Friday January 29th

You may have already seen the announcement from Welsh Government around a potential return to school for some pupils after half term, 22nd February, depending on virus levels. We will keep you fully updated as we receive further information over the coming weeks.

 

We are now 4 weeks into our post Christmas lockdown. There may be times when children and families feel that they are struggling with the current circumstances. If you feel like this, you will not be alone! It is so important to remember that we are all doing our very best, and that’s all we can do! We must keep supporting each other and, most importantly, keep communicating. If you have any concerns regarding the wellbeing of children, or indeed yourselves, please make contact. With regards to home learning, staff continue to give their all to providing learning opportunities and clear avenues for communication. Engagement remains high, which is great to see. However, home learning can be very stressful. Do what you can in your circumstances, and do not compare yourself to others. Again, please let us know if you need any support!

Weekly Live Check-ins – Microsoft Teams

Every class in school (other than Nursery, which is on Monday) have had the opportunity to attend a live check-in this week. It has been wonderful to see so many smiling faces. All the staff have thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the children. We have received some positive feedback from parents, which means a lot! You will receive an invite for next week’s check-ins. The easiest way to check your invite is through the Teams calendar. Next week’s check-ins are:

Monday – Reception, Year 1 (am), Nursery (pm)

Tuesday – Year 2

Wednesday – Year 3 and 4

Friday – Year 5 and 6

Digital support

If you have any issues surrounding technology/devices or accessing the learning online, please contact the school for support. Additionally, if you require paper versions of activities, let us know!

Emergency Childcare provision

We continue to provide a service to our most vulnerable children and those key workers that have no other option available to them. If you wish to discuss accessing this provision, please contact the school by phone or email.

Let’s hope for some better weather so that we can spend as much time outdoors as possible!

Stay safe and have a good weekend!

            Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

           evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Friday January 22nd

It was lovely to see the sun in the sky towards the end of the week after some torrential rain. I hope you managed to get outdoors to enjoy the fine weather. I continue to be incredibly proud of the way that our school community is approaching this pandemic. Children – you are all superstars, your resilience is amazing and we cannot wait to have you all back at school as soon as possible. Staff continue to work with an unquestionable commitment to the children. Parents and families – a huge thankyou for your continuing support. Communication is crucial! We completely understand that this is a challenging time for everyone in many different ways. Don’t hesitate in contacting us by phone or by email if you have any wellbeing, home learning or other concerns. We are here to help in any way that we can!

Weekly Live Check-ins – Microsoft Teams

We trialed our live check-ins with Year 5 and 6 today. It was lovely to see so many happy faces and I thank all the children for their patience. There were a few technical ‘glitches’ along the way but it has given us a clear understanding of the next steps needed. Moving forward, check-ins will take place with smaller groups of children to increase interaction. Downloading the ‘Teams App’ is advised, although not essential. We will ensure that those in need of HWB login details have them early next week. The plan for check-ins next week is as follows:

Tuesday 26th Jan – Year 2 (invites have been sent)

Wednesday 27th Jan – Year 3 and 4 (invites will be sent on Monday)

Thursday 28th Jan – Reception and year 1 (invites will be sent on Monday)

Monday 1st Feb – Nursery (invites will be sent on Thursday)

These check-ins will then be repeated weekly. Please remember that invites will only be sent to children whose parents have completed the online consent form (Sent this week)

Digital support

If you have any issues surrounding technology/devices or accessing the learning online, please contact the school for support.

Emergency Childcare provision

We continue to provide a service to our most vulnerable children and those key workers that have no other option available to them. If you wish to discuss accessing this provision, please don’t hesitate in contacting the school by phone or email.

Stay safe and have a good weekend!

            Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

           evansj737@hwbcymru.net

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Live Check-ins – Microsoft Teams

We are trialing the check-in process with Year 5 and 6 on Friday 22nd January. All being well, from the week beginning 25th January each class from Reception to Year 6 will be allocated a day and time each week for the children to join a Team’s Check-in session (Nursery – week beginning 1st February).  The children will be able to see and speak to their teachers and each other. Classes may be split into smaller groups with different check-in times. This will be an opportunity to check on wellbeing and talk about the work being set etc. If you have completed the online consent form, your child will receive an invite, which will be visible on their Teams calendar (instructions below). If you have had any problems accessing the consent form (sent by text on Wednesday morning), please contact the school. If you wish your child to be involved in next week’s check-ins, consent forms must be completed by 12pm on Friday 22nd January.

Please click on the link below for instructions on accessing Teams:

To access Microsoft Teams

Safeguarding – whilst the teachers will be monitoring these check ins, we ask you to share the attached expectations for pupils.

Live Sessions – Parent and Learner agreement

We would also ask that children and parents practise logging on before the time of the meeting.

Some pupils (particularly in Reception and Year 1) will need to be given their HWB login details. Please contact the school (by phone or email), your class teacher or Mr Evans and they will provide you with the HWB details required.

The success of these check-in sessions will, once again, be dependent on us working together. As always, we thank you for your ongoing support! Please keep letting us know if you have any concerns, feedback or need any advice! We are here to help all the children and their families in any way that we can!

              Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

           evansj737@hwbcymru.net

 

 

 

Friday January 15th

We have completed our first full week of home learning and the engagement has been really pleasing during trying times. A huge thank you and well done to all the children and their families. Communication between teachers and pupils has been great and, although there will be times when teachers cannot respond immediately, I can assure you that staff will respond as soon as possible during working hours. We completely understand that this is a challenging time for everyone in many different ways. Please remember that if home learning is causing any anxiety, we are here to offer any support that we can. Don’t hesitate in contacting us by phone or by email.

Live Check-ins

In addition to our current methods of communication (learning conversations, email, telephone) we will be offering weekly, live check-ins via Microsoft Teams over the coming weeks. More information and consent forms will be sent out early next week.

Digital support

If you have any issues surrounding technology/devices or accessing the learning online, please contact the school for support.

Emergency Childcare provision

We continue to provide a service to our most vulnerable children and those key workers that have no other option available to them. If you wish to discuss accessing this provision, please don’t hesitate in contacting the school by phone or email.

It continues to be crucial during this pandemic to work together with clear and open lines of communication. Please keep letting us know if you have any concerns, feedback or need any advice! We are here to help children and families in any way that we can!

                                                                     Stay safe and have a good weekend!

            Mr Jamie Evans (Acting headteacher)

           evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Friday January 8th

I am sure that you are now aware of the Welsh Government’s decision to delay the return of pupils to school until January 29th, possibly until February half term, while they monitor the reduction in transmission of COVID-19.

While this decision is clearly aimed at keeping our whole community safe, it will have an impact on families in many different ways. I would like to begin by reminding you that, although school is not open to all pupils, we are still here to offer support in any way we can. If you have any concerns at all or seek advice, please get in touch by phone, email the school or email me directly (evansj737@hwbcymru.net). Staff and families working together has been crucial in our school’s response to this pandemic and I have no doubt that we will continue to support each other.     

I would like to thank staff for the effort they are putting into their home learning provision. We all want nothing more than the children back in school where they belong, but, until that can be done safely, I can assure you that staff are giving their all to providing the best possible means of Home Learning which encourages communication between teachers and pupils. It has been great to see the level of engagement so far and I thank children and parents for embracing it! Home Learning is in no way meant to put pressure on families. We have children and families of our own and are aware of the juggling nature of life at present. Again, if we can support in any way, please let us know. If you have issues around technology, please let me know so we can look at alternative provision.

Thanks to those parents that have been in touch with feedback. It is great to be able to pass on thanks to the teachers. If you have any feedback, please email the school or myself directly.  Teachers are making every effort to respond to work, emails and learning conversations as swiftly as possible. However, there will be times when responses can’t be as swift for various reasons. I can assure you that staff will respond as soon as possible during school hours. 

We now know that pupils will not be returning to school for a little while. As always, the wellbeing of pupils is our number one priority above all else. We will be checking in with all our families but if you have any concerns at all, let us know!

Stay safe and have a good weekend!

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting headteacher)

Tuesday January 5th

Firstly, we’d like to wish all our families a Happy New Year. We hope that you all enjoyed a happy and healthy Christmas. To all our awesome children, we can’t wait to have you back at school safely, as soon as we can!

Start of term plan 

You will now be aware of the decision made by Welsh Government to move all schools to online learning until 18th January. A statement from Kirsty Williams (Director of Education) can be found on our school website or by following this link.

Written statement by the Welsh Government

City and county of Swansea statement

‘Following last night’s announcement by the Welsh Government, all schools, colleges and independent schools will move to online learning until January 18^th.  The position on childcare remains unchanged and schools will look to provide a service to our most vulnerable children and those key workers that have no other option available to them from 6 January onwards. This provision should only be accessed as a last resort and wherever possible pupils should remain home. All schools will provide remote learning from Wednesday 6 January. Additional payments or food parcels will be provided for learners entitled to free school meals during the period of home learning.’ Helen Morgan-Rees (Interim Director of Education)

Home Learning will be available for all pupils to complete from first thing tomorrow morning. We hope that all children will enjoy learning and communicating with their teachers. If you have any problems, or require paper packs due to technology issues, please let us know. You should have your class teachers’ email address and teachers will be available to respond during school hours, health permitting. Pupils will also be able to communicate with their class teacher via the learning platforms (this will become clear as you access the learning). Alternatively, you can phone or email the school, during school hours.

Foundation phase children will be able to access their learning and communicate with their teachers through Seesaw. Please visit the classroom pages on the school website to view a message from the teacher and advice on how to access activities.

 

  Key Stage 2 children will be able to access their home learning through J2e on the HWB platform. All pupils require is their HWB login details.

1. Visit hwb.gov.uk
2. Login using children’s account details
3. Go to just2easy
4. Click on Home Learning tile for guidance from your teacher                                                                                             

The current situation will be affecting children and families in different ways. School may not be open to all children at the moment but we are still here to support the wellbeing of children and families in any way that we can. As always, if you have any concerns, queries or feedback please don’t hesitate in contacting the school or Mr Evans directly evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Working together has proved to be crucial during this pandemic!

Thanks for your continued support!   

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)

 

WRITTEN STATEMENT BY THE WELSH GOVERNMENT

 

TITLE	Return to school and college arrangements
DATE	04 January 2021
BY	Kirsty Williams MS, Minister for Education

 

The situation in Wales and across the UK remains very serious. Today, the four UK Chief Medical Officers have agreed that the UK is now at the highest level of risk, Joint Biosecurity Council level 5.

In the light of that decision the Welsh Government, in consultation with the WLGA and Colegau Cymru, has agreed that all schools, colleges and independent schools should move to online learning until January 18^th.

As a government we will use the next two weeks to continue to work with local authorities, schools and colleges to plan for the rest of term.

This is the best way to ensure that parents, staff and learners can be confident in the return to face to face learning, based on the latest evidence and information.

Schools and colleges will remain open for children of critical workers and vulnerable learners, as well as for learners who need to complete essential exams or assessments. On this basis Special Schools and PRU’s should remain open if possible.

We had initially given schools flexibility in the first two weeks of term to decide when to reopen based on local circumstances.

But it is now clear that a national approach of online learning for the first fortnight of term is the best way forward.

We know that schools and colleges have been safe and secure environments throughout the pandemic.

However, we also know that education settings being open can contribute to wider social mixing outside the school and college environment.

We are confident that schools and colleges have online learning provision in place for this immediate period.

Universities in Wales have already agreed a staggered start to term. Students should not return to universities for face to face learning until they are notified that they can do so.

Wales remains in the highest level of restrictions. Everyone must stay at home.

I will continue to update members.

 

04 01 21 Letter to parent carer V1

We need to alert you that the Swansea approach to returning to school in January has been revised following meetings with Welsh Government and all Councils this week.

Updated Position on Swansea Schools Return to Face to Face Learning

‘All Swansea schools will aim to return to face to face learning from Monday 11 January instead of 6 January. There will be a delay to face to face learning to allow time to consider updated information, expected next week, about Covid-19, including the new variant. All schools will provide online learning from Wednesday 6 January and each school will provide onsite childcare for vulnerable children if needed and critical workers’ children if essential from Wednesday 6 January. The position will be reviewed on 6 January.’ Helen Morgan-Rees (Interim Director of Education)

Those parents in need of emergency childcare from Wednesday 6th January should contact the school via email or phone on Monday 4th January. More details about home learning will be shared next week.

As always, if you have any concerns, queries or feedback please don’t hesitate in contacting the school or Mr Evans directly evansj737@hwbcymru.net

Thanks for your continued support! 

Mr Jamie Evans (Acting Headteacher)