Dear Parents and Carers
As this half term draws to a close, I wanted to update you in readiness for the second half of the summer term.
I continue to be impressed with the attitude, effort and engagement of so many of our pupils. They have worked hard, enjoyed a good deal of success, and I am sure they will enjoy their much deserved half term break.
Arrangements from Monday 7 June 2021
When we return to school on Monday 7 June, we will change from teacher movement to pupil movement across the school. This means that teachers will remain in their specialist classrooms, and pupils will move across the site for each of their lessons. This means that all pupils will be able to have practical lessons in practical spaces, and they will no longer have all of their lessons in one room.
Many of the mitigations in our risk assessment and other arrangements will remain in place including:
- Prevention – do not attend school if you or anyone in your household has Covid symptoms. Remain at home and isolate, book a test at test centre, and inform the school
- ‘Hands, face, space, fresh air’ remain our most important on site mitigations
- Twice weekly at home Lateral Flow Tests are available for all children and adults at St Cenydd
- It is strongly encouraged that face coverings are worn by all children and adults whilst on school site and school transport, and this includes in the classroom. All children have been issued with a set of washable face coverings. Please ensure that your child brings a clean face covering to school each day.
- One way system across the school site operating in corridors, stairwells and indoor circulation spaces
- Staggered timings of break times for each year group during the day
- Timings of lessons, start and end of the day remain the same for the rest of the summer term
- Pupils will be facing forward in lessons, and sat in a designated seat in each classroom as determined by their teacher
- Enhanced cleaning will continue throughout the day and across the site
Y7 pupils will be supported by their teachers in accessing their lessons. When Y7 arrive at school on Monday 7 June, they will be directed to one of the halls where they will be collected by their class teacher. Also, in the first few days of next term, each Y7 class will be assigned a Y12 senior student to escort the group from lesson to lesson. All other year groups have been issued with their timetable with the rooming. There will be a high staff presence on the first few days in corridors and circulation spaces to assist pupils in line with our ‘ready, respect, safe’ school expectation.
There are no changes to the operation of the school canteen for the remainder of this year i.e. pupils will continue to pre order and pay for their food, and this will be available from canteen staff from the mobile canteen station on the yard in their break time. The link for the online catering order form is available here and you will also find full details of on our school website.
All pupils will be expected to be in their full school uniform for the remainder of the summer term. We will be using our PE changing rooms which are well ventilated and will be cleaned throughout the day. Pupils will now change for their PE lessons so will no longer attend school in their PE kit. Full details of our unchanged school uniform and PE kit expectations are on our school website.
Thank you for your support in ensuring the highest standards of presentation and behaviour in our school.
Centre Determined Grades for GCSE, AS and A level
Pupils and staff have worked exceptionally hard to ensure that the Centre Determined Grade (CDG) processes have run as smoothly as possible. I have been impressed with the attitude, effort and resilience of so many of our students, and they are to be congratulated on how they have approached this new way of working. I am also very grateful to our dedicated and professional staff who have worked so hard to ensure that our processes are fair, equitable, and give every child their opportunity for success.
I can confirm that the final teaching/assessment day for Y11 and Y13 will be Friday 28 May. An email has been sent to these year groups by Mr Satterly and Mr Jones about how we will mark this occasion in a safe way. Y12 will remain in school as their courses continue through to the end of term.
Our GCSE and A level teaching teams will now switch from teaching, assessing and marking to moderation, standardisation and administration. We hope to post provisional GCSE, AS and A level CDGs to each child’s home address by Monday 21 June. We will text you so that you know that they have been posted, and we will email each child on their school account so that they know to expect these provisional grades in the post. If this date changes, we will let you know. We will also share the centre review and appeals process with all learners in advance.
As previously shared, the dates for the official results days in the summer holidays for GCSE, AS and A level are:
- AS and A level Results Day – Tuesday 10 August 2021
- GCSE Results Day – Thursday 12 August 2021
Parents’ evenings
A reminder that we have online parents’ evening for Y8 and Y9 in the next half term:
- Y9 Parents Evening – Thursday 17 June 2021
- Y8 Parents Evening – Thursday 1 July 2021
A letter will be sent nearer the time with details of how to book online appointments. Each parents evening will run from 1500-1830 with a 30 minute break between 1630-1700.
INSET days
And finally, a reminder that we have four INSET days remaining in this academic year, and we will use two of these days to support the Centre Determined Grades processes. The remaining two days will be at the end of the summer term. Therefore our INSET days will be
- Thursday 10 June and Friday 11 June 2021
- Monday 19 July and Tuesday 20 July 2021
Thank you for your continued support and kindness.
Yours sincerely
Miss Collins
Headteacher
