Category: Parents

Parent Appointments

We would like to advise you that the online booking system for parent appointments will open on Monday 2nd March 2020 at 21:00hrs and will close at midnight on Sunday 15th March 2020.  A letter giving further information is attached together with a “parent guide” for the booking system.

If you have any queries or require assistance with the booking system please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Parent Guide – Parent Appointments March 2020

NURSERY letter March 2020

Young Carers Service

If you provide additional care for someone in your family or if your child helps with this, then the Young Carers Service would like to hear from you.

Young Carers provide support for children who may be involved in additional support and care for their siblings or family members. They can provide advice and support to access additional clubs and activities.

If you or your family would like to find out more please contact Kevin Daily at kevin@eastrenfrewshirecarers.co.uk. Or ask a member of the Giffnock Family Support Team for further information.

There is also a carers Get Together on Thursday 5th March from 10 -12 pm in Voluntary Action, 56 Kelburn Street, Barrhead. The purpose of the get together is to explore activities that would be of interest. If you would like to go along you can contact Karen at the centre on 0141 638 4888 to book a place.

Healthier Minds resources and information for families

We are delighted to share the recent launch of East Renfrewshire Council’s Healthier Minds resource for families which seeks to address different ways we can work together to support our families and young people.

For further information on this we have included links below:-

https://youtu.be/uUyhOO0zhjY

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/healthierminds

In addition, East Renfrewshire Council are also planning an awareness raising event for Parents/Carers on this, so further information will be shared shortly.

We would also like to extend an invite to another Giffnock Family Support Team session in school on

Thursday 12th March at 9 am.

All welcome.

The theme will be around supporting childrens’ mental and emotional health with Mr McGee our Educational Psychologist present and Ms McLeod from our school staff presenting.

Should you have any questions or are interested in coming along to our school session please contact the school office.

Talking Homework

In school this week we are celebrating Reading Week and World Book Day. The children will be participating in a variety of literacy rich activities throughout the week and will have the opportunity to dress up as their favourite character or in their pyjamas on Friday 6th March.

This week we have prepared a Talking Homework focused on the Share a Million Stories campaign and the Read Aloud event. Please follow the link below for access.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-to56MH0iw&feature=youtu.be

More information about Share a Million Stories can be found here – https://www.worldbookday.com/share-a-million-stories/

World Book Day 6th March

Due to an unforeseen clash in our school calendar, and in order to avoid some of our children missing out on the event due to trips out of school and swimming lessons that week, we are moving the date upon which we will celebrate World Book Day at Giffnock Primary to Friday 6th March.

 

As previously shared, all of our children are welcome to come to school that day wearing a costume of a character from a favourite story, or alternatively in pyjamas/ dressing gowns.

Positive Pathways Adult Learning Course

We have received further information on another course from the Adult Learning team.

If you are looking for ways to:

  • Improve your confidence & self-esteem
  • Develop your CV
  • Work together as a team
  • Identify your strengths and transferable skills
  • Plan your progression – college, volunteering or working
  • Gain a qualification

There is an information sharing session on this course on Tuesday 25th February at 9.30-11.30 at the Foundry in Barrhead.

The course which is based at The Foundry, will last for around 12 weeks (Starts March) is every Tuesday 9:30-11:30 and by the end you will have been accredited at SCQF Level 5.

If you are interested please contact Tracy Gemmill at the details below:

0141 577 3306 or 07818 534 195 for a chat

or email Tracy.Gemmill@Eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Mid term holiday dates

The primary school and nursery will be closed to pupils on the following days:

Friday 7th February 2020 as this is an In Service day for staff.

Monday 10th February and Tuesday 11th February 2020 for the February holiday.

Wednesday 12th February 2020 as this is an In Service day for staff.

All pupils should return to school and nursery at the normal times on Thursday 13th February.

After School Clubs

Emails have now been sent to parents/carers of children who have secured a place with our popular After School Clubs for this term. If you have not received an email we are sorry to say that on this occasion your child has not been successful.

If your child has been allocated a place with our After School Clubs, our expectation is that your child will attend. Please note that all children must be prepared to attend weekly and not withdraw from these clubs. The coaches are responsible for the children in their care and any absences must be accounted for.  In the unlikely event that your child is unable to attend any session could we please ask you to telephone the school office beforehand (we cannot accept a child’s notification to the class teacher) and this will then be marked on the club register for that day.  Without your assistance our administrative staff have to telephone parents/carers to ascertain the whereabouts of their child and with more pupils than ever taking part in after school clubs this can be a very time consuming task.

We wish to remind parents/carers that although most of our After School Clubs are held within the school, we do have some that are held in other locations.  If the club is not located at Giffnock Primary it is the responsibility of parents/carers to make sure arrangements have been made for your child to make their way to their club and also for leaving the club to go home.  This particularly relates to the Boys Football Club held at Woodfarm High School pitches on Mondays after school.  We would also like to clarify that if your child requires any medication/inhaler at a club held at another location this should be given to your child from your home supply as medication held in school cannot be transported.

Scottish government consultation

NURSERY – PRIMARY 7

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 sets out the role parents, schools and education authorities must play in ensuring all parents are fully involved and engaged in their children’s learning and in the life and work of our schools.

The Scottish Government made a commitment to update, strengthen and modernise the guidance as part of its joint Scottish Government / Convention of Scottish Local Authorities “Learning Together” Action Plan.

We are running a full public consultation to seek the views of a wider audience to refine the updated draft guidance which launched today, Friday 24 January 2020, and will run until Thursday 30 April 2020.

The refreshed statutory guidance and associated consultation questionnaire can be accessed at: https://consult.gov.scot/learning-directorate/parental-involvement-act/

We hope to hear from anyone who has an interest in how parents can be fully involved and engaged in children’s learning.

For more information on the public consultation and how you can be involved in this please contact: parental.involvment@gov.scot

Parent Council Next Meeting 31 January

Dear Parents/Carers

A reminder that the next meeting of the Giffnock Parent Council will be this Friday 31st January at 1.30pm in the School Staff room.  At the moment there are only a handful of parents attending meetings and we are always keen for more voices/opinions so if you are able to pop along that would be great. No pressure to ‘join’ the PC we are just really keen to get more parents of different year groups to come along – to even just one meeting. The work done by the Parent Council helps your children and we encourage all families to take their turn to help out.

The Agenda for this Friday’s meeting is as undernoted. If you have anything to say regarding the matters being raised(& you can not attend this meeting) please message the PC on giffnockpc@hotmail.co.uk .

Many thanks

Giffnock Parent Council

Agenda – Fri 31st January

  1. Introductions – Tea/Coffee & Biscuits
  2. Nursery engagement/events
  3. School Twitter & Communication re School events
  4. Sponsored Event & STEAM
  5. Feedback – letter box idea
  6. Pupil Parliament
  7. Parent Equality rep
  8. Feedback re Cellidh
  9. Fundraising events and committee
  10. Parent Council engagement
  11. AOCB & date of next meeting

Cancellation of Burns Family Night and Ceilidh

Thank you to those who have requested tickets for the Burns Family Night & Ceilidh, unfortunately on this occasion we have taken the difficult decision to cancel the event.
We sold 21 adult tickets & 27 kids tickets for food & dancing and 12 for dancing only.  The revenue from these tickets would not be sufficient to cover the associated costs of the event and while we don’t run events solely for the purpose of fundraising and believe that the community benefit is just as important, we cannot risk running an event which would incur a loss.  We are fortunate that our suppliers; Marianna’s Catering & Chitterybite Ceilidh Band will not charge us for late cancellation.
A large percentage of the tickets sold were bought by members of the Parent Council and those involved in the organising of this event. These individuals would have also had to run the event on the night.
We do welcome any feedback and have tried to adjust this year’s event based on feedback from last year with regards to timings, venue and price.  As you can appreciate, a great deal of work goes into planning and organising these events and we do want to hold events that meet the needs and interests of our community.  If you have any suggestions or feedback  please feel free to contact the Parent Council on GiffnockPC@hotmail.co.uk
The revenue from last year’s event paid for one term of after school clubs which are provided by Parent Council funds. In order to try and avoid any loss of these activities for the children, we will be running a raffle as we have some great prizes which have been generously donated by local businesses. Look out for tickets and a list of the fantastic prizes this week in school bags and please support! The raffle will be drawn after school on the 31st January at the Community Cafe.
If you have paid for ceilidh tickets the money will either be handed back in person or you will receive an email to arrange collection from the school office.
Giffnock Primary Parent Council

Community Learning

Please find attached information from East Renfrewshire Council on Adult Learning Classes. We will shortly be presenting further information on this in school should you have any further questions.

East Renfrewshire Council Community Learning Flyer Jan 2020

The contact details for Adult Learning are as below should you see any opportunities you would wish to take up.

Angela McGoldrick

Community learning & Development Worker

Adult Learning Services

211 Main St, Barrhead, G78 1SY

t 0141 577 8345

e:  angela.mcgoldrick@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

The sessions are a great way of meeting new people and  learning new and different skills.

Kind Regards,

The Giffnock Family Support Team

Family First

Dear Parent/Carer,

Julie Douglas from Family First will not be based in school on Tuesday 21 January.

However her usual drop in will continue on Tuesday 28 January from 1pm onwards.

Please see attached leaflet for further information on support and help or you can contact Julie directly on:-

Julie Douglas Mobile – 07393752547                           Julie.Douglas@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

You can also ask a member of the Family Support Team and our Nursery, about Family First help, just let us know.

Many thanks

The Giffnock Family Support Team

Family First

Free taster swimming lessons

Swimming Development Programme: Free Taster Swimming Lessons

East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Swimming Development are looking for children aged 4 to 12 years to come along to FREE Lessons again.

Our existing swimming teachers are upskilling to a higher level of swimming qualification run by the National Governing Body Scottish Swimming.

If you are interested in bringing your children along to our free taster swimming lessons at Barrhead Foundry, being taught by our probationary teachers, then please see dates and times below.

Saturdays 22, 29 February and 14 March.
Sundays 9, 23 February, 01 and 15 March
Times as follows:-
Saturdays-11.30am-12.00pm, 12.00pm-12.30pm, 12.30pm-1.00pm and 1.00pm-1.30pm.
Sundays-12.30pm-1.00pm and 1.00pm-1.30pm 1.30pm-2pm and 2.00pm-2.30pm

Please choose which time slots you would like, (you can attend more than one session)

You can contact Barrhead Foundry and add your child’s name onto the list by calling 0141 580 1174, 577 3636 or 577 3562 or pop into the centre and put their name down on the list.