August 2019

Headteacher Update Term 1 2019-2020

Dear Families,

It has been a very positive and settled start back to the new term. I have been so impressed by how quickly our Primary 1 children have got used to new routines and how well our Primary 7 children are setting excellent examples. Almost all of our children are demonstrating our school values and have been ready to learn and respectful. In order to raise the standards of behaviour even more, we have introduced three school rules for all of our children to follow.

Clackmannan School Rules

Children must be READY

Children must be RESPECTFUL
Children must be SAFE

At assemblies we will be sharing the new approaches we are introducing. Then we will be consulting with you to make our final behaviour policy so watch this space. And keep an eye on Dojo!

Team News

We would like to warmly welcome Mr Rogers, our temporary janitor, Mr Manson, our PE teacher, Miss McCouat our Probationer Teacher, Nathalie Marec, our new wellbeing worker, with us on Thursdays, and Mrs Gray who has returned to teach art on Thursdays and Fridays. It is wonderful to have you all as part of Team Clackmannan.

We are delighted to also welcome some new members of staff in our nursery. Mrs Craig, Mrs Fenton, Miss Wilson, Miss Johnson and Miss Maclean has joined us as Early Learning and Childcare Educators. Mrs Wyllie is our Trainee Early Learning and Childcare Educator and Miss Campbell is our Nursery teacher.

Communication

Communication continues to be a very important strength of our school and we are always available for a chat or to answer any questions you have. We are committed to working with you to ensure the very best for your child and most often use Dojo messaging as you have told us you really like it. If it is urgent though, please phone as teachers cannot answer Dojo messages during learning and teaching time.

You will also see class learning updates on Class Story and I post school updates regularly on School Story. You will also receive newsletters like this but I prefer Dojo!

Please can you also remember to update us on any new emergency contact numbers you have. Should for any reason we need to contact you during the school day it is most helpful to ensure we have your correct telephone numbers.

Points of contact

If you do have a worry or concern then the first point of contact is your child’s class teacher. If you feel you would like to chat with a member of the Senior Leadership Team then Mrs Budge (Principal Teacher) is the first point of contact for P1-4 and Mrs Cartwright (Depute Headteacher) is the first point of contact for P5-7. Please also feel free to contact me at any time.

We also love having family member helpers! Please get in touch if you have some free time to help us. It could be reading a story with a child, practising counting or playing games, organising resources and helping with displays or even in the garden.

Attendance

Attend today – Achieve tomorrow

Each term I send letters to home to parents whose child’s absence is on or below 90%. If your child has 90% attendance over the year then that means they will have lost approximately FOUR weeks of teaching. You may also be contacted by the Attendance and Welfare Officer if we do not see an improvement. I also request you contact me regarding a planned absence from school.

Children who miss school can also;

Find it hard to keep/make friendships
Feel excluded and not a true part of the class
Forget what they have previously learnt
Have difficulty keeping up and maintaining progress
Not meet national expectations and standards

If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We want to help your child attend school every day. Should your child be absent from school please can you advise us of this and the reason on our school absence line in the morning.

Health and wellbeing reminders

Only water is allowed in class time. Water hydrates and allows for best learning.
No slushies/fizzy juice/energy drinks are allowed in the school grounds – being full of sugar does not allow for best learning.
We would like to encourage the children to bring healthy snack choices to school.
We are outside in all weathers. Please can children come to school with a jacket on as on certain days it can be a little colder and windy.

Parking and dropping off

No parking is allowed on Port Street, Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 4pm, in term time. This includes parking for a short time to drop off your child/children at school or nursery. Our Parent Council are supporting with this and always have up to date and important information on their Facebook page. Please follow them ‘Clackmannan Primary Parent Council’. We all need to follow our school rule of Safe and this includes safe and responsible parking. Our community police officers will be patrolling our school over the next few weeks and will be moving on parked cars in our no parking zones. Should there be a constant repeat of parking unfortunately you may be at risk of obtaining a parking fine.

Parent Pay

Thank you to everyone who has now signed up for our school cashless catering Parent Pay system. We would encourage all parents to activate their child’s account. If you require a username or password or any help and support please contact the school office. We would remind you to check your account on a weekly basis to ensure enough funds are available for ordering lunches during the week. Accounts need to be kept with a positive balance to ensure your child can receive a school lunch.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast club is running each morning in our school dining hall from 8.30am with the last service at 8.50am. Payment is made through our Parent Pay system at £1.20 each day.

Milk

Milk letters have been issued for this term with milk starting on Monday 2^nd September. If you wish your child to received one carton of milk per day from then until the October break, please can you complete the form and pay on our Parent Pay system to allow us to order the milk for them. Milk orders are made on the Friday of the previous week therefore we need all payment received by this Friday 30^th August.

Best wishes,

Mrs Debra Laird

Headteacher

Dates for your diary Term 1
Mondays from 2^nd September	Glee Club P5-7
Wednesday 4^th September	Meet the Team. Doors open 6.15 for a 6.30 start. Hear from all of the staff team about the year of learning planned for your child’s class. Then visit classrooms, see where your child learns and chat to teachers.
Thursday 5^th September	Open Classroom Afternoon. 2pm Pop in to visit your child’s classroom and spend some time with them.
	Towards Excellence Awards We are attending the local authority education award ceremony on this evening. Wish us luck as we have been nominated for TWO awards!
Friday 6^th September	Open Classroom Morning 8.30am Pop in to visit your child’s classroom. Please note teachers are not available at this time.
Tuesday 3^rd and Thursday 5^th September	Active Travel Week Walking Bus – please message Mrs budge for more information.
Tuesday 17^th September	Parent Council Meeting 6.30pm All welcome
Tuesdays from 17th September for 6 weeks	P5-7 STEM Photography After School Club (More info to follow soon as limited places)
Tuesday 24^th September	Primary 1 Parent Cuppa Chat 2.15pm
Friday 27^th September	Dress Down Day
Friday 4^th October	P7 Community Coffee Morning
Monday 14^th October – Friday 18th	October Holiday

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Our Living Values: honesty, respect, achievement, fairness and nurture