Your child will be bringing home Literacy jotters and/ or other paper-based learning today for you to share with them.

As you know, a wide range of active, exploratory, digital, problem-solving and indeed game-based learning activities take place throughout the week and not all of these are appropriate for recording in jotters. We hope however that the jotters remain an interesting part of learning to share, in particular in the build up to Parents’ Evenings next week, and we would ask they these are returned on Monday 4th November.

We look forward to welcoming you into school next week.

We have been advised by East Renfrewshire Council that Giffnock Primary School will be used as a polling station for the General Election on Thursday 12th December 2019.

The school will therefore be closed to all primary pupils however we have been advised that it will be open to nursery pupils (this is possible as they use a separate entrance to access the building).  Nursery classes will therefore operate as normal that day and wraparound provision will still be provided.

We have been asked to share this information with you regarding supporting children and families with autism.

Mark Mulhern has passed on these details and should you be interested please contact the number below.

We hope you find these of interest and are able to attend.

There are spaces on both of the Autism Sessions planned for November 2019, which will be facilitated by Tanya Tennant (details below)

TO BOOK ONTO ANY OF THESE SESSIONS, PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE ON 0141 638 4888

1. Wednesday 20th November : 6.15pm – 8.45pm : Talking to your child about their autism diagnosis

Aimed at parents of children in primary and secondary school

This session will offer opportunities:

• To examine the challenges involved in helping young people to understand their diagnosis
• To explore and discuss strategies to support families to explain a diagnosis to their child
• To discuss different reactions to diagnosis and how to support those reactions

To discuss books and resources which might assist in the process

2. Tuesday 26th November 9.30am to 2.30pm: Managing Anger

Venue: The Edge, Barrhead Rd, Newton Mearns

NB IF YOU ARE BOOKING ON TO THIS WORKSHOP, TANYA HAS REQUESTED THAT YOU HAVE FIRST COMPLETED EITHER THE CYGNET TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR PARENTS OR HAVE COMPLETED A FULL DAY AUTISM AWARENESS SESSION. * due to funding restrictions, we are unfortunately unable to provide lunch at this session. Please either bring a packed lunch or you could purchase a snack in the nearby Asda store.

This one day session is aimed at parents of school age children and the seminar will support families to:

• Discuss why children with autism often have challenges with anger
• Identify a low arousal approach for support through stressful situations
• Explore the cycle of anger and possible support strategies
• Examine strategies for managing feelings

The Giffnock Family Support Team

We have received information regarding parent workshops on Mindfulness from Katy McGregor, an Activity Ranger at Rouken Glen Park.

TWO PART MINDFULNESS BEGINNER’S WORKSHOP

Following the success of our previous Mindfulness events, we are very excited to offer this unique two part event over two evenings as follows;

Part 1 – Wednesday 30th October, 6.30pm-8.30pm
Part 2 – Wednesday 6 November, 6.30-8.30pm

Part 1 – We will be looking at why and how our modern day lives can create an imbalance and result in stress, anxiety, sleep issues and depression. There will be a working session to review how we experience these directly in the mind and body and the opportunity for a question and answer session followed by an introduction to the foundation of mindfulness and an experiential practice. You will receive a guided audio practice to do at home every day for a week until the next session for discussion and reflection in Part 2.

Part 2 – There will be an opportunity to reflect on our experience of mindfulness over the week and a question and answer session with time for individual reflection and in the group. We will discover various techniques that we can use in everyday life to help ourselves regain perspective and a sense of spaciousness when life feels busy or overwhelming and introduce another practice that can be continued at home following the final session to reduce stress and anxiety in everyday life.

The event will lead by Julie Griffin, Mindfulness Teacher with the charity Cultivating Mindfulness based in East Renfrewshire.

Please email to book your space to Katy.McGregor@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

BOOKING
This two part workshop is FREE and limited to spaces. It will only be of real benefit when both workshops are attended as Part 2 builds on Part 1, so please only book this event if you are committed and available to attend both sessions. Minimum age is 18 years.

Yours faithfully

We would like to advise you that the online booking system for parent appointments will open on Tuesday 22nd October at 21:00hrs and will close at midnight on Sunday 3rd November 2019.

A letter giving further information is attached together with a “parent guide” for the booking system.

Your child will today bring home a “comment sheet” in their school bag and if there is a particular area or question you would like to focus on during your appointment could this sheet please be returned directly to your child’s class teacher by Friday 1st November 2019.

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

PRIMARY letter Nov 2019

Parent Guide – Parent Appointments Nov 2019