Dear Family and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,

I hope that this newsletter finds you well.  Thank you for all that you are doing at home to support your children with remote learning.

 

Update on Return to Schools

Recently, Scotland’s First Minister explained that schools will not reopen to pupils on February 1  and will remain closed to most pupils until the middle of February.    This will be reviewed on 2 February.

 

Emergency Childcare Hubs

Our schools continue to be used as emergency childcare hubs and we have 15 pupils registered at Crossmichael and 8 pupils at Gelston.  Non-teaching staff supervise children in the hubs and teachers provide remote learning from home.  Mrs Glover and I attend each school on a daily basis.

 

Pupils’ Health and Wellbeing Questionnaires

At the beginning of each week, we send home a link to the Pupil HWB Questionnaire via parental email.  This should be completed by pupils on Friday of each week.

 

P4-7 pupils receive the link via email and can complete the questionnaire themselves.  We would appreciate it if you would help your child to complete the questionnaire if they are in P1-3.

 

We ask that you do this so that we can check on pupils’ health and wellbeing and also so that we can support families and set realistic expectations of the quality and quantity of remote learning.

 

Thank you so much for your responses from last week.  Mrs Glover and I read through your responses and contacted families where appropriate.

 

P7- S1 Transition Arrangements

All P7 parents have now completed the Pupil Placement Request form detailing which secondary school they wish their child to attend.

 

On Friday, P7 teachers met with Mrs Cathro (Principal Teacher of Support at Castle Douglas High School)  to discuss detailed transition information for P7 pupils.  At this meeting key information was shared including curricular levels, health and wellbeing information and additional support needs.

 

So far this has been a timeline of what has taken place:

August/ Sept – Cluster Headteacher’s meeting to discuss those pupils who may require enhanced transition arrangements.  Transition information sent to CDHS from each Primary School.  CDHS staff invited to attend any relevant meetings for pupils with additional support needs.

 

September– P7s engaged in virtual visits to CDHS by Mrs Cathro and S1 pupils.  (Unfortunately Gelston pupil were unable to complete this due to staff absence.)

 

November – The virtual P7 Parents’ Open Evening was recorded and posted on the P7 TEAMS group for all P7s across CDHS Cluster.  This informed parents about transition work, how CDHS gather information about pupils, provided a tour of the school and gave a description of S1 courses.  (Still available if your child logs into their P7 TEAMS group.)

 

Reporting Pupil Progress to Parents

In Term 1 and Term 2 teachers emailed a short summary of your child(ren)’s strengths and next steps in learning.  This was a brief overview of their learning.  We understand that many parents would prefer to have a more detailed picture of their child(ren)’s progress.  We are considering the best way of getting this information to you and more detail will follow soon.  In the meantime, if you wish to find out more information then please contact your child’s teacher.

 

The Scottish curriculum is called Curriculum for Excellence 3-18.  It is divided up into levels.  The national expectation is that:

• Early Level will be achieved by most pupils at the end of Primary 1
• First Level will be achieved by most pupils by the end of Primary 4
• Second Level will be achieved by most pupils by the end of Primary 7
• Third Level will be achieved by most pupils by the end of S3

 

ICT Update and Appeal for More Devices

Dumfries and Galloway Council is improving the infrastructure around ICT in schools.  Soon, Windows 10 will be available in all schools.  (At the moment we are working with Windows 7.)  It will also be possible for staff and pupils to bring in their own devices and connect to the school WiFi.

 

It is our aim to apply for funding to purchase new devices that are compatible with Windows 10.   In the interim, we are in desperate need of devices at Crossmichael Primary School.  We are looking for donations of tablets or laptops that are less than eight years old.  It is our intention to wipe the data and use these devices in school or loan them to pupils for remote learning during lockdown.  Please contact the school office if you are able to help us.

 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr Tommy Cannon and Mrs Caroline Cannon for kindly donating five tablets to us at the weekend.  These will be put to good use during lockdown and when pupils return to school.

 

Best wishes,

Mary Lidstone-Scott
Headteacher