It has been a busy but positive start to the school year and we are very quickly heading towards the October holidays – time certainly does fly by when you’re having fun! Here are a few updates and dates for your diaries that should be helpful…

Parent Council – We had our first meeting last week which was well attended and gave us the chance to discuss the way forward. We agreed to try a slightly different approach this year by splitting into two groups – one for events/ fundraising (Grange Go Getters!) and one for consultation on school improvements (Grange Gabbers). Alongside these groups we will be offering a variety of ways that parents can get involved in school life by sharing their exeprtise.

Grange Go Getters! – This will be a group that parents can drop in and out of depending on their availabilty. Parents can opt to volunteer for one event at a time and we will hold very short planning meetings in advance of each event. The first quick get together will be held on Wednesday 27th September 5.30pm to arrange the Halloween discos. More information about Halloween to follow in this post.

Grange Gabbers – This group will meet termly to hear about and discuss school improvements. Our first meeting will be held on Wednesday 1 November 6.00-7.00pm at Grange. We will discuss our school improvement plan priorities which are ‘Relationships and Writing’ and we will consult on our use of Class Dojo to share curriculum information, children’s progress in learning and home learning. Thanks to those of you who have already shared suggestions with me via Class Dojo. Everyone is welcome to join the meeting or to message me if you can’t come along but have ideas!

MAD Parents (Make A Difference) – We would like to enlist the support of parents for our Make A Difference groups which run monthly P2-7. These groups will meet on Fridays 9.30-10.20am on the following dates: 29th September, 27th October, 24th November, 26th January, 1st March, 19th April and 17th May. Our MAD Groups are: Eco Warriors (Nursery & P1), Rights Respecting Schools, Global Grangers, News Team, Community Champions, Digital Leaders, fun Fundraisers, Playground Pals, Talent Spotters and Outdoor Learning Gang. If you would like to help out or have exerptise to offer any of these groups please complete the survey on this link: https://forms.office.com/e/4RusH6Tus1

We are also keen to create a directory of parents who have skills and jobs that could be shared with the children to enhance their learning across the curriculum. If you would be willing to share the exeprtise you have from our job or hobbies please complete the survey on this link: https://forms.office.com/e/suxJv1Tpx5

Thanks in advance to the parents who have offered to collate the above survey information!

Halloween discos – These are planned for Thursday 26th October P2-4 5.30-6.15pm and P5-7 6.30-7.30pm. Our Primary 1 children will have a class party in the afternoon to avoid anyone getting too spooked! The  discos rely entirely upon parent volunteers to ensure the children’s safety. If you are willing to volunteer for supervising or organising refreshments please let us know or come along to the planning meeting Wednesday 27th September 5.30pm. We are also looking for donations of decorations for the gym hall and the forest. We will need voluteers to decorate both the hall on the day or the day before the discos after school. All help is most welcome to help us make this a fun and safe event for the children! Tickets cost £3.00 and will be onsale soon via Parent Pay.

Place 2 Be – please use this link to access information about an online course for parents which comes highly recommended. Parenting Smart flyer 2023

Dates for your diary – I have created an iCal for Grange parents which includes the key dates for the school year. This can also be used on android devices by following online instrcutions from your manufacturer. The dates may need to adjusted over the year and I will continue to give reminders on my monthly blog:

webcal://p124-caldav.icloud.com/published/2/MTc2MzkzMzUxMTc2MzkzM1HESZOGsiC5xrFIxkDZeopb3_r_I9_Wt13ihNYxSkxQ7GPzgXIRY4ovbfTLy31S5Cxvp0XeFQ6kmtNNUsKUqPM

Dates for your diary:

• Settling in meetings – Wednesday 20th and 27th September 3.30-6.30pm
• Flu vaccintations – Thursday 21st September
• Dress down day (bring chocolate!) – Friday 29th September
• MAD groups – Friday 29th September 9.30-10.20am
• End of term 1 – Friday 29th September normal finishing times
• Term 2 starts – Monday 16th October
• Halloween discos – Thursday 26th October P2-4 5.30-6.15pm & P5-7 6.30-7.30pm
• MAD groups – Friday 27th October 9.30-10.20am
• Reading Cafe – Friday 3rd November 2.00-3.00pm
• Grange Global Summit (Sharing Our Learning) – Thursday 9th November 5.00-6.00pm
• School photographer – Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th November
• Rag bag collection – Thursday 16th November
• Wellbeing event for parents (tbc)– Monday 20th November 6.00-7.00pm (more info to follow)
• MAD groups – Friday 24th November 9.30-10.20am
• In-service days – Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th November
• Holiday – Friday 1st December
• Christmas school lunch – Thursday 14th December
• Christmas Cheer – Friday 15th December (see below for timetable)
• Cinema trip – Wednesday 20th December P2-7
• End of term 2 – Friday 22nd December 3.00pm finish for all children

*Christmas Cheer timetable: 9.00am Nursery, 9.30am P7, 10.00am P6, 10.30am P5, 11.00am P4, 1.30pm P3, 2.00pm P2, 2.30pm P1

Thanks to you all for your ongoing support of our school and for helping us to make it a great place to learn, have a relaxing holiday when it comes!

Welcome back! It has been lovely to see the children returning to school so happy and ready to learn. Thanks to everyone who has supported us by ensuring that the children are wearing the correct uniform. As a reminder, children can wear a traditional uniform of white shirt, gold tie, grey trousers/ skirt, grey jumper/ cardigan and black shoes. Alternatively, they can wear a relaxed uniform of Grange grey hoodie/ plain grey hoodies (no logos please), black leggings/ joggers, white t-shirt and trainers. The relaxed uniform should also be worn on PE days. If anyone has diffiuclty in providing uniform please do not hesitate to be in touch. We will also contact families directly if there are any ongoing issues with uniform.

Staff news – This term we have welcomed a number of new staff to Grange…Mrs Millard (School and Pupil Support Assistant), Ms Smith (Senior Early Years Practitioner), Ms Mitchell (Early Years Assistant) and Miss Tonner (Modern Apprentice – Nursery). We look forward to welcoming two addtional members of staff later this term…Ms Macfarlane (P1 teacher –  Wednesdays only) and Ms Wood (School and Pupil Support Assistant). We have also had to say to some sad goodbyes – Mrs Sturrock and Mrs Breckenridge have moved onto new nursery posts in Angus and Miss Hutchison is off to a teaching post in Denmark. We wish them all the very best of luck and we are all very grateful for their commitment and hard work in their time at Grange.

Parent concerns – If you have any issues or worries about your child’s wellbeing or progress in learning please do not hesitate to be in touch. Teachers can be contacted by phoning the school office or by sending a message on Class Dojo. Please keep in mind that teachers will respond ro messages during office hours and that they will not be checking Class Dojo when they are working with the children 9.00am-3.00pm. If you require a prompt reply please phone the office. You are also welcome to contact the Leadership Team as follows: Nursery-P2 Mrs Landsburgh, P3-4 & Green/ Purple Rooms Mrs Oldham, P5-7 Mrs Smith and Yellow Room Mrs Will. We are always here to help and keen to resolve little issues before they become bigger worries!

Parent Council – Our first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 13th September 6.00-7.00pm at Grange Primary. This meeting is open to any parent who would like to get involved. We have been struggling over the last few years to get members and I am really keen to find ways of making this group more appealing! This will be the main focus of our first meeting so please do come along and help us to get parents involved in improving our school.

Playground equipment – Please be reminded that the playground equipment is is out of bounds before 9.00am and after 3.00pm as it is not supervised by school staff. If parents/ carers permit children to play on the equipment before/ after school they are fully responsible for their supervision and safety.

Parent survey – Last term we issued a survey to parents to gather views about our school. There were a few individual issues that have been dealt with separately but the general results were extremely positive with some great suggestions for areas of improvement. The main themes that we will take forward this year are:

• Consistent use of Class Dojo to share learning.
• Consistent home learning opportunities.
• Improved reporting of accidents and playground incidents, playground supervision.
• More education about bullying.
• Review ‘Settling in meetings’ and ‘Learner Led Conferences’.
• More notice about events for parents.

Reporting about children’s progress – As you can see above there were some mixed views about parent/ teacher meetings and the ways we report chidren’s progress in learning. I am keen to meet with a group of parents to discuss this further to help us improve. I will take the opportunity at the Parent Council meeting and I would also like to offer an invitation to Grange Gabbers on Thursday 14th September 2.30pm (just before pick up) if any parents would like to come for a chat about reporting. If you are interested please just send me a message on Class Dojo or altertively share your views with me on Class Dojo.

Parent communication – I plan to issue a monthly blog post like this one to keep parents updated with school news. This will include diary dates for the coming month. I will also issue the usual iCal link with the main school dates for the year. During COVID I started a weekly video message for the classes called the ‘Monday Message’. It has proved popular and the children enjoy being part of it too. I thought it might be of interest to parents and so each week it will be shared on the School Story on Class Dojo.

Dates for your diary:

• Friday 8th September – 2.00-3.00pm – Reading Cafe/ Parents welcome to visit classes
• Friday 8th September – 3.00-4.00pm – Colour Run (more information to follow)
• Wednesday 13th September – 6.00-7.00pm – Parent Council meeting at Grange PS
• Thursday 14th September – 2.30-3.00pm – Grange Gabbers meeting at Grange PS
• Wednesday 20th September – 3.30-6.30pm – Settling in meetings
• Thursday 21st September – all day – Flu immunisations
• Wednesday 27th September – 3.30-6.30pm – Settling in meetings
• Friday 29th September – 9.30-10.20am – MAD groups (more information to follow)
• Friday 29th September – 2.00-3.00pm – Reading Cafe
• Friday 29th September – usual finish times – end of term 1

Thanks to everyone for helping the term get off to such a great start!

Staff News – This week we say goodbye to Miss Hutchison (P1) and Mrs Buick (Green Room). We wish them both well as they head off on new adventures and thank them sincerely for there commitment to our children and school. We also wish Mrs Tasker (Green Room) a very happy and well earned retirement! Mrs Tasker has worked at Grange for many years and in her time has been a great support to many children and families. We are missing her already and can’t thank her enough for all she has done for Grange. When we come back in August we will welcome two new support assistants, Mrs Millard (P3) and Mrs Wood (Green Room).  Mrs Dempster is taking a secondment to the Yellow Room next session and I am sure she will be a fantastic addition to our Additional Support Needs team. We will have a new teacher, Mrs McFarlane, on Wednesdays only, who will provide cover in our P1 classes. In the nursery, we are delighted that Mrs Grant has been appointed as our Lead Senior Early Years Pracitioner and we are so proud that she has successfully completed her degree in Early Childhood Practice, congratulations! To assist Mrs Grant in her new role we will welcome Lisa Smith, Senior EYP, to our fantastic nursery team. Last but by no means least we look forward to welcoming Miss Kerr back in August as Mrs Simpson. We wish her and her husband to be the very best for their future together!

Uniform – I thought it might be helpful to remind everyone about the expectation for school uniform in August. Children can wear a relaxed/ PE uniform: Grange/ plain grey hoodie, Grange/ plain white t-shirt, plain black leggings, joggers or shorts and black trainers. The relaxed uniform should double as the school PE kit on gym days. Children also have the option of wearing traditional uniform of black blazer, grey jumper/ cardigan, grey trousers/ skirt/ pinafore, white shirt, gold tie, black shoes. In the summer months yellow checked dresses/ playsuits can also be worn.

https://www.border-embroideries.co.uk/schools/grange-primary-school-dundee.html

Your support in maintaining high standards of school uniform, while moving with the times, is very much appreciated!

Dates for your diary  –  a few dates for term 1 that might be useful…

Monday 14th August – in-service day – teachers will send a video to the children to give them a tour of the classroom before they come back to school. Any child feeling particualry anxious can pop in between 2.30-3.00pm to out minds at rest.

Tuesday 15th August – first day of term – P1-4 8.50am and P5-7 9.00am start. Mrs Landsburgh has already been in touch with staggered timings for our new P1s.

Friday 8th September 2.00-3.00pm – Reading Cafe in the hall and open afternoon for parents to pop into visit your child’s new classroom.

Friday 8th September 3.00-4.00pm – Colour Run in the playground – tickets will be sold after the holidays for children who would like to take part. Children must be accompanied by an adult. P1-4 3.00pm and P5-7 3.30pm.

Wednesday 20th and 27th September 3.30-6.30pm – Settling in meetings

Thursday 21st September – Flu immunisations

Friday 29th September 2.00-3.00pm – Reading Cafe and last day of term

Happy holidays! – I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the year. I never understimate what a privilege it is to work in such a supportive school community and I very much value the positive relationships we share. I am also ever grateful to my amazing staff team who are so committed to our children and school. Not forgetting of course, your wonderful children who make me smile and laugh every day, I really do have the best job in the world. I hope you all have a sunny and happy summer.

Happy holidays everyone!

Learner Led Conferences – This term we will be holding Learner Led Conferences where parents are invited to meet with their child’s teacher and bring along their child to discuss progress in learning. More information and a link to book a slot for the meetings will follow but in the meantime the dates are:

Monday 13th and Wednesday 15th February 3.30-6.30pm

P1C only  – Wednesday 8th and Wednesday 15th February 3.30-6.30pm

Reading Cafe – Friday 3rd February 2.00-3.00pm hosted by Digital Leaders

In-service day – Thursday 16th February

Holiday – Friday 17th and Monday 20th February

World Book Day – On Thursday 2nd March our World Book Day focus will be bedtime stories and promoting reading for pleasure at home. The children are invited to wear pyjamas or their usual school uniform on the day and there will be activities in the hall for parents to drop in from 2.00-5.00pm. Again more information will follow!

Reading Cafe – Friday 10th March 2.00-3.00pm hosted by Rights Respecting Schools group

Back to School! With only one week to go until we are all back to school the following reminders might be helpful. The teachers will post a video on Class Dojo on Monday 15th August to give the children a virtual tour of the classroom. If your child is particularly anxious about returning to school they are welcome to pop in between 1.30-2.00pm on Monday 15th August to put their pencil case in their tray and to say ‘hi’ to the teacher. Please contact staff in advance so they are expecting you and come in via the office.

Grange Parent Calendar – An iCal has been created for parents to make sure you have key dates for the year. This can also be used on android devices and instructions will be available online. Please keep in mind that dates are subject to change and there could well be additional dates/ events to follow.

webcal://p124-caldav.icloud.com/published/2/MTc2MzkzMzUxMTc2MzkzM1HESZOGsiC5xrFIxkDZeopb3_r_I9_Wt13ihNYxSkxQ7GPzgXIRY4ovbfTLy31S5Cxvp0XeFQ6kmtNNUsKUqPM

Lunch times – This term we will trial a slight change to the lunch timings. P1-4 will remain the same, but P5-7 will start lunch 10 minutes earlier and return from lunch 10 minutes earlier. The new lunch timings for P5-7 will be 12.40-1.30pm.  This will allow slightly more overlap for siblings to see each other at lunch time. We will review this at the end of term 1 and make any changes if required.

Grange hoodies – It seems that there is a batch of orders waiting to be collected from the warehouse (behind Sainsburys). It might be that email notifications have gone into you junk folder so it might be worth a check. The link for ordering hoodies can be found in the uniform section of this blog.

Playground Progress – New equipment has been installed over the summer so it will be exciting for the children to return to an improved playground next week. Each class will be given a time to explore and play over the first few days of term, with the official opening being Friday 19th August. This will allow time for everyone to understand the safety measures in place and it will ensure everyone gets the chance to play. Phase 1 complete, now onto Phase 2…

The Kiltwalk 2022 – We are keen to kickstart the fundraising for Phase 2 of our playground project and all funds raised by The Kiltwalk this year are being increased by 50% by the Hunter Foundation. This seems like too good a chance to miss! Phase 2 could include slides built into the banking, scramble nets and swings. Some of us are taking part in the Wee Wander on Sunday 21st August 12pm from Castle Green to Monifieth. If you would like to join us please register and join the Grange Primary Team or to save the registration fee just come along on the day. We will also do a Wee Wander round the playground on the Friday before so that nobody feels left out! You can use and share this link to the Just Giving page for donations…let’s get walking Team Grange!

https://dundee.thekiltwalk.co.uk/fundraising/DundeeKiltwalk2022-GrangePrimary

Grange Fest – We are holding a play festival ‘Grange Fest‘ on Friday 26th August 1.30-3.00pm to allow parents to come along and play outside with their children. This event will also serve as an opportunity to ‘Meet the Teacher’ and for your child to show you around their new classroom. We look forward to seeing you there!

Parent Council – We are keen to recruit new members to our Parent Council and to appoint new office bearers. Being part of the Parent Council is a great way to get involved in school life and it really only involves attending a few meetings a year (often which are online to avoid childcare issues). If you are interested in becoming involved please get in touch. The proposed dates for the meetings can be found using the calendar link above.

Grange Gabber and Nursery Natters – These informal parent groups have always been a great way for the school to get helpful feedback and suggestions for improvement. This year we are going to try incorporating them into our Reading Cafes which will be held each month in the school hall on Friday afternoons. More information to follow once we are back to school.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the summer holidays and that the sun continues to shine. I look forward to welcoming the children back next week.

Lorraine Will 😊

Grange Leavers 2022 The final countdown has begun for our wonderful P7s and we will be waving them off on Wednesday with mixed emotions. They really have been a great bunch and we have enjoyed celebrating their achievements with children, parents and staff over the last week. Huge thanks go to the parents who organised their party, you really did them proud! We look forward to giving them a Great Grange send off at our parade on Wednesday 2.45pm – bring your tissues! Good luck to them all at high school and please keep in touch. Keep Reaching for the Stars #believe

Staff News We are also saying ‘goodbye’ to some staff on Wednesday. Mrs Lodge and Mrs McAdam have supported our classes and ASN rooms over the year and we are all extremely grateful to them as they head off to take up teaching posts in other Angus schools. Miss Chalmers (SPSA) and Miss Sherret (EYA) are also heading off to take on exciting new challenges and we wish them the very best of luck! We look forward to welcoming Miss Catarina Hutchison as our Newly Qualified Teacher in P1. Last but not least Shonni Cullen (cleaner) is taking up a new post in Dundee and Mr Adam (school crossing patroller) is heading off into his well-earned retirement. Shonni and Mr Adam have both worked at Grange for many years and they have kindly agreed to hold the school banner and lead the parade on Wednesday so that we can give them a Great Grange send off too!

Lunch timings Next term we will trial a slight change to the lunch timings. P1-4 will remain the same, but P5-7 will start lunch 10 minutes earlier and return from lunch 10 minutes earlier. The new lunch timings for P5-7 will be 12.40-1.30pm.  This will allow slightly more overlap for siblings to see each other at lunch time. We will review this at the end of term 1 and make any changes if required.

Playground Project There is new equipment scheduled to be installed over the summer so it will be exciting for the children to return to an improved playground in August. We are planning to hold a play festival ‘Grange Fest‘ on Friday 26th August 1.30-3.00pm to allow parents to come along and play outside with their children. This event will also serve as an opportunity to ‘Meet the Teacher’ and for your child to show you around their new classroom. Make sure you have the date in your diary and more information will be issued after the holidays.

Parent Council We are keen to recruit new members to our Parent Council and to appoint new office bearers. Being part of the Parent Council is a great way to get involved in school life and it really only involves attending 4-6 meetings a year (often which are online to avoid childcare issues). If you are interested in becoming involved please get in touch and dates for meetings will follow shortly.

Moving on up! Our transition activities have been very successful this year and the children all seem excited about moving up to their new classes and teachers in August. The new teachers will post a video on Class Dojo this Wednesday to wish the children a fun summer and then they will post again on Monday 15th August to give them a tour of the classroom. If your child is particularly anxious about returning to school they are welcome to pop in between 1.30-2.00pm on Monday 15th August to put their pencil case in their tray and to say ‘hi’ to the teacher. Please contact staff in advance so they are expecting you and come in via the office.

School improvements Our focus for improvement next session will be literacy and in particular the development of the Daily 5 and Sound Reading System. Our Pupil Equity Funding will be used to fund a team of teachers to take on Lead Specialist responsibilities in literacy and to provide additional support in classes for writing. These approaches will support improvements for all children in literacy as well as targeted support for children who require additional support.

Happy holidays! I hope that the sun shines and you all enjoy a lovely summer making memories with family and friends. Thank you all sincerely for your support of the school and thanks also to my amazing staff team who go above and beyond every day. It looks hopeful that next year will see a return to normal school life and I hope to share a calendar of key dates with you soon. Happy holidays and I look forward to seeing the children’s happy faces on Tuesday 16th August, ready to learn and to take new challenges!

Lorraine Will

It looks like a busy few weeks ahead so the following reminders might be helpful:

Sports Day – Friday 27th May – P2&3 9.30-10.30am, P6&7 11.30-1230pm, P4&5 2.00-3.00pm (children should war sun cream and bring a water bottle)

Queen’s Jubilee Tea Party – Wednesday 1st June pm – children can wear casual clothes and some red, white and blue! They will be treated to juice and cupcakes and they will all make a sustainable crown to add to the sense of occasion!

Holidays – Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd June

In-service day – Monday 6th June

Transition days – Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th June – afternoon visits to new classrooms and teachers

P1 Sports and Nursery Sports & Leavers Party – Monday 27th June 1.45-2.45pm

P7 Final day of fun! – Friday 24th June

P7 Parade – Wednesday 29th June 2.45pm – term ends for all pupils 3pm

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:

The Easter holidays are almost upon us and despite ongoing challenges with staff and pupil absence due to COVID we have managed to have a very successful term. Our P2-7 children enjoyed their cinema trips, our football and netball teams won their tournaments, our cross country teams enjoyed huge success at the Angus Championships and we even managed to take our P7s to Ryze. I am amazed that we have been able to make all of this happen and I am hugely grateful to my staff team for their flexibility and support, they really are a fantastic bunch! It is wonderful that the children have experienced a more ‘normal’ school year and it certainly looks likely that they will have a full year without the disruption of the last two years. As the holidays approach the following updates might be helpful:

Updated COVID guidance – Revised guidance for schools will see some positive changes next term.  The changes can be summarised as follows:

The weeks are flying by and it is so positive that school life seems to be gradually getting back to normal. That said we continue to be impacted by COVID absences and self-isolation periods that affect staffing and there are times when it means we are not as available to parents as we would be normally. I am hopeful that the nearer we get to the summer the more improvement we will see  – forever the optimist! In the meantime I would like to share some updates that you might find helpful.

Grange parent survey The recent update for schools allows us to consider removing staggered pick up and drop off times as well as staggered breaks. The staggered breaks have been extremely positive and resulted in a reduction in accidents and incidents in the playground and an improved lunch service for the children. For these reasons I am keen to retain our current breaks however I would like to capture the views of parents regarding start and finish times. A number of parents have highlighted that they would prefer for all children to start and finish at the same time for convenience at the start and end of day. However I am very conscious that aligning the times might incur additional childcare costs which I am keen to avoid. I have also been gathering the views of children who would prefer to have slightly shorter breaks and more planned outdoor learning times. They are also extremely keen to change our uniform to school hoodies in line with the high school. This would avoid the need for outdoor learning and PE kit as the children would come to school dressed more casually every day and ready for whatever type of learning is planned. While I am keen to respect the children’s views, I am very aware it is parents who provide the uniform so it is essential that we get your opinion. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey about the school day and school uniform.

Staffing news! I am delighted to inform you that Mrs Landsburgh has been appointed as substantive Depute Head Teacher and Mrs Smith as Principal Teacher. They are already established members of the Grange team and I consider myself very lucky to work alongside such committed and supportive colleagues. Along with Mrs Oldham they certainly make a dream team and I look forward to all the exciting improvements we will drive forward together in the future. It is with mixed emotions that I can share with you Mrs Graham, Additional Support Needs Teacher, is moving onto a new, exciting post with Aberdeen City Council. Mrs Graham has been a great support to many children, families and staff and though she will be missed we wish her the very best of luck in her new position which she will take up mid March.

Mobile phones It is no surprise that the number of children who now bring mobile phones to school has greatly increased. First of all I would like to emphasise that children do not need mobile phones in school as all contact with parents should be made via the school office and of course they bring them at their own risk. If children do need to bring their phone to school it must be switched off as soon as they enter the grounds and we encourage them to place it in the class box which will be stored in the cupboard for safety. I would also encourage parents to closely monitor mobile phone activity out of school as we have been informed recently of a number of situations where children are creating groups on social media apps and being unkind towards others. This is an important area of learning for our children given that is the way they now communicate so they need guidance to help them get it right.

Rainy days The slight relaxing of COVID guidance for schools means that we can now allow our P2-7 children into the gym hall before school on rainy days. It is always better if the children can arrive as near to the bell as possible to avoid them getting wet but where staffing allows the doors will be opened at 8.45am and they can go directly to the hall. The P1 children will enter through their own doors and go straight into class as normal.

Class Dojo The purpose of Class Dojo is to share  children’s learning and achievements with parents and to give any class updates. There is often a delay with messages coming through on Class Dojo and it cannot be relied upon to share information such as absence or lunch arrangements. I would encourage parents to contact the school office by phone: 01382 768101 or by email: grange@angusschools.org.uk in these types of instance or if you require a timely response. I would also ask that any concerns or issues are addressed by telephone so that Class Dojo continues to be used in the way it was always intended, with a focus on learning. By all means use Class Dojo to request a call from your child’s teacher at a time that suits you both.

Winter Support Fund Our school has been awarded a small amount of funding for allocating to families who are experiencing financial insecurity or who are in financial crisis. If you like to be considered for this funding please use the link to apply.

Progress updates Our teachers make ongoing judgments about children’s progress in learning based upon class work and assessments. Three times each year we record this information to allow us to track progress and consider any support or challenge that is needed. If there has been any change to your child’s progress in learning since the parents evenings in November the teacher will be in direct contact with you. If you have any concerns at all about your child at any time, please do not hesitate to be in touch to arrange a call.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our school. I will be in touch soon with the outcome of the survey regarding the school day and uniform and I will be seeking your views about the refresh of our vision, values and positive relationships policy so please watch this space…

Take care

Lorraine Will