Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school and our community at the moment.
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Update on home learning
Tue 31 Mar 2020Update on home learning.
We hope that everyone is now able to use the Hwb platform successfully.
As the Easter holidays are due to start this Friday, we won't be posting any additional home working grids or activities for this period or responding to emails. Any new work will be set ready for Monday 20th April.
Where parents have had difficulty with internet accessible devices hard packs can be made available to collect from the school. Should this be the case, please contact your child’s class teacher via their Hwbmail address. These hard copies of the home working grids will be available for collection from outside the main school foyer on a Monday morning ONLY, between 9 am and 10 am.
If you were isolating during the last final full week of school and have not yet picked up your child’s original home learning pack ( Nursery, Reception and Year 1), these will also be available for pick up from the school on Monday 20th April between 9 am & 10 am.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued patience and support at this difficult time. The community spirit has been fantastic.
Stay safe and well
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Message from RCT Council
Sat 28 Mar 2020The following message is on behalf of RCT Council:
Coronavirus is continuing to spread throughout Wales. Public Health Wales have now confirmed 34 people have died in Wales as a result of the virus and the number of confirmed cases in Wales continues to grow by the day.
The social distancing advice is there for a reason, it is absolutely imperative that we all personally take the responsibility to minimise the contact we have with one another to slow the spread of the virus. We must all work together and help the NHS which will come under huge strain in the coming weeks.
If your children are not in the Emergency Childcare settings please keep them safe at home, this extends to the evenings and weekends. We all have to do this for the safety of them, our family, friends and neighbours, the message is to STAY AT HOME as much as possible.Thank you
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Home learning update
Sat 28 Mar 2020Home learning
Thank you to you all for your support and patience throughout this first week, whilst we all get to grips with working under very different circumstances from how we have previously operated.
Week two’s 4x4 grid with 16 age appropriate activities for them to complete will be uploaded on to the Hwb platform and on to the “Home school learning” pages of our website. They will also be sent out via ParentMail along with some other activities, asap. Any other work that your teacher has planned will be posted on to your child’s Hwb class pages, along with any discussions and announcements.
Again, activities are across the whole curriculum and your child can decide which activities they wish to complete every day. Obviously your child does not work continuously in school throughout the day as there are opportunities for play and breaks. Please ensure your child still has opportunities for a break from their work. We appreciate that a lot of families circumstances have changed and people may be working from home and caring for others. Please do not worry if your child does not complete all activities on the grid as long as they are engaging in some home learning and keeping active. The main priority is that everyone continues to keep safe and well.
Literacy and numeracy tasks may be differentiated at 3 levels and your child will choose which level they are comfortable to work on. Pupils may wish to access the tasks at more than one level and are free to do so.
If you have not yet picked up your child’s original home learning pack from school, these were given out during the final full week of school, these will be available for pick up from outside the schools main foyer between 9 am & 10 am on Monday 30th March.Where parents may have difficulty with internet accessible devices hard packs can be made available to collect from the school. Should this be the case, please contact your child’s class teacher via their Hwbmail address and they will liaise with our admin staff for these to be made available for pick up.
HWB Learning platform
Step by step guides to show how to access this learning platform will follow via ParentMail, these are being tweaked. You will need your child’s username and password already supplied by the class teacher.
Where children are able to record work on-line we would like them to use the Just2easy program on the HWB homepage. Teachers will view their work and provide feedback directly to the child on their work.Photographs can be uploaded to this program also, so if a child produces work in a different medium and takes a photo of this, it can be uploaded using the camera tool.
If you wish to contact staff if you have questions regarding the work or being able to access the learning, then please do so via their Hwbmail accounts. Teachers will respond at their earliest convenience.
If you have a technical issue can you please cc Mrs Hancock or Mrs Keeler ( Rutl-KeelC@Hwbcymru.net ) as well as they will be providing technical support.
Please continue to be aware that staff may become ill or have family members that require nursing and during these time may not be available for contact. Also there is a very strong possibility that staff may be re-deployed to other front line services and this too will impact on their availability. Where a member of staff is absent the other teacher in their year group will post the work to be completed but will not be able to mark the completed work. Under normal circumstances with staff absence, we would employ a supply teacher but this facility is not available under these circumstances.
Please continue to bear with us as we operate this different approach. There are bound to be glitches and we will work hard to address them as quickly as possible.On-line and distance learning by all pupils in the UK is putting an enormous strain on the internet infrastructure. This may result in infrastructure crashes, slower download speeds and intermittent connectivity, but, hopefully, these issues will be resolved and not impact too much on your child’s access to learning.
Stay safe and keep kind !
Thinking of you all
Pontyclun Staff
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HWB Classes guide
Mon 23 Mar 2020With home learning now up and running and being communicated through the HWB Learning Platform, we would like to give you a step by step guide of where to find everything.
The children should now all be added onto their HWB class. We are NOT using Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams at the moment. Sorry for the confusion from our previous guide.
We hope this guide will assist you in finding the class information needed and help your child communicate with their teacher and also their friends.
Thank you to all the parents who have emailed to try and get your child’s account up and running. We appreciate your patience. We are all working hard to ensure your child has access to everything they need to learn from home. We are uploading learning materials all the time and if there is any area that you would like further help with, please ask your child’s class teacher and we will endeavour to find the information. This is a big learning curve for us all.
https://www.pontyclunprimary.org.uk/home-school-learning/
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A further update from the council
Mon 23 Mar 2020Advice for Parents/Carers
1. The latest scientific advice
The most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. Everyone must, as far as possible, minimise social contact and make sure that anyone who is particularly vulnerable to the virus is able to adopt strict social distancing.
2. How does social distancing affect your children?
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has advised schools that emergency childcare should only be open to a limited number of children. We must keep the number of children in educational, childcare and play settings to the smallest number possible.
We also need to make sure children are not left with anyone who should be following strict social distancing guidance, such as anyone over 70 or anyone with the specified underlying health conditions.
Keeping children safe in their home should limit the chance of the virus spreading and protect those vulnerable to more serious illness as a result of the virus. Parents/carers should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should ensure that children remain at least 2m apart where possible and that gatherings are avoided. Play areas across the County have now been closed and should not be attended. If your child is not in an emergency childcare setting please keep them safe at home during the day and in the evenings. This is essential to ensure the safety of your family, friends and neighbours and to limit and slow down the spread of the virus
If your child receives free school meals, this will continue. In Rhondda Cynon Taf, all children eligible to free school meals will access this from their nearest primary school on a daily basis between 11am and 12pm. This has to be applied for on-line using the e-forms on the Council website.
3. What is the latest advice on key or essential workers?
A list of categories of critical workers has been published on the Welsh Government website. Places in schools and childcare will be highly limited and only particularly vulnerable children and the children of critical/essential workers whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response should be attending during this time.
If you are classed as a critical or essential worker but are able to perform the critical parts of your job effectively when working from home, then you should do so.
Even for critical or essential workers, provision will only be made in schools or other settings where there is no safe alternative for your family.
4. I’m a key or essential worker but my partner isn’t. What should we do?
If one parent is a critical or essential worker but the other parent is not then the other parent should provide safe alternative arrangements at home when possible.
5. What support is available in Rhondda Cynon Taf?
The Council is doing everything it can to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Please refer to the Council website for further detail. These plans will now adapt and change as we respond to the latest guidance available from the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales.
For the very latest advice, please check your local authority’s website at
https://gov.wales/coronavirus-health-advice
Many thanks
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Urgent message on behalf of the council
Mon 23 Mar 2020Coronavirus continues to spread in Wales. Public Health Wales yesterday announced that a further seven people have died in Wales over recent days as a result of the virus and the number of confirmed cases in Wales continues to grow by the day, with significant increases over the last two days in particular.
The social distancing advice is there for a reason – people are falling ill and people with under-lying health issues are dying as a result of continued transmission of the virus. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that we all personally take the responsibility to minimise the contact we have with one another to slow the spread of the virus.
Play areas across the County have all now been closed and should not be attended. If your children are not in the Emergency childcare settings please keep them safe at home, this extends to the evenings too. You have to do this for the safety of your family, friends and neighbours, to limit and slow down the spread of the virus.
Thank you
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COVID-19 - Essential worker childcare
Fri 20 Mar 2020The school is open on Monday March 23rd for pupils of essential workers and vulnerable pupils as per the Welsh Government criteria who have been given permission to attend from the local authority following submission of the required form. This childcare arrangement is for parents with no alternative childcare arrangements and is their only safe option left. Please make use of this service only if absolutely necessary. Children who have not been given permission to attend, will not be admitted.
May I take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the support, understanding and kind words that you have shared with us during these difficult times. We hope that you all remain safe and well in the coming weeks and we look forward to resuming normal business when this national emergency has ended.
Stay safe everyone
Kind regards
Mr Roberts
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HOME SCHOOL LEARNING- Pupils Online Learning
Fri 20 Mar 2020I write to you again, in these very uncertain and challenging times for us all. Our thoughts go out to all members of our school community and beyond who are being affected by this situation that we now find ourselves in. It is with great sadness that we need to take a different approach for the foreseeable future as the direct day to day contact with our pupils, your children is the part of the job we enjoy the most. However, following the announcement from Kirsty Williams on Wednesday, informing us that all schools will be closed for an indefinite period, please find below information about how we will be continuing to provide education for your child/ren.
Obviously we will all be working under very different circumstances form how we have previously operated and with all schools closed, on-line and distance learning by all pupils in the UK will put an enormous strain on the internet infrastructure. This may result in infrastructure crashes, slower download speeds and intermittent connectivity, but, hopefully, these issues will be resolved and not impact too much on your child’s access to learning.
Even though the school will be closed, teachers will continue to work either in school or from home preparing work for your child and providing marking and feedback for the work that they do.
Home school learning
Work will be provided weekly to all pupils. This will be in the form of a 4x4 grid with 16 age appropriate activities per week for them to complete. Activities will be across the whole curriculum and your child can decide which activities they wish to complete every day. Obviously your child does not work continuously in school throughout the day as there are opportunities for play and breaks. Please ensure your child still has opportunities for a break from their work.
The work will be posted on Parentmail, the child’s HWB class page and also the school website.
In addition to this pupils will be provided with a list of websites, and teachers will direct pupils to different websites to help understand, enhance or consolidate learning.
Literacy and numeracy tasks will be differentiated at 3 levels and your child will choose which level they are comfortable to work on. Pupils may wish to access the tasks at more than one level and are free to do so.
Where parents may have difficulty with internet accessible devises hard packs will be available to collect from the school foyer from 9.00am to 11.00am every Monday morning. This may be subject to change depending on need or situation.HWB Learning platform
Please see step by step guide to show how to access this learning platform, which can be found under the "Home School Learning" page under the "Children's" tab on the home page of our website. You will need your child’s username and password already supplied by the class teacher.
Pupils will need to join their HWB class by clicking the link e-mailed to their HWB e-mail address sent yesterday 19/3/2020. Reception and Nursery childrens HWB email addresses are being sent out to you and will be with you by Sunday. Please bear with us while we undertake this lengthy administration task.
Homework grids, discussions and announcements will be posted on their class pages.
Where children are able to record work on-line we would like them to use the Just2easy program on the HWB homepage. Teachers will view their work and provide feedback directly to the child on their work.
Photographs can be uploaded to this program also, so if a child produces work in a different medium and takes a photo of this, it can be uploaded using the camera tool.
Teachers HWB e-mail addresses are also being shared. If you wish to contact staff if you have questions regarding the work or being able to access the learning, then please do so via these accounts. Teachers have daily designated times, 11.00am-12.00pm and 2.30pm-3.30pm to respond to e-mails. Staff will not be responding outside of these times as they have other duties to attend to.
If you have a technical issue can you please cc Mrs Hancock as well as she will be providing technical support.
Please be aware that staff may become ill or have family members that require nursing and during these time may not be available for contact. Also there is a very strong possibility that staff may be re-deployed to other front line services and this too will impact on their availability. Where a member of staff is absent the other teacher in their year group will post the work to be completed but will not be able to mark the completed work. Under normal circumstances with staff absence, we would employ a supply teacher but this facility is not available under these circumstances.
Please bear with us as we operate this different approach. There are bound to be glitches and we will work hard to address them as quickly as possible.Kind regards
Mr H Roberts
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COVID-19 - Emergency Childcare and Free School Meals Breakfast and Packed Lunch - Emergency Childcare Request
Fri 20 Mar 2020Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.
Please, therefore, follow these key principles:
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If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
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If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical
worker, then childcare provision will be available for them.
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Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family
members with underlying conditions.
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Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing
socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe
the same social distancing principles as adults.
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Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to
care for children wherever possible.
If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for childcare provision. These include:
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Health and social care;
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Education and childcare;
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Key public services;
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Local and national government;
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Food and other necessary goods;
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Public safety and national security;
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Transport;
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Utilities, communication and financial services.
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Further details is provided in the following link:
Emergency childcare provision is available for these essential frontline workers during the Coronavirus school closure period. This emergency childcare is for children up to the age of 14 years.
This emergency childcare is available to RCT residents and RCTCBC employees only.
If you are a key frontline worker with a child/children between the ages of 3 to 14 years, please click on the attached link to an e-form and complete the required details.
https://forms.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/Web/coronaviruschildcare/startnew
Please note that if you have more than one child, a further form will need to be completed and there is a link at the end of the form to enable a further form to be completed.
During the week commencing 23rd March, the emergency childcare will be offered in your usual school. Normal school hours will operate and usual school transport for those who normally receive it will be provided. For week commencing Monday 30th March, emergency childcare will be offered in seven emergency centres Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm for key frontline workers. The Council is exploring future transport arrangements for 3 to 14 year olds from 30th March onwards for the emergency childcare between normal school hours. The provision for 3 to 14 year olds is being offered in seven school settings throughout the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.
In addition, it is the responsibility of the parents/carers to ensure that if their child is vulnerable due to an underlying medical or health need that they self-isolate their child.
If you are an essential frontline worker with a child/children aged 0-3 years please email childcareplayemergencyplanning@rctcbc.gov.uk to arrange your support.
Free School Meals Breakfast and Packed Lunch Request
Parents/carers of children who are entitled to free school meals will be able to collect a breakfast and packed lunch from their local primary school during the Coronavirus school closure period.
The food will be a cold provision which will be packaged for take away and can be collected between 11am and midday each day. Each pack will contain a packed lunch for the collection day and breakfast for the following morning.
Please click on the attached link to an e-form and complete the required details.
https://forms.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/Web/coronavirusfreeschoolmeals/startnew
Vulnerable Learners
If your child is deemed to meet vulnerable learner eligibility and you require emergency childcare please complete the attached link.
https://forms.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/Web/coronaviruschildcare/startnew
Vulnerable learners include: children with safeguarding and welfare needs, children looked after, young carers and children with children with disabilities. During the week commencing 23rd March, the emergency childcare will be offered in your usual school. Normal school hours will operate and usual school transport for those who normally receive it will be provided. For week commencing Monday 30th March, emergency childcare will be offered in seven emergency centres. Provision for vulnerable learners will be for core school hours only. The Council is exploring future transport arrangements for 3 to 14 year olds from 30th March onwards for the emergency childcare between normal school hours. The provision for 3 to 14 year olds is being offered in seven school settings throughout the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.
Please ensure that if you child is vulnerable and has significant medical and health needs that your child is self-isolated. Please see the attached link for further details.
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COVID-19 - Emergency childcare for essential workers
Fri 20 Mar 2020Thank you for your support and patience during these challenging few weeks. Following the Education Minister’s letter to schools and a discussion with Welsh Government officials late yesterday afternoon, I can now update you on the current position in Rhondda Cynon Taf for child care arrangements for vulnerable learners and essential workers. Apologies for the delay but the LA have been waiting for key definitions for vulnerable learners and essential workers from Government, which have only just been released.
Childcare Provision
As you are aware schools will not be expected to provide statutory education from Monday 23th March 2020, with children ceasing to attend school at the end of the normal school day on Friday 20th March. However, school buildings need to remain open from Monday 23rd March and school staff are expected to be in work if they are able to do so.
Our schools are in the heart of our communities and as such are pivotal in keeping our essential workforce operational. Schools will remain open to provide effective childcare to support our essential workers and vulnerable children in these significantly challenging times.
During the week commencing 23rd March, emergency childcare will be offered in your children’s usual school settings for 3-14 year olds. This provision will be available during normal school hours and usual school transport will be available for eligible learners from the 23rd to the 27th of March. Due to staffing issues there will be no breakfast provision during the 23rd and 27th of March.
Parents/carers of essential workers (please see the following for the Government definition and eligibility ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision ) will be required to fill in an e-form to identify whether or not they require childcare (please see attached Appendix 1 entitled Emergency Childcare and Free School Meal Breakfast and Packed Lunch.pdf).Provision for vulnerable learners will be for core school hours only. These include:
• Children on the child protection register;
• Children in need of care and support from social care;
• Looked after children;
• Young carers; and
• Children with disabilities.Parents and carers of vulnerable learners in the categories above are encouraged to register on-line utilising the link in Appendix 1 entitled Emergency Childcare and Free School Meal Breakfast and Packed Lunch.pdf.
Future childcare arrangements will be clarified prior to the Easter break as arrangements are evolving at a swift pace. The local authority will process all applications from parents and carers and will notify schools in due course.Kind regards
Mr H Roberts