Mrs K Jacobs
Acting Headteacher
Eagleswell Primary School & Nursery
“Growing Bright Futures”
Eagleswell Road Boverton Llantwit Major CF61 2UE
Tel : 01446 792755 Fax : 01446 796851
E-mail : [email protected]
13/2/2015.
Dear Parents and Carers
PARENTS’ EVENING
You may recall my previous letter regarding changing our parents’ Evenings due to the ESTYN
inspection. Mr. Archard is busy preparing the letters today to send out after half term. In the meantime
you may wish to know the following teachers will be available to see parents on the following dates:


Tuesday 3rd March
Wednesday 4th March

Thursday 5th March
Mr. Richards (Year 3)
Mr. Richards
Mrs. Crowther (Years 5/6)
Mrs. Archard/Mrs Dodd (Year 1)
Mr. Archard (Year 4/5)
Mrs. Ewings (Year 2)
3:30pm to 6pm
3:30pm to 6pm
1pm to 6pm
1pm to 6pm
1pm to 6pm
1pm to 6pm
SPORTING NEWS!
We are delighted to announce that some of our Y3, 4, 5 and 6 pupils who participated in the local interschools gymnastics competition came overall 2nd! Congratulations to all our gymnasts! We are very proud
of you! And thank you to Mrs. Grafton and Mrs. Crowther for organising the after school training
sessions. The hard work paid off!
ATTENDANCE UPDATE: “Every lesson counts, every school day counts!”
Our current school attendance has risen from 93.9% to 94.4%! So thank you to all parents. By now, you
would have received the most recent letter updating you on your child’s attendance, and also information from the
local authority about unauthorised absences and fixed penalty notices. We have had several queries about
attendance so I hope you will find the following information useful:
 the school uses the Welsh Government’s CALLIO strategy to inform parents every half term of their
child’s attendance rate using the colours red, amber, green
 red … 92% and below
 amber… between 93% and 96%
 green attendance … 97% and above
 Children with attendance of 85% or below are described as “persistently absent” and usually parents will
be required to meet with me or the Education Welfare Officer.
 Some absences can be authorised by the school such as medical appointments and illness. However, even
authorised absences will affect the child’s overall attendance rate. If a child’s attendance rate is low then it
is advisable to try and make trips to the dentist or doctor outside school hours where possible - or late
afternoon (see advice below)
 Unauthorised absences are those where the school has not been informed of the reason for absence, where
the reason given is not permitted, or lateness
 Fixed penalty notices relate to unauthorised absences.
How to avoid unauthorised absences:
- Phone the school office in the morning to inform us of the reason for your child’s absent.
- Avoid holidays during term time.
- Ensure you child arrives on time each morning
- There are two registration periods each day (morning and afternoon) so if a child is absent in the morning
but present in the afternoon then only one period of absence will be recorded.
- Medical appointments made for late afternoon, e.g. 2:45pm will not affect your child’s attendance rate
because they were present during the afternoon registration period. Although they will need to be signed
out at the office.
I hope this helps allay some worries people may have had.
SUPERSTARS!
Superstars are back! They will be running their FUN MULTI-SPORTS HOLIDAY COURSES during
half term at Eagleswell Primary. For further information please see www.super-stars.org.uk
NURTURE GROUP: The CHIP Club
For a long time now, Eagleswell Primary has run a nurture group for children in the afternoons. It is
affectionately known as the CHIP club and run by Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Callard. It aims to help
children with social and emotional difficulties. Please find attached a leaflet from the Vale of Glamorgan
which explains the concept of nurture groups further.
WYTHNOS EISTEDDFOD
We will be celebrating St. David’s Day this year with a week of fun and exciting Eisteddfod activities such as
dance, poetry and art starting on 2nd March. Further details will follow after half term. If you would like to get
involved in some way then please speak to your child’s classteacher.
AMALGAMATION Update
As you will know by now the new Llantwit Major primary school has been named as YSGOL Y DDRAIG. Mr Ty
Golding has visited our school and LLanilltud Fawr this week to start the process of consulting pupils, staff and
parents about a new school emblem.
And finally …
INSPECTION News
All the staff, governors and children are continuing to work very hard in preparation for our ESTYN monitoring
visit on Tuesday 24th February and Wednesday 25th February. I would like to wish everyone the very best of
success – there is much to be proud of at Eagleswell so good luck and keep up the good team effort!
HAVE A WONDERFUL HALF TERM BREAK!
Yours sincerely,
Karen Jacobs
Acting Headteacher
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SUMMARY OF SPRING TERM DATES 2015
HAVE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS CHANGED?
Please let the school office know if you have recently changed your address, phone number or email so we can
update our contacts list. If we don’t have an email address for you, then please let us know so that we can ensure
you get the most up-to-date information throughout the year.
16th Feb to 20th Feb:
Fri 27th Feb:
2nd Mar to 6th Mar:
11th Mar to 13th Mar:
Tue 17th Mar;
Thu 19th Mar:
Fri 27th Mar:
30th March to 10th April:
Mon 13th April:
HALF TERM
Netball Interschool Competition
EISTEDDFOD WEEK
Year6 Residential Visit to Llangrannog
PC Kev visiting Y5/6
PC Kev visiting Y2
Last day of Spring term. School closes @ 1:30pm
EASTER HOLIDAYS: School closed
Children return to school