Parentmail September 30^th, 2022

Dear Parent/Carer,

Very best wishes to all of you who are entering the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday – we have a few staff members/governors who are taking part.  Good luck all!

Cold weather

There’s a distinct autumn chill in the air now, especially first thing in the morning.  Please make sure that your child is wrapped up warmly against the cold, not just for arrival at school but so that they can enjoy playtimes and all our wonderful outdoor activities (please see below for further details on these).  Thank you.

Reception Reading Afternoon

This afternoon Mrs Rayer shared with Reception parents and carers how reading is taught in schools and ways that they can help at home.  It was really great to have parents/carers back on site.  Thank you to the PTA for serving teas and coffees, and also to three Year 6 pupils who shared their love of reading and read extracts from their own favourite books.

Outdoor Learning Information for Parents/Carers

At Lakeside, we are exceptionally lucky to have such a unique and stimulating outdoor environment available to us. From our woodland areas, vegetable patches and our vast open grass spaces, all the children at Lakeside get to experience learning outdoors; developing an adventurous and curious nature about the world around us. This year the opportunity to experience activities such as orienteering, vegetable growing and den building, is something that our school is offering as part of the PPA curriculum. 

Children will be required to come to school on their allocated day with appropriate outdoor clothing including:

• Outdoor shoes – walking or wellington boots or shoes that can get wet and dirty (*wellingtons are essential if it’s muddy or raining)
• A waterproof coat
• A warm jumper or fleece  

Recommended in colder weather

• An extra layer of clothing depending on the weather (long sleeve shirt, extra fleece, leggings)
• A warm hat and gloves

Waterproof coats and wellies are especially important as we go outside regardless of the weather. The only exception to this is in the presence of thunderstorms or strong winds.  Wellies can be brought into school in a gym bag or carrier bag (labelled with your child’s name please).  Wellies can either be left in school for the term or taken home every week.

Our timetable for Outdoor Learning sessions runs on alternate weeks:

Information for After-school Club parents/carers

Here is clarification for the rules for pupils going home following after-school activities:

• Year 5 and below must be met by an adult at all times following an after-school activity;
• Year 6 pupils can walk home without an adult following an after-school activity until the clocks go back (30 Oct 22), then all children must be met and accompanied home by an adult;
• Where siblings both attend after-school clubs on the same day, older siblings are not permitted to walk younger siblings home.

Thank you for respecting these rules which we have put in place to keep our pupils safe.

Harvest Festival

At this time of the year, we celebrate our good fortune in having enough food to eat and share what we have with others.  Families are invited to send specific items to school that Cardiff Food Bank has requested as part of their Harvest Appeal.  These include tinned items like sponge pudding, rice pudding, custard, tomatoes, fish and fruit.  Also needed are long-life fruit juice, chocolate and sweets.  The deadline for sending in donations with your child is Wednesday 12^th October.  Please see the attached leaflet and here’s a link to the Food Bank video, which we will also share with pupils in school.  Thank you.

PTA

Launching into 2022/2023 we can share our planned calendar of events with you - dates for your diary for the run up to the end of the year (and yes, erm Christmas!!).  As we approach each event, we will of course share more info with you.  These events will only take place if we have enough happy helpers, for example the Halloween Disco needs 10+ helpers to get the green light. If you can help for a couple of hours at this event or indeed any other listed, please message lakesideprimarycardiffpta@gmail.com so we can plan.

We have already held a uniform sale at the start of term and last Friday’s cake sale was a PTA record with a massive £330 half of which will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Research.  Special thanks to the Year 6 pupils who were a massive help and thanks to everyone for supporting. 

Spooky Costumes and Santa sale

We are looking to reduce and reuse as well as grab a bargain, so we are going to run a Spooky Costumes and Santa Sale to sell preloved Halloween costumes and Christmas jumpers on Friday October 14^th – so that we can all prepare for the PTA Halloween Disco (27^th Oct) and Christmas Jumper Day (9^th Dec).  So, if you have any clean, reusable Halloween costumes or Christmas jumpers that you no longer need/use and are happy to donate, please send them in to school between the 10^th and 13th October.  This will give the PTA time to sort and prepare a sale for after school on Friday 14^th October.  Thank you all! 

PTA Events September to December 2022

Best wishes, Lakeside Primary PTA

Year 6 High School Applications

Applications for high school places are now open and the authority have sent some advice for making your applications.  They emphasise the importance of making your application on time – before the deadline of Monday 21^st November, 2022.  They advise providing five school preferences in the application even if you only really want your child to go to one of them, as this will increase the chance of a place at one of your preferred schools.  Please also include important information such as if your child has a brother or sister at the high school already, and if the child has additional learning, medical or social needs.  Please use this link for further information on how to apply https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Schools-and-learning/Schools/Applying-for-a-school-place/help-to-apply/Pages/default.aspx#anchor_4

Wishing you all a pleasant weekend.

Best wishes,

Rachel Mitchell, Headteacher

DATES: 2022-2023 academic year

October 2022

October is World Mental Health Month

Thursday 6th October - National Poetry Day

Monday 10^th October – Wear Yellow for Mental Health Day

Friday 14^th October – Wear Something Red for Shwmae Day

Friday 14^th October – PTA Halloween costume and Christmas jumper event

Monday 24^th October – Diwali and Diwali Dance & Diyas Workshops for Reception, Y1 & Y2

Wednesday October 26^th - flu vaccinations for pupils.  More details to follow

Thursday October 27^th – PTA Halloween Disco

Monday 31^st October to Friday 4^th November – Half Term week

November 2022

Tuesday 8^th November – Year 6 trip to Cardiff Castle

Wednesday 9^th November – Colorfoto individual photos

Friday 11^th November – Remembrance Day

Friday 11^th November – PTA Cake Sale – Years 1 and 5

14-18 November Anti-Bullying Week

Friday 18^th November – Children in Need

Friday 25^th November – PTA Table-top / Car Boot Sale

December 2022

Friday 2^nd December – PTA Christmas Fair

Friday 9^th December – Christmas Jumper Day (Save the Children fundraiser)

18^th – 26^th December – Hanukkah

Friday 23^rd December – last day of term

January 2023

Monday 9^th January – Return to School

Sunday 22^nd January – Chinese New Year

February 2023

Friday 3^rd February – NSPCC Number Day

Tuesday 14^th February – Safer Internet Day

Tuesday 21^st February – Pancake Day

March 2023

Wednesday 1^st March – St David’s Day

Thursday 2^nd March – World Book Day

10^th-19^th March – British Science Week

Friday 17^th March – Red Nose Day

Wednesday 22^nd March – Ramadan begins (exact dates TBC)

April 2023

Sunday 9^th April – Easter Day

Friday 21^st to Saturday 22^nd April – Eid ul-Fitr (exact dates TBC)

May 2023

Monday 1^st May – BANK HOLIDAY

Half Term break – Monday 29^th May to Friday 2^nd June

June 2023

July 2023

Monday 24^th July – last day of term