Hello everyone

Thank you to the parents who joined us for the first ‘Google Meet Drop In’ on Tuesday and who shared some feedback and suggestions with us. It’s really great to hear that children look forward to seeing their friends and teachers during the live meets and that the weekly ‘Learning Links’ and ‘Home Learning Ideas’ are being used to scaffold the day’s activities. We were asked if paper copies of the Learning Links and Home Learning Ideas could be printed as it is sometimes easier to read a paper copy or to tick off some of the suggested ideas. We are of course happy to help with this so, from Monday 25^th January and each Monday going forwards, we will have paper copies available on a table in the school foyer between 9am and 3pm.  Please feel free to pop in to collect a paper copy if this would be helpful.  Please remember to wear a face covering and to socially distance where appropriate.

It was also lovely to hear that a few of our nursery children have asked for ‘real work’. To quote the famous theorists, Marie Montessori, ‘play is the work of the child’ and while children might not realise that they are learning, they really are through all the day to day activities, household chores and play experiences you provide. While your children are busy exploring everything around them or taking part in the suggested home learning activities they are absorbing concepts through experiencing them, just like they would if they were in the nursery building learning with us.   

We are really delighted to be able to share that we have been selected to be part of the Virtual Nature School initiative.  As such, due to the current lockdown Virtual Nature School is providing us with a suite of outdoor play and learning resources which can be used by practitioners and parents as part of their home learning package. Please find attached a flyer for parents which explains how Virtual Nature School materials can be used to support outdoor, home learning experiences during this time.

We really do appreciate and understand that these are challenging times for everyone- juggling working from home, providing essential services, missing family or catering for the needs of different age groups of children. Please remember that there is no expectation that all suggested home learning activities are completed and we really do understand the pressures. Just do what you can- the most important thing that your child needs is just having you as a loving, happy and not too stressed parent, so please don’t be too hard on yourself right now.  

As well as having us to speak to or contact, ERC have the ‘Family First’ team who can signpost parents to helplines, advice, training or useful websites. Please click on the link to access more information: https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/2573/Family-First-information-resource

We have been asked to share the latest oral health newsletter which contains some really useful information on nutrition and snacks for young children. Please click on the link to access the Sway:

https://sway.office.com/6BKjL6VG4fVyPVKf?ref=Link

If you have not applied for a place for P1 please do so now…the closing date is today 22^nd January. J

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1

Please use this link to see the Scottish Virtual Nature School Brochure for ideas for outdoor learning Scottish Virtual Nature Schools Brochure

We hope you have a good weekend, try to spend lots of time outdoors if you can, and enjoy a well-earned break. We’ll be back in touch next week but please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at any time.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (Nursery PT)

Hello everyone

I can’t quite believe we are at the end of our second week of remote/ home learning… I am sure, for some of you, time may have passed very quickly and for others the week may have seemed endless so simply, thank you once again for all that you are doing to help us to keep your children’s learning moving forwards right now.  The teachers are continuing to follow and plan for learning as outlined in the Curriculum for Excellence skill planning documentation and this ensures that the learning is progressing and moving on at an appropriate and steady pace.  We completely understand that everyone’s circumstances are entirely unique, so please be reassured that your best endeavours are good enough – in fact more than good enough.  As I said last Friday, everyone’s wellbeing must always come first so that when we move on from this current phase, both with schooling and in our personal lives, that we are all well and have a positive, healthy mind-set. Therefore, if your child hasn’t quite grasped a concept taught during home learning for any entirely understandable reason, then your child’s teacher and additional members of staff will use a variety of techniques to identify where any gaps are and will then address any areas of learning that require reinforcement, revisiting or consolidation to ensure that all children’s learning is where we would want and need it to be. 

Thank you to the many parents who managed to join us for our live Drop in Meets this week.  We are very grateful for all of the extremely positive comments and also for your comments and suggestions of small tweaks for us to consider.  You may very well be able to see for yourself, through your child’s Google Classroom and when they are engaged in their learning, that we have already been able to incorporate some of your suggestions as we refine our practice. We will hold another round of Drop In Sessions for you over the coming weeks and I will send you more information about these in due course, giving you as much advance notice as possible.

Please remember that there are additional resources and suggested, stage specific, websites on our website and we are also continually adding to the “parent digital help sheets” on our website too.   However, please continue to get in touch with us if you have any digital difficulties or if you would like to discuss your own child’s learning or wellbeing with us.  This of course includes any of our children who are currently accessing our hub – feedback from these children tells us that they are happy and also enjoying accessing their Google Classroom so that they can complete the same work as the rest of their classmates are doing at home however, please get in touch if you would like to discuss anything with us.

If you have a younger child who currently attends nursery and you have not yet applied for a place for P1 in August please do so now…the closing date is today 22^nd January. J

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1

I hope you have a good weekend, try to spend lots of time outdoors if you can, and enjoy a well-earned break.  I’ll be back in touch again next week but please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if needed.

Please follow us on Twitter and tag us to your tweets so we can see all your lovely posts. https://twitter.com/sand_nc

Yvonne Donaldson

Head Teacher