Tredegarville CW Primary School

Dear Parents,

Update 12th June 2020

Many of you will have seen on the news in the past week that schools will start to re-open from June 29th. The summer term will be extended and will now finish for the summer holidays on July 24th. This will give children four weeks back in school.

We are busy making plans to re-open school to ensure it is a safe and welcoming place for your children. I thought you might like an update on our preparations this week. This week the council health and safety officer visited to start checking the site. He had over 100 questions for me about how the site will be managed. I can assure you it is very thorough!! Teachers will be coming in over the next few weeks to rearrange classrooms and to move things around a bit. We have also been busy ordering supplies that we will need when we come back. The council will be providing us with specialist cleaning equipment and staff will have training how to use this.

At the moment, we are still finalising all the plans and working out the groups for children to attend. I have had quite a few questions from parents. Here are some questions that have been asked so far:

Why can my child only attend one day a week?

The best way to keep everyone safe is for children to attend in a small group. We can only do this if children come to school less often. It means that children will only interact with the children in their small group and we can clean everything very carefully before the next group come in.

Will all my children attend school on the same day?

Yes that is our plan!

Will all children start on Monday 29th June?

No we will start with three classes to get them used to the new arrangements and then add more classes in.

Can we choose which day to attend?

No. We can’t mix the groups of children up. They will be allocated to a colour group and attend on their set day.

Can they come with their friends?

It is very difficult planning all the groups to make sure brothers and sisters in different classes can attend on the same day. We will just tell you which groups they are in. There will be 8 in a group from the same class so they will have some friends in their group!

Will we bring the children to school in the normal way?

The classes will arrive and leave at different times to make sure we can all keep apart. Mrs Laing and Miss Proctor will be on the gate to guide you as normal. We will use additional gates so that one group will go through the gate at a time. The teacher will collect them and they will go straight into school. Parents will not come onto the playground. It will be important to arrive and collect at the set times.

Will children wear school uniform?

Yes but don’t buy new uniform if they have grown out of their old uniform.

I am a keyworker and I will need childcare. What shall I do?

If you applied for childcare in the hub school your child can transfer for childcare in our school. Keyworker children will be able to have childcare provision in school all the days you are working. If you did not apply for childcare but will now need it you will have to apply directly to the council. We are only allowed to take children who have been allocated  a place by the council. Please follow this link for council information: www.cardiff.gov.uk/keyworkerchildcare

What about school dinners?

There will be no cooked dinners in school at the moment. Children will need to bring a packed lunch and a water bottle in each day. The children will eat their lunch in the classroom with their teachers as we will not be bringing groups of children together in the hall.

What should my child bring to school?

Just themselves, a coat, a lunchbox and water bottle. They will not be able to bring any bags, pencil cases or PE kits into school.

What will they do in school?

They will have a chance to see their teacher again. They will play with a small group of friends. They will have lots of time outdoors to play. They will look at some of their learning and their teacher will help explain the work they will need to do at home for the rest of the week. They will have lots of fun!

What shall I do if my child is too scared to come back to school?

These check in sessions before the end of term are a good way for them to some and see what it is like and to meet their friends. They will also get used to the new way in schools will work. We will be there to reassure them.

How long will school be like this?

I don’t know! I think we will be doing a mixture of school based learning and learning on line for a while yet. The government has asked us to open now to get ready for this.

Is it safe?

We are working very hard to make it as safe as we possibly can. The small groups help with this but there will also be lots of hand washing and a lot of additional cleaning. We will be sharing all our safety plans with you. We are receiving lots of advice and support from health and safety specialists

I will write again with another update and we will be in touch with you about your child’s group and start date as soon as we can.

Don’t forget to get in touch if you have more questions! Please do email me: elaing@cardiff.gov.uk

Sending you best wishes,

Mrs Laing