Coming Soon New School Menus

Class Twitter accounts

This year each class will have an account on the social networking site Twitter. Each day the class will be posting tweets about what they are up to for you to keep in touch with the various activities your children are involved in each day. Our aims will be to teach them to use social networking appropriately; develop their literacy skills by using just the 140 characters allowed they will need to write succinctly and lastly to improve home school communication. Twitter can be accessed from any smart phone or computer. That's all you need to do is to sign up and follow the appropriate class. Please re-tweet any messages that the class send out to your followers. May I remind you that any unacceptable use will result in the offending account being blocked and reported to Twitter and to the Police if necessary. We hope that this will be a very positive initiative that you will enjoy.

You can follow Dosbarth 4 - Mrs Fraser's class on @gellipriclass4 and Miss Davis and Dosbarth 7 on @GelliPriclass7

You can follow the school on @gellipri and our PE in School Sports @gellipripess.

When other accounts have been set up we will post on here so that you are able to follow each class.

Proposed strike by Unions on Tuesday 14th October.

I have been informed that some of the trade unions are planning a one day strike on Tuesday 14th October. School is likely to be disrupted and as a result I will have no option but to close the school on health and safety grounds. Please make alternative arrangements for child care that day. I will update parents closer to the day and notify you be text.

INSET Days 2 and 3

I have just received confirmation from the providers that school will be closed on WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1st and FRIDAY OCTOBER 17th. These are two of the Five INSET days that we are allocated for staff training by Welsh Government.
On these two days the school will be CLOSED FOR ALL PUPILS as the staff will be participating in training for the Literacy and Numeracy Framework. News of the other two remaining days will be posed as soon as they are confirmed. I hope this give everyone ample time to make appropriate childcare arrangements on these days.

Holidays in term time

I wish to inform you of changes to our arrangements for authorising holidays from school during term time.

As part of the fixed penalty notice consultation process, opinions were sought on replicating a zero tolerance approach to holidays in term time, like that in place in Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil and all ERW (South West and Mid Wales) Councils. The outcome of the consultation favoured a consistent approach across all schools, with a majority agreeing with a zero tolerance approach. Following this, a Cabinet decision was taken to approve a zero tolerance approach with effect from the 1st September 2014.  

With Cabinet approval for consistency across all schools, head teachers are being encouraged to adopt a zero tolerance to term time holidays from the 1st September 2014. Whilst the legislation under Section 7 (3 and 4) of The Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 allows head teachers to “grant leave of absence from school for the purposes of a family holiday for no more that 10 days in an academic year”, the local authority stance is one which will discourage holiday absence unless the pupil and family are exempt under one of the three “exceptional” circumstance criteria.   Those exemptions are:

•           Families of serving armed forces personnel;

•           Parent or child experiencing a life limiting illness;

•           Families that have suffered an acute trauma.

In the event of holiday leave for a pupil being requested by a parent/carer, the school is asked to record the sessions as unauthorised absences in line with the Cabinet decision and then make a formal request for a fixed penalty notice to be issued.

Unlike other circumstances for a fixed penalty notice, a holiday absence will not be subject to a monitoring period (15 school days) for improvement to happen but a fixed penalty notice will be automatically issued on receipt of the school’s request. Payment will, as with other circumstances, be £60 if paid within 28 days, £120 if paid within 42 days. 

School attendance data will be monitored for the use of the holiday absence codes, so that the authority is in a position to ensure the consistent application of both the codes and the requests for fixed penalty notices.

To this effect I have devised a new holiday form to reflect these changes. Copies are available via pupil post or from the secretary's office

Gelli Playgroup Open Morning

The school is delighted to announce that Mrs Leanne Stanton has agreed to take responsibility for the day to day running of the Gelli Playgroup. Mrs. Stanton is an experienced provider of child care and after school provision in the Tonyrefail area and we are very fortunate that she has agreed to give the Gelli Playgroup the benefit of her expertise and experience. Mrs Stanton is working with the Pastor and Elders at Mount Zion baptist Church in order to expand the provision and take it to a new level.

There is an open morning that is taking place on Friday 5th September 2014 between 10 and 11 a.m. where prospective parents can pop along to see the playgroup and chat with staff. Currently there are space available for boys and girls from the age of 2.

Llongyfarchiadau Jamie

Jamie has successfully passed his Level 1 examination on the cornet. He undertook the exam during the last week of term and we had a nice surprise when we opened the mail after the summer holidays to see that it contained his certificate.

We also had good news that Erin from Year 6 had also passed her Grade 3 and as now she is a member of Year 7 in Treorchy Comprehensive we pass on our congratulations and wish her every future success there.

Welcome back everyone

The pupils and staff have returned to school with renewed energy after the summer break and are settling into their new routines.
During the coming days I will be posting updates on here regarding upcoming events such as our Parents meetings, Grandparents concerts and any proposed visits.
We will also continue to share these posts on our facebook and Twitter sites.