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/ 

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.

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:

• “Today marks the beginning of the summer term, but schools in Wales will not be re-opening their doors to all learners.
• “In these circumstances our task is to find ways to help our children keep learning - this means enabling remote learning and planning for how we can best help children through this time.
• “We will also support parents and carers to support their children’s learning, recognising that, while they are a child’s primary educator, they are not teachers and being clear that we do not expect them to recreate school at home. They also have an important role in supporting schools as they would normally do.

With regards to schools re-opening, she made the following comments:

• “This will only happen when the scientific advice says it is safe to do so but, even then, we cannot assume that it will be an immediate return to business as usual.
• “This means our remote learning support is likely to have a role to play alongside provision in schools.

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 )

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.