip of the week

Tip fifteen asks parents/carers to encourage their children to partake in offline activities (particularly prevalent after Christmas when a combination of new games/devices and cold weather often keep pupils in doors) and links to a guide from the Hwb team - click here

 

Welsh Music Language Day

Friday 9th February  - please see the poster below regarding planned activities for children.

 

Golden Time Disco

During Golden time on Friday 9th February, Friends of Penclawdd will be holding a disco in the school.  Foundation phase 2.00pm - 2.30pm  and KS2  2.30pm - 3pm.  There will be drinks, hotdogs and sweets available for the children to buy. 

After School/Lunch time clubs

We have listened to our pupils who were asked by our Healthy Heroes for their ideas. We have a wonderful list of lunch time and some after school clubs.

Reminder - we have Child`s Play on site who run the most fantastic after school clubs if it is predominantly childcare that you require.

 

Details of all clubs will be sent via see saw. The full array of clubs commence next week.

 

Fruit at break

This week Kiwi Fruit was a big hit. Next week we hope to have cucumber and celery sticks.  Don't forget to send in 30p per day if you'd like your child to enjoy.  Thanks

 

Have a relaxing weekend.

 

Mrs. L R-M

Headteacher

 

INSET days 

2 tbc for Summer term