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Dear Parents and Carers,

So today should have been the first day of the Summer Term and sadly it may still be quite some time before we are able to have the children back in school. 

The teachers have been working really hard to think of ways to keep the children learning and I have been really impressed with their creativity and positivity! I know they have been in touch with many of you by phone or through DoJo or email and they are really impressed with the way so many of you are coping with everything! 

Well done to all the families who have shown such amazing commitment to your children’s learning at this difficult time! I will now be keeping a close eye on all classes to see which children are taking part in learning activities. As a guide, I have asked teachers to expect the following minimum amount of working time for children each day from Monday to Friday;

Nursery, ISTF  and Reception                       At least two activities a day

Year 1 and Year 2                                              An hour of learning activities

Year 3 and 4                                                       An hour and a half of learning activities

Year 5 and 6                                                       Two hours of learning activities

JSTF                                                                     The teachers will advise each of you!

I know that many of our children will be keen to do more than the minimum and I will be looking out for the children who are working especially hard!!

Please go to your child’s  Class Page on this website to find out how your child’s class teacher will let you know about the learning activities.

Reading Books

From tomorrow (Tuesday) We are going to trial a ‘Book Drop‘ scheme to see how it goes. If you would like new reading books for your child and you are out and about for shopping or exercise you can drop off your child’s named book bag with their finished reading books in a box in the outside foyer. Someone will change your child’s books and replace them in the box ready for you to collect the next day.

If your child has completed written work which they would like their teacher to see, this could be dropped off at the same time. However, it may be a few days before you get it back as teachers are attending school on a rota.

As we need to maintain social distancing rules and don’t want to encourage anyone to make unnecessary journeys we will stop this scheme if we feel it s too risky. Please just drop off the book bag then leave straightway!

We all need to make the best of this time away from school. This is an opportunity for teachers to learn new ways of working, for children to develop their independence and for you all to spend quality time together as a family, hopefully while enjoying continued good weather!

There is always someone in school from Monday to Friday, so if you need us please call and we will try to help.

Best wishes

C M Hewitt

Dear Parents,

I hope you and your families are safe and well and coping with this new and strange life! We are really impressed with the way so many families have completed home learning tasks as we know this hasn’t been easy!

So today is the first day of the original Easter Holidays!  

HOME LEARNING

For these next two weeks teachers will be setting just one Easter Task for their class. Class teachers won’t be communicating with children on such a regular basis for these next couple of weeks.

If you really do need to speak to us urgently there will be someone here in school every day to take your call. You could also send a message via Dojo or by email. But please bear in mind that teachers may not pick this up the same day. 

We will resume regular home learning tasks from 20th April which is the first day of the Summer Term. 

EMERGENCY CHILDCARE

Childcare for the children of key workers is still available in school during the Easter Holiday, on the days on which both parents or single parents are working in frontline services. 

Many thanks for only sending your children in as a last resort. As you know, the safest place for your child is at home. 

FREE SCHOOL MEALS

For children who have free school meals a free packed lunch will still be available during the holiday period. Please let us know before 9am each day if you would like us to order one for you. The lunches can be collected by anyone who is fit and well and not categorised as ‘vulnerable’. They will be ready from 12 noon in the outside foyer.

Keep safe everyone!

Mrs Hewitt

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you are all safe and well! There is a message for you all on a new Head teacher’s page which you may have noticed as you opened our website. I have just a few updates and reminders for you today.

EMERGENCY CHILDCARE

Thank you for keeping your chlidren away from school unless absolutely necessary. You all know that the safest place for you child is at home.

School is open for Emergency Childcare every week day. This childcare is for families where SINGLE or BOTH parents are key workers who are needed to support the coronavirus crisis. This runs from 8am till 5pm and you are welcome to leave the children with our staff during the hours in which you are needed in work. Breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack is provided for your child when in Childcare.

There has been some confusion over who can access the Emergency Childcare and the Local Authority is working through this and will be informing us if anything changes. We will update you if we hear anything more.

The Local Authority is thinking about putting a central online booking system in place but for now we ask that you call school to tell us which days you need childcare for the following week.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS

If your child has free school meals and you would like a packed meal for your child while school is closed please let us know before 9am each day by phoning school. If you know you will need a meal every day just tell us and we will order it so you don’t need to phone each day. The meals can be collected at 12 noon by anyone who is fit and well and not in the vulnerable people category. So if you can’t collect the meal yourself please ask a friend or neighbour and let us know who will be coming. Meals will be ready in the foyer.

The Local Authority is looking at an alternative scheme, possibly using vouchers, and we will let you know if we have further news on this.

HOME LEARNING

All teachers have set home learning tasks for their classes and you should know about this either through the website, Class DoJo or email. I know that many families are actively taking part in home learning and I would like to thank you for this. We will be keeping an eye on who is participating so do keep in contact with your child’s teacher and let them know if for any reason you are struggling. If we are concerned that your child is not doing any home learning we may get in touch by phone to see if we can help.

We still have lots of spare exercise books in school so if you would like some please give us a call and we will get them ready for you to collect. 

WEEKLY PHONE CALLS

If your child is a ‘Looked After Child’ (LAC) we will be phoning you once a week to check everything is OK. Also, if we know that you sometimes struggle with your child’s behaviour we will give you a weekly call to see if you need any support. If you need help you can call school and we will have a chat with you and maybe even with your child.

I will be available to take calls most days in school and if I am not available someone else can take a message. So get in touch if you need to.

Mrs Hewitt

The letter below gives some clarification on catering arrangements for next week for children attending Emergency Childcare and for those entitled to Free School Meals.

Repurposing of Schools in the Penyrheol Cluster – Monday 23^rd March 2020

Dear Parents / Guardians,

Thank you for your patience and support in these unprecedented times. All schools across Swansea are closed from 3.20pm Friday 20^th March. Government information is changing rapidly. Our Local Authority is working tirelessly to guide schools during this repurposing phase. This is a national crisis. There is a recognition that schools are crucial to the National Strategy, and all school staff are very much valued as essential workers.

The Local Authority emergency strategy board meets daily and clusters have been asked to work collaboratively to provide central hubs as childcare for essential workers. We are aware that the Government has issued a list of essential workers. However, at this stage our schools, catering and cleaning services do not have the capacity to support the full Government essential workers criteria. Therefore, the Local Authority are offering a phased approach to Emergency Child Care for pupils that are between 3 to 14 years old starting with:

• Blue Light / emergency services;
• NHS frontline workers;
• prison officers;
• Primary / Secondary school staff;
• private, public social care workers.

In the first instance if both parents, or a single parent, are essential workers they can access this service. From Monday 23^rd March 2020, all schools in the cluster will be open to their pupils who fit the Emergency Care criteria.

All available staff from the cluster schools will be deployed on a rota basis. The next phase of the repurposing of schools will look at vulnerable pupils. Further details will be communicated as more information and resources become available.

Please be mindful that schools will be open for childcare purposes only and not to provide statutory education. Please can we also ask you to only use the Emergency Child Care Centres (schools) for emergency childcare only. We have a duty of care to our staff that are in the schools and equally as important, we have a duty of care to our families. The key government guidance remains that children are safer at home and not in large group settings.

The schools will be open between the hours of 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, in the first instance and children should attend the school that they go to. Families who need to access these Emergency Child Care Centres (Schools) are able to come in to school at any point during the day.

Children who access the centres will need a packed lunch if they have specific dietary requirements. Children who require a school meal will be provided with a cold option.  Free School Meals pupils from the individual schools from Monday onwards will be able to pick up “Grab and Go” bags, which can be collected from the school during the normal lunch hour (12 to 1pm). Children will need to come to the main entrance to collect these and not in to the school building.

We also would like to reiterate the NHS guidance around self-isolation and any children or members of the families that are displaying any symptoms should not attempt access to the schools and self-isolate for 14 days.

We would collectively like to thank you for your ongoing support at this unprecedented time. We will communicate with yourselves regularly throughout this period of transition and keep you up to date with any relevant information. We ask you to stay safe, look after your families and together we will overcome this.

Kindest regards

Penyrheol Cluster Headteachers

Friday 20^th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

As you know, school is closing today until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak. This is a very sad day, which none of us could have imagined just a few weeks ago.

Schools are now being ‘re-purposed’ to provide emergency childcare for the children of key workers. As a school, we are totally committed to supporting the wider community to ensure everyone is kept safe. At this stage, this service will be provided here in school from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, staffed by our school staff. This will be constantly reviewed and it is possible that the facility will move to a local ‘hub’ at another school in the community.

This is currently for the children of parents who work for frontline services ie NHS staff, Police, Fire service, Prison workers, Social workers, Care workers, school workers. It is likely that this provision will be extended to other families and I will let you know as soon as I have details on this.

Thank you for completing the online questionnaire as this helps us to identify the families in greatest need. If you didn’t complete the questionnaire and you fall into the above categories please contact me as a matter of urgency.

Please contact us today, if you haven’t already, to let us know if you need this emergency provision. We need to know which days you will be working and how many children need care. I will let you know about catering for this provision as soon as it becomes clear.

There is a scheme being developed for providing lunches for all children entitled to free school meals. I am still unclear about how this is going to work but will contact you once I know.

As we don’t know how long the school closure will last and how this virus will spread there are still so many unanswered questions. I will continue to do my best to keep you updated through text and through the website. Please ensure school has your most up to date mobile number and that you are registered with sQuid so we can keep in touch.

There is a lot of uncertainty around summer term events such as the year 5 and 6 residential. A decision about this will be made soon and in the event of a cancellation we will almost certainly be able to give full refunds to those who have already paid.

We hope you are clear about the home learning work which your child has been set by their teacher. This should have been communicated through the class page on the website or via DoJo. Your child’s teacher will update this if the school closure continues.

Please remember that the most valuable thing you can do with your child is to read to them and listen to them read. Any reading material is useful including online books, Newsround and any children’s books you may have at home.

Most children will now have brought home spare exercise books from school. We still have a few left and these can be collected from the school hall after school today.

If you are unsure about any logins your child needs eg hwb please contact school at any time as there will always be someone here.

We wish you and your families well over the coming weeks and hope you keep safe and healthy. This seems like the saddest end of term ever and I hope we never see anything like this again.

Please stay in touch and don’t hesitate to call me if you need any advice regarding your child’s learning. I will be here in school every day.

Kind regards

Mrs C M Hewitt

The following update on Coronavirus has been provided by the Local Authority.

Dear Parent/Carer

As you will likely be aware, a confirmed case of Coronavirus has occurred in Swansea, the person concerned is receiving care and self-isolated immediately on becoming symptomatic.

I would like to reassure you the case is not in relation to a pupil in any school in Swansea or any organised school trips.

Our school is receiving regular updates from Swansea Council who are working in partnership with their colleagues in Health. They have assured us that the risk remains low and no additional measures need to be taken above the advice already provided by Public Health Wales.

If you need any further information please go to www.phw.nhs.wales/coronavirus. We will update you all as needed, but please be assured that there is no need for concern.
Mrs C M Hewitt

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