Dear Parents and Carers,

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and patience over what has been a very challenging few weeks for everyone. We have been delighted with the level of engagement the children have shown since returning and thank you for ensuring our attendance has been above 95% every week, which is an outstanding achievement and indicates to us that the measures we have implemented have met with your approval.

We are unsure as to what the future holds at the moment but I have every confidence that the teaching staff here will be able to meet the needs of our pupils both in school and in the event that they have to access home learning, which is one of the reasons why we have started using Seesaw to complement the existing Teams platform that the children are already familiar with.

I hope you all have a restful half-term break and we look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 2nd November.

Harvest

Thank you very much for your donations on Friday, which were collected by the St. Vincent de Paul Society who will now distribute this in the local community.

Seesaw Parent Questionnaire

We have emailed a short questionnaire for you to complete so that we can gather your views on how Seesaw is working and what we can do to further support you at home. We’d appreciate any feedback you can provide us with so that we can continue to improve the communication between home and school.

Parental Consultations

Just a reminder that parental consultations are taking place this weekend, and you should have now received a date and time.

These will take place on –

Wednesday 21st October and Thursday 22nd October from 3.30pm to 6.30pm

Interventions

In order to support our pupils’ learning we have started a series of interventions in Years 2 – 6, which consist of a 6-week literacy or numeracy catch-up programme. These are being funded by the Welsh Government to compensate for the amount of schooling pupils missed out on last year, and will run for the rest of the academic year. If you would like further information regarding this please feel free to get in touch with Mr. Llewellyn or your class teacher.

Lunches

We had our fish and chip day on Friday which was very well-received by all and will be starting the ‘hot’ option for school lunches after half-term.

Attendance

We have been delighted with the level of attendance over the past few weeks and thank you for your support with this. The school is once again above the Welsh Government target of 95% so well done everyone!

Well done to Dosbarth Cil-y-Coed
who achieved 99.2% last week!

Dosbarth Coch – 97.5%
Dosbarth Cas-Gwent – 97.9%
Dosbarth Rhaglan – 89.5%
Dosbarth Cil-y-Coed – 99.2%
Dosbarth Caerdydd – 96.4%
Dosbarth Caerffili – 93.8%
Dosbarth Caernarfon – 90.6%

Total attendance for last week – 95.3%

Class ‘Bubble’ Groups

As we outlined in our parental handbook, we have implemented a series of measures to ensure that each class in the school remains apart from each other, and the amount of adults coming into contact with each class is kept to an absolute minimum.

We have staggered start and end times to the school day, as well as different times for break and lunch with each class having their own areas so that they are kept apart from other classes.
We have also ensured that this extends to Breakfast Club, so the pupils are remaining in their classroom for this and are not using the hall, again to ensure that they come into contact with as few people as possible.

The children have responded very positively to this as we understand it is not easy for them, especially if they have siblings and want to see friends from other year groups, and we appreciate your continued support with this and the other measures we have put into place.

The safety and welfare of all pupils, staff and parents is of paramount importance and we will continue to implement these measures as long as they are needed. I wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the St. Gabriel’s staff who are going above and beyond at the moment to ensure the school runs as smoothly as possible.

Appointments

If you have an appointment that requires you to collect your child early from school please can you ensure that you notify us at least 24 hours in advance to ensure we can put measures in place. We encourage you to telephone us if you have any queries during the school day or contact us by text or email rather than coming to the office in person, thank you.

Flu Immunisation

Please note that the school nurse team will be carrying out influenza immunisations for all pupils on Tuesday 24th November.

INSET Days 2020-21

The school will be closed for INSET training on the following dates this year –

Monday 4th January 2021
Monday 22nd February 2021
Monday 7th June 2021
Monday 19th July 2021
Tuesday 20th July 2021

There will be one other training day that has yet to be confirmed.

Contact Details

It is very important that we have the correct contact details including telephone number and address, so please let us know if these change so that we can update our records.

Absence

Please can we remind you to contact us by phone, text or email if your child is not in school with a reason for their absence. If we are not provided with a reason we have to mark the absence as unauthorised.

Music Tuition

Please note that there is currently no music tuition available in school. Gwent Music are reviewing their risk assessments and procedures so that music tuition can resume as soon as possible, and we will update you as to their plans when we have more information.

Water Bottles

Please can you ensure your child has everything
they need for their school day including water bottle,
book bag and packed lunch, so that they are not having to be
handled by additional people if they are brought in late.

Jewellery

Please can we remind you of our jewellery policy as outlined in our parental handbook –

The wearing of jewellery is discouraged although a watch and stud earrings may be worn but they are the responsibility of the child. All jewellery must be removed by the child for PE and Games. If earrings cannot be removed because the ears are within 6 weeks of being pierced the child must not take part. The safety of pupils in physical lessons is paramount.

We kindly ask that no hooped earrings, necklaces or rings are worn to school, thank you.

FRIENDS OF ST. GABRIEL’S

Due to the ongoing situation with we have been unable to hold a number of fundraising events. We would appreciate any support you are able to offer at the moment and so would encourage you to take a moment to visit the address below and take part in our school lottery, thank you.

https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/lottery/school/st-gabriels-r-c-primary-school

Raise FREE donations for Friends of St Gabriel’s EVERY time you shop online using @easyuk. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate including all the big names like eBay, Argos, ASOS, Expedia, M&S, Just Eat, Uswitch and many more!
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/friendsofstgabriels/?utm_campaign=raise-more&utm_content=t3

COVID-19

It is inevitable at this time of year that pupils will develop sore throats, runny noses and cold symptoms. However, these are different to the symptoms of COVID-19 which are:

• a new or continuous cough
• a high temperature
• a loss of or change to sense of smell or taste

If your child develops any of these symptoms, even if they are mild, you need to:
• book a test for them by phoning 119 or through the online portal: https://www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test
• keep your child and any siblings home while you await the results of the test
• follow the advice provided when your child receives their test result
• phone school on 01633 273937 or email stgabriels.primary@newportschools.wales and let us know that your child is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms and that you have requested a test and also to notify us of the result

To reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading, there are things that everyone in your family can do to help. These include:
• washing hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• using hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• washing hands as soon as they get home
• covering their mouth and nose with a tissue or sleeve (not their hands) when they cough or sneeze
• putting used tissues in the bin immediately and washing hands afterwards

Further information on symptoms and self-isolation can be found here: https://gov.wales/symptoms-and-self-isolation-contact-tracing

Further information on NHS Wales ‘Test, Trace’, Protect can be found here: https://gov.wales/test-trace-protect-coronavirus

For general information on COVID-19: https://gov.wales/protect-yourself-others-coronavirus

The COVID-19 online symptom checker can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do: https://gov.wales/check-if-you-need-coronavirus-medical-help

Thank you,

Mr J Llewellyn
Interim Headteacher