Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that this letter finds you and your family well.
Welsh Government announcement – 8 January 2021
It has been a difficult start to 2021 with Wales on alert level 4. There have been a number of announcements today by Welsh Government relating to education. The First Minister has confirmed that pupils will continue to learn remotely, and that this is likely to be until February half term. This means that for nearly all pupils they will not return until 22 February at the earliest.
For vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, they can continue to access on-site education provision. In her letter earlier this week, Keri Cole (Chief Education Officer, CCBC) provided a link for applications for this provision for those who are eligible.
Welsh Government have taken this action because the new variant is far more infectious and is leading to increased number of people falling ill and being hospitalised.
Qualifications Wales announcement – 8 January 2021
A further announcement was made today by Qualifications Wales. They have announced the cancelation of the spring internal assessment window (due between 22 February and 23 April 2021) for GCSE, AS and A levels.
Welsh Government have told schools that revised arrangements for these qualifications for summer 2021 will be put in place shortly. I will, of course, update you as soon as I know more. In the meantime, it is important that all Year 11, 12 and 13 students continue to engage fully in their studies.
What you can continue to expect from St Cenydd
Regrettably, it is highly likely that school sites will remain closed to most pupils for at least a further five school weeks. However, this does not mean that teaching, learning or support will stop:
- Our teaching staff will continue to provide lessons and remote learning for all pupils every day, in line with their school timetable.
- Our support staff will continue to make wellbeing contact phone calls to all 1,100 pupils across our school community, aiming to phone every child at the very least once a fortnight.
- Our reception phone lines will remain open, and will be manned each school day from 0830-1400.
- Meals will continue to be provided by CCBC for eFSM pupils and will be delivered to their homes.
- We will continue to provide on-site education provision for vulnerable children and the children of keyworkers where they will follow their school timetable, completing the same remote learning timetable as their peers working from home, with teaching assistant support.
- We also continue to plan for the safe reopening of our school, as and when we are guided to do so.
Remote learning
There are many words used in different schools, across the media, and society to describe remote learning, such as blended learning, at home learning, live learning, to name just a few. There are two key approaches to remote ‘live’ learning; synchronous and asynchronous learning. A synchronous teaching approach is live and requires all participants to take part at exactly the same time. An asynchronous teaching approach is a live recording that does not require participants to be present in the recording.
At St Cenydd we have adopted an asynchronous approach to remote learning to promote flexibility and to ensure inclusion for all. The advantages of an asynchronous approach are: it is flexible as pupils can view the ‘live’ recording as they wish; they can see and hear their class teacher; they can watch, rewind, watch the recording again as many times as they wish to listen to the explanation or instruction; the video remains in their google classroom and will assist with revision; and it ensures inclusivity as all lessons can be accessed at a time which is convenient for each pupil and their family, and will support their device and digital access at home.
A potential disadvantage of this approach is that pupils cannot ask ‘live’ questions. To overcome this at St Cenydd, all pupils have access to their timetabled subject teacher ‘live’ during their lesson time through their google classroom and Gmail so that they can contact their class teacher with emailed questions, support and clarification.
It is our school expectation that each teacher will provide video content for each lesson where their pupils can see them and hear them. This expectation does not, however, mean that the video will be an hour long. The video for each lesson maybe for the full duration of the lesson, or maybe a much shorter session covering an explanation, demonstration or instruction to support set remote learning tasks. This may include use of textbooks which have been provided to pupils particularly in exam year groups, completion of a written task in their exercise book, watching and responding to a PowerPoint, completion of a physical task at home, making their own video or recording, having a virtual library lesson, etc. as pertinent to the subject, age and ability of the class. This means that pupils will have a wider variety of learning tasks to complete each day, supporting their engagement and motivation. Every child should have lessons as per their timetable every day, with ‘live’ support from their teacher alongside a video ‘live’ recording and quality learning tasks available in their google classrooms
By following their timetable each day, your child can access support from their class teacher during their lesson time. For clarification, the timings of the school day are
0830-0930 Lesson 1
0930-1030 Lesson 2
1045-1145 Lesson 3
1145-1245 Lesson 4
1300-1400 Lesson 5
As you can see, there are two short breaks, one at the end of lesson 2 and the other at the end of lesson 4. The timings above are when their class teacher will be available online for written questions, support and clarification for their class. All of us are grappling with increased digital demands. Thank you for your understanding if a lesson is slightly delayed due to internet or bandwidth download issues.
Your child’s teacher will expect them to submit their work by loading it in their google classroom. Pupils can do this by sending their work electronically, by taking a photo of their work and submitting it, etc. By sending their work to their teacher, pupils can receive feedback about what they have done well and what they can do to improve. By submitting their work they will show their teacher that they have completed that lesson and demonstrate their understanding of the task. This means that their teacher can address any misconceptions or misunderstanding in their following lessons. This is important for pupils in all year groups.
There will be occasions when a member of staff is unwell. In such circumstances, Heads of Department will aim to provide work for these classes but this is unlikely to include the ‘live’ aspects of a video recording or email contact during the timetabled lesson for this period of time.
Wellbeing
We will continue to make wellbeing phone calls to all pupils during this lockdown period. This may be from the school number or from a ‘no caller ID’ number. These wellbeing phone calls will take place at least once a fortnight. This, alongside daily contact with their teachers, will help keep our pupils in touch with school. Your child can also send an email to their Head of Year or Block Leader should there be anything they wish to discuss or if there is something we can help with.
We will continue to have assemblies throughout this period of time, setting our expectations for our pupils, talking through the support on offer to them, and retaining these important continuity links.
We know that some pupils will cope with the demands of remote learning and wellbeing with ease. There will be others who, like most of us at times, will find this more challenging. Please do not hesitate to be in contact with the school to raise any concerns you may have so that we can offer support.
Thank you for your ongoing support and kindness throughout this challenging and difficult time. As in all areas of society, we continue to adapt as quickly and safely as possible to the changing demands of this pandemic. Please know that, although the school site is closed to nearly all at the moment, we are still here to support your child with their wellbeing and to ensure they continue to make good progress in their learning throughout this further period of remote learning.
Yours sincerely
Miss Collins