End of Term Letter

Submitted by steven.jones on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 12:39

As we approach the end of Summer Term and school year, I would like to thank you for your generous support and patience; it means a great deal to the staff at Bryntirion, and is much appreciated. Our pupils have been remarkably resilient throughout this difficult period, and despite the continuing disruption to learning, they have continued to make very good progress. Whilst it has been an extraordinarily challenging year in so many ways, we end the school year full of hope and optimism for the year ahead.

This term will end on Friday 16th July.

On Friday 9th July, the Welsh Government published an advice notice on some key changes from September along with updated Operational Guidance for schools in Wales. Most of the measures we currently follow in school will be unchanged, but I can confirm that:

  • From the start of the new term we will no longer recommend the wearing of face coverings in the classroom for staff or pupils, but it may still be the case that they will be recommended in communal areas. Face coverings should continue to be worn by pupils when travelling on dedicated school transport.
  • We will return to normal session times for the new term. School will start for pupils at 8.40am and end at 3.00pm. Please see below.
  • Contact groups or bubbles will no longer have a role to play at the start of the autumn term.Contact groups will be replaced by a stronger focus on contact tracing. The TTP (Track, Trace and Protect) system will identify close contacts of pupils who have tested positive rather than the school.
  • The Welsh Government will publish 'The Local Covid-19 Infection Control Decision Framework' at the start of the autumn term. This will help us to determine our operations during the weeks that follow.

There may be a need to issue further updates in the event of any significant developments during the summer holiday period. In these circumstances, we will work the local authority to make necessary adjustments to mitigations at the start of term, and inform you of these. The guidance we receive from Welsh Government is often amended and updated, and we are constantly revising plans and risk assessments in response to changes in official guidance.

If you wish to read the full operational guidance from the Welsh Government for your information, please follow this link: https://gov.wales/operational-guidance-schools-and-settings-1-september-2021-html

Start of Term arrangements

The Minister for Education (Wales) has agreed to amend the Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 to allow for an extra bank holiday in 2022 to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Director of Education has recommended that all Bridgend schools start the new school year on Friday 3 September.

We have planned for 6 INSET days in 2021/22.

INSET 1 – Friday 3rd September

INSET 2 – Monday 6th September

INSET 3 – Friday 26th November

INSET 4 – Tuesday 4th January

INSET 5 – Friday 18th March

INSET 6 – Friday 1st July

The first day of term for all pupils in Years 7 to 13 will therefore be Tuesday 7th September. Pupils in Years 8 to 13 will go directly to their form classrooms for registration at 8.40 a.m. All pupils in Year 7 will assemble in the Sports Hall for registration at 8.40 a.m.

We will be reverting to the normal school day from September 2021:

 

Registration/Wellbeing/Assembly

8.40 - 9.00

Lesson 1

9.00 - 10.00

Lesson 2

10.00 - 11.00

Break

11.00 - 11.20

Lesson 3

11.20 - 12.20

Lesson 4

12.20 - 1.20

Lunch

1.20 - 2.00

Lesson 5

2.00 - 3.00

Extra – Curricular programmes

3.00

 

We will be retaining one way systems and other arrangements to mitigate risk such as procedures for hygiene, hand washing and sanitizing. In doing so, we will update our current risk assessment in consultation with the local authority’s Health and Safety team.

As we return to the normal routine of school life, we will also be maintaining our expectations of high standards in terms of uniform. We would be grateful for the support of parents in ensuring that children are correctly attired, including appropriate footwear and hair colour as outlined in our school policy, when we return after the summer holiday. 

Results days

We will write to the parents of students in Years 10 to 13 to provide information on how to receive confirmed GCSE, A level and other results in August. Most pupils will have their results emailed to them, and arrangements will be made for pupils to pick up results in qualifications that have not yet been released. Official results days are Tuesday 10th August for Years 12 and 13, and Thursday 12th August for Years 10 and 11.

Farewell to staff                                              

We will be bidding a fond farewell to members of staff who are leaving us in at the end of this term:

  • Mr Adam Lam (Learning Support) is starting a PGCE in Mathematics.
  • Miss Angharad Bissmire (Learning Support) is taking up a new position at Llangewydd Primary School.
  • Miss Jessica Salles (English/Health and Social Care) is moving to a new position as a teacher of Psychology at The Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School.

I would like to thank them for their contribution to Bryntirion, and wish them all the very best for the next stages in their careers.

We were pleased to be able to finish the term with a return to some of our well established traditions; pupils in Year 6 were able to visit Bryntirion for a brief transition visit, extra-curricular activities recommenced in the PE and Performing Arts departments and we held a Year 7 sports day as well as our annual school musical. For the first time ever, our school musical was an outdoor, abbreviated version of ‘Into The Woods’ which provided new challenges and experiences for our older pupils. All activities were comprehensively risk assessed and organised in consultation with the BCBC Health and Safety department in order to safely provide the best possible opportunities for our pupils. Highlights of our outdoors ‘Into the Woods’ can be seen on our school YouTube channel or by following this link:

https://youtu.be/bTf3B2tGgVM

We hope that in September we can return to even more of our enriching extra-curricular activities, as well as building on our excellent academic standards of course, to continue to provide the best possible experience for your children as possible. I would like to wish you all a very restful, happy and enjoyable summer break and thank you once more for your incredible support this year.