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

Hello everyone,

Wow- what a busy and exciting term we have had! Diversity month was a great success. A very special thanks to those who visited our Nursery to talk to our children and staff about different countries, including Sweden, Spain, Italy and Africa. It was so interesting! The children also learned all about Sikhism from the Gurdwara and danced along to the beat of a Dhol drum played by Mrs Kaur’s son. Check out our pictures on our nursery and school twitter @sand_nc

Family Focused Gold Award: Update (School and Nursery)
As stated in last week’s Friday Bundle, we are hoping to achieve our Gold Award Accreditation on Friday 19^th May.  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. Please click the links to access nursery parent and carer questionnaire and 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. The questionnaires will go live from Monday 17^th April and will close on Friday 12^th May 3pm. Thank-you for your continued support.

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.

Have a brilliant and well-rested Spring Holiday with friends and family.

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

Hello everyone

Today we said goodbye to the wonderful Miss Jade Toner, who worked alongside Mrs Fiona Daley as a keyworker of the Green group in the Saplings. Jade has secured a post a Maidenhill Nursery Class and we wish her all the very best. We will all miss you so much- good luck Jade!

We are very excited to welcome back Mrs Amanda Hicks on Monday following her maternity leave. Amanda will take over from Jade and work with Mrs Daley and the Green Group. We are delighted to have her back!

Family Focused Gold Accreditation: Update
As you will already know, we are hoping to achieve our Family Focused Gold Award on Friday 19^th 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 is 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 17^th April. Thank you for your continued support.

Nursery: What to Bring
At Netherlee, we understand the benefits of allowing children to engage in risky play outdoors. This includes building resilience, managing risks and knowing their limits. Our children play outdoors in all weathers, so they can get a little wet or muddy sometimes! In order to support this, we kindly ask that children bring wellies and a change of clothes with them to nursery each day.

Infectious Diseases
If your child has an infectious disease e.g. chickenpox, scarlet fever etc, please contact our school office 0141 570 7260 or email SchoolMail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk to inform us of this. Thank you.

Learning Links
Please click here to view the Acorns and the Saplings Learning Links. This enables you to have fun doing some similar experiences at home if you would like to. This week’s song of the week is ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ which can be listened to and enjoyed by accessing your child’s Google Classroom: https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/glow

Comic Relief
A huge thank you for your generous donations, the school and nursery raised a total of £850.30 for Comic Relief.

Bookbug Sessions
A new fortnightly Bookbug session will be starting this week in Netherlee Pavilion library. Details are in the poster attached.
Bookbug poster

Easter Break
The Nursery will remain open until 6pm on Friday 31^st March, and reopen on Monday 17^th April.

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.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

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