Novel Coronavirus (covid-19) Updates

LAST UPDATE: 31/8/2021

Click here to view SUBJECT ASSESSMENT PLANS

Process for awarding Centre Determined Grades

Key documentation for the award of Centre determined grades can be found below:

Click here to view a useful link to information on CDG’s on the Qualifications Wales website

Click here to view information from WJEC – Assessments 2021: Getting the support you need

START OF AUTUMN TERM 2021

Please see letter from Headteacher 31/08/21 regarding return to school:

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SCHOOL REOPENING – MARCH 2021

Please see letter from Headteacher 10/3/21
Version 8 of our Risk Assessment (March 2021)

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SCHOOL CLOSURE – JANUARY 2021

For the latest school letters relating to school closures, please see here:

Letter from Headteacher 5/1/21
Letter from Chief Officer: Education and Youth, Flintshire County Council 18/12/20

If you are a key worker and need to book emergency childcare for your child, please complete this booking form and email to [email protected]

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The school reopened for all pupils on Monday, 7th September 2020. You can view documents relating to the reopening of school below. This contains information and arrangements with effect from September 2020, including what to do in the event of Coronavirus symptoms being displayed in your child.

Please see Letter 1 (July 2020) from the Headteacher with more details relating to school opening in September 2020 and the guidance document which has been produced. Letter 2 (August 2020) is also available to view. The latest risk assessment which supplements the guidance document above is available here.

For details regarding the plans that the school has in place should a positive case be identified within the school, see the September letter. In addition, the school has planned for the continuity of learning to continue should there be a need for pupils to self-isolate – details of which are contained within an additional letter. Please also see the continuity of learning plan for further details regarding work that should be completed in the event of partial school closure and the dedicated ‘Teams‘ section of the school website which looks to support pupils with distance learning.

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On Monday, 29 June the school began a phased reopening for its pupils in Years 7-10 and 12. The purpose of these sessions was to ‘Check-in, catch up and prepare for Summer and September’. Pupils were invited into school for a three hour session with a focus upon wellbeing and academic progress with home learning. Please see a copy of the Headteacher’s letter (22/6/20) for more details here and also a link to some FAQs here.

By way of a final checklist in preparation for the return of pupils, please see Headteacher’s letter (26/6/20) here.

The school has created a guidance document for Governors, Staff and Parents which can be downloaded here.

We have created an animation below to support the key messages regarding the return to school.

For those families with key workers the school will continue to provide emergency childcare, as required. Please see latest letter here and booking form here.

Distance Learning continues to be available for the remainder of the summer term. The work for home-schooling students is available in the section below. For any questions related to distance learning, please contact the school office by email: ([email protected]) Your email will be directed to the relevant member of staff. If children have problems accessing their Office365 email account or Hwb account, please send an email the ICT Team: ([email protected]).

Home Learning
Teachers are busy trying to facilitate methods of home learning. At the present time, teachers are establishing the best ways of working with their groups. All students have access to their emails and an online version of Office 365 from home so will be able to receive emails from teachers when they are sent. Parents should be aware that the National Curriculum has been suspended but children should still try to engage with school work.

General Home Learning guidance can be downloaded here.

Pupils and parents can access Distance Learning Plans for pupils below:

Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 13th July 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 6th July 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 29th June 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 22nd June 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 15th June 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 8th June 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 1st June 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan – w/c 18th May 2020
Year 10 Distance Learning Plan w/c 11th May 2020

We have collated a webpage with links to Past Papers for all of the subjects taught in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13. Students can begin using these as a basis for study and revision. The page is accessible here.

Online Resources

Office 365 – student access to email and online office

Hwb – Welsh Government repository and access to Teams, Google classroom and other resources

BBC Bitesize – general learn and revise resources

Seneca Learning – useful website with most subjects

Maths – MyMaths (username: Hawarden password: factor), corbettmaths.com, A Level Youtube

English – Years 7-9 Accelerated Reader (Pupils should continue to read and quiz at home. All pupils have login details in their planners). A Parents Guide and What is Accelerated Reader

Science – GCSE Physics, Seneca, Educake, PhysicsOnline, Doodle Science, Science Shorts, Isaac Physics, Tanio, Biology Resources

Technology – Designoutthebox, TechnologyStudent

Geography – Seneca, PiXL Geography App (Class code for Mr. Smith’s Class: 7p0jlsq8ux and Mr. Clive’s class: lcl005j22x )

Computer Science –

Seneca – Roberts8 group already established and can be joined by all members if they wish
- https://app.senecalearning.com/dashboard/courses/add?Price=Free
- Details for joining Roberts8 group already in a thread in Office365 group
Cambridge MOOC – follows OCR spec. but still useful content for WJEC students
- https://cambridgegcsecomputing.org/

Languages – Linguascope (username and password available from your teacher)

Art/Photography – Years 7-9 ideas, GCSE and A level students, please use the checklist stapled inside their sketchbooks and the exam/portfolio/ coursework instructions can be found on the WJEC website for art and design.

ICT – Year 7-9 Bitesize, ICT Revision

Business Studies – GCSE Online Textbook

History – Resources webpage

Religious Studies – Bible Society

Regional Resources from the school improvement service (GwE)

Careers Wales Live Chat – for careers guidance and advice

CAMHS Resources to support wellbeing:
Coping with stress
Coronavirus information for young people
Helping children cope with stress
Mental Health apps
Resource pack for young people
Resource pack for parents

The closure of schools means that children and young people are spending more time online. If you are worried about the online safety of a young person you can find documents such as this one about the signs of online radicalisation and other resources on the Welsh Government website: https://hwb.gov.wales/zones/online-safety/parents-and-carers/

Information about Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
A coronavirus is a type of virus. As a group, coronaviruses are common across the world. COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus first identified in Wuhan City, China in December 2019. The incubation period of COVID-19 is between 2 and 14 days. This means that if a person remains well 14 days after contact with someone with confirmed coronavirus, they have not been infected.

The following symptoms may develop in the 14 days after exposure to someone who has COVID-19 infection

cough;
fever
loss of taste or smell.

Generally, these infections can cause more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems, such as older people and/or those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease. There is no evidence that children are more affected than other age groups – very few cases have yet to have been reported in children.

How COVID-19 is spread?
From what we know about other coronaviruses, spread of COVID-19 is most likely to happen when there is close contact (within 2 metres) with an infected person. It is likely that the risk increases the longer someone has close contact with an infected person.

Prevention
There is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to the virus. There are general principles anyone can follow to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including

students/staff who feel unwell (or develop high temperature or a new continuous cough) should stay at home for 10 days in the first instance and arrange for an antigen test. Should that return negative it is possible to return to school ;
students/staff who reside with another person displaying symptoms should stay at home for 14 days when they or a member of the household tests positive ;
washing your hands often – with liquid soap and water, or use alcohol sanitiser if handwashing facilities are not available. This is particularly important after taking public transport; covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throwing the tissue in a bin. Students, staff and visitors should wash their hands
1) before leaving home;
2) on arrival at school;
3) after using the toilet;
4) after breaks and sporting activities;
5) before food preparation;
6) before eating any food, including snacks; and
7) before leaving school.
avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands;
avoid close contact with people who are unwell;
if you are worried about your symptoms or those of a child or colleague, please use the Coronavirus COVID-19 symptom checker on NHS Direct Wales. Do not go directly to your GP or other healthcare environment;
see the latest information about novel coronavirus on the Public Health Wales website.

Social Distancing
As of March 2020, we recognise the need for all members of the community to be particularly stringent in adhering to ‘social distancing measures’ where they meet one of the following criteria

aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions);
under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie. anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds);
chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis;
chronic heart disease, such as heart failure;
chronic kidney disease;
chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis;
chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy;
diabetes;
problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed;
a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy;
being seriously overweight (a BMI of 40 or above);
those who are pregnant.

Actions taken by the school to support the wellbeing of students and staff
School leaders have been working to establish a continuity plan in response to the pandemic. This also includes planning for delivery of activities in the situation of a forced closure and planning for a return to ‘usual practice’ should a short-term and/or long-term closure take place.

Preventative measures have been introduced, including

Establishing a critical incident team to plan for all eventualities;
Identify members of the community (student and staff) with underlying medical conditions which place them in the ‘at risk’ group;
Raising awareness of the symptoms closely linked to COVID-19 and the precautionary measures through visual displays;
Purchased additional quantities of alcohol based hand santizer and liquid soap (where national availability permits);
Additional cleaning of the regularly touched surfaces throughout the school day ie. door handles, hand rails etc; and
A detailed risk assessment which support students returning to school from Monday, 29th June.

In the event of a further full/partial school closure (short-term and/or long-term)
The school will only close where there is direct guidance/recommendation from appropriate authorities eg. Public Health Wales and/or where there are insufficient numbers of staff available to safely deliver an education to students. In the event of a school closure, staff will not be able to access the school site. Therefore, in this situation the school will

Provide all students (as so far as is possible) in all year groups with online materials to facilitate distance learning;
Provide paper-based materials for those students who do not have access to either a mobile device and/or internet (as part of the preparation phase the school will seek to identify where this is the case);
Communicate with families/students on a regular basis, via this webpage, to provide updates on recovery phase ie. safe return to normal school life.

Upon return to ‘normal practices’ the school will

Undertake a learning audit for examination classes to identify skills-gaps in readiness for the summer series;
Communicate with relevant awarding bodies to make them aware of any requirements for special considerations;
Respond to any ongoing support required for students and/or staff. This may include counselling services.

Communication
Throughout the UK Government response phases to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) the school will work closely with relevant authorities to make decisions which are in the interests of the all members of the community. However, to support the safety, wellbeing and continued learning of students the school asks that all families

Sign up to the school twitter feed @hawardenhs to be able to access relevant information in the eventuality of a partial/full closure;
Ensure that the school has the correct email address in order to maintain communication throughout the process;
Talk to child(ren) about hygiene practices and make use of relevant sites to reduce anxiety.

Other Useful Information
UK Government (COVID-19)
Welsh Government (COVID-19)
Public Health Wales
World Health Organisation – Useful video resource to help explain COVID-19 to family members

	April 2024
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8 School Opens School Opens •	9	10 Yr 7 Immunisations Yr 7 Immunisations •	11 DoE Silver DoE Silver •	12 DoE Silver DoE Silver •	13	14
15 Yr 10 Welsh Orals Week Yr 10 Welsh Orals Week •	16	17	18	19	20	21
22 Yr 11 Welsh Orals Yr 11 Welsh Orals •	23	24	25 Yr 8 Parents Evening Yr 8 Parents Evening •	26	27	28
29	30