The current tragedy in Ukraine will be in the hearts and minds of many of our children, families and staff. It will also be very sensitive for anyone who have loved ones in this part of the world. When critical events occur in our world, we have a responsibility to be aware of the events and recognise how these may impact everyone’s emotional health.

On Friday 25th March we will be holding a day of reflection to support children in school with any worries or concerns they may have and show our solidarity for the people of Ukraine.

We have decided to work in collaboration with The Priory Church of St Mary’s, Usk to support Ukrainian charities through monetary donations and Reverend Sally will be in school on the 25th March to work within our school family. We would be very grateful if you could support our collection for those in a great need because of the crisis. Please donate via ParentPay using this link - https://app.parentpay.com/PPManager4W3/PaymentItems/Item/?pi=2675164. The donation window is open until Thursday 31st March, and you can donate anything from £1 to £25.

We also have Comic Relief on Friday 18th March and have asked for a donations for this day too. If you are unable to support both days, please do not feel you have to. Please just support whichever charity you feel you’d like to and are able to.

Having conversations with children about tragic global events can be challenging to navigate appropriately. Still, our children depend on the adults in their lives to make sense of these events to feel safe. Children of different ages and maturity will have different levels of understanding and capacity for processing the information unfolding in Ukraine.  We have added some suggestions for your consideration, resources  and web links to our school website that you may find useful - Talking about the events in Ukraine | Usk Church in Wales Primary School (uskciwprimary.co.uk)

The emotional safety of our children is always a priority and will be at the forefront of teachers’ minds as they navigate their way through supporting learners during the tragedy in an age appropriate and sensitive way.

It is safe to say, we are all affected by the images seen in the media. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families in Ukraine, and those affected directly or indirectly worldwide by this tragedy.

The Parents' Evening Booking System has now gone live and can be accessed by following this link - https://usk.schoolcloud.co.uk/
You will need your name, email, child's name and date of birth to log in.
If you are experiencing difficulties please contact the school office.
For more information on the system can be found on our website - www.uskciwprimary.co.uk/parent-teacher-communication-meetings/

The school works closely with our community to ensure that issues that may affect our local residents are discussed and resolved to a mutually beneficial level.

It is imperative that when parents visit our school either to drop off or pick up their children that they do so with due care and attention and do not put others at risk. They should also give consideration to our local community and park safely and in appropriate areas. It may result in parents parking a small distance away from school and walking into the school grounds to drop off or collect their children. It is important to our school that positive relations with our local community remain in place and do not diminish due to inconsiderate, dangerous parking by our parents or visitors or abusive behaviour to local residents.

I have been informed that Police and the Civil Enforcement Officers will be making regular trips to the area at the beginning and end of the school day to monitor the situation.

Whilst writing, I would like to remind parents of the following:

• The speed limit in the school front car park is 5 MPH. This speed is set in the interest of the safety of all those using our car park.
• Parents dropping off or collecting their children are NOT permitted to drive into or park in the school grounds after 8.30am unless they have prior agreement of the school. Even when this agreement has been made, if there are no available car parking spaces, please park outside the school grounds and walk into school to collect your child(ren).
• Calling into the school office with a query at the start or end of the school day is not an excuse for you to park in the school grounds. This is being monitored.
• Please do not block cars already parked or double park your car as this is a hazard to other vehicles entering and exiting our car park and therefore could endanger our pupils when they are exiting our school.
• We have a number of mini buses that use our parking facilities and therefore in the interest of safety other vehicles should not use the car park until after 4.00 pm.

We would also like to ask parents collecting their children to support the school in three other ways and so reinforce what we tell the pupils:

• Please use the pavements around the car park and do not take a short cut.
• Please use the pedestrian gate opposite the crossing
• Please cross at the pedestrian crossing if you have to cross Monmouth Road.
• Please show respectful behaviour to our neighbours.

We appreciate your continued support in this matter.