Category Archives: School

Friday Newsletter 21.04.23

Hello everyone

On behalf of the school, nursery and Netherlee community, we would like to wish all families, who celebrate Eid, a very happy Eid Mubarak. We hope you have a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family.  Please accept my apologies that this important day coincided with our Open Classrooms this morning which meant that some families didn’t get the opportunity to come along.  I am sure you will understand that planning out the whole school year’s calendar ready to share with parents in August is a huge undertaking but I will try my very best to avoid this clashing next session.

On that note though, it was wonderful to once again open the doors to the school and classrooms- thank you so much for taking the time to come along.  These opportunities mean so much to both the children and staff and we know how much you as parents appreciate them too.  There was such a lovely, happy buzz everywhere- in classes, corridors and the school gardens.  Thank you also for returning the GIRFEC questionnaires.  We have hundreds of responses so thank you for filling these out.  If you didn’t make it along to school today, there is a box lying at the front door school reception, please pop up anytime next week and drop your form off in the box if you would like to complete it.

Over the coming weeks, I will collate all responses and will of course share the emerging themes and data around this with you.  Your comments will also be used to shape our School and Nursery Improvement Plan for next session too.  Thank you again.

Family Focused Gold Award Questionnaires (School and Nursery) – now live!
As part of our upcoming Gold Award accreditation, school and nursery parents and carers are required to complete a questionnaire containing a series of reflective statements about both settings. We require at least an 80% return rate, so we would be very grateful for your responses.

Many of you will have filled out this form this morning when you visited our school for the open classrooms- thank you. We’re sure you’ll all agree that our P6 and P4 children did a wonderful (and very thorough!) job asking for the forms to be filled in! Only if you haven’t filled in the form already for the school or nursery, please could you do so by clicking on the links below.

nursery parent and carer questionnaire
school parent and carer questionnaire.

If you have a child in both school and nursery, we kindly ask that you complete the nursery questionnaire only, if at all possible.

Access to the questionnaires will close on Friday 12th May at 3pm.

If you have a child in both school and nursery, we kindly ask that you complete the nursery questionnaire only, if at all possible.

Access to the questionnaires will close on Friday 12th May at 3pm.

 Information to Support Parent/Carers
As you may be aware, we sent out a ‘save the date’ notification for Tuesday 25th April for a parent/carer workshop evening.

As we have hosted many different daytime and evening events over the session, we feel it would be more beneficial for you to make the information that was due to be shared, accessible for all, by placing it onto our school website instead. We would like to reach as many of our families as possible and understand that not all parents and carers would be able to attend in the evening. Therefore, the information evening will not take place as scheduled but we will be in touch, in due course and before the end of the term, to let you know when and where you can find this on the website.

Foodbank Donation Drive
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.

P4c P.E Days Update
P4c P.E days will now be a Tuesday and Friday. Can all children please remember to wear kit on these days.

Primary 7: Beauty and the Beast- Collection Arrangements & Show Tickets
We would be grateful if you could please complete the form below to allow us to ensure that all pupils are dismissed safely at the end of our Primary 7 school productions on the evenings of the 3rd and 4th of May 2023.
Collection Arrangements Form

We also want to remind you that the show tickets are available to purchase via ParentPay.  We are incredibly excited about our show and being able to share all that we have been learning and rehearsing and would love it if you were able to spare some time to come along to see us!  Tickets are £2 and there is a maximum of 2 tickets per child per show. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and we are anticipating this to be popular, so please get your tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.  Please see the official invite below with more information about dates, times and how to purchase tickets.
Beauty and the Beast Invite

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

 

 

Parent News 31.03.2023

Hello everyone,

Breastfeeding Policy
We provide a warm and welcoming environment for breastfeeding families in our school and nursery. Our Family Room, situated near the front door of the school, provides a comfortable and quiet space where breastfeeding can take place without interruption or intrusion. Our staff are trained to offer support to breastfeeding parents and are aware of the aims and principles of our School and Nursery Breastfeeding Policy. Please note that this policy is available to view on our website too. You can access this policy, and others, through clicking on this link.

If you require to use our Family Room to enable you to breastfeed, please don’t hesitate to ask, our office staff will be able to help by showing you where the Family Room is.

Next Parent Council Meeting – Wednesday 19th April at 7pm in the school Hub
The next meeting of the school and nursery Parent Council will be at 7pm on Wednesday 19th April.  This will be in the Hub in the school.  We hope to see as many parents and carers as possible and as ever will hear from the school leadership team on a number of issues, with the opportunity for free and open discussion.  If there is anything you would particularly like us to raise at the meeting then please email netherleeparentcouncil@gmail.com.  We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you after the holidays.

Easter Service
Thank you to Reverend Blythe, and the Netherlee and Stamperland Church Community, for welcoming our P4-7 pupils and staff into the church for our wonderful Easter Service. A huge well done to our amazing young people who read, sang and played instruments so beautifully. Below is a link to the recording of the service.
https://youtu.be/Ah-EYqwNNcM

Primary 3a: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 3b: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 3c: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 7: Beauty and The Beast Tickets
Primary 7 are extremely excited to officially invite you to purchase tickets for our school show Beauty and The Beast. We are thrilled to be able to put on a full production P7 show this year in May, something that sadly Netherlee has not been able to fully do since before Covid. The show is not only giving us the opportunity to work on our drama, music and dancing skills, but also our art (painting sets and designing costumes), technology (building sets and creating costumes) and I.C.T (taking responsibility for all the microphones and lights).

We are incredibly excited about our show and being able to share all that we have been learning and rehearsing and would love it if you were able to spare some time to come along to see us!

Tickets are £2 and there is a maximum of 2 tickets per child per show. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and we are anticipating this to be popular, so please get your tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please see attached an official invite with more information about dates, times and how to purchase tickets.
Beauty and The Beast Invite

Happy Holidays
I would like to wish all children, staff and families a really lovely, well-earned holiday fortnight. Please keep safe and enjoy some downtime. We will all be here, looking forward to seeing all of our children back again, on Monday 17th April.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parents News 24.03.2023

Hello everyone

Comic Relief
A huge thank you for your generous donations, the school and nursery raised a total of £850.30 for Comic Relief- thank you so much for supporting this very worthwhile cause.

Open Classrooms
We are very much looking forward to welcoming parents into school on Friday 21st April for Open Classrooms. As indicated in the Dates for your Diary previously issued we invite P1-4 parents between 11.15 and 11.45am and ask that you enter via the Clarkston Road Gate. Please use the doors to the right of the ramp to both enter and leave the school. P5-7 parents, we look forward to welcoming you between 9.30 and 10am and we ask you to enter and exit via the main front door at reception. We request a maximum of two adults per child. Our children and staff are looking forward to seeing you then if you are able to join us.

School Uniform
As we are heading into Term 4, I thought it would be a good point to share how our uniform policy is going in Netherlee.  We are very pleased with how the adaptation of our school uniform to now include a PE Uniform is going this session.  This is proving to be a very positive adaptation as it ensures children have the longest time possible for PE as they no longer have to spend time getting changed in school, their privacy is also maintained as, like most primary schools, we don’t have designated changing rooms in Netherlee and they are also comfortable and prepared when spending time outdoors during their outdoor learning lots each week.

Whilst the vast majority of our pupils come to school each day dressed in full school or PE uniform unfortunately, we have noticed an increasing number of children, mostly from the senior classes from P5-P7 who are no longer fully following the policy in terms of the non- wearing of obvious branded clothing to school e.g. Nike branded hoodies indoors and/ or striped Nike/ Adidas branded bottom half items for PE.  Can I please therefore strongly request that our uniform policy is fully adhered to at all times. As a reminder of what the items are you can see the uniform policy here by clicking this link.

For your ease, the main point is in relation to:

  • PE Uniform bottom half items e.g. leggings, shorts or joggers should be plain navy in colour and not have any branded logos on show.  This is an important part of our policy and one that, during the consultation, was seen as an important point by all groups of stakeholders.

Thank you and as always if you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In relation to the above, our uniform recycling rails go out weekly at the Clarkston Road Gate at the following times. Friday, between 8.50am – 9am (P1-3 smaller items) and 3pm – 3.10pm (P4-P7 middle and larger sizes) at the Clarkston Road School Gate.  These items are all completely free of charge and include badged uniform items as well as non-badged grey and navy items.  We are also very happy to source items from these rails ourselves for you if you can’t make it to view the rails on a Friday, please just call or email and we will be happy to help. A reminder too that EVERY DAY our red Uniform Donations Box is available at the main school reception area for you to drop off any unwanted, pre-loved uniform items that your child has outgrown (badged, grey or navy). Thank you VERY much for your support and continued attention to this.

Upcoming Change to Weekly Emails
We want to let you know that the Friday Bundles will look slightly different after the upcoming holiday fortnight. Our Friday Bundle will now be known as the Friday Newsletter and will contain all school news. A separate email will be issued, if applicable, detailing any upcoming trips or clubs which are relevant to only your child/ren stage(s).

Family Focused Gold Accreditation: Update
As you will already know, we are hoping to achieve our Family Focused Gold Award on Friday 19th May.   A key focus of the Family Focused Gold Award is the creation of a Charter. The school took part in a challenge to come up with a design for our School and Nursery Charter. Well done to Freya in Primary 6 who came up with this fantastic design, which will also feature our Nursery teddy bear.

We worked alongside our parent group to create the charter statements.  These statements underpin the award itself and reflect the values and ethos of Netherlee. Our Family Focused Charter’s will now be created and situated within the school and nursery entrances, so keep your eyes peeled next time you are in for a visit!

As part of the Gold Award accreditation, parents and carers are required to complete a questionnaire containing a series of reflective statements about our school and nursery. We would be very grateful for your responses as having a high response rate id part of the accreditation. The link to complete the questionnaire will be sent in next week’s Friday Bundle and will go live from Monday 17th April. Thank you for your continued support.

Netherlee Budding Minds Seed Sale
Our Primary 6 and Primary 7 Gardening club members will be hosting a seed and plant sale on Thursday 30th March at 3.15pm at the main school gates, as they work towards completing their Level 5 award for the RHS Schools Gardening Campaign. This event will also be part of the RHS Big Seed Sow and you will also have the opportunity to sow your own seeds to take home. Mrs Cross, our parent helper will also be providing tea, coffee, juice, and cake. Any donations would be welcome which will contribute towards the Netherlee Budding Minds garden funds.

Diversity Event
We are looking forward to a lovely event sharing the culture of our Netherlee community. We still need volunteers to help make it all happen. Please click on the following link to sign up to help us with setting up, tidying up, or to help in the refreshment area.
Thank you.

Church Service
On the morning of Thursday 30th March, P4-7 will attend Netherlee Church for our Easter Service. As space is limited within the church, unfortunately, we will only be able to accommodate two family members from the children who are reading, performing in the choir or playing their instrument. Separate information has been sent to these families already, please only attend the service if you have received confirmation that your child will be performing. The service will be recorded and a link to the recording will be emailed out in the Friday Bundle on the 31st March. We hope that you are not too disappointed with these restrictions. If you would prefer your child not to attend for religious reasons, please email the school office by Wed 29th March at the latest.  For safety reasons, we cannot accommodate any further withdrawal requests on Thursday morning.

Easter/ Spring Break
School will close slightly earlier on Friday, 31st March P1 and P2 will finish at 2:25pm and P3-7 will finish at 2.30pm.  School and nursery will reopen to all children and staff on Monday 17th April.

Primary 4a: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 4b: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip .

Primary 4c: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip .

Primary 4d: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child ‘s trip.

Primary 6a:  Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 6b: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 6c:  Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 6d: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 6/7: Sexual Health
Please see letter regarding the above lessons for your child.

Primary 6/7 Rugby Club
An afterschool P6-7 Rugby Club will be starting on a Thursday 18th May from 3.15pm-4.15pm. The club will run for 4 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P6-7 Rugby Club
Day and Time: Thursday 3.15 pm– 4.15pm.
Dates:  18th, 25st May, 1st, 8th June
Venue:  Netherlee Primary
Delivered by:  Mr Aitken
No. of pupils: 24
Cost: Free

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/CdfSh31SMi  no later than Tuesday 28th March. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Primary 7: Trip
An email was sent to parents regarding their child’s trip.

Primary 7: Sports Event
An email was sent to parents regarding our Primary 7 sports event.

Primary 7: Beauty and the Beast – Thank You
Primary 7 would like to send a huge thank you to everybody who came along to our Tea Party and a great big ‘cheer’ for all the very generous donations that we have received. It was brilliant seeing so many people there and we greatly appreciate your generosity. We have raised an incredible £940 from this event and this will go towards tech, costumes and set design for the show.

Primary 7: Prop Donations
As you know, Primary 7 are working extremely hard on their school show, Beauty and The Beast. For the show we require quite a lot of different props and the attached list shows some items that we are still looking for. So we are sending out this plea to see if there are objects/ items/ treasures lingering at the back of cupboards that we might be able to borrow or could be donated. We will gratefully receive anything from the list that you already have at home (PLEASE DO NOT BUY ANYTHING).  If you could please drop in off any donations at the school office, or via your child, by Friday 31st March that would be much appreciated. If you would like your item back after the show, please just let us know when it is handed in and we will make sure it gets back to you.

As always, thank you for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parents News 17.03.2023

Hello everyone

Feedback Friday
Just a reminder that on Friday, it is Feedback Friday for all classes. Children should bring their home learning jotters/project work into school that day.

Living Streets Active Travel Parent survey
On Monday 15th – Friday 19th May, we will be taking part in the ‘Walk to School Week’ led by Living Streets. We will share more information about planned activities nearer to the time. In the meantime, we would like to gather more information about how our children travel to and from school and nursery to support us with compiling our School and Nursery Travel Plan. We would greatly appreciate it if you could complete the parent survey below. This information will help us to encourage more of our children and families to walk to school and nursery and support our families to be active each day.  Thank you for your support.  https://forms.office.com/e/buxVJWa1H7

Pupil Parliament Sharing session and P7 Leadership Groups
We are so proud of all of the fantastic learning on show at our second Pupil Parliament Sharing session this week. Our Primary 7 Leaders created a fun quiz for each committee to test their knowledge from across the term! All of our children were included in viewing each committee’s learning at our showcase. We also asked all children to share their views on the next steps for our Citizenship, Eco, Wellbeing and Safety Committees. Our Pupil Parliament will recommence after the Spring holidays and we are excited to share our final missions with you then.

Our Primary 7 Leadership Groups have been working incredibly hard this term to lead various initiatives across our nursery, school, and the wider community. We have created an informative and interesting Sway for you to view our pupil groups learning which can be viewed on our school Twitter account.

Parental Volunteers
We are the Netherlee Pupil Parliament, a pupil group dedicated to promoting pupil voice and positive health and wellbeing within our school.  As part of our role we want to help increase the number of extra-curricular clubs on offer at the school. To help us do this, we would love to invite you to volunteer and lead in our extra-curricular programme to build on the activities that are being led by teachers, staff and community clubs. If you have an interest, training or qualification in a particular sport or any activity we would love to hear from you.  This could be running, tennis, engineering, digital technology e.g. coding, art, cooking etc. If you are interested in volunteering or finding out more please complete the information form below.
Parental Volunteer: Extra-Curricular Clubs

The fundamental aim of Netherlee Primary is to offer all children opportunities and motivation to adopt active, fulfilling and healthy lifestyles, now and into adulthood.  We aim to do this by increasing opportunities before, during and after school, and in the wider community for our children to fulfill their potential in a wide variety of curricular areas.

We look forward to hearing from you and welcoming you as a volunteer!

Family Cross Country
Next term we are going to introduce a family cross country run/ jog J, after-school club. This fun activity will run for four weeks, every Tuesday from 3.15pm until 4pm on the following dates:

Tuesday 16 May
Tuesday 30 May
Tuesday 6 May
Tuesday 13 May

In the event of over subscription, we will need to run a ballot. We will get back in touch if you have been successful in getting a place.  If your family would be interested in taking part, please complete the following link. https://forms.office.com/e/uE2NBxth1V.

I hope you agree that this is an exciting opportunity for your family.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Primary 1: Transition Feedback
At Netherlee, we are constantly seeking ways to improve our practice. We understand the importance of giving parents a voice with regards to policies and procedures which impact their children. We will soon be creating a ‘Transition to School’ policy. We would love to hear your views with regards to your child’s recent experience to support us in the creation of this policy. Please click here to submit your views. We kindly ask that responses are submitted by Friday, 24th March at 3pm.

Primary 2: Diversity Month
As part of Diversity Month, one of our lovely dinner ladies has kindly agreed to come in to help the Primary 2 children make salsa. This will be happening on Monday 27 March 2023.

The ingredients we will be using are:

  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Onions
  • Tomato puree
  • Mixed herbs
  • Tortilla wraps

Children can participate in making and tasting the salsa however, this task is completely optional. If you would prefer your child did not take part, please let us know. We have taken into account any allergy information we hold for your child. Please let us know if this information needs updated. We hope the children enjoy this experience as part of their learning in Diversity Month.

Primary 3a: Update
It is with mixed emotions that we share with you that Miss McLauchlan will be leaving Netherlee on Wednesday 22nd March. We’re sure you’ll agree that she has done a wonderful job teaching your children whilst Mrs Allan has been on maternity leave. Thank you, Miss McLauchlan, for all your hard work and we wish you all the very best for the future!

Mrs Allan will return to Netherlee to teach the class starting on Monday 27th March. She will work every Monday, Tuesday and alternate Wednesdays. Your child will continue to be taught by Mrs Malone on alternate Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Mrs Allan back into school and know she is excited about her return and working with your children.

Primary 3: Diversity Month
As part of Diversity Month, one of our P3 parents has kindly agreed to come in and share her experience of living in Canada. This will be happening on Thursday 23 March 2023.

As part of the visit, the children will have the opportunity to enjoy pancakes with maple syrup, a traditional Canadian food however, this task is completely optional. If you would prefer your child did not take part in the tasting session, please let us know. We have taken into account any allergy information we hold for your child. Please let us know if this information needs updated. We hope the children enjoy this experience as part of their learning in Diversity Month.

Primary 3/4: Girls Football Club
An afterschool Girls Football Club/ P3/4 will be starting on a Wednesday 17th May from 3.15-4.15pm. The club will run for 4 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P3/4 Girls Football Club
Day and Time: Wednesday 3.15 pm– 4.15pm.
Dates:  17th, 31st May, 7th,14th June
Venue:  Gym Hall
Delivered by:  Busby Football Coaches
No. of pupils: 20
Cost: Free

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/ZFpRtRyP7J no later than Thursday 23rd March. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Primary 4-7: Cricket Club
An afterschool P4-7 Cricket Club will be starting on a Friday 19th May from 3.15pm-4.15pm. The club will run for 4 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P4-7 Cricket Club
Day and Time: Friday 3.15 pm– 4.15pm.
Dates:  19th May, 2nd, 9th, 16th June
Venue:  Netherlee Primary
Delivered by:  Chris Cox
No. of pupils: 24
Cost: Free

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/ng4xMAEyJV later than Thursday 23rd March. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Primary 5: Baking Club
An afterschool P5 Baking Club will be starting on a Thursday 18th May from 3.15pm-4.15pm. The club will run for 4 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P5 Baking Club
Day and Time: Thursday 3.15 pm– 4.15pm
Dates:  18th, 25th May, 1st, 8th June
Venue:  Netherlee Primary
Delivered by:  Mrs Andrews
No. of pupils: 15
Cost: £4.00

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/Q5nGMZ01Nb no later than Thursday 23rd March. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Primary 5: Trip

An email was sent to parents  about  Primary 5 Trip.

Primary 5a: Visit
An email was sent to parents  regarding  a local area trip.

Primary 5b: Visit
An email was sent to parents  regarding  a local area trip.

Primary 5c: Visit
An email was sent to parents  regarding  a local area trip.

Primary 5c: Class Update
I am sure your children may have told you that Miss Bolger will be leaving us shortly.  We all wish her the best of luck in her new job with the RSPB.  Miss Bolger’s last day with us will be next Friday, 24th March.  From this date, the children will be working fulltime with Mrs Pollock until we stop in June.

Primary 5d: Visit
An email was sent to parents  regarding  a local area trip.

Primary 7: Rugby Club
An afterschool P7 Rugby Club will be starting on a Thursday 18th May from 3.15pm-4.15pm. The club will run for 4 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P7 Rugby Club
Day and Time: Thursday 3.15 pm– 4.15pm
Dates:  18th, 25st May, 1st, 8th June
Venue:  Netherlee Primary
Delivered by:  Mr Aitken
No. of pupils: 24
Cost: Free

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/CdfSh31SMi no later than Thursday 23rd March. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parent News 10.03.2023

Hello everyone

Comic Relief
Please see letter here regarding our Anything But a Bag Day on Friday, 17th March.

East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure Holiday Camps
We’re running All Star Sports Camp, All Star Activity Camp, Play In A Week, World of Art Camp & intensive swimming lessons during the spring holidays.

Our All Star Sports Camp & All Star Activity Camp are led by our Active Schools & Sports Development Team and delivered by our fantastic team of coaches and tutors! Our Play In A Week & World of Art Camps are delivered by our expert arts and drama tutors! Finally, our intensive swimming lessons are ran by our highly skilled swimming instructors!

Our Spring, Summer & October Holiday Camps are on sale now, for more information and ways to book, please visit: https://www.ercultureandleisure.org/sports-arts/holidaycamps/

Easter Service
Mr Watson has been very busy preparing for our Netherlee Easter Service with our P6 choir and musicians from P5, 6 & 7. The service will take place on the morning of Thursday 30th March in Netherlee and Stamperland Parish Church. As you will be aware, this date has been scheduled as a potential strike day should the current pay offer not be agreed, however, we wanted to share arrangements for the service with you now.

As space is limited within the church, unfortunately, while we would love to have everyone that wants to attend the service, we will only be able to accommodate two family members from the children that are performing in the choir or are playing their instrument. Separate information has been sent to these families today, please only attend the service if you receive confirmation that your child will be performing. The service will be recorded and a link to the recording will be emailed out in the Friday Bundle on the 31st March. We hope that you are not too disappointed with these restrictions.

Family Focused Gold Award: Update
As you know, our school and nursery are hoping to achieve our Family Focused Gold Award on Friday 19th May.  This award shows that we include and support all of our families in the life of the school and nursery. The award also shows that we uphold the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child, otherwise known as GIRFEC.

The accreditation process involves working together with staff, pupils and parents to create a Charter for the school and nursery. We met with our ‘Everyone Matters’ parent group this week to discuss and create our 10 charter statements and evaluate our school and nursery practice. We will share the final version of both our School and Nursery charters once complete! Keep an eye out on our upcoming Friday Bundles for more updates.

Diversity Evening- A Date for your Diary
On Wednesday 29 March 2023, a culture evening will be held in our school atrium to celebrate and share all the different cultures within Netherlee Primary School and Nursery Class.

The PTA and school are inviting all families to share their cultural heritage through a range of ways such as:

  • Having a small display / exhibition on your country and culture (can include food tasting and demonstrations);
  • Showcasing traditional music;
  • Recital in other languages; or
  • Dancing

You may even have other creative ways to share your heritage with the Netherlee community, which you are welcome to do.

Of course, you can simply come along to enjoy the evening. There will be refreshments, entertainment, free workshops and activities to enjoy on the evening too!

If you or your family would like to host a display or showcase something, please contact Mrs Kelly Linn at schoolmail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or contact the PTA at netherleepta@gmail.com.

I hope you agree this will be a wonderful evening of celebrating our Netherlee Community. We look forward to seeing you there.

Primary 1a HealthiER Minds Lessons
Please see the attached information in relation to a new set of lessons which we have been asked to try with our pupils. They are on the Theme of Bereavement, Grief and Loss and have been designed by the HealthiER Minds team. The attached document will give you more information in relation to these lessons. If you have any questions regarding these lessons please just contact us on school mail or call the office.
Bereavement Loss and Grief Curricular Resource Information for Parents and Carers

P1 Diversity Month
As part of Diversity Month, one of our lovely dinner ladies has kindly agreed to come in to help the Primary 1 children make guacamole. This will be happening on Monday 20 March 2023.

The ingredients we will be using are:

  • Avocado
  • Lemon juice
  • Coriander
  • Tortilla wraps

Children can participate in making and tasting the guacamole.  We have taken into account any allergy information we hold for your child. Please let the office know if this information needs updated at all. We hope the children enjoy this experience as part of their learning in Diversity Month.

Primary 1 Cooking
As part of our Diversity Month, P1 will be making Arepas (from South America) in our school kitchen. This activity will be carried out on Tuesday 28th March.

The ingredients are as follows-

  • water
  • salt
  • pre-cooked white cornmeal
  • vegetable oil
  • cheddar cheese

Please advise us if there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child.

P1 and P2 Recycled Donations: Thank-you!
We just want to say a huge thank-you to those that have donated pre-loved items to our P1 and P2 Open Area. These resources have been used to replenish, support and enhance our play spaces for our children. We are just blown away by your generosity! We will be sure to post which pre-loved items we are in need of next in our Friday Bundle. Thank-you for your continued support.

Primary 3: Trip
An email has been sent to P3 parents/carers with details of the trip.

Primary 3: Instrumental Music Service Trials for instrumental music lessons for next year will be held before the summer. If your child would be interested in learning a musical instrument, please fill out the form provided. The form will also let you know which instruments are available within your school for their relevant year group.

P3 Recruitment e-form link: https://forms.office.com/e/95rXCTsHaE

Primary 4a HealthiER Minds Lessons
Please see the attached information in relation to a new set of lessons which we have been asked to try with our pupils. They are on the Theme of Bereavement, Grief and Loss and have been designed by the HealthiER Minds team. The attached document will give you more information in relation to these lessons.If you have any questions regarding these lessons please just contact us on school mail or call the office.
Bereavement Loss and Grief Curricular Resource Information for Parents and Carers

Primary 4: Instrumental Music Service
Trials for instrumental music lessons for next year will be held before the summer. If your child would be interested in learning a musical instrument, please fill out the form provided. The form will also let you know which instruments are available within your school for their relevant year group.

P4 ‘Come and Try’ Event application e-form link:  https://forms.office.com/e/cv6V1MUTQ3

Primary 4: Diversity Month
As part of our Diversity Month, a parent has volunteered to come in to make traditional, open Polish sandwiches with the children in Primary 4. Children will be able to choose from the following ingredients:
Polish bread
cold meats
cheese
Pickles
butter
eggs

Our parent has also very kindly offered to bring in nut-free, Polish sweets for the children to try. We will take into account any allergy information we currently have on file for your child. Please let us know if this information needs updated and do get in touch if you have any further questions. I hope your child finds this to be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

Primary 5: Instrumental Music Service

Trials for instrumental music lessons for next year will be held before the summer. If your child would be interested in learning a musical instrument, please fill out the form provided. The form will also let you know which instruments are available within your school for their relevant year group.

P5 Recruitment e-form link: https://forms.office.com/e/iAuQGizHey

Primary 6: Instrumental Music Service
Trials for instrumental music lessons for next year will be held before the summer. If your child would be interested in learning a musical instrument, please fill out the form provided. The form will also let you know which instruments are available within your school for their relevant year group.

P6 ‘Come and Try’ Event application e-form link: https://forms.office.com/e/kewbmm24pA

P6d HealthiER Minds Lessons
Please see the attached information in relation to a new set of lessons which we have been asked to try with our pupils. They are on the Theme of Bereavement, Grief and Loss and have been designed by the HealthiER Minds team. The attached document will give you more information in relation to these lessons. If you have any questions regarding these lessons please just contact us on school mail or call the office.}
Bereavement Loss and Grief Curricular Resource Information for Parents and Carers

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parent News 03.03.2023

Hello everyone, just a very short bundle this week.

World Book Day at Netherlee
We have thoroughly enjoyed celebrating World Book Day at Netherlee school and nursery this week. Each of our classes received their surprise mystery item and created wonderful written and spoken stories across the week.  It has been a joy to read some of their imaginative stories. Our children have enjoyed reading for pleasure with their favourite books and some of our classes organised a cosy read with some hot chocolate! Many of our classes have engaged with fun, book related activities to promote reading for pleasure which have included taking part in virtual author and illustrator live videos, creating artwork inspired by favourite book characters and carrying out surveys to find out our most popular authors at Netherlee. We are excited to use some of this information to update our school reading resources to ensure our texts are diverse, relevant and enjoyable for our children.  Lastly, all our children have been given a £1 Book Voucher which can be used in participating stores and is valid until Sunday 26th March 2023.  Have a look on our school and nursery twitter @sand_c  to see more fun from across the week. Thank you for your continued support.

School and Nursery Photographs
As you are aware the school photographer has been in school and nursery and we would like you to note that due to the Industrial Action this week she will be in school on Tuesday and Wednesday next week to capture photographs, for any individual and siblings not yet taken. Due to the logistics, we cannot guarantee that the children will not be in their PE uniform for these pictures. Therefore, one sibling may be in their shirt and tie and another sibling in their navy polo shirt and PE uniform. As always, purchasing these photographs is entirely optional.

Please could we ask that the PE uniform policy is fully adhered to at all times and also for these photographs eg navy branded polo shirt, plain navy bottom items and that these items do not have visible branded logos, stripes, ticks or naming (eg Nike). Thank you for your continued support with this.

Nursery children can wear their normal nursery clothes.

Change of Menu: 9th March
Please find attached our planned menu change for next Thursday 9th March. The allergy information is included to enable your child to select a suitable option.  However, if you require further allergy or dietary information, please contact our catering team via the school office.

Primary 6C: PE Day Change
6C will now have PE on a Tuesday and Thursday. Could the children please come wearing their full PE kit on these days instead.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

 

Parent News 24.02.2023

Hello everyone

World Book Day – Thursday 2nd March
We are looking forward to marking World Book Day on Thursday 2nd March at Netherlee. Please see the letter with more information about our planned activities.

Pupil Work Home
Today your child will have brought home their maths 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.  Please pop their work back in their school bag on Sunday evening so that they have it for class on Monday.

Request for Parent Helpers
We are delighted that school life has pretty much returned to normal and we are now organising lots of school events and trips.  We are therefore, once again, looking for parent volunteers and helpers.  If you are able to help at all at any point throughout the school week or in the evenings, we would appreciate it if you could complete the online form and also confirm whether you are currently PVG registered or not.  Many thanks.

Appointments
Could we please ask that wherever possible, if you have any change in pickup/collection arrangements for your child that you can let us know by 12noon or as early in the day as possible via email or by calling 0141 570 7260. This will help us to communicate with class teachers effectively.

Celebrating Wider Achievements at Netherlee
Recognising and celebrating children’s achievements is an integral part to the Curriculum for Excellence. We are always looking for new ways to recognise and celebrate our children’s wider achievements out with Netherlee. As detailed in our Promoting Positive Behaviour Policy, during Celebrating Success assemblies each month, certificates are awarded to pupils who have really tried to uphold the Netherlee Values, for Effort and Progress and for Achievements within and out with school. For example, many of our children take part in extracurricular clubs and competitions, charity work or simply have learnt a new life skill.  To help us celebrate as many children’s achievements as possible, we will share an Achievement Microsoft Form link in the Friday Bundle at the start of each month. We would encourage you to complete this if you wish to share information about a recent wider achievement that your child has done. We will also include a link to the form on our school website and school Twitter. We look forward to hearing about your child’s achievements and celebrating them at Netherlee.
School Achievement Form

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: February Meeting

Primary 1 and 2: Recycled Donations
As you know, children lead their own learning through play, particularly in P1 and P2. Children’s ideas and interests are a key consideration when planning for our classroom and Open Area. We are on the hunt for pre-loved items related to the children’s interests. These are items that you would otherwise be throwing away that we can use. If you have, and are finished with, any of these types of items, please place any donations into a bag and leave this in our Recycled Donations Box situated at the main school office entrance or in a carrier bag and given to the class teachers. Many, many thanks.

This week, we are looking for the following resources to support our Creativity area:

  • Junk modelling items: e.g. Toilet roll/kitchen roll tubes, cardboard boxes (such as delivery boxes, cereal boxes or shoe boxes), plastic bottles
  • Pieces of material (e.g. fabric or felt)
  • Decorative items: e.g. buttons, gems

Primary 2: Trip
A letter was sent home to parents regarding an upcoming trip.

Primary 3 to Primary 6: Parent Workshop and Information Evening
Please keep the evening of Tuesday 25th of April free for an opportunity to join staff in school for some fun and informative workshops. The evening will be from 6:30pm to 8pm and we will send further information nearer the time detailing what will be available. Looking forward to seeing lots of parents on the night.

Primary 4: World Book Day and Romans Topic
Primary 4 are going to celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 2 March by having a Cosy Read.  They will be given reduced sugar hot chocolate and will have the option to add reduced fat squirty cream.  Could the children please bring in their own mug (and spoon if they would like the cream).  To make the time even more cosy they can also bring in a small cushion if they wish.  All known allergies have been taken into account so please ensure that your child’s health details, held in the school office, are up to date.

Also, as part of our Romans topic the children will be making shields.  Could children please bring in a cardboard box, if one is available from home only, to help with this.  These can be brought in from Monday.

Primary 4: Showcase

Please see the invitation for our P4 Showcase on Thursday 16th March. We are looking forward to seeing you all. Please note that there is a maximum of 2 adults per child.

Primary 7: Tea Party Fundraiser
Please see the letter regarding the P7 Tea Party Show Fundraiser on Friday, 10th March.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parent News 17.02.2023

Hello everyone

It has been lovely catching up with the children and staff this week after our February weekend. The children were very excited to share what they had been up to with the staff! We hope you had a brilliant and well rested weekend with friends and family.

The staff were very busy at our in-service day on Friday. The school and nursery staff had the opportunity to share all of the great practice with each other as part of our development work for our School and Nursery Improvement Plan. It’s really important to have opportunities such as In-Service Days where all staff can share expertise and ideas across the whole team. This also reminds us that, although we may have a school and two nursery buildings, we are very much one big Netherlee community!

World Thinking Day- Wednesday 22nd February
Please click on this link regarding World Thinking Day on.

Diversity Month
Thank you so much to our parents and carers who have already completed the link below to offer their expertise during the month of March when we celebrate different cultures, religions, traditions and languages from around the world. We would love to hear from even more families during this month. If you think this is something you would be able to support us with, please complete the Google Form by clicking on the link below by Friday 24 February. Many thanks for your continued support and interest in being more involved in the life on Netherlee.
Diversity Month Volunteers

Lunch Menu Change- Friday 24th February
Please see the planned menu change for next. The allergy information is included to enable your child to select a suitable option.  However, if you require further allergy or dietary information, please contact your catering team via the school office.

Upcoming Courses for Parents/Carers
Please see the flyer regarding free parenting courses available. Further information can also be seen in the Sway.

Please see below information regarding 2 courses run locally in Barrhead with West College Scotland, each programme will last approximately 12 weeks.  If you would like to register your interest in these courses or find out more info please email adult.learning@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Getting Started in IT: enrolment date 22nd Feb 9.30am-12pm, starting 1st March 9.30am-12pm
Exploring Wellbeing: enrolment date 28th Feb 1.30pm-4.30pm, stating 7th March 1.30-4.30pm

Primary 1: Trip
Please see email sent regarding an upcoming P1 trip.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Parent News 09.02.2023

Hello everyone

90th Birthday
This week we celebrated Netherlee’s 90th birthday. We started off the week with a special assembly.  Myself and some of our pupils told stories all about what Netherlee Primary School and Nursery Class was like all those years ago! The children were fascinated to hear the stories from former pupils and members of the local community who had very kindly got in touch with us to share their memories.  We also made some fantastic party decorations, including bunting and party hats to prepare for the parties to celebrate the occasion. We had lots of fun playing party games and dancing to our favourite songs. Everyone at the school and nursery would like to say a huge thank you to everybody that has given up their time to make it such a special occasion. Please look at our school and nursery twitter feed @sand_c.to see all the fun we had, including our amazing whole school and nursery 90th aerial photograph. Please remember to also listen to our Netherlee podcasts too. Here’s to another 90 years of Netherlee!

Parent Council Meeting:  7pm Wednesday 15th February in The Hub in School A quick reminder that our next parent council meeting is at the above time and we welcome all parents and carers from Nursery Class to p7, to have an open discussion on a range of topics concerning the children of Netherlee.  As always members of the School Senior Leadership team will also be there and we hope to hear from some p7 pupils about the work of the Pupil Parliament and how we as a group can help them fulfil their parliament priorities.

If you have any topics you would like us to discuss please email netherleeparentcouncil@gmail.com and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

School and Nursery Photographs
As you will be aware, our school photographer will be in school and nursery from Wednesday 15th February until Friday 3rd March. As promised in last week’s Friday Bundle, the timetables for whole class, individual, sibling and nursery photographs are attached for your information. A reminder that school children should wear their shirt and tie uniform on the day/s their whole class and individual photos are due to be taken as we have timetabled these sessions to avoid PE and outdoor learning days. Siblings photographs will be taken during week commencing the 27th February and, due to the logistics around timetabling, we cannot guarantee that the children will not be in their PE uniform for these pictures. Therefore, one sibling may be in their shirt and tie and another sibling in their navy polo shirt and PE uniform. As always, purchasing these photographs is entirely optional.

Please could we ask that the PE uniform policy is fully adhered to at all times and also for these photographs eg navy branded polo shirt, plain navy bottom items and that these items do not have visible branded logos, stripes, ticks or naming (eg Nike). Thank you for your continued support with this.

Nursery children can wear their normal nursery clothes.

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.
Photo Timetable

Diversity Month
Thank you so much to all our parents and carers who took time to come in during International Languages Week. The children really enjoyed having you in and the staff were so grateful for all your input.

During the month of March we are celebrating Diversity Month and we would love to welcome even more volunteers into the school to enhance the children’s learning in traditional cultures, languages, traditions and religions from all over the world.

If you were born in another country, have lived, worked, volunteered or have family members who live in another country, we would love to hear from you! If you think this is something you could help with, please complete the attached link to the Google Form below by Friday 24 February 2023. This should take no longer than a few minutes of your time.

Diversity Month Volunteer

Thank you for your continued support. Please do get in touch if you have any further questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Recycled Donations
Thank you so much to everyone who kindly donated recycled items last week. This week we would gratefully receive any items from our wish list below to support our Literacy and Numeracy rich environment. If you have, and are finished with, any of these types of items below, please hand in to either of the nursery buildings. Many, many thanks.

  • Wooden dolly pegs
  • Milk bottle lids
  • Corks
  • Measuring scales (e.g. kitchen scales)
  • Old telephone (landline)
  • Recipe books and magazines
  • Shape puzzles

PTA Family Quiz Night 22nd February
Please come along to join in a friendly family quiz night at 6.30pm on the 22nd Feb. The excellent Gavin Pearson will be our quiz master and we will have fun prizes.
Book your quiz spot here! Netherlee PTA (pta-events.co.uk).

Primary 1 and 2 Recycled Donations
As you know, children lead their own learning through play in P1 and P2. Children’s ideas and interests are a key consideration when planning for our classroom and Open Area and resources. We are on the hunt for pre-loved items related to the children’s interests. These are items that you would otherwise be throwing away that we can use to refresh our resources in the Open Area.

This week, we are looking for storage items to support the organisation of our spaces and Home Corner resources:

  • Wicker baskets
  • Glass or plastic jars or canisters (e.g. mason jars, pasta or cereal jars)
  • Kitchen utensils (e.g. spatulas, whisks, various sized spoons), kitchen scales, pots and pans
  • Cook books and magazines
  • Measuring scales (e.g. kitchen scales)

If you have, and are finished with, any of these types of items, please place any donations into a bag and leave this in our Recycled Donations Box situated at the main school office entrance next week. Many, many thanks.

We hope you have a wonderful and relaxing February weekend. School and nursery will reopen on Wednesday 15th February.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class
East Renfrewshire

Parent News 03.02.2023

Hello everyone

Collectable Cards
The staff who support our children during intervals and lunchtime have communicated an increase in the number of incidents resulting from children trading collectable cards. Many of our children enjoy bringing in Pokémon cards and other collectable cards from home. If your child likes to bring these cards into school, we would request that you have a chat with them about the value (both monetary and personal) of their collectable cards and what it means if they trade a card with another child. Unfortunately, in recent weeks, the trading of these cards has resulted in a number of upsets and disagreements amongst some of our pupils which we very much want to avoid where possible.  If things continue like this, we may have no option but to stop the trading of cards in school or even have a ban on the cards coming into school altogether.  We are not yet at this point and we really don’t want to take this step as we know how much fun some children have with this activity however I hope you can understand if it does get to this point in the coming weeks.  Thank you for your continued support.

90th Birthday – special lunch
Please note that on Monday 6th February there will be a special lunch to mark the school’s birthday. The usual sandwich/baguette options will be available but the hot option will be mince and potatoes, vegetarian mince will  also be available. There will be cake and custard too. This can be ordered by the children as normal on Monday morning in school.

Thursday 9th February
As another part of our Netherlee’s 90th Birthday celebrations next week, all classes will have a fun ‘birthday party’ on Thursday 9th February. To add to the special occasion and in keeping with the birthday theme, your child is very welcome, should they wish, to bring in a small birthday snack from home to enjoy at the party. Please remember we are a nut free school- thank you.

School & Nursery Photographs
Please click on this link regarding class, sibling and individual photographs of your children.

Bikeability Helpers Wanted
Would you like to be involved in helping us to deliver Bikeability training in school to our Primary 6 year group? You would need to be able to undertake a training course over two mornings in February (16th &17th). If this is something you would like to be involved in please email us in the usual way and Mr Bryce will get in touch.

Primary 1 Health Checks
Please check your child’s bag for a letter regarding your child’s P1 health check.

Primary 3b Update
It is with mixed emotions that we share with you that Miss Faulkner has secured a new teaching post and will be leaving Netherlee on Wednesday 8th February. We are all very excited for her new adventure but we will miss her very much!

Your child will continue to be taught by Miss McNamee on a Thursday and a Friday but will be working with Miss Julie McGahon on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Miss McGahon’s first day in class will be on Wednesday 15th February and she is really looking forward to meeting and working with P3b. She will be coming into school to meet the class on Monday 6th February and she will also have a detailed handover of pupil information with Miss Faulkner then too.

Miss McGahon is very much looking forward to joining us here at Netherlee and we are delighted to have her.

Primary 4 Trip Reminder
Just a kind reminder that consent forms for the upcoming Primary 4 trip are in ParentsPortal for completion. A payment of £3.30 is also due via ParentPay.  If you have still to complete the consent form or arrange payment, we would appreciate if you do so by Tuesday 7th February.

Primary 5 Showcase
Please see the invitation for our P5 Egyptian Showcase. We are looking forward to seeing you all. Please note that there is a maximum of 2 adults per child.

Primary 7 Leavers’ Hoodies
Just a reminder that leaver’s hoodies are now available to order. Please have a read at the letter regarding how to order.

Primary 7 Tea Party – Be Our Guest
Primary 7 would love you to save the date, Friday 10th March, 11am – 12noon, to come along to our tea party. Tickets will be £2.50 a head and all profits will be going towards the school show, Beauty and The Beast. More information will be coming soon.

Young Scot Cards
A representative from Customer First will be coming into school on Wednesday 8th February to take photos for the P7s for their National Entitlement Card. As P7a and P7b are taking part in Bikeability that day it will just be the children in P7c and P7d who will be taken that day. The representative will organise another day to come in to complete the photographs for the other classes and also catch anyone who was absent on the 8th.

February Weekend
A gentle reminder that the school and nursery is closed on Friday 10th February (in-service day) and Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th February.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class