Author Archives: Mrs Gilchrist

School Newsletter 22.03.24

Hello everyone

Early Finish – Thursday 28^th March
School will close slightly earlier than usual on this day. P1 and P2 will finish at 2.25pm and P3-7 will finish at 2.30pm. We look forward to welcoming everyone back after the Spring Break on 15th April.

Early Collection from School/ Change to Pick-up Arrangements
We understand that on rare occasions home arrangements for the end of the day, leaving school, may need to change. For example, a child may be walking home instead of being collected. Whenever possible, we would appreciate it if these types of emails could be sent in by 12.30pm as teachers pick up any emails sent to them at the start of lunchtime- thanks so much for your help with this. Of course we also understand that last minute changes also happen sometimes.

Psychology of Parenting Project (PoPP)
The following PoPP Sway shares information on the availability of PoPP groups within East Renfrewshire during 2024. These groups are for any parents/carers who have children 2-12 years and are interesting in extending their knowledge of how to manage behaviour. https://sway.cloud.microsoft/gWOLYNyk1D3CLLGg

Community Events: ERC Culture & Leisure
East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure’s new term of sports classes for children start this week. With over 100 classes per week, including; Badminton, Basketball, Football, Mini Kickers, Netball & Athletics – all led by their expert coaching teams. This is a great opportunity to introduce your child to a brand-new sport. You can search and book classes here: https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/sports-arts/sports/kids-sport-classes/

Primary 3b: Class Treat
Primary 3b have worked very hard to earn their 100 points and have chosen to have a pyjama party to celebrate on Thursday 28^th March. In the afternoon, your child is welcome to change into pyjamas to watch a film in class. They are also welcome to bring a small teddy too. Please note your child should not wear their pyjamas to school.

Primary 4b: Football Cards
Many of the children in P4b have been bringing in football cards from home and trading them in the class and the playground. Unfortunately, this has led to a number of upsets and disagreements amongst some of the pupils, which has resulted in teaching time being disrupted so that these arguments can be resolved. We would really appreciate your support and would ask that the children do not bring football cards into school for the time being. This should minimise any fall out as a result of bringing these cards into school and should also have a positive impact on the amount of teaching time taken to resolve any issues. We will continue to speak to the class and look at this again in a few weeks’ time to see if cards can be brought back into school. Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Many thanks.

Primary 5c: Treat
As a treat for filling our class Gem Jar, P5C have chosen to have a go at making slime (contains: PVA glue, contact lens solution, colouring and glitter, bicarbonate of soda). If possible, please send a small container next week with your child if you would be happy for them to take some home. Thank you.

P6 Bikeability
Your child will shortly be participating in cycling training, Bikeability, in school. Please see the attached letter and bike check information in your email for more details. Please complete the Bikeability Consent Form so that your child is able to participate. Please note, we have some bikes in school that children can use if they do not have their own bike, however, we would require you to provide a cycle helmet.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Nursery Newsletter

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Hi everyone,

What a lovely surprise we had today when the Easter Bunny took time from his/her busy schedule to appear in both nursery gardens.

Nursery Bookbug Week
We are really looking forward to Mrs Greig and Mrs Morton hosting Bookbug sessions for nursery children, their special adults and younger siblings. We’ll have a spring in our step as we join in some fun action songs and read books with a Spring/Easter theme.

We invite you to come along on the following days:
Tuesday 26th March at 9.15 – Purple and Orange Group in Acorn Building
Tuesday 26th March at 2.15 – White Red and Pink Group in Sapling Building
Thursday 28th March at 9.15 – Yellow and Green Group in Sapling Building

Please don’t worry if you or your child’s special adults can’t attend, no child will miss out and they’ll have the opportunity to join in with our wonderful staff.

Last Day of Term
Please remember Nursery is normal hours on Thursday (8am-6pm) when school closes at 2.30pm. We look forward to welcoming everyone back after the Spring Break on 15th April 2024.

Personal Care Plans
Our Personal Care Plans allow families to share information to help identify next steps to support children’s learning, care and wellbeing. If you have your child’s Personal Care Plan at home we ask that you hand it in once completed. We really appreciate you taking the time to do this.

Have a lovely weekend with your family.

School Newsletter 15.03.24

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Hello everyone,

Feedback Friday
Just a reminder that on Friday, it is Feedback Friday. Can all home learning jotters/project work be brought into school with your child.

Sportscotland Gold School Sport Award Reaccreditation
We are delighted to inform you that we have been awarded a sportscotland Gold School Sport Award for 2024-2026. The Gold School Sport Award is recognition of Netherlee’s achievements in putting sport at the heart of planning, practice and ethos. The Gold Award also highlights that we have shown excellent practice across the core areas of the Award and demonstrated an on-going commitment to increase young people’s opportunities and engagement in physical education, school sport and leadership and provide clear pathways to life-long participation in sport. This award has involved a real team effort from our children, families and staff working together over a number of years. In particular, we would like to say a huge thank you to our P7 Wellbeing Committee Leaders from 2022-23 and this session’s P7 Sports Leaders who have worked so hard on leading aspects of this award. Also a particular heartfelt thank you to Mrs Miller, Mrs Sneddon, Mrs Linn, Miss Holden, Mrs Ford and Mr Cox who have lead various health and wellbeing initiatives and gathered evidence towards the achievement of this award. Go Team Netherlee!

Clarkston Tennis Family Open Day
Please see the attached flyer from our Active Schools Coordinator, advertising a free, family event taking place at Clarkston Tennis Club on Sunday 24 March from 1pm until 4pm. Contact information, should you require it is also found on the flyer too.

Primary 2: Encanto Movie
Primary 2 have been learning all about South America and have made many links with the movie Encanto which is set in the continent. The children have been learning about some elements of Colombian culture which feature throughout the film. We would like to watch this film in the week beginning 25th March. As Encanto is rated with a PG (Parental Guidance) certification, we need to ask for your permission for your child to watch the movie in class. Therefore, if you DO NOT want your child to watch the film (Encanto), please email or call the school office before 22nd March. Thank you.

Primary 6/7 SSAA Primary Schools Cross Country Championships
This year, the Scottish Schools Primary Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday 20 April at Kirkcaldy High School, Fife with the first race (Primary 6 girls) starting at 12 noon and the last race (Primary 7 boys) starting at 1.30pm. This is open to any boy or girl in Primary 6 and Primary 7 who already has experience of running competitively and parents and carers are responsible for taking their child to the event. If your child currently runs for a team and you would like the school to enter them for the race, please email Mrs Linn at SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk by Monday 25 March. Similarly, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Nursery Newsletter 15.03.24

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Hello everyone,

Upcoming Events
Please have a look at the parent calendar, available on our Netherlee Website, to see all the dates and times of the various events coming up. This link will take you straight there https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/sandnc/calendar.

World Down Syndrome Day
Believe it or not, socks get people talking! On Thursday 21^st March, choose some socks that are going to get noticed! They might be mismatched socks or your craziest and most colourful socks, whatever takes your fancy! I’m sure we’ll be reading books about socks, matching socks and making some sock bunting. The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, “I’m wearing them to raise awareness of Down’s Syndrome”. You can find out more here: https://www.dsscotland.org.uk/

Can you help?
We are currently refreshing some of the areas of our nursery garden and wondered if you can help? Please find a list of some of the items we’re looking for. Thanks so much for your continued support.

Nursery Bookbug Week
We are delighted that Mrs Greig and Mrs Morton will be hosting Bookbug sessions for nursery children, their special adults and younger siblings. We’ll have a spring in our step as we join in some fun action songs and read books with a Spring/Easter theme.

We invite you to come along on the following days:
Tuesday 26^th March at 9.15 Purple and Orange Group in Acorn Building
Tuesday 26^th March at 2.15 White Red and Pink Group in Sapling Building
Thursday 28^th March at 9.15 Yellow and Green Group in Sapling Building
Please don’t worry if you or your child’s special adults can’t attend, no child will miss out and they’ll will have the opportunity to join in with our wonderful staff.

Community Events: Clarkston Tennis Family Open Day
Please see the flyer from our Active Schools Coordinator, advertising a free, family event taking place at Clarkston Tennis Club on Sunday 24 March from 1pm until 4pm. Contact information, should you require it is also found on the flyer too.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Nursery Newsletter 01.03.24

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Hello everyone,

This week we must say a huge thank you to Mrs Young for spending time sharing her knitting skills with children in nursery-we were in awe of her patience and talent! Thank you also to Mrs Finn for making a wonderful quilt with Sapling children, we’re really looking forward to next week when it’s the Acorn children’s turn to get quilting.

If you or your family have a skill or hobby such as sewing, weaving, gardening, card making, crafting, woodwork or pottery and would like to spend some time in nursery, please just let us know. We love to welcome visitors as children benefit so much from real-life experience. Thanks so much.

Nut Free Policy
As you will be aware, we have a number of young people and staff at school and nursery who suffer from serious allergies, most commonly to nuts, but also to a range of other allergens. People who suffer from allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. Please note that nuts are not allowed in school or nursery in any form. We ask that children bring no products containing nuts into school or nursery at any time. This includes more hidden nut products eg many chocolate spreads, peanut butter sandwiches, cereal/granola bars, cakes etc and we would ask that ingredient lists are checked carefully before children bring food items into Netherlee. Thank you very much for your full support and ongoing understanding with this important matter.

World Book Day – Thursday 7^th March 2024
On Thursday we ask children to bring in their favourite story book to share with friends and staff (please write your child’s name inside the cover to avoid mix-ups). During nursery we will be encouraging children to select a character from their favourite book to make a paper bag puppet for taking home. This year the theme for World Book Day is ‘Read Your Way’. During Thursday we’ll be watching World Book Day and Scottish Book Trust digital stories, listening to audio books as well as reading a range of books. For more information, activity ideas or World Book Day events please visit the website: World Book Day.

Ramadan Celebrations
A group of our wonderful children have started planning our Ramadan celebrations for next week. In addition to classroom activities and a special assembly, they have suggested that children wear their Ramadan or Eid clothes on Friday 8 March. This is completely optional and families do not need to participate if they would prefer not to.Session Times
We all understand that there may be the occasional time when you are running late due to temporary traffic lights, road works, slow moving traffic etc. Please be mindful of your child’s session finish time as our ratios match the number of children we have in the playrooms at any given time. If you’re not sure when your child should be collected please just ask. We ask you to share this information with other family members who collect children as this avoids us having awkward conversations. Thank you for you cooperation.

Nursery Photographs
We will be welcoming Jane Henderson to take photographs of nursery children during next week. We will endeavour to keep children clean and limit our normal ‘messy play’ until photos are taken. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We hope the photograph will be a lovely memento of your child’s year in nursery. Please see attached timetable for further information.

Have a lovely weekend.

School Newsletter 01.03.24

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Hello everyone,

Upcoming Events
Please have a look at the parent calendar, available on our Netherlee Website, to see all the dates and times of the various events coming up. This link will take you straight there https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/sandnc/calendar.

Nut Free Policy
As you will be aware, we have a number of young people and staff at school and nursery who suffer from serious allergies, most commonly to nuts, but also to a range of other allergens. People who suffer from allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. Please note that nuts are not allowed in school or nursery in any form. We ask that children bring no products containing nuts into school or nursery at any time. This includes more hidden nut products eg many chocolate spreads, peanut butter sandwiches, cereal/granola bars, cakes etc and we would ask that ingredient lists are checked carefully before children bring food items into Netherlee. Thank you very much for your full support and ongoing understanding with this important matter.

Pupil Work Home
Today your child will have brought home their literacy jotter and also a piece of work chosen by them to share with you. We home you enjoy looking at, and discussing, your child’s work together.

World Book Day – Thursday 7th March 2024
This year the theme for World Book Day is ‘Read Your Way’. We will be encouraging reading for enjoyment(as always) and offer a range of literacy based experiences to further promote choices and sharing of favourite books, characters, stories, digital stories, listening to audio books as well as reading a range of books. For more information, activity ideas or World Book Day events please visit the website: World Book Day.

Ramadan Celebrations

A group of our wonderful children have started planning our Ramadan celebrations for next week. In addition to classroom activities and a special assembly, they have suggested that children wear their Ramadan or Eid clothes on Friday 8 March. This is completely optional and families do not need to participate if they would prefer not to.

Toys
We appreciate your help with reinforcing the message that toys should be kept at home or in schoolbags unless for a specific ‘Show and Tell’ type of presentation. We are lucky to have access to a wide variety of games and toys in school. To keep your child’s much loved toys safe from damage or being lost, please keep them at home. Thank you for your continued support with this.

Community Events – East Renfrewshire Culture & Leisure
Please find attached information from our Active Schools Coordinator about upcoming holiday camps, which you can book by visiting www.ercultureandleisure.org

Primary 1 and 2 – Oral Health
Primary 1 & Primary 2 children will bring home some oral health gift packs over the next week. Keep smiling and showing us the results of all that tooth brushing and healthy eating choices!

Primary 3c – Change of P.E. Days
Primary 3c will now have Outdoor P.E. on Wednesday and Thursday. Many thanks.

Primary 4 Showcase: A journey from Scotland to Ancient Rome
The children are enjoying learning all about Scotland and Ancient Rome this term and to celebrate and share their learning, they are inviting you in for a Showcase event. This will take place in the Atrium on Friday 15 March, from 9.30am until 10am and you will have a chance to enjoy songs, dances and much more! We hope you can make it. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend this showcase as I am out of school at an unavoidable meeting however I know that the children will be just wonderful for you.

Primary 7 – Pep Rally Fundraiser – Additional Tickets Available for Tuesday

Primary 7 are looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday from 9:30-10:30am for our Pep Rally Fundraiser. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a ticket so far. We still have tickets available and these are now open to all to purchase the remaining tickets at £2.50 per head via ParentPay, with all proceeds going towards the school show, High School Musical.

Have a lovely weekend.

School Newsletter 23.02.24

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Hello everyone,

School and Nursery Photographs
We will be welcoming Jane Henderson back into our school and nursery from Monday 26^th February until Friday 15^th March. She will take:

class, individual and sibling photographs of children in P1 and P7.
class and individual photographs of children in P2-P6.
our nursery children will have individual photographs

The photographs will be taken indoors so we don’t have to worry about the weather!
As always, we will do our very best to include all children in the photographs but this may not be possible if a pupil is absent during Jane’s time at school and nursery.

Please could school children wear a shirt and school tie on the day/s their photos are due to be taken as we have timetabled these sessions around PE and outdoor learning days. We always have spare ties in school that the children can wear, if needed. Nursery children can wear their normal nursery clothes.

Please see timetables below, which details the days and times your child’s photograph is due to be taken. We hope the photographs will be a lovely memento of your child’s year in school and nursery.

Photographs w.c 26th Feb 24
Photographs w.c 4th March 24

Diversity Evening – 28^th February
With less than one week to go, we are very excited to be welcoming our community in for our second Diversity Evening. We have lots of amazing performances, delicious food tasting opportunities as well as stalls which celebrate the wealth of diversity in our school and all the wonderful learning that has taken place during Diversity Month. Lots of the evening can be enjoyed at no cost however, there will be a small charge for some items, for example our delicious Derby ice cream! We can’t wait to see lots of our families on Wednesday evening!

Request for sock donations
We enjoy many opportunities for learning outdoors at Netherlee and we appreciate any extra clothes for children that require changes when the weather is wet. We need spare socks almost every day and are hoping that you could donate some. Socks for all age groups are needed but particularly for Primary 1 to Primary 3. Please send in any spare, clean pairs of socks for the attention of Mrs Toman. Thanks for your help with this!

Online Safety
Euan Graham from the charity NSPCC, recently delivered an excellent parent workshop, Keeping Children Safe Online. If you were not able to make it along a pre-recorded version is now available through their website. To access it click here.

We have also created an Online Safety section of our website. It has information, links and guides to help you support your family with all aspects of digital wellbeing and cyber resilience.

Primary 6 Engineering Project
P6 will be taking part in the ‘If You Were an Engineer, What Would You Do?’ Leaders Award, click here for more information. If you are an engineer and would be happy to come in and speak to our P6 classes please email Mr Bryce at schoolmail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk

Save a Life Day – Monday 4^th March
Many of you will be aware that we have held very successful and enjoyable Save a Life Scotland events in previous sessions, aimed at equipping our children with basic cardiac resuscitation (CPR) skills. Save a Life Scotland supports the training of people of all ages in “bystander CPR” techniques, which can make a vital difference in emergency situations. We plan to do this annually with the help of local firefighter’s service personnel, our colleagues and senior pupils from Williamwood High School. This year’s Save a Life Scotland Day will take place on Monday 4^th March 2024. It will be led by one of our parents (a consultant in emergency medicine) and we are very grateful to them for their enthusiasm and expertise.

Whilst we feel that these skills are important for our children to experience and develop, we also recognise that some of our children may potentially, for personal reasons, find this activity upsetting. If you therefore wish to discuss this in relation to your own child, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so that we can help and work this out together.

Children in Primaries 5 – 7 will use NHS dummies for the CPR training. Younger children manage better when using smaller models, and for this reason we would like to request that on the day of the event, Primaries 1 – 4 bring one soft toy into school (if possible). There are no restrictions on the type of toy but, ideally, the toy should be approximately 30 – 40 cm in length.

Foodbank Donation Drive – 8^th March
We are joining other establishments in East Renfrewshire to support the East Renfrewshire Foodbank, The Trussell Trust. More information can be found in this letter.

Primary 1 and Primary 7 – National Dental inspection Programme
Please see NHS letter regarding the dental inspection programme for your child.

Primary P1c – Change of P.E. Days
Please note, P1c P.E. days are now Tuesday and Thursday. Many thanks for your continued support.

Primary P2a – Change of P.E. Days
Please note, P2a now have Outdoor P.E. on Monday and Indoor P.E. on Thursday. Many thanks for your continued support.

Primary 3 Pancakes & Maple Syrup
Our Primary 3 classes were very lucky to have one of our wonderful parents in talking about Canada today and we would like to give the children the opportunity to taste pancakes with Canadian maple syrup next week. We have taken into account all allergy information we have on record however, if anything has changed, please do get in touch with Mrs Linn at SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk . We hope your child has enjoyed taking part in our Diversity celebrations this year.

Primary 7 – Pep Rally Fundraiser Reminder
A kind reminder that on Tuesday the 5^th of March (9.30-10.30am), Primary 7 would love you to come along to our Pep Rally. Tickets will be £2.50 a head and all profits will be going towards the school show, High School Musical. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Tickets are available to purchase on parent pay.

Have a lovely weekend.

Nursery Newsletter 08.02.24

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Hello everyone,

I’ve had such a lovely week as I’ve had time to reconnect with familiar faces in school and nursery and re-establish relationships within our Netherlee community. I’ll be taking time to get to know our nursery and P1 children, talking to them as they play and learn, observing and trying to remember all their names (not easy!) – Mrs Kerr

Lunch Times
Thank you for your understanding when ERC introduced a temporary menu. From Wednesday 14^th February we will revert back to the original menu. The first day back after any holiday is always Monday’s menu for that week which means Wednesday will be our ever popular pizza day! Our menu can be found here: https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/1223/Nursery-lunch-menu

Can you help?
Have you got any pasta, pulses, noodles or dried rice lurking in your cupboards that are past their use-by date? If you have we’d love these for children to use during sensory experiences or role-play. Please don’t be embarrassed or think we’ll judge, I know that I buy lots of dried items for my own house and have great intentions of using these but then they get overlooked and go past their sell-by.

We are always looking for old vegetables that are past their best for children to play with. If you have any old potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips children would love these to enhance their role-play dinners.

High School Musical – Show Programme Adverts for Sale
Do you have a business? We need you! We are looking to raise funds for our Primary 7 school show by selling advertising space within our programme. If you are interested please read the flyer and follow this link: https://forms.office.com/e/RwTfrMqZJF .

Parent Council Meeting Highlights
Thank you to the Parent Council for producing the latest Meeting Highlights Newsletter. We had a very productive meeting and the highlights can be found here: Meeting Highlights

Community Events:

World Gaelic Week/Seachdain na Gaidhlig
It has been lovely to see some examples of our youngest learners playing with different words and sounds during this Languages Week. Please see attached an opportunity for more language exploration session aimed at pre-school children on Tuesday 20^th February.

Mid Term Break
The school and nursery will be closed tomorrow, Friday 9^th February and re-open Wednesday 14^th February. We look forward to welcoming all of our Netherlee children back again on Wednesday.

Have a wonderful weekend with your family..

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School Newsletter 08.02.24

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Hello everyone,

School Lunches
The Catering Service will be returning to full hot lunch provision as of Wednesday 14^th February 2024.

NNC Friday Newsletter 02.02.24

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Hello everyone,

Netherlee Library Pop Up – Valentine’s Cosy Read
After the success of our first event, our Netherlee Library will be open once again on Thursday 15th February from 3.15-4.00pm. Our second library ‘pop up’ will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a focus on enjoying a cosy read with a family member or friend. We have a wonderful collection of reading texts available for you to enjoy with your child (ren). You are welcome to read with your child in the library at this time or take a reading text out on loan. There will be a small collection of adult texts to choose from too! Mrs Pollock, Mrs Ford and some of our P7 librarians will be on hand there to help you and to serve a wee selection of food, juice and teas/coffees. If you are interested, then please come to the main school entrance as close to 3.15pm on Thursday 15th January from 3.15-4.00pm and we can take you to our library. Thank you for your support.

Gong hei fat choy!
Chinese New Year
As part of our Chinese New Year celebrations, we are inviting your child(ren) to come to nursery on Thursday 8 February wearing their traditional Chinese clothes. If you do not have traditional Chinese clothing, you are welcome to wear an item of one of the lucky colours of this year: yellow, green, gold, silver, purple or red as part of your normal nursery clothes on this day. Of course, this is completely voluntary and if you do not wish your child to take part, they can come to nursery wearing their normal clothes.

Farewell from Miss McCann
To the Netherlee Community, as my post at Netherlee comes to an end, I would like to thank every member of the Netherlee community for their continued support and kindness. The wonderful children, dedicated staff and the welcoming families have made my experience truly special. Thank-you for everything- I will miss you all dearly! – Miss McCann

Have a wonderful weekend.