Wednesday 10^th June 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Further to the letter sent by Mr Lindsay Harvey (Corporate Director – Education and Family Support) on June 4^th 2020, I wanted to reassure you that Ysgol Bryn Castell are working closely with the Local Authority and other professionals to develop a consistent and safe approach to welcoming your children back to school.

Ysgol Bryn Castell’s priority remains the health and wellbeing of everyone in our school community, and this will not change going forwards. Preparations have already begun around the reopening of our school but this is dependent upon the further guidance issued this afternoon from Welsh Government and from the Local Authority in due course. We will share further details with you over the coming weeks as this develops.

It is likely that this approach to welcoming pupils back will be on a limited basis and will provide an opportunity for children to have some face to face interaction with their teachers, support staff and friends. This may look different for different groups of learners dependent upon their individual needs and will be balanced with the very different school environment which pupils are returning to, where social distancing, very small class groups, regular hand-washing and one-way systems are in place, with pupils encouraged to follow these to promote safety for all. We recognise that this may be very challenging for our young people at YBC and are already developing resources to support the re-engagement and reconnection with education and learning for all learners.

The school will continue to offer the small hub provision for our most vulnerable pupils which has been in-place for the last 12 weeks and will continue to prepare and upload a range of activities for pupils to access and complete online through both the school website and Hwb alongside support through regular communications with school staff.

Ysgol Bryn Castell recognises that this period of school closure has been very challenging and continue to offer support to try to minimise the impact of this as much as possible on you and your family. During this time, the school will continue to offer telephone support for behaviour and families in crisis from Monday to Friday (including bank holidays); please call 01656 815595 and leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Lastly, our staff have been working tirelessly to ensure provision has been available during this difficult time and we will continue to act in the best interests of your children as we move forward, together. Thank you for your patience and understanding and for all you have done at home in what has been the most challenging of times.

Stay safe and best wishes,

Mrs Helen Ridout and all at Ysgol Bryn Castell