We have a great opportunity to raise funds for the refurbishment of the outdoor play area in our Playgroup and Nursery Class.  We  have been accepted into the Co-op Local Community Fund programme and simply by registering to support us you can help raise money every time you shop at the Co-op.  Please keep reading and follow the link to support our cause.

Thanks

The Co-op Local Community Fund helps to support local projects that our members care about. Since its launch in 2017, Co-op members have raised £39 million pounds for over 12,000 local causes. We’re delighted that Stepaside Community Playgroup will now be able to access this funding opportunity

How the fund works

Every time our members shop at the Co-op, 1% of what they spend on Co-op branded products and services helps fund community projects. Members can shop at any Co-op Group stores across the UK to raise money for your cause.

Members can choose which causes to support by signing into their membership account or by calling the membership helpline on 0800 023 4708. Your cause will be available for members to select until November 2019.

Your cause will receive two payments as part of the Local Community Fund. The first payment will be in June 2019 and the last payment in November 2019

You may remember earlier this year a couple of news items from Stepaside CP School relating to grants and donations.  The first related to a “bags of help” grant which we received from Tesco.  Parents, family and friends of the school all voted with their little blue discs over the Christmas period last year and in January it was announced that we had won £4000.  We were delighted with this and the opportunities it provided for us to develop our outdoor play area.  However as we started to look around at equipment we realised that £4000 was not enough to achieve what the pupils needed.  We were very fortunate, a couple of months later, to be approached by Denise Burrows and her family with a very generous legacy donation in lieu of flowers at her Father’s funeral.  Later Denise approached us with a further very generous donation from her parents’ estate.

Added together these finances allowed us to plan for a fantastic play area and provision of extra outdoor seating for group work and quiet activities.  The installation of the play equipment is complete and the benches are expected any day to complete the works.

“We are extremely grateful to Mrs Burrows and her family for the generous donations she presented to the school.  We are also very grateful to Tesco, their customers and Groundworks UK for the grant of £4000.  These donations have meant that a previously impossible dream has been realised.  There simply is not the money in school budgets to provide this type of activity centre.  The pupils are enjoying using the equipment as part of their PE lessons as well as during play times.” Commented Mr Paul Harries, Headteacher at Stepaside CP School.

 

   

 A new term is well underway at Stepaside CP School.  Pupils have returned looking very smart in their uniforms and ready to learn.  The attendance and behaviour for the first few weeks has been excellent.  Staff are excited to welcome pupils back and to see new faces in their classes too.  There are exciting topics and activities planned for the term both in school and with extracurricular club and trips.

The infants have booked their outdoor learning sessions at Penderry Woods and the Nursery class have a block of outdoor Thursdays this term, visiting the beach and the forest.

Nursery pupils are also enjoying their Messy Wednesdays where they play and learn in a sensory way.  New pupils in the Nursery were also joined by class pets this year, two friendly guinea pigs called Flame and Roxy.  Pupils in Year 2 are studying plastics pollution, and are hosting a mini version of Bertie the Sea bass as he visits local schools.  The children have written a  persuasive letter home to their parents outlining the problems of using and disposing of plastics.

Dosbarth Wiwer are also planning trips to the woods later this term.

Year 6 pupils have secured funding from Arts Council of Wales to make an expedition to the Egypt Centre at Swansea University where they will take part in workshops and handle genuine artefacts. “This is the second time we have accessed funding for this trip, it is so beneficial to the pupils learning on this topic in our history curriculum.  The Centre is a great resource for us and we are very grateful for the support we have received from Arts Council of Wales to make this trip possible.” commented Mr Richard Adams, class teacher.

Dosbarth Draenog are working hard on their topic of Space and are preparing to teach each other what they have learned from their research.

Afterschool clubs have restarted too with pupils involved in cooking, cross country, Welsh and French alongside ball skills, netball and football.  Our ever popular Buzz Club has gone down well this year with pupils watching reviewing films.

“All in all, a fantastic start to the new school year.  It good to see everyone engaged in their learning and we are delighted with the support we are receiving from parents with regard to uniform and attendance.  We look forward to making the most of the opportunities we have as members of the Stepaside CP school community.” Commented Mr Paul Harries Headteacher

The end of term has been marked at Stepaside CP School with the presentation of awards to pupils who have worked hard all year.  There have also been presentations to mark the hard work of the school council and presentations to the winners of Tenby in Bloom.

The class awards were presented to: Nursery, Jack Williams and Phoebe Williams.  Reception, Freya Thomas and, Caiden Thomas.  Year 1, Cody Glanville and Lisa Stevens.  Year 2, India Brace and Noah Reynolds.  Year 3 Kristina Ardern and Bertie Hobbs.  Year 4 Sophia Dellaquaglia and Morgan Jones.  Year 5 Jamie Keating and Patience Fraser-Brown

Year 6 awards were presented at their Leavers evening to the following

Carys Wood, overall academic, Jamie Albero, maths, Daisy Hobbs, English,  Rocky Lee, Art,  Jack Jones, reading,  Ryan Cooper, cricket, Lola James, services to school,  Megan Davies, musician, and James Ardern, services to sport.

 

Year 6 were also presented with a dictionary from the Saundersfoot Rotary club and a geometry set from the school.

Tenby in Bloom winners from Stepaside CP School were Scarlett Evans, Mason Riley, Eliza Wood, Lisa Stevens, Jacqueline Dunfee, Gabriel Reynolds, Brooke Shields, Codey Handley, Shaylyn Mason, Sohia Dellaquaglia, Lucy lewis, Jimmy Salisbury, Ashleigh Morgan- Scourfield, Carys Wood, Erin Torres and Rocky Lee

    

 

In the final assembly of the year pupils with 100% attendance for the whole year were awarded medals and the whole school were treated to an ice cream at break time for their excellent attendance this year.  The school has exceeded its attendance target for the third year in a row meaning that pupils are making the most of every day at school.

We were also delighted that one of our year 6 pupils, Cobie Jones, won a competition related to Bertie the Sea bass.  Pupils were asked to guess how many plastic bottles were inside the new Sculpture at Amroth.  Cobie’s guess was the closest and he won a lovely book with was given by Amroth Community Council.

Mr Harries, Stepaside CP School Headteacher, is delighted with how the year has gone at School, commenting, “We are exceptionally proud of all our pupils, they work very hard in school and we are often complimented on their behaviour when they are on offsite visits.  We wish our leavers all the very best in their various secondary schools.  We are looking forward to making a new start in September and welcoming some new pupils to join us at Stepaside CP School.  We know that parents will continue to support us making sure that their children are in school at every possible opportunity.”