Hello everyone! Welcome back Foundation Phase and also a big welcome to our Rising 3 children.

Children have settled back into school really well– we are very proud of them all! Well done! There has been lots of smiley faces every day – great to see (parents smiling as well as children too). We are still not out of the woods yet and we have lots of procedures in place to keep everyone as safe as possible but at least we can see some light at the end of the tunnel. We may still have positive cases and may need to isolate but hopefully it will be a little less than it was before Christmas.  I am proud of our school community for everything we have achieved for what is coming up to nearly a year of disruption.  This time last year we were anticipating some sort of disruption but never thought it would’ve been quite like what we have experienced. Thank you everyone! 

As you already know the Welsh Government announced last week that we will be welcoming back Key Stage 2 children from 15^th March 2021 but until then remote learning will continue. We have not received any further details or operational guidance from the Welsh Government yet but as soon as we do I will let you know what the plan will be! I don’t anticipate we will receive anything for a little while but we are aiming for the remainder of Key Stage 2 children to attend from 15^th March 2021. 

We have started to give out Chromebooks,  just to clarify the Chromebooks will not only be beneficial for remote learning but will also be used to support our day to day learning in school and at home e.g. homework, research tasks, IT Skills, Abacus maths, Seesaw, reading, National Tests  etc. Being provided with a Chromebook helps to ensure no child is disadvantaged and helps reduce the digital divide. We will expect Chromebooks to be brought into school on many occasions in order to support “blended learning” which means starting a task in school and finishing at home and also for teaching IT Skills. It does not matter if your child already has a Chromebook or device, please use this one! 

Covid-19 - Important

Please remember that although we have started back to school COVID-19 has not gone away. We ALL need to follow the rules, create space, wear masks and wash hands as much as possible. Please do not gather at the school gates and please do not stop for a chat with friends keep moving and keep your distance. By now, we all probably know people who have been affected by COVID and understand that it can affect people in different ways – some may not show any symptoms while others are severely affected We do need to work together to ensure we do not see a rise in cases.

• All adults – please wear a face covering / mask when on school property. Spare masks are in a white box near the gate – help yourselves if you have forgotten yours. The only exception is for medical reasons. Please wear a mask. Even if you are just standing in by the gate  do your bit!
• Sanitise hands on entry to the premises.
• Keep your distance from others. In areas that you need to cross – do so with as much space as possible between you and others. When waiting / queuing keep your distance spread out!

St David’s Day

St David’s Day is Monday 1^st march 2021. We will be celebrating St David’s day both in school and remotely. Children have been participating in tasks this week and we will be having lots of competitions too! Children can wear Welsh costume, welsh clothes, rugby shirts etc to school on Monday instead of uniform.

World Book Day

It is World Book Day on Thursday 4^th March 2021. Children will participate in some tasks / competitions in school and will be sending home a World Book Day voucher. Children can wear a costume to school if you like or wear uniform – no pressure.

Lunch and Fruit

Hot food will be available from Monday 1^st March 2021 – Parents need to ensure Upay accounts are topped up. Hot food is available for Key Stage 2 children as well although if children entitled to Free School Meals have hot food in school deliveries will stop to the home.  Fruit will be available free to all children. Children can also bring in a healthy snack too.

Chromebooks

There is a delay with the bags so we have now started to distribute the Chromebooks in order for us not to waste any more time and get them to the children as quickly as possible. We will provide a bag when they arrive. Parents need to sign an agreement. The Chromebook allocated and will belong to your child for the duration of their time with us.

If your child is in KS2 and you have not collected your Chromebook yet – please ring the school office so we can arrange collection. Take some time to set up all the usual platforms we use such as Seesaw, Google, Abacus, Purple Mash etc. We have provided your child’s Hwb login and Google login. The Hwb login is required to log into the actual Chromebook.  The Google login is for everything else (abercarnprimary.org). When setting up Google and Seesaw etc – make sure you use the Google email and password and it is not reverting to the Hwb login – you may need to click “use another account” as it may automatically use your Hwb details.

If something happens to the Chromebook – accidents do happen –let us know so we can sort something out e.g. repair or replacement etc. Please make every effort to keep the Chromebook secure and look after it. If it is stolen – please let both the police and us know.

There will be teething problems. We are giving out over 130 Chromebooks – I am sure there will be issues. Let us know and we will sort them for you!

Please check out: https://chromebooks.abercarnprimary.com
It has lots of useful information about Chromebooks, Connecting your Chromebook, Google G-Suite guides and E-Safety information, well worth a look.

Positive Cases and Test Results

Please use the covid@abercarnprimary.org email address to alert me to any positive test results out of school hours. Please only use this email for positive results out of school hours only. Use the school email address for any other information you wish to share. If you use the out of hours email address – please expect a call from me using a withheld number.

Do not send children to our Childcare Class if your child is:

•  Unwell
• Symptomatic and / or
• He/She or a family member is waiting for test results.

Wait until you have received the result and your child is better before sending your child to school!

If we have a case in school classes will need to isolate for 10 days. Please be alert and ensure the number we have on file for text messages is up to date as we will use a text to alert you to case and any isolation required – it maybe late at night or early in the morning – please be alert. 

Lateral Flow Tests

Please be aware that in line with Welsh Government guidance staff will be undertaking Lateral Flow Tests twice a week. We have not yet received the tests from the Welsh Government to start them at the moment. Hopefully we will be receiving tests today to start next week. When we do start, BE PREPARED - classes may need to isolate if a member of staff receives a positive tests result. The length of isolation may vary as it may be temporary or for the full 10 day period – it will depend on whether a 2^nd positive result is received from a PCR test.  If a PCR test gives a positive result then 10 days isolation will be required from the date of the positive LFD result. If the PCR test returns a negative result then everyone can return to school. You will be notified by text of any positive result and isolation period.

Parent Evenings

It is around this time in the year when we have our 2^nd Parent Evening. Due to us not being in school for the past 6 weeks we will delay parent evenings until after Easter. When we do have them, we will continue with remote video appointments like we did in the Autumn Term. Further details will follow after Easter. This will also give teachers some time to assess children as they return to school etc.

Nursery and Rising 3’s PE / Games

Nursery / Rising 3 PE / Games will start on Friday 5^th March 2021. Children to wear their kit to school. Please ensure they wear trainers as it will be outside. 

PE / Games

PE / games will continue this term although it will be outside for the time being. Please ensure children wear appropriate kit to school for outside PE / Games on their allocated day.

Dear Parent/Carer

Thank you for all you have done to help reduce the number of people catching the Coronavirus and becoming seriously ill in our local area. The good news is the number of new cases has fallen enough for your child/children to be able to return to school. We are writing to you to ask for your help in working with us to make this return to school a success. We know that as parents you will have felt the strain of your children not being at school. You may be worried about their wellbeing, their chances to grow and develop, losing out on their friendships and fun, or about them falling behind with their learning.

The steps that we have had to take together have been hard, but have saved lives, protected the people most at risk and helped our local health and care services to care for us when we need them. The success of our local vaccination programme is providing more protection to those at risk and we are working hard to reach everyone as quickly as we can.

We are not able to relax yet, we still need to be careful and keep the levels of infection as low as possible as we take this first step and begin to get children back to school. The Health Board, the local Council, voluntary and community organisations and Public Health Wales continue to work closely together to control the spread of the Coronavirus in our local communities, but we cannot succeed without your help and that of everyone who lives in our area.

Our Head teachers and all their staff have worked very hard to make our schools as safe as possible. When your child goes back to school we need you to continue to help to control the spread of the virus by following the advice below:

• Don’t send your child to school if they are unwell even if you are not sure if it is Coronavirus
• Don’t send your child to school if anyone in your household has booked a Coronavirus test
• If you need to use public transport or a taxi to take your child to school please do so safely, or consider walking or cycling where possible
• Unless you have no choice, please do not share a lift to school with other families
• If someone who uses the school bus service develops Coronavirus, TTP and the school will work together to identify the school transport contacts and if your child is identified as a contact then they will need to self-isolate
• When you take your child to school and collect them always keep your distance from other parents and don’t stay around to chat
• Don’t invite other children (or their parents/carers) to your home to play or stay, even outdoors and even if they are in the same bubble at school
• Make sure that your child washes or sanitises their hands regularly, it may help to explain to them that this helps to prevent the spread of Coronavirus
• If your child displays symptoms of Coronavirus, they will be sent home. You will need to arrange a test for them and ensure that they follow the self- isolation guidance
• You should continue to work at home if at all possible.

Thank you for your help in keeping the virus in check and helping us to keep schools to stay open at this time.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Sarah Aitken MBBS FFPH