Dear all pupils, parents and carers
Download the letter – Week 4 letter v2
I do hope that you, your families and the whole Prestatyn community are doing well during these unprecedented times. I would like to pay tribute to the whole community in your efforts to follow the guidelines on staying at home and observing the social distancing rules. This is making a huge difference and it will ensure we all get out of this crisis quickly, safely, with fewer people having to be admitted into hospital. As I am sure you are all aware, the lockdown arrangements will continue for a minimum of a further three weeks. If we all continue to work together and follow the guidelines we will be able to beat the virus and get back to normal.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Prestatyn High school, from the teachers, TAs and office staff, to the cleaners, canteen and site team. They continue to work everyday to keep the school open, provide support for the pupils still attending and provide work for online study. We are also doing what we can to support the community.
Lots of praise and recognition must go to pupils and parents for their support for the online working at home provision. Over 1000 pupils have regularly accessed, completed and returned online work. This work has been marked by the teachers and is returned in a timely fashion. We are reviewing our provision on a weekly basis and we will be constantly refreshing what we do going forward until schools return to normal. Additionally, we are contacting parents, carers and pupils if they have not been in communication through the online provision, ensuring that all of our learners are safe.
Over the Easter break we continued to open to the pupils that needed to access education. The attendance was good and we hope that we have enabled our keyworker parents to continue their essential and critical jobs without worrying about childcare. Alongside this, we opened our doors to pupils that needed additional support over the Easter period to make sure they also had school contact during these very demanding times. School meals have continued to be delivered and served over the last four weeks and now hopefully, Denbighshire CC will have organised the additional payments to families in receipt of free school meals. We will continue to provide food on a daily basis to any pupil that qualifies for free meals whist attending school. If you have any questions regarding free school meals, please contact DCC directly via their website.
Over the past few weeks, Prestatyn High has also been providing hundreds of items of PPE to the NHS and other health providers, which have hopefully helped protect healthcare workers in some way and reduced the spread of the infection. A special thanks to Dan Nuttall, the technology department and all the volunteers for designing and producing the visors that are out in healthcare settings.
On the issue of examinations, grades and awards; all teachers are working tirelessly to ensure that all pupils gain the grades their ability and endeavours deserve. We are currently working closely with Welsh Government and Qualifications Wales to make sure the system is fair, transparent and rewards all pupils at the levels and grades they would have achieved in the summer. For further information on this please visit our website.
To support the community, the school continues to raise money and collect food for the food banks in the local area. We have collected several hundred pounds so far and donated a vast quantity of food to support any family that needs additional help during these very challenging times. A massive thank you once again to all staff and parents who have donated food or money to help the cause.
We would welcome any further contributions via either the ParentPay option or food donations to school.
If any parents or families are struggling, or if you know of anyone in the community that needs additional help, please contact the school and we will support in any way that we can.
Please continue to ensure our pupils are engaging in the work set by their teachers so that all learners and ready and able to resume normal schooling when the time comes. Anyone struggling to access the online work needs to contact the school so that we can make arrangements for their continuity of learning.
Please continue to follow the government advice and please continue to support the community. Please stay home and please stay safe.
If there is anything else we can do, please let me know.
Yours sincerely
