Hello again everyone

Change to Menu: Robert Burns Day
On Wednesday 25^th January there will be a slight change to the menu. The options will be:
Scotch broth soup
Haggis, neeps and tatties or
Pizza, garlic bread and sweetcorn
Ice-cream
Sandwiches, baguettes and baked potatoes will also be available.

Reusable Water Bottles
One of our pupils has been working hard supporting the reduction of our Carbon Footprint. Following a school project where she produced a PowerPoint to emphasize the use of single use plastic bottles in schools across Scotland, she took her concerns to East Renfrewshire Councillors.

The councillors listened and have now passed a motion to work towards making East Renfrewshire a ‘single-use-plastic free’ authority. Well done to Emelia for all her great work taking this forward.  In relation to this, we would like to remind all parents that children should bring reusable water bottles to school and can refill these at our water machines located throughout the building.

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 now, 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.  Many thanks.

Primary 1 and Primary 2: Pre-Loved Items
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. We are once again, on the hunt for pre-loved items related to the children’s interests. These are items that you would otherwise be throwing away.

This week, we would very gratefully receive the following resources to support our role play and creativity area:

• Old (clean) socks
• Cardboard boxes (various sizes)
• Range of textile materials, fabric such as scarves, ribbons, laces, scrunchies
• Cotton reels, curtain rings, beads, buttons, tubes, tins, springs, marbles, bangles, pegs
• Natural resources such as stones, sea shells, feathers, pine cones, leaves, sticks, conkers, acorns…

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.

Primary 4: Trip
An email was sent to P4 parents with details of the upcoming trip.

Primary 7: Bikeability Training
An email was sent to  P7 parents with information about Bikeability Training.

Crossing Patroller
We have been notified that on Wednesday 25^th, there will be no crossing patrolling in the afternoon at Clarkston Road.

As always, I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone

Netherlee Podcast – 90 Years in 90 Minutes
Our P7 Tech Team are proud to announce the first episode of our podcast to celebrate Netherlee’s upcoming 90^th birthday on 6^th February! We have started by interviewing Mrs Donaldson, and will be interviewing lots of different staff members, ex pupils and staff, and community members over the coming weeks. It can be listened to on Spotify and on Anchor FM by clicking these links. Find out more about the project here.

Cost of Living Support in East Renfrewshire
We know that many East Renfrewshire families may be struggling with rising costs of living, especially as we emerge from the festive period, so we want to let you know that help is available. A good place to start is the council’s website, where there is a range of support and advice: www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/cost-of-living-support

If you’d like free, expert and confidential advice, you can speak to ERC’s Money Advice and Rights Team by calling 0141 577 8420 or emailing mart@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.

The Community Hub can also connect you with groups, organisations and services that can provide the support you need. Get in touch on 0141 876 9555 or hello@va-er.org.uk.

Reading Café in Primary 3a
Miss McLauchlan and Primary 3a are going to begin their very own Reading Café. The Café will take place every Monday during class time, from 2:25pm-3:00pm. We are going to start our Café on Monday 23rd January 2023 and do this until the 20th February 2023. On these days, the children are invited to bring in a book from home that they enjoy and would like to read/share in class. As well as this, the pupils are welcomed to bring in a small teddy to read their story to as well if they would like to!

Finally, we are really eager to have 2-3 parents joining us for our Reading Café on the following weeks: 6^th and 20^th February.

If you are interested and available to come into class on these dates and at the time mentioned above, please complete the form attached by Monday 30^th January 2023.  https://forms.gle/q6BD13DH4qns4uuE7. We would be so happy to have you join us… we might even ask you to read a book to us! If we are lucky enough to have too many volunteers, we will choose names at random and Mrs Linn or I will contact you to let you know the date you are required to attend.  Hopefully there will be other opportunities like this in the future!

Thank you in advance for your help and support with this, we appreciate it greatly.

Miss McLauchlan and Primary 3a 🙂

Primary 5 Challenge
Please see the letter regarding an exciting challenge for our Primary 5 children.

Primary 5c – Chinese New Year – Spring RollsOn Mo
nday 23rd January, P5C are celebrating Chinese New Year. As a class, we have decided we would like to make healthy Spring Rolls. The following ingredients will be used to make this: Peppers, Bean sprouts, Carrots, Spring onions, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Egg, Chinese five spice mix, Sweet Chilli Sauce and Soy sauce.

Pastry: https://groceries.asda.com/product/pastry-dough/asda-free-from-ready-rolled-puff-pastry/1000005207584

Rice Noodles: https://groceries.asda.com/product/noodles/asda-rice-noodles/910002208824

Please advise if there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child or if you wish your child not to eat the Spring Rolls.

We will eat them in class but please bring a container for any children who wish to bring them home instead.

Many thanks for your support,

Mrs Pollock

Primary 6 and Primary 7 Gardening Club
An after school P6 and P7 Gardening Club will be starting on a Thursday from 3.15-4.15pm. The club will run for 6 weeks. Full details are as follows:

Activity: P6 and P7 Gardening Club
Day and Time: Thursday 3.15 – 4.15pm.
Dates: 19^th and 26^th January, 2^nd, 9^th, 16^th and 23^rd February
Venue: Netherlee Garden
Delivered by: Helen (Parent) and Teacher
No. of pupils: 15
Cost: Free

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/eczK8YGfSH no later than Monday 16th January. 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
East Renfrewshire

Hello everyone

A very happy new year to all of our Netherlee families.  I hope 2023 is a healthy, happy, peaceful and successful year for everyone. It has been a short first week back but it has been lovely to see all the children and staff again, well rested after a much needed holiday.

Yesterday, we once again welcomed several new children and families into Netherlee.  We realise moving schools is a significant event for anyone- both children and parents and I am delighted that the children who joined us yesterday have said they were looked after really well by their new friends in class and by their teachers and staff too.  I know that as parents new to a school it can also be difficult sometimes to meet other parents.  However, I know that our parent body will look after our new parents too, reaching out to any new faces you see standing at the gate etc.  Thank you for helping us to make Netherlee such a fantastic, inclusive and welcoming community.

Parent/ Teacher Meetings
You will remember that I sent out an online form before the holiday in order to gather parental views around the format for our twice yearly parent/ teacher meetings. Thank you to all parents who took a few moments to send in a response.   The survey results can be seen below and indicate a majority preference to return to face to face meetings. I have made my teaching staff aware of the findings of the survey and they have agreed to return to solely face to face meetings going forwards.  This will include for our next set of meetings in May.  Of course, I am sure you will understand that should any health and safety mitigations ever require to be reintroduced at any time we may need to reconsider the format of parent/ teacher meetings at that time.

In Person (Face to Face – 74% of responses
Virtual – 9%
Hybrid (choice of Face to Face or In Person) – 17%

Celebrating and Promoting Languages at Netherlee – Languages Week, Scotland 30^th January – 6^th February 2023
We have been busy in school and nursery preparing lots of interesting learning experiences for our children to enjoy during Languages Week, Scotland. As part of our Languages Week, we are really keen to involve our parents, carers and our wider Netherlee community including local businesses. We would love to hear from anyone who speaks another language in their day-to-day life and would be willing to share their skills and knowledge with us. If you would be able to volunteer during Languages Week to visit a class or group of classes to speak about another language then please complete the Microsoft Form below. Thank you in advance for making our Languages Week extra special! https://forms.office.com/e/ckx9mePM6j

School and Nursery Photographs
Please be aware that the scheduled date for school and nursery photos has been moved slightly earlier in the school/nursery calendar.  This year, there will be options of class, sibling and individual photographs.  The new date period is from Wednesday 15^th to Friday 24^th February 2023.  Additional information will be sent home nearer the time.

ELC Applications 2023-24
Please be advised that the new online application for 3/ 4yr old placements for new session 2023-24 is available on the East Renfrewshire Council website at the link
https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/5616/Apply-for-a-nursery-place-for-3-or-4-year-olds-2023-24.  The deadline for submitting an online ELC application is 31^st January 2023.

Finally, a little reminder that the next PTA Meeting will be held in our school Hub next Wednesday at 7pm- all parents/ carers are very welcome.  New parents, this is an ideal way to meet other parents too.  PTA meetings are very informal with lots of laughter and great sharing of ideas for working together to put on school and nursery events.  Some of the main points that we will be chatting about on Wednesday are the upcoming Chinese New Year Celebrations, Diversity Community Month in March and also a very special birthday happening very soon- Netherlee Primary’s 90^th Birthday!  Do please come along if you have an hour to spare.

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone

Netherlee and Stamperland Christmas Tree Festival
This month, the children of Primary 5c took part in the Netherlee and Stamperland Christmas Tree Festival. The class used their imagination to decorate a beautiful tree with recycled tins and handmade crafts. A heartfelt thank you to Helen Cross for providing resources and ideas to support the class with making their creation. The organisers of the church festival have kindly donated £200 to the PTA Netherlee Budding Minds Gardening group from some of the money raised at the festival. We would like to say thank you for your generosity and look forward to more opportunities to work with our local community in the future.

Church Service
As promised, please find below the link to the recording of our church service, held in Netherlee Parish Church on Tuesday. Thank you to Reverend Blythe, and the Netherlee church community, for welcoming our Primary 4-Primary 7 pupils and staff into the church in order to record such a beautiful service. A huge well done to our outstanding young people who sang, read and played instruments so beautifully.
Church Service Video Link

Festive Wishes
On behalf of myself and all the staff and children of Netherlee, I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas has a wonderful festive period and that all Netherlee families have a really lovely holiday. Please keep safe and look after yourself and each other but also please do enjoy this special, family time of year.

We will look forward to welcoming our children back on Thursday 5^th January 2022.

Wishing you, your family and the Netherlee community a ‘Healthy and Happy New Year 2023’ when it comes.

Very best wishes

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone

Well Done P7 Choir
A huge well done to all of the children in the P7 choir who sang beautifully on Tuesday evening at the community concert at Netherlee Church and a big thank you to Mr Watson for all of the work that he has done with the choir this session. Everyone left feeling very festive!

Netherlee Times
We present to you, the Netherlee Times! A wonderful group of Primary 6 and 7 pupils and one of my dedicated teachers have been working very hard to create the second issue of our school newspaper. We hope you enjoy having a read at all of the fantastic things that have been going on in the school this term. Myself and Miss McLauchlan would like to say a HUGE well done and thank you to the pupils involved in creating this for you. Please have a look by clicking this link.

Early Finish on Friday 23^rd December
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.

Chatter Café (Wednesday 21^st December 9.15am – 9:45am)
A little reminder below of the information sent out previously regarding our Chatter Café on Wednesday.  We do so very much hope to welcome anyone who can spare a little time next week.

We always strive to have excellent ways for you to get in touch with us and we have therefore introduced termly drop in sessions for any parent from nursery or school who would like to pop in for a coffee and chat with the Leadership Team. This is a very informal opportunity to come along and chat to us.  Some of our pupils would also love to serve you a juice or a coffee/ tea and there may even be some of their delicious baking there too.

On the 21^st, this will be our second time running the Chatter Café this session, and we thoroughly enjoyed chatting to lots of parents at our café in term 1. You maybe have an idea or a suggestion on any aspect of Netherlee life or you may have concerns or looking for some advice. Our PTA will also be with us so you can find out about the PTA or volunteering in school and nursery too or even if you just fancy a quick coffee and a chat with some other parents! We will also have the recycled uniform rails available to browse as well. We look forward to welcoming anyone who has a spare few minutes on the date and time above.

Celebrating Diversity in Netherlee-Hanukkah
If you and your family are celebrating Hanukkah and you would like to share photos or videos of how you are celebrating this important time at home, please email them to us, we would love to share these with our classes.  Thank you very much.

Jólabókaflóð – A Christmas Book Flood
This year we are going to take part in the Icelandic Christmas tradition of Jólabókaflóð which roughly translates as ‘Christmas Book Flood’. In Iceland, people exchange books on Christmas Eve then curl up to read them straight away.

On Wednesday 21^st December, your child is invited to bring in one of their books from home and swap it with someone in their class or stage. The children will be given time to read their new books in class and will be able to take their new book home too. This is completely optional of course and families do not have to participate if they choose not to and will be given the opportunity to choose a book from the class library to ensure they can still enjoy reading with everyone in class.

We feel that this activity not only fits in well with our continuous drive in Netherlee to recycle and re-use pre loved items but also our focus this year on diversity and raising awareness of world cultures and traditions.

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: December Meeting Highlights.

Primary 1 and Primary 2 Karate Club
An after school P1/P2 Karate Club will be starting on a Tuesday from 3.15-4.15pm. The club will run for 5 weeks. Full details are as follows:
Activity: P1/2 Karate Club
Day and Time: Tuesday 3.15 – 4.15pm.
Dates: 17^th, 24^th, 31^st January and 7^th, 21^st February
Venue: Gym Hall
Delivered by: Japan Karate
No. of pupils: 20
Cost: £5.50

If you think your child would be interested in attending, please complete the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/sPUAhYSxdx no later than Wednesday 21^st December. In the event of oversubscription names will be balloted. All successful applicants will be notified and asked to complete a consent form via ParentsPortal.

Church Service
As P4-7 are attending church on Tuesday 20^th December, all children in these stages should wear their shirt and tie uniform that day please. If any class has PE that day, there is no need for children to bring their PE uniform with them on Tuesday.  Thank you.

P4b Literacy
As part of their recent Literacy learning, the children in P4b have been reading ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. We would like to conclude this learning on Tuesday, by watching the movie in class. As this is rated PG, we ask that if you do not wish your child to take part, please inform Miss Holden via the school office before this date, in order for us to arrange an alternative learning activity for your child.  Many thanks.

P6a, P6c and P6d Health and Wellbeing
As part of their Health and Wellbeing learning for term 1 and 2, the children in P6a, P6c and P6d have been doing a novel study of ‘Wonder’ by R.J Palacio. We would like to conclude this learning on Wednesday 21^st December, by watching the movie in class. As this is rated PG, we ask that if you do not wish your child to take part, please inform the school office before this date, in order for us to arrange an alternative learning activity for your child. In addition to this as a festive treat, we would like to offer all pupils in Primary 6 a ‘Hot Chocolate and Movie Day’. This will involve watching a U rated movie and enjoying a reduced sugar hot chocolate drink, in class, on Thursday 22^nd December. Children should bring in a mug to school.  If there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child, please advise the school office before this date.  Thanks you.

P6b Festive Treat
As a festive treat, we would like to offer all pupils in Primary 6b a ‘Hot Chocolate and Movie Day’. This will involve watching a U rated movie and enjoying a reduced sugar hot chocolate drink, in class, on Thursday 22^nd December. Children should bring in a mug to school.  If there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child, please advise the school office before this date.  Thanks you.

Primary 7a Treat
As a treat, we would like to offer pupils in Primary 7a a ‘Hot Chocolate and Movie Afternoon’ on Wednesday 21^st December. This will involve watching a U rated movie and enjoying a reduced sugar hot chocolate drink, in class. If there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child, please advise the school office before this date.  Each child should bring a mug please and a cosy cushion/pillow (entirely optional).  Many Thanks and Merry Christmas, Mr Aitken

Primary 7b Treat
As a treat, we would like to offer pupils in Primary 7b a ‘Hot Chocolate and Movie Afternoon’ on Thursday 22^nd December. This will involve watching a U rated movie and enjoying a reduced sugar hot chocolate drink, in class. If there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child, please advise the school office before this date. Each child should bring a mug please and a cosy cushion/ pillow (entirely optional).  Many Thanks and Merry Christmas, Miss Elliott

Primary 7c and P7d Treat
As a treat, we would like to offer pupils in Primary 7c and Primary 7d ‘Hot Chocolate and Movie Afternoon’ on Thursday 21^st December. This will involve watching a U rated movie and enjoying a reduced sugar hot chocolate drink, in class. If there are any changes to the allergy information we hold for your child, please advise the school office before this date. Each child should bring a mug please and a cosy cushion/ pillow (entirely optional). Many Thanks and Merry Christmas, Mrs Callaghan and Mrs Dempster.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class