News

Dear parents,

As a school, we are offering more and more live online lessons as well as online work.

Guide for live online lessons

The vast majority of lessons are delivered on Google Meet and occasionally on Teams. We will not use Zoom
Following guidelines from the authority, starting on January 14th, teachers will record their live lessons
The teachers will remind the children at the beginning of the lessons that the sessions are recorded
The children can change their background in the lessons if they wish – the teacher will show the children how to do this
The children’s camera must be on but the microphone should be off. The teacher will help the children with this.
The children must be in a suitable room – not a bedroom, bathroom
Children must wear suitable clothing
Children should not eat food in the lessons
The children can wear headphones if they wish. This helps to remove other sounds around them and helps them to concentrate better
Pupils must show the same courtesy and respect as when in school
If possible, an adult should be nearby in case the child has a technical problem

The attitude and behaviour of all the children who have already been to in our live online lessons has been excellent

Thank you all for supporting the online activities/tasks and the live lessons!

Yours faithfully

Illtud James

Dear parents,

The situation in Wales and across the UK remains very serious. Yesterday, the four UK Chief Medical Officers agreed that the UK is now at the highest level of risk, Joint Biosecurity Council level 5.

In the light of that decision the Welsh Government, in consultation with the WLGA and Colegau Cymru, has agreed that all schools, colleges and independent schools should move to online learning until January 18th.”

The Melin Gruffydd HUB will be open until January 18th – the children who will be attending will require a packed lunch and will not require school uniform. The HUB sessions will run from 8.30am – 4.00pm. Applications for places must be completed in the usual way (Google Form).

Online lessons will be provided via Google Classroom for KS2 and Seesaw for Foundation Phase children.

Vouchers for free school meals will be distributed in the usual way.

Yours faithfully,

Illtud James
Headteacher

Merry Christmas from Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd – https://youtu.be/TlpuZB64Ekk

Dear parents,

We’ve reached the last day of term on the school site. However, your children’s education will continue until the end of the week

Online learning

The teachers will share activities with the children online – Foundation Phase on Seesaw and Key Stage 2 on Google Classroom.

Class videos

Instead of our usual concerts this year, each class will release a Christmas video on Seesaw and the Digital Class – this will take place tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday).

* 2020 has been an extremely difficult year for the Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd community and we have had to face and deal with tens of challenges during the year. The effort from everyone has been tremendous!

I must acknowledge the dedication of our fantastic staff who have made every effort to do their very best for our pupils. They have set aside their own concerns and have had to cope with very different working conditions. They have supported and cared for the children brilliantly while offering interesting and varied lessons. Huge thanks to them – they deserve their Christmas break!

Thank you parents for your support and flexibility – you have often had to adjust your arrangements following ‘#IJ’ messages – but that special support has made a huge contribution to the success of the year. Diolch o galon!

It’s been a pleasure to see the children coping smoothly with all the changes this year – they’ve been great! I’m a very proud headteacher!

I wish you and your families a very safe and healthy, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Happy New Year.

Yours faithfully,

Illtud James

Dear Parents,

I have received the message below from Cardiff County Council this evening to share with you:

End Of Term Arrangements 

As you will be aware, since last Friday, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Cardiff. Schools have put in place excellent preventative measures to minimise the risk of the virus spreading and have worked tirelessly to respond to confirmed cases when these have arisen. However, despite these measures, the pattern of increasing numbers of cases has continued to rise in the community. 

As the rates of Covid-19 in our local communities has risen this week we have witnessed a significant increase in the consequential impact on the number of staff and children requiring self-isolation due to a confirmed diagnosis or close contact with a confirmed case. On the basis of the current trajectory of transmission, we are acutely aware that this impact will only set to worsen over the forthcoming week. 

Welsh Government have announced today that all secondary schools are to move to distance learning as from Monday 14th December. In respect of Primary Schools, it is our intention that they continue to deliver face to face learning until Tuesday 15th December. From Wednesday 16th December they will then be expected to provide a consistent, online learning offer. If schools have planned INSET in the last week of term these should continue.

This decision reflects recent advice from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on the importance of a self-isolation period for families prior to the relaxing of restrictions over the Christmas period. By finishing face to face learning earlier this will also reduce school cases into the TTP system and give additional capacity to ensure TTP can manage community cases over the holiday period. 

We must stress how important it is for parents and communities to continue to follow national Covid-19 guidelines. Schools must reinforce the importance of this to parents and carers in their communications regarding arrangements. 

Yours faithfully,

Illtud James

Dear parents,

Celebrating Christmas

Unfortunately, we will not be able to invite you to our usual shows this year but we want the children to enjoy celebrating Christmas despite the current situation. The children will be doing a number of activities within their classes and in addition, we have prepared and organised Christmas shows and presentations for them.

Each class has created a Christmas video and we will be posting these on our website / social media on Wednesday afternoon, December 16th.

We have also arranged for Years 1-6 to watch the ‘Hetiau Hud’ Christmas show next week and as Father Christmas hasn’t had his Covid vaccination yet, we have asked him to create a video for the Melin Gruffydd children instead of his annual visit.

We are asking for a donation of £ 3 (Parentpay) towards our shows and celebrations, and this money will be donated to the Maggies charity which supports family members who have a person with cancer in the family –

https://www.maggies.org/our-centres/maggies-cardiff/

Homework

We do not usually set homework over the Christmas holidays so that families can enjoy their time together. This is all the more relevant this year due to the Covid situation and the welfare of the children and staff is paramount. We want our children, their families and school staff to relax over the festive season.

End of Term

I’m sure you’ve read in the media about school closing early next week. In line with Welsh Government guidelines, we will be open next week – the last day of term is Friday, December 18th.

Illtud James

Headteacher

If you shop online, especially doing your Christmas shopping online this year, will you do so via our fundraising page, Easyfundraising?

You will then get to your usual shopping pages – ebay, amazon aa – but the school will receive a payment because you went via the Easyfundraising gateway.

Thank you to the parents who have already supported us – £ 345 has already been donated to the school.