St Bartholomews

The photographs above display most of the fabulous Christmas hampers that our classes    our together over the past few weeks with the very generous support and donations from our fabulous families. The raffles will be drawn on Friday so get in quick for last minutes tickets!

The photographs above illustrate some of the wonderful examples of the increased skills and knowledge that our senior pupils have gained this session. Well done boys and girls and a huge thank you to their wonderful teachers.

The Parent Council met yesterday evening, albeit in a virtual setting and discussed a number of issues. The main points included the upcoming ‘Walking Bus’ pilot that we are undertaking, Halloween arrangements and ongoing congestion at the gates.  As you know the Walking Bus project starts on Monday 2nd November, all going well and no changes to government guidelines. Arrangements are in place for children who come to school in a car to be safely dropped off at a choice of 2 pick up points. These are the corner of Leven Road and Townhead Road, where the children will depart at 8.40am and Tantallon Drive at the corner of Belmont Street, where the children will depart at 8.50am. Please note that 2 parent volunteers will be placed at each pick up point with the addition of 4 Primary 7 House Captains at each point. Emma from NLC Active Schools will also be at the first pick up point to supervise the walk in it’s entirety.
The main reason for being involved in this project is to reduce the amount of cars on the road in the surrounding school area. Drivers have been parking with a lack of consideration for pedestrians, many of whom are children. This is a potential hazard. Other benefits that the project can achieve are a reduction in car emissions and the fac5 that children can increase their fitness levels through walking before school starts. It’s also great for health and wellbeing and helping to clear the head before getting down to work at school. We would like to thank the parents who have volunteered already and this is very much appreciated and would encourage more parents to volunteer so that it becomes less onerous and a rota can be created. Thank you in advance.

Again, our wonderful Parent Council have organised Halloween fun on Friday afternoon and there are prizes for bingo,fun activities and lots of treats! Thank you for organising this and we are all looking forward to seeing the wonderful ‘ Crazy  Halloween Hair’ that some of our children will be wearing on Friday. Could I please remind parents and carers that no Halloween costumes should be worn or any toys etc brought in from home.
Another suggestions at the Parent Council meeting was to ask parents to wait on the pavements on the opposite side of the road from the school gates. This will ensure that children can gather in an organised fashion prior to the bell without additional congestion. Teachers are then more able to identify their pupils clearly, thus ensuring their safety more readily.

Thank you to all of our parents and carers who have been very supportive in adhering to the 2 metre distancing guidelines at the school gates, this is very much appreciated to ensure the safety of our pupils and staff.

Mrs Bolland

The photographs above illustrate some of the fabulous work that takes place in St Bart’s every day. Well done boys and girls and thank you to your wonderful teachers for helping you create these wonderful pieces.
Thank you to our parents and carers who have supported their children with homework on Glow. It is very important that children access this portal at home as homework will be digitally based for the foreseeable future. Children are all familiar with their passwords and usernames as they regularly access this in ICT time in school.

We had our first virtual Parent Council meeting last night and I am delighted to report that it was a great success. Everyone managed to log on and contribute towards the meeting in order to support our pupils. Discussions took place on topics such as traffic around the school, congestion around the gates and future events in school. I have been in touch with NLC in respect of organising a ‘Walking Bus’ which would mean that children could gather at certain points and be walked to school by NLC’s Active Schools personnel in addition to parent volunteers. It was suggested that perhaps 3 different points in the surrounding area would be appropriate to ask parents to drop off their children so as to avoid traffic build up around the school. Should you wish to be  a volunteer, please contact Nicola Rae, our Chair of the Parent Council who will provide you with suitable details. Again, initiatives such as these rely on parent support and the more volunteers that we have, the less demanding this commitment will be. You may only have to volunteer once per week or ever other week, dependent on numbers. Please consider volunteering in order alleviate this potentially challenging situation.

Our Parent  Council will notify you via letter with respect to the ‘walking bus’ and other points that are relevant to supporting our pupils and their families. Thank you in advance to our Parent Council members who work hard to support our children. The minutes from our meetings will be uploaded on to our school website. Again, should you wish to join a meeting and contribute to the life of the school, please contact Nicola Rae.

Mrs Bolland

As you know our pupils have settled back in to school life at St Bartholomew’s very well and  I am sure that they will enjoy sharing their news with you on a daily basis.
Thank you in advance to all of our parents and carers who have been incredibly supportive of all of the government guidelines in relation to COVID. It is much appreciated and essential to everyone’s safety which is of course our number one priority.
Could I ask that all contact details are all up to date as access to our text service and app is based on this information. Please ensure that you have access to DOJO, our blog, Twitter, text service and app as most of our communication will be through email.
It is also worth a reminder to all of our parents and carers to be mindful of social distancing at the gates and clear the entrance to the gate so that children can enter and exit safely. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this and will ensure that all of our pupils are safe.

Should a parent require to pick their child up from school, could you please wear a mask if you are entering our playground? In the event that your child is late for school, please phone the school office to make arrangements.

On another note,  we have scheduled a Parent Council meeting on Wednesday 30th September and this will be virtual due to current circumstances. This will very much be a trial meeting, hence the reason it’s only the committee that are invited at this time and we will open up the meetings next month. As always, all are welcome and we look forward to new members, especially our new parents in Primary 1.
Our whole school assemblies are also virtual at the moment and the children have been thoroughly enjoying them. ‘ Pupils of the week’ are announced and celebrated throughout the school, in addition to house points and ‘Cool Class Cup’. Points are always awarded for full school uniform and good manners. The children have been fantastic in respect to demonstrating good manners and respectful behaviour- they are a credit to their families and themselves!

Flu immunisation will take place in school for Primary 1 to Primary 7 on Thursday 8th October. Again Parent’s evening will be very different this year and we will keep you up to date with this shortly. Our annual book Fayre will still be available, albeit on a COVID safe basis. No monies will be taken in school. Books requested will be paid for through the same portal as school meals. Simply click on ‘shop’ – Book Fayre payment is just the same as paying school meal sample of books on sale will be sent via email leaflet. You can also look at books online Scholastic Book Fayre.
Government guidelines highlight that children should be outdoors for interval time and lunch time in all but extreme weather. Could I please ask that all children come appropriately dressed each day with a raincoat/ cagoule and sensible footwear? As you know, children love to be outdoors and the benefits to both their physical and mental health are incredibly positive.
We have been working on enhancing our digital learning offering and as such teaching staff have been working on their various  Glow pages. A new addition to our digital offering is the use of OneNote. This is basically a digital jotter and allows for children’s work to be corrected and feedback to be acted on. The Digital School is also an enhancement to digital learning and it is on pupil pages. Our teachers have also been working on updating virtual classrooms so that in the event of self isolation or any given situation that creates a given period of time away from school, children have access to quality learning. Instructions will be available to all of parents and carers to help support gaining access to these various tools.

As always, thank you for your continued support and please be rest assured that we are always here to help.

Mrs Bolland

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I am delighted to report that our Primary 1, Primary 2 and Primary 3 boys and girls have had a fabulous day! There were even a number of children who literally skipped up the stairs when entering the playground, it was a lovely sight! We have missed the children terribly and we are all delighted to have classrooms filled with children again. A point that school staff noticed today was that lunch boxes were difficult to manage safely as they cannot be collected in a box at the end of lunch time, as they would ordinarily, due to cross contamination. Could we ask all  parents  to now pack lunches in a disposable bag form now on? Thank you in advance for your much needed cooperation with this. I appreciate that some parents have recently bought new lunch boxes and may be disappointed, however they will certainly be used in the future. We look forward to welcoming our Primary 4- 7 children tomorrow!

As you know, we are happy to receive feedback from our parents and I know that many of you appreciate the hard work that has been put in to organising children’s safe return to school. A parent has recently ben in touch to voice concerns over parental social distancing outside of the school and the lack of consideration from some drivers, in addition to those parents who were not adhering to the time allocation that their child had been given. Could I respectfully ask that all parents adhered to the former points to ensure that all children, staff and parents are safe? Thank you in advance for your cooperation. It is worth pointing out that we are unable to use the playground prior to allocated times as per instructions from North Lanarkshire Council.

Could I also remind parents that Breakfast Club is up and running and starts at 8.15am  and we look forward to seeing our boys and girls who require this service.

Kind regards,

Mrs Bolland

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I am pleased to be able to provide you with  specific relevant details in order that your child is able to safely return to school from Wednesday 12th August. This information can be found below, in the form of a copy of a  letter that has also been posted and emailed to you.  I have included a general letter that outlines the time that your child will start and finish school and you will notice that there are staggered times so that pupils can enter and exit the building safely. Primary 1 parents will receive a separate letter and this is also listed below, in addition to being sent via our digital systems. Thank you in advance for your continued patience and support, as always, it is very much appreciated. We look forward to seeing you all next week!

Mrs Bolland

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Dear Parent / Carer

Revised Start/Finish Times

I have written to you previously regarding changes to school operating procedures for August in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included changes to how children enter and exit the school and specific start/finish times for each class.

As you will already be aware, in light of new guidance from the Scottish Government and from North Lanarkshire Council, it has been necessary to make changes to these operating procedures to accommodate the full return of all pupils next week.

To avoid congestion at school entry and exit points, and for everyone’s safety, it will still be necessary to allocate each class to a specific entry/exit gate and lining-up zone within the school. Access points and zones will still be colour-coded and signage will remain in place outside the school to direct parents/children to the correct entry/exit gate and zone. The table below outlines the access points, zones and times for each class:

(*please note that Primary 1 arrangements will be communicated to parents separately):

Class Entry/Exit Gate Lining-Up Zone Start Time Finish Time
Primary 1 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1
Primary 2 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:00am 2:50pm
Primary 3 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:05am 2:55pm
Primary 4 Rannoch Avenue Yellow Zone 2 9:00am 2:45pm
Primary 4/5 Rannoch Avenue Yellow Zone 2 9:05am 2:50pm
Primary 5 Rannoch Avenue Yellow Zone 2 9:05am 2:50pm
Primary 6 Rannoch Avenue Red Zone 3 9:10am 2:55pm
Primary 7a Rannoch Avenue Red Zone 3 9:15am 3:00pm
Primary 7b Rannoch Avenue Red Zone 3 9:15am 3:00pm

Please note that there will be strictly no access to the school grounds for any persons before 9am and there will be no adult supervision in place should children arrive before their designated time. It is therefore imperative that children arrive at the time stated and that the entry gate is kept clear at all times. Class teachers will collect classes at the times outlined above and children will line up in the school grounds in their allocated zones before accessing the school building. Similarly, at finishing time, it is imperative that parents collect children at the times specified and keep all exit gates clear until called forward to collect their child.

The guidance also remains that children should be dressed for all weather, including extreme weather, when coming to school. This should include a waterproof jacket or coat with a hood and warm clothing/footwear, as the weather dictates. This is important as we anticipate that it will take longer than usual for children to enter and exit the school building due to the staggered entry/exit times we have outlined.

Children arriving late to school
Entry to the school yard and building for parents/carers will be by appointment only, as previously advised. There will be strictly no access to the school yard for parents/carers at any time, unless by prior arrangement. It is therefore important that children arrive at school at their designated time, on time, each day. Where children arrive late to school, they should enter through their designated gate and make their own way to the Main Reception door before reporting to the school office.

I continue to appreciate the challenges facing parents who have children entering and exiting different gates at different times and thank you once again in anticipation of your continuing support with our plans. Please be assured that the safety of our children, parents and staff remains a priority and that our plans continue to be developed in line with government advice. We are currently working very hard to finalise a number of other details including Breakfast Club arrangements, arrangements for P.E. and how we will manage break times. We will advise you further as soon as we are in a position to do so and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Yours faithfully

Mrs Bolland

Dear Parent / Carer

Primary 1 Start/Finish Times

I have written to you previously regarding changes to school operating procedures for August in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included changes to how children enter and exit the school and specific start/finish times for each class. As you will already be aware, in light of new guidance from the Scottish Government and from North Lanarkshire Council, it has been necessary to make changes to these operating procedures to accommodate the full return of all pupils next week. I am sure you will appreciate that the arrangements for Primary 1 have required very specific consideration to ensure that your child’s first day at school is as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.

To this end, we have allocated all Primary 1 children into a temporary group for the purposes of ensuring their safe entry and exit to the school building. Please note that your child is in Group 1 and that the following arrangements will apply to next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday only:

Primary 1 Entry/Exit Gate Lining-Up Zone Start Time Finish Time
Group 1 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:20am 12:15pm
Group 2 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:30am 12:15pm
Group 3 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:40am 12:15pm
Group 4 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:50am 12:15pm

We will ensure that all Primary 1 children have lunch before leaving school at 12:15pm to familiarise them with the dinner hall routines. We would ask all parents/carers to be at the school gate at 12:55pm and to keep the gate clear, while observing physical distancing, until called forward to collect their child. Ample staff will be on hand to assist with this.

It is anticipated that the soft start outlined above for our Primary 1 pupils will allow them plenty of time to adjust to their new school routines and therefore, from Monday 17th August, the entry/exit arrangements will be as follows:

Class Entry/Exit Gate Lining-Up Zone Start Time Finish Time
Primary 1 Dunvegan Avenue Blue Zone 1 9:15am 3:00pm

The guidance remains that children should be dressed for all weather, including extreme weather, when coming to school. This should include a waterproof jacket or coat with a hood and warm clothing/footwear, as the weather dictates. This is important as we anticipate that it will take longer than usual for children to enter and exit the school building due to the staggered entry/exit times we have outlined.

Entry to the school yard and building for parents/carers will be by appointment only, as previously advised. There will be strictly no access to the school yard for parents/carers at any time, unless by prior arrangement. It is therefore important that children arrive at school at their designated time, on time, each day. Where children arrive late to school, they should enter through their designated gate and make their own way to the Main Reception door before reporting to the school office.

I continue to appreciate the challenges facing parents who have children entering and exiting different gates at different times and thank you once again in anticipation of your continuing support with our plans. Please be assured that the safety of our children, parents and staff remains a priority and that our plans continue to be developed in line with government advice. We are currently working very hard to finalise a number of other details including Breakfast Club arrangements, arrangements for P.E. and how we will manage break times. We will advise you further as soon as we are in a position to do so and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Yours faithfully

Mrs Bolland

Dear Parents/ Carers,

I appreciate that some our parents and carers are anxious about housekeeping details regarding the safe return to school and as such, I have compiled a list of useful information that may answer a number of your questions and / or concerns. You may also find it useful to share this information with your child in order to prepare them for their return to school. We are working on specific start and finish times, in addition to other key areas that we will share with you in the next day or so. As always, thank you for your continued patience and support. St Bartholomew’s staff are all very much looking forward to seeing  our boys and girls next week – we can’t wait!

Kind regards,

Deirdre Bolland

General information;

• Children will start and finish at different times.
• Breaks and lunches will be at different times.
• Dinner ladies will wear masks and no cash will be taken in school. Dinner cards to be topped uponline, in adavance of ordering a school meal.
• We will advise on Breakfast Club when we have further information.

Uniforms and personal belongings;

• Children can bring a school bag containing a snack, packed lunch and water ( they must not share any of these items) Bags to be stored under desks.
• NO TOYS OR MOBILE PHONES.
• Full school uniform – please have clean uniform each day.
• Children can wear polo shirt on PE days. Further information will follow in this regard.
• If your child is unable to tie shoe laces then please provide them with Velcro fastening shoes etc.

Access to the building;

• Children will enter and exit the school building using different gates pertinent to their class.
• Parents/carers or any non council staff will not be allowed on the premises including the yard and any space within the school periphery.

Health and Safety;

• Children will be asked to wash their hands regularly throughout the day.
• Face coverings for children are not required unless clinically advised to do so.
• Enhanced cleaning will take place throughout the school day.
• Signage will be in place similar to shops for children to safely move around and for adults to distance.
• Adults will practise social distancing.
• Children will be encouraged to practise catching coughs, sneezes with a tissue and avoid face touching.
• Windows/ doors will be open for ventilation.

Dear Parents/ Carers,

North Lanarkshire Council have updated the recent letter from Derek Brown and is listed below, please accept apologies for any confusion.

Kind regards,

Deirdre Bolland

Dear Parent/Carer I am writing to update you on the plans to return to schools in North Lanarkshire. The Scottish Government announced last week that all schools should return by Tuesday 18 August. I am pleased to confirm that all schools will return from Wednesday 12 August, following a single in-service day on 11 August.
In common with many councils, the return to school will be phased as follows:
Primary schools
• Wednesday 12 August: Primary One, Primary Two, Primary Three. • Thursday 13 August: Primary One, Primary Four, Primary Five, Primary Six, Primary Seven. • From Friday 14 August: All pupils. All Primary One pupils will attend on 12, 13 and 14 August. Please note that schools may vary arrival times and departure times, particularly for Primary One classes. If this is the case, schools will be in contact to confirm these changes.
Secondary schools   • Wednesday 12 August: First Year, Second Year, Third Year. • Thursday 13 August: First Year, Fourth Year, Fifth Year, Sixth Year. • From Friday 14 August: All pupils. All First Year pupils will attend on 12, 13 and 14 August.
ASN schools
ASN schools will follow the phasing set out above. However, taking into account the specific needs of some children, there may be some variation. Where this is the case, the school will be in direct contact with you.
Nursery classes and Family Learning Centres
Those attending nursery classes at a primary school will return on Wednesday 12 August and those based at Family Learning Centres will return on Thursday 13 August. The exception to this is Stepping Stones Family Learning Centre, which is open on Wednesday 12 August. If you have not already heard from your provider confirming your child’s session, your provider will be in touch shortly.

Making schools as safe as possible for the return of young people has been our priority  throughout the summer. The guidance issued by the Scottish Government – which can  be accessed at www.gov.scot/coronavirus – makes it clear that a return to school is  not a return to normality.

Schools will look considerably different on pupils’ return. The government guidance makes it clear that schools must have clear plans for the arrival and departure of pupils, how they move around the building, how they manage breaks and lunches, and how they promote health and hygiene.
It is important that teachers are able to ensure young people are familiar with differences in their school and necessary safety and hygiene measures during the first days back. That is why we are putting in place the phased arrangements detailed above.
Schools are required under national guidance to undertake a considerable programme of risk assessment to ensure that they comply with government guidance. This will mean that a number of specific orientation activities will be undertaken with pupils and staff in the week of their return.
Inevitably, because of the different sizes of school and the different configurations of each building there will be some local variation. We have been working hard with head teachers and property managers to ensure there are individual risk assessments in place and extensive signage and other measures continue to be installed to support the new environment.
All of this is happening to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus. Equally, we have to be prepared for all eventualities and detailed planning is happening to respond to any positive cases and the measures that could be required if positive cases were to happen in a school setting.
Our prime focus during the first few days will be on health and wellbeing, and re-establishing relationships. We are aware that children and young people have missed the day to day routine of school life, but we also need to help them deal with issues that they might find challenging about returning to school.
In secondary schools, there will be the usual focus on course options, and, in relation to this, we are reviewing our plans to provide vocational learning, college programmes and consortium arrangements between schools for senior phase courses. Our intention is to find way to honour commitments to pupils, where possible, but we acknowledge that delivery of such programmes may look different in light of government guidance which makes clear that movement of pupils and staff across schools should be minimised.
On Wednesday 5 August, we will publish on our website extensive questions and answers based on the guidance and to give you some certainty about some of the anxieties you and your child may have. Inevitably, we will not be able to answer every single question but we will add to these as we approach the start of the school term.
These questions and answers, and all other information we have available, will be published on a dedicated page: www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schoolplans. When we publish updates on this page we will announce those on the council’s Twitter feed (@nlcpeople) and on the council’s main Facebook page (www.facebook.com/nlcpeople). Schools will also publicise this on their own Twitter feeds, websites, blogs and via email and text.
In the meantime, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the support you have given to our schools over this challenging period. I speak for staff in all schools when I say that we will be delighted to welcome the pupils back, with our primary objective being to do this in the safest possible way.
Yours sincerely
Derek Brown Executive Director Education and Families

Dear parents and carers,

I hope that you have all enjoyed a relaxing break and again, thank you for your continued patience during these challenging times. All of our staff are very much looking forward to welcoming our boys and girls back from Wednesday 12th August.Please see below a letter from Derek Brown and we will be in touch again very soon to provide you with more specific information regarding the safe return of all of our pupils.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs Bolland

Dear Parent/Carer I am writing to update you on the plans to return to schools in North Lanarkshire. The Scottish Government announced last week that all schools should return by Monday 18 August. I am pleased to confirm that all schools will return from Wednesday 12 August, following a single in-service day on 11 August.
In common with many councils, the return to school will be phased as follows:
Primary schools
• Wednesday 12 August: Primary One, Primary Two, Primary Three. • Thursday 13 August: Primary One, Primary Four, Primary Five, Primary Six, Primary Seven. • From Friday 14 August: All pupils. All Primary One pupils will attend on 12, 13 and 14 August. Please note that schools may vary arrival times and departure times, particularly for Primary One classes. If this is the case, schools will be in contact to confirm these changes.
Secondary schools   • Wednesday 12 August: First Year, Second Year, Third Year. • Thursday 13 August: First Year, Fourth Year, Fifth Year, Sixth Year. • From Friday 14 August: All pupils. All First Year pupils will attend on 12, 13 and 14 August.
ASN schools
ASN schools will follow the phasing set out above. However, taking into account the specific needs of some children, there may be some variation. Where this is the case, the school will be in direct contact with you.
Nursery classes and Family Learning Centres
Those attending nursery classes at a primary school will return on Wednesday 12 August and those based at Family Learning Centres will return on Thursday 13 August. The exception to this is Stepping Stones Family Learning Centre, which is open on Wednesday 12 August. If you have not already heard from your provider confirming your child’s session, your provider will be in touch shortly.

Making schools as safe as possible for the return of young people has been our priority  throughout the summer. The guidance issued by the Scottish Government – which can  be accessed at www.gov.scot/coronavirus – makes it clear that a return to school is  not a return to normality.

Schools will look considerably different on pupils’ return. The government guidance makes it clear that schools must have clear plans for the arrival and departure of pupils, how they move around the building, how they manage breaks and lunches, and how they promote health and hygiene.
It is important that teachers are able to ensure young people are familiar with differences in their school and necessary safety and hygiene measures during the first days back. That is why we are putting in place the phased arrangements detailed above.
Schools are required under national guidance to undertake a considerable programme of risk assessment to ensure that they comply with government guidance. This will mean that a number of specific orientation activities will be undertaken with pupils and staff in the week of their return.
Inevitably, because of the different sizes of school and the different configurations of each building there will be some local variation. We have been working hard with head teachers and property managers to ensure there are individual risk assessments in place and extensive signage and other measures continue to be installed to support the new environment.
All of this is happening to minimise the risk of transmission of coronavirus. Equally, we have to be prepared for all eventualities and detailed planning is happening to respond to any positive cases and the measures that could be required if positive cases were to happen in a school setting.
Our prime focus during the first few days will be on health and wellbeing, and re-establishing relationships. We are aware that children and young people have missed the day to day routine of school life, but we also need to help them deal with issues that they might find challenging about returning to school.
In secondary schools, there will be the usual focus on course options, and, in relation to this, we are reviewing our plans to provide vocational learning, college programmes and consortium arrangements between schools for senior phase courses. Our intention is to find way to honour commitments to pupils, where possible, but we acknowledge that delivery of such programmes may look different in light of government guidance which makes clear that movement of pupils and staff across schools should be minimised.
On Wednesday 5 August, we will publish on our website extensive questions and answers based on the guidance and to give you some certainty about some of the anxieties you and your child may have. Inevitably, we will not be able to answer every single question but we will add to these as we approach the start of the school term.
These questions and answers, and all other information we have available, will be published on a dedicated page: www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schoolplans. When we publish updates on this page we will announce those on the council’s Twitter feed (@nlcpeople) and on the council’s main Facebook page (www.facebook.com/nlcpeople). Schools will also publicise this on their own Twitter feeds, websites, blogs and via email and text.
In the meantime, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the support you have given to our schools over this challenging period. I speak for staff in all schools when I say that we will be delighted to welcome the pupils back, with our primary objective being to do this in the safest possible way.
Yours sincerely
Derek Brown Executive Director Education and Families

Please see the latest statement from North Lanarkshire Council below. Please be reassured that we will be in touch with changes to arrangements  as soon as we are able to. Again, thank you for your continued  patience.

From here;

Today’s announcement from the Scottish Government outlines the plan to reopen all schools on a full time basis from August.

We are currently considering the practicalities and implications of this announcement and will await further clarification and guidance from government, particularly in relation to public health and scientific advice.

Our priority is the safety of our pupils and staff across our network of primary, secondary and ASN schools, as well as our early learning and childcare settings.

We understand that you will have questions, and as this news was only announced today, we will make further information available on how this impacts on our schools and facilities in the coming days.

We are preparing for pupils to return full-time to school on 12 August and we will be working closely with our schools and partners, including our early years and childcare provision to establish our plans, which we will communicate as soon as we are in a position to.