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Welcoming you back to Onthank Primary!

We have created a short social story for you to watch and share with your child/children as we welcome back our young people to Onthank Primary School.

Alternatively, you can use the images below to read the story with your child as we approach the start of the new term.

We can’t wait to see you all soon!

 

 

Half price school meals!

The price of school meals across East Ayrshire will be slashed by 50% during the last two weeks in August, thanks to the Council’s creative application of the UK government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

We’re encouraging pupils and parents to take advantage of discounted school meals throughout the whole school week, for two weeks, commencing Monday 17 August.

This means that pupils will receive 10 days of meals for just £10.80 in the first two weeks of term – a price that will be hard to beat anywhere else!

Andrew Kennedy, Head of Facilities and Property Management at East Ayrshire Council explained:

“Having looked into the possibility of applying the scheme to schools meals, we realised there was much more we could do to assist families at this time. Food provision has been a major concern for us throughout lockdown, and at its peak, we were providing over 7000 meals per day to children and families in need of assistance.

“By applying the scheme to schools meals and extending it to the full school week at the start of the term, we are ensuring our young people can access fresh, healthy and affordable food in a COVID-safe environment.

“To be eligible for the scheme, food must be purchased and consumed on the school premises – and this is something we will be actively encouraging as part of our health and safety measures being put in place when pupils return next week.

To take advantage of this offer, parents should sign up to Parent Pay and pre-order meal choices. Free school meals still apply to those who are eligible.

Onthank PS August Return Information – 05.08.20

Following the recent communication from the Head of Education, I wish now to alert you to specific arrangements in regard to your child’s return to school. The whole staff team absolutely share the sentiment of being delighted to welcome your young people back to school!
Please click the link below to view our arrangements for Onthank Primary:

August Return Info – 5th Aug 2020

Sports Championships 2020 – Winner Announcement

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…

Secret Shortbread Surprise

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!

End of Term Virtual Assembly – Watch & share now!

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! 

 

Virtual Bump Up Day

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!

Letter to Parents

Dear Parent/Carer,

I would like to begin this letter with a staffing update which is slightly different to original plans. Today we warmly welcomed our three probationary teachers to our Onthank team. Miss Jennifer Baillie, Mr Sean McClure and Miss Rachel Howatt were given an Onthank tour, taken to their classroom and met staff and pupils who were here today.
We also completed the interview process for the temporary position covering Mrs Smith’s maternity leave. The successful candidate is Lauran Telford who currently is our probationer teacher in Primary 5. Below is the classes teachers have been allocated and they will be taking part in our Onthank virtual bump up day this Wednesday.

P2A Miss Baillie with Mrs Cree’s P1C class
P2D Miss Telford with Mrs McKie’s P1M class
P6C Mr McClure with Mrs Irving’s P5I class
P7D Miss Howatt with Mrs Merrick’s P6Mclass

Following the recent letter regarding our return to school model in August, we are pleased to share further information on how this will look on our first week back.
Our August Model
You will receive a text on Tuesday 23rd June 2020 to confirm which group your child/children is in and in what days they have to attend school.
All of our entry doors have been colour coded and your child’s class will be informed by email as to which playground and door they should enter on arrival in August. Please see below a map of the school grounds which displays each of the coloured doors.

Group A
In school – Monday & Tuesday
Home Learning – Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

Group B
In school – Thursday & Friday Home Learning – Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.



DROP OFF AND COLLECTION TIMES
To avoid congestion in our playground we have staggered start and finish times. Pupils should be dropped off at the following times:


FIRST WEEK BACK
As we are returning to a four day week which includes an in-service day we would like our group A pupils to return on a Wednesday for the first week only. Please see our plans for the first week back to school below:

Tuesday 11th August 2020 In-service Day – pupils not in school.
Wednesday 12th August 2020 Pupil Group A
Thursday 13th August 2020 Pupils Group B
Friday 14th August 2020 Pupil Group B

LUNCH AND PLAYTIME
Breaks will be staggered throughout the school day. Lunch will be served in your child’s class and school lunches will continue to be available for purchase through Parent Pay for P4-P7 pupils. P1-P3 pupils will continue to get free school meals. You can also apply for a clothing and free school meals grant from East Ayrshire Council by completing the following form online: https://www.east- ayrshire.gov.uk/CouncilAndGovernment/Benefits/Benefits– EducationAndSchool/Clothing-grants-and-free-school-meals/Apply-online.aspx Unfortunately, at this time snack will not be available to purchase from catering staff and we will not have our breakfast club. As indicated in the letter from the local authority, pupils may not leave the building for lunch during the school day. Pupils can bring their lunch or snack if they would prefer.

ITEMS FOR SCHOOL
Water bottles can continue to be brought into class, along with any stationery and a pencil case. A jacket suitable for wearing outdoors should also be brought daily along with their school bag.
HYGIENE
All of our staff and young people will wash their hands on arrival and at regular times throughout the school day. We have displayed child-friendly posters throughout the school to remind our pupils to remain physically distant.

POSTER COMPETITION
We have a special competition for you to complete during the last week of term! We would like our young people to design a banner or poster which welcomes all our visitors to the school. Your poster should include our school values – Confidence, Happiness, Achievement, Respect and Responsibility, as well as the school logo. The poster should also include drawings of pupils in their school uniform. Remember to make it bright and welcoming!
The winner will receive a special prize as well as their poster professionally produced and displayed around the school building on our return in August. All entries should be sent to Mr McIlwraith no later than Friday 26th June 2020. Please email your entry to eadavid.mcilwraith1@glow.sch.uk

VIRTUAL ASSEMBLY
Our last virtual assembly of term will be going live this week! Be sure to check out our YouTube channel for the announcement of our Sports Day Champions, our special award ceremony and special farewell to all our Primary 7 pupils.
Lastly, we thank you for your amazing work with our young people and for continuing to share their learning on our school blog and Teams pages. You are all doing an amazing job during this time.

Stay safe,

Mrs Wright