Category Archives: News

Update – Online Learning and Centre Determined Grades

Posted on by

Dear all Parents, Carers and Pupils

 

The Welsh Government announced on Friday 29th January that the period of school closure will be extended until after the half term and possibly beyond for secondary schools. This means that unless there are any significant changes in the prevalence of the virus, Prestatyn High school will continue to deliver online learning to all of our pupils and students until at least the 22nd of February. We are awaiting further direction on how long after this date schools will be closed to the majority of learners. In the meantime, please continue to support our pupils and students by encouraging them to engage in the online learning provision. We remain open as always and we will continue to deliver in-school learning to our pupils accessing our hub provision. The school remains a very safe place and we are continually updating our risk assessments as demands change or the advice and guidance we receive is amended.

 

Update on online learning

Since the announcement of the move to online learning in December we have continued to utilise Microsoft TEAMS to set our online learning. Our teachers are working hard to provide the best possible learning for all pupils and students. On average around 1200 pupils a day are accessing work via TEAMS which is fantastic to see. Over the last two weeks we have been building up our use of live lessons with all year groups. Your son/daughter should now have a blend of live lessons and online work from all subjects and can access the times for live lessons from the calendar section on TEAMS, or by clicking on each individual class team. We are proud of our students for the work they are completing and encourage all students to keep working hard on their learning. Please remember, if the work is too much or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact your child's head of year.

 

Update on Year 11, 12 and 13 learners and their Centre Determined Grades

On the 20th January the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced if pupils or students were expected to sit a GCSE, AS or A level examination this summer (2021) their school will decide their grade using assessment evidence held in school. There will no external assessments or exams. Grades will be determined using a range of assessments completed by learners whilst they have been studying for their qualification. Centre determined grades will be based on what teachers expected a pupil or student to achieve at the end of the qualification. They will represent a fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement of the most likely grade that might be achieved in normal circumstances. This is a professional judgement based on the combined assessment information held for that pupil or student and will be a holistic judgement rather than focusing on a single source of evidence. The grade awarded will not be based on single target grades, mock results or aspirational grades.

 

It is now incumbent upon learners in examination classes to try their very best as teachers can only award grades that can be supported by work completed by them. Centre determined grades will be decided by the effort and work completed, since the start of their course and until it ends. We are awaiting further clarity on the date when all examination courses will finish. Now is not the time for learners to stop working, now is the time to work harder than ever before so pupils and students ensure they provide their teachers with enough evidence to award grades they are capable of. We will continue to provide regular updates on qualifications via our website and social media.

 

We are working non-stop to ensure that all of our pupils and students are supported and safe. Please be in no doubt that the moment we are allowed to have more pupils and students back in the building, we will do so in a very safe way so that all of our community are protected from this virus. Until then, please follow the government advice on Covid-19 and stay safe.

 

Best wishes and many thanks as always with your support on this.

 

Neil Foley - B.Sc. MA.

Pennaeth Headteacher

Notification of a wellbeing day

Posted on by

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you and your families are all safe and well. As we reach the end of January, we have been reflecting on how much our pupils and staff have adapted yet again to the current restrictions and impact this has had on education. Our online learning provision is constantly evolving and we are now delivering live lessons to compliment the online learning provision. Last week, we recorded our highest number of pupils that have engaged with online learning yet. This is fantastic and demonstrates the hard work that our pupils and their families are putting in. We also recognise that there are considerations with this. Some pupils are finding the workload a challenge and beginning to feel overwhelmed by their online work. We encourage them to contact their teachers if this is the case. We want to reassure you that we are constantly reviewing our practices and taking on board all the feedback we have had. Whereas it is incredible that there is the technology available for us to be able to deliver education temporarily online, we also recognise that with all the online learning taking place, pupils’ screen time will have increased.

 

With all this in mind we have decided that Friday 5th February will be a day that focusses solely on pupil wellbeing. There will be no live lessons and no work set online for this day. Instead, pupils will be asked to focus on their wellbeing and will be given activities that they can do at home. These activities will be given in the form of a ‘wellbeing bingo’ and will be sent to the pupils in advance. Pupils are encouraged to not engage in any screen time and instead, focus on doing activities that promote positive health and wellbeing.

 

Next week is Children’s Mental Health Week. Our pastoral teams are working hard to support our learners but as we continue to live our lives in the midst of a global pandemic, mental health continues to be a growing concern for some of our learners. Please visit the wellbeing section on our website which is regularly updated with information, activities and advice. If you have any concerns about the mental health or wellbeing of any of our pupils, please get in touch with our pastoral team. We want to reiterate that pupil wellbeing and mental health concerns come before the completion of work. Pupils must remember to do what they can and not at the expense of their mental health.

 

Many thanks for your continued support and hard work.

Yours faithfully

CLTurner

Mrs Claire Turner

Deputy Headteacher

Assessment arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level grades in summer 2021

Posted on by

Dear parent / carers and learners

It has been a difficult start to 2021 with Wales on alert level 4 and schools moving to remote learning. Despite these challenges, parental and learner feedback to our online provision has been very positive with over 1,400 pupils / students accessing Teams on a daily basis. We will continue to deliver a combination of live lessons and set work to minimise the impact and disruption of school closure.

On the 5th January, Mr Foley, wrote to parents outlining the changes to assessment arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications. The Welsh Government, WJEC and Qualifications Wales published an assessment timeline which required pupils and students to complete Non Examined Assessments (coursework) internal assessment and externally set and externally marked assessments. Due to the recent school closure it became apparent that the WJEC proposed timeline was unworkable. On the 20th January the Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced changes to how pupils / students will be graded.

What has changed?

If pupils / students were expected to sit a GCSE, AS or A level examination this summer (2021) their school will decide their grade using assessment evidence held in school. There will no external assessments or exams.

What data will schools use?

Grades will be determined using a range of assessment information. This will include:

 Summative Assessments and APPs and mock exams completed during the qualification.

 WJEC will be supplying schools with amended assessments which pupils / students will be expected to complete.

 Completed non-examined assessments.

 Work completed whilst in lock-down. It is therefore essential that all pupils / students work hard and complete work during school closure.

 Classwork and homework completed during the duration of the qualification.

WJEC have informed schools that there is no expectation to assess pupils / students on topics they have not covered. However, building knowledge and skills, and covering core concepts to support progression remains a priority.

Centre determined grades will be based on what teachers expected a pupil / student to achieve at the end of the qualification. They will represent a fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement of the most likely grade that might be achieved in normal circumstances. This is a professional judgement based on the combined assessment information held for that pupil / student and will be a holistic judgement rather than focusing on a single source of evidence. The grade awarded will not be based on target grades, mock results or aspirational grades.

Welsh Government, WJEC and Qualifications Wales have advised schools not to share school determined grades with learners / parents / carers or any other individual outside the school.

Teaching, marking and assessment will continue from now until the end of all courses and we ask parents to encourage their son / daughter to continue to engage in their online learning and ensure work is completed to the highest standard.

It is incumbent upon pupils / students to try their very best as teachers can only award grades that can be supported by work completed by pupils / students. Centre determined grades will be decided by the effort and work completed by pupils / students. Now is not the time for learners to stop working, now is the time to work harder than ever before and ensure pupils / students provide their teachers with enough evidence to award top grades.

What will happen to Year 12 students?

The WJEC and Qualifications Wales considered whether there was a fair way that AS results from this summer could contribute to A levels in summer 2022, they concluded it would not be possible. This is because A levels are usually awarded by putting marks achieved in all units together (including AS units). However, if pupils are taking AS levels this summer they will still be awarded an AS grade decided by their school. Students will be able to use this grade in their UCAS application to universities and to progress onto the A Level.

What will happen to Year 10 pupils?

If Year 10 pupils were completing a full GCSE, and were expected to sit an exam in the summer, they will be awarded a grade determined by their teachers. However, it will not be possible for pupils to sit units of a GCSE qualification this year. The WJEC are currently considering what the assessments arrangements will be for those subjects next year.

Impact on pupils / students studying vocational qualifications?

The Welsh Government announcement does not include vocational qualifications. Qualifications Wales are working with the awarding bodies offering Wales-only vocational qualifications on the way forward. Qualifications Wales will continue to work with England and Northern Ireland to decide on the arrangements for qualifications offered across the UK. Ofqual are currently consulting on proposals about the qualifications offered across the UK until 29 January. We will keep you updated.

Will pupils / students be able to appeal their grade?

Pupils / students will be able to appeal their grade and these appeals will be made directly to the school. If pupils / parents would like to challenge the process the school undertook to generate their centre determined grade they can appeal directly to the WJEC.

How we will support our pupils / students?

These are challenging and unprecedented times. It is understandable that pupils / students are concerned and anxious. If your son / daughter is anxious I would advise them to contact the school via their Head of Year to discuss their concerns. Alternatively they can contact:

 Meic Cymru – 080880 23456

 Childline – 0800 1111

We will continue to provide regular updates on our website and social media. If you have any specific questions please contact your son’s / daughter’s Head of Year.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Mr G Turner
Deputy Headteacher

Miss S Reed
Head of 6th Form

Welsh Government announcement

Posted on by

The pandemic continues to present serious challenges and concerns in relation to education and wellbeing. For learners in exam years, I understand that this anxiety is particularly acute.

In November, I stated my intention that exams would be cancelled due to the significant disruption already experienced by learners. The proposals we later presented were designed to support learner wellbeing and progression, be responsive to future disruption, and were broadly well received by the education community.

Since then, the public health crisis has worsened. Unless the rates of community transmission reduce significantly by 29 January, schools and colleges will continue remote learning for most students until the February half term. As a result we have revisited our proposals for qualifications, to reflect the impact of this on learner wellbeing and confidence.

The Design and Delivery Advisory Group (DDAG) have since reconvened and have developed revised proposals in this new context. This includes considering the recommendations of the final report of the independent review of qualifications led by Louise Casella, and which will be published on Friday 22 January.

I have now received and considered the amended DDAG proposals and accepted them as my policy on qualifications in 2021. These are summarised below.

First, it is my intention that learners undertaking GCSE, AS and A levels approved by Qualifications Wales will have their qualifications awarded through a Centre-Determined Grade model. This means that grades will be determined by their school or college based on an assessment of the learner’s work. 

Schools and colleges will be able to use a range of evidence to determine the grades to be awarded to their learners, including Non-Examination Assessment elements, mock-exams, and classwork. In addition, the WJEC will offer a set of adapted past papers which can enable schools to continue to assess learning within their teaching plans, providing extra support for teachers and learners.

Qualifications Wales will work with WJEC, supported by the DDAG, to provide an assessment framework to support schools and colleges in developing their assessment plans, which should demonstrate sufficient coverage of key concepts to allow learners to progress, and detail for how the centre has determined a learner’s grade. These assessment plans will be quality assured by WJEC. 

Second, recognising the challenges posed by the ongoing disruption and remote learning, the deadlines and controls around non-exam assessment are being removed and it will not be moderated by the WJEC.

However where possible we would continue to encourage schools and colleges to support learners to undertake some of their Non-Examination Assessment to continue to build learning and skills. Building knowledge and skills, and covering core concepts to support progression, remains a priority and should continue to be a focus, supported by our guidance and approach to distance learning as appropriate.

Third, alongside the Assessment Framework, WJEC will publish guidance to support schools and colleges to develop internal quality assurance processes and the Design and Delivery Group will consider an approach to promote consistency across Wales.

Once quality assurance has been completed at the centre, the grade will be submitted to WJEC. There will be no intervening action on the grades. Learners will appeal to their school or college if they are unhappy with their grade, and to WJEC if they are unhappy with the process. 

I have asked the Design and Delivery Advisory Group to support Qualifications Wales and WJEC in developing and setting out both the Assessment Framework and the quality assurance process. Alongside the framework and guidance, there will be training for practitioners so that processes are applied consistently, equitably, and fairly.

Where learners in Year 10 are due to complete a qualification this year then this approach will apply, but it won’t apply to learners due to take individual units of assessment.

Learners in Year 12 will be awarded an AS grade that is Centre Determined. This will recognise the hard work and learning that they have undertaken this year, provide for progression into the A-level course of study, and support UCAS applications, but will not contribute to the final A level award in 2022.   

I have also asked the Design and Delivery Group to consider arrangements for private candidates as a priority: we must ensure there is a clear option for them to support their progression too.  I am grateful to the DDAG for their continued commitment and support as the approach to qualifications is developed. 

This Centre Determined Grade approach puts trust in teachers’ and lecturers’ commitment to prioritise teaching and learning in the time available, and their knowledge of the quality of their learners’ work.

We have sought to make the grading approach as clear as possible in the circumstances, while remaining as simple as possible. Teaching the core content and aspects of each course remains my absolute priority for learners in exam years, so they are supported to progress with certainty into their next steps, and with confidence in the grades they’ve been awarded.

We are working with higher education institutions to look at how they can support learners in Wales through this transition, and can provide a bridge into university courses. Initial engagement and commitment from our universities have been very positive.

Equally, we will explore with further education institutions and schools how they can support those learners currently in years 10, 11 and 12, as they move to the new academic year. It is vital that the wider education sector continues to come together to support our learners.

As we continue to work at pace to develop these proposals, I encourage learners, teachers and lecturers to continue their focus on learning in the core areas of their courses in the coming weeks. It is this learning, and the development of associated skills and knowledge, which will continue to open doors for learners in the future, even after the qualification itself has been awarded.

I want to thank each and every learner and education professional for their ongoing flexibility and adaptability in responding to the situation in which we find ourselves.

I will be making an oral statement to the Senedd on 26 January, providing an opportunity to update Members further and to respond to questions.

 
Kirsty Williams - Education Minister

Datganiad y Gweinidog addysg ar gymhwysterau 2021 – The Minister for Education’s statement on qualifications 2021

Posted on by

Dear Learner - Learner letter final

 

Assessment arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level grades in summer 2021

We wrote to you recently about changes to the assessment arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications. We now have more information to share with you about how grades will be decided this year.

 

What’s changing?

If you are taking GCSE, AS or A Levels this summer (2021), your teachers or your lecturers will decide your grade. There will be no external assessment or exams.

 

How will GCSE, AS and A level grades be decided?

Your grades will be determined by your school or college based on a range of assessment information. This could include assessments you have completed during the course, including coursework. Your school or college will decide if they want to use adapted assessment materials provided by WJEC to help determine your grade. Your school or college will be able to consider how much course content you have covered when deciding what assessment information to use.

This is so you won’t be assessed on anything you haven’t covered. WJEC will advise your school or college and check that the way they intend to determine your grades is suitable. To allow as much time as possible for more learning to take place, your grades will be determined by your school or college in the summer term.

 

Will my AS grade in summer 2021 contribute to my A Level in summer 2022?

We’ve considered whether there is any fair way that AS results from this summer can contribute to A Levels in summer 2022, but unfortunately there is not. This is because A levels are usually awarded by putting marks achieved in all units together (including AS units). There isn’t a fair way to use AS grades from the summer 2021 as part of the A Level in 2022. However, if you are taking AS levels this summer you will still be awarded an AS grade decided by your teachers or lecturers. You will be able to use this grade in your UCAS application to universities and to progress onto the A Level.

 

What will happen if I’m a Year 10 student?

If you have completed the course and were going to be entered for the whole GCSE course this year, then you can be awarded a grade determined by your school. However, it will not be possible to take just some units of a GCSE this year, and we will need to consider what the assessments arrangements will be for those subjects next year.

 

What happens if I don’t attend a school or college and would have entered as a ‘private candidate’?

You will still be able to complete assessments as required by a school or college if they are willing to enter you for the qualification and determine your grade based on those assessments. The assessment materials provided by WJEC could be used for this. We are looking at alternative arrangements for learners who cannot do this, and more information will be available shortly.

 

What happens if I am studying for a vocational qualification?

Today’s announcement does not include vocational qualifications. We are working with the awarding bodies offering Wales-only vocational qualifications on the way forward. We will continue to work with England and Northern Ireland to decide on the arrangements for qualifications offered across the UK. Ofqual are currently consulting on proposals about the qualifications offered across the UK until 29 January.

 

Will I be able to appeal my result?

If you want to challenge your grade, you will be able to appeal to your school or college. If you are not satisfied with the outcome and want to challenge the process used by your school or college to determine your grade, then you will be able to appeal to WJEC.

 

Support

If you’re worried about what this means for you, it is important you speak with your teachers, lecturers and other adults that support you. We will publish more information as soon as we can on our website and your schools and colleges will also be able to give you more details soon.

If you’re feeling worried or low and want to talk to someone about your feelings, there are some organisations that can help. You could get in touch with:

Meic Cymru - 080880 23456

Childline - 0800 1111

For more info, advice and support during the pandemic you can also go to

www.childcomwales.org.uk/coronavirus/

 

We will be providing regular updates on our website. If you have any specific questions, contact us via email on communications@qualificationswales.org.

Yours sincerely

Philip Blaker

Chief Executive

PHS extend live lessons

Posted on by

Dear parent/guardian,

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support with online learning for all pupils during this time. The decision to close schools to pupils brings with it challenges for all, but your son/daughter’s education remains our top priority.

All pupils are currently being taught through Microsoft TEAMS. Our teachers are providing set work, as well as direct instruction through narrated PowerPoints, video content and text means. To ensure that you hear the narrations please ensure the PowerPoints are opened in the desktop app, as the online version does not always function with the narration.

Last week, Denbighshire County Council changed their guidance to schools to allow us to extend our use of live lessons. This means we are now able to deliver online streamed lessons to all year groups. Since September we have successfully been using ‘live lessons’ with our 6th Form students during instances where they have been working from home and we look forward to increasing this provision to all pupils. Therefore, from next week we aim to increase our use of live lessons where possible.

As ever, we continue to adapt so that we can deliver the best possible means of teaching online and we aim to live stream as many lessons that we can. There are several challenges and obstacles we need to overcome in order to achieve this goal:

- The infrastructure and broadband width provided to us at school would not be able to cope with all 85 teachers live streaming at once

- Safeguarding protocols must be in place to keep everyone safe online including guidance from Welsh Government that restricts the use of certain devices for live lessons, having two adults online for each lesson or recording all sessions

- Not all pupils have access to their own device and share devices at home with other pupils, meaning many learners will not be able to access the lesson in real time. Therefore, any sessions which are taught live will be recorded in order to allow students who may have to share devices to catch up.

- We are also mindful of young people’s mental health during this time and as a school we believe that to have students sat following a rigid timetable of live lessons for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week may be detrimental to their wellbeing. Students need to develop skills of independence and time management during this time. All pupils must complete the amount of work each day that they are capable of without increasing stress or anxiety at this very difficult time.

Please be assured we have worked tirelessly to overcome these hurdles so that we can provide the best possible education for all learners.

To further support pupil wellbeing, they will be invited to registration sessions with their peers and their group tutor or member of the year team beginning next week, in order to check in with them.

In summary, we aim to have more students taught in live lessons to support their learning over the coming weeks. These sessions will support your son/daughters learning and they will be notified by their teachers via TEAMS when these sessions will be. The first sessions for Year 7-11 pupils will begin as soon as possible, with all pupils invited to live sessions within the next week. Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions regarding this on info@prestatynhigh.co.uk.

Yours faithfully

Mr. A. I. Barons
Assistant Headteacher.

Denbighshire Music Co-operative

Posted on by

The Denbighshire Music Co-operative Music Service is now online only.

Please view the below link for all parents of pupils having music lessons:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ouEiaNPmIEe_X_psK1t04xa-5nJ0D4tDnTlFTuoFa4xUN0xSNU01RE43NlpLODBKVjE0OENUR0xIMCQlQCN0PWcu

Lesson will be delivered exactly the same as per school lessons, same length of lesson etc and will be delivered using Microsoft TEAMS.

Denbighshire Music Co-operative have delivered thousands of online lessons since March successfully using Teams and many of our pupils have still taken exams with great results.

Please do help us by completing the form – this then registers them for our ENCORE service that moves them to online lessons.

For pupils with no instrument at home we offer music theory or we can arrange a safe collection of an instrument from our office or school if needed.

Important information and announcements made by Welsh Government

Posted on by

Dear all parents and carers

As promised, I write to you again with important information about the latest developments and announcements made by Welsh Government.

Announcement 1 on school closures:

Unless there is a significant reduction in cases of coronavirus before 29 January (the date of the next three-week review of the regulations) school and college students will continue to learn online until the February half term.

This means that all pupils will not access face to face learning in school until 22nd February 2021 unless we are advised differently. All learners at PHS will continue to learn using online teaching and resources. Pupils who are still attending school in our hub will continue to do so until the end of this period of closure. All of the current measures for learning, free school meals and safeguarding remain in place.

Announcement 2 on internal assessments that were due to be taken instead of end of year exams:

Following the First Minister’s announcement today that most pupils will continue to learn remotely until 29 January or possibly even February half term, Qualifications Wales is announcing that the spring internal assessment window for GCSE, AS, and A level, which were planned to take place between 22 February and 23 April, will not take place and new arrangements will be made.

The school will do everything in its power, as we did last year, to make sure that any system that is devised to allocate grades to our pupils and students is fair, accurate and it does not disadvantage anyone based upon their postcode. We will keep you informed as and when we get further information on these changes and any decisions that are made.

These latest changes are far from ideal and I understand the tremendous strain they will put on families, pupils and all learners in examination years. We will do what we can to make sure the next six weeks are productive and as beneficial as possible. All parents must ensure their son/daughter completes the work online and supports them whenever possible with their studies. If there are any issues please contact the school so that we can address them immediately.

The school is also engaged in developing an in-school testing programme which will be fully operational by the time all pupils return. Any testing will be focused on pupils and students that are identified as contacts by TTP. Further information and guidance for parents will be shared as soon as possible.

Prestatyn High School remains open just as we have been since the start of the pandemic and we are here to support however we can. The next few weeks will be very challenging for many families in our community. As a school, and as a community, we will do all we can to support anyone who needs it. If you require any assistance please do not hesitate to contact the school. Similarly, if you would like to help us support the community, there is a Parentpay link on our website for donations to our local food banks. https://www.prestatynhigh.co.uk/?page_id=8472

Hopefully this new lockdown will be the last and we can begin to get back to normal after half term.

In the meantime, please make sure that our pupils are following the government advice by staying at home, following the rules and protecting the community from any further spread of COVID-19.

As always, I will write to you all again as soon as I get further information from Welsh Government. Regards

 

Neil Foley - B.Sc. MA.
Pennaeth Headteacher

PHS School update Jan 2021

Posted on by

Dear all parents and carers

I hope you had as good a Christmas as possible during these difficult times.

 

As you are aware, the Welsh Government made an announcement yesterday that all schools in Wales will continue to remain closed to pupils and students next week. This means that all learners will continue to study at home using online lessons until their planned return on Monday the 18th January 2021.

 

Whilst once again being disappointed with this decision, I understand the need for a national effort in trying to control the virus and the new variant of COVID-19 which is putting increased strain on all areas of our community including the NHS.

 

We are still awaiting further advice and guidance from the Government on any future plans.

The school will continue to operate as it has done during previous closures. We will still be open to pupils who a) require additional support as identified by the pastoral teams or b) need to attend school because their parents are critical workers. I urge all parents and carers to contact the school if you wish to send your son or daughter into school over the next two weeks so that we can plan and prepare for their attendance.

 

The school will continue to provide online lessons and work for all learners until they return to school for face to face lessons.

All pupils eligible to free school meals will continue to receive payments from DCC to cover the costs of these meals whilst they are away from the classroom.

I will write again as soon as I have received further information about any future education changes made by the Government. Any alterations to the planned examinations/ assessments will also be communicated as soon as we receive further instruction. Please contact the school if you have any questions about this latest announcement.

Finally, please remember our school has been a very safe place with very few infections over the past 10 months. When pupils return in the near future, we will continue to be a safe, protective environment for all members of our community.

 

Regards

Neil Foley - B.Sc. MA.

Pennaeth Headteacher