WE STRIVE TO BE A STRONG & CARING SCHOOL COMMUNITY
WHERE EVERYONE IS; SAFE, HAPPY, INCLUDED & RESPECTED
BY BUILDING CONFIDENCE & RAISING ACHIEVEMENT
WE TRULY ARE…MAKING PUPILS SHINE!

 

August 2022 Update
We are delighted to welcome all our existing and new families back after what we hope was a fantastic
break. The children have had a very successful first few weeks back and are looking forward to the new
term. We look forward to getting to know you all over the next few weeks.

Absence Procedures
As we begin our first term for Session 2022/23, I would like to highlight our normal procedures for
reporting absence and an update was issued at the end of last week. Can we ask that you read and follow
these please?

Changes to Pick Up Arrangements:
This can be confusing to children and be challenging to ensure that children are given messages within
our busy wee school and cannot guarantee this will happen. Your support would be appreciated and the
matter could be alleviated in the following ways:
 Please try to make sure that pupils are aware of their pick up arrangements for that day.
 As far as possible, please try to ensure that arrangements are only changed if there is a genuine
emergency. We do understand that things can happen in our busy family lives!
 Please try as far as possible to adhere to our drop off and pick up times. School begins at 08.55
and pupils should arrive no earlier than 08.40 as there is no playground supervision before this
time; unless of course your child is attending the Breakfast Club, which is no earlier than 08.15.
School ends at 15.00. We ask that parents drop off and pick up at the school gates and should
not enter the school playground; the exception being Primary 1 parents who can pick up their
child at the back door at 3pm
N.B If you are contacting the school, please be aware that the office is staffed 8.30am at the earliest
until 4.15pm, 3.30pm on Friday (excluding morning and lunch breaks).

 

Birthday Cakes
REMINDER – As you know we love to celebrate your children’s birthdays with them and in recent years
quite a lot of children have very kindly brought in a cake to share with their class. Unfortunately, we
have had to put a stop to birthday cakes being brought in. We have several children with a variety of
allergies which now affects most classes. Thank you for your generosity in the past but we are sure you
will understand and support us in this decision. Your child’s birthday will still be acknowledged and
celebrated in their class.

Diary Dates
Once activities, assemblies (we are delighted to be able to return to having an Assembly for each class
based on topic work that will be presented in school to their parents) have been planned we will issue as
comprehensive a list as possible. In the meantime, here are the arrangements made so far:
Wednesday 28th September – Flu Immunisations
Thursday 13th October – Parent/Teacher Consultations – in school; timings to be confirmed.
Week commencing 12th December – Christmas Parties, 1-3pm – days for each class tbc.
Friday 16th December – Interim Reports issued to parents
Wednesday 21st December – Christmas Service, 10am at Coltness Memorial Church
Thursday 23rd March – Parent/Teacher Consultations – in school; timings to be confirmed.
Week commencing 27th March – Primary 7 Residential Trip at Ardentinny.
Friday 31st March – Easter Service, 10am in school for pupils and staff only.
Week commencing 12th June – Health Week, including Sports Day 10am Tuesday 13th
.
A list of the holiday dates for Session 2022/23 were sent out by email last week.
Holiday dates for Session 2023/24 will be issued once confirmed.

Lost Property
This is an ongoing problem. Please ensure that your child’s name is on all their clothes and personal items
as this enables us to return items to them easily.

Nut-free School
Can you please ensure that your child does not bring in any food items containing nuts, your support in
this is vital as we have pupils with nut allergies.

Parents Portal
NLC launched the Parents Portal as a means of communication between schools and parents. For this to
work effectively you need to ensure that your contact details are always up to date, to help with this
the Data Check letters for your child/children came home last week. If you have not yet returned these,
please check the form, update where required, include any updated medical information, and return as
soon as possible for us to update our systems. Thank you.
Details of the Parents Portal and instructions for this can be followed in the video available via this
link:
http://bit.ly/ParentsPortalNLC

To be able to sign up to the portal it is vital you are using the same contact details etc. that we have
for you and your child/children. Also, if you already have and use “MyAccount” please ensure your
details on this are up to date.
This portal is the main communications between schools and parents across North Lanarkshire Council;
however, it is not yet being used as our main point of communication. We currently have approximately
half of our families already linked to this, but to ensure this is a successful communication tool for all
our families we need the majority of our Parent Forum to have signed up for it and we will continue to
use Groupcall Messenger until then. We ask that you sign up to this service as it is a one stop shop to
many of our current and future communications.
If you are still having difficulties with this, we plan to have laptops and support available to parents to
assist in setting this up at our first Parent/Teacher Consultations (Thursday 13th October)

PE Days
Once again this session, each class is allocated 2 hours of Physical Education per week. To ensure your
child/children can take part please ensure they come to school prepared on the following days:
Primary 1 – Monday and Thursday
Primary 2 – Wednesday and Thursday
Primary 3 – Monday and Thursday
Primary 4 – Wednesday and Friday
Primary 5 – Wednesday and Friday
Primary 6/5 – Tuesday and Friday
Primary 6 – Tuesday and Wednesday
Primary 7 – Thursday and Friday

Children can come dressed in their P.E clothes on these days and should wear trainers that can be worn
both indoors and outdoors. Football colours are not permitted. For health and safety reasons children
are not allowed to wear jewellery during P.E sessions. It would be advised that children do not come to
school wearing jewellery on their P.E days. In line with the Authority PE policy, all jewellery should be
removed during PE lessons, especially earrings. If your child is unable to remove these, please provide
tape/plasters to cover their earrings, which your child must be able to do. This should however be used
as a last resort, as earrings should be removed.
Can we remind parents that P.E is not an “optional extra” therefore all pupils are expected to
participate fully in P.E. If for any reason your child is unable to participate on a specific day the
school must be notified in writing.

School Gate and Road Safety
The area around the school gate can become very busy at the beginning and end of the day. We kindly
ask that parents and carers who are dropping off and picking up their children, ensure that they leave
a path for children to come in and out through the gate safely.
The roads around the school are very busy. Please refrain from parking outside the school or near
corners where it makes it difficult to cross the road safely. We ask that parents entering/leaving the
car park, driving on School Road can be sensible and aware of pupils leaving school/crossing the road.
Your children’s safety is our priority.
Can we also remind you that School Road is the emergency access to Morningside Care Home, and the
surrounding estate, and that any blockage could have profound consequences?
School Meals Payments
We respectfully ask you again to ensure you have enough money on your child’s card to pay for their
meals, including breakfast. We already have several children who have insufficient funds which can build
up quickly.
Free School Meal Entitlement: The Scottish Government announced that they are delaying universal
free school meals provision for Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils; stating that further expansion of free
school lunches during term-time to include children in P6 and P7 will not begin in August 2022 as had
been intended. There appears to be no indication of when/if this will be put in place and will update you
when we receive any clarification.
Therefore, it is only children attending nursery for full days and children in Primaries 1 to 5 that are
automatically entitled to receive free school meals.
If you believe that your child/children are entitled to a free school meal and the associated benefits
this could bring, please check the NLC website for the relevant criteria and claim form (please note
that this must be applied for on an annual basis and does not automatically continue each year).

Staffing Updates
We would like to welcome Miss O’Malley to our school. She has settled in well to our staff team and I
know you will look forward to meeting her during the year.

Twitter and Blog
Parents and Carers are encouraged to follow us on Twitter and our Website/Blog. You can access these
through:
Website/Blog glowscotland.gov.uk/nl/morningsideblog
Twitter Account @morningsideps
Here you will be able to follow the work your child is involved in, we will post pictures of all our big
events and staff will post pictures of the children’s learning experiences and achievements.
To gain access to the school Twitter account you must have children currently at the school. If you
would like to request to follow us then you should click follow and then email Mr Stathis
at nlstathisg@northlan.org.uk with the name of your child and also your Twitter Handle. Your Twitter
handle is the bit under your Twitter name that starts with @

Compliments, Concerns, Complaints
If you have any of the above, please make an appointment to speak with your child’s class teacher, Mrs.
White, Mr Stathis or Mrs. Gardiner. They will be available by appointment only, which can be made by
either phoning the school (01698 274938) or by emailing enquiries-at-morningside@northlan.org.uk . Can
we please remind you that all emails should be sent via this email address not to the Head Teacher,
Principal Teacher, or Class Teachers directly.
If it is regarding classroom work, please make an appointment to speak with your child’s class teacher,
through the office staff, please do not approach teachers directly during preparation time or teaching
time.
On many occasions, if it is not regarding class work, our office staff will have the information and advice
that you need.
We as a staff want your children to be safe and happy during their time at Morningside Primary and are
more than willing to discuss any concerns. It is always best to ask us directly rather than using other
forums to air your concerns. We are teaching your children about the safe usage of social media and
how our digital footprint cannot be deleted. Please be mindful of your own usage.
Your support in this would be appreciated.

Yours sincerely
Jennifer Gardiner Date: 29th August 2022