Hello everyone,

We hope that many of you enjoyed the opportunity to talk with staff about the progress your child has made during their year at nursery. It’s a great way to reflect on your child’s progress at Nursery. Week two of Nursery Parent and Carer appointments take place next week (22^nd-26^th).  If you have not managed to book a slot, please let a member of staff know. We look forward to seeing you then!

King Charles III Coronation Artwork
All children have created a piece of artwork to mark the King’s Coronation. Each child’s artwork is displayed at our nursery doors for you to collect at your parent’s appointment. To raise money for the nursery fund, in return for the artwork, we would be delighted and very appreciative if you could make a donation of £3 in cash. All money raised will go towards the nursery fund, to help us pay for such things as ingredients for cooking, outdoor seeds etc. Thank you.

Sun Safety
As we approach the summer months, we ask that you provide your child with sun cream (in-date) and a sun hat (e.g. cap or similar) in bags please. These items should be labelled with your child’s name please. On particularly hot days, it would be helpful if you could apply sun cream to children before entering the nursery if possible. We will keep your child’s sun cream in nursery for re-application and safekeeping.

Please also see our Sun Safe Policy which has also be added to our policy section on our nursery website.

Supporting Diversity at Netherlee
At Netherlee, we understand that communication is key to making sure that the information we provide to parents and the community is accessible for all.  We have therefore made a small, but important, change to our school and nursery website.  Now, when you visit the website, you will see in the top right hand corner the new “select a language” feature which translates the content and information into many different languages.  We hope this is a useful development for our families.

Sports Week Arrangements: Nursery
Our sports week is fast approaching and we wanted to invite you to some of the events we have planned.  We will be having some fun, potted sports and races on Tuesday 30 May, starting at 1.45pm on the pitch. You are welcome to come along a cheer the children on. You may even get a chance to run in a parents and carers race, so bring your trainers!

If you have older children in the school, you will know there are two Family mornings planned. The first on Wednesday 31^st May at 9.15am -11.15am for families in the RED and BLUE houses and the second on Thursday 1 June at 9.15am – 11.15am for families in the GREEN and YELLOW houses. For these, our nursery children are able to participate, if you wish them to. We would ask that you register your child with us first, before going to collect their siblings for the sports activities.

We hope the children have lots of fun during sports week. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Linn at SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk . If your child does not usually attend nursery on any of the dates above, you are more than welcome to come along and join in for the above events.

Learning Links
Please click here to view the Acorns and Saplings Learning Links. The song of the week this week is ‘Three Blind Mice’ which can be listened to and enjoyed by logging on to your child’s google classroom: https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/glow

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Jennifer McCann (PT)
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone,

Miss McCann was very busy at Lochgoilhead with the Primary 7s this week. She has been taking part in lots of activities, including abseiling, kayaking and night-walking! Well done, Miss McCann. Check out our school and nursery twitter  to see how everyone got on!

Thank you to those who were able to attend our Stay and Play sessions this week. The children and staff just love welcoming our parents and carers into our nursery and they are a fantastic way to experience a day in the life of your child here at Netherlee!

We hope that you enjoy reading your child’s nursery reports which have been sent home today. The children have made such wonderful progress during their time with us. Time just flies!

A big congratulations to one of our nursery parents, Mrs Cross, who recently published her own book ‘Grow, Cook, Inspire’. Well done- this is a fantastic achievement.

Parents’ Appointments
Please be reminded that our parent appointments begin next week. These appointments will take place over two weeks (Monday 15^th May- Thursday 25^th May) with your child’s key worker in the nursery buildings. Sign-up sheets are now available at the nursery doors. If you haven’t managed to secure a suitable day or time, please let a member of staff know on pick up or drop off.

Your child’s artwork, inspired by King Charles III Coronation, will also be available in the nursery buildings for you to collect on your appointment. To raise money for the nursery fund, in return for the artwork, we would invite you to make a donation of at least £3. Unfortunately, we will only be able to accept cash. All money raised will go towards the nursery fund, this is used to pay for items to support children’s play and learning experiences, such as ingredients for cooking and other perishable items (e.g. flour, shaving foam).

PTA Uniform Sale
The uniform samples are now available to view and try on at our Saplings building. They will remain there from 9am until 6pm, every week day, until Thursday 25^th May and orders may be placed online until Monday 29^th May. As the hoodie styles and colours can vary from different suppliers, we would kindly encourage you to purchase any hoodies from the PTA, for consistency purposes.

Learning Links
Please click here to view the Acorns and Saplings learning links. This week’s song of the week is ‘Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle‘ which can be listened to and enjoyed on your child’s google classroom by clicking this link: https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/glow
Acorns
Saplings

Nursery Sports Day
As part of sports week, the children in our nursery will be taking part in a sports day on Tuesday 30 May, from 1.45pm on the pitch. I hope you can join us! We are also looking for any parents or carers who have experience of participating in sport who may be interested in coming to speak to the children or lead an active session. If you think this is something you would be interested in, please contact Mrs Kelly Linn at SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk

Living Streets Walk to School Week
As you know, on Monday 15^th till Friday 19^th May, we are taking part in the Walk to School Week led by Living Streets. The aim of this week is to help encourage as many children as possible to experience the benefits of walking to school and in day-to-day life. We had a special assembly this week to learn more about how to take part and each class has received a Living Streets challenge pack which includes an activity diary if children wish to record if they travel actively (walk/wheel, cycle, scoot or Park and Stride) to school during the week. Park and Stride involves parking or hopping off public transport at least ten minutes away from the school and walking the rest of the way. Our P4 Wellbeing Committee will be leading an active warm up on Monday morning to launch the start of the week alongside Strider the Living Streets mascot. Our nursery children will have a special visit from Strider too! We hope by taking part in this week we can raise awareness of the health benefits of walking and that it is fun! We would also like to say thank you for completing our Living Streets Active Travel parent survey earlier this year and for your continued support.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Jennifer McCann (PT)
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone,

Well done to Mrs Beattie, who took part in the Mighty Kilt Walk at the weekend to fundraise for the SSAFA Armed Forces charity. Super job Mrs Beattie!

This achievement features on our Nursery WOW Wall, alongside our children’s achievements.  Details of how to share wider achievements, including those of your child, are detailed below.

Family Focused: Questionnaire
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 12^th May at 3pm.

Celebrating Wider Achievements at Netherlee
Recognising and celebrating children’s achievements is an integral part to Curriculum for Excellence and what we do in Netherlee. We also understand that recognising the achievements of the special adults in our children’s lives help to inspire our children to reach their goals and model the importance of resilience.

As you will already be aware, we currently share and celebrate our children’s achievements through our Nursery WOW Wall. We would now love to showcase the achievements of parents, carers and our very own staff and include these with our children’s achievements on our WOW Wall for all to see! For example, this may include charity work, running a marathon or simply have learnt a new life skill.

If you wish to share information about a recent wider achievement that your child has done, we would encourage you to complete the form below.  Pictures of children and parents and carer’s achievements should continue to be submitted via email to be included on our WOW Wall (nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk).
Wider Achievements Form

Stay and Play
Please be reminded of our stay and play sessions next week (Tue 9^th May- Friday 12^th May).These sessions are a fantastic opportunity to play with your child in nursery. Our children’s special books are available to look at any time on the playroom floor. Please feel free to read through these with your child during your visit and have a chat with them about their learning journey. If you still require a slot, please let a staff member know on pick up or drop off to book a suitable date/time.

Pre-school Gaelic fun day Sat 13 May
East Renfrewshire is opening its first Gaelic medium primary provision at Thornliebank Primary School in August 2023. Please see the flyer for a Gaelic family information and fun day on Saturday 13 May at Thornliebank Primary School.

Nursery Reports and Transition to Primary One
This is a very exciting time for pre-school children as we will soon be beginning our Nursery to Primary One transition process. All nursery reports for those starting school will be sent home via email on Friday 12^th May. These detail your child’s progress and how you can help at home. We hope you thoroughly enjoy reading them!

Also, a letter containing key dates and information about our upcoming Nursery to Primary One transition events was sent home yesterday. We cannot wait to welcome your children in August!

Parents Appointments
Our Nursery parent and carer’s appointments will take place on the week beginning Monday 15^th May.  These appointments will take place over two weeks (Monday 15^th May- Thursday 25^th May) with your child’s key worker in the nursery buildings. We hope that many of you enjoy the opportunity to talk with staff about your child’s learning. Signup sheets will be made available at the nursery doors from Tuesday 9^th May.

King Charles Coronation: Artwork
To mark the King’s Coronation, all children have created a piece of artwork with a nature/conservation theme, two areas that are very important to King Charles. Each child’s artwork will be on white canvas and available in the nursery buildings for you to collect on your parents appointment. To raise money for the nursery fund, in return for the artwork, we would be delighted and very appreciative if you could make a donation of £3 in cash if possible. All money raised will go towards the nursery fund, this is used to pay for items to support children’s play and learning experiences, such as ingredients for cooking and other perishable items (e.g. flour, shaving foam)

Bookbug Week
Bookbug Week takes place across Scotland from 15–21 May 2023. There will be special events both online and in your local area to celebrate the week. Full details can be found on our Bookbug Week webpage.

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.

Bank Holiday
Please be reminded that the school and nursery will be closed on Monday 8^th May and will re-open on Tuesday 9^th May- thank you.

Have a lovely long weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Jennifer McCann (PT)
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone,

A big thank-you to Mrs Mitchell for coming to the Acorns and Saplings to show us Makaton signs last week. The children and staff loved having a go at making their names and learned some songs too!

It has been wonderful to start our visits to Linn Park again for our woodland adventures. The children have such fun engaging in lots of risky play in the outdoors. Risky play is an exciting and exhilarating experience, which allows children to explore boundaries and challenge themselves whilst learning about managing risks. Have a look at our photos on our school and nursery twitter for some action shots!

Family Focused Gold Award: Update
We have been working hard to prepare for our Family Focused Gold Award accreditation date on Friday 19^th May. Our nursery, please click here Acorns and Saplings and school Family Focused Charters are finalised and are visible at the entrances to our buildings. Thank-you again to Freya in Primary 6 who came up with the winning design! Please see again our charter statements included within the charter which were created with our Everyone Matters parent group. These statements uphold our school and nursery values and underpin the principles of family centred approaches.

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 12^th May at 3pm.

Stay and Play
Our final stay and play sessions for this session will take place from Tuesday 9^th May-Friday 12^th May. These sessions are a brilliant way to play with your child in our nursery. Sign-up sheets will be made available from next week at our nursery buildings (Wednesday 3^rd May).

King Charles III Coronation
As you know, the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort will take place on Saturday 6th May, 2023. At Netherlee, on Friday 5^th May, we would like to celebrate by creating a piece of artwork inspired by nature or conservation. Every child will take part and then sell their artwork to parents and carers at our parents appointments to fundraise money for cooking ingredients and perishable items, such as flour, shaving foam, food colouring. These resources help to support children’s play and learning experiences in nursery. Thank you for your support.

Cosy Corner
As you will be aware, our nursery buildings have a Cosy Corner to allow children to relax in a safe and secure environment. These are safe and nurturing spaces for our children, two of the wellbeing indicators from Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). We have tried to ensure that our Cosy Corner replicates the home environment as much as possible with soft furnishings and pictures from home. If you have a family photo you would like to include in the Cosy Corner, please email this to nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk.

We are looking to develop our Cosy Corner space in the Saplings building further and are on the hunt for some pre-loved items to support us with this. We would gratefully receive any items to enhance this space, such as pillows, blankets, rugs and fairy lights. If you have, and are finished with, any of these types of items, please hand in to the Saplings building. Many, many thanks.

Parent and Carer Volunteers
Do you have a particular skill or interest? The children and staff would really love to learn from you!

We are welcoming parent and carers who would be willing to volunteer to come to the nursery to carry out an activity with our children based on particular skills or interests you might have, such as sewing, playing a musical instrument, dancing, gardening or woodwork.

Also, it is always interesting for the children to find out about various jobs such as any emergency or health care services so if you have a job you think you could share with the children please do let us know. For example, this may include a visit from a dentist to talk to children about looking after their teeth.

It would also be lovely to hear from parents and carers who would be willing to come in and share cultural or religious festivals or experiences with us too – for example, showing photos of celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi, teaching children how to use chopsticks or write numbers in Chinese, sharing stories in different languages or helping to teach the children Irish dancing.

If you are interested, please complete this form, which is also available on our nursery website.  Thank you!

Recycled Donations
Thank you so much to everyone who has kindly donated recycled items so far. This week we would gratefully receive any large loose parts from our wish list below. Loose parts are any materials which can be combined, redesigned, lined up, taken apart, and put back together in different ways. If you have, and are finished with, any of these large items, please contact the school office beforehand to discuss a suitable drop-off time. If you have any of the smaller items then please place these in our Recycled Donations Box situated at the main school office entrance from Tuesday 2^nd May. Many, many thanks.

Hardwood plywood sheets
Wood / timber planks
Crates
Pipes
Gutters
Small Tree stumps
Ropes

Learning Links
Please click to view the Acorns and the Saplings Learning links this week. These are a fantastic way to provide opportunities to support and develop your child’s learning at home should you wish. This week’s song of the week is ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a fish alive’ which can be listened to and enjoyed on your child’s google classroom:  https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/glow

Bank Holiday and In-Service Day
Please be reminded that the school and nursery will be closed on Monday 1^st May (Bank Holiday) and Tuesday 2^nd May (in-service) and will re-open on Wednesday 3^rd May- thank you.

Have a wonderful long weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson (HT) and Jennifer McCann (PT)
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone

It has been lovely welcoming back our children and staff after the holiday break. We have loved spending lots of time outdoors in the beautiful weather.

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 with friends and family.

Family Focused Gold Award Questionnaires (School and Nursery) – now live!
We are hoping to achieve our Family Focused Gold Award on Friday 19^th May. Questionnaires for both nursery and the school are now live. 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 need at least an 80% return rate, so we would be very grateful for your responses- thank you.

Please click here to complete the nursery parent questionnaire

The questionnaires will close on Friday 12^th May 3pm. Thank-you for your continued support.

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.

Self-Evaluation Forms: Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC)
You will also have received a Gathering Parent views paper form, which asks you to give your views of the nursery in relation to GIRFEC. Your views will help us to create our School and Nursery Improvement Priorities for next session. We kindly ask that you return these paper copies to our main school office or to either of our nursery buildings by Friday 28^th April. If you did not receive this, please ask a member of staff at the nursery.

Care Plans and Special Books
Each child has a ‘Personal Care Plan’ which focuses on the wellbeing indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included) from Getting it Right for Every Child. Our Personal Care Plans allow parents to share information to identify next steps to support children’s learning and wellbeing within nursery or at home. These are sent home every six months. If you have recently received your child’s personal care plan to complete, please ensure these are returned to nursery as soon as possible- thank you.

Also, we kindly ask that children’s special books are also returned as soon as possible. We hope you enjoyed reading through them and discussing your child’s progress.

Sun Safety
As we approach the summer months, we ask that you provide your child with sun cream (in-date) and a sun hat (e.g. cap or similar) in bags please. These items should be labelled with your child’s name please. On particularly hot days, it would be helpful if you could apply sun cream to children before entering the nursery if possible. We will keep your child’s sun cream in nursery for re-application and safekeeping.

Learning Links
Please click here to view the Acorns and Saplings Learning Links. The song of the week this week is ‘5 Little Ducks’ which can be listened to and enjoyed by logging on to your child’s google classroom https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/glow

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class