August 2019
Welcome!
We have had a fast paced and busy start to our new school session. Pupils and staff are back and raring to go! A huge well done to all our fantastic primary 1 pupils who have started their school career with real confidence and focus!
I do hope everyone had a lovely summer break and I look forward to seeing and chatting to all parents and carers in due course. As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you want to speak to me for any reason. Many thanks for your continued support.
Jane McShane (Head Teacher)
Headteacher@royston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk
Tel 0141 552 2872
Staffing
Our staffing this session looks plentiful. We have managed to secure more than our allocation using our pupil equity fund money. I believe that the best resource pupils will have in school is staff and I am looking forward to some new initiatives we are set to put in place to ensure equity for all. In addition to class teachers, we welcome our play therapist Beverley Allen. She will be working very closely with some of our pupils. If your child is in that category, you will already know about it.
I am also delighted to let you know that Mrs Mair has had a beautiful baby boy! Both mum and baby are well…baby Mair has no name as yet but I’m sure that will be decided soon!
I sadly have to inform you that Miss McPhail, one of our support for learning workers will be leaving us. She has been a fabulous support in school, pupils and staff will really miss her kind and caring manner. We will be advertising for a new member of staff very soon in order to ensure continuity for pupils.
North Glasgow Community Food Initiative
Our partnership working with NGCFI continues to go from strength to strength. Our P7 pupils will begin cookery lessons next week with our super sessional cook Maggie. All P7 pupils will have the opportunity to work in the kitchen.
Parent and child cookery will also commence next week. If you would like to come and cook with your child afterschool, please look out for the sign up letter coming out this week. This is open to any pupil/parent P1-7.
Unfortunately our gardener Cornelia has left NGCFI and returned to her home in Sweden. A new gardener called Ritchie has been employed and he will begin gardening sessions next week with the pupils. Every class will go gardening once per fortnight. Pupils may get a little mucky whilst out – but as we all know, learning can be a messy business.
Library Visits
All pupils in school will visit the library once per fortnight. Almost all pupils are members of the library and have their own library card. If your child is not a member, please pop into the office and we can give you an application form to complete, or we can complete this for you. If pupils have their own card, they will be able to visit the library out with school visits too. I would strongly encourage you to take your child to the library – this is such a fantastic facility to have on your doorstep, and the resources they have are excellent. Please see below for your child’s first visit this term. Thereafter visits will be once per fortnight…
P2/1 – 5th September
P3/2 – 6th September
P4/3 – 3rd September
P6/5 – 4th September
P7/6 – 2nd September
P7 – 12th September
Royston Youth Action
As P7 pupils have done in previous years, we will soon commence kayaking and bikeability lessons in partnership with RYA.
Pupils will be split into 3 groups and have a day each of biking and kayaking. Bike days are 9th, 10th and 11th September. Kayaking days are 12th, 16th and 17th September. Pupils will shortly bring home consent forms in order to participate. Please do return these as soon as possible.
Credit Union
We work in partnership with our local Credit Union office located in Royston Square. Pupils who have set up an account are taken to the Credit Union every Thursday and supported to deposit their money. They will receive a receipt for this each week which will show their growing balance! Pupils do like to see their money building up. I will be sending out the application forms. If you wish your child to join, please complete and return, along with their birth certificate. We will assist in setting the account up and send home their birth certificate promptly.
School attendance
School attendance for your child is compulsory. Your child must come to school and there should be only very rare occasions of absence. Only keep your child absent from school if they are ill/infectious. If your child is unwell at school we will contact you. We are there as educators but we also take on the role of corporate parent in your absence. It is a proven fact that pupils who attend school almost every day will achieve more and attainment will be better. If you are worried about your child at school please speak to us and we will do whatever we can to reassure and support.
Bullying
We are not so naïve to think that we never have any bullying incidents in school. If your child speaks of bullying I would urge you to get in touch without delay. We will do our best to work closely with you and your child to support and ultimately stop the bullying. However, often we hear the word bullying used frequently and freely in situations where this has, after investigation, clearly not been the case. With 140 children in school all day every day there will be feelings of frustration and annoyance amongst children and we need to work at supporting all our pupils to develop emotional regulation – being able to understand how they can cope with feelings of frustration and annoyance for example. This is a life skill- there will always be people in life who will annoy you! As an adult you will know this! It is absolutely crucial for pupils to develop these life skills themselves as they will have to manage this without a parent always advocating on their behalf. I look forward to your continued support and partnership in this matter.
P.E. Kit
Every pupil will take part in physical education – this is one of our core subjects, alongside numeracy and literacy. As you will know, the West of Scotland health statistics are fairly poor and we must do all we can to ensure our pupils have long, healthy and active lives. Pupils must bring appropriate kit to school for their gym days. Gym kit for P1-4 consists of school polo shirt (worn to school on gym days), either shorts, jogging trousers or leggings and a pair of indoor shoes. For P5-7 in addition to the above, your child will require to have a change of t-shirt for hygiene purposes. We have suitable changing rooms for both boys and girls, and pupils will be able to use these if they can do so sensibly. If your child does not bring the proper gym kit we will contact you to request that this is brought to school. If this is not possible we will find some spare clothing and footwear for them so that they can take part safely. Jewellery must not be worn during P.E. lessons – this is to ensure safety whilst activities are on-going. I would advise that all jewellery is left safely at home. These are rules as set by Glasgow City Council and are contained in P.E. Code of Conduct. A copy of this is available for you to read – please get in touch if you would like a copy. Gym days are as follows:
P2/1 Tuesday and Friday
P3/2 Tuesday and Thursday
P4/3 Wednesday and Thursday
P6/5 Tuesday and Thursday
P7/6 Monday and Friday
P7 Tuesday and Friday
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.
Connect 2
This session we have managed to secure additional staffing so that we can create an additional classroom. This can be used by pupils from any stage. Mr Thomson and Mrs Young will be focusing solely on health and well-being in their classroom called Connect2. At times, pupils find classroom expectation very challenging for a variety of reasons and they need a calm space to re-focus and reflect on re-integrating into classroom life. Connect2 has been fairly busy as we welcome pupils back to school, with some pupils finding it overwhelming. We will soon have a policy statement uploaded onto the school website to give you a clearer idea of the aims and justification for such a space.
School Improvement Planning
Every year, each school in Glasgow creates a School Improvement Plan. We must always do this in partnership with parents/carers, pupils and staff, and I wish to thank all parents/carers who took the time to complete our evaluation requests prior to the summer holidays. I know these are a chore for people but I cannot stress enough how much we need these to guide the way forward in the service we provide to our families.
This year we have 4 priorities and these are:
- Behaviour and restorative approaches. This development will mean that all staff and pupils have consistent approaches to managing situations. We know that children do not generally behave poorly for no reason and this approach will help us understand the underlying reasons for particular behaviours. I will give you more detail on this in the next newsletter.
- Raising Attainment. This will always be on our plan. Core knowledge and skill development in literacy and numeracy is our core business. Our main focus is on literacy with Miss Fraser engaging in intensive training to become our literacy leader of learning across the whole school. In addition, we will continue the good developments in numeracy driven forward last session by Mr Steer. Mr Steer will continue to keep a school focus on numeracy. Our school attainment overall is gradually increasing and we look for improvements in assessment figures every single year.
- Meeting Learners’ Needs. In addition to Connect2, we continue to evaluate and improve our work in nurturing principles, particularly looking at the upper stages of school. We will create a relationships policy statement which will include aspects of nurture, citizenship and children’s rights.
- Parental Partnership. This will always be on our agenda as we continue to explore best ways to engage with you. We are always open to hearing your views on this – whether we plan more ‘Stay and Play’ sessions, theme afternoons in class, parent child working or adult only workshops. Please do get in touch if you would like to share your views on this.
Education Perspective Review/Standards and Quality Report
Both of these documents are required to be created based on parent/carer, pupil and staff evaluation. These documents give a detailed account of our current school position in relation to curriculum for excellence and professional standards. Both of these documents will soon be uploaded into the school website for you to read.
Standardised Assessments
You may already know that we carry out a suite of standardised assessments each session. All pupils P1-7 will engage in numeracy, reading, spelling, writing and health and well-being assessments which give us an indication of their learning at the time of the assessment, in addition to seeing their progress from past assessments. These are carried out at sensibly spaced times throughout the year.
Snapshot Week
Feedback last session on snapshot week was very positive and so we have planned these again for this session. During snapshot week your child will complete all their tasks in one jotter. At the end of the week your child will bring this home and will need around 20-30 minutes with a parent/carer to speak about their learning. Please do make time for this. We know that when parents/carers engage in their child’s learning and development, their progress will be much better. It will also give you an insight into their work in school and what they get up to during the 6 hours per day they spend in Royston Primary!
Data Returns
Thanks to all parents/carers who have returned their data forms. It allows us to process these and ensure we have the correct information on our administration system. This is crucial for your child’s health and well-being. If you have not returned forms as yet, please do this as a matter of urgency. Many thanks.
Homework
We will soon be sending out information and feedback forms regarding our homework issues last session. Please do give us your thoughts as this will guide future plans.
Parent Council
We are actively seeking out some willing volunteers to join our parent council. They are a small group at present but would like to be bigger! Parent council have monthly meetings and look for ways to support school developments, as well as raise issues for discussion around school practice. This is definitely a great way to become engaged in your child’s learning. If you would like more information please get in touch with me and I can link you up with our parent council chair person who can discuss aspects of their work with you.
After school clubs
We are in the process of finalising plans for afterschool clubs for this term. We are waiting on some confirmations of days and stages, but please do look out for this information coming soon. Clubs are assigned on a first come first served basis so get in quick!
Sorry for the overload of information! Start of term is always fairly busy!
Jane McShane
