Pen Afan Primary School

Ysgol Gynradd Pen Afan

Newsletter

February 2019

Dear Parents/Guardians,

With February half term fast approaching we are nearing the halfway point of

the academic year. It’s a good time to look at what we’ve achieved so far and

to plan ahead for the rest of the year. Parents’ evenings will take place straight

after half term and we hope that you will be able to join us to discuss with

your child’s teacher the progress your child is making in school and how you

can best support your child at home. Please be aware of the huge difference it

makes if you read with your child regularly.

With regard to attendance, we must highlight how important it is for all

children to be in school as often as possible. It is essential that this is the case

for every child to reach his or her potential.

Primary Assessment Week: Tuesday May 7th - Tuesday 14th May 2019 (inclusive)

It is very important that all children are present during these weeks. Assessment activities will be provided including National Numeracy & Literacy Tests for Y2-Y6 in order to set educational targets and to assess the children’s progress. Please do not book a holiday under any circumstances between these dates as tests cannot be sat outside this time frame.

We hope you have an enjoyable half term break,

Mr R Appleby (Primary Phase Leader), Miss R Gierat (Lead Learner) & Mr G Groves (Acting Headteacher)

Safeguarding

With a significant minority, we find

ourselves having to deal with issues

between pupils in school which have

originated from a disagreement on social media, such as

Instagram, Snapchat, Oovoo and so on. We ask you to consider

very carefully the social issues which arise in the use of such

apps and whether they are perhaps more suitable for your

child to use at a later stage of their life. It can be very difficult

to monitor the use of such apps and it may be that you decide

as a parent that your child will be happier if they don’t use

them at all until they are in comprehensive school. Please note

that there are minimum age restrictions on such sites for a

reason.

Diary Dates

Monday 4th March—Pupils return to school

Wednesday 6th March— St David’s Day - all Nursery in AM session

Thursday 7th March— Y5/6 Writers Day @ Comp

Friday 8th March—World Book Day

Friday 15th March— Red Nose Day

Monday 18th March—Y5/6—Flat Stan First Aid

Monday 18th March—ECO schools day

Wednesday 27th March— School nurse—Y3 & Y6 Nutrition, Y4—personal

hygiene & Y5—puberty

Thursday 28th March—Y1/2 & Y5/6 Fire safety assembly

Thursday 4th April—Y5/6 Writers Day @ Comp

Friday 12th April—End of term

School News

Eco Schools

The Eco Committee have been very busy this half term putting our action plan into place. We were very luck to have Matt from Eco Schools Wales visit us in school. Matt taught us lots of important facts about litter, specifically plastic in our oceans. The Eco Committee have been very busy making sure that our school is a litter free zone and encouraging the chil-dren in school to use less plastic for example reusing water bottles.

PTA

Another massive thank you to our dedicated and fantastic PTA for securing a funding bid to further develop our outdoor area. We have been so fortunate to have an amazing range of agility equipment for the children to use during structured times. We have also got a brand new story telling area with tepees and log benches for story time. This has enriched our outdoor area and the children are already engrossed in the outdoor learning environment. We have got another mission in place and we are going to need all of your help. We have successfully applied to Tesco Bags of Help Scheme in the hope of securing enough money to have an outdoor classroom. We will need you to use the tokens in Tesco Maesteg to vote for "Friends of Pen Afan Primary School" from Friday 1st March to Tuesday 30th April.

N Rec Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Whole School Croeserw Glyn Cymer Fed

(No N) NPT

79.7% 88% 87.1% 89.2% 92.5% 90.7% 92.3% 94.7% 90.8% 92.5% 95.8% 94.8% 93.3% 94.4%

Figures are averages for this academic year, ie from September to present. We aim for AT LEAST 95%

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