It is a privilege to be able to share with you an update from the schools across our Cluster.

Catholic Education Week takes place each year from the Feast of St Margaret of Scotland (16th November) until the Feast of St Andrew (30th November).

The Catholic Church in Scotland encourages schools, parishes and other agencies to work closely together in order to celebrate the successes of Catholic education particularly during one week each year. The purpose of Catholic Education Week is to highlight the significance of education, not only for young people but for society as a whole. Students, parents, teachers and others are asked to reflect on their own roles in the education process – at home, in school, in the local parish and in other educational settings.
A key strength in all cluster schools is regular and well-planned opportunities for liturgical and faith celebration, and to support the faith journey of our children and families. In all of our cluster schools, liturgical and faith learning events are planned in advance with our Parish Priests and provide all in our community opportunity for communal celebration and deepening of faith.
We hope that you find the information contained within this short publication informative and reassuring of our collective commitment to Catholic Education. We wish to reassure you of our continued support for Parish life and thank you for all of your support and prayers for our school communities.

CEW 2023

Register your child for school between Wednesday 1 and Tuesday 7 November

If your child will turn 5 between 1 March 2024 and 28 February 2025, you should register them for school.

If you, or someone you’re helping, can’t register online, you can contact your local primary school and make an appointment to register in person during the registration dates.

To register your child to go to another school outside of your catchment area, you’ll need to register them at a school within your catchment area first, then make a placing request.

If you can’t register your child for school till after Tuesday 7 November, please contact your local primary school directly.

Children who will be 4 when school starts in August 2024 can be deferred and get an additional year of free nursery and childcare. Please talk to your child’s nursery or childminder.

Visit Renfrewshire Council’s website to apply for any of the above.

Renfrew Cluster – School Visit Timetable

Monday 9^th October, 3.30-4.30pm: St James Primary School

Tuesday 10^th October, 3.30-4.30pm: Kirklandneuk Primary School

Wednesday 11^th October, 3.30-4.30pm: Arkleston Primary School

Thursday 12^th October, 3.30–4.30pm: Newmains Primary School

This will be the only opportunity for families to visit our establishments before the Primary 1 registration period commences. Families will be invited back into each school as the transition programme for this session gets underway April – June 2024.

Parents should come to the front entrance of each school, where they will be met by members of the Senior Leadership Team.

Families will be shown the current Primary 1 teaching spaces and communal areas.

This time will not include a formal presentation or induction information – this will be arranged for later in the session.

Playground Visit (1st June 2023)

On 1st June 2023, our playground will be available to use for a general play led by the nurseries attending. There will be two available sessions:

AM – 9.30 to 10.20

PM – 1.30 to 2.20

Our Health and Wellbeing Officer and the team from the Renfrew YMCA will also be there to help support play.

Pupils attending from nurseries out with our catchment nurseries are also welcomed to attend accompanied during the session by a parent/carer.

Please notify our school office of confirmation of attendance.

Transition Days (Thursday 8th June 2023 / Friday 9th June)

To coincide with our P7s going up to Trinity HS, our event is slightly later than the other schools in the Renfrew cluster. Attendance will be taken in the atrium between 10.45-11.00 (AM session) and 1.15-1.30 (PM session).

AM (parent/carer to attend) 10.45 – 12.00 (parent session and pupil class visit/taster lunch)

PM SESSION (parent/carer do not attend) 1.15 – 2.30 (pupil school tour and class/playground activity)

Group A – Glendee, In Safe Hands, 3 Bears, all other Nurseries (Thursday am and Friday pm)

Group B – Moorpark, Kirklandneuk, Little Flowers (Thursday pm and Friday am)

If you have any questions regard the information or general queries, please contact the school office on 0300 300 0183 or the school enquires box on stjamesrenfrewenquiries@renfrewshire.gov.uk

We look forward to meeting all our new pupils.

St James’ Primary is delighted to announce that, after a successful validation visit, we have received the Digital Schools Award.

During our visit our staff and pupils demonstrated how the use of digital technology is used to enhance the curriculum, deliver high quality learning and teaching and to provide equity in accessing learning at St James’ PS.

Our pupil Digital Leaders have been pivotal part of our digital journey, not only helping with device management, but also in supporting staff and pupils during ICT lessons. To recognise the important work they do, at our parent and carer ‘Digital Showcase’ event, they were awarded with Digital School Award certificates. Our Digital Leaders were able to talk about how the use of assistive digital technology supported them in accessing the curriculum. Our pupils also shared what they have learned in ICT lessons and how these skills can used in the future.

Our teaching staff were enthusiastic in sharing how digital approaches have increased engagement and had a positive impact on learning, teaching and assessment. Our teachers have engaged in a variety of CLPL opportunities and have upskilled themselves significantly in the use of digital technologies, particularly since the periods of lockdown.

“St James’ is building a strong digital technology culture amongst our whole community. Our school’s progress has been accelerating over the past 4 years as we have been committed to improving digital access for pupils and our staff have further embedded their digital skills developed through periods of lockdown. Digital learning has motivated our staff and pupils and this has led to a strong commitment to further increasing opportunities to use it where it will have tangible impact in improving learning. At St James’ we feel we are now in a position to equip learners to function effectively in the 21st century, a century which life and work will be enhanced, but also dominated by digitisation.” Mr Healy (DHT)

This session’s Cyber Scotland Week will take place 27th February – 5th March 2023.

Keep an eye on our Twitter for cyber updates from us – The Digital Leaders.

Cyber Scotland have some useful resources for parents and carers here:

https://www.cyberscotland.com/skills-careers/cyber-awareness-raising/

From the Digital Leaders

The Diocese of Paisley will be facilitating a day of reflection and activities for Primary School pupils (p4-7) on Sunday March 12^th at St. James, 50 Greenock Road, Paisley. Beginning at 2pm and ending with Dinner at 5.00pm (collection time 5.30pm), the afternoon will include activities, catechesis and Mass. Pre-booking is recommended but not required. All attendees will be required to bring a completed consent form. These can be collected from Diocesan Primary schools, Parishes or by emailing vocations@rcdop.org,uk. For further information or queries please contact Fr. John Morrison Tel: 01418892026 or e-mail vocations@rcdop.org.uk

Please click here for the Consent Form.

Please note we’ve had to change the location from St. Laurence’s, Greenock to St. James’, Paisley due to building work at St. Laurence’s’

Regrettably, we’ll have to postpone the day for s1/2 scheduled for March 5^th.

Kind regards, John Morrison.

We are delighted to announce the launch of additional community clubs this term. The sessions will take place at Renfrew High School on a Wednesday afternoon 4:30-5:30pm, starting on 22^nd February and will be delivered by our Renfrewshire School of Sport Education students from Park Mains, Trinity and Renfrew High School. All the sessions on offer are FREE

You can sign up via the link below:

https://oneren-renfrew.class4kids.co.uk/term/7

Saturday 25th March 2023

Trinity HS are excited to be organising their first Spring Fundraising Event and would love for their Feeder Primaries to come along.

It is a brilliant opportunity for the P6 and P7s to see the school and the clubs that are on offer and for the P7 parents to browse their Uniform Exchange.

Contact the School or their Parent Council for more information
thsparentcouncil@outlook.com