Dear Parents/Carers,

As we come to the end of another half term in lockdown, I wanted to write and thank you all again for your support and hard work. It has been a very challenging half term for staff, parents and our pupils but we have been so delighted and impressed with all the work and activities that your children have done over the term. We are also very grateful for the continuing messages of support.

Infant Classes:

As you will know children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be returning to school on Monday 22nd February. We are very aware that these are our youngest pupils and that they have been absent from school for at least two months. As a result we have organised the return to school as follows in order to ease the children in as gently as possible:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nursery	No Nursery	Back as usual
Miss Hawes	am: half class pm: half class	am: half class pm: half class	am: whole class (until 12.00 noon)	am: whole class (until 1.15pm)	Back as usual
Mr Fictchett and Miss Evans	am: half class pm: half class	am: whole class (until 1.15pm)	am: whole class (until 1.15pm)	Back as usual	Back as usual
Mr Bridgman and Miss Morgans Year 2 children only	am: half class pm: half class	am: whole class (until 1.15pm)	Back as usual	Back as usual	Back as usual

You child’s class teacher will contact you to let you know whether your child is in the morning or afternoon group as soon as possible.

School start and finish times and entry doors are as they were before Christmas. I will send a reminder of these over the next few days along with arrangments for reducing the risks of transmission of Covid 19 on school premises.

Pupils using the school bus

The school bus will run as normal from the 22nd February and your children can use it to get to school whether they are in the infant classes or in the childcare provision. However, it will only run at the beginning and end of the school day so, if your child is doing a half day in school, they will need to be brought to/collected from school by parents/carers at lunchtime/1.15pm for the first few days.

Junior Classes:

For those children in the junior classes online learning will continue as it is now. Class teachers will be splitting their time between organising home learning and being in school to supervise the keyworkers’ children and vulnerable learners. On the days they are in school messages may not be answered as quickly as they will be in class.

Keyworkers’ / Vulnerable Learners Provision:

This will move to the Junior building after half term (22nd February) and pupils will be organised into two class/year group ‘bubbles’. After half term please bring your child to the main junior door at 8.15am for Breakfast Club or 9.00am if you do not wish to use Breakfast Club.

We are very busy in this provision and are now near to maximum numbers. We are very happy to provide this service, but must ask that you only use it if you have no other option. For example: children should not be in school if you are working at home or if a partner/other parent is available to take care of the children. The reason for this is to ensure that we can offer places to all keyworkers who genuinely need it. The school reserves the right to ask for letters/keyworkers certificates from employers so that we can ensure the places are prioritised effectively.

If you are a keyworker and need childcare for your infant child in the first week after half term on the mornings/afternons they are not in school, please let the school office know so we can arrange staffing. This should only be used if you have been using the childcare provision since January. 

Many thanks for your continuing support,

Mrs Woodford

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you are all safe and well and coping with the situation we find ourselves in. These are very challenging times indeed.

I have taken very large numbers of phone calls today about home learning so I thought it would be a good idea to put out a message about what we are doing and why. The two main queries/comments I have had are as follows:

Why are you not doing Zoom or live lessons?

The school does not have Zoom and would not be able to use it due to security issues. We do have Teams but have decided against live lessons for several reasons. They are:

• Live lessons have to be watched at set times which make them very difficult to access for families with more than one child/ working parents/ those without laptops;
• Live lessons can only be geared towards one ability level. We have more than one level in each class. In school children are supported by support staff or given separate sessions- we can’t do this on the computer so some children would struggle to engage!
• Live lessons do carry some safeguarding issues and schools that are employing live lessons are often insisting on cameras and microphones being off and/or an adult being in the room.
• Live lessons would often need an adult to sit with the child. Young children sit in class because the teacher has a physical presence. On a computer screen this is not the case so for younger children, those with additional needs or any who are easily distracted this would be very difficult.

Instead we have chosen to record lessons, stories and messages for children. This is not an easier option for teachers as each short Explain Everything teaching video you see takes between 2-4 hours to make, with the face to face videos taking up to an hour. However, these videos can be watched at any time, are short and precise and can be re-watched if a child is stuck and made for different ability levels so we feel that, for most children, they are a better option.

I haven’t got time to do all the work:

We understand that each family has different circumstances. We are trying to put up enough work for parents who would like their children to work a ‘school day’ whilst not overloading others. It is a very difficult balance! If you are struggling please do not worry. The important things are:

• Your child’s health and wellbeing are the most important things to consider.
• It is not a good idea for children to be watching TV or on computer games for too long but there are many other things you can do with your child that will help them to learn. Examples include: cooking, family walks, bike rides, gardening, D.I.Y, board games, looking for wildlife on walks or in the garden, art and craft, water play, planting seeds, colouring and quizzes. There are also many websites where they can practise skills independently. These are all learning experiences and we would love to celebrate anything like this- send your pictures to your teacher!
• Try and read with your child/hear them read everyday. You could try a family ‘reading time’ after lunch when everyone reads. It doesn’t matter what they read- comics, magazines, newspapers or books are all okay!
• Try and engage with some of the maths and literacy activities the teacher is preparing but if you can’t manage them all don’t worry. Try and make sure it’s balanced over the week with some maths, some literacy and some topic.

We are working flat out and will continue to do so to try and support you all as much as we can. In the next few days we will update the school website with ideas and information so please keep checking: https://crynallt-primary-school.j2bloggy.com/undefined

Please let us know if you need any support or help. We have a very limited number of chromebooks we can lend to families who need them, we can provide paper packs of work for children with additional needs and we are able to signpost you to other support if needed.

Take care and stay safe,

Mrs Woodford

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Please find below the outline plans for each class next week. These only provide ideas and timetables.

The more detailed/direct teaching videos will be sent out daily via Teams (Years 4-6) and Class Dojo (Nursery-Year 3).

As next week progresses more activities/teaching videos will become available so please keep a close eye on Dojo/Teams.

As always, if you have any queries or issues, please contact your child’s teacher or the school.

Miss Clemes, Mr Gillett and Mrs Neal

Miss Evans and Mr Fitchett

Miss Hawes

Miss Roberts and Miss Morgan

Miss Todd and Mrs George

Miss Williams

Mr Parvin and Mrs Gittins

Mr Bridgman

Mrs Kneath

 

Please find attached some maths booklets with ideas to support your child at home. Please note that these are quite challenging, despite the Year group labels so you may want to go down a year or two to start off with. In general, it is better to practise a skill lots of times and really learn it than to work through as much as possible quickly. Good luck!

reception

year1

year2

year3

year4

year5

year6

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we, once again, find ourselves in the position of remote learning, which we now know will be until at least the end of January, I wanted to send you a message with ideas, support available and other information.

Educating children at home is really difficult as many of us with young children appreciate. It is important to realise that we cannot replicate school at home and that learning will be very different. Each family will have different circumstances and wellbeing is important. Some will have limited access to computers/devices, some will have more children at home and some parents will be trying to juggle home working and home learning! However, learning is also important so we have been working really hard at school to try and give your children the best possible experience and you as much support as possible.

Support Available:

1. Teachers or support staff will phone you on a weekly basis. This call may come from a blocked number if they are calling from home. If you do not want to have this call please let the teacher know via Class Dojo or by phoning the school office;
2. If you are a keyworker and have no childcare available, please contact us to see if we can help;
3. If you have any concerns or worries,  a member of the Senior Leadership Team is in school every day. Please call or email and we will try and help or signpost you to support services;
4. We have a very limited number of chromebooks available to lend to families. I have to emphasise these are limited but if you are stuck please let us know and we will try and support.

Learning:

All classes will receive daily input from their teachers. From Nursery-Year 3 this will be via Dojo and in Years 4-6 via Teams. Now we are in a further lockdown it is essential that children do engage with this online learning. To make this as easy as possible we have pre-recorded teaching videos as opposed to live teaching.  The pre recorded sessions are safe and can be looked at your convenience which is invaluable if you are sharing laptops or working at home.

As a minimum, please try and do the following with your child:

1. Read with/to them daily;
2. Complete a maths task, either practically or via the teacher daily;
3. Do some exercise, go in the garden or go for a walk daily;
4. Make contact with the work the classteacher is preparing and complete as much as is possible. The teacher will provide feedback for you;
5. Watch the Flipgrids and teaching videos. They are generally quite short but take a long time to prepare as teachers are planning them carefully. 

If you are having difficulties motivating your child to complete work, it may help to have a dedicated time slot each day, perhaps before TV/Screen time. The feedback you receive when you share work with the teacher should aso help to motivate them. In addition, all teachers will be using Dojo points and Dojo winner of the week to reward effort and good work. Please share anything you have done! We want to know if you have been out bird watching, made cookies, made an obstacle course in the garden or camped in the living room.

Other ideas that might help you are:

1. We follow the Read, Write, Inc phonics scheme. They have  free Read Write Inc. Phonics lessons on YouTube and via Facebook for children to watch at home. Your child’s class teacher will let you know which session your child should be watching.
2. The BBC are broadcasting many programmes on CBBC from 09:00 every day. They include BBC Live Lessons and BBC Bitesize Daily as well as Our School, Celebrity Supply Teacher, Horrible Histories and Operation Ouch.
3. Later on today I will be reposting Maths Booklets for each Year group. These are full of practical ideas for supporting your child’s maths at home;
4. Joe Wickes is back on screen. His daily workouts can be found on YouTube.

Other points:

We have had a few technical issues, particularly in the infant classes with Class Dojo. Some are school based and some are home based but please bear with us whilst we try and work them out.

We have been asked to remind parents/carers about the importance of social distancing, hand hygiene, face coverings and ventilation. The new strain of Covid is far more contagious and children are more able to transmit it, so it is very important that they stay at home unless exercising with the family.

If you have any queries or concerns, please let us know. We can advise, help or even review the way we are doing things!

We will continue to keep you informed of any developments and news as soon as we can.

Take care and stay safe,

Helen Woodford

 

 

 

Please find below a letter from the Director of Education. He outlines the importance of engagement in online learning. This letter will be followed up with specific advice from Crynallt school by tomorrow.

Dear Parent / Carer,

You will be aware that the Welsh Government has agreed that all schools should move to online learning until January 18th. Schools will remain open for children of critical workers and vulnerable learners; our special schools will also remain open, subject to risk assessment, as will our Learning Support Centres. Please discuss individual circumstances with relevant head teachers.

Schools remain safe settings. They operate under scrutinised risk assessments and apply robust control measures based on the four key protective behaviours of hand washing, social distancing, ventilation and the wearing of face coverings. These behaviours remain effective in reducing the spread of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus if adhered to correctly. However, we also know that education settings being open can contribute to wider social mixing and given that infection rates remain high in NPT, we welcome the decision to migrate to online learning.

Our schools have prepared well for online delivery and we are confident that the provision will be stimulating and relevant, building on your children’s previous learning.

We would strongly urge all parents / carers to engage with schools in order that their children fully benefit from home provision or, where applicable, access learning at their school setting.

Educational provision will continue and learning will be scheduled on a daily basis modelled on normal practice. We strongly advise that all pupils prepare for their school day as they would normally and to attend their remote learning provision in the exact same way as they on a school day.

We expect the Welsh Government to review its decision over the next week or so and in light of decisions already taken by other UK governments, it is reasonable to expect that this arrangement could be extended. It is therefore vitally important that remote learning is not viewed as a short gap arrangement and all pupils should participate in this provision in order to continue with and progress their education.

Your children’s teacher will still be guiding their learning at this time. Please follow what the school is setting. You should speak to your children’s school first if you want additional help and advice about how to support their learning.

Your children’s teachers know them well and will want to help, for example with advice about:

• the best way to support your children’s learning

• how to access help for their specific needs

• what to do if you or your children have questions about their work

• what to do if you or your children are feeling overwhelmed about school work

• what to do if you do not have access to a suitable internet-connected device to access online learning activities from home (help is available to support families via your school or local authority).

Your children’s school should always be your first point of contact and if you are contacting your children’s school or teacher you should use the communication channels your school has set up for this.

We expect schools to be delivering a mix of learning opportunities, which will include where relevant, recorded and / or live lessons, a range of digital communication and sign-posting to learning resources. We expect schools to contact pupils individually where this is deemed necessary and to discuss progress in learning with both pupils and parents / carers.

The effectiveness of this provision will be measured, in significant part, by the extent pupils engage with it. Pupils have a key part to play in making this experience meaningful. We acknowledge that these are challenging times in our lives. However, learning must continue to be a key priority for children and young people.

These arrangements can be made to work effectively and can benefit our pupils – your children. Whilst we all have a responsibility to stay at home wherever possible and adhere to the restrictions placed by Welsh Government to suppress infection rates, we also have a responsibility to ensure that learning continues to light even our darkest of days.

Yours sincerely,

Aled Evans

Director of Education, Leisure and Lifelong Learning, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council

Dear Parents/Carers,

I am so sorry to be messaging you with further changes to the start of the school term. As most of you will know, the Welsh Assembly Government have made an announcement this evening saying that schools must now  remain closed for most pupils until Monday 18th January at the earliest.

Staff have been in school today receiving training and preparing for two days of online learning. Tomorrow we will develop further online learning for pupils and work to develop further blended learning. You will receive work from your child’s class teacher by Thursday morning at the latest and they will provide you with regular work and ideas until at least Friday 15th January.

In the meantime, if you are a keyworker and need childcare, the school will provide this on from Thursday Thursday 7th – and Friday 15th January inclusive. The childcare will run between the hours of 8.15am (Breakfast Club) and 3.30pm and will include educational activities. You will qualify for this if one parent is a keyworker and you have no other childcare available. Examples of keyworkers are: NHS staff, emergency services, those employed as carers for vulnerable people, Track, Trace and Protect staff, education staff and food distribution. If you need to use this childcare please let your child’s teacher know via Class Dojo OR telephone the school office tomorrow (Tuesday 5th January) so we can organise staffing.

If you have any queries or issues, please contact the school office or your child’s teacher via class dojo. We will help in any way that we are able.

At the moment we expect school to open for face to face learning on Monday 18th January and I will keep you informed about this as soon as I receive further information.

 With regards,

Helen Woodford

 

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope this message finds you all safe and well. Many of you will have read conflicting reports in the press about the way in which school will reopen in January. Having received clarification from the local authority this morning, I hope this message sets out clearly the arrangements in Crynallt.

We have already planned an INSET day on the 4th January when staff are receiving training on the new Welsh Curriculum. In addition to this the Welsh Assembly Government have provided us with two further days. These days will be used for:

1) Staff training and review of the risk assessment in school as well as ensuring staffing levels are appropriate for a full re-opening of school;

2) To give staff time to work on developing blended and online learning further. This will ensure that if we do have further closures or self isolation periods we are fully prepared with high quality support for pupils.

As a result of these days school will reopen to all pupils as normal on Thursday 7th January. We expect face to face teaching will resume on this day for every class.

The only possible change to this will be if we have significant staff absence which impacts on our ability to open safely. Examples of this may include: a large proportion of teachers off school and no cover available, no First Aiders on site or no Senior Managers on site. To date we have managed to open keeping to all health and safety requirments and it is our aim to continue to do so.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas.

Take care,

Helen Woodford

Dear Parent/Carer,

Please find below links to Christmas activity ideas from class teachers.

Not all classes are here as some are working via Teams. If you require any support with this please let us know or contact the class teacher via Class Dojo.

Reception Christmas Home Learning

Christmas grid 2020 Year 1 and 2

Year 3 learning grid

Topic Web Christmas Year 4

Year 6 Christmas Activities