Tuesday March 31^st 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

EMERGENCY CHILDCARE – EASTER BREAK

We are very mindful of the fact that all the key workers who have been accessing our emergency childcare will want to know what is happening over the Easter period.

All partner primaries will continue to provide the emergency childcare as we have been doing over the last week or so with the exception of Good Friday (10^th April) and Easter Monday (13^th April). If your child has already been accessing our provision, you DO NOT need to re-apply for a place.  However, it would be useful if you could let your school know when you are likely to be using the provision over the Easter break so that suitable staffing arrangements can be put in place.

If you have not yet accessed the provision and you think you may be eligible as a key worker, please see the NCC website for full details and the application process.

http://www.newport.gov.uk/en/Schools-Education/Childcare-for-prioritised-key-workers.aspx

During these challenging times, it has never been more important to ensure that our spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing is nurtured along with academic studies. Next week is Holy Week and this is a time for us to focus on our spiritual wellbeing, preparing ourselves for Easter, the Catholic Church’s most important celebration. The teachers have been posting materials to support learning of this important liturgical time.

All staff across the cluster have been doing an amazing job, whether it has been looking after children, organising free school meals or providing learning materials.

As a school, we are mindful that families are still adapting to a new way of working and living and we don’t want to overwhelm you with unmanageable tasks or huge amounts of information. We believe that there are currently enough activities and assignments for pupils to be undertaking until and into the Easter holidays and it is important that pupils have some holiday time to recharge and to relax. This means that from Monday 6th April until Friday 17th April, no further work will be posted on our Hwb platform to provide time for your child to enjoy their Easter holidays. Please be reassured, however, that from Monday 20th April, all teachers will continue to provide work and feedback to all pupils, working with you to support your child’s learning.

Many thanks to all our families during this very difficult time – your patience and understanding has been very much appreciated.

Take care.

Kind regards,

St Joseph’s Cluster Headteachers

Mrs L Robinson- St David’s RC Primary                  Mr J Llewellyn- St Gabriel’s RC Primary

Mrs J Beckett- St Joseph’s RC Primary                       Mrs D Evans- St Mary’s RC Primary

Mrs J Manship- St Michael’s RC Primary                  Mrs L Smith- St Patrick’s RC Primary

Mrs J Jarrett- St Joseph’s RC High School