THORNLIEBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL
AUGUST 2014 NEWSLETTER Dear Parent/Carer
Welcome back to the new school session of 2014/15. I hope you all had a fantastic summer and had the opportunity to share in the many exciting events happening in and around Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. We are going to make a special memory book, capturing the experiences of our pupils. Please send any photographs you would like to be included to Mrs Black at the following email address:
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a number of new families and staff to Thornliebank Primary School.
Welcome to Judith Spence and Alison Matlew who are teaching in P2 and in P4. In our nursery we have 2 new CDOs working with us, Melissa Donaghey and Denise Livingston. I would like to welcome Julie Pollock back to Thornliebank and offer her our congratulations. Many of you will know her as Miss Biggins. Mrs Pollick has been on a 1 year career break to allow her the opportunity to teach in America and whilst she was away she got married.
Our new Primary One pupils have settled in very well, the children not only look smart but are also growing more confident daily. Their behaviour was perfect as they sat through our whole school assembly last Friday.
We have had several new pupils join us throughout the school and I would like to welcome Callum, Keira, Manahil, Nafisa, Mhairi, Ali and Raja. It was wonderful to see you arrive at school in your school uniforms looking so smart. I hope you enjoy your time at Thornliebank Primary School and I look forward to getting to know you all better.
You may be aware we are always looking for new parents to join our Parent Council. This is an excellent opportunity for you to become involved in the life of the school. We lost a number of members in June as they were P7 parents so we really need some new members. The Parent Council meet once a month and this session we are trialing some afternoon meetings to see if that helps build up numbers. My goal this session is that we have parental representation from every year group, including nursery at these meetings. If you feel this is something you might be interested in, please come along to the first meeting on 3 September at 7pm in Woodfarm High School. If you would like to hear a bit more about the Parent Council, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.
Every class has been focusing on Anti Bullying as a start of term mini topic. We have produced a leaflet to give you and your child some helpful advice about bullying behavior. This is an area we will be focusing on this session through our journey to becoming a UNICEF Rights Respecting School.
This is our first monthly newsletter of this session. I hope our newsletters will keep you informed of the many and varied events that happen throughout the school and give you some detail about forthcoming dates for your diary.
Happy reading! Dressing for Excellence I would like to thank you all very much for the evident commitment to our Dressing for Excellence policy since we returned to school for the new session. The children all look extremely smart.
Dates for your Diary P5 Cricket Festival Wednesday 27 August P7 Residential Trip Meeting Thursday 28 August, 7.00pm P4 and P5 Swimming Tuesday 2 September (4 weeks) Find out More Day Wednesday 3 September Parent Council AGM Wednesday 3 September - 7.00pm P7 Design Challenge Thursday 4 September Right on Time Week Week of Monday 8 September Pupil Council Election Tuesday 9 September School Closed for Polling Thursday 18 September September Weekend Friday 26 – Monday 29 September Inservice Day Friday 10 October October Week 13– 17 October Pupils return to school 20 October
Physical Education (PE) PE is a compulsory and important aspect of our curriculum. Your child should come to school with a full PE kit. This kit should consist of the following – shorts, t- shirt, waterproof jacket and trousers for outdoor sessions and plimsolls or trainers.
Cashless Catering This system is well established and has proved to be a much more efficient service for our pupils. Please contact us if your child has misplaced or forgotten their PIN as it is important that they know this information. Hot lunches are £1.95 and cold lunches are £1.80.
Paying online is the simplest method of payment and we would prefer you to make use of this facility. For those children bringing money into the school can I please remind you that the machine does not take 5p, 2p & 1p coins and they should only put their money into the machine before the school day or at break times.
If you child does not have enough money to pay for their lunch you will receive a text message in the morning asking you to top up the account. If it is arrears after lunch, your child will be issued a virtual voucher and you will receive a text from the school asking you to pay for the voucher.
Absence Procedures As part of keeping our children safe, we remind you of our procedures. Please phone the school office in the morning to inform us of your child’s absence. If we have not heard from you following the delivery of the registers to the school office, we will call you. We appreciate being informed of doctor or dental appointments in advance of your child being collected from school.
Each year we are set an attendance target, last year our target was 96% and I am delighted to say we made that target exactly. Please remember that all holidays taken during term time are categorised as unauthorised.
Packed Lunches/Allergies A number of children have allergies which can seriously affect their health. For this reason, we are a NUT FREE school. Please be aware that many chocolate spreads contain nuts. In addition to this, we have a pupil in P1 who is allergic to hummus. If any P1 child is regularly bringing in hummus as part of their packed lunch, please inform the P1 teacher.
As many pupils have similar lunch boxes, we request that your child’s lunchbox is clearly named (class details included). If they leave their lunchbox in the lunch hall, it can then be returned to them.
I would also like to encourage parents/carers to think carefully about the snacks they are giving their child each day. Children should not bring cans of fizzy drinks into school.
Fresh water is available from our filtered drinking fountains and pupils are encouraged to drink regularly throughout the day.
Labelling of Clothes Please ensure that items of clothing are labelled with your child’s name and class. Every day items are returned to the office which, if labelled, are returned to the pupil’s class.
Parent Helpers At Thornliebank Primary School we value your support and encourage parents to get involved wherever possible, this can range from participating in focus groups, volunteering to support trips, helping to run events such as Book Fairs and helping to run clubs. If you would be interested in getting involved please do not hesitate to contact the school.
Parking Around the School I would like to remind everyone to please be careful with parking near the school. As usual our children’s safety is of the utmost importance.
We have recently has a few of residents come into the school to speak about the amount of litter being dropped in their streets before school and at home time. Could I please ask that you spend time discussing the importance of not dropping litter with your children and be mindful that the school is located in a residential area.
Breakfast Club We have a breakfast club running in Thornliebank Primary School. Time: Starts at 8am Entrance: Via the Gymn Hall door Cost: Free for Pupils in Pr. 1-3 and 95p for pupils in P4-7 After the children have had their breakfast they can play games in the hall. Administration It is important that we have up to date information on addresses, phone numbers and emergency contact details as we may need to contact you urgently if your child has a fall or becomes unwell at school. The annual data form has been sent out for you to update. If you have not already provided us with an email address please add this to the form as another means of communication. Please remember to notify us of any changes to that information throughout the year.
Twitter Thornliebank Primary School has a Twitter Account and we regularly tweet updates about the school. If you haven’t already, please follow us. You can find us by searching for the following user name on Twitter: ThornliebankPS
Assemblies Last session we arranged a schedule of assemblies where each class led their own assembly or service. This was a huge success and we are going to continue this approach this year. Parents of the class leading the assembly are welcome to join us on that date. We would love to invite all our parents to every assembly but unfortunately we can’t accommodate these numbers. Invitations will precede your child’s class assembly.
Internet Safety A number of our pupils are members of social networking sites such as Facebook. The legal age to be a member of this site is 13. If your children are using social media please be extra vigilant and ensure you have access to this to monitor it’s use. Further advice can be found at the following link:
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/Parentsold/
Additional Curriculum for Excellence In-Service Day The Scottish Government has approved an extra In-Service day in 2014/15 for primary school teachers and the pre-5 sector (Nursery). The additional date will be Thursday 5 February 2015.
Flu Immunisation The Scottish Government is expanding the annual season flu vaccination programme. The aims of this are to:
Protect children from flu infection To reduce the spread of the flu virus to family, friends and the wider community
This year every Primary School will be involved in the school immunisation programme. Consent form packs will shortly be delivered to school and distributed through the children’s school bags. The pack will include a letter to parents, an information leaflet, consent form and return envelope.
Finally If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to be in touch. At Thornliebank Primary School, we want your child’s time here to be happy, safe and achieving.
Kind regards Siobhan McColgan
Meetings of Parent Consultation Groups – Session 2014-15 The parent consultation group meetings are attended by members of the Education Directorate, Senior Officers in the Education Department and Elected Members of the Education Committee.
Parent Council Chair’s Forum The Parent Council is the body that represents all parents in a school. Two members of the Parent Council can attend these meetings to represent all parents within the school.
Date/Venue/Time Tuesday 7th October 2014 – Williamwood High School Wednesday 18th February 2015 – Woodfarm High School Wednesday 3rd June 2015 – St Luke’s High School All meetings are held at 7.00pm
Contact for this group is Janice Collins, telephone 0141 577 3222 or email [email protected]
Equalities Forum This meeting is for a nominated parent representative from each school and schools’ equality co-ordinators .
Date/Venue/Time Thursday 18th September 2014 – Woodfarm High School 7-9pm Thursday 15th January 2015 – Woodfarm High School 7-9pm Thursday 14th May 2015 – Braidbar Primary School 7-9pm
Contact for this group is Maureen Sneddon, Quality Improvement Officer, telephone 0141 577 3942 or email [email protected]
East Renfrewshire Parent Information Line Available: Mon to Fri 8am- 6pm Freephone: 0845 84 100 10
East Renfrewshire’s Parent Information Line is a free telephone information service concerning all matters relating to children’s education. The service is available between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday and is also available in Urdu/Punjabi. Parent Information Line is staffed by professionally trained personnel who are able to provide information on a wide range of educational issues, e.g.: ideas to help with homework, advice on choosing a childminder and guidelines for using the internet safely with children. Enquiries can be made in confidence (unless a child is at risk and there is a child protection issue).
For more information on East Renfrewshire’s Parent Information Line, contact the web site: www.ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk/parents/