Welcome Back

Welcome back and I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, and were able to enjoy the festivities despite the colds and flu that have been doing the rounds.

It was great to hear from the children about the time they spent with friends and family and of course the presents many of them received.

Making a Difference

As I said at the Christmas service one of the most fabulous attributes of the Cross Arthurlie community is their generosity. This was clearly evident in both the volume and range of items collected for the local foodbank. Mrs Burnett and Mrs Powell had to use both of their cars to transport all the items we received and from speaking to the children in Primary 1 they were very aware of why they were collecting such items and the difference that they could be making to many people’s lives.

Improvement Planning

Working with staff from Hillview and Carlibar Primaries and Barrhead High we are looking to improve the teaching and encourage children to become more confident and resilient learners. Part of this is encouraging children to work through things for themselves and using different ways of helping them get ‘unstuck’ and to help their perseverance in tasks which they find challenging.

We have also all been working on improving our writing through ‘Big Writing’. You may be aware that BBC Radio 2 run a competition for children aged 5-13 to write a story. This competition is open for children to write anywhere and entries can be submitted by home or school. More details can be found at: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00rfvk1.

Road Safety

East Renfrewshire Council is embarking upon a focussed campaign around road safety. As you know at Cross Arthurlie we have a number of children who walk or cycle to school. If you choose to drive instead please remember causing congestion or obstruction near schools is selfish and dangerous. Parking is restricted in the following:

•  School keep clear and zig zag lines
•  Double yellow lines
•  Single yellow lines
•  Parking on a pavement or verge
•  Double parking and dropped footways
•  School bus bays
•  Pedestrian crossings
•  Parking in disabled bays unless you’re a blue badge carrier

Parent Council

As you know the parent council have been raising funds for new sports kits for children to use at various sporting events. They have been very proactive in gaining sponsorship for some of the kit. Our thanks go to the following local companies: Co-op foods; Moodies funeral directors; McCabe opticians, Excel Training International and Maple Joiners. Look out for photographs in the Barrhead News. The dates of the next meetings (to be held in Barrhead High School ) are : 06/02/18; 06/03/18; 01/05/18; 05/06/18 (AGM in Cross Arthurlie)

Events next year :7th February : Valentine’s Disco 3rd March : Ladies Night; 1st May: Spring Fun Day; 12th June discos : 21st June: Leaver’s

Sports Kit

We are really looking forward to wearing our new sports kits as we participate in the follow-ing competitions this term :

Inter Cluster Football (boys) —25 January

Soccer 7s — 26 January

Inter Cluster Football (girls) – 22 February

Sportshall Athletics—23 February

Cross Country—27 February

Primary Dance —14 March

Primary Netball—22 March

P4 Swimming

P4 will be swimming this term. As part of our commitment to reducing the cost of the school day and to ensure that all children can participate in learning this important skill, we have decided to use P.E.F. funding to support this activity.

P1 Muddy Movers

Primary 1 are really looking forward to developing their learning outdoors through the ‘Muddy Movers’ programme. This will involve the children working together the move large items outdoors and develop their skills and abilities in problem solving.

VIP ASSEMBLY

We had our second monthly VIP assembly this Wednesday celebrating the school value of loyalty. The following children were awarded VIP certificates : Lewis Murray, Havana McManus, Amirah Gad El Karim, Hollie Clarkson, Tegan Smith, Brandon Grant, Rebecca Browning, Jayden Kinnear, Sophie Clynes, Jane Denovan, Natalia Teo, Jack Laing, Michaela McClelland, Lewis Lester, Robbie Wallace, Poppy Aird, Jack Morrison, Emily Wade, Kaitlin McArthur, Jihan Khorchid.

We also celebrated a range of achievements out of school:

Dancing: Dylan Quinn,

Ballet: Lacey Miller, Medals: Rhuaridh MacLeod, Jude McCusker-Young & Arlo Morrison: martial arts, Isla Carruth: Art, Freya McGuire & Grace Todd: dancing,

Aeryn Thomson, Leigha Harvey & Lucy C Rae: dancing, Freya Davidson: swimming, Sara Todd: Panto, Lachie Douglas-Kellie: swimming, Kyden Madziwa: learning, Lucy McGrellis & Freya Quinn: dancing, Bo Hamilton: catching the ball at Chelsea game, Aimee Williamson: netball.

Fiona MacDonald

Head Teacher