Many thanks to our One World Club and top all the pupils and parents who have contributed to today's fundraiser in aid of relief to those caught up in the Australian Bush Fires. Our final total was £160. I am very proud of our pupils for thinking of others and offering to help. Next week Mrs Hughes and some members of the team are heading over to Ysgol San  Sior in Llandudno to meet with other One World groups and see what they have been up to too.
Also next week we have our Young Voices Event in Manchester. Miss Cross, Mrs Roberts, Miss Grey and Mrs Cowling have been working very hard with the choir and I think it is safe to say we have some very excited pupils (and staff) who are counting down the hours!

And advanced  notice as we head to half term on February 14th.... Friends of Maesglas have arranged a disco in school on THURSDAY 13th FEBRUARY. Infants including nursery 4-5pm and juniors 5-6pm. Watch out for the posters nearer to the date!

Have a lovely weekend all and thanks again for your support today.

Can I just issue two polite reminders to parents please?

Firstly can I remind you that as a school we stick to the Welsh Government Guidelines that only fresh fruit or vegetables are allowed at break times. It is very confusing for the pupils if we have to ask them to stop eating yogurt or fruit energy bars etc at break times as these, whilst having a healthy element, are not within the Welsh Government Guidelines. Their rules at lunchtimes are different and this is why we do not place any restrictions on what your child has in the lunchbox (whilst of course encouraging a healthy meal)


Secondly can I politely request that you do not share any photos from our school twitter feed on your own personal Facebook page. 

Many thanks for your attention to these matters.

As always, a busy start to the term here with lots of things going on! Our Romanian visitors arrived the first week of term and were warmly welcomed by staff, pupils and parents. 

We have already  had some sporting successes with Girl's Football and Netball. 

We have had an evacuee day in year 6, CPR and Defib training, Scooter workshops and the first of the Transition Workshops for Y6 pupils who are going to Ysgol Treffynnon and we are only on day 11 of the new term!

Our OneWorld club is organising a fundraiser in support of the WWF campaign to provide relief following the Australian Bush Fires. We would like to invite pupils to dress in their own clothes, or wear yellow/gold and green clothing if they have it, this Friday 24th January (coincides with Australia Day this Sunday). Please do not go out and buy something especially for this - though I suspect Mrs Hughes has a Kangaroo Costume on order from amazon.  The children have decided to ask for a donation of 50p from each child wearing own clothes.  Mrs Hughes has got some Australia Themed activities for the children to do that day too.

Advance Notice of Parent's Open Evening
Wednesday 18th March Doors open at 3:30 and we will be finished by 6:30. You will have a chance to see your child's work and have a chat with the teacher. No appointment is necessary but will will send out slips closer to the time to find out who is coming etc. 

Eisteddfod
Friday 6th March, we will be holding our Welsh celebrations! Foundation Phase will begin at 9:30 and Juniors at 10. Parents are invited to come in to see the performances and then to go up to class with your child afterwards to take part in activities with a welsh theme. There may even be a 'pannad a teisen cymraeg' for those that stay. We look forward to sharing this welsh celebration with you.

Well after 15 fun filled and action packed weeks we have come to the end of term.
As ever, we have been so proud of our pupils and all they have achieved, from our nursery pupils settling in to a new environment to our year 6 pupils as they begin their transition to their high schools. 
I would like to say a big thank you to all the staff for all the extras they have contributed, above and beyond their job descriptions, to make sure that the pupils get the best experiences we can give them. 
And a big thank you also to the parents for your support, not just at fundraising events and at the Christmas concerts etc but also for the quiet words of thanks, support and understanding you give us throughout the year.
We have much to look forward to in 2020. We start back on Monday 6th January and welcome visitors from Scoala Smaranda Georghiu in Targoviste, Romania. Three pupils and three teachers will be joining us for the week. They will be working with Year 5 but will also be visiting other classes. We are very much looking forward to our return visit to Romania in April, when Morgan, Libby and Sydney will be accompanying us as representatives of our school. All Year 5 parents are invited to an open afternoon on Friday 10th January at 2pm to come and share some of the work the pupils have been doing together - but be warned our friends Georgeta, Anda and Ovidiu do like a bit of folk dancing and are very keen to get everyone up and involved once the music starts! 
Club letters will come out in the first week and clubs will start back properly from 13th January EXCEPT choir. They have a tight schedule to keep to in order to be ready for Young Voices so they will be needed for practise after school on the first monday back.

I hope you have all shaken off the various bugs and illnesses that have beset so many of us the last few weeks of term and that you have a healthy and happy Christmas holiday.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All from all of us at Maesglas.

As we come to the end of the busiest week of the year can I please ask for parents to be vigilant about pupils' illness. We have all sorts of horrible bugs going around from sickness to sore throats. If your child is sick PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't bring them into school thinking it is probably nothing. We have about 30 absences in the juniors at the moment and we are hoping to avoid an epidemic such as we have seen in Ysgol Merllyn recently. We ask you wait 48 hours after your child was last sick or had diarrhea before they return to school. 

​Your help with this would be much appreciated. 

Well that is our concert season done and I just want to take a minute to thank everybody for making it such a success!

The pupils worked so hard to learn their lines (and lots of you helped with that at home too), the staff gave their own free time to organise and prepare sets, costumes and scripts and you all came out in cold and wet weather to support your children through this amazing experience. 

For some pupils Christmas concerts are a nightmare, too much pressure and noise and expectation, but we had some great success stories behind the scenes too with children and staff working together to make it something ALL pupil could join in with.

We are proud of each and every child in our school and the part they played in making the performances the success they were.

​Diolch Pawb

I am very much looking froward to today's concerts. The infant concert starts at 1.30. If you wish to pick your children up immediately after the concert has finished you can do so from the normal place on the yard. You may take older siblings too if you would like. The junior concert stars at 6 pm and we would ask the children are brought back to school, through the top entrance at 5.15 pm. Please avoid bringing the children to school in cars if at all possible. 
 In an effort to alleviate the problem of parents parking and blocking our neighbours this evening, staff will be parking their cars on the yard thereby freeing up space at both the top and bottom car parks for tonight's 6 pm show. 
Please park carefully in the parking bays only. Please do not park in the drop off zones as this causes a danger to those who are crossing to get to parked cars and a danger to those reversing out of parking spaces.
Many thanks for your understanding and the support we have had for the measures we have put in place to ensure your safety. 

...and all is very busy here!
Concert preparation is coming to an end and our pupils have learned their lines, costumes are being gathered in and staff are panicking over whether the mics will work for the duration! Everybody has worked so hard and we can't wait for you to join us. As a reminder -
Junior Concert 'Jack and the Beanstalk' Monday 9th at 1.30, Tuesday 10th at 6pm and Wednesday 11th at 6pm. Tickets are now on general sale (no restrictions on numbers per family) for £3 each. Please see Mrs Smith in the office to buy them. Can we have all the children back by 5.15 on concert nights please. 
Reception, Year 1 and 2 Concert 'Nativity Service' Tuesday 10th at 1.30 and Wednesday 11th at 1.30. Tickets are still available from the office. There is no charge for the concert however you will need a ticket to get in as this is how we control the number of people in the hall to comply with fire safety regulations.
Nursery 'Sharing Service' Wednesday 11th at 10. Families of nursery children are invited. There is no ticket requirement. Older siblings within the school will be released from class to come and watch the service.

December dates for the diary
Friday 13th  - Christmas Dinner Day £2.25 letters have already been sent out with a reply slip. If you have lost or have not seen this letter, please speak to Mrs Smith to arrange a lunch and payment. 
Sunday 15th - Carol Service in the church for choir. Further details to follow.
Monday 16th - Choir to Morfa Newydd Carol Singing. Details to follow
Tuesday 17th- Christmas Fair and Disco 4-6. Friends of Maesglas will be organising and will give details shortly. Games, stalls, disco, hot dogs and of course a chance to see Santa in his Maesglas Grotto.
Wednesday 18th - Party afternoon. Bring a labelled bag with party clothes for the afternoon. Sara has changed her menu for the day and will be offering a party buffet for the cost of £2.25 or bring your own packed lunch as normal. There will be no other school dinner options available but all dietary requirements will be met. 
Thursday 19th - Choir will be singing in town during the afternoon, further details to follow.
Friday 20th - Maesglas Christmas Jumper and Panto Day. We have arranged a travelling theatre group to perform 'Jack and the Beanstalk' for our pupils (May not be as good as our version but we will give them a try). We ask for £1 donation for jumper day towards the cost of the panto. 

School closes at the normal time on Friday 20th 3.00 for infants and 3.15 for juniors.

Last day of term for the children and I am sure you will agree they have had a long old eight weeks. We get to this point in a term and see how tired and cross the pupils are getting. Even the best of friends can get a little fussy with each other at the end of 8 weeks! A week of rest and recuperation is just what we all need!

It has been a massively busy term too (when is it any different at Maesglas?) with lots of visits and visitors and sporting activities and events.

We have welcomed new pupils into the classes and a whole new nursery intake. As ever, I am so proud of the way the children have rolled with the changes and are enthusiastic for the experiences we offer. We have also welcomed Sara back from maternity leave into the kitchen and today we say goodbye to Laura Parry in Dosbarth Ffawydd who has been covering Ceri Pearce's maternity leave. No doubt we will be seeing Miss Parry on supply next half term and we wish her every success securing a permanent post. 

We start back Monday 4th November and the term finishes on Friday 20th December. We are looking forward to more sports for Y5&6, Class assemblies for Y5 (8/11/19 @2pm) and Y4 (15/11/19 @2pm), Carol concerts for FP and Christmas Panto for KS2 - Auditions for Year 5 and 6 for roles in Jack and the Beanstalk have taken place and some pupils will have lines to learn coming out today. Even if your child does not have a speaking role they will be taking part in the performance.

Quite apart from all that we have new topics in each class 
Nursery and Reception - Why do squirrels hide their nuts?
Year 1 and 2 - Enchanted Woodlands
Year 3 - Scrumdiddliumptious
Year 4 Playlist
Year 5 Pharaohs
Year 6 Frozen Kingdom 

I hope you all have a happy and healthy half term and look forward to seeing everybody back soon.

As the days are getting colder and the early morning dark starts are upon us it is time to think about our Harvest celebrations.
A reminder to you that our services take part on Wednesday October 16th in the school hall and that families are more than welcome to join us.

The infant service starts at 9.30 and the junior at 10.15. Each service is due to last about 20-30 minutes and you're more than welcome to wait in the hall in between if you are staying for both. The children have started their preparations and we have lots of Harvest songs and poems to share with you. 

This year, again, we are collecting donations for the local Food bank. If you would like to contribute by sending in tins and dried goods, they would be gratefully received. We are accepting donations from tomorrow for the next week. Please give them to the class teacher or hand them in at the office.
Diolch