Dear Parents/ Carers,

Most of you will be working with your children at home over the next weeks/ months. It is going to be a difficult time for us all and I just wanted to set your mind at rest about ‘home schooling’.

Teachers spend many hours in a typical week planning lessons for pupils. Each lesson is planned for different abilities so there may be as many as 4-5 different levels of work on offer. It is impossible for them to provide work at home which mirrors what the children have at school. The work that you have been given is our best attempt at maintaining the children’s skills whilst we are off school. Please do not worry if you are unclear about an activity- none of the work given is compulsory and if you think of an activity that your child would enjoy or you want to replace some of the work/ do something else, it’s fine! Other activities can include gardening, cooking, housework, playing in the garden, animal care, den building, board games, car washing and any other activity you may think of. We do not want anyone to feel they have to complete large amount of academic work each day with their child; there are many ways to educate children and parents are a child’s first teacher!

As a minimum we would ask that your child reads or is read to for 20 minutes a day and that they spend approximately 20 minutes doing some basic counting/number work. This can be counting to 10, 100 etc, times tables, measuring practically, simple addition and subtraction, cutting up food into halves, quarters etc. The other work from school can be used as a ‘pick and mix’- chose the pieces you want to complete with your child.

Below you will find a suggested timetable for a day at home. It provides opportunities for formal learning, play, exercise and fun. It may help you to structure your day. In the meantime please stay safe and keep in contact with your child’s class teacher if you need any advice or support.

Year 5 Activities

Year 5 comprehension Box 1 Answers

Year 5 Comprehension Box 2 Questions

Year 5 Comprehension Box 2 Text

Year 5 Comprehension Box 3 Questions

Year 5 Comprehension Box 3 Text Year 5

Comprehension Text Box 1

Year 6 ideas

Year 3 learning log

Year 3 mulitplication

Year 3 Palm Sunday sequencing

Year 4 ideas

Scramble sentence Year 1 and 2

Simple sentence Year 1 and 2

100 square Year 1 and 2

100-high-frequency-words-handwriting-activity

Year 1 and 2 Design an Easter Egg (Years 1 and 2)

Letter Formation Year 1 and 2

Number Cards Year 1 and 2

Number Formation Year 1 and 2

Nursery

Reception 1

reception letter

Reception words 1.2

reception words 1.3

reception words 1.4

reception words 1.7

Dear Parents  / Carers,

These are the arrangements for those pupils in receipt of a free school meal over the next few weeks:

• There will be a “Grab and Go” bag made by each school kitchen. It will contain a type of sandwich, drink and snack.
• Please attend between 11.30am and 12 noon to collect your meal.
• If you are unable to come to this school then we can make it available at the nearest school to your home address. Please inform us of your intentions.

We are doing our very best to try and support you in these difficult times, it would be very useful if you could let us know that you will want one as this will reduce waste.

We would expect a parent / carer of younger children to pick up the “Grab and Go” bag as to not put our pupils at risk.  Can we also remind you about the guidance on social distancing, these are measures you can take to reduce the social interaction between people. This will help reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19)

We understand that a food voucher system is considered by Welsh Government but no details of this are available yet. We will inform you of any changes to these arrangements.

The government has given clear guidance on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing.

Chris Millis

Head of Participation/Pennaeth Cyfranogi

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot

 

Please see below for an updated list of keyworkers. Please let the school know if you believe you may be on the list. Please be aware that this provision should be for emergencies only and the school may ask for evidence of your job role.

Dear Parent / Carer,

There has been significant discussion over the last 24 hours over the way schools will open from Monday onwards.

Could I firstly emphasise that the purpose of closing schools is to restrict and minimise social contact and therefore reduce the risk of being infected by the coronavirus.

Therefore, if it is at all possible, please keep your children at home. Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.

We will ensure that schools will provide caring facilities for parents who are at the forefront of the national effort to fight the coronavirus disease. We want to ensure that these vital workers are given every opportunity to be in work and to get on with their efforts to protect our lives and wellbeing.

In accordance with the above, we will limit attendance at our schools next week to those who are employed within:

• Health and social care sectors.
• To education and childcare staff, including social workers.
• Key public services, ie those responsible for the management of the deceased.

Local and national government

• This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response, or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits.

Food and other necessary goods

• This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery.

Public safety and national security

• This includes police and support staff, fire and rescue service employees (including support staff) and prison and probation staff.

Transport

• This includes those who will keep the road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

However, let’s be very clear, we want to prioritise attendance at school to only those who absolutely need to be there and are eligible to be there according to this criteria. If you fall outside this criteria, schools will not be expected to receive your children. Please be considerate and understanding in these very challenging times.

Our schools will also be open to our most vulnerable learners who will be identified in discussion with headteachers and Social Services and your school will contact you personally on this.

We are confident that if this advice is followed, we will all make a significant contribution towards protecting our pupils and our staff. 

We will review these arrangements very carefully with our schools on a daily basis and will keep you appraised of any changes through the usual communication and media channels.

 

Yours sincerely,

Aled Evans (Director of Education)

We are preparing for school closure tomorrow and things are very busy!

Parents have asked questions about work which I will attempt to answer.

1) Where can I get work for my children?

There are already ideas about how to teach spelling, maths booklets and work packs on the website. All teachers have developed further work ideas/packs for their classes. All children who are in school tomorrow will receive a paper pack of work. These will also be uploaded onto the school website under the ‘News’ section:

https://crynallt-primary-school.j2bloggy.com/

If you would like a paper copy and your child is not at school you can do one of two things:

1) Come to the main office from 2pm tomorrow afternoon to collect a copy. PLEASE DO NOT COME TO SCHOOL IF YOU ARE SELF ISOLATING!

2) Arrange for another pupil/friend to collect a copy and drop it in for you.

What if my child runs out of work?

There are lots of links to useful websites under the ‘News’ section of our school site. You can also do a very large range of practical activities such as cooking, gardening, junk modelling, den building, art and craft and sand/water play. If the closure lasts beyond the Easter Break teachers will use class dojo/Hwb to set further work for your children. I will also be updating the website with as many new ideas as possible.

 

The school is now very understaffed- we have 18 staff absent. One or two have a cough/cold but most are self isolating as a precuationary measure due to a family member having a cough/fever. Please bear with us at this difficult time.

 

Class dojo is very slow at the moment as so many schools are using it. Again, please bear with us if you do not get an answer to a message- it may not have come through.

 

Finally, if you are employed with the NHS, police, fire service, care sector or childcare, please ring the school office to let us know, if you haven’t already done so.

 

A company called Twinkl are offerring parents free access to their home learning packs for one month. We often use this website in school and the resources will be good quality- don’t forget to cancel after a month though, unless you want to pay!

Below are links to these resources which may help over the next few weeks.

Twinkl Nursery and Reception)

Twinkl (Years 1 and 2)

Twinkl (Juniors)

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/offer   (enter the code: UKTWINKLHELPS)