{"id":553,"date":"2020-05-18T17:18:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T17:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/?p=553"},"modified":"2020-05-18T17:21:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T17:21:19","slug":"weekly-newsletter-18th-may-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/2020\/05\/18\/weekly-newsletter-18th-may-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Newsletter – 18th May 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dear Families and Friends of Crossmichael\u00a0 Primary School,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I hope everyone is well.\u00a0 I have no important updates from Dumfries and Galloway Council or from Scottish Government today.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Keeping in Touch<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Every week, we will email you a link to a health<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0wellbeing<\/span>\u00a0questionnaire<\/span>\u00a0for pupils.\u00a0 This is part of our safeguarding arrangements as we cannot see pupils every day.\u00a0 (Older pupils will receive this via their email account\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0younger pupils will need your help to fill in the form.)\u00a0 This should be completed by Friday\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0is required.<\/p>\n

If we have had no contact from a child then we will get in touch to check that everyone is okay.<\/p>\n

Feedback from Last Week’s Parent Council Meeting\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thank you to those who were able to attend the Parent Council AGM last week.\u00a0 I will post the minutes on the Parent Council Blog.\u00a0 I would like to take the opportunity to thank Susan Hall for her support over the years and for her contribution to the Parent Council.\u00a0 We welcome Debs Nelson as secretary.\u00a0 The other office bearers remain unchanged.<\/p>\n

Learning at Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the school closures continue I understand that parents\/ guardians are anxious that their children are going to ‘fall behind’ academically.\u00a0 Please let me reassure you that we will be able to support your child in closing the gap in their attainment when they return to school.\u00a0 I know that this will not be a ‘quick fix’ but we will do this<\/strong> and your child will continue to make good progress<\/strong>.\u00a0 The increase in our attainment levels over the last 12 months shows that we can do this!\u00a0 In the meantime, we are in contact with families and we are trying our best to put small, manageable programmes of work in place for those individuals with additional support needs.<\/p>\n

I meet regularly with staff and we discuss how best to support your child at home without overwhelming you.\u00a0 Feedback from families is varied with some families asking for more online activities and others struggling to get their child to engage with any of them.\u00a0 We need to get the balance correct.\u00a0 I would like to reassure you that the advice from Scottish Government is that we are not ‘home schooling’ our children.\u00a0 We are trying to encourage our children to ‘engage in learning’ – whatever that may look like.\u00a0 It will be useful for your child to access some of the materials prepared by the school because each is set at your child’s curricular level and it is there for you.\u00a0 Please keep in touch with your child’s teacher by email and they will advise you and support you.<\/p>\n

Some families are finding it difficult to navigate through pupil learning grids and many are printing off all activities because of this.\u00a0 This is costly and unnecessary.\u00a0 I have had a discussion with teachers and we are trying to simplify the grids to make them easier to navigate.\u00a0 We are also trying to minimise the activities that require ‘printing’.\u00a0 (Often the PowerPoints are to be accessed on screen and it is not necessary to print them.\u00a0 Most of the activities can be done using a pencil and paper too.)\u00a0 Please get in touch with your child’s teacher via email if you are having difficulty in accessing materials online.<\/p>\n

Some parents\/ guardians have told us that they are spending a significant amount of money on ink cartridges and other materials for their child to learn at home.\u00a0 I have offered to provide packs with jotters, paper and pencils in them that can be collected from the school.\u00a0 I believe that it is the cost of ink that is causing the largest expense.\u00a0 Therefore, I will be raising this at the next Primary Headteachers Strategy Group meeting to see if it is possible to find a way to support you with these costs.\u00a0 In the meantime, please limit the amount that you print off and do not print in colour.<\/p>\n

CONNECT (Scottish Parent Teacher Council) Information Sessions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Connect is hosting two online sessions with Enquire, Scotland\u2019s advice service for additional support for learning, on Thursday 21 May. Parents are invited to share their experiences and ask questions. Places are free, booking is essential. You can choose from 2 sessions, 2-3pm and 8-9pm.\u00a0 Please see below.<\/p>\n

Connect + Enquire Online Q + A 21 May<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Connect is also hosting a FREE online information session for parents on Tuesday 26th May.\u00a0 It is titled, “Q&A with Skills Development Scotland Next steps: young people\u2019s options for education, work and training.”\u00a0 Please see the link below.<\/p>\n

Connect + SDS Online Q + A 26 May<\/a><\/div>\n

Please continue to stay at home and stay safe.\u00a0 I look forward to hearing from you soon.<\/p>\n

Best wishes,<\/p>\n

Mary E Lidstone-Scott<\/p>\n

Headteacher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Families and Friends of Crossmichael\u00a0 Primary School, I hope everyone is well.\u00a0 I have no important updates from Dumfries and Galloway Council or from Scottish Government today. Keeping in Touch Every week, we will email you a link to a health\u00a0and\u00a0wellbeing\u00a0questionnaire\u00a0for pupils.\u00a0 This is part of our safeguarding arrangements as we cannot see pupils […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":558,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/crossmichael\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}