Hello everyone

The attachment for this week is :
CCC for Change Flyer

We’ve had a wonderful week welcoming our special visitors. During focus group meetings and observation visits children, staff and some parents have shared their experience of the high quality learning experiences, warm relationships and opportunities available at our nursery.

Special Books
We’re sure you’ll love to snuggle up with your child next week and share their Special Book. We ask that all Special Books are returned by Mon 22nd November.

World Nursery Rhyme Week (15^th-19^th Nov)
Find inspiration for songs and rhymes to share with your child on https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/songs-and-rhymes.
You can also download the free app to share songs and rhymes on the go, look up the words or make up your own songs or rhymes to the instrumental versions https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading-and-stories/bookbug/bookbug-app.

Bookbug
Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading that takes place across the country. Book Week Scotland 2021 will take place 15th –21st November. On Wednesday we will be sharing a very special Bookbug session on Google Classroom led by our fabulous Bookbug leaders, Mrs Greig and Mrs Flower.

Dressing for the Weather
As children are exploring in Linn Park, the local area and our nursery gardens we ask that children are dressed in warm layers and outdoor clothing every day. We have waterproof clothing available if your child needs to borrow these.

Thank you for emailing your child’s photo and message for our ‘Wow Wall’. We’ve loved sharing these and celebrating achievements from home.

We hope you have a lovely weekend with your family.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone,

Attachments this week are:
PTA Family Quiz
PTA Nov-Dec Activities
PTA Meetings 7.10.21
CCC for Change Flyer

We have had a very busy, but very productive and positive, week in school as we welcomed the visitors to Netherlee as described in my email last week.  Our visitors have thoroughly enjoyed their time in Netherlee and it has been a pleasure to have them join us to experience a  “week in the life of Netherlee”.

Book Week Scotland
Book Week Scotland will take place from 15^th – 20^th November 2021 with a theme of ‘Celebration’. Throughout the week, each class will have the opportunity to engage in a range of book-related activities, including watching and listening to authors and sharing favourite books and stories. Each day, children in all classes will take part in PATTER Time (Pupils and Teachers, Together Everyone Reading). Pupils may bring in a favourite book from home to read during this time, if they wish. We hope that all of our pupils will enjoy this special week full of book-related activities. [P1-P3 only] We hope that all of our pupils will enjoy this special week full of book-related activities. More information can be found here

National Anti- Bullying Week
As next week is National Anti-Bullying Week, this will be the focus for stage assemblies throughout the week.  Children will also be involved in various activities and discussions within their class as well. As ongoing awareness around anti- bullying also features in our School and Nursery Improvement Plan for this session, we shall soon be recruiting, and training with input from the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), several Anti-Bullying Ambassadors from amongst our pupils. The NSPCC website also has some very interesting and useful guidance and information for parents and carers.  You can find a link to this on our website within the PARENT tab.  As always, if you have any concerns about your own child, please get in touch with us at any time and please don’t hesitate to do so.   We are here to help and support all of our children to understand the importance, and seriousness, of being both respectful and kind to others.

[P7 only] P7 Residential 
Please see P 7 Lockerbie letter regarding an information evening on Wednesday in relation to the Lockerbie residential trip.

That’s all from me this week, just a brief update today, and I will be back in touch again next Friday.  I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Kind regards

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Hello everyone

Attachments this week are:
Sleep Business Cards
Family First Leaflet

Williamwood Cluster, Special Visitors
Everyone in Netherlee, as part of the Williamwood Cluster, is looking forward to a visit, next week, from several East Renfrewshire Council ‘special visitors’.  Staff and children will be sharing our successes and progress towards meeting targets in our SNIP (School and Nursery Improvement Plan). We will also reflect on our journey through Covid times; recognising, not only the many challenges but also, the steady progress that staff and families made, as a Netherlee community working together, during lockdown.  We are also excited to be welcoming five Head Teachers, from other schools and nurseries across the council, who will also visit us next week.  During their visit, they will be able to see the wide range of learning and teaching experiences which happen each day in Netherlee and how we nurture and support our pupils.  They will also engage in lots of discussion about this with lots of different groups of people too.  This is also a fantastic opportunity for us all to be able to celebrate being able to now return to a more full curriculum for our pupils.

Family First
Family First is a free, confidential advice and information resource in East Renfrewshire for parents and carers of children aged 0-11. The team can offer support and advice on issues surrounding health, home, money, parenting, additional support needs and confidence building. Further information is contained in the attachment leaflet.

Sleep Support
Some of our children’s sleep patterns may have been affected by the clocks changing at the weekend. We have been asked to share the attached Sleep Business Card as this takes you straight to lots of up to date information about developing good sleep patterns.  We’re all very aware that sleep is vital to children’s, and adults) health, wellbeing, learning and development.

“Wee Woods” Projects
Next week, some of our “ECO Elephants” have been invited to plant trees in our local area as part of East Renfrewshire Council’s ‘Wee Woods’ project. This project is to mark COP26 happening in Glasgow and links well to our class mission statements about learning for sustainability. We are really looking forward to being part of this exciting project and making a positive, lasting impact on our local environment.

A Day in the Life of … Video
Please sit back, click on the link and relax for a couple of minutes to watch the snapshot video that the Leadership Team, with the help of some pupils and staff have produced for you.  We really hope you enjoy this “little visit” inside Netherlee. We hope you enjoyed the video’s on Google Classroom.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Hello everyone

Attachments this week:
Family First Leaflet
Sleep Business Cards

As the nights are getting darker, children have been noticing the changes on arrival in the morning and when leaving nursery in the evening. This has encouraged lots of talk this week about time, daily routines and clocks. Our staff have skilfully responded to some children’s interests while making clocks or watches. We’ve also challenged children to learn the days of the week and relate these to clubs, attendance at nursery, visits to relatives etc. on particular days.

Williamwood Cluster, Special Visitors
Everyone in Netherlee, as part of the Williamwood Cluster, is looking forward to a visit next week from some East Renfrewshire Council ‘special visitors’.  Staff and children will be sharing our successes and challenges, as well as our progress towards meeting targets in our SNIP (School and Nursery Improvement Plan) and also the impact on learning of high quality professional learning. We are also excited that four Head Teachers, from other schools and nurseries across the council, will visit next week and they will be able to enjoy seeing the range of learning and teaching experiences which happen each day in Netherlee.   This is a fantastic opportunity for children and staff to talk about and showcase the wide range of play experiences available in our nursery and how secure children are in their daily routines.

Deferring School Placement
If you would like the opportunity to speak about deferring your child or have questions or queries about the process please email: NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk and Mrs Kerr will be able to arrange a phone appointment with you during week beginning 14th Nov after 3.30 pm.  Further information is available by clicking on this link:  https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1

Wow! Moments
We would like to include your child’s ‘Wow!’ moments, achievements and experiences from home on our ‘Wow! Wall’ and in their Special Books as they are an important part of your child’s learning story. Please e-mail your child’s name, group and a photo/short story about an experience or achievement that you and your child would like to share with their keyworker and friends NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk  It could be something that your child has done for the first time e.g. dressing themselves, eating a new food, sleeping in their own bed or it could be something they’ve learned e.g. to ride their bike, swim unaided or it could be an achievement such as taking part in a fun run, a charity event or passing their dance exams.

Special Books
Your child’s Special Book will be sent home during week beginning 15^th November. We know that your child will really love to talk about the photos and proudly share how they spend their time at nursery.

Family First
Family First is a free, confidential advice and information resource in East Renfrewshire for parents and carers of children aged 0-11. Whatever you’d like to speak about, the team can offer support and advice on issues surrounding nursery, health, home, money, parenting, additional support needs and confidence building. Further information is contained in the attached leaflet.

Sleep Support
Some of our children’s sleep patterns may have been affected by the clocks changing at the weekend. We have been asked to share the attached Sleep Business Card as this takes you straight to lots of up to date information about developing good sleep patterns.  We’re all very aware that sleep is vital to children’s health, wellbeing, learning and development. It is important to make sure children have the right amount of sleep so they have enough energy for the next day’s activities.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy time spent with your family.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone

Attachments this week are:
NPC Meeting Highlights

I hope you had a really lovely weekend, including many of you who may have taken part in some Halloween fun at home and in the community.  Some of our wonderful P7 House Councillors teamed up with the PTA over the weekend to help at the Linn Park Equestrian Centre Halloween Event.  A great deal of fun was had by all, including a brilliant pumpkin competition and a very successful tuck shop.  House Councillors were applauded and complimented greatly for their helpfulness, manners, politeness, “excellent customer service” and enthusiasm- fantastic!  Well done to Oisin, Charlie and Hashim- I am extremely proud of each of you and thank you also for giving of your time so readily over the weekend to help and support the PTA.

Poppy Donations
From tomorrow, Tuesday, our P7 pupils will be organising and running the annual Poppy Donation Appeal ahead of their Remembrance Assembly on the 11^th November.   If your child would like to make a small donation then P7 pupils will go round classes from tomorrow, and in return your child will receive a poppy.  Thank you.

COP26 ECO House
There has been, and will continue to be, lots of interesting and extremely important learning taking place in school in relation to COP26.  Please continue to look at our Twitter Feed link to keep in touch with all the interesting learning that takes place every day in school and nursery. We are delighted that some of our pupils will also have the opportunity to take part in a live video call with one of our dads, who is an architect, and has been greatly involved in the COP26 ECO House.   The pupils will be able to take a virtual tour of the house and also take part in a Question and Answer session.  Thank you very much for getting in touch with us Mr Smith, and for offering this unique experience to our pupils, we are very grateful and I know the children will both enjoy the opportunity and will also benefit greatly from it too.  If you would like to know more about the ECO COP26 House, feel free to click on this link.  https://www.beyondzerohomes.co.uk/

Pavilion Parking
We respectfully request that everyone is mindful of parking in the disabled parking bays at Netherlee Pavilion. Blue Badge holders only are eligible to park in these spaces.  Thank you for your cooperation and support to the community with this.

Parent Council (PC) Highlights Newsletter
Please find attached the next edition of Netherlee’s PC Newsletter which we hope you will find useful and informative.  Please remember that there is also a PC Section, under the Parent Tab, on our website where you will find further related information.

Pupil Parliament
We have been working very hard in school to establish our Netherlee Pupil Parliament as outlined as one of the actions in our School and Nursery Improvement Plan link.    Please read our flyer which will provide a little more information to you about this but please do ask your child to let you know what their “class mission” is and which strand of the Pupil Parliament they belong to.

A Day in the Life of ….. Videos
Please look out for these in my next update on Friday.  We really hope you enjoy being able to see a snapshot of what goes on in school as we continue to hope that, one day soon, we can welcome you back inside Netherlee in person.

I hope all families have a good week, I’ll be back in touch again on Friday.  As always, please continue to get in touch with myself, or any member of staff, at any time if we can be of help to either your child or yourself.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello again everyone

Attachments this Week
Nursery Menu
PTA Poster
NPC Meeting Highlights

What a fun, busy week we have had in nursery and, coupled with this spell of blustery weather, we are all ready for a restful weekend! Children have had lots of fun playing and learning as they made slime, dressed up, made models with clay, ‘looked up’, picked seeds from our sunflowers and made pumpkin soup.  We can’t believe that it’s the last weekend in October! November will go past in a flash too as we move towards some of the most exciting times in our nursery year…lots of winter festive fun!

A Day in the Life
Our ‘Day in the Life’ video has been produced to give a flavour of a nursery day from arrival until home time. We are very aware that lots of parents, carers and special people in your child’s life haven’t had the opportunity to come into the playrooms and hope that this helps. Please click on the link: A Day in the Life of Netherlee Nursery Class  If you have any questions or comments after watching the video, please just email us using the nursery email nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk and we will get back in touch with you.

Woodland Adventures
We are delighted to share that Mrs Morton, our Forest School trained practitioner, has organised a programme of Woodland Adventures sessions, starting next week, in the woods and Linn Park. Preschool children will have the opportunity to take part in regular, planned sessions.  Mrs Morton has already let those going on Monday know.  Look out for an email over the next few weeks as this will contain important information about the day your child is going.  Children will be outside for the full Woodland Wonder session from 9.30am -11.30am or 12.45pm-2.45pm. We can’t wait to hear all about their adventures in the local area.

Parking
We ask you to be mindful of parking in the disabled parking bays at Netherlee Pavilion. Blue Badge holders are eligible to park in these spaces to help the driver or occupants park closer to their destination. We thank you for your cooperation.

Nursery Fund
Thank you to those who recently made a contribution to our voluntary Nursery Fund. We would be unable to provide the fun opportunities for your children at this time of year without your help. Recently our Nursery Fund has been used to buy 100 apples for Halloween, fairy lights, ingredients for play-dough, a variety of pumpkins and ingredients for making soup. All children benefit from your contribution and it is genuinely appreciated as these funds extend the opportunities available to our children. There are different ways to contribute a suggested contribution of £5 per month or, of course, whatever you can contribute.  Contributions to the Nursery Fund can be made through ParentPay. If you have not yet activated your ParentPay account, please just contact the school office either by phone or by using the nursery email address NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk and office staff will be happy to help you with your login details. We are so grateful for your contributions.

Recycling
Children (and staff) have really enjoyed creating 3D models using the wonderful boxes, bottle tops, corks, tins etc. that you have kindly donated recently. When talking to children about Cop26 and looking after our world over the next few weeks they will be learning about reducing waste and recycling. If you are able to hand in any more boxes, containers, buttons, bottle tops, clean milk cartons etc. we’d be delighted to use them.  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

Parent Appointments
Please look out for an email later on today with the time slot for your 10 minute telephone appointment with your child’s keyworker. These telephone meetings will take place from 22^nd November.

Outdoor Clothing
Thank you for providing outdoor clothing for your child every day. It’s been really lovely to watch the children explore outdoors, clear the garden in preparation for winter, build obstacle courses and have snack outside while being cosy and dry. We ask you to remind your child if they have additional clothing such as waterproofs and wellies in their bag. Please just let us know if your child doesn’t have their own waterproofs as we have some in nursery and can help out.

Fire Safety Visit
Mrs Mackie has organised a visit from Clarkston Fire Station on Tuesday morning. Firefighters will share a short fire safety talk on the run up to bonfire night. We’ll have some very excited children as they are shown round the outside of the fire engine and have a go at shooting water from the hose. We can all imagine how excited the children will be!

As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at any time.  We are here to help in any way that we can if you have any questions or concerns at all.

Have a lovely weekend

 Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone,

We’ve had a lovely week at nursery hearing all about the children’s days out and family time during the holidays.

Dress Up Day
On Friday 29^th October children are invited to come to nursery dressed up if they would like to.  They can wear a Halloween costume, cosy pyjamas or they can of course come to nursery wearing any clothes that they want.  Should your child not attend nursery on Friday, due to their attendance pattern, they may want to dress up on one of the days they are with us. Please be mindful that some children are scared of masks or face paint. Please try to dissuade your child from bringing lots of accessories as these may get lost or damaged and we don’t want crying pirates who’ve lost their parrot or sad witches with no broom stick! We’re sure that children will love dooking for apples, dancing to some music and playing games

Dressing for the Weather
We continue to maximise the time we spend outdoors- please ensure your child is always dressed appropriately for the weather including wellies, suitable outer jackets and hats and gloves where needed. All of our playrooms are well ventilated and windows remain open at all times.  As winter approaches, it would be very helpful if your child has a jumper or cardigan each day too which can be removed/ put back on as required. Please remember to name all clothes, wellies, shoes and other clothing items that your child is wearing as well as all spare clothing in their nursery bag too.  Many thanks for this.

Standards & Quality Report/ Netherlee SNIP

Please find attached pictorial, easy to read versions of our Standards and Quality Report 2020-21 and Netherlee School and Nursery Improvement Plan. We thank Jane Thomson, one of our Parent Council members, for all her help with the design and ensuring that key messages were shared.

Lunch

As part of our In-service Day programme staff reviewed our Healthy Eating Policy and arrangements for  lunch. The children have been really enjoying eating their two course lunch with their friends at nursery. Lunch is a relaxed, unhurried, sociable time where children sit together round the table with two familiar adults on hand to help. The children choose when they want to eat, can sit with their friends and are encouraged to ‘have a go’ at trying a variety of foods.  Should you wish to provide a lunch box or a snack box (if your child attends after 3pm) we recommend that sugary foods or drinks and high fat/salt foods are kept to a minimum. Any uneaten food is put back in the lunchbox so that parents and carers can see how much is being eaten. Some guidance on creating a healthy packed lunch or snacks, tips and portion sizes can be found here:

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes  The Care Inspectorate recommends that cool packs are kept in lunchboxes. If providing grapes or cherry tomatoes we ask that you quarter them and finally we are a nut-free nursery as some of our children have nut allergies. Please therefore ensure that all snacks are nut-free.   Thank you.

Keeping Safe
We ask that you use a cloth, nylon or canvas bag (not plastic) inside your child’s nursery backpack or for your child to carry additional items such as wellies.

Staff News
Mr Strang Roy is studying towards a Masters qualification in Philosophy with Children. As part of his studies Mr Strang Roy will be engaging groups of children in child-led discussion around different philosophical questions such as, ‘what makes me, me?’ and many more. This will help develop the children’s talking and listening skills as they have fun thinking and learning to disagree with each other. If your child starts asking interesting questions or making statements about what they are thinking, that may be why!

Virtual Nature School
Virtual Nature School is a service offered by the non-profit Living Classrooms. It came about as a direct response to the needs of families when schools and nurseries were closed in the UK in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and continues as a valuable resource to early years practitioners throughout Scotland as we make outdoor learning a natural part of practice. Miss Doran, Mrs Kaur and Miss Montgomerie engaged in a six week programme of Virtual Nature School training to promote the flourishing of children’s learning in, about, with and for nature. Recently our Virtual Nature School trained staff lead a training session with our Netherlee School P1 and P2 staff. On our In-service Day our nursery staff took part in an introductory session where we all looked up! All three Virtual Nature School staff will be leading learning over the next few weeks and this will be reflected in our Learning Links on Google Classroom.

Parent Appointments

We will be in contact next week regarding telephone Parent Appointments which will take place between 22^nd and 29^th November.

Thank you for your help, understanding and support with all the points above.

Have a lovely weekend and please remember to read our Learning Links on Google Classroom, when you have time.

 Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone

Parent/ Teacher Meetings
We had been very hopeful that the Scottish Government would further ease some mitigations allowing us to consider several different options for our upcoming Parent/ Teacher Meetings in November.  However, as you will be aware, this has not yet happened and this means that we will hold these sessions using the online, live video platform (the same as we used at the end of last session).  This platform did prove to be very successful and I am sure that this will be the case again.  Further information in relation to this will be sent home next Thursday however I wanted to let you know the dates and timings which are – Tuesday 23^rd and Thursday 25^th November, both from 4-7pm.  We will also continue to use the online booking system and this will also be explained to you next Thursday.

Flu Immunisation 
The School Nurses team will be in school on Friday, 29^th October to immunise the children.

Key Dates
I had also hoped, like you I’m sure, that we would be able to welcome you into school to attend some school events including information workshops however, this is not yet possible either.  However, in addition to the Parent Meeting dates above, I feel it is important to let you know a few other key dates for this session which are listed below.  Of course if, and when, we are able to once again welcome you into school, I will update this list with more events (fingers crossed) and will share it with you at that time.  Please note these dates are also available on our school website within the calendar on the left hand side of the landing page.

• Friday 3^rd December – House Day (House Coloured t-shirts worn if possible please)
• Friday 11^th March – House Day (House Coloured t-shirts worn if possible please)
• Wednesday 16^th March – School Photographs Start Today
• Friday 18^th March – Pupil Jotters/ Work Samples Sent Home
• Friday 1^st April – School Closes Early at 2.30pm
• Tuesday 10^th May 7pm – School/Nursery Summer Fayre (Proceeds for School Funds)
• 16^th– 20^th May – P7 Residential Trip
• 20^th May – Progress Reports Sent Home
• Monday 23^rd May (4-7pm) – Parent/ Teacher Meetings
• Wednesday 25^th May (4-7pm) – Parent/ Teacher Meetings
• Thursday 26^th May – Homework Stops for the Session
• Tuesday 28^th June – School Closes at 1pm

Parent/Child Version of our School and Nursery Improvement Plan (SNIP) Session 2021-2022 and Standards and Quality Report Session 2020-2021
I have mentioned previously that the Parent Council are working together with us on a few priorities linked to the SNIP.  I would therefore like to send a sincere and HUGE thank you to one of our parents Jane, who has worked closely alongside Angela Kerr (PT) to produce a fantastic, simple overview of both of the documents above – these are attached for your interest. This involved several discussion meetings as well as lots of creativity and I am delighted with the result- thank you on behalf of the Netherlee parent body Jane and Angela- teamwork at its best!

And finally, A Day in the Life of … Videos
As I have said already, we are very aware that, unfortunately, you haven’t even been able to step foot inside Netherlee, either for several years now or at all if you only have a child in P1 or P2, and we therefore wanted to share at least a very brief insight into life in Netherlee for your child.  I therefore tasked the Leadership Team with producing “Day in the Life of….” Videos for each of their stages, these will be ready to be shared with you next Friday.  Look out for the link in my update next week- we hope you enjoy!

That’s all from me for the moment, please continue to get in touch with myself, or any member of staff at all, if we can be of any help to you or your child.  I hope you have a really good weekend and we will look forward to seeing all of our children again on Monday, ready for another busy week in school.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

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, I hope you are well and looking forward to being able to spend some time together, as a family, very soon during the October holiday.

Attachments this Week:
PTA Agenda
PTA Scarecrow Trail
PTA Dress as a Scarecrow Day
Good to Grow Flyer

Covid Update
I firstly wanted to update you on the reassuring situation within Netherlee in relation to Covid numbers and cases. I’m relieved to be able to share that, In line with Covid figures nationally, we have continued to see a steep and steady reduction in positive cases amongst our pupils and families. We are once again back to very, very low figures indeed and I want to thank everyone for their diligence in picking up, and responding to, potential positive cases through lateral flow and PCR testing as well as, of course, following all ongoing mitigations in line with Scottish Government guidance.

Netherlee PTA
If you would like to join Netherlee’s PTA, or you would like to come along to one of the meetings (virtually at the moment), then you would be very welcome at the next meeting this Wednesday (6^th). The agenda for the meeting is attached and all you have to do is contact the PTA via email by clicking on the link which will take to the PTA email address on our website. Just drop them a quick email and someone from the PTA will send you the joining instructions. Our PTA is a fantastic, friendly group of dedicated parent and staff volunteers and I know they are always very keen to get as much help as possible and to welcome new members to the group at any time. The next PTA event is the Scarecrow Trail- which is a joint venture between the PTA and the school and nursery. Please click on the attached documents for further information.

Good to Grow
As you know, continuing to both develop, and learn from, our wonderful outdoors is an important priority for Netherlee. We are keen to continue our Eco School work on sustainable learning which includes teaching our children about how we can grow and make our own food. As such, we have registered to take part in the ‘Morrisons- It’s Good to Grow’ competition to try to collect Grow Tokens which can then be exchanged for free gardening equipment for our school and nursery. If you already shop in Morrisons and wish to support us in this competition, which runs until 24^th October, then you can find out more information on how to collect Grow Tokens on the attached flyer.

Mother Tongue Competition
Mr Bryce and myself are delighted that several parents have contacted us about wishing to take part in this fun, family competition as highlighted in last week’s Friday Bundle. (Please remember that each week’s update from myself is placed onto the school/ nursery website, down the left hand side in the Latest News Section. I hope this helps you and makes it easy for you to refer back to information sent home at any time. ) The deadline for sending us a note of interest in the “Mother Tongue” activity is this Wednesday (6^th) so if any more families would like to have fun together doing this, please just drop Mr Bryce an email and he will get back in touch with you with more information.

P1 Pencil Grip
Some P1 parents and carers had requested information regarding ‘pencil grip’ during our Meet the Teacher sessions. Please find a useful information sheet regarding ‘pencil grip’ and how to support fine motor skill development at home, on our school website

P7 Personal Items for Girls 
Please see the link regarding personal items for our P7 girls.

Keeping Parents Informed/ Sharing Learning
Your child will today have brought home their bag with samples of their Literacy and Numeracy work. Our children are very settled and have been working really hard this term and we decided it would be very rewarding for them to also choose a piece of work, from any area of the curriculum, that they are especially proud of to take home to share with you. We hope you enjoy sharing your child’s learning in this way and also enjoy spending time talking about, and discussing, their work with them. Please get in touch if you have any questions or if you want to discuss any aspect of this with us. We would appreciate if all work and jotters could be returned on Monday as the children require them for class.

And finally…. a HUGE thank you to our wonderful parent and carer volunteers who spoke with our children “live and virtually” this week, during Maths Week Scotland, regarding how they use maths in their everyday life and work. The children get so much out of these opportunities and they had lots of interesting questions to ask. The feedback from staff and children has been extremely positive, so thank you all again for helping support our children’s learning in this way!

I hope you have a lovely, enjoyable weekend everyone.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Hello again everyone

Attachments this week:
PTA Agenda
Dress as a Scarecrow Day
PTA Dress as a Scarecrow Trail
Nursery Menu
Please don’t throw me out!

Maths Week
We’ve had a very busy Maths Week in nursery with lots of problem solving, measuring, weighing, hunting for shapes and coding. You can get a flavour of some of the experiences the children have been involved in through our twitter page @sand_nc

Coffee & Chat
Our first ‘Coffee and Chat’ sessions this week were a great success and we would like to thank the staff and parents who were able to attend. We’ve had some really positive feedback and are glad that you find the information we share through Learning Links and Friday Bundles really useful. If you were unable to attend and have any comments, questions or queries please just contact us in the usual way.

Netherlee PTA
If you’ve not had the chance to join our Netherlee PTA or would like to attend one of the PTA meetings there is an opportunity on Wednesday 6th October. The agenda is attached and all you have to do is contact the PTA via email by clicking on the PTA page of the website and email them, they will send you the virtual joining instructions.   Our PTA do a fantastic job of improving and maintaining our school and nursery grounds and also organising lots of fundraising events for Netherlee families.   One example of this is the Scarecrow Trail- please see attachments.

Recycling and Reusing
Children (and the staff) are always busy creating and planning exciting projects. You can help us out by not throwing away any of the items on the list attached as we would love to have them. We just ask that you make sure items are clean and free from residue. We love to be resourceful in Netherlee and we use as many natural or recyclable materials as possible. 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.

New Lunch Menu
Please find attached our new Nursery Lunch Menu for the next few weeks. We love to see how the children respond to their food and often hear ‘this is really yummy!’ or ‘this is the best carrot soup ever!’

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone,

Attachments this Week:
NHS Letter from Jason Leitch

MATHS WEEK SCOTLAND
We have been very busy in school and nursery preparing lots of interesting learning experiences for our children to enjoy next week during Maths Week.  A huge thank you to our Netherlee Maths Champions, Mrs McKinlay and Miss Holden for all of their work in sourcing and organising these activities as well as to Mrs Sweeney and Mr Bryce for working with several parent and local business volunteers as well.  Please click on the link here to find out lots more.

ECO SCHOOLS GREEN FLAG AWARD
We are delighted to share that our school and nursery have successfully achieved our 8^th Eco Schools Green Flag Award. We are so proud of all of our children, staff, parents, and wider community who have contributed towards this success. The Green Flag Award is a visible indication of our commitment to Learning for Sustainability which has involved improving our school grounds, tackling litter in our playgrounds, and leading initiatives to support our health and wellbeing. We are looking forward to building on our successes this session and working towards our next Eco Schools Green Flag journey. A special thanks to Miss Jilly Bell and our PTA who have played a key part in helping us to achieve this fantastic achievement.

MOTHER TONGUE COMPETITION
The Scottish Centre for Information and Language Teaching (SCILT) have launched an exciting poetry writing competition for pupils and their families whose first language is not English. Pupils are invited to write a poem in their ‘mother tongue’ and then record themselves, in an interesting, creative way, reciting the poem. This could be a video or voice recording or it could be a voice recording whilst showing some related art work.  We think this would be such a lovely activity for families to do, at home together, and would be a lovely way to share and celebrate the special diverse community of Netherlee.  If you and your child are interested in participating in this competition please contact Mr Stuart Bryce at school to let us know. The competition limits entries to 10 per school so at the moment we are only looking for anyone that is interested to email us by Wednesday 6^th October, to let us know that they would like to take part. Please do not record anything at this time.  Once we have an idea of how many people are keen to participate we will get back in touch and confirm arrangements.

A little reminder that school will be closed tomorrow and on Monday for the September Weekend holiday.  I hope all families have an enjoyable time together and we will look forward to seeing our pupils again on Tuesday.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone

We have some information to share about events happening next week. We’re sure the children will come back after the holiday weekend full of chat about what they have done while off nursery on Friday and Monday.

Coffee & Chat
We are really looking forward to hosting Coffee and Chat sessions next week. To ensure that you don’t miss any information shared at the start, we would appreciate it if you could make sure that you join the meeting promptly at 6.30pm please.  We would like to remind you that to use Google Meet you just need to have a Google gmail account. If you already have a gmail account you can access the meeting by simply clicking on the link that we will email to you on the day of the ‘Coffee and Chat’ or, by copying and pasting the link into your internet browser (this usually works best through Chrome). If you don’t have a gmail address already, you can easily create a free Google account by clicking on the link below and then following the same instructions.

https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp.

Mrs Kerr will attend all of the sessions alongside some of our nursery staff on the following dates:
Acorn Building parents on Tuesday 28th Sept 6.30 pm-6.45pm
Sapling Building White, Green & Orange parents Wednesday 29th Sept 6.30pm-6.45pm
Sapling Building Pink & Yellow Thursday 30th Sept 6.30pm-6.45pm

Please don’t worry if you can’t make the session this time, we’ll be holding regular ‘Coffee and Chat’ sessions throughout the year.

Maths Week 28^th Sept-1^st Oct
We have lots of engaging and motivating activities planned for our nursery children, with a real focus on problem solving. We will encourage children to explore different options while asking ‘what would happen if …?’ as this is the fundamental question to ask as mathematical thinking develops.

We will be going on QR code hunts with our iPads, problem solving while using our real tools and wood, measuring and planning while junk modelling, coding with Bebot (a battery operated directional toy) and lots of Maths Challenges throughout the week.   We’ll be using some of the activities in this Activity Pack and you may want to try some at home too.

Our wonderful school community will be sharing their experiences of using maths every day in their jobs. Children will be able to watch films made by our catering, janitorial, office, head teacher and pupil support assistants about the role of maths in their jobs.  We’re sure you’ll agree that we have a jam packed week planned and one we’re sure the children will find inspiring, fun and relevant!

Bookbug Session
Mrs Greig and Mrs Flower will post a very special Maths Week Bookbug session on your child’s Google Classroom on Tuesday at 3.30pm.

Letter_to_Parents_and_Carers_from_Jason_Leitch_National_Clinical_Director

Have a lovely long weekend and we look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday 28^th September.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone

Our nursery children have settled so well into their new routines and are thriving while making friends, embracing new opportunities and learning new skills. All children have started the year learning to build independence and to be responsible for their own possessions. This has been shown on arrival at nursery when children have responded to the routine of carrying their own backpack, taking off their jacket and hanging it on their peg, changing into their indoor shoes and washing their hands ready for play. We ask that you encourage your child to carry their own bags and jackets in to nursery to help reduce staff handling lots of items.

Google Classroom

Have you been on Google Classroom yet? If you’ve not had the chance please make some time to log on as we have our latest ‘Learning Links’ for next week to share.

It’s lovely to be able to share a snapshot of some of the activities children may engage in while at nursery through ‘Learning Links’. We always plan around the interests of children and sometimes the resources we provide may spark another interest or take the learning in a whole new direction! We could write a book on the amount of times staff have provided a really stimulating provocation and children have used the resources in a completely different context. These are the joys of working with young children and having staff responsive to children’s developmental stage. 

Voluntary Nursery Fund Contributions

To help provide craft materials, baking or cooking ingredients, plants, bulbs and daily play-dough ingredients we would like to resume our previous practice of asking for your help by contributing to our voluntary Nursery Fund. All children benefit from your contribution and it is genuinely appreciated as these funds extend the opportunities available to children. There are different ways to contribute a suggested contribution of £5 per month or £50 per year or of course whatever you can contribute.  Contributions to the Nursery Fund can be made through ParentPay. If you have not yet activated your ParentPay account, please just contact the school office either by phone or by using the nursery email address NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk and we will be happy to help you as you will need login details  Thank you very much for this.  

Absence

If your child is absent from nursery please let the school office/nursery know the reason for absence by emailing NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or calling 0141 570 7260.

Communicating with Nursery

We respectfully ask that you use the nursery email address when corresponding about your nursery child and not the school email address.

National Fitness Day

On Wednesday 22nd September it is National Fitness Day.  To celebrate there will be a virtual clubbercise class on twitter – @activeschoolser.  The details are as follows:

4.15 – 5.00  CLUBBERCISE (Clubbercise® is a fun full body workout with a banging soundtrack that gets great results. One session burns around 600 calories. The routines combine dance, toning and combat moves with options to suit all fitness levels.) Anyone – pupils/staff/parents/grandparents/friends –  can join by following @activeschoolser and clicking on the live stream.  All participants will need is a water bottle and a towel. Our staff will be joining in with children who stay at nursery in the evening.

Attached Information

Please find attached information from PTA and Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). Have you been on to Netherlee Budding Minds yet? Click on the link to find out more:  https://www.instagram.com/netherlees_budding_minds/

PTA Scarecrow Trail
PTA Host a Scarecrow
PTA Save the Date
PTA Gardening Poster
Your Voice Bulletin September 2021

Holiday Weekend

We would like to remind you that school and nursery are closed on Friday 24th and Monday 27th September for the holiday weekend.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Good afternoon everyone

Please find attachments for this week:

• PTA Christmas Card Project
• PTA Gardening Poster
• PTA Save the Date
• PTA Scarecrow Trail
• PTA Host a Scarecrow

It has been another busy, but very productive, week in Netherlee.  Our children and staff are working hard and we are all thoroughly enjoying being able to continue to move forwards with a now full primary curriculum, whilst also continuing to benefit from learning outdoors too.  The first half of our Meet the Teacher Sessions have been very well attended by parents with most parents being able to join their child’s teacher and stage leader on the night.  We have more sessions next week, for the remaining stages, and I hope you have, and will, find these reassuring and helpful.  Thank you to my teachers for providing these in “live” format.

THANK YOU PTA and PARENT VOLUNTEERS

I would firstly like to, once again, take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to our PTA Parent Volunteer, Garden Group who have, and continue to, play a very important role in improving our outdoor spaces. Our group of volunteers have supported and guided us throughout our outdoors journey with regards to enhancing our gardens and outdoors. Most recently, our raised beds in the internal garden have been filled with a mix of compost and soil ready for a variety of vegetables and bulbs to be planted. Some of our fruit trees and bushes have been given a much needed prune and we look forward to harvesting them in the new year.   Please look at our Twitter Feed to see just some of the fantastic work of this group- on behalf of all of our pupils and staff- thank you very much, Team Netherlee- Volunteering Parents J.

As well as supporting our outdoor endeavours, the PTA have also been working hard to organise several events for our children and families and you will find information about all of these events in this week’s attachments.

PARENT COUNCIL (PC) CONSTITUTION AND MEETING HIGHLIGHTS FLYER

Please click on the following links which will take you to the Meeting Highlights Flyer and also Netherlee’s PC updated constitution.  Thank you to the PC, Communications Group for producing the Meeting Highlight Flyers after each PC Meeting which gives parents and cares a quick, east read update from each PC Meeting.  The PC have requested that, if you have any feedback comments in relation to the Constitution, that you get in touch with them via the PC Email address Netherleeparentcouncil@gmail.com by 8^th October, following which it will be finalised.

ERC ACTIVE SCHOOLS FAMILY CLUBERCISE

Please see a message below from Netherlee’s Active Schools contact Chris Cox.

On Wednesday 22^nd September it is National Fitness Day.  To celebrate there will be a virtual clubbercise class on twitter (4.15pm – 5.00pm)- @activeschoolser.  The details are as follows:

CLUBBERCISE (Clubbercise^® is a fun full body workout with a banging soundtrack that gets great results. One session burns around 600 calories. The routines combine dance, toning and combat moves with options to suit all fitness levels.) 

Anyone – pupils/staff/parents/grandparents/friends – can join by following @activeschoolser and clicking on the live stream.  All participants will need is a water bottle and a towel.  See you there, Chris.

HOUSE COUNCILLORS and HOUSE SYSTEM

Myself and Mrs Sweeney had a thoroughly fantastic first meeting with our newly Elected P7 House Councillors- I am always impressed by our Netherlee pupils and this group of P7 pupils truly excelled themselves with their team work, creativity and enthusiastic and polite attitude.  I am absolutely certain that Mrs Sweeney and myself can rely on them to rise to the responsibility of being a positive role model to all other children within the school as well as organising lots of exciting House Events for us all to enjoy.  Please read the attached letter which will explain a little more about our House Councillors and also our refreshed House System.

PARENTS PORTAL – CONSENTS AND DOCTOR SURGERIES (message from the school office team)

As you will be aware schools in ERC are now using the ParentsPortal system so can we please ask if you haven’t already signed up, please use the following LINK to register as soon as possible. To those parents/carers who have attempted to sign up please be aware we are working through your queries and will be in touch shortly. We are also aware that there are currently discrepancies with doctor’s surgeries within the system, which is centrally managed. We have been alerted that there is an issue with some of the surgeries so please bear with us as we try and rectify these.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND

And finally, a little reminder that school is closed on Friday 24th and Monday 27th September for the holiday weekend.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson

Head Teacher

Good afternoon everyone

We’ve had a very warm and then very wet week at nursery. Our children have gone from requiring sun cream to needing waterproofs and clothes changed-but they have enjoyed every minute and who knows what next week will bring?

We would like to thank you for following the guidance we issued regarding Covid-19.  We respectfully remind you, and any of your child’s carers, to continue to follow the most up to date advice on wearing face coverings, unless exempt, using the gate closest to your own child’s nursery building and adhering to 1m social distancing when dropping off and picking up from nursery.  Thank you once again.

Learning Links
We hope you enjoy reading the attached ‘Learning Links’ for next week and have fun at home, or in the local area, enjoying some activities to enhance your child’s learning and play at nursery.

Our ‘Learning Links’ come from sparks of interest that our staff have noticed during observations of the children, watching how they engage, explore and play. Your child may choose to engage in some of the playful learning experiences featured in ‘Learning Links’ or they may be supported by staff responding to their own interests while playing and learn with paints, water, playdough, outdoors, creating artwork, building, drawing, through role-play and many more exciting opportunities.

Acorns Learning Links 13.9.21
Saplings Learning Links 13.9.21

Google Classroom
Next week we’ll be sharing ‘Learning Links’ via Google Classroom instead of as attachments to this email. This means you can access the suggestions at any time of your choosing.  If you haven’t had a chance to go onto Google Classroom yet or you require login details or any other help with access, please let us know and we will be happy to help.

Staff News
We are delighted to share that Mrs Joanne Greig has completed ‘Froebel in Childhood Practice Certificate’. This is a fantastic achievement as Joanne studied in the evenings, holidays and weekends in addition to working full time. We are very proud of all of our staff and the thirst for learning amongst the team. The children benefit greatly from the experiences and changes to the learning environment inspired by all of our professional learning.

Consent Forms
We ask that you return the envelope with completed Consent Forms and your child’s Personal Care Plan as soon as possible.

‘Coffee and Chat’ Sessions
Although we can’t yet meet you in person, we are going to hold our ‘Coffee and Chat’ sessions virtually and as ‘face to face’ as we can. These sessions will last for 15 minutes and will be an informal opportunity for you to meet some of the staff and also one of the nursery leadership team. We are really looking forward to sharing some general information about what our nursery day looks like and there will also be an opportunity for you to ask general questions as well. To ensure that you don’t miss any information shared at the start, we would appreciate it if you could make sure that you join the meeting promptly at the start time please.

To use Google Meet you just need to have a Google gmail account. If you already have a gmail account you can access the meeting by simply clicking on the link that we will email to you on the day of the ‘Coffee and Chat’ or, by copying and pasting the link into your internet browser (this usually works best through Chrome). If you don’t have a gmail address already, you can easily create a free Google account by clicking on the link below and then following the same instructions.

https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/webcreateaccount?flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=SignUp

We really look forward to meeting you on the following dates:

Acorn Building parents on Tuesday 28^thSept 6.30 pm-6.45pm

Sapling Building White Green Orange parents Wednesday 29^th Sept 6.30pm-6.45pm

Sapling Building Pink & Yellow Thursday 30^th Sept 6.30pm-6.45pm

Please don’t worry if you can’t make the session this time, we’ll be holding regular ‘Coffee and Chat’ sessions throughout the year.

We hope you have a really lovely weekend with your family.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Good afternoon

I would firstly like to thank our whole Netherlee school community for everyone’s efforts and partnership working, over the last couple of weeks, as we have continued to work together to follow Scottish Government’s guidance, through what has been quite a tricky, demanding and ever changing period in school.  Once again, my staff have risen to this challenging period with teachers, PSAs and all staff having to deal with Covid in their own personal lives, whilst also being determined to be able to provide work for their isolating pupils via both the school website and the children’s usual Google Classroom (GC) as well as of course also having children in front of them in class.  It is to their credit that staff are also managing to continue to have “live check ins” with our children too as we all understand the importance of this ongoing contact for our children at home.  What a staff team we have in Netherlee!

Their efforts, coupled with your own vigilance in carrying out regular twice weekly lateral flow tests at home has, quite rightly, picked up both positive (and negative) cases in your household which is in line with the high prevalence of Covid in society.  Therefore, if your child has to isolate for any reason, please remember that your child’s teacher will have placed the current class homework on GC for them to complete and they have also placed work suggestions on the school website for them, if they are well and able to work at home. Once your child’s teacher knows how long a child is going to be off for and their expected return date, they will then be able to plan and prepare the specific work for the isolation period which your child can access via their usual class Google Classroom (they don’t need a different GC code). Again, if they are well, this will enable them to continue to learn at home, in line with their class.   Office staff will of course continue to explain all of this in more detail in their emails which they send out to you when/ if you indicate to us that your child is having to isolate. However, on a very “positive” note, throughout the course of this week, we have seen a steady increase in the incidence of negative test results and I am therefore hopeful, and keeping everything crossed, that this trend will continue and things will steadily settle down.

Meet the Teacher
I hope you enjoy seeing your child’s teacher at your Meet the Teacher session.  If you are able to join the session, a wee reminder to please try to join for the prompt start time so that you don’t miss anything.  Teachers, and the appropriate stage leader from the Leadership Team, are very much looking forward to seeing you then.

Parent Council (PC)
On Wednesday evening, myself, Mrs Sweeney and Mrs Kerr joined the PC for a very productive first meeting, for this session.  Minutes of all PC meetings are available on the school website for your interest.  At the meeting, I requested some input from the PC members on 4 aspects of our School and Nursery Improvement Plan (SNIP- available on the school website) priorities.  These areas are:

• Formation of a Welcome Booklet for new families and children to Netherlee
• Conversion of our SNIP and Standards and Quality Report into child/ parent friendly formats
• Homework Review
• P7 Residential Trip

Members from the PC are very interested in helping and working with myself and the school on these 4 areas and I am sure they will be in touch soon with the wider parent forum to seek your involvement too.

That’s all from me this week, stay well, please keep safe and have a good weekend everyone.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

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)