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 1st July
Tue 28 Jun 2022Dear Parents,
Good news! The weather looks great for next week. So dig out those picnic blankets ready for our sports day! Please see important information below. Please bring lots of spare change if you are going to buy drinks, ice-cream etc. Please remember to support us with the raffle. Mrs Parry is taking last orders for cream teas on Monday. (Send in £5 for a cream tea for 2). All monies raised help us to purchase resources, snacks, medals etc for your child.
Amser tost is going down a storm with the pupils. Not only is it comforting, it is giving the pupils a mid morning lift and we are seeing much better learning as a result. From September we will be asking parents for a contribution to help us pay for this, and we really hope you will support us.
We have been busy updating our key documents which are now available on our website. Thank you so much for your questionnaire feedback which was very positive. Our curriculum design has taken shape over the past 8 years, and we are really happy with the impact it has on learning and well-being. We have bi-annual local authority reviews and we have also had an engagement visit with Estyn this year. From September Governors will also be resuming their visits to school, so you can be assured that what we "say we do" we really do do! Here are the links to key documents:-
School Development Plan 2021-22 Evaluated
Here are the headlines this week:
Important Arrangements for Sports Day Friday 8th July 2 to 4pm:
- Please let us know if you are not able to attend so we can supervise your child until the end of the school day. (Bus pupils will leave school normal time if parent not attending)
- Parents/relatives that do attend will be expected to supervise their own children.
- Nursery AM are invited back to the school for this event
- Gates will open at 1.45pm. Bring a blanket and a picnic.
- We will be selling Tea/Coffee and cold drinks for £1. There will also be ice-cream on sale. (Please bring lots of £1 coins)
- Raffle tickets will be available.
- Younger pupils can use Pengwin toilets, older pupils and adults can use portaloos.
- When pupils are not racing there will be other activities available (parents to supervise)
Order of Events (Times will need to be flexible)
Opening Ceremony 2pm
Races - Pili Pala and Pengwin
Races - Pysgodyn and PryCop
Race - Parent Teacher
Please stay and enjoy our field!
Summer Raffle Reminder - As always we are are running a termly raffle to raise money for pod resources. Please sell as many as you can as every £1 helps us to provide our pupils with the little extras that make their life in Llanrhidian memorable. We will be making up hampers from smaller donations and larger items will be stand alone prizes. We are asking for donations of the following prizes. If you know any local business who can help, please let them know that we will always "Tweet" a thank you. We are collecting:-
- Sweets, biscuits, chocolates, wine, summer toys etc for hampers
- Bottles of champagne, liquor, spirits, vouchers, etc for stand alone prizes
Gower Cycling Festival Sunday July 10th (morning). School Field - All welcome from 9.30 am. - We have been asked to be a "pit stop" again for this traditional event. White Rock Events have already sponsored us a wonderful football kit and are also sourcing us some free portaloos for our sports day. Thank you to those parents who have already offered to run the bacon butty BBQ and to help on the day. We are expecting 600 cyclist to ride past the school so come along to cheer them on! Hopefully lots will stop for breakfast. We expect the first of the cyclists to arrive around 9.45 am.
Weekly Premises Plea - This week we need:-
- Decking planks (New floor for the Pengwin house)
- We need bark chippings for our paths - does anyone know any landscape gardeners or tree surgeons who could sump their chippings in our field?
- Good quality toys eg lego, cars, role play etc for Pengwins and Pili Pala
- Artificial plants to soften our indoor environment
Have a fabulous weekend
Mrs Caswell
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School Blog Friday 24th June 2022
Fri 24 Jun 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly a huge thank you for supporting our "planting day". Our Jubilee gardens are looking amazing - please go and have a look before or after school. Your children have done an amazing job!
We are in the throws of identifying our targets for next year. One exciting target is to strengthen and develop links with our community through face to face engagements and events. We really feel that covid had such a negative effect on what was previously a strength of the school. So now we need to consider how we can re-develop our community links, but make it even better than before.
Sports day, July 8th, will be a great event, and I really hope you will all come. (See below for more details. In addition we are planning for more events next term including concerts, a curriculum design day and our traditional Monster Ball. We have never really had an "official PTA" but your help at these events are invaluable. We have also had our first "Cafe Ceirios" cuppa this week, and I hope those who popped in enjoyed. This is just a chance for you to have a sociable 45 minutes before the end of the school day. We are hoping that this will be "parent run" eventually, and we will just provide one staff member, to safeguard the gate. If you have any ideas how this can be enhanced, run please let me know. eg. In the winter, this could be held in the marquee.
We are currently bidding for a "Big Bocs Bwyd" which is an exciting venture taken up by a number of schools across Wales. Essentially this supports pupils with financial and food literacy and supports the new curriculum to aspire towards its four purposes. However, this project, if our bid is successful, will give us a "community store" where local produce can be bought; where food bank donations can be collected and where pupils can showcase their work. We are a long way off, but we will keep you updated - this could be an outstanding addition to our school and its curriculum. Here are the headlines this week.
Summer Raffle Reminder - As always we are are running a termly raffle to raise money for pod resources. Please sell as many as you can as every £1 helps us to provide our pupils with the little extras that make their life in Llanrhidian memorable. We will be making up hampers from smaller donations and larger items will be stand alone prizes. We are asking for donations of the following prizes. If you know any local business who can help, please let them know that we will always "Tweet" a thank you. We are collecting:-
- Sweets, biscuits, chocolates, wine, summer toys etc for hampers
- Bottles of champagne, liquor, spirits, vouchers, etc for stand alone prizes
Sports Day Friday 8th July 2 to 4pm – You are all invited to watch the pod/year group sports day races. All pupils will have the opportunity to participate in a range of different races. Nursery AM are also invited back to the school for this event, however, they will need to be accompanied by an adult the whole afternoon. During the afternoon there will also be other events that pupils can participate in whilst they wait for their race. We encourage you to bring a picnic and blanket to sit with your family in the school field. We are also looking for participants to join in the parent vs teacher race. Mr G is already in training mode. Let's make this a great community event for all! Aunts, Uncles, Grannies etc all welcome!
Gower Cycling Festival Sunday July 10th (morning) - This event is now live and you can sign up for this here. https://gowercyclingfestival.co.uk/ We have been asked to be a "pit stop" again for this traditional event. White Rock Events have already sponsored us a wonderful football kit and are also sourcing us some free portaloos for our sports day. We have a few staff able to support this event, but if there are any parents who would like to help us run some refreshments and raise some funds for the school or their pods, please let me know. Thank you to those parents who have already offered to run the bacon butty BBQ and to help on the day.
Weekly Premises Plea - This week we need:-
- Financial donations to enhance our environment
- Decking planks (New floor for the Pengwin house)
- We need bark chippings for our paths - does anyone know any landscape gardeners or tree surgeons who could sump their chippings in our field?
- Good quality toys eg lego, cars, role play etc for Pengwins and Pili Pala
- Artificial plants to soften our indoor environment (Thank you to the generous parent who sent us an amazing order of pots and plants!)
Please remember to check out our website calendar for key dates this term.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Caswell
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School Blog Friday 17th June 2022
Wed 15 Jun 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
As we are hurtling towards the end of term, teachers are busy writing reports, completing evaluations of the school year, and planning for the year ahead. Our new deputy head, Mrs Archard, will be starting in September, but she will be popping into school between now and the end of term. Please say hello as she is keen to meet you all. It is such a relief to be planning for a "normal" times again, and we look forward to holding more community events next year. September 2022 marks the official launch of the new Curriculum for Wales and we are keen to work with you to continue to develop a curriculum that meets the needs and interests of our Llanrhidian pupils. Thank you so much for completing the parent questionnaire, we have been overwhelmed with the positive comments regarding our teaching and learning, but also have taken on board the comments suggesting where we can improve.
Thank you to Mrs Parry who has organised "cream teas" for Sports Day! If you would like to order one, please visit our shopping channel by clicking here. Here are the headlines this week:-
Planting Day June 22nd - Please support us with plants and flowers for our "Jubilee Gardens" which you can visit on Sports Day. Every pupil who brings in a plant or plants on this day will be able to add to the pod garden. We also still need more topsoil/compost and large planters!
Year 6 Leavers Assembly - Mr Dowsett is currently planning the year 6 leavers assembly for parents and will inform you of the details soon.
Summer Raffle - As always we are are running a termly raffle to raise money for pod resources. Please sell as many as you can as every £1 helps us to provide our pupils with the little extras that make their life in Llanrhidian memorable. We will be making up hampers from smaller donations and larger items will be stand alone prizes. We are asking for donations of the following prizes. If you know any local business who can help, please let them know that we will always "Tweet" a thank you. We are collecting:-
- Sweets, biscuits, chocolates, wine, summer toys etc for hampers
- Bottles of champagne, liquor, spirits, vouchers, etc for stand alone prizes
Sports Day Friday 8th July 2 – 4pm – You are all invited to watch the pod/year group sports day races. All pupils will have the opportunity to participate in a range of different races. Nursery AM are also invited back to the school for this event, however, they will need to be accompanied by an adult the whole afternoon. During the afternoon there will also be other events that pupils can participate in whilst they wait for their race. We encourage you to bring a picnic and blanket to sit with your family in the school field. We are also looking for participants to join in the parent vs teacher race. Mr G is already in training mode. Let's make this a great community event for all! Aunts, Uncles, Grannies etc all welcome!
Personalised Assessments - We have now completed the personalised assessments with every pupil. Your pod teachers will let you know when the reports have been released. As promised we have developed a guide to help you access the reports and this is available on a dedicated page on our website. Just click on "Online Personalised Assessments" or follow this link. Mr Goremano has developed a video to help you access the reports, but remember you will need your child's Hwb log in. Please remember, these are just a snapshot of how your child performed on one particular day. We have far more informative and useful information about your child's progress, which we share with you through meetings and our written reports.
Weekly Premises Plea and Update - This week we need:-
1. Decking planks (New floor for the Pengwin house)
2. Soil, plants and outside planters (To improve our gardens and fill our new raised beds)
3. We need bark chippings for our paths - does anyone know any landscape gardeners or tree surgeons who could sump their chippings in our field?
4. Good quality toys eg lego, cars, role play etc for Pengwins and Pili Pala
5. Artificial plants to soften our indoor environment (Thank you to the generous parent who sent us an amazing order of pots and plants!)
Gower Cycling Festival Sunday July 10th (morning) - This event is now live and you can sign up for this here. https://gowercyclingfestival.co.uk/ We have been asked to be a "pit stop" again for this traditional event. White Rock Events have already sponsored us a wonderful football kit and are also sourcing us some free portaloos for our sports day. We have a few staff able to support this event, but if there are any parents who would like to help us run some refreshments and raise some funds for the school or their pods, please let me know. Thank you to those parents who have already offered to run the bacon butty BBQ.
Please remember to check out our website calendar for key dates this term.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Caswell
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School Blog Friday 10th June
Wed 08 Jun 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to the final half term of the year. And what a busy one it will be, so please remind your friends and family to read this blog to keep up to date with all the news and events. We had a fabulous INSET day on Monday where we evaluated the year to date. Identifying our strengths and areas for development enables us to plan the year ahead. Please help us with this evaluation by completing the online parent questionnaire. Your views really are important to us and I can assure you that every comment is read and discussed with school leaders. Please be assured that your responses will be kept anonymous. Click here or paste the following into your browser. https://forms.office.com/r/HDbyj305TM
I have to say a huge thank you to those parents who have come forward with donations and help as a result of our "premises plea". We really are grateful. The environment for learning is so important, and we pride ourselves in giving the pupils a place which is clean, comfortable and supportive.
Sports club has resumed and will take place after school until 4.15 every Wednesday, until further notice. Please pick up promptly as teachers often have meetings to attend at 4.15.
Here are the headlines this week:-
Punctuality and Attendance - I am sure you have seen the media raising concerns over how much school pupils have missed over the last two years. Has it affected their progress? Yes of course it has, and we want to support your child so they have the very best life chances. Whilst we understand pupils cannot attend school if they are ill, please help us to help your child by keeping attendance high. As directed by Welsh government, we are monitoring attendance and punctuality and our well being officer will be contacting any families who appear to need support in raising their child's attendance. Arriving to school on time (between 8.40 and 8.50) also gives your child the best chance for learning as they can settle into their pod before the day of learning begins. Teachers report that pupils who arrive early have a far better day of learning than those who arrive late.
Pods 2022-23 - As promised, we are now able to share the teaching structure for next September.
Pod Pili Pala - Mrs Gosney
Pod Pengwin - Mrs Marchant & Miss Walters
Pod Pysgodyn - Miss Colwill & Mr Goremano
Pod Pry Cop - Mrs Archard (Deputy Head) & Mr Dowsett & Miss Weatherly (Student Teacher PGCE)
We will let you know where teaching assistants will be placed when this is finalised.
Summer Raffle - As always we are are running a termly raffle to raise money for pod resources. Please sell as many as you can as every £1 helps us to provide our pupils with the little extras that make their life in Llanrhidian memorable. We will be making up hampers from smaller donations and larger items will be stand alone prizes. We are asking for donations of the following prizes. If you know any local business who can help, please let them know that we will always "Tweet" a thank you. We are collecting:-
- Sweets, biscuits, chocolates, wine, summer toys etc for hampers
- Bottles of champagne, liquor, spirits, vouchers, etc for stand alone prizes
Personalised Assessments - We have nearly completed the personalised assessments with every pupil. Once we have developed a guide to help you access the reports, we will release these to you. Please remember, these are just a snapshot of how your child performed on one particular day. We have far more informative and useful information about your child's progress, which we share with you through meetings and our written reports.
Weekly Premises Plea and Update - This week we need:-
1. Decking planks (New floor for the Pengwin house)
2. Soil, plants and outside planters (To improve our gardens and fill our new raised beds)
3. We need bark chippings for our paths - does anyone know any landscape gardeners or tree surgeons who could sump their chippings in our field?
4. Good quality toys eg lego, cars, role play etc for Pengwins and Pili Pala
5. Artificial plants to soften our indoor environment (Thank you to the generous parent who sent us an amazing order of pots and plants!)
Gower Cycling Festival Sunday July 10th (morning) - We have been asked to be a "pit stop" again for this traditional event. White Rock Events have already sponsored us a wonderful football kit and are also sourcing us some free portaloos for our sports day. We have a few staff able to support this event, but if there are any parents who would like to help us run some refreshments and raise some funds for the school or their pods, please let me know. Thank you to those parents who have already offered to run the bacon butty BBQ.
Please remember to check out our website calendar for key dates this term.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Caswell