Here you will find the latest news and information about school events. Please subscribe to the calendar to keep fully informed.
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School Blog Friday 4th February
Mon 28 Feb 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
We start this week's blog with a request from all staff about children's online activities out of school. Learning digital skills is important for all our children. However, pupils of primary school age can suffer harm as a result of accessing social media platforms and games. These can include harm to wellbeing, friendships and emotional health. It can also include child protection and safeguarding issues.
It's important to remind all parents and carers that Fortnite has a legal age of 12, and WhatsApp a legal age of 16. These ages are set because children need to develop understanding and skills to safely access and manage these platforms. Sadly we are regularly seeing the negative effects of online activity on our Llanrhidian pupils. These include children quarrelling, feeling left out, feeling anxious, not wanting to come to school, feeling bullied and not being able to concentrate on learning.
We do a lot of work with children to support their online safety and to enable them to develop their skills as digital citizens. We are asking you to work with us on this. If every parent adheres to the legal limit for these games, there would simply be no peer pressure. Children will be better able to enjoy playing and learning and will have the time they need to develop skills to use these platforms when they are old enough. Come on Llanrhidian, we can do this together! Here are this week's headlines:
Parents' Evening - We are still hopeful to hold a parent meeting during the week of March 28th. (Monday to Thursday) The meetings will need to be run with caution, and there will be Covid safety measures put in place to protect both you and our staff. Each pod will send you an appointment and further details, however here are some of the safety controls we are currently asking you to conform to.
1. Please arrive no more than 5 minutes before your time slot.
2. Wait outside the internal classroom door until invited in by the pod staff
3. Exit from the external classroom door
4. Respect the 10 minute time slot so that all parents can be seen and staff can spray down the table and chair between sessions.
5. Maintain social distancing at all times.
6. Wear a mask at all times.
Easter Eggtravaganza Week - We are planning a whole week of traditional Easter events to lift everyone's spirits and celebrate this special time of year. There will be arts and crafts, easter linked literacy and numeracy, cross curricular work, and of course an "Easter Egg Hunt" and a "Traditional Easter Bonnet Parade". Weather and covid permitting we hope to end the term with a small scale parade that you can attend to watch your child parade their easter bonnet. More news on this nearer the time, but the plan is for you to watch the parade and take your child home for their well deserved Easter Holiday. If you have any ideas that could help make this week a success, or you can help in anyway - please let us know.
Easter Raffle - Please return your raffle tickets help to raise much needed funds for pod resources and Easter treats for the pupils. Please support us by selling as many raffle tickets as you can. We are also collecting easter eggs, chocolates, wine, easter toys etc to create pod hampers as prizes. As always, if you know any businesses who would be willing to donate, please ask them for us.
Comic Relief - Friday 18th March 2022 - This year we will be celebrating Comic Relief by wearing something red to school. We will be supporting our friends at Matthew's House by asking you to donate a non - perishable food item and/or toiletries. If you would also like to donate a small money donation to Comic Relief we will also be collecting this on your behalf.
Have a fabulous weekend
Mrs Caswell
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School Blog Friday 18th February
Thu 10 Feb 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
What a successful half term we have had, but I am sure you are all looking forward to an extra long break. Hopefully we will be putting the winter behind us and we can start planning for better weather. (After Storm Eunice has passed!). At the beginning of term I set the top three pods a singing challenge! "You can get it if you really want" has now been released for you to enjoy! Click here to go to the videos. A big thanks to the staff who always rise to the challenge and have so much fun with the pupils. Here are this week's headlines:-
St David's Day (First day back for pupils) - Our fabulous Dreigiaus have planned a great day, but we need your help to make it a special one for the pupils.
Heaviest leek competition. - Bring in the biggest leek you can find, and we will weigh it to find the heaviest in each Pod.
Wear a Welsh costume, rugby shirt or something red on March 1st!
Easter Raffle - Once again we are asking for your help to raise much needed funds for pod resources. Please support us by selling as many raffle tickets as you can. We are also collecting easter eggs, chocolates, wine, easter toys etc to create pod hampers as prizes. As always, if you know any businesses who would be willing to donate, please ask them for us.
Have a fabulous half term! We will see the pupils back on Tuesday 1st March!
Kind Regards
Mrs Caswell
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School Blog Friday 10th February
Thu 10 Feb 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
We have had a very quiet week (in terms of covid) so we are feeling very positive. The days are definitely getting longer and the hundred daffodils, planted last Autumn, are starting to peep through. The pupils have worked really hard this week, and I am sure that you can see how their work is making progress via our Twitter posts. We are still hopeful that we can have a face to face parent meeting so you can see their books at the end of term. As always we are governed by Welsh Government and Swansea guidance. We will keep you updated. Here are this week's headlines:-
INSET Days - The school will be closed to pupils on 18th and 28th February and 6th June 2022. This will give our pupils an extra long half term. There will also be an additional bank holiday, for the Queen's Jubilee, on 29th April giving everyone a wonderfully long bank holiday weekend. Let's hope for some lovely Spring weather.
School Market Place - Last week I mentioned that we can all help each other in the ethos of reduce, re-use and recycle. If you have "unwanted stuff" for sale or for free, just send us an email with the details and your contact information, and we will share with our families. If you have any of the following to donate to the school, please send in with your child:- good quality toys (not soft toys), books, lego, construction, toy cars, stationary, art equipment, paper, card, indoor planters, outdoor pots, gardening tools, compost.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Caswell
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school Blog Friday 4th February 2022
Fri 04 Feb 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
With January behind us I am hoping we will start to benefit from the longer days, the nicer weather and the prospect of Spring and Summer ahead of us. It has been yet another hard winter, and as we are all facing challenges, we also benefit from supporting each other. So once again I thank you for supporting our staff as we endeavour to put every learner through our recovery curriculum. A huge thank you to all those parents who support their children with home learning. This has been enhanced within the older pods, and although we may not have got it quite right yet, we are very keen to work with you, and our pupils to support progress. Pupils who engage with home learning will find the transition to comprehensive school far smoother. As I have said before, it is not just "what we learn" but "how we learn" that is important when developing positive attitudes to learning. Here are the headlines this week:
Covid Letter from the Director of Education - This week you should have received an important letter from the Director of Education. If you have not seen this please click here. This letter outlines information regarding LFTs and isolation, as well as explaining that schools are still operating within the "very high" risk level. More local decisions will be made on February 11th, however, we have been informed that "School case rates have increased in Swansea every week since the start of term".
St David's Day - One of our favourite days of the year! As always we will be having fun while we learn about this traditional day. We will be singing, dancing, reciting poetry and eating welsh cakes! We may even let the children join in! :) If you can dress your child in a Welsh costume, rugby shirt or something red we would be very grateful. As always we will be showcasing our work on twitter, so please follow us and like our tweets!
Reading Books - Please can we ask parents to return books on the allocated days. We need to re-circulate the books for other pupils, and we are finding this difficult when books are not returned. (We also have to quarantine books for 48 hours). Likewise, if you have any good quality books pupils' books thatyou no longer need, please can we have them for our CAPER system and our reading band boxes.
Llanrhidian Marketplace "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" - The financial squeeze will be hitting us all, but if we can recycle and recirculate resources it will hugely benefit our pupils. Many of you drop us an email asking if we can make of unwanted items. Often we can! So please consider us before you throw away! But please do not be offended if we cannot make use of it, as we do not have much storage space. Examples are good quality toys (not soft toys), books, lego, construction, cars, stationary, art equipment, paper, card, indoor planters, outdoor pots, gardening tools, compost... Likewise, if you have something to offer or sell other families, we are happy to forward an email out to our community. This could be our very own "Llanrhidian Marketplace" that benefits our community and our families.
Health & Safety - Please can we ask parents to switch off their engines at the "Drop off Zone". It is so easy for the car to roll forward and cause an accident. Better still, if pupils can alight on the side of the school gate, they will not need to pass in front or behind the car. We are having a smart new sign next week.
Have a great Weekend.
Mrs Caswell