Empowering Woman in Royston
Dear Parents/Carers
Starting from today (11th January), an ‘Empowering Woman’ workshop will begin in our school. This is a great opportunity being run for free in our school. We have some interest however there are still spaces free.
The workshops will cover a range of subjects but you DO NOT need any previous knowledge of these things. There will be a strong focus on being a woman in Glasgow and this will help empower you as a parent.
Workshops will run for 10 weeks every Thursday from 9.30am – 2.30pm. I have managed to work closely with Stepping Stones Nursery who will provide a creche for younger children and babies. Lunch breaks during the workshops will be at a flexible time so that you can see your little ones and pick up/drop-off at nurseries if this is what you need.
If you are interested in joining this FREE opportunity then please let me know,
Jane McShane
Head Teacher
Parent/Carer and Child Pyjama Party!
Pyjama Party – November 2017
Last year as a school we hosted a pyjama night in the Rosemount Flexi-centre on school grounds. It was aimed at P1 and P2 children and parents to encourage a good night-time routine. The format was groups of children and a parent/carer go round stations led by teachers in the school who can give ideas of activities that can be done with little/no resources to promote home learning and parent child bonding as part of a bedtime routine. Following this, a children’s book is read while enjoying a hot chocolate and then the children go home to go straight to bed. To give an element of fun, the children are encouraged to turn up in their pyjamas.
This year it was hosted again in the Rosemount Flexi-centre on the 13th November. It was a very cold night but we were delighted to see over 30 parents and carers join us!
This year the teaching stations were:
- Finger puppets: led by Mr Thomson, the children and their carers made some basic finger puppets which could be used imaginatively or to support the telling of a story.
- Peer Massage: led by Miss Bonner, she shared her training to demonstrate how she incorporates peer massage into her classroom and how it could be done at home.
- Senses: led by Miss Hughes, this game encouraged talking and listening while sharing what they can see, hear etc. with a parent/carer
- Playing with numbers: led by Mr Steer, this activity showed how number games can be made with plain paper and pencils/pen and how games like ‘Guess my number’ can encourage number practise in a fun way.
Finally, Mrs McShane read a story to everyone while they enjoyed a hot chocolate. Thanks to Stretch a Nickel Foundation who we work closely with in school and helped coordinate the event, the children all received a new children’s book as well to take home.
Many thanks to all parents/carers and children who attended, the Stretch a Nickel Foundation, and to the Rosemount Centre for their help with organising this brilliant event.
Royston Primary November Newsletter
November 2017 Issue 3
Parents Appointments
Just a reminder that parent appointments will be scheduled for 21st November for the main body of parents. If you require an interpreter your appointment will be on the 29th November to allow time to book interpreters in varied languages. Every parent/carer will receive an appointment, however if you are unable to attend, please do let us know. ALL parent appointments will be in the dining hall this year in order to ensure safety and security for all parents, children and staff. It also allows us to set up information stands for you about various aspects of school life that will be of interest to you.
Interim reports will be issued next week in order that you can prepare for your appointment.
As always, we try our best to see/speak to parents/carers as and when a need arises, so please don’t feel you have to wait until you are given an appointment if you need to discuss anything with us.
Book Fayre
The Book Fayre is set to arrive again very soon! Book Fayre will be open week beginning 20th November. As we usually do, Miss Gibson will take each class to look at books. If your child is interested in a book, she will write a wee note giving you the title and price of the book. Thereafter it is entirely YOUR decision as to whether or not you buy the book for your child. There is no pressure for you to buy any books at all. You may wish to keep this as a treat for good reports from class possibly!
Building Works
Our renovation work is full steam ahead at present. Outside work on stone work re-pointing and roof work is on going. Front playground toilets are on going, these have been slightly delayed because of issues with damp. Our second floor is nearing completion. Painting, new carpets, ceilings fully refurbished and new blinds almost complete in every room. Our gym hall has had extensive repairs done then painted with new flooring. Our sport committee are in the process of deciding how to place the floor markings to best suit our sporting needs. Toilet facilities and changing rooms are on going…and looking superb so far! Our janitor side stairwell has been closed down to school staff and pupils and scaffolding has been erected. This is to facilitate painting, new lighting, plasterwork etc. New flooring will be the final aspect. In turn, each floor/stairwell will be closed down and some alterations for entry and exit will need to be made.
We look to having no classrooms on the top floor of the building and welcoming in a Glasgow service to share our space. This will be a great development for our school and pupils as it will provide an extra resource for everyone to use. At present, the service is unconfirmed but I will update you as soon as I know.
Although this is causing some disruption, I feel the long term benefit is worth it. The completion date for the whole project is end of April 2018.
Enrolment
New entrant enrolment is this week. All enrolments should be completed online. If you require support for this, please pop into school on Wednesday for some help.
Primary 7 SOS work
Primary 7 pupils will be working in partnership with St Stephen’s Primary School on ‘Sense over Sectarianism’ work. This is to foster good relationships amongst our young people in society, taking religion away as a barrier to this. Pupils will be working on Communities Reunited project alongside an art and craft project. I will update you on any displays of knowledge that may be organised.
BOLT FM
Primary 7 pupils will soon embark on a project where they will host their very own live radio broadcast. This will go out online at the end of their project. The project starts on 7th November and runs for 6 weeks.
Stay and Play
Due to the success of our last ‘stay and play’ day, we are having another one. This is replacing our open afternoon at the moment. Our next stay and play day is 15th November, 9.15-10am. As you may be aware, our teaching methods in school have gradually progressed and we now operate an investigative, hands on type approach to most aspects of the curriculum. If you are able to come to stay and play, you will see how this works in class with your child.
Interfaith Week
Next week is interfaith week. Pupils will engage in various classroom activities in connection with this. We will also have our school chaplain giving pupils a presentation on Buddhism which I’m sure all will find very interesting. The idea of this week is to raise pupils awareness of different faiths and cultures. Our school is very diverse and multi-cultural and we should celebrate this by learning from each other.
After school Clubs
At the present time, after school clubs are a little tricky as we do not have use of the gym hall, and our after care service use the dining hall from 3pm onwards. We have tried very hard to ensure all clubs do not stop and I would ask that you support this as best you can. Rock and Roll dance is still running on a Wednesday in St Roch’s secondary, finishing at 4.10pm sharp. Football is still running out in the playground on a Wednesday after school. Computing is due to begin this week. After school Bridges and Barriers football is taking place at St Roch’s primary on a Tuesday and basketball on a Thursday after school too. The clubs are for P3 and upwards at the moment but as soon as we have all our school facilities back again, our younger clubs can begin.
Credit Union
Back up and running on a Wednesday! If you want your child to join, please ask them to collect an application form from the office.
Balornock Uniform Bank
Royston Primary School is delighted to announce a brand new partnership with Balornock Uniform Bank. They are doing fantastic things for families in the local area, for more information please have a look at their Facebook page!
Parents/carers can donate good quality school uniforms that they no longer require. They are laundered and ready to pass on to local families.
As the weather is turning colder they are also looking to take in jackets/coats and hats/scarves/gloves that your child has grown out of.
This is a great way for our children to receive new or nearly new items that might otherwise have been thrown away.
We are excited to take part in an initiative which will benefit local families directly and will help us in our goal of teaching sustainability. This will all help us as the eco-committee plan our application for the next eco flag!
Please hand donations into the school office.
Empowering Women
Calling all ladies! We will be starting an ‘Empowering Women’ group on 11th January. This will run for 10 weeks and run every Thursday. It is a fantastic course and one I would urge you to consider. I will be sending out more information soon and sign up day is Thursday 7th December 2.30pm. You can come and find out a bit more about it that day too.
Attendance
Unfortunately our attendance figure have slipped a little, possibly as the colder weather arrives. Please get your child to school. It is crucial to their life chances and choices that they are in the habit of coming to school every day.
You will receive an attendance print out with your child’s interim report and you will see whether your child’s attendance is a cause for concern. I am becoming increasingly worried about some pupils school attendance and I will be contacting our education liaison officer to support some families.
Pyjama Party
We will be hosting our second P1 and P2 pyjama party on the 13th November. This is in partnership with stretch a nickel foundation, who support us by providing books and refreshments on the evening. This event will run from 6.30-7.30pm in the flexicentre. A number of our teachers will be working with small groups on very easy, no resources games and activities and the evening will finish off with a bedtime story and hot chocolate. Pupils can come in their pyjamas! We held this event some time ago and parents and pupils gave great feedback. I do hope you will join us for this venture!
Christmas Fayre
This year our parent council are leading the Christmas Fayre on 30th November. Pupils will be making things to sell and there will be the usual very popular stalls – tombola, raffle, brick-a-brak etc! I ask you though – PLEASE HELP!! Parent council and school have lots of great ideas, but we need you to help with them…or they cannot happen! If you are available prior to the day or just on the day to help – let me know or speak with a parent council member.
Christmas!
Yes it has come round again…how does it come so quickly! Many plans are already in place for Christmas…including outings for every pupil, parties, choir performance calendar ( 6 events so far!) and our end of term Christmas assembly. All dates are not confirmed and I will send out my Christmas info as soon as I have everything finalised!
Purple Day!
Thank you to everyone who sent money with their child to take part in ‘Purple day’ in order to raise money for Children’s Hospital Charity. We sent off a cheque for £68…great total!
Jane McShane
Head Teacher
Royston Primary Awarded Silver Status by SPORTSCOTLAND
Royston Primary in Glasgow, has been recognised with a prestigious national award for innovation and achievement in delivering physical education and extra-curricular sport.
The school has achieved the sportscotland Silver School Sport Award for their commitment to engaging all pupils in sporting activity.
As part of the National Lottery funded programme, the sportscotland School Sport Award is a national initiative that is designed to encourage schools to continuously improve physical education and sport. The Award also encourages sporting links between schools and the communities around them.
Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland, said: “Congratulations to all the staff and pupils at Royston – they should be extremely proud of this fantastic achievement. Not only have they put physical education and sport at the heart of their school and local community, but they have managed to do so in a way that encourages all pupils to engage in physical activity whilst having fun at the same time.
“sportscotland is committed to building a world-class sporting system for everyone, and a crucial part of that is putting young people at the heart. Working with our partners in local authorities and governing bodies of sport, we are creating closer links between physical education, school sport and club sport, which benefits young people by providing more and better opportunities to take part in sport.”
With more applications than ever before, there are currently 212 sportscotland Gold School Sport Award schools. 336 schools have been awarded Silver and 84 with Bronze.
To achieve a Bronze or Silver sportscotland School Sport Award, schools self-assess their current practice. However, to gain Gold status an extensive external assessment is also carried out by an independent panel of experts.
Mr Steer, from Royston Primary school commented: “It’s an honour to be awarded the sportscotland Silver School Sport Award. All staff and children work incredibly hard to deliver quality Physical Education, Physical Activity and School Sport opportunities. We believe that physical education, physical activity and sport are very important factors in the school curriculum, not only in helping make children healthy but also in helping them become ready to learn. We also believe that life skills such as team work, dealing with disappointment and showing respect towards other people can be taught through sport.
The sportscotland School Award is supported by the Active Schools Network, a programme that involves sportscotland working in partnership with all 32 local authorities to encourage schools to ensure there are opportunities for all children and young people to engage, participate and reach their potential in this area.
The on-line self-assessment tool supports schools to achieve this by helping them to reflect on their current practice and identify areas for improvement. It also puts the young people in the school at the forefront of the decision making and implementation processes around sport in their school.
For more information, please visit https://sportscotland.org.uk/schools/school-sport-award/
