Category: Uncategorized

November 2020 Issue 3

What a super start to term 2 our pupils have made! They are working so hard to make themselves and you proud! We are on the countdown to Christmas and we are working hard to ensure some festive cheer for all – not easy in this current climate of travel limitations and increased restrictions. All theatres and shows are off the menu in addition to our fabulous choir fundraising missions. We will not let this get us down – we have some provisional plans in place which I will share with you as soon as things are confirmed.

Book Fayre

The fayre is back in school – this week only! All classes will get the chance to browse the books and Mrs McDougall will fill in a wee slip if your child spots something they like. Your child will bring this information home to you. It is entirely up to you whether or not you decide to send in the money for the book – your choice completely.

Gardening

Our gardening work is going very well providing super learning opportunities outdoors. Pupils have been engaging in a variety of curricular areas in the gardens and this will continue on for the foreseeable future. Please do always make sure your child is suitably dressed for inclement weather, outdoor activities are only cancelled if the weather is deemed a safety risk for pupils eg – torrential rain, very high winds, weather warnings etc. Otherwise pupils will be outside.

Family Finances

This is a very real challenge for some people during these COVID-19 times. Many people are struggling for funds, employment etc and Glasgow Life has some support available. ‘Family Finances Approach’ supports parents and carers to increase their income through employment. Please get in touch with them, they will soon be coming to Royston Library.

Tel: 07443 814 190

Email: financialcapability@glasgowlife.org.uk

After school Clubs

We are beginning to get back up and running with clubs again – albeit, outdoors. Football has commenced for pupils and we are looking into other options for outdoor extra-curricular activity. All our afterschool clubs must run outdoors as they will involve mixing pupils from different classes. We will only cancel a club if the weather presents a safety risk eg torrential rain, very high winds, weather warning etc. Otherwise the club will still run. We normally find that when pupils are choosing to engage in a club they enjoy, they don’t really bother about the weather! Please do remember though that clubs are opt in – if you decide to collect your child before club begins due to weather or for any other reason, this is perfectly fine. I will keep you posted on any further offerings of outdoor afterschool clubs.

Keeping our school safe

You will have received a letter from our Director of Education Maureen McKenna alerting you to updating guidance on keeping our schools open and safe for all. In order to do this school staff will increase their use of face coverings. We have spoken to pupils about this so as to ease their anxiety. Staff in classes are mostly working without face coverings and maintaining appropriate distance where possible. During breaks and lunches and in communal areas of the school, staff will wear a covering, but if pupils become a little anxious we will not hesitate to show our faces!

In addition we would ask parents/family dropping pupils off and collecting if you possibly can, please wear a face covering

Ventilation – As you will know we have had to keep all areas of school well ventilated with open windows and doors as much as possible. The weather is getting a little colder now and guidance has been updated accordingly. From now on, there has to be 2 air changes in each room per hour. This becomes a little tricky for class teachers to monitor during teaching times therefore we will simply keep at least one window open in addition to classroom door at all times. Classroom thermometers have been ordered and we will be keeping classrooms above 17 degrees for pupil and staff comfort. It is not easy to learn when you are freezing cold! You may wish to put an extra layer of clothing on your child or even a vest but if pupils complain they are cold we will make adjustments as necessary.

P.E.

We have been given to go ahead to bring our curricular physical education lessons into the gym hall. This is a positive step as we will now have the flexibility to go outdoors or stay inside for P.E. Unfortunately all changing facilities remain closed and pupils will have to come to school wearing their gym kit or have shorts underneath their school clothes. Hopefully this will change again soon, especially for our older pupils.

Parents Appointments

Normally we would be hosting our formal parents evening in November. Sadly we cannot do this as we cannot have parents inside the school building. We will be arranging telephone appointments with all parents week commencing 16^th November. I am in the process of making arrangements to bring teachers out of their classes to facilitate this and will give you information on dates and times when I have it. I will be as flexible as I can around parental work commitments – please look out for additional information coming to you towards the end of this week.

Interim Reporting

Class teachers are at the completion stages of interim reports. These will be given out week commencing 9^th November. These reports will give you a basis and structure for dialogue with teachers during telephone appointments. Please don’t hesitate to make notes/write down questions about the report – we will answer these as best we can during telephone appointments.

P2/1 Outing

Mr Thomson and his class will be visiting Clyde Valley Farm Park on the 10^th November. This educational visit is in line with current topics and themes in class.  Pupils will need waterproof clothing as they will be outside almost all day. Pupils will also need a packed lunch on that day.

This is very exciting as it will be our first outing from school this session! We will be looking to support further outings (outdoors) when and where it is appropriate.

Flu Immunisation

On 16^th November our vaccine nurses will be based in school to administer the nasal flu vaccine. If you returned your consent for this then your child will have their vaccine on this day.

Parental Survey Results

A big thank you to those who completed the little survey sent to you at the end of term 1. We had 49 returns. Your opinions matter to us and we are committed to providing the best service we can to you and your children. The results:

Q1 Are you happy with the arrangements in place for returning to school during the pandemic?

46 parents said yes and 3 said no

Q2 How would you rate Royston Primary approach to returning to school during a pandemic?

Average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars

Q3 As we were unable to have a ‘Meet the Teacher’ event in September all class teachers attempted to call almost all families. Did you receive this call?

35 parents said yes and 14 said no

Q4 Did you feel this call was useful?

Yes – 30   No – 3   Didn’t receive call – 15

Q5 In your opinion, does your child feel safe and happy back at school?

Always – 26   Never – 0   Most of the time – 18   Sometimes – 4

Q6 Does the staggered entry – 8.45am-9.15am – work well for you?

Yes – 49    No – 0

Q7 Is there any difficulty with social distancing at school finish time 3pm?

Yes – 9   No – 34   Occasionally – 6

Q8 Do you feel you are kept well informed about school?

Yes – 45   No 3

Q9 How good is Royston Primary at communicating with you?

Average rating of 4.4 out of 5

Again thank you for completing this – very interesting and useful information for us to gather and act upon. Look out for the next survey!

 

Jane McShane

Head Teacher

headteacher@royston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk

 

October 2020 Issue 2

Phew – we’re nearly at the end of term 1! What a term this has been! Pupils and staff have worked so hard in trying to get back to normality whilst also doing a bit of catch up on missed learning during lockdown. Getting back to normality and routine has been very tiring for pupils and I think they have done an excellent job! Roll on term 2, I hope it is as successful as term 1!

Celebrations!

In light of the fact that our pupils have made such great effort in school we want to have a little celebration on their last day of term 1 which will be Thursday this week!

We will be having a pyjama day on Thursday 8^th October- there is no charge for this. Pupils will continue with their studies in class for the morning and then in the afternoon we will have a class by class movie and treat afternoon. Pupils will watch a film and we will provide popcorn, drinks and other treats for them – we want to make this a special ‘well done’ afternoon!

Gardening

Our gardening work is up and running again and pupils, so far, are enjoying the focused activities we have on offer. We continue to work in partnership with North Glasgow Community Food Initiative (NGCFI) who supports us with gardening and cooking. Tuesday is gardening day for classes on a fortnightly rota basis and, as long as there is no safety concerns with extreme weather conditions, pupils will be outside. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately with sensible shoes and waterproof jacket.

Outdoor Learning

In addition to the above gardening sessions, pupils will also spend approximately one third of their time at school learning outside. Staff have been working hard planning for ways to take curricular learning outside. Pupils will engage in all aspects of the curriculum outside so long as it is safe to do so. Please make sure your child has a jacket and sensible footwear every school day. Pupils do enjoy working outside when they are dressed well for the weather!

Parent Survey

I have sent you a survey link by text. I am keen to hear your views on school return and recovery since lockdown. As you know we have had to put in some additional safety measures to ensure good hygiene and less crowding and we want to know what you think. It is a very difficult time for us here in that we have less contact with you, the parents, than we would like. This is obviously due to the current pandemic – we hope things will get better soon! Please do complete the questions – they are all simply choice answers or ratings, so no need to write any text. It will take you approximately 5 minutes to complete and would be so very helpful to us. Many Thanks in advance to those who take the time to submit their survey.

Sponsored West Highland Way!

I am absolutely delighted to let you know that all classes in school completed the West Highland Way virtual walk/run event! Your children should be very proud of themselves as we are of them! Every class ran/walked 96 miles over a 2 week period – what a great achievement!

I want to say a huge thank you for all sponsor money and donations received. What a great bunch of families and friends we have! The total was HUGE!!! £811.60!

If anyone still has sponsor money to hand in, it is not too late! All money gets banked into school fund which is used directly to support ‘added extras’ for our pupils. We are saving money at present for when we can get back out and about on trips and visits, in addition to thinking of creative ways to celebrate Christmas in a fairly restrictive year – I’m sure we will come up with some great ideas!

Seesaw

I am delighted to see that so many of you have signed up to our online journaling and learning service Seesaw. Seesaw is protected and personalised, not for public viewing. Class teachers can post learning tasks for your child in addition to highlighting and ‘showing off’ their successes in school. This is a crucial tool for all during the current situation when our active face to face opportunities with you are so limited. On Seesaw you can see what pupils have been learning about and how this learning can be extended at home. Please do sign up if you have not already done so. Class teachers will re-issue instructions to those who have not signed up.

School meals

You may or may not know that P5-7 system for meal payment has changed. Pupils can no longer bring money to school to pay for lunch and breakfast. If your child is in P5-7 and not in receipt of free school meals, payment must be made on a Friday for the week ahead. We do not encourage back payments as this confuses the process.

Please make sure meals are paid for in advance using your child’s unique payment code and bank transfer.

Home Learning

At the present time class teachers are preparing home learning packs for every pupil. We want to be prepared should there be any additional restrictions, or if pupils are required to self-isolate for a period of time. These folders containing 2 weeks’ worth of activities will be given out with a covering letter on Thursday 8^th October. Please keep these packs safe at home and only make use of them when instructed. These packs ARE NOT for use during October week holiday – pupils need a break! Should there be a need to use them afterwards then we will text you to let you know.

iPads

Pupils in P7 will soon get a personal school iPad to use for learning. They will be able to use this in class and at home. This is part of the council digital roll out. The iPad will always belong to Glasgow City Council but pupils will have use of one to support their learning. The date for this is 27^th October and we will be looking for parental support in this project. There will be agreements on safe use to be signed and pupils will be taught how to use the learning tools on the iPad.

School Improvement

I just want to give you a flavour of the contents of our school improvement plan. Within our plan we have three priorities and these are broken down into subheadings and associated tasks.

Our priorities are:

• Health and wellbeing – continue our work on restorative approaches to conduct and behaviour management, in addition to addressing nurturing principles throughout the school. This is in line with our school recovery plan which is on-going and available on the school website.
• Raising Attainment – we are developing our work in Literacy and consolidating work in Numeracy. We will be addressing core skills in Talking and Listening, linking them to Reading and Writing in contextualised situations (real life). After undertaking significant work on Numeracy over past years we want also to ensure this remains fresh and in line with current research and theory.
• Digital Learning – We are part of the refresh GCC IT programme and this has been significantly pushed forward due to the current climate – we are trying to keep up! All P7s will receive an Ipad on the 27^th October to support their learning in class and at home. Classes will soon be fitted with Apple TVs and accompaniments to increase digital learning potential.

Our School Improvement Plan 20-21 will be uploaded onto school website shortly.

Healthy drinks and snacks

We continually try to pass messages of healthy eating and drinking onto pupils. Pupils can drink water at school. During class time pupils can drink plain water. Research proves that this actually enhances performance in the classroom – class teachers will encourage this. Pupils can bring flavoured water (eg lemon lime, strawberry) for break times although we do try to dissuade them from this as there is some sugar contained. We also try to encourage pupils to bring healthy snacks to school. A piece of fruit or chopped vegetables are excellent choices. Pupils are rewarded for making healthy choices in eating and drinking and can win a special active treat if their good choices become consistent.

I am always disappointed when I see pupils coming to school eating sweets and drinking fizzy drinks. I’m not sure if parents and carers know pupils are doing this but I would encourage you to speak with your child about this. It does not make for a great start to the day!

Jane McShane

Head Teacher

headteacher@royston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk

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: