Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s),
Unfortunately, I still have not had any further guidance from the LA since the last message shared with you from the Director of education on 18th December, which is as below.
However, as you will know from the news, events and guidelines are rapidly changing. We will inform parents and carers of any changes to the on-site start date of the new term as soon as possible.
The return to school dates for children will be communicated as soon as they have been agreed. These return dates will be dependent on advice from both the Welsh Government and Cardiff LA as well as the School’s staffing capacity.
At the moment these are the current dates:
First Week of Term (4th January - 8 th January)
St Joseph’s is closed to pupils on Monday and Tuesday 4th & 5th January
From Monday, 4th January all schools (Nursery, Primary, Secondary and Special Schools) will provide distance learning for pupils for the whole week.
From Wednesday 6th January, there will be provision for vulnerable learners and children of critical workers in all schools unless there are exceptional circumstances such as insufficient staffing levels to operate the school Learners attending school on these days will be provided with the same learning offer that is being provided through distance learning, to those pupils at home. All pupils eligible For FSM will receive an additional supermarket voucher for this week so if they do attend school please provide them with a packed lunch.
Second Week of Term (11th January – 15th January)
On Monday 11th January the expectation is that all pupils will return to face-to-face learning in all schools unless there are exceptional circumstances such as insufficient staffing levels to operate the school. Should there be any changes to this week, your school will communicate them directly to you, following agreement with the local authority. The return to school in January needs to be as safe as possible for all our learners and our staff. The adoption of a distance learning approach in the first week of term will allow schools to carry out the appropriate planning and preparation needed to ensure they can welcome all learners back safely on Monday 11th January. If you have any further questions or require more information about issues relating to schools due to COVID-19, please read our series of regularly updated questions and answers for parents and pupils which are available here: Covid-19 FAQs for parents and pupils (cardiff.gov.uk)
We would also like to remind parents and carers of when children should be kept at home from school, please visit our quick reference guide here: Guidance for sending your child to school (cardiff.gov.uk) Wales entered a level four lockdown, the highest possible, from December 2020. These restrictions were designed to make the country safer so we are urging every family to follow the latest Coronavirus rules so that our schools can welcome back all learners into the schools safely from Monday 11th January. Over the holiday period to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading, there are things that everyone in your family can do to help.
These include: Please be alert for symptoms of COVID-19, which are: