Dear Parent/Carer

Information Update – 24 June 2020

Normally the last day of the summer term is a time when parents, carers and families are able to reflect and to celebrate the progress and achievements their children have made during the school year.

There is no doubt this year has been one of significant change for all of us. However, it has not been one without hope and inspiration and I have witnessed the way in which families and young people have supported each other, as well as some of the outstanding work that that has taken place between schools and families.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Deputy First Minister outlining the ambition for a full return to schools for pupils in August, if it is safe to do so, is something that we would all welcome. He said: ‘If we stay on track, if we all continue to do what is right, and if we can further suppress this terrible virus, the Government believes that we should prepare for children to be able to return to school full time in August.’ 

It is very important that we support our children and young people following on from what I am sure will have been one of the most significant periods in their lifetime.  I delighted to have seen how excited our P1 and P7 pupils have been when we have had some of them in our schools during the past week or so.  Of course, there are considerable logistical issues that we will need to address, such as what does getting back to normal look like, issues around transport and, of course, how we welcome our children and young people back.  I would wish to reassure you that this will be the focus for our team during the summer period.  

I am now waiting on further national advice and guidance that will help guide us in our preparations. I will be back in contact over the summer when we have some specific information about the restart in August. I am acutely aware that you only have a note of our blended learning plans, which if deemed safe to do so, will need to be changed for a full return of all pupils in August.

We will continue to work closely with our council colleagues, professional associations and trade union partners and keep you updated. Schools close today for their summer break, and staff have been working extremely hard in setting up classrooms, preparing resources and arrangements, much of which we will build on for August.

Once again, thank you for your ongoing support.

Take care and stay safe.

Tony McDaid

Executive Director of Education Resources

South Lanarkshire Council

Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton ML3 0AA

Phone: 01698 454379

email: Tony.Mcdaid@southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Council website: www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Have a look at some of our classrooms, organised for us to work happily and safely.

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Please click on the link below to see the lunch menu for when we return after the summer.

Dear Parent / Carer

INFORMATION FOR AUGUST

Over the last few weeks, we have been working on organising the school to allow for social distancing and to comply with all current guidelines to reduce the risk and spread of infection.  We have put into place new procedures to support this and I have listed these below for you to read and become familiar with.

Car Park and Entry to the Playground

• No parents are allowed to drive into the school car park unless they are in receipt of a blue disability badge or approved red car park badge.

• The school gates will be closed from 8.45 – 9.15 am and from 2.45 – 3.15 pm.

• To date there is no confirmation of what school transport will look like, if there is any.  As further details are shared about school transport, I will update you.
  
  
• Our Traffic Management Plan includes the Bent Recreation Ground car park for parents to park/ drop off children.

Pedestrian Entrance and Exit

• A one-way system will be in operation.  Entry is via the side gate at the Bent stairs and exit is via the main gate on to Dixon Street.  This one-way system will allow for adults and children to social distance and adhere to the 2m guidelines.

• Parents can drop children off on foot at the front of the school but must leave children at the side gate to the playground beside the gym hall.

• There will be a soft start for pupils to be dropped of in school from 8.55am- 9.15am to allow for social distancing and a safe entry to the building. Children can be dropped off at the side gate anytime within this 20-minute period. We ask that children are in school for 9.15am at the latest. School doors will be open at 8.55am and children will filter into the building. There will be no lining up in the playground. The side gate will be closed at 9.15am.

• No parents will be admitted to the playground past the side gate.

• To stagger the amount of children leaving the building at the same time children with siblings will meet together in the gym hall at 2.55pm and will leave by the gym hall doors.

• Children without siblings will leave by the usual exit point for their class at 3pm.

Uniform

• We want children to be comfortable and wear clothes, which can be easily washed every night.  We suggest:
  
  – school polo shirt / white shirt;
  – grey skirt, joggers, shorts or trousers;
  – red/green sweatshirt, cardigan, jumper;
  – a heavy warm waterproof jacket. 
  
  We suggest school ties should be worn for special occasions only and need not be worn on a daily basis.

Resources for school

Each child will be provided with a large plastic zipped wallet, labelled with their name, which will hold jotters, pencils, rubber, sharpener, ruler, coloured pencils.  Primary 1-3 will also have a whiteboard, whiteboard pen and crayons.  We ask that children do not bring stationery materials from home as all will be provided within the school and again this will reduce cross contamination.  Children do not need a schoolbag.

Lunches and snacks

Packed lunches can be provided from the school cafeteria. There will be a selection of hot and cold foods, which will be delivered to classrooms. Primary 1 – 3 are still entitled to a free meal.  Anyone wishing to bring their own packed lunch should bring it in a disposable polythene bag.  We are unable to lend cutlery to children.  As with lunches, snacks should be brought in disposable packaging. For P4-P7 children the cost of a school lunch is £1.75 and can be paid in the usual way through Parentpay.

Water bottles

Children may bring full water bottles to school and take them home at the end of each day to be cleaned. Water bottles must have children’s names clearly marked.

PE Kit 

Children will not require PE kit or a change of shoes but please ensure that children’s footwear is appropriate for outdoor PE and active learning, i.e. trainers.

Personal Possessions

We ask that children do not bring toys or valuable possessions to school.  Some staff are making individual, age appropriate play boxes for children to use in school, where appropriate.

Mobile Phones

We strongly discourage children from bringing mobile phones to school, as it will be very difficult to keep the mobile phone safe.  If a child brings a mobile phone they must turn it off, keep it secure in a zipped pocket and must not take it out at any point during the school day.

Classroom / Playground Layout

Class and playground will be set out to encourage social distancing.  Each class will have a designated area in the playground to allow children to play with the same group of friends or ‘bubble’ every day.  Please see school website for more details.

Classes and Class Groupings

Classes have been organised by literacy groups.  Every attempt has been made to ensure that children have a familiar peer and are part of a working group.  It is not possible to change children’s classes / class group as this has been calculated to fit with the school’s capacity audit.

Information about classes, teachers/ rooms will be emailed to children’s Glow accounts on Friday 18 June and an alert will be placed on our school app to encourage parents to check the Glow email as well.  

Groupings

Children in group 1 will attend school on Monday and Tuesday and children in group 2 will attend school on Thursday and Friday.

School opens to children on Wednesday 12 August. For the first week only children in group 1 attend on Wednesday 12 August and children in group 2 attend on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August.

After this first week group 1 will revert to the pattern of Monday and Tuesday.

ASN Classes

ASN classes will follow the same structure, with more specific information for parents of our supported class children following as it becomes available. 

I understand that this is a lot to take in and you will have many questions. As soon as I have further updates, I will share them with you. We are all learning together and trying to make this a safe, secure and happy learning environment for our children. 

We are making a child friendly leaflet which will go on our website to support children.

It is likely that some of the above procedures will change or be adapted due as new guidance is issued.  We always wish to work with you to achieve the best for your child and thank you all for your continued support and perseverance with these new rules.  We hope that all of the above will ensure the safety of all children.

Yours faithfully

ALISON HOPE

Head Teacher

Updated Information on Re-opening of Schools

Please open the link below for up to date information from our Executive Director of Education, Tony McDaid.

Please click on the links below and ask your child(ren) to complete the survey to give us an idea of how pupils are feeling ahead of their return to school.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JJSW32W

Re-opening of Schools

Please take the time to open and read a letter to parents/carers from South Lanarkshire’s Executive Director of Education, Tony Mcdaid.

26 May 2020

Practise like you’ve never won and perform like you’ve never lost.

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I wanted to update you on our current position as I’m sure you will have seen many news reports about schools reopening and to share with you the plans, we are putting in place for children and staff to return safely.

The return to school buildings will be a very carefully planned and organised event.

In June some staff will be allowed to access our building initially to work with Support Services Co-ordinators to complete risk assessments for our building in light of social distancing guidance.

Staff will then be allowed to enter the building to plan and organise classrooms to facilitate keeping children 2 metres apart.

Staff will familiarise themselves with new procedures and plan for how to safely have children entering and leaving the building and how to move about the building avoiding contact with other groups.

We will be meeting with cleaning supervisors, janitorial staff and catering staff in order to ensure that there is a rigorous plan for the cleaning and disinfecting of all areas used by children and staff.

We plan not to open certain areas of the school for instance the Playroom, Sensory Room and ICT suite.

It is likely that in August children will come to school in small groups of about 8-10 per mainstream class. They might have staggered start and finish times to try to cut down on numbers of parents entering or leaving the school grounds at the same time.

We are expecting to receive guidance on numbers for ASN classes soon.

Children will be issued with a resource folder of stationery and essential items to prevent the sharing of resources.

Children will experience what is being called blended learning: Numeracy, Literacy and Health and Wellbeing curricular areas taught in school and home learning for time that they are not in school covering other curricular areas. We are awaiting advice from The Scottish Government and SLC on how best to proceed with the organisation/ grouping of children to facilitate this.

It is likely that children will have reduced time in front of a teacher and will work from home for some of the time on set tasks.

I understand that this gradual reopening of school buildings is very concerning for parents and carers and staff as there are many aspects to take into account.

Please be reassured that the safety of our children and staff is paramount in all the decision-making processes and that at times we may need to revise our procedures due to further advice from the Scottish Government and SLC.

I have not made classes for next session as yet and will try to keep siblings coming to school on the same days/ times to minimise disruption to parents and carers where possible. Children will be coming to school with only 7-9 others in their year group at a time to reduce the risk of infection to all. As the advice and infection rate change, I will then make up classes for when children can attend in larger numbers.

I have asked teachers to remain at the same stage they are teaching this year and to remain in the same classroom again to reduce the disruption and movement of staff and belongings around the school. There are a few minimal changes due to us reducing from 10 mainstream classes to 9.

Although I have asked teachers to remain at their current stage there may need to be some changes depending on shielding and staff ability to attend school.

To help with Primary 1 transition into the school we have posted information and a virtual tour on our school website. We encourage all new parents and carers to show the tour to their child and talk to them about the information on the page.

Our Secondary School colleagues have been busy creating transition packs for our Primary 7 children. These have been emailed directly to children or are on secondary school websites.

I am aware that as parents you will have lots of questions about returning to the school building. I will endeavour to answer your questions and if I cannot I will try to find out for you.

If you have any questions please email me at

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

Thank you for all the hard work you have been doing with the children. We recognise that learning comes in many forms and that although this unprecedented time has given us many challenges it has also provided time to spend with our families, especially our children.

I will keep you updated as I receive further advice and guidance.

Your sincerely,

Alison Hope.

Head Teacher

Please take time to open and read an update on our School Improvement Plan.

Dear Parents/ carers,

We very much appreciate all of your positive comments and offers of support we have received since school closure.

As it looks as if schools may be closed for sometime I wanted to thank you all for your hard work, perseverance and positive attitude with home learning.

We understand that it is very challenging to juggle work commitments and schooling and want to reassure Parents/Carers that we know you are doing everything you can. Even if children can try a few activities over the week it will help them to remember and apply key knowledge.

Home learning can in no way replicate being in a classroom with a teacher and receiving direct teaching to move learning on, however, home learning can help to consolidate current knowledge and give children the chance to use taught skills in different ways with real life applications.

Our teaching and support staff are dividing their time between working in Hubs to provide child care for key workers children and setting tasks for children to consolidate learning at home. If a child is attending a Hub it does not mean that they are receiving a normal taught curriculum nor automatically will these children be advantaged against others who are not attending.

I have asked teaching staff to set tasks for literacy and numeracy on a weekly basis and to include some fun activities which could be done as a family. We do not wish to add undue pressure to families and ask only that children try some activities that can be managed in the home.

On Wednesdays and Fridays children can showcase their activities to their class by emailing a photograph of what they have been up to.

Hamilton Grammar are preparing transition activities which will be posted in P7 folders in May to support the move from Primary to Secondary.

Council Offices are continuing to work on Placing Requests and Parents/Carers will be notified of decisions by post after 30 April.

South Lanarkshire Council are working to produce support packages with a loan of a laptop or support with boosting internet connections. As more details emerge I will update you.

We understand how disappointing it is for our senior pupils not to be able to attend our residential trip to Auchengillan. I have completed an insurance claim and hope to be able to fully reimburse all monies paid soon. Again as soon as I receive an update I will communicate this with Primary 7 parents.

We are thinking about how best to welcome our new Primary 1 pupils for August and are discussing possibilities with Early Years Workers.

I hope you all keep safe and well.

Kind regards,

Alison Hope.