Gwersyllt CP

Thursday, 16th July 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This year has certainly been a huge challenge! Both at home and in school we have all had to navigate through some very uncertain and testing times.

I would like to say thank you very much to all parents and children for your patience, understanding and many kind and encouraging words over the past few months, it has truly helped us through. A big thank you those that came in over the past three weeks too. Everybody followed our new rules and made the long awaited return a very successful one. It was certainly good to see children back in Gwersyllt CP’s classrooms!

Where next?

The Welsh Government have made an announcement saying that schools will be accommodating all pupils in September. Schools will be expected to be open to all pupils by Monday, September 14^th. They have provided schools with guidance and have told us that there will be a period of flexibility and time will be allowed time, up to a fortnight, for planning and reorganisation.

September 1^st and 2^nd were training days and we will be using them to plan and prepare the school to ensure a safe, purposeful, organised and nurturing return for pupils. Many of our children will have been at home for 20 weeks so on Thursday 3^rd September we will begin a phased entry for the children to ease them in gently and get them used to the new rules and systems in place. There will be many aspects of school that will have altered slightly. These few days, leading up to the 14^th September, will allow all pupils and staff to trial and understand the systems in preparation for the opening to all pupils.

Septembers Plan

We plan to phase the pupils in as per the table below- We plan to start on the first week with Reception and Year 3 groups thus allowing them extra transition to full time education and Key Stage 2.

You will receive a text by 4pm Thursday 16^th July 2020 to clarify which dates your child will be in. If you have not received a text by this time please contact the school on Friday 17^th July.

What Time and Entrance?

We still have to adhere to many new rules including social distancing (particularly between different classes, staff and parents) so during the Autumn term there will be new staggered drop off and pick up times. It is absolutely essential that you do not arrive early or late but on time to avoid too many parents and children on the school premises at one time. We have decided to split the start of the day into 2 windows allowing parents time to drop off all siblings if required and leave the site (we hope that 2 windows won’t mean parents are having to wait for long periods of time to drop off with different classes). We have tried to allow for as many entrance points as possible. Please help us by allowing for social distancing at all times on the site.

Please see the tables below for start/finish times and entrances.

There will be members of staff on the yard and signage on the entrances during the first two weeks to help parents and pupils find their way to the classes initially.

When they return pupils will be expected to wear school uniform.

We will provide a letter regarding the finer details including school meals etc as soon as we return in September.

I would like to thank you for your support and patience over this difficult time and am really looking forward to welcoming everyone back in September, we have really missed the children! I hope you all manage to have a safe and enjoyable summer and we will be here waiting for you in September.

Many thanks,

Mr J Moore and all the staff at Gwersyllt CP

Please find a printable versions of this here –> Letter to parents 2

Welcome to our family at Gwersyllt CP

Please find attached a video for a tour around Barn Owls (led by Mrs McHugh)

Apologies for the low sound on some bits of the video

we are trying to get the video of a story read by the Barn Owls teacher Mrs Hughes up (a few technical issues)

Dear Parents/Guardians,

After much communication and work behind the scenes I am finally able to give you information about what the class group day will look like. I will try to break it down as much as I can.

Breakfast club and Keyworker groups

The school can offer this for Keyworker pupils only. The school will be open from 7.30am onwards for pupils of Keyworkers, normal pricing applies, sadly no breakfast can be offered for the next three weeks. Please enter via the front gate and school reception door and ring the playmates bell. Unfortunately, we will not be able to allow parents in to the school at this point so a member of staff will come and collect your child from reception. We will not have the gate to home bargains open over the next three weeks to prevent entry to the yards where pupils will line up at staggered times.

Keyworker pupils must arrive prior to 8.50am otherwise they will not be able to access the provision until 9.45am (when the last pupils has arrived for class groups).

Arrival of class groups

You will have been sent a time for your child to have arrived- please ensure that you (1 adult per child please) arrive for that time as there will be a short 10 minute window to allow your child to access their group. If this window is missed, your child will not be able to access the group until 9.45am (when the last pupils has arrived for class groups).

On arrival, you will see signage tied to the fence that runs parallel to the pavement. This signage will indicate the 2m distance that you will be asked to queue with your child. When it is time for your child to enter, their class teacher will come on to the yard ready to line them up. I will be present to mark their attendance and let the children through the front gates one at a time to their teacher. Spots have been sprayed onto the yard floors to allow the pupils to line up within a 2m distance. Your child’s teacher will then lead them into class prior to the next group’s arrival.

The school day

The school day will be spent with their class teacher either in the classroom or accessing outside activities (again with their group and teacher). At no point will your child mix with another group. These sessions will focus on wellbeing and ‘checking in’ and will be individual to the needs of the pupil/group.

If you can no longer attend please contact the school as soon as possible to let us know.

Toileting

Each class has been allocated their own toilets. There will be no more than one pupil in the toilet at a time and this will be monitored by the class teacher and adults around the school.

Lunch

Currently, as the Local Authority have yet to decide if they are offering the choice of dinners, we are asking ALL pupils to bring their own lunch in, this will go straight into class with them (pupils will not be using the lockers). Lunch will be taken in the class for 30 minutes and overseen by the MDSA at the class doorway. FSM pupils will also be required to bring in their own lunch due to the voucher/direct debit scheme.

Pupils can also bring their own snack and water (water fountains will be out of action).

Clothing

There is no requirement for the pupils to wear school uniform. The priority is for pupils to wear fresh clothes for each of the three days that they are present. Wherever possible doors and windows in the classroom will be open so please ensure pupils are dressed appropriately for this.

Resources

We kindly ask that pupils do not bring in any resources (with the exception of their packed lunch). The school will supply all they need for the 3 days.

Pick up

As with arrival it is hugely important adult’s arrive for pick up at the time given. If the time slot is missed the pupil will not be available for pick up until all pupils have left. The teacher will bring out their class group and line them up on the yard ready for pick up. I will be present to ensure pupils are sent to the parents one at a time in the order of the queue outside the school. Again, we ask that parents queue up next to the 2m signs the school have laid out. I am confident that the queue will go down quickly.

Keyworker pick up

We ask that keyworker parents pick up their pupils from 2.45pm onwards and not before to allow class groups to leave at the staggered times. IF you require your child to stay past 3.10pm please contact Mrs L Radhi to make arrangements. Currently, we can only offer this to Keyworker pupils.

Online provision

The school will continue to provide online provision for pupils. However, teachers will not be available all of the week due to their teaching commitment and providing Keyworker cover. Work will be updated weekly for your child.

Unfortunately, we can no longer offer hard copy packs.

I hope this has answered many questions and assures you that the process are in place to best mitigate any concerns and anxieties you, your child and the staff may have.

Symptoms

If your child is displaying any symptoms, please do not bring them into school. A pupils who starts displaying symptoms will be placed into an isolation area and looked after at a distance by a member of staff. They will be sent home as soon as possible.

Please inform the school if a suspected case is confirmed as COVID-19 and follow current government guidance.

And finally…..

We will endeavour to text all parents the class their child will be attending in the first week of July. The teachers have been working hard to create the class lists alongside the task of preparing for the reopening of school.

For those we will see over the next few weeks, we are looking forward to it immensely. For those we won’t, stay safe and we will hopefully see you in September.

Dear Parent/Carer,

You will be well aware, the Welsh Government announced on 3^rd June that schools are to partially reopen on a ‘check in, catch up and prepare’ basis. The original announcement stipulated that this would be for a period of four weeks from 29^th June. The Council is very grateful for all the hard work being done in schools to prepare for the 29^th and to you as parents/carers for your perseverance, cooperation and patience in assisting schools prepare for the reopening.

Over the past weeks there have been on going discussions nationally relating to the week commencing 20^th July. It is our understanding that the Welsh Government and the trade unions cannot reach a common position on the fourth week and that on Thursday 18^th June, via the BBC website, Welsh Government stated that “schools and councils will have the final say on whether the summer term is extended for an extra week”.

We are all acutely aware of the difficulties this uncertainty will be causing you in your decision making as to whether or not your children will attend school this term and any childcare arrangements you would need to make.

This has put schools and the Council in a very difficult position as there is no contractual obligation on staff to work the extra week, and this effectively puts the onus on head teachers and individual staff members which would be unfair and potentially lead to inconsistency across the County Borough as there is no guarantee that all schools will be in a position to adequately staff provision in the fourth week on a voluntary basis.

It is the view of the Council that schools require immediate clarity so that they can plan on a fixed basis to receive as many pupils as possible during this period; parents and young people in order that they can approach the few next weeks with confidence; and for parents to have the opportunity to make alternative childcare arrangements as required in the fourth week. This is not something that can be left to the last minute and the Council is very mindful of its statutory responsibilities both as an employer and in the context of the safeguarding of children and young people.

Our position is that we want all schools, maintained by the local authority, the diocesan authorities and federation schools, to be adopting the same position. We are proud of our partnership approaches as a team, and work as one.

A consistent approach is deemed essential and the Council would have much preferred to have seen these issues resolved on a national basis at the outset, prior to the original announcement.

Taking into account all considerations, it has been decided that the original term dates will be adhered to and that the Council does not propose to ask teaching and other school staff to volunteer and, therefore, schools in the County Borough will close for the summer holidays on 17^th July.

It is appreciated that the above decision will result in additional work for headteachers and governing bodies in planning provision for the three week period and that there is a significant possibility that your child’s school will need to contact you to inform you of amendments to any arrangements they have currently made. There is a possibility that schools will need to reduce the number of days your child is able to go to school this term.

Can we emphasise that schools are not in any way responsible for the positon that they now find themselves in.  It is understood that the removal of the fourth week may cause you as parents/carers inconvenience and concerns. We assure you, the decision that  schools should not reopen for the week commencing 20^th July has not been taken lightly but for the reasons outlined above.

Cllr Mark Pritchard                         Cllr Phil Wynn

Leader to the Council                     Lead Member for Education

Ian Bancroft                                    Ian Roberts

Chief Executive                              Chief Officer; Education and Early Intervention

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Today you will have received a text message informing you of your child (or childrens) allotted 3 day block of sessions. If you have not received a text or there is any confusion, please don’t hesitate to ring the office.

First of all an apology, try as I might, it was impossible to have all siblings go in on the same week. We have to adhere to a strict limit on numbers and, therefore, have had to stagger the weeks classes come in to school. With multiple siblings across multiple classes, and with several sheets of paper torn up, crossings out and hours of the clock running by, I had to except it was unmanageable. Again, apologies for any inconvenience.

I will write to you again next week with an information page on how to drop off and pick up your child. What the expectations are for clothes (before you worry that they have grown out of their uniform, own clothes will be fine), lunch and resources and expectation on the continuation of online learning.

Alongside this, I hope to post pictures to highlight certain procedures so you all have a better idea on what you may expect upon your return, albeit briefly, to school.

Until then I hope everyone keeps safe, we will spend the interim preparing the school and we will look forward to seeing the children from the 29^th June.

Kind regards,

Mr J Moore