Dear parent/carer

 

Universal primary free school meals (UPFSM) and cashless school meal balance email alerts

 

The planned further roll-out of UPFSM for school pupils in Bridgend is listed below:

 

• January 2024 - full-time Nursery pupils;
• April 2024 - Year 4 pupils; and
• September 2024 – Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

 

This will mean that, from the start of the 2024-2025 school year, all primary school pupils will be able to access a free school meal. 

 

If your child currently pays for local authority provided school meals, you may already be aware that the weekly email detailing your child’s account balance has recently been suspended due to issues outside the local authority’s control.  This is due to an issue linked to a system upgrade required to support the implementation of UPFSM.  This issue affects both primary and secondary schools.

 

The local authority apologises for any inconvenience this has caused and is grateful for your patience and understanding while alternative arrangements are being explored.

 

Although parents/carers can ask for their child’s balance direct from their child’s school, the local authority is informed that requests are placing a significant burden on school administrative staff.  The local authority would therefore be grateful if pupils, parents, and carers can limit their requests for their account balances at this time.

 

In the meantime, until we are able to offer an alternative account balance notification, I am grateful for your patience and understanding in this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Lindsay Iorwerth Harvey (Mr)

 

Corporate Director – Education and Family Support

Bridgend County Borough Council      

 

Dear Parents/Carers of Year 6 pupils,

Although your child is just beginning their final year in primary school, it is also the time that you will also be considering where your child will embark on their secondary school journey.   To assist you in making this decision, we would like to invite all ‘Year 6 Parents’ to Maesteg School to meet our pupils, teachers and support staff, tour our facilities and witness at first hand our working school environment.

Our escorted tour will allow you to observe pupils during lessons across a range of subjects and curriculum areas so that you have the most transparent view of what your child can expect when they embark on their secondary school journey with us. 

Please be aware that no children will be permitted to accompany you on this visit – year 6 pupils will have their own scheduled visits as part of our comprehensive transition programme. 

In order to safely manage visitors and parents during these escorted tours, we are allocating specific days to each cluster primary school.  Parents must confirm their attendance in advance of each session to allow access to the school building. 

Please book your visit by emailing the school: transition@maestegschool.co.uk

Or by ringing: 01656815950 (Main reception)

We do hope that you will take the opportunity to visit us and experience our ‘typical school day’ and look forward to welcoming you on the following dates:

 

 

With our best wishes,

Mts Helen Jones, Headteacher and Mrs Tania Hill, Assistant Headteacher.

On Monday 18th, September all schools throughout Bridgend County Borough will promote the importance of school attendance and punctuality as part of a BCBC ‘Attendance Launch’. All schools will participate in a range of activities with a focus on improving attendance and punctuality. 

 

As part of this launch, there will be a multi-agency approach where learners who are not in school with an unexplained absence, i.e., you have not notified the school why your child is not in school, may receive a visit from partner agencies, including Early Help and Education Welfare Service.

Dear Pupils, Parents and Carers,

 

Maesteg School would like to invite all parents and year 6 pupils to join us on Wednesday 5^th July at Maesteg School.  We would like to take the opportunity to talk you through the year 7 experiences that await your child and hopefully, alleviate any anxieties and fears which you or your child might have about life in a large school.  The wellbeing of your children is our key priority.

 

Ultimately, we want to prepare you and your child for the next stage in their educational journey and to support you all in this transition process. 

 

We look forward to meeting you all on Wednesday 5^th July. As we are expecting lots of pupils and parents to attend, we are politely requesting that only 2 adults attend with the year 6 pupil.  We are holding two sessions to ensure that more parents can attend with their child. 

 

Session 1:  Wednesday 5^th July at 4.00pm

 

Session 2: Wednesday 5^th July at 5.15pm. 

 

 

 Best wishes and kind regards

 

Mrs Helen Jones and Mrs Tania Hill

 

Head Teacher and Assistant Head Teacher.

Important message for parents – Universal Primary Free School Meals

 

All pupils attending schools in Bridgend in Year 1 and Year 2 will be offered a free school meal from 17 April 2023, when they return after the Easter school holidays.

 

All Reception pupils have benefitted from a free school meal since September 2022 and the expansion of the offer to Year 1 and Year 2 pupils after Easter means that more than 4700 pupils in Bridgend schools will now be eligible for a universal primary free school meal.

 

All Year 1 and Year 2 pupils will automatically benefit from the provision, so there is no application process for parents and carers to complete.

 

Please can you make sure that all accounts are paid for and upto date by Easter. 

Mr Jones 

Silver Class parents evening postponed this week due to un-forseen circumstances. 

Mrs Price will reorgansie them for next Monday and Tuesday but keep the same appointment time. 

Thank you for your understanding and continued support, 

 

Mr Jones 

13^th March 2023

Dear families,

RE: Proposed Industrial Action by the NEU on 15^th and 16^th March   

You would have seen in the press over the weekend that the proposed industrial action by the National Education Union, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week has been postponed.

Therefore, both Llangynwyd Primary and Tynyrheol Primary Schools will be fully open Wednesday 15^th and Thursday 16^th March.    

Thank you for your continued support.

Cofion cynnes, 

 

Christopher Jones 

Interim Executive Headteacher

Dear parents and carers,

 

As you may be aware, the Nation Education Union are undertaking industrial action on Wednesday 15^th March and Thursday 16^th March.  

Following a robust risk assessment and in agreement with the Chair of Governors, Llangynwyd Primary School will be closed to all pupils on both days.

If your child is eligible for a free school meal and their class is closed, a packed lunch will be sent home on Tuesday with your child.

School will reopen to all pupils on Friday 17^th March.

 

Cofion cynnes,

 

Chris Jones  

Interim Executive Headteacher

Dear parents/carers

 

On 22 November 2022, councils, NHS Trusts and other local bodies across the UK providing services to the Forces community, are required to adhere to a new legal duty that reflects the key values of the Armed Forces Covenant.  In Bridgend County Borough Council, we are committed to the Armed Forces Covenant and we aim to support members of HM Armed Forces and their families.

 

To improve understanding and gather a more accurate set of data of Service children, local authorities in Wales are working with Supporting Service Children in Education Wales (SSCE Cymru) to carry out a new round of data collection to give us a more accurate snapshot of data.  The SSCE Cymru mission is to provide the best possible educational support to Service children in Wales.  They work collaboratively with organisations across the UK to build an evidence base that impacts policy and systems, and provide a suite of resources to support education professionals and Service families across Wales.

 

We are asking all families to complete this short survey (even if your child/children do not meet the definitions of a Service child), to help us gain an understanding of our Service community. Please could the survey be completed by 08/02/2023. Click here to access the survey.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Lindsay Iorwerth Harvey (Mr)

 

Corporate Director – Education and Family Support

Bridgend County Borough Council      

 

 

 

 

 

https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=167336414235

 

 

To: Parents/Carers of current Year 6 pupils

 

Dear Parent/Carer

                                             

Admission to secondary school - Year 7, September 2023

 

This letter contains important information for parents and carers of pupils currently in Year 6 of primary school.

 

If your child is due to transfer from a primary school to Year 7 at a secondary school in September 2023, you must complete an application. 

 

You are able to apply online.  If you have already signed up to My Account on the Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) website, you will need to log in and you can then complete an online application for a secondary school place. 

 

If you have not already signed up to My Account, you can create your account from the Bridgend County Borough Council website.  All you need is an email address.

 

It is quick and easy to apply for a Year 7 secondary school place through My Account and you can have peace of mind knowing that your application has been received because once you have submitted the application, this will be indicated in your My Account summary information.

 

The online application works equally as well across computer, tablet or mobile.

 

Before you complete an application, please read the documents on the website:

www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooladmissions

 

The application is also available as a hardcopy form upon request, either from your local school or from Bridgend County Borough Council on telephone number 01656 642622. 

 

The online application will be available through My Account from Monday, 17 October 2022 at 10am.  Please note that the deadline date for completed applications is Friday, 20 January 2023 at 4pm.  Failure to submit an application by this date and time may result in your child being refused a place at the school of your choice.    

 

All parents/carers have the right to express a preference for the school they wish their child to attend. In most cases, parents/carers are happy to choose their nearest suitable school (for English-medium secondary schools, this is also known as the catchment school).  If you are successful in applying for a place at a school that is not your child’s nearest suitable school, the Council will not normally provide free transport, irrespective of the distance from home to the school. The Home-to-School/College Transport Policy is available from:

 www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooltransport

 

Where a school is oversubscribed, that is, the demand for places is greater than the number of places available, the Council will apply its oversubscription criteria to allocate the places available.  The Council’s School Admissions Policy 2023-2024 identifies the full list of oversubscription criteria. It is strongly recommended that you select another school as your second preference school.  This can be the nearest suitable school for your child or another school.  Limiting your choice to just one school does not improve your prospects of gaining a place for your child in that school.  Please note that there is no automatic right for pupils with siblings in a school to be allocated a place at that school. 

 

The governing body of Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School is the admission authority with responsibility for all admission arrangements for that school.  Therefore, if you wish to apply for a place at that school, you will need to contact the school directly.  The admission criteria for Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School are different from the criteria for the other secondary schools in Bridgend. 

 

If you are considering applying for a secondary school in another local authority (for example, in Rhondda Cynon Taff) you must ensure that you fully understand the implications of doing so.  Although parents/carers may express a preference to apply for their child to attend any school, there are often policy implications in doing so, in particular whether school transport to that school will be honoured by BCBC or the out-of-county local authority.  It is the responsibility of parents/carers to check their child’s eligibility for school transport prior to applying for any school.

 

The Council’s ‘Starting School’ Prospectus 2023-2024, which outlines the admissions policy and provides other information in relation to the services provided for children and parents/carers, is available on www.bridgend.gov.uk/schooladmissions or, alternatively, please telephone 01656 642622 to request a hardcopy.

 

The school admission policies and starting school prospectuses for other local authorities are available on their council website.

 

If you should require further, specific information in relation to the admissions process, please email pupilservices@bridgend.gov.uk

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

           

Robin Davies,

Group Manager (Business Support)