Dear Family and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,<\/p>\n
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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.\u00a0 I will continue to keep you updated.<\/p>\n
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Staffing in August<\/strong><\/p>\n We are still working through a number of vacancies across the partnership schools.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Gelston, we are delighted to announce that Miss Scott is expecting a baby in October.\u00a0 We wish her and her family well.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I am delighted to announce that we are welcoming Miss Nicole Drummond to the partnership as a full time, permanent member of staff.\u00a0 She will teach P1-3 in Gelston next year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 She will be based in Crossmichael next session.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are advertising a full time, temporary vacancy for the 4th<\/sup> teacher Crossmichael and I hope to conduct interviews before the end of June.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Congratulations to Miss Campbell (Clerical Assistant at Crossmichael) who is expecting a baby in September.\u00a0 Lovely news! \u00a0This temporary Maternity cover post of 16.5 hours is now advertised.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Classes in August<\/strong><\/p>\n In August 2020, our classes are going to be:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Crossmichael \u00a0(Roll = 83 pupils)<\/strong><\/p>\n P1\/2 = Vacancy (currently advertised)<\/p>\n P2-4 = Mrs Burton (4 days) and Vacancy (1 day)<\/p>\n P4\/5 = Mrs Glover<\/p>\n P6\/7 = Mrs Stevens<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gelston\u00a0 (Roll = 37 pupil)<\/strong><\/p>\n P1-3 = Miss Drummond \/ Miss Scott (from home until Maternity Leave commences)<\/p>\n P4-7 = Miss Reid and Mrs Maxwell<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (I will be contacting parents\/carers who have children in P2 and P4 at Crossmichael to discuss classes.)\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Update on the Re-Opening of Schools<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u00a0completed a walk around of the school buildings on Friday along with three people – H&S, Property Services and Clerk of Works.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is now possible for staff to return where necessary to carry out risk assessments in their own rooms and in communal areas.\u00a0 One of our priorities is in looking at the capacity of our classrooms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It will not be possible or prudent to enable all pupils to return to school each day.\u00a0 We are looking at a mixture of learning in school and learning at home.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I am unable to state what this will look like and await confirmation from the Local Authority.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We need to maximise the number of pupils who can attend school each day whilst maintaining social distancing.\u00a0 We are also aware that it makes sense for siblings to attend on the same days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We envisage that each classroom will contain a group of approximately 10+ pupils.\u00a0 Each group will contain a mixture of pupils from different classes and siblings will be together.\u00a0 Your child may not be taught by their class teacher until things return to normal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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 \u2018normal\u2019 for them to get used to.\u00a0 They will need time to reconnect and socialise in new groupings.\u00a0 Once they are feeling more comfortable, we will begin learning through a topic-based approach.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Once things become a bit more settled then we can begin targeting individual pupils to reduce the attainment gap in Literacy and Numeracy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 It is likely that your children could complete some follow-up activities based on their \u2018topic\u2019 at home.\u00a0 Also, Education Scotland have produced resources to support learning from home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is understandable that we have many questions but until I receive clarity from the Local Authority it would not be helpful to speculate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Parent Council Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n Crossmichael Parent Council are meeting at 7pm tonight (Monday 8th<\/sup> June) \u00a0via the ZOOM app.\u00a0 Please email crossmichaelparentcouncil@gmail.com<\/a> to request a user ID and password.\u00a0 You can also forward any questions that you have about the reopening of schools prior to the meeting.\u00a0 The agenda will be:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gelston Parent Council are meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 9th<\/sup> June) via the ZOOM app.\u00a0 Please contact Mrs Abby Tuchewicz by emailing gelstonprimaryschoolparentcouncil@outlook.com<\/a> to request a user ID and password.\u00a0 Please send us any questions that you have about the reopening of schools prior to the meeting.\u00a0 The agenda will be:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Support for Parents<\/strong><\/p>\n You will find further information for parents. including links to surveys, here:<\/p>\n\n
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