Friday 10th December
With so much happening in school the weeks just seem to be flashing past us.
We know that this week will have been tough for so many of you with the added worry of the omicron variant and the announcement yesterday about the changes to self isolation.
In school, we have been working on our contingency plans in the event that we have full classes isolating or staff shortages due to an increase in isolation.
You will now know, that should we have a positive case in school that is suspected to be connected to omicron the whole class may be asked to isolate along with any member of staff working with the class. Should this happen, home learning will be provided via TEAMs for pupils in P4 – P7 and via Learning Journals for P1- P3.
We still have almost half of P1 – P3 parents who have not returned the consent form for learning journals. This was available to be completed online and then through paper copies that was sent home. We will reissue paper copies to those who have not returned it. We ask that these are returned as soon as possible, this will be necessary should the class have to isolate.
In the event that a member of teaching staff has to isolate through being a close contact outwith school or being absent due to others reasons, we have a plan in place to allow us to cover up to three absences. Should it go beyond this, we have a contingency plan in place to prioritise in-school provision. This would mean one or more classes learning at home. Please be assured that all our staff are taking every precaution both inside and outside of school to minimise the risk of this happening.
If your child is entitled to Free School Meals, provision will be made during a 10 day isolation. This is for pupils granted meals through the application process and not all P1-P4. We will be in touch with you if this should happen.
We would encourage our parents and carers to follow the national guidance by continuing to use lateral flow devices before meeting up with others and to self isolate and book a PCR test if any symptoms develop.
Please get in touch with us if there is ANYTHING we can do to support you at this time. Sometimes even a quick chat over the phone can do wonders.
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We have so much to be thankful for this week.
A huge big shout out to our catering team, Shirley, Amanda, Marlene and Paula. The ladies went above and beyond to ensure our children and staff had an amazing Christmas lunch. We are so lucky to have an amazing team that care so much about our children. THANK YOU!
P6/7 organised our fantastic Reindeer Run in aid of CHAS. The weather was kind to us and all classes completed their run without rain. P6/7 organised the event so well – they prepared motivational speeches to set the classes off, marshalled the event and closed each run with a thank you speech. Well done everyone and thanks to Miss Quinn for supporting this. (more photographs at the end of the blog)
We loved seeing all the Christmas jumpers. Thank you for all your donations for Save the Children. If you have Christmas jumpers that your children have outgrown please hand them in to us. We will collect them, store them and next December make them available instead of buying a new one. Not only does this help our eco message of reuse, it will also help us cut costs to families. We are passionate about helping our children learn about the value of the three ‘Rs’ – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
This week has been a busy one with the production of our school Christmas film. We are so grateful for all the staff working behind the scenes to make this possible. Special thanks go to Mrs McCrorie who has been working tirelessly with classes to film this, Mrs Gilhooley and Mrs Goudie for the mammoth task of sorting out costumes and to Mrs Fleming for ensuring equipment was where it needed to be. Mrs Reid has also been vey busy with all the calendar orders and our fantastic 2021 Christmas card – these look amazing. A massive Thank You. We are so glad we left the judging of the Christmas Card competition to the Pupil Leadership Team! The standard was very high!
All your donations to our foodbank appeal will be gratefully received by EA Foodbank. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who contributed to this.
Thank you to P1 and Mrs Duffy for a fantastic Twitter Takeover this week. If you haven’t followed their learning this week you can find it at @eacStPatricksPS
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Please remember that all the dates for activities happening in school are on the school app.
From all the Staff.
