Category Archives: Health and Wellbeing

CHILDSMILE TOOTHBRUSHING PROGRAMME for P1/2 Pupils

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Please see the attached letter from the Childsmile team providing details of the toothbrushing programme.

Please note that your child will be enrolled to the toothbrushing programme automatically, but if you do not wish your child to take part in the programme please write to the school within two weeks to advise.

If you require further information on the initiative, you can use the QR on the attached letter to connect to the Childsmile website, or click here https://www.childsmile.nhs.scot/.

Thank you

TB Consent letter (May 2025).doc (1)

Flu Immunisation Consent Forms – Return by Friday 5th September

Dear Parents and Carers,

Flu Immunisation consent forms have now been issued to all pupils; please have a look out for them in your child’s school bag.

All primary and secondary school pupils are offered the flu vaccine as a painless nasal spray.  Further information can be found by calling 0800 030 8013 or at:

www.nhsinform.scot/childflu

Please complete and return the consent form to the school, even if you do not want your child to be vaccinated, by Friday 5th September 2025.

Thank you

Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood information for Parents/ Carers

Please see the guides below for parents and carers about the Relationships,  Sexual Health and Parenthood curriculum in schools. This includes key vocabulary used in school for body parts.

Early level –  P1

Early level Parent Leaflet- Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood

First Level – P2-P4

First level Parent Leaflet – relationships, sexual health and parenthood

Second level – P5-7

 

Second level Parent Leaflet -relationships, sexual health and parenthood

WHATSAPP AND SOCIAL MEDIA – Advice for parents and carers

Mobile phones are a great way for children and young people to keep in contact with their parents, carers and friends, especially as they begin a new school year. However, issues may arise if our children and young people excitedly share their mobile phone number with other pupils in their new school year group and even wider, as they perhaps join ‘WhatsApp’ group chats or other social media group chats.

This can lead to your child or young person sharing their mobile phone number with a whole year group and being included in what could amount to over one hundred school pupils on single group chat! The reality of this is that they don’t all know each other, they will all be from different backgrounds, they will all have different levels of online awareness and they will most likely be seeing messages, images and even video footage shared in the group which you, as a parent or carer, would not like them to see but which is out with your control. This situation can be difficult to manage and could be distressing in relation to what is read or seen. Coupled to this, peer pressure could lead to bullying.

WhatsApp is by far the most used messaging App although there are many other similar messaging Apps, and it allows users to send instant messages only to contacts that they have added to their WhatsApp account. Only people who have a WhatsApp account can send and receive messages through the app. Messages can be sent ‘one to one’ or within a ‘group conversation’ and for all messages sent, WhatsApp sends “read receipts” to tell sender if the message was delivered, read, seen or played. These settings can be changed, see the ‘how to guide for parents’ link below for more information. In relation to a group chat on any social media platform, even those as a parent or carer you are involved with, you have no control what will be sent, seen or shared so it is worthwhile having a conversation with your child or young person about this.

We know peer pressure can lead to people of any age doing something they otherwise would not do, online or offline, so this awareness during your child or young persons’ early years is very important.

Our colleagues at Internet Matters have created information resources below to inform you of how the social media platform “ WhatsApp” operates and how you can you can put measures in place to protect what your child or young person sees on the app and awareness on the apps security settings.

Please see the links below for more valuable advice:

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/whatsapp-safety-a-how-to-guide-for-parents/

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/monitoring-apps-parents-guide/

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/social-media-advice-hub/

The Exchange Counselling Service

 

Please find information regarding the Exchange Counselling Service. More details can be found at the following links:

The Exchange – Psychological Wellbeing Guide for Parents

The Exchange – Psychological Wellbeing Guide for Primary Children

These documents are also available to view on the this blog.  Click on the menu, ‘School Information and Documents’, then click on ‘Health and Wellbeing’.