Please take some time to click on the link below and read our latest school newsletter.

Dear Parent/Carer,

Our school is taking part in Walk to School Week (17-21 May). The nationwide event is organised by walking charity Living Streets and designed to help pupils experience first-hand the importance of walking to school. Children will be well on their way to reaching their recommended 60 minutes minimum of physical activity per day before even reaching the school gates! Not only will it set them up for a positive day in the classroom, but it will also help create healthy habits for life.

Each pupil will be challenged to travel sustainably (walk, wheel, scoot, cycle or Park and Stride) to school every day for one week.

What do I need to do as a parent/carer? We would ask, if possible, to make arrangements so that your child/children can travel actively to school on w/c 17 May, helping our school reduce congestion and pollution around the school gates. Walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling all count! If you live far away from school and need to drive or take public transport, try parking the car or hopping off the bus/train ten minutes away and walking the rest of the journey. Our designated Park and Stride location is the Bent car park.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Karen Prentice

Depute Head

Dear Parent/Carer,

Parent Council Sponsored Obstacle Course

Our parent council have planned an exciting fundraising obstacle course for all our children to join in with on Friday 14^th May. We are fundraising to repair the school climbing frame in our gym hall. The climbing frame requires new ropes, fastenings and a new support bar at the base. This costs approximately £900 to make it safe to use again.

We are asking parents and grandparents to sponsor their child to complete the obstacle course by making donations through Parent pay. The obstacle course has been designed by our Primary 7 pupils & will be set out in the playground on Friday Morning.

Each class will have about 30 minutes to complete the course as many times as possible, we hope that you will be able to support this event. All donations are very welcome.

Alison Hope

Head Teacher

Please take some time to open the attached leaflet and chat to your children about it. It gives 5 useful strategies to increase wellbeing which we really like.

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

Dear Parent/Carer,

RED NOSE DAY-Friday 19^Th March, 2021

‘Funny is Power’

Article 39- “Children and young people have the right to recover from difficult things that happen to them, and they can expect to receive the help that allows them to do so”.

The Pupil Council have organised some activities for the children to enjoy to celebrate Red Nose Day on Friday 19^th March, 2021.

We are so proud of how our pupils have managed over the past few months and thought they would like the opportunity to have some fun.

We would like the children to wear something red to school on Friday 19^th March. Please do not go to any expense-Children can wear all red or just an accessory, such as a hat, hairband, scarf or socks.

The children will also be encouraged to take part in ‘Share a Smile’ by sharing jokes with their classmates prior to and on Red Nose Day. Some of these will be put on the railings outside the school.

Children can also share a smile individually at home, they can write their favourite joke on a piece of paper, put it up in their window at home, take some pictures and tag @ComicRelief, #REDNOSEDAY@StJohnsPrimHam.onTwitter

The children will also be taking part in a quiz in the class and some other fun Red Nose Day activities.

As well as taking the opportunity to be part of something positive, we will be using Red Nose Day as a learning opportunity to explore some of the issues facing young people across the world and how the money we raise can help.

This year there will be no cash collections in school. Donations, if desired (Suggested £1) can be made through our own Just Giving Page. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stjohnsprimaryhamilton

While there is no obligation to donate we would like all children to participate in Red Nose Day and no matter how much or little we raise, we’ll be helping change lives in the UK and across the world.

Thank you in anticipation of your support.

Yours Faithfully

Mrs Karen Prentice

Depute Head Teacher

Letter from Headteacher – 15th March Return

10 March 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I am very pleased to welcome all our children back to school on Monday 15 March.

I am very much looking forward to seeing all our learners.

I want to thank all of our families for all your hard work with home learning and support over the past weeks. Your kind comments have been much appreciated by the staff.

Children can be dropped off at the main gate between 8.45am and 9.15am. There is an adult presence in the playground from 8.45am onwards.

To allow us to provide more space in the playground for children to play and remain in class bubbles we have staggered our break and lunch times. Children in rooms 2-8 will have a break with the teacher in the afternoon to allow them time to move about before starting learning again.

We ask all parents to remain 2m apart from other families and to always wear a mask and follow the one-way system in the school grounds.

I have put important times and collection points in the table below. Please check the time and gate for your child.

Children who have brothers and sisters in school will meet in the gym hall at 2.50pm and be dismissed from the gym hall doors at 2.50pm, leaving through the main gate.

We will be reviewing the staggered breaks to see if there is anything else, we can do to enhance safety for parents, staff and children in the school. We plan to continue with the staggered break times until the Spring Break.

We ask that as many parents as possible do not enter the school grounds at collection times but make arrangements with children to meet at an agreed point- the Bent Park is part of our Park and Stride initiative. We hope that older children will be able to meet an adult at a set place safely, thus reducing the number of adults in the school grounds.

If parents are waiting for children to exit the school by the main entrance please stand well back.

I am very pleased to tell you that we have most of our new support staff in place and extend a warm welcome to Fay Wylie- Team leader, Hazel Wyper- School Office, Danielle Cooper- SSA and one more School Support Assistant who will start in the next few weeks.

Our main focus between now and the Spring Break is to get children into a daily routine, reassure them about their learning and assess where they are in order to put in place individual/ group learning targets to support their learning journey.

Parent Phone consultations are underway providing the opportunity to discuss children’s learning and any concerns Parents/ Carers may have for a full return to school.

Yours faithfully,

Alison Hope.

Please complete and return the form below if you qualify for and require emergency child care for the upcoming 2 weeks.

It is important that this form is returned to school as soon as possible to allow appropriate staff to be allocated to support.

office@st-johns-hamilton-pri.s-lanark.sch.uk