I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. It’s great to see the children back and hear all their Christmas stories. They all enjoyed the school panto and their Christmas party. Well done to the pupils in Broomlands who had a Christmas disco for their house reward. Our trip to Vikingar was excellent and consolidated all the learning from our Viking topic.
After a very busy term 1 and term 2, we are looking forward to a productive and enjoyable third term. Over this period, we will be teaching skills and knowledge and understanding through our main topic of the Titanic, with a focus on its historical impact. We will be investigating materials in relation to floating and sinking plus organising a P5 trip to the Tall Ship in Glasgow. We have a special Scottish assembly and for this we will learn more about Robert Burns and perform something with a Scottish feel to it.
The children continue to have regular reading, spelling and maths homework and your support in this is vital to your child’s success.
We will also have World of Work Week where children will turn their classroom in to a little enterprising business for a week. This year we will try to link this to World Book Day. We also hear from a variety of people about a variety of jobs. I would encourage you to inform Mrs.Wiszniewski or your child’s class teacher if you would be willing to speak to children about your job. We are very grateful when parents come forward to offer their services.
Teachers are keen to work in partnership with parents and strive to keep you informed. There will be a Parent’s Evening in March however please do not hesitate to contact us with any concerns before that. We would like to see parents in and around the school during World of Work Week and World Book Day.
Parent Questionnaire
The results of the parent questionnaire are available on the school website. I met with a small group of parents to discuss the results and find solutions to the things that parents were most concerned about. This information is also on the website. Please ask the office if you would like a paper copy of this. The main causes for concern were the school building, communication and behaviour. We discussed ways to improve our service regarding these issues. Thank you to those parents who gave up their time to support the school on its way forward.
Can I encourage you to apply for free meal entitlement if you are due this.
Sponsored Zumba
The sponsored Zumba was a huge success and we raised over £4,000. A huge thank you to those of you who supported us and to Mr.Johnston for leading the activity…. he certainly showed us a few moves that day! I have consulted with the pupils through the Pupil Council and they identified how they would like to spend the money. The Christmas Fayre was also very successful in raising around £1,500.
Our school aims are now on display in the school entrance. They are Educational, Inclusive,Supportive, Friendly and Caring. We hope the school encompasses these aims.
Playtime
Sometimes parents and carers worry about their child during playtime and lunchtime. At West we have tried to provide the children with opportunities for safe play. There is a playground rota which indicates which year groups can play ball games on certain days. There are also P6 play leaders who do a fantastic job of encouraging children to play together and teach them new playground games. We also have our trim trails, climbing wall and the gazebo. P7 children are also fortunate to go to the Mugga across the road, giving them their own space and facilities.
The classroom assistants and janitor are present throughout playtime and lunchtime for children to voice concerns to and to intervene when they see inappropriate play.
As you can appreciate the classroom assistants can deal with many issues throughout this time. If you feel that your child is having an ongoing problem in the playground please do not hesitate to contact myself or the class teacher and we can highlight your child to the assistants who will keep a special eye on them until the problem is resolved.
A word from the pupil council
We have been asking our classmates what they would like to spend the Zumba sponsor money on. We made a list of suggestions and discussed these with Mrs. Ormond. She advised us that many of the suggestions would be paid for through the school budget and that she wanted us to purchase the things that children would enjoy most.
We decided that each class would be given a budget to upgrade their library with new books and soft accessories which make the class library more inviting. We also wanted to improve our musical instrument supply and play equipment for the playground.
We will meet again in January with Mrs. Ormond to feedback on the things that we like about our school and areas that need improved. We looked at the results of the pupil questionnaire which is on the website. We returned to class to share this information with everyone.
A plea from HT
Remember no dogs are allowed in the playground.
Smoking is not permitted within the playground or around the school gates.
Put your name on EVERYTHING….lost property is taking over the school!
Please park safely. Double parking is not permitted.
Join the Friends of the West Facebook page or look at our website for information.
www.west.renfrewshire.sch.uk
Make sure we have your current phone number.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Mrs.Ormond and P5 staff
Dates for your diary
11th January 12-3 pm Infant registration
12th January 12-3 pm Infant registration
16th January 6.30 pm Friends of the West Meeting
25th January 7.00-8.00pm P2/3 Reading Information Evening
27th January 12.45 pm P7 Burns Supper
1st February 7.00pm Meeting for P7 Lockerbie parents
10th February School Holiday ( In-Service for teachers)
13th and 14th February School Holiday
20th -24th February World of Work Week
1st March Rag Bag Day
6th March 6.30 pm Friends of the West Meeting
7th March Photographer for P7 Yearbook
13th-17th March P7 trip to Lockerbie
20th March Book of Success home to parents
23rd and 24th March Tempest Photography P1-7
24th March Comic Relief Talent Show
29th March Termly House Reward
29th March 6.30-8.30 Parent’s Evening
30th March 3.30-5.30 Parent’s Evening
Friday 31st March school closes at 2.30pm
3rd April-17th April Easter Holiday
Tuesday 18th April School reopens
