Education Minister in discussion with School Council

Mr Leighton Andrews Education Minister in the Welsh Government answers questions posed to him by memeber of the Gelli Primary School Council.

Education Minister visits our School Council

Our new School Council was elected earlier this term and today they were visited by the Education Officer at the Senedd Mr Dilwyn Young Jones (back row right) and our own Assembly Member and Education Minister Mr Leighton Andrews (left).  Mr Young Jones talked to the School Council about the work that the Welsh Government undertakes on our behalf in Cardiff Bay and how important a role the School Council plays in bringing forward the views and opinions of pupils at Gelli Primary. In previous years, our pupils have visited The Senedd in the Bay to conduct a meeting in Siambr Hywel and later this term the present school council will also make the trip.
Last year, the School Council worked with the Head teacher, Governors and Staff to raise money to improve our play facilities. They undertook several fundraising activities to purchase a "Trim trail" for the Big yard. Mr Young Jones and Mr Andrews are pictured above with Mrs Dyer, School Council Co-ordinator at Gelli Primary.
During his visit Mr. Andrews answered questions from the pupils and commented on how much of an honour and a privilage it was to represent the Rhondda as an Assembly member and undertake the difficult role as Education Minister. We are very grateful to him and Mr Young Jones for visiting Gelli Primary and look forward to visiting The Senedd in December.

Newsletter 4 Autumn Term

Work being undertaken outside the school by Wales and West Utilities
The work outside the school continues and the next phase will see the area beyond the school entrance affected around Carter’s Corner and into Ty Isaf Road. The road works will free access to the car park and the drop off lane outside but I would appreciate if you would make every effort to keep that area clear of vehicles and take extra care when walking on the pavement to avoid any accidents. May I also remind parents that access to the school car park is prohibited at all times and we will pass on the numbers of cars who flaunt this rule to the police along with any CCTV footage as evidence. I hope that this will not be necessary and we can rely upon your continued co-operation.
The company have assured me that the disruption will be kept to a minimum and will only last a few days until they proceed further up Ystrad Road. If you have any comments regarding this issue, please feel free to discuss any concerns with me or you may wish to contact the W&WU Customer Enquiry Team on 02920 270653 or customer.enquiry@wwutilities.co.uk who will be pleased to help you.

Collecting pupils at the end of the day

I have been asked by our Foundation phase staff to remind you of our policy for collecting pupils at the end of the day. Nursery pupils are collected from Nursery at 3.00 p.m. Reception at 3.05 p.m. from the Foundation Phase Yard, Year 1 at 3.05 p.m. from the Year 1 door and Year 2 at 3.10 p.m. at the main entrance. At present there is a lot of congestion outside the Year 1 area which is causing some problems in dismissing the pupils. I will be grateful if you could consider this when picking up your children and disperse as soon as they have been picked up.

Breakfast Club

I have been informed by Breakfast Club staff that pupils are being left on the premises at 7.50 a.m. This is not acceptable and the school or the staff cannot be held responsible for your pupils before the scheduled start of club at 8.00. a.m. I will have to write to individual parents if this continues and the LA have informed me that if this persists they will withdraw the privilege of attending Breakfast Club for those pupils.

Grandparents Concert

Our annual Grandparents concerts were a big success again this year. It is a special occasion to celebrate Grandparents Day and the special relationship that they have with your kids. We recorded each concert and I have begun to put samples on the school blog for you to see. I have been experiencing technical difficulties and hope to resolve them over the weekend (….  well after the match tomorrow morning)

Harvest Celebration

This year we will be supporting a school in Rwanda as part of our Harvest celebrations. Next week Mr Greg Reynolds from Rwanda Restored will return to collect our donations. If you have not already done so please will you send in your donation so that our plans to use any money raised to purchase mosquito nets that cost £5.00 can be achieved.

Ugly Bugs Ball

We will be holding another Ugly Bugs Ball on Thursday 20th October. The Disco will take place in the school hall from 4.30 – 5.30 p.m. for Nursery, Reception, Year One and Two pupils. Please can I remind parents that theses pupils must be accompanied by an adult to the disco as we cannot supervise any unaccompanied pupils.

The disco for the Juniors will be from 5.45 – 6.45 p.m. You can dress your child up as an Ugly Bug. An entrance fee of £1 per child will be charged. There will be food available, some party games. A further reminder will be circulated in a future newsletter. Proceeds from the evening will go to purchase equipment for the pupils.

Grandparents concert videos

Grandparents Concert

Parents can collect children from school after the concerts tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately we cannot accomodate any parents but if you wish you can collect your children after the Foundation Phase concert at 1.45 p.m. and the Junior pupils can be collected at 2.45 p.m. Pupils can go home with their Grandparents but if you wish to give permission for your child to be taken home please can we have this in writing.
Pupils will be supervised until normal end of school hours if needed.

Parents Evening Arrangements

Can I clarify the arrangements for next week’s parents meetings.

• You and your child are invited to attend an informal presentation by the class teacher of our classroom expectations, our class rules, homework arrangements, information on how you can support your child at home and all other aspects of the class routine.
• This will be followed by the class teacher running through the work forecast which you receive each term.
• There will be a short question and answer session at the end.

Please will you be mindful that we will not discuss any individual children during this time. If you feel that there are any unresolved issues concerning your child please will you make an appointment to see me and we can discuss an appropriate plan of action to resolve this. Younger children will be supervised in the hall by our Foundation Phase staff during your visit.

The timetable will be as follows.
Monday 10th October
Year 4 - Mrs. Johnson - 3.20 p.m.
Year 6 - Mr. Jones - 3.30 p.m.
Tuesday 11th October
Year 1- Mrs. Dyer - 3.20 p.m.
Wednesday 12th October
Reception - Mrs. Dyer / Miss Davis - 3.20 p.m.
Year 2 - Mrs. Fraser - 3.20 p.m.
Year 3 - Mrs. Carly - 3.30 p.m.
Thursday 13th October
Year 5 - Mrs. Flanary-Davies - 3.30 p.m.

I hope that as many parents as possible will attend as I feel this is an important opportunity for us to communicate some important issues with you. Please will you complete the invitation form at the bottom of the letter and return it to your class teacher by as soon as possible.

Newsletter 2 Friday 30th September 2011

Work being undertaken outside the school by Wales and West Utilities

The work outside the school continues and the next phase will see the school entrance affected. The road works will limit access to the car park. The drop off lane outside school will be used as a thoroughfare for delivery vehicles and we would appreciate if you would take extra care when walking on the pavement to avoid any accidents. The company have assured me that the disruption will be kept to a minimum and will only last a few days until they proceed further up Ystrad Road. Please can we remind parents that the school car park cannot be used as a dropping off point for pupils at any time. Your co-operation and patience is very much appreciated. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of this work

If you have any comments regarding this issue, please feel free to discuss any concerns with me or you may wish to contact the W&WU Customer Enquiry Team on 02920 270653 or customer.enquiry@wwutilities.co.uk who will be pleased to help you.

Building work being carried out in the lane from Ty Isaf Road to the North entrance to school

The building work indicated in my previous newsletter is being carried out in the lane behind school. A wall is being rebuilt and I wish to alert you that fencing will be erected to prohibit access to the school during this time. As many of you use this short cut as a means of coming to school I would like draw your attention to this work. Again your co-operation and patience is much appreciated. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of this work

Collecting pupils at the end of the day

I have been asked by our Foundation phase staff to remind you of our policy for collecting pupils at the end of the day. Nursery pupils are collected from Nursery at 3.00 p.m. Reception at 3.05 p.m. from the Foundation Phase Yard, Year 1 at 3.05 p.m. from the Year 1 door and Year 2 at 3.10 p.m. at the main entrance. At present there is a lot of congestion outside the Year 1 area which is causing some problems in dismissing the pupils. I will be grateful if you could consider this when picking up your children and disperse as soon as they have been picked up.

Sound of Music DVD

The DVD of the Sound of Music production has now been edited and copies can be ordered by completing the slip on the bottom of this newsletter. We would appreciate pre-payment and you will be notified when they are available for collection.

Grandparents Concert

We will be holding our annual Grandparents concerts this year next Friday 7th October. As usual, the Foundation Phase and Key Stage One children will perform at 1.15 and the Juniors at 2.00.

In previous years we have received requests for parents to attend. This concert is a special occasion to celebrate Grandparents Day and I appreciate that not all Grandparents are able to attend and that some of you wish to see your children perform. It is proving to be difficult to apply this as many parents are unwilling to co-operate. Please will you assist us in not attending and make this a special day for Grandparents. We will record each concert and put samples on the school blog for you to see.

Harvest Celebration

This year we will be supporting a school in Rwanda as part of our Harvest celebrations. Mr Greg Reynolds, a former deputy head teacher at this school who is now in retirement, visited the school to inform pupils in publicising the work he and some of our former head teachers undertake in supporting a school and the children of an African village. I used our text2parents facility to remind you that the collection was being taken yesterday; however, a large majority of the pupils were unaware of this. A collection box has been left in the school library area for donations. Mr. Reynolds plans to use any money raised to purchase mosquito nets that cost £5.00. If, on average, each child donate a £1 we will be able to purchase 40 mosquito nets that will protect the children of the village from being bitten by the insects while they sleep and avoid them contracting malaria or any other illness. I am sure that we can achieve this target. You may be interested to visit the web site of the organisation at www.rwandarestored.org.

Annual Book Fair

Thank you for your support for our Annual Book Fair during the week of Monday September 19th. I would like to thank Mrs. Johnson for organising the event so efficiently and for the staff who helped with running the sessions so smoothly.

Reporting to Parents Evenings

We are inviting parents to a meeting during the week of October 10^th to October 13^th where each class teacher will outline the classroom expectations they have for the coming year to you with your pupils. The sessions will begin after school and take the form of a 10 minute presentation by the class teacher of class rules, homework arrangements, information on how you can support your child at home and all other aspects of the class routine. This will be followed by the class teacher running through the work forecast which you receive each term. There will be a short question and answer session at the end. Please will you be mindful that we will not discuss any individual children during this time. If you feel that there are any unresolved issues concerning your child please will you make an appointment to see me and we can discuss an appropriate plan of action to resolve this. Please will parents make every effort to attend this important meeting.

Precise details for each class meeting will be circulated in a separate newsletter on Monday evening and appear on the School blog. A text message reminder will be sent 24 hours before your class meeting.

Ugly Bugs Ball

We will be holding another Ugly Bugs Ball on Thursday 20^th October. The Disco will take place in the school hall from 4.30 – 5.30 p.m. for Nursery, Reception, Year One and Two pupils. The disco for the Juniors will be from 5.45 – 6.45 p.m. You can dress your child up as an Ugly Bug. An entrance fee of £1 per child will be charged. There will be food available, some party games. A further reminder will be circulated in a future newsletter. Proceeds from the evening will go to purchase equipment for the pupils.