Calside Courier

Calside Primary School, Dumfries

September 27, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
Comments Off on Friday email 27th September

Friday email 27th September

In the maildrop today, you will find the September newsletter. It is also attached here for ease, as well as the Parental Engagement and Involvement Strategy for this session:
We have also attached the Home Learning guidance again for your information: Calside Home Learning guidance leaflet
It has been lovely to hear all the amazing wider achievements that the children have had this term. The classes are loving the photos in particular. You will find a reminder of the teacher emails in the newsletter should you wish to send photos or if you have further successes to share.
A few busy days still to come in the next few weeks: a reminder of the diary dates can be found on the school website “Calside Courier” as well as in the newsletter.

September 20, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
Comments Off on Wider Achievements

Wider Achievements

In the maildrop, you will find a reply slip for your child’s wider achievements in the maildrop this week. It can also be found here: Celebrating Wider Achievements reply slip  We would appreciate replies by the end of September so that your child/ren’s achievements can be celebrated in school.
Please remember that we celebrate all kinds of wider achievement, not just attendance at clubs or winning a trophy (although they are great too). Our guide to wider achievements can be seen here: Celebrating Wider Achievements

September 20, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Update on the Nursery and School Improvement Plans

In the Friday email on 20th September, we shared update on the progress that we have made so far this session with the Nursery Improvement Plan and the School Improvement Plan. This progress aligns with the action points agreed with HMiE when they inspected the school in June. You can read the update here: Improvement Plans Update to Parents Sept 2024

September 13, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Homework Guidance

In the maildrop on 13th September, parents/carers should have receive a copy of our Home Learning guidance: this follows national guidance for home learning, and is based on educational research as to the value and impact of home learning at primary level. We appreciate that each child and each family situation is different: this is why the home learning guidance is flexible. A copy can be seen here: Calside Home Learning guidance leaflet
If you wish to request additional literacy or numeracy practice, you should contact the class teacher directly. Their email addresses are on the Class Sways, class newsletters and on the school website.
On Tuesday 17th, we will be holding our first Come and Join Us of the year. This is an opportunity for you to come and see what life is like in class and meet the teachers.  Just drop in from 2pm onwards.

August 23, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
Comments Off on Friday email 23rd August: welcome back!

Friday email 23rd August: welcome back!

Lovely to see all the children back with us this week, despite the very changeable weather! Given the forecast for the next few weeks, we recommend that all the children have raincoats, and possibly wellies….
As usual, you will find the maildrop rather full today as we begin the new session. You should have:
The diary dates for this session were attached to the email. The diary dates can also be found on the school website in the Dates for Your Diary section at the top of this page.  We suggest you add this website to your favourites to make it easy to locate.

June 28, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Honours 2024

It is with great pleasure that we share the Honours 2024 with you: these celebrate the values and achievements within school this session. Well done to Duncan who achieve the double feat of both House Champions and Sports Champions! 2024 Honours
We say farewell to our Primary 7 pupils: I am sure we will hear of their many successes at their respective high schools. We also say goodbye and thank you to Miss Henderson, Miss Kempsell and Mrs Taylor.

June 24, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Summer of Play 2024

We are delighted to bring you information about this year’s summer holiday activity offer for children and young people through Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Summer of Play funding scheme. Third Sector organisations and Council Services have been allocated funding to run fun and free activities and programmes the length and breadth of the region for the duration of the school holiday period. Activities and programmes are taking place in each of the 12 Ward areas across Dumfries and Galloway, and there is something for everyone.

The programme of activities will run from Tuesday 2nd July – Tuesday 20th August and are specifically aimed at children and young people aged 5-16 years old who sit within the priority groups that the fund is aimed at (lone parent families; families which include a disabled adult or child; larger families with 3 or more children; minority ethnic families; families with a child under 1 in the household; families where the mother is under 25 years of age).

There is a huge variety of activities on offer across the region such as summer camps, jewellery workshops, cooking workshops, issue-based group work opportunities, carriage driving, family fun days, workshops exploring local history and culture, day trips, performing arts sessions and more. An “Amazing Summer” membership lets young people access swimming,  skating and court hire for free, and young people aged 14 or above can also use the gym.

The extensive programmes and activities that are available throughout the duration of the school summer holidays aim to provide support to children and young people who may struggle to access experiences during holiday periods, giving them the opportunity to play, socialise and get to know organisations and support services local to them.

To view the Summer of Play 2024 offer, you can visit our website www.youthenquiryservice.org/whats-on where you can search activities by postcode or town, and/or key word such as “sports” or “arts and crafts”.

 

June 21, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Friday email 21st June

Good morning all.
Please find the wider achievements for May and June attached: June 2024 Wider Achievements Newsletter. Well done to all those children who have had successes this term. The Honours 2024 will be awarded next Friday at our end-of-term assembly.
We hope that Primary 7 have enjoyed their induction days at high school, and we look forward to celebrating their time with us at Calside on Monday evening at 6 p.m for their Leavers’ Ceremony.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Gamble.

June 13, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
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Free School Meals and Clothing Grants

Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants – 2024–25 Academic Year

Assessments for Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants (FSM-SCG) begin this week.

We are assessing applications for FSM-SCG and parents/guardians whose household meets all of the following criteria should begin receiving their SCG payment for their child or children from Monday 10 June:

  • You are in receipt of means tested Council Tax Reduction.
  • You meet the eligibility criteria (available here).
  • Your child was assessed as entitled to Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants for the 2023–24 academic year as of 3 June.
  • Your child’s will be attending P1 through S5, but only where their date of birth is after 30 September 2008.

Please note, we cannot make payments of School Clothing Grants for children moving into S5 or S6 who are born before 1 October 2008 until their school has confirmed their attendance to us after the summer holidays.

If you meet the criteria, we will send you notification of the awards that have been made for your child/children. If you do not receive a notification or payment by 14 June, it is likely that you will have to reapply.

If you received Free School Meals-School Clothing Grant in the 2023–24 academic year and do not have an active claim for means-tested Council Tax Reduction, you will need to reapply.

Applying for FSM-SCGs is quick and easy and can be done in around five minutes online here: www.dumgal.gov.uk/schoolmeals.

If you have questions about an application, please email us with your full name, full address and the names and dates of birth for the child or children you are querying: EducationBenefits@dumgal.gov.uk.

 

June 7, 2024
by Mrs Gamble
Comments Off on Friday email 7th June

Friday email 7th June

Good morning all.
At the end of what has been an absolutely hectic week, I want to say thank you to all the parents and pupils who completed surveys for HMiE or attended meetings with the inspection team. The children have been a credit to the school: they have coped well with all the changes and they have spoken confidently to the inspectors about our school and our learning. The HMiE report will be published after the summer holidays.
Well done to all the Guid Nychburris teams who have played football or netball this week, and good luck to the girls’ team who play this morning. Again they have displayed sportsmanship and resilience, coping with disappointments well. Losing on penalties is never easy. We are very proud of them all, and we hope they managed to enjoy the tournaments!  Thank you to the parents who accompanied the teams to the tournaments: we truly could not have got them there without you.
Apologies that we still have not managed to allocate classes for next session: we continue to await confirmation from the D&G staffing team.  The staff share your frustration as we do understand that many children need to be prepared for moving classes. As soon as we have confirmation, we will get these out to you.
Next week, the Guid Nychburris principals will be visiting us on Wednesday, at about twenty past 10 if you wish to join us. We hope that our Queen of the South attendant, Emma Drennan, has a wonderful week, and that the choir enjoy performing at the Night of Music on Thursday night. A few tickets left at the office if you wish to attend.
Have a great weekend.
Mrs Gamble.
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