Please see the attached letter below from the Chief Education Officer and Head of Education.

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Dear parent/carer,

I hope you have all enjoyed the winter break and your children and young people are looking forward to the return to school/ECC tomorrow.

As you will be aware, the First Minster today announced changes to the self-isolation guidance. We have just received confirmation from Scottish Government that the changes to isolation rules do not apply retrospectively and therefore the new rules do not apply to existing cases. If your child is currently self-isolating, they must complete the full 10 day period as previously instructed by Public Health or Test and Protect. From tomorrow (6th January) all new cases will follow the new guidance. Apologies for the late notice of this, but we have only just received this information from the Scottish Government.

Please can you ensure that your secondary-aged young people remember to bring a face-covering to school tomorrow and that they have taken a lateral flow test either tonight or tomorrow morning and have uploaded the result as normal.

As always, if your child is showing symptoms of any variant of coronavirus, please do not send them to school and arrange testing as appropriate.

I look forward to working with you and your families in 2022, and thank you again for your co-operation and understanding during this pandemic, it is hugely appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Linda McAulay-Griffiths
Chief Education Officer and Head of Education

Can all parents/carers please read the attached letter above (also issued on our app) regarding important changes to children’s session times for this week.

Happy New Year from all of the staff at Onthank Ecc. 🥳

We hope everyone has had a happy, healthy and safe Christmas and New Year.

🌟 Today is the last day for all term time children (those who attend between 8.40am-3pm). The centre re-opens to the children on Thursday 6th January 2022.

🌟 The centre is still open Thursday/Friday this week to those children who are 48 weeks (morning/afternoon sessions) and will close on Friday until it re-opens to the children on Wednesday 5th January 2022.

The letter below has been issued by the Chief Education Officer.

Please take the opportunity to read it regarding an update on Covid cases.

Dear parent/carer,

I thought it would be helpful to provide you with an update on the Covid situation in our schools and centres currently and to advise you of proposed changes to our ongoing mitigations.

Unfortunately, the number of cases in East Ayrshire continues to cause concern and, after a temporary drop in cases, many of our schools and centres are seeing a rise in cases and we have an increasing number of outbreaks (where several pupils/staff in same class test positive).

As always, we are mindful of the need to balance the reduction of opportunities for transmission of the virus with the need to support the overall wellbeing of children. To this end we permitted schools to restart outdoor extra-curricular activities from the 1st of November and we have now carried out risk assessments to allow the restart of indoor extra-curricular activities, subject to mitigations being in place.

Please understand that individual schools are absolutely authorised to take decisions about which, if any, activities they are able to offer at the current time. We have a number of schools with increasing Covid cases and also schools with acute staffing issues due to absence, therefore this will impact on what can be offered at this time. In the event of an outbreak in a school we will need to suspend extra-curricular activities for a period to minimise the opportunities for transmission. Our priority remains to ensure that schools can remain open and that core education can continue to be delivered. Further information about activities which will operate will come to you direct from your child’s school and you should contact them with any queries relating to this.

Christmas Activities

Scottish Government guidance for schools still does not permit large gatherings of pupils indoors for events such as assemblies due to the enhanced transmission risks of having large groups in close proximity in an enclosed space for an extended period of time. This means that we are not able to offer many of our Christmas activities, such as visits to pantomimes and concerts, in the usual way. Schools and centres will continue to look at creative ways to offer pupils such experiences, but these will be within their own class group. Across Ayrshire we have agreed to treat all performances with audiences in the same way therefore we will not be able to invite parents into our schools and ECCs to attend concerts and other events. I understand that this will be disappointing for you, but I must reiterate that our primary concern is to ensure that we can keep schools and centres open. We have consulted with colleagues in North and South Ayrshire Education Services and we have taken an Ayrshire-wide approach to this.

Thank you once again for the fantastic support you provide to our staff and for your continuing vigilance for any potential symptoms of Covid in your child(ren). We remain hopeful that 2022 will be a more positive one for us all and look forward to further relaxation of the mitigations at an appropriate time.

Kindest regards,

LINDA McAULAY-GRIFFITHS
Chief Education Officer

🌳 Woodland Adventures 🌳

Please see the attachment below outlining what days each bubble will be exploring our local woodland area.

We would like to take the opportunity to invite our parents/carers to be helpers during our forthcoming Woodland Adventures.

If you are able to support us on the day your child’s bubble is attending then please speak to a member of staff where they will be able to give you further information.

Can we also take this opportunity to ask for all parents/carers to ensure you have completed and returned consent forms to allow your child to attend the woodland area.

As we are coming into wet and mucky weather, can you please provide a change of clothes daily in your child’s bag as unfortunately water and muck can still seep through outdoor clothing.

Thank you.

We are excited to begin our new outdoor learning adventures. 🌳

Children in Need will take place on Friday 19th November 2021.

All children are welcome to wear Pudsey or Spotty clothing on this date in support of Children in Need.

This year to help support a very valuable cause, we are selling Pudsey and Blush headbands (see the picture below) at a cost of £2.50 each.

If you wish to purchase any, please see our clerical staff at the main reception. Please also remember to wear a face mask if you are entering the reception area.

Finally we have a special raffle prize this year…..a big cuddly Pudsey 💛.

Raffle tickets go on sale tomorrow (03/11/2021) at a cost of £1 each and the winner will be drawn on Friday 19th November.

Please find attached information regarding Smiley Stars visit next week.

Please note the children will not be going outside to play until after their photograph has been taken.

Smiley Stars letter for parents

Please find attached information as outlined within Onthank Ecc Improvement Plan about our new Peep Learning Together Programme that is being introduced to our children and families.