Month: September 2020

Dear Family and Friends of Gelston Primary School,

It has been a particularly busy week across the partnership schools so I apologise for not updating the blog with a newsletter last Monday.

Help to Find Funding for An Outdoor Classroom

We would like a wooden shelter/ outdoor classroom in our playground.  We will need approximately £10K to enable us to build one.  At Crossmichael, our Parent Council were awarded a grant of £10K from the Blackcraig Windfarm Community Fund.  Unfortunately, we do not qualify for this funding.  Please can I ask any parents who are willing and able to help us apply for grants, to contact the school?

Playground Developments

I have listened to our pupils and they have asked for more play areas within our playground.  We are keen to use materials that are low cost and local.  Pupils have been looking at some ideas.   They plan to contact local businesses to ask for donations of paint, tyres, sand, gravel, black silage sheeting, tarpaulin,  wooden pallets, wood, etc. so that they can build play areas.   Here are some examples of play areas that the children have looked at:

If you have any items seen in these pictures that you could donate to school then please contact us.  (We are always looking for small cars and other vehicles!)

We also received £400 to go towards our playground developments from Castle McLellan Foods Ltd.

Parent Council Annual General Meeting 

We had our meeting last Monday and the minutes will be uploaded to the Parent Council Page as soon as possible.

Mrs Abby Tuchewicz  is standing down after a year as Chairperson.   I would like to thank her for her support in that time.  We were not able to appoint a Chairperson so role bearers have decided to take it in turns each term as Chairperson.

Good Luck Miss Scott!

Miss Scott started her Maternity Leave on Friday.  We wish her good luck with the birth of her baby and look forward to hearing the news!

Best wishes,

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher

Dear Family and Friends of Gelston Primary School,

Learning at Home when Isolating due to Covid-19 Symptoms

If your child needs to stay at home because they are exhibiting one of the three Covid-19 symptoms (new, continuous cough/ fever/ loss of taste or sense of smell) then the school will make contact with you every week to check in with you.  This will normally be a telephone call from the Principal Teacher or Headteacher.

If your child is feeling well enough to complete some learning at home then the class teacher will provide work for him/her via email, or paper copies will be made available.

School Chromebooks Borrowed by Children

During ‘lockdown’ we gave some children a school ‘Chromebook’ laptop so that they could access learning online.  These laptops belong to the partnership schools.  We now need to gather them back in to schools for pupils to use.  These can be borrowed again if required.  Please return the Chromebooks with the power cords (and dongles if you received one).

Reporting to Parents

This term, each teacher will email you a brief summary of your child’s strengths and next steps in learning.  We understand that many of you are anxious to find out if your child has any gaps in their learning as a result of the school closures.  We hope that this summary will provide you with this information.  You may contact class teachers via email if you have any questions or concerns.

Parent Council Annual General Meeting – Monday 21st Sept

We are having our AGM via the ZOOM app on Monday 21st September at 7pm.  If you wish to be invited then please email gelstonprimaryschoolparentcouncil@outlook.com and Abby Tuchewicz will send you a user ID and password.

The Parent Council is there to represent your views.  The name ‘Parent Council’ does sound very formal but this group can be as relaxed as you wish.  Please look at the leaflet to find out more.

Parent Council Know How

Each role (Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary) can be shared between two parents.

P1-3 Community Walk

On Friday our P1-3 pupils went for a walk around our community to find out more about where we live.  Here are some photographs.

Best wishes,

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher

Dear Family and Friends of Gelston Primary School,

We have had another lovely week at school.  I enjoyed teaching our P1-3 pupils on Friday.  They were very helpful in solving a maths investigation about coloured buttons!

How much has the ‘lock down’ impacted on learning?

Every year in Primary 1, pupils complete a standardised assessment at the start and end of the year.   We have just completed the ‘end of P1 assessments with our current P2s.  The results show that the children are slightly behind where we would expect them to be.  We are pleased to see that the gap is not as huge as we anticipated and teachers are working carefully to ensure that all pupils reach their full potential.

Teachers have been gathering evidence of pupil progress from formal assessments and from examples of their school work.  We now have targeted interventions in place for some pupils who need additional support.

We are continuing with the ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ and ‘Closing the Numeracy Gap’ interventions after the October holidays.  Until recently the guidance provided to schools was that staff had to remain in the same school where possible.  Therefore, our Learning Assistant (Mrs Clifton) who is trained in the interventions, was not able to travel between the two schools.  She is currently completing a block at Crossmichael Primary School then will be based at Gelston to complete a block here.  (We plan to train more members of staff in the future so that these approaches are sustainable.)

Our Additional Support for Learning Teacher, Mrs Hermon, will be coming to Gelston next Monday to complete specific assessments with some pupils.

I have been in touch with families to organise Child’s Plan meetings.  A Child’s Plan meeting happens when a child has multi-agency involvement to support them in reducing/ removing barriers to learning.

Covid-19 Updates

I will continue to provide updates as I receive them.

Best Wishes,

Mary E Lidstone-Scott

Headteacher