Dear Parents / Carers,

I do hope that you are all coping well, and that the beautiful weather is helping with the difficult situation we currently find ourselves in?!

We are now moving into the final half term of the school year.  Despite our school building being closed for the past ten weeks; our staff continue to be providing daily childcare for our key worker parents, and are constantly working hard to make sure that you are supported, in the difficult task of home learning. 

Many children in England will be returning to school today.  As it stands, in Wales, we have had no further guidance or indication as to when measures here may be changed.  As always, as soon as we have any further information, we will be sure to share it with you.

Despite not having an update from the Welsh Government, there are some school updates that we would like to make you aware of.  Please find these below. 

As always, could I ask that you please share this information with any families

queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

that you think are not receiving it?  Also, if you have any concerns, questions or

Best wishes to you all,

Mr. Leon Cox

(CoxL32@hwbcymru.net)

Home Learning:

We continue to be updating our Home Learning library on Hwb / J2E.  Along with this, there are a range of links / resources available, through our school website - https://www.mayalsprimary.co.uk/links-and-resources/

To celebrate the work that children are doing at home, we are going to trial awarding a ‘Pupil of the Week’ award, for every class.  These will be awarded every Friday, and the certificates will be posted on Twitter and Class Dojo.  We are really looking forward to seeing what the children achieve.

(Caution – please be aware that the aim of the award is not for pupils to be in competition with each other, over home learning; it is more to re-invigorate the children’s enthusiasm towards sharing their home learning with us, and to give positive reinforcement for the hard work that they are putting in.  Our message to parents remains the same:  do not feel pressured to complete everything; do what you can do).

Virtual Sports Day (Week):

As we will be unable to have our School Sports Days, this year, we thought we would try and do something a little different.  Next week (starting from Monday June 8^th), we will be holding our very first ‘Virtual Sports Week’. 

Each day, our staff will be posting three challenges for the children to take on.  The children will be asked to attempt the challenges that the teacher has set; and even try to beat the teacher!  We hope that it will be a lot of fun!

We will be sending out more information, later in the week, so please keep a look out!

Keeping in Contact:

We have had several requests, from parents, to be involved in online video calls (through Zoom).  Unfortunately, Zoom is not currently supported by the local authority, and we have been advised not to communicate with families through these means.  There are currently discussions ongoing for using other methods, which we will be looking at as a school, when further guidance is released by the local authority.

Over the next few weeks, our staff will be looking to make telephone contact with all our families.  We have already spoken to lots of children (and parents), and are hoping to continue this, to try and speak to everyone.

Please don’t see this call as a threat; we would just like to speak with yourselves, and the children; to have a quick chat and to check that you are OK, or if there is anything else that we can do to help?

If you would rather not receive the call, then please notify either Mrs Edwards (EdwardsK125@Hwbcymru.net) or Mrs Clay (ClayC2@Hwbcymru.net).

Reports:

This is a last call for the information below.  If you have not already done so, could I please ask you to forward this information to your child’s class teacher, as soon as possible.  The information that your child gives will be included in their report.  If we do not receive this information, by the end of this week, we are sorry but it will not be included in your child’s report.  Many thanks!

Child’s Name:

My Best Friends:

My Funniest Moment:

My Favourite Moment:

I am Especially Proud of:

My Next Steps (One target):