All posts by Mrs Guy
Read Aloud 2020
This week kicks off Read Aloud 2020- a celebration of children’s reading.
This years theme ‘Get Caught Reading’ will see the pupils at St. Mark’s trying to get caught 20 times over the week to complete a special bookmark and earn house points!
We will be on the lookout in school and need your help at home too! If you catch reading, tick off the bookmark or even better- get a picture caught in the act! Don’t forget to post it on twitter and tag @StMarksPrimary1 as well using the hashtag #getcaughtreading!
We look forward to lots of catching this week!
Safer Internet Day 2020
Safer Internet Day 2020 is being celebrated globally this month with the theme: Together for a better internet.
At St. Mark’s we take digital safety very seriously and it’s important everyone knows and understands how to keep themselves safe online.
Whilst we discuss this at school this month, it is also helpful to discuss how your household keeps themselves safe online.
Why not take this quiz to see what your identity looks like online and do you feel free to be yourself?
Families Connect P1 Sessions at St. Mark’s Primary
Recently we sent out an invitation to all parents and carers within Primary 1, to join our Families Connect programme starting Monday 25th November, 3-5pm in our Family Room.
This is a great opportunity to try our free games to share as a family at home that will help your child at school.
What will I do?
- Learn and play together as a family
- Understand feelings, praise and listening
- Explore books and stories
- Play with numbers and counting
Spend time with other parents and carers
- Talk about the activities that help your children learn
- Share new games before taking them home
- Share your own advice and challenges
The sessions will run:
3pm – 4pm Parents Only (children at after school club)
4pm – 4.20pm Child and parent snack time
4.20-5pm Parent and child activity time
If you interested and haven’t already done so, please reply via the link below and we look forward to welcoming you!
Dyslexia Scotland
Wendesday 6th November
7-8.30pm
St. Clare’s Primary
‘How to help a child organise their thoughts creatively with a bullet/mind map’
Dyslexia Scotland
Dyslexia Scotland & the online ‘Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit’
Suitable for all ages
Wednesday 11th September
7-8.30pm
Mearns Castle High School
Waterfoot Road, Newton Mearns, G77 5GU
Helpers Needed!
We are looking for helpers to join us at the P7 Vocations Mass on Monday 16th September.
Pupils in P7 will travel to St Mirin’s Cathedral from St Mark’s via bus leaving at 9.15am and returning for 12.30pm.
If you are available, please click the link below:
Thank you!
Places to Play
Come along and enjoy some play time with your family and take part in some activities including den building, tig games and art with nature.
We are running some places to play sessions in various areas in Barrhead, see information below:
| Venue | Day | Date | Times |
| Cowan Park (meet at band stand) | Wednesday | 28th August 2019 | 4.00-6.00pm |
| Dunterlie RC (Meet at resource centre) | Thursday | 19th September 2019 | 5.30-7.30pm |
| ABC Park (Aurs Dr, meet at play park) | Saturday | 21st September 2019 | 12 noon to 2.00pm |
Come along to any of the sessions, enjoy the outdoors and have some fun.
Parents/carers must stay with the children!
Please wear outdoor clothing and feel free to bring a snack
For any more information contact:
Kerry Cameron – Community Worker
Tel No: 0141 577 3099
Email: Kerry.cameron@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Look forward to seeing you!
Early Learning and Childcare Open Day
Saturday 7 September 2019
Find out more about your nursery and childminding options
From August 2020, the Scottish Government is increasing the number of funded hours your child can get in Early Learning and Childcare from 600 hours to 1,140 hours a year, giving you more choice on when and where you use it. The increase in funded hours will be available to all three and four year olds and some two year olds.
So join us to find out more about what this means for you – and also enjoy fun activities and refreshments.
Staff from East Renfrewshire Council and all our funded providers, including nurseries and childminders, will be on hand to give you lots of information about which setting could best suit the needs of you, your child and your family.
Where: Carlibar Primary School, Barrhead Road
When: 10am – 1pm
Parent Partnership Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the Parent Partnership will take place on 12th Sep at 7pm in St Marks. If you have any items for the agenda, please get in touch no later than Wed 5th Sep.
Auchenback Get Together
Free Activities
This month’s theme is:
Safety at home and in the community
See a fire engine, have a chat with a Community Warden and enjoy free refreshments.
Arthurlie Family Centre (Harry Burns), Auburn Drive Wednesday 21 August
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Kerry Cameron (Community Worker) 0141 577 3099 / 07788643626
School Entry 2019-2020
Following the Letter previously sent out, as from Wednesday 15th August 2019 we will no longer be in a position for Early Entry into school. Pupils should instead line up in the front playground for entry into school at 9.00am.
Primary 1 and Primary 2 pupils will line up at the top of the front playground next to the bike shelter.
Primary 3 – Primary 7 will line up in the middle front playground at the basketball nets.
Class teachers will take classes in one at a time after the 9am bell.
The Early Bird Club will still be available from 8.00am until 9.00am free of charge, however entry into the Early Bird Club will not be available after 8.30am.
Yours sincerely,
Natalie Fitzsimmons
Head Teacher
Summer Reading Challenge
The Summer Reading challenge is a great way to keep children reading during the school holidays. Children can sign up at the library, then read six library books to complete the Challenge. There are exclusive rewards to collect along the way, and it’s FREE to take part! …
Please visit the libraries website https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/Activities-Children to find out about Fun for all the Family with
- Stories
- Sci-Fi Labs
- Space Crafts
- Virtual Reality
- Space Training
- Alien Hunts and more.
All ages welcome, free, contact the library to book your interest
Many Thanks
Mary T.Dickie
Library Development Officer
East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Limited
Phone: 0141 577 3513 Mobile: 07341 096645
Celebrations of the Church’s year
This Sunday, 23rd June, marks one of the major celebrations of the Church’s year, the great Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. All over the world on this day, faithful members of the Church gather to remember and give thanks for the many blessings given by God and in particular, the great gift of his own body and blood which we receive in Holy Communion. This belief in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is one of the central beliefs of our faith and rightly we remember it with joy.
To mark this special day, all over the world, parishes hold Blessed Sacrament processions, sometimes through the streets of towns, villages and even cities. This ancient tradition we continue in our own parish here in Barrhead with a procession around the grounds of the church, starting at the end of the 10am Mass. You are most welcome to come along and join us and a particular invitation is extended to the children and families of those who received the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation this year. The procession ends with refreshments in the parish hall.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday as we celebrate Mass and walk in procession in honour of the Lord our God and His many gifts to us.
May God bless you all.
Fr Joe Burke
Parish Priest
Sports Day UPDATE
Due to weather, the ground us very wet and with more rain being forecast for throughout the day, races will not be able to take place outside.
Pupils will complete activities in the hall but unfortunately we will not have room to accommodate spectators.
Apologies for the inconvenience.
Parental Involvement and Engagement Census
East Renfrewshire Council and its educational establishments undertake regular periodic surveys of parents and carers. Such surveys support school and local authority improvement planning and provide an opportunity for parents to share their thoughts on current and future involvement and engagement with schools.
Similar practice is undertaken by all local authorities in Scotland and educational establishments under their control. In order to rationalise this approach to surveying parents/carers and in order to allow comparable consistent data to be collected nationally, which will assist in evaluating the impact of interventions and programmes and support future policy development, every parent/carer of a school pupil in Scotland is being invited to take part in the national Parental Involvement and Engagement Census pilot.
Only one parent/carer per child will receive an email which will include a link to the survey and it is only necessary to complete the survey once per family, per school. The survey should take no longer than ten minutes to complete and will remain open until 27 June 2019.
The data gathered will be used for statistical and research purposes and will provide East Renfrewshire Council and its schools with information to help:
- plan, monitor and deliver better policies for the benefit of all,
- identify and share best practice,
- better understand some of the factors which influence parental involvement and engagement with our schools,
- further enhance positive relationships with parents to secure positive outcomes for our children.
The information collected will also be securely shared with the Scottish Government to assist in evaluating the impact of national interventions and programmes and to support future policy development at a national level.
Further information on the collection and how the Education Department and Scottish Government will process the data collected is provided in the Council’s privacy statement and Scottish Government website:
https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=24585&p=0
https://www.gov.scot/publications/parental-involvement-and-engagement-census/
Should you have any further questions, please contact the Education Department:
Education Department
Council Headquarters
Eastwood Park
Giffnock
East Renfrewshire
G46 6UG
0141 577 3229
customerservices@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Thank you for taking part in this survey collection.
Aye Mind- Mental Health & Wellbeing
We were lucky enough to have Frankie, one of our St. Mark’s Parents come in during our Health week to talk with P5-P7 about the importance of mental health and wellbeing. Pupils were asked to think about what they would do if they were sad, worried, anxious and ways in which they can help others who feel that way.
The pupils then created posters, GIFs and even stop motion animations to share their thoughts.
Free Swimming Lessons
Is your child 5 years or older? Would you be interested in free swimming lessons for them? There are set dates again for the next SSTQ course which are being run by SS again for 18 of our existing teachers who will upskilling to a higher swimming qualification.
The dates are as follows:- 15, 16, 22, 23 July, 5 & 6 August.
Times as follows:- 11.30 – 12.00, 12.00-12.30, 12.30 -1.00 or 1.00 – 1.30.
We are looking for children to come for FREE lessons again on 15,16,22 & 23 July and 5 & 6 August.
We are looking for 5 years plus for these dates and the lessons are for 30mins. You can book in for as many as you wish, but we would not recommend that a child is in for no more than 1hour at a time on 1 given date.
If you are interested put their name down at Barrhead Foundry or call in with their details to 580 1174.
SmartSTEM free family event
SmartSTEMs are very excited to announce we are supporting the first Insp-Hire Event hosted by Nine Twenty on Saturday the 14th of September at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Come along and help up spread the word by sharing with – Colleague’s, students, friends, family and your school network.
Insp-Hire is an initiative geared towards targeting parents or guardians of children and young people (age 4-14) to learn about industry 4 and how this will impact their children.
We have inspirational speakers including Gillian Docherty from Data Lab, an amazing interactive exhibition space with virtual reality, digital twinning, 3D printers, electric vehicles and more plus 10 workshops where both parent and child can interact together to learn to solve a cyber security attack, code Lego and build your own Fitbit to name a few.
We have a routes to success area which shows the different paths you can take to reach your goals along with soft skills sessions.
On top of this, there will be a food and drink arena showcasing some of Scotland’s finest food and drink manufacturers with brief presentations on how their products are made.
To top it all off….this event is FREE of charge and a great day out for families.
Sign up to attend here https://insp-hire.eventbrite.co.uk
Kind Regards
Team SmartSTEMs
#CollabIsKey
#InspHire
Parental Involvement and Engagement Census
East Renfrewshire Council and its educational establishments undertake regular periodic surveys of parents and carers. Such surveys support school and local authority improvement planning and provide an opportunity for parents to share their thoughts on current and future involvement and engagement with schools.
Similar practice is undertaken by all local authorities in Scotland and educational establishments under their control. In order to rationalise this approach to surveying parents/carers and in order to allow comparable consistent data to be collected nationally, which will assist in evaluating the impact of interventions and programmes and support future policy development, every parent/carer of a school pupil in Scotland is being invited to take part in the national Parental Involvement and Engagement Census pilot.
Only one parent/carer per child will receive an email which will include a link to the survey and it is only necessary to complete the survey once per family, per school. The survey should take no longer than ten minutes to complete and will remain open until 27 June 2019.
The data gathered will be used for statistical and research purposes and will provide East Renfrewshire Council and its schools with information to help:
- plan, monitor and deliver better policies for the benefit of all,
- identify and share best practice,
- better understand some of the factors which influence parental involvement and engagement with our schools,
- further enhance positive relationships with parents to secure positive outcomes for our children.
The information collected will also be securely shared with the Scottish Government to assist in evaluating the impact of national interventions and programmes and to support future policy development at a national level.
Further information on the collection and how the Education Department and Scottish Government will process the data collected is provided in the Council’s privacy statement and Scottish Government website:
https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=24585&p=0
https://www.gov.scot/publications/parental-involvement-and-engagement-census/
Should you have any further questions, please contact the Education Department:
Education Department
Council Headquarters
Eastwood Park
Giffnock
East Renfrewshire
G46 6UG
0141 577 3229
customerservices@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Thank you for taking part in this survey collection.
