Please take the time to open and read the document below, which gives you information on how the school will be consulting with parents in the current Covid-19 environment.

Please take some time to open and read the link below telling you about our Easy Fundraising Search Engine which has been set up by our Parent Council. Every time you purchase an item, having used this facility, money is donated to the school.

Please take some time to open and read the updated Winter Menu for school lunches.

Please take some time to open and read the attached information sheet, highlighting some procedures and events we have planned for the school.

Please take time to open and read the letter below from NHS Lanarkshire. A positive case of Covid-19 was identified within our school. Careful track and trace procedures have been undertaken under the guidance and direction of NHS Lanarkshire and senior education managers. In order to minimise the risk of any spread of the infection, targeted pupils and members of staff have been asked to self isolate for the appropriate period.

Please take some time to open and read our latest newsletter.

Please find attached instructions to allow you and your children to access Google Classroom. The first set of instructions work for most PCs and computers.

I have also made instructions for Chromebooks and Android phones, both of which need a bit of setting up before trying to log in.

Dear Parent/Carer

Re-scheduled in-service day.

I am writing to let you know that the 2nd in-service day for schools across South Lanarkshire has been agreed as follows:

· Tuesday, 29 September 2020

You may recall that the original schedule was to begin the new term with two in-service days, but this had to be changed to one day given the Scottish Government announcement that pupils would begin to return to school from Wednesday 12 August 2020.

The other 3 in-service days remain unchanged giving us 5 in total:

· Monday, 16 November 2020

· Wednesday, 10 February 2021

· Thursday, 6 May 2021

The setting of holiday dates for schools in Scotland requires pupils to attend school for 190 days each year with teachers required to work 195 days, which includes 5 in-service days.

I hope that by sharing this information it will give you some time to plan for these dates when children are not at school.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Hope

New Rules on Face Coverings

Dear Parent/Carer

Face Coverings Update – Primary Schools

As you may be aware the Scottish Government announced changes to the wearing of face coverings in schools and on school transport. These changes will be implemented from 31 August 2020.

This means that from Monday all pupils aged 5 and over will be expected to wear a face covering on school transport, just as they already do on public transport. 

Unlike secondary schools, there is no requirement for primary pupils to wear face coverings during the school day, unless they choose to do so.

We understand that some children may not be able to wear a face covering due to an underlying health condition or additional support need.  This may be something that could change over time if the opportunity of individual support was provided to the young person to assist in overcoming any potential barriers to wearing a face covering.  Any parents wishing to consider this should contact the school.

We appreciate that children may feel more comfortable in using their own face coverings however please be assured that a supply of re-usable face coverings will be available within school if required.

The safety and wellbeing of children, young people and staff is paramount and your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Yours sincerely

Head Teacher

Dear Parent / Carer

All the children have settled well into new school routines.  We are constantly reviewing and adapting our procedures as we learn the best ways to keep children and staff safe.

To relieve congestion at the front entrance of the school at the end of the day, children will exit the school as follows:

• Supported pupils in Rooms 10 and 13 will be brought out through the gym hall doors and handed over to escorts / parents at the main pupil gate at 2.50 pm. 
  
  
• Supported pupils in Rooms 3, 4 and 5 will leave through the main entrance. 
  
  
• Primary 1 pupils with no sibling(s) leave by the far side gate at 2.55 pm.
  
  
• All siblings leave by the gym hall doors and through the main gate at 2.55 pm.
  
  
• All remaining children will leave at the main pupil gate at 3.00 pm.
  
  

Currently all Glow logins and passwords are being updated for the new session.  As classes are completed, we will send details home.

We are trying to get children accustomed to using Glow and Google Classroom at home in case of any further school / class closures.  Homework for each class will be placed in the Google Classroom.  Currently we are not sending homework to and from school.  Accessing Google Classroom or Glow initially can be tricky – if you have any issues please let us know.

Our class teachers in Primary 1 have started calling parents to introduce themselves and provide a settling in report to parents verbally.  We will continue with the phone calls over the next few weeks so that all parents have had a chance to chat with the teacher.  Our supported class teachers are emailing parents at the end of each week with a weekly update on children’s progress.

We are following Government guidelines on ventilation and all classroom windows are open.  Children may wish to bring an extra jumper to keep them warm.

PE is outdoors – on children’s PE day they can wear joggers / leggings / shorts to be comfortable.

To limit /….

To limit the number of people staff and children are working with, our Rainbow Room will operate in a different manner for this term.  The room will open on a Wednesday and Thursday.  Children from Primary 2 in Room 6 will be able to attend in small groups on a Wednesday and children from Primary 2 in Room 7 will be able to attend on Thursday.  The Primary 2 children will all get the chance to join different activities in the Rainbow Room from week beginning 31 August for 3 weeks and then we will continue with this pattern until all children from Primary 2 to Primary 6 have had the opportunity to visit the Rainbow Room before Christmas.

Yours faithfully

ALISON HOPE

Head Teacher