Dear Parents / Carers,

School Staffing Update

Mrs L. Williams is going to be exploring pastures new and will be leaving our staff at the end of this term. Though we will be very sad to see her leave, she will not be leaving our school family and we hope that she will be a frequent visitor. We whole heartedly thank Mrs Williams for all she has contributed to our school and the many lives she has touched through the pupils in her care.

Miss Chard, who is currently teaching at one of our cluster schools, will be joining St. Gabriel’s and will be taking on Mrs Williams’ class responsibilities. There will be a separate letter for the pupils in this class.

Reminder for September 2019: Changes to School Session times

https://stgabrielsrcprimary.org.uk/school-session-times-reminder-september-2019-onwards/

Breakfast club to run from 8:15 am to 8:45 am. (Last entry is at 8.35 am)

• Gates to be opened at 8:45 am and children can proceed straight into their classes, with their teachers, from this point.
• Formal school day begins at 8:55 am – all children to be in classes at this time for registers.
• 12:15 pm – lunch time for Foundation Phase (for a duration of 50 minutes, this still includes the same amount of time for eating).
• 12:30 pm – lunch time for KS2 (for a duration of 50 minutes, this still includes the same amount of time for eating).
• 3:05pm – school ends for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
• 3:10pm – school ends for Year 3.
• 3:15pm – school ends for rest of the juniors.

School Bags

Many thanks to the parent who got in touch suggesting that satchels and messenger bags, in addition to book bags, would also meet the requirements we have due to the limited space in our cloakrooms. I have shared this with governors and this idea was approved with the uniform and equipment policy being updated accordingly. The amendment will be sent via email, come home as a paper copy and will also be uploaded to our website as soon as possible.

Please be aware that our school is continuing to grow in size this September and we really must all work together to ensure that the cloakrooms pose no unnecessary risks to our children. We thank you for your support in keeping our pupils safe. If you have any queries about this, please do contact me to discuss.

I appreciate that some parents missed the communication last summer and therefore bought rucksacks specifically for the academic year we are now ending, therefore, following parent feedback, the reminder about not having backpacks will be on each newsletter until the end of term.

https://stgabrielsrcprimary.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uniform-and-Equipment-Information-2019.pdf

School Uniform

Many uniform providers are available as you start to plan for September, however be aware that if you shop using the hyperlink below, 5% of the amount you spend is directly sent to our Friends of St. Gabriel’s who in turn provide a range of resources for our school.

School uniform and resources link: https://myclothing.com/st-gabriels-catholic-primary-school/11391.school

Summer Fayre: Took place on Friday July 12^th 3:30pm

Our sincere thanks go to all the members of the St. Gabriel’s school community that made the Summer Fayre the success that it was. The total is still to be finalised but early indications show that over £900 was raised for school ICT resources. Thank you to all the Friends of St. Gabriel’s for the preparation and organisation plus to all who supported by attending the event.

Staffing for Autumn 2019

Pupil Voice have shared an idea which we are implementing in September – each class will be named after a Welsh Castle.  Here are the planned classes for next year: (please note Dosbarth is Welsh for Class)

Miss Foster with Mrs McInerney and Mrs Price: Dosbarth Coch

Mrs Rayner with Mr Sullivan: Dosbarth Cas-Gwent

Mrs Wright and Mrs N. Williams with Mr Martin and Mrs H. Davies: Dosbarth Rhaglan

Mrs De Lima (4 days) and Mrs Dewhurst (1 day): Dosbarth Cil-y-Coed

Miss Griffiths: Dosbarth Caerdydd

Miss Chard: Dosbarth Caerffili

Mrs Waugh with Mrs Broadfield: Dosbarth Caernarfon

Dates for the Summer Term (new dates in bold)

Tuesday 16^th July

Archdiocese Leavers’ Mass at St. Mary’s Church, Newport (Year 6 pupils)

Thursday 18^th July

9:15 am: Class 6 Assembly

Friday 19^th July

End of term – school finishes at the normal time

INSET Dates for the Next School Year (2019-20)

Monday 2^nd September 2019

Monday 9^th September 2019

Friday 12^th June 2020

Monday 20^th July 2020

We still have one more day to allocate. We are waiting on dates from an external training provider and once this is confirmed we will update the information.

Following the link below takes you to our term Dates for 2019/20 though please be aware of our INSET days at the beginning and end of the school year: http://www.newport.gov.uk/en/Schools-Education/Schools/Term-Dates.aspx

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M Harris

Headteacher