Category: Parents

Giffnock Primary School – A Rights Respecting School

RIGHTS RESPECTING SCHOOL

You will shortly be receiving our first ‘Rights Respecting School’ Newsletter from the Woodfarm Cluster. This will provide you with some information relating to the current work all our classes have been working on, learning about the Rights of the Child and the different Articles provided by UNICEF. After great discussion and learning about these different Rights, each class has created their own Class Charters, linking to relevant Articles for their class.

We were delighted to recently receive a recognition of Commitment from UNICEF regarding the work we have planned for this session and are awaiting our Certificate and official ROC logo.

“Thank you for your very thorough planning form. There’s lots of evidence provided for me to award you a Recognition of Commitment. Congratulations to all the children and adults concerned at Giffnock Primary School on achieving their Recognition of Commitment” – Frances Bestley UNICEF

In Service and Holiday Dates

We would like to remind you that the school and nursery will be closed on Thursday 5th February and Friday 6th February due to staff “In Service” days.  The school and nursery are also closed on Monday 9th February and Tuesday 10th February for holidays and will re-open at the normal time on Wednesday 11th February.

Fencing Course at Eastwood High School

Scottish Fencing, working with East Renfrewshire Active Schools,  is providing an opportunity for pupils to experience the Olympic sport of Fencing. The new club is aimed at the P4-7 age group and will introduce pupils to the basics of fencing. To find out more, including information about booking, further information is available in this PDF: Fencing at Eastwood High

After School Clubs

After school Clubs

Our after school programme has started this week. The after school clubs within our school have had great numbers and we are pleased that so many children have signed up to enjoy something active. Mrs Baxter (the Active Schools Co-ordinator) has also organised many cluster clubs which have started this week. They are all held at Woodfarm High school. Primary 3 and P4 Table Tennis started on Monday with around 20 children attending. Tri-athlon club for P6 and P7 started on Wednesday. This club has proved to be very popular. Children will take part in a mini event at the end of the block. Volleyball for P6 and P7 started on Thursday and this is now in its 3rd term due to the huge demand for it. Well done to all our pupils for trying something new and signing up for the clubs. Mrs Baxter will issue awards to children at the end of the term for attendance and a special Coaches Award to selected pupils. Please remember to inform the school (or Mrs Baxter for the cluster clubs) if for any reason your child cannot attend a session as we take a register at each club.

Ski programme 2015

A reminder to all parents that the ski programme starts the week beginning Monday 26th January 2015. This is for 5 weeks and your child will have received a confirmation letter and consent form to say they have a place and what night to attend ( Monday, Tuesday or Thursday).  Please remember we need the consent forms back before the sessions start. Payment is made on the night you attend to the Glasgow Ski Centre, Bellahouston. We hope everyone has a great time and enjoys learning and developing their ski skills.

Ivona Mini Reader

For your information:

IVONA MiniReader, is a free software application for the computer that reads highlighted text in any program, for example Microsoft Word and internet pages. Ivona adds a floating toolbar on to the computer screen and the pace of speech and accent of voice can be pre-set.  All that you then need to do is click on the arrow and your highlighted text will be read aloud. Scottish voices may be used if installed on your computer.

IVONA MiniReader is a very easy to use, yet powerful tool, useful for struggling readers as it enables them to access text which they may have difficulty reading independently. It is installed on all our school computers and some of our pupils are currently being introduced to using it.

Parents are able to download and use IVONA MiniReader at home by following this link: http://www.adapteddigitalexams.org.uk/Using-Digital-Papers/Reading-with-Text-to-Speech/Ivona-MiniReader/

Back playground closure due to weather

Dear Parent/Guardian,

As you may be aware, due to inclement weather, the back playground was closed this morning. If we require to close the back playground again, the process for lining up will be as follows:

Primary 1 – Line up beside their classroom doors.

Primary 2, 3 and 6B – Line up at the door beside the staff car park.

Primary 4, 5, 6A, 7 – Line up at the disabled entrance.

Mr Blair will put signs on the gates to share this information.

If the back playground is still closed at 3pm, the children will exit from the same doors as they entered.

Many thanks for your co-operation.

An Active Start to 2015

Active Start to 2015.

There are lots of new and exciting opportunities this year for all our pupils to be involved in sport and physical activity.  Marie Baxter (Active School Co-ordinator) has organised many after school clubs that will run in our school as well as clubs that will be held at Woodfarm High School.

There are lots of new clubs at Giffnock this term and some include; Karate, Netball, Circuits, Hockey and Badminton.   We have school staff and local sports coaches taking clubs. Many parents also volunteer to assist the coaches as well. We appreciate everyone’s help in making our after school programme fully comprehensive.

Many clubs are also running outside the school for our pupils. Mrs Baxter works closely with Woodfarm P.E department and we have been lucky to offer our children lots of clubs that we could not otherwise facilitate. This term there is a Tri-Athlon club & Volleyball club for P6/7 and a Table Tennis club for P3/4 and P5-7. The P.E teachers from Woodfarm will take the clubs so it is a great opportunity for our primary pupils to get a taster and learn the skills involved in each sport.

The Ski programme has proved to be very popular this year. Over 90 children across the 3 primary schools have signed up.  We are very fortunate that Mrs Baxter organises this for our pupils as it has been a huge hit over the past 3 years.  The ski programme starts week beginning Monday 26th January 2015 and will run over 3 different nights; Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays at Bellahouston Ski Centre. Many pupils who attended the ski programme and are now at Woodfarm recently visited Austria with the school on a ski trip. The pupils who attend the primary ski lessons will be invited to a fun ski session at the end of the block and parents can attend as well. Letters will be issued nearer the time.

If you would like to volunteer at any of the clubs or events please contact the school office or Marie Baxter for more information. Marie can be contacted as follows:

Active School Coordinator

Phone: 07800 629 690

Email: baxterm1@ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk

Friday 19th December end of term

School and nursery will close at 2.30pm on Friday 19th December. There will be no pupils or staff in the building after this time

Our school assembly will be held in Orchardhill Parish Church – led by Primary 2 pupils – at 1.30pm. All are welcome.

The lunch menu will be soup and a sandwich selection on Friday 19th December.

Nursery
There will be no wraparound service at the end of the nursery day.

School and nursery will resume as normal on Monday 5th January 2015.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy holiday and a prosperous new year.

After School Clubs Application Letter

An application form for after-school clubs running from January to March 2015 has been sent out to all children from P2 to P7. Click here to download the form. 

The form has a list of all after school clubs we are running this term. Please note days and times clubs are on and encourage your child to participate or try something new. The deadline for the return of forms is Friday 12th December.

Please note that Mini-Kickers is open to girls and boys in P2 and P3.

Christmas Show

Giffnock Nursery and P1, P2 and P3 are pleased to announce the dates of their Christmas show, which is called Children of the World. Nursery, Primary 1, Primary2 and Primary 3 will take part and all performances will be held in the school gym hall.

Dates are as follows:

Monday 8 December afternoon (time to be confirmed). This show will have P1, P2, P3 and the afternoon nursery children.

Tuesday 9 December morning (time to be confirmed). This show  will have P1, P2, P3 and the morning nursery children.

Tuesday 9 December evening (time to be confirmed). This show will have P1, P2 and P3 and no nursery children.