Gwersyllt CP

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back to all the pupils in Foundation Phase. It has been a pleasure to have the pupils back for the last few days. The school always feels a happier and more vibrant place with them here. Just a few things to update you on this week and looking forward.

KS2 Return

As you may have heard, Kirsty Williams has pencilled in the date, 15th March 21 for a return of the rest of the pupils in primary school. We are working towards this date and will let you know when we have further information.

Lateral Flow testing

Staff that are eligible are currently taking this test twice weekly to further ensure the safety of all in schools. It feels right to warn you that if there is a positive result through these test, the next step is to book a standard test as soon as possible to confirm the positive case. It may be necessary to close contact bubbles until this confirmation is received. We are aware that this could potential be hugely disruptive to those families. However, I hope you understand the need for caution in this situation.

Parent pay

The school have been chosen to implement this service, with the expectation that we and all other schools in County go cashless. We are now no longer able to accept cash and request all payments for snack, dinners and breakfast club be done through Parent Pay. As we all get use to the system many other payments will be made through this, for example, school visits, non uniform days etc. Those that wish to order school dinners can also choose from the options available for their child at home.

NB-Though Playmates are still using a cash system, it is now necessary that the payment for Breakfast club (additional £1 in mornings) be made through Parent Pay.

Arriving at school

Can we remind everyone that it is hugely important that you arrive in the window for your class in order to keep the yard as empty as is possible. Please be aware of social distancing on the school site as much as possible.

Newsletter

We will be recommencing the school newsletter after Easter.

Other Events

Thank you for all the hard work at home for our St David’s day, it looks fabulous. We will reschedule World Book Day in some form in the Summer term when all children are in to enjoy it (the date may be wrong but the experience can still be a joyous one).

We are plannig a Comic Relief non – school uniform day for Friday 19th March. Please use the link below to donate (anyone is free to donate) We will not be able to accept cash and this donation will go straight to Comic Relief. Thank you in advance.

https://app.parentpay.com/ParentPayShop/Foc/Default.aspx?shopid=2503

and finally…

Parents Evening

We will be organising a phone call for those who would like it for the week beginning 22.3.21. This will be a more general conversation as the pupils will not have been in school for long. Forms will be coming out shortly.

Dear Parent/Guardian, 

As of this morning we have received confirmation that Foundation Phase pupils in Wrexham will commence phasing back into school from Friday 26^th February. Within the Bryn Alyn cluster it has been agreed that schools will phase back for Nursery pupils (Barn Owls) only on Friday 26^th February with the rest of the Foundation Phase (Snowy Owls, Kestrels and Harriers) returning as usual on Monday 1^st March.  

We will keep the same staggered times as prior to Christmas and pupils will enter and exit via the same doors. Please see the tables below for more information. 

Class	Start time	Finish time
Barn Owls	8.50-9am	11.30am
Snowy Owls	8.40-8.50am	3pm
Harriers	8.40-8.50am	3pm
Kestrels	8.50-9am	3.10pm

Class	Entrance
Barn Owls	Class entrance into cloakroom
Snowy Owls	Class entrance into cloakroom
Harriers	Entrance by Home Bargains stairs
Kestrels	Entrance by Home Bargains stairs

Please note it will be expected for all visitors on site (with the exception of pupils) to wear a mask, unless there are medical reasons for not doing so. 

Breakfast club will continue to be provided and charged as usual- We ask that all pupils requiring breakfast club are booked in to allow for maximum numbers to be adhered to. We also politely request that the provision is only used if needed. Prior to Christmas we were working within our maximum number – Should this go up we may have to limit the number of pupils who can use this facility. 

Please book for breakfast club via the school office (preferably by email). 

For those that require the use of Playmates please book using the normal communication avenues. 

From Monday 1^st of March we will cater for school meals. Those who are free school meals will be required to pay until the government money has stopped being paid directly to the family. 

Finally, although Friday 26^th February will only see the Barn Owls returning, Foundation Phase staff in Snowy Owls, Kestrels and Harriers will be using this day as a Planning and Preparation day and will not be available for online learning. Thank you for your understanding. 

And a big THANK YOU for your help and support over this time. We look forward to welcoming back the Foundation Phase pupils by Monday and, hopefully, the Key Stage 2 pupils shortly. 

Kind regards, 

Mr J Moore  

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Please see the letter sent to all parents/guardians whom have pupils (particularly Foundation Phase age) in schools Wrexham wide. It comes directly from Karen Evans, Chief officer of Education and Early Intervention.

Dear Parent,

As you are aware, on 5 February, in an open letter to headteachers, the Minister for Education announced that children in the foundation phase would begin to return for face-to-face learning from 22 February. This is in addition to the current arrangements that are in place for remote learning for all pupils and onsite provision for children who are vulnerable and children of critical workers.

You will also know that the numbers of positive Covid 19 cases in Wrexham have consistently been amongst the highest in Wales, particularly so in recent months, and whilst they are falling, they remain high in comparison to neighbouring Local Authorities in both Wales and England.

As a result, the council and headteachers are carefully considering plans, while continually monitoring the local situation. In light of this, we will need to take a cautious and phased approach to foundation phase children returning to school; and children will not be returning to schools in Wrexham until Friday, 26 February at the earliest – depending on local coronavirus levels after half-term.

Headteachers will share more detailed information with parents and carers after the half-term holiday (the week beginning 22 February), once coronavirus levels have been reviewed. And even then, the council and headteachers will continue to monitor local levels and will review arrangements if needed.

Should there be a need to change our approach (e.g. in the case of increasing numbers) we will communicate this with you as soon as we are able to do so.

Thank you for your continued understanding and support during these difficult times.

We would also like to reiterate our thanks to parents and carers of older children, who will continue to learn from home.

We know that remote-learning presents many challenges for families trying to manage work and home responsibilities, and we’re truly grateful to parents, children and staff for their continued efforts.

Yours sincerely

Prif Swyddog Addysg ac Ymyrraeth Gynnar /
Chief Officer Education and Early Intervention

Please click the link below for a translated version

Also see attached a press release from County sent out late this afternoon

With this in mind we would request that those parents who have been using the Keyworker provision for both KS2 and FP pupils contact the school tomorrow (Thursday 11th February) in order to book in for the week beginning 22nd February.

Yet again, many thanks for all your support and patience

Gwersyllt CP

Recently, we have had a number of requests from potential parents to visit the school premises. Understandably, this can be problematic in the current climate so we have put together a brief 5 minute video that we hope gives a flavour of the school for those who are considering applying for a school place or transfer.

Again, due to the guidance we are complying to- the school is not set up as we would usually wish it to be. Soft furnishings and classroom layouts have needed to be altered to provide a safer environment.

I have tried to keep it brief, of course, if there are further questions do feel free to contact us (see contact section of this site) and do spend some time perusing the website sections for further information.

Thank you for taking the time to look at our school and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

Mr J Moore

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Guardians,

You may, by now, have heard the news that, as things stand, pupils between the ages of 3 and 7 will be returning to school after half term. This will mean those pupils in Barn Owls, Snowy Owls, Harriers and Kestrels classes.

At the moment we have no further news other than that provided on the news websites and that was given in the public announcements. Rest assured, as soon as we have more information we will make it available for the parents to see on the website. We will also try to get as much information out, including the make up of that first week, before half term to allow time for families to plan.

Thank you for your support and patience.

Before I go, a thank you from myself and Mrs Davies for the wonderful plans and ideas coming across for the forest school area. I have put some pictures below to show everyone how the site is looking now. I can’t wait to start getting pupils in there regularly.

Have a great weekend.

Dear Parents,

I am writing to you because your child is currently accessing the school’s face to face learning provision.

I apologise if the following does not apply to you, however, I have to ensure that this important message is clearly communicated and understood by all users of the provision in school.

There have been reports nationally, locally and unfortunately also at our school of parents not following the current restrictions in relation to mixing of households and continuing to access school based provision. Clearly, this behaviour puts our pupils, staff and families at greater risk of exposure to the virus.

It is worth re-iterating what the current Level 4 alert means in terms of the rules.

At alert level 4 you must:

· Follow social distancing rules with people you don’t live with or who are not in your support bubble.

· Wear a face covering (if you are able to) in all indoor public places.

· Stay at home.

· Not create an extended household (single adults or single parents may join with one other household to form an exclusive support bubble).

· Do not meet people that you do not live with (or are in your support bubble if you are a single parent) either indoors or outdoors.

· Work from home if you can.

· Not travel without reasonable excuse.

· Not travel internationally without reasonable excuse.

The types of behaviours that have been reported include pupils seeing each other outside of school for play dates, children being picked up from school by individuals from more than one household, children being sent into school on days when parents are not working or there is a another adult available at home.

Clearly any such breaches of the regulations are cause for concern for our school community and in some circumstances constitute a breach of the current regulations that could lead to prosecution.

My main purpose in writing to you is to inform users of the provision, that for the protection of our community, any such breaches that come to our attention will be investigated and if necessary action will be taken. If we are made aware of a concern, we will ask you to discuss the matter with us. Should we find that any family is in breach of the regulations, the school will consider withdrawing the offer of on-site provision and potentially refer the matter to the police for further investigation.

I fully understand that most of those in receipt of this letter have not broken any of the rules referred to and may well be shocked to receive this. Please be assured that I have sent it to all users for the purpose of establishing with clarity, how the school intends to deal with such matters. For those who follow the rules, I hope it provides comfort that we are doing all we can to safeguard you from the impact of having to self-isolate due to a positive case resulting in a contact at school.

I look forward to continuing to work alongside you to keep our front line and critical services operating whilst maintaining a safe environment for all.

Yours sincerely

Mr J Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians, 

I thought I would send out an email to thank you for your responses to the survey we sent out. The responses were extremely helpful and where we can and where it will help we have tried to tailor what we do around them. 

 Firstly, I would like to broach one of the questions we asked. The question of whether there is enough work. The vast majority of responses said that we had this about right with a few requesting more and some requesting less. We are extremely aware of what a trying time this is at home for parents trying to juggle work, teaching, as well as all the admin that life throws at you.  A huge proportion of the staff at school find themselves in the same position. The message I have had from all the staff is please do what you can but the expectation is not to complete everything. We wish to cater for as much of the need as we can but we completely understand that circumstances are different for every household. From the number of devices to the number of people in the house. We understand the difficulties you face and the strains that go with it. Please don’t add an unfinished piece of work to this list during such a stressful time. 

If you do find that there are any struggles or anxieties for whatever reason, can I suggest a quick look at this page of our website https://gwersylltcp.home.blog/family-learning/. Mrs O’Toole and Miss Edge have worked hard to ensure there is much that may help here. 

Moving forward, we hope to offer weekly and daily tasks. The responses to these questions were extremely mixed with many preferring the daily lessons and roughly half appreciating the flexibility of the weekly tasks. Moving forward we will endeavor to provide some weekly tasks to dip into as and when (and if the opportunity arises) alongside 2/3 daily tasks. Remember only do what you can. 

Some parents requested live sessions for the pupils. I am delighted to say that some classes have had a few sessions now (mostly wellbeing/catch up sessions) with success.  

To bring an element of normality we will be having prerecorded assemblies twice a week. The Friday assembly will take the form of a well-done assembly, highlighting some magnificent work completed by the pupils. The Monday assembly will be a story followed by a task should the pupils choose. 

Over the next few weeks, we may send home a couple more surveys. We really appreciate the time taken to respond to these. In the meantime, please take care and I hope you have a relaxing weekend if possible. 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope everyone is keeping well in this New Year. Our thoughts are with everyone going through this difficult situation.

Update

As you will probably have heard on the news it would appear that the current situation will continue until, at least, February half term. Like you, I woke up to this news this morning and had no indication that it was going to be announced. Since then we have had a message from Welsh government informing us that a further announcement will be made today but, unless infection rates drastically drop by 29th January (the next review date) that this will indeed be the case. If I hear anymore I will keep you informed.

Provision

The school will keep providing provision for small groups of Keyworkers, can I please draw your attention to Welsh Governments request that “Every child who can be safely cared for at home should remain at home. Only where there is no safe alternative should provision be made in schools or other settings.“

Currently we have a manageable amount of pupils on site allowing us to maintain small bubbles and limit the amount of staffing sharing the building, therefore allowing staff to provide online learning at home. My concern is that, should these numbers increase, we will have larger amounts in these bubbles. If a positive case is found in the school and these bubbles become a contact, we will have a great many Keyworker pupils requiring self isolation for 10 days. This may have a knock on effect on the Keyworker roles of the parents, who are doing such a valuable job. We are trying to mitigate this by having an FP bubble and KS2 bubble but, simply put, the fewer on site the lower the chance of this happening. Please ensure all other avenues have been exhausted before contacting the school.

County have requested that the provision in school is simple ‘Supervision of online learning‘.

Can those who do need to book please do so by Thursday 2pm the week before in order for us to organise staffing numbers.

Online learning

Just a reminder that online learning commenced on Tuesday 5th January. Work online will continually be updated. As staff we will be discussing further ideas and ways we can improve the experience. Please contact your child’s classteacher if there are any issues.

Contacting school

As we are limiting numbers on site we may not always be available to take your call. If you are struggling to get through via the phone please email mailbox with a contact number or leave a message on the answerphone. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Dinners

Finally, just a reminder that currently the school is not providing dinners. If this changes we will let you know.

I hope everyone has a good weekend,

Take care,

Mr J Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians,

By now I am sure many of you will have heard the announcement that all schools in Wales will move to online learning until at least the 18^th of January 2021. Online learning for your child at Gwersyllt CP will have commenced today with your child’s class teacher making work available for them using a variety of platforms.

After Kirsty Williams’ announcement late last night the school will be making further arrangements for keyworker pupils where there is no other options of childcare.

As last year and in order to reduce the amount of people on site at any one time we will return to working as a Key Worker Bubble. Pupils will have access to the Blended Learning resources.

The advice to parents remains that if they are working from home or there is any other method of childcare available to them, their children should not come to school as they are safer at home and this limits the chance of the virus spreading in our communities.

Please contact the school if no other provision is available to book a place. We request that all bookings are made by 2pm on Thursday 7^th January for the following week so that we can organise staffing numbers on site.

Many thanks,

Mr J Moore

Der Parents/Guardians,

Thank you for your communication today. I hope this message finds you well. My apologies for the lateness of this message but information has been trickling through over the course of the last few hours.

Currently, school are requesting that all pupils attending this week bring their own packed lunch. It is not clear at the moment what the situation with catering is, we will inform you during the course of the week if this changes.

Breakfast club and playmates are open as usual and the fees are the same. We request that anyone not attending breakfast club arrive after 8.40am please.

Pick up from school will be by 3.15pm (unless using playmates), adults are requested to pick the pupils up before this if it is a possibility.

Drop off and pick up will be at the main reception.

Finally, when dropped off pupils will go to their class bubble tables in the hall. However, it may be that county and welsh government allow pupils to form a keyworker bubble. I want you to be aware of this prior to bringing your pupils in to school. The numbers at the moment are, reassuringly, very small and as a school we may look into forming a Ks2 and Foundation phase bubble to ensure pupils a small group to engage with outside.

Many thanks,

Mr J Moore