ST GABRIEL’S ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
Ysgol Gynradd Gatholig Sant Gabriel

NEWSLETTER 14.9.18

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Parish Links
To celebrate the Feast Day of our School Paton Saint, St Gabriel, Father Michael is celebrating a Mass in St. Gabriel’s Church on Friday 28th September at 10am. The whole school will be there and we would love to have parents and family there also, to share the Mass with us.

Craze of the Week!
Making playtimes positive is a continual focus and this term we have started ‘craze of the week’ as part of our playtime provision. Rather than having lots of different equipment out that pupils tend to get bored with after a few weeks, we are having lots on one type of equipment that will be the craze that week. The type of equipment changes the following week. This week has been the week of the hula hoop – we have been very impressed at the skills of our pupils!

School Lottery
It is very easy to join our school lottery – there’s a weekly draw with a winner guaranteed from our school each week. Plus, you are helping the fundraising efforts of ‘The Friends of St. Gabriel’s.’ https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/play

Changes to Bags – Making our cloakrooms safe as pupil numbers have grown.
Please check your child’s bag if you have not seen our letter following up the change to bags. Additional letters are available from the school office.
Thank you to those parents who have shared their concerns with me. It was useful to be able to talk through the reasons in detail.
The changes are being made because the safety of our pupils, including their safety in the cloakrooms, is of paramount concern.
If you have any concerns at all with the changes, please contact the school by phone or text to arrange a time to talk them through with me.

Parking
I fully appreciate that parking during drop off and pick up times is tricky, as it is for all schools on a main road. At these busy times, please be aware of our residents, their driveways and of course, the increased number of people using the pavements.

Attendance
We are really pleased with our attendance as we’ve started this school year. Holidays have been few and far between and we wholeheartedly thank you for supporting us in your child’s learning.
Class 1  – 99.2%
Class 2 – 96.8%
Class 3 – 95%
Class 4 – 98.3%
Class 5 – 95.7%
Class 6 – 96.5%

Reminders
* Please label your child’s school uniform and PE kit. We are happy to help to redistribute items to the correct owners but we can only do this, if there is a name in the item.
* Please pay for school dinners BEFORE your child orders them. It makes additional work in the office and the kitchen when the numbers of paid dinners don’t tally up with the numbers ordered.

Clubs
Texts will be sent this afternoon to confirm places in clubs.
A big thank you to our school staff who give up their own time to provide these extra-curricular activities for our pupils.

INSET days for this Academic Year
School closed to pupils: Monday 3rd September 2018
Tuesday 4th September 2018
Monday 8th October 2018 (All Catholic Primary Schools)
Friday 26th October 2018
Monday 22nd July 2019

Homework for Years 1 to 6
It’s election time again! If your child would like to be part of our ‘Pupil Voice’ group, create your manifesto to share next week. Once the votes have been held, ‘Pupil Voice’ group, led by Miss Griffiths, will begin on Tuesday 25th September at 3:30pm.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M. Harris
Headteacher