Gwersyllt CP

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Hopefully now most of you will have read the message regarding the closure of schools for face to face learning by Wednesday 16th December and a move to online learning for the final two days. The message from county came to us late this morning, we felt it was best to send this basic information out as soon as possible. I can now hopefully answer a few more questions specific to Gwersyllt CP. I will, undoubtedly, not be able to answer all of them.

Dinners

Firstly, and the question I have been asked most is regarding Christmas dinner. This was originally planned for Thursday 17th December. We have now moved Christmas dinner to Wednesday 16th December. We will assume that all those pupils that ordered for Thursday will still want Christmas dinner for this day. Please let us know if this is not the case. There will be no other options for school dinner on this day.

The hot party food dinner will remain on Tuesday. Again. this will be the only option for this day.

Class events

As always, on the final week there had been class parties and film afternoons planned. The teachers will be rearranging these for the beginning of the week and will let the pupils and your self know if they alter in any way.

Holiday Club

Holiday club will now commence on Thursday 17th December. Please call Lynne if you require this service for Thursday and/or Friday of next week. Places are limited.

Learning from Home

For the final two days of next week the teachers will be providing a form of online learning (Google Classroom/Seesaw etc).

Your child may also come home with a few sheets (Festive crafts/colouring etc).

We hope that this gives a little flexibility over the final two days as we appreciate that families will be in very different situations. Hopefully, these different options provide the children with a variety of tasks. Please use them/complete them as you see fit, there is not the expectation to do everything.

After the break

As far as we are aware, school will reopen to pupils on Tuesday 5th January 2021.

…and most importantly

All at Gwersyllt CP hope you have a happy and safe break over the next two weeks. Thank you for all your support this year, it has made all the difference.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Dear Parent/Carer

The message below has been sent through by County. We will get more detailed, school specific information out to you by tomorrow. We felt it was important to get this announcement to you all straight away. Many thanks.

I hope this letter finds all of you well. We are all aware that these are extremely difficult times for all members of our community in Wrexham and we know that Covid-19 has impacted on many aspects of our lives.

The purpose of my letter is to inform you of the impact of Covid-19 on the end of term arrangements.

As you are aware, many pupils across schools have continued to experience disruption to their education during this time and we have seen an increase in the number of positive cases of Covid 19 amongst children and adults in Wrexham County borough. As a result, many children and young people have been required to self-isolate. I am sure that you will join me in extending thanks to all of our school staff who have worked very hard to implement rigorous and robust safety measures and to do as much as they can to provide quality learning experiences. Your continued support and understanding in this situation is greatly appreciated.

All members of the Education Community are concerned about the rise in cases and the impact this is having on children and families. It has therefore been agreed with the Local Authority that face to face learning will cease for all pupils at the end of Wednesday 16^th December; and remote learning will be provided for all pupils on the 17th and 18^th December. The Local Authority has also agreed that on the basis of the circumstances of some individual schools, it may be necessary to make a local decision to move to remote learning earlier than Wednesday.

Having considered all of the factors we have agreed with our governing body and local authority that face-to-face learning will cease on Wednesday 16^th December when we will switch to remote learning.

The local authority and our school community are absolutely committed to offering the best provision under increasingly difficult circumstances and we recognise how worrying this situation must be for you.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy a safe, family Christmas and that we can all look forward together to an improving situation in the New Year.

Yours sincerely

Mr J.Moore

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Over the last few days a couple of the pupils have asked what they can do if they wish to pass out christmas cards to their friends in school, as school is the only opportunity they have to see them. Though we acknowledge that it is obviously safer not to give them out at all in the current climate, we have been thinking carefully about the safest way to do so within school as we feel it is important for the pupils to enjoy these wonderful aspects of Christmas as much as possible given the circumstances.

If possible we would advise other means of giving and recieving cards e.g. electronic cards. However, if you and your child wish to give out christmas cards then this can be done within their class bubble (no cards to be given out to other classes). We ask that all cards (and small gifts) be brought into their class bubble by Friday the December the 11th. This will allow for more than 72 hours prior to the cards being given out in the latter half of the final week. Unfortunately, we will not be able to give out cards that come in for the final week.

I know this is not ideal but I hope it provides a suitable middle ground with out compromising safety. Thank you again for your understanding.

Also, a few upcoming dates prior to the winter break:

Friday 11th December– Christmas jumper day- £1 donation for Save the Children.

Tuesday 15th December– Hot party food day for lunch.

Thursday 17th December– Christmas lunch.

Friday 18th December– School term ends

Of course, your child’s class and your child’s teacher may have also organised other events within the class bubble.

Cofion Cynnes,

Mr J Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Thank you so much for your swift and understanding response to our message sent out on Tuesday and wearing your facemasks. The guidance is regularly updated and gets filtered down to us through County. We relayed that message to you on Tuesday afternoon and by pick up time the vast majority of people were wearing their facemasks on site. It is greatly appreciated.

I am also pleased to say that the number of lates has dropped this week. It is a huge help to getting all the pupils in safely and, as always, is the most settled way for them to start their school day.

With December just around the corner, the school is starting to show signs of the festive season. Though it is a bit different this year, the staff are doing what they can to try and give the building that warmth that this year usually brings. Over the next few days and weeks I will endeavour to get some pictures up on the school website to show this. Of course, many of the classes are already gearing up for the performances that we will record for the families this year.

Have a great weekend

Dear Parents,

Wearing of face coverings (primary)

The Welsh Government has updated its guidance on the use of face coverings in schools.

To reduce the risk of transmission amongst parents and relatives, please wear masks when visiting school, and at drop-off and collection areas. Maintaining clear social distance at the school gates will also reduce risk and set a good example to pupils.

If you have a secondary school aged child, be aware that face coverings should now be worn by year 7 and above pupils in all areas outside the classroom and be worn on dedicated school transport for year 7 and up.

Please follow these guidelines and encourage your child to follow theirs too.

Along with regular hand washing/sanitising and social distancing, this will reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 at school as far as possible.

They have been made stronger to keep you and your families as safe as possible. They are based on new advice from Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Group, as we learn more about the way COVID-19 is transmitted.

Thank you for your help in doing all we can – together – to keep ourselves and others safe.

Yours sincerely,

Mr J Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians,
Just a couple of things to update you on this week. 
Before I do, can I say a huge thank you for the ongoing support for everything that we are trying to keep going in school. PTA organised Non-uniform days, Cauliflower Christmas cards, Poppy appeal and Children in Need have all had such a positive response and raised money beyond our expectations. Many of these charities have struggled to fund raise this year due to circumstances. Your contributions make a huge impact.

As I’m sure you will understand, and as I alluded to recently, there will be no Christmas fairs or concert performances this year. However, the teachers have met together and decided they would like to do something that can be shown to the parents via video. I will keep the exact details to myself in case I’m accused of spoilers but we strongly felt that doing something to continue the tradition was the right thing to do.

Finally, this week we have had a number of pupils late. Can I request that you do all we can to ensure your child arrives in the allotted window for their class. I understand that sometimes unforeseen circumstances can cause this however, in order to reduce risk of bubbles mixing and families being in close contact in reception we are trying, as always, to keep lates to as low a number as possible.

I’ll leave you with this weeks Learning power from Class 4… Don’t give up.

Many thanks and have a great weekend.

The end of an, at times, difficult week. As I wrote on Wednesday, thank you to all for the patience and understanding shown over the past few days. A huge thank you, also, to those that have contacted the school, in various ways, to let the school and staff know that you understand the complexities of the situation. Though school closures and blended learning has been frequent across Wales, it was the first time we had to deal with it, and came as a huge surprise. The hope is that we don’t have to deal with something like this again but if we do, as always, there will be many lessons we will take from it.

Those classes that have been required to close will have set up online learning opportunities. If you are struggling to access them please contact the teacher or, failing that, the school to see if we can assist in any way.

If your child is still coming to school as normal I can’t stress the importance of checking that the online is learning in case this situation happens again. Due to its very nature it will always be a sudden closure and it is best to be prepared.

It was nice to still be able to do our bit for Remembrance. A wreath from the school was lay on Sunday at the Cenotaph and those that have been on site will possibly have seen many displays of poppies, silhouettes and other artworks making reference to this important date in the calendar.

The school have also been working on Learning powers this term with every class creating a video or presentation to display to the school. Last week Class 1 introduced us to Co-operative Cayote. This week I would like to introduce you to Chris the Concentrator.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Thank you so much for your understanding and quick response last night and today. This situations is inevitably a difficult one for schools and almost always comes out of the blue. We found out late last night, enquired as to the right course of action and informed those affected as soon as possible. Now the pupils are safely in school in those classes that are open we are able to disseminate the correct information to all groups.

The following letters will give you the information that you require and have been sent to us from Environmental Health. They have also said that any enquiries regarding the situation, should, when possible be directed towards them. There is only so much, we the school, will be able to say.

The letters below are for each affected class with general letter for those classes that are open. They will have vital information that the government request be followed. They will also have the return date for the pupils in these classes. Please note that the return date may be different for each class bubbles as it depends on the last time they were in contact with the positive case.

Again, many thanks for your understanding, the next day or two will be busy for the school but it is made so much easier through the help of yourselves.

Please read the letters below with care:

Barn Owls

Snowy Owls

Harriers

Class 2

All other classes

Kind regards,

Mr J Moore

Dear Parents/Guardians,
Welcome back, I hope everyone had a pleasant half term given the circumstances. Very much business as usual at Gwersyllt CP and all the ‘new normal’ rules will be continuing as they were.
Normally this is the half term in which we have many guests in the school to celebrate the festive season. Unfortunately, things are very different this year. Please keep an eye out for communications that will keep you informed regarding any changes. Hopefully, we will be able to do a little something to replace the performances that we would normally be gearing up for about now.
Other than that, with the weather getting colder there is an ever-increased chance of colds and the like becoming more prominent. Can I point you towards the information below which clears up many questions that you may have during this difficult time.

As the header above suggest, a huge thank you for the last 8 weeks. During an extremely testing time everyone has worked together and in doing so the vast majority of the pupils have enjoyed an uninterrupted period of time back at school. No matter what the next few months may bring I truly believe that a prolonged period back in their new classes was vitally important after such a long time away from school. I would like to thank you all for pulling together and making that happen.

Looking forward, as you will have heard on the news, from 18:00 on Friday 23rd October, Wales will be going on a national lockdown (we have information regarding Halloween and firework celebrations later on in this newsletter). Despite this, can i remind everybody that Gwersyllt CP will be open to pupils again on 2nd November 2020. We will be continuing the staggered starts and end times and, until further notice, we will be keeping in a class bubbles. We will also keep Breakfast running as it has been since September, with the requirement to book in before use.

At this time of year we would normally have given you dates for concerts and fairs. Understandably, things will be a little different this year. As the term progresses we will keep you up to date on what we have planned.

Thank you again for your support, we hope everyone has a safe week away from school and we look forward to seeing the pupils again on the 2nd November. 

Diolch yn fawr!