Hello everyone

Book Sale
We are delighted to let you know that our recent Book Sale has raised more than £3,000 in proceeds for the school to spend on books and reading resources for our pupils. Many thanks to all our staff members who helped to co-ordinate the ordering and distribution of books, and of course a huge thank you to our parents and carers for supporting this. We hope all children who received a book, very much enjoyed reading it.

Parent Council (PC) Meeting
The next meeting of the Parent Council will take place virtually on Wednesday 16^th February at 7pm. All parents/ carers who have a child in Netherlee are always welcome to attend any PC meeting. If you would like to come along to the next meeting, please click on this link to find out how to do so. The link will also take you to the PC section on the website where you will be able to view minutes of previous meetings.

Tooth Brushing [P1/2 ONLY]
Please find attached a letter from Childsmile regarding the tooth brushing programme.

Choir [P6/7 ONLY]
Please find attached a letter regarding the school choir.
P6-7 Choir

Please also see separate emails sent earlier today regarding the East Renfrewshire Council parent survey and extra-curricular clubs [CLUBS TO P3-P7 ONLY].

I hope you have a lovely, long weekend holiday. We will be here, looking forward to seeing everyone back in school again, on Wednesday 9^th February.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Dear parent/carer,

If you have a child in the following classes: P3, P5 or P6c, there will be an additional email for you to read.

Bonjour, guten tag, buon giorno and dzien dobry!
We’re delighted to share with you that our school and nursery children and staff will be celebrating all things ‘languages’ during Languages Week Scotland which will take place next week, from Monday 31^st January until Thursday 3^rd February. We launched Languages Week Scotland at our whole school assembly on Wednesday, where lots of pupils and staff shared their multi-lingual talents with over fifteen different languages being spoken and shared! The children will also be learning about many different cultures and traditions as well as the many lifelong benefits that learning another language brings.  There is great excitement too, as we will be building our own Chinese Dragon to celebrate Chinese New Year on the 1^st February and can’t wait to see it dance its way around Netherlee! At assembly, we also thoroughly enjoyed 2 of our children telling us about their own family traditions during Chinese New Year and even showing everyone a Chinese lantern and the beautiful clothes they wear.  We always look for opportunities to link the learning experiences in Netherlee to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’s rights and Languages Week will therefore focus on “…children have the right to an education, a right to speak their own language and the right to belong to a country…”. It’ll be an exciting week full of fun and engaging learning opportunities including songs, games, quizzes, research tasks and much more! Please keep a look out on our school and nursery Twitter feed at @sand_nc next week to join in the fun!

Scottish Government Guidance and Advice
We respectfully remind everyone that current advice states “You are also advised to wear a face covering outdoors in crowded places, and especially in places where people gather.”  We of course appreciate that some people may be exempt from doing so however we very much appreciate your support with helping everyone to keep safe by wearing a face covering at busy drop off and pick up times.  We have had a couple of questions from parents in relation to when a PCR test should be taken.  The NHS guidance is, if anyone has Covid symptoms (new continuous cough; high temperature; or a loss of, or change in normal sense of taste and smell) then they should book a PCR test.  Lateral flow tests are used as a way of identifying positive cases in people who do not have symptoms and should be used routinely twice a week.  I hope this helps.  For ease, this link https://www.nhsinform.scot/  will take you to the latest COVID-19 guidance from NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government- thank you for your help and support.

Free Bus Travel for Children and Young People
An exciting new scheme launched in the New Year. From 31 January 2022, all young people living in Scotland aged between 5 and 21 years will be eligible for free bus travel within Scotland. You will need to apply for a Young Scot National Entitlement Card via ParentsPortal.  Parents who have yet to sign up can do so here. This video explains the process: https://youtu.be/p4F-G-kzbNo.

In-service Day and Holiday Weekend
Just a little reminder that we have an In-service day on Friday 4^th Feb (only staff to attend) and, like you I’m sure, we are looking forward to the long holiday weekend on Monday 7^th Feb. and Tuesday 8^th Feb.  We will look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Wednesday 9^th.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Netherlee Primary School

Hello everyone

As the mornings and evenings start to become lighter, in nursery we are all looking for the first signs of spring such as bulbs growing, birds singing and brighter weather. Some of the children on extended hours have noticed the difference in their evenings at nursery too- they don’t think it’s bedtime at 3.45pm anymore!

Recycling/Reusing
Have you had a clear out lately? We are always really grateful of bits and bobs that we can use for crafts in nursery. Children are so imaginative and use a variety of boxes, packaging, buttons etc. to create masterpieces. Your old shoebox may be rubbish to you, or a piece of old ribbon may no longer be useful at home but to a child these items may be a treasure chest or a fishing rod and are really appreciated by us in nursery.  Thank you.

Chinese New Year
We’re looking forward to lots of celebration during the week ahead as children learn more about Chinese New Year. We’ll try some stir-fried vegetables and noodles and will be challenged while using chopsticks
Netherlee Primary School’s pupil led Diversity and Equalities group has kindly invited nursery children to be part of a Chinese New Year Dragon Dance on Tuesday 1^st Feb.
Mrs Greig and Mrs Flower, our resident Bookbug leaders, will post on Google Classroom a special Chinese New Year Bookbug session on Thursday to celebrate the Chinese Zodiac ‘Year of the Tiger’.  Look out on Twitter to get a snapshot of all this fun!

Scottish Government Guidance
We would respectfully remind you that face coverings continue to be required in outdoor crowded places, such as school and nursery gates and entrances.
We of course appreciate that some people may be exempt from doing so however very much appreciate that, if you are not exempt, you help everyone to keep safe by wearing a face covering at busy drop off and pick up times.  For latest COVID-19 guidance from NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government, including ongoing protective measures, how to get a COVID test and how/ when to self-isolate. https://www.nhsinform.scot/

Nursery Menu
Nursery lunches are proving very popular with our children. We’ve even had children running after Michelle, our cook, to thank her for the lovely food! Michelle has really established herself as a very popular member of our nursery team in a very short time. We are so grateful for the time and thought she puts in to making sure that our hot lunches are both delicious and nutritious.  Our nursery menu is available: https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/nursery-menu
The first day back after any holiday is always Monday’s menu for that week. Normal menu days follow thereafter during the week.
We would like to remind you that we have an In-service day on Friday 4^th Feb (only staff to attend) and are on holiday Monday 7^th Feb and Tuesday 8^th Feb.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) & Angela Kerr (PT)

Good afternoon

Nursery Uniform
We will be ordering nursery uniform on Friday 18th Feb, this is of course entirely optional. If you would like to place an order, please complete the online order form here. If you are having any issue with the form please contact our office via NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk for a hardcopy. We also have some ‘lightly used’ age 3-4 uniform available to take from the table outside the Sapling Building if you would prefer this option- please just help yourself!

RSPB Big Garden/School Birdwatch 2022
We’ve been busy this week preparing for the Big School Birdwatch by making birdfeeders to attract lots of visitors. Our avid birdwatchers have been making their very own binoculars from cardboard tubes, ready for our birdwatching week.

You can join in Big Garden Birdwatch as it is for everyone, whether you’re a complete beginner or a birding expert. Simply count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour between 28^th and 30^th January 2022. Further information about the survey is available here: RSPB .

Children in nursery love this opportunity to identify different types of birds and learn about collecting information through crosses, ticks or marks to represent numbers.

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

Please remember too of course that we are all here as well, so please just speak to us if we can help with anything at all.

Holiday
We would like to remind you that Friday 4^th Feb is an Inservice Day (staff attend only) and Monday 7^th Feb and Tuesday 8^th Feb are holidays.

Coming Soon
Mrs Morton and Mrs Heron are preparing for our next block of Woodland Adventures, beginning in February. We’ll let you know shortly the dates your child will be going on an adventure in Linn Park.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Good afternoon everyone

Lots of Learning Happening in Netherlee…?
We have had a really good week in school, with the number of positive cases continuing to fall each day. Thank you greatly for your ongoing vigilance with following all testing and isolation guidance. As a reminder, if your child is lateral flow testing negative first thing in the morning on day 6, and 24 hours later on day 7, your child is more than welcome to return to school. The children are settled and working hard in all aspects of the curriculum and school life. We have lots of exciting and very interesting learning taking place and I would urge you to join us on our Twitter Feed to share lots of this with us. All children from across the school are busy working as the Pupil Parliament, led by our P7 School Councillors, on their new missions and campaigns, chosen by them for this term. I’m sure if you ask your child about this, they will be able to let you know what they are working on just now or again, visit us on Twitter in the coming weeks to find out more. We also have classes getting ready to follow some Scottish recipes in preparation for Burns Day and their Scottish Topics that they have been enjoying in class and some children are getting involved in RSPB Big Garden/School Birdwatch 2022. All families can join in with the Big Garden Birdwatch as it is for everyone, whether you’re a complete beginner or a birding expert. Simply help your child to count the birds you see in your garden, from your window or balcony or in your local park for one hour between 28 and 30 January 2022. Further information about the survey is available here: RSPB. We would love to see your own Tweets about this, please remember to tag @sand_nc, so we can share your fun with you.

School Uniform
We have now returned to placing our Big Red Uniform Donations Box outside the main front door, just at the top of the steps. As before, we would appreciate you dropping off any washed, good quality and pre-loved uniform items that your child has outgrown or no longer needs. We will then sort these and have them available for you to help yourself from our Uniform Recycling Rails. From Monday, please just pop up at any time throughout each week, whenever you have any such items to donate- thank you from all children and families and also from the environment too! Please have a read of the leaflet from the PTA regarding new badged uniform sale and our pre-loved rail.

P1 Burns Night ONLY
More information regarding P1 making cranachan can be found here.

P2a and P2b Burns Night ONLY
To celebrate Burns Night, children in Primary 2 will be exploring Scottish cuisine by making their own Cranachan. The recipe includes:

• Oats
• Double cream
• Honey
• Raspberries

If you would not like your child to take part in this, or if you have any questions, please contact the school office before Tuesday 25^th January to let us know.

P4 Shortbread ONLY
More information regarding P4 making shortbread can be found here.

Have a good weekend and remember to get in touch with us via SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or call us on 0141 570 7260, if you have anything you would like to discuss with a member of staff or if you have any questions that we can help with.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Good afternoon everyone

Uniform Recycling
I can confirm that our recycled uniform rails continue to be put out for parents to view, and take away, items every Friday at the Clarkston Road Gate at the following times below.  These items are all in very good condition and are for you to take away for your child to use.  The items are free of charge and we would really encourage you to drop by and have a look as recycling not only helps our children and families but also helps the environment too.

P1-3  8.50am- 9am (smaller items)
4-7 3pm – 3.10pm  (middle and larger sizes)

Chinese New Year
Some school staff and a group of pupils are currently planning activities for us to learn about and celebrate Chinese New Year. Do you and your family celebrate Chinese New Year? If so, would you be willing to share what you do to mark this occasion? This could be by providing some photographs, sharing a video or even speaking to classes over Google Meet. If you are interested, please email Mr Bryce using SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk who will be delighted to have a chat with you. Thank you for helping us to learn more about, and celebrate, the many cultures that make up the Netherlee community.

Coronavirus 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.

Parent Council December Meeting Highlights
Please click on the following link which will take you to the Parent Council’s December Meeting Highlights.

New Parenting Programme
We have been asked to share that an online Psychology of Parenting Programme (PoPP) is starting at the end of January.  This council run programme is aimed at parents of children aged 2-8 however, they can also direct all parents, regardless of the age of the child, to useful resources and information.  PoPP helps parents develop strategies to support their children’s behaviour and development. PoPP can give you simple tips to help manage the big and small challenges of family life such as tantrums, bedtime routines or fussy eating.  For more information, or to book a place, call Samantha on 07393752548 or email Popp@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Good afternoon everyone

We’ve really enjoyed listening to the squeals of delight, laughter and fun that the children have had during their first full week back.

Dressing for Nursery
We would ask that your child dresses in layers for coming to nursery for both indoor and outdoor play. A cardigan, hoodie or jumper over a top, dress or t-shirt can be easily removed should your child become too warm indoors. Windows are open in both buildings throughout the day to provide adequate ventilation and reduce the risk of infection.  For outdoor play wellies/boots, a warm jacket/waterproof suit, hat and gloves are the most suitable outdoor clothing for nursery as children often explore and experiment with mud, ice and water.  Thank you.

Chinese New Year
Some school staff and a group of pupils are currently planning activities for us to learn about and celebrate Chinese New Year. Do you and your family celebrate Chinese New Year? If so, would you be willing to share what you do to mark this occasion? This could be by providing some photographs, sharing a video or even speaking to classes over Google Meet. If you are interested, please email Mr Bryce using SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk who will be delighted to speak with you.  Thank you for helping us to learn more about, and celebrate, the range of cultures that make up the Netherlee community.

Coronavirus 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.   You can find out how to stay safe and protect your family and the people around you by clicking on the link:  parentclub.scot/topics/coronavirus.

Learning Links
The latest weekly ‘Learning Links’ is in your child’s Google Classroom. Our ‘Learning Links’ gives an insight into some of the play experiences your child may choose to engage in while at nursery. If you require Glow Login details or need any help with accessing Google Classroom, please just let us know.

Application for P1 Places
We would like to remind you that applications for all children who are due to start P1 in August 2022 need to be made via the East Renfrewshire Council website before 21 January 2022. If you intend to defer your child’s entry to P1 you are still required to make an application for P1 and also complete the deferral application.  The links to apply for a primary 1 place and also a deferral application are available on the council website by clicking the link: https://eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1

Email Communication 
We would kindly ask that when emailing the nursery, that you email nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk.  This is to ensure messages get passed onto the correct people as quickly as possible.

Parent Council December Meeting Highlights
Please click on the following link which will take you to the Parent Council’s December Meeting Highlights.

New Parenting Programme
We have been asked to share that an online Psychology of Parenting Programme (PoPP) is starting at the end of January.  PoPP helps parents develop strategies to support their children’s behaviour and development. PoPP can give you simple tips to help manage the big and small challenges of family life such as tantrums, bedtime routines or fussy eating.  For more information, or to book a place, call Samantha on 07393752548 or email Popp@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT & Angela Kerr (PT)

Hello everyone and happy new year.

We have had a busy return to school and nursery this week and it has been lovely to see our children return with such enthusiasm and happiness at being back in Netherlee for the new term.

As was expected, we have had a number of children, families and staff affected by the ongoing situation with Covid.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as my amazing, conscientious staff worked hard to manage this, including the changes to isolation and testing procedures announced by the Scottish Government on Wednesday.  This, as well as waking up to the heavy snow this morning which although beautiful, added another level of organisation to consider.  Thank you so much to all staff who simply “mucked in” and helped out to ensure that everything was running smoothly for the children’s arrival.

Thank you to all parents/carers for your ongoing, and greatly appreciated, support with helping everyone to stay safe and well at drop off and collection times by continuing to wear a face mask, unless not required to do so, and also for socially distancing in busy areas around the school and nursery.

P1 and P2 Collection Times ONLY
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and understanding with the arrangements currently in place for the staggered collection times at the end of the school day for our P1 and P2 children.  It is always our intention to keep our arrangements under constant review whilst following Covid mitigations and, as such, we are now in a position to be able to alter our collection times for P1 and P2. Therefore, as of Monday (10^th), our P1 and P2 children will finish school at 3.10pm. This will reduce the waiting time at the end of the day, for those parents and carers with older children, from 15 minutes to 5 minutes.  P2 children, with no siblings, will continue to exit from the front gate of the school building as they have been doing. To ensure the statutory amount of teaching time is maintained, the lunch break for P1 and P2 children will be increased from 45 minutes to 55 minutes (12.30pm until 1.25pm).  We hope this new arrangement will help you and would kindly ask that adults and children leave the school grounds immediately once your child/ren have been collected.   We know that you will understand the need to keep these arrangements under ongoing review, in line with any new mitigations that may come from the Scottish Government.  We would kindly remind you to adhere to the current Scottish Government guidance regarding 2m social distancing and the wearing of masks as it is a priority to keep everyone as safe as possible during this time.

Please do get in touch if there is anything we can help you, or your child, with or if you would simply like to speak to a member of staff.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Hello everyone and happy new year.

We have had a busy return to school and nursery this week and it has been lovely to see our children return with such enthusiasm and happiness at being back in Netherlee for the new term.

As was expected, we have had a number of children, families and staff affected by the ongoing situation with Covid.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as my amazing, conscientious staff worked hard to manage this, including the changes to isolation and testing procedures announced by the Scottish Government on Wednesday.  This, as well as waking up to the heavy snow this morning which although beautiful, added another level of organisation to consider.  Thank you so much to all staff who simply “mucked in” and helped out to ensure that everything was running smoothly for the children’s arrival.

Thank you to all parents/carers for your ongoing, and greatly appreciated, support with helping everyone to stay safe and well at drop off and collection times by continuing to wear a face mask, unless not required to do so, and also for socially distancing in busy areas around the school and nursery.

Please do get in touch if there is anything we can help you, or your child, with or if you would simply like to speak to a member of staff.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

Netherlee Primary School and Nursery Class

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)

Dear Parent/Carer,

Our nursery children are bursting with excitement as we near some special dates in our nursery year.

Christmas Sing A-Long
Our Sing A-Longs next week are for Sapling children on Monday 13^th and Wednesday 15^th  Dec at 9.30am in the Outdoor Classroom. We ask you to enter through the gate beside the Acorns building. One of the nursery staff will be at the Acorn’s gate to welcome you.

The Acorn children will share their Sing A-long on Monday 20^th and Wednesday 22^nd December at 9.30am in the Outdoor Classroom.

We respectfully ask that one adult per child watches each Sing A-Long to ensure that everyone can safely social distance.

Christmas Parties
All children attending on Wednesday 15^th Dec in both buildings will be able to join in our Christmas Party fun by playing lots of games such as ‘Pass the Parcel’, ‘Statues’, ‘Christmas Corners’ and ‘Hokey Cokey’. We will have a small party snack in the morning consisting of a Jammy Dodger, a few Pom Bears and fruit all accompanied by sugar free diluting juice. We invite children to wear their party clothes on Wednesday if they would like to.

Sapling children will party after their Christmas Sing A-Long. If you require your child to be changed into their party clothes after the Sing A-Long, just let us know at drop off time.

We have requested that a very special guest, with a bright red suit and a white beard, takes some time out from his workshop to visit during our Christmas Party. Fingers crossed he hears us all singing ‘Jingle Bells’ and knows where we are!

We will have another Christmas Party on Monday 20^th December.

If your child doesn’t normally attend on a Monday or a Wednesday we would love to invite them to join in with our parties (please speak to Mrs Greig or Mrs Kerr).

Car Parking
Car parking for visitors and parents is available in Netherlee Pavilion Car Park. From here visitors and parents can easily access the gate nearest to the Acorn or Sapling building. The Staff Car Park should only be used by staff. We ask you to share this with family members or carers who drop off or pick up nursery children. Designated Blue Badge spaces help those with disabilities or health conditions park closer to their destination. We ask you to be mindful of parking to ensure that the car park is accessible for all users.

Staying Safe
The Scottish Government has worked with Parent Club to develop information to understand more about what to do if your child develops symptoms of Covid-19 or a common cold. We ask you to read the attached and follow this link for further information: Parent Club Scotland

Applications for P1
We’ve been asked to share that applications for all children who are due to start P1 in August 2022, need to be made via the East Renfrewshire Council website before 21 January 2022.  If you intend to defer your child’s entry to P1 we would like to remind you to still make an application for P1 and complete the deferral application too.

The links to apply for a primary 1 place and also a deferral application are available on the council website by clicking the link: https://eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1

Twelve Days of Christmas
As part of the school and nursery celebration of #NetherleesTwelveDaysofChristmas we will be taking some of the children to sing outside Linn Park Court Sheltered Housing on Friday 17th December. We are looking forward to seeing some of the residents at their windows and spreading some festive joy.

We thank Mrs McBride for organising this event. You will be able to see a short video clip of our singing on Monday 20^th December on Twitter @sand_nc.

Parent Council Meeting (All Parent and Carers are Very Welcome)
The next Parent Council Meeting will take place, virtually, on Wednesday 15^th December at 7pm.  You can see the agenda, as well as information about how you can come along, by clicking on this link here.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Angela Kerr (PT)

Netherlee Primary School
East Renfrewshire
0141 570 7260

Hello everyone

Attachments this week:

PC Meeting Agenda 15.12.21

Firstly, please see an exciting message below from our House Councillors:

Dear Parents and Carers,
We are very excited to let you know that we have planned our first WINNING HOUSE EVENT which will take place on Friday 17^th December. The overall winning house for this term will be announced at our assemblies next week and then we will share the exciting news about what we have planned for them as a reward. It’s going to be so much fun!  All pupils who are members of the winning house (but only them J), can wear their house coloured top next Friday too.
Thank you very much,  Netherlee’s P7 House Councillors

Parent Council Meeting (All Parent and Carers are Very Welcome)
The next Parent Council Meeting will take place, virtually, on Wednesday 15th December at 7pm.  You can see the agenda, as well as information about how you can come along, by clicking on this link here.

Early Finish on Wednesday 22^nd December
School will close slightly earlier than usual on this day.  P1 and P2 will finish at 2.15pm and P3-7 will finish at 2.30pm.

P1 and P2 parents only, please note that we had always intended to review the staggered, earlier exit times for our P1 and P2 children in January, as things had steadily been getting back to a more normal way of life.  We had hoped to be able to let you know that we were shortening the gap for this from the start of next term.  However, in light of the uncertainty around the new Covid Variant, we will continue with the current times (P1 and P2 at 3pm) for the first two days back (5th and 6th) and will then hopefully be able to confirm with you, fingers crossed, that we can indeed reduce the staggered period.  Please be reassured however that we will require to still have a short staggered element for P1 and P2 leaving at the end of the day.

Car Parking
I would respectfully remind everyone that the staff car park should only be used by Netherlee staff. As you will understand, Netherlee is a very large school and nursery and the car park is only just large enough to accommodate staff cars.  Unfortunately, in recent weeks there has been an increasing number of parents, carers, or extended family members, parking in the staff car park either in disabled bays or in front of the fire exit near the kitchen and Gym Hall doors, or very close to the gate, making it extremely difficult to exit the car park safely.

Car parking for visitors and parents/carers is available in the Netherlee Pavilion Car Park. I have been asked to highlight the increasingly concerning situation where-
a large number of parents are dropping off or collecting children before and after school but, instead of parking in a parking bay at the Pavilion, they are pulling up and stopping at the corner nearest to the school. This causes a line of cars, which can be 4/5 deep, in front of the parking bays, therefore making getting out of the parking bay difficult and this in itself causes congestion as bays are occupied for longer than they require to be. 

The Pavilion Car Park does not belong to the school, or nursery, and we therefore have no jurisdiction over its use however, I would ask everyone to be very mindful of parking safely and considerately there too.

P7 Transition Visits to WWHS
We have been advised that our P7s will have two inductions days where the children will attend at Williamwood.  These will take place on the 8th and 9th June, with more information to follow in the coming months.  There will also be an information night for parents, however date and times are still to be confirmed and we will let you know this information as soon as we have it.

Festive Fun 
We have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming our P2 parents to the Outdoor Classroom to hear their excited, happy children sing some lovely festive songs and we can’t wait to do the same with our P1 children and parents next week too.  Thank you to the PTA for contributing towards the cost of the Christmas parties and also our Winning House Event next Friday.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher

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
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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)

Hello everyone

Attachments this week:
Netherlee Living Advent
Xmas menu 21

We’ll have lots of excitement in the nursery over the next week as the decorations, trees and festive preparations get under way.

St Andrew’s Day
On Tuesday 30^th November children are invited to wear a little tartan if they would like to (please don’t worry as we have some spare) as we celebrate St Andrew’s Day by singing and listening to traditional music, having a Scottish snack and joining in some simple ceilidh dancing.

Welcome
We would like to say a huge Netherlee welcome to Mrs Emma Dowdall, a temporary member of staff, who will work in Saplings on Thursday and Friday each week. While staff work with all of the children it will be lovely for Mrs Dowdall to take on the role as keyworker with the Green Group on Thursday and Friday. Mrs Dowdall was really excited to have started yesterday and got straight in to playing and learning alongside our children.

P1 Applications for School
Online applications for starting P1 in August 2022 can be made from 1 December 2021. Please click on the link for more information and to apply: https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/apply-for-p1. Some parents may decide to defer their child starting school until August 2023. Should you wish to defer your child you are asked to complete the online application form and indicate this there.

Masks and Social Distancing
We thank you for continuing to protect our staff and other adults at pick up and drop off time by wearing a mask and social distancing. These measures are helping us all to stay safe.

Special Books
We know that you’ve enjoyed sharing the Special Books by the wonderful comments you’ve written in them. We thank you for being so appreciative of all the hard work our staff put in to ensuring that every child is supported, nurtured and challenged while at nursery.  If you’ve not yet had time to return the Special Book we really do need it back to continue your child’s learning story. Thank you.

Netherlee Living Advent
We are delighted to be joining in this local community event once again this year. Our school and nursery will be joining in the festive fun by unveiling windows on 1^st December. Our nursery window will be able to be viewed from Linn Park Ave in the Acorn building. More information can be found in the attachment.

Thank You!
A big thank for your contributions to our Nursery Fund  which have helped with funding some of the presents from Santa. We are so grateful for every penny donated as this helps us to provide parties, baking, playdough etc for our children.  We want to say a huge thank you to our Netherlee PTA for their generous contribution towards buying presents and party snacks for during the festive period as well.

Christmas Lunch
Children are in for a treat on Friday 17^th December as our lovely nursery catering staff, Michelle & Denise, will be cooking our first ever Christmas Lunch. There’s no need to order this special lunch as this will be the option on Friday 17^th December.

Next Friday we’ll be in touch about festive events as we count down to Christmas…. have a lovely weekend.

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

Hello again everyone

Attachments/ Links this week are:
Netherlee Living Advent

Christmas Lunch
We will be having our Christmas Lunch on Friday 17 December 2021. If your child would like to have Christmas Lunch please use the link below to place an order. For those who do not wish the Christmas lunch option, we will have sandwiches and baguettes on offer too. To order a Christmas Lunch please use the link below by no later than Thursday 2^nd December 2021. Xmas lunch order form

St Andrew’s Day
On Tuesday 30^th November children are invited to, if they would like, wear a little tartan with their uniform to celebrate and recognise St Andrew’s Day.

Netherlee Living Advent
We are delighted to be joining in this local community event once again this year. Our school and nursery will be joining in the festive fun by unveiling windows on 1^st December. Our P1 window will be able to be viewed from the Hub windows. More information can be found in the attached poster.

End of Term Countdown
Next Friday, we’ll be in touch about our festive events as we count down to both “The 8 Days of Hanukkah” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as well as lots of other exciting things happening in school in the run up to the end of term.

Acts of Kindness and Appreciation
Every year we are overwhelmed by the kindness extended to us by way of the giving of Christmas gifts from families to staff. While we would never presume, nor wish, to dictate what anyone does in this regard, we are aware that this time of year can present many challenges even more so in the current, and ongoing, situation we all continue to experience due to the pandemic, and whilst so many are facing challenging financial times.  Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that a kind word in a card or email would be so lovely to receive right now instead and would be very much valued and appreciated by us all.  We hope you don’t mind us mentioning this to you but just wanted to express our thoughts to you.

Pupil Councillors’ House and Local Charity Event (Friday 3^rd December 2021)
Please see letter attached regarding this event.

PTA Discos (P2-P4)
More information will follow this afternoon from the PTA regarding discos for P2, P3 and P4.

Book Sale
The children have enjoyed visiting the Book Sale this week. There is absolutely no obligation for an order to be placed however, if you would like the book(s) to be ordered for your child, we ask parents to login to ParentPay to make payment through the Book Sale item which will be set with a maximum limit of £20. We also ask that your child returns their wish list slip, ticked with the book(s) you have ordered and paid for 3rd December. Please note that we will only order books once payment has been received via ParentPay and therefore the decision to purchase any books is entirely optional.

Wishing all families a really lovely weekend.

Mrs Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School
East Renfrewshire

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