Tag Archives: Parental Involvement

Colour Run 21st September

This is a family colour run open to all.  Pupils of St. Thomas’ Primary will receive a free ticket in exchange for a sponsor form – these tickets will be given out tomorrow.
Everyone attending the colour run must have a ticket – parents/carers can purchase these at pta-events.co.uk/stthomaspta

Children 12 and under should be accompanied by a responsible adult for the duration of their time at the Colour Fest and remain the responsibility of that adult at all times.

The colour powder to be used has been certified as non-toxic and should wash out from clothing.  Nevertheless, as a precaution, we recommend that old clothes and shoes should be worn along with sunglasses or goggles to protect eyes.  Pale clothing will show off the colours better and we have plain and specially-printed white t-shirts available to buy on the website should you wish to do so.

Children and adults with respiratory issues such as asthma are recommended to ensure they have their inhaler with them (there will be no access to the school office) and disposable dust masks will be available on the day should you feel this necessary.

There will be qualified first-aiders there on the day and an event safety plan has been filed with ERC.

We hope that this will be a fun family day for the whole village and that our children will make some extra special memories!

Consent and sponsor forms were issued with the annual forms, but if you require another form please reply to this email or phone the school office.

Thank you for your support,
St. Thomas’ PTA

Parents’ Evening Booking System

Our first Parents’ Evening is on Thursday 10th October and appointments can be made online.  Please go to https://stthomasneilston.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/ to book your appointment and please use this parents’ guide to help you through the process.  Every child in school on Friday 6th September was given a parents’ guide home with them.

Appointments will go live on Sunday 8th September at 3pm and will remain open until Wednesday 2nd October at 3pm. 

Please do not worry if you experience a problem – telephone the school office or pop in and we will help.

Meet the Teacher

‘Meet the Teacher’ workshop is on Thursday 29th August.  Our teachers are keen to meet as many of you as possible. This is an opportunity for us to share important information with you, seek feedback and have an informal chat.

Class presentation: 3.15 – 3.30pm
Class Drop-in:  3.30-3.45pm

Class presentation (repeated): 3.45-4pm
Class Drop-in: 4pm-4.15pm

For families with more than two children, please make use of the drop in slots and teachers will be happy to speak with you then.

As always please contact the school if times/dates cause any difficulties and we will do our best to help.

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.

‘Celebrate Me’ Friday 14th June

‘Celebrate Me’ Day – Awards Ceremony
Friday 14th June

In order to celebrate and recognise the successes and achievements of all children in our school, we will hold two very special awards ceremonies on Friday 14th June in which every child will take part.

At 9.15am, parents and carers of children in Primaries 5-7 are invited to join us in the school hall.  Every child will be recognised for something that they have achieved during this school year.

At 11.15am, parents and carers of children in Primaries 1-4 are invited to join us in the school hall.  Every child will be recognised for something that they have achieved during this school year.

In order to help us plan the seating, please email into schoolmail@st-thomas.e-renfrew.sch.uk or phone the office on 570 7420 to let us know if you will be attending. 

We look forward to seeing you on the 14th!

Free Swimming Lessons

East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Swimming Development would like to thank you for bringing your children along to our free taster swimming lessons at Barrhead Foundry.

Without your attendance at these lessons, our probationary teachers would have struggled to become fully qualified swimming instructors.

We sincerely hope that your children enjoyed these free lessons and we would now like to bring to your attention our swimming lesson programme which operates across the East Renfrewshire area in all four leisure centres.

Now that your child has had a taster of what lessons are like, you may find it beneficial that they now sign up for lessons to our programme.

If you would like to take advantage of any of these lessons, please follow this link, https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/swimminglessons – which will take you directly to the application on our website. If you require any more information about our swimming lessons, then please feel free to contact Karen Baxter by email – karen.baxter@ercultureandleisure.org