Children have been working hard with Expressive Arts this term. Their work has been collated and photographed for virtual gallery  https://virtual.abercarnprimary.org/expressive-arts/expressive-arts-2021/virtual-gallery-2021

Half term is nearly here! It’s been a very busy term so far with lots of Expressive Arts, this will continue after half term too! It’s also been very challenging with Covid cases continuing to cause disruption. I recognise that everyone is doing their best and I thank our staff, pupils and parents for their support.

 Covid has certainly not gone away! We’ve now had 14 cases so far this term at school, it continues to rise. I cannot stress how important it is to keep your child at home if they are in any way unwell, this is helping reduce the spread of the virus.

All staff at Abercarn Primary are working extremely hard to minimise disruption. We do have plans in place to support the increasing number of staff absence and children either unwell or isolating but all parents need to be aware that there may be further disruption ahead e.g. different teaching staff or teaching assistants in class. It is becoming increasingly difficult to source any cover staff due to the high number of staff absence with Covid across South East Wales. I understand some parents are frustrated because we have not resumed a “business as usual” and we continue to limit face to face meetings, limit the activities we undertake and limit parents on site. My main priority at the moment is to safely keep children in school. It is important to maintain the health of our pupils and staff for this to happen. Performances with an audience cannot happen owing to the rise in cases and children in front of a forward-facing audience with limited ventilation, this could potentially mean a significant rise in cases amongst children, staff and the audience. We need to be as safe as possible and aim to keep all classes open!   

As this is the last newsletter before we finish at 3.30pm next Wednesday I wish you all a very happy, safe and enjoyable half term! A big thank you to staff for their hard work and to our community for their support.

Updated - COVID Advice and Sickness

Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell! We need to do everything possible to reduce the spread of the virus. If your child is unwell and you are unsure, please keep your child home!

Please wear a face covering on site and limit your interaction with others, please help us to try and limit the rise in cases.

I am having lots of discussions with parents when a person tests positive in the household and whether children can continue to attend school. Government advice states that children can attend school as normal although I recommend parents be as cautious as possible given the number of positive cases we are seeing in school.

If your child has a sickness bug you must keep them off for 48 hours from the last time, they were sick. This is Public Health Wales advice. Please do not send your child to school before 48 hours as this is causing the bug to spread and along with COVID it is causing lots of children to be off school. We have enhanced cleaning every day to make sure classrooms are nice and clean, please help us on this matter!

Welsh Government advice is that if your child is identified as a close contact then they do not need to isolate but you are encouraged to arrange a PCR Test on day 2 and Day 8 (Unless you are told something different by a contact tracer). The Welsh Government are now advising that children under 5 do not have a PCR test if they do not have the classic symptoms and / or unless instructed by a doctor.  

Some parents are deciding to isolate their child / family if there is a positive case here at school and as a school we will support your decision. Please continue to let me know of any positive cases outside of school hours by using the covid@abercarnprimary.org email address. Please include as much detail as possible. Don’t assume I will find out from others, please drop me a message and I can alert parents as soon as I am aware. This will hopefully help to reduce the spread of the virus.

Parent Survey

Please continue to help us to celebrate what we do well and outline the areas we can improve by completing the online Parent Survey. We undertake a survey at least once a year and your answers help shape and inform school improvement and self-evaluation. Please make every effort to complete the form. https://parentsurvey.abercarnprimary.com

Harvest – Tin in a Bin

We are asking for donations for our local Food Bank in Risca.

Our collection is called “Tin in a Bin”. There is now a big red bin by the gate every morning for parents / pupils to drop / place food items in. It is just past the sanitising station so the lid of the bin will always be clean. This will allow us to collect and store the items. Please look out for the BIG RED BIN and please donate some items over the next few weeks. Food banks have been used more than over during this pandemic and they are very grateful for the donations received. Please make sure items are in date and sealed. Urgently required items are: tinned fruit (400gms), tea bags (80's), dried pasta (500gms) and Breakfast Cereals. Thank you so much for your support.

Fruit

As we are a cashless school we will now be taking payment for fruit via trybooking (while we wait on UPAY functionality to be established). We have paid for fruit for the past several months but now need to reintroduce contributions. In order to make the system workable we have decided to take a single payment for the whole half term (1st Nov until 17th Dec 2021).

THE COST OF FRUIT FOR THE WHOLE HALF TERM IS £6.00

This price is set to reflect that your child might be off for holidays/illness during the period. This will save the need for refunds to be issued.

In order to pay for your child’s fruit you will need to go online using the following link:

https://www.trybooking.co.uk/BGMW

PLEASE DO NOT SEND IN CASH

Cross Country

Well done to our Year 6 children who participated in the cross country this week! You all did great! We even had a boy who came first, Well done Sam D!

Expressive Arts Gallery

Items made in our Expressive Arts topic are available to purchase via our online “Trybooking Service”. Please do not send in cash, we are a cashless school.  Items will be sent home before half term. All children’s work will also be collated and photographed for a virtual gallery (https://virtual.abercarnprimary.com)

End of Term and Start of Term

End of the first half term of the year will be Wednesday 20^th October 2021 at 3.30pm, We have the first of our INSET days on 21^st and 22^nd, School will be closed to pupils on these days. The second half of the term starts on Monday 1^st November 2021.

Menu and Menu Choices

Meals are no longer served in classrooms or boxes. They are severed in the hall and on trays. Menu choices are also sought in advance. we are therefore complying with Natasha’s Law. If any allergen or intolerance information changes with your child, please make sure both the school and Caerphilly Catering are aware.  

Week 2 next week for dinners.