Good afternoon all,

As promised, we’re getting back in touch with you all to share news of our free support site for parents and carers looking after children during the school closures.

Here, parents and carers can find free primary and secondary activities, tools and advice to support learning at home – including sample homeschool planners, primary reading and maths support, access to free eBooks at secondary, and much more.

In addition to this, we hope you’ve all had the opportunity to sign up for the free support we made available to schools earlier in the week. If not, you can access it, along with the latest information, on our webpages dedicated to supporting schools through coronavirus (Covid-19).

We’re working hard to provide a broad range of support, and will add to this bank of resources over the coming days as our teams develop more, and as we learn together with you, parents and students what type of support is most needed and useful.

To help keep us in touch with parents and carers during this time, please do ask your parent communities to follow us on Twitter at @pearsonparents, and on our Pearson Primary Facebook page. They can also sign up on the free support site to receive updates as more information and support becomes available.

As ever, my thoughts and best wishes to you all,

Sharon Hague
Senior Vice President, Schools

Coronavirus Update: Prestatyn High Provision

As I am sure you are now aware, we have been instructed to close to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. From Monday, 23^rd March our school will have a new purpose. It will help support those most in need, including people involved in the immediate response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

We will be open Monday to Friday, 8am-5pm, although this is subject to change. Any alterations made to the provision will be communicated with parents/carers. Pupils will be provided with learning and enrichment by school staff during these hours. We will provide breakfast and lunch for pupils attending this provision. Breakfast will be served 8-8.30am and lunch will be served 12.30-1.15pm. Pupils are not required to wear school uniform. However, pupils are still expected to follow our expectations of behaviour and our behaviour policy ‘Ready to Learn’.

Food will also be available for any of our pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals.

As per the Government’s advice, please only send your child to school if there is no safe alternative. This is the first principle of their guidance to prevent the spread of the virus.

Please continue to follow the official guidance from the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and Denbighshire County Council on how to stop the spread of COVID-19 and how to remain safe in the community.

Please continue to remind your children about hygiene, how to keep safe and to wash their hands regularly.

It’s a difficult time and we know you’re worried about the impact this might have on our community. It’s important we keep each other safe and follow the guidance we get from the government and health board.

Dowload the letter  – PHS COVID-19 provision

As you can imagine this is a challenging time for everyone and we are trying to facilitate childcare for key workers from next week. We have been asked by Denbighshire County Council to forward this link to all key workers potentially needing child care going forward. These include, NHS Staff, Armed Forces, Social Care Workers, Blue Light Services – proof of ID may be required.

THE LINK BELOW IS TO BE COMPLETED BY KEY WORKERS ONLY BY 12 NOON TODAY 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Ug4_TzS3ZEGUCRtgHRR5kyP33WFzFhBAu_xZ0GJ0fSVURU9EWjRWVTlLNExQU1dPR0YxSU5GUUZIMC4u

Pupils who are eligible for free school meals but not intending to attend the provision are still able to have lunch at school, Monday to Friday served at 12.30pm. We will need advanced notice (by 10am) if you are intending to have lunch so we can make preparations. As per the Government’s advice, please only send your child to school if there is no safe alternative. This is the first principle of their guidance to prevent the spread of the virus.

Please contact the Main Office 01745 852312.

Please continue to follow the official guidance from the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and Denbighshire County Council on how to stop the spread of COVID-19 and how to remain safe in the community. 

Download the letter

Coronavirus Update: Prestatyn High Closure

As I am sure you are now aware, we have been instructed to close to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. This means that the last day of teaching will be Thursday 19^th March 2020. All staff will be still asked attend school on Friday 20^th, to finalise their already extensive preparations for online learning. This work will be updated regularly. All departments will provide appropriate work which will be accessible from the website. Details on how access and return work will be on the PHS website by the end of tomorrow.

Please continue to follow the official guidance from the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and Denbighshire County Council on how to stop the spread of COVID-19 and how to remain safe in the community.

From next week schools will have a new purpose. They will help support those most in need, including people involved in the immediate response to the COVID-19 outbreak. What that means in practice is yet to be decided but we will update the community via our twitter account and website.

The key areas that the government are looking at are:

• Supporting and safeguarding the vulnerable
• Ensuring the continuity of learning

The Welsh Government are looking in detail at how it can best support all those who benefit from free school meals and children with additional learning needs.

This will be a Denbighshire wide coordinated response and I will update all parents and carers when I have further information. Please check our website regularly. If any parent or carer works for the NHS, a blue light service or any other front-line occupation and they require their children to continue to be in school for childcare reasons, please email the school.

All examinations are now cancelled and we are awaiting clarification from Welsh Government, Qualifications Wales and the WJEC on how our pupils and students will gain their hard-earned qualifications. We will keep you up to date with any updates as we get them.

Due to the forced closure, we are unable to offer our pupils and students the planned Easter school programme of interventions, however all pupils and students can access exam materials via the school website.

All education ministers across the UK are meeting to discuss the ramifications and will be making further statements

Please continue to remind your children about hygiene, how to keep safe and to wash their hands regularly.

Ensure that your child has access to our website as we are currently uploading a full curriculum and pupil content for all year groups to complete whilst we are closed. Let us know if there are any issues by contacting websupport@prestatynhigh.co.uk

Parents will be alerted to when the school will reopen via the Denbighshire County Council website, School Comms/School Gateway and a post on our website/Twitter account.

Please consult the NHS if you want to know more about the symptoms of coronavirus. If you think you or your child may have the symptoms, use NHS 111 online if at all possible before calling 111.

It’s a difficult time and we know you’re worried about the impact this might have on our community. It’s important we keep each other safe and follow the guidance we get from the government and health board.

Thank you for your continued support.

Tomorrow will be the last day the school will be open, we will close to pupils at 3pm on Thursday. All pupils will be given a letter of information tomorrow. This will also be available on our website.

We are currently planning to keep school open until Friday afternoon for teaching staff to prepare remote learning materials.

Our Classroom Cloud will be populated with subject resources for pupils from Friday onwards.

Please find appended a statement by Kirsty Williams AM. It informs schools that they will need to shut to pupils as of Friday 20th March at the latest.

Welsh_Gov_Statement_School_Closure_Coronavirus

Coronavirus Update: Prestatyn High Guidance

As you are probably aware, the government’s guidance on the coronavirus has changed from the ‘contain’ phase to one of delaying the spread of the virus. We are getting in touch to let you know what the school is doing in light of this, and what we expect from all of you, to help make sure our school community keeps safe and calm during this difficult period. We’d like to reassure you that at Prestatyn High we’re taking all of the necessary steps to protect our community and are continuing to follow official guidance from the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and Denbighshire County Council.

What is the current situation?
• The school remains open – this is the current official guidance we’ve been given.
• So far, all parts of the school are open and will be running as normal.
• All physical education will continue but will be limited to non-contact sports and activities. Where possible, they will take place in large spaces with limited equipment. All competitions and fixtures have been cancelled for an indefinite period.
• Pupils should attend unless they feel unwell – if your child has any of the following symptoms, they should remain at home for 14 days:
o a new, continuous cough and/or
o a high temperature
o If your child is unwell, report this to the school as you would normally

School trips abroad at the moment have been banned by the government. We will contact all parents whose children are involved in the following trips abroad:
• The MFL department France trip has been cancelled
• The PE department trip to Holland has been cancelled
• The Science trip to CERN is pending a decision
All events not directly linked with teaching have been cancelled. This means that, unfortunately, the Awards Evening and the 6th Form Taster Evening have been cancelled. Staff have cancelled all external meetings, where possible, along with visits and courses. All governors meetings have been postponed.

All examinations are still scheduled to run on the same dates.

We will keep you up to date with any changes to the current situation.

What we are doing to protect and support pupils and staff:
• We are reminding pupils and staff about hygiene and how to keep safe.
• We are supporting all pupils experiencing anxiety at this time.
• Staff and pupils are consistently reminded about the importance of washing hands and we communicate regularly about this virus.
• We have hand sanitiser located around the school and in offices.
• We have disconnected the open spout water fountains in school to reduce infection. The bottle filler water fountains are cleaned regularly and remain in use.

What we need pupils to do

• Wash hands often – with soap and water, especially when they arrive in school after using public transport, after visiting the toilet, after break, before eating food and before leaving school.
• Covering their nose and mouth if they cough or sneeze with a tissue, throwing the tissue in the bin.
• If they feel unwell, please stay at home.
• If they start feeling unwell during the day, inform a member of staff immediately.
• Avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with other people, especially if they are unwell.

What we need you to do

• Ensure that your child is healthy before sending him/her to school.
• If you have recently changed your contact details, please inform the school office as soon as possible via email, letter or telephone.
• Talk to your children about the coronavirus. It’s a scary time and we should make sure children feel supported.
• Ensure all children have appropriate equipment in school; sharing is not acceptable. Provide paper tissues in school bags.
• Come and collect your child straight away, if we ask you to (we will contact you if they become ill with either a high temperature or a new, continuous cough).
• Ensure that your child has access to our website as we are currently uploading a full curriculum and pupil content for all year groups to complete whilst absent. Let us know if there are any issues by contacting websupport@prestatynhigh.co.uk (so we can make sure we’re well prepared for remote learning if the school does need to close at some point).

What happens if the school has many staff absences?

• We will try our best to keep the school open if some staff members are unable to work. However, this may have an impact on the school day.  We will be operating in order to ensure the least disruption possible to our learners’ education, and will prioritise examination groups, if necessary.

What happens if the school has to close?

• We will only close if we are either officially advised to do so or we do not have enough staff to run the school. In either case, we will alert parents to the closure via the Denbighshire County Council website, School Comms/School Gateway and a post on our website/Twitter account.
• This will be the same method used in letting parents know when the school will be reopened.
• We plan to set work for pupils through the website. Our teachers are currently uploading work onto this site as a precautionary step. We will be prioritising examination groups.

Please keep in mind that we are only sending out this information to help the school community prepare. There are currently no plans to close.

If you have any questions about our response to this issue, please consult the school office. Please consult the NHS if you want to know more about the symptoms of coronavirus. If you think you or your child may have the symptoms, use NHS 111 online if at all possible before calling 111.

It’s a difficult time and we know you’re worried about the impact this might have on our community. It’s important we keep each other safe and follow the guidance we get from the government and health board.

Prestatyn High School will postpone its Sixth Form Information and PHS Awards evenings, originally planned for March 17th/24th, to later this year.
The health and safety of our pupils, staff and, our wider community and staff are of utmost importance.

This guidance will assist schools, childcare and other educational settings

in providing advice for pupils, students, staff and parents or carers

regarding:

1. Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

2. How to prevent the spread of disease

3. Cases and contacts in educational and childcare settings

Download the full NHS WALES / PUBLIC HEALTH WALES guide here – PHW Novel Coronoavirus (COVID19) guidance for schools (1)