Although the snow remains, we are still hopeful that Breakfast Club, School and Nursery  will open at the usual times tomorrow morning.

Please follow the Council Twitter accounts and websites for the most up-to-date information, should weather conditions deteriorate.

What a week!  That wasn’t quite the way we planned it, was it?

The week started off on a positive note, with us celebrating our new zig-zag lines painted on Old Monkland Road. With your help, we will continue to reinforce the message to keep the front of the school traffic-free as our children arrive and leave each day. We also began our World Book Day programme of events with DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) times each day.  Our Assembly on Tuesday also had a Book Theme, with an Inter-House Quiz and many exciting reading activities explored.

Then everything changed…thanks to the Beast from the East!

This week, the theme that seems to be running through so many of our activities is Working in Partnership.  Although many of our families do not use social media, we still managed to get the word out that school was closed, thanks to good neighbours and friends looking out for each other. We’ve seen evidence of so many of our pupils helping others in these very difficult conditions; clearing paths and driveways and going shopping for our more vulnerable neighbours. Exactly the way we want to see our Core Value of Friendship developing beyond the classroom walls. An unexpected positive to come out of a difficult situation.

Many of you have taken on a teaching role over the past few days.  Using ideas posted on the blog, on Twitter or sent home, you have worked tirelessly to ensure learning continues at home. You have also made the most of the snow and unexpected time off to spend quality family time making memories to last a life-time. Thank you.  We appreciate every photograph and comment shared!

Many of our learners accepted the challenge set by STEM Glasgow to build an igloo.  After seeing so many of your photographs, I talked my family into having a go.  What a learning journey that was!  Team work, resilience, patience and perseverance were all tested. So a HUGE Well Done to everyone who tried a Snow Challenge this week. This was not easy!!

There are House Points available to everyone who has carried out some Learning at Home tasks this week, or helped someone in need. Let’s continue to work in partnership…even when the snow clears.

At the moment, we are expecting to be back in school on Monday.  Keep checking the Council website and Twitter feeds for the most up-to-date information.

Due to the ongoing AMBER weather warnings in place, all North Lanarkshire Schools and Nurseries will reman closed tomorrow, Friday 2nd March 2018.

Continue to visit the Council Winter Weather Updates webpage, or follow @nlcpeople on Twitter, for the most up-to-date information.

In line with all North Lanarkshire establishments, Kirkshaws Primary and Nursery class will both be closed tomorrow, Thursday 1st March 2018.

No-one should be stuck for anything to do.  Follow us on Twitter for lots of snow-fun ideas.

Or if you’d rather work on-line why not check out this website:

Maths Practice

or try some ideas from our Winter Weather Webpage.

Remember to complete any normal homework tasks first and read your favourite book on World Book Day!

Can you manage a line?  There could be House Points available if you get a Full House!!

At the moment no decision has been made regarding a snow closure for Thursday.  However, some of our activities have been cancelled already – whether school is open or not.

NLC has cancelled all swimming for Thursday.  Our Fundraisers have also made the decision to reschedule their planned Coffee Morning.  As soon as an alternative date is set, we’ll let you know.  After school clubs will also be cancelled in order to let pupils, staff and volunteers return home in daylight, before the rush hour traffic.

As soon as more information is available this will be shared here and on Twitter.  We would appreciate it if you could share with friends or family who are not on-line.  Thank you.

All North Lanarkshire schools and nurseries are closed today.  For regular updates follow us on Twitter, or the official council sites such as @nlc people or the Schools Winter Weather website.

If you can, get out and enjoy playing in the snow.  If you WANT TO you can finish any homework tasks, settle down with a book for some DEAR time or try any activities on our Winter Weather Webpage.

No decision has been made yet regarding Thursday.  As soon as I have this information I will share it.

Stay safe and we’ll see you back in school soon.

It’s been a week of putting our CORE VALUES into practice.

Primary 7 demonstrated great RESILIENCE during their adventure walk on Monday.  With Mrs McBain and our CLD workers, they spent the whole day exploring Mugdock Park.  As always their RESPECT for their hosts and the local environment was evident as they worked as a team to complete a further task of their North Lanarkshire Challenge programme.

Some of our nursery pupils were also out and about this week.  Library visits included a ride on the bus…and, I’m told, a cafe-snack!  FRIENDSHIP, TRUST and RESPECT being developed out with the playroom setting.  SKILLS FOR LEARNING, LIFE AND WORK…even from the youngest age.

Another group of Kirkshaws Ambassadors were our Cross Country runners who took part in area qualifiers on Tuesday.  No cheating for Team Kirkshaws…HONESTY, RESILIENCE and a positive attitude saw us through!  We are delighted to have 8 pupils heading to the finals next month.

Growth Mindset lessons, delivered through Box Soccer, continue for 4 classes weekly.  Watching them at work it is evident how RESILIENCE, RESPECT, TRUST and FRIENDSHIP are being nurtured as the pupils demonstrate independence and interdependence in the setting of the gym hall and classroom.  As well as that, it is also key that our learners are enjoying these activities.

Rooms 9 and 10 continue working with Matt Stewart from Entrepreneur Me, developing their DO GOOD projects. Once again, they are not in a position to give up at this stage; RESILIENCE, RESPECT and teamwork are key to a successful outcome here.  More news of these enterprise ventures coming soon.

At our stage assemblies this week we were gathering pupil views on Health Week.  In addition, our Playground Charter Steering Group met for the first time and set the wheels in motion to restructure playtime activities. What a fabulous position to be in, where we can TRUST our learners to take such key leadership roles within our school community.

In our nursery class, transition visits have started, with groups of future P.1 pupils working alongside our school staff in the classroom and gym.  It is heartwarming watching RESPECT and FRIENDSHIPS develop amongst the learners who will be in P.1 and P.2 next year.  Fabulous to have such confident individuals in both year groups.

Nursery Open Sessions also continued this week.  It is vitally important to us, as a staff team, that you can TRUST us to care for your children as you would do yourself.  These collaborative learning opportunities go a long way to doing that, whilst allowing your child to demonstrate their daily learning.  Thank you to everyone who managed to attend.

But it is not just our pupils and staff who have been demonstrating these values.  One of our parents lost her bag on Thursday evening and was distraught when it couldn’t be found.  A member of the local community found a clue inside, linking the bag to Kirkshaws and we were delighted to reunite our mum with her bag on Friday.  What a fabulous story of HONESTY to share with our pupils at assembly to end the week.  However the P.7 pupil who came and asked of she could send a Thank You card to the honest citizen on behalf of the school also made me proud.  That’s the spirit of RESPECT and gratefulness that makes Kirkshaws unique!

#proud headteacher

It might have been a short week, but we’ve still managed to fit in an unbelievable amount of work!

If you’ve been into school this week, you probably noticed a few changes underway.  We are re-vamping our wall displays and reorganising space to make the most of our learning environment.  You may see that our Wider Achievements wall is no longer outside the office…but DON’T WORRY!  It is still thriving, but is now in our dinner hall.  It will continue to grow and celebrate our successes in a space where all pupils can see it on a daily basis.  Thanks to Ms Watson and Mrs Payne it looks fabulous in its new location.

Mrs Stewart and Mrs Dillon have also been working away behind the scenes to support all our readers.  New Story Sacks have been organised into a lending library, allowing all Primary 1 pupils and their families the chance to share books, games and toys of a similar theme for a week.  Just remember to bring it back every Friday to swap it for another!  The ladies have also been organising new reading resources for older classes too.  Look out for new, exciting texts coming home.

The Library is also undergoing a few changes…no photos yet, but we’ll keep you posted when it is ready for the grand unveiling!  Mr Bradley has given himself a real workout this week moving furniture all over the school…he’ll be glad when it is finished too!  It is our intention to have a Literacy Hub here; a resource where classes, families and parents can meet together, read together, borrow books, carry out research and complete homework.

Nursery Staff have been reorganising their different experience areas and continuing to review the best use of our learning space there too.  Always looking to improve here at Kirkshaws!

As well as that, our parent helpers, or Resource Ladies as we call them, worked a shift and a half this week!  This loyal band of parents (and ex-parents) didn’t get a minute for a break on Thursday morning as they copied, laminated, cut, folded and stapled… Basically, we couldn’t survive without them.  Thank you, ladies!!

Teaching staff haven’t been taking it easy either…a new Learning & Teaching policy and a step closer to our completed Curriculum Rationale were just two of our tasks on Wednesday.  (In-Service Days are not days off for staff 😁)

I hope you have had the chance to read the new Anti-Bullying Policy that came home on Thursday.  As explained in the letter, we welcome any feedback you have on this.  Our pupils have also shown an interest in developing this further in school.  We are forming two new groups next week; a Playground Charter Committee and an Advertising Team who will work together to ensure all Kirkshaws pupils are supported as we implement this.

As well as that, learning continued as planned in each class, and we had the chance to celebrate the successes of all our Marvellous Mathematicians at Assembly on Friday!

YIp…just a short week at Kirkshaws…nothing much happening 🤣