We have now tallied up your scores and calculated our P7 Sport Championship Winners for 2020! Congratulations to both of our winners and a huge thank you to everyone who participated at home this year.

Find out who won by watching the clip below…

We delivered a stash of Heather’s famous shortbread to Lucy McLean last week after she correctly guessed the top secret ingredient!

Thank you to all who entered our competition. Some of your answers would have definitely made Heather’s shortbread taste unique!

Well done again to Lucy!

Exciting news! We now have our last virtual assembly of the 2019-2020 session to share with you all and this one’s not to be missed!

In our assembly today we have…

• Highlights from our Positive Choices Week,
• A selection of Sports Day videos (more available on YouTube),
• A virtual tour of our school,
• Our 2019-2020 Prizegiving and…
• A special goodbye message for all of our P7 pupils.

Our assembly today is in five parts – make sure you watch them all!

Please watch and share it with your family and friends online! 

Today marks the day that you get to “meet” your new class teacher. Normally we’d have a Bump-Up Day where you would come to visit your new teacher in your new classroom and complete some “getting to know you” activities. This year we’re going to have to do it a little bit differently so today is Onthank’s Virtual Bump-Up Day!

All of the teachers have been busy preparing classrooms for your return and they have messages and photographs they’d like to share with you. Some teachers have already spoken with a few of you on Microsoft Teams, but if you check out your current Class Blog or Teams page you’ll find welcome messages, pictures, and in some cases videos made by your new class teacher.

The Bump-Up day materials will remain on the Glow Pages and if you wish to return to the information provided you will be able to check in at any time before returning to school in August. Hope you all enjoy getting to “meet” your new teacher!

Dear Parent/ Carer,

Following the recent letter from the Head of Education in regard to pupil return in August, and her subsequent communication in regards to the return of all schools in the authority, we are pleased to share our proposed model with you in this communication. We ask at this stage that all parents and carers please understand that the model is still subject to national ratification next week but has been approved by East Ayrshire Education Service in this interim stage.

Firstly, can we thank you for your amazing work with our young people during this period of lockdown, and we are delighted to be sharing our plans for welcoming them back to school on a part-time basis as per national guidance. In reaching our model, we too have considered the safety and wellbeing of our young people, staff and their families as we are so aware that this will be your prime concern.

In regard specifically to our school, please find the model undernoted: –  We will be planning for the return of up to 50% of our pupils each day.

• Group A – Monday and Tuesday ( Home Learning Wednesday, Thursday and Friday )
• Group B – Thursday and Friday.  ( Home Learning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday )
• We are also planning for there to be a smaller group of pupils on Wednesdays that may require additional support.  This would be in addition to the two days in school,

• We will be organising pupils into groups with a maximum of 13 children in each group taught by one teacher for both days that they attend. Your child’s current class teacher, who knows them well is organising these groups. Your child’s group will be emailed to you next week.

In addition to attendance patterns, we also know that parents and carers will have many questions, and we hope that some of these may be answered in some of the statements below, specific to our school:-

• All entry doors are colour coded and your child’s class will be informed as to which playground and door they should enter on arrival in August. This information will be sent next week with a map of the school.
• We are implementing a one-way system in our playgrounds, where possible. Enter and Exit signage has been displayed in all playground areas.
• Start and finish times will be staggered in August to allow for physical distancing. These timings will be issued with your child’s group.
• At present, guidance does not allow for parents to enter the school building. Parents/Carers should drop off their child in the designated playground areas.
• All playgrounds have been marked with coloured hearts. Where possible pupils should “stand on a heart, stay 2 metres apart.”
• 
  We are also very aware that the proposed part-time pattern will not meet the needs of everyone, and we ask you to bear with us as we answer queries specific to individual family circumstances. A position has not yet been reached by the Scottish Government in regards to the provision of childcare for keyworkers for August, we therefore ask for your understanding that we cannot answer any questions on this matter until the position is declared nationally. Can we ask for your co-operation in bearing with us next week as we work our way through a likely increase in parental communications, and please also bear in mind that we may be welcoming young people back to school for induction at this time.
  Information on emergency childcare over Summer holiday has already been sent to all parents and carers who have been accessing this from March, as this childcare will change over the Summer break, and parents will require to re-register for the new service.

  All of our staff returned to school this week and much of their time will be spent planning for our pupils’ return in August. They will continue to respond via the class email accounts but there might be a delay, please bear this in mind.

  Hoping you are safe and well,

  Alison Wright

We’re asking you, “What is your favourite school memory of the school year?” As part of our last assembly for the year, we will be sharing your memories with our Onthank community! Is there something that you enjoyed from your class, or a whole school event that you really enjoyed?

Send us in your favourite memories by submitting a photograph or drawing of your memory along with a caption and we will post as part of our next school assembly!

It could be…Elf the Musical, the Santa Dash, Tea Dance, Christmas Fayre, Community Nights, gaining the Eco Flag, Digital Award or DFS accreditation – to name but a few of the great school memories we have created this year.

Please send your entries to Miss Cook at karen.cook@eastayrshire.org.uk

All entries must be submitted by Friday 19th June 2020, 5pm. 

Today is THANK A TEACHER DAY!

You can record a thank you message for a staff member and we will share during our next virtual assembly! You could also write an acrostic poem using the teacher’s name or paint/draw a picture!

Or why not send a smile and use your talents to bring a smile and thank your teacher – tell them a joke, sing a song or do a dance!

Remember you can send a message for anyone in the school – Heather, Tommy, Mrs Andrew and all the staff who miss you!

All messages should be sent to Mr McIlwraith by Friday 22nd May, 5pm, by emailing eadavid.mcilwraith1@glow.sch.uk 

A huge thank you to all of our pupils who wore their school uniform on Friday 15th May 2020 to support the national School Uniform Day. It was great to see you all completing your schoolwork wearing red and grey!

Please take some time to enjoy all of the pictures that were submitted by clicking the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzoTvy2K5jU&t=66s