Dear Parents / Carers,
Unbelievably, this week is the first week of the Summer term! Normally, we would be returning from the Easter break, and gearing up for the last third of the academic year. This year however, we are faced with a somewhat different scenario.
We hope that this update finds you well and coping with these exceptional times! We are missing the children, but hope that they are enjoying the extra time at home with their loved ones.
Please find a few updates below, but as always, if you have any concerns, questions or queries please do not hesitate to get in touch.
As always, best wishes,
Mr. Cox
Home Learning:
As we now move into week five of school closure; hopefully the children have begun to establish some routines and are working their way through the resources provided to them through J2E. However, the circumstances are surreal, and for that reason, it is fully understandable that the children’s motivation and focus may ‘ebb and flow’ from one day to the next.
As we have technically started a new term, this week, we feel that it may be a good starting point for us all to try and reinvigorate the children’s interest and start a refreshed wave of home learning. As the children complete the weekly tasks, we would really like to encourage them to engage with the school; examples of this could include: sending clips of how they solved a problem, sharing pictures of work that they have completed; posting their high score on Sumdog; sharing presentations / movies / animations that they have created; or even snippets of any new skills they have started to learn. The staff would really like to see how the children are getting on; and we hope that this will re-instil the children’s understanding that school staff are still there for them.
As I mentioned in a previous update; sharing can be done safely through Class Dojo, through Hwb and also J2E. Along with this, (if you are happy to share your work online), you can send it to me at: CoxL32@hwbcymru.net or by tagging us in a Tweet on Twitter (@MayalsSchool). Some of you have already done so, and these can be viewed on our Twitter page, or within our ‘Home Learning Gallery’ https://www.mayalsprimary.co.uk/the-home-learning-gallery/.
Oak National Academy – In addition to the learning packs provided by our staff, you may also want to utilise the resources provided on the newly launched, Oak National Academy website. The website has been created by the Department of Education for England, not Wales, but nevertheless can provide three online video lessons per day, for children aged from Reception to Year 10. The lessons focus of key topics of language, maths and foundation subjects. The resources can be found by following this link, and then entering the classroom - https://www.thenational.academy/
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School Meals
This week, we are pleased to say that there has been a change to the way in which our eligible families can access lunchtime meals. As a cluster, we are now able to deliver weekly food parcels to all our eligible families. This process begun yesterday, and I believe that it was gratefully received by many of our families.
If you are eligible and interested, but have not had notification, please get in touch.
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Moving Forward:
As you are aware, we are being told by the Government that there are currently promising signs in the daily figures of Covid-19 cases in Wales and the UK as a whole. As a result, the mention of lifting restrictions and of schools re-opening is becoming a frequently asked question by the media.
Within education in Wales, the most up to date information we are able to access, is the ‘Stay Safe. Stay Learning’ Policy, which was published by Kirsty Williams, yesterday. When launching the policy, she made some of the following comments:
With regards to schools re-opening, she made the following comments:
As a school, we are working within our cluster to follow the guidance of Welsh Government and of the local authority. As soon as we have any further information, I will be sure to promptly pass the information onto yourselves.
(Link to guidance – https://gov.wales/new-guidance-will-help-wales-stay-safe-and-stay-learning-while-dealing-coronavirus-impact ) (Link to policy document - https://gov.wales/stay-safe-stay-learning )
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Message from our Chair of Governors – Mrs Kathleen Boyce:
To parents and carers,
On behalf of the Governing Body of Mayals School, I should like to thank our dedicated Head, Deputy Head, all teachers, assistants, administrative and support staff for all they have done to adjust to a new way of working in the present emergency. I should also like to thank all parents and carers for doing everything possible to ensure that all children feel safe and happy. Pupil well-being is at the centre of our work in Mayals School and we know that happy secure children will easily make up for any learning 'missed' recently. We look forward to the great day when school life returns to normal and assure you of our determination to provide the very best learning experience for every child.
Please take care and thank you very much for your ongoing support.
Mrs Kathleen Boyce.
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