Dear Family and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,
I hope that you are well. Over the last week we have made some progress in thinking about what the return to school may look like for our pupils but there are still several issues requiring clarity. I will continue to keep you updated.
Staffing in August
We are still working through a number of vacancies across the partnership schools.
At Gelston, we are delighted to announce that Miss Scott is expecting a baby in October. We wish her and her family well. Due to the current circumstances it is unlikely that she will physically return to the building, but she will continue to prepare work from home until her Maternity Leave commences. I am delighted to announce that we are welcoming Miss Nicole Drummond to the partnership as a full time, permanent member of staff. She will teach P1-3 in Gelston next year.
I am also pleased to announce that Mrs Stevens will be increasing her contract to five days a week on a full time, permanent basis. She will be based in Crossmichael next session.
We are advertising a full time, temporary vacancy for the 4th teacher Crossmichael and I hope to conduct interviews before the end of June.
Congratulations to Miss Campbell (Clerical Assistant at Crossmichael) who is expecting a baby in September. Lovely news! This temporary Maternity cover post of 16.5 hours is now advertised.
Classes in August
In August 2020, our classes are going to be:
Crossmichael (Roll = 83 pupils)
P1/2 = Vacancy (currently advertised)
P2-4 = Mrs Burton (4 days) and Vacancy (1 day)
P4/5 = Mrs Glover
P6/7 = Mrs Stevens
Gelston (Roll = 37 pupil)
P1-3 = Miss Drummond / Miss Scott (from home until Maternity Leave commences)
P4-7 = Miss Reid and Mrs Maxwell
(I will be contacting parents/carers who have children in P2 and P4 at Crossmichael to discuss classes.) It is worth noting that it may be some time before children attend their normal registration classes and I will explain this further when I provide an update on the re-opening of schools.
An Update on the Re-Opening of Schools
I completed a walk around of the school buildings on Friday along with three people – H&S, Property Services and Clerk of Works. They were looking at the layout of the building and have put up signage and cordoned off areas to ensure we are following social distancing guidelines.
It is now possible for staff to return where necessary to carry out risk assessments in their own rooms and in communal areas. One of our priorities is in looking at the capacity of our classrooms.
It will not be possible or prudent to enable all pupils to return to school each day. We are looking at a mixture of learning in school and learning at home. Unfortunately, I am unable to state what this will look like and await confirmation from the Local Authority.
We need to maximise the number of pupils who can attend school each day whilst maintaining social distancing. We are also aware that it makes sense for siblings to attend on the same days.
We envisage that each classroom will contain a group of approximately 10+ pupils. Each group will contain a mixture of pupils from different classes and siblings will be together. Your child may not be taught by their class teacher until things return to normal.
In terms of learning, we are aware that our children will need time to adjust to being back in school again and that there is now a new ‘normal’ for them to get used to. They will need time to reconnect and socialise in new groupings. Once they are feeling more comfortable, we will begin learning through a topic-based approach. This will enable all learners to be appropriately challenged based on their own needs and will make the planning of learning and teaching more manageable. Once things become a bit more settled then we can begin targeting individual pupils to reduce the attainment gap in Literacy and Numeracy.
Our teachers will not have the capacity to teach in schools and prepare materials for home at the same time, so we are trying to find a solution together. It is likely that your children could complete some follow-up activities based on their ‘topic’ at home. Also, Education Scotland have produced resources to support learning from home.
It is understandable that we have many questions but until I receive clarity from the Local Authority it would not be helpful to speculate.
Parent Council Meeting
Crossmichael Parent Council are meeting at 7pm tonight (Monday 8th June) via the ZOOM app. Please email crossmichaelparentcouncil@gmail.com to request a user ID and password. You can also forward any questions that you have about the reopening of schools prior to the meeting. The agenda will be:
- Apologies
- Attendees
- Approval of minutes of previous meeting
- Matters arising
- Chairperson’s Report
- Headteacher’s Report
- Treasurer’s Report
- Arrangements for P7 Leavers and Leavers’ Assembly
- Members of staff who are leaving
- Crossmichael Community Rainbow Snake
- Update on portacabin
- Update on return to school
- AOB
- Date of next meeting
Gelston Parent Council are meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 9th June) via the ZOOM app. Please contact Mrs Abby Tuchewicz by emailing gelstonprimaryschoolparentcouncil@outlook.com to request a user ID and password. Please send us any questions that you have about the reopening of schools prior to the meeting. The agenda will be:
- Attendees
- Approval of minutes from previous meeting
- Chairperson’s Report (including thanking P7 parents)
- Headteacher’s Report
- Treasurer’s Report
- An Update on the Return to School
- P1 and P7 Transition Arrangements
- AOCB
Support for Parents
You will find further information for parents. including links to surveys, here:
End of Year Pupil Progress Reports
At the end of June, we will be sending you an electronic copy of your child’s school report.
Transition
We hope that our new Primary 1 pupils will have the opportunity to visit their school prior to the summer holidays for a tour of the building. Where possible, pupils will meet their teacher.
We will be recording a P7 Leavers Assembly and will upload it to the Blog in the last week of term. Our P7s are preparing short video clips of their leavers’ speeches to be included in the assembly. I also have gifts to present to pupils on their doorsteps. This is not the way that we had hoped to mark the end of their time at Primary School but we are so proud of our children and want to mark the occasion.
Online transition has begun with Castle Douglas High School and P7 children are now able to talk to their new classmates via Microsoft Teams.
Please contact me if you wish to discuss anything further.
Best wishes,
Mary E Lidstone-Scott
Headteacher
