School Closure

20th March 2020

Dear Parents / Guardians

Alongside the letter that we have issued jointly with our cluster primary schools, I am writing with more details about how we intend to continue our pupils’ education through remote learning over the coming weeks.

Pupils who are not in school because of the Covid-19 pandemic should be isolating themselves as far as possible. They should be remaining at home and maintaining the safe distancing guidelines (2 metres or 3 paces distance) from other members of the family. They should leave the house for short periods of time for exercise. As part of this strict regime, they should undertake remote learning using the work provided by school. All of this is a key part of the government’s strategy to bring the virus under control, limit its spread and minimise the loss of life. This is a national health emergency and our compliance with these regulations will reduce suffering and save lives.

On Monday and Tuesday, pupils who are working at home should use the resources that are already on our website (www.penyrheol-comp.net) and can be accessed from the front page by clicking on RESOURCES FOR REMOTE LEARNING. They should undertake about 2 hours of appropriate work each day. If there are any problems accessing this, please contact the school office.

Staff are currently working on providing more bespoke work specifically tailored to year groups and subjects. This will go live on our website on Wednesday 25th March along with a timetable for pupils to follow. Further details will be sent to you about this next Tuesday. Again, the expectation will be that pupils carry out 2 hours of school work per day and this will cover all of the subjects which they study in school. Please let us know if pupils do not have access to a tablet or PC in order to carry out this work. Hard copies will also be available for those who need them.

Alongside this work, we will be recommending that pupils exercise every day and we will be sharing advice on how to maintain their well-being at a time when they will have limited face-to-face contact with their circle of friends.

We will update you as time passes with further information. At the moment we are planning to provide work in two-week blocks. We will provide fresh work for what would normally have been the Easter holidays, recognising that 2 hours per day is significantly less learning than pupils would have received under normal circumstances in school. There are also many educational websites, programmes and resources which pupils can use to supplement the work that we provide as a school. We have gathered these together and will be publishing them on Wednesday as our Research Library. Please discuss these with your child(ren) and encourage them to explore their interests further. Everybody should be reading a good book!

You will be aware that schools remain open and have been repurposed to provide education for the children of key workers. There is more information about this in the joint letter from cluster schools. If you feel that you are entitled to this facility, but haven’t had the opportunity to request it, please get in touch with the school office on 01792 533066.

I have also received the following information from local resident and councillor, Christine Richards:

Local councillors are hoping to leaflet every house in the area with contact details for people who may need help during this crisis. We’d welcome any help. Leaflets haven’t yet been printed but it shouldn’t be long!

We have 3 Facebook pages:

General advice – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1271999803000472/

Page for volunteers to register – https://www.facebook.com/groups/VolunteersGorseinonCorona/?hc_location=group

Page to register people who need help – https://www.facebook.com/groups/558735958329688/?hc_location=group

Finally, can I wish you all the very best as we navigate unchartered waters over the coming days, weeks and months. I trust that you and your loved ones will stay safe.

Yours sincerely

Alan Tootill

Headteacher