The weeks are flying by and it is encourgaing that we can end this school year more positively and hopefully plan for a more ‘normal’ year from August. This term we are focusing our attention on preparing the children for a positive move to their new teachers and we hope to inform you about teacher allocation soon.

Transition plans

• Week beginning 30th May share teacher allocations, new teachers introduce themselves on Class Dojo and new teachers begin to visit current classes.
• Week beginning 6th June is transition week which will involve the children in exploring their new classroom with their current teacher and then having two visits with their new teacher. The teachers will also meet during in-service day to discuss the children’s learning and well-being needs.
• Week beginning 13th and 20th June the new teachers will continue to visit the children in their current classes and specific arrangements for additional visits will be made for individual children who find transition difficult.
• Week beginning 27th June the new teachers will post a message to their new classes which might be helpful for some children to watch again over the holidays to reduce any anxiety.
• Week beginning 15th August on in-service day the new teachers will post a video on Class Dojo to give the children a tour of the classroom. There will be an opportunity for children who are particularly anxious to drop into their new classroom between 2.00-3.00pm.
• Once the children have settled in, the new and previous teachers will meet again to discuss the children’s learning and well-being needs.
• Towards the end of term 1 there will be a ‘settling in’ parents evening in person.

Specific arrangements are in place for P1 and P7 and their transition is already underway. Let’s hope that the above gives everyone a great start to what looks set to be a great year!

Reporting

Our staff are currently preparing the children’s end of year reports and these will be issued on 25th May. There will be an opportunity for parents to request a phone call from the teacher to discuss the report or any concerns you might have about your child’s learning or well-being. This can also be arranged in person if required and please keep in mind that you can request to meet your child’s teacher at any time during the school year.

Parental involvement 2022-23

Now that guidance for schools is beginning to relax, I am keen to establish a more normal calendar for engaging with parents next session. The suggested events will be in addition to Parent  Council meetings and Grange Gabbers which allow us to gather parents’ views. I am keen to get your thoughts so if you could have a quick look and leave any comments it would be much appreciated, thanks.

School uniform

I realise I have already been in touch regarding school uniform but thought it might be worthwhile just to remind everyone of the changes again. On a day to day basis children can either wear traditional school uniform OR a more relaxed uniform of Grange hoodie, black bottoms and black trainers. The t-shirt worn underneath should be plain but any colour. If children want to start wearing the relaxed uniform now that is absolutely fine.

From August I would also ask that the relaxed uniform is worn on PE days. This replaces the previous PE kit that parents used to provide and will help to make everyone ‘uniform’.  To avoid additional costs for parents this can be a plain grey hoodie if preferred.

Playground update

After extensive consultation with the children the funding we received for the playground development has been allocated as follows and we hope to see this installed over the summer: