Message from Headteacher

It’s been a great start to the new school year and a really positive half-term here at St Julian’s Primary. The children have settled back into school life brilliantly following the summer break, and it’s been wonderful to see our littlest learners in Nursery and Reception finding their feet and becoming part of our school community so confidently.

A huge thank you to all parents and carers who attended parents’ evenings this half-term. We hope you found it helpful to meet with your child’s teacher and to talk about their progress and next steps. Our Nursery parents will have the opportunity to meet with Miss Parkinson in the Spring Term to discuss how the children are getting on.

It’s been a real joy for Mrs Hill, Mr Jones and myself to join children and teachers for lessons this half-term. We’ve enjoyed observing the learning taking place and seeing all the fun and engaging activities the children have been involved with.

Every teacher has also had a day released from class in order to meet with their pupils on a 1-to-1 basis, to get to know them and to chat about their learning strengths and areas to work on. These are called our ‘Pupil Learning Reviews’ and are a key part of our assessment of progress. They help identify where each child is, where they need to get to and most importantly, how they will get there!

Enjoy having a browse through our Autumn A newsletter – there’s lots of information about what’s been going on this half-term and also what we have coming up next half-term! Don’t forget to check out your child’s year group blog post at the bottom!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support — it makes such a difference to everything we do at St Julian’s.

Best wishes,
Mr Mansfield – Headteacher

Return to School After the Half-term Break

Pupils return after half-term on Monday 3rd November 2025

Attendance at School

School attendance continues to be a key focus for the government, the Local Authority, and our school. Regular attendance is vital for children’s learning, well-being, and long-term success. We encourage all parents to ensure their children are in school as often as possible and to book holidays or appointments outside of term time whenever they can. If you’re ever unsure whether your child is too ill for school, the NHS provides helpful guidance here.

We would like to thank all the children and families who have maintained good attendance so far this term. Your commitment to regular attendance makes a real difference – it helps ensure that children make the most of every learning opportunity and do not miss out on important parts of their education.

We understand that there are times when absence from school is unavoidable, such as when a child is genuinely unwell. In these cases, it is essential that parents inform the school as soon as possible. You can notify us by telephone, email, or via the absence form on our school website.

Please be aware that the Education Welfare Service continues to monitor school attendance closely. Fixed Penalty Notices are being issued in cases of:

• Repeated Unauthorised Absences
• Holidays taken during term time without approval
• Persistent lateness

The penalty is £120 per parent per child, reduced to £60 if paid within 28 days. Payment details can be found on the Penalty Notice itself or on the local council’s website.

Failure to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice may result in prosecution under Section 44 of the Education Act 1996.

Glyn Anwen Car Park

We kindly ask parents and carers not to park in the Glyn Anwen Residential Care Home car park at drop-off and collection times. There was a recent incident and we want to ensure that parking spaces remain available for the staff, residents, and visitors to the home.

We fully appreciate that parking around the school can be challenging, but it’s important that we maintain our positive relationship with our neighbours, especially the residents of Glyn Anwen, with whom we work so closely.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

🚫 Polite Reminder – School Site Rules

For everyone’s safety and wellbeing, we’d like to remind all families that:

🚭 Our school site is a non-smoking area, including vape pens

🐶 Dogs are not permitted on school grounds.

🚲🛴 Bikes and scooters must not be ridden on site (please walk them from/to the gates).

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us keep our school a safe and welcoming environment for all children, families, and visitors.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Reminder of the Jewellery Policy

To help keep everyone safe and ready for learning, we ask that children follow our simple jewellery rules:

✅ Small stud earrings may be worn but must be removed or covered in micropore tape for PE lessons.

✅ Watches (not smartwatches with internet, cameras or messaging functions) are allowed to help children tell the time.

❌ Necklaces, bracelets, rings, and large or dangling earrings should not be worn in school, as they can easily get lost or cause injury during play and PE.

Chartwells Dinners

There is a new menu from Chartwells, starting after half-term. Click here to view the new menu.

I’m so grateful to the Chartwells staff and the Council for working hard to resolve the recent kitchen issues we had. Two large pieces of kitchen equipment broke down, which affected their ability to serve hot meals from our kitchen. One of the issues was particularly complicated to resolve, needing a substantial amount of work on a new hot water boiler system and pipework. I’m pleased to say we’re all back up and running!

New Library

All the furniture has been built in our cabin and we’ve been stocking the shelves with books. We had so many book suggestions from the children, which was great! We’re just in the process of cataloging all the books onto our online system and then we’ll be ready to have our grand opening!

Harvest Assembly

We recently celebrated our Harvest Assembly, a special time of year when we give thanks for all the food we have and think about those who may not have as much. The whole school went over to the Beaufort Centre, where each year group performed a song or poem and proudly shared some of their harvest-themed work. We even had a special visit from Mr Mansfield’s ‘brother’, Farmer Mansfield, to tell us all about how our food is grown! A big thank you to all the children and parents who kindly brought in tins and packets of food – these generous donations have now been given to our food bank to help families in our community.

Outdoor Learning

Parent Reading/Nursery Rhyme Workshop

Our Banner Competitions

We’ve held two exciting banner competitions this half-term! 🎨

Children across the school were invited to get creative and design a banner to:

• Encourage drivers to park and drive safely or remind families to walk to school whenever possible, and
• Promote good attendance and the importance of being in school every day.

Our Head Pupils and members from our Department of Community Outreach had the difficult job of choosing the winning designs. They selected five fantastic banners, which have now been professionally printed as large 3-metre banners and will be proudly displayed on the front of our school after half-term!

Election of 25-26 Head Boy & Head Girl

We’re delighted to announce that we have now elected our Head Boy and Head Girl for this year! 👏 Candidates from Year 6 wrote and delivered inspiring speeches explaining what they would do if chosen, before a whole-school secret ballot gave every pupil the chance to vote for their preferred candidates. A huge congratulations to our newly elected Head Boy and Head Girl, and also to their Deputies! They’ve already attended official engagements and confidently shown visitors around our school. We look forward to working closely with them—and our Pupil Parliament Cabinet Members—to continue making St Julian’s the best it can be.

Show Racism the Red Card Day!

Half-Term Homework Challenge

Miss Shepherd has put together some fun half-term homework challenges for the children to enjoy over the break!
They’re a great way to keep learning in creative and practical ways while spending time with family.
Click here to view the challenges.

Upcoming Dates

• Half term: Monday 27 October 2025 to Friday 31 October 2025
• Thursday 13th November – PTA Bingo Night – Junior Hall- 3:30pm
• Friday 14th November 2025 – Crazy Hair Day for Children in Need
• Friday 28th November 2025 – Santa visiting School!
• Monday 1st December 2025 – Mince Pie and Raffle Event
• Monday 1st December 2025 – Nursery Elf Day
• Thursday 4th December 2025 – Glyn Anwen Christmas singing
• Friday 5th December 2025 – Year 2 Christmas Concert
• Monday 8th December 2025 – Year 4 Christmas Concert
• Monday 8th December 2025 – New Nursery Parents’ Meeting
• Tuesday 9th December 2025 – Year 1 Christmas Concert
• Wednesday 10th December 2025 – Year 3 Christmas Concert
• Wednesday 10th December 2025 – Reception visit Tredegar House
• Thursday 11th December 2025 – Nursery Christmas Concert
• Thursday 11th December 2025 – Christmas Jumper – Save The Children UK
• Thursday 11th December 2025 – Christmas Carol Service at Baptist Church
• Friday 12th December 2025 – Reception Christmas Concert
• Monday 15th December 2025 – PTA Christmas Bazaar
• Thursday 18th December 2025 – Class Christmas Parties
• Official Last Day of Autumn Term: Friday 19 December 2025 – Non Uniform Day

*PTA Christmas Movie Night Dates will be released soon

PTA School Equipment for Sale

The PTA are selling school-branded equipment. You can purchase them on ParentPay or from the school office.

Join our PTA

We’re so grateful to the Parents and Teachers Association for all of their efforts this year, putting on great events for our children. If you’re interested in joining our PTA, we’d love to hear from you! We meet on the second Thursday of each half-term in the infant hall. Just turn up, or contact Mrs Walshe ahead of joining and she can give you more information.

Online Suggestion Box

Thanks to those of you who submitted suggestions to improve our school in the last couple of newsletters! The suggestions we received so far are:

• Host a family BBQ ✅
• Open up the school field in the summer break to let children meet up with each other to play. (We’re looking into this one. Obviously, we would need staff available and willing but will keep you posted if we can make something work!)
• Let younger children join in the colour run on the last day ✅
• Get more play equipment on junior yard for older children – (we’re working on increasing the equipment – we’ve purchased sheds and lots of equipment, but a fair bit has been damaged since it was bought at Easter) 
• Hold a 3d printing workshop for kids and parents – (look out for this, it will be in the Autumn Term!)

If you have any ideas on what we need to work on or improve as a school, please do let us know! If we adopt your idea, we’ll buy you a box of chocolates! You can use this link.

School Essentials Grant Information

If you’re in receipt of certain benefits, you may be eligible for the School Essentials grant. More information can be found here.

Admissions Deadlines for High School and Reception

The deadline for applications for pupils starting High School in September 2026 is Friday 31st October. Apply on the Newport Council Website.

The application window for children starting Reception in September 2026 opens on 13 November 2025 and closes on 15th January 2026. Apply on the Newport Council Website.

Online Office

Don’t forget that you can access our online office whenever you need, with searchable information, absence reporting forms and lots of other information too!

Safeguarding

Schools have a legal duty to safeguard and protect all pupils from harm. This means that staff are trained to recognise any signs that a child may be at risk and to take prompt action to keep them safe. Parents and carers can find out more about how schools keep children safe in the Keeping Learners Safe leaflet.

Please also see this leaflet which explains that physical chastisement (smacking or hitting a child) is against the law in Wales, and provides helpful guidance for parents on positive and safe ways to support children’s behaviour.

Helping Hands

Visit our Help at Home page for general ideas and tips for helping children with their learning at home.

Half Term Events – Newport Youth Service

Your child can access the online lessons we’ve created with key information linked to the learning themes in our school curriculum.

Contact our Family Support Worker for support with a range of things.

Browse our online parenting leaflets or visit the Welsh Government’s Parenting-Give-It-Time resources.

Class Dojo – Main Communication Platform

We want to remind all parents and carers that Class Dojo is our main communication tool for sharing important school updates and class news. Through the app, you can receive whole school announcements, as well as specific updates from your child’s class teacher. Make sure that you can see both the Whole School Story Feed as well as your child’s classroom feeds. It’s a great way to stay informed about events, learning activities, and key reminders. We also use the online calendar which notifies parents of upcoming events. You can control the notification settings in the app to increase the number of reminders or reduce them. Please note that we don’t use the private messaging feature of the App, so don’t message us using that as we won’t see it.

If you haven’t already, please make sure you have the app and are connected to your child’s class.

Updates from Each Year Group