Dear Parents/Carers,
Statement by the First Minister
The Education Minister, Kirsty Williams announced yesterday evening that schools in Wales will close and move to online learning from January 6th. This is following agreement from the four Chief Medical Officers for the United Kingdom that the UK is currently at the highest level of risk with a Joint Biosecurity Council placing all into level 5.
With this in mind, Ysgol Craig y Don will be moving to Distance Learning plans from Wednesday 6/1/21. The school will also be offering provision for Vulnerable Learners and the children of key workers. Please see below for further information on the provision offered.
Key Worker Childcare Provision
Schools in Wales have a responsibility to provide key worker childcare provision once again at the beginning of this Spring Term. Ysgol Craig y Don takes this responsibility very seriously and, with that in mind, share this information with you;
• This is provision that is available to parents/ guardians who have no other safe option for childcare. If you are able to care for your child at home, even if you are a key worker, then you should do so. The aim is to reduce the number of pupils in school as much as possible in order to reduce the risk of transmission of this new variant of the virus.
• The main criteria for making an application for childcare is if one parent is a key worker.
• If you are not sure if you qualify as a Key Worker, I have attached a link to the list published by Welsh Government for your information:
https://gov.wales/identifying-children-critical-workers-guidance
• Learners attending Key worker childcare will continue with their Distance Learning work as their peers will at home.
• The Childcare Provision is open between 8.50am and 3.00pm for infants and 8.50am until 3.15pm for juniors. You are kindly requested to note the dates you require childcare on the attached form.
If you are a Key Worker and would like essential worker childcare provision between Wednesday 6/1/21 and Friday 15/1/21, please reply today to the separate e-mail that will be sent to you shortly.
Distance Learning Provision
Despite the fact that Learners will not be attending school from Wednesday, I wish to emphasise that Teaching and Learning will continue at Ysgol Craig y Don via our online learning platforms. More information about these will be sent to you today.
If you do not have access to ICT provision (Laptop, mobile phone, Tablet, Games Console e.g. Xbox) in order to access communication from teachers, we will do our best to help.
At school, learners will be organised into contact groups. These contact groups will not mix inside and will be expected to remain two metres apart outside during playtimes. They will be supervised by Teaching Assistants whilst teachers organise and monitor the online learning.
Once again, we would all like to thank you for your patience and support at this difficult time. Our priority is the safety of all our pupils and staff. Please take care and stay safe.
Yours sincerely, Iwan Jones