I hope you all managed to have a restful long weekend. I trust that the following update will be useful to you.

XA Factor

We are looking forward to our annual talent contest, the XA Factor, which will be held in school next Friday, 24^th February. The audition process is now over and we’re looking forward to seeing and hearing from our musicians, singers, dancers, comedians and magicians during the final. Good luck to everyone involved!

Dress as You Please Day

Since next Friday is our XA Factor Final, we would like to make this a Dress as You Please Day. Pupils can wear their own clothes for a donation, which will go towards school funds. These funds help towards subsidising after school clubs, class resources, PE equipment and many other good causes.

Open Afternoon

Please remember that our next Open Afternoon will be held on the afternoon of 28^th February. A letter with specific details will be with you soon.

P5 Residential Trip

We’re very grateful to all those parents and carers of our P5 pupils who took the time to be at the recent meeting about our residential visit to Belmont Outdoor Centre in Perthshire. Full payment for this trip needs to be made by 24^th February. The pupils leave on Wednesday 1^st March and return on Friday 3rd. I’m sure everyone will enjoy the experience and I’m particularly grateful to those staff members who have made arrangements to help staff the event. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for good weather!

School Improvements

On Wednesday 1^st to 3^rd March the school lunch hall will be re-floored and painted. Due to these works pupil’s lunch arrangements will be altered. On Wednesday 1^st, Thursday 2^nd and Friday 3^rd March the lunch menu will consist of soup and sandwiches. All pupils receiving a school lunch and pupils in P1-3, who have a packed lunch, will be accommodated in the gym hall. P4 –P7 pupils will have their packed lunches in the classrooms.

After a Health and Safety audit the authority have informed me that a pedestrian path will be built at the front of the school to enable pupils/carers/ visitors safe access to the building. At the moment, as you are aware, pedestrians access the school by walking through the car park. This is a dangerous and busy entrance and I am pleased that this improvement is going to be made, making access safer.

Parents’ Nights

Parents’ Nights will take place on Wednesday 22^nd and Thursday 23^rd March. You will soon receive an information letter regarding this. We look forward to welcoming you to Parents’ Night next month.

World Book Day

On Thursday 2^nd March we will be celebrating World Book Day by asking the pupils to dress up as a favourite character from a book. More details will follow shortly.

Traffic Around the School

Please continue to be aware of the traffic issues around the school, particularly during times of bad weather. We would prefer if you did not use the staff car park at any time, particularly when dropping your children off at MACS before school hours. This can often be a very busy time of day and our concern is that an accident involving a child might occur in the car park. Please remember not to park too close to junctions or across our neighbours’ driveways before and after school. Please also remember that the bus bay is not a drop-off point.  Your help with these issues is very much appreciated.

Parent Council News – Ladies Night

This event takes place on Saturday 18^th March, at 7pm, at United Services Club. Tickets are priced at £15.00. Tickets for this event will be on sale on the Open Afternoon, on 28^th February. The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday the 7th of March at 7pm in the High School.

I hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Staff and pupils are now settled back into the daily routine of school. I hope the following information will be of some use to you.

Staffing

As you are no doubt aware Mrs Chapman retired in December. I am pleased to welcome Miss Reid as temporary teacher to P3/2. Mrs Britton, P2/1 teacher, and Mrs Barnes, Pupil Support Assistant, have now returned to Cross Arthurlie after being on maternity leave.

February Weekend Holiday

Please remember the dates for the upcoming February holiday. There is to be an Inset Day for school staff on Friday 10th February and school will be closed on Monday 13^th, Tuesday 14^th February and Wednesday 15^th February. We will reopen after this short break at 9am on Thursday 16^th February.

Twitter

If you use Twitter please follow us @crossarthurlie.

Lost Property

We have an ever increasing number of items of lost property here in school. Please pop in and have a look if you believe your child to have lost anything. The lost property is by the school office.

Pupil Absences

Please ensure that you phone the school office before 9.30am if your child is going to be absent from school.

Standardised Testing

During the month of February the annual testing of P3, P5 and P7 children will take place here in Cross Arthurlie and across all East Renfrewshire schools. These tests, along with a range of other assessment approaches, are designed to give us a fuller picture of the attainment of our pupils in the areas of maths and language. The tests will go out of school for marking and the results will be returned to us later in the session. We give a test result based on how the pupil does against an East Renfrewshire standardised score of 100. The results give us a closer insight into the patterns of attainment across the school and this helps us to plan for improvement in a more focussed way.

The results of these tests will not be fully available to us until later this session and we’ll ensure that we include them in the annual report for each P3, P5 and P7 child. Should you wish to discuss this further please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Parent Council News

We would like to thank everyone who supported the Parent Council events during the run up to the Christmas break. The Movie Night was very well attended as was the Christmas Fayre. The next meeting of the Parent Council is on Tuesday 7th February at 7pm in Barrhead High School. Any new members would be made most welcome.

Weather

I hope that you find the following advice useful:

– Please make sure that your child is always appropriately dressed to cope with winter weather. Warm coats, sturdy shoes, hats, scarves and gloves will be the order of the day! Unless conditions are particularly difficult, we will be trying to allow pupils access to the playground as frequently as possible – even in the snow!

– A pair of dry socks in the children’s schoolbags would be helpful.

– Gym shoes or indoor shoes would be useful to wear in classrooms.

– In the event of snow it would be useful if the children walked to school whenever possible. Driving conditions are very tricky around the school during inclement weather and anyone getting stuck in snow will cause major disruption in the area.

– In the event that we need to send children home early, you will receive a text message first, followed by a telephone call. It would be helpful if parents/carers were able to get to the school as soon as possible should the need arise. However, please be reassured that no child will be left unattended should you be delayed.

– Should you require any information about school closures please refer to the school website, East Renfrewshire’s website or East Renfrewshire’s Twitter feed. The school’s Twitter feed may also have information.

Now that we are well into the month of November and with Christmas fast approaching I hope this newsletter will give you some important information about the arrangements for the festive period. We’ll give you further details closer to the time and look forward to seeing you all over the festive period.

P7 Residential

On Friday 11^th November our P7 pupils returned from a successful visit to Lockerbie Manor Outdoor Centre. They returned home covered in mud and thoroughly tired! Thanks to the various members of staff who helped with the visit. My thanks also go to the pupils, who, I have been told, participated in all of the activities with enthusiasm and represented the school well at all times.  The website and Twitter feed will give you some idea of the various activities the pupils and staff participated in.

Parent Pay

This new system is now up and running in the school and I hope that parents/carers are finding this beneficial when it comes to paying for trips etc. Any questions regarding this please do not hesitate in contacting the school office.

Photographs

The last date for orders is 22^nd November.

School Calendar

Traditionally pupils produce a school calendar for the coming year. Orders are still being taken for our 2017 calendar- £4.00 each. Last orders will be on 30^th November 2016.

Parent Council

The annual Christmas Fair is on Saturday 26^th November and our Movie Night is on Tuesday 6th December. We’ll let you know more specific arrangements for these events closer to the time. The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 29^th November at 7pm in Barrhead High School. Please feel free to come along and support the Parent Council.

Christmas Dates

We have reached a very busy time of year and I hope that the list of dates below will help you make all of the arrangements you need to make. The following events are being held here in the school:

Christmas Carol Concert  – 7pm Wednesday 14^th December

Christmas Carol Concert  – 7pm Thursday 15^th  December

Infant Nativity  –    11am Friday 16^th  December

Christmas Service   – 10.30am Wednesday 21^st  December

Our Christmas concert this year will follow a similar format to last year. All pupils from P3 to P7 will participate, as they have always done, and some of our P7 pupils will help with hosting the event. We hope you’ll enjoy the concert. The theme this year is “Music Through the Decades”.

Early Closure

Please note that we have an early closure on Wednesday 21^st December with a 2.30pm stop instead of our normal time. School buses will also arrive at that time to transport all bus children.

Christmas Parties

Dates for the Christmas Parties are as follows:

P1, 2 & 3 – 1.20pm – 3pm  Tuesday 20^th December

P4 & P5 – 1.20pm – 3pm Monday 19^th December

P6 & P7 – 1.20pm – 3pm Friday 16^th December

Children who do not go home to change at lunchtime may bring a change of clothes for their party on the appropriate day.

The end of the first term has come around very quickly indeed and I trust that this update will be useful to you.

October Holiday

Tomorrow (Friday 14^th October) is an Inset Day and school will be closed to pupils. We’ll remain closed throughout next week and we’ll reopen on Monday 24^th October for the beginning of a new term. I trust that you will all have an enjoyable and relaxing October week.

Staffing Changes

You will now be aware of the various changes to the management team which will take place from the beginning of the next term. I will be moving to the post of Acting Head Teacher in another school and Mrs Mitchell will be taking over as Acting Head Teacher here in Cross Arthurlie. I’m pleased to report that Miss Rice has been appointed Acting Depute Head Teacher and Mrs Duncan has been appointed Acting Principal Teacher. Miss Rice will have pastoral oversight of the P4 to P7 stages of the school and Mrs Duncan will have pastoral oversight of the P1 to P3 stages. These appointments will assure continuity during my absence and I know that you will all support the school team in the weeks and months to come.

Parents’ Nights

The first Parents’ Nights of the session are to be held on the 2^nd and 3^rd of November and you should have received letters about this over the last couple of weeks. Your appointments have been confirmed by the school office and you’ll get this information in a separate letter. Before your appointments you’ll receive a short interim report regarding your child’s progress. You’ll receive these on Friday the 28th of October. We look forward to seeing you all at Parents’ Night.

Dates for Your Diary

In the information tab of the website you’ll see a list of diary dates for the coming session. We’ll try our best to make sure that we stick to these dates, but should any change be required we’ll communicate these to you.

Twitter Feed  

And on the theme of school communication, please follow our school Twitter feed @crossarthurlie. You can click on the link to our feed on the home page.

Class Blogs  

If you haven’t yet done so, please check the class blogs on the relevant tab of the website. I’m sure you’ll all be interested in seeing what classes across the school have been working on so far this session.

Parent Council

The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 1^st November at 7pm in Barrhead High School and all are welcome. There are a variety of dates in the near future, including the Halloween discos, which you should have received information about.

Five weeks have come and gone very quickly and I’m pleased that all of the children have settled so well into the routines and demands of another session in school. Our new pupils are coping well with life at school and your support in settling the children is much appreciated. I hope that these items of news will be of assistance to you.

Dates for Your Diary

In the information tab of the website you’ll see a list of diary dates for the coming session. We’ll try our best to make sure that we stick to these dates, but should any change be required we’ll communicate these to you.

Data Check and Communication with Parents/Carers

There are a few outstanding annual data checks, so we would ask you to return these if you have not yet done so. Most of you have now given us your email address and we would encourage all those who have not yet done so to let us know for our records. We’ll try to use email addresses as our primary method of communication in the future.

Twitter Feed  

And on the theme of school communication, please follow our school Twitter feed @crossarthurlie. You can click on the link to our feed on the home page.

End of the Day Arrangements

Over recent weeks we’ve received a number of phone calls at the end of the school day asking for changes to after school arrangements to be communicated to children by clerical staff. Whilst this is not an issue for us, the volume of these requests has increased quite significantly and is adding to the demands being placed on our clerical staff towards the end of the school day. If children are made aware of after school arrangements prior to the school day this would be very helpful. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

Jeans for Genes Day

This coming Thursday, 22^nd September, we’ll be celebrating Jeans for Genes Day. During the school day we’ll be wearing jeans instead of our usual school uniform and any donations will be forwarded to this important charity, the work of which you can find out more about by clicking on the following link: www.jeansforgenesday.org Children can ‘dress as they please’, but jeans would be appreciated.

September and October Holidays

Please note that school will be closed this coming Friday and Monday, the 23^rd and 26^th of September, due to the September public holiday. School will also be closed to pupils on Friday 14^th October for inset and then the week following (17^th to 21^st October) for the October holiday.

Class Blogs

If you haven’t yet done so, please check the class blogs on the relevant tab of the website. I’m sure you’ll all be interested in seeing what classes across the school have been working on so far this session.

Parent Council

Our Parent Council met for the first time this session earlier this month. It was nice to see so many in attendance and, as always, the support and hard work of the Parent Council is so much appreciated by the school. The next meeting of the Parent Council will be on Tuesday 4^th October at 7pm in Barrhead High School and all are welcome.

Games and Toys

A gentle reminder that toys and games are not to be brought to school. Over these first few weeks we’ve noticed that a number of our younger pupils are bringing small toys and games to school and, unfortunately, some have been lost or broken. If we could avoid this by not bringing them this would be appreciated.

Each class has an assembly presentation this session. During the class assembly the children will present their learning and all parents and carers of pupils in the class are welcome to attend. The assembly begins at 10.50am and entry to the assembly hall is through the fire door. Please join us if you are able.

Primary 1/1 – 22^nd March 2017

Primary 1/2 – 21^st June 2017

Primary 2/1 – 29^th March 2017

Primary 2/2 – 24^th May 2017

Primary 3 – Spring Service (Friday 31^st March 2017 @ 10am)

Primary 4/1 – 8^th February 2017

Primary 4/2 – 8^th March 2017

Primary 5/1 – 28^th September 2016

Primary 5/2 – 10^th May 2017

Primary 6/1 -12^th October 2016

Primary 6/2 – 7^th June 2017

Primary 7/1 – 16^th November 2016

Primary 7/2 – 18^th January 2017

Primary 1 – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Primary 2 – Tuesday and Thursday

Primary 3 – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Primary 4 – Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Primary 5 – Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

Primary 6 – Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Primary 7 – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Welcome back to school after, what I hope has been, a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. A particularly warm welcome to all those families who are new to the school; I trust that you will feel at home quickly. Please let us know if there are any questions or concerns that we can help you with.

Data Check and Communication with Parents/Carers

You should all have received an annual data check this week. This document lists all of the contract details we have for your child/children and it’s very important that it’s updated, should it need to be. These details go onto the school’s electronic systems and will be used should we need to contact you for any reason. Could I also ask that you ensure that you list an email address, should you have one. Our plan is to stop sending home paper copies of school newsletters and, instead, email you a link to the school website when it has been updated with school news. We may also communicate other items of school news via email and our hope is that this method of communication will be easier and more convenient for all of you. If you would rather receive paper copies of school correspondence please let the school office know.

Twitter Feed  

And on the theme of school communication, please follow our school Twitter feed @crossarthurlie.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones are not allowed to be used during the school day. Any child who requires a mobile phone beyond the school day will be required to hand it in to the school office before 9am and collect it at 3pm. Messages to pupils during the school day must always go through the school office.

Attendance and Absence

As you are aware we follow government regulations on school attendance and absence. I would like to remind all parents that family holidays taken during term time are categorised as unauthorised absences and only in exceptional circumstances will schools authorise a family holiday in term time. Parents are asked to send their child to school on a daily basis unless there is ill health or unforeseen circumstances. Please remember to contact the school office before 9am if your child is unable to attend school. Thank you for your co-operation with attendance procedures.

Snack and Illnesses

We are eager to encourage all children to bring a healthy snack to school. Please note that we ask children not to bring anything with nuts as we have a number of children in the school with a nut allergy. Your co-operation and assistance with this request in the past has been excellent and is much appreciated by the school and also by the families of children with this issue.

It is also very important, in the interest of the safety of all staff and visitors, that you report any infectious illness your child has to the school. We will ensure that we put up notices informing all visitors that any illness may be in circulation in the school. Again, your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.