Loading

Autumn Term Newsletter 2022 Ysgol Gatholig MAIR DDIHALOG

Shwmae bawb, croeso nôl/welcome back!

Welcome back to you all after the summer break. It is lovely to see the children all looking so smart in their new uniforms and shoes. A special welcome to our new pupils who are joining us for the first time this term; we hope that your time at Mary Immaculate will be a very happy and productive one. The staff and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who gave such kind gifts and cards at the end of last term, it was very generous of you and much appreciated. We would like to extend a very warm welcome to Mrs Requena and Miss MacHenry who will be supporting teaching and learning this year. We also welcome Miss Edwards and Mrs Kerrison back to our teaching team.

Behaviour Goals and Virtues

We are continuing with Behaviour Goals that link with our Catholic Virtues due to the success of this last year, so that our pupils can work towards weekly or fortnightly goals. We have started with 'Ready and Respectful' and we are hoping that the children take on board the messages shared in class. Please see the poster below and ask your child what we have been working on.

Meet the Teacher

The details about the 'Meet the Teacher' sessions have already been sent out. This is an opportunity to receive information about the school day and the curriculum coverage for the autumn term and to ask any questions you may have. We are pleased that teaching staff are able to have face-to-face meetings and meet the parents of their new pupils which can take place in the children's classrooms this year. Teachers will be explaining the classroom routines, timetable and will be available to answer any queries that you may have regarding your child’s new class. There will be lots of useful information to take on board and we hope as many of you as possible can attend.

Healthy Lunchboxes

As parents or carers you play an important role in setting an example and teaching your children from a young age about choosing healthy food and drink. This will help them to have a nutritious diet that meets their growing needs and it can help make sure that they continue to eat healthily and stay a healthy weight as they get older. We have seen some very healthy lunchboxes since our return to school. There is some useful information for parents issued by Welsh Government should you need it; please see attached link.

Universal Primary Free School Meals commencing in September 2022

The autumn lunch menu is on the link below:

Attendance

At Mary Immaculate, we continue to be committed to helping children attend school as much as possible, despite the challenges we all have faced throughout the pandemic. The last two years have been tough. Young people have missed more than just classes, and in 2022/23 we want you to know that they are returning to a safe environment. When your child walks into school every morning, you can be assured they will be supported personally, emotionally and academically. We’re here to provide them with the social and educational development opportunities to shape their futures and become the best versions of themselves.

School is more than grades, timetables, and homework – it’s friendships, shared memories and character building. But we understand that school isn’t always easy. If your child is anxious or worried about coming to school for whatever reason, help is available. If you would like an informal chat about how we can help support your child, please contact your child’s class teacher via Seesaw. We have two members of staff that are trained as Emotional Learning Support Assistants.

We’re incredibly proud of the way our school community, staff, parents and carers, and particularly our children, have navigated the difficulties of the last two years. Our learners’ wellbeing is our ultimate priority, and we know that that everyone will continue to work together as a community to help improve our children’s attendance and wellbeing wherever possible.

Pembrokeshire County Council have launched their ‘It starts in school’ campaign, more details will follow soon.

We have set a whole school target of 95% this year which we are keen to achieve. We will appoint Attendance Ambassadors next week, they will be chosen from the pupils who achieved 100% attendance last year.

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

As a Catholic School in the Diocese of Menevia, we have embraced the Catholic Schools’ Pupil Profile, which teaches the children a set of eight pairs of virtues to be understood and nurtured - enabling them to grow in wholeness as fully rounded individuals in the image of God. The pairs of virtues are:

  • Grateful and generous
  • Attentive and discerning
  • Compassionate and loving
  • Faith-filled and hopeful
  • Eloquent and truthful
  • Learned and wise
  • Curious and active
  • Intentional and prophetic

Our new virtues for this half-term will be ‘Compassionate & Loving’. The children will be learning what it means to be compassionate towards others, near and far, especially the less fortunate; and loving by their just actions and forgiving words. The children will have the opportunity to explore these virtues through our weekly whole school and class collective worship assemblies.

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Please see the curriculum letters from each class regarding curriculum RE lesson content.

Please find the September TenTen newsletter for parents on the button below:

Clubs

Breakfast Club is continuing to run on restricted numbers. We are keeping numbers to a safe level whilst trying to accommodate the needs of working parents. Many thanks for your co-operation with this and for only requesting it on days that it is actually needed. This allows more parents to access this support. We are currently consulting with the children about which after-school clubs they would like provided this term.

Once they have decided upon their preferences, we will share the weekly timetable with you. After school clubs will start the week beginning 19.9.22. There will be a variety of clubs on offer for the children to enjoy.

Our Published Curriculum

The Curriculum for Wales will be embedded in all schools in Wales from this September. We have been implementing some of the new strategies in preparation for this over the past couple of years and worked with our other Haverfordwest cluster schools to ensure that transition to the secondary curriculum is consistent in all of our schools. We are looking forward to providing the best possible experiences for our learners - a very exciting time for our school! Please click the link to find out more:

Y Senedd

The Senedd departments are as follows:

  • Department of Spiritual Life
  • Department of Welsh Language & Culture
  • Department of Communication
  • Department of Expressive Arts
  • Department of Health & Well-being
  • Department of Curriculum
  • Department of Sustainability
  • Department of Digital Competency

As you may already know, each department has a lead teacher, support staff and selected pupils. All pupils from year three to year six have been selected as a member of a department. The learners lead the discussion and share ideas on ways forward to help benefit our school, the wider community and beyond! Our Senedd allows our learners the platform to become leaders and to give the children the opportunity to develop and apply their skills in real life contexts. They will be given authentic contexts for learning to speak for a variety of purposes and in front of different audiences throughout the year. The departments will be meeting regularly and this will give the opportunity for our learners to share their voice and act on issues that they feel strongly about. We look forward to our learners leading the way for our school. Exciting times ahead!

Please find a message from our First Ministers and Deputies below:

"Shwmae! We are the First Ministers and Deputies of Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School we would like to welcome back all the children and welcome the new children to our school. If your child is in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 they are likely to be in a department. We have several departments such as Curriculum, Digital Competency, Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing, Expressive Arts, Spiritual Life, Communication and Welsh Language & Culture. You might be wondering what is so special about the departments. Your child can develop new skills and your child's voice can be heard within our departments. We also will be doing some more activities in the school like play buddies and MKO’s. Play buddies is where some of the older children in year 6 will spend their playtime getting equipment out for the younger ones to play with and just to try and make it a bit more fun. MKO’s is where year 6 go around the classes and share their talents and ask them what they would like us to do. We have separate groups that will be going into different classes we have Digital, Expressive Arts, Faith, Literacy, Maths and Life Skills. Our departments work together with the staff to make our school the best it can be. We look forward to meeting you at one of our events soon."

Please find a variety of links below that you may find useful during this time. If you would like to have support in a particular area please contact your teachers on SeeSaw and we will try to point you in the right direction.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR THIS TERM

These dates are subject to change, please keep an eye on our Twitter pages for updates.

  • Monday 5th September - INSET Day
  • Tuesday 6th September - First day back with the children
  • Friday 9th September - Dosbarth Whitesands' trip to Plantasia
  • Monday 12th September - Meet the Teacher - Nursery, Year 1 and Year 4
  • Tuesday 13th September - Friday 16th September - Department meetings throughout the week.
  • Tuesday 13th September - Meet the Teacher - Reception, Year 2 and Year 6
  • Tuesday 14th September - Photographs in school Individual and siblings. There is an opportunity for extended family photos this year, if you would like a family photo please arrive at 8am.
  • Wednesday 14th September - Meet the Teacher - Year 3 and Year 5
  • Thursday 15th September - Year 6 to attend a Welsh language music gig
  • Monday 19th September - Bank Holiday
  • Friday 30th September - Macmillan Coffee Morning (Details to follow)
  • The Month of October - The Month of the Rosary
  • Tuesday 4th October - The Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi
  • Monday 10th - Friday 14th October - Wythnos Gymreig
  • Friday 14th October - Shwmae Day - More information to follow
  • Monday 31st October - Friday 4th November - Half-term
  • Monday 31st October - Friday 4th November - Half-term
  • Tuesday 1st November - All Saints Day
  • Wednesday 2nd November - All Souls Day
  • Monday 7th November - First day back with the children
  • Friday 11th November - Remembrance Day
  • Monday 14th - Friday 18th November - Anti-bullying Week
  • Thursday 17th November - Y6 visit to 'Crucial Crew'
  • Friday 18th November - Children in Need
  • Sunday 20th November - Christ the King
  • Wednesday 23rd November - Dosbarth Marloes' 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Thursday 24th November - Dosbarth Newgale's 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Monday 28th November - Dosbarth Abereiddy's 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Tuesday 29th November - Dosbarth Whitesands' 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Wednesday 30th November - Dosbarth Druidston's 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Thursday 1st December - Dosbarth Little Haven's 'Exhibition of beautiful work'
  • Tuesday 6th December - Dosbarth Amroth's Nativity - afternoon
  • Wednesday 7th December - Dosbarth Amroth's Nativity - evening
  • Thursday 8th December - Feast of the Immaculate Conception
  • Wednesday 14th - Friday 16th December - Year 5 residential trip to Cardiff
  • Tuesday 20th December - Choir to sing Christmas carols in Vincent Davies!
  • Wednesday 21st December - Dosbarth Little Haven's Advent assembly
  • Thursday 22nd December - Christmas fete
  • Friday 23rd December - Last day in school
  • Monday 26th December - Friday 6th January - Christmas holidays
  • Monday 9th January - INSET day
  • Tuesday 10th January - First day back for our pupils

Other dates will be communicated with you in the weekly newsletter as they occur throughout the term.

Thank you for your continued support. Please use the following links to keep up to date with what is going on in our school:

Credits:

Created with images by Jenna Beekhuis - "untitled image" • timolina - "Lunchbox in hands. School lunch box with sandwich, vegetables, water, and fruits on table. Healthy eating habits concept. Flat lay. Top view" • olly - "Creative ideas" • nateejindakum - "Silhouette action sport outdoors of diversity of kids having fun playing soccer football for exercise in community rural area under the twilight sunset sky."