E3+ Holiday Club in Treorchy Comprehensive

A group of our pupils attended a holiday club today organised by Mrs Blackey and the staff at Treorchy Comprehenisve. It is a great way of preparing for next year an sample the many after school club opportunities the school offers.

Holiday Club photo 2013

Here is a photograph of the participants of the Easter Holiday Club. Thanks to Charlotte and the coaches from the Cambrian Village Trust for organising it.

Holiday Club Harlem Shake

Tom and Dom Films at the Holiday Club

Cambrian Trust Holiday Club

Today we are running our first Holiday Club with the Cambrian Trust. Thirty pupils are engaged in sports activities in the hall as the weather outside is rather cold. The pupils are having a great time as you can see from these pictures and come back soon to see Tom and Dom's video.

Red Nose Day 2013

We had a great day on Friday raining money for Comic Relief. We raised £276.24 by baking cakes, dressing up and had a Dance off between the pupils. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Thomas and Dominic are making a Digital Story of the day. Come back and visit the blog soon to see what we got up to.

A digital story about the Song of the Building project

End of term arrangements

As we come to the end of term we there are a few special activities to celebrate Easter and the holidays.

On Wednesday morning we will be visited by some American students who are staying in Gelli as guests of a local chapel and they have asked us if they can take a special Easter assembly in the hall.

Later that day as part of their Cornerstones project Year 5 will be inviting parents to view their art gallery in the hall after school. You are warmly invited to see their exhibits.

On Friday pupils are invited to participate in an Easter Bonnet parade. Please will you make sure that the bonnets are brought in at 9 a.m. Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate parents to this parade but our Digital Leaders will be producing a video and photographs of the event and publish them on this site and on our Moodle class pages.

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone

Using social media successfully

I was contacted recently by an educational journalist who had read my tweets and blog posts during the inclement weather and arrangements for school closures. She asked me if she could write an article for the bi-monthly magazine Leadership Focus which is produced by the National Association of Head teachers. It is pleasing to see that our school is again receiving recognition nationally for the innovative practices that we are employing here in using the latest technology to communicate with parents. Thank you for co-operating and embracing this and it is obvious that the writer feels that this excellent practice needs to be adopted by other schools to build up the relationship with parents that we have managed to achieve at Gelli Primary School.

You can read the article here by following the link and turn to page 50.

Holidays and remaining INSET days

School will close for the Easter holidays on Friday 22nd March 201. There will be no INSET day on Monday 8th April and school will re open with Breakfast Club at 8 00 a.m. Our last remaining INSET day will be Monday 22nd July 2013. School will close at the end of the day on Friday 19th July. I have amended the school calendar to reflect this change.

Max Boyce congratulates us on our performance

Max Boyce congratulates the choir on their performance of Can yr Adeilad at the Park and Dare Hall tonight

Holiday Club with the Cambrian Trust

A letter was sent home via pupil post yeaterday informing parents of the opportunity for pupils to participate in a holiday club. There is a copy of the letter on our Moodle site and the text is contained here.

 

The Cambrian Trust is able to provide us with a Holiday Club at Gelli Primary School on MONDAY 25^th MARCH 2013. The pupils have been engaged in a “Taster day” today and have had the experience of participating in some of the activities that will take place during the day.

There are only 30 spaces available for the day and will cost £2.00 to cover the cost. If you wish for your child to participate in this pilot project please fill in the form at the foot of this letter and return to school as soon as possible. If this is successful we will hope to extend the provision in subsequent school holidays.  

Here is the itinerary for the day.

9.15 a.m.

Register in the School Hall

9.30a.m. – 10.15 a.m.

Session One

10.15 – 10.30 a.m.

Snack & Squash (provided by the school)

10.30a.m. – 12.00 a.m.

Session Two

12.00 p.m. – 12.30 p.m.

Please provide your child with a packed lunch similar to school arrangements

12.40a.m. – 1.45 p.m.

Session Three

1.45 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.

Snack & Squash (provided by the school)

2.00p.m. – 3.00 p.m.

Session Four

Pick up from school hall at 3.00 p.m. or please indicate your permission for your child to walk home by ticking the appropriate box on the form below.

Please fill in the form below and return to school as soon as possible.

Please DO NOT send in money until your child’s place has been confirmed

The School Choir at the Ferndale Daffodil Festival

This is an excerpt from the school choir's performance at the Ferndale Daffodil Festival held in St Dunstan's Church Ferndale last week. It features Poppy and Rowan singing Ysbryd y nos by Edward H Dafis. We hope you enjoy it.

Important information for our choir members

The letter distributed today is here so that parents can made arrangements to bring the pupils to and collect them from the Park and Dare for this week's performances. The pupils attended a chorus rehearsal and sound check this afternoon in preparation for the performance of Can yr Adeilad in the Park and Dare this week.

Year Six coin collection at Asda

Pupils from Year Six are holding a Coin collection in the Tonypandy Asda Supermarket today. Please will you inform all your friends and if they are intending to shop there today they can go along and donate any spare change they have to the Abernant Experience fund. Thank you to Mrs Sims and Miss Dowling for supervising the pupils and to Christine and the store manager for allowing us to undertake this important fundraising event.

Special Easter Menu

Catering services are providing a special Easter Menu on Wednesday 20th March. Here is the poster outlining the menu choices.

Can yr Adeilad

The school choir will be participating in a special performance to celebrate centenery of the Park and Dare Theatre next week. Here is a flyer outlining the project and details of where you may obtain tickets. Please support them and participate in this unique occasion.

 

 

 

Treorchy Male Choir Junior Musician of the Year Semi Final

Rowan and Erin, having been successful in our heat, are representing our school in the semi final of the Treorchy Male Choir Junior Musician of the Year competition. Follow us on Twitter to see how they get on

Special menu for Friday 15th March 2013

School Photographer

The school photographer will visit us on Wednesday March 13^th. Individual and group photographs will be taken of pupils in the morning and family group photographs in the afternoon. I regret that we will not be able to arrange a time for these afternoon sittings and it will be done a first come first served basis. The photographer will begin the afternoon session at 1.15 p.m. 

Dosbarth 8

Dosbarth 6

Dosbarth 7

Dosbarth 5

Dosbarth 4

Dosbarth 3

Dosbarth 2

Rhondda Leader St David's day photographs

This year’s St David's day pictures will appear in editions of the Rhondda Leader in the coming weeks. Pictures are on sale, a large number of parents contact us each year, wondering where they can purchase the pictures. They are available from - Mrs M Gunton 5 Bryn Terrace, Tylorstown CF43 3AU If you have any questions regarding your St David's day picture's please contact her on 01443 733277. Please send your order along with a cheque, made payable to M Gunton to the above address. Prices are a highly competitive £7.00 for an 8 x 6, colour photograph, presented in an attractive folder. Mrs Gunton informs us that each school will once again retain 10% of the money raised by the school, as a good will gesture. The Order number is in the top right hand corner of each photograpgh. Please be mindful that the school is not responsible for ordering these photographs.

This is Dosbarth 1 and the other class photographs will appear here soon.



Holiday club

I have been asked by several parents if the school can provide a club during the holidays where pupils can attend and participate in sporting and other fun activities. The Cambrian Village Trust is able to provide this service at an affordable price. We have been able to arrange a "taster day" for the Junior pupils on Monday 11th March. Following this I will be writing to parents outlining the itinerary for the day, charging policy and asking for expressions of interest. I hope that this club will run initially from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. on Monday 25th March and if successful we can look at extending the provision to include extra days and involve the Foundation Phase pupils.

Calendar update

There are updates on the school calendar on the Gelli Primary Moodle site , please check it regularly as there is a great deal of activities that are planned for the remainder of the term and these will be placed here and communicated to parents by text.

Eisteddfod Gwyl Dewi Y Gellii 2013

This is a compilation video using iMovie showing the activities and sections of performances during the Eisteddfod this year. Thanks to the staff and particularly Mrs Taylor for organising the day. Diolch yn fawr. I hope you enjoy this.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus

Today is March 1st, where we celebrate the life of our Patron saint, Dewi Sant or Saint David by holding an Eisteddfod to bring together all the cultures of Wales, singing, dancing, reciting poetry and writing. The pupils have prepared a class item to perform and we have been holding writing competitions. This year we will see the first Eisteddfod Chair being presented and the fist installation of "Bardd Y Gelli".
Over the weekend we will post videos and photographs on to the blog to show you what's went on.