​Thank you all very much for supporting our Macmillan coffee morning.

This morning was a huge success and we have raised £242.55 from the morning alone. A huge thank you to Mrs Morrell and Dosbarth 4 for organising it and to the other staff who helped out.

The pupils also thoroughly enjoyed their 'cake and shake' at break time.

Some children in Dosbarth 4 would like to sell the remaining cakes after school so that there is no waste. Please bring some loose change if you were unable to come along during the morning.

Many thanks for your continued support 

Mr Griffiths

Good afternoon

I hope you have all enjoyed a lovely summer holiday. We are looking forward to welcoming children back to school tomorrow on Friday 1st September.

Please be careful as you approach the school gates and ensure that children do not run ahead as some work is being completed on the pavement just outside of school. This work should be finished by the end of the school day tomorrow.

I look forward to finding out what all of the children have been up to over the holidays.

Kind regards

Mr Griffiths


Please find further information below that you may need for this term and/or academic year:

Early breakfast club information
http://www.ysgolyllan.co.uk/early-breakfast-club.html

Term dates
http://www.ysgolyllan.co.uk/uploads/6/0/9/8/60987703/school_holiday_dates_and_staff_training_days_2017_-_2018.pdf

A reminder that the school meal price is due to increase to £2.15 from 11th September 2017.

We hope that you caught sight of our latest school inspection report on Twitter. If not, this report will be emailed to parents at the beginning of term and can also be found on our school website. 
http://www.ysgolyllan.co.uk/uploads/6/0/9/8/60987703/ysgol_y_llan_final_report_june_2017.pdf

Messy Church, Church Service and School Disco

Good afternoon all

I hope you are enjoying the glorious weather and making the most of the outdoors.

Just a couple of messages:

The taster session of 'Messy Church' was held today at Ysgol y Llan and led by Reverend Lorraine. It was a huge success with many families benefiting from the session. Therefore, this looks like it could be a regular/monthly event. The next session will be held and September. More information will follow from the Church.

Next week, all pupils will be going on a school trip on Wednesday (please return all forms). Due to the trip on Wednesday, our whole school Church service will take place on Monday instead. We ask that children bring in in some small change for the Church collection. 

On Monday after school, there is a chance for parents to meet the Church in Wales Section 50 Inspector at 3.30pm. This will be to specifically discuss what Ysgol y Llan does during the school hours as a Church in Wales school. 

The school disco is not going to go ahead this term. Unfortunately, this has turned out to be an extremely busy end of term with a lot more to come! Due to a number of reasons including the summer fair and school trip which have all contributed to a hole in your pockets, we will not be going ahead with the disco this term (this had been left as TBC in all newsletters). The Year 6 leavers' will still enjoy some time together during their Leavers' bowling party and I'm sure they will try to teach the staff a lesson in bowling!

Many thanks for your continued support
​

Welcome back - I hope everyone enjoyed the half term break.

The children all seem very refreshed and have got straight back into their topic work. It's great to see lots of good work being sent to the office already - only our second day back! Topic newsletters from classes should have been sent home so that you know what children will be covering this term.

During collective worship today, we begun our new value for the term - Respect. This has worked out well as most feedback from the 'Core Values' survey had 'Respect' as either the top or second most important value. Thank you to those of you who took the time to complete our survey about Christian Values. The classes have all completed their surveys and there are some very similar thoughts coming across the school which is good to see.

If you have not had your say, the survey will be open until tomorrow lunchtime. The results will then be collated and shared with the children during Friday's celebration assembly.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2VC39TS

Later on in the week, we have the Polling Station here on Thursday and Fathers' Day Secret Shop after school on Friday. Friday will also be an own clothes day for the whole school - this is a reward chosen by the Criw Cymraeg (Welsh Council) as all houses had equal Tocyn Iaith (Welsh language tokens) last term. Da iawn pawb!

Many thanks for your continued support

Mr Griffiths

Good morning
 
I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine on Saturday, followed by the rain on Sunday and Monday. Fingers crossed we see more sunshine during the week and I hope all of the children have a wonderful holiday.
 
Thank you so much for all of your support last term - the children all worked extremely hard and Years 2-6 were very composed during the Welsh National Tests. Thank you to the parents who helped me transport furniture again - I couldn't have done it without you.
 
Class 1 had a wonderful assembly on Friday and it was lovely to see so many parents and grandparents smiling at their little performers. Well done to all.
 
I will be in school over the holiday so if you need to ask anything, you can always contact me via email. Once again, please keep an eye on our school during unsociable hours. We will hopefully see some developments regarding the security very soon - thank you all for supporting this project last term.
 
In regard to the Estyn inspection, please take a moment to complete the online questionnaire. It will close midday on Tuesday 30th May and we need as many views as possible.
 
https://vir.estyn.gov.uk/questionnaires/pages/ParentLogin.aspx?lang=en-GB&id=08571
 
-------------------------------------------------------
As stated in the newsletter (along with attached information on our Christian Values), we want to develop a set of CORE values.

As part of RE and Collective Worship, our school teaches the Christian Values throughout school life. Along with other morals and values, these help to develop well-rounded pupils (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development).
 
Recently in school we have asked the children and staff for their opinions on each of these values. We hope to create a set of CORE values which are well known and apparent on a daily basis within school life. I know it is difficult to rank these values as they are all important in their own right. However, in having a set of CORE values, that does not mean that we will forget about other morals and values as these will continue to be taught and discussed in the normal manner. We would therefore welcome the views of our parents and governors before considering the results. Thank you in advance for taking the time to contribute to school life.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2VC39TS
 
And finally ... on Saturday 3rd June, you are welcome to join us at Ysgol  Llan for our next 'Garden Party'! Please bring a brush and we will be supplying the biscuits. This will be the usually tidy up and refreshing of the school grounds. The community spirit in Whitford is wonderful and we thoroughfully enjoyed and got a lot done during our last event.

Many thanks for your continue support

Mr Griffiths
 

Welsh National Tests are over - all children (Years 2 - 6) worked extremely well and tried their best. Thank you to all children who participated in a calm manner. Although some tests can be important, they don't always show the true character of children - the things that we see on a daily basis.

Today is 'Welsh Day'. The Criw Cymraeg have organised Welsh activities for the day including being involved in some pieces of Welsh art & crafts. The children are all welcome to attend school in their house colours (red, white or green) or Welsh costumes.

Good luck to those children who will represent Ysgol y Llan in the Ron Bishop Football Tournament today. Please remember your boots and shin pads. If anyone has any outstanding kit at home, please ensure it is returned today.

Thank you to those parents who have offered to help transport furniture tomorrow afternoon. Don't forget your weetabix!

Lastly, in an ever changing digital environment, can I please remind you all to monitor any internet or social media use at home. We are constantly reminding children about the 'digital footprint' they are leaving when using the internet, social media and apps but we cannot monitor their usage at home. We hope to arrange for our police liaison officer to offer a parent & pupil session soon and we would like to see as many of you there as possible.

Thank you for your continued support.

Good evening all.

Firstly, a huge thank you for your messages of support and for your donations to the 'Just Giving' page. A truly magnificent amount of money has been raised so far and I hope that this continues with a little publicity.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ysgolyllan

You may be aware that we have made the front page of the Leader today. Some statements are not a true reflection of what was said but the main point is that we get this message out there so that this doesn't continue to happen in the local community. The news report should also be in the Daily Post this week.

Although it has not been confirmed, I have heard that another school in the area had 10 bikes/trikes stolen from their grounds last night. Therefore, it is vitally important that we keep vigilant both at school and in your own homes. Tomorrow I intend on sending out the following information to the local residents to make them aware of what has happened and encourage them to also be vigilant.

Many thanks for your continued support

Mr Griffiths


Letter to local residents

To whom it may concern
 
My name is Bryan Griffiths and I am the Headteacher of Ysgol y Llan VA Primary School in Whitford. I am writing to make you aware of a couple of incidents of theft that have happened at our school over recent weeks.
 
Over the past two weekends, we have had an entire shed and a wooden rose arch stolen from our school premises. Two small windows on an external building were also smashed during one of the occasions. I want to make you aware of these incidents for two reasons. Firstly, to make you aware that this has happened in your local area and encourage you to check your own security in your homes and gardens as a matter of urgency. Secondly, I would like to plea to you to keep an eye out on our school, especially over the holiday period and weekends. If you see or hear something suspicious, please contact the local police.
 
For your information, the statement overleaf was sent to the local press so that we can make other schools and communities aware. I hope that they can be extra vigilant and prevent the same thing from happening to them. We cannot afford for this to keep happening to us as it is affecting the children and taking directly from them. I truly hope that you can help support us with this matter.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Mr Bryan Griffiths
 

Statement for the Press
 
Over the last two weekends, our school has been targeted by thieves. At the end of March they took an entire 8 x 6 shed belonging to the Gardening Club. The gardening club recently started again for the spring term, and their first session was spoilt due to the fact that their shed was missing. Despite all of the gardening tools being left behind, the children involved were left deflated. The fact that these thieves must have been aware that this shed was actively being used by children (due to its contents) is a real worry. Within the space of a week, thieves re-entered the school grounds on Friday evening (31st March) and this time, took a wooden rose arch from the peace garden and vandalised an external building by smashing two of the windows.
 
When I spoke to some of the older members of the gardening club (Years 5 & 6) about what had happened, this is what they said:
 
“It’s quite devastating that they would do this to a school. We now do not have anywhere safe to keep our gardening tools. I feel very angry and sad about what happened.”
 
“I’m angry because me and my dad helped lay the foundations for the shed and now the shed’s gone. We now have nothing and we will have to start again to raise money so that we can have a shed for our tools.”
 
“It’s really devastating because we tried our best to raise money to buy these things for our school and somewhere nice to store our tools. But now someone has taken these things away, we have nowhere to keep our things. It’s a shame because lots of parents and staff had given up a day or two to come and build these nice garden features for our school.”
 
The entire experience is shocking. The children, staff, parents and governors of the school have all worked extremely hard to make our school a safe, secure and appealing school. Everyone has worked hard to acquire these items by taking part in fund raising events or having successful grant applications. We do not have the budget to simply go out and replace stolen property and therefore the children are currently going without. To know that someone has been in our school grounds and taken our property on two occasions is devastating. It’s left many of us feeling really angry about the situation and I just hope that someone out there may be able to help catch these thieves and prevent such dreadful things happening to other schools, communities and families. If you do have any information, the police incident number is V045380.
 
Our parents have been extremely supportive. They, like me, cannot understand why this is happening to our school, to any school! I emailed parents over the weekend to let them know what had happened. Initially, this was to ask them for their support in terms of being extra vigilant and keeping an eye on the school during unsociable hours. However, within minutes of receiving supportive messages from parents, one of the parents set up a ‘Just Giving’ page to raise funds to improve security at our school. Already they have raised a significant amount that will be spent on security. This goes to show what great community spirit we do have here at Ysgol y Llan. If anyone else would like to support us, then the link to the fund raising page is
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ysgolyllan
 
As well as advice and support from the local police, who will be stepping up patrols of the school, especially over holidays, we will be improving security in the school grounds to prevent this from happening again. I hope this article raises awareness in other communities to prevent similar incidents happening.
 

We have a busy end of the week tomorrow

All children are welcome to come to school wearing red (and their own clothes) if they donate £1 to comic relief.

We have a cake competition (Red Nose theme) with a small prize for the winning cake/baker. All entries cost £1 and unless you say otherwise, the cakes will be sold after school during the Mother's Day Secret Shop. A further donation from the sale of these cakes will go to Comic Relief.

Please help the Friends of the school. Spend a moment of your time to complete a short survey. 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RSZP2VK

As you know, the Friends of the school do so much work to help raise vital funds for the school. With increasing budget cuts on county councils and education, it is even more important that we support the work that the Friends do.

The Friends of the school meet regularly and are always open to new ideas. In their last meeting, a number of ideas were raised. Please spend a moment of your time to complete the short survey ASAP and let the committee know what you think about their ideas for future fundraising events.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RSZP2VK
​

Thank you in advance.

Mr Griffiths