Join RSNO and Children’s Classic Concerts for a free family Christmas show, ‘The Night Before Christmas,’ this Saturday. Kids and grown-ups can watch and sing along as Owen Gunnell makes a mad-dash attempt to organise his Christmas festivities after discovering he slept through the first 12 days of December! The story follows the CCC presenter as he scrambles to organise his celebrations and even discovers he forgot to write his letter to Santa. With a little bit of help from the RSNO musicians and the RSNO Junior Chorus, Owen endeavours to get sorted on time, and get everyone in the Christmas spirit along the way.

‘The Night Before Christmas’ will premiere live on the STV Player and the RSNO and CCC’s Facebook pages and YouTube channels on 12 December 2020 at 2pm.  It will be available to watch for 30 days.

A trailer for the show can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMDl5F43xL8

Please see the attached letter regarding payment over the Christmas Holidays for those entitled to free school meals.

If you haven’t already applied and think you  may be entitled please follow the link in the letter attached.

FSM – P1-P3

Please see the attached letter which has gone out in school bags today.

Christmas Events Letter

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you know, the Scottish Government has now introduced a system of new protection levels to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and Renfrewshire has been placed at Level 3.

This means some extra guidance for schools to help keep everyone safe, and we’ve listed what that means for you below:

• we can now resume indoor PE for pupils when the appropriate safety measures are in place. We are currently working on this and will let you know as soon as this able to go ahead.
• currently, school staff keep a two-metre distance from pupils as normal practice, but staff will now wear a face covering wherever this is not possible. This will apply from Primary 2 and above. We are conscious of the impact of this on our pupils – where children require additional support, we will identify a different approach which balances safety and quality of communication.
• school staff will wear face coverings in all communal areas of the school and will explain to our pupils why this is important.
• visitors, parents and carers should wear a face covering when entering the school or playground and at pick-up and drop-off. We also ask you wear a face covering at any busy pick-up or drop-off points outside school.
• the national advice is good airflow within schools is important to minimise spread of the virus. As we approach winter and colder weather, we will make sure classrooms are safe, warm and comfortable. However, we ask parents and carers please provide warm clothing, such as a jumper or fleece, in colder weather. Please contact the school directly if we can be of assistance with this.

All of the above is in addition to the existing safety measures in our school, which follow the national guidance and are already of a very high standard. These include:

• thorough cleaning within the school, very good handwashing regimes, physical distancing between staff and between staff and pupils wherever possible; and good hygiene when catching coughs and sneezes.
• staggering school start/finish times, breaks and lunchtimes, maintaining class groupings and good ventilation of buildings.

We would also like to remind parents and carers that all children should wear a face covering when travelling to and from school by school bus, unless they are exempt.

More information on what we are doing to keep schools safe is available on the council website, as is a guide to what to do if you suspect or have coronavirus.

We know the ongoing situation is very challenging for everyone, but we are doing all we can to keep our school safe and maintain a welcoming and nurturing learning environment for pupils.

The response from our pupils has been fantastic and we cannot thank you and them enough for your continued support.

Please stay safe at home and follow the latest public health advice. If there is anything else you wish to discuss with us, please contact the school directly.

Reminder: register your 🧒 child for primary one before Monday 9 November.

If your child has their 5^th birthday between 1 March 2021 and 28 February 2022, you should register them for school this week – and we’re asking you to do this online.

Go to www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/p1registration anytime between Monday 2 and Monday 9 November. 

 You’ll need to have a few things ready to upload:

1. a copy of your child’s full birth certificate
2. proof of address – Council Tax and Child Benefit Statement (or Driving Licence, utility/bank statement showing last 3 months transactions)
3. Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate (if applicable)

If you can’t register online, please phone your local catchment school to arrange an appointment. This is really important – please do not turn up at school without an appointment.

Our 8.45 soft start has been working very well, but recently there has been a number of children arriving in the playground before this time.

We are keeping pupils in consistent class and year groups throughout the day. This is to minimise the numbers identified as close contact and having to self isolate should we have a case of COVID within the school.

Children who are spending time in the playground, unsupervised and mixing with other classes and year groups, could potentially have an impact and increase the numbers having to isolate.

Therefore please help us by ensuring your child only arrives in the playground between 8.45 and 9.00a.m.

Also a reminder that the guidance has been updated and face covering should be worn by parents in and around the school premises, including at drop off and pick up.

The Scottish Government had launched Face Covering Exemption card. Those who are exempt can apply here.

Once again we thank you for your support as we work hard to keep our whole community safe.

Infant registration for the August 2021 Primary 1 intake opens today.

Registration is online this year and can be accessed by clicking here.

The updated guidance for schools, published  on the 30th October 2020, on face coverings now states:

“Face coverings should be worn by parents and other visitors to all school sites (whether entering the building or otherwise), including parents at drop-off and pick-up.”

We appreciate that there are exemptions to this but if you are able to, please wear a face covering whilst on the school site including the playground.

Thank you for your cooperation in this.  Our aim is to keep our whole community as safe as possible.

If your child has their 5^th birthday between 1 March 2021 and 28 February 2022, you should register them for school next week – and we’re asking you to do this online.

Go to www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/p1registration anytime between Monday 2 and Monday 9 November. 

You’ll need to have a few things ready to upload:

1. a copy of your child’s full birth certificate
2. proof of address – Council Tax and Child Benefit Statement (or Driving Licence, utility/bank statement showing last 3 months transactions)
3. Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate (if applicable)

If you can’t register online, please phone your local catchment school to arrange an appointment. This is really important – please do not turn up at school without an appointment.

Dear Parent/Carer,

If you have not already done so, please return your letter to us by Friday the 30th October. This information will assist Renfrewshire Council as they make plans towards the new school.

A copy of the letter is attached.

Darg letter etc_28102020124213

As you will be aware, each year the school supports the Poppy Scotland appeal by taking Poppies to the classes in the school.

Current restrictions mean that this is not possible this year. However the Bishopton Community have set up a just giving page to allow everyone in the village to continue to support this great charity.

We would love it if you would visit this link and donate the money that you would normally send into school directly to the charity.

As always thank you for your generous support.

Our parents evening had to take on a different format this  month. We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to feedback. This will allow us to make any required improvements should we need to continue with this format in future.

Please see the flyer below regarding plans for Halloween on Friday 30th October.

Due to the current restrictions we would ask that pupils do not bring any additional accessories for their costumes. This includes props, wigs, masks  and face paint.

Please see the  update letter below from Steven Quinn, Director of Children’s Services.

ParentCarer Update Letter

We have had a complaint from the residents of Holmpark about parking over driveways.

If you are dropping off or picking up please be considerate of all of our neighbours and park responsibly.

Thank you

Dear Parent/ Carer,

Pupils who live within the catchment area for Dargavel Primary have been given a letter today in their school bag with information regarding moving to  the new school.

Please complete and send the information back to school as soon as possible. If you do not receive a letter but think you should, please let us know.

If you have any questions please get in touch and we will do our best to answer.

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school tomorrow (Tuesday 20th October) and we hope that you have all had some opportunity to relax and recharge over the past week.

Term 1 was certainly a challenge as we all adapted to the new routines within the school any beyond. We had hoped that this was likely to be short term but this is not the case and the current COVID secure procedures will remain in place.

Although the weather is likely to deteriorate over the coming weeks we will still be making use of our outdoor space when it is appropriate to do so. We have been advised that outdoor PE will remain the only option for the foreseeable future. Therefore please continue to send your child prepared for inclement weather.  We will continue to be outdoors when the rain is not too heavy. We will not be outside if the weather is too severe or the conditions underfoot make it impossible to do so.

As we move in to cold an flu seasons it is likely that we will see more pupils in school complaining of feeling unwell. As per the guidance, if a child informs a member of staff that they are experiencing any of the 3 recognised symptoms of COVID, the parent or carer will be contacted to come and collect their child. If this is the case the child cannot return to school until we have notification of a negative test result or for 10 days if the pupil is not tested. Please remember that school staff are not medically trained to make a judgement on a child’s symptoms and we are only working  within the published guidance.

We hope that you found your telephone parent appointment a positive experience. We will post a link for feedback in the coming days. It is important for us to hear this feedback so that we can ensure that you are getting the information you require about your child’s progress. If for any reason you were unable to receive the call please let us know so that we can reschedule .

We thank you all for your patience and support throughout term 1.  Term 2 is always a busy and exciting time in school with a number of significant events usually taking place.  Although these cannot take the traditional format this year, we do hope to still participate in as many as possible. We will be in touch over the coming weeks with more information.

The doors will be open from 8.45 tomorrow and we look forward to seeing you then.

As we head into the winter we will be putting our usual contingency plans in place, this session we have an additional consideration with the continued increase in cases of COVID-19.

As Test and Protect Scotland is in touch with more people, we expect to see an increase in the numbers of pupils being asked to self isolate at home. To help us in planning for how best to support the learning of any pupil not in school, we have created a short survey that can be found below.

During the period of home learning from March to June we used MS Teams to support this and it worked very well for us. It would be our preference to continue with this platform as almost all pupils in P2-7 are already familiar with it and teachers have been using it with pupils to deliver homework.

However we understand that, for a variety of reasons, not everyone can access this platform, therefor the survey results will allow us to make the best plans for individuals should they need to access their learning from home.

The more information we have the easier it is for us to provide support for any access issues.

Please note home learning will only be provided for those who are self isolating without symptoms. As is normal practise, pupils who are off ill will not be expected to work at home and will be supported to catch up on their learning when they are fit to do so.

Thank you for your continued support.

Firstly thank you to all who donated books towards the class library stock. These will be distributed to classes and are a welcome addition to our current selection.

Please also see our September newsletter. We are trying to minimise the number of pieces of paper sent home, so only those that require a return will be sent in paper format.

On behalf of all the staff I would like to wish you all a wonderful holiday weekend. We look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Tuesday 29th September.

Letter Sep2020

Please see the video below for help and advice about when it is or is not appropriate to have a COVID-19 test.

Education Scotland have updated the guidance for PE.

PE will continue to be outdoors only until at least the 5th October. Please continue to ensure that your child comes to school prepared for this.

Thank you for your continued support.

Please note we currently have a vacancy for a lunchtime supervisory assistant – 1 hour per day over lunch.

You can apply by clicking this link which will take you to the My Job Scotland website. Closing date is the 16th September.

Please pass on the information to anyone who may be interested.

Please see the interim lunch menu below. The menu will start on Monday the 7th September when a hot option will become  available.

Week 1

Yoghurt, Fruit, water & milk

Week 2

Yoghurt, Fruit, water & milk

Today Glen Coaches have issued each child who is on their bus list with a pass. Moving forward pupils will need to show this pass to the driver before they board the bus.

Only those who have applied and been accepted for school transport are insured to travel by this means.

If your child has not been issued with a pass today but you think that they should have one please make sure you have applied for home school transport through this link.

Alternatively contact Children’s Services on 0300 300 0170

In light of the recent increase in the daily numbers of COVID-19 cases, just a reminder that the rules on physical distancing remain in place.

All adults who are not from the same household should remain at least 2 metres apart at all times.

If you are waiting in the streets around the school or in the playground please make sure that you maintain this distance at all times.  It would also be helpful if a maximum of one adult per family attended at the end of the day.  This will  help reduce the number of adults in the vicinity of the school.

The guidance also states that in places where distancing is difficult a mask should be worn. You may wish to consider this on the Ashy Path.

Pupils do not need to physically distance from each other and therefore can leave through the gates side by side.

Adults may wish to wait until the gates are clear of the majority of  pupils before trying to exit as this will make it easier to distance from one another.

Our only aim is to keep all in the Bishopton Community safe and healthy and we appreciate your assistance in this.