Category: Uncategorized

August 2020

Dear Parent/carer,

This has been a very exciting week! We are genuinely delighted to be back with our pupils, re-united in our school building. Pupils appear to be so happy to be back in school and we have lots of smiles just now! I just wanted to give you a few updates right now as the newsletter will not be issued until 1^st September.

School timings

Our staggered entry and exit systems seem to be working well and we will continue with these for the time being. There is less anxiety around ‘bell times’ and this is proving for a really positive start and finish to the school day.

From Monday 17^th August primary 1 pupils will be able to come straight into the building between 8.45am and 9.15am, and they will be dismissed at 3pm.

We have increased the functionality of our lunch system to ensure pupils know exactly what they will be eating and which queue to line up in before getting to the dinner hall. We have also reduced our lunch time from 45 minutes to just 30 minutes. We want to maximise teaching time in class and with extension of outdoor learning for all pupils, there are lots of opportunities during the school day to be outside. Pupils seem happy with this arrangement!

School Hygiene

Increased hygiene and safety measures have been introduced in school at this time. Most importantly we have a day cleaner 10am-2pm each day. Linda is fabulous at patrolling the school ensuring all banisters, door handles, bins, toilets etc are regularly cleaned and sanitised. She doesn’t stop! Pupils have been brilliant at sanitising and washing their hands when asked, even although some pupils’ hands are getting a little dry. If you want to provide a small tube of hand cream for your child just put a sticker on it with their name and pop it in their school bag. Teacher will allow them to treat their hands when needed. For a few pupils we are encouraging them to use soap more than sanitiser as this seems to be less drying. Pupils have been great at helping teachers and staff keep class resources and tables cleaned, thus supporting them to feel safe in school.

Water

If pupils come to school with enough water to last them all day then this is super. If they finish their water during the day and need more or if they forget to bring water with them, we will have a large quantity of paper cups for pupils to use. No pupil in this school will go without a drink of water should they request it!

Visitors

I am sad to say we are not allowed to have ‘visitors’ inside the school building. Visitors could be some visiting specialists (although some are allowed), volunteers, parents etc. Therefore I kindly ask that you do not enter the school building. I really do not like this instruction but it is unavoidable at present – I’m sure you will understand. If you need to speak with me or a member of staff, please contact the school office and I will speak with you on the telephone or call you back. We cannot allow this restriction to damage our school-home relationships. If you have a query, challenge or information to pass on, please DO call – you are not bothering us at all, we want to talk to you! If there is an unavoidable need to speak in person you will require to complete a COVID-19 screening questionnaire prior to gaining entry into the school building.

PPE

Our staff in general are not wearing any PPE. Some pupils are wearing masks and this is fine if it makes them feel safer in the current climate. If we require to deal with pupils in close proximity for longer than 15 minutes we may decide to wear a mask or visor – I would surmise this will be very rare.

Curriculum

It is absolutely crucial that we ‘hit the road’ with learning! Pupils have missed school and we want to get them back on track asap! Pupils will be focusing mainly on literacy, numeracy and health/wellbeing, although we will gradually bring in all other aspects of the curriculum too.

Staff

We are very lucky without staffing allocation at the present time. GCC have provided additional staff to every school in Glasgow to ensure we can progress smoothly along the road of school recovery. Every class has 2 allocated trained teachers in addition to support staff. Pupils are getting intensive support in class. We will soon begin our suite of yearly assessments in spelling, reading and maths to ensure we focus specifically on any gaps which may have occurred during school closure period.

Sadly Mrs Young has not returned to school and will be off for a few weeks recovery from surgery. I am delighted to say that Miss Fraser is acting principal teacher for the time that Mrs Young is not here. Unfortunately Miss Gorrell is also off sick, we hope she can return well with us soon.

We welcome 2 new teachers to the staff – Mr Gillen and Miss Sutton. Mr Gillen is our probationer and Miss Sutton is our supply teacher – both have had an amazing start to the school year, and we are lucky to have them!

Mrs Mair has returned from maternity leave – so lovely to have her sense of calm around again! We have missed Mrs Mair very much!

All in all school doesn’t really feel very different and it appears to have been a very positive beginning for all! Long may this continue!

Obviously COVID-19 has not gone away and we must not become complacent. If your child is unwell with common symptoms please keep them at home, book a test and give us a phone call if you can. If your child becomes unwell in school we will ensure they are comforted, safe and will call you immediately. I would urge you to arrange a test if your child displays symptoms, but this is a parental choice and responsibility.

Please take care everyone and continue to remain safe during this time.

Do not hesitate to contact me at any time if you want to discuss anything.

Kind Regards,

 

Jane McShane

Headteacher@royston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk

Last week we held 3 lockdown leavers events for our P7s and their families.  Take a look at some of the memories from these events:

 

Keep Scotland Beautiful are offering new online learning courses throughout July for students and their families.  These are all free and are varying lengths so there is something suitable for everyone.  All the courses are listed on our website and families can register here.

We also have some new Eco-Schools at Home activities for pupils to do either at home or in the classroom.  We’ve added activities on energy, water, wildlife, dandelions and more.

Dear Parents

As we move to the next phase out of lockdown and following government advice, I wanted to keep you up to date in as much as I am able to in these uncertain times.

I am very grateful to all our staff who have been continuing to support your children through school hubs, on-line support, learning packs and phone calls to check in to see how you are getting on.

I also wanted to say thank you to all our parents and carers for doing their best to support remote learning during lockdown – we know that this has been a difficult few months for us all.

In line with the current government advice, we are making arrangements for senior staff to start returning to school during this week.  Next week, starting Monday 8 June, we are planing for small groups of staff to start to come back into school to plan for the children coming back into schools from Tuesday 11 August.  Our school calendar has Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 August as in-service days with pupils returning Thursday 13 August.  We are awaiting further government advice to confirm whether we can stay with these arrangements.

A table showing advice for staff is attached to this letter.

We are now working with headteachers to consider how we could phase some in-school learning.  It is clear that social or physical distancing will remain as something we should all be practicing in the coming months, this will mean we will have to think differently about how we deliver learning.

We are planning for a blended approach of in-school and learning at home.

This will be very different for all of us and I understand that this temporary way of learning will mean that families need too make adjustments for work and childcare arrangements.

Our in-school learning will be small groups of children coming in for part of the week and learning at home for the rest of the week.  Outdoor learning will be used wherever possible.  Staff would also provide tasks/activities to be carried out at home and this will be set by teachers while children and young people are at school.

We understand that this would mean some continued disruption for those of you who are working.  I apologise for this but I am afraid in order for us to follow physical distancing advice from the government we would be unable to have all children in school at the same time for the time being.  Given the different style of buildings and outdoor opportunities across the city, each school will develop their own plan that supports their school community needs as much as possible.

We will be providing childcare for the children of key workers in line with government advice.  Parents will have to apply for this.  It will not be possible for this to take place in our school buildings so we are working with out of school care providers and other partners to consider how and where this can best be delivered.  As our plans develop, we will keep you informed.  We will also be appealing to employers to work with their employees to consider flexible working patterns to enable parents to care for their children on the days they are not in school.  the advice remains that, where possible, children should be cared for at home when not in school.

Thank you again for all your support.  I know this period has been and continues to be challenging for us all.

However, as I said at the very outset of this health crisis, I know you will continue to work with us to ensure that we deliver high quality education to all children and young people in the city.

I will continue to send out more information and updates to our families as our plans are confirmed and try and give as much notice as possible over the summer holidays for going back for the beginning of the new term.  The more detailed information about your child’s pattern of schooling will come direct from your school.

If you would like to read the current government guidance on the re-opening of schools you can access them on line at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-civic-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

https://news.gov.scot/news/safe-return-to-schools-and-nurseries

Yours sincerely

Maureen McKenna

Executive Director of Education

 

Advice for staff:

w/c 1 Junes 2020

• Schools and nurseries to be cleaned
• Senior leadership teams in schools and nurseries to return through the week to prepare
• Other staff could attend in a voluntary capacity
• Childcare to continue at the hubs
• Risk assessment to be completed

w/c 8 June 2020

• Groups of staff coming in on a planned basis to meet with senior staff to discuss in-school arrangements for June, including support staff
• Groups of nursery staff in on a planned basis to meet with senior staff to discuss in-school arrangements for June
• Children who were attending the hubs to go to their own school
• Planning for August to start
• Planning for transition

w/c 15 June 2020 and w/c 23 June 2020

• Continued planning for August with staff working between school and home
• Planning for potential summer programmes
• Transition visits, where appropriate