Please follow the link below:

http://www.bedwasrhydri.school/blog/letter-from-the-chief-education-officer

Thank you for working with us to try and make the start of the day run as smoothly as possible. We will continue to review the arrangements in order to keep everyone as safe as we are able.

It has certainly been a strange return to school for everyone. We will continue to follow all guidance and advice we receive from key agencies and share any updates with you as soon as we are able. We are constantly working to make our schools as safe as they can be for the whole school community. The current local lockdown in Caerphilly indicates how widespread the virus is in our own community and we will need to work closely together to manage the impact of this.

Thank you all for contributing to the smooth drop off and pick up from Rhydri today. It worked well and everyone’s co-operation was very much appreciated.

To further help with the easing of congestion it has been suggested that parents or carers with children in both drop off groups could drop them at a single time. We are happy to accommodate this.

For parents whose children are in the KS2 group and Bronze Class you can drop off the children together at whichever of the two times is most convenient.

If however you have children in Rainbow Class and KS2 we ask that you drop off the children together at the earlier time only – this will help with the running of the Nursery and Reception Class.

In the interest of everyone’s safety and wellbeing, it is imperative that the staggered start and finish times are strictly adhered to. We ask that parents do not congregate outside the school following drop-off and pick-up and that social distancing is maintained. If we do not feel that this is being successfully achieved we will have to consider introducing further staggering to the start and finish times. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation with this important matter.

As you will be aware, there has been a significant rise in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Caerphilly with some cases specifically in the Bedwas area. Please be vigilant and do not send your child to school if you have any suspicion whatsoever that they are displaying any of the key symptoms as detailed by Public Health Wales. https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/latest-information-on-novel-coronavirus-covid-19/
We will continue to follow guidance provided by key agencies and will inform you via this blog if any further action is necessary.

This is to remind you that we are a nut free school and we ask you to ensure that the food you send in with your child does not contain nuts. There are children within both schools of our federation who have significant nut allergies and it is important we maintain our vigilance with regards to this issue.

With the new term starting, please can we politely remind you that the two disabled car parking spaces outside Rainbow class are to be used by Blue Badge holders only. Thank you for your co-operation with this matter.

Please follow the link to see the reopening plan:

Reopening Plan September V2

Please find a link to a letter to parents from Keri Cole, Chief Education Officer at CCBC.

https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Coronavirus/LetterToParentsCarers28-08-20 

Please find a link to a letter for parents from Keri Cole, at Caerphilly County Borough Council.

https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/CaerphillyDocs/Coronavirus/LettertoParentsCarers-28-07-2020

It is with regret that I inform you that Allwear Solutions Ltd will not be reopening going forward, which is very sad, but would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your loyalty and what was a good working relationship throughout the past 12 years.

The impact that Covid-19 has had on the business is beyond repair, we have been closed since 23^rd March 2020.

I can confirm however that Safewear Ltd will be taking over our customer base officially from the 1^st August 2020.

We have had an excellent working relationship/partnership with Safewear Ltd over the past 12 years and they have over 30 years experience in the school wear industry.  I find them very professional and customer focused, I will continue to help them through the transition period, as I have done throughout June and July, as they have been taking take of all of my orders as we were still closed and the staff are still on furlough.

At present parents can still email julie@allwearsolutions.co.uk or telephone 02920865530 to place an order, and order forms for your school are available to send to the parents via email. They then just need to fill in and return to me.

Safewear Ltd will then pick it up and contact the parent for payment as soon as the order is complete.

Unit 19 Greenway Workshops, Bedwas House Industrial Estate, Bedwas, Caerphilly CF83 8EL.

Parents can still refer to our online shop for prices and sizes but please do not order via the shop until it has been transferred over, as the payment will be going into the wrong account. Details of the transfer will be put on the homepage once it is complete.

Please email direct to Rob or Russ at safewear@btconnect.com to place an order, they will then send an order form for you to fill in and return until the online shop has been switched over.

Over the next 5 weeks or so guidance in many areas from both the Welsh Government and CCBC will be issued. As a result of this it is not possible to present a reopening plan at the moment as there are still too many unknowns for a meaningful plan to be able to be put in place. It is also clear that the situation and the required responses are changing, at times daily, and we are not able to accurately state what the situation will be six weeks from now. We are currently expecting updates through August in areas such as shielding, transport, PE, Nursery, ‘Test, Track and Trace’ as well as the longer term plans for Catering alongside further supporting guidance from Caerphilly and the Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government requirement is that all children will be back in full time education from September 14^th 2020.

We are aiming to publish our reopening plan after we receive the last piece of key guidance and therefore expect the plan to be published towards the end of August.

The first two days of term (Tuesday 1^st and Wednesday 2^nd September) are designated ‘Planning and Preparation’ days and we have been directed by Caerphilly to use those days to finalise our response to the reopening in the light of the most recent guidance and any changes to the wider COVID-19 situation. We will also need to carry out new full site and staff risk assessments and action any subsequent adjustments on those days as this will mean that they are as relevant as possible to the situation at that time.

At the moment our plan is that –

• Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 will start school on Thursday 3^rd and Friday 4^th of September. This gives us the opportunity to focus on and support the children who will be starting new classes this academic year.

• Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 will then start school on Monday September 7^th.

• We are hoping that Reception children will also be able to start on Monday September 7^th although we will update this in the reopening plan; the work to repair the fire damage which has been on hold due to the pandemic is scheduled to be completed by 28^th With statutory schooling being required from September 14^th we might need to take advantage of this leeway in order to endure that we are able to accommodate all children safely

• Nursery parents will be contacted separately.

There will be staff on hand to help.

The timings for school start and end times will be confirmed in the reopening plan but will hopefully be as close as possible to the timings of a normal school day.

The arrival and pick up plans will be detailed in the reopening plan as aspects such as the staggering of start and finish times and points of access and exit from the site will need to be confirmed.

A letter from Caerphilly detailing further aspects of the return to school will be shared once we receive it.

It must be emphasised that all of these plans are provisional and could change completely before the return to school.

Thank you for working with us and helping to make our return to school for the last three weeks so successful. It has been lovely seeing the children again; we have really appreciated the chance to catch up and are looking forward to our return in September.  It is still very frustrating to be unable to plan in more detail but that is the nature of the situation and we will keep you as up to date as we are able.