Dear Parents and Carers / Annwyl Rieni a Gwarchodwyr,

I seem to have been left the only inhabitant of Grinchtown in Scroogeville this week as our Christmas tree has made an, in my mind, premature appearance, put up sneakily while I was away on a headteachers’ conference. The staff have wasted no time in telling me that I need to get in line with the Christmas spirit and the lovely Christmas singing emanating from the hall, during our concert practise sessions, has started, however slowly, to thaw my inner-Ebenezer. We even had a live robin fly into school and land on the Christmas tree, which must be a sign from Santa that it’s time for me to transform into a picture of festive jolliness!

Christmas-Jumper Days
In support of the charity Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper fund-raising campaign we are inviting children to wear their Christmas Jumpers on Dec 1st, 8th, 15th and 21st. We are requesting donations of Christmas jumpers that children have grown out of and will be having a Christmas-Jumper Swap where children can bring in a Christmas jumper and swap it for a different one, should they wish. We are requesting a donation of £1, which covers all four Christmas-jumper days, which should be brought in to school on Dec 1st. We will additionally have a donation box, also in support of the Save the Children charity, in which children can make a small donation when they swap a Christmas jumper. We are hoping that this will imbue December with a decidedly Christmassy ambience, as well as raising some money for an important cause.

Yr. 3 Drumming Session

Huge thanks to Johnny, from Denbighshire Music Cooperative, who came into school on Monday to deliver a brilliant drumming session with the class. The children had a fantastic time and have definitely got rhythm. Johnny will be hopefully returning later in the year for another great drumming session.

Children in Need
A huge thank you to Rhos Street School pupils, parents & carers for supporting Children in Need 2023. The school Council and Yr. 6 class did a fabulous job organising the fun and games. Thank you also for the wonderful donation of cakes, which was extremely popular with children and staff alike. The event raised an amazing £370 for the important charity.

Pentrellyncymmer
We had a fantastic few days at Pentrellyncymmer last week. The weather was kind and everyone had a great time challenging themselves in the beautiful Welsh countryside. The slightly better behaved WIFI meant we were able to share a few more pictures, than the Nant BH trip, on Twitter (X) and we will be sharing all of the photos of our adventures on the schools Flickr site in the near future.

Read for Good – Readathon 2023
On Thursday 30th of November we will be holding a Rhos St School Readathon in support of the Read for Good charity who provide brand new books and resident storyteller for every major children’s hospital in the UK.
Please see the attached letter for all the information about this worthwhile event, that not only helps our children in school to build their love of reading, as well as receiving free books, but also brings the joy of stories and reading to children in hospital, across the UK. Rhos St will receive 20% of the total raised at the event in free books for our classes and library.
Follow this link for more information: https://readforgood.org/

Weekly Wellbeing
This week’s quote is from one of the foremost of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence, made important contributions to science, especially in the understanding of electricity, and is remembered for the wit, wisdom, and elegance of his writing.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

Cornel Gymraeg
In Welsh Corner this week we have the welcome return of Tocyn Iaith. Children can earn Welsh-language tokens from staff members for using Welsh phrases around the school. The tokens can then be exchanged for goodies from our Siop Cymraeg, using Welsh of course. There will be lots of Welsh phrases of the week for children to learn and practise in the coming weeks.

Disabled Parking Spaces
I have been made aware by a member of the school community that some of the disabled-access spaces at the site, provided for blue-badge holders only, are being used as pick-up and drop-off spaces, or even as standard car park spaces where the vehicle is being left unattended. I would remind all car-park users that the disabled access spaces are solely for the use of blue-badge holders, who require the additional accessibility provided, to access the school safely. Please can the disabled-access spaces be used only by vehicles displaying a blue badge. I have shared this message with our friends and colleagues at Ysgol Pen Barras and requested that the message be shared with their school community also. Many thanks for your help and support in regard to this very important matter.

Christmas Singing on the Square
We have been asked by Ruthin’s Mayor Anne Roberts if we would be able to perform some Christmas songs on Saturday 2nd of December, on the Square in Ruthin, as part of the Christmas Lights Switch On. The Rhos St performance is scheduled to start at approximately 5.15pm and last approximately 15 – 20 minutes. If you would like your child to take part please complete and return the proforma sent home today with children, Yrs. 2 to 6, who have expressed an interest.

Christmas Pantomime
Oh yes it is! On December 20th Rhos St will be hosting two performances of Aladdin in our school hall, one for the foundation learners, in the morning, and one for the junior children in the afternoon. Our, always brilliant, PTA have very kindly funded the performances, which are markedly less costly without the considerable cost of busses required. Children will be invited to come to school in Disney fancy dress or party outfits on the day.

Christmas Concert
Preparations are well underway for our Christmas Concerts, on Tuesday 12th of December at the Tabernacle Chapel. The matinee will begin at 1.30pm (please note the change of time to allow children to return to school to meet taxis) and 5.30pm. The tickets, available on the door, are £2.50 per person and we are encouraging that, due to limited spaces in the chapel, only two adults, per-family, attend each show as much as is possible.

Achievers
This week’s fabulous achievers are: Riley, Romeo, Grace, Chloe, Willow, Sam, Caden-James, Leo and Kitti.
Jess shared her gymnastics medals and Belle shared her rosettes and pictures from her horse-riding competition.