Author: Jacqueline Shaw

IMPORTANT INFORMATION – SCHOOL LUNCH ORDERS

Last session, East Ayrshire Council introduced a new Cashless Catering system in our school.

Catering Services recognised that it was time to update their cashless payment system. They researched and engaged with companies to find a system that is straightforward and easy for you to use. They have also ensured that the system utilises the latest technology available.

The new ordering system will therefore make the process quicker for your child at lunchtime and by ordering in advance will help Catering Services reach climate change targets by reducing food waste.

All meals will be ordered by parents through ParentPay, using your existing ParentPay login. If you are a new parent, ParentPay account details will be shared with you soon.

The system is easy to use. You will log in to ParentPay and select school meals. Then all you have to do is check the menus, select a meal for your child, then they collect it at lunchtime as normal.

Meals must be ordered by 8am and can be ordered up to three weeks in advance. Please ensure your child’s lunch is ordered before returning to school on Wednesday 20th August.

The link below will take you to an instructional video on how to book school meals.

PARENTPAY – HOW TO BOOK A MEAL

Additional allergen and dietary information:

The system has improved allergy and dietary management, so you can be confident that special dietary requirements are observed. Make sure this information is up to date by contacting us.

If you have provided current dietary information for your child, this will be updated on the new system and will block any meal choices that contain approved allergens.

The system is also a useful information tool for parents and carers in displaying allergen information linked to each online menu item this includes all information for pupils following religious and lifestyle diets.

JRSO APPRECIATION

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to my 5 Star Award Winning Team of Reuben, Erica, Daniel & Charlotte for being such wonderful JRSO ambassadors for our school. They worked so hard throughout the year and made my job of leading them a breeze!!! 

Thank you to ALL the incredible NRPS Staff Team and Pupils for their support along the way. We couldn’t have done it without you.  

We had lots of laughs and still managed to deliver the importance of Road Safety to our peers, families and the local community. 

The last part of this year’s journey was to choose our new team for August, and I look forward to introducing them to you in the new term. 

Have a wonderful summer! 

From Reuben, Erica, Daniel, Charlotte & Miss McMillan 💜 

P1 and P4 are organising a Community Action Day to improve our school grounds. This will take place on Saturday 14th from, 10am until 12pm. If you are available and can support us, please identify which area of our school grounds you would like to work on. Pupils and families from across our school are invited to join. If anyone can make a donation from our community, that would be greatly appreciated and can be handed into the school at anytime.

We are looking for donations of:

  •  compost
  • summer bedding plants
  • outdoor paint
  • wood and nails for our raised beds
  • and borrowing a power hose for the bike shed

If you can come along on the day to support with the works, that would be wonderful because to make a difference, we need everyone’s help.
We also appreciate if you could bring the following equipment:

  • garden gloves
  • paintbrushes, old clothing
  • hammers

Thank you

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE FORM PLEASE

Book Club Visit to the Book Nook

We all had a great time on the trip! Sarah read three stories to the children and gave them six new picture books to bring back to school. The children got a dog man mask to take home with them. Angus brought something very special to show Sarah and the Book Club, his Blue Peter Book Badge!

Thank you to Mrs Neal for organising for us to go on a trip and for Sarah for inviting us.

CHANGE – IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR ALL PARENTS/CARERS ON NEW CASHLESS CATERING SYSTEM

From Tuesday 22nd April 2025 we are introducing a new Cashless Catering system in your child’s school.

Catering Services recognised that it was time to update their cashless payment system. They researched and engaged with companies to find a system that is straightforward and easy for you to use. They have also ensured that the system utilises the latest technology available.

The new ordering system will therefore make the process quicker for your child at lunchtime and by ordering in advance will help Catering Services reach climate change targets by reducing food waste.

All meals will be ordered by parents through ParentPay, using your existing Parentpay login.

The system will be easy to use. You will log in to ParentPay and select school meals. Then all you have to do is check the menus, select a meal for your child, then they collect it at lunchtime as normal.

ParentPay knows if your child qualifies for a free school meal so you can order with the knowledge that no payment is required. If your child pays for their school meal, you will have to make payment within 2 hours of the meal being ordered.

Meals must be ordered by 8am and can be ordered up to three weeks in advance.

You will be able to make your first meal bookings on ParentPay on the evening of Friday 11th April.

The link below will take you to an instructional video on how to book school meals.

PARENTPAY – HOW TO BOOK A MEAL

Additional allergen and dietary information:

The new system will also have improved allergy and dietary management, so you can be confident that special dietary requirements are observed. Make sure this information is up to date by contacting your school.

If you have provided current dietary information for your child, this will be updated on the new system and will block any meal choices that contain approved allergens.

The system is also a useful information tool for parents and carers in displaying allergen information linked to each online menu item this includes all information for pupils following religious and lifestyle diets.

Boost Learning Update

We are aware that some of you are having difficulty with the new online reading books loading. We have been in touch with Boost Learning and they have recommended the following.

Boost Learning System requirements

  • Supported browsers

    Windows:

     

    • Google Chrome
    • Firefox
    • Microsoft Edge

    MacOS:

     

    • Google Chrome
    • Safari

    Please ensure your browser has been updated to the latest version before using Boost. 

Pop-up blockers

Some Boost resources open in a new pop-up window or tab. If you have a pop-up blocker enabled, you will need to allow all pop-ups or add https://boost-learning.com/ to your exceptions list in your browser settings to view them. 

 

JavaScript

Boost requires JavaScript to work. It is normally enabled by default, but you can check your browser settings by following the links below to make sure:

 

If parents/children are using any iOS tablets (apple) they need to ensure that the mobile website is enabled. Once parents are on the Boost website they must click on the AA on the menu and request ‘Mobile Website’, there should not be any access issues after that. Please note, sometimes it needs to be enabled several times, unfortunately Apple has not given us an easy solution for this issue.

If anyone continues to have difficulty accessing books, please get in touch.

Scottish Child Payment Campaign 2025

As part of the Scottish Child Payment campaign, please see the information below.

Social Security Scotland are encouraging parents and carers to apply for Scottish Child Payment.

Parents and carer can apply for the payment, which is over £100 every 4 weeks, if they:

·       get Universal Credit, tax credits or other qualifying benefits

·       have a child or children aged under 16

Please help raise awareness of Scottish Child Payment with your network by sharing resources and familiarising yourself with the eligibility criteria.

    You can find resources on the Social Security Scotland website including:

·       Factsheets in multiple languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Polish, Romanian, and Urdu

·       Posters and flyers

·       Social media posts

Social Security Scotland – Guidance & Resources

There is an opportunity for you to ask questions and be pointed in the right direction.

Please see the link for these events below:


Scottish Child Payment Stakeholder Event Tickets, Wed 26 Feb 2025 at 10:00 | Eventbrite

 

Scottish Child Payment Stakeholder Event Tickets, Thu 27 Feb 2025 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

 

NSPCC – Online Safety

The NSPCC has published a news story to help parents/carers learn more about artificial intelligence (AI) content and tools. The article explains what AI-generated content is and offers six tips to support children to use AI safely. If you would like to learn more and discover ways to help your child stay safe online, click on the link below.

NSPCC – Online Safety

Parent/Carer Communication Consultation January 2025 – Feedback

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how we currently communicate with you. We have carefully considered your views and plan to use this information to help us improve on how we communicate with you.

You shared the following:

  • 77% of responses shared that communication is effective – 23% shared that communication can be unclear and/or difficult to understand
  • 40% of responses indicated that they get all of the required communication they need
  • 53% of responses indicated that they get most of the communication they require
  • 38% of responses indicated that the notice time for upcoming events needs improved upon.
  • 77% of responses indicated that they are happy with a one week’s notice for events – 23% would like a two week notice for events
  • 80% of responses indicated use of the app for reminders

Taking all the views into account, we have identified a series of actions which should support us in communicating more effectively.

Rag Bags – Fundraising

For many years now, we have been taking part in the ‘Rag Bags’ recycling scheme. For those of you who may not know, this is an easy way for us to fundraise for our school. The scheme also increases awareness about textile recycling and by increasing recycling rates we can help the environment by ensuring less material goes to landfill. An added bonus is, the scheme is completely FREE, and our school is paid for every kg recycled.
Since June 2021, with your support, we have raised a total of £556.40!
Moving forward, we have decided to have a recycling bin in our school grounds. This will allow us to continuously fundraise, rather than it being at certain times of the school year. As soon as our recycling bin arrives, we will provide you with more information. Thank you for all your support now and in the future.

JRSO Seminar

JUNIOR ROAD SAFETY OFFICERS SEMINAR

On Tuesday 24th September 2024, we went to Kay Park Church Hall for our seminar. This is the event that helps train us for our roles as Nether Roberlands’ Junior Road Safety Officers.

We arrived early to school on the Tuesday so that we could get the bus to take us to Kilmarnock. We left school at 8.45am and we walked to the bus stop on the Robertland Hill. When the bus came, we got on and sat together up at the back and it took us to the bus station.

We used all the correct crossings when we got off the bus to keep us safe and when we arrived at the hall, we were met by a lady who registered us and gave us a goody bag which included our JRSO notebooks.

Lots of other schools were attending and we were in the green group with 2 other schools.

The first activity that we were doing was with Barbara, who works for Ayrshire Roads Alliance. She talked to us about The Green Cross Code and got us to make posters. We used different coloured paper and we had the choice of lots of crafty items to use.

The next station we went to was to listen to a new initiative that JRSO’s are being asked to join in with. It’s called ‘STARS, we strive for 5’. We are being asked to do 5 things over the year and aim to get 5 starts. The things we have to aim for are….

  1. Sustainable Travel Initiative.
  2. Bikeability/Cycling
  3. Road Safety Campaign
  4. Run a school travel or road safety competition.
  5. Create and maintain a noticeboard or school blog.

We are looking forward to the challenge and hope to earn the 5 stars.

We then stopped for a snack. There was juice and biscuits provided for us and we were extra lucky as Miss McMillan bought us snacks too!!

After snack time, we joined Chloe who asked us how we arrived at school. We were asked if there was different ways we could encourage pupils to walk, cycle etc, rather than taking the car.

We had to use our imaginations for her next task. We were to come up with crazy ideas to get to school without using electricity! Water slides, trampolines, jet packs and flying carpets were just a few of the funny ideas!!!

Before we knew it, our morning was over. It had been really enjoyable and we have taken lots of new ideas away with us.

It was time for us to get the bus back to school. When the ladies heard that we were using public transport, they were very impressed that we hadn’t used cars or taxi’s to get there…..a big gold star for us!

Macmillan Coffee Morning Update

We are delighted to share that our whole school community came together this morning to raise money for this amazing charity and in doing so, we manage to raise a whopping £1035.10!

Huge thank you to every single person involved!

Children and families – For all the donations of cakes
Parents/carers – For helping with the set up and running of the morning and for your very generous donations
Our Parent Council – For making it a reality with all your planning
Doreen and her team – For helping with all the crockery and for catering for our children with allergies
Sandy (Janitor) – For helping with the setting up
P7 Helpers – For being super leaders before, during and after the coffee morning
Mr Gilroy – For all his coordination
Stewarton Academy – For supplying us with all the crockery
Miss Orr – For all she does!

 

Yearly Overviews for Session 2024/2025

Our class teachers have planned learning for the session for their classes. If you would like to see what the planned learning is to support with this further at home, please take a look at the document for your child’s class by going to the ‘Sharing Learning’ page in the menu above. The planned learning is subject to change.

Girls’ Football Team Final

A huge well done to our Girls’ Football team for an excellent performance in the East Ayrshire Girls’ Premiership final yesterday. They worked hard to secure second place in East Ayrshire, which is a wonderful achievement. We would like to say a massive congratulations to Lainshaw in achieving the 6-1 win.

Thank you to Mrs Mason and Miss Hunter for all you have done to support our team and to our Stewarton Annick Football Coaches for training our girls and in promoting respect, teamwork and fun at all times. We can’t wait to see what next session brings for our football team!

JRSO final update for this session

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Arran, Finn, Aimee & Rosie for their dedication and hard work over the last year. They have made my job as JRSO Co-Ordinator a privilege. I have been very lucky to be supported by them. Thank you also to our Sub Team who helped with assemblies and poster making. Your help was extremely valuable on our journey.

Here is just a small re-cap of what has been achieved in a short space of time.

They organised this years’ Hands up for Scotland Survey and presented at many assemblies promoting all things to do with road safety. They created and ran a campaign for safer parking in and around our school grounds. They supported our Parent Council with new parking signs as well as producing many informative notice boards that are displayed in the gym hall full of valuable information for our pupils. They also created a Road Safety Charter back in August incorporating the families of our school. We were successful in receiving a Road Safety Magic Show for P1-P4 (which was well received and great fun). They signed up for the Big Walk and Wheel fortnight as well as the recent Walk to School week. On top of all this, they have kept an informative floor book of their JRSO journey.

My proudest moment was when one of the HMIE Inspectors joined one of our weekly meetings back in January and the feedback from her was that our JRSO Team was the best she had ever seen in Scotland as well as our floor book being very detailed and capturing our journey so far. She said we should be very proud of ourselves.

Such a jam-packed year they’ve had and their last duty was to choose next years’ new team. Together, they wrote application forms, spoke to the Primary 5 pupils and interviewed all of the applicants.

They have now chosen your new JRSO Team and I look forward to introducing them to you in the new term in August.

Thank you to everyone for their continued support.

Miss McMillan