Dear Parents and Carers / Annwyl Rieni a Gwarchodwyr,

Another crazy-busy week comes to a close. Personalised assessments have been going on as well as some fantastic Science-Week activities. Add a leavers’ blessing, a hint of Laser Combat and a soupçon of Summer Fair and you have a recipe for school staff drinking a lot of red wine this evening!

Summer Reading Challenge
The Summer Reading Challenge is the UK’s biggest free reading for pleasure programme for children. Taking place annually, the Challenge encourages children aged 4 to 11 to keep reading during the summer holidays.
Children’s reading can ‘dip’ during the long summer holidays if they don’t have regular access to books and encouragement to read for pleasure. This can be a problem for schools to put right in the new term. The Summer Reading Challenge helps by regularly reaching over 700,000 children each year, motivating them to visit the library and keep reading during the holidays, and in turn helping them to maintain their reading skills and confidence.
This year’s Summer Reading Challenge, ‘Gadgeteers’, is all about science and innovation. Developed in partnership with the Science Museum Group, the Challenge will inspire children to use their curiosity and creativity to discover the science behind the everyday, and celebrates the role of the imagination in both reading and the sciences.
To join the Gadgeteers all the children need to do is read 6 library books over the summer holidays, and each time they visit the library they get fun rewards, including a medal and certificate if they complete the Challenge. It’s fun and free to take part, and we will also have some great activities in our libraries to support the Gadgeteers theme.

Personalised Assessments
We have been conducting the statutory personalized assessments this week with classes from Yr.2 to Yr. 6. Feedback on your child’s performance in the tests will be provided online from Friday 15th July and accessible through Hwb using your child’s access credentials. Online feedback reduces the environmental impact of printing large numbers of sheets, reduces costs to the school and also gives parents access to example questions to see exactly the types of question that their children have been answering. I will share specific instructions for accessing learner feedback on the 15th of July.

Science Week

A brilliant week of science activities this week, delivered by Xplore Science UK. The children had a fantastic time learning all about space, the stars and planets or building and testing solar-powered machines. Lots of great active learning went on and the opportunity to take part in activities that I’m sure the children will remember for a very long time. A big thank you to Mrs. Lewis for organsiing it all. There are lots more great pictures on our @rhosstreet Twitter account.

Nant BH and Pentrellyncymmer
We have had a positive response to our indication of interest letters for the two visits and are intending to go ahead with both trips. Letters with hoe information will be coming out soon. Subsequent to that, the payment will be set up Parent Pay which will allow payment to be made either in one single payment, or several installments, depending on what suits individual parents and carers.

Flu Vaccination
Letters have gone out today inviting pupils from Nursery to Yr.5 (Yr.6 pupils will be offered the vaccination at Ysgol Brynhyfryd in Yr.7) to receive an Influenza vaccination on October 5th. Please complete the form, indicating your preference, and return it to school by Thursday 14th July. Many thanks.

Breakfast Club – Autumn Term
As I shared with you previously, when we return in September there will be some changes to the Breakfast Club at Rhos St. Breakfast Club will open at 8.00am and will serve breakfast until 8.30am. Breakfast Club will close its doors at 8.40am. School will open to admit pupils at 8.50am, as usual. There will be a charge of £1 per pupil, for the childcare aspect of the provision, with a maximum charge of £2 per family (irrespective of the number of siblings). Parents and carers with children qualifying for free-school meals will not be charged for attending Breakfast Club. Breakfast Club charges will be collected through Parent Pay and will be set up ready for September.

Ruthin Tennis Club – Open Day
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Ruthin Tennis Club is holding an open day on Sunday 10 July. All ages are invited to use the club courts, and the club’s coach will be running a number of free tennis classes for children and teenagers to try tennis out. To book a free place for one of the coaching sessions or to register to use the courts for free during the open day, please use this link: https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/ruthinltc/Events/Event/9b8ee589-b7bf-403b-9590-da66c60ccd36

Achievers
Our fabulous achievers this week are: Florence, Sam, Aurora, Verity, Nimrod, Teddy, Eliza, Lucas, Oliver, Mia-Rose, Meredith and Tyler.
Welsh awards went to: Aliza, Oscar, Jude, Charlie, Sebastian, Henry, Jade and Billy
Cadie shared her dance award and Fletcher shared his football medal. Well done to all our achievers this week!

Yours sincerely / Yn gywir,

Andrew Davis, Headteacher / Pennaeth