Dear Parent/ Carer,

We are delighted to welcome our children for term 2021-2022.

It has been a very smooth and happy start for all the children.

They are looking exceptionally smart in their school uniforms, which is a credit to all of you.

Our Breakfast Club is on every day in the dining room. Anyone who wishes can drop children off at the side gate from 8.15am- 8.35am to be served breakfast. About 8.45am children go out to the playground to meet their friends. There is no charge or need to book.

We have a significant number of children with severe nut allergies and ask all adults to ensure that children are not sent to school with snacks or lunches which contain any nuts. Please share this information with all adults who prepare foods to be brought into school.

We have started to work with Primary 1 children to complete assessments to ensure that children are working on targets which are most appropriate to their needs.

Our Primary 1 and Primary 7 children were very excited to meet up and start their Buddy Programme. Our Primary 7s are teaching Primary 1s playground games to play at break times.

A special plea- please label all your child’s possessions. Our lost property bundle is starting to grow already!

This year we are due to be reaccredited for our Gold Award for Rights Respecting School. As always children’s rights are embedded in everything we do in St John’s. We will be resuming our Rights Respecting School Committee and are keen to have Parents/ Carers as members. Any Parents/ Carer who is interested and can attend a maximum of 4 meeting across the school year with our children please contact the school office.

We have a very active Parent Council who meet about 6 times over the year. All parents are welcome to attend the meetings. We usually discuss things which can improve our whole school and plan and organise fund raising events. Our meetings have been remote to date but hopefully in the future we will be able to meet face to face again. Our AGM is on Monday 6 September at 7pm. Anyone who is interested in receiving a link to the Meet please contact the school office.

All schools are working on recovery planning to provide our children with the best educational experiences possible. Our targets for this year are to :

• Improve our teaching of literacy and to use more active strategies again.
• Train all teachers in Talk for Writing and use in classes
• Increase spelling and reading scores
• Recreate a culture of reading for enjoyment
• Support parents to remove barriers to increase school attendance

We are very fortunate to have enough PEF money from the Scottish Government to employ extra staff to help us achieve these goals.

Miss Primrose in based in our school library and is working on literacy with all classes over the week. Mrs Sharples is supporting targeted children across the school to increase literacy attainment.

Caroline, our Early Years Worker, and Mrs Murray are supporting children in our Nurture Classroom- The Rainbow Room each Wednesday.

Mrs Murray is now qualified to work with children on Talk and Draw therapy and will be doing this with individuals on a Thursday.

Caroline will be creating exciting outdoor play opportunities on Thursdays and Fridays for our infant classes.

Mrs Sharples will liaise with parents/ carers to support children improve their school attendance.

This year 5% of our PEF budget spend is to be decided by children and parents. We are looking to have a committee who would meet about 4 times over the year to decide on what is the best use of the money- about £4,000. Our Pupil Council Representatives will share our children’s thoughts and plans. We need about 2-4 parents/ carers who could join us to be part of this important group. If you could spare the time please contact the school office for more details. Our first meeting will be held on week beginning 30 August at a mutually agreeable time.

We are very much looking forward to restarting our pupil voice groups and will share information about all of these soon.

At present there are no after school clubs running but hopefully they will start to be reintroduced as the year progresses.

As always if you want further information please call the school office and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Alison Hope.