Rydal Penrhos Daily Notes – June 25

Day 67 from Rydal Penrhos school’s keyworker childcare provision – 27 pupils, 32 staff

Today marked the end of the first stage of the lockdown at Rydal Penrhos School; it was the last day that our merry ‘bubbles’ of keyworker pupils came into school.

Next week they will be back in uniform and the school will be into stage 2 of reopening.

It was a bitter-sweet day for both staff and pupils as we have become a little like a second family sharing difficult and tense times together, but at the same time it is fantastic that we are able to re-open the school and the children can see some more of their friends face to face.

The keyworker pupils are nervous about the next stage, they have become comfortable in their daily routine at the moment.

They have watched the school classrooms and grounds being adapted with painted footprints and cleared classrooms.

I suspect that all children are nervous about entering this next stage of coping with the pandemic.

Every family has had their own set of experiences and is free to make their own decisions about returning or not returning to school.

It will still be strange times for some weeks to come.

A few facts: on Saturday it will be exactly 100 days since the school was last open. In that time we have provided 67 days of keyworker pupil education including 19 days of school holidays through which teachers worked voluntarily.

34 teachers have covered shifts working with age groups they have had little or no experience with ranging from 2-15-year-olds. All will tell you that this has enhanced their professional understanding in so many ways.

In total, the school has released 1,934 working days for keyworkers to continue with their vital roles. We have also provided support in many, many ways to our local community.

Rydal Penrhos pupils, staff and parents, whether in school, or at home, you can be very proud of yourselves!