to all the children, parents, grand-parents, staff and their spouses, governors and friends
who came along on Saturday 23 April to help with the
Grand Family Spring Clean of the school and grounds.
The weather was fantastic and everyone worked so hard (see the pictures below).
The school looks so much better.
Special thanks to Jackie Oliphant for kindly and capably undertaking the organisation.
Welcome to the Friends of Cradoc School page.
We are very lucky to have an active Friends at Cradoc. During the year we undertake many FUN, ACTIVE and PROFITABLE activities, including the Summer Fayre, improving the school grounds, running the raffle to indulging in scrumptious food whilst raising money in the Valentine’s Disco! Over the last five years our PTA have raised a massive £35,000 for the school, which has been used to purchase a multitude of items, from ICT equipment, outdoor benches and materials to clocks and transport to castles and science visits. A very big THANK YOU for all that you do! The Friends committee is open to all parents, teachers, governors and friends of the school. We welcome new members at any time. New faces bring new ideas and much needed support in planning and organising our events.
Officers: Chair – Ade Cavanagh, Secretary – Katy Butland, Treasurer – Helen Jones
The 100 Club is an easy way to regularly help the school and have a bit of fun into the bargain. Membership is open to all family, friends, relatives and neighbours of the children at Cradoc School and 3@Cradoc. We hold monthly draws where three winners receive cheques amounting to 35% of the 100 Club income for that month, the other 65% goes to the school to help fund equipment, resources and opportunities for pupils, eg trips, toys and IT equipment etc. The cost is only £5 a month. If you would like to join or know a grandparent, friend or neighbour that might, please ask for membership forms from the office or download them here Cradoc 100 Club Membership forms March 2017
Find out more about us at our Facebook group. 
Shop online and raise money!
Have you heard about easyfundraising yet? It’s FREE and the easiest way to help raise money for Cradoc Primary School PTFA! If you already shop online with retailers such as Amazon, M&S, Argos, John Lewis, Comet, Vodafone, eBay, Boden and Play.com, then we need you to sign up for free to raise money while you shop!
So how does it work?
You shop directly with the retailer as you would normally, but if you sign up to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/cradocschool for free and use the links on the easyfundraising site to take you to the retailer, then a percentage of whatever you spend comes directly to us at no extra cost to yourself.
How much can you raise?
Spend £100 with M&S online or Amazon and you raise £2.50 for us, First Choice will donate 1% of a beach holiday cost and so on. There’s over 2,000 retailers on their site, and some of the donations can be as much as 15% of your purchase plus you’ll get access to hundreds of exclusive discounts and voucher codes, so not only will you be helping us, you’ll be saving money yourself.
We’ve raised over £1,440 with easyfundraising so far but we need your help to keep donations coming in. Sign up at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/cradocschool and start making a difference…simply by shopping.
Browse the easyfundraising website for more information.
Thanks!
We are working with other schools across Wales to develop the new curriculum to be published in 2018, which is planned to become statutory in 2021. As a Pioneer School we meet regularly with other Pioneer Schools to discuss progress to date, undertake research and trial activities and plans. We anticipate that the trialling of activities and plans will increase as developments progress.
We are working towards changing our curriculum to bring what we currently teach in line with Professor Donaldson’s Successful Futures. We focus our teaching under 6 main areas of learning and experience. Within these areas of learning and experience, the subjects and disciplines remain important but are not watertight compartments but rather a means of organising day-to-day activities taking place creatively at school.
As a school, we work on a topic based approach, where many of the areas of learning and experience are woven together to help children make sense of their activities in a holistic way with a focus on real life situations. The six areas of learning and experience are set out below. Each area links to another page which helps to develop the curriculum further. This is currently a work in progress and we thank you for your patiencewhilst these are constructed.
  
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The six areas of learning and experience are supported by three “Cross-curricular Responsibilities”. These consist of a range of competences and skills which are foundations for almost all learning and aim to enable pupils to participate successfully and confidently in the modern world. They are grouped into three responsibility areas as follows:
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Priority has already been given to literacy and numeracy within the curriculum through the Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF), which is now embedded well across our work. Digital competence is a new cross curricular responsibility. We have been working hard to improve skills and investing in appropriate technology to help us to improve in this area, and eagerly await the publication of the new digital competence framework in the Summer term.
We are mindful that the history, culture and language of Wales enable our children to develop their identity and place within the world and encourage them to understand their rights under the UNCRC. As such we try to ensure that children experience both an international perspective and a Welsh dimension across the curriculum.
This is where you find information about life in Oak Class. Our class is Y5 and Y6 and Mr Aldridge is our teacher.
 Oak Class Timetable Spring Term 2017 Oak Class Newsletter Spring Term 2017 Oak Class Homework Spring Term 2017 |
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Using Scratch
We have been learning about computer programming in class. To do this we have been using the programme SCRATCH. I’ve attached a link for you if you wish to download free onto your computer.
HWB+
We are experimenting with the Welsh Govenments new learning platform called Hwb+. This will become a collaboration page between teachers and children to build a resourceand information bank for each class and the school as a whole. Eventually you will have access to all of the key calendar dates through this site, be able to view and help cildren access their work, complete homework online, access children’s emails, store and retrieve all schoolwork from OneDrive and ultimately have access to office 365.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFvQi767HxU
Maths Activities
Have a play on some of these maths websites to practise and sharpen your maths skills.
Times Tables
Over the course of this year we will be really challenging the class on their knowledge of their times tables.
We are going right back to the 3’s for the next two weeks, then moving onto the 4’s, 6’s, 8’s, 9’s, 7’s finishing up with the 11’s and 12’s.
There will be weekly tests on a Wednesday based on the tables we are working on.
On a Monday mixed tables just to keep our brains active and thinking about all of the tables…
The questions are quick so practising is important.
Click on the image above for the tables poster.
Our Egyptian Masks
Here are a few examples of some of the hard work from our Design Technology topic this term.
Literacy Activities
Welcome back to Class 5
A HUGE welcome to class 5…
During the week the children will be developing their touch-typing skills. If they have time at home and would like to practise more then please click on the link and log into the typing club portal.
This is where you find information about life in Hazel Class. Our class is Y2 and Y3. Our class teachers are Mrs Samantha Harley and Miss Beth Roberts.
Hazel Class Parent Information Spring 2017
| Hazel Class Timetable Spring Term 2017 Hazel Newsletter Spring 2017 – Heroes & Superheroes Hazel Class Homework Spring Term 2017 |
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Smart Crew E-Safety
We are learning about e-safety in class and these videos are really helpful.
 Chapter 1 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
| Chapter 4 |
Chapter 5 |
Touch Typing
In Hazel Class we know that a really good skill to learn is TOUCH TYPING. You can have fun at home playing on BBC Dancemat by clicking this link. 
This is where you find information about life in Elm Class.
Our class is Reception and Year 1. Mrs Hughes is our class teacher and Mrs Marsy Price is our learning support assistant.
| Elm Class Parent Newsletter Spring Term 2017 Elm Class Timetable Spring Term 2017 Elm Class Homework Spring Term 2017 |
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We have been learning about E-safety in class.
These cartoons helped us to understand how to help Hector to stay safe on the internet.
Cartoon 1 |
Cartoon 2 |
Cartoon 3 |
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Cartoon 4 |
Cartoon 5 |
Cartoon 6 |
Below you will find some games and videos that you can play at home to help with maths topics. This will build up over time and you can keep coming back to practice again and again if you want to. Don’t forget to check out the FUNZONE too!
Read the time to the hour (and half hour if we are ready) on analogue clocks:
Organise and interpret information in a simple table. Interpret information from simple lists, tables, pictograms or block graphs:
Understand and use the properties of shapes: Know the names of more common 3-D and 2-D shapes:
Compare and order numbers to at least 100. To read and write numbers to at least 100:
Know by heart addition and subtraction facts for pairs of numbers that total 10
Begin to recognise that addition can be done in any order:
To recognise coins of different values. To pay an exact sum using smaller coins up to 50p:
To use non-standard units to measure weight/mass. To understand the terms heavy and light:
To know by heart doubles for numbers up to at least 10 and the corresponding halves:
To compare and order numbers to at least 20. To understand and use ordinal numbers up to at least 20th:
To count reliably up to 20 objects. To read and write numbers to at least 20:
Measuring and weighing
Have a go one some of these weighing activities that we’ve been looking at in school this term.
The Wood Turner’s Visit
Lucille’s Dad came to school to talk to us about his work as a wood turner. He explained that he only uses hand tools and no power tools which use electricity.
First he showed us different leaves from his woodland and we tried to identify which tree they came from. We looked at some utensils that he had made and noticed the different colours in the wood.
We watched carefully as he started to carve an object using different tools, we tried to guess what it would be! He explained that it was easy to carve as the tools were very sharp and had to be used correctly so that he didn’t hurt himself.
The object takes shape!
Then we see something we recognise – feathers! It’s going to be a bird !
Each slither of wood is carefully moved and woven together to make a wing and the bird is formed…..
He left us all with a feather bookmark to decorate and take home – THANK YOU MR. IRWIN, we had a great afternoon!
| A Day in the Woods 1 | A Day in the Woods 2 |
| A Day in the Woods 3 | Watch Club |
Class 2 would like to thank Forrest Hogg for his visit to school to talk to them about his time in Madagascar. The children have been working on a story about a boy called Kabo in Botswana and are very interested in the African wildlife. Forrest showed the children some photographs and video footage from his visit. Everyone enjoyed his talk and had some thoughtful questions for him to answer. Forrest is an ex-pupil of Cradoc School and was able to share some memories of his time in school also.
In this section of the website we provide documents and articles, most of which have been produced by our school, which we hope will explain how we introduce and develop concepts to the children, so that families can re-inforce this at home.
There is further information which may be useful in the Kidzone.
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 Fred Talk (Phonic Blending) |
 Phonic Pronunciation Guide |
 Speedsound Lesson |
 Literacy & Numeracy Framework Information |
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Welcome to the Parentzone.
At Cradoc we aim to work in partnership with parents to seek ways in which we can further enhance the children’s education, so that every child receives the best possible opportunities and receives a flying start to their educational journey.
If there is anything that you would like to see included in this section, or elsewhere on our website, please speak to the school office. Thank you.
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Dates
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No. of School Days
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Non-Pupil Days
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Summer Term 2016
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Tuesday 5th April to
Friday 27th May
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38 | Monday 4th April |
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Half Term Holiday
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Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd June
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Summer Term 2016
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Monday 6th June to
Friday 15th July
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30 | Monday 18th July andTuesday 19th July |
| Autumn Term 2016 | Monday 5th September to Friday 21st October | 37 | Thursday 1st September and Friday 2nd September |
| Half Term Holiday | Monday 24th October to Friday 28th October | ||
| Autumn Term 2016 | Monday 31st October to Friday 16th December | 35 | |
| Spring Term 2017 | Wednesday 4th January to Thursday 16th February | 34 | Tuesday 3rd January Friday 17th February |
| Half Term | Monday 20th February to Friday 24th February | ||
| Spring Term 2017 | Monday 27th February to Thursday 6th April | 30 | Friday 7th April Directed Teacher Day |
| Summer Term 2017 | Monday 24th April to Friday 26th May | 24 | |
| Half Term | Half Term – Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June | ||
| Summer Term 2017 | Monday 5th June to Friday 21st July | 35 | |
At Cradoc we are lucky that we have school dinners prepared freshly on site every day by staff from Powys Catering. The new Summer Term menu is shown below.
If you require any more information regarding allergens, special diets or have any other queries, please look at the Powys Catering webpage or speak to Head Cook, Mrs Julie Jones.
The school kitchen has been awarded a 5 Food Hygiene Rating in April 2015. Well done to Julie and her team.
For more information about these ratings, please look at Powys County Council website.
