School is closed Friday 17th December 2010

Gelli Primary School is closed Friday 17th December 2010. The school grounds are under several inches of snow and conditions are forecast to deteriorate during the day making travel difficult. I have taken the decision to close on these criteria.

You can check for update status for all schools in Rhondda Cynon Taff by clicking on http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/EN/EducationLearning/SchoolsColleges/School-closures/SchoolClosures.aspx

School Choir sing at the Rhondda Churches Christmas Festival

The school choir singing at the Rhondda Churches Christmas Festival at Ystrad Sports Centre.

School is Closed - Monday 6th December 2010

I have had to close the school due to the large amounts of ice in and around school. The caretaker will be attempting to clear the areas for school to reopen tomorrow.

School commences for pupils on Tuesday 7th September 2010

School will recommence for pupils after the summer holidays for pupils on TUESDAY 7th SEPTEMBER. The staff will be involved in THREE days In-service training the previous week and on the Monday. This is slightly unusual but we will be involved in training with the cluster schools on this occasion We look forward to welcoming everyone back and, of course, our new pupils. Breakfast Club will open at 8.00 a.m.

Llongyfarchiadau Miss Pennington

Congratulations Miss Pennington on achieving her Higher Level Teaching Assistant award.

ESTYN Inspection Report released

The Registered Inspector has completed his report after our recent inspection and has sent copies of the summery report to parents and copies of the full report to school. They will be distributed to parents in September. Anyone who wishes to access a copy before then will be able to do so from the ESTYN website from tomorrow Tuesday 20th July onwards. The Summary Report for parents is available by clicking HERE and the Full Report HERE. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Mr. Hughes receives some leaving gifts

It was also pressie giving time to Mr. Hughes. The Year 6 parents had collected money for a present which we were able to give him at the Leaver's Assembly. The staff decided to buy him a watch so that he would be on time in his new school. And because Mr Hughes hasn't been able to play golf for so long due to the birth of his son and the inspection, we decided that he would need to have a lesson from a Golf Pro.

Stephanie presented Mr. Hughes with a certificate for being a grood role model

Mrs. Sims presented Mr Hughes with a bespoke card of a picture of him in the stocks during last year's PTA Fete.We wish Mr Hughes all the success in his new school.

Mr. Hughes' Leaving Assembly

We had a leaving assembly for our outgoing Deputy Head teacher Mr. Hughes on the last day of term. Miss Mathias and Mrs Johnson were very sneeky rehearsing when Mr. Hughes was not looking. As part of it the assembly the children performed a sketch all about Mr. Hughes. Take a look at it

In addition we performed two songs - You got a friend in me from the Disney Extravaganza.


The Juniors performed "Together" from High School Musical.

The Violin Group play at our End of term Assembly

Our violin group play for one final time during our End of term assembly.

Llongyfarchiadau Stephanie

Stephanie, one of our Year Six leaver's, recently gained her Associated Board Grade 1 violin. She was presented with her certificate in our final assembly. Llongyfarchiadau Stephanie

Goodbye Mrs Griffith our super violin teacher

Mrs Griffiths, our violin teacher, is leaving the Music service after teaching thousands of pupils to play the violin during her career. Among them are our own Mr Jones and Mrs Blackey our Cluster worker. She intends to keep teaching privately and also plays in the Rhondda Symphony Orchestra. It was a pleasure to have her company during our final asembly where she accompanied the string group. Good luck and best wishes for the future.
We welcome her replacement Mr May who joins us in September.

A Review of the year

As we approach another year’s end and head to a well deserved summer holiday, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all parents for their continued support during this past year. This has been the most productive year since I assumed the Headship of Gelli Primary School just over three years ago. It has been an important year in many ways. We have had success in achieving continued success in all areas of school life. On the sporting field several teams reached local and district finals. Our PESS initiative led by Mrs Carly and assisted by Miss Hatch was awarded the Activemarc Cymru and we were selected to be involved in a successful Local Authority PESS review. They also organised the first whole school Sports this summer which was very successful.
We were treated to several musical performances notably the Grandparents concert, Christmas productions, St David’s Day performances and the Foundation Phase Disney Extravaganza. Pupils competed in the Treorchy Male Choir Junior Musician Competition.
The ESTYN inspection in May was a very successful and positive experience and I am sure that you will be very pleased when you read the report which we will be able to distribute in September. If you cannot wait until then, it will be published on the ESTYN website from Tuesday 20th July. I will put a link to it on our school website when it will be available. I would like to thank everyone involved from volunteers such as Mrs Sims, Ms Burnett, and Mr Click; Mr Jones the caretaker, the Governing Body; the staff and most importantly the children. The village can be proud of its school. We can now look forward with the confidence that the strategies we are employing for raising standards and meeting our children’s needs are successful.
With the end of each year comes the usual farewell to our Year 6 pupils. I am sure that they will be successful in whatever they do in Treorchy Comprehensive. I look forward to following their career with interest.
We also say goodbye to two members of staff. Mr Hughes who is to take up an appointment as Deputy Head teacher in Ninian Park Primary School in Cardiff. Mr Hughes has a young family and wishes to pursue career opportunities closer to home. I am very grateful to him for his constant support as my Deputy and being such a good role model for the staff and children. I am sure that you would all wish him well in the future. We will appoint his successor in October.

Mrs. Griffiths, our violin teacher, is taking early retirement from the Music service. She has taught a large number of pupils in her time here who have continued their enjoyment of playing the violin in the Comp. She will continue to teach privately and continue to play in local orchestras. We wish her well for the future and thank her for her contribution.
We look forward to welcoming our new pupils in September.
I hope that the staff and pupils have a well deserved rest over the next six weeks and return refreshed in September to continue to raise standards and ensure that our pupils make appropriate progress.
Thanks to the PTA for organising the Fete and the Leaver’s Ball so successfully again this year. We welcome new members to meetings from September.
I am planning to update the school website and blog over the summer and set up class areas on our Moodle site. We hope to put video content and other material such as photos and homework on a secure part of the site that parents and pupils will access via a password system. This should further enhance our home school communication provision.
Have a good summer.

Term dates and INSET day information

Gelli Primary School will close for the summer holidays on FRIDAY 16TH JULY. The staff will be involved in In-service training on Monday 19th July.
School will recommence after the summer holidays for pupils on TUESDAY 7th SEPTEMBER. The staff will be involved in THREE days In-service training on THURSDAY 2nd and FRIDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER and on MONDAY 6th SEPTEMBER. This is slightly unusual but we will be involved in training with the cluster schools on this occasion and also on TUESADY 4th and WEDNESDAY 5th JANUARY 2011. There will be another two INSET days which will be taken in the Summer term 2011.
If there is a repeat of the inclement weather we have experienced during the past two years that will force schools to close because of snow during the winter, the Minister for Education has written to suggest that these may be used to make up the time. This information and the dates for school holidays in 2010 - 2011 is available from the school calendar link on the School website and the term dates link to the RCTCBC website.

Goodbye and good luck Mr Hughes

Mr Hughes is leaving us today to take up an appointment as Deputy Head teacher in Ninian Park Primary School in Cardiff. Mr Hughes has a young family and wishes to pursue career opportunities closer to home. I am very grateful to him for his constant support as my Deputy and being such a good role model for the staff and children. I am sure that you would all wish him well in the future. Ninian Park will be getting an outstanding teacher, a very effective manager and a very good colleague. He is a future head teacher and will visit the school during next term to complete his National Professional Qualification for Headship programme. which will culminate with a positive outcome. We will appoint his successor in October.

Goodbye and good luck to the Class of 2010

We said goodbye to our Class of 2010 today. They have been very effective in helping me and the staff look after the children of Gelli Primary School. I hope that you will appreciate this tribute video. The photographs were taken by Mr Phil Smith and each pupil was presented with a copy of the individual photo and one of the group. We thank Mr Smith for making these and I am sure that you will agree that they are a fantastic momento of their time in Gelli Primay. Thank you the Class of 2010 for your contribution to Gelli Primary School. Diolch Dosbarth 2010 am cyfranu'n helaeth i fywyd yr ysgol.

The Leaver's Assembly 2010

Year 6 performed their Leaver's Assembly in the School Hall. As usual, it was full of fun, laughter and the usual "mickey taking" with Mr Jones in Year 5 singled out for particularly harsh teatment this year. There was an awful lot of tears as well as this is the last opportunity for us to wish them well on their journey to Treorchy Comprehensive in September.

There was also an "I'm a celebrity Gelli Primary Teacher. Get me out of here!" sketch performed and the leaver's song "That's what Friends are for." Everyone enjoyed the occasion and we hope that these videos can help you enjoy some of their performance.Photographs of the 2010 Leaver's Assembly are available to view on the School Gallery.

The Disney Extravaganza

Photographs of the Disney Extravaganza are available to view on the School Gallery site. A DVD of the concert will be available in September. We have arranged that Mr Smith, (formally Deputy Head teacher at Ton Pentre Juniors) will video the rehearsal and evening performance and will edit it over the summer holidays and produce a DVD package that will include individual and group photographs of the pupils. He will display these in the hall during our open evenings in mid September. Further details will be available in the letter outlining our plans at the beginning of next term.

The 2010 Leaver's Ball

The 2010 Leaver's Ball took place at the Ton Pentre Football Club on Wednesday 7th July. As usual, our Year 6 pupils dressed in their gowns and suits and looked the part. We had a special mystery guest this year. Mr Nigel Owens, the international rugby referee, broke into his very busy schedule to present our awards. This year's winners were - The Sports Personality was Jenna; The Lifetime award went to Michael; The Achievement award to Keira and the children voted Jack L as their Star of the Year. Congratulations to them, but they were all winners as ever. Mrs Smith our official photographer is editing the photos as I type and she will make them available to parents on our Gallery site early next week. In the meantime here are some casual photos taken by Miss Hatch. Our thanks, as ever, go to Mrs Sims and the PTA for arranging the evening and decorating the Hall in the Football Club so beautifully.

Click HERE to visit our Gallery site.

The Inaugural Gelli Primary School Whole School Sports Day

Mrs Carly and Miss Hatch, our PESS leaders, organised the first whole school sports day this year. In previous years Junior and Infant Sports have been organised separately and after the successful pilot of taking the Junior Sports to the Pentre AstroTurf last year they decided to invite the Foundation phase along this year. The school was divided into four house teams, Buddug, Caradog, Gwenllian, and Owain.
There were a good variety of races and games for the children from nursery to Year 6 to participate in and it was pleasing to see every child in Gelli Primary being involved. Few schools can boast this achievement. The winning house was Caradog and they were presented with a brand new cup donated by the PTA.
Click here to follow the link to our gallery site to see the photographs taken.

Sorry we've been away

Our technical difficulties have now been resolved and we are open for business as usual. We have a great deal of catching up to do so look out for frequent updates about activities that have occured since half term such as some of our sporting achievements, the 2010 Leavers Ball, the first whole school sports day and the Disney extravaganza. Come back soon.

Transition Music Activity

Every year a member of the music department at Treorchy Comprehensive School works with our Year Six pupils on a transition module. The work undertaken will be the first module that the children will study at Treorchy next September. Mrs. Marks taught the children an ostinato and wove the African melody Banwa over it in a number of parts. They used pitched and unpitched instruments to make this arrangement and Mrs Marks accompanied them on the piano. We hope you enjoy their performance.

Old Gelli football kit lands up in Africa

Earlier this year a party of teachers from Rhondda Cynon Taff visited our partner school in Mbale. They took with them some old football and rugby kit and other items. The photographs show how delighted the children were to be able to play in our kit.

Headline news from our ESTYN inspection.

We have received very positive and encouraging verbal feedback from the Registered Inspector following last week's ESTYN inspection. Their judgement is the Gelli Primary is a good school with no important shortcomings but has some outstanding features in many areas.
Mr Alan Walters, the registered inspector reported back his preliminary findings to the staff and Governing body on Thursday evening. The full report will be produced within 45 days and will contain seven grades against the key questions in the inspection framework. The main findings were that they judged standards to be good overall with many outstanding features in many areas of teaching and learning. The inspectors saw sector leading practice in the areas of behaviour along with the care, guidance and support we offer the children. Leadership and Management were also judged as outstanding features, particularly the model of distributed leadership along with our use of available resources.
I am delighted for the staff as they have worked constantly over the last three years with me to raise standards. They commented very favourably about the team ethos that the school has. I'm also very pleased for the community who now have official verification that we have a school that the village can be proud of. I also feel that with time we can continue to develop the areas and identify outstanding practice in other areas.
The main stars of the week, however, were the children, who were singled out by the Inspectors as confident, polite, hard working and a credit to all of us. They commented that everyone succeeds at Gelli Primary in their own way.
The full and short report of parents will be published before the summer holidays. I am sure that you will enjoy reading about our achievements.

Messages of Congratulations

To Mr Jones and the staff and children,
I am so pleased that this week has been such a success for you, all too often I hear of schools who crumble under the pressure of inspections. Although, you knew all along that you have a fantastic bunch of teachers in the school and that all was in perfect working order. I am also thrilled that you invited Idris and myself up to the school yesterday for assembly!
Charlotte Newman - Ford
New Directions Education

Another birthday

Penblwydd hapus i Mr Jones. Yesterday Mr Jones in Year 5 celebrated his birthday.

Penblwydd hapus Mrs Fraser

Penblwydd hapus i Mrs Fraser. We made a big fuss of Mrs Fraser this week as we celebrated her reaching the end of another decade. She can now look forward to life begining as the proverb says.

ESTYN Inspection Parents meeting

Can I thank all those parents who attended the pre inspection meeting with the Registered Inspector last week. Although I was not present, I have been told that it was very positive and reflected the support we have from you as parents. I hope that we can show this to the inspectorate this week.

Eco greenhouse

The Eco Schools Council eco greenhouse has been completed in the garden. Thank you for providing us with hundreds of three litre plastic bottles to complete it. Please will you thank friends, family and work colleagues who have helped. The gardening club are busy cultivating plants to put out to decorate the school after the frosty weather clears.

Technical difficulties

Our host ISP has reported that they are currently undertaking routine server maintanance over the coming three weeks. Some aspects of the school website will be unavailable for update during this time. The Latest news and class blogs will remain unaffected, so will the electronic calendar. Thank you for your patience.

ESTYN Inspection – Parents meeting a reminder

As you already know the school is due to be inspected as part of the programme of regular school inspections arranged by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Education and Training in Wales. The inspection will be carried out by a team led by Mr. Alan Walters, a registered inspector.
This letter is to formally invite you to attend a meeting with the registered inspector that is being held before the inspection on Tuesday May 4th at 5.30 p.m. in the School Hall. The meeting is open to all parents / carers of pupils at the school. The staff and governors will not be present during the meeting unless they also have children in school. The purpose of the meeting is for you to tell the registered inspector your views about the school and how it works so that so that these views can be included in the inspection. Although the registered inspector will want to hear your views, and will attempt to answer your questions, he or she will not be in a position to comment on your views, which will be taken account of in the inspection. The registered inspector will also be able to tell you about the inspection.
I hope that you will be able to come to the meeting

More gardening club videos

See what else the was planted.

Gardening Club

The children who are participating in our Gardening Club each Friday have begun to plant some vegetables and salad products. Have a look how Mr Jones the caretaker showed them how to do it.

St David's Day Photographs No 8 Class 6

St David's Day Photographs No 7 Class 5

St David's Day Photographs No 6 Class 4

St David's Day Photographs No 5 Class 2

St David's Day Photographs No 4 Class 8 Year 6

St David's Day photographs 3 Class 1

St David's Photographs No 2 Class 7

St David's Day photographs No 1 Class 3

The Rhondda Leader photographer has sent the photographs he took of the children which appeared in the paper over St David's Day. Our recent newsletter gave you details of how you can order these.

Sharing Assembly

Every term we end with our Sharing assembly. This allows all our pupils to tell everyone what they have been most proud of during the term, what they have achieved and why. This term we gave Ethan in Year 6 the flip camera to record everyone's contribution. We are VERY PROUD of the achievements of all our children at GELLI PRIMARY. We hope you enjoy them and agree with us.

Year 4 - Dosbarth 6

School Calendar

We have introduced a new feature on the school website which I am sure you will help us to improve home school communication. We have put an online calendar which will inform parents of activities in school. In addition to the notification letters sent home by pupil post, newsletters and class blogs this will be an additional facility that will keep parents informed and updated on school activities. You can also subscribe to updates by using the Followers facility on each blog site.

INSET Days

We have planned two further INSET days for Thursday11th and Friday 12th March. The staff and Governors will be involved in training on those days and therefore there will be no school for all children on those two days. Our last two Inset days will be on Monday 12th
April (the beginning of the Summer term) and Monday 19th July.

World Book Day 2010

World Book Day is being celebrated at Gelli Primary School on Friday 5th March this year.
Children in will celebrate World Book Day by undertaking literacy activities in class, dressing up as their favourite fictional character from a book, film or television series. There will also be a book swap. Look out for an article in our local newspaper and another post on this site.

St David's Day Celebrations

We will be celebrating St David's Day with our traditional concerts. Early Years and Key Stage One children will perform at 1.15 p.m. and Key Stage Two children at 2.00 p.m. You are invited to send TWO family members to the performance. We will not be issuing tickets; however, we will ask parents and grandparents to help us by using all the chairs provided. Please will you make your way to the side entrance where you will be met by some of our year 6 pupils who will show you to the seats. There will be a retiring collection which will be donated to school funds.
The children CAN be picked up from school by parents after the concerts. We will be using the chairs in the hall and it will be difficult to operate normal class lessons after the children perform. Any child who cannot be picked up for any reason will stay in school until the end of the normal school day.
If you intend to allow friends or relatives to pick up your child, please will you give us written consent to do so.

Llongyfarchiadau - We've achieved the Activemarc Cymru

This morning we had a letter confirming that we have been awarded the ActiveMarc Cymru.

ActiveMarc Cymru is a schools accreditation scheme designed to offer schools the chance to achieve recognition for its commitment to developing high quality PE and school sport and for promoting the benefits of physical activity. Schools that achieve the prestigious ActiveMarc Cymru status will receive a certificate and will be able to display the ActiveMarc Cymru logo on school documentation and websites for three years.

Mrs Carly and Miss Hatch have co-ordinated our PE in School Sports initiative and the staff and other outside agencies have contributed to our Out of Hours provision.

I am very proud that we have been recognised by the Sports Council of Wales Assessors as a school that is committed to raising standards in PE. I am sure that ActiveMarc Cymru will make a significant contribution to raising the profile of PE, daily physical activity and school sport to the benefit of young people in Wales. We want to make sure youngsters in Gelli get the best possible start in sport. Well done everybody.

Parents Evening appointments

Letters were distributed today containing details of the arrangements for next week's parents evenings. We would like to offer you an appointment to discuss your child’s progress with your class teacher next week beginning on Monday 8th February until Thursday 11th. The teachers are working at different time during the week and a list of their appointment times are included below.
Here are the arrangements for our parent evenings.
• You are invited to report to the school main hall FIVE MINUTES prior to your appointment where you will be taken to meet your child’s teacher by one of our Year 6 pupils.
• The bell will ring after each ten minute appointment.
• Please will you complete a parental response form after your appointment commenting on your child’s achievements and progress to date.
• Please will you ring Mrs Thomas, the school secretary to make a specific appointment or if you are available to come at any time then an appointment will be made for you.
• You will receive confirmation of your appointment be letter on Friday.

Please fill in the appointment times on the sheet outside the Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and 2 classroom
Class 5 Year 3 Mrs Carly Monday and Wednesday 3.30 – 5.00 p.m.
Class 6 Year 4 Mrs Johnson Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 3.30 – 5.00 p.m
Class 7 Year 5 Mr Jones Monday and Wednesday 3.30 – 6.00 p.m.
Class 8 Year 6 Mr Hughes Monday and Tuesday 3.30 – 6.00 p.m.

There is a link to this letter here from our Moodle site
This system proved successful in previous years and avoided unnecessary delays to those who will have later appointments.

New look website

http://www.gelliprimaryschool.org.uk/ has undergone a facelift. There is not only a new design using some of the techniques I picked up on a recent training course, but also simpler navigation and hopefully more content and a link to our Moodle Calendar, Blog, Newsletters, Prospectus and other pdf documents for your information. At present ther are some bugs in the system which will be edited by half term. Please can you report any broken links or give any other feedback to me by e-mailing me at head.gellipri@rctednet.net

Our New Wet Weather Gear

The new wet weather gear purchased from the proceeds of the Ugly Bug Ball has arrived in school. The children are really excited at the thought of donning their new kit and exploring outside. . A big thank you to all who contributed to raising the funds to purchase these. Key Stage 2 teachers have decided to buy a set of mini video cameras so that the children can use them to record their work and put them on their blogs.

Newsletter published today

A newsletter has been published Friday 22nd January with updated information about arrangements for the beginning of term. If you have not received this you can follow this link to download an electronic version. In addition the school calendar will be updated from our Moodle site.

Arrangements for Friday 15th January 2010

Check out this video which show the conditions in and around school.

Arrangements for school for Friday 15th January 2010 are as follows. The relief caretaker has cleared a pathway from the lane enterance on TyIsaf Road so that it is possible for parents to have aceess from the Gelli end of our school site. In addition, the majority of snow that fell on the pathways has been cleared all the way around school so that walking in the school grounds is now possible safely. The surrounding areas and pavements were still under several inches of snow this afternoon and were slippery, but were improving and will no doubt continue to do so by the morning.
As you can see a great deal of effort has been made to prepare the school for the children's return.
Can I suggest that we observe the following safety arrangements for tomorrow morning.

• Children in Nursery should be brought to the nursery door as usual NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.
• Children in Reception class, Year 1 and Year 2 must be accompanied by an adult and brought to the main entrance under the clock NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.. They will be taken to their classes immediately.
• Children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 should also come in to school via the main entrance NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.
• SCHOOL WILL FINISH FOR ALL PUPILS AT THE NORMAL TIMES/
• THERE WILL BE NO BREAKFAST CLUB tomorrow.

I hope that you will make every effort to bring the children to school.

STATUS UPDATE THURSDAY 14th JANUARY 2010

GELLI PRIMARY SCHOOL IS OPEN FRIDAY 15th JANUARY 2010.

Further details of opening arrangements will be posted on this site later this evening when I get home as I am experiencing technical difficulties posting from school at present.
Please will parents circulate this message.

SCHOOL IS CLOSED THURSDAY 14th JANUARY 2010

I have just completed a site visit and the Chair of Governors and I have decided to close the school on Thursday 14th January 2010. The main road is clear, but the snow ploughs that were used to clear the road overnight have sprayed slush on to the pavements which has already frozen.and the surrounding streets are still under inches of snow. RCT have withdrawn their home to school transport tomorrow. The school will be open for staff in the morning, unless conditions deteriorate overnight. We plan to reopen school on Friday as usual as conditions are due to improve throughout the day, I will confirm this tomorrow on this site.

My thanks go to our relief caretaker who has begun clearning the snow from paths and will continue to make improvements to the site tomorrow to make sure that we are open on Friday. I would like to thank everybody for their patience this week in what must be the most difficult of times in recent years, Thank you for your co-operation. I have been in touch colleagues and our cluster schools have also made a similar decision. Please will parents circulate this information to others. We will also post this link to our facebook page.

WEATHER UPDATE AT 10 am JANUARY 13th 2010

It is still snowing in the village and my sources report that there is between 8 - 10 inches of snow on the ground.

RCT has advised staff to take extreme care and not to put themselves or others in danger by attempting to access areas affected by heavy snow. However, I plan to make a site visit later today to see if it will be practical for us to make the pathway from Ystrad Road safe enough to open the school tomorrow. The Chair of Governors and I will discuss a number of possibilities from closing the school to opening with reduced a timetable. I also need to contact staff members to assess their local circumstances and to see if we have an adequate complement off staff. I will make a decision later in the day and post an update on this site and our facebook page.

SCHOOL IS CLOSED WEDNESDAY 13th JANUARY 2010

The Chair of Governors and Relief Caretaker conducted a site visit at 8.30. p.m. and have reported that it will be impossible to guarentee that the conditions in and around the school will allow us to open the school tomorrow. We have decided to take this decision now in order to make sure that parents can inform each other and there be no confusion in the morning.
The snow is due to last throughout the night and into the early morning but conditions will improve by late morning. The relief caretaker and I are planning to meet mid morning and endeavour to clear the pathway as we did yesterday. I am sure that we will be able to make the school safe for the children to return to school on Thursday.
Updates will be posted on this sight when available and on the facebook page.
Thank you for your patience during these difficult times.

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING FROM RCT CBC MONDAY 11th JANUARY 2010

RCT issued the following weather warning at 3.30 p.m. this afternoon.

"This is a weather forecast, prepared by the Met Office specifically for Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC, which we have received within the last 30 minutes. You may, therefore, wish to make contingency plans for tomorrow, to send pupils home early if the forecast materialises, "

On Tuesday afternoon, a band of persistent sleet and snow will push in slowly from the south-west. This is expected to continue into Tuesday evening and right through until Wednesday morning. Some of the snow will be heavy, threatening widespread and very significant accumulations (especially, but not exclusively over the high roads) with greater than 15cm possible. RSTs below zero with widespread ice. Fog developing over the high routes too. On Wednesday daytime, outbreaks of sleet and snow will become lighter and more patchy, but may persist for much of the day, with further slight accumulations. Widespread ice. The rest of the week is expected to remain cold, although milder conditions will attempt to move in off the Atlantic. As a result, there is low confidence in forecast cloud amounts and RSTs through the week but they are likely to be below zero at times with ice. Snow is possible at times, but this threat will mainly become confined to the high roads where it will also be very foggy.

As a result of this advice schools in the area are closing at lunchtime tomorrow. Please will you organise that your child is picked up after they have had their lunch. Packed lunch children can be picked up at 12 noon.
Nursery and Reception children to be collected at 12 noon.
Year 1 and 2 children at 12.15 p.m.
Junior children will be picked up at 12.30 p.m.

PLEASE WILL ALL PARENTS KEEP THEIR MOBILE PHONES SWITCHED ON DURING THE MORNING IN CASE WE HAVE TO EVACUATE THE SCHOOL.

SCHOOL WILL BE OPEN TUESDAY 12th JANUARY 2010

I am delighted to announce that school will be open on Tuesday 12th January for all pupils. As you can see, the relief caretaker has cleared a path from the gate at Ystrad Road to the main entrance and the nursery door. Please can we observe the following safety precautions.

• Children in Nursery should be brought to the nursery door as usual NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.
• Children in Reception class, Year 1 and Year 2 must be accompanied by an adult and brought to the main entrance under the clock NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.. They will be taken to their classes immediately.
• Children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 should also come in to school via the main entrance NO EARLIER THAN 8.50 a.m.
• SCHOOL WILL FINISH FOR ALL PUPILS AT 3 p.m.
• THERE WILL BE NO BREAKFAST CLUB tomorrow.

The surrounding streets and pavements are still very icy and I would warn you to take extreme care when walking to school or from your car. This situation may continue around the school for some time as the LA have no plans to grit schools and their environs and we do not have any stocks of grit in school or are likely to source some for s considerable length of time..
In addition PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SCHOOL CAR PARK as we have been unable to clear it of the snow that fell last Wednesday morning.
I apologise for the disruption to your children's education and hope that the coming days will see a return to normal.

URGENT MESSAGE SCHOOL IS CLOSED MONDAY 11th JANUARY 2010

I have just completed a site visit and as you can see from these pictures taken at 4pm today conditions around the school grounds continue to be too dangerous for us to open school for pupils tomorrow MONDAY 11th JANUARY 2010. The pathways are still under a few inches of snow and ice. I have been unable to source any rock salt from any local DIY stores and there is no likelihood of sourcing some in the near future.

I have arranged that a relief caretaker will be in school at 9.30 tomorrow to clear paths to the school main door and nursery entrance from the front entrance from the gate on Ystrad Road. This should enable the children to walk safely into the school building so that school can be open on Tuesday. I still await clarification from my professional association and the LA if we can open on a reduced timetable from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I also need to clarify what arrangements if any can be made for Breakfast Club.

The main road is extremely icy and I would advise extreme caution when walking across this area to the school. It is very unlikely that this area will be treated in the near future and will remain a high risk area to those who use it. I will update the status throughout tomorrow and inform parents of the likelihood of school resuming on Tuesday and any safety warnings that will need to be observed.

Update on arrangements for MONDAY 11th JANUARY 2010

The Chair of Governors and I are planning to make a site visit this afternoon to assess if it will be possible to open the school for pupils tomorrow Monday 11th January.

At present there is still a significant area around the school which is under snow and ice. We will need to assess if there has been any change in circumstances since Friday and then make a judgement to inform parents as soon as possible for child care arrangements to be made and to avoid any unnecessary journeys if the forecast of snow for the morning arrives.
My feeling at the moment is that once we have made sure that the pathways from the front of the school to the main door are clear I will open the school. The chair and I have discussed the possibility of opening with restricted hours 10 to 2 (I will need to check with the LEA to see if this is ok). If it snows this afternoon and this evening or overnight then I will have to reconsider. If the snow is heavy and the area around the school is unsafe then the school will remain closed.
The relief caretaker and I will attempt to ensure that the pathway from the front of the school to the nursery entrance is clear and the pathway to the main entrance is clear. When this has been achieved we will notify you by posting a message on this site and the face book page.
My professional association the National Association of Head teachers (NAHT) has sent an e-mail to RCT requesting that the roads and pavements around schools be made a priority. We still await a reply. Although staff may be able to get into school it is another decision whether it is safe for children to approach or enter the premises. The County Borough Council Highways Division are now only able to deal with keeping major roads, and emergency routes open, and they are unable to agree to any requests to clear school access roads, driveways, car parks or playgrounds. They also cannot supply any schools with rock salt, and grit bins are not being replenished either. The Council's Procurement Unit has a negotiated contract with Robert Price Ltd to supply establishments with rock salt, but due to a country-wide shortage, they cannot meet demand at the current time.
I hope that you will see from my comment that we are making every effort to ensure that the school will be open as soon as it is possible, but I must reiterate that unless the site is completely safe for the pupils then the school will remain closed.
Please continue to check this page for updates.

SCHOOL CLOSED FRIDAY 8th JANUARY 2010

After a site survey I am sorry that I will again be closing the school on Health and Safety grounds on FRIDAY 8th JANUARY 2010. The areas surrounding the school are still very dangerous and although the main road is accessible, several of the adjoining streets are still under inches of snow. In addition the school grounds are also still frozen and the pathways and car park are still under saveral inches of snow which has turned to ice. The staff are coming in to school tomorrow morning in order to prepare the school for reopening as soon as the weather allows. Please keep referring to this website for updated information over the weekend and arrangememts for next week.