Author Archives: LouiseD

Newsletter for Parents Week Beginning 19th April 2021

Dear Parents,

We have had a very positive first week back in school and have been working your children quite hard! On the whole they have been cheerful and ready to learn and are pleased to be back with their friends and their teachers!

Thank you for continuing to follow our safety rules and for arriving with your children at the right times. We have had great attendance this week but please ensure you call school if your child is not well enough to come to school or if there is another reason why they cannot attend. Most importantly please let us know if your child, or someone in your household, has a positive covid test. We will be following up all unexplained absences.

Parents ‘Evenings’

You should by now have heard from your child’s class teacher about how you can book a phone call for ‘parents evening’. You will have a choice of a school time or an after school appointment. It is so important that you talk to your child’s class teacher next week so that you know how they have settled back into school and what you can do to ensure they keep up with their learning.

If you have any concerns following your discussion with your child’s class teacher please don’t hesitate to contact me for a chat.

Your Child’s Progress

We will be assessing the children’s progress over the next couple of weeks but there won’t be any National Tests this year. These assessments will be as informal as possible so your children don’t need to worry about them. We will let you know if we have concerns about your child’s progress.

Summer Term Dates

We are still unsure about what events will be allowed later this term but it unlikely that Year 5 and 6 residentials will take place. It would be good to think we can have some kind of Sports Days

and end of year events and we will do our best to make the best of it all! We will give you plenty of notice of any events which can take place.

There will be just one INSET day this term – 7th June which is the first day after half term.

Thanking you for all your support,

C M Hewitt

Parents Newsletter 26^th March 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Well here we are at the end of yet another unusual term! Finally we have all our children back together and almost every single one of them seems happy to be in school with their friends and learning face to face once again.

As you know, school finishes for Easter today and we return to school on Monday 12^th April. Please remember to book your children into Breakfast Club by Friday morning each week as we have to limit numbers for each year group.

Kids’ Club will restart after Easter so please book your child’s place in the usual way. With changing work patterns, numbers of children requiring kids club are falling, making the club less able to pay for itself. I’m sure you will understand that it will only be possible to continue kids club beyond the May half term if there are enough bookings coming in.

Head teacher Appointment

I am very pleased to be able to report that our current Deputy Head Teacher, Mrs Louise Davies, has been appointed as your new Head Teacher from September! Our staff are thrilled about this and I’m sure the children will be too when we tell them. There were many strong applicants for the role and the governors and the Local Authority were unanimous in their decision to appoint Mrs Davies following an excellent interview and outstanding presentation! Personally I am delighted to be leaving Tre Uchaf in such good hands and I know that the school will go from strength to strength under Mrs Davies’ leadership.

This means that soon we will be appointing a new Deputy Head. We will be advertising this job as soon as possible and will keep you informed as soon as we have news.  Exciting times!

Parents Meetings

You will have the opportunity to speak with your child’s class teacher by phone during the week beginning 19^th April. You will have the choice of a school time or an after school time slot and we will let you know on the first day back which days are available and how to book. It is more important than ever that you have this meeting with your child’s class teacher after such a disrupted year.

Year 6 Transition

Arrangements are being made for the Year 6 transition to Penyrheol. Staff from Penyrheol will visit Tre Uchaf to discuss all our year 6 children, including any needs they may have. There are also transition days planned for 5^th and 6^th July. These will go ahead if they possibly can.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter-time. I hope you and your children can enjoy some sunshine and outdoor time during this holiday!

Yours faithfully

C M Hewitt

Parents Newsletter Friday 19^th March 2021

Dear Parents,

It was a pleasure to welcome our Key Stage 2 children back to school this week! They have returned in good spirits, pleased to see their friends and ready to learn! Let’s hope for a healthy and covid free final term.

We have been giving the children lots of opportunities to exercise in the outdoor areas so please ensure they are wearing appropriate footwear so they can run around and improve their fitness!

Safety for All

May I remind you that the safety and success of a continued and permanent return to school depends on all of us following the rules. The previous one way system is back in place and all parents should enter and leave the site using the correct gates. We have noticed a few parents entering through the junior yard gate. There is now a No Entry sign on the gate to remind you that this an exit only. Thank you for helping with this as this will minimise the risks of parents crossing paths.

We would like to thank everyone for wearing face masks on the school site but need to remind you that masks should be worn properly ie over both the nose and mouth! Social distancing has been generally good but please keep a check on this and ensure you stay 2m away from others, even if they are your friends!

Most importantly, we need to ensure that no child attends school if there is someone who has had covid symptoms in their household, until that symptomatic person has had a negative test. If we become aware that any child has been in close contact with someone with covid symptoms we will ask you to collect them, and any siblings from school. If the child appears at all unwell they will be isolated until you collect them. If you are in any doubt about whether your child should attend school please contact school to discuss it. Thank you.

Comic Relief

The children enjoyed the Comic Relief activities in school today and we raised £ 216.  Many thanks for your donations.

Parents Evenings

As in the Autumn Term we will carry out ‘Parents Evening’ by phone during the week beginning 19^th April. This went well in the Autumn Term and proved to be more efficient with less queuing! We will be offering appointments both during the school day and after school. Your child’s class teacher will let you know how you can book a slot. As you will realise this won’t be like our normal parents evening as we won’t be able to share your child’s work with you. However, we know that many of you will have seen the work your child has been doing during school closure and will be in a better position than ever before to understand your child’s learning. Please do book a slot and be assured that we will not be making any judgements on how you managed the difficult challenge of getting your children to engage in remote learning!

New Head Teacher Appointment

As you should already know from the video included in my newsletter of 22^nd February, I will be retiring at the end of this academic year. This is nothing to do with the pandemic as I made this decision quite some time ago! I have family who live far away and a baby grandson to spend time with so it’s time for me to move on to the next chapter. The Governors are in the process of appointing a new head teacher and this should be finalised before we finish for Easter. May I assure you that they are working extremely professionally to ensure you have the right person to lead the school from September. I will update you when we have confirmed news on this.

Easter Fun!

On Friday 26^th March the children are invited to join in with our usual Easter competitions. Foundation Phase (infant) children are invited to create and wear an Easter Hat. Key Stage 2 (junior) children are invited to decorate an egg and bring it in – any theme is fine! All activities will be done in a socially distanced way eg an outdoor Easter hat parade!

School finishes for Easter on Friday 26^th March and we return on Monday 12^th April. Half term is from 31^st May – 4^th June. Please stay safe and keep to the restrictions for just a little longer so that we can keep school open and safe for the rest of the school year.

Thank you again for everything you have done during school closure. We will do our best to give your children everything they deserve now that they are back with us in school.

Yours faithfully

C M Hewitt

Messages for Parents week beginning 8^th March 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome Back!

We have had a fabulous first full week back for our younger children who have been an absolute credit to you in the way they have settled back into school! They have enjoyed St David’s Day and World Book Day and all the fun of dressing up this week.

Thank you so much for following our one way system, social distancing and wearing face masks on school premises. I know the 2m yellow lines at the doors are taking a bit of getting used to but well done to everyone who has managed to stay out of this zone! Remember you can place your child’s items in the class box provided, help your children to be independent by carrying their own items into school.

The other good news is that we will be welcoming our older children (y3 – 6) back on Monday 15^th March and we can’t wait to see them all!  Breakfast Club will also be open  from 15^th March. This will be along the lines of the Autumn Term breakfast club, with Rec- Y2 in the hall and Y3 – Y6 in the gym. Numbers will be limited and there will be a booking system. I will confirm this with you soon.

School dinners will start again for Junior children on 15^th March so please ensure your sQuid account is topped up if you normally pay for your child’s dinners.

We don’t intend to run our Kids Club after school until after Easter. However, if there is enough demand for it we will consider opening. Would you kindly let us know on Monday if this is something which you rely on and need now. Please telephone Mrs Seager in the school office to confirm this information. The amount of children attending since September has been considerably low so we would appreciate your support

Vision Tests for Reception Children

On Tuesday the school nurse will be attending to carry out eye tests for our Reception children. This will be done in a socially distanced way in the school hall. You need to let us know if you do NOT want your child to be tested.

Staff Covid Tests

Staff are currently being tested for Covid 19 on a twice weekly basis. This means that we can quickly become aware of any asymptomatic cases in the school.

Where a positive staff case has been in contact with their class within 48 hours before getting the result the class will be required to self-isolate. Where the case is diagnosed just beyond the 48 hour period since contact with children we will let you know about this so that you can be aware of the risk.

Afternoon Nursery Timetable

We have been rethinking our Nursery timings as we can see that the current timings are not really working for some of you! We have rearranged our lunchtime routines so that Nursery children can start at 12.50 without crossing other contact groups. They will then finish at 3.05, leaving just a little space after 3pm pick ups. We hope this will be helpful to you and we will start this routine from Monday 8^th March.

Parents Evenings

These were originally planned for the week beginning 15^th March! I’m sure you will agree that these discussions are best left until all the children have been in school for a few weeks. So it is likely that parents evenings will take place, by phone, during the week beginning 19^th April.

Not long now for our junior children! Please encourage them to do what they can over this next week to help them feel confident and ready for their return to school.

Best wishes and looking forward to good times ahead!!

C M Hewitt

PS Could parents please ensure you have seen my video message from 22^nd February on our News Page on our website. This contains an important message, mainly for the children.

Friday 26^th February 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

This has been a really exciting week as we have welcomed our younger children back to their classes. All of them, including our very youngest nursery starters, have come to school with a cheerful and positive attitude and are settling really well into school routines.

Thank you for reading all the guidance I have sent out and for bringing your children in at the right time, to the right entrances and on the right days! This has helped things to run smoothly and safely.

Your children are so full of news but sadly some of this has been about playdates, sleepovers and haircuts in other households! This mixing of households is not permitted in Tier 4and could spoil the efforts of the majority of our community to stay safe. If this continues we feel it would be reasonable to ask the families involved not to attend school.

Next week promises to be even more exciting with all our infant children in, with St David’s Day on Monday and World Book Day on Thursday! I know that the children are busy creating Welsh themed competition items ready for next week.

On Monday our infant children can come to school in their St David’s Day costumes, something else Welsh themed or simply something in one of the Welsh flag colours (white, green or red). Our junior children can also wear something with a Welsh theme for their special St David’s Day Teams meeting. Please don’t worry about this at all. School uniform will do perfectly well as it’s red!!

The Teams meeting times are as follows;

10.30am-Yr 6              11.15am- Yr 4             1pm- Yr 3            1.30pm –JSTF

2.30pm- Yr 5

On Thursday and probably throughout the week classes will be doing lots of Reading and Book themed learning. Your children do not need to dress up on World Book Day but they are welcome to do so if you want to get an outfit together! Please don’t go out and buy expensive costumes for this. A cheap and easy book themed option would be to wear pyjamas (bedtime story outfit!)

School dinners start again on Monday. If you normally pay for your child’s dinners please ensure your sQuid account is topped up. Your child will need to continue to bring a fruit snack and a drink.

Please ensure you have the ‘Schoop’ App so that you can easily receive text messages from us. Register using ID 8821 and add yourself to your children’s classes.

Your child’s teacher should have let you know which day your Foundation Phase (infant) child needs to wear their PE kit.

Finally, we have a number of ‘gaps’ in our reading book stock as some of our children have returned without their reading books. Would you kindly take a look around at home and send in any you find. Would you also please try to find your child’s Reading Record. Many thanks!

Please remember that you can contact me by email at HewittC23@hwbcymru.net if you have concerns or questions about the return to school or about remote learning.

Take care, stay safe and look after yourselves!

C M Hewitt

Update for Parents 12^th February 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Many thanks for your patience this week while we have been once again dealing with changes in guidance from the Local Authority. Please ensure you have thoroughly read the letter on our website from the Director of Education.

We are very excited and relieved to be welcoming back our Foundation Phase children after half term. I’m sure you feel the same and can’t wait for a full return! We are really sorry Key Stage 2 children will have to continue with remote learning for a while longer. This is a Welsh Government decision but is probably for the best as we must take things slowly in order to ensure everyone stays safe. I will let you know as soon as I know when they are likely to return.

I would like to clarify arrangements for the first week back.

Monday 22^nd February; This is a planning day for teachers to finalise safety routines, risk assessments and operational plans

Tuesday 23^rd February On-site provision begins for Key Stage 2 (year 3- 6) only. Please ensure you have booked your child’s place. This provision is only for the children of key workers on the days they are working and for those children who have been identified as vulnerable.

No Foundation Phase (Nursery – Y2) children will attend school on this day in order to preserve contact bubbles. Staff will be preparing classrooms and putting new safety measures in place.

You should have received a message by DoJo stating which days your child will attend during the first week. We feel that returning the children in smaller groups will be better for their well-being.

Wednesday 24^th February; Half of each Foundation Phase class will attend school at the times set out below.

Thursday 25^th February; The other half of each Foundation Phase class will attend.

Friday 26^th February; All Foundation Phase children will attend from this day.

On-site Provision

As you know we have previously offered this from 8am until 4pm. We are really sorry that we have had to shorten the time to 8am until 3pm. This is due to staffing availability and the need to simplify sibling pick up times to avoid too many different contact groups crossing paths. I know this may be a challenge for working parents but we have been told not to run before and after school provision. We have taken the decision to open at 8am, ONLY for children whose parents NEED to get to work earlier.

All children will need to bring drinks, snacks and a packed lunch for this first week back and there will be no breakfast club until further notice.

I hope you will enjoy the break from home learning over half term as much as our staff will enjoy a break from setting work! If you need to contact us over half term with concerns or important information please contact me directly at HewittC23@hwbcymru.net rather than your child’s class teacher. I will be checking my emails throughout half term and will contact you if needed.

I remain optimistic that we will have a full return to school before Easter so that we can all enjoy the remainder of the school year, safely and together! This has been a very challenging time for all of you and I hope you have felt well supported by school. As you know, if you are facing extreme challenges, we are here for you and we hope you will contact us.

Finally, I would like to remind you that school attendance is compulsory for all Foundation Phase children, except those who have a shielding letter. May I assure you that we will do everything we can to ensure your children are kept safe and happy on their return to school.

Please keep checking our website for further information on safety procedures and new routines in advance of return to school.

You may have seen our latest staff video on the website. If not, please take a look. We think your children will enjoy this!

Yours faithfully,

C M Hewitt

Newsletter for Parents 5^th February 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Return to School

We are expecting a further announcement today regarding return to school but it may be a few days before we can give you definite dates. There is a meeting on Monday afternoon for Swansea head teachers at which we should receive further information. So I hope to get some definite information to you by Tuesday.

I do know how much you are wishing for a return to some kind of normality for your children, and we are too! This situation is putting a strain on children, parents and staff and we all want to see an end to it! It looks likely that Foundation Phase (infant) children will return first, possibly in smaller groups to start with. It will be very important to ensure that school is as safe as possible so we will be taking advice and doing lots of planning over these next couple of weeks.

On-site Provision

May I ask that parents of children attending our on-site provision consider very carefully whether there are any days on which they can safely keep their children at home. There is a lot of demand for places so we would ask you to give us as much notice as possible if your child is not going to attend so that the place can be freed up for a family in need of it. Thank you.

Home Learning

Thank you again for your support for your children’s home learning tasks. Many of your children are engaging brilliantly. As I have said before, your family’s safety and well-being is the most important thing so please do not be anxious if you are unable to complete all the tasks set! Just a little each day is fine if you’re struggling.

Please don’t forget to send your child’s work in for the staff to see, either by email, DoJo or even by post. You can also drop off work for marking to school if you’re out and about for your daily exercise. This is important because we know how much your children enjoy receiving feedback from their teachers!

We finish for half term on Friday 12^th February. School will be closed and no home learning tasks will be set until Monday 22^nd February.

I will be in touch soon with arrangements for return to school (fingers crossed!)

Best wishes

C M Hewitt

Parents Newsletter 29^th January 2021

Dear Parents,

Many thanks for completing our Home Learning questionnaire and for your overwhelmingly positive responses! It is very encouraging to see how much you appreciate what staff are doing, particularly the videos, which actually take a long time and lots of technical skills to create!

We are now looking at ways to act upon your suggestions and concerns and are planning ways to increase live interaction for your children with staff. We will let you know about new opportunities for this very soon.

Teams Meeting for Parents!

If any parents would like to join a live Teams meeting with me to discuss issues further, on Tuesday afternoon at 3pm, would you please let me know and I will set up invitations for you. Please email me on HewittC23@hwbcymru.net.

I would like to invite any of you who want to, to contact me on this address, which is my direct email. Please get in touch if you want to let me know about anything, to raise any concerns or to discuss remote learning. I would also like to remind you that I am available in school Monday to Thursday 8am – 5pm if you would like to call me. Alternatively you can call Mrs Davies on Fridays.

Return to School

We are expecting  further announcements regarding a return to school sometime next week. Probably on Friday. I will keep you informed as best I can.

Remote Learning

Many of your children are engaging really well in remote learning but we do understand that this is easier for some of you than others. Please just do what you can, even if it’s only a little every day. It is important that you let us know if you are struggling, for whatever reason, so please stay in touch with your child’s class teacher who will be supportive and helpful and never judgemental.

For those of you whose children are keen for more learning opportunities look out for suggestions from their teachers on what additional tasks children can do.

Staff have been busy uploading stories to the website. We hope you will direct your children to these if you think they will enjoy seeing familiar staff read stories to them.

Emergency Childcare

As our childcare is now becoming quite full we would ask you to remember that the safest place for your child is at home. While we will always be there for your child where there is no alternative and you need our help, we would ask you to consider carefully whether there are days and times when they can be safely supervised at home instead.

Half term is 15^th – 19^th February and will be a break for both children and staff so Emergency Childcare will not be available and no work will be set (which I know will be a relief to some families!)

Pupil of the month

Our pupil of the month assembly will be posted on the school website later today. Well done to all those children who have been recognised by the staff! They had a difficult job this month as there were so many to choose from.

Flexi-Fridays!

We hope you like our Flexi-Fridays when no new work will be set so that you can catch up and also allow your children to pursue new interests. This is not a ‘day off’ for children or staff and children can continue to send in work which they have finished off. We would also love to see anything new skills which your children are trying out on these days! They can also talk about this at their Teams meetings.

Chromebooks

Just a reminder that any Chromebooks lent out should be used to engage in school work. If they are not being used I will be asking for them back this week. Please let us know if you need any support with accessing remote learning as we may now be in a position to offer to lend more devices.

Please let me know if you would like to join the parents’ discussion on Tuesday so that I can send you an invitation. I look forward to meeting with you!

Best wishes,

C M Hewitt

Dear Parents

Yesterday came as a surprise to us all, to be moving to remote learning from next week.  We had so many lovely things planned for the children including Christmas parties and an online pantomime. However, they’ve had a fun filled day in class today completing crafts, wearing their Christmas jumpers, enjoying Christmas lunch, Christmas films and other festivities!

From Monday class teachers will provide activities for your child to complete at home. Some of these activities will involve online learning through Hwb, Mathletics/Maths seeds or Reading eggs. Other tasks will be more practical tasks related to Christmas. Children from Nursery to Year 4 will have activities communicated through class dojo and children in Year 5 and 6 will access their activities through the school website or by email. School is open next week for children of critical workers and children identified as vulnerable by social services. Staff will be on hand to answer any queries you may have about the activities if you need help and support. Please contact us through class dojo or by telephoning the school office. All children have been given log in details or passwords if they are needed.

As we move into this next phase of remote learning, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support. You have accepted our new systems and rules, different ways of working and our ‘new normal‘ with kindness and a smile and we are all extremely grateful.  We will continue to post new messages on the news page of our website so please keep checking for any new information. Who knows what will happen next!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Davies

Tre Uchaf Primary School

Newsletter for Parents Week Beginning 7^th December

Dear Parents,

Thank you all for continuing to follow our safety rules on school arrival and departure. May I remind you that the North Road entrance leading to the junior yard is now open and I would urge you to use this entry point to the premises if this is convenient for you as it is currently used by very few families. Please ignore the ‘One Way’ signs which have been mistakenly put up along this path. This is a two way route which should have ‘Keep Left’ signs! I will get this put right asap.

Christmas

Just a couple of festive reminders;

• We will be breaking up for the Christmas holiday on Friday 18^th December at 3pm.
• If children would like to bring Christmas cards in, we ask that they just bring ONE for the whole class. These will be displayed in the classroom.
• Thank you for sending in a huge number of donations for our Christmas wrapping stall! The wrapping is underway as I write!
• You will have received a letter letting you know about your child’s contribution to the Tre Uchaf Christmas Movie. Please send your child to school in their costume on their filming day next week so that we can avoid too much close contact while helping them to change. It is very important that you sign the consent form to allow your child to take part as we are not allowed to film your child without this. We will be editing the film next week and will let you know soon how you can buy the DVD or view the film another way.
• We now have two outdoor Christmas trees. Thank you for your donations of decorations!
• Christmas Jumper and Christmas Dinner Day will be on Friday 11^th December. The dinner will be a turkey roll and party food delivered in a special Christmas Party Bag. The cost of the dinner is £2.40 per child and there will be no charge for children entitled to free school meals. If you want your child to have a Christmas party bag it is essential that your sQuid account is in credit.
• You will have received a text letting you know that in order to reduce the risk of anyone in our school community having to isolate over Christmas we will now be finishing on Friday 18^th December.
• Parties will now be on;
  • Monday 14^th December Juniors
  • Tuesday 15^th December Infants

Please send in a small plate or box of food for your child, ensuring that everything is fully sealed or ready wrapped. There will be no sharing of food. The child can wear party clothes on that day.

sQuid Accounts

We will be audited very soon and our sQuid accounts will be looked at to check that everyone is in credit. Please ensure your account is  always in credit.

Christmas present stall

Thank you all so much for the donations for the Christmas present stall today. I’m sure you will all be delighted with the gifts your children have chosen for you! We have raised a whopping £356! The children are already planning to use it to develop our Solar shack in the Key stage 2 yard and also to purchase playground boxes for each class. Thank you to all children, parents and staff for your help in organising this lovely Christmas event for the children.

Accessing Home Learning

The Local Authority have asked us to send you a questionnaire regarding your child’s access to digital learning. The link to the questionnaire is here. We will also send it to you by text. Please complete this important survey as we may be able to help you out if you need it should your child’s class have to close due to the pandemic.

https://forms.gle/ZVZvpALvVnbsVfWUA

Piano Lessons

We are able to offer piano lessons here in school and some child are accessing this already. This is a private arrangement between you and the piano teacher and unlike violin lessons, which are paid for by school, there is a charge for this. If you like would to know more please let us know and we will send the information home with your child.

Children will now return to school on Monday 4^th January as they will have had the full two weeks off with the slightly earlier finish. Apologies for any confusion due to date changes!!

Best wishes,

Mrs Hewitt