Dear Families and Friends of Crossmichael and Gelston Primary Schools,
I hope this newsletter finds you well. We have had a lovely term and have enjoyed having you to visit for our Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations and for Sports Day. I would take the opportunity to thank you for your support this year and we look forward to inviting you into school more regularly next session.
Diary Dates
Tuesday 28th June at 2pm – Crossmichael End of Term assembly. P7 parents invited. We have 98 pupils so do not have enough capacity in our hall.
Thursday 30th June at 2pm – Gelston End of Term assembly to be hosted in the village hall. All parents invited.
Monday 4 July 2022 to Wednesday 17 August 2022 (pupils return Monday 22 August 2022) Schools closed for the Summer Holidays
Transition into P1
Over the past few weeks, we have invited our new P1 pupils in to school to visit their new classes and teachers. We met with parents and had a meeting to discuss life in Crossmichael and Gelston Partnership Schools and what to expect when your child is in Primary 1. It was so lovely to meet everyone.
Our new P1’s will visit again as follows:
Wednesday 22nd June 9am-10.15am: Morning visit and collect your child before play time.
Thursday 23rd June 9am – 11am: Morning visit and stay for play time.
Friday 24th June 9am – 1pm: Morning visit including play time and lunch time.
Transition into S1
Our Primary 7 pupils will be attending Castle Douglas High School from Wednesday 22nd- Friday 24th June. We wish them luck and know that they will do well. We are so proud of them all.
Transition for All Pupils
All pupils will have the opportunity to move into their new classes whilst the P7 pupils are at secondary school.
Staffing Arrangements for August 2022
We held interviews last week and have appointed the following members of staff:
- Gelston P1-4 PERMANENT Teacher (Mondays) – Mr M Houston
- Gelston P4-7 TEMPORARY Teacher and Principal Teacher (Fridays) – Mrs T Martin
- Crossmichael P3/4 TEMPORARY Teacher – Miss K Maxwell
At Gelston this session, we were allocated 27.5 hours of Learning Assistant time and we used some Learning Assistant hours paid for by Pupil Equity Funding to support the ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ intervention.
At Crossmichael, we were allocated 27.5 hours of Learning Assistant time per week from the Supporting Learners Team. We were given an additional allocation of 27.5 hours and 11 hours from Supporting Learners. I used the Scottish Government Covid-19 Recovery Funding that was allocated to our Cluster schools to buy in an additional 32 hours of support. I also paid for an additional 11 hours through Pupil Equity Funding. We also used some Learning Assistant hours paid for by Pupil Equity Funding to support the ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ intervention.
We have received our Supporting Learners allocation for 2022/2023 and we have been given:
- Gelston Learning Assistant (full time): Miss McNeill
- Crossmichael Learning Assistants: Mrs Jennings (Monday- Wednesday and Mrs Cowan (Thursday and Friday). We have also been allocated two days. In addition, Mrs Clifton is our PEF Learning Assistant for 27.5hrs.
This his means that Mrs Jennings and Mrs Cowan are reducing their hours. Sadly, Ms Horsley, Mrs Stitt, Mrs Galbraith and Mrs Dobbin are not having their contracts renewed in August. We are so grateful to them for their hard work and dedication in building positive relationships with our children, staff and parents. We wish them well in the future and look forward to welcoming them back where possible.
This is a challenging time for all schools across the region and I am liaising with the Local Authority to see is we can secure any additional hours for our partnership to meet the needs of our learners.
Communication
If you wish to discuss anything further then please contact me by email on gw08cruickshanksmary@ea.dumgal.sch.uk or contact the schools. (Unfortunately, my mobile is needing replaced so you cannot contact me on 07741 686730 unless I have it plugged in.)
Crossmichael Primary School – 01556 670282
Email gw08officecrossmicha@ea.dumgal.sch.uk
Gelston Primary School – 01556 502415
Email gw08officegelston@ea.dumgal.sch.uk
Best wishes,
Mary Cruickshanks
Headteacher
