Letter for parents dated 09/02/21

Dear Parents/Carers 

Hope you are keeping safe and well as we approach the end of the first half term of the 2021 year. I am sure you will have been following developments and announcements from the Welsh Government over the last few days and especially the announcement that schools will start to reopen for children in the Foundation Phase from Monday February 22^nd. 

Therefore, we have begun our plans for welcoming our Foundation Phase pupils back to school which may be in a phased approach.  As the full guidance from Welsh Government is yet to be released I will be notifying you of our final plans for the week beginning February 22^nd as soon as I have the full details. 

Stay safe 

R Jones 

Please see below a statement we have recently received from Flintshire County Council: 

At the current time, Flintshire schools are being directed to prepare for the reopening of face to face provision for Foundation Phase pupils from 22^nd February onwards. This is in line with the Welsh Government decision to bring some learners back into schools whilst other lockdown restrictions remain in place.  

The Council carefully monitors the incidence rate and test positivity rate daily, and expects both to continue to fall steadily over the coming weeks. However, should the public health situation become a cause for concern ahead of 22^nd February then the decision to reopen schools for Foundation Phase pupils will be reviewed. 

Flintshire LA have also released an open letter to parents regarding the importance of following level 4 restrictions and have asked schools to emphasise the following: - 

Alert level 4 means that: 

• people must stay at home, except for very limited purposes 
• people must not visit other households, or meet other people they do not live with 

When children chat about things that are happening outside of school to their teachers, which is quite normal, we hear stories of some families not abiding by the rules and are socially mixing. These stories are supported by information gathered by the Test, Trace and Protect Team who follow up with calls to people who have tested positive who are asked to identify their close contacts. Breaches of the guidance helps the virus spread. If the school receive information that indicates you are not following the Alert Level 4 restrictions, your child/children may be asked to stay away from school for 10 days to protect the whole school community. 

As you will be aware from the latest announcements both the First Minister and Education Minister have made, younger children are less affected by the virus. 

However​, as stated in the LA letter: 

‘Despite the significantly reduced numbers of pupils attending its schools, we are still seeing a number of positively tested cases involving pupils who are accessing face to face provision. When we have a positive case, this results in that bubble of pupils being sent home to self-isolate for 10 days. This also puts the school workforce who are caring for them at risk.’ 

We would therefore emphasise the importance of the following :-   

• wear a face covering when on dropping off of picking up your children 
• only drop off or pick up your own children (unless you are a childminder) 
• ensure your children are not mixing with other households outside of school 
• ensure you comply with the 2-metre social distance guidance, even when wearing a face covering