September

Yesterday, Kirsty Williams announced the excellent news that all schools in Wales will be open to all pupils by Monday, September 14^th 2020. 

Within her statement, she did highlight that specific groups of learners, may need to be prioritised for the first week of the term.  However, from the second week, schools should be looking to get back to full capacity.  Her full statement can be found by following this link, https://gov.wales/education-minister-announces-back-school-plans-september

Now that we have this information, we can start to refine our detailed plans for our return.  We do envisage having a short period for transition between classes, during the first week, and then looking to get ‘back to normal’, within the second week. 

From listening to the Minister’s statement, it is clear that school life, just like everyday life, will still require some additional measures to be put in place, to minimise the risk of cross-infection, and a risk of a second spike in the pandemic. Such as, the children being placed in larger contact groups (bubbles) of around 30; school start/end times and break times possibly being staggered; and not having larger gatherings, such as assemblies; but these are all finer details, which we will consider once we have more guidance.

We will now be working closely, with the local authority, our Governing Body and with our cluster of schools, to prepare risk assessments; discuss transition strategies; manage wellbeing; etc – with an aim to provide a model that best suits the needs of our children and families.  We will share these plans with you, before the end of next week.

As always, if you have concerns, suggestions or queries, before then, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Classing Structure – September 2020

Please find below, the teaching staff structure, for September.  Please share this with your children.  We will also be looking for the children to have chat with their new teacher, next week, as well as more structured transition opportunities, during the first week back.

Reports

At this time, we will only be looking to send out paper copies of our Year 6 reports, before the end of term. 

All other parents / carers, can request an electronic copy of their child’s report, which can be shared (in pdf format), via Class Dojo or sent to an email address.  If requested, these will be sent out, during the first weeks of the summer break.  Please contact the school, or your child’s teacher, should you want their report in this format.  Alternatively, paper copies will be handed out, immediately, when the children return in September.

Childcare arrangement over the Summer

We have now received the following information, from the local authority, relating to childcare arrangements for the summer break:

Childcare for children of critical workers

For childcare provision for the children of critical workers, given timescales and implications of CIW registration, the most viable option is to signpost families requiring childcare to use existing registered private childcare provision.  Further information is available for parents/carers by contacting Swansea Family Information Service on 01792 517222 or by e-mailing fis@swansea.gov.uk.

We have also been asked to forward you a survey link, which the local authority hopes to use in order to gauge demand, during the summer holidays. 

Please be advised that this survey should only be completed if you are regarded as a critical worker, and if you would possibly require childcare, over the summer.  Please find the link below.

The survey closes at 11.45pm on Tuesday July 14^th 2020. 

SUMMER CHILDCARE SURVEY (CRITICAL WORKERS)