When we received our Gold Rights Respecting Schools banner we had to take down our silver one. We wondered what we could do with the old banner. We decided to repurpose it into a giant paint easel outside!
Doesn’t it look great!
All posts by Mrs Brown
We are a GOLD Rights Respecting School!
We are delighted to share the news that we are a GOLD Rights Respecting School.
We are proud to display our certificate and banner.
“I like it very much.”
“It is nice.”
Find out more about our journey here.
Rights Respecting Schools Mascot
We decided we would love a mascot to show that we are a Rights Respecting School.
We had a competition and every child had the opportunity to design a mascot. We selected 4 favourites and voted to decide which design would become our mascot.
The runners up-
The winning design-
The winning design was Mr Crocodile and we got him made into a cuddly toy. Doesn’t he look great. Well done to Leo for producing the winning design. 
Just in case you don’t know, we have a large crocodile lurking in our wooded area of the garden. He was rescued from our old building after a public campaign led by one of our families so Mr Crocodile is perfect!
Developing Our Outdoor Space
We wanted to develop our garden to make it more exciting. We had a large grassy hill and another steep slope which we were keen to make better use of.
We consulted the children on what they would like to have in the garden.
They voted and chose a rainbow pergola, some log seating for our fire pit area, a scrambling net and a pull up rope. We had some money left over so also managed to get den poles and a camo net.
Doesn’t our garden look great now!
Commemorative tree planting
When the Queen died in 2022 many members of the public laid flowers at the nearby council offices in her memory. We were asked to make compost from the flowers afterwards. The compost took a long time to make and was finally ready in March 2025.
We were then invited to a tree planting ceremony in Rouken Glen Park to plant two trees using the compost, one in memory of the late Queen and one to honour King Charles 3.
We met some important people- The Provost of East Renfrewshire was there and the Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire!
The Human Body
By Mr Fleming
We have been learning about our bodies. We know how to keep ourselves healthy. We are very interested in what is inside our bodies. We have learned we have a skeleton and are learning the names of some of the bones. We worked together to make our own skeleton.
“ There are lots of ribs.”
“ The spine is long.”
There are little bones in your toes.”
We have achieved our 8th ECO flag!
We have achieved our 8th ECO-Schools Scotland Green Flag Award!
We are delighted to receive such positive feedback including
“I really like that your children took part in your Environmental Review.”
“It is wonderful to see you learning to grow your own food.”
“I really like your emphasis on your children learning about people from different cultures and backgrounds and how they can help those in need.”
“You have done a great job involving your local community in your Eco-Schools activities.”
“I really like your Eco-Code, as it is so catchy!”
Welcome to our Goldfish!
We were interested in getting some fish for our playroom. We talked about what we would need to do to care for fish. We made a list of all the things we would need.
“I have a fish at home. You have to feed it every day.”- Ralph
“We need money to buy fish food.” -Conin
We bought 2 goldfish and voted to decide their names. We chose Rainbow and Goldie.
We made a feeding chart to make sure our goldfish are not over-fed.
We created a set of rules to help us take care of our fish.
We love to sit and just watch the goldfish in their tank.
Rights Respecting Schools- Silver
We are delighted to have received our Rights Respecting Schools SILVER award.
Click here to see our submission and read our report here.
Being Me!
In Glenwood, we celebrate what is special and unique about each and every person. We are all loved and included just for being who we are!
We had a special Being Me! celebration and invited all our families. We performed some of our favourite songs using Makaton signs. Our songs included our Rights song as we learn all about the rights of all children.
Together with our families we decorated wooden hearts to celebrate what is special and unique about us and to share some of things that are important to us.
Creating Stories
Our children love to be creative. Look at the wonderful stories they composed. They shared their stories with the adult who wrote down their words. The children then drew beautiful illustrations and wrote their name as the author.
Curriculum Evening November 2023
Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our recent Curriculum Evening. We showcased how we demonstrate our values in all we do.
We received lots of lovely feedback.
“What a wonderful, educational and welcoming nursery! The staff are friendly and professional. We are so grateful that our children get to come here. Thank you all.”
“Very interesting and informative- I hadn’t realised that there was so much thought and planning going in to the children’s day here.”
Amazing resources. So many fantastic experiences with great variety. Staff are always so helpful and supportive. Thank you for all you do. “
“very interesting to see the spaces and activities. Clear to see how much you consider the children’s views and opinions. Staff very enthusiastic as always. Thank you.”
If you were unable to attend, you can access some information about this here.
Happy Diwali!
Happy Diwali to our families and friends celebrating this week.
Diwali is the five-day Festival of Lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.
Diwali is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, and for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations.
One of the ways people celebrate Diwali is by decorating their homes with colourful rangoli designs, lighting diyas or displaying lights around the house.
We have been learning about Diwali through stories, research and activities.
We painted colourful rangoli designs to decorate our nursery.
We created clay diya lights and painted these in bright colours.
Happy Diwali!
Children as decision makers
We noticed one of our books was torn so we repaired it with sticky tape. Lots of our books were looking tatty so Mrs Brown asked us what books we would like for the nursery.
“I like this kind.”(held up a flap book from the book corner)
“I like dinosaur books.”
“I have a Yeti story in my house. I’d like that for nursery.”
“I like monster and dragon books. I am not scared by them!”
“I like this book.” (held up Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson)
Adult- “I love Julia Donaldson books…. Do you think we need some more by that author?”
“Yes! We were looking for the Snail and the Whale in nursery but we couldn’t find it.”
“Yes, look at all those ones we could get.” (Looked at inside cover of the book to point to other titles by the same author)
“I like the Gruffalo and the Gingerbread man. I have them in my house.”
“I like the Worrysaurus.”
Here are some of the books we bought, just as requested by the children, along with some others to reflect our nursery values. We look forward to more books being delivered soon, including the ever popular Julia Donaldson titles and some traditional tales.
Mini Kickers
We welcomed Tommy Millar (Football Development Co-ordinator) and Kerry Comerford (Active Schools Co-ordinator) along to Glenwood for some mini kicker taster sessions. We are looking forward to next week’s session!
Our Potato Harvest
We harvested some of the potatoes we have been growing in our garden.
We boiled them to make some yummy mashed potato and used the leftovers to make potato scones for snack. So tasty!
Why not try our recipe at home-
450g floury potatoes, peeled and cooked
1/2tsp salt
50g butter
100g flour
1. Mash potatoes,add salt, butter and flour to give a stiff mixture.
2. Turn out onto floured surface, knead gently and roll out to a thickness of 1cm.
3. Cut into triangles and cook on a hot greased griddle for 4-5 minutes on each side.
I wonder what we will make next….
Digital Schools Award
We are delighted to have recently achieved our Digital Schools Award.
Digital Schools Awards is a national awards scheme to promote, recognise and encourage a whole school approach to the use of digital technology in schools and ELC centres.
Some of the feedback we received included-
“….children are actively encouraged to learn independently as well as collaboratively using digital technologies.”
“Different digital resources are utilised very effectively … targeting and challenging the learning for the children.”
“Glenwood Family Centre clearly demonstrates that it has a strong digital presence throughout the school.”
“Both the website and Twitter are current, vibrant and lively and help to convey all the wonderful learning and teaching that is going on in there.”
“Digital technology is an integral part of every day for the children and this allows them to be inquisitive and to challenge themselves regularly.”
“It is apparent that Glenwood Family Centre has a clear vision of where their digital journey will take them in the future and the staff are all on board to make this happen.”
Eco Schools….Our 7th Green Flag!
We are delighted to have received our 7th Eco Schools Green Flag. This is a wonderful achievement and has been down to the hard work and commitment of the children, staff and wider community of Glenwood. 
Read the wonderful feedback here.
GOOD HAND WASHING
Please support your child to learn good hand washing habits. Children should be supported and encouraged to wash hands regularly throughout the day including before eating, after toileting, before leaving the house and after returning home.
In Glenwood, we support the children to wash their hands with soap and water before they enter the playrooms and before they leave at the end of their session. They wash hands before snack and lunch and after toileting. They wash hands after playing outdoors. We keep the use of hand gel to a minimum, only using this when no sinks are available, such as when entering or leaving the building at the main door or while in the woods.
For more details and a helpful video-
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/
Money, Money, Money
We have been learning about money and exploring coins in lots of our play experiences.
