​Dear Parents and Carers
As we come to the end of a long and tiring half term we would like to say thanks again for all your help keeping our children and our community safe.
We have been able to introduce some visitors and events into the school since we all got back together including visits from the school liaison officer, visitors to discuss topics and we were able to have an Outdoor and Adventurous Activity day for our Year 5 and 6 pupils, which did not quite make up for not having a residential visit, but went some way towards it. We have also welcomed Street Dance and Cheer Leading coaches into school virtually. We have been able to celebrate Red Nose day, have a virtual visit with our Erasmus Twin school in Romania and celebrate Easter with a special virtual assembly with Father Dominic form Holy Trinity. Our Agents for Change have been meeting with children in schools in America and China and are working on joint environmental projects along with all of Year 5 and 6. And we have been able to secure some funding to expand our Forest Schools provision so that all pupils Y1-6 will have had Forest School sessions at some point this year. I think you will agree that in spite of all the restrictions, we have been creative in finding ways to make the school experience the best it can be for the children.
Looking forward to next half term, we are trying to keep things as ‘normal’ as possible. We currently still have to work within the guidance on bubbles, maintaining separate start, break, lunch and finish times. We would expect updated guidance in the next few weeks and will inform you if we are able to make any changes.
Normally during the summer term, we would have a Sports Day – whilst we will not be inviting parents along, we will have a week when the children will do Sports Day activities within their groups and we will have a presentation class by class. Also during the summer term, we would normally have a week when we talk about Relationships, and for our 5/6 pupils, puberty. We will also do this next term in the week commencing 21st June (a leaflet detailing our plan and resources we will use will be sent out via Seesaw prior to this taking place). We also have a money week planned for the week commencing 14th June.
With regard to Year 6, we have been told that most of the transition with high schools will be done virtually, rather than have taster days as we might usually do. However we will be welcoming visiting teachers from some of the high schools in to meet with their new pupils in a socially distanced way.
We are unlikely to be able to have a Leaver’s Service with full attendance with parents and grandparents etc, but we will do something to mark their moving on from us, whether it is a virtual service or a video.
Equally we usually have a celebration of some sort to mark their leaving and the end of the school year for all, and again we are awaiting updated guidance to see how we can arrange this.
Other notable dates for your diary are
Start date – Monday June 7th
Reports out- Friday July 2nd
Parent/teacher phone calls-video calls to be arranged week commencing Monday July 5th
 Last day of term –Friday July 16th
First day of new school year – Thursday September 2nd (1st is a training day)
Again, it has been a long term for the children (and staff!) as they are settling back into the routine of daily school, getting up early and getting on with things, but the children (and again, the staff) have been amazing and have adapted so well to all the changes we have made. Some of these changes have been so successful we would like to keep them as we move into the next school year. Please be on the lookout for a link to a questionnaire in the first week back as we seek your opinions on matters such as coming into school dressed ready for PE, Outdoor Education and virtual rather than face to face parent/teacher meetings etc.
And before I go, Mrs Hiller is restocking her sensory walk – if you have any pebbles, slate or bark left over from a garden project you are doing this bank holiday, she would be very grateful for the donation. She would also really appreciate it if anyone goes to the seaside and collects some sea shells for her as they make a great crunch for her walk!
I hope you all have a lovely and restful half term and we can’t wait to see the children back with us for the final half.
Gill Lloyd

​Reminder. Closing date for Year 5 and 6 pupils to register for our SHEP programme this summer is this Friday. So far we have the following enrichment sessions booked:- Parkour Session, Forest Schools sessions, a mobile Planetarium, Samba Drumming and Circus Skills (more to follow). As well as daily sports sessions. Please let Julie know on the school mobile (07930499657) or email me at ghhead@hwbcymru.net