The letter below is sent from Claire Homard, Chief Officer for Education and Youth, FCC. I will be sending out further emails shortly to further clarify what will happen at Maesglas. Thank you for your patience whilst we try and make the necessary arrangements.

Dear Parents and Carers
School Arrangements for January 2021

In light of the Welsh Government’s announcement for new restrictions for Wales after Christmas there have also been national decisions taken about the provision of education when schools reopen in January. Welsh Government has advised local authorities that a more flexible approach will be needed to account for possible increases in the transmission of the virus, particularly after the Christmas holidays where there will have been greater mixing between families. They have advised schools to make greater use of remote learning approaches in the first few weeks of the new year, with an expectation that all schools will be back to delivering face-to-face learning by the 18th January, unless exceptional circumstances exist. Flintshire County Council has taken the decision, in consultation with its Headteachers and in line with Welsh Government advice, that Flintshire schools will not reopen for face-to-face learning for the week beginning 4th January 2021 and will provide online learning for all pupils. Schools are required to make appropriate provision for leaners who are considered to be vulnerable and this may include attendance at school for some pupils. All schools are also required to make in-school provision for the children of critical workers where alternative childcare is genuinely not available. It is essential that critical workers, as defined by Welsh Government, are able to fulfil their roles whilst schools are providing learning digitally. Each school will be contacting parents to identify which children may need to continue to attend school during this time. The legislation requires schools to make childcare available as a minimum from 8.30am to 4.00pm. Working within the regulations set out by Welsh Government, critical worker provision will be in place in Flintshire schools no later than Wednesday 6th January. Schools are not required to make provision if it is a designated school training day. The decision when to move schools back to face to face learning will not be made until the 6th January when the local data around the virus has been analysed and the level of risk determined. This will be communicated to parents as quickly as possible. The Council’s aim is to return to face to face learning as quickly as possible, but only when it is safe to do so.  We appreciate this information is coming to you at very short notice but the Council has only been made aware of Welsh Government’s position within the last 24 hrs. Children entitled to Free School Meals will continue to receive direct payments for the period of remote learning. More details around catering arrangements for children who need to attend school either as a vulnerable learner or for childcare arrangements will be communicated as quickly as possible. Once schools have determined their opening arrangements for January, as some have scheduled training days, we will also be able to communicate arrangements for those who are eligible for school transport and need to assess if they will be physically attending school for the reasons outlined above. It is our expectation that all learners will receive the same learning offer from their school whether they are at home and engaged in remote learning or whether they need to be physically in the building. Whilst we appreciate that this decision may cause some anxieties and there may be some unanswered questions, we are working at speed with our headteachers on this last day of the term to put things in place for a smooth and safe start to the new year and will continue to provide parents and carers with information via letters from schools and on our website www.flintshire.gov.uk
Claire Homard and Cllr Ian Roberts

As we move to on line teaching for the next few days please be aware of the following-

In the event of your child testing positive for Covid -19 during the Christmas break period, please contact the school via ghhead@hwbcymru.net  Normal contact via SeeSaw app, Twitter or by email with class teachers will not be monitored, so please only use the main email address here. 

Class teachers will be available via email and seesaw up only until 3.15 Friday 18th. If you need to contact the school for any reason, please also use the ghhead@hwbcymru.net which will be monitored daily. The school mobile will be monitored daily also if you would prefer to message 07930499657

In all cases please be patient if we do not get back to you immediately.

Thanks for your understanding

As we today is our last face to face teaching day this term we have some goodbyes to make...
Firstly we wish Miss Johnson well as she leaves us to move to a job closer to her home town, the other side of the border!
Secondly to Miss Collins as she leaves working in education and embarks on a new adventure. We know we will still see her lots though and can't wait for the Spring when she will come back to see us to help plant a very special garden (more on that to follow).
And finally we wish our current Reception teachers, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Lloyd a very happy, early, retirement. They have been teaching here for well over twenty years and have taught not only all of our current pupils but a significant number of the parents as well! They have been dedicated to giving the children of Greenfield the best start in life and I am sure you will all join with me in thanking them for everything they have done for the children and the community generally. We will miss them both very much and wish them every happiness in their retirement. 

​Dear Parents and Carers


We all have a role to play in the fight against Coronavirus!
Over the past few months a number of Flintshire schools have been affected by pupils who have been forced to self-isolate, due to positive cases in their school ‘bubbles’.
The vast majority of families have complied with the requirements set out by Public Health Wales and the Welsh Government. However, with Christmas fast approaching it’s important to remind ourselves of why we still need to adhere to these rules.
Over recent weeks there has been a steady increase in the numbers of people testing positive to COVID-19 in the county. Colleagues in schools have picked up on some concerning trends and misconceptions, which goes against the current health protection guidance. Some of the main areas of concern are:

· Lack of adherence to self-isolation rules, when confirmed as a positive case or awaiting test results, some examples seen in Flintshire schools are:
o Adults with symptoms and whilst waiting for their test result to come through sending and picking up their children from school
o Childcare being provided by adults who are contacts of positive cases and should be self-isolating
o Particularly for older pupils, not understanding how a bubble and the need to self-isolate works. For instance, carrying on with part time jobs, socialising with the bubble contacts.
· Children mixing outside school time – sleepovers, birthday parties, play dates, park mixing, family parties. School bubbles only relates to the school – not outside.
Also:
o Shared childcare out of school time – unregistered childminders taking children back with their children from school, also grandparents, aunties and uncles.
o Lift sharing (both school staff and parents taking other people’s children to school) – this has caught several schools out.

With concern also being raised by Welsh Government and the potential for more lockdowns in the future, we ask that everyone in Flintshire does their part to keep our County safe.
We urge all families to be vigilant and stay safe over the upcoming holidays. The advice from Welsh Government remains in place and can be viewed here – https://gov.wales/coronavirus and advises:
Keep Wales safe:
o stay out of each other’s homes, except in very limited circumstances
o try to limit how many different people you meet
o maintain social distancing
o wash your hands regularly
o work from home if you can

Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Education and Youth, Councillor Ian Roberts, said:

“These are not “normal” times and coronavirus is active in all of our communities. We all need to work together to keep Flintshire safe and avoid meeting people from outside our household, wear face coverings and follow the rules that are in place to keep us all safe.”

Best wishes for a peaceful and safe Christmas.
Yours sincerely
Claire Homard
Chief Officer, Education & Youth

​These can be collected from the top entrance to the school on Thursday 17th December FP - between 10 - 11 Year 3 & 4 between 11 -11.30 Year 5 & 6 between 11.30 - 12 Please observe social distancing rules and the markings we have ion place. Come during the time slot for the youngest of your children and items belonging to your older children can be collected at the same time. Thank You

​Dear Parents and Carers
End of Term Update
Thank you all for your patience with this matter.
 
As you will no doubt be aware, yesterday evening we were given notice that schools in Flintshire would be closed from Wednesday 16th December and we will move to blended learning for the last two days of term. Christmas Party day and food has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday so that pupils do not miss out. Many of you have already opted to pre-Christmas isolate and are currently doing so or will be from Monday, my message from yesterday stands and the absences are being recorded as authorised Covid Isolation.
 
We have been advised to remain open for face to face teaching (Thursday and Friday) only for pupils of critical workers who have no other childcare options. Please contact your class teacher via SeesSaw if you think this applies to you and I will contact you back to discuss the matter.
 
We will continue to provide blended learning via SeeSaw and Google Classrooms as well as the non-digital activity sheet that is being shared this evening.
Teaching staff will be available on-line for your children up until 3pm on Friday 18th. The Christmas ‘concert’ will be released at 10 am on Friday as per original plan.
 
We expect a press release from FCC today with more information, but as I said in my message yesterday, this is a fast moving situation and we are responding to it in the timeliest fashion we can. As soon as the message comes through we will share it via social media.
 
As always, do what is best for you and your family and know that we will support you as best we can. We appreciate all the messages of support you have given us in what has been a very difficult run up to Christmas.
 
Hope you have a good weekend
 
Mrs Gill Lloyd
 

​Dear Parents and Carers
Some of you may be aware that there was an announcement yesterday that most secondary schools in Flintshire will be closing this Friday 11th December and moving to online learning.
Following this announcement, we have had a number of calls from concerned parents and carers on how this will affect them. The safety of our pupils has always been our main priority and all staff have worked extremely hard to ensure safety measures have been adhered to.
We understand your concerns as Covid-19 cases have continued to rise dramatically in Flintshire, with a particularly high number of cases in Holywell, Greenfield and Bagillt.
Many parents and carers have already contacted us regarding their personal decision as to whether to keep their child(ren) at home to work for the last week of term. Some families feel they need to isolate as a family unit prior to the Christmas period, which will therefore enable them to see vulnerable family members over Christmas. We are also very aware that a number of families would find school closure difficult as they try to continue their jobs next week, and we are trying our best to stay open to help those families out. Please be aware that we are in a fast changing situation and we may have to reverse the decision to remain open with very little notice if advised to do so.
As a school we understand and support your decisions. With this in mind, if you need to self-isolate or have older high school pupils at home and you are considering keeping your child(ren) off school for the final week, we will authorise this absence under the Covid isolation code.
If you are considering doing this and have not already contacted school to say so, can you contact your child’s class teacher via SeeSaw or phone the office on 01352 711497 to let us know?
Teaching staff will remain in school all next week and work will be provided through the usual platforms (SeeSaw and Google Classrooms). In addition, due to the high numbers of pupils we are already aware will not be in next week, we will be sending Christmas Activity ideas home this Friday for those who are unable to access the online work.
As always during this Covid crisis, our advice is to do what is best for you and your family and we will support you as best we can.
Thank you as for your continued support, patience and understanding.
Gill Lloyd 

Just for your information the following events have been planned alongside normal lessons. We have tried to keep the week as normal as possible.
14/12 Collection of Christmas boxes for Teams4U before school in the top car park. Boxes cannot be accepted at any other time (other than in before school club that morning). Fr Dominic (the new vicar)  has recorded a special Christmas service for our pupils to watch to be played at the beginning of this week. 
16/12 Pantomime will be streamed in class
17/12 Party Lunch instead of normal lunch for school meal, please let teaching staff know by tomorrow (via Seesaw or email) if your child will by buying school dinner that day and what sandwich choice they want (ham, cheese or tuna mayo). They will also have chicken nuggets, pizza, sausage and fries as well as cake/fruit. Vegetarian options are available. Christmas party that afternoon, children can come to school in  party clothes but please be aware they will still need to be out playing for the classrooms to be cleaned so make sure the children are wrapped up warm and have suitable footwear on.
18/12 Christmas jumper day. NO CHARGE. We will be making our Christmas shows available to parents via SeeSaw at 10 am. If you have not yet signed up, please get in contact with the class teacher and they will be able to help you through the process. If you are unable to watch the video, please let me know and I will try and get it to you through a different platform. 
18/12 School finishes at the normal time.