MEARNS PRIMARY SCHOOL
JANUARY 2016 NEWSLETTER
Dear Parent/Carer
Well done to …
· Danyaal Butt P7.27 who won a Gold Medal at the Scottish Open Championships for Tae Kwan Do. Danyal’s opponent in the final was from Iceland and he put in a terrific performance to win Gold. He will be representing Scotland, in his category, as part of the Scottish National Team competing in Belgium in March.
· Esther Jamieson P7.26 who recently participated in the West District ‘Long Course’ Event and won Bronze in 100 m freestyle and her first gold at this level of competition in the 50m backstroke.
· Euan Inglis P6.21, Ross Inglis P2.8, Ross Sharp P7.27, Cameron Rae P7.27, Harrison Jack P4.19, Jamie Pearson P7.26, Charlie Barber P7.27, Charley Houston P6.21 and Corran Forbes P7.27 entered a Scottish Schools ski /board cross competition at Xscape last month. Our 7 skiers and 2 boarders performed well on the day but no medal winner this year. Thanks again to all the parents who organised and assisted on the day.
Eco Committee Report
As part of our Clean Air Campaign an air monitor has been installed at the front of the school. This will assess air quality over the next four weeks and we will report back on this in due course.
Junior Road Safety Officers Report - Results of Week 1 Car Park Survey
Last week our Eco reps and Junior Road Safety Officers visited the school car park in the mornings as part of our campaign to try and make the car parks safer places . Unfortunately, we saw a number of cars idling which means that they are parked but sitting with the engine running. This is not allowed and drivers can be given ‘on the spot fines’ of £20 by community wardens.
On Tuesday, there were 11 cars parked in the bus lane. This delayed the school buses from dropping children off. On Friday, a car blocked the bus lane which meant that children had to be ushered off the bus into the road area, rather than exiting the bus safely onto the pavement. In addition, we saw 10 cars who had parked on yellow lines. Please help us by parking responsibly and safely in our school car park.
The National Parent Forum of Scotland has been working with Skills Development Scotland as part of the programme of work underway in Developing the Young Workforce.
We are pleased to have produced some tailored information for parents, as part of our successful "in a nutshell" series, which covers the new Careers Education Standard launched at SLF 2015. This new nutshell will supply parents with basic information about the initial role of this programme in schools and signpost them to where they can get more information if they need it.
This nutshell has been produced in hard copy and a copy will be issued to each family shortly. The link to the nutshell on the NPFS website is:
http://www.npfs.org.uk/career-education-a-world-of-possibilities/
Rights Respecting Schools
During this month and next we will be looking at the following rights:
Article 20: You have the right to special care and help if you cannot live with your parents.
Article 21: You have the right to care and protection if you are adopted or in foster care.
Article 22: You have the right to special protection and help if you are a refugee (if you have been forced to leave your home and live in another country).
Article 23: You have the right to special education and care if you have a disability, as well as all the rights in the UN Convention, so that you can live a full life.
Holiday List 2016 - 2017
Please click on the link below to view school holiday arrangements for 2016-2017
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Mearns/information/school-holiday-arrangements/
Adverse Weather
Following last week’s snow, we thought it would be heIpful to remind you again of the strategies in place in the case of severe adverse weather. East Renfrewshire Schools will only be closed in extreme circumstances.
· If the school is closed during the course of a school day, you will be contacted in the first instance by text message. Please ensure that we have a current mobile phone number on our records for this purpose.
· The text will ask you to make arrangements to collect your child as soon as possible. You cannot reply to this message.
· Please do not phone the school unless absolutely necessary as we have a limited number of external phone lines.
· Your child will be kept in school until he/she is collected.
· Once the school has been officially closed, regular updates will be posted on the East Renfrewshire and school website and updates posted on Twitter.
Please ensure that your child has an appropriate outdoor jacket and footwear for wet and cold weather. Only if the weather is particularly wet or windy, will children will be kept indoors at an interval or lunch.
Cutlery Skills
The Senior Management Team supervise the children during the lunch session, ensuring as smooth a service as possible. We also encourage the children to eat as much of the range of food provided. We have noticed that some children struggle to use a knife and fork and are using their fingers to pick at the food. We are ensuring pupils develop cutlery skills in school and would appreciate your support at meal times at home.
Scottish Celebrations
· P5 Family Ceilidh
Primary 5 pupils hosted a Family Ceilidh last week. Our guests enjoyed an evening of music, poetry, song and dancing and last, but not least, haggis, neeps and tatties. The Reelin Ceilidh Band from Strathaven provided music throughout the evening. Thanks go to Mrs Kathryn Gordon, Acting Principal Teacher, for coordinating the event, teachers, support staff and pupils for all their efforts. Thanks also to Scott Ratcliffe for piping in the haggis! The event was supported by the PTA and thanks to the ladies who assisted on the night. The PTA have kindly offered to cover the cost of the band and also provided delicious homemade tablet.
The feedback received from parents has been fantastic, but more importantly the pupils were really excited to take part, show off their talents and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
· School Assembly
A whole school Assembly took place on Friday to celebrate Scottish Culture. We thought we
would share the programme with you.
Introduction / Mrs Dillon-RuddyPrimary 1 / Poetry recital by P1.4 - In My Wee Red Motor
Primary 2 / P2.8 Ceilidh Dancing
Primary 3 / Pupils sharing their Scottish Masterclass experiences
Primary 4 / Poem: The Lost Dinner Ticket
Visitor / Mr Angus Middleton – Burns Anecdotes
Primary 5 / Burns talk and Burns Song - Ye Jacobites by Name
Primary 6 / Celtic Connections Feedback
Primary 7 / Scottish Masterclass experiences on iPad
Conclusion / ‘Thank Yous’ and school song
Parent Council
The Parent Council are looking for year representatives for Nursery, P1 and P2. The Council meets approximately 6 times a year. The meetings are held during a week night and start at 7pm. The next two meetings are set for Tuesday, 8 March and Wednesday, 18 May. Please email Susan Weymes, Office Manager: if you would like your name to be put forward.
Following discussion at previous meetings, the Parent Council have supported the creation of Support Packs, which will be used to support children needing some extra help in numeracy and mathematics. Assistance in preparing these packs would be very gratefully received. If you would be interested in helping, please email in the first instance.
We are looking for parents to help with translations of some school material into other languages (eg Urdu). If you would be in a position to assist, please email Susan Weymes (as above).
PTA News
The PTA would like to wish all parents and carers a happy and successful 2016.
Dress Tartan Day
On 30 November children were invited to wear an item of tartan to celebrate St. Andrews Day. The PTA provided shortbread for all the pupils and asked for a donation to help raise funds. Donations totalled £380.81.
Christmas Fayre
In spite of the terrible weather on the day, this event was extremely well attended. We would like to say thank you to all the parents who helped make the Fayre such a success - we simply couldn’t do it without you!
We would also like to say a special thanks to Claire Noble for all her hard work in organising the Enterprise rooms, this had the effect of bringing in many parents from P1 and P7. This worked really well, increasing the footfall and all the children’s creations were a delight to see. The Fayre raised a tremendous £4,442
PTA member Roz Rae did a fabulous job organising all the stallholders and as this is her last year at Mearns Primary we are looking for a willing volunteer to take this task on next time.
Please contact Janet Olverman if you are interested.
P5 Burns Night
The PTA organised a raffle at this event which made £171.
PTA Dates for your Diary
Friday 4 March: March Disco – a letter requesting helpers will be issued in February
Saturday 21 May: Summer Fayre
Friday 10 June: End of Year Disco
PTA Meeting Dates
If anyone is interested in attending our meetings the dates are as follows:
1 February
7 March
25 April
9 May
6 June
They all take place on a Monday evening at 7pm in the P3 corridor staff base. All welcome.
PVG Checks
Our old Disclosures are now invalid so if anyone wishes to help at discos or other PTA run events they will need to apply for a PVG check. Forms are available from Carolyn Miller 07800 944117 or Please contact her for further information.
Nursery News
Christmas Craft Day in aid of the Schiehallion Ward raised a staggering £907. Thank you for supporting this very important cause. A cheque is being delivered to the hospital by Mrs Lumsden. Many thanks to all the parents, children & staff who supported and enjoyed the day. Thanks also to Mrs Newbon for the donation of the hamper for the raffle.
Walk More
Calling all mums, dads, grannies and grandpas …..
Please support our walking group. The walks are expected to take 35 mins to 1 hour
with tea and coffee provided in the nursery afterwards. Come and be part of the Mearns
Nursery Community. The walking group will re-start soon …
Woodland Walkers
Woodland Walkers started last week on Thursday 14 January. Pre- school pupils will be allocated a group and will participate in a woodland adventure weekly. See further details on the nursery notice board. On the day of the walk we would ask that children are appropriately dressed in hats, gloves and welly boots, suits will be provided. We also ask that you provide a healthy snack preferably a piece of fruit. We will provide a warm drink.
Nursery Group Rotation
Please note the next room rotation will start in March.
Mar / Apr 7.3.16Room 1 / Room 2
purple / green
yellow / blue
red
We are all looking forward to making new friends and visiting a new room.
Late Pick Up
Please ensure that all children and parents have exited the nursery building NO later than 12.00pm or 4.00pm (excluding wrap). Staff have preparation time and meetings to attend. Lateness will be recorded and reviewed.
We appreciate your continued support with this.
Pupil Learning Focus
Literacy
Children will enjoy exploring initial sounds and alliteration. You can help your child by playing eye spy type games.
Numeracy
Children will have fun investigating numbers, counting and interpreting data.
Health & Well Being
Children will be learning how to care for living things and about people who help us.
Staff Focus
Care Standard 5 – Quality of Experience
Care Standard 6 – Support & Development
Lost Property
Please ensure that all clothing and shoes are labelled. The nursery lost property box will be cleared and unclaimed items will be recycled on 1 February 2016.
Snack
Please ensure that all snack boxes are labelled and that fruit is prepared (peeled / chopped) before being placed in the snack box.
Mini Kickers
Mini Kickers sessions start this term. Please ensure children are wearing appropriate footwear for gym every WEDNESDAY.
Home Learning
Home learning for pre-schoolers has started. Enjoy some maths challenges at home!
Yours sincerely
Catherine Dillon-Ruddy
Head Teacher
Website: www.ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk
Email:
Twitter: @Mearns_Primary