I hope all of our families enjoyed the long weekend. The children certainly seemed refreshed and full of energy on their return to school on Thursday.
Junior Leadership Team
The Junior Leadership Team (JLT) have been exceptionally busy gathering pupil views on the purchase of new playground resources. All pupils have had an opportunity to contribute to the ‘wish list’. The JLT are now organising a ballot so that each pupil can vote for their favourite resources. The most popular ones will be ordered over the next few weeks.
World Book Day
The Literacy Working Group and Junior Leadership Team are working together to organise World Book Day. Events planned include a pupil book swap, some pupils will visit Waterstone’s Book Shop in the town centre and all pupils will enjoy a story reading session with Rhona from East Kilbride Library. More information will be sent home to families next week.
Assessment in Reading
All Primary 2 and 3 pupils will be assessed in reading over the next three weeks using PM Benchmarking. This assessment is completed individually with each child to assess their reading accuracy and fluency and comprehension of an unseen, meaningful text. This allows teachers to ensure that taught reading activities in class are closely matched to their ability. Pupils in Primary 1 will be assessed using PM Benchmarking just before the Spring Break.
Pupils in Primary 4-7 will be assessed using New Group Reading Test (NGRT) for reading fluency, accuracy and comprehension following Spring Break. Again, this information will be used to ensure all taught reading activities are closely match to pupil ability.
Active Reading Approaches
On Wednesday, Kathleen Falloon (Lead Officer for Literacy at South Lanarkshire Council) led all staff in the development of active approaches to teaching reading. We will be continuing to plan for the full implementation of active reading approaches from August 2019 and look forward to holding a series of parent information sessions in May and August to share information about this approach so that we can work together to support the development of reading.
Residential Experience Update
A letter will be issued to Primary 4 and 5 parents next week to provide more information about residential experiences in 2020 and 2021. There will be an information session for parents before Spring Break to outline the experiences on offer and answer any questions that parents may have. The date and time will be confirmed in the letter.
Big Blether
If you are able to attend the Big Blether this week (9.15am on Wednesday), we are hoping to seek parent views on homework at Heathery Knowe PS. We will have the kettle on and a supply of chocolate biscuits.
What’s on next week?
- Tuesday – Healthy Living Survey (School Meals)
- Wednesday – Big Blether 9.15am
- Thursday – Head Teacher Meeting (Kirsty Duff out of school AM)
Thank you for your continued support
Kind regards
Kirsty Duff
