Our new nursery is now fully operational and bursting with life.  A huge thank you to the nursery team led by Mrs. Vicki Dunn.  The Nursery Team have done an outstanding job in getting everything ready for our pupils and in welcoming some new starts last week.  Children are now getting use to a new learning environment including daily visits to the gym hall for a cooked lunch each day.   Exciting stuff.  It has been wonderful to sit at work and hear the activity of the children playing outdoors as they make great use of their outdoor play area.  I am sure the nursery team have lots of exciting ideas about how they want to develop the play area in the months ahead.

Please note the breakfast club is only for children who are attending for a breakfast.  It is not a drop off for children who are arriving early for school .  We need to ensure appropriate levels of supervision and also ensure that children from different year groups are not mixing indoors.  Thank you for your understanding and support in this regard.

Latest Scot gov guidance now includes face coverings for all parents/carers when dropping off and picking up at school.  Adults in the school will also be wearing a face covering more in communal areas as per guidance.

All choices come with the choice of water or milk included in the price.  There should be a minimum of two options of vegetables, salad or vegetables sticks on offer, with two portions served with each meal.

We hope the children enjoyed their Halloween celebrations last week. Many thanks to the PTA for providing juice, crisps and sweets to add to the festivities. Children remained in their allocated seats throughout the day and continued to follow school protocols to make sure that there remained a continued focus on mitigating risk.  A huge well done to the House Captains and Vice Captains who did an amazing job presenting our second whole school virtual assembly.  I am sure we are seeing the next crop of television presenters!

Please note that all parents who are dropping off and collecting children at the end of the school day should ensure 2 metre distance and should be wearing a face mask at gates and around the school.

From Monday 26^th October 2020 the Primary menu has been updated and this menu cycle will run until the end of March 2021. As well as our hot main meal option we are now offering a Baked Potato choice on a daily basis. The two course lunch consists of a main course plus soup and bread or sweet treat fruit or yoghurt as indicated on the menu and the option of plain milk or chilled water. With each meal children also have a choice of two seasonal vegetables and/or salad with their lunch. The council would also like to reassure parents that the school meal service has worked hard to provide a safe working environment and staff are working to COVID 19 protocol.

The price of a Primary 2 course lunch is now £3.00. We understand the impact that this may have on families and we do advise families who are eligible for free school meals to take this up. A free school meal entitlement is up to the value of the school meal price of £3.00. This includes all pupils from P1-P3 who are entitled to a universal free school meal.

All choices come with the choice of water or milk included in the price.  There should be a minimum of two options of vegetables on offer, with two portions served with each meal.

Please review the latest nursery class updates below.

St.Augustine’s Nursery Class Update

Please note a number of previous posts in relation to crossing patrol, change to the cost of school lunches, Halloween and School Improvement Priorities for this session.

Many thanks to the PTA for providing Halloween treats for all children.  Trick or treating won’t be happening for our children this year but we aim to ensure children get the opportunity to celebrate Halloween in style. Please review earlier post.

Welcome this week to our Nursery Class who now join the school campus and have a wonderful new learning environment.  We look forward to getting to know our new families.

Last week Interim Reports were sent out to all families to give an update in regard of your child’s progress and engagement in learning.  Please contact the school if you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s report.  We aim to continue to strengthen home /school partnership and greatly value your feedback and support to help meet your child’s needs.

This week we welcome a number of Strathclyde University students. Please be assured they are complying with the risk assessments from the university and our own risk assessments to ensure everyone  safety.

Celebrate #NLHalloweek with CultureNL Libraries

Monday 26 October – Friday 30 October

Across North Lanarkshire, there will be loads of fantastic spooky events happening online which you can get involved in by searching on social media for #NLHalloweek to see what’s on.

They will be transporting ourselves to a week of spooky fun in the grounds of Hogwarts with magical Harry Potter-inspired crafts and activities.

Wands at the ready, memorise that potion and don’t be scared of the dragons as you enjoy a week of Halloween fun with CultureNL Libraries.

Like them on Facebook, follow  on Twitter, on Instagram too and subscribe to them on YouTube to keep up with the action.

Keep an eye on the NL page for more details and some helpful worksheets, templates and spellbooks coming soon.

Spooky Facebook Storytelling

Get in the Halloween spirit by catching NL Halloween story too in their Facebook Storytelling group. During #NLHalloweek, you’ll be able to catch up with Christopher Pumpkin (the book character – not our E-Services Librarian) and watch out for another spooky story on Halloween too.

Join the group to hear the stories from Saturday 24 October at 6pm.

This session’s improvement priorities for St.Augustine’s Primary School and Nursery Class

Priority 1:Improve outcomes for learners via the Recovery Programme for Literacy and Numeracy

Priority 2: Improve outcomes for learners via the Recovery Programme for HWB

Priority 3: Improve outcomes for learners via an established Digital Pedagogy across all stages

 Nursery Priority: Improve outcomes for learners through the establishment of a staff team with a shared vision, values and aims that support a nurturing and achieving environment.

Cluster Priority: Improve outcomes for children via implementation of the GIRFEC Pathway for Planning and Support refresh, the establishment of Integrated Cluster Wellbeing Teams and Bases and the further development of Assessment and Moderation across the cluster.

This session’s priorities mostly continue on from last year due the Covid situation and closure of school. As always, the school and our new nursery will strive to ensure that we are constantly evaluating and improving our service. In the next few weeks a questionnaire will be made available for your comments and suggestions, please take the time to do this as we value all feedback and use this to further improve the school and nursery