Dear Parent/Carer,

I am writing to confirm that all schools and early years establishments will be closed on Monday 19 September.

This day of closure will align with the declared bank holiday, the end of the mourning period for the passing of Her Majesty the Queen and to pay respects on the day of her funeral. Regards.

Your sincerely,

Des Dickson, Education Operations Manager

Good Morning,

I hope you are all well and settling into the new term. I am delighted to share with you information on a new P4/5 Multi Sport Community Club which is going to start on Wednesday 21^st September from 4.30-5.30pm at Holy Cross High School and run for 4 weeks. The club will be led by our Sports Coach Academy pupils from across the Hamilton area and always supervised by myself and my colleagues. Please could you share the following link to your P4 and P5 parents/guardians for them to sign up for the club. This could be shared to your school app or twitter page.

All permissions etc are taken from the form so we don’t need any paper copies. If you have any pupils without access to the internet, please let me know and I can drop in a paper permission form.

We look forward to welcoming your pupils to the club !!!

Many thanks,

Lucy Brown

Active Schools Coordinator

Hamilton Grammar Cluster

Parents/carers are most welcome to come along to our Parent Council Meeting on Monday at 7pm. Details are in the attached documents.

Dear Parent/Carer

Industrial Action – Local Government Trade Unions

You may recall that we let you know earlier about the potential impact of targeted industrial action by the Local Government Trade Unions.

I can now confirm that there is extensive support from a wide range of unions for the 3-day strike on Tuesday 6 September, Wednesday 7 September and Thursday 8 September 2022.

Given the impact that this withdrawal of labour by janitorial, cleaning, catering and support staff will have the Council has taken the decision to close the school on health and safety grounds on these days.

The council is making arrangements to help those families who are entitled to a free school meal. A free school meal payment of £7.50 is expected to be made by Thursday 8 September 2022.  The payment will be made directly into bank accounts.  However, if there is an issue, please contact us and we will support you in this regard.

We regret the inconvenience that the school closure will cause families and at this stage would urge you to make plans for alternative arrangements for your child during this time.

The school will re-open again on Friday 9 September 2022.

Yours sincerely

Alison Hope.

Head Teacher

Dear Parent/Carer

Industrial Action by Local Government Trade Unions

I am writing to inform you that a number of trade unions for local government employees have notified the Council that their members will be taking part in a strike.  This action is likely to include the withdrawal of labour by janitors, staff in cleaning, catering, early years and school support staff. 

The planned strike days are Tuesday 6 September, Wednesday 7 September and Thursday 8 September 2022.

The industrial action is likely to impact significantly on schools, nurseries and education services.  At this stage it is difficult to predict the precise effect the strike will have but it is likely to mean that some schools/establishments will have to close at short notice.

We are asking parents and carers to note the following:-

• At this stage we do not know those schools/establishments that will be affected.  However, given the anticipated disruption you may wish to consider making precautionary childcare arrangements should we have to close due to the impact of the industrial action.

• Even if schools remain open some services may not be provided as normal, for example, the provision of school meals.  Due to the uncertainty over catering availability, children may have to bring their own packed lunch to school on the day of the targeted strike and for those families entitled to a free school meal an arrangement will be made to reimburse the cost of a school meal.

• For children with additional support needs who normally receive transport from buses provided by Fleet Services or via taxis, there is a risk that this service may not be available at short notice.

• School breakfast clubs will be withdrawn if our establishment is affected by the industrial action.

• School crossing patrols may be affected and, in this context, parents should be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that their child(ren) get to school safely.

I hope that by providing you with this information just now will make you aware of what could arise given that the trade unions have this week indicated their intention to take industrial action which will impact on schools and nurseries. 

I will let you know of the position for our establishment when further details are known and we will continue to follow the advice from the council on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Head Teacher

Please use the guides below to help you set up and use Google Classroom.

The following link is for families who may wish to know about support such as Free School Meal Payments over the summer break.

Financial support – South Lanarkshire Council 

Please read the message below from Hamilton Town House Library

Hello,

My name is Elaine, and I am the new Children’s Assistant for Hamilton Town House Library. I am getting in touch today to introduce myself, and to share a link to our Summer Reading Challenge advert. Please do share this with your mailing list, if you are able, and hopefully this will encourage children and their carers to sign up.

Ordinarily, I would arrange to visit schools to promote the Summer Reading Challenge, but unfortunately time restraints have not allowed me to do so this year.
However, I would love to have the opportunity to visit in the new term to promote the library, and to meet you all in person. Moreover, it will be lovely to be able to welcome your staff and pupils into Hamilton Town House Library in the new term, please feel free to contact me should you wish to arrange a visit to the library for the coming academic year.

I wish you all a wonderful summer break and I look forward to hearing from you!

Elaine

https://youtu.be/j6KEbe9wy6M
[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j6KEbe9wy6M/hqdefault.jpg]<https://youtu.be/j6KEbe9wy6M>
Summer Reading Challenge 2022 – Gadgeteers! with South Lanarkshire Libraries<https://youtu.be/j6KEbe9wy6M>
We’re so excited to reveal the theme for the Summer Reading Challenge 2022!Get ready for Gadgeteers, arriving online and in your local library this summer.Sc…
youtu.be

Elaine Ferguson

Children’s Assistant

We have been asked to share the following leaflet about a summer holiday football opportunity..

Please take time to read the message we received regarding free bus travel for young people.

Morning All

Please may I ask for your support by encouraging young people and families to apply for the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme.

It would be greatly appreciated if the details of the website below could be highlighted on the school’s communication channels. Also, please feel free to share with the Parent Council.

The campaign website for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme, freebus.scot is now live. Please apply.

Further information for schools

The website contains lots of helpful information for families and young people about free bus travel, how it works, how to apply, the benefits and some tips for travelling safely too. It also features the decision tool feature, to help make it easier for people to understand the different ways they can apply. 

There is also a dedicated page with digital resources for stakeholders. You are welcome to look over these and make use of any relevant materials.

The resources available include: 

• The updated customer service toolkit 
• Digital marketing materials such as posters and leaflets

These materials will be updated as required but will always be hosted on the resources for stakeholders’ section of freebus.scot. If you require any more information, or if there are any further digital assets that you feel would be beneficial, please feel free to get in touch.

Louise.Jenkins@improvementservice.org.uk>

Kind regards

Louise

 New website for Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme Louise Jenkins | Senior Communications Officer