Welcome back!
Dear Parents,
A very warm welcome back for the start of the new academic year. It is a pleasure to welcome all of our new pupils and families, I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all. Also in my thoughts are all of our past pupils starting secondary school, I wish them all the very best.
As always at Marlborough we have a very exciting and enriching year planned full of adventures, amazing learning, creativity, fun and enjoyment. I very much look forward to sharing this with you in the forthcoming monthly newsletters. In addition to maintaining our high standards, our main priority this year is building positive relationships with pupils, parents and the community.
Inset Days
The Inset days for this academic year are:
- Monday 2nd September 2019
- Tuesday 3rd September 2019
- Friday 27th September 2019*
- Monday 4th November 2019
- Friday 22nd May 2020
- Monday 20th July 2020
*The Welsh Government allocated an additional Inset day for the 2019-20 academic year. Schools were informed of this additional date very late in the summer term, hence the late notice.
Staff news
We are delighted to welcome three very talented teachers to the Marlborough team – Mr. Nathan Goodman (Y3C) , Mrs. Jude Davies (Y5MC) and Mr. Chris Dowd (Y5MC) to the Marlborough team. In addition, Ms Teresa Hennessy, Mrs Ineke Matthews and Mrs Sam Khan have joined the team of 1:1 Teaching Assistants working with pupils with a Statement of Educational Needs.
Rollo and Maisy
Thank you all for making Rollo and Maisy so welcome! They are settling in well to life at Marlborough and are slowly be introduced to groups of children. Thank you to everyone who has returned the permission slips for pupils to have contact with the school dogs.
Website Redesign
A huge thank you to the very talented Joe Goodden (dad to two Marlborough pupils) who redesigned the school website over the summer. We hope that you find the new website easier to navigate. We will endeavour to upload all relevant information over the forthcoming weeks.
PTA Dates
A number of exciting events are planned for this half term including:
- Friday 20 September – BBQ (4:30 – 6:30)
- Thursday 17 October – Y4 Bake for Books (3:30)
- Thursday 24 October – Halloween Discos
More details of how the PTA supports the school and how you can help can be found on their newsletter.
https://www.marlboroughprimary.com/wp-content/uploads/September-19-Marlborough-PTA-newsletter-2.pdf
WW2 History Project
We are indebted to Mark Pryce Williams (Parent and Governor) who secured a £10,000 grant from the Foyle Foundation to support a whole school history project on WW2. The purpose of the project is collect oral histories from past pupils and members of the Penylan community of their memories of WW2. The project will launch on Monday 30th September and the school will be transformed back to 1939. It would be wonderful if all pupils could come dressed in costumes from that era. We have a lot of very exciting activities planned! The project will culminate in a celebration afternoon, the date of which is still yet to be confirmed.
If you know of any past pupils who have memories of Marlborough during this period please pass on our details to them or their families. We look forward to sharing more of this very exciting project with you over the forthcoming weeks.
What do I do if I have a concern?
Step 1 – talk to the class teacher or a class teaching assistant (they are available at the start and end of the school day or you can contact the school office to arrange to speak to them by phone or make an appointment).
Step 2 – If a satisfactory resolution has not been achieved, arrange a meeting or phone call with the team leader. (Nursery -Mrs. Lloyd, Reception – Mrs. Hodges, Years 1 & 2 – Mrs. Sherlock, Years 3 & 4 – Mrs. Stephanakis, Years 5 & 6 – Mrs. Adams).
Step 3 – If a satisfactory resolution has not been achieved arrange a meeting with an Assistant Headteacher (Mrs. Crew, Mrs. Hodges & Mrs. Lloyd).
Step 4 – Should a satisfactory resolution still not be achieved a meeting with the Headteacher will be arranged.
In the very rare instance that a satisfactory resolution has still not been achieved the school’s Complaints Procedure which can be found on the school website outlines the following steps to be taken.
Parent meetings with the strategic team
Due to our teaching commitments, the days for parent meetings with the Headteacher and Assistant Headteachers has had to be altered this year. These meetings will be by prior appointment to ensure we have the necessary information available for us to be as helpful as possible. Please telephone the office to arrange.
| Monday | 8:30 – 9:30 | Miss Foley |
| Tuesday | 8:30 – 9:30 | Mrs. Crew |
| Thursday | 8:15 – 8:30
9:00 – 9:30 |
Mrs. Hodges |
| Friday | 8:30 – 9:30 | Mrs. Lloyd |
Premises Improvements
Whilst we were all relaxing over the summer break, Mr Chris Jenkins (Estates Manager) and his wonderful team did a fabulous job of transforming the school in readiness for the new academic year. The cleaning team ensured that the school was sparkling following the deep clean over the summer. Mr Jenkins redecorated two KS2 classrooms and created a new First Aid area. In addition, the old boilers have been removed and a new boiler system is currently being installed (hence the fenced off area in the corner of the playground. We hope that the installation will be completed by October half term (ready to keep everyone nice and warm this winter).
Residential Trips
We have two residential trips taking place this half term. Information meetings for parents about the trips will take place on
- Yr5 Llangrannog (Monday 14 – Friday 18 October) – Meeting for parents on Wednesday 25th September at 3.00pm in the KS2 Hall
- Yr6 Manor Adventure (Monday 21- Friday 25 October) – Meeting for parents on Tuesday 1st October at 3.30pm in Mrs Cashin’s Class (6C)
School Improvement Priorities
An overview of the 2019-20 Improvement Priorities can be accessed through the link below.
School Improvement Plan 2019-20 overview
Parking
I know pick up and drop off times can be difficult and very busy due to large amounts of children arriving on our site, however, a small minority of parents are parking without any thought for the safety of our pupils or local residents.
Parking on the double yellow lines and on street corners is both dangerous and illegal. This parking can pose a safety risk to pupils and parents that do walk and cycle to school, as well as to other road users. In addition the concerns over unsafe parking can be a major barrier to increasing levels of walking and cycling to school.
Now the mornings and evenings are lighter to ease this problem I would also encourage parents and pupils to use more sustainable modes of travel to get to school where this is possible.
I do understand that parents or carers will sometimes need to drive their children to school, however I would urge where possible for parents/guardians to park away from the school and then walk in.
Thank you in advance for your support in this important issue and let’s hope together we can ensure the safety of the children and be more considerate to our local residents.
School Office
The staff in the school office play an integral role in ensuring the smooth and safe running of the school. In order to support the team and minimise the disruptions that they face a few changes have been made this academic year that we would be grateful for your support with.
- School trips – A school packed lunch will only be provided for pupils in receipt of free school meals.
- Forgotten lunches – please drop into the school office by 10:00am. Arrangements will be made for any pupil to have a school dinner who is not in receipt of a lunchbox after 10:00am. Parents will then be charged for the school dinner (£2.50).
- Forgotten PE kits to be dropped into the school office by 10:00am. Spare PE kit is provided by the school for any pupil who has forgotten their kit.
- Dinner money is processed each Monday. Any late dinner money will not be processed until the following week. Dinners must be paid for in advance.
- Changes to Pick Ups Please try to avoid phone calls with changes to the picking up of children (unless in the case of emergencies). Please inform the teacher at the start of the day verbally or by writing.
- After school clubs We keep the school website up-to-date with any changes. Please liaise directly with the after school club provider with any changes to arrangements
- .Administering medicines or picking up at lunch time Please avoid picking up pupils or dropping in to administer medicines between 11:55am – 1:15pm. Pupils will be either in the two halls or the playground and it takes a long time to find them. It is much easier to send children to the front desk during lesson time.
Attendance
During the last academic year we reported that our attendance target for the year was set at 97%. We unfortunately missed our target and the attendance at the end of the academic year was 96.5%. This means that children miss out on valuable learning time and opportunities,
Please could we ask all of you this year to carry on supporting us in improving our whole school attendance and where possible not taking holidays in term time.
The school’s Attendance Officer will continue to monitor punctuality at the school throughout the autumn term. We are unaware of when these visits will take place. Please make sure your child is on time to enter the school at 8:55am. The external doors where children enter and exit on to the playground will be closed promptly at 9:00am. After this time your child will need to be brought through the Reception Office off Blenheim Road to be signed into school. Please note that only LATE children should be dropped off at the Reception Office in the mornings and a parent/carer MUST sign them in.
Superstars October Half Term Holiday Course
We are delighted to announce that the SuperStars Holidays course team will be running their popular multisport holiday course at the school this October Half Term. They have over 40 different sports, popular games and activities which are all designed to make sure the children are kept active and are having the best half term break possible! The courses are capped to 30 a day, so act fast before it’s fully booked. For more information visit https://www.super-stars.org.uk/holiday-courses/ If you have any questions then please contact SuperStars directly on 03452 413682.
Snack Money
Snack money for the half term September/October is £3.00 for ALL Foundation Phase children (Nurs-Yr2). Parents may alternatively pay for the whole Autumn term – £6.00 or for the year if they wish – £18.00. Payment may be made online via Parentpay or by cash/cheque direct to the school (cheques payable to Marlborough Primary School).
Dinner Money
Please make payment by cash or cheque (made payable to Cardiff County Council). Payments should be sent into school in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and class. Please ensure that all dinner money is kept up to date and sent to school and handed in to the class teacher on MONDAY mornings. The cost of a school dinner is £2.50 per day. If your child wishes to change their dinner option please contact the school.
Dinner money for the 1st half of the Autumn Term, Wednesday 4th September to Friday 25th October is £92.50. If you wish to pay for the whole of the Autumn Term the cost is £177.50.