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.

90^th Birthday – special lunch
Please note that on Monday 6^th 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 9^th February
As another part of our Netherlee’s 90^th Birthday celebrations next week, all classes will have a fun ‘birthday party’ on Thursday 9^th 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 (16^th &17^th). 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 7^th 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 10^th 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 8^th 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 8^th.

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

Have a lovely weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

Hello everyone

Netherlee’s 90^th Birthday
We are all very excited to be celebrating the school’s 90^th Birthday on Mon 6^th February. The day will begin with a whole school assembly. After that, classes will be preparing for parties that will be held on Thurs 9^th Feb. The PTA has generously provided lovely arts and crafts resources to make party hats and bunting. Each class will hold a talent show to celebrate the wonderful talents that the school has nurtured over its’ lifetime. Classes will also find out about the changes to the school and local area over the last 90 years. Our wonderful catering team have arranged a special birthday lunch of mince and tatties (vegetarian mince will be available too) and cake and custard. In addition, Mark Gibson has very kindly offered to take a special commemorative photograph. Weather permitting, all staff and pupils will go out to the playground so we can take a special aerial photograph.

Don’t forget the podcast, 90 Years of Netherlee that our tech team are producing to mark the birthday. The latest episode is out now featuring an interview with Mrs French, our longest serving member of staff.  https://anchor.fm/netherlee-primary.  We would love to hear from former pupils or staff so if someone you know went to the school or worked here please get in touch and let us know.

Upcoming Parent Council Meeting
Please see message below from our Parent Council:
The next Parent Council meeting will take place in person in the school Hub at 7pm on Wednesday 15th February 7pm. All parents and carers from the nursery and school are welcome and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. As always there will be the opportunity to have open discussions on a range of topics with other parents and members of the school leadership team.  If you have any matters you would specifically like to be discussed please contact us at: netherleeparentcouncil@gmail.com.

PTA Badged Uniform Sale
The school has many pre-loved uniform items available, you can view the rail for P1-3 at 8.50am or our P4-P7 sizes from 3pm, both at the Clarkston Road entrance – and don’t forget you can buy school badges anytime from the office (£1) to add to your own burgundy items or navy polo shorts too.

If you do need new badged uniform items the PTA sale is open from Friday 27th Jan until Monday 6th Feb at the following link Netherlee PTA (pta-events.co.uk).  You will need to register with the site first before making a purchase. Any questions please let us know at netherleepta@gmail.com. Please see the flyer with more information.

Family Focused at Netherlee School and Nursery: Going for Gold
At Netherlee, we prioritise working effectively with our families to ensure high quality learning experiences for our children. We make sure that all families feel very welcome and are involved in the life of the school and nursery.

To support early year’s establishments, East Renfrewshire Council introduced a self-evaluation framework explaining suggestions of good practice, particularly with regards to working with parents.

We have previously gained our Bronze Family Friendly award and our Silver Family Centred Certificate, both of which are displayed in our Saplings building. Over the next few months, staff will be working very hard, alongside parents, to gain our Gold Family Focused Award.

If you would like to be part of helping us achieve this or would like some more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch schoolmail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk.

Keep an eye out in our Friday Bundle for more information and updates in the coming weeks!

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 home corner and creativity area:

• Kitchen utensils (e.g. spatulas, whisks, various sized spoons), kitchen scales, pots and pans
• Old (clean) socks
• 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 3a: PE Day Change
P3a will now have PE on a Thursday and Friday. Could the children please come wearing their full PE kit on these days instead.

Primary 7: Leavers Hoodies
We know how much our P7 pupils look forward to wearing their P7 Leavers Hoody.  We are pleased to let you know that the Leavers Hoodies are now available to order should you wish to do so. Please have a read at the letter regarding how to order.

Primary 7: Bikeability
If you have not yet completed the Bikeability short form to confirm that you are happy for your child to participate in the Bikeability training sessions, please do so here: https://forms.office.com/e/NEGXErNG54

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions (no matter how big or small) or queries. We are always here to help in any way we can.

Have a peaceful and enjoyable weekend.

Yvonne Donaldson
Head Teacher
Netherlee Primary School & Nursery Class

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