Shwmae! It was lovely to see the children and staff dressed in red today to celebrate Shwmae day, and have the opportunity to share the Welsh Language.

Flu Vaccine. The school nurses will be with us on Friday to give the Nasal Flu Vaccine to those who have consented. If you haven’t returned your form please do so as soon as possible, even if you are not consenting. If you have misplaced your form, please ask the office for a spare.Thank you

School Disco – The Friends of Brynmill Primary are putting on a school Disco on Thursday, please see the posters, and Dojo posts for more information. There is also a carved pumpkin competition.

Easy Fundraising – Please support the school by using Easy Fundraising before your online shopping. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/brynmillps/

Parking – As we all know, finding a parking spot is not easy around the school. However we would like to remind parents that the children’s safety is paramount, therefore DO NOT PARK on the double yellow lines at pick up and drop off times.

Oxwich Bay Classes Residential Trip – We are gauging interest in a residential trip to Llanmadoc in the Summer Term for the Year 5/ Year 6 classes. Please complete the form https://forms.office.com/r/6j2awMvgUu

Half Term – The half term holidays are from Monday 31st October to Friday 4th November.

Fruit Tuckshop – Please pay £7.00 for the half term leading up to Christmas if you would like your child to have a piece of fresh fruit or healthy snack from our Tuck Shop. (For Y1 to Y6 children). Alternatively you are welcome to send in a healthy snack for them to enjoy at breaktime.

Workshop for Parents – On Wednesday 26th October we have a Safety/RSE workshop for parents at 4.30pm. Please use Gate 1. This will give us an opportunity to talk about relationships education (RSE), and our shared approaches to keeping learners safe online.

Free Breakfast during Half Term

NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. Online programme.

I am pleased to tell you that this term we will be participating in the NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. online programme. This consists of an online assembly and supporting classroom based activities. Speak out. Stay safe. is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline.

In the online assembly, the Speak out. Stay safe. messages are delivered in a fun and interactive way with the help of their mascot Buddy as well as special guest appearances from Ant and Dec.

We have studied the content of the materials and are extremely confident that they are appropriate for primary-school-aged children. By the end of the programme, we’re convinced children will feel empowered – knowing how they can speak out and stay safe.

If you would like to know more about the Speak out. Stay safe. programme you can find information on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/speakout or I would be happy to discuss any questions that you may have.

Additional resources – Adapted assembly for home use – The NSPCC has also developed an adapted version of their assembly for parents/carers to use at home with their children.  This can be found here:www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/safety.  With the help of celebrities, the film focuses on how a child can get support if they have any worries or concerns.

To complement the assembly, there are some resources that can be used to enable further discussion whilst doing activities with your children.  These are hosted on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/activities.  

Online safety hub – You may also like to visit the NSPCC Online Safety Hub where you will find advice and information on a range of different online safety topics including gaming, social media, sharing nudes, parental controls and more.

You will also find online safety information for families of children with additional needs and disabilities. We have worked with Ambitious about Autism and parents and carers who have children with additional needs and disabilities to create activities to help talk about online safety which you can find at www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-families-children-with-send.

Childline Under 12’s Website – Childline also have a website with age appropriate advice for primary school children on topics such as bullying.  It also has games and other interactive tools. Your child can visit it at www.childline.org.uk/kids.

If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website www.nspcc.org.uk/parents.

Talking PANTS with your children – Talk PANTS is a simple conversation to help keep your child safe from sexual abuse. From P through to S, each letter of PANTS provides a simple but valuable rule that can help keep your child safe. You can find out more and download the free resources at www.nspcc.org.uk/pants.

Penguin and Ladybird have partnered with the NSPCC to create a brand new Pantosaurus book aimed at children ages 4 – 8. You can find copies of the new book on sale, either in Matalan’s selected stores and online, selected SPAR stores or at https://shop.nspcc.org.uk/. All profits from the sale of this book will support the NSPCC.

Support the NSPCC – You may be interested in the NSPCC’s new selection of BUDDY goodies available from the NSPCC shop at https://shop.nspcc.org.uk/collections/buddy which make perfect gifts for children – and all profits go to help keep children safe.

Attendance Letter from the Director of Education

Dear Parent / Carer,
I am delighted that schools have been able to return to normal opening this autumn
following two and a half difficult years. However, after such an uncertain time not
everything has returned as it was before the pandemic. For example, we have noticed
that many children in Swansea are not attending school as regularly as they were
previously. We are worried about this because evidence suggests that good attendance
at school improves life chances for children and young people and we want to be certain
we do everything possible to ensure each child in Swansea has the best opportunity to
succeed.
The most obvious benefits of regular school attendance are that pupils are given the
best opportunity to learn when they are in school. Good attendance supports
achievement in learning and helps children to progress. We would like all children in
Swansea to leave school with the qualifications they need to take the next steps they
want to in their lives. That may be employment or further study but whatever they
choose, good attendance at school should offer the stepping stone to the next stage.
It is also important to know that regular attendance at school can help children and
young people improve their wellbeing. Benefits of attending school regularly include:
 building good habits and establishing routines which in turn help children to feel
secure and gain confidence.
 building good relationships with adults and other children is much easier when
attendance is regular. These relationships help children develop self-esteem .
 for a few families, children’s regular attendance at school allows parents to get
other things done and makes the time at home more enjoyable.
 children who regularly miss sessions, or are often late for school, often feel they
are missing out or need to try harder just to understand what is going on or what
other children are talking about or doing.
 regular attendance helps many young children to be supported to naturally
separate from their parents or carers and begin to develop life skills.
We realise that the uncertainty of the last few years has had an impact on many families
and children. We would like to encourage all families to try and return to regular
attendance at school, if they are not already. If you feel you need any additional help
and support then you can contact your child’s school or our Education Welfare Service
educationwelfareservice@swansea.gov.uk who may be able to offer help and support.
Regards
Helen Morgan-Rees
Director of Education

Harvest Festival – The following classes are taking part in our Harvest Festival on Thursday at 9.15ish. Please queue at Gate 2 (after the children have been let in at the start of the day, and the gate has closed after them.)

Oxwich D, Caswell J, Bracelet L & Caswell T.

Harvest Collection, we are collecting long lasting food (tins and packets) to donate to those in need, if you have anything to donate, please send donations in from Monday.

Trips – We will make the decision on Monday as to whether the Caswell & Oxwich Trips are going ahead, at the time of writing unfortunately we haven’t received enough voluntary contributions to cover costs. If you are able to contribute please do so over the weekend. Thank you

Free School Meals & other grants. – As the cost-of-living rises, no child should go without. In Wales, nearly half of parents are not claiming the free school meals that their children are entitled to. We are writing to remind you of the three types of support you might be entitled to.

Don’t miss out on Free School Meals. School meals promote healthy eating, increase the variety of food your child might eat, and can improve behaviour and social skills. If you receive certain benefits, or your circumstances have changed, check if you’re entitled through Free school meals – Swansea

If your child already gets free school meals, there could be more help available through School Essentials (PDG Access). This helps with the costs of school essentials like uniforms and equipment to make sure they are ready for the school day.

The rollout of Universal Primary Free School Meals began in September 2022, starting with children in Reception. Find out more here https://gov.wales/universal-primary-free-school-meals-upfsm

Please note, if you are in receipt of Free School Meals, parents will still need to apply separately for School Essentials (PDG Access) to access all of the funding available.

School Gateway – Please download the School Gateway App, which is part of the SchoolComms system.

Get Started

Attendance – If you have any attendance messages please contact the school office by email/phone or School Gateway, please do not use ClassDojo.

Reminder – School Photos – The school photographer will be with us tomorrow ( with Wednesday as a reserve day) Please ensure you have registered with them to have your child’s photo taken.

Please follow the link to register

https://schools.rozandkirsty.co.uk/add_consent/13?pin=5825

School Trips – Caswell & Oxwich have trips coming up, and we are asking for voluntary contributions to cover the costs. Unfortunately trips may be cancelled if we are unable to cover the cost of admission and transport.

Vomiting & Diahorrea – The current guidance is that children must stay off school for 48 hours following any vomiting or diahorrea.

Inset Day – Reminder we have an Inset Day on Friday, when school is closed to pupils for staff training.

Caswell H – Mrs Howard’s class assembly is tomorrow, parents and grandparents are invited to come and watch. Please queue at Gate 2 (after the classes have come in and the Gate has been locked).

Building a strong community

Home school communication is important to us at Brynmill. In terms of home/ school communication, we want to ensure that:

• parents and carers contact the member of staff who is best placed to respond.
• important messages are not missed simply because they have not been sent directly to the ‘right’ member of staff.

Class Dojo is currently used as a means of communication. Messages can be sent to class teachers and some other school staff. Staff will try their best to check communication throughout the school day; however, the school day is extremely busy and therefore messages may not be seen until it’s too late. If there is an urgent message please contact the school office.

Please be aware that messages sent outside of the working day (approx. 8:30 am – 5:00 pm) may not be read and therefore class teachers and school staff are unlikely to respond. For this reason, we respectfully ask parents and carers to avoid contacting staff outside of the working day if at all possible

Here are a few examples of the types of things that you may want to raise or discuss and the staff member who is best placed to respond:

Class teacher	Family Wellbeing Leader	School Office/ Admin Team
Sharing important information with your child’s class teacher	Mrs Ciaburri is our Family Well Being Leader she can be contacted by phone or on class dojo.	Mrs Morgans – School Administrator Miss Rees – Attendance and Dinner money (sQuid) & general enquiries Mrs Evans/ Miss Woollacott – Resources and general enquiries.
Any worries or concerns about learning or issues directly related to your child in class	Anything relating to the mental or emotional wellbeing of your child, for example, request for support with routines at home	Important messages, for example an unplanned problem with collection arrangements.
	To update Mrs Ciaburri with information that you would like to share.	Messages about your child’s attendance, any issues in relation to absence or punctuality.
		Squid/ Dinner Money/ issues with Class Dojo.
Please do not send urgent messages/ messages about attendance or squid to your child’s class teacher as they will not be read whilst your child’s teacher is teaching.   Please speak to our school office instead.		If you are not sure who to speak to, please speak to a member of the Admin Team, giving a brief reason for your call.

End of year concerts

Many of us have missed the end of year concerts for the past couple of years and have been eagerly awaiting news of their return in 2022. Each Bay Team will perform a morning and an afternoon concert. The after school performance (with exception of Pobbles) will start at 4 pm, which has the advantage of pupils being able to stay at the end of the school day so not needing to be collected and brought back to school. Additionally, children are less likely to be very tired the following day as the concerts will start and finish earlier.  We wanted to give parents/carers/ families as much notice as possible, please find details below:

School Photographers – Our school photographers will be here on Tuesday to take individual and sibling photos of children in school. They may also be here on the Wednesday if they don’t finish taking all the photos.

They will need parental consents filled in from each child by Thursday 6th October at the latest. Please follow the link below to access the form. Thank you.

https://schools.rozandkirsty.co.uk/add_consent/13?pin=5825

Volunteers – Thank you to everyone who responded to our volunteers questionnaire. We have a meeting on Monday 17th October at 9:15am for anyone who is interested in volunteering.

School Trip – Oxwich classes will be going to Theatre Na Nog on Wednesday 26th October, we are asking for Voluntary Contributions of £13.00. Unfortunately if we do not cover the costs we may have to cancel the trip. Please pay on sQuid.

School Trip – Caswell classes will be going to Caerleon on Monday 24th October, we are asking for Voluntary Contributions of £20.00. Unfortunately if we do not cover the costs we may have to cancel the trip. Please pay on sQuid. Please note the children will return to school at 4:00pm approximately.

Inset Day – Our next Inset Day is Friday 14th October, when school will be closed to pupils for staff training.

Half Term – Monday 31st October to Friday 4th November

Class Assembly – Oxwich J have their class assembly next week on Tuesday 4th October at 9:10am. Parents and grandparents are welcome to attend. Please start queuing at Gate 2 on Trafalgar Place from 9:00am. As that gate is in use by Caswell T & Caswell J, please let the classes enter first, and wait for the gate to close before queuing, we will reopen the gate once the classes are in.

Parent/Teacher Meetings – Meet the Bay Team. As you may be aware we have renamed our classes this year after various bays/beaches around Swansea. Therefore Year Group Meetings are now called Bay Team meetings. These take place next week:-

Oxwich D – Mr Davies
Oxwich E – Mrs Evans
Oxwich J – Mrs Jenkins

Monday 3rd October 2022 at 4:00pm
Please use Gate 1

Caswell H – Mrs Howard
Caswell T – Mrs Timaeus
Caswell J – Mr Jenkins

Wednesday 5th October 2022 at 4:00pm
Please use Gate 1

Bracelet L – Mrs Lewis
Bracelet B – Mrs Breeze
Bracelet M – Miss Maliphant

Tuesday 4th October 2022 at 4:00pm

Please use Gate 1

Pobbles R – Mrs Roach

Pobbles B – Miss Brown

Tuesday 4th October 2022 at 3:30pm

 Please use Gate 5

Come along to an event on:
Thursday 13th October 2022 at 5.30 p.m. – 6.30 p.m., George Hall, Guildhall,
Swansea. SA1 4PE
Where you will:
• Discover more about the role of a governor
• Find out about the work of the B.A.M.E. governor working party
• Hear from current governors and find out what it actually entails for them
• Listen to a Headteacher of a Swansea school regarding the importance of the
governing body being a true representation of the community the school
serves
• Speak to the School & Governor Team to find out how they can help you
become a governor
• Opportunity for a Q + A session
This event is free but booking is essential. To book a place please visit
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/governors/governor-recruitment-event/e-avlpga

Bank Holiday – Monday 19th September is a bank holiday for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. School will resume on Tuesday 20th September.

As part of the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations last term we ordered books for the children, which we received last week, and so we are offering children a copy of the book to take home today.

Year 2 children will be having Kerb Craft lessons starting next week from the Local Authority’s Road Safety Team. Please ensure you have signed and returned the permission slip.

School Grounds – A huge thank you to one of our parents Jodi Moss, and her volunteers for all their work in fundraising and transforming an area of the Pobbles’ yard over the summer holidays. We are very grateful. Jodi hopes to keep the fundraising and transformation going as they have plans to improve and introduce green areas in our other yards.

Oxwich J Assembly – Due to the bank holiday we have postponed Mrs Jenkins’ Class Assembly until October 4th.

PTA – Parent Teacher Association – PTA events have been on hold over the last couple of years due to lock downs and restrictions, and we would like to start it again. There is a meeting on Monday 26th September at 3.30 pm for anyone interested in joining. After you have collected your child, please come to Gate 1 (please wait until the children have been dismissed from that Gate). The PTA put on events such as Disco’s and Fetes to raise money to benefit all children in the school.

We are so pleased to start the school year in a much more positive and familiar way than the past couple of years. We are delighted to say that we plan to return to in-person class-led assemblies, end of term concerts and workshops. These opportunities have been very much missed by staff, parents and pupils alike. We do not underestimate the value of events like these in terms of building a strong school community.

We are in a position to share key planned dates for the Autumn term which are as follows (times to be confirmed):

20/9/2022 – Class Led Assembly Oxwich J

w/c 3/10/22 – Parent / Teacher meetings: Getting to know the new class teams – Oxwich, Caswell, Bracelet and Pobbles – details to follow.

21/10/22 – Harvest assembly for parents (Oxwich D, Caswell J and T, Bracelet L, Pobbles R and B.

w/c 24/10/22 – Safety and Well-being workshops

8/11/22 – Class Assembly Bracelet B

15/11/22 – Class Assembly Oxwich E

29/11/22 – Class Assembly Bracelet M

w/c 12/12/22 – End of Term Concerts – dates to confirmed.

Mrs Lewis and Mrs Morgans are organising volunteer induction meetings for October. The link to the questionnaire if you are interested is here. Please note if you have already responded to this in the summer term there is no need to respond again.

Welcome!

We hope the children have enjoyed the start to the new academic year.

As many of you are already aware, Welsh Government have reviewed the old curriculum and developed an exciting new curriculum with the intention of creating a generation of pupils who will be :

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

The new curriculum is a continuum of learning for children from 3 to 16 years of age. There will no longer be a separate Foundation Phase or Key Stage 2, instead, all children are learning along the continuum.

After so many years of referring to Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2, we needed to consider how we would move away from these well known and understood terms. We looked to our local area for inspiration and settled on Gower beaches, which will also form part of the name of each class as follows:

Nursery & Reception
Mrs Roach – Class Name – Pobbles R
Miss Brown – Class Name – Pobbles B

Years 1 & 2
Mrs Lewis – Class Name – Bracelet L
Mrs Breeze – Class Name – Bracelet B
Miss Maliphant – Class Name – Bracelet M

Years 3 & 4
Mr Jenkins – Class Name – Caswell J
Mrs Howard – Class Name – Caswell H
Mrs Timaeus – Class Name – Caswell T

Years 5 & 6
Mr Davies – Class Name – Oxwich D
Mrs Evans – Class Name – Oxwich E
Mrs Jenkins – Class Name – Oxwich J

September ‘Meet the teacher’ event: . As always, we have planned for an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher who will share some useful information including the new curriculum. Details to follow

Updating Contact Details

At the start of the school year we check and update everyone’s contact details, please complete the online form. (One form per family). If you have recently changed your address please provide proof such as a driving licence, council tax bill or tenancy agreement.

New Pupils

We are looking forward to all our new pupils joining us over the next few weeks. Please remember to complete the admission form, and provide proof of your child’s date of birth as well as proof of your address.

Inset Days and School Holidays

Our next Inset Days are Friday 14th October, Thursday 22nd December and Friday 23rd December. School will be closed to pupils for staff training. October half term is Monday 31st October to Friday 4th November.

School Trips

Advance Notice – Oxwich classes are going to Theatre Na Nog on Wed 26th October to see the production of The Trail of Elgin Jones. The cost will be approx. £15.00 to £20.00 and we will confirm the exact price once we have confirmed the transport costs.

Safety and Wellbeing

Before the summer we shared the Cluster RSE leaflet which outlined recent changes to the RSE curriculum, and a brief questionnaire.

Thank you to those who responded; it was clear that many of you would welcome the idea of Safety & Wellbeing workshops. To help us to plan these, please would you complete the following form:

https://forms.office.com/r/caceNZVRaW

Below are links to information you may find useful regarding keeping safe online:

https://brynmill-primary-school1.j2bloggy.com/en_GB/in-the-know-the-latest-on-apps-social-media-and-games-for-families/

Stop the spread of misinformation

Dropping off and Collection Arrangements

Can we please ask that once you have collected your child at the end of the day, that you move away from the gate areas this will help with safety. If you would like to stop and chat with other parents please cross the road, thank you! We have had some complaints from neighbours about cars parking in residents parking areas, so if possible please park a couple of streets away, and walk the rest of the way to the school.