Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back! I hope you all had a great summer and managed to find time to relax. I’m delighted to have been appointed as the Acting Head Teacher at St. Julian’s Primary School. Although I certainly have some ‘big shoes to fill’, following on from Mr Rees, I am looking forward to working alongside Governors, staff, parents and pupils in leading the school through our next chapter.

It was lovely to see so many happy faces return to school on Wednesday; we enjoyed welcoming the children back and hearing all about their summer holidays! We hope your children are settling well into their new classes. If you have any queries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Initially, you should speak with your child’s teacher at the end of the day, or you can make an appointment to meet with the Phase Leader, Deputy Headteacher (Mrs Hollings) or myself. Alternatively, you can contact us via email or telephone, using the details at the bottom of the page. 

As you’ll be aware, schools in Wales have been developing a new curriculum. The teachers spent part of the day on Tuesday developing exciting new lessons and activities for their themes this term, based on many of the children’s ideas. Children, parents and teachers will continuously have the chance to develop these ideas as the learning progresses. You can see the topics for each year group this half-term, below. 

Nursery: Marvellous Me!  | Reception: Once Upon a Time…  | Year 1: Truly Scrumptious  | Year 2: To Space and Back  | Year 3: Natural Disasters | Year 4: The Slimy Stuarts  | Year 5: Cracking Ideas  | Year 6: Lights, Camera, Action!

We look forward to inviting parents in throughout the year to join us for some exciting learning activities!

Appointment of Parent Governors – Two vacancies have become available for new parent governors to join our Governing Body. If you are interested in becoming a parent governor, please read the attached information letter which provides instructions on how to apply. More information about the role of school governors can be found on our website. Nomination forms must be returned to the headteacher by 12:00pm on 18th September 2019 – Letter from Chair – Nomination Form – Information

Reception School Dinners – Please could Reception parents provide a packed lunch for their children for next week (9th – 13th Sep). We will provide you with your ParentPay letters at the start of the week and your child will be able to book school dinners the following week if they wish. The school dinner menu can be found on our school website. 

School Site Improvements – Over the summer, we’ve had a number of workmen in to improve the school site. They have been painting internal walls, redecorating the toilets and carrying out a number of other maintenance jobs. We have also had CCTV installed to help protect the school site, allowing us to develop our outdoor learning areas. We want to create the best learning environment for our pupils and provide them with the best opportunities and experiences to learn. I have started work on the school development plan and staff have also had the opportunity to input into this, pupils have also been given their chance to have their say and I will be contacting parents in the near future to get your views about how we may be able to improve the school.

Parents’ Evenings – Parents will be invited to meet with their child’s class teacher during October. Although this is fairly near the start of the year, we provide the opportunity early on to allow parents to get to know their child’s teacher and also see how their children have settled into their new class. Two weeks prior to the Parents’ evenings, we will send you details of our online booking system for you to make an appointment.

School Photographs – The school photographer will visit on 30th September to take individual pupil and sibling photographs. We will send out a text reminder and post to our social media accounts nearer the time, to remind you.

Visit from Ugandans – As you’ll know, we have established a link with a number of schools in Uganda and myself, Miss Butcher and Mrs Browne visited these schools last May. We are delighted to be welcoming the team of Ugandan Head Teachers to Newport at the beginning of October and would love for parents to have the opportunity to meet with them to find out about life in their schools in Uganda. They will spend a few weeks with us looking at our education system and our curriculum, and they will also visit a number of schools in Newport.

PTA – We will be holding a PTA meeting at the beginning of October. If you are interested in joining our Parent Teacher Association, please speak with your child’s class teacher. I will send out an invitation to all parents nearer the time.

Please continue to check our website, social media platforms and Class Dojo for updates throughout the term.

Finally, I’m grateful to my team of staff who have done a brilliant job this week in helping the children settle into their new classes. We look forward to working with you to help your child reach their full potential.

Kind regards,

Mr. L. Mansfield

Acting Head Teacher