Letter to Parents regarding Partial Closure – Year 8

19th October 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian

I am writing to update you on the current impact of Covid-19 on Ysgol Clywedog and our plans to address this. You will be aware from the school’s communications since September that we have made every effort to continue to provide an education to all our students whilst maintaining an environment that is as safe as possible. We have also, with the support of the local authority and Public Health Wales staff, followed a policy of thoroughly investigating cases of Covid-19 within the school and keeping the numbers of students required to self-isolate to an absolute (but safe) minimum.

We have attempted to secure the services of supply teachers to address the above shortfall but the growing impact of the spread of the Covid-19 virus means that the demand from all secondary schools in the region for these temporary cover teachers has dramatically increased in recent days. In addition, we have had notification of additional staff who are absent today. This in turn has led to an acute shortage of available staff.

Unfortunately, for Tuesday 19th October,  the school needs to take exceptional steps in order to maintain our successful operation as an organisation and to continue to support the safety of all.

As a result, I have reluctantly made the decision to introduce a revised timetable which means that year 8 will need to work from home on Tuesday 19th October. I would like to assure all of our families that this decision has not been taken lightly and that I am hoping our circumstances change for the better and we will return to our normal operation as soon as possible. On Tuesday 19th October, year 8 will be able to access their work through Google Classroom.

Please note that years 7, 9, 10 and 11 will remain in school full-time and will follow their normal timetable. We have prioritised KS4 due to the fact that they are preparing for their GCSE exams.

We fully appreciate the impact that this will have on our young people and yourselves as parents and carers. We apologise for the additional disruption to learning and family life that these measures will inevitably bring but hope it is understood that the school would not be taking these exceptional measures unless it was absolutely essential to do so.

I am very grateful for your continued patience and understanding as well as your commitment to supporting your child’s learning and progress during any enforced absence from school and distance learning.

If you have any questions relating to this matter or require any additional information, please contact the school via our usual email address.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr M Vickery

Headteacher

Letter to Parents regarding Partial Closure – Year 9

Farmfoods, Hightown – Temporary bus route changes from 1st November

After half term, from Monday 1^st November 2021, the Strafford’s service bus which usually picks up and drops off at Farmfoods, Hightown will not be able to pick up there due to road works.

Whitegate and Kingsmill Roads will be closed for 2 weeks.  The closure is planned to start on 27th October.

If you/your child normally gets on the bus at Farmfoods, they will need to walk down Whitegate hill and get on, at the bus stop on the Queensway (see arrow below).

Year 7 Tutor and Parent’s Evening – October 20th 3:15-5:30pm Online

Parents’ Evening Bookings

ePraise Login Link

ePraise Parent Guide

ePraise Parent_Guide_to_parents’_evening bookings

Step by step guide to booking a parents’ evening appointment

Parents’ evenings can be found on our ePraise website under Community > Parents’ evenings or on our app under the More menu. To view your schedule just click on the event you want. Please book an appointment to see your child’s/children’s teachers, to do this simply select the Book appointment button and fill in the details.

The email address needed is the one that you have given to the school on the data collection sheet or application form.