Dear Parents and Carers / Annwyl Rieni a Gwarchodwyr,

Another sun-kissed week draws to a close in this diminutive half term, I hope this isn’t our summer and that there might yet be a bit of sunshine left in the tank for August. Our inclusive Eisteddfod yesterday was a great success, I am so proud of the children who delivered such wonderful Welsh-language and dance performances.

Living Classroom

Year 2 had a wonderful time at the ‘Living Classroom’ learning about hazards, assessing risk and sorting the things that we would consider a minor or major hazard.

Safeguarding is Everyone’s Responsibility
In Wales, safeguarding is a shared responsibility, impacting everyone who interacts with children and adults who may be at risk. This includes professionals, volunteers, and members of the public. The “Wales Safeguarding Procedures” outline the roles and responsibilities of professionals in safeguarding children and adults, emphasizing that everyone has a duty to protect vulnerable individuals from harm, abuse, or neglect: https://www.safeguarding.wales/en/

If you are concerned about the welfare or safety of a child, please contact:

01824 712200: Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 4.30pm

0345 053 3116: evenings and weekends

You can also send an email to cfsgateway@denbighshire.gov.uk.

Spray Suncream
As the hot, sunny weather continues could I please request that any sunscreen sent into school is clearly labelled with your child’s name and not of the spray variety please, as we have had some issues around the misuse of spray suncream this week. Many thanks.

Eisteddfod
Yesterday was our Rhos St Eisteddfod, and what a treat it was to see the Infants and Juniors performing their Welsh-language pieces, so well. Our Rhos St dancers also excelled, wowing the crowd at both performances, and our gallery of artwork, following the Urdd theme of Roots, showed off all of our fantastic artist’s talents to a treat. A big thank you to all the children for their hard work in learning their pieces, the staff for preparing the children so well for their performances and to parents, carers, family, and friends for coming along to support us at the event. A special thank you goes to Mrs. Lewis, our Rhos St Welsh coordinator, who has worked so hard in organizing the Eisteddfod here and in giving up her own time to support the dancers who entered the Urdd dance competition.

Anxious Generation – Recommendations
Further to last week’s information on the work of Johnathan Haidt here are the four recommendations he makes at the end of his book The Anxious Generation:

• More unsupervised play: allow children to gain social skills and become autonomous adults.
• No smartphones before 14: limit usage to dumb phones.
• No social media before 16: protect those in the most vulnerable stages of brain development.
• Phone free schools: store devices in lockers to promote real-life interaction, connection and focus.

You can watch the webinar with Dr Jonathan Haidt and the charity Smartphone Free Childhood by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEZHSxq3Nw0&t=2s

Holidays in Term Time
Denbighshire County Council does not approve term-time holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances. Absence for 10 or more school days due to an unauthorised holiday may result in a Fixed Penalty Notice. Parents are legally responsible for ensuring their children attend school regularly, and the council encourages parents to avoid taking holidays during term time.

VE Day 80th Anniversary
There has been lots of work going on this week around the 80th anniversary of VE Day, both in classes and service time. The Yr. 5 class perfectly timed the completion of their WWII project with a wonderful VE-Day celebration party!

WWII Family Heirloom
Sophie, from Yr. 5, shared a very special family heirloom with the class as part of their WWII and VE Day work.
She shared her family’s Rolex pocket watch which had been made from melted down gunmetal from WWII, illustrating the incredible links that so many families have to this pivotal historical event.

Weekly Wellbeing

This week’s quote is from Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, or simply Rumi. He was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire. Rumi’s works were written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic and Greek in his verse.

Achievers
This week’s fantastic achievers are: Ruben, Madalyn, Sam, Emilia-Grace, Megan, Ethan, Nils, Leo, Maddison, and all of the Reception class. Ella shared her dance trophies and Chester and Albie shared their Gwbor Cymraeg certificates.

Our talented brass players were all recognised, by their teacher Mr. Roberts, for their fantastic efforts in learning to play the trumpet.

Well done to all of our fabulous achievers this week!