Dear Parents/Carers,

 

It has been lovely to see the children back today and I hope you all managed to have a good half term, despite the dreadful weather and lockdown!

 

I have some information, reminders and updates for you:

 

Ventilation

There was some concern this morning about windows remaining open in school. I can confirm that we are ventilating the school as much as possible as well as putting the heating on for longer. This is not a unilateral school decision but is Local Authority policy based on the latest guidance from the Welsh Assembly which states:

 

Schools and Settings should ensure adequate levels of ventilation…… Where schools rely on natural ventilation including opening windows and doors to provide a supply of fresh air, this practice should continue to improve ventilation. 

 

However, this can and will be altered if the weather is very cold or wet. In this case windows may only be opened a small amount/ fewer windows will be open and classrooms will be ventilated before and after the school day.

 

As mentioned already, it is a good idea to send children to school in warm clothing appropriate for outdoor learning but  if you would like to send your child into school with an extra layer of clothing in case they become cold please do so. They can always take a layer off if they get hot. Please make sure all clothing is named in case children do want to take layers off during the day. 

 

DROPPING OFF AND PICKING UP CHILDREN

Although around 80% of parents are following procedures in school, I had several parents concerned about social distancing this morning.  

It’s really important that we work together to keep our children and their families safe and keep the school open, especially as cases of Covid 19 are rising. Can I appeal again for all parents and carers to follow the systems in place? We understand that as the weather gets colder and wetter this may be inconvenient,  but the whole school community can achieve the safest possible environment by working together.

Quick reminders:

• Please enter the school site via the front entrance at the correct time. Do not come early.
• Please make sure your child brings everything they need to school and that they arrive on time. The school office is exceptionally busy at the moment and we need the support of everyone to keep things operating efficiently.
• If your child is ill, please let the school know. This morning office staff  had to ring 24 families to find out why children were absent and this takes a lot of time. You can message through Schoop, use the Covid email address if the absence is Covid related or phone the school office
• If you drop children in Miss Evans, Miss Hawes and Mr Bridgman’s classes, please leave via the back entrance unless you are dropping junior children off OR you have mobility issues/buggies. In this case, please walk up the DRIVE not the path until you get to the zebra crossing where you can leave via the path around the bus bay.
• All parents dropping junior children should leave via the path around the bus bay.
• Parents dropping children at nursery and Mr Fitchett’s classes can also leave via the driveway/bus bay.

 

IMPORTANT

A reminder that all schools have been advised to provide parents with a single email address that they should use to inform head teachers of positive cases of COVID-19.

It is as follows: covid.crynalltprimary@npt.gov.uk

The email should contain your child’s name, class and a phone number.

A member of the school leadership team will contact you as soon as possible after receiving the email.

 

RISK ASSESSMENT

The updated risk assessment relating to Covid 19 has now been uploaded to the website.

STAFF

On a number of occasions recently staff have been subjected to rudeness from parents, including shouting and having the phone put down on them. The reasons for this are varied and include parents being stressed by the current circumstances and sometimes because they say they are not aware of events and INSET Days.

As a school, we expect our staff to behave with respect towards children and parents but we also expect the same for our staff in their place of work. I would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that we have a zero tolerance policy towards rudeness directed at staff who are working tirelessly at this difficult time.  I am happy to discuss any issue you may have so please contact the school to speak with myself or Mrs Bridgman.

We also work hard to communicate with parents and I would respectfully remind you to ensure you have downloaded Schoop or you check the school website to read the messages (under the news tab) very regularly. If you have Facebook the parents’ Facebook page is another source of information and during these difficult times, messages from school are being uploaded there.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas will be very different for the children in school this year but we are now thinking of socially distanced ideas for celebrating. More details of this will follow.

Stay Safe,

Mrs Woodford

Please find below a link to our Covid 19 Risk Assessment:

Reviewed RA November 2020

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Please find below a letter regarding a confirmed positive Covid 19 in a pupil.

There are no identified close contacts with this pupil.

Regards,

Mrs Woodford

Pupil-letter-not-close-contact3

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

I have sent out so many messages about Covid 19, I thought it would be a good idea to have a Covid free one!

Sponsored Event

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your generosity with our sponsored events. We have raised well over £1,500 which means we will be able to buy resources for all the classes for playtime. These have already started to come into school as you can see below.

Curriculum

It has been the strangest term but throughout the staff have worked tirelessly to keep children safe and deliver an interesting curriculum. The children have benefited from all kinds of activities including fossil hunting, forest schools, dinosaur maths, spy science, film making, Spy School Days, thinking skills activities, Kahoot quizes, code breaking and learning about electricity. I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work, but also congratulate the children for their resilience and positivity. Well done all!

Facebook

Unfortunately, there have been a couple of unpleasant comments on Facebook again about staff. Can I please remind parents that Facebook is not an appropriate place to vent frustrations, most of which are innaccurate. Staff cannot reply to this type of negativity and it is always a one sided point of view. Please contact the school if you have any issues. I am happy to discuss any concerns or suggestions with parents and carers.

Enterprise Fortnight

As part of our Curriculum Pioneer work, all the Junior classes will again be carrying out an Enterprise Project in November. Each class will be given £25 to buy materials and they will work out costs and prices before taking on different roles in their ‘business’!

As you are aware, we cannot hold an event like the one we had last year when parents, LEA staff and local business were able to come and see the children’s work. However, we will be running Enterprise online instead. Your child’s class teacher will send more information nearer to the time.

The Infants will be making Christmas Cards to sell for their classes and these will be displayed and orders taken separately in the next few weeks.

The profit each class makes will be given directly to the class to spend on treats or equipment that they chose. This could include wet playtime games, a film afternoon with refreshments, sponsoring an acre of Rainforest, charitable donations or art and craft activities. The choice is the children’s and they are usually very imaginative!

Drinks and snacks in school

Just a reminder that all children should bring a named water bottle to school. This can be filled up during the day. Pupils may also bring a fruit snack to school. We do not allow any other type of snack, including cereal or fruit bars.

I hope you all have a restful half term and we look forward to seeing the children back in school on Tuesday 3rd November.

Warm regards,

Mrs Woodford

Wednesday 21st October 2020

 Dear Parent/Carers,

 As we approach the end of the first half term, I am writing with some updates, information and slight changes to arrangements in school for the next half term.

INSET: We have an INSET day planned for the 2^nd November so school will restart for pupils on Tuesday 3^rd November.

 

Change to timings/entry points:

Having re-evaluated the processes in school we need to make some slight changes to 2 classes in the Infants.

These are as follows: 

Reception (Miss Hawes class) will now start school at 8.45am and finish school at 3.15pm. They should be brought round the back of the building and taken to the Reception classroom door. They will not use the main entrance from the 3^rd November.

Year 1 (Mr Fitchett’s class only) will continue to start school at 8.45am and finish school at 3.15pm but they will use the main entrance to enter and leave school. Parents should queue inside the bollards that are put out, ensuring they socially distance. The children will be brought to the main entrance at 3.15pm to be collected.

 

Dropping your child off and picking them up:

Due to the staggered starts and ends of the school day we have worked hard to be as flexible as possible. However, as the term has gone on we have found that the number of children being picked up and dropped off over a range of times has caused issues in many classes. This is because staff have to be by the door to let children in and see them out. This means they cannot be supervising/teaching the rest of the group. In some classes this has meant the first and last half hours of the day have been disrupted.

In addition, social distancing in the playground is more difficult if children are not being dropped into school/collected at the allocated times.

As a result, all children should be dropped off and collected at the times in the table below. If you arrive early you will need to wait in the allocated place in the playground taking care to socially distance from other families. The only exception to this will be for pupils with siblings who have an earlier start or finish time. It is essential that you let your children’s class teachers know via dojo or by ringing the school office if this is the case. They will then arrange a time for your child to be brought to you.

Year group	ARRIVAL	LEAVING
Reception	8.45AM Reception classroom door (at the back of the infant building)	3.15PM
1JE	8.45AM Usual door	3.15PM
1MF	8.45AM Main Infant Door	3.15PM
2 JB	9.00AM Usual door	3.30PM
3KR	9.00AM (Year 3 door)	3.30PM
2/3LM	9.00AM (Main Entrance)	3.30PM
4AT	8.45AM (Year 3 door)	3.15PM
4LG	8.45AM (Main Entrance)	3.15PM
5DG	8.45AM (Upper Playground door near to hall)	3.15PM
5SP	8.45AM (Upper Playground door – Year 6 area)	3.15PM
6CN	8.30AM (Upper Playground door- Year 6 area)	3.00PM
6AC	8.30AM (Main entrance)	3.00PM
6BG	8.30AM (Upper Playground door near to hall)	3.00PM

Frequently asked questions:

The rules and guidelines change so regularly that we are all struggling to keep up. Below there are some of the most frequent questions we are asked:

 My child has a new dry cough and/or a fever. Should I keep them home?

Yes please keep them home for 10 days self-isolation. If you receive a negative test result they can return earlier but only if they do NOT have a continuous cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell. Please let the school know what is happening.

Another member of the family has a new dry cough and/or a fever. Should I keep my child home?

The advice at the moment is that your child should remain at home, in isolation with the rest of the family for 14 days.  If the family member receives a negative test result your child can return earlier but only if they are well. Please make sure you inform the school about any symptoms at home and test result, positive or negative.

My child or someone in the household has been asked to self isolate? Do we all have to stay home?

No, if you have been asked to self-isolate the rest of the family can carry on as normal UNLESS anyone becomes symptomatic. If this happens the whole household should self-isolate for 14 days. Please inform the school immediately.

How will you cover staff absence?

Staffing is very difficult at the moment. We have had as many as 13 staff off on one day- most of these staff members are well but are self-isolating, have family members unwell or have issues with childcare, due to Covid19. Covering staff is challenging so please bear with us if there are any difficulties due to this. If a member of staff is absent we will;

• Continue with the day as normal with the remaining member of staff covering the ‘pod’. If necessary, myself or Mrs Bridgman will support this;
• Contacting our regular supply teachers to see if they are able to cover;
• As a very last resort, shortening school days or closing the ‘pod’ for that day.

We will not combine ‘pods’ of children in the case of staff absence.

 How can parents help? What expectations do you have of parents?

With increased numbers of cases our main concern is to keep school safely open for children and staff. To help us with this we need to ask the whole school community to comply with the following:

1. Please keep the school informed about any absence at all. We have a duty to report all possible cases/symptomatic children to the LEA every day. We also need to know if a household member is symptomatic, waiting for a test or has tested negative or positive. This is very time consuming and it really helps if you have messaged us/phoned with the reason for your child’s absence;
2. Please pay dinner money on time. It is very time consuming to ‘chase’ non payment and the school office is extremely busy in these unprecedented times;
3. Please ensure that your child is in school at the correct time and collected at the right time. Please do not wait in the playgrounds before and after school;
4. Please follow the one way system in place;
5. Please do NOT come into the school building unless it is an emergency or by prior arrangement;
6. Please keep in contact with us. If you have any worries or concerns, let us know. This could be about your child’s wellbeing or work. We will do our very best to help.

If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please rest assured that your children’s wellbeing is always our top priority. I hope you all have a safe and happy half term holiday, despite the lockdown. We look forward to seeing all the children back on the 3^rd November.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Woodford (Headteacher)

Dear Parents/carers,

Please find below letters for parents approved by the Track, Trace and Protect team. The first letter is for the parents of all children except Miss Todd’s class. The second is for Miss Todd’s class only.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Mrs Woodford

Pupil letter Miss Todd’s class

pupil-letter-rest of school

Dear Parents/carers,

Please find below letters for parents approved by the Track, Trace and Protect team. The first letter is for the parents of all children except Miss Todd’s class. The second is for Miss Todd’s class only.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Mrs Woodford

Pupil letter rest of school

Pupil letter Miss Todd’s class

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you will know, we have had a confirmed positive case of Covid 19 in Miss Todd’s class.

Mrs Bridgman and I have managed to make contact with most of you to inform you of this and of the fact that the children in this class are required to self isolate until Thursday 29th October.

I would like to thank you for your support and consideration this morning. Without exception, parents were supportive of the school. A letter, approved by Track, Trace and Protect will be put on the school website by this evening.

Schoolwork for your child will be provide via Teams on Monday. This can be accessed on a phone, tablet or computer. The work will include some pre-recorded lessons via Explain Everything/Flipgrid as well as tasks for the children to complete.

The children have all been practising signing on to Teams and accessing wok so they should be confident doing so. If you have any queries or concerns about work, please direct them to myself at school initially. If I cannot speak to you immediately, I will telephone you back or arrange for another member of staff to help.

If you have no access to the internet or a device, please let the school know on Monday.

Stay safe,

Mrs Woodford

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Here are this week’s updates and information.

Positive Covid 19 Case

We have had our first positive case of Covid19 in school. This was reported to me this morning. This has affected Miss Todd’s class only and Mrs. Bridgman and I have made contact with all identified close contacts from school this morning. The affected areas have also been deep cleaned today.

The rest of the school will run as usual on Monday. Letters from Track, Trace and Protect will be uploaded onto the school website later today for all parents and carers. There are 2 different letters:

1) for the parents of children in Miss Todd’s class

2)  for the parents of all other pupils.

Systems in school

As mentioned in previous emails, we can keep the school as safe as possible for everyone if we all keep to the correct timings and one way systems. This is especially important now cases are rising again. While most parents are adhering to this we have noted a few issues this week. These include:

1) Parents of children in Years 1 and 2 walking back up the drive instead of through the back entrance when the drop off/pick up their children. This is a reminder that  all parents of pupils in Miss Evans’ class, Mr. Bridgman’s class and Mr. Fitchett’s class that they should walk out of school via the back entrance unless they have buggies or mobility issues.

2) A small minority of parents stopping to chat in the lower junior playground, on the path round to the top junior playground and at the entrance to the school. This makes it difficult for others to socially distance.

3) We still have children arriving at school or being collected very early, even if they have no siblings. This is causing disruption to learning and reducing the effectiveness of the staggered entry and exit times. As a result, after half term, pupils will not be taken into class or released early unless they have siblings who have different start/finish times. In this event, the sibling who starts earliest should be dropped first and, at the end of the day, picked up first.

Worms and Headlice

We still have headlice throughout school so please check your child’s hair carefully this weekend. We also have reported cases of worms in Year 5. An enhanced clean has been completed in these classrooms.

Other news:

As we approach the end of the first half term of the year, it has been lovely to see the children so settled back in school. They have been amazing!

Some of the recent activities include: a sponsored ECO day in Year 4 which saw the children making environmental art and looking after the school grounds, some lovely work on Children’s Rights in Year 6 and a sponsored bike ride in Reception. Year 1 have been learning about paleontology by recovering fossils from ice and Year 3 have been hunting for Spy Fox in the woods as well as making their own videos as part of film week.

Stay safe,

Mrs Woodford

Dear Parent/Carers,

Here are this week’s updates.

Sponsored Events:

You should have heard from your child’s class teacher regarding their classes chosen sponsored event. Whilst we are aiming to raise some money for playground boxes/wet playtime activities, we also want the children to have a fun day. Classes have chosen a range of different events including a Spy School Sponsored Day, bike rides and Just Dance!

If you would like to send in sponsor money, please put it in a clearly labelled envelope so we are able to issue a raffle tickt for the £100 Amazon voucher. If you prefer there is an option to put sponsorship money onto Parent Pay. The minimum amount you can pay via this method is £1 and you are able to pay repeated, varying amounts if you woud like. Please make sure you assign the money to the Sponsorship event NOT dinner money.

Whilst we do want to raise money for the children, we also want to keep everyone safe so please do not allow your children to knock on doors to get sponsorship money. Children will be able to join in with the fun regardless of whether they bring in money or not.

Curriculum news:

The children are having real fun with their topics. Children in Year 5 have been writing Good Spy/Bad Spy information texts and the Year 6 children are busy planning their Spy School. In the infants, Reception have been learning diosaurs song, making dinosaur pictograms and have loved their Autumn Treasure Hunt which they completed on their welly walk. Years 1 and 2 have been making their own fossils and hatching dinosaur eggs! It is lovely to see the enthusisam with which our pupils are approaching their learning. Well done to all of them!

General reminders:

1. We now have around 90% of parents following the systems in place to keep the school safe. Thank you so much to all the school community for working so hard to support our pupils safety and education.
2. INSET Days: 2nd November, 21st December, 22nd December.
3. Dinner Money: we still have approximately £500 outstanding in dinner money. Again, the vast mjority of parents pay promptly so, if you are behind, please pay as soon as possible. If you have any issues with this, please contact the school office to discuss.
4. A reminder that if any member of your household has Covid 19 symptoms your child must not attend school for 14 days or until a negative test result is obtained.
5. If you have any information about Covid 19 which you need to share with school outside normal working hours (especially a positive test result), please use the email address specifically for this purpose: covid.crynalltprimary@npt.gov.uk. You will need to include a phone number and your child’s name and class so that a member of the school’s leadership team can contact you if needed

End of school:

We have had some children running or jumping down the bank by the infant car park at the end of the school day. I am really concerned a child could injure themselves or damage staff cars as we had a near miss last week! Please do not allow your children to run, jump or roll down this bank.

Finally:

The supportive messages we continue to get from parents and carers are really having a positive impact on staff wellbeing at the moment. Whilst we are all settling in to ‘the new normal’ it is still a strange time for everyone and knowing that we have such great support from you all helps enormously. Thank you very much.

Stay Safe,

Mrs Woodford