Gelli Primary Blog on your mobile

Over the past few months I have been redisigning the blog and it now includes a new feature whereby it is now accessible on your smart phones. Click on the Blog site address and the HTML will appear on the screen in an appropriate size depending on your make of phone. I hope this will be of use to those parents who use this service.

This year's term dates and INSET days

This year's term dates and holidays are contained on the Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC website page.

Click on the link here and scroll down the page. There are also the agreed dates for 2013-2014 as well.

There are FIVE designated INSET days for staff training this year and they are as follows:-

Day 1 - Monday 3rd September 2012

Day 2 - Wednesday 26th September 2012
All schools in the Treorchy Cluster will be involved in staff training today.

Day 3 - Monday 7th January 2013

Day 4 - Tuesday 8th January 2013

Day 5 - Monday - 8th April 2013

School will be closed for all pupils on these days.

Free School Meals Entitlement

Free School Meals are available for children whose parents or guardians receive certain benefits and entitlements.

Visit the Free School Meals Page to find out more

Starting School procedures

The Local Authority is responsible for admissions to all schools. Parents are requested to make applications for places in pre-nursery, nursey, reception and to the Comprehensive School. Full details are available in the Starting School 2012-2013 booklet. These forms are available from school or by contacting the admissions team at Ty Trevithick on 01443 744 232 or by e-mail. You can also visit the website www.rctcbc.gov.uk/schooladmissions. Gelli Primary School has very few surplus places and it is advisable to make sure that your form is returned promptly to guarentee your child a place with us. 

Autumn Term 2012

As the holidays come to an end, this is to confirm that school reopens after the summer holidays for all pupils on Tuesday 4th September. Breakfast Club will be open from 8 a.m.
Term dates, including details of INSET days are available on the new Moodle site by clicking on the Calendar icon on the right hand side of the page.

Home, safe, sound ..... and tired

Our Year Six pupils have returned from a wonderful weekend away from their parents in the Abernant Lake Hotel near Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys. 23 pupils accompanied Miss Hatch, Miss Owen and Colin spent from Friday lunchtime until after school this afternoon undertaking some of the outdoor activities on offer at the complex. We hope that each year pupild from Gelli Primary will be able to experience a similar time each year enjoying themselves and being excellent role models for the school. Visit their blog over the next few days to see the hundreds of photographs and videos they took on the trip.

End of Spring term 2012 Newsletter

A newsletter was distributed by pupil post on Friday 30th April 2012.

School Photographs
The photographs taken by the photographer are now available from the school office for you to purchase. Packs are priced at £10. Please pay for your photographs before taking them.

Dinner Money
Please will all dinner money and any arrears owing for dinners this term be brought to school as soon as possible. Mrs. Thomas has assured me that any credits will roll over to the next term. Any parents in arrears will be contacted by the Local Authority. I hope that we can avoid any embarrassment in this instance.

Treorchy Male Choir Young Musician of the Year
Congratulations to Lauren Lewis who performed so well in the Grand Final of this competition last Tuesday evening. She was an excellent ambassador for the school and we are very proud of their achievements. Lauren and a number of other pupils from Year 6 also participated in the Cluster transition concert at Treorchy Comprehensive School last night. It was a great showcase for the musical talent we have in the Upper Rhondda and I hope that our pupils will continue to develop their creative talents in the future.

Easter and end of term arrangements
Easter Disco
We are holding an Easter Disco as part of our Entrepreneurship activities on Tuesday 3rd April. The play leaders have identified some more equipment to fund raise towards and this is part of our plan to upgrade our play facilities in the yard.
The Foundation Phase Disco will take place from 3.30 to 4.25. Pupils can wear normal clothes to school that day and all pupils must be accompanied by an adult.
The Junior Disco takes place between 4.30 and 5.30. They can also wear normal clothes to school that day.
Entry is a £1

Easter Bonnet Parade
Pupils are invited to participate in our annual Easter Bonnet parade on the morning of Wednesday 4th April. It will take place after lunch so will parents please bring them into class when they bring pupils to school.

Easter Service
The pastor and his wife from Mount Zion Chapel will conduct an Easter Assembly in school on Wednesday morning at 10.00 a.m.

Easter Holidays
School breaks up at 3.00 p.m. on Thursday 5th April for the Easter holidays. Friday 6th is Good Friday and a national bank holiday.

INSET days
As we did not close the school this year due to any inclement weather, the Minister of Education has granted school two additional INSET days to the Five we usually have. These will be taken during the Summer term. Monday 23rd April 2012 will be the 5th designated and I propose to close on Tuesday 24th April in order that the staff are able to undertake two consecutive days training on the use of ICT in class and to develop our PESS programme. School will re-open on WEDNESDAY 26th APRIL for all pupils with Breakfast Club open at 8 00 a.m. as usual.
Our final INSET day will take place on Friday 1st June when the staff and Governors will undertake a self evaluation of the school’s performance. School will break up for the half term on Thursday 31st May 2012 at 3.00 p.m.
Details will be posted on the school blog, calendar and we will use our text messaging service to remind you

Website and other electronic forms of communication
The redesign of the School website in under way and more and more items are being added daily. In addition for those who use Twitter we shall be tweeting information via that platform. You can follow us on @gellipri. The Friends of Gelli Primary Facebook page has been mothballed and those of you who have not reapplied for membership will need to do so to be kept in touch with posts. I hope that this amount of home school communication helps you keep abreast with developments at school.