Dear Family and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,
I hope that you are well and I apologise for not having updated the blog for some time. I have been waiting on advice from Scottish Government and Dumfries and Galloway Council before confirming arrangements for this term.
Dates for Your Diary – GELSTON
| 24th – 28th May | Walk to School Week
All pupils are encouraged to walk to school this week. Please see the letter which explains more about this initiative. |
| Friday 28th May | NSPCC Talks
Pupils will participate in ‘Stay Safe, Speak Out!’ workshops after listening to a presentation. Please refer to this letter for further information. |
| Thursday 10th June | Sports Day
Sports day will go ahead as normal for pupils with Active Schools there to support us. Unfortunately, we cannot invite parents to spectate but we will keep you updated via the blog or class Facebook pages. |
| Thursday 17th June
from 09:30-16:30 |
P6 and P7 pupils to the Galloway Activity Centre
The school will pay for your child(ren) to attend this trip at a cost of £45 per head. Further details will follow but we are asking for parents to transport their own children to and from the GAC today. |
| Friday 18th June | Primary 7 pupils to visit Castle Douglas High School
P7 pupils will be taken by minibus to CDHS in the morning and will return before lunch time. |
| Monday 21st June | Fun Day and Picnic
We plan to have a fun filled day in the school grounds with a picnic lunch (from home or school). We aim to have a variety of activities in place for all pupils to enjoy! |
| Thursday 24th June
from 2-3pm |
End of Year Assembly
We aim to hold our end of year assembly outdoors and to invite parents of P7 children so that we can ensure that social distancing can be maintained. |
Bikeability Sessions
Our Primary 7 pupils from both schools are receiving Bikeability training at Crossmichael over the next few weeks. I wish to extend our thanks to Shani McMiken, Charlene Saunderson and Alex Bryson for volunteering to train our pupils.
Classes and Staffing for August 2021
Here are details of classes and teachers for Crossmichael Primary School:
P1/2 – Mrs Marscheider
P3/4 – Miss Drummond
P4-6 – Mrs Glover
P6/7 – Mrs Stevens
Mrs Burton is reducing her contract to three days a week and will be providing Reduction in Class Contact Time (RICCT) and Senior Management Time (SMT) cover.
Mrs Glover will be in touch with parents of P4 and P6 pupils who will be in her.
Here are details of classes and teachers for Gelston Primary School:
P1-3 – Miss Todd (Mondays) and Miss Scott (Tuesdays – Fridays)
P4-7 – Miss Reid (Mondays-Thursdays) and Mrs Maxwell (Fridays)
Miss Todd and Mrs Bielinski will provide Reduction in Class Contact Time (RICCT) and Senior Management Time (SMT) cover.
In our schools we organise our curriculum so that all pupils are focusing on the same bundles of curricular experiences and outcomes at the same time. Pupils are taught according to which curricular level that they are working at rather than completing ‘P4’ work or ‘P6’ work. This means that there are no ceilings put on a child’s learning. Each child in our partnership schools is taught according to their own learning needs so that they are appropriately challenged. Registration classes are necessary because we only have capacity for 25 pupils to be in each multi-composite class. In our schools no child is ever ‘kept back’.
Pupil Progress End of Year Summary Reports
End of year summary reports will be sent to parents at the end of term. Please rest assured that we will get in touch with you if we feel that your child is experiencing any barriers to learning. We have gathered a range of assessment evidence to inform us about pupil progress and this helps us to ensure that we are meeting learners’ needs. In the meantime, if you have any concerns about your child’s progress then please contact your child’s teacher.
P7-S1 Transition
Our Primary 7 pupils will be visiting Castle Douglas High School in the morning of Friday 18th June. They will also complete transition activities online this term. The traditional ‘moving up days’ were meant to be on 16th, 17th and 18th June but as materials will be provided online, we have a degree of flexibility which is why I have booked the Galloway Activity centre on one of these days.
N-P1 Transition
I have already been in contact with your child’s pre-school provision to find out more about them. We aim to invite pre-school children to visit after 3pm for a ten minute tour of the school. Our Primary 1 teachers will be setting up closed Facebook pages for new P1 parents so that information can be shared there. Our current P1 pupils will make a video for our new P1s telling them all about life in school. Our new P1s will also be introduced to their ‘buddies’ for next year (usually our current P6s but sometimes P5s too). Parents will receive a PowerPoint presentation explaining key information about the school and the expectations for Primary 1 pupils and parents.
As always, please get in touch if you wish to discuss anything further.
Best wishes,
Mary Lidstone-Scott
Headteacher
