Welcome back to school

Dear Parents/Carers,
Just a quick note to welcome you all back to school after the summer holidays and to remind you of a few things that you will need to bring to school for your child.

I was really impressed by how well the children lined up at the beginning of the school day and how independent they were at coming into class. We had a lovely day on Friday, all children contributing about what they did during the holidays and enjoying seeing their friends again after the break and also loving the fact that they are now the ‘big’ children in the department! I am going to spend the coming week getting to know the children as well as assessing their needs for targets over the coming term. Our topic this term is ‘Paws, Claws and Jaws’, which is an animal based topic. We will be commencing this on the week beginning 13th September. I will also be planning with the children this week, to see which view they would like to take on this topic e.g. pets, jungle animals, endangered animals etc. I will keep you informed on this.

Mrs O’Connell and Mrs Nurton will be our main Additional Practitioners this term, although your child may be working with other adults within the school from time to time.

Could you please provide a PE kit for your child ( t-shirt and shorts), in a bag that can be hung on their coat peg. Please ensure that all items, bag, t-shirt and shorts are clearly labelled with your child’s name, the same goes for all items of uniform.

As you are already aware, we use all the environment for learning, so could you please provide your child with a pair of wellies and appropriate clothing depending on the weather i.e. warm coat and hat as the weather gets colder.

We will also be continuing with our healthy morning snack. This consists of fruit, toast, cheese and crackers, bread sticks and cereal. Could you please send in a £2.50 contribution at the start of every half term to help fund this, it works out at less than 10p a day. The children also get a drink of milk.

I am really looking forward to working with your children over the coming year, as well as getting to know their families. I run an open door policy, so if you have any queries or concerns, please come and see me, a convenient time will be arranged as soon as possible.

Thank you,





Susan Drysdale

It's hot, hot, hot!

I have been asked by several parents about applying suncream. We have been advised not to do this, so we suggest that you apply a long lasting protection cream to your child during the summer months. If your child has exceptional circumstances then please come and see me and we will come to some arrangement. As the hot weather continues, it is important to provide your child with a sun hat and water bottle to keep the children hydrated.

Thank you for providing the children with trainers for sports day practise. The sprint is going well and we will be working on our obstacle course later on in the week. I will let you know about your child's team colour soon as it is nice if the children could wear something of their house colour on the day.

The children are enjoying the start of our topic 'All about me'. They are developing an interest into the functioning of the human body and many can name the main internal organs! We made 'Mr Skellybones'last week who is on display, proudly showing his bones and organs for all to see! It would be wonderful if we could have a medic of some description to come and talk to the children about their job (e.g. a doctor, nurse, paramedic etc), if you know someone who will be willing to spend some time with some curious children then please let us know. The children also enjoyed a healthy cheese and lettuce sandwich at snack time, delicious lettuce from our school garden! Some were brave enough to taste radish!

We will be looking at ways of recording information about ourselves this week e.g. producing simple graphs to show eye and hair colour. We will be using a simple computer programme to do this. Could I also thank those parents who have brought in baby photos of their children for a class book, I have just dug mine out of the attic which will no doubt amuse the children!

Could I please ask for the children's sound books in for undating. I am also on the lookout for the board game 'Operation', if anyone has one that they want to get rid of or are willing for us to borrow, then please let me know.

All about me

This term our topic is 'all about me'. The pupils will be looking at how they have grown and changed since they were born. We would be grateful if you could send in a photograph of them as a baby and a toddler for us to use on an interactive class display (if you want the photos back please let us know and we can scan and print ourselves a copy to use).

I can remind you to send in pupils' PE kits and snack money.

Healthy Week at Ffynnon Taf!

This week is 'Healthy Week' at Ffynnon Taf Primary and our Early Years children will be taking part along with the rest of the school. We will be learning all about what makes a 'healthy lunchbox' and tasting a selection of healthy foods. The children will be making banana or strawberry milkshakes and of course taking part in our mini-marathon (don't forget to collect your sponsors!). On Friday the children are able to invite their favourite cuddly toy for our healthy eating teddy bear's picnic!

Change of Parents' Evening Date

I am not available to attend Parents'Evening on Tuesday 25th May as it clashes with an evening course that cannot be rearranged. I am therefore changing the date to Thursday 27th May. If you are unavailable to attend this date then please come and see me, I will try my very best to accommodate you. Sorry for any inconvienience caused.

Reception Update

Welcome to our first blog! I will now be posting all our news letters on this page (paper copies will be given to those who have requested them). I will also try my very best to update this page every Sunday evening to inform you of any events during the coming week.

Children have been busy planting and we have many young plants peeping through in our school garden. The children will be planting their own individual 'beanstalks' during the coming week. Once they are big enough they may be taken home to plant in their own garden. I would like to thank Mrs Lisa Nurton for all her guidance and hard work to get our garden growing!