PENYGARN Community primary school
NEWSLETTER MARCH 2015
LLYTHR MAWRTH 2015
Annwyl Rieni (Dear Parents/Carers)
We can’t believe it is Easter already. But with the sun finally shining, the birds waking us in the morning and the daffodils growing, we know our Easter Half Term is just around the corner. We hope you have a fantastic, sunny break with your family and we look forward to seeing you all refreshed in April.
News
Our Easter Bonnet Parade will be held on 27th March 2015 at 2.00 pm. For the parade children will be required to make bonnets, baskets or eggs. Refreshments and raffle tickets will be available at a small cost. All Parents and Carers welcome!
Nursery
This week we have lots of Easter activities. We are having our own Easter Egg Hunt outside and we are making Easter Egg Cards. All around the Nursery we have chicks and bunnies, we even have an observational table where we can draw all of our Easter characters. Throughout the week we are making delicious chocolate nests and tasty hot cross buns, Yum Yum! Don’t forget to look at the website to see all our pictures from our Easter week!
Reception
Reception are coming to the end of their Spring Term Topic "Pitter, Patter Puddle Play" they have enjoyed learning all about animals and plants that live in water. To celebrate the end of the topic the children are visiting Pontypool Park where they can look at all the different plants and aspects of pond life.
The topic for the Summer Term is "Carnival". We will be starting the topic with a SambaMusic Workshop, where a specialist company will give the children the opportunity to experience Carnival Style Music. As part of the topic we will also be looking at Carnivals around the world focussing on music, dance and the arts.
Year 1
Our Fairytale topic is coming to an end now and we would like to thank you for all your help with homework etc. Our next topic is called 'Wriggle and Crawl' and will be all about mini beasts. Over the Easter holidays please help your child to make, paint, draw, create a mini beast of their choice (e.g. fly, spider, snail, worm, butterfly). You will also notice our 'Wishing Lines' are now up so if you have any items at home that you don't need that are on our wishing lines please pass them onto the class teacher.
Year 2
Year 2 have been working hard creating their Eisteddfod Artwork and Art Exhibition pieces. The Year 2 Country Dancing team have been busy practising their dance for Pontypool Community Council's Infant Eisteddfod on Wednesday. Thank you to Mrs Carter and Mrs Sellars (Miss Sellar's mum) for working so hard to make our new costumes.
Thank you also to the PTA for the kind donation to pay for the costumes.
Year 2 have also been learning the story of 'The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark' and retelling it using actions to help with their story writing. Please could we remind you to read with your child every day andensure reading books are returned EVERY Friday to be changed.
Year 3
We had a wonderful celebration of all things Welsh during our Eisteddfod which took place on Monday 2nd March 2015. Children were given the opportunity to perform and compete in areas such as recitation, creative writing, art, playing musical instruments. We are very proud of the efforts that the children made!
The week beginning 2nd March 2015 was a busy week as it was also our Outdoor Week. The children were involved in taking their learning outside and making seed bombs to develop our planting area. The children thoroughly enjoyed rolling the muddy substance and adding the secret ingredient to discourage the bugs! Did they tell you what it was? We are closely monitoring the area where we threw the ‘bombs’ to see if our seeds are beginning to grow.
Thursday March 5th 2015 was World Book Day and the children once again left us stunned! Also we celebrated Red Nose Day on Friday 13th March 2015. Thank you so much for your wonderful efforts to make events such as these so successful.
We are continuing to visit our school library and children will have the opportunity to bring home a school library book which can be kept for as long as your child chooses but they have the chance to change it weekly. Library days are:
3SR – Friday and 3CC – Wednesday
Our music lessons are continuing and some of the children are proving to be very musical indeed! If your child is interested in taking up the guitar please speak to the class teacher.
If you didn’t receive a letter for both trips, Usk Country Experience and the SS Great Britain Trip to Bristol, please let school know. We will give you a new permission slip to fill in. Many thanks.
Year 5
Firstly we would both like to say a huge thank you for your continued support during this term. As always, it has been a busy and eventful term with lots going on. We continued our studies into life in the 1960s with the children taking a particular interest in the assassination of John F Kennedy.
The year 5 children were lucky enough to spend the morning at West Mon for a languages morning that was organised by them. The children took part in a range of lessons including Drama, Music, French and Spanish. These lessons were broken up with the children having the opportunity to try a French breakfast … ooh la la! It was commented on that the behaviour displayed by our children was exceptional and the best that they had seen from any Penygarn children before.
The children have been busy collecting their class rewards and will hopefully be experiencing their reward day during the last week of term. The children have also enjoyed the new Golden Time choices that have been introduced this half term.
After half term we will begin our new topic ‘Energy’. We have lots of exciting activities planned with some trips in the pipeline. As part of our topic we will be completing a bottle rocket investigation and ask if you could spare any empty ‘big’ pop bottles for which we would be grateful.
Have a lovely Easter and we will look forward to seeing you soon!
Year 6
Year 6 have been busy again this month. Taking part in the Eisteddfod, World Book Day and other activities. We also took both classes to Cwmbran TA Centre to take part in the Crucial Crew workshops.
The children listened and took part in sessions on The Dog's Trust, Food Hygiene, Recycling, The Railway, Alcohol Awareness, Western Power (safety around electricity) and Road Safety. One of the prominent features was wearing your seat belt and how to wear it. It seems only a few pupils knew how to wear it correctly. No excuses now...Year 6 pupils know exactly what to do!
The Art Exhibition was a big success and we felt so proud of the pupils with their 'William Morris' inspired prints. Well done everyone! We look forward to the start of a new term as the summer approaches.
Please ensure you children have PE kit - especially trainers as we will be out exercising as much as we can in the sunshine.
Friends of Penygarn
We would like to invite any parent as a new member to the PTA to help out before and during our fabulous events. If you feel you are unable to fully commit to being a member but are able to help on any of the arranged events, your support would be very much appreciated. Please contact our Chair Jeanine Jackson via the office for more information.
Attendance
For each class from September to March 2015:
NAM: 87,20% 3SR: 95,86%
NPM: 79,01% 3CC: 96,26%
NFT: 87,28% 4HW: 95,59%
NPM2: 76,21% 4RC: 93,56%
RCE: 92,24% 5PS: 94,05%
RJAW: 91,64% 5HL: 94,13%
1JB: 92,89% 6MP: 91,08%
1CR: 92,72% 6CH: 92,61%
2CW: 94,04%
2JW: 93,52%
Reminder
Dinner Money will increase after half term. The new daily amount for school dinners will be: Infants: £2.00
Juniors: £2.10
All money should be placed into a sealed envelope, clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Late Children
We are now monitoring “lateness” and have an action plan in place.
As some of you are aware, if your child arrives late in school, a record of your child’s time of arrival is logged by the EFSW (Education Family Support Worker - Mrs Heulwen Carter)
· Persistent “late-comers” will receive a telephone call from the EFSW to gain an understanding of reasons for lateness and offer support
· If lateness persists, a meeting will be arranged between parents, EFSW and a member of the (SLT) Senior Leadership Team
· If there is no improvement in the situation a meeting will be called with parents and EFSW/SLT as well as the EWO (Education Welfare Officer)
It is a legal requirement that pupils arrive at school punctually (Welsh Assembly circular 47/2006) and you should be aware that the parents/carers of a pupil who is constantly late are guilty of an offence and can be prosecuted. We cannot stress enough how important punctuality is to your child’s learning.
DOORS OPEN 8.55 AM – DOORS CLOSE 9.05 AM
Design to Smile
We have been informed by some schools that there have been several incidents of parents wanting their children to use their home toothpaste when participating in the tooth brushing programme at school. This is not possible for both logistical and cross-infection reasons and as the tooth brushing is primarily a fluoride application programme, it is important that only a fluoride containing toothpaste is used. Please be advised that only toothpaste provided by the Designed to Smile Programme can be used.
Have a wonderful Easter break.
Yours sincerely
L Sellars
Headteacher
Celebration Assembly
Congratulations to the following children who have been celebrated in assembly during March 2015.
Good work
Eve 3SR
Joseph 6MP
Damien 5HL
Dafydd 1JB
Megan-Rose 2JW
Chloe 5PS
Ollie 2JW
McKenzie 1CR
Jacob RCE
Morgan 4HW
Pen License
Ellie 5HL
Rhiannon 5HL
Hannah 5HL
Tea with the Senior Leadership Team
Joshua
Jake
Max
Cassia
Ezra
Dante
Behaviour
Jensen 3SR
Nicole 6MP
Taylor 5HL
Trystan 1JB
Ellie 2JW
Jack 5PS
Jake 2CW
Mason 1CR
Kay-Dee RCE
Rhys 4HW
SEAL
Daisy 3SR
Sam 6MP
Chantelle 5HL
Cameron 1JB
Kayla 2JW
Tarran 5PS
Rio 2CW
Table of the week
Evan
Kaysha
Tegan
Summer
Marc
Naomi
Dates for your Diary
25th March 2015 Pontypool Community Council Eisteddfod – FP
26th March 2015 Pontypool Community Council Eisteddfod – KS 2
26th March 2015 Easter Service
27th March 2015 Friends of Penygarn – Easter Bonnet Parade
2.00 pm – All parents and carers welcome
27th March 2015 End of Spring Term – 3.20 pm
13th April 2015 Spring Term commences at 9.05 am
13th April 2015 Whole School Assembly – Gregory Brothers
17th April 2015 YR2 visit Pontypool Park
20th April – 24th April 2015 Acorn Camping Trip
21st April 2015 Reception Trip – Countryside Experience
23rd April 2015 Y3 Trip – Countryside Experience
27th April 2015 Y3 Trip – SS Great Britain
12th May 2015 Y3 – School Sports Survey
25th May – 29th May 2015 Half Term – School closed
20th June 2015 Y2 – Country Dancing in Cwmbran
22nd June 2015 Whole School Assembly – “Stranger Danger”
1st July 2015 Transfer Day
2nd July 2015 Y6 – Raising Awareness Workshop
18th July 2015 End of Term at 3.20pm – Summer Holidays