Hello everyone,

What a marvellous week we have had in Netherlee Nursery! The children are settling in really well and are becoming more confident with our daily routines, which is great to see! They have been enjoying playing and learning together and making lots of new friends.

Add-on Hours
Please find attached communication regarding Availability of Additional Hours to Purchase for Netherlee Nursery Class for next session.  If you have any queries on the attached, please don’t hesitate to call 0141 570 7260 or email nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk.
Add-On Letter

Stay and Play Sessions
Our first Stay and Play sessions will take place during week beginning Monday 11^th September. These sessions are a fantastic opportunity to play together with your child and see our wonderful spaces and experiences. Sign-up sheets will be made available on the week beginning Monday 4^th September at our nursery doors for you to choose a suitable date/time. We kindly ask that a maximum of two adults accompany each child. If at all possible, younger siblings should not attend the sessions. We are really looking forward to welcoming you to our nursery!

Home Learning and Google Classroom
Learning at home for nursery aged children should take place through everyday activities including play and general family life, such as food preparation, gardening, setting the table, sorting washing and cooking. It can also happen through curriculum related activities, home learning, reading and sharing books. Activities at home can be specifically designed to help you engage in your child’s learning and build upon playful learning experiences from nursery.

Each month, we will post a home learning experiences grid (previously known as ‘learning links’) on Google Classroom. This will feature some suggestions of fun, play based learning experiences that you may wish to complete with your child at home. These experiences will also give an insight into the children’s interests, learning focus and/or seasonal or cultural festivals.  You will receive Glow log in details and information regarding our Nursery Google Classroom in due course.

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 professions such as emergency or health care services or a visit from a dentist to talk to children about looking after their teeth. If you have a profession you think you could share with the children, please do let us know! If you think this is something you could help with, please drop us an email at nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or give Jennifer McCann (Principal Teacher) a call on 0141 570 7260 to discuss in more detail.

Cosy Corner
At Netherlee Nursery, we try hard to ensure our spaces mirror the home environment, where possible. In order to meet our children’s needs, we have established a ‘Cosy Corner’ in both our Nursery buildings. This space allows children the time and space to relax in a calm, comfy and safe environment. We will be continuing to add family photographs to these spaces to make these spaces even ‘cosier’. Should you wish to include a family photograph in our Cosy Corner, please send these in to nurserymail@netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk.

Dates for your Diary
It is with great pleasure that I share the calendar of events in school and nursery for the 2023/24 session. For your ease please see attached PDF, however please note that going forward all calendar updates will be made via the electronic website calendar. These will be updated on the calendar by the end of next week.  We are so delighted that we can welcome you into school and nursery at regular points throughout the session.  I hope you find that having these dates at the start of the session helpful.  Thank you for your understanding if any dates require to be changed due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances.  If this needs to happen we will of course give you as much notice as possible.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2023-2024

MMR Vaccines
Please see attached letter regarding children being fully vaccinated against measles.
MMR vaccine letter

Parent Council Meeting
We are really looking forward to our first Parent Council Meeting of the new session which will take place on Wednesday, 30^th August at 7pm in our school Hub. If you are a new or existing parent, we would love to welcome you along! This is a great opportunity to meet other parents and carers and to also hear about and be involved in the life and work of our Netherlee school and nursery community. The agenda for the meeting is below:

Minutes of previous meeting
Head teacher report – including School and Nursery Improvement Plan (SNIP) review
PTA update
PC cluster collaboration
Parking Clarkston Road
Mobile phone community action
Update: Communications – Constitution review
Communication to PC members (WhatsApp group – Minute taking volunteers)
Membership update: Election of any new members, Resignations according to the constitution (non-attending members).

Community Event: STEM Event at Barrhead Foundry
Come along with your family and friends to our interactive, inspiring exhibitions with some fantastic companies in the amazing world of STEM. From robots to VR and even electric cars!  Insp-Hire is an initiative geared towards targeting parents and carers of children and young people from ages 4-14 to learn about industry 4 and how this will impact their children. This event is FREE to attend, it’s great for a family fun day and lots for everyone to join in with some amazing prizes to be won throughout the day!  More information can be found here: Insphire Event.

Have a wonderful weekend,

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

Hello everyone,

We’ve had a fantastic first week back as staff and children reconnect and build relationships with our new children and families. It has been wonderful to see all the smiling faces coming in to school each morning. Our amazing staff team are taking the time to get to know your child, learn about their likes and dislikes and settle them into their new routines.

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to all new children and families who have recently joined our Netherlee community. I know that our existing parents will also look out for new faces and help where they can too.  Thank you for helping us to make Netherlee School & Nursery such a lovely, warm and welcoming community.

The roads and car parks are very busy at the start and end of each school day, please remember when dropping off or collecting children, to be mindful of other adults and children, use official parking spaces and be respectful of any school or council staff.

If you have not already done so, please click on the link for more information about our School and Nursery:
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/sandnc/

Nursery Staff
We would like to share who the keyworkers are and information about their groups. These are the keyworkers who will be responsible for administration and gathering information about your child. Our staff are on hand to support all of the children in the Nursery, not just their own group.

Ms. Mellissa Dorran: White Group
Ms. Lynne Morton/ Mrs Lyn Gemmell: Orange Group
Mrs. Harjeet Kaur: Red Group
Mrs. Mary Nimmo and Mrs. Sarah Mackie: Yellow Group
Mrs. Susan McBride: Pink Group
Mrs. Fiona Daley and Mrs. Amanda Hicks: Green Group
Miss Pamela Montgomerie (currently on maternity leave) and Mrs Joanne Greig: Purple group

Playworkers: Elizabeth Beattie and Clare McAndrew

Our teacher, Mr Lewis Strang-Roy and our Senior Child Development Officer, Mrs Joanne Greig will alternate between both Nursery buildings (Acorns and Saplings). Our Principal Teacher, Miss Jennifer McCann will alternate between both Nursery buildings and the school.

You can see photos of our staff team, including important information about our nursery in our Welcome Sway: https://sway.office.com/boYOb7qzRu2piboy

What to Bring
Please be reminded that all clothing, particularly anything that can be taken off, has your child’s name on it. Children should bring soft indoor shoes to wear inside the nursery and outdoor shoes to wear whilst playing outside. It would also be helpful if children have wellies with them every day and a suitable outdoor jacket as we go out to play in all weathers J.

Personal Care Plans and Special Books
If you are new to Netherlee Nursery, you should have been given a Personal Care Plan for your child. These focus 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.

Each child has a ‘Special Book’ that reflects their reflective learning story. We ask that you decorate the front cover at home and write a little bit about their interests on the first page. If your child has recently received their personal care plan and special book, we kindly ask that you return these to nursery as soon as possible.

Rhythm of the Day
We are being very flexible with nursery hours to meet children and family needs. If your child has been allocated 8am-6pm, you are free to drop off your child any time before 9am and pick up any time before 6pm. Children who attend from 9am -3pm should be dropped off at 9am, or after, and picked up by 3pm please, when their session ends. This video shows a ‘day in the life’ of a Netherlee Nursery child:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dfufilVACZDNfndw9yL24WjjZmjLCbKA/view

Lunch this week has also been a great success! It is helpful to talk through the choices with your child before each day to support their independence at lunch time. You can view the nursery lunch menu by clicking the link below:
https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/nursery-menu

Parent Council Update
Our first Parent Council Meeting of the new session will take place on Wednesday, 30^th August at 7pm and we would love to welcome new and existing parents/carers along. The School & Nursery Improvement Plan will be shared at the first meeting, and we trust everyone is keen to hear about the exciting plans for the year ahead at Netherlee.

Moving forward the Parent Council and PTA will be working closely together therefore the PTA will update on activity at all PC meetings.  We look forward to welcoming you all on 30^th Aug.

SCQF Childhood Units
Please click to view flyer from East Renfrewshire Adult Learning Service for the new SCWF Childcare units, which also runs in partnership with West College Scotland. These will be running locally in The Foundry from September.

Getting in Contact and Absence Procedures
We are always happy to chat, answer any questions and support your child and family. Please feel free to contact us by phone (0141 570 7260) or email NurseryMail@Netherlee.e-renfrew.sch.uk or while dropping off or picking up your child.

If your child will be absent from Nursery, please inform our school office at the earliest convenience. If need to pass on an urgent message such as changes to collection information after 4.30pm please call Acorns 0141 570 7272 or Saplings 0141 570 7271. These numbers should only be used after 4.30pm please as we do not have clerical staff to answer the phone during the day before 4.30pm.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy lots of family time together.

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

Hello everyone

We hope you thoroughly enjoyed our Tie Gifting ceremonies this week. It was certainly a joyous occasion (with some happy tears!) and lots of fun celebrating those who start school in August.

The children and staff worked so hard to practise all of their songs. I am sure you will agree that they did such a fantastic job and sang with gusto! Thank-you also to Mr Watson and the P6 helpers who came along too- you were just fantastic!

We are so proud of everything the children have achieved whilst at Netherlee Nursery and we are going to miss them very much but we also know that they are going to thrive as they take their next steps into school.

Netherlee Staff News
Next Friday (23^rd June), as well as saying farewell to our wonderful P7 children, we will also say goodbye to some of our wonderful staff members here at Netherlee. We wave farewell to two of our amazing Child Development Officers from our nursery, the amazing Mrs Debbie Heron and Mrs Jo-Anne Welsh, as they move on to other nursery classes. Your creativity, dedication and sense of fun will be so greatly missed by us all in Netherlee. Next, we say a big congratulations to Mrs Alison Di Paola and Mrs Vanda Carlin in their retirement- you have both been fantastic, invaluable support assistants- helping, caring for and supporting many children over the years.  You have most certainly earned your right to a long, healthy and happy retirement.  We also want to say good luck to three of our teachers Mrs Julie McCahon, Mrs Catherine Williamson and Miss Rosalind Burns as they continue their careers in teaching, any school will be very lucky to have you.

A massive “thank you” to each of you, thank you for being part of our Netherlee team and for the kindness you have shown to the children in your care. We will miss you all very much and wish you all the very best.

We are also delighted to welcome in August, a new Principal Teacher to Netherlee, Mrs Jackie Toman. We are certain that Jackie will be a real asset to the Netherlee Community. Jackie is looking forward to getting to know all of our wonderful Netherlee children and families after the summer holiday.

And finally, …. here comes the bride….. the very lovely Miss Catherine McMillan, currently one of our P2 teachers, is getting married over the Summer and she will return as Mrs Anderson.  You will be a beautiful bride Catherine, enjoy every moment of your special day.  We can’t wait to see the photos when we return in August.

Beach Party: Wednesday 21^st June
A little reminder about our upcoming Beach Party on Wednesday 21^st June 1pm-3pm. The children will be having a selection of snacks (pom bear crisps, homemade fairy cakes, ice cream cones and sugar free diluting juice) and will take part in lots of fun activities. You may wish to provide your child with a sun hat and a change of clothes for water play on these days.  Please let staff know if your child does not attend on a Wednesday and they still wish to come along- they are more than welcome!

Medication
If your child has any medication at nursery, please ensure that this is collected on your child’s last day.  If your child is returning to nursery in August, this medicine can be handed in again, with the appropriate paperwork, a copy of the medicine form can be found here: Administration of Medicines Form

Netherlee Times
We present to you, the Netherlee Times! A wonderful group of Primary 6 and 7 pupils have been working very hard to create the latest 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. Please have a look by clicking here: Netherlee Times.

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: Meeting Highlights

Recruitment Fair
Please see the attached recruitment flyer for Cleaning, Catering and School Crossing Patrol positions.
Recruitment Fair

Community Garden Drop Ins
Our parent volunteer, Helen who leads the Netherlee Budding Minds gardening clubs is organising some community garden drop ins. All are welcome to please come along to any of the dates (see attached poster) if you can to help in our Acorns garden across the summer months. Many thanks for your support.

Have a lovely, hopefully sunny, weekend.

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

Hi everyone,

It has been a very busy and exciting few weeks here at Netherlee. This week, our older children took part in transition to Primary 1 activities. It was just lovely to hear their stories about their time in school, meeting their teacher and making new friends!

Family Focused: Gold Award Accreditation
We are absolutely delighted to announce that we have received our Family Focused Gold Award for both nursery and school. This award recognises our good practice, particularly with regards to supporting and working with our families. We could not be more proud of this huge achievement and would like to thank-you for your support in helping us to succeed.

Nursery Beach Party
The Nursery Beach Party will take place on Wednesday 21^st June 1pm-3pm in the Acorns and Saplings Buildings. The children will be having a selection of snacks and will take part in lots of fun beach activities. You may wish to provide your child with a sun hat and a change of clothes for water play on these days. Please let staff know if your child does not attend on a Wednesday and they still wish to attend- they would be very, very welcome.

Special Books
We kindly ask that all special books are returned to Nursery as soon as you have finished reading through them with your child. Our staff continue to use these to document children’s learning. They are also a key part of our transitions process. We hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading them!

Nursery Tie Gifting
We are very excited to invite you to our Nursery Tie Gifting for children leaving Netherlee Nursery to start school in August. This will take place on Thursday 15^th June and Friday 16^th June between 9.45-10.45am.  Both events will take place in the Saplings building. We kindly ask that a maximum of two guests per child attend the Tie Gifting.

Please see dates and times below for the groups:

• White, Red and Orange (Acorns) and Blue Group (Saplings): Thursday 15^th June 9.45-10.45am. Staff will take children to and from the Acorns to the Saplings on the day of the Tie Gifting.
• Yellow, Pink, Green and Purple Group: Friday 16^th June 9.45am-10.45am

The ceremonies will take place in the outdoor play area at the back of the Saplings building unless there is adverse weather. Parents and carers should arrive through the Saplings gate and enter through side gate in the P3/4/5 playground.

Those not attending the tie gifting (including our younger children) on the above dates should still attend their normal nursery session. If your child does not normally attend on the days of the tie gifting, please just let us know should they still wish to take part- they are of course more than welcome!

Change of Menu: 15^th June
Please find attached our planned menu change for next Thursday 15^th June. 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.
BBQ Nursery Menu

Community News – Libraries
Please see the link below with upcoming free activities in the libraries throughout the month of June: Library Activities.

Have a wonderful weekend.

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

Hello everyone,

This is such a busy and exciting time for our children and staff. As we approach the end of term, we have lots of events coming up for our children. Oh how time has flown!

Primary One Events at Netherlee Primary School
Please be reminded of our upcoming transition events for children starting at Netherlee Primary school in August.

Welcome Morning
This will be an opportunity for your child to meet their new teacher, visit their classroom and make some friends!

• Tuesday 6^th June 9.30am-11.30am: P1a Welcome Time
• Thursday 8^th June 9.30am-11.30am: P1b Welcome Time
• Friday 9^th June 9.30am-11.30am: P1c Welcome Time

Monday 12^th June 1.45pm-2.30pm: P1 Pitch Party
This will be a fun and active session where the children can play games together. Please note the children will be outdoors regardless of the weather so please ensure they are suitably dressed.

Please bring your child to the entrance of the pitch in front of the school at 1.45pm and we will escort them to their class. You then have 45 minutes all to yourself before collection time.

Please be aware that some of our Nursery staff will be taking children who are in Nursery that day to the pitch. Children will return with Nursery staff to their building and will wait there until collection time.

Tue 13^th June 6.30-7.30: Primary 1 Open Door Evening
This will be a relaxed and informal opportunity for parents/carers and new Primary 1 children to see where your children will be working in August, including their classrooms and the Open Area.

Special Books
We’re really looking forward to sending home your child’s Special Book next week. Our Special Books are a fantastic way of sharing your child’s learning journey during their time at nursery. We hope you thoroughly enjoy looking at the book together.

For children returning to nursery in August, these books will then continue to be added to by the children themselves and also their keyworker and staff. For children leaving nursery to start P1, Special Books are an important and very useful tool in our “transition to school” processes and these will be shared and discussed with your child’s new P1 teacher. These will then, once again, continue to be added to in P1. As such, please ensure that your child’s special book is returned to nursery as soon as you have finished reading through it.

Nursery Uniform
Our Nursery uniform is optional. If your child is returning to Nursery and you wish to place an order for next session, please complete this form. The deadline for payment is Friday 16^th June by Parentpay.  We will advise when new uniforms are available in the new session.

King Charles III Artwork
Thank-you to those who have very kindly donated towards our nursery fund in return for your child’s artwork so far. We are very grateful of your generosity and support.

All children have created a piece of artwork to mark the King’s Coronation. These will be available at our nursery doors at drop off and collection for you to collect their artwork. 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. The deadline to collect your child’s artwork in return for a donation towards our nursery fund is Friday 16^th June.

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.  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.

Wider Achievements Form

Netherlee Primary School and Nursery Class Parent Council – Meeting and AGM –  7pm on Wednesday 7th June
Our last meeting of this session and our AGM will be held in Netherlee and Stamperland Parish Church at 7pm on Wednesday 7th June.  As usual the agenda will include the Head Teacher’s Report and we will discuss any other items affecting parents and our children.
We will also be electing new members and office bearers and will be saying thank you and good bye to some long standing servants of the parent council as their children move up to Williamwood.

Parent council membership and office bearer positions are open to ALL members of the school and nursery’s parent and carer community and we would be delighted to welcome as many of you as possible on Wednesday.

For any more information or to raise any points for our agenda please email netherleeparentcouncil@gmail.com.

Have a lovely weekend.

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

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 really lovely time to reflect on your child’s increasing independence and progress while playfully learning lots of new things.

Nursery Tie Gifting

We are very excited to invite you to our Nursery Tie Gifting for children leaving Netherlee Nursery to start school in August. This will take place on Thursday 15^th June and Friday 16^th June between 9.45-10.45am.  Both events will take place in the Saplings building. We kindly ask that a maximum of two guests per child attend the Tie Gifting.

Please see dates and times below for the groups:

• White, Red and Orange (Acorns) and Blue Group (Saplings): Thursday 15^th June 9.45-10.45am. Staff will take children to and from the Acorns to the Saplings on the day of the Tie Gifting.
• Yellow, Pink, Green and Purple Group: Friday 16^th June 9.45am-10.45am

The tie gifting will take place in the outdoor play area at the back of the Saplings building unless there is adverse weather. Parents and carers should arrive through Saplings gate and enter through the side gate in the P3/4/5 playground please.

Those not attending the tie gifting (including our younger children) on the above dates should still attend their normal nursery session. If your child does not normally attend on the days of the tie gifting, please just let us know should they still wish to take part- they are of course more than welcome and we would love to have them join us.

King Charles III Artwork
Thank-you to those who have very kindly donated towards our nursery fund in return for your child’s artwork so far. We are very grateful of your generosity and support.

All children have created a piece of artwork to mark the King’s Coronation. These will be displayed outside our nursery doors at drop off and collection for you to collect their artwork. 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.

Community News – Busby Foodbank
We have been asked to let all families know that the Busby foodbank is here to support families through this difficult time.  Opening hours at Busby Parish Church are a Tuesday from 1pm-3pm.

Community News – The Autistic Collective
The Autistic Collective recently announced the next event open to anyone who lives or works in East Renfrewshire.  On Monday 5th June at 11.00am, Dr Chloe Farahar, Aucademy and Ben Usher-Barrass, Autisticality are exploring “Autistic Wellbeing; What works?” More information can be found in the attached invitation.

Holiday

We would like to remind you that nursery is closed on Friday 26^th May for the May weekend. We look forward to welcoming you back to nursery on Tuesday 30^th May.

Have a wonderful, long weekend.

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