Ysgol Gynradd Tre Uchaf Primary School

End of Christmas Term Letter

Friday 18^th December 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

End of Autumn Term Newsletter

As we come to the end of another very strange term in Tre Uchaf I am writing to thank you for your continued support for our new routines and rules which have no doubt helped to keep our local community as safe as possible.

Your children have been an absolute credit to you, accepting new routines with cheerfulness and positivity. They are clearly happy to be in school and must have been disappointed to miss out on this week’s planned parties, pantomime and talent contest! I am so sorry for the short notice on this week’s change to remote learning and understand the inconvenience to our working parents. This was a Local Authority last minute decision which was taken out of our hands. However, it was probably for the best. Well done to all those children who have worked so hard to complete this week’s home learning tasks!

Fortunately, we were able to get our Christmas film recorded in time, with just one week’s practice and one week to film everyone! The film footage is very long and has now been edited by our talented teaching staff. It consists of by a Makaton Song performed by each individual class and a story about Christmas Past, Present and Future. We have now sent this out by email to those of you who have sQuid accounts. If you do not receive it this way please let your child’s class teacher know and they will send it via Class Dojo or email. We will not be able to copy it onto DVDs before Christmas I’m afraid. We will be asking you if you would like a DVD as a keepsake after Christmas when we will be able to make them for you.

May I remind you that you agreed not to share any part of the video on social media as some parents have not given permission for this. This is the reason why we will not be putting the video on the school website.

We were delighted that nearly every child had the opportunity to dress up and perform although some unavoidable absences did mean that certain children sadly missed out. Thank you for providing costumes for your children and for sending them in wearing the correct costumes on the correct day!

This really helped to create the normal excitement of Christmas in school for our lovely children!

Spring Term 2021

We have been informed just this morning that Swansea schools will now be closed to children on 4^th and 5^th January so that schools can plan logistics for the term ahead, in the light of any further challenges linked to the spread of COVID 19. We are planning for all children to return on Wednesday 6^th January but will let you know if anything changes by text, DoJo, website and e-mail. Staggered start and finish times and rules and routines will remain the same.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and healthy Christmas! And let’s hope for some return to normality in 2021!

Yours faithfully

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

An Important Safety Reminder to Parents!

With an increase in COVID19 cases in our area we would like to remind you of a couple of important rules which will help your families, our school and our wider community to stay safe.

We are becoming concerned that some of our children appear to be spending time in multiple households.

Extended Households (Bubbles)

Families should not mix with other families in their homes or gardens unless they are members of an extended household (bubble). Your household should only form a bubble with one other household.

Essential childcare is one of the exceptions to this rule.

Self-isolation

If anyone in your household or extended household (bubble) has symptoms and is awaiting test results the whole household should self-isolate until a negative test result is received. In these circumstances all children in the household should not attend school.

If someone in your household or extended household (bubble) tests positive, everyone, including children, needs to self-isolate in line with advice from Track and Trace. This means staying at home, not attending school and keeping a safe distance from the infected person, without any contact with other households.

School One Way System

We have noticed a few families entering the school yards through the wrong gates, increasing the risk of coming into close contact with other families. I would like to remind you that all parents and children must follow the school one way system at all times.

Many thanks to the vast majority of families who follow these rules all the time. You are helping to ensure that everyone enjoys the best possible Christmas!

C M Hewitt

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

Tre Uchaf Primary School

Newsletter for Parents Week Beginning 30^th November

Dear Parents,

I hope you and your children will enjoy this little two day break from school while the staff carry out important work planning for the Welsh New Curriculum.

Thank you all for continuing to follow our safety rules on school arrival and departure. You have been brilliant this week! 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. There is plenty of short term parking on North Road and older children can be dropped off safely at the gate and walk safely straight to the yard.

There is now no need to put your children at risk by crossing the open area on Cwrt Yr Ysgol so please do not use the little gate to the estate.  Please do not park in residents parking in Cwrt Yr Ysgol as this is causing considerable stress to our neighbours. There is a strong possibility that if this continues fines will be used by the estate management.

Getting Christmassy!

As we move into December we are busy planning to make this a really lovely Christmas time in school! We are planning to make the best of all the challenges we are facing and you might like to help us out with this as follows;

• We ask your children not to bring in lots of Christmas cards this year as this presents a risk of cross-contamination between many households. Instead, we invite your children to bring in one card to the whole class if they want to. This can be a homemade card or a bought one and should be given straight to a member of the class staff. Your child can write a message to their whole class and their card will be displayed prominently in the classroom. We hope you think this is a suitably festive and risk free option!
• In the absence of a Christmas Fayre we would like to continue the ‘Christmas Wrapping’ stall idea as it is always very popular. We need you to send in gifts which would be suitable for children to choose from to give to a parent or grandparent. Please send in donations of new or unused items suitable for adults eg unwanted presents you have received, chocolates, gift sets and ‘smellies’. Please send them in on Monday 30^th November so that they can be ‘quarantined’ for at least 72 hours. On Friday 4^th December children can bring in £2 to choose an item from the donations and staff will wrap it for them to take home as a Christmas present. Staff will adhere to strict hygiene, sanitising everything between wrappings. This will also raise money to buy something nice for our children.
• We will begin rehearsals for our virtual Christmas Production next week which will be filmed for you to enjoy. We will be asking for your permission to include your child and we can find a way to conceal the identity of any children who must not be filmed for safeguarding reasons. We will let you know what costumes your child needs very soon. The whole school will be involved in the production which will be filmed a class at a time before being edited to create one single production.
• We will be having a school outdoor Christmas Tree which we would like everyone to help to decorate. We invite every child to bring in a decoration to put on the tree. Please send them in early next week so they can be ‘quarantined’ for 72 hours before we handle them to place them on the tree. We hope you and your children will enjoy seeing our festive tree!
• 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 chare for children entitled to free school meals. We will be asking you soon to decide whether you want your children to have a Christmas Party Bag. If you pay for your child’s meals please ensure your sQuid account is in credit, to avoid disappointment.
• Monday 21^st December will be our final day and will be Class Party Day. We invite you to send in a small plate of party food on that day for your child as it will not be possible to share food.

We are really looking forward to the Christmas season in school which, although it won’t be the same as usual, will hopefully be one to remember!

Best wishes,

Mrs Hewitt

Tre Uchaf Primary School Weekly Newsletter

Week Beginning 23^rd  November

Dear Parents,

Thank you again for your kind donations to the Foodbank on Children in Need Day. The people at the Foodbank were astonished by your generosity!

New Routines Ahead!

Now that routines are in place and everyone knows the rules, from Monday we will no longer be ‘checking you in’ on arrival each day. You have all been sent a link to a form which we need you to complete before Monday. Thanks for the 114 forms which have been completed already! This asks you to confirm that you understand all our rules and will comply with them. You only need to complete the form once and I will monitor how this goes next week.

The North Road gate will now finally open again from Monday!  This means that those of you who live nearer to the North Road area can enter and exit the junior yard safely and conveniently without having to walk around to  Heol Cae Ty Newydd or cross the Cwrt Yr Ysgol car park area. (Parents with Infant children will need to do a little detour in order to follow the one way system by exiting the junior yard by the side gate before coming back in through the main gate). Please KEEP LEFT and keep 2m away from others when using this path at all times. Hopefully this will ease the congestion in the carpark because we are still receiving complaints from residents in Cwrt yr Ysgol and urge you to be respectful of other people, their parking spaces and driveways. Some residents are returning home to find they cannot access their driveway or parking space because a small minority of our parents are occupying their space.  If possible please use the North road entrance, St David’s close and park legally along Heol Cae Ty Newydd.

INSET Days

This is a final reminder that we will be closed for training on Thursday 26^th and Friday 27^th November.

Christmas Dinner!

There won’t be a traditional Christmas Dinner in Swansea schools this year. Instead the children will have a ‘Christmas Party Bag’ with a turkey roll and other party food! Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day will be on Friday 11^th December. The cost per meal is £2.40 and we will be asking you nearer the time if your child would like one.

C M Hewitt

Dear Parents,

Many thanks to everyone who has sent in donations to the local food bank and to Children in Need. The people at the food bank are delighted by the amount of food donated and especially because the idea came from one of our children in Year 3. The children have enjoyed their ‘non uniform’ day today and once again showed positive behaviour and respect for the charity they were raising money for. We have raised £270 and this will be sent off as soon as possible. Well done everyone!

New Routines Ahead!

Now that routine are in place and everyone knows the rules, from Monday 23rd November we will no longer be ‘checking you in’ on arrival each day. Instead we will send a form to your email during this next week to ask you to confirm that you will only send your children into school if they, and everyone else in your household is free of covid symptoms. You only need to complete this once.

To ensure things run safely and smoothly, may I remind you of our rules;

· Arrive with your child as close as possible to your child’s start time. Children arriving early without an adult will be unsupervised.

· Wear a face covering on school premises at all times

· Children should not be allowed to mix with children from other classes while waiting in the yards

· Remain at least 2m apart from other families while waiting to enter the premises and in the yards

· Use the one way system at all times and never enter through the exit gates, even if you are late

· Never drive beyond the barrier, even if it is open, are you are in danger of crossing the path of children

I am pleased to be able to tell you that the North Road gate will now finally open again from Monday 23rd November! This means that those of you who live nearer to the North Road area can enter and exit the junior yard safely and conveniently without having to walk around to Cae Ty Newydd or cross the Cwrt Yr Ysgol car park area. (Parents with Infant children will need to do a little detour in order to follow the one way system by exiting the junior yard by the side gate before coming back in through the main gate)

INSET Days

Another reminder that we have INSET Days on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th November.

School Uniform and Gym Days!

Your children have been coming to school in their gym clothes on PE days as requested and this is fine as it reduces changing time and mixing of clothing. Where possible would you please send your children into school with their uniform jumper over the gym tee-shirt rather something completely different! Gym days are starting to look like dressing up days which is a pity as our children look such a good team in their uniforms!

Christmas!

It is almost certain that there will be no live Christmas performances for parents allowed in school this year! However, we are planning to create something involving the whole school which will be filmed for you to enjoy. The children will get to dress up, sing, dance, play music and have fun and I’m sure they will make you very proud!

We will do our very best to ensure the children don’t feel they are missing out on anything this Christmas. There will be decorations, celebrations and parties galore!!

C M Hewitt

Tre Uchaf Primary School Weekly Newsletter

Week Beginning 9th November

Dear Parents,

We have had a very positive first week back! The children seemed to enjoy returning to school after the half term holiday and have been a joy to have back with us!

Our staff are working very hard to help them to catch up and to support them if they have any worries about the current situation. They are also preparing them for home learning just in case they are required to work from home again through another school closure. Please support them by ensuring that they complete any homework tasks as well as they possibly can and as independently as possible.

Halloween Day!

I would like to say well done and thank you to the children for their excellent behaviour on the Halloween dressing up day! On such days there is the potential for ‘over excitement’ but your children coped brilliantly with it all! I hope they enjoyed it.

Children in Need

As the children behaved so well on Halloween Day they will be given another opportunity to dress up on Friday 13th November for Children in Need! The children can wear ‘non-uniform’ of their choice in exchange for a donation of at least £1 to Children In Need. We would also like children to bring in donations for the Gorseinon Foodbank to help our local families in need. Please send in either dried or tinned food which doesn’t ‘go off’.

School Photographs

These will take place on Monday 9th November and will be individual photographs only, with no family groups in order to avoid the mixing of contact groups. They will be ready well before Christmas in case you want to buy them as Christmas presents.

Parking

Some of our residents from Cwrt Yr Ysgol (flats at the top of Heol Cae Ty Newydd) are becoming upset by parents who are parking in their designated spaces. Some have arrived home from work only to find that their space has been taken! Please, please don’t park in the numbered bays at any time as I fear the estate management may decide to start fining people if this continues. I have told them that you are decent people who wouldn’t want to cause upset and have promised I will remind you of expectations

before this situation escalates. With our current staggered start and finish times there should be more space to park on the roads around school and even in the school car park.

May I also remind you to be very aware of children walking around car parking areas around the school. Accidents in this area are avoidable if drivers would please…

· Slow Down!!

· Look carefully before driving/reversing

· Be aware that children can do unpredictable things!

Many thanks for your help with this.

INSET DAY Reminders

Just a further reminder of INSET Days;

o Thursday 26th November

o Friday 27th November

o Tuesday 22nd December

o Monday 4th January

Virtual Open Evening

Pen-yr-heol Comprehensive school are holding a virtual open evening which will be put on their website by Wednesday 11th November. The usual open evening will not be going ahead. You can access this at https://penyrheol-comp.net/

COVID Precautions!

Thank you for continuing to wear face coverings on school premises. This is something which the Local Authority is now likely to make compulsory.

As we are keeping contact groups apart all day in school we would ask you to help us with this when dropping children off in the mornings. Please do not allow your child to run around and mix with children from other classes while they are waiting to go into school.

Contact Us

If you, your child or a member of your household receives a positive Covid-19 test result during the weekend, please email school using URGENT as the reference. Our email address is treuchaf.primaryschool@swansea-edunet.gov.uk,

Many Thanks for your continued support.

Tre Uchaf Primary School Weekly Newsletter

End of Half Term and Week Beginning 2^nd November

Dear Parents,

At the end of this very strange half term I would like to thank you and your children for your positive response to all the changes we have had to put in place in school. Your compliance and cheerfulness has been much appreciated by our staff and you have all helped to keep our school community as safe as it possibly can be.

As we enter another national lockdown, school will continue with the same routines after half term when the children return on Monday 2^nd November. We hope your children will have a lovely half term but do understand how disappointed they must be not to be able to celebrate Halloween and Bonfire Night in the usual way! Hopefully we will be moving towards some kind of normality by Christmas and, while things may not be quite the same as usual in school we are already thinking about how we can make it a fun and creative time for the children.

Some Important Reminders

Thank you for doing your best to maintain social distancing when queuing to come into school. Please remember to do this all the time and particularly at the front gate where parents are walking back towards the car park as others are entering. Please be prepared to stand back and wait if necessary and please never ‘jump the queue’ as this causes tension and annoyance! Also please bear with us and wait if teachers are a couple of minutes late arriving at the gates. They are trying to juggle a lot of jobs first thing in the morning!

INSET Days

May I remind you that there will be two INSET days when teachers will be working on the New Curriculum, as follows;

• Thursday 26^th November
• Friday 27^th November

As the official Christmas holiday is very short this year (only 8 days off!) we have found a way of giving the children a full two weeks off. So the last day for children will be Monday 21^st December. This will be a Party Day when children can come to school in their party clothes and enjoy celebrating with their friends while you do some last minute Christmas shopping! They will return to school on Tuesday 5^th January, Monday 4^th January being an INSET Day.

Other Important Dates

Monday 9^th November         School Photographs Day (individual photographs only with no family groups)

Thursday 3^rd December       Flu Jabs for Reception – Year 6

We will let you know about Christmas events once we have worked out what we can do!

Piano Lessons

A few children are having piano lessons in school with a visiting teacher. There is a charge for these lessons. If you would like to enquire about piano lessons please ask your child to collect an information leaflet from me.

Parents ‘Meetings’

Thank you for making appointments to speak to your children’s class teachers by phone. From the feedback I have had from staff and parents this way of doing parents’ evenings appears to have been surprisingly successful! I would welcome any further feedback from you. If you haven’t had a discussion with your child’s class teacher it is essential that this happens after half term.

I hope your children have a safe and fun half term break. Thank you once again for all your support this half term.

Mrs C M Hewitt

Tre Uchaf Primary School Weekly Newsletter

Week Beginning 19^th October

Theme; Our School Values

This week is our final week before we finish for half term on Friday. This has been a very different half term with so many new rules and restrictions for both children and staff to get used to!

Halloween

I think the children deserve a little fun this week! To make up for them missing out on the Halloween Disco and Trick or Treating, they are invited to come to school in Halloween costumes, or another costume of your choice, on Friday 23^rd October! This will still be a learning day, based in classes, but with a magical and mischievous theme! If you want to send your child to school in a costume could we please keep it fun rather than ‘nasty’!

Parents ‘Evenings’

Thank you for ensuring you have arranged a time to talk with your child’s class teacher about their progress so far this year. So far the ‘meetings’ have been very productive. Thank you all so much for working with us in this new way during this challenging time.

If your child has an IEP this should be discussed at the meeting and a copy of your child’s targets will be sent home for you to keep. There is no need to sign it and send back.

If you want to talk to me about anything relating to your child following the discussion with the teacher please don’t hesitate to give me a call.

DoJo and Email Communication

Communication between home and school is really important at this time so we are delighted that nearly every single parent has booked a ‘parents evening’ phone call! Many of you are in regular contact with your child’s class teacher either through Class DoJo or email, which is really useful! This method of communication is ideal for;

• Letting us know about reasons for your child’s absence
• Passing on simple factual information eg your child will be late the next day due to an essential appointment
• Letting us know your child has particularly enjoyed something in school
• Quick questions which require a quick answer!
• Telling us that you need a chat about something important

Please don’t be offended if you don’t receive a response straight away as I have asked teachers to limit their DoJo communications to the hours of 8am – 5pm.

If you have a concern or something more complicated to discuss this is best done through a ‘live’ discussion by phone or, in ‘normal’ times, face to face. So by all means use DoJo or email to ask for a proper discussion rather than spending a long time typing it all out! You will then be contacted either by the class teacher or myself and we will, as always, take the time to listen.

ICT support

We really do hope that school doesn’t have to close again but there is always the possibility that we may have to close a class. We know there are a few families who struggle with home learning tasks because you don’t have access to a suitable computer device and/or the internet. Would you please let your child’s class teacher know if you think you would need to borrow a school device if your child’s class closed.

Half Term and INSET Days

As you know we finish for half term on Friday 23^rd October. We return to school on Monday 2^nd November. Please note there will also be INSET Days as follows;

• Thursday 26^th November
• Friday 27^th November

Free School Meals over Half Term

Parents of children who are entitled to free school meals will receive either a payment by BACs or a Food Parcel early during half term week to cover children’s lunches over the half term break. If you received a BACs payment back in September you will receive one in half term. If you received a Food Parcel in September, or if you are new to free school meals, you will receive one in half term. Details on how these will be delivered/collected are yet to be confirmed.

School Photographs

It’s school photographs day on Monday 9^th November! This year, to avoid mixing classes and families, only INDIVIDUAL photographs will be taken, so NO FAMILY GROUPS.

The photographer normally photographs every child, even if you may not want to buy, but if you do not want your child to have their photograph taken please would you let us know.

Photographs will definitely be ready by Christmas!!