Author: Mrs WRIGHT

Virtual Tour and Easter Egg Hunt

As we come to the end of an ‘egg-cellent’ Spring Term we are ‘egg-cited’ for  the launch of our first Virtual Tour and Egg Hunt. Normally Parents come into school throughout the session so here is a look around the school and your child’s class.

Here is the link for our first Virtual Tour and Easter Egg Hunt!

https://www.thinglink.com/card/1565463311930097665

 

Here is the link for the Quiz. Prizes for all correct entries! 

https://forms.office.com/r/PCEh6n1Cpp

 

 

You will find eggs like the one below throughout the tour! 

We kindly remind our families to check emails and the school app for details of our early closure stagger times tomorrow, on Fiday 1 April.

‘Hoppy Holidays’!
#OurOnthank #EasterFun #Eggcited

Learning Journals

 

Primary 1 and Primary 2 have been using Learning Journals.  Over the next few weeks we would like to promote these and encourage all our parents to upload a post.  We know many of you have done this already however it would be fantastic if all our children had a post from home.  We are planning a few ‘how to’ and help sessions over the next few weeks.  Below is a guide and video.

Parent-Guide-2021

 

 

Anti-Bullying Week

Anti-Bullying Week 2021 is taking place from Monday 15th November – Friday 19th November. The theme this year is ‘One Kind Word’. We will be launching the week by having ‘Odd Socks Day’ on Monday 15th November. Come to school wearing odd socks to show that we are ‘All different but all equal.’

 

Pupil Voice

We are very proud of our pupils who did a fantastic job presenting at our Parent Council Meeting.The Pupil Council Chair and Vice Chair gave lots of information about their roles in school by being involved in decision making.The RRS Chair and Vice Chair showed a presentation about all the activities we are doing in school. The Chair of the Eco group informed everyone about our Food Waste campaign and showed a video made by EA Council. Well done everyone👏

This Week’s star Pupils W/C 1st Nov

 

 

Primary 1

1A – Oscar-  for Marvellous Maths.

1C – Lucas – for working in a team, listening carefully and making words with active literacy boards.

1K – All of 1K – for creating a wonderful cafe for the Tiger to visit for his tea. Yum! Yum!

1M – Sophia – for super reading skills.

Joke of the week:
What do you get if you cross a dinosaur with a firework?
Dino-mite! 🦖 💥

 

Primary 3

3B – Harper – for working hard and showing such enthusiasm for learning maths.

3N – All of 3N for being Superstars this week!

3T – Abie – for her ideas and imagination during class discussions linked to our class novel.

 

Primary 4

4E – Colin for being so helpful and making sure our classroom is very tidy!

4M – Kyle – for making great progress in maths

4W – Zara – for trying so hard with vertical addition

 

Primary 5

5AK – Sarah – for showing kindness to her classmates.

5M –Amelia – for working really hard and being a responsible citizen

Primary 6

6A – Alistair – for fantastic slow writing

6F – Chloe – Fantastic Addition

 

Primary 7

7Mc – Tyler – for continual hard on fractions

 

Class 3

Tehya – for using super subtraction strategies during numeracy.

 

Deputy Head Teachers Award

 

#OurOnthank #AutumnAssembly #TimeWarp #Hallowe’en

To all of our Onthank families,

Exciting news – our Autumn Assembly is now LIVE and ready for you to watch!

Sit back, relax and enjoy our highlights from Term 1, a preview of our new classroom environments and some special ann

ouncements!

We also have a spooky surprise in store for #OurOnthank families at the end of our assembly so keep your eyes peeled!

#OurOnthank #AutumnAssembly #TimeWarp #Hallowe’en 

Welcome Back

A very warm welcome back to all our pupils, parents and carers of Onthank Primary School.  We hope you have had a relaxing and safe Easter holiday.  We are so lucky that the weather has been good and the sunshine is set to continue this week.  Bailey certainly enjoys the sun and going for a walk!

Staff have be online again and it has been great to see so many of you logging on.  We will be online to chat to children and set them some tasks and activities for the week.  Along with keeping in touch digitally we have also made some phone calls to families.  We are unable to call everyone and will prioritise families who have been unable to connect online,  however if you wish to nominate someone for a call feel free to do so.

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We are all missing the children and can’t wait to have them back in school.  But for now – stay home, stay safe and keep in touch.

We can do this together!!

Letter to parents and carers

The following letter was sent to parents on our school app

Letter to parents and carers – 23.3.20

If you wish to access any of this provision you will require to fill in our e-form here:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id

As you will read in the letter Onthank PS pupils register for James Hamilton Primary hub.

Onthank Home Learning

Onthank Young People & Families,

Our staff have been busy creating exciting and engaging home learning packs and digital learning activities for our young people.  

Activities, as always, will be active, fun and inclusive for all learners, regardless of ability.

Here is a summary for each stage –

Primary 1 – Pack with parent letter,  logins and passwords, jotter,  pencil, worksheets,  materials and ideas for cross- curricular activities, Information on P1 class blog

Primary 2– Pack with parent letter,  logins and passwords,  worksheets,  materials and ideas for cross- curricular activities, Information on P2 class blog

Primary 3  – Pack with parent letter ( logins and passwords sent with report),  jotter and P 3 class blog with a page for each teacher.

Primary 4 – Pack with a parental letter giving instructions on P4 blog,  range of worksheets, literacy, numeracy, jotter with Glow log ins.  

Primary 5– Teams page for communication, lessons, folders with maths and numeracy, literacy and french. 

Primary 6 – Teams page for communication, lessons, packs made up for individual children

Primary 7– Teams page for communication, ON-LINE lessons  posted daily,  folder with assessments, jotters etc

At Onthank we are very proud of the level of digital learning and ownership our young people have already achieved. All learners in Primary 5, 6 & 7 have been using Teams and communication between teacher and learner has already begun!

Click here for – Microsoft Teams Guidance for Parents

We will issue guidance on the amount of communication you can expect from teaching staff in the coming week. This will vary between stages due to the different activities planned by staff.

Learning Packs will be available today and tomorrow and will be given to pupils to bring home if they are attending school. Other resources such as sanitary items, toothbrushes and toothpaste are free to anyone who needs them. 

We are aware that some families are already self-isolating, therefore the school will get Learning Packs to you.  Please fill in the form below to let us know how you wish to receive yours. This form only needs to be filled in if your child has been absent from school in the last week.

You might be inclined to create  a minute by minute schedule for your child, however, like many of us,  they have never experienced anything like this before and will share the same worries and fears.

It is equally important at this time to comfort, care for each other and consider transferable life skills which can be learned at home. Why not take a break from Learning Packs and play board games, bake cookies, or to do a science experiment together?

Please also remember it will take time for all of us to adjust to this ‘new normality’.

Sincere thanks from Onthank Primary SLT and Staff for your understanding, cooperation and support in these unprecedented times. The offers of help and acts of kindness from our community is an outstanding display of your passion and genuine care for our young people.

We will miss our young people greatly, however remain encouraged Onthank Primary Community will reflect and learn from this and come back creating a stronger future for all.

Please continue to reach out to us during these times. We are all in this together.

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Delivery of packs

 

 

Onthank Parent Feedback

Yesterday we distributed pupil reports. We do know that many children have not received them yet. To help us plan can all parents/carers please complete our online form.  Parents can pick up the school report if they are able to.  Reports which are not picked up will be posted.

Please click here to access the form

277 have been completed.

Answers to frequently asked questions-

  • Children are being re- issued with their log ins and passwords.
  • Online tutorials will be added to our School blog
  • Staff will be posting on each stage’s blog
  • We will make sure parents can access support
  • Our school Bugclub code is kg9j

Updated Information from EAC

Please click on the link below for the updated information on COVID-19 from Linda McAulay Griffiths, Head of Education.  This will also be sent to all parents/careers centrally via the school app.

Coronovirus symptoms letter – updated guidance – 17.3.20

Could  parents\carers please report child absences to the office in the usual way.

Thank you

Coronavirus and Onthank Primary’s plans

Thank you for your continued support as we,  like the rest of the country, respond to the situation in relation to Coronavirus.  I am very grateful for the measured, appropriate and cooperative response of parents/carers in helping us to manage this situation.

I am sure that you will appreciate that it is difficult to predict what the impact on schools might be in the future in what is clearly a rapidly changing picture. Please be assured that we continue to collaborate with, and act upon the advice of, the relevant organisations and are taking steps to plan for the future.  Like all East Ayrshire schools, we will use our school app to get information to you.
At the moment,  our priority is to maintain a calm learning environment for our young people. Whilst not wanting to be dismissive of the potential effects on the wider population, we want our pupils to understand that in the majority of cases the effects of the virus can be relatively mild.  Additionally, we will continue to reiterate through class lessons and assemblies, important messages about hygiene. Thank you for your support in reinforcing these messages too.
 Please click on the link for further information.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus

Following a Headteacher meeting on Friday which focused on the impact of the Conorovirus,  schools were asked to look at Digital solutions to keep in touch which staff and children who are self-isolating,

As a  digital school, pupils at Onthank already use digital technology in a variety of ways such as Bug Club, Active Maths and children’s individual blogs.  We plan to continue and extend our use of Digital technology.  At this time we have created a Microsoft Team for each class from Primary 5 to 7.  We will be giving tutorials to classes over the next few days.  Children in these classes have been assigned a survey to complete.

Parents can support this by making sure that your child, where possible, can access their schoolwork via a home tablet, laptop, PC or smartphone.  If it is not possible to have access to the internet we will look for alternative solutions.

 

Communcation via school app

For reliable information our school app will be our main source of communication with parents/carers. You should check our news and message sections. Please can any parents who have not downloaded the app, do so as soon as possible. Thanks.

To download on iPhone, please visit: CLICK

To download on Android, please visit: CLICK

Cyber safe

We are keen to support parents to ensure all young people are Cyber safe, especially with the growing use of a wide range of Apps and online forms of communication (WhatsApp/TikTok/Instagram/Snapchat etc). As part of our continued commitment, we are delighted to promote our new ‘Safer Schools’ App. This App is a reliable source of advice on all things Cyber. It gives empowering, current and informative information on all current digital platforms/tools/apps in an accessible manner. We have a range of tailored user accesses (pupil, staff and parents/carers). To access your parent platform please:
-Go to your app store or Google Play and search for ‘Safer School’
-In school field type ‘East Ayrshire Council’
-The code for primary parents is: 7440
We would recommend that you discuss with your child about which apps and social media platforms they currently use/access. This will help ensure they know how to stay safe online – using the app to start these types of conversations is great.

Thank you is enough!

With Christmas fast approaching we are all more mindful than ever of the effects of poverty on the lives of many of the families we work with and the pressure many families feel to show their appreciation to staff in the school through gifts and tokens of appreciation.

Last year the BBC ran a feature about this with the simple message that thank you is enough. We want to share this message with you again this year to reassure any parents that are worried about affording a gift for a teacher in the run up to the Christmas break.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46580014

We also want to reassure you that there is no ban on bringing gifts to teachers, but that a thank you, a card and even just the thought behind these small gestures, is more than enough for us as a staff.

Wishing you all the best this festive season.

Parental Engagement – please take some time on Thursday

Please take time on Thursday afternoon /evening to visit our stalls and find out more information.  Parents/Carers will be asked to complete questionnaires and get information about a variety of curricular areas.

These will include –

Children’s Glow Blogs – please take time to look at your child’s blog and if you haven’t logged on before there will be teams of children to show you how.
Onthank On Time – we will share information on how we are doing with attendance rates and the number of children who arrive to school on time.   As a school we can offer support if children have high absence rates or are not arriving on time.  Steven Swan is our full time Home Link Worker who works alongside Laura Gallagher, and together we can look to support families.
Literacy and Numeracy at Onthank – children are working with staff to provide examples of new resources and explain how children progress.  This session teachers are being trained in Active Literacy and Active Numeracy.  ‘Number Talks’ happen in our classes everyday.  Do you know about this?
Health and Wellbeing at Onthank – we would like to explain how a restorative conversation and meeting works and take a look at resources which promote internet safety and how we tackle bullying.  Parents at Onthank are on our Respectful Relationships group and are working on how we address bullying.
Onthank, On Task,  On Track – our reports have East Ayrshire Curriculum for Excellence Assessment Judgement Ratings.  Staff and children will be able to explain what these tracking numbers mean. 
Homework club is not just for completing homework!  If parents/carers are unsure about an aspect of homework or would like to find out ways to help your child then homework club is open to you everyday of the week!
 See the source image
Information on how to get the best out of Bug Club  and take a look at teacher assessments with Bug Club.  As a parent, how can you make sure your child is making progress?

 

 

 

Pupil Survey

At assembly this week we showed the children our survey and asked them to complete it at home with a parent/carer.  This information   helps us with self-evaluation.  We ask that this is completed by

Wednesday 9 October

There will be a prize for the stage that completes the most surveys!

 

Parents’ Night Volunteers

Volunteers needed!

We are looking for P4-P7 helpers for Parents’ Afternoon / Evening on Thursday 10 October at the following times:

3.00 pm – 4.00 pm, 4.00 pm – 5.00 pm, 6.00 pm – 7.00 pm and 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm

Please complete form below if your child can help also stating which time would be suitable – you can choose more than 1 time.

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Suitable Time: