Returning to School

Joel

Dear Parents Guardians,

I hope you are all well during this very difficult time. Last week I wrote to you with the details that the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams had announced the reopening of Schools for a ‘Check in, Catch up, Prepare for Summer and September.’

The full guidance will be out in the middle of this week that will help school plan and prepare for this next phase. However, I write to you now asking you to make a very difficult decision for you and your child by the end of this week.

Before I ask this of you I think it is right to inform you, best that we currently can, how school will be for your child upon their proposed return. At least with the following information you will feel more confident making a partially informed decision.

  1. It has been made clear that school should have no more than one third of the pupils in at any one time. This includes the Keyworker group that provision has previously been arranged for. This, along with social distancing, well limit class sizes and therefore the amount of time your child will have in school. It is extremely likely that your child will only have a block of 3 or 4 days schooling prior to the end of the summer term.
  2. Online learning platforms will continue to be the main form of learning. The pupils time with the teacher will not necessarily be curriculum based and will focus largely on the wellbeing of the child.
  3. The classrooms will be set up for social distancing and therefore will look very different to normal. Staff will be at the front and will not be able to approach the children.
  4. Though it is likely that pupils will be with a small amount of their class it will not be a given that they will be with their friends for the short period of time in school. There will be no interaction between classes and the children will remain with the same group in the same class for the sessions they are in school.
  5. Break times and lunch times will provide some opportunity to go outside but again small numbers and social distancing will be expected. Lunch will be taken in the class room.
  6. School will likely be open for four days of the week, with one day being put aside to deep clean classes in preparation for the next set of sessions. The school times will be staggered (e.g. 9.10am to 2.50pm) and classes will be given a very small window to drop off and pick up their children. If this window is missed they will have to wait until the all other classes are finished to pick up or drop off.
  7. Movement around school will be kept to a minimum (for example toileting) and visitors will only be allowed by prior appointment. Further information regarding travelling around the site will be communicated nearer the time.
  8. SOCIAL DISTANCING- The school will do all it reasonably can to ensure social distancing. However, it is very clear that many pupils, particularly younger pupils, understandably struggle to adhere to social distancing and will interact with friends at less than 2m despite reminders.

The guidance for schools will not be out until Wednesday, after which I hope we will be able to obtain a clearer picture of the set up moving forward. It is important to remember that the choice on whether your child should return to school is yours. The Welsh Government have said that they will respect this decision (as will the school).

However, in order to plan the timetable for pupils to return and the logistics of pupil numbers and classrooms we do now need to ask you to contact the school to let us know if you wish your child to be allocated a place prior to the Summer break. We require this information by Friday 12th June 3pm via the school phone or email (mailbox@gwersyllt-pri.wrexham.sch). Please be aware that if the answer is no or we do not get a response before 3pm on Friday we will not be able to allocate a place to your child for the four week period. We will not be able to make exceptions for this.

My most sincerest apologies for asking you to make this decision, for the sparse information that I can currently give you and for the short timeframe. In order to ensure safety as much as possible we need to rigorously look at timetables and pupil/staff numbers.

Once we know that you wish your child to be allocated a place to return to school we will endeavour to work out the timetable over the four week period and communicate this to you as soon as possible.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Mr J Moore