Bonjour à tous!

As you may know, some of our nursery and school staff visited France for an educational trip and since returning they have been sharing their learning with our nursery children.  The children have been listening to some French vocabulary within their play experiences and have even been having a go themselves! Très bien.

We have also started Forest Adventures with our pre-school children this week. The children and staff have had so much fun exploring Linn Park. We have been taking part in lots of activities, such as picking wild garlic and sliding down mud hills. We even spotted a frog- did you see that fantastic tweet on our Twitter feed?  Please do follow us at @sand_nc where we’ve shared photos of some of the fun that the children have had.

Nursery Stay and Play and Parents Evening Appointments
Please be reminded that our Nursery Stay and Play sessions start week beginning 9^th May.  Sign-up sheets for the sessions are now available at the nursery doors for you to choose a suitable date/time to come along to join your child having fun playing with all the wonderful experiences we enjoy in Netherlee!  We would kindly ask that only one adult accompanies each child for these sessions. Also, younger siblings should not attend if at all possible.

This year, parents evening appointments for children starting school in August will take place in person. Sign-up sheets will be made available from next week and will take place from Monday 16^th – Thursday 19^th May and Monday 23^rd – Thursday 26^th May.

New Website Launch
We are delighted to announce that we will be launching our new school and nursery website on Wednesday, 4^th May. My office staff have been working hard to give our website a much needed revamp and we hope that parents find this new look more visual and user friendly.  We would like to thank members of the Parent Council and PTA for all their help and input in helping to create this with us.  We would kindly ask that if you have any comments or suggestions of further improvements or things you would find useful to have included on the website at any time please use this link. https://forms.office.com/r/7kLZT2Dpv8

School Uniform Recycling
To support families with children starting school in August, a pre-loved school uniform rail of smaller items will be made available at the Acorns and Saplings nursery entrances. Please pop along to pick up any items that are in very good condition. Each week until the end of term, the rails will be available from a Friday morning, just after 9am, and will remain in nursery until the Wednesday when they will be taken away to be restocked and then brought back each Friday. Thank you to one of our parents for this wonderful suggestion!

Holiday and In-service
We hope you have a lovely long weekend and remind you that nursery is closed on Monday 2^nd May for the Bank Holiday and on Thursday 5^th May for the local election and staff In-service/ training day.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT), Lynn Sweeney, DHT, Jennifer McCann (PT)

Dear Parent/Carer,

Parent/Teacher Meetings
As detailed in our Calendar of Events, our upcoming Parent/Teacher Meetings will be conducted via Video Call on Monday 23^rd and Wednesday 25^th May.

As teachers require a 2 minute break between each call, appointments may have unusual and exact start times e.g. 4:12pm. As video calls automatically end after 10 minutes, we would ask you to be logged on and ready for the exact start time so that you have the full 10 minutes with your child’s teacher.

We are delighted that this system allows more than one parent to participate in the video call, however for obvious reasons only one parent (the first named contact within our system) can actually book the appointment. This first contact will receive a separate email from us on Thursday 5^th May, advising how to book an appointment and will also include information on how to share access with another parent who may or may not live at the same address.

If you have any enquiries about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

New Website Launch
We are delighted to announce that we will be launching our new school and nursery website on Wednesday, 4^th May. My office staff have been working hard to give our website a much needed revamp and we hope that parents find this new look more visual and user friendly. We would like to thank members of the Parent Council and PTA for all their help and input in helping to create this with us. We would kindly ask that if you have any comments or suggestions of further improvements or things you would find useful to have included on the website at any time please use this link. https://forms.office.com/r/7kLZT2Dpv8

Water Bottles
We have several water coolers and machines located at various points throughout the school. We very much encourage our children to stay hydrated as an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle, and over the past few weeks when the weather has been quite sunny and also warmer at times, we have noticed that some children have forgotten their water bottles. It would therefore be very helpful if all children could please bring a full, clear water bottle to school each day and thereafter they can, of course, refill these at regular times throughout the day.

P1 Open Classroom Afternoon
We’re delighted to be able to welcome you into our P1 classrooms on the afternoon of Monday 9^th May from 2.30pm – 3pm. It’s been such a long time since we’ve been able to open the doors of the school to our parents and carers and we’re really looking forward to seeing you if you are able to join us then. The children are very excited too and will be keen to show you their classroom, the Open Area and the P1 playground. We may also have a wee sing song before the end of the day too.

We kindly request that one parent or carer per child attends for each child and that you arrive promptly for 2.30pm.
Please come to the P1 door, which is the door the P1 children enter through every morning when coming into school, located in the P1 playground. Members of staff will be there to welcome you into the building and we’re sure you’ll be as excited as the children to see their different learning environments. We would request that you wear a face mask when inside the building, unless exempt from doing so.

P1 School Dental Inspections
Please click the link to read the NHS letter regarding the school dental inspections.

P3 Sandwich Making
Primary 3 children and teachers are excited to announce that, over the next few weeks, they will be using our fabulous new kitchen facilities in The Hub to make their own sandwiches. Children will use bread and butter and the fillings of their choice from the following; lettuce, tomato, cheese and sliced chicken, to make their sandwich. They will then have a picnic in the school garden (weather permitting). Please alert us if your child has an intolerance to any of the foods listed. Please advise us if there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child or if you wish your child not to participate in this activity.

P6 Bikeability
Unfortunately, the Bikeability training that was due to start for P6 in May will not be able to take place. Please accept my sincere apologies for the short notice but we have only just found out as the instructors have been trying to find a solution but sadly have not been able to. Bikeability Scotland instructors are working very hard to ensure that children that missed out on Bikeability last session due to the pandemic receive the training before moving on to high school. As a result of this and ongoing staffing pressures, they are not going to be able to deliver the training. We are all very disappointed about this, however, we are in discussions with Bikeability Scotland about agreeing dates for the training to take place early in the new school session, once your child is in P7.

Once again, please accept my apologies for the cancellation and short notice.

P6 Musical Medley
We are looking forward to welcoming you into school for our P6 Musical Medley performance, to help us with this, the Primary 6 classes will be enjoying Disney movies in class, on Friday 6^th May. As these movies are rated PG, we require to let you know this and the titles are listed below:
P6a: Encanto
P6b: The Lion King
P6c: Moana
P6d: The Jungle Book

The children are invited to bring a cosy jumper in their school bag to wear as they are watching the movie. If you would not like your child to participate in this activity please email the school office before this date.

Holiday and In-service
We hope you have a lovely long weekend and remind you that school is closed on Monday 2^nd May for the Bank Holiday and on Thursday 5^th May for the local election and staff In-service/ training day.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well and are looking forward to the holiday fortnight.

Calendar of Events
As promised, it is with great pleasure that I share the calendar of events in school and nursery for term 4.

Easter Service
We are delighted to be able to share our Netherlee Easter Service with you, which was recorded yesterday on Thursday 31^st March, in Netherlee and Stamperland Parish Church. I would like to thank Reverend Blythe, and the church community, for welcoming our school into the church.  A huge thanks also to our P6 and 7 pupils who helped to lead and take part in the service, our wonderful P5 pupils for being attentive members of the congregation and Mr Watson and Mrs Wharton for putting this all together for us. We hope you enjoy being able to watch the service via the link here https://youtu.be/kY2oLDt7vS8

Primary 5-Grow a £1 Challenge
The staff at Netherlee would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all the pupils in Primary 5. Initially we were blown away by the wonderful ideas the pupils came up with on how to raise money for charity using just £1. Then, when we heard about the actual events and activities you took part in, it amazed us even more!

Together, you raised an incredible £1655.38 which has now been split and donated to the following charities:
MacMillan Cancer Support, C.H.A.S, Scottish SPCA, Alzheimer’s Society, Beatson Cancer Charity, Pancreatic Cancer Charity and the British Heart Foundation.
We would also like to say thank you to all the parents and guardians who helped with this challenge. We really appreciated your support!

Taekwon-Do
This week our children took part in Taekwon-Do taster sessions delivered by Chris Scott from UKTC. Click here to look at the leaflet from UKTC detailing classes that may be of interest.

Clarkston Library
Please click to see the flyer from East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure regarding spring activities at Clarkston Library.

French Immersion Trip
We’re delighted to share with you that five members of staff from the nursery and school are heading to France over the holiday fortnight. They will join a group of practitioners from East Renfrewshire Council who will be immersing themselves in all things French in order to bring back ideas, resources and shared practice to further develop the languages curriculum in Netherlee. The weeklong trip has been funded by Languages for Education Europe (LFEE) and focusses on the linguistic skills, pedagogy and culture. They will spend time visiting primary schools to observe classroom and nursery practice, explore the French Education System and meet with other teachers and staff.  They are also hoping to build ongoing linked partner opportunities too. Please keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates regarding how they are getting on. This is a very exciting opportunity and we wish them ‘bon voyage’ et ‘bonne chance’ on their travels!

P3-P7 Tuck
After the holiday, and with restrictions easing, we are once again able to give our Primary 3-7 pupils the opportunity to purchase from the Catering Team’s Tuck Shop at morning interval. For more information please read here.

P5 Gardening Club
Please click on the link regarding an upcoming Gardening Club.

Happy Holidays
I would like to wish all children, staff and families a really lovely, well-earned holiday fortnight. Please keep safe and enjoy some downtime. We will all be here, looking forward to seeing all of our children back again, on Tuesday 19^th April.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone,

Calendar of Events
As promised, it is with great pleasure that I share the calendar of events in school and nursery for term 4.

French Immersion Trip
We’re delighted to share with you that five members of staff from the nursery and school are heading to France over the holiday fortnight. They will join a group of practitioners from East Renfrewshire Council who will be immersing themselves in all things French in order to bring back ideas, resources and shared practice to further develop the languages curriculum in Netherlee. The weeklong trip has been funded by Languages for Education Europe (LFEE) and focusses on the linguistic skills, pedagogy and culture. They will spend time visiting primary schools to observe classroom and nursery practice, explore the French Education System and meet with other teachers and staff and build ongoing linking opportunities too. Please keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates regarding how they are getting on. This is a very exciting opportunity and we wish them ‘bon voyage’ et ‘bonne chance’ on their travels!

Happy Holidays
We would like to wish our children and families a really lovely, well-earned holiday fortnight. Please keep safe and enjoy some downtime. We will all be here, looking forward to seeing all of our children back again, on Tuesday 19^th April.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Lynn Sweeney (DHT)

Dear Parents/Carers,

We would like to wish all Netherlee families a wonderful Christmas and a very happy holiday. We are sure it will be a time for joy, celebration and hope for the New Year to come.

We hope that, if the holiday period also includes celebrating Christmas, you have a lovely time making special memories.

Wishing you, your family and the Netherlee Community a ‘Healthy and Happy New Year 2022’ when it comes.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday 5th January 2022.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone

Church Service

As promised, please find below the link to the recording of our church service, held in Netherlee Parish Church on Monday.  Thank you to Reverend Blythe, and the Netherlee church community, for welcoming a small group of our senior pupils and staff into the church in order to record such a beautiful service for the rest of the school to watch within their own classrooms.  As I was watching the service myself, this stirred such a mixture of emotions within me- enormous happiness, and pride, in our outstanding young people who sang, read and played instruments so beautifully but also a little sadness that we, once again, couldn’t all be there with them.  We can only hope that things ease, in the not too distant future, as we look forward to the new term and a new year, with the prospect of much brighter days ahead.

Church Service

Digital Safety

I am always extremely grateful to receive any suggestions from you, as Netherlee parents, and as such I have recently received such a request in relation to digital recordings.  This request, as well as the ongoing need to continue to share events with you via digital means, suggests it is an appropriate time to send reminders about the important matter of not sharing videos and/ or photos of pupils, apart from your own child, on social media.  Please remember that, just as would be the case if you were in school enjoying events and being able to take photos of such performances, these are always for your own, personal use and should not be shared on any social media platform, including WhatsApp, without having permission yourself to do so. I have included a couple of links which explain the importance of this which I hope you find useful.  Thank you.

https://oursaferschools.co.uk/2020/07/30/safer-sharenting/

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/privacy-and-internet-safety/what-should-i-do-when-other-people-post-pictures-of-my-child-online-without-asking-me-first

Early Finish
Just a reminder that school will close slightly earlier than usual today.  P1 and P2 will finish at 2.15pm and P3-7 will finish at 2.30pm.

On behalf of myself and all the staff and children of Netherlee, I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas has a wonderful festive period and that all Netherlee families have a really lovely holiday.   Please keep safe and look after yourself and each other but also please do enjoy this special, family time of year.

We will look forward to welcoming our children back on Wednesday 5^th January 2022.

Wishing you, your family and the Netherlee Community a ‘Healthy and Happy New Year 2022’ when it comes.

Very best wishes

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Good afternoon everyone

Attachments this week:
Eco Elephants
Parentline

This time of year is the most wonderful time to be working with children. There’s great excitement and anticipation in the air!

Christmas Sing Along
We would like to thank the Sapling children’s special people for being such a fabulous audience while watching our Christmas Sing Along. It was really lovely to be able to share such a special occasion with our nursery families.

Children in Acorns are practising really hard in preparation for their own performances on Monday 20th Dec and Wednesday 21st Dec at 9.30am. Our Outdoor Classroom is located opposite the Acorn’s Building. Please enter the playground via the Acorn’s Gate and turn right towards the staff car park.  We strongly request that you do not park in the staff car park please- the Pavilion Car Park is always available for you. There will be enough room for everyone to congregate near the Outdoor Classroom, socially distanced, to enjoy listening to the children sing. To ensure the safety of everyone, the numbers of adults are kept to a maximum of one per child at each performance please.   We look forward to welcoming you then. The weather forecast looks like it will be very cold next week so it may be wise to wrap up well.

Virtual Performance 2021
You are in for a few surprises when you go onto Google Classroom on Monday evening. We have been filming our children every day this week, to ensure that all children in attendance were included in our Virtual Performance. There are yawns, wiggling, scratching, stretching as well as some choosing to just doing the actions which is so lovely and absolutely to be expected from 3 and 4 year olds! We have included photos from parties and our performance at Linn Park Sheltered Housing as well to give a snapshot of a very exciting week. We really hope that the videos bring some much needed joy and smiles to you and your family.

Please remember that Google Classroom is a secure, password protected environment and only the children and parents/carers from your child’s building will have access to it. As such, these films must not be copied or shared on any social media platform please.

Christmas Party Part 2
We’re really looking forward to our second Christmas Party on Monday 20^th Dec. Children are invited to wear their party clothes on Monday, if they wish. Acorn children will party on down after their Christmas Sing Along. If you require your child to be changed into their party clothes after the Sing Along, just let us know at drop off time.

Parent Council
I would like to thank Tennant Stevenson for his time supporting the school and nursery and Parent Council during his time as Chairperson. It has been a pleasure working with you Tennant and we are delighted that you are staying on as a Parent Council member.

The Parent Council will be in touch in relation to the Parent Council Chairperson vacancy in due course.

Reusing/Recycling
Do you ever receive beautifully wrapped gifts and then wonder what to do with the packaging once they’re opened? Or perhaps you plan to pop open a bottle of something over the festive season J. We’d really love to accept any used gift boxes, gift bags, ribbon, cellophane, wrapping paper, corks or bottle tops after the holidays. Children have amazing imaginations and can create wonderful pieces of artwork from the things you might want to throw away.

If you ever come across anything else that you think we might find useful, please speak to staff at drop off or pick up, or send us a quick email nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk  Thank you.

Wednesday 22^nd Dec 2021 
We would like to remind you that we are open from 8am-6pm on Wednesday 22^nd December. Should you wish to collect your child earlier than normal, as you are collecting siblings from school, please just let us know at drop off time and we will have them dressed for home.

We’ve attached information from Parentline as we recognise that this can be a very challenging time of year for many, where practical or emotional support may be of help.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Good afternoon everyone

At this time of year, we are always reminded of how fortunate we are to be working within Netherlee, surrounded by our wonderful children and colleagues. There’s great excitement, fun and anticipation in the air as we head towards the festive season and also the much needed holiday period.

Virtual Church Service and P1 and P2 Christmas Recordings
As I have previously mentioned, a group of children have been working hard with Mr Watson and Mrs Wharton to put together our Virtual Church Service.  This will be recorded in Netherlee Parish Church and will be watched by the whole school, in class, on Wednesday of next week. We will also send home the recording link to you so that you can also enjoy watching this together, at home, on Wednesday evening or at some point over the holidays.

P1 and P2 parents- in  addition to this, our teachers, staff and pupils in P1 and P2 have also been working hard to record some delightful festive video snippets for you to enjoy at home.  These will be placed on Google Classrooms this evening.

We really hope that these videos bring some, much needed, joy and smiles to you and your family.

Reusing/Recycling
Our P1 ECO Elephant Pupil Parliament children have been working hard on their functional writing skills and have asked me to share their adorable information  leaflet with you regarding recycling.  Please click the link here.

Parent Council
I would like to thank Tennant Stevenson for his time supporting the school and nursery and Parent Council during his time as Chairperson. It has been a pleasure working with you Tennant and we are delighted that you are staying on as a Parent Council member.

The Parent Council will be in touch in relation to the Parent Council Chairperson vacancy in due course.

ERC Coat of Arms Competition
Schools across ERC have recently been tasked with designing a Coat of Arms for the council.  Each school had to select one entry from each school to put forward into the authority competition.  Some children worked very hard on these and we are delighted that one of our P5 girls, Carly, had her design selected as Netherlee’s entry. Well done Carly, fingers crossed! You can view Carly’s entry by clicking here.

Parentline Support
We’ve attached information from Parentline as we recognise that this can be a very challenging time of year for many, where practical or emotional support may be of help.

Farewell
As we all get ready for the holiday period, we are also going to be saying farewell, on Wednesday, to Mrs Sheena Livingston as she gets ready to enjoy her very well deserved retirement.  Sheena is one of the longest serving members of staff in Netherlee and I have found her to be an outstanding teacher and a dedicated, conscientious and caring member of staff. Sheena, you will be so greatly missed but, on behalf of the children, staff and families of Netherlee, we all wish you good health and great happiness in the years to come as you get ready to enjoy lots of time with your beautiful granddaughter, husband and family, as well as being able to switch off that early morning alarm clock for good.

I hope you have a good weekend and please stay safe and well.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT)

Hello, I hope everyone is well and, if you have had a few moments to spare recently, have had a chance to look at our Twitter feed seeing some of the varied, fun learning experiences that our children have been involved in.

Festive Cards
Should your child wish to give cards to friends in school they are very welcome to bring these in to hand out to friends in their own class. There is of course absolutely no expectation to do this and we understand that many families choose not to, due to environmental reasons.

End of Term Countdown
I have attached an “End of Term Countdown” which indicates some dates and events that are happening in Netherlee over the coming weeks. This can also be found down the left-hand side of the website.

Please Get in Touch
Please remember that myself, and all members of Netherlee staff, are here if you would like to get in touch with any suggestions, questions or any worries/concerns at all. Please just email us using the usual school email address SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or call the school office on 0141 570 7260 and someone will get back to you very quickly.

I hope everyone has a really lovely weekend.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Netherlee Primary School
East Renfrewshire
0141 570 7260

NETHERLEE VALUES: Friendship and Fairness, Respect and Responsibility, Courage and Compassion
NETHERLEE VISION: Our Netherlee Community Working With and For Our Children
Protective Marking – ‘Mark to Protect’
OFFICIAL – No special handling controls and no requirement to mark (routine business information)
OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE – Protective measures/controls required (business sensitive, personal or special category information)

Good afternoon

We’ve had another great week with some children going on Woodland Adventures, learning about road safety, dancing to ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ and making birdfeeders and Stickmen.

Sharing Learning
We recently shared our ‘Day in the Life of Netherlee Nursery’ video on Google Classroom and regularly share snapshots of nursery life on Twitter. On Wednesday we shared a Twitter video of the daily preparation children are involved in prior to eating lunch. This video has been really well received and retweeted throughout Scotland, sharing our excellent practice. We thank everyone for continuing to ‘like’ our tweets. If you’ve not had the chance to join our NetherleePSandNC Twitter account please click on the link to follow us: @sand_nc.

Lunch
Our hot lunches are proving to be very popular and we now have fewer children bringing a packed lunch. We have lots of children trying a variety of foods and enjoying the sociable aspect of sitting with friends. Our lunch menu is available to view here: https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/nursery-menu

Special Books
We’re sure that your child has loved to proudly share their Special Book at home with their family. We’ve had really lovely comments about the children spending time talking about some of the activities and sharing lots of chat about friends and opportunities. We ask that Special Books are returned by Monday 22^nd November please.

Adverse Weather Guidance
Please click on the link to read important information regarding this.

Have a lovely weekend and we’re sure we’ll see lots of familiar faces at ‘A Very, Merry, Clarkston Christmas’ on Saturday.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)
Netherlee Primary School
East Renfrewshire

Good afternoon

Attachments this week:
Parents Evening Parents Guide
Book Sale Information
Book Sale Flyer

Please see a little request below from our Eco Aware P2a class…

The children of Primary 2a have been looking at ways they can help others and the environment and have started to collect empty, clean, foil crisp packets. The children plan to send these away to a company that use a special iron to turn these crisp packets into insulated blankets that will be given to homeless people in the UK. The children have worked amazingly in class and have already been round the whole school, telling all the children and Mrs Donaldson about their efforts.  So far,  they have collected over 200 packets themselves however, it takes 150 to make each blanket so any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

The last day we can receive any clean, foil crisp packets is Friday 26^th November and children can bring these to school at any time up until that day. Thank you so much for your support. I am immensely proud of the children for all their efforts so far.  Mrs Lynn

Adverse Weather Guidance
Please click on the link to read important information regarding this.

Book Sale
Please find attached information, and flyer relating to the book sale next week.

Parent Teacher Meetings
Thank you for so efficiently booking your video appointments with your child’s teacher.  My office staff will be on hand both nights next week to help anyone who has any last minute difficulties accessing their appointment- please do give them a call before your appointment time starts and they will be happy to help.  Please find attached our handy parent guide to help with logging in on the night. However, I am very confident that, just like last session, this system will run extremely smoothly once again.  I am delighted that almost 100% (over 99%) of parents having signed up for an appointment, once again demonstrating the interest and support that Netherlee parents have, in and for, their children’s learning.

Have a lovely weekend and I hope you enjoy the “A Very, Merry Clarkston Christmas’ if you are able to go along on Saturday.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone,

Attachments this Week:
PTA Scarecrow Trail Map

As we come to the end of this very quick term the leaves are changing colour and the days are getting shorter but, before we start cosying up for the cold winter days, we are looking forward to enjoying the October Week holiday.  Hopefully the holiday week will bring us some nice weather, encouraging us to get out and about outdoors. We will very much look forward to hearing all the children’s news when they return to Netherlee on Tuesday 19^th October.

Pupil Parliament and In-service Day Monday 18^th October  (children don’t attend nursery or school)
During our In-service Day staff will be involved in lots of professional discussions in relation to the progress we have made towards targets in our SNIP (School and Nursery Improvement Plan) as well as making plans for our new Pupil Parliament.  Netherlee’s Pupil Parliament will involve all children across the school and will develop teamwork and leadership skills at all stages.  The Parliament will have 4 themes and will work on:

• Global Rights and Citizenship
• Nutrition and Fitness
• ECO and Sustainability
• Healthy Minds

Please look out for more information on our Pupil Parliament which will come home soon however, in the meantime, you can see the related action on our SNIP via the link on our website.

Scarecrow Festival
My goodness- what a wonderful way to start the day this dull, rainy morning as we enjoyed a steady stream of delightful Scarecrows coming into Netherlee- staff and children have really thrown themselves into this simple, but fun, PTA initiative- just wonderful!  Enjoy the Scarecrow Trail over the holiday week and please remember to share your fun with us all via our Twitter Feed– we would love to see your photos! Please click on the map on the attached Scarecrow Trail flyer. Look out for information on our Mini Scarecrow Trail in your child’s Google Classroom. Here is a link to the PTA latest newsletter – https://sway.office.com/6djYoEwPDkJTXOu5?ref=Link

Message from the Parent Council (PC) Chair
“ YOUR PARENT COUNCIL NEEDS YOU”

For the history buffs among you my apologies to Lord Kitchener. The next meeting of the Parent Council (PC) will take place on Wednesday 20^th October at 7.00 pm. Google Meet will be the platform for this meeting. Please join us if you can, please email the PC via the link on the school website.

To return to the headline, we have 9 vacancies on the PC for which parents can self-nominate. The PC is established under an Act of Parliament in order to represent the parents of the children attending the school and nursery. WE ARE YOUR VOICE! The issues that the PC is currently involved with are traffic management in Clarkston Road and the provision of an artificial playing surface to improve recreational facilities at the school. The PC maintains close dialogue with Mrs Donaldson and the Leadership Team and provides assistance and expertise whenever asked. Please consider joining or at least coming to the meetings to see if it is for you. Both you and the school/ nursery will benefit greatly.

Music Ensemble
Our school was invited by a parent to prepare and perform a musical item for an annual conference of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists, which took place last month.  A group of P7 pupils and Mr Watson worked hard on this, rehearsing an arrangement of ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons, with around twenty singers and a small percussion section. All the pupils involved were so committed to creating this recorded performance on time for the conference.  Well done everyone, I am so proud of you all. We hope you enjoy the video! https://youtu.be/i38Yk4ou7mg.

Have a lovely week everyone.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone,

Attachment this Week:
PTA Scarecrow Trail Map

As we come to the end of this very quick term the leaves are changing colour and the days are getting shorter. Before we start cosying up for the cold winter nights we’ll all enjoy the October Week holiday. We look forward to hearing all the children’s news when they return after Tuesday 19^th October.

In-service Day Monday 18^th October  (children don’t attend nursery or school)
During our In-service Day staff will be engaging in training on Gender Equal Play, refreshing our Healthy Eating policy and learning about Early Years Tracking Tool. We will also review progress towards targets in our SNIP (School and Nursery Improvement Plan).

Hand, Foot and Mouth
We’ve had a few parents recently letting us know that their child has Hand, Foot and Mouth. Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease is a common childhood illness that can also affect adults. It usually gets better on its own in 7 to 10 days. Please click on the link to find out more https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hand-foot-mouth-disease/

Scarecrow Festival
We’ve worked this week to make our two scarecrows the children named ‘Harry O’Hay’ and ‘Miss Buttershine’. Remember to say ‘hello’ to them if you see them. Please click on the link on the attached Scarecrow Trail flyer.

Have a lovely week and we hope you enjoy the fine, crisp autumn weather with your family.

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

Good afternoon everyone

Please find the following attachments this week:

• Maths Week
• Isolation guidance / Home Learning Information
• [P7 ONLY] House Councillors

Maths Week

We are delighted to announce that our school and nursery will once again be taking part in Maths Week Scotland from 28th September – 1st October. This year, the National Maths Week focus is “Uncovering the maths we take for granted in our lives, and helping the children to see maths in a whole new light.” We are busy planning and organising a variety of exciting, engaging and fun activities to enthuse our children in all things maths, but we would really like to involve our parents too and we would love your help.  Please read the attached information for further details.

Water Bottles

We have several water coolers and machines located at various points throughout the school.  We very much encourage our children to stay hydrated as an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle, and it would therefore be very helpful if all children could please bring a full, clear, plastic water bottle to school each day and thereafter they can, of course, refill these at regular times throughout the day.  At times, most recently whilst we have all enjoyed the warm weather of recent weeks, the refilling of water bottles can result in queues at the water machines and I have therefore taken action to request additional water machines for Netherlee and I am hopeful that these will be installed soon.

Family First Support and Help

Family First is a free confidential advice and information resource in East Renfrewshire for families who just need a little bit of help or advice. Any family can access this support if you:

• have children aged 0-11 years
• live in the East Renfrewshire area
• have no current social work involvement
• just need a little bit of help

You can access this support here:  https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/3321/Contact-the-Family-First-team

Ongoing Covid Information

We really want to thank you for continuing to follow all NHS and Scottish Government Guidance.  In order to help you with information on testing requirements and isolation procedures, my office team have provided some clear, bulleted information points for you with steps to be taken. I hope you find this information helpful.

As you know, my teachers are happy to provide home learning for your child during periods of isolation.  However, please don’t worry if at any point your child feels unwell and you feel that they would struggle to complete any home learning during their isolation period.  We completely understand and don’t want to add any additional stress to your family during this time. Therefore, if you do not wish for your child to be provided with home learning, please simply let the office staff know at the same time as sending the NHS email/ text information about end dates as detailed in their attachment above. If your child feels well again during their isolation period, please just let them know and the teacher will provide tasks on Google Classrooms.

As always, my wonderful office team will help with any additional advice or questions that you may have in relation to ongoing Covid matters so please just get in touch with them and they will be happy to help.  I think it is appropriate, at this point, to personally thank this team in Netherlee.  I am sure you will agree that they are an outstanding group of warm hearted and extremely efficient staff members and I can’t thank them enough for the dedication that they put into their crucial role in supporting myself, the rest of the staff and all of our Netherlee children and families.  So simply …thank you “Team Netherlee Office”!

Meet the Teacher

We are very much looking forward to seeing many parents virtually at these sessions coming soon.  Here is a link to a help sheet on how to access Google Live Meets. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Netherlee/parents/help-sheets/     Please make sure that you are set up and ready to be able to join your child’s class teacher at the start of the 15 minute session as per previous letter last week. This letter is available on the school website (Latest News Section) if you would like to check the timings.  The link for your class was sent to you on Monday of this week so please get in touch if you didn’t receive this.  Mr Bryce will happily help anyone who is having technical, or device availability, difficulties so please get in touch with him, in the usual way, if needed.

Virtual Parent Council Meeting- Wednesday 8^th September at 7pm

Every parent/ carer who has a child at Netherlee is welcome to attend our Parent Council Meetings and you don’t need to be a member of the council to come along (virtually at the moment).  Information on how you can join the meeting is available on our website under the Parents then Parent Council Tab.

Uniform Donations

Thank you very much for all of the donations into our Red Donations Box. We have had such a fantastic, supportive response and this has, and will continue to, help all of us and our Netherlee children as we are very mindful of “The Cost of the School Day” for our families.  In addition to the financial benefits, recycling school uniform is also an extremely important ECO and Globally crucial goal. As we now have a great many items to sort through and get ready to be displayed on our recycling rails, it would be helpful if you could pause, just for a few weeks, your incoming donations of uniform at the moment.  Please keep any items at home for now and I will be back in touch when we are ready to once again begin collecting more items.  However, there is no pause on you being able to continue to make use of the uniform rails, available each week on a Friday, at the Clarkston Road gate (am) and also at the gate near the Acorns Nursery Building (pm).

[P7 ONLY] House Councillors

Please find attached information relating House Councillors for P7.

Kindest regards

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Head Teacher

Hello everyone

It’s been another busy week in nursery as children settle into their daily routines.Please find the following attachments this week:

• Scottish Government Warn & Report Information
• Maths Week

We really want to thank you for continuing to follow all NHS, Scottish Government and Care Inspectorate guidance and advice in relation to attendance procedures and safe practice. We would like to respectfully remind you and request that you continue to follow the most up to date advice on wearing face coverings, unless exempt, and adhering to 1m social distancing when dropping off and picking up children from nursery.

When you have time please read the attached information sheet issued by Scottish Government.

Maths Week
We are delighted to announce that our school and nursery will once again be taking part in Maths Week Scotland from 28th September – 1st October. This year, the National Maths Week focus is “uncovering the maths we take for granted in our lives, and helping the children to see maths in a whole new light.” We are busy planning and organising a variety of exciting, engaging and fun activities to enthuse our children in all things maths, but we would really like to involve our parents and we need your help.

Please read the attached information on how you can help.

Water Bottles
We have water readily available in both buildings for children to drink whenever they want. A drink of milk or water is provided during morning snack, late afternoon snack and at lunch time. Our staff encourage children to stay hydrated throughout their nursery day. As we provide a drink in nursery, there is no need to provide a water bottle for your child.

We endeavour to support children to have the best hygiene practice and want to avoid children accidentally sharing bottles.

Parent Club
Although restrictions have now been eased a little, unfortunately coronavirus hasn’t gone away. You can find information and answers to common questions here: https://www.parentclub.scot/topics/coronavirus.  There are tips and information to help with any concerns you may have as we move towards a more usual way of life.

Family First
Family First is a free confidential advice and information resource in East Renfrewshire for Families who need of a little bit of help. You can access Family First if you:

• have a family with children aged 0-11 years
• live in the East Renfrewshire area
• have no current social work involvement
• need a little bit of help

You can access the service here:

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/3321/Contact-the-Family-First-team‘Solihull Approach’ Training
‘Understanding your Child’s Feelings’ is a new Solihull Approach online taster course. This free, bite-sized course supports parents to better understand their children and help them deal with their feelings and emotions.

Some of our staff have completed ‘Solihull Approach’ courses and have found these very informative and given depth to their understanding as parents and practitioners.

https://inourplace.heiapply.com/online-learning/course/40
Access code = Tartan

Staff Development

We are so lucky in Netherlee to have a fantastic link with our Speech and Language Therapist, Lyndsay Dickson. Lyndsay has been facilitating some sessions with staff on ‘Speech Sounds’ and will be delivering further training on ‘Stammering’. These sessions are helping our staff to feel more confident in sharing information on typical development and supporting families through the assessment process.

Virtual Parent Council Meeting- Wednesday 8^th September at 7pm

Every parent/ carer who has a child at Netherlee is welcome to attend our Parent Council Meetings and you don’t need to be a member of the council to come along (virtually at the moment).  Information on how you can join the meeting is available on our website under the Parents then Parent Council Tab.Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone,

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to all new children and families who have recently joined our Netherlee community. We are looking forward to meeting several more children and families over the next year.

Staff News
We have a few changes to staffing and would like to share who the keyworkers are.  These are the keyworkers that will be responsible for administration and gathering information about your child. Our staff support all of the children in nursery, not just their own group, guiding them through their early learning journey. aYou can see photos of our staff team in our Welcome Sway https://sway.office.com/6m7kj08V8TTg0Niq?ref=Link

Acorn Building
Red Group: Mrs Donna Flower/Mrs Sarah Mackie (Mon)
Blue Group: Miss Pamela Montgomerie/Mrs Jo-Anne Welsh
Purple Group: Mrs Amanda Hicks/Mrs Debbie Heron
Playworker: Elizabeth Beattie

Sapling Building
Yellow Group: Mrs Mary Nimmo/Mrs Lynne Morton
Pink Group: Mrs Susan McBride/Mrs Harjeet Kaur
Green Group: Mrs Fiona Daley/Mrs Joanne Greig (Thurs & Fri)
Orange Group: Mrs Lyn Gemmell/Mrs Sarah Mackie (Thurs & Fri)
White Group: Mrs Joanne Greig/Miss Melissa Dorran
Playworkers: Mrs Lynne Stoll/Mrs Clare McAndrew

Our teacher, Mr Lewis Strang Roy and Principal Teacher, Mrs Angela Kerr alternate each week between the two nursery buildings.

School and Nursery Improvement Plan
We are always very interested to listen to the views of our parent community and, in line with our new School and Nursery Improvement Plan 2021-2022 (SNIP) which is available to view on our website: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/. Please do get in touch if you feel that you could help us in any way in relation to our priorities this year.  This session our nursery has a particular focus on Food and Health, reviewing ‘Gender Equal Play’ and embracing diversity.

Rhythm of the Day
We are being very flexible with nursery hours to meet children and family needs. If your child has been allocated 8am-6pm you are free to drop off your child any time before 9am and pick up anytime before 6pm.
Children who attend from 9am -3pm should be dropped off at 9am, or after, and picked up by 3pm please, when their session ends.
When children arrive at nursery they change into their indoor shoes and then wash their hands, ready to play. Our outdoor areas are opened at 9.15am and children are free to choose to play indoors or out. At around 9.30am our snack area opens and children are able to choose from a selection of freshly cut vegetables/fruit and milk/water. Children can choose when to come to snack and are encouraged to have a try by our lovely playworkers, Mrs Stoll, Mrs Beattie and Mrs McAndrew. After snack children are free to play inside or out again until lunch. Our lunch starts at 11.30am in both buildings. Lunch is a relaxed, unhurried, sociable time where children sit together round the table with a familiar adult on hand to help. The children choose when they want  to eat, can sit with their special friends and are encouraged to eat their delicious two course lunch. After lunch children can choose where to play again. At around 2.30 everyone is encouraged to tidy up the indoor and outdoor areas. Children then have together time where they will have a story, sing some songs and share what they have been learning about during their nursery session. At 3pm some children go home, for those staying later they continue to play after their together time. At around 3.30pm children have their snack (please provide a small snack for this time) and are able to play inside or outside until their collection time.
We will be making a ‘Day in the Life’ video over the next week or so and look forward to sharing this with you.

Childsmile Toothbrushing Programme
Please find attached information regarding Childsmile Toothbrushing programme. Should you require any further information please speak to Mrs Gemmell or Mrs Mackie, our Toothbrushing Leads.

Getting in Contact
At Netherlee we really value our partnership with parents, carers and members of the community very highly. We are always keen to hear your views and to find out if we can provide any additional information.

Should you require to contact us we are available by emailing NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or by phoning the school office on 0141 560 7260.

If need to pass on an urgent message such as changes to collection information after 4.30pm please call Acorns  0141 570 7272 or Saplings 0141 570 7271. These numbers should only be used after 4.30pm please as we do not have clerical staff to answer the phone during the day before 4.30pm.

Consent Forms
Over the next week we will be sending out some Consent Forms for all of our children. We ask that you complete these when you have the opportunity and return these at your earliest convenience.

We hope you have a lovely weekend, making the most of the dry, beautiful weather.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello again everyone, I hope you have enjoyed and are making the most of this spell of wonderful weather.

Attachments this week are: 
UNIFORMS
MEET THE TEACHER

CONCERN FROM LOCAL RESIDENTS Re PARKING- Unfortunately, I have been contacted by local residents in relation to parking at school drop off and pick up times.  Below is one such communication, and I have of course agreed to share this with all parents and carers of Netherlee.  I would like to request that you always give due consideration to local residents and are also mindful of the need for Emergency Service Vehicles to be able to access the school, nursery and all residential properties at any time.  If you notice anything of concern yourself, in relation to this, please contact ERC Community Wardens on 0800 013 0076 or contact the police on 101.  Thank you on behalf of local residents and also myself.

I am a local resident, at school pick up time parents park their cars on the double yellow lines on Linnpark Avenue and park on the pavement behind the double yellow lines on the corner of the residents car park this restricts the view of residents leaving the car parks and also narrows the roadway where cars cannot pass each other.
Many of the local residents are elderly and some disabled, who use zimmers and walking frames and they are forced to walk on the road due to cars parked on the pavement.

Can you please ask “If you are a parent who parks illegally in Linnpark avenue or parks on the pavement can you please have some consideration for others?”.

SCHOOL UNIFORM RECYCLING and PTA ORDERING OPTIONS- Thank you, once again, for supporting the wearing of school uniform for all pupils within Netherlee.  Please see the attached flyer in relation to this.

PARENT COUNCIL MEETING-  The first meeting, for this session, of the Parent Council will take place on Wednesday 8^th September at 7pm.  This will be a virtual meeting and the Parent Council will provide further information to parents in due course. All parents and carers of Netherlee are welcome to attend any Parent Council Meeting and it would be really lovely to see some new faces come along.  Please remember that useful Parent Council information is also available on our website.

HEALTH AND SAFETY, ALLERGIES- We have several children and staff who have a range of allergies and as such I require to remind all parents that Netherlee is a nut free school.  Staff have brought to my attention that some children are bringing chocolate type spreads, which contain nuts, to school for snacks or in sandwiches eg Nutella or similar. In order to keep everyone in Netherlee as safe as possible, I would respectfully ask you to check ingredients of food items and to please avoid all such products for snack or in packed lunches.  Thank you for your help with this important matter.

MEET THE TEACHER– As you are aware, continuing and current, Scottish Government Guidance means that we are not yet able to welcome parents into the school.  However, I am really pleased that we are going to hold virtual, live Meet the Teacher Sessions very soon.  Please see the attached letter which provides you with more information in relation to this.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, please get in touch with us whenever needed and enjoy this continuing glorious weather.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone

​

We have thoroughly enjoyed having all of our children back in school.  They have appeared so happy to be back and are settling in really well.  We also had many new children and families starting with us on Wednesday too and it has been a pleasure to welcome you all into the Netherlee school community. The school is once again full of happy, excited and enthusiastic children and staff J – what more could a HT and school community hope for, as we look forwards to a productive school year and positive times ahead.

​

COMMUNICATION: As always, please remember that we are here to help at any time and no question, or concern, is ever too small.  Please don’t feel that you are taking up our time and wondering or worrying about something at home.  We can very often sort, fix or resolve things very quickly for your child so please do get in touch with myself, either of my two Depute Heads (Julie Roberts or Lynn Sweeney), the stage leaders or your child’s class teacher at any time- just call the school office (570 7260) and ask for the appropriate person to call you back or, email (SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk)and someone will get back to you very quickly.  Please avoid placing notes in schoolbags as this is an unreliable method of communication.  Children often forget to hand letters to their teacher or notes can get lost or misplaced.  Our email and phone systems of communication really do work fantastically well and these are the safest and most efficient way of getting in touch with us.

​

SCHOOL UNIFORM: Our children have returned to school looking very smart in their school uniform and we greatly value and appreciate your support with this.  Children can of course continue to wear the school burgundy hoodie indoors as I’m aware that many families have bought several, additional hoodies last session.  ERC Education Department is currently reviewing its Dressing for Excellence Policy and I will of course share this with you when it is available.  I’m delighted by the response to our Uniform Recycling Rails- many parents have made use of this initiative already and we will continue to run this each week, on a Friday, at the following times: Primaries 1 – 3 8.50am-9am Clarkston Road Gate and Primaries 4 – 7 3.05pm- 3.15pm Side Gate, next to Acorns Nursery.  Please just pop by and help yourself to anything that you can make use of- there is a super selection of items available- thank you to the many parents who have also donated items for this.  The Red Donations Box is always available at the top of the main entrance, outdoor stairs and we continue to be very grateful for your ongoing uniform donations.

​

FULL PE HAS RETURNED TO THE CURRICULUM: We are delighted that we are now able to reintroduce indoor PE.  However, as it isn’t safe for children to undertake indoor PE, nor the full PE curriculum without changing into dry, PE appropriate shoes, from Monday 30^th August, children will require to bring a pair of trainers, or similar, to school to change into on PE Days. Your child’s teacher will let you and your child know which days they have PE and this additional pair of PE shoes can be left in school, in a named bag, or can be brought home each day, whichever is most convenient for you.   In addition to this, children can now get changed for PE lessons.  We are going to reintroduce this gradually within the school and therefore children can continue to wear a school polo shirt on PE Days and only require to change the bottom part of their uniform into black (if possible) shorts or black (again, if possible) tracksuit trousers.  If children prefer, they can continue to wear a shirt and tie on PE days, and simply remove their tie for the lesson.  Please get in touch if you require any help with this.   

​

SNIP AND HOMEWORK: We are always very interested to listen to the views of our parent community and, in line with our new School and Nursery Improvement Plan 2021-2022 (SNIP) which is available to view on our website (https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/) this session, we are keen to get your views on Homework within Netherlee.  We will very soon be carrying out a review of our Homework Policy and your views, as well as the views of teachers and pupils, will be sought as part of this review.  We will be in touch soon about this however, in the meantime, we will continue to use Google Classrooms for posting homework which will start week beginning 30^th August.  Please ensure that your child can log into their Class Google Classroom prior to homework starting and if they have any problems at all with this, or with any aspect of accessing their homework via Google Classrooms, please get in touch as soon as possible and we will be able to help with this.  P1 parents, further information  will be sent home to you next week so please wait until you receive this from us.  Thank you.

​

MEET THE TEACHER: We had very much hoped that we would be able to welcome you back into the school for our annual “Meet the Teacher” session.  However, as per Scottish Government guidance, we are not able to do this quite yet however, next week, I will share information with you about our online version of this coming up very soon.  

​

FREE Swim lessons Letter -Sep-Oct 2021 from ERC

I’m sure you may have some very tired children coming home from school today after a busy first week back at school.  I hope they, and you, have a restful and lovely weekend.

​

​

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Head Teacher

Hello everyone

​

We’ve had a really lovely week as staff and children reconnect and build relationships with our new children and families. We are taking time to get to know our new children, talking to them about their favourite toys to play with, reassuring them that nursery is great fun and that their special adults always come back! If you’ve not had the chance, please click on the link for welcome information on our website:

​

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Netherlee/nursery-class/general-nursery-information/

​

Lunch this week has gone down a treat! We’ve had children confidently eating their two courses alongside their friends, spontaneously saying ‘this soup is delicious’, ‘this garlic bread is the best ever’ and ‘I love the cheese on the pizza’. The menu is available to view by clicking on the link:

​

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/nursery-menu

​

We will be ordering nursery uniform on Friday 27^th August, this is of course entirely optional. If you require an order form, just ask at the door or contact our school office via NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk for a form. We have lots of ‘lightly used’ age 3-4 uniform available to take from the table outside the Sapling Building if you would prefer this option- please help yourself! J

​

We really want to reassure you that we’re here to talk to you and answer any queries or suggestions to support your child and family. Please feel free to contact us by phone, email or while dropping off or picking up your child.

​

We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy lots of family time together.

​

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)