Welcome back after the summer break. We hope you have all had a lovely summer and we are looking forward to working with you during the coming school terms.

Please see below for some reminders and information for the coming academic year.

Miss Harwood is still absent from school for compassionate leave and we are very pleased that Mrs Downes has agreed to continue as acting Deputy Head in her absence. We are also very pleased that Mrs Watkin Carter has agreed to lead the ALN department of the school. Both will have management time requiring them to be out of the classroom. Mrs Downes’ class will be covered by Mr R Carter who has worked with us throughout last year. He will liaise regularly with Mrs Downes to ensure continuity and consistency of learning. Mrs Watkin Carter will be covered by Mrs K Harries who again has worked considerably with us over the last couple of years.

Mrs Jenkins will be leaving to start her maternity leave after half term. The school will be conducting lesson observations of prospective candidates on September 25^th and 26^th and following up with formal interviews on October 3^rd.

Time will then be made available for the successful candidate to meet the class, meet the teacher and hand over all information prior to starting work.

Dates for the year will be sent separately. (Please be aware that dates might change due to unforeseen circumstances).

Kind regards,

Mr H Roberts

Head Teacher.

 

School timings

The school day runs from 9 am to 3.30 pm

The gates open from 8.50 am in the morning to enable a staggered entry and no pupils should be dropped off prior to this time (unless attending Breakfast club). Staff are not in classrooms prior to 8.50 am and will therefore not be supervising pupils. Pupils from Nursery to Year 3 can go straight into class. Pupils in Years 4,5 and 6 will line up on the yard and staff will escort them into the building just before 9am ready for registration.

The current entrance to the school is the gate at the Palalwyf entrance.

The gates will re-open from 3.10 pm in the afternoon to enable a staggered pick up.

End of day pick up times are:

Nursery - 12.50pm

Reception - 3.20 pm

Year 1 - 3.25 pm

Year 2 - 3.25 pm

Year 3 - 3.25 pm

Juniors - 3.30 pm

Parents/carers are not permitted into school buildings unless by appointment, therefore, if you would like to speak to your child’s class teacher, please can you email them directly. The teacher’s emails are attached.

Healthy Snacks & Break times

Please could you provide your child with a healthy snack for break times, (fruit, vegetables or cheese). PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE A NUT FREE SCHOOL.

Please be aware that from Year 3, these snacks will be eaten during break times on the playground. We would encourage parents to provide their children with water rather than squash and we have refilling facilities within school.

PE Days

PE will start the week commencing 16th September, your child’s PE day will be sent out with the year group specific information shortly.

Swimming Information

Swimming lessons will start on Monday 16th September at Llantrisant Leisure Centre. No Bikinis please

Swimming timetable:

Autumn Term - Year 6

Spring Term - Year 4 & 5

Summer Term - Year 3

School equipment:

Please ensure your child brings a named refillable water bottle, suitable clothing (i.e. waterproof warm coats for winter, hats and sunscreen for warm weather).

Children will be provided with stationery in school to avoid personal items being lost, but if you would like your child to use their own belongings, we recommend:

A pencil

A sharpener

A rubber

A green ink pen

A blue ink pen

A ruler

Name on belongings reminder

Please can we remind you to ensure that your child’s name is on all belongings i.e. jumpers, bottles, lunchboxes etc. We have a large amount of lost property from last year without names.

Home Reading Records

We will be providing all children with a reading record this year including those that are “free readers”. During September, class teachers will be assessing the children’s reading ages. On the first week of October, children will be given reading books linked to their reading ages. Until this time, children will receive the same colour band as the previous year. These will be given out on Monday 9th September for Years 1 - 6 and 16th September for Reception.

Homework

Thank you for your responses on our homework survey, we have listened to your opinions and will be sending out weekly spellings and Timestables Rockstars and will expect 10 minutes of reading every night (more information on reading will be sent out soon). This will start on Monday 16th September.

Year Group specific information including PE days, topic overviews, book recommendations, and maths strategies will be sent out by Friday 13th September.

Any questions and queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.