We are so pleased to start the school year in a much more positive and familiar way than the past couple of years. We are delighted to say that we plan to return to in-person class-led assemblies, end of term concerts and workshops. These opportunities have been very much missed by staff, parents and pupils alike. We do not underestimate the value of events like these in terms of building a strong school community.

We are in a position to share key planned dates for the Autumn term which are as follows (times to be confirmed):

20/9/2022 – Class Led Assembly Oxwich J

w/c 3/10/22 – Parent / Teacher meetings: Getting to know the new class teams – Oxwich, Caswell, Bracelet and Pobbles – details to follow.

21/10/22 – Harvest assembly for parents (Oxwich D, Caswell J and T, Bracelet L, Pobbles R and B.

w/c 24/10/22 – Safety and Well-being workshops

8/11/22 – Class Assembly Bracelet B

15/11/22 – Class Assembly Oxwich E

29/11/22 – Class Assembly Bracelet M

w/c 12/12/22 – End of Term Concerts – dates to confirmed.

Mrs Lewis and Mrs Morgans are organising volunteer induction meetings for October. The link to the questionnaire if you are interested is here. Please note if you have already responded to this in the summer term there is no need to respond again.

When will school start in September?

All pupils with the exception of Nursery will start back on Monday September 6th 2021. Nursery pupils will start with us on a staggered intake process by 15th September, and parents/ carers will receive confirmation of their child’s start date.

What are the Start and Finish times?

As all parents/carers and pupils will arrive and leave at the same time, it may seem to parents/carers that normal operations have resumed. However, there are still strict control measures within the school environment that need to be adhered to as set out by the Welsh Assembly Government Operational Guidance.

Schools will now revert to pre-pandemic start and finish times (8:50 to 3:20 with the exception for nursery, see below)

What if we are late and miss the class drop-off time?

We would appeal to parents/carers to avoid being late if possible. Please take your child/ren to Gate 1 a member of staff will admit your child/children through the main school entrance.  

Please note, with the exception of drop off and collection, all gates will be locked. Should parents/carers require access to the school building, please contact the school office on 01792 463019 

What if my child shows symptoms?

Pupils who show symptoms during the school day will be allocated an isolation room for their and others’ safety.   

Pupils who show one or more of the 3 cardinal symptoms of COVID-19 (new persistent cough, fever and/or loss of taste or smell) must not attend the school setting but must remain home and self-isolate, arrange a COVID-19 test and notify the school of this. 

Local Health Boards may make testing available for individuals who are experiencing a wider range of symptoms such as fatigue, myalgia (muscle ache or pain), a sore throat, a headache, a runny nose, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea. Individuals are asked to consider taking a test if they are experiencing any of these wider symptoms and they are new, persistent and/or unusual symptoms for them. 

Are there Contact groups / Track and Trace issues?

The Welsh Government advice is that contact groups are no longer necessary in schools.

Link for Track and Trace : Welsh Government Website 

Test, Trace, Protect teams will be responsible for contacting each positive case and collecting information about their close contacts both within and outside the school/setting. It is their role to identify which individuals meet the definition of a close contact and therefore need to self-isolate. They will work with the school to agree on communication with those who are required to self-isolate and those who may return to school.

Parents/carers and learners will continue to play an important role moving forward. This may include providing information to TTP teams on who is in a learners’ friendship group, or TTP teams having discussions with learners or a proxy to better understand who a learner may have had close interactions with.

How do I Drop off my child?

Our current drop off and collection arrangement have brought the advantage of being able to hand over children to parents and carers in a safe, calm and ordered manner. We would very much like this to continue in September so would like to trial the following arrangements

All parents/ carers (with exception of Nursery parents and those who have chosen to book their child/ren into Breakfast Club) will be asked to arrive between 8:40 am and 8:50 am.

We ask that parents/ carers continue to hand over their child to the member of staff supervising each gate. Duty staff will supervise the children on the playground from 8:40 am to 8:50 am.

We would like to trial the following arrangements for drop off and collection:

Gate 1: Mr Davies (5/6 D) & Mrs Evans (5/6 E)

Gate 2: Mrs Howard (3/4 H) & Mrs Timaeus (3/4 T)

Gate 3: Mrs Lewis (1/2 L) & Miss Maliphant (1/R M)

Gate 4: Mrs Jenkins (4/5 J) & Mrs Roach’s Reception

Gate 5: Miss Breeze (1/2 B) & Mrs Roach’s Nursery

Nursery drop off and collection times below:

Morning Nursery pupils: 9 am – 11:30 am

Afternoon Nursery pupils: 12:40 pm to 3:10 (?)

What do I need to know about Collection?

We ask that parents arrive to collect their child/ren between 3:15 pm to 3:20 pm. We again ask that parents wait by the gate allocated for their child’s class, children will continue to wait on the playground and be handed over directly to parents as they do now.

We understand that siblings in different classes will pose an issue for some parents/carers. Please do not worry, please collect your youngest child first safe in the knowledge that we will supervise your older child/ren until you can make you way around to the other gate/s to collect.

*Parents of pupils in Upper Key Stage 2 may consider their child mature enough and ready to walk to and from school unaccompanied, with the safeguards that parent deem necessary. If this is the case, please contact your child’s class teacher in writing giving permission for your child to walk to and from school without adult supervision.

Please note, we would expect pupils under the age of 10 year old are collected by a responsible adult.

What are Contacts?

Risk assessments will be updated to take account of the fact that, as there will no longer be contact groups, consequently schools will provide best endeavours intelligence to contact tracers on any close contacts.

What about Breakfast Club?

From September our Breakfast Club will be open to all pupils, via a weekly online booking system. Admittance is from 8.00am to 8.30am. Unfortunately we will not be able to admit anyone after 8.30am. Pupils have the opportunity to have a leisurely start to the day, enjoy a healthy breakfast, and socialise with their friends, whilst they are supervised until school starts. The Breakfast Club costs £1.00 per child per day, unless you are entitled to Free School Meals, in which case it is free. Payment is in advance via our online payment system sQuid. If you are interested in using the Breakfast Club, please speak to a member of the Admin Team, who will add you to the Breakfast Club group on ClassDojo.

Will there be Playworks After School Club?

We are hoping that the After School Club will restart in September. At the time of writing Playworks Childcare had appealed for parents to complete and submit registration forms form parents. Playworks Childcare are still waiting for registration forms from parents who have enquired.

Are there measures within the classroom?

WG guidance tells us that staff will continue to reduce the amount of time they are in face-to-face contact to lower the risk of transmission.

’Ideally, adults should maintain a two-metre distance from each other and from children, any additional space available where there are lower numbers of learners attending should be used, wherever possible, to maximise the distance between learners and between staff and others.

We know that this is not always possible when working with younger children in Foundation Phase, and our School Risk assessment identifies mitigating measures which may be needed, such as the use of well-ventilated space.

Schools are asked to include seating learners side by side and facing forwards, rather than face-to-face or side on. Foundation Phase learners will be more active in their play-based learning and seating and desk arrangements will not be required.

School Resources

We will aim to minimise risk of transmission, for example, by having different sets of equipment and resources for different groups of children.  A regular cleaning schedule is used to 

Can I Visit?

Where possible, visits should happen outside of school hours. A record is kept of all visitors as this may be needed at a future point to assist the Welsh Government’s TTP strategy.

Where possible, we would try to arrange consultation remotely either via a telephone call or video conferencing at the earliest convenience.

Please note, with the exception or drop off and collection, all gates will be locked. Should parents/carers require access to the school building, please contact the school office of 01792 463019

Class dojo messaging service should be used as a means of communication between school and home.

Do I need Uniform?

There is an expectation that pupils will wear uniform in line with the school policy.

What should I bring?

It is still recommended that learners limit the amount of equipment they bring into school each day, to essentials such as lunch boxes, bags, hats, coats, books, stationery. Learners can take books and other shared resources home, although unnecessary sharing should be avoided, especially where things are not for educational purposes. For individual and very frequently used equipment, such as pencils and pens, it is recommended that learners have their own items that are not shared.

What about Free School Meals?

The Welsh Government will continue to make funding available to local authorities so that they can make free school meal provision to eligible learners who are not required to attend school premises because they are self-isolating as a result of COVID-19.

At Brynmill we use a combination of Teacher Assessment and ongoing assessments to gain the best picture of how your child is performing and progressing. This year in light of the aftermath of the pandemic, statutory assessments for end of Phase Outcomes and Levels are suspended. However, the school will still keep you informed of your child’s progress through the usual Parents meetings and end of year report.

Here is what you should expect:

• An Autumn Term and early Summer Parent’s appointment offered over the Phone or Teams.
• An end of Year report detailing areas of progress and targets.

For pupils in Year 2-6, online Personalised Assessments will take place in the Autumn and Summer Term. In order to feedback the main areas of strength and possible next steps, the information is shared with you digitally. When these reports are available, we will notify parents and also share the feedback with pupils in school.

Here is an overview to explain what the report means:

Information_for_parents_final_billingual

 

Here is a tutorial how to view your child’s progress report from the Personalised Assessments.