Tag: Parents

Parent Council Meetings

The Parent Council would like to share the meeting schedule for the school year.  Note that we try and vary day and times for broader participation:

Monday 9th September, 19:00

Monday 7th October, 19:00 – AGM

Thursday 14th November, 09:00

Tuesday 21st January, 13:30

Monday 23rd March, 19:00

Friday 1st May, 13:30

Thursday 11th June, 09:00

Making School Food Healthier

Making school food healthier
More fruit and vegetables, less processed red meat
and sugar on the menu.

https://www.gov.scot/news/making-school-food-healthier

The Scottish Government and all local authorities are jointly committed to providing the healthiest food to children and young people. This commitment is underpinned by a duty to provide school meals that meet strict nutritional requirements, including encouraging the use of fresh, local and sustainable produce
School food regulations will be amended to ensure:

A minimum of two full portions of vegetables and a full portion of fruit are offered as part of a school lunch, with full portions of fruit and or vegetables also available in, for example, tuck shops

A minimum weekly amount in the school menu of red and processed red meat provision – such as bacon, ham and pepperoni

For Primary schools – Ensure no more than 175g of red and red processed meat can be provided over the course of the school week, of which no more than 100g should be red processed meat. All of the 175g amount can be used for unprocessed freshly prepared red meat.

This is a new standard and is based on the Scottish Dietary Goal for red and processed meat which is supported by scientific evidence based dietary recommendations to limit intakes of these foods to 70g per day with the purpose of protecting the health of children and young people. Therefore if a child is to have processed meat in their diet this can be managed at home by parents/carers.
Dietary advice highlights red meat as a major source of iron and zinc which can contribute to meeting the recommended nutrient intakes for primary school lunches removal of fruit juice and smoothies from primary and secondary schools to help reduce sugar intake.
The measures follow extensive consultation and advice from a working group comprising health, nutrition and education experts.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/report-responses-consultation-nutritional-requirements-food-drink-schools

Currently all East Renfrewshire school meals are nutritionally analysed and comply with the existing regulations laid down by the Scottish Government.

All medically prescribed diets will be accommodated on receipt of an Acute Services Division referral form from a hospital dietician or a Doctor’s letter detailing dietary requirements.

Free 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 07, 14, 21, 28 September and 05 October
Sundays 01, 15, 22, 29 September and 06 October

Times as follows:-
Saturdays-11.30am-12.00pm, 12.00pm-12.30pm, 12.30pm-1.00pm and 1.00pm-1.30pm.
Sundays-3.30pm-4.00pm, 4.00pm-4.30pm and 4.30pm-5.00pm
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 577 3562 or pop into the centre and put their name down on the list.

Ski Slalom Events

On Friday 5th October Glasgow Ski and Snowboard Centre are hosting the 2019 Autumn Dual Slalom Series. The Dual Slalom Series comprises of nine regional qualifying events around the country during September / October. Each event is a friendly round-robin dual slalom race, with teams racing in Primary or Secondary categories. Each race is a head-to-head relay, with each team scoring points for both winning and finishing. Teams scoring the most points and finishing top of their event will be entered into the finals taking place at Snow Factor, Braehead at the end of October.

To ensure children are skiing at or beyond the appropriate level we are holding a practice session on the ski slope to introduce and develop ski racing skills. This will take place on Wednesday 11th September from 4.30pm – 6.00pm at the ski centre (Cost £8 – made payable to the ski centre at the start of the session on Wednesday 11th). From this practice session, team(s) will be chosen to represent the school. This practice session is aimed at children who can ski at Advanced/Intermediate level or Advanced level. Children currently skiing in a race programme are welcome to attend or alternatively can send me an email to let me know their interest. If chosen for the team(s) the cost of the event will be £12 per person – more information will follow after the practice session.

PLEASE NOTE – your child does not need to ski in the schools ski lesson to take part.

Helmets are compulsory at this level of skiing. Glasgow Ski & Snowboard Centre recommend you provide your own so that you can ensure that your child’s helmet is safe and correctly fitted and to enable you to keep track of the history and hygiene of it. Snowsports helmets can be purchased from all good ski and snowboard retailers in shop or online.

If your child is interested in attending the one-off race practice session and if chosen can represent the school on Friday 5th October 2019 from 3.00pm, please email Kerry Comerford comerfordk1@ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk with your child’s name, class and school before Monday 9th September 2019.

Yours sincerely,
Kerry Comerford, Active Schools Coordinator

Water Bottles

Could we please remind you to provide a water bottle for your child in order for them to keep hydrated and as children also need to have a drink during PE lessons.

 

Although water fountains are available in school we are finding that many pupils do not bring a suitable container.

Parental Involvement and Engagement Census reminder

Parental Involvement and Engagement Census

East Renfrewshire Council and its educational establishments undertake regular periodic surveys of parents and carers.  Such surveys support school and local authority improvement planning and provide an opportunity for parents to share their thoughts on current and future involvement and engagement with schools.

Similar practice is undertaken by all local authorities in Scotland and educational establishments under their control.  In order to rationalise this approach to surveying parents/carers and in order to allow comparable consistent data to be collected nationally, which will assist in evaluating the impact of interventions and programmes and support future policy development, every parent/carer of a school pupil in Scotland is being invited to take part in the national Parental Involvement and Engagement Census pilot.

Only one parent/carer per child will receive an email which will include a link to the survey and it is only necessary to complete the survey once per family, per school.  The survey should take no longer than ten minutes to complete and will remain open until 27 June 2019.

The data gathered will be used for statistical and research purposes and will provide East Renfrewshire Council and its schools with information to help:

  • plan, monitor and deliver better policies for the benefit of all,
  • identify and share best practice,
  • better understand some of the factors which influence parental involvement and engagement with our schools,
  • further enhance positive relationships with parents to secure positive outcomes for our children.

The information collected will also be securely shared with the Scottish Government to assist in evaluating the impact of national interventions and programmes and to support future policy development at a national level.

Further information on the collection and how the Education Department and Scottish Government will process the data collected is provided in the Council’s privacy statement and Scottish Government website:

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=24585&p=0

https://www.gov.scot/publications/parental-involvement-and-engagement-census/

Should you have any further questions, please contact the Education Department:

Education Department
Council Headquarters
Eastwood Park
Giffnock
East Renfrewshire
G46 6UG

0141 577 3229

customerservices@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Thank you for taking part in this survey collection.

Free swimming lessons

Swimming Development Programme: Free Taster Swimming Lessons

East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Swimming Development are looking for children again to come along to FREE Lessons.
Our existing swimming teachers are upskilling to a higher level of 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, please see dates and times.

Dates are as follows:- 15, 16, 22, 23 July, 5 & 6 August.
Times as follows:- 11.30 – 12.00, 12.00-12.30, 12.30 -1.00 or 1.00 – 1.30.

Please choose which time slots you would like your child to attend.
You can either contact Barrhead Foundry direct or pop into the centre and put their name down on the list.

We look forward to welcoming your children to these FREE taster lessons and we would also like to inform you that if your child enjoys these lessons, then please feel free to sign up for lessons in our Learn to Swim Programme

If you would like to take advantage of any of these lessons, please follow this link: https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/swimminglessons

Class Structure August 2019

Please see information below for the new class structure in August 2019.

CLASS JUNE 2019 TEACHER JUNE 2019 NEW CLASS AUGUST 2019 TEACHER AUGUST 2019
New member of staff (N)
    P1A Mrs Downie
    P1B Miss Noble & Mrs Brown
P1A Mrs Downie P2A Miss Emo
P1B Miss Stead P2B Mrs Sibille
P2A Miss Edwards P3A Mrs Taylor
P2B Mrs Sibille & Mrs Brown P3B Mrs Cole (N) & Miss Stead
P3A Miss Emo P4A Mrs Benzie
P3B Miss Johnston P4B Miss Convery & Mrs Hall
P4A Mrs Backer & Mrs Horrocks P5A Miss Faulkner (N)
P4B Mrs Benzie P5B Ms Kendrick (N) & Mrs Backer
P5A Mrs Taylor P6A Mr Connell
P5B Mrs Allaway P6B Miss Livingstone
P6A Mr Connell P7A Mr McNeill
P6B Miss Livingstone P7B Mr Hendry

Medicines in school

Primary 1 – 7

To parents of children with medicine in school

Dear Parent/Carer,

East Renfrewshire Council has issued new guidelines for the administration of medicines in schools. These can be seen on our website at: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Giffnock/information/general-information/

The guidelines require all medicines to be taken home at the end of the session so that no medicines are kept in the school over the summer holidays.

The medication cannot be sent home with the child, so we would like you to collect any medication directly from the school office on the last day of term.

School closes at 1pm on Thursday June 27. Medicines will be available to collect from the office from 12:50pm.

Please return the medication to the school in August for the first day of term. You will not need to fill in a new consent form at that time. New consent forms will be issued in the autumn.

Thank you

Giffnock Primary School

August Primary 1 Parents

Giffnock Primary Parent Council extend a very warm welcome to our new Primary 1 classes!

To mark the occasion we are holding a “Tea and Tissues” coffee morning from 9.30am on the first day of school (Aug 19th) in the school library, so please feel free to pop along once your child is settled in their new class.

This will be an informal opportunity to meet other Primary 1 parents/carers on what can be a very exciting and emotional day for our new pupils and their parents/carers.

Many thanks,

GPS Parent Council

East Renfrewshire Summer Reading Challenge

The Summer Reading challenge is a great way to keep children reading during the school holidays. Children can sign up at the library, then read six library books to complete the Challenge. There are exclusive rewards to collect along the way, and it’s FREE to take part! …

Please visit the libraries website https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/Activities-Children to find out about Fun for all the Family with

  • Stories
  • Sci-Fi Labs
  • Space Crafts
  • Virtual Reality
  • Space Training
  • Alien Hunts and more.

All ages welcome, free, contact the library to book your interest.

 

 

Sports Day 14th June

PRIMARY 1 – PRIMARY 7

Dear Parent/Carer,

We hope you will be able to join us for our sports afternoon on Friday 14th June at Huntly Park (starting at 12.45pm) and that the weather stays dry!   Should the weather be inclement, we regret that we do not have space to accommodate parents in school.

All children should wear suitable clothing on sports day i.e. tracksuit over T-shirt and shorts, trainers/gym shoes, a waterproof jacket and bring a polythene bag to sit on.

NO HOME LUNCHES IF POSSIBLE.  There will be an early lunch for children from 11.40am until 12.30pm.  As the children will be leaving school for the park at 12.45pm it would be helpful if all children could have lunch in school on Sports Day.

At the park – the children must stay in their running order and under a teacher’s supervision at all times. No children are allowed to wander away with or without parents.

At the end of the races and after the presentation of the House Sports Championship Shield, if parents wish to collect their child at that time they must inform their child’s class teacher that they are taking their child away so that we know at all times where our children are and who they are with.

Children not collected at the park will be brought back to school as near to 3.00pm as possible and can be collected from there.

Active Schools

Active schools at Giffnock Primary 2019

The after school club programme at Giffnock Primary has grown over the years and throughout a school year provides many opportunities for pupils to take part in a variety of after school activities in sport and physical activity. We have fantastic support from the teachers, local sports clubs, parents and our community coaches from ERCL.

A few facts …………..

This year there have been over 30 extra-curricular physical activity clubs on offer for pupils both in the school and at local clubs for all pupils.

So far around 135 pupils have attended a sport/physical activity club this school year – which is absolutely fantastic.  I will be in school chatting to pupils in August to get some ideas of what clubs they would like in the school next school year, in a hope to increase this number further.   We are always looking for parent helpers so if you have a sport or would like to assist at a club get in touch as soon as possible for next August!

With the holidays fast approaching, the activity doesn’t need to stop there.  The ERCL holiday programme runs for 5 weeks of the summer holidays.  There are all day catered sports camps from 10am – 3pm at Barrhead and Eastwood High Schools and a number of half day sessions throughout East Renfrewshire.   Free and concessionary places are available on the week long sports camps. To qualify for a free/concessionary place, children must attend an East Renfrewshire school and their household must be in receipt of Council Tax Benefit and / or Housing Benefit. For more information and to make a booking go to https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/summer.

Marie Baxter

Active School Coordinator- Woodfarm Cluster

baxterm1@ea.e-renfrew.sch.uk