Latest news
-
Strike action cancelled
Mon 13 Feb 2023Dear parent / carer,
Just to confirm that the school will be fully open tomorrow (Tuesday) as usual – strike action by the NEU has been suspended.
SB
-
Mid year reports
Mon 06 Feb 2023Dear parent / carer,
In line with the new Curriculum for Wales, we have revised our assessment and reporting arrangements and developed our own system. National curriculum levels and Foundation Phase Outcomes are now a thing of the past!
However, it is just as important that you know and understand how well your child is doing at school and we have decided to continue to generate a mid-year report with some key assessment data on it along with targets for improvement. These reports will be shared with you when you attend parent consultations. If you can’t attend for whatever reason, we will send home the report on the last day of term, Friday 17th Feb.
The new system is explained below:
Mid-year reports – a brief guide for parents
The reported results in the lower box (reading and maths) have been assessed as follows:
Reading either a standardised score (SAS) or a Read Write Inc (RWI) group
Maths a standardised score for pupils Y2 – 6 (SAS) and teacher assessed against year group criteria for Reception and Year 1
These three forms of assessment are as follows:
Standardised scores (SAS)
This measure compares your child against all the other pupils in the UK that have done the same test. The average score is 100. A higher score is above average and a lower score is below average. The majority of children score between 90 and 110 which should be regarded as the average band. Fewer and fewer children get a score that is towards the extremes of the scale (60 and 140) i.e. the distribution of scores reflects a ‘normal’ curve.
If you are interested in more detail, this is the information provided by our test provider:
https://www.renlearn.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Standardised-testing-wales.pdf
Read Write Inc (RWI) group
If your child has a number between 1 and 13 (rather than a value between 60 and 140) this relates to their Read Write Inc (phonics) group. Children progress from group 1 through to group 13 and then move onto Accelerated Reader (which generates the SAS scores, as above).
Teacher assessed against year group criteria
Along with all the schools in the local cluster (Croeyceiliog area), we have agreed expectations for each year group for various key skills, such as reading, writing and oracy. Children have been assessed against these year group expectations whereby, for example, a Year 1 child operating at our expected Year 1 level would be 1b, above this level 1a, and below this level 1c. A child may be in Year 1 but operating significantly above this level (Year 2) or below this level (Reception), in which case we will assess them in line with these expectations.
What does the school do with the outcomes?
We use the outcomes to help set appropriate targets and work for your child. Data is not shared beyond yourself and the school staff.
Please feel free to discuss these outcomes with your child’s teacher at parent consultations. Alternatively, contact me at school should you like any further clarification or wish to discuss our procedures in more detail.
SB 06.02.2023
-
update 03.02.2023
Fri 03 Feb 2023Dear parent carer,
Please note the following:
- We are running a health and wellbeing survey with the junior children (Y3 – 6) over the coming weeks organised by Cardiff University. The survey is entirely anonymous. I will assume that you are happy for your child to be involved unless I hear otherwise. Information attached.
- We are running a pupil photograph competition across the cluster (Croesyceiliog cluster of schools) as part of our Eisteddfod celebrations. The theme is Welsh places. Please submit entries digitally to your child's class teacher by Tuesday 28th February. Information poster attached.
- We will once again be supporting the Marie Curie charity by selling small daffodils (in time for St David’s Day!). If you would like to support this charity, please send a donation in with your child.
- We have now had confirmation that the proposed 6th teacher training day for this year has been approved by The Senedd. As such, as previously indicated, this day will be Friday 23rd June 2023.
- Please avoid using football shirts for PE kit – it causes problems in school! We have also had issues with fizzy drinks and ‘Prime’ drinks – can these not come to school either please. Thanks!
- School attendance – the local authority has started a new campaign entitled, ‘Not in school, miss out!’ and, as part of this, we are now introducing the use of fixed penalty notices for parents who fail to get their children to school without good reason. The policy will be discussed at the next governing body meeting in March.
Have a lovely weekend!
All the best,
Simon Bates