Heathery Knowe Primary School and Nursery participated in the national celebration of numeracy and mathematics during Maths Week Scotland. We really appreciate the support offered to the school and pupils. Mrs Gallacher organised a Maths Fun Day to finish the week and the children had a great time. Pupils, parent volunteers and staff will be involved in evaluating the event in preparation for next year.
Staffing Update
The school’s Cook in Charge, Kerry, has been off on maternity leave over the past year and returns to work on 21st October. I hope she has enjoyed the time off with her daughter and look forward to welcoming her back to school very soon. Thank you to Jackie who covered this post while Kerry was off. Jackie is moving to a new school and we wish her well.
Lost and Found
Heathery Knowe is a large and busy school and sometimes pupils mislay items of clothing, packed lunch boxes etc which can be returned easily if a pupil’s name is on the item. Please help us by ensuring clothes, lunch boxes, gym shoes etc are labelled with the child’s name.
We are keen to return items quickly and this helps keep the school organised and tidy. Following the October break, Primary 7 pupils will ensure as many items as possible are returned at the end of each week by checking corridors and lunch trolleys before setting up a lost property table during a Friday lunchtime.
At the end of each term a full list of remaining items will be sent home to parents to try and identify the owners. Unfortunately, we do not have space to store a large amount of lost property. Unclaimed items of school uniform will be donated to the school uniform shop at the end of each term. Other items will be given to local charity shops.
Attendance at School
The Senior Leadership Team monitor the attendance of all pupils. We understand that children become unwell and need to stay off school. This helps to prevent the spread of viruses within the school community. There are a number of other reasons that children may miss school such as a family holiday or family circumstances. We appreciate that this is kept to a minimum and children attend school as often as possible. The school office keeps a record of reasons for absence so that is can be matched to each child’s pattern of attendance.
The purpose of monitoring attendance is to ensure that children are supported to catch up on learning and observe patterns of missed attendance at school.
Where children miss school often because of ongoing ill health, we can link in with the School Nursing Team to address health needs whilst ensuring children attend school as often as possible. Understandably, there can be a period of ill health (for example, chickenpox) that impacts on school attendance for a week or more but does not require additional support from the nursing team.
Our school target is an overall attendance of 95% for all pupils this year. Term One attendance for each child will be calculated from Thursday 15th August until Wednesday 9th October (38 school days).
To achieve 95% or more, pupils must have attended 36 days out of 38
To achieve 90%, pupils must have attended 34 days out of 38
To achieve 80%, pupils must have attended 31 days out of 38
All parents will be issued with an attendance report advising them of their child’s attendance in Term 1. If a child’s attendance is less than 80%, parents will be contacted by letter or telephone to discuss this further and ensure all the necessary supports are in place to maximise pupil attendance at school.
What’s on next week?
Wednesday – Room 2 pupils are learning across the curriculum with a visit to Bear Factory using public transport and visiting Glasgow City Centre.
Thursday – Mrs French is attending Literacy Co-ordinator meeting
Friday – Harvest assembly for pupils
Thank you for your continued support
Kind regards
Kirsty Duff
