Community News – Page 12 – Royston Primary School

24 June, 2017

End of Term Round Up

The last few weeks have been very busy for Royston children with lots of celebrations and learning experiences taking place before the long,well-deserved rest. Below is a short summary of some of the key moments (in no particular chronological order!)

P7 London Trip

P7, Mr Steer and Mrs Young travelled down to London on the 12th June for a jam-packed couple of days. The trip was a huge success with the group being lucky enough to visit The London Eye, Madame Tussauds, The Science Museum, Hyde Park, The Natural History Museum and The Imperial War Museum among other things such as eating at Garfunkel’s and The Rainforest Cafe. The highlight for most of the group was the visit to the Apollo Victoria Theatre for the West End performance of Wicked. This was described by P7 as ‘mind-blowing’ and maybe even inspired P7 for their own leavers assembly (more on that later). Arriving back in Royston on Thursday night, everyone was exhausted but grateful for the opportunity they received. Mrs Young and Mr Steer were delighted with the exemplary behaviour shown by P7 throughout the trip and remarked that they were a credit to themselves, their families and the community.

School Trips

P1-P3 visited Almond Valley on the 5th June and this was a brilliant experience that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Activities the children took part in included a petting zoo, a wonderful soft play area, pedal carts, trampolines and sand pits. We would like to thank all parent helpers who came on the trip and helped make the trip as enjoyable as it was.

P4-P6 visited the Five Sisters Zoo on the 16th June and this was another hugely enjoyable trip. The children got a chance to pet and watch a very wide variety of animals. Notable highlights included the meerkats, arctic wolves and a dancing Cockapoo (https://twitter.com/RoystonPrimary/status/875734553939382273)!

Rainbow Hall Celebration

While P4-P6 were at the Five Sisters zoo, P1,P2,P3 & P7 visited the Rainbow Hall at the top of Roystonhill to take part in a celebration to commemorate the hall being demolished ahead of a major refurbishment. We brought song and dance to the celebration with our performances receiving some great reviews from local community leaders and councillors praising the children’s enthusiasm! The hall has a special place in our hearts through its use throughout the years for many community events such as discos, fairs or the recent inter-generational play involving P5/4. While we are sad to see the hall demolished we are very excited for the new building and hope this will be a brilliant hub for the whole Royston community.

P7 Leavers assembly and Prize Giving

On the last Friday of the term we had a very busy morning celebrating a very successful school year. Firstly, the P7’s were up putting on their leavers assembly to celebrate their time in Royston. The P7’s were responsible for writing and planning the whole assembly with Mr Steer only taking minor responsibility in directing it. The end result of their take on “I’m a P7, Get Me Out Of Here!” was magnificent, receiving five star reviews from Mrs McShane and Ms White! The performance had adults and children laughing throughout, while also having an opportunity to reflect on happy,funny and sad memories of their 7 years at Royston. It ended with the final ‘bush-tucker trial’ meaning they sang a Royston adaption of Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ with Eilidh and Savannah playing the Ukelele superbly throughout it.

Following this, the prize giving commenced and our class of the moment,P7, were first up! P7’s received a tie for their new Secondary thanks to the parent council and a t-shirt with all of their names on it. The Royston Food Hub, organised by the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative(NGCFI), gave each P7 a certificate of merit and a planted vegetable pot that they had planted several weeks beforehand. Following this,all of P1 received an excellence award due to the progress and hard work they have shown this year. There was two special awards for each class, one for demonstrating excellent conduct in accordance with the school values and the other for progress made across the curriculum. There was also a third award which could be given to several children about demonstrating excellence consistently across the year. This year we introduced new awards relating to PE and School Sport because of the focus we have had on Health and Wellbeing this year. Mr Steer presented these awards to one child in P1-P3 and one child in P4-P7. This award was not just about being athletic but also showing effort and commitment to improve themselves throughout the year.The award also recognised good teamwork skills and sporting behaviour such as being a good winner and a good loser. The Sport Cup was then presented to the winning house from our competitive Sports Day which was Burrell.

Fun Run

On the 9th June, all children took part in a fundraising fun run at Glenconner Park. This was organised by Mr Steer and the Sport Captains, with help being supplied by Royston Youth Action. Royston Youth Action brought along powder paint and their youth workers were on hand to cover the runners as they passed! This was an enormously enjoyable event for P1-P7 and we will be looking to do this again next year!

House Trip

The winners for Term 4 were Burrell so on the afternoon of the 23rd June they had their House reward. This term the reward was at the Reidvale Adventure Play Association (RAPA) and it was a brilliant afternoon playing on their outdoors equipment. P1-P7 members of Burrell played together very well, helping each other to play on the wide variety of equipment.

6 June, 2017

Computer Club 4 Year Surprise

We have been lucky enough to have Amanda Ford work with children across our school for just over 4 years. Amanda is a former parent in the school and works at West Of Scotland University and Glasgow Caledonian University teaching coding and games design as part of her studies for her PHd. She is an accredited Microsoft Innovation Education Expert and has worked tirelessly in our school to run a computer club as well as sometimes help with whole classes if a teacher has requested help with technology.

As Amanda surpassed 100 hours of coding with children in Royston PS, Head Teacher Jane McShane felt a surprise was well deserved. On Friday 2nd June, at her regular computing after-school club, Amanda was surprised with a party attended by all staff and many of the children who have attended her clubs throughout the 4 years. Amanda was presented with a bouquet of flowers in recognition of our thanks for her hard work over the last four years.

5 June, 2017

Sports Day 2017!

On the 1st June we had a very successful sports day. From 10-12pm it was the Nursery to Primary 3 Sports day. We were delighted to see so many members of our local community turn up to support the children. In particular, the turnout from our local nurseries was very high and it was brilliant to see so many smiles on display! From 1-3pm the Primary 4’s to Primary 7’s had their shot at glory and all teachers were impressed at the effort the children showed to earn house points!

This year we wanted to use our Sport Captains and House Captains to help organise and motivate the younger children in their house and they did this very well in the morning session. The competitive nature of our day meant each of our four houses went round the athletics stations together, working hard to earn points together. This meant Mr Steer had the important job of collecting all the points together from the teachers and Support for Learning Workers to find out who the overall winner of Sports day was.

The results were:

4th – Wallace (2955 points)

3rd – Burns (3134 points)

2nd – Mackintosh (3039 points)

1st – Burrell (3177 points) !!!!

Congratulations to all competitors who showed good sportsmanship throughout the day!

31 March, 201731 March, 2017

Comeback Kids Halt Heartbreak Run

Match report for the football match between Royston PS and Elmvale PS on 30/03/17

There were scenes of jubilation yesterday at Springburn Park as the P5-7 Football team for Royston Primary recorded their first victory for over 2 years as they defeated a quality Elmvale Primary team in the second fixture between the sides.

Due to only two schools turning up to the fixture it was decided between teachers from respective schools that there would be two separate games of half an hour each. Elmvale PS in their traditional blue and yellow shirts were considered the form side before kick off due to Royston PS’s woeful record in recent years that meant only Michael had ever sampled the sweet taste of success in Royston colours previously. Elmvale had also comfortably won the last game between the two sides although Royston were in a quietly confident mood due to the emergence of new squad players in P5 such as Ben, Marcus and Xavier as well as improved fitness and technique brought about through regular training at the Thursday after school club, PE and the Mile-a-thon challenge across the school. Royston, wearing their new football kit of navy blue with light blue underarms and sides for the first time, started with a 2-3-1 formation although it was Elmvale who started brightest, testing the goalkeeper regularly. Against the run of play, Wilfried managed to use his pace to cause chaos in defence and a deflected strike ended up squirming into the goal for Royston to lead.

Elmvale came back strongly scoring two goals of a high quality, carving the Royston defence apart, which meant it was 2-1 going into halftime. Following some tactical changes by Mr Doherty and Mr Steer there was a prompt equaliser at the start of the half. Once again it was Wilfried’s pace which caused problems as he out-sprinted an organised Elmvale defence before calmly slotting home. The game then became tense before the deadlock was broken by an excellent finish from an Elmvale player. Showing resilience, Royston soon levelled the game with Colin slotting home to tie the game with three minutes left. The cagey game finished with good chances to win from both sides before the referee blew his whistle at 3-3 for a deserved draw.

The drama was far from over however as there was another game to play. Once again it was Elmvale who started the brightest and it was them who broke the deadlock early on with an excellent long-range strike which followed several saves by Xavier in goals. The two goal hero from the first game, Wilfried, then scored a now-trademark goal driving away from the defence before slotting calmly past the goalkeeper. Carried away by their celebrations, Royston’s positional discipline deserted them in the last 8 minutes of the half shipping three goals in quick succession as Elmvale took control of the game. The halftime whistle couldn’t come quick enough for Royston at this point as they looked in disarray. Only fine defending by Scott and Mohammad meant the score remained 4-1 at halftime.

Mr Doherty and Mr Steer tweaked the team for the remaining 15 minutes with the day’s star striker Wilfried going into goals which meant Colin now led the attack with support from Scott, Ben and Exauce. The changes led to instant results and Colin turned and struck the ball high into the top corner from an acute angle minutes into the second half. This goal revitalised Royston and shook Elmvale. Exauce then took advantage of some intricate passing by Ben and Michael striking the ball high into the net with his left foot. At this point Elmvale were now the team in disarray and Royston surged forward for another attack. After a skillful run from Michael, bursting out of defence, the ball broke to Exauce once again and he finished with great composure equalising the game at 4-4 with 5 minutes remaining.

With 2 minutes left many would’ve thought the game was going to finish with another close draw between the sides but it a twist of fate Colin reacted quickest to confusion in the Elmvale defence to prod the ball past the goalkeeper for Royston to complete the comeback and lead the game 5-4. The remaining two minutes were a bag of nerves for the Royston side, inadvertently reverting to a unique 6-0 formation resulting in too little space for Elmvale to take advantage of. As the referee blew his whistle the Royston players shared handshakes with each other and their counterparts in recognition of a competitive but fair contest.

A proud game for all who took part with many in the squad staking places for subsequent games which will be held at Springburn Park. In particular, credit to the P5’s who attended today as well as the P6s and P7s who showed a vast improvement from their previous fixture this year.

SQUAD: Xavier, Ben, Marcus, Mohammad, Wilfried, Scott, Colin, Michael and Exauce.

12 March, 2017

March Newsletter

February 2017 Issue 5

Parent Council

I want to say a huge thanks to parent council members for their continued hard work in supporting school life. Most recently, members have upcycled filing cabinets and planted them beautifully! We are now looking at the back playground for improvement and will continue to add to this as we can.

If you are interested in being a member of the parent council, please speak with me and I can link you with current members.

Fruit and Veg Barra

Just a wee reminder for everyone that our fruit and veg barra runs every week. Fruit and veg on sale at significantly reduced price. Our primary 7 pupils run this and would love to see more people visit. It will either be in the front playground or just inside the main door.

Fruity Tuckshop

Our fruity tuck shop has now been running for almost a month. Fruit is well priced at 20-30p. This is not intended to give us a profit as our key aim is to provide healthy options for all pupils. We have been a little disappointed in uptake, with a minority of pupils using the tuck shop. We would really like this to increase. Please do consider giving your child some change to buy a healthy snack Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday…we do not want this venture to stop!

School Refurbishment

I am delighted (and a little anxious!) to tell you that I have had confirmation that Royston Primary will be receiving a full refurbishment, starting in the coming months. This will give our pupils freshly decorated classrooms with new carpets, complete overhaul of all toilet facilities, newly plastered corridor walls and possibly a totally new roof to the building. I have no further details on when this is due to begin or how long this is expected to take. Having had some previous experience of this, I feel this will take quite some time, and will involve various alterations to entry/exit, playground space etc and I ask for your patience during this time. The ‘goal’ I hope, will be well worth it!

World Book Day

World Book Day is on the 2^nd March and we will be having our Big Book Event on Friday the 3^rd March. Pupils can dress up as a book character and we will have a costume parade in the dining hall in the morning. Pupils will ‘opt in’ to various book related groups during the day. The aim of this day is to widen pupils interest in reading by exploring different genres of text. I’m sure this will be a very positive day for all. Our travelling book fayre will come again towards the end of March…we will continue to update you on specific dates for this.

Pupil Equity Fund

As I’m sure many of you will know from the media, Royston Primary will be receiving £85,200 as part of the governments equity initiative. The government states education as the top priority for them, and as such have invested greatly in schools. The amount of money each school has received is dependent on free school meal entitlement. Plans for this money are by no means finalised and Glasgow City Council are issuing us with strict guidance on use of the money. I will continue to update you on developments as they occur.

Summer Trip

We are beginning to explore options for our annual summer trip for all pupils. We are looking to book this quite soon as buses tend to book up very quickly. I will shortly put out a very brief questionnaire regarding cost and location. Please do give me all ideas you have.

Dress Down Day

As you will know, we have a dress down day on the last Friday of each month at the cost of 50p. This money goes DIRECTLY to our pupils. We use this money to support visiting experts, trips and experiences out of school, gifts and celebrations throughout the year and additional resources not covered by our basic school budget. Recently many pupils have been ‘dressing down’, but have not been bringing in 50p. This is very disappointing. We will continue to monitor this through our cash books as we need to ensure pupils are equally contributing in order to gain from this.

London

If your child is in primary 7 you may have heard that they are going to London! This is not strictly true at the present time. Having spoken to pupils in P7, it was clear that they were keen to go to London for their ‘end of primary school’ experience. I have spent time exploring whether this may be a viable and sensible option, with pupil safety and security as the top priority. Progress to date gives me a sensible quote from a company called Curriculum Travels. They offer a 3 night/4 day experience with a jam packed itinerary. The cost is quite substantial and so I am looking at funding options in order to reduce cost for parents and carers as much as I possibly can. I’m expecting to have an update on this early in March and I will keep relevant parents/carers posted as I learn more about whether this could become a reality.

Annual Royston Clean Up event

The clean up will take place for P4/3-7 pupils on the 1^st March. This year, our youth forum members are planning the event, which involves booking the venue, ordering and requesting resources and support from the council and making purchases for the ‘goodie bags’. This has been a real learning experience for pupils supported by Spireview Housing Association. All pupils will be closely monitored in small groups by adults and we will be preparing them for this by engaging in conversation about why this is important. The main aim is to ensure our pupils understand the value of their community and grow to respect and look after it.

Staffing

Staffing is a regular feature of our school newsletter as I believe it is crucial for you to know and understand who is working with your children. Staffing remains reasonably stable at present. Mrs Jamieson is not in school at present, but Mr Steer has taken on full commitment for P7 in order to maintain consistency in this important year in primary school. Our teaching students are in place with P6/5 and P7 and we continue to work with United Sports to provide coaches for after school activities.

We also continue to have our reading partners from Clydesdale Bank who come on a Wednesday and Thursday. They enjoy coming and our pupils benefit from some one to one support.

School Photographer

The photographer will be in school on Thursday 2^nd March. He will be taking individual and class photographs. If you would like a family photograph taken please inform the office staff.

Celebrating Success

Primary 3/2 and street dance after school club pupils will be invited to perform at Smithycroft celebrating success community event to be held on 16^th March from 6-7pm. These particular pupils will receive a more detailed letter about this in the next week or two.

Red Nose Day

We try to limit the number of fundraisers we embark on as there are so many that come up over a calendar year. As we have not raised funds for charity very recently, we will be having a pyjama day on Friday the 24^th March. Pupils can come to school wearing their pyjamas and bring a teddy or a cushion. All pyjama children must pay a pound for this privilege! All pounds collected will go straight to the Red Nose Day collection fund.

Holiday Dates

School will close for the holidays on the 31^st March at 2.30pm. This is spring break. Pupils will return to school on Tuesday the 18^th April, with Easter Monday being Monday the 17^th April.

Spring Service

Spring Service will be held on Thursday the 30^th March and will be hosted by primary 2/3 and 5/6 pupils. More information on times to follow.

Jane McShane

Head Teacher