It has been wonderful coming back to a new school year and seeing the children so happy and eager to learn. Last term we had a whole school focus upon Great Grange Behaviour and we saw amazing improvements particularly in corridor and playground behaviour. The school leadership team were outside in the playground over breaks every day as well as supervising the dining hall and corridors. The children made us all extremely proud by rising to the high standards of behaviour we aim for at Grange and several visitors commented upon our polite and well-behaved children.

Over the last two weeks we have been building upon our success by focusing upon Great Grange Relationships. Our three goals are for our everyone to be Safe, Respectful and Ready to learn. The leadership team continue to be outside at breaks and highly visible around the school to support this. We are also trying out a ‘Meet and Greet’ every morning. This involves me welcoming the children at the gate (alternate days at each gate) and Mrs Tweed, Mrs Oldham and Mrs Landsburgh welcoming in the class lines to allow the class teachers to welcome the children at the classroom doors. Our hope is that by personally connecting with every child as they enter the school they feel safe, respected and ready for the day. That’s when the best learning can happen!

We have been giving out golden raffle tickets all week for children who are behaving well in the dining hall. The raffle tickets have all gone into a golden tombola and eight winning tickets will be drawn each Friday. The eight winners will have their lunch at the Golden Table the following Friday and they can also invite a guest to join them. The excitement is almost too much…and that’s just me!

Have a great weekend everyone and watch out for my next blog coming soon…

It’s hard to believe we are almost at the end of yet another successful school year. Last night at the Oscars we gave an emotional farewell to our P7’s and we wish them well as they move on to high school. Don’t forget we will have our P7 Parade tomorrow at 2.50pm where they will be piped out in a procession to allow everyone to wave them off in style. They are a great bunch and I hope they take away as many fond memories of Grange as I have of them!

Also moving on tomorrow is Mrs Wallace who has taught at Grange for many years. She has been a great support to lots of children over the years and her sense of fun and humour will be greatly missed by us all. We hope she will keep in touch as she goes off to enjoy her retirement and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all of her hard work during her time at Grange. It’s now time to relax and enjoy!

Mrs Snee is also moving on to take up a  post at Fintry Primary School and I am sure that great things lie ahead for her. She has given our P7’s an excellent end to their time at Grange and she has made a fantastic start to her teaching career. Mrs Mitchell (School and Pupil Support Assistant) is also moving on to a new post in Angus. Once again I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for their hard work and commitment to the school and wish them the very best of luck in their new posts.

As we look towards our new school year in August we are delighted to have so many new faces joining us. We will have three trainee teachers: Miss Ritchie, Miss McIntosh and Miss Tugman. They will be supported and mentored by Miss Kean, Mrs Robertson and Mr Findlay respectively and having met them I am confident that the enthusiasm they each bring will be energising for all of us. We will also welcome Mrs Smith and Mrs Watson to P7 in August, both of whom are experienced teachers who bring lots of expertise that will benefit our school. Lots of changes and exciting times ahead!

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all of our staff and families for your ongoing of our school. It truly is a privilege to lead such a successful and caring school and to watch your children learn and grow. I am extremely proud and lucky to be the Head Teacher of Grange and I am excited to embark upon another year of Great Grange Learning with everyone. Have a wonderful family summer everyone and see you in August!

Last term we surveyed the children and staff to find out what they think about the behaviour at Grange. The results showed that while everyone feels the general behaviour across the school is good there is room for improvement in the playground and corridors. The P5-7 children worked in groups to come up with ‘change ideas’ to help us improve the playground and the corridors and they had some very creative ideas! I have been visiting the classes each week to introduce a new challenge from the ideas the children generated. The P7 children are gathering data about what’s happening in the playground and corridors each week so that we can identify which ideas are working and how much we have improved.

In the playground the children want more to do! They have identified 10 zones and I have set each year group the challenge of working out the resources and rules they need for one zone each. Where they need to buy new resources they have to complete a Business Proposal Form which will be considered by the MAD Fundraisers. Some children and staff are working with representatives from the Parent Council who are also keen to help and to use the funds they have raised to buy new resources. The Parks Department are going to clear the forest area to make it safe so it can become our Adventure Zone. We have also submitted applications for funding from different sources and our aim is to have as many of the zones up and running by the end of term.

In the corridors the main problem is children running and bumping into each other. The first week we introduced a timetable for the Leadership Team to supervise each corridor area, dining hall and playground. Last week we introduced the idea of ‘Fantastic Walking’ where everyone slows down and walks proudly through the corridors keeping their hands to themselves. This has been great fun and the behaviour has improved dramatically with less running and pushing and with very positive feedback from a number of visitors, children and staff. This week the staff are escorting the children in their lines to the doors at the end of each part of the day to make sure everyone leaves in a safe manner.

Over the coming weeks we will be working on conflict resolution, excellent manners and class/ school rewards. Our overall aim to is to revisit the surveys we carried out last term and for the children to see that their ideas and efforts have led to significant improvements. I look forward to sharing our progress and the great fun we are having as we REACH FOR THE STARS!

Come and join us!

Nursery Natter Invite 30.4.18

Click on the link to see what our Eco Warriors in P1 and Nursery would like

Recycling P1+Nursery

Click the link to find out more   Grange Race Night

Minutes of the meeting on 29th January now available in the archive section of the blog along with previous minutes from this session

Well here it is….. the Grange Blog! What a way to launch it. We have collated the information that was to be shared with you at the “Sharing Our Learning” event that was cancelled due to snow.

It’s finally here…….. we are excited to launch our blog where we hope to keep you up to date with what is going on at Grange and to hear from you also.

At Grange we are always striving to “Reach for the Stars” and your feedback can help with this.

Have a browse through the pages…. be patient some not fully complete as yet and if you think you would like some more information on anything please let us know.