Week 3 Menus coming up:

Please remember, today is the final day to order a Christmas Lunch for 6th December.  If you have not yet returned your child’s order form, PLEASE CALL THE SCHOOL OFFICE TODAY as we need to make sure all the shopping is done on time!

Remember, P.6 & 7 pupils need to pay for meals BEFORE they order them.  We have a number of pupils running up lunch bills just now.  Please call the school office if you are having any difficulty paying.

OPEN AFTERNOON

Next Wednesday, 29th November, we will open our doors to welcome the families of P.2-P.7 pupils in to join in our learning.  We look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday between 1.45pm and 2.45pm.  There is no need to stay for the whole hour and if you have multiple classes to visit you can pop in and out as you please.

(Remember, P.1 pupils and nursery children have already had the opportunity to have parents in, so their rooms will not be open to visitors on this occasion.)

ST ANDREW’S DAY

St Andrew’s Day falls on Thursday next week.  We look forward to having a special Scottish-themed assembly that day.  If your child wants to, they are welcome to wear a touch of tartan with their uniform.  As always, please do not go out and buy something specially for this; we mean an item you have at home already.

ECO CLOTHING RAILS

From next Friday, 1.12.23, our Eco Clothing Rails will be available to any families who wish to come and browse.  Please call at the school office between 2.45pm and 3.15pm any Friday afternoon and you can take time to see if you can make use of any of the clothing there.  Bring a bag and help yourself!  We would be delighted if you could support us in this venture as our Eco and RRSA pupil groups aim for higher accreditation.

6TH DECEMBER – A BIG DAY!

On 6th December we have 3 things happening!

We are celebrating our Christmas Jumper Day, the Parent Council are collecting donations for their Christmas Hampers and we have our Christmas Lunch in both the school and nursery!  Not long now!

CHRISTMAS PLANS

December is just around the corner, so remember to refer to your Annual Calendar of Events for all the remaining dates coming up this term.

DECEMBER

6th – Christmas Lunch, Christmas Jumpers, Christmas Hamper donations

12th – Panto Trip (Jack & the Beanstalk)

13th – Christmas Market (Parents welcome 3-4pm)

14th – P.4 & 5 Christmas Party (pm)

15th – P.6 & 7 Christmas Party (pm)

18th – Christmas Show (1.30pm)

19th – Christmas Show (9.45am)

20th – Christmas Show (9.45am)

20th – P.2 & 3 Christmas Party (pm)

21st – P.1 Christmas Party (pm)

22nd – Nursery Christmas Party

22nd – Close for holidays (school shuts 2.30pm/nursery normal hours)

CHRISTMAS SHOW

Letters will be coming home in school bags today, with details of tickets sales for our Christmas Show: Christmas Around the World.   As our nursery pupils are taking part in only one performance, there are slightly different arrangements in place.  Nursery parents need to check which day their child is taking part BEFORE buying tickets.  Please check your child’s bag for this information tonight.

As always, we will try to ensure every family gets the chance to purchase at least 2 tickets.  Space in the hall is limited, but we will work with you to make sure tickets are shared out fairly.

Christmas Performance 2023 – letter for school

Week 2 menus coming up.  Remember to return your Christmas Lunch order form if you haven’t done so yet.  We need to get the turkey and trimmings bought!

PARENTS NIGHT

Our Parents’ Night will take place next week, 23rd November.  If you haven’t yet booked your slot please do this as soon as possible.  Bookings will close tonight at 7pm.  If you need help, contact our school office.  Mrs Quinn and Mrs McGrath are only too happy to assist you.

On Parents’ Night please enter the school building by the main doors and make your way to the hall, where your child’s teacher will be seated at a table, ready to meet you at your appointed time. Everyone has been given a ten-minute appointment. Staff will make every effort to stick to these time slots, in order to accommodate all parents at their preferred time. If you feel you need more time, a further appointment can be arranged at a later date. You will have the opportunity to read a sample of your child’s work, either before or after you speak with the teacher. In your child’s folder of work, you will find a ‘speech bubble’ sheet. This is for you to leave your child a short positive message they can read when they come into school the next morning. Write your message and pop it back in their folder, ready to surprise them when they open it in class!

Our Eco School Uniform rail will be available on the night.  Please make use of this if your child has lost or outgrown any items of school clothing.  We are doing our best to Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.  It is important that we show the younger generation we take this seriously.  Please take any items you can make use of.

BRING & BUY SALE

P.7 pupils continue to organise their next fundraiser.  Their Bring & Buy Sale will take place on Friday 1st December.  All donations gratefully accepted next week, if you have anything suitable at home.

OPEN SESSION

An email went home this week, inviting families to join us for our next Open Session on Wednesday 29th November.  On this occasion, only P.2-P.7 classes will be open as P.1 and Nursery parents have already been in to work and play.

FOCUS ROOM

We are delighted to launch our new family space in Kirkshaws.  All classes had the opportunity to name our new meeting space and the favourite name is THE FOCUS ROOM.  This room is already being used by pupil committees, parent groups, after school clubs, staff members…the list goes on!

ATTENDANCE

Attendance continues to be a huge issue for us in Kirkshaws.  Our attendance levels remain below every other school in the Coatbridge Cluster.  If your child is ill, we know they may need to stay at home, but if we can support your child to be here…please let us know!  If they are not in school, they are missing vital learning opportunities.  Let’s work together to turn this around.

Week 1 menus coming up.

IN-SERVICE DAY – MONDAY 13TH NOVEMBER

Please remember that school and nursery will be closed to pupils on Monday.  This is due to a staff in-service training day.  We will open at the usual times on Tuesday 14th November.

COFFEE MORNING

We are delighted to report that our Parent Council managed to raise £265 yesterday at their coffee morning.  Huge thanks to everyone who took time to join us and support this venture.

NEW FUNDRAISING IDEA

We are planning on starting a new fundraising venture that will run from now until Christmas.  We’re having a PENNY BATTLE!

Do you use all your copper coins at home regularly, or do they lie around gathering dust for ages?

We’re hoping that we can make good use of any loose change that’s lying around to boost our school funds.  From Tuesday 14th November until Christmas your child’s class will be collecting as many coins as they can, battling to be the top class each week.

Please remember, we are not asking for big coins, just those coppers that are weighing down your pockets.

LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE!

FLUORIDE VARNISHING

Fluoride varnishing will take place on Tuesday next week for pupils from our nursery class through to P.4.

TWITTER (X) ISSUE

You may think we have been very quiet on Twitter this week.  Unfortunately there is an issue across NLC connecting iPads to Twitter (X).  This means we can’t easily upload photographs to this platform.  Rest assured, we will continue to follow up this problem looking for a solution.

Week 3 Menus ahead:

STAFF CAR PARK

Please remember that the Staff Car Park should not be used for dropping children off at any time.  This includes at Breakfast Club.  The car park is not a safe place for children to be walking and staff are having difficulty with access when parents are driving in and out.  All pupils know that they should be keeping safe and not using this area.   We want to ensure everyone is safe at all times.

POPPIES

We have a small number of Poppies which will be put on sale to all children next week.  WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE, SO THIS WILL BE ON A FIRST-COME/FIRST-SERVED BASIS.  No-one will be allowed to buy more than one Poppy to be as fair as we can.  Although Poppies do not have a price attached, we ask that donations are at least 20p to ensure we are covering production costs.  Poppies will go on sale from Monday.

COFFEE MORNING

Our Parent Council will be organising a Coffee Morning next Thursday morning.  As always we would welcome any families along to support this venture.

P.1 OPEN SESSION

Next week, we look forward to welcoming in our P.1 parents to see their child at work in their reading group.  Parents should only come on the DAY YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED.  If you come on the wrong day, you will not see your own child working with the teacher.  Please note, you will not miss out on the Coffee Morning, if your day is Thursday.  We will make sure you have plenty of time to take part in both events.

READING SURVEY

If you have not done so yet, we would appreciate you taking part in our Reading Survey.  This link was emailed out earlier this week:

https://forms.office.com/e/cSZ9tCCaKX

Week 2 menus coming up…

HALLOWE’EN FUN

As always, our Hallowe’en Discos were a huge success.  We cannot thank our Parent Council enough for all the work they put into these events.  From the youngest in our nursery, right up to our P.7s and staff-members, we all had a fabulous night, dancing the night away!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Please remember that our annual fancy-dress parade will take place on Tuesday morning.   Pupils do not NEED to dress up, but everyone is welcome to come to school in a costume of their choice.  Please keep in mind that our nursery pupils will also be joining us, so super-scary masks would be better left for going out at home.  If your child would not be comfortable staying in their costume all day, they should bring a change of clothes in their bag that day.

OUTDOOR LEARNING

This term, we are having a big focus on taking our learning outdoors.   This week we made more use of our school grounds and also Souterhouse Park.  As you can see, everyone was fully engaged in all the tasks set!  More classes look forward to heading out over the coming weeks.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

SPORTING FESTIVALS

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Today, we have a P.5 team of Rugby players off to a festival organised by the Waysiders at Drumpellier.  We wish them well and we just know they are going to be excellent ambassadors for our school.

Yesterday it was the chance for our football players to shine!  Both our girls’ and boys’ teams made us proud with their sportsmanship, as well as the number of matches won!  Mr Gall said he had only one word to describe the day – AMAZING!  Well done to you all!

DOGS’ TRUST

We look forward to welcoming the Dogs’ Trust to our assembly next week.  In addition, P.6 & 7 will take part in workshops with them throughout the day.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

7 -9 November – P.1 Literacy Open Sessions for parents (invitations to come)

Thursday 9th November – Parent Council Coffee Morning (more information to come)

Monday 13th November – In-service training day for teachers.  Pupils do not attend.

Friday 24th November – Flu Vaccinations

COMMUNITY INITIATIVE INFORMATION

Week 2 menu ahead

CHS MATHS CHALLENGE 2023

We were delighted to take part in the Coatbridge High School Maths Challenge this morning.  Our team of P.6 & P.7 pupils worked hard together and achieved third place!  As well as the dedication they showed to the competition, we are also delighted at their manners and good sportsmanship throughout the event.  True Ambassadors for Kirkshaws!

HARVEST FESTIVAL 2023

You should have received notification earlier this week that we are holding our annual Harvest Festival on Thursday 12th October.  Any food donated will be shared between St James Way residents and Coatbridge Food Bank.  As always, there is no expectation that everyone will be in a position to contribute, but any donations will be gratefully received from Monday 9th October.

CLUSTER NETBALL FESTVAL

We have a P.5 team representing Kirkshaws at a Netball Festival next week.  As always, we wish them luck and know they will uphold the Kirkshaws values during their visit to the high school.

HOLIDAY REMINDER

Don’t forget that school and nursery will be on holiday for the October Week break from Monday 16th to Friday 20th October inclusive.  We close at the usual times on Friday 13th.

Week 1 menu coming up next week.

LOCAL HOLIDAY

Please remember that we are closed for September Weekend tomorrow and on Monday of next week.  We open at the normal times for Breakfast Club, Nursery & School on Tuesday 26th September.

INDUSTRIAL ACTION

As sent out earlier this week, KIRKSHAWS WILL REMAIN OPEN ALL WEEK NEXT WEEK.  WE ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THE LATEST SET OF STRIKES. If this changes, we will let you know at the first opportunity.

AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS

Our After School clubs start again in the next few weeks.  Emails were sent home, inviting pupils to sign up a few weeks ago.

CHS MATHS CHALLENGE

Next Friday we are sending a team of P.6 & P.7 pupils to Coatbridge High School for our annual Cluster Maths Challenge.  We know the team will try their best and be amazing ambassadors for our school.

Week 3 menus ahead:

If you pay for your child’s school meals, please remember to add funds to their card BEFORE they eat.  We will never let a child go hungry, but we don’t like to see families running up an unexpected bill.

PANTOMIME

Week 2 menu ahead in both the school and nursery.

Remember Breakfast Club is available for all pupils from P.1-P.7.  Mrs Stewart opens Breakfast Club at 8.15am each morning.  Pupils start by eating their breakfast, then they can play table-top games until school starts.  No need to book.  P.1-5 pupils receive a free breakfast due to the Universal Offer of free meals for this age group.

PANTO MONEY

Many thanks to everyone who has already paid for their Pantomime Tickets.  As with any theatre performance, we need to pay the tickets in full in advance.  We therefore need all tickets paid by NEXT FRIDAY. 

Please remember, if you are facing financial constraints right now, please discuss this with our office staff and we will work out a plan that works for you.  NO CHILD WILL MISS THE TRIP DUE TO FINANCIAL ISSUES.

DEVELOPING OUR YOUNG WORKFORCE

This year, we are focusing on developing the national initiative of Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) across all levels, from nursery to P.7.  This is a main strand of our Improvement Plan for the coming session.

This week several classes and pupil voice groups have launched into this with enthusiasm:

• our Outdoor Learning Committee has written letters to local businesses, explaining what they are trying to do and asking for assistance to improve our outdoor space.
• P.6 had a full day working with Matt Stewart of Entrepreneur Me, launching their Do Good Campaign.  They will now plan a venture that will have a positive impact on our local community.
• P.7 started their business plan to raise funds to partially pay for their upcoming Outdoor Learning Week in Strathclyde Park.  They began by organising their first fundraiser today; our dress-down & ice-pole day.
• Rooms 9 & 16 invited our local Community Police Officer in, to hear about his current role and quiz him on how he got there
• Room 9 visited Sky Academy; learning about the world of work within a workplace.
• our nursery pupils continue to have daily opportunities to role-play adult roles in society and develop the skills they will need to succeed.
• Pupil Voice committees are being established across the school, allowing learners the opportunity to leading initiatives, developing skills for Learning, Life & Work

I know they say they did nothing when they come home…but I assure you learning is taking place, even when school is fun!  If we can instil a joy for learning in your child’s life we are delighted.

PARENT COUNCIL

Our planned Parent Council meeting for last Monday had to be cancelled at short notice.  It will now take place on Monday 11th September at 7pm.  As always, all parents and carers are welcome to attend.  Please contact a member of the PC or the school office if you require an email invitation to join the online meeting.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

September Weekend (local holiday) 22-25th September, inclusive

October Week – we close at the normal time on Friday 13th October for one week.

Remember to keep our Calendar of Events handy as we work through the year.  This was issued in August, but you can download another copy here if you need it.

Calendar of events 2023/2024