The pupils and staff at Heathery Knowe PS will be enjoying a well earned rest this weekend after a very busy week. The disco was the first social event of the year for pupils and it was a lovely opportunity for me to speak with the children in a less formal setting … I have even been taught the ‘Baby Shark’ dance which was undoubtedly the highlight of my week.
The classes all have well established learning routines in place and strong relationships are developing between teachers and their new pupils. Before the September weekend Mr Scott and I will have visited all classes with a focus on pupil engagement in literacy. We are really looking forward to these visits and spending a longer period of time in classes and with pupils.
Raising attainment of all learners
Mrs Elaine Byrne is our Specialist Support Teacher and will be based in Heathery Knowe PS on a Monday all day and a Thursday morning. If your child was previously supported by Mrs Dey then Mrs Byrne will start to work with them again next week. Specialist Support Teachers work alongside class teachers to provide additional support and guidance in meeting the needs of all learners. Mrs Byrne will be supporting our school to develop play based learning and assess/ put in place effective interventions for pupils with specific needs.
We are really looking forward to welcoming Mrs Byrne to our team!
Superstars and Champions
This week we were able to celebrate the success of our first Champions and Superstar of the session. These certificates are related to our overall school behaviour policy. Well done to all pupils who received awards this week.
Toy Appeal
We are continuing to develop play based learning and establish a nurture room at Heathery Knowe PS. If you have any dressing up clothes, games, toys, puppets, lego, cushions etc that your child no longer uses then we would be delighted if you could donate them to us so that we can use them in school to support our learners.
Sports
We are working closely with Active Schools to ensure that we promote sport across the school. All pupils will have an opportunity to try Handball next week in partnership with EK 82 Handball. We have entered teams to Sports Hall Athletics, Netball, Football and the Handball Festival.
Pupil Leadership
We are training sixteen Primary 6 pupils as sports leaders and they will be ambassadors across the school community. They will be working to develop football opportunities for Primary 3 and 4 pupils over lunch breaks. Next term we will be focusing on sport opportunities for our Primary 1-3 pupils.
Mr Scott is leading the review of our lunch hall procedures to ensure that lunch time is as calm as possible. The lunch hall is small for the number of diners we welcome each day but with the help of some Primary 7 lunch hall leaders there are plans in place to try and ensure that it is an enjoyable experience for all.
What’s on next week?
- I will be meeting with Police Scotland to begin to discuss partnership approaches and how they can support the development of our anti-bullying procedures through pupil education and promoting a culture of respect for all.
- I will attend an anti-bullying workshop at South Park Primary School to see how they are tackling the issue of bullying and share ideas with the leadership team at South Park.
- Our staff are meeting together to begin to review how we promote positive relationships and behaviour in school and respond to incidences of aggression. This is a series of four meetings to ensure that we are working together to promote settled behaviour at all times.
- Mr Loveday and Miss Harris will attend a full day Masterclass on learning and teaching and then will support our teachers to develop new approaches to teaching and learning.
- Miss Deans and Miss Harris will attend a full day course on developing Active Literacy approaches at Primary 2 and 3. We are looking forward to the new ideas they bring back to Heathery Knowe PS
Thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards
Kirsty Duff
