77 pupils get a Golden ticket

77 pupils received a GOLDEN TICKET from the Lion Challenge  in recognition of achieving over 98% attendance this term. Well done. Llongyfarchiadau.

Dosbarth 1

 Dosbarth 2

 Dosbarth 3

Dosbarth 4

Dosbarth 5

Dosbarth 6

 Dosbarth 7

Dosbarth 8

It's the most wonderful time of the year - Dosbarth 3 & 4 Christmas Concert 2015

Mary and the Angel - The Key Stage 2 Concert Christmas 2015

Dosbarth 3 and 4 Christmas Concert Trailer 2015

Our First Nativity - Dosbarth 1 & 2 Christmas 2015

Coming soon ...................

Dress rehearsals

We will be recording the dress rehearsals tomorrow to put on the Blog. Please ensure that your child has their costume in school tomorrow. May I remind parents that photography is not permitted during our performances. Our policy is outlined below.

Schoop on Twitter

Schoop messages now automatically on our Twitter page @gellipri.

Follow us by going to www.twitter.com and follow @gellipri

Concert tickets

Parents can now purchase additional concert tickets for all performances. Contact the school office.

Schoop has arrived at Gelli Primary School

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Please share this letter with everyone who needs to be informed. Parents, carers, grandparents, childminders etc.

Gelli Primary School is proud to announce that it is one of the very first schools to adopt a new app for schools called Schoop. 

Schoop will improve the way we communicate with you and our school community. With your valuable involvement, your children’s education and the whole school will benefit.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet

1.       On your iPhone or iPad click the App Store button

2.       On your Android phone or tablet click the Google Play button

3.       Search for Schoop and download the FREE app

4.       Run the app and follow the instructions

5.       Enter our Schoop ID 6831

6.       Add the years and groups relevant to you

7.       That’s it – you’re in the loop!

If you have a Windows Mobile, Blackberry, PC or Mac

1.       Go to www.schoop.co.uk

8.       Enter our Schoop ID: 6831

2.       Add your email address and choose relevant years and groups

3.       Select your preferred language, if applicable.

4.       Click CONFIRM, and you’re in the loop!

Need help?

Please don’t contact the school. Schoop will answer any of your questions.

Go to: www.schoop.co.uk and click on Support, or send an email to support@schoop.co.uk

This will be an exciting way to keep in touch with what’s going on in school brought straight to your smart phone.

Da iawn Charlie, Role model of the week

Da iawn Charlie, you have never interrupted Miss Davis, What a role model.

Abernant Experience Fund raising

A BIG THANK YOU to Keesha and her family for doing a Bake off an selling cakes at he mum's workplace. This raised £102 towards supporting the Year 6 residential trip to Abernant in April of next year. Year 6 are also holding film nights over the next few weeks. Well done everyone.

Some good news about our OurJunior Road Safety Officers

Our Junior Road Safety Officers
Natalia, Molly, Ebony Niall and the two Ben's.

I've just receive an e-mail from Shelley Bird and PCSO Cherylin regarding the work of our Junior Road Safety Officers during last week's  which I'd like to share with you.

We are just writing to express our sincere thanks for all the help and support that we received from yourself, your staff and all of the Gelli Primary children, especially the JRSO’s during the Road Safety Campaign. The campaign was a massive success with 49 Partner Agencies working together to raise awareness of road safety issues in the communities of Ystrad, Gelli, Pentre and Ton Pentre.

During the week, residents and children took part in various activities and demonstrations that were all centred around re-educating people on the hazards of speeding, dangerous driving and illegal parking. It was a fantastic team effort and the JRSO’s from Gelli Primary were a total pleasure to work with and impeccably behaved throughout and were a credit to the school. I was specifically asked to pass on to yourself how wonderful the children were by an older resident from Ty Dewi in Ton Pentre.               

A massive thanks again for your help and support during the campaign.

Shelley & Cherylin 

Christmas activities reminder

Christmas Dinner

The Canteen staff will be preparing a special Christmas Dinner for the pupils on WEDNESDAY 9th DECEMBER. Please will you pay for this on Monday along with any other meals for the week.

Hoverboards and Segway - The law.

Following last weeks' successful Road Safety Week in Gelli, Ystrad, Ton and Pentre P C Bennett wants us to share some information from Schobeat.org. They have prepared a leaflet to inform parents of the law around personal transporter scooters such as the Segway Hoverboard

You can download the leaflet from here

Christmas Concert Ticket allocation

A letter outlining arrangements for the Christmas Carol Concerts will be circulated by pupil post today Tuesday December 1st. If your child is not in school a copy is available from the class teacher on their return.

Tickets have been allocated for every performance and you will be able to reserve and collect them from Mrs Thomas in the school office from Friday 4th December until Wednesday 9th December. After that date any spare tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

The school website will be updated over night and copies of the letters will be available to download by following the link here.

Arrangements for Bright Clothing Day 25/11/2015

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment – Parent Survey 2015

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment – Parent Survey 2015

Rhondda Cynon Taf is interested to find out your views on childcare currently available in your local area.  Your opinions are important to us and will help us to develop childcare where, and when, it is needed.

Feedback from this questionnaire will be used to inform the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2016 update report.  Your feedback will be kept confidential and will be used only for the purposes of this piece of research.

I would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete the attached online survey by Friday 18^th December 2015. 

English version

http://surveys.rctcbc.gov.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=l4KHl88

Welsh version

http://surveys.rctcbc.gov.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=l4KI688

Your views are very important to us and will help us to offer support and guidance where it is most needed.

National Road Safety Week and the Gelli, Ystrad, Ton Pentre and Pentre project

This week is National Road Safety week and our Junior Road Safety Officers are invited to the launch of the project in Gelli, Ystrad, Ton Pentre and Pentre at the Gelli Bowls Club in Gelli Park.

Our aim is to bring to the attention of motorists how dangerous travelling at speed is in and around our village.

Here is a timetable of events to attend if you are available.

We are grateful to the organisers and sponsors for their support

Look out for more tweets and posts from the activities this week.

@schoolbeat JRSOs with PC Ricky at Gelli Park for the launch of #RoadsafetyinYstradandGelli week pic.twitter.com/COsFDuR7fs

— Gelli Primary School (@gellipri) November 23, 2015

Da iawn Dillan Role Model Cup winner this week.

Dillan and the other pupils dressed up for Children in Need Day

Llongyfarchiadau Dillan. This week Dillan was chosen to be the recipient of the Year 5 Role Model Cup for calming situations down when pupils have been having slight disagreements and advising them on how best to resolve them.

Applying for places in RCT schools

Parents/carers need to apply for Nursery, Reception or Infant to Jnr/Pri school places for Sept 2016 by 20/11/15 http://ow.ly/Ube1c 

Children in Need 2015

Please may I take this opportunity to thank parents and pupils for donating £303.26 to the Children in Need Appeal this year. Have a look if our name comes up on the scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen during this evening's broadcast.

CBS Group RCT

Parents might like to be aware of the opportunity to be part of this support group.

Remembrance Day commemorated at 11 am this morning

Cerys and Evie wrote this poem for Remembrance Day following our school assembly when we remembered those who had lost their lives in the two world wars and other conflicts.

Our Poppy Poem

Our lives have changed,

We can still stand up tall,

And still volunteer to save Britain,

As we are pure-hearted.

As people in our lives have passed away,

And we are always thinking about them,

They risked their lives for us and other people,

And we thank them a lot.

Mrs Flanary Davies played "The Last Post" and "Revallie" while Mr Jones read out the poem "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.



The winner of the role model cup in Year 5 this week is ......

Llongyfarchiadau Charlie - Congratulations

Children in Need Day - a message from the School Council

Please take a minute to think this morning

On 21 October 1966, over 40,000 cubic meters of debris covered the village of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil, The classrooms at Pantglas Junior School were filled by a build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale, which suddenly started to slide downhill in the form of slurry killing 116 children and 28 adults. This image shows the exact time the wall of slurry hit this house. Please think of those pupils and adults who lost their lives this morning.

Pink Day THURSDAY 22nd OCTOBER 2015

Pupils at Gelli Primary have supported the Breast Cancer awareness day "Wear it Pink" annually. This year due to our planned INSET day we will be supporting it on THURSDAY 22nd OCTOBER.

Pupils are invited to -

• Dress in pink clothing
• Come with their face painted pink
• Dye their hair pink
• or do anything pink related from the Dear to wear pink website.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND CAKES IN FOR PUPILS TO PURCHASE ON THIS DAY.

This is an optional non uniform day and may I remind parents that the school does not require parents to buy specific clothing, purchase any merchandise specifically for the day only to make a donation of your choice to the charity through the school.

Pupils not wishing to dress in pink can wear school uniform. They can, however, make a donation if they so wish.

Please look out on our blog and social media sites for an update on how much we raised

INSET day 3 of 5 Friday 23rd October 2015

The staff are involved in In-service training at school on Friday 23rd October. School will be closed for all pupils. School re-opens after the half term holiday on Monday 2nd November. Breakfast Club will be open from 8 a.m.

This is our third Inset day of five allocated for 2015-2016. The last two are to be taken on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th January 2016. Reminders will be sent out via our school blog and our social media sites

83% of parents don’t know about rules for zig-zag lines outside schools

It might seem like a convenient place to drop off the kids, but new figures show the number of tickets issued for stopping on the zig-zags outside schools have almost doubled in 2 years.

The number of fines issued rose from 14,564 in 2011 to 28,169 in 2013, freedom of information figures obtained by AXA Car Insurance show.

But it seems only 17% of people know stopping on zig-zags is banned at school-run times, their research says.

While it may be well known that you can't park on yellow zig-zag lines, you also can't wait or even stop momentarily to drop off or pick up passengers, according to the UK Highway Code.

The Local Government Association explains that this is because parking on yellow zig-zags outside schools puts children at risk, as outside school gates there are lots of children running around, buggy congestion and little ones on scooters and bikes.

Please do not park or drop off your children on the Zig zag areas outside school. We are working with our community to make Gelli Primary a safer place, please co-operate.

I've reached 10 dojos this week

Well done Rhiana, llongyfarchiadau.

This week's winner of the Year 5 Role model cup is ......

Ella for being an excellent role model and for following the Gelli Golden Rules.

This year's School Councillors are .....

This year's School Councillors are Holly and Mason fromYear 6, Abbie and Connor from Year 5, Sophie and Benedict from Year 4, Iolo and Ayla from Year 3, Max and Holly from Year 2, Mason and Lauren from Year 1, Harry and Ava from Reception and Elsie and Kira from Nursery. They will be working with Mrs Dyer and Mr Jones to help make some vital decisions to make the school a better place. Their first exciting venture will be to visit the Senedd on October 8th to see how the Welsh Government is run.

Dosbarth 6 visit the Ball in the Castle

Dosbarth 6 visited Cardiff Castle this week and had a fabulous picture taken with the Rugby World Cup Ball.

Arrangements for Parents Evenings

Due to photocopying problems we will not be sending notification letters please will you share with other parents theses arrangements for parents evening next week.

Year 5 Role model cup

Llongyfarchiadau Deri winner of the role model cup for this week in Year 5.

Year 5 Role model cup

This week Miss Davis is delighted to announce that Alex is the winner of the Year 5 Role Model Cup. He shared some good ideas with his classmates about counting in 100s and the importance of place value. Da iawn Alex.

Former pupil hist the headlines

Former pupil Ethan Dunning is featured in this article from Wales on line. Well done Ethan on being such a good role model.
Click here to read the article

Staff Training days 2015 - 2016

I would like to draw your attention to the following dates that we propose to use for our INSET days this year. The staff will be involved in whole school training on theses dates and school will be closed for all pupils. I hope that you appreciate that in some cases the training providers are only available on certain days and attaching these to the first day of each term after the school holidays is not always possible. I am endevouring to give you as much prior warning as possible in order that you are able to make alternativre arrangements for chilcare if necessary.

Rhondda and Tonyrefail School Proposals

I have been asked by the Local Authority to inform you that the Welsh Ministers have determined that three of the four proposals that were published by means of Statutory Notices on 5^th June 2015 are to be referred back to the Council for final determination. These are the proposals in respect of the creation of the Tonypandy, Porth and Tonyrefail Middle Schools. The proposal in respect of Ferndale Community School remains with the Ministers for consideration and we expect their decision on this one later this term.

The three proposals referred to above will therefore be considered further by the Council’s Cabinet at a meeting to be held in due course, when a final determination on the outcome of them will be made.

Applying online for a school place for September 2016

As many of you are aware the Authority is our admissions officer. Pupils cannot be admitted into Gelli Primary School without following the LA admissions policy. I enclose a letter which has been distributed to prospective parents regarding the admission process for SEPTEMBER 2016.
I would be very pleased if you could share this information with anyone which it applies to to avoid any disappointment.

Arrangements for the first week of term

Thank you for collecting 'Lids for us Kids!'

Thank you for collecting 'Lids for us Kids!'

On behalf of Gelli Primary School's Green Team I would really like to thank you for all of the lids collected. We have had amazing fun collecting, sorting and arranging them into colourful artwork for our school yard. The children have any more ideas they want to do - so please keep sending us your lids!

Diolch!!

- Miss Davis (Year 5 Teacher / ECO Coordinator)

School Sports

We plan holding our sports as planned this afternoon (July 15th) at Pentre Astroturf.

Please can you familiarise yourself with the following arrangements.

Pupils will come to school as normal but dressed in their sports kit that morning.

Lunch will be at 11.30 a.m. EXCEPT FOR DOSBARTH 1 and 2. 

We would like parents to pick Nursery and Reception pupils from school at 11.30 and bring them to the Sports field by 12.45. We do not have sufficient staffing to transport them safely to the Astroturf. Other pupils will be walked up by staff, support staff and lunchtime supervisors.

Pupils will be dismissed into the care of their parents at the end of the sports. Please will you make arrangements for this as if you are unable to attend and wish  family member or close friend to take your child home after the event you can inform us in writing to their class teacher giving your permission. Any pupil not collected will be brought back to school and dismissed from here as normal.

There will be a £1 entry fee per adult which we will use towards the running costs of the event.

Here is the weather forecast for today for our Post Code area. as you can see there is fine drizzle forecast for early morning which will dissipate by mid morning. There is no rain forecast for this afternoon. There is a similar forecast for tomorrow so I think its best to crack on this afternoon and have our usual well organised, competitive but friendly sports meeting.

 

Head lice

Here is a copy of the latest Welsh Government advice sheet on dealing with headlice.

May I remind you that our policy in school is to inform parents (in private) of any signs of head lice in pupils hair.
We text parents notifying the class where headlice have been detected.
We follow this up with a letter and advise that you seek further advice from the pharmacy or your GP to help you with the treatment.

WE ARE UNABLE TO UNDERTAKE ANY HEAD SEARCHES OR OTHER FORMS OF DETECTION.

Please read the following fact sheet which can be accessed by clicking here 

Advanced information for the School Sports

We propose to our School Sports afternoon on Wednesday 15th July at Pentre Astroturf, starting at 1.00 pm.

Please can you familiarise yourself with the following arrangements.

Pupils will come to school as normal but dressed in their sports kit that morning.

Lunch will be at 11.30 a.m. EXCEPT FOR DOSBARTH 1 and 2. 

We would like parents to pick Nursery and Reception pupils from school at 11.30 and bring them to the Sports field by 12.45. We do not have sufficient staffing to transport them safely to the Astroturf. Other pupils will be walked up by staff, support staff and lunchtime supervisors.

Pupils will be dismissed into the care of their parents at the end of the sports. Please will you make arrangements for this as if you are unable to attend and wish  family member or close friend to take your child home after the event you can inform us in writing to their class teacher giving your permission. Any pupil not collected will be brought back to school and dismissed from here as normal.

In the event of the sports being cancelled we will use our text to parents service and the usual social media sights to inform you.

We have booked the astroturf for Thursday should the weather prevent us from holding the sports on the previous day

I hope that these arrangements will be reasonable. 

There will be a £1 entry fee per adult which we will use towards the running costs of the event.

Information regarding activities this week

School uniform during warm weather

During the next couple of days the weather is due to be exceptional for this time of the year. Please can you ensure that you send suitable clothing, hats and sun screen f the pupils to put on at break and lunch time. May I remind you that if pupils intend to wear short during the hot weather our school uniform agreement states that only black, navy, blue or white shorts are encouraged. Bermuda style multi-coloured shorts that are more suitable for the beach are not permitted as are short T shirts and other such clothing. As usual, your co-operation will be appreciated.

Clothing and other lost property

We are receiving a great number of enquiries about lost or mislaid clothing. There are a large amount of jumpers, cardigans, T shirts and coats in the cloak rooms. On examination the most of these are unmarked and have no individual identifying marks on them. In addition there have been instances where coats with logos such as Superdry have gone missing. May I ask you to examine any coat that has been brought home recently to check that it does belong to you and if it has been taken by mistake you can return them and be relocated with the ones that we have in school.

Haircuts

May I remind you that our policy clearly states that we do not accept hair styles which are inappropriate. This includes stripes, tram lines, highlights, unsuitable colours and Mohican styles. It clearly states in our prospectus and other school documents that if a pupil presents himself in school with such a hair style the Governing Body will support the Head teacher in upholding standards by requesting that the hairstyle be altered so that it falls in line with our expectation. Our policy, which is in line with our cluster Primary and Comprehensive schools will be to suspend any pupil until his hair is returned to an appropriate fashion should you not agree with us. May I also remind you that our home school agreement which states that parents agree to uphold the school rules and do everything to resolve any issues with the school.

Dinner Money

Can I remind parents that the school and Local Authority policy states that meals are to be paid for on a Monday morning, in advance.  This policy is clearly set out in our school literature and regularly mentioned in school newsletters. Money brought in to school should be put in a sealed envelope (which are freely available from the school office) with the child’s name, class, purpose and amount clearly marked on the front. These envelopes are then collected by staff and transferred to our school secretary for processing. Money is registered on the school electronic recording system for accounting purposes. I have instructed Breakfast Club staff not to receive any money from pupils or parents when they are being dropped off but placed in the safe deposit box by the serving hatch. When this policy and procedure is followed it works well but there have been recent instances where parents claim that money has been paid but our accounting procedures cannot verify this. As usual, your co-operation will be appreciated.

Leaver’s Ball

Mrs Sims would appreciate that any remaining contributions to the Leaver’s Ball be paid to school as soon as possible.

May I remind parents that the Leaver’s Ball is primarily for our Year 6 pupils but it is also an end of Year Disco for the whole school and parents to attend. This year it will take place on Wednesday 1st July at the Ton Pentre Football Club from 6.00 p.m. until 9.00. p.m.  This disco is open to ALL PUPILS. Children from Nursery through to Year 4 MUST be accompanied by a responsible adult (18+).  During the evening, the presentations will be made to the Year 6 pupils who will leave to join their Comprehensive schools in September. Please will you ensure that your child remains in the main hall at all times. Come along and help us give them a good “Gelli Primary” send off!!  Entry is £1 per child. Hotdogs will be available on the night.

The Ned Show

“The Ned Show” recently visited us The NED Show is the most popular assembly programme in the United Kingdom. They also perform in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even for special events at the White House. Nearly 2.5 million children will see The NED Show this year! Their goal in partnering with schools is to help improve pupil behaviour, enrich instructional time, increase academic achievement and enhance the overall school climate.

Our agreement with the Ned Show organisers is that we receive the show free of charge, (it would normally cost £1000) and in return we have agreed to make some merchandise available that they will use in the show for purchase. May I say that we are not obligated to sell on the company’s behalf only to make it available and we should you feel that you do not want to support the school in this venture you are not obligated to do so. The company have produced a parent’s letter which will be sent to pupils and parents which we will send home later this week. You can also visit the website at www.thenedshow.com/ned_programme

Please contact the customer helpline for any queries in terms of the yoyos or any other merchandise.

Details of other end of term activities will be distributed by pupil post, text to parents or advertised on our social media pages.

Footgolf at the Rhondda Golf Club

Our friends at the Rhondda Golf Club are hosting an open day. Here's details of the arrangements if you are interested.

Highlights from today's NED Show

Catherine shows us how teachers and pupils work together to become awesome

Each time you rub out a mistake your pencil gets bigger

Charlie tells us how not to be worried about making mistakes

Lewis was given a firework hat 

Catherine tells us to NEVER GIVE UP ENCOURAGE OTHERS AND DO YOUR BEST