YSGOL Dyffryn Taf in Whitland went into partial lockdown on Wednesday (Sept 11) after two pupils received a threatening message on social media.

In response to the threat, the school implemented safety measures, locking all external doors during lesson times. Staff were positioned to supervise corridors, and pupils were instructed to remain in their classrooms. The lockdown was lifted later in the afternoon, and the school resumed normal operations today.

A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed: “Concerns were raised following a threatening message made on social media against two pupils of Ysgol Dyffryn Taf. The school took appropriate safeguarding action, which concluded swiftly. To provide reassurance, officers from the local neighbourhood policing team were present at the end of the school day. Police enquiries are ongoing.”

Parents and carers were promptly informed of the situation once the school became aware of the threats. In a statement posted on Facebook, Alun Owen, headteacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Taf, explained: “I am writing to inform you that I had to take the decision to place the school into a state of partial lockdown this afternoon. This precautionary measure was in response to information we received earlier today.

“We locked all external doors during lessons. Teaching and learning continued as normal, but pupils remained in class at all times. Staff supervised corridors and the site perimeter.”

Mr Owen confirmed that the partial lockdown has since been lifted, stating: “The risk associated with this incident has now passed.”

Police continue their investigation into the origins of the social media threats.

Parents and pupils have been reassured that appropriate actions were taken to safeguard the school community.

A NEW report by Estyn has highlighted the ongoing negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pupils’ Welsh reading skills, emphasising the importance of promoting reading across the curriculum. The report, published today, explores how Welsh and bilingual schools are developing these crucial skills, revealing significant variations in reading standards among pupils aged 10 to 14.

The report, titled Developing Pupils’ Welsh Reading Skills from 10-14 Years of Age, outlines how the pandemic has affected pupils’ confidence and ability to read and communicate in Welsh. The findings indicate that, despite efforts by schools, many pupils continue to struggle with Welsh reading, and wide disparities remain between primary, secondary, and all-age schools.

Owen Evans, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, said: “It is unsurprising that we are still seeing the negative impact of the pandemic on pupils’ Welsh reading skills. However, our new report highlights good practice from schools and offers practical toolkits to help teachers develop pupils’ Welsh reading skills.”

The report identifies Welsh lessons and language sessions, as well as humanities subjects, as key areas where the most effective opportunities to develop reading skills occur. While many primary schools, and a few secondary schools, have successfully promoted reading for pleasure, the overall experiences designed to foster reading outside the classroom have decreased significantly, particularly in secondary schools, since the pandemic.

One of the challenges highlighted in the report is the difficulty of co-ordinating the development of reading skills consistently across different subjects and teachers, especially in secondary schools. This contrasts with primary schools, where a more unified approach is typically easier to implement.

Estyn has called for schools to strengthen opportunities for pupils to develop a broad range of reading skills across the curriculum. The inspectorate recommends that local authorities and the Welsh Government support schools in this endeavour. The report also presents a number of practical recommendations for school leaders, including a suite of toolkits designed to help teaching staff promote and enhance pupils’ reading abilities.

Evans added: “There are clear opportunities to improve how clusters of schools can work together to develop pupils’ reading skills and create more purposeful opportunities to nurture Welsh reading across the curriculum. Improving reading standards is a national priority, and we hope this report will help schools plan strategically to boost pupils’ interest, resilience, and confidence when reading in Welsh.”

Estyn’s report serves as a crucial reminder of the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on education, with a focus on how Welsh reading skills can be improved through a more integrated approach across all subjects. The inspectorate hopes that the report’s findings will spur school leaders, teachers, and policymakers to continue efforts in raising the standard of Welsh reading for pupils across Wales.

AT the start of the 24/25 academic year, the Students Loans Company (SLC) is reminding students to be vigilant of smishing scams.

Scammers target students at this time of year as they receive their first maintenance loan payment. SLC is expecting to pay £2bn to students over the autumn term and last year it stopped £2.9m of maintenance loan payments being taken by smishing and phishing scams, where students received and acted on false communications.

Smishing, which is fraud involving text messages, is currently the most popular form of scam, with students usually being asked to click a link to complete a task – for example verifying bank details or confirming their personal information, providing an opportunity for a payment to be diverted to a scammer’s bank account.

SLC will never ask students to provide or verify their personal or financial information via email or text message, and Alan Balanowski, Risk Director at SLC, is urging students to pay attention to any communication they receive from Student Finance Wales (SFW) or SLC over the coming weeks.

He said: “Starting or returning to university is an exciting time, but it’s also busy, with students getting organised and set-up for the academic year, which includes dealing with information from different organisations, including ourselves. We aim to ensure our payment process is simple for students, but we do experience a rise in smishing scams at this time year. This means students need to be alert to any potential attempt to intercept their maintenance loan instalment.

“We have a range of preventive methods we use to target scams, but the most impactful tool we have is working together with students to stop scammers. If a student receives a suspicious message, they should delete it and report it immediately, but if a scammer does succeed in obtaining personal details, then we must collectively act quickly to spot and block the action”.

“Last year, we were able to stop £2.9m of maintenance loan payments ending up in the hands of scammers and we are focused on working as effectively as we can to protect students and their finance.

“Our message to students is quite simply, think before you click.”

SLC’s top tips

• Neither SLC nor SFW provide any services through WhatsApp and will never initiate contact with a student through social media channels, including Facebook, X, Instagram and Tik Tok, to discuss their application or student finance entitlement. If a customer receives a communication from SFW that they are unsure of, they should log into their online account to verify if it’s genuine.
• Check the quality of the communication – misspelling, poor punctuation and bad grammar are often signs of phishing.
• Keep an eye out for any suspicious looking emails, phone calls or text messages, especially around the time of an expected payment.
• Scam emails and text messages are often sent in bulk to many people at the same time and are unlikely to contain both a first and last name. These commonly start – ‘Dear Student’.
• Messages that convey a sense of urgency are also unlikely to be genuine – for example ‘failure to respond in 24 hours will result in the account being closed’.
• Think before you click. If an email or text message contains a link, hover over it to check that it goes where it’s supposed to. If in any doubt don’t risk it, always go direct to the source rather than clicking on a potentially dangerous link.
• Scammers can use a variety of methods to try and get students to pay money or share personal details, including the use of fraudulent phone calls, social posts and direct messaging on digital platforms. Always use official phone numbers, the online account and official communication channels to verify the contact received is genuine.
• Be mindful of the information you share about yourself on social media, and elsewhere online, to help guard against identity theft. Identity theft happens when fraudsters access enough information about a person’s identity, such as their name, date of birth, customer reference number, course information or their current or previous addresses to impersonate them online and over the phone.
• SLC or Student Finance Wales (SFW) send a text message to students in Wales if a change has been made to their bank details. If you haven’t changed your bank details and receive a message, contact us immediately.
• Check out our guide to identifying a scam at www.gov.uk/guidance/phishing-scams-how-you-can-avoid-them
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If a student receives a suspicious message, they should report it immediately by email [email protected] and to SLC by calling our dedicated hotline on 0300 100 0059. 

There is also a range of additional advice and information on recognising and avoiding scams from Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.