Welcome back…What a pleasure it has been to welcome all of the children back to school looking so smart and ready to learn. We have a number of new children joining us throughout the school and I have been so proud to see how kind and welcoming our school community has been. Our new recruits in P1 had their first full day today and they coped so well however I’m sure they will all be early to bed tonight (staff included!). Today was also the first day for our new Senior Clerical Officer, Mrs Jill Linton, who has replaced Mrs Sherret. I am sure I can rely upon everyone’s patience as she gets to grip with her new post and of course she will be assisted ably by Mrs McKee and Mrs Hanbury in the meantime.

#progress…This year we have two main areas of school improvement – HAPPINESS and CHALLENGE. Our Learning Council spoke to everyone about our improvement plans last week at our first Learn to Learn session. You can see a short video of their presentation on the School Story on Class Dojo, it’s most definitely worth a watch. We plan to ensure that all children feel happy at Grange by focusing upon their well-being through yoga, mindfulness, developing our playground and restorative approaches, to name but a few activities. To develop challenge we will be exploring classroom practice and investigating ways of making sure that all children are challenged in their learning. Last week I set all of the classes a Head Teacher Challenge at Learn to Learn – they have been asked to discuss what challenge is, how it feels, how we know when we are being challenged and how we cope. P7 will report back at our next Learn to Learn so I will keep you updated!

#positivity…We are not even two weeks back and the school is already buzzing with activity. Last Sunday a group of children, parents and staff took part in the Kilt Walk. It was a rather soggy occasion but lots of fun and a hugely successful fundraiser. We managed to raise around £2500 which will be used for playground improvements and we also got to meet Judy Murray who is keen to come to Grange to provide some tennis sessions – WOW! If that’s not enough excitement we now have an Outdoor Cinema coming very soon…we are really counting on the support of our whole school community to make this a success so please get your tickets either from the school office or online from Blue Monkey Events. Bring all of your friends and the whole family and let’s make it a weekend to remember!

#engageyourself…Look out for the first of a series of Family Learning events…on Wednesday 18th September 6.00-7.30pm we will be hosting an evening on Online Safety and Parenting in a Digital Age. This is particularly pertinent as we embark upon our whole school topic on ‘Gaming’ so watch out for more information. Our first Grange Gabbers meeting will be held on Friday 6th September 9.30-10.30am when we will be discussing our school and nursery improvement plans and ‘challenge’ – everyone welcome so please come to the school office if you can make it along. The Parent Council will be meeting on Tuesday 24th September in the school at 7.30pm – children are also welcome to join us for those of you who find childcare a challenge in the evenings. These are just some of the ways you can get involved so please join us if you can.

#acceptance…And finally (for now), last week we said goodbye to Mrs Mackenzie (Additional Support Needs Teacher) and this week we say goodbye to Mrs Harkins (School and Pupil Support Assistant). Both ladies have worked so hard in their time at Grange and have supported and cared for many of our children. They are both moving onto exciting new opportunities and we all wish them the very best of luck for the future. They will both be greatly missed and I am truly grateful for their commitment to our school. They will be very difficult to replace and I will keep you updated about new staff in due course.

If you are still reading, thank you for your interest and your support. It’s going to be another great year at Grange and I continue to feel truly privileged to lead such a vibrant and connected school… #believe