Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach the end of term, there’s a buzz of excitement in the air! We have a busy few weeks ahead, filled with fun activities, important updates, and opportunities to get involved. Please take a moment to read through the information below.

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Ninja Warrior Trip – Important Informatio

We’re thrilled about our upcoming trip to Ninja Warrior! On Friday, I visited the venue to complete the risk assessment, and everything is set for a fantastic experience.

Key Details:

• Date: Thursday 10th July
• Departure: Bus leaves school at 9:15 AM. Please ensure pupils arrive on time.
• Clothing: Pupils should wear PE kit and trainers (no sandals, Crocs, or open-toe shoes)
• What to Bring: Just a water bottle – squash will be provided throughout the morning
• No bags or money needed
• Special Treat: Ice cream for all pupils on our return to school!

For the first hour, our pupils will have exclusive access to the venue. From 11:00 AM, another school will join us. A waiver will need to be completed by parents – we’ll share the link via Schoop as soon as it’s available.

Nursery Graduation – Thank You!

A heartfelt thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us this week to celebrate our amazing nursery pupils at their graduation. We hope you enjoyed the special occasion as much as we did – it was a joy to see the children shine!

Unfortunately, we’re currently experiencing some technical issues with uploading the graduation photos to our website. We’re working hard to resolve this and will get the photos to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Changes to Our Family Engagement Team

We’re saying a fond farewell to Gemma Addis-Fuller, who has secured a new role within the local authority. We’re incredibly grateful for her contributions and are pleased to share that she will still be involved in family engagement across the cluster – so you may still see her around!

We’re delighted to welcome Ceri-Marie Jones as our new Family Engagement Officer. Ceri will be with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we’re already planning some exciting activities for September.

Advance Notice of Key Dates

As we begin to look ahead, here are a few important dates to keep in mind for the coming weeks and into the new term. We’ll continue to share reminders via Schoop, but we hope this helps with your planning:

• Inset Days – 1st September, 24th September, 29th June. (3 more dates to follow)
• First Day Back in September – Tuesday 2nd September
• Workshops for parents with Emma Jenkins from CAMHS-
  • Emotional Regulation – 16^th September 2.00-3.00
  • Managing Anger- 23rd September- 2.00-3.00
  • Managing Worries- 30^th September – 2.00-3.00
  • Building self-esteem – 14^th October- 2.00-3.00
• Open evening for parents and pupils – 15th September 3:30 – 5:00

More details will follow, but we wanted to give you a heads-up so you can mark your calendars!

Ospreys Rugby Camps – Summer Fun!

We’re pleased to share details of the Ospreys “On The Road” Rugby Camps happening this summer – a great opportunity for children aged 6–11 to enjoy a day of rugby, games, and friendship.

Camp Dates & Locations:

• August 19 – Ysgol Cwm Brombil
• August 26 – Cefn Saeson Comprehensive
• August 27 – Ysgol Bae Baglan

Booking links are available via Schoop 

 Reminders & Notices

• Summer Fête:
  If you haven’t already, please complete the Schoop form for the Summer Fête.
  • Children who will be supervised by a teacher can bring money to spend during the event.
  • Nursery children are welcome to attend the morning session and should be collected at 11:30 AM.
• After-School Clubs:
  All clubs have now finished for the term except football, which will continue as scheduled.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. Let’s make these final weeks of term memorable and full of joy!

Warm regards,
Mrs. M. Teague

Nursery News

Last week we read ‘Handa’s Surprise’ which is about a girl called Handa who fills a basket with fruit and goes on a journey (carrying the basket on her head) to visit her friend Akeyo.

Applications for School Essential Grant 2025/2026 will open on 01/07/2025  and will close on 31/05/2026. Applications will be available online.  

The School Essentials Grant is available to children and young people eligible for free school meals (eFSM), Looked After Children (LAC), and those who are classed as No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) in year groups Reception to Year 11.

Funding of £125 is available for each eligible learner with the exception of those in Year 7 who will be entitled to £200.

The School Essentials Grant can help cover the costs of:

• school uniform, including coats and shoes
• school activities, including learning a musical instrument, sports kit and other equipment for after school activities
• classroom essentials, including pens, pencils and school bags
• specialist equipment for new curriculum activities such as design and technology
• IT equipment: laptops and tablets only (School Essentials should only be used in limited situations where a school is unable to loan equipment to the family)
• equipment for out-of-school hours trips such as outdoor learning (for example, waterproofs)
• non-uniform essential items such as clothing to support access and involvement in residential outdoor education
• uniform for enrichment activities, including but not limited to: scouts, guides, cadets, martial arts, sports, performing arts, or dance

Eligibility

You can apply for the School Essentials Grant if you receive any of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Child Tax Credit – As long as your annual income is £16,190 or less before tax and you don’t receive Working Tax Credit
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit – Your household earnings must be less than £7,400 a year after tax. This does not include any income from benefits
• Help under Immigration and Asylum Seekers Act 1999

You may be eligible if you have no recourse to public funds (NRPF).

Pupils who receive free school meals due to transitional protection or Universal FSM do not qualify for this funding.

Link Below:-

Get help with school essentials – Neath Port Talbot Council

Dear Parents, Carers, and Students,

As we approach the final stretch of the academic year, it’s hard to believe there are just 15 school days left until the end of term! This is always a very busy and exciting time, filled with final projects, celebrations, and important transitions.

We know there’s a lot happening, so please remember that all key dates and event details can be found on our school website. Staying up to date will help ensure you don’t miss any of the wonderful activities planned as we wrap up the term.

Read Write Inc. – Change of Date

Please note that the Read Write Inc. Information Sharing Session for Parents has been rescheduled.
New Date: Wednesday 2^nd July @3:30
We encourage all parents to attend and learn more about how we support early reading and phonics development in school. A creche will be provided for the pupils.

Nursery Graduation – Reminder

A gentle reminder that our Nursery Graduation will take place next week!
Children will be having lunch in school, but they are also welcome to bring their own packed lunch if preferred.
Please look out for a Schoop message where we’ll ask for your lunch preference.
There is no limit to how many family members can attend the graduation.
However, we kindly ask that only one parent or carer attends the transition meeting due to limited space.

Multi Sports Festival – Years 3 & 4

We’re thrilled to share that Years 3 and 4 will be taking part in an exciting Multi Sports Festival at Llangatwg on 9th July from 9:30am to 11:45am!

This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to get active, try out a variety of sports, and enjoy some friendly competition with other schools.

Please ensure your child comes to school wearing their PE kit, along with a coat in case of unpredictable weather, and brings a bottle of water to stay hydrated.

Let’s get ready for a fun and energetic morning!

Book Look – Monday 14th July

We’re delighted to invite all parents and carers to our Book Look on Monday, 14th July from 3:30 to 5:00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to come into school, browse through your child’s work, and see the progress they’ve made this term. Class teachers will also be available for informal conversations, giving you a chance to discuss your child’s learning and achievements. We hope to see you there!

Transition Day to Llangatwg

Our Year 6 pupils will be attending their Transition Day at Llangatwg.
 Date:  8^th July
Pupils will need a packed lunch
Please ensure they wear their PE kit

Personalised Assessments in Wales

Next week, pupils will be completing their Personalised Assessments.
These assessments help teachers understand each child’s strengths and areas for development in Reading and Numeracy.
They are adaptive, meaning the questions adjust to the pupil’s responses, providing a more tailored experience.
More information is available on the Welsh Government’s website:

Crucial Crew Visit – Learning About Safety

Our Year 6 pupils recently attended the Crucial Crew event, where they learned vital safety skills from a range of organisations including:

• Building Site Safety
• Water Safety – RNLI
• Dog Safety
• Thrive – Keeping Themselves Safe
• Fire Safety
• Stop and Search – South Wales Police
• Railway Safety – Network Rail
• Gas Safety – Wales & West Utilities
• Road Safety – National Grid
• First Aid – St John’s Ambulance

As always, the children participated brilliantly and were a credit to the school. Well done, everyone!

Apollo Football Tournament

A big shout-out to our pupils who took part in the Apollo Football Tournament!
They showed fantastic teamwork, sportsmanship, and school spirit. We’re proud of you all!

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Sports Day T-Shirts – Reminder

If you haven’t already done so, please return your child’s Sports Day T-shirt to school as soon as possible. Thank you!

Schoop Forms – Data Collection for September

A reminder to complete the data collection forms on Schoop in preparation for the new school year.
If you haven’t yet submitted your form, please do so at your earliest convenience to help us ensure a smooth start in September.

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Ninja Warrior Trip

Please complete the Schoop form to let us know whether your child will be attending the trip.
This is essential so we can make appropriate provision for those not attending, including preparing school dinners.
Thank you for your cooperation!

INSET Days · Important Dates

Please make a note of the following INSET days, when school will be closed to all pupils:

• Monday, July 21st – Final INSET day of the current term
• Monday, September 1st – First INSET day of the new term
• Thursday, October 24th – Autumn term INSET day

We recommend checking the school website regularly for a full list of key dates and updates.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community. Let’s make these last few weeks both productive and memorable!

Warm regards,

Mrs. M. Teague

Nursery Newsletter

Last week we read ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and we did lots of activities around this story including acting it out, maths activities, made bears out of playdough, moved small world people through the grass, mud, water, snow and twigs as well as going on our own bear hunt around our outdoor environment.

We also made Father’s Day cards using our footprints as the top of a hammer.

Rehearsals have started with the morning nursery for our graduation show. We have been doing a great job of singing the songs and we are starting to learn what we are going to be saying. 

On Welly Wednesday we visited our pond area and used big nets to scoop into the water to see what was living in there! We found newts, pond snails, pond skaters, water boatmen, a whirligig beetle, a bloodworm and dragonfly and damselfly nymphs! We had a lot of fun exploring! 

Sports day was so much fun! Well done to all of the children for doing their best in all of the races! We’re very proud of you!

Mrs Williams & Mrs Amos

Reception & Year 1 Newsletter 

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope this message finds you well and that you’re enjoying the lovely weather! 

Literacy
We are continuing with our Read Write Inc. (RWInc) phonics programme. The children are making fantastic progress with their sounds and blends, showing growing confidence and determination. It’s wonderful to see them applying their learning independently in the classroom.
We also enjoy daily story time, which helps the children expand their vocabulary, spark their imagination, and improve their listening and sitting skills.

Numeracy
Year 1: We’ve started exploring fractions. This week, we focused on recognising halves and finding half of objects and quantities. Next week, we’ll move on to learning about quarters.
Reception: Our focus has been on subtraction—taking away numbers up to 20 and recognising how many have been taken away. Next week, we’ll begin exploring sharing and grouping equally.

Concept: Journeys
Our current theme is ‘Journeys’. We’ve been learning about positional language—thinking about how we travel over, around, under, or through different environments.
We’ve also been role-playing a journey to Mecca, reflecting on someone we love and discussing the significance of the journey and the big walk involved in getting there.

Reading and Library Books
A gentle reminder to please return any library or reading books your child has borrowed. This helps us keep our collection fresh and exciting for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you for your continued support. We are incredibly proud of all the children and the progress they are making!

Warm regards,
Miss Glennon & Mrs. Morgan

Year 2 Newsletter

Maths 

In Maths, we have been exploring fractions – breaking numbers into different parts and dividing shapes into halves.  The children have really enjoyed hands-on activities to help them understand how things can be split equally. 

We have also been working on number bonds, choosing a number and finding how many more we need to make ten or twenty.  It has been fantastic to see the children building their confidence in mental arithmetic. 

We have introduced number fact families too – using three numbers to create four related number sentences.  This is helping the children develop a deeper understanding of addition and subtraction. 

To build their fluency further, we have been practising our 2, 5 and 10 times tables.  It has been lovely to see the children rise to the challenge of multiplication. 

Literacy 

In our literacy sessions, we have continued with Read Write Inc.  This week, we have been focussing on our “sound of the day”, linking it to spelling and handwriting practice.  The children are doing a fantastic job applying the strategies they have learnt in lessons in their writing throughout the day. 

Concept 

In our concept work, we have been investigating different materials, with a focus on plastic.  The children were amazed – and a bit shocked – to learn that plastic can take up to a thousand years to decompose!  We have explored how long other materials take to break down and discussed eco-friendly alternatives.  The children have come up with brilliant ideas for how we can reduce plastic use and reuse plastic items in creative ways. 

Mrs. Bevan and Ms. Evans

Class 3 Newsletter

I am so glad to finally be back in Class 3. I have had a lovely welcome, so thank you all very much. We have enjoyed catching up with each other. In PE we rotated activities, practising our football skills, tennis – bat and ball, egg and spoon, running & skipping races. We all enjoyed our Sports Day too, as I’m sure you all did!

In Maths, we have started multiplication. We have continued with our Read Write Inc. groups, learning new sounds, writing sentences, listening to stories and discussing content with our friends.

In Welsh we have been learning the pattern ‘Ble wyt ti’n byw? (Where do you live?). We played matching, dice and action games to help us learn this new vocabulary. We have continued with migration and have now all completed our PowerPoint presentations about birds with Mr Evans.  

Diolch yn fawr,                                                                                                                                              Mrs Davies.

The School Essentials Grant will open on 1 July 2025 and will close on 31 May 2026.

Who is eligible

Families with children in reception to year 11 on lower incomes and get certain benefits can apply for:

• £125 per learner and extra funding for your school
• £200 for learners entering year 7 (to help with increased costs associated with starting secondary school) and extra funding for your school

Parents and carers can claim once per child per school year.

Receiving Universal Primary Free School Meals does not automatically entitle your child to the School Essentials Grant:

• Learners must be eligible for means-tested Free School Meals (eFSM).
• Learners who receive free school meals due to transitional protection arrangements do not qualify.
• All children in local authority care qualify for the grant. 

We also encourage local authorities to use their discretion to provide the grant to children whose parents or carers are not entitled to public funds.

Receiving the School Essentials Grant will not affect your tax or other benefits.

What the grant is for

The School Essentials Grant can help cover the costs of:

• school uniform, including coats and shoes
• school activities, including learning a musical instrument, sports kit and other equipment for after school activities
• classroom essentials, including pens, pencils and school bags
• specialist equipment for new curriculum activities such as design and technology
• IT equipment: laptops and tablets only (School Essentials should only be used in limited situations where a school is unable to loan equipment to the family)
• equipment for out-of-school hours trips such as outdoor learning (for example, waterproofs)
• non-uniform essential items such as clothing to support access and involvement in residential outdoor education
• uniform for enrichment activities, including but not limited to: scouts, guides, cadets, martial arts, sports, performing arts, or dance

For further information on eligibility or the application process, please contact the local authority where your child goes to school.

School Essentials Grant: help with school costs | GOV.WALES

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School Newsletter – Summer Term Highlights

Sports Day Success!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make Sports Day such a wonderful occasion! This truly was a team effort from start to finish.
We are incredibly grateful to:

• The team who prepared the running track
• Those who set up gazebos to keep our pupils shaded
• Our fantastic PTA for keeping everyone refreshed
• The staff for their superb organization
• The pupils for their excellent behaviour
• And of course, our amazing supporters for cheering everyone on!

For me this has to be my favourite picture of the day!

Seeing the children’s beaming smiles as they crossed the finish line — truly unforgettable!
Photos from the day are now available on the school website. We’d love your feedback too!

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Water Fun Afternoon – 17th July
Get your water pistols ready!
Thanks to the PTA, we’re excited to host a Water Fun Afternoon. Pupils are welcome to bring water pistols for some splashing fun. For those who prefer to stay dry, we’ll also have gentler water activities available, and separate fun activities will be held for morning nursery pupils.
Fingers crossed for sunshine!

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Nursery Teddy Bears Picnic
The PTA will be hosting a Teddy Bears Picnic for our Nursery pupils.
Date: 4th July
Please bring: A favourite teddy and a small picnic on a paper plate.
Afternoon nursery pupils are kindly asked to attend the morning session to join in the fun.

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Year 6 – Crucial Crew Trip (Thursday)
Year 6 will be visiting Crucial Crew in Margam — a fantastic opportunity to learn about emergency services.
What to bring:

• School uniform
• Packed lunch
• A coat

Pupils will return before the end of the school day.

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Summer Fete Excitement!
We can’t wait for the Summer Fete, and a big thank you to the PTA for their hard work putting it all together!
Expect games like hook a duck and snail racing, stalls including bric-a-brac, face painting, lucky dips, refreshments, and more!
A Schoop form will be shared soon to confirm if your child will be picked up or taken around by a staff member.
Afternoon nursery pupils are invited to attend in the morning so they can join in the afternoon festivities.

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End-of-Term Trip to Ninja Warrior – 10th July
Classes 1 to 4 are heading to Ninja Warrior for a fun-filled end-of-year treat!
Includes:

• Full Ninja Warrior access (socks included)
• Lunch (pizza, chips, and unlimited squash)
• Ice cream or ice pops upon return to school

Cost: £9.50 per pupil
Thanks to Cymru Coaches for providing free transport and the PTA for their generous £500 contribution.

Please complete the Schoop form by Monday 1st July to confirm your child’s attendance. We need to pay a deposit to secure the booking.
No spending money needed. Further details on clothing will be shared soon.

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After School Clubs Update
Our after-school sports club continues next week. Please let us know in advance if your child will not be attending.
All other after-school pupil groups have now ended for the term due to staffing. We’ll be reviewing our offerings over the summer and will share plans for September soon.

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Thank you for your continued support and involvement. Here’s to a fun, sunny and successful end to the school year!

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Mrs. M. Teague