November/December 2023
We had an incredibly busy term 1, with term 2 is shaping up much the same! How can we be nearly in December already! Please do read on as I share some current information and dates that you will want to know about.
Staffing
Miss Kelly has now started her maternity leave so is no longer in school. We wish her lots of luck as she embarks on the new and exciting adventure of being a parent!
Mrs Mair has now returned from maternity leave. She works three days each week; Monday-Wednesday, and is teaching mainly in P7/6 and P6/5 (with a little bit of work in P4/3 also) We are delighted to see her back in the Royston team!
Mr Doherty has increased his work pattern from three days to four. His working week is now Tuesday-Friday and he is class teacher for P7/6. Mr Doherty is a valued member of staff and we are pleased that he has increased his working days!
Miss Gorrell has now left her post as support for learning worker. We currently have a vacancy which is advertised, and we hope to interview and fill this post as soon as possible.
In addition, we have a number of ongoing students working with pupils. Strathclyde University teaching students provide a literacy and numeracy clinic for individuals across our school and give pupils some extra intensive teaching time to support their development.
We continue to work in partnership with Re:Hope Royston, who provide volunteer reading partners on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Some pupils have been selected to have their own volunteer who will read with them and support their understanding.
Our main priority is that our pupils know who the trusted adults are in school and what their purpose is. This is very important to us; pupils need to know why they may be working with individuals and what the expected goal is. Please do let us know if you have any questions or concerns regarding staffing, I am happy to talk this through with you.
Gardening
Currently our gardening work in partnership with North Glasgow Community Food Initiative has currently paused.
Class teachers are still engaging pupils in outdoor learning, so please continue to ensure your child has appropriate clothing for learning outside.
Parent Portal
Thank you to all parents who have successfully managed to sign up for parent portal. It is really important that we get everyone signed on as soon as possible. Any future consent forms will be completed via parent portal due to GDPR restrictions, and any updating of parental information needs to be done through the portal. We will soon have outings for ALL children in school; please get signed up asap so that you don’t miss their consent form for this. We well also soon be adding various school communications to the portal such as newsletters, letters etc.
If you are having difficulty or are unable to do this successfully, please do pop into the school office or speak to me – we can help!
Head lice
We appear to be having a little flair up of head-lice at the present time. Please do check your child’s head (boys and girls) regularly for the eggs or creatures and go straight to the pharmacy for advice if you spot anything. It is absolutely impossible to keep head-lice completely out of primary school, especially for small children, but quick treatment helps to keep instances to a minimum.
Bullying Development Work
As per our school improvement priorities this session, and listening to our parent voice, we are undertaking development work around anti-bullying. Staff have undergone intensive training on anti-bullying in order to ensure consistency in knowledge and understanding school wide. All staff have completed various e-modules with organisation ‘RESPECT ME’. We continue to deepen our knowledge and progress with our research around this theme.
Anti-Bullying week is coming up (13th-17th November) and we will be launching our anti-bullying theme in all classes. Pupils will be learning about bullying; what this looks like, how it can make people feel, what to do if they feel they are being bullied etc. Class teachers have a week full of excellent activities in line with this year’s Anti-Bullying 2023 Focus ‘Listen up: Respect our Rights’. Pupils will share their thinking and opinions on Bullying in school and be actively involved in designing suitable strategies to manage incidents as they occur. We will also be seeking the views of parents. It is incredibly valuable to hear your thoughts on this important matter. Staff only see things from school perspective, but you see things much more fully! Pupils only spend 15% of their time in school, they spend 85% under your care outwith school! We need to work together to combat bullying for our Royston pupils!
Parental Engagement
In relation to above, we would like to invite all parents into school on Friday 17th November from 10.30am – 12.15pm. This is to go into your child’s class and see some of the anti-bullying work they are doing. Your child can explain what they are working on and share their learning; all pupils love it when their parent/carer is able to come along!
Once you have spent some time in class, we will then gather all our parents together for a short presentation based on the work we have done around anti-bullying. We are also hoping to create a parent focus group to support this development and we will discuss this at our presentation. We really hope to have a great turn out for this event as I know you will be keen to engage in such crucial work.
Breakfast Club
Just a wee reminder for parents. Breakfast club is open from 8am every morning in the dining hall. We have very small numbers just now and I wonder whether parents/carers know this service is available. Pupils who are in receipt of free meals are entitled to a free breakfast. Otherwise, the standard cost is £2.
Secondary Transition
Parents of pupils in primary 7 should now be thinking about transition to secondary school! I know it can be difficult to come to terms with your child moving on from primary, but we need to start making plans now.
ALL P7 pupils are currently in the Springburn Academy catchment. All pupils have been allocated a place at Springburn. If you wish your child to attend a different secondary school, you are required to complete a placing request form online. Many of you have done this already and we have helped some people to do this. If you are finding it difficult to complete the online form, please do let us know, we can help. If you do not complete a form for your child, they will automatically attend Springburn Academy.
School Communication
I just wanted to give a wee reminder that most communication from school will come via email. We have email contacts for every pupil’s parent/carer and we regular send out communication this way. We also get a notification if an email cannot be delivered to a particular address. Recently we can see that all emails are being received by all contacts. I would urge you to open and read the contents of the communication, as there is often very important information contained. If you wish to change your email contact, please just let us know.
Sponsored Sports Day
I wish to formally thank all parents, carers, families and friends for supporting our event with great enthusiasm! The pupils had such a fun day, enjoying a range of activities from yoga to obstacle courses! Your sponsor money goes a long way in supporting our up and coming festive events! Thank you so much!!
Parental Surveys
Thank you very much to all those who took the time to complete our parental survey at the end of term 1. We really appreciate all the comments made and aim to work on these to make the improvements you and your children would like to see.
Toy Sale
We will be hosting our annual Toy Sale on the 23rd November. If you have any pre-loved/new/used toys that you want to clear out, please bring them our way! In addition, if you have any carrier bags that you want to clear out, we will take these too! We are always struggling at these events to have enough bags for pupils – any donations gratefully received!
Pupils can bring money on that day and all pupils will get a chance to go and buy some things! It is always a little crazy, but pupils appear to love it!!
Christmas
We are planning out a month of fun for pupils, with various different activities for each class.
We have booked whole day outings for every pupil as follows:
P3-7 will be visiting New Lanark Christmas Experience 2023 on 6th December. Pupils will leave sharp in the morning and travel by coach. They will be involved with the singing elves, trying out some ice skating, visiting Santa’s grotto, and watching a show in the festive room! Sounds like a great day ahead!
P1-2 will be visiting Goulding Winter Wonderland 2023 on 14th December. The buses will leave sharp in order to maximise the day. Pupils will walk through the wonderland trail and visit the singing penguins. They will have a visit to Santa’s toyshop and have unlimited rides on the fun fair rides. They will also get to visit Rudolph and the donkeys!
The cost per pupil is around £30 – most of which we can use sponsor money, dress down money and other contributions. However, we do still ask that each child pays a contribution of £4 for the day.
We have many other Christmas plans which are not yet finalised…we will share these with you soon!
Jane McShane
headteacher@royston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk
0141 552 287
