The children have completed their first full week of school after the summer break. The pupils have shown a commitment to their learning and to following the new routines within school. I am sure there will be some very tired children this weekend after all the hard work.
Recovery Curriculum and Raising Attainment
The focus of learning in all classes is literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. The curriculum will be taught within the context of a class novel.
Miss Wharton is the Principal Teacher with responsibility for equity for all learners and raising attainment. Miss Wharton is working in partnership with teachers to assess pupil progress over the period of home learning, organise support for pupils and plan interventions to make sure there are no gaps in learning.
Primary 7 pupils will be engaged in setting (small group teaching for literacy and numeracy) to ensure that in their final year at school they have made as much progress as possible before making the transition to secondary school. Normally, Heathery Knowe PS would implement setting (small group teaching) for numeracy from P3-7 but this would involve a number of adults working with each group of children and this is not allowed at the moment. Maths setting will be reintroduced as soon as it is safe to do so as it is valued by both pupils and teachers as an approach to raising attainment in mathematics.
ParentPay
Mrs Rankin is working alongside the ParentPay Co-ordinator to address any ongoing issues with the new system. If you have any issues with ParentPay, please call the school office to speak with Mrs Rankin or email office@heatheryknowe-pri.s-lanark.sch.uk and she will get back to you. Mrs Rankin works Mon-Fri and is available between 9am -3pm. Thank you for your patience while the new system is set up.
Google Classroom and Glow
Every year the children need to change their Glow password for security reasons. This will be done in school. Please do not use Google Classroom week beginning 24th August whilst the ICT Co-ordinator in school changes the passwords. Your child’s new password will be issued to you once it has been changed.
Credit Union
For many years Heathery Knowe PS has worked in partnership with Lanarkshire Credit Union to help children save money on a weekly basis. Unfortunately Lanarkshire Credit Union has decided to stop the Savvy Savers school collections with immediate effect.
The full letter can be read by clicking the following link:
Residential and Single Day Excursions
All residential and day trips are on hold until further notice. We are waiting for advice regarding the Primary 7 residential excursion scheduled for the autumn. Mrs Gallacher has been liaising with SLC regarding refunds for the P6 and P7 excursions that were cancelled in May 2020 and we hope to have an update on this soon.
The refund cheque from the National Orchestra came into school at the end of last week. We are waiting for it to clear in the school account and then will begin to issue refunds to the pupils who had paid for this trip.
School Photographer
Instant Images were booked to come into school this week to take photographs of the children. Unfortunately we are unable to allow any visitors into school unless the circumstances are essential and exceptional. For this reason we had to cancel the booking. However we are considering other options and hope to be able to share more information soon.
Pupil Leadership
Miss Inglis (Principal Teacher with responsibility for promoting pupil voice) is planning for the election of a new Pupil Leadership Team. It is made up of a team of 4 house captains and 4 vice captains from Primary 7. Pupils interested in standing for election complete an application form and will prepare a video presentation. Pupils will watch the presentations in their own classes and then vote for the new leaders. We hope to have the process completed by mid-September.
Specialist Support Teacher
Mrs Byrne (Specialist Support Teacher) will continue to work with pupils at Heathery Knowe PS. The way she works with pupils needs to change in line with guidelines as she cannot work with a number of pupils from different classes as she normally would. Mrs Gallacher (Additional Support Needs Co-ordinator) has met with Mrs Byrne and she will work at Heathery Knowe PS on a Tuesday. Her initial focus groups will be in P4-7. If your child receives support from Mrs Byrne, Mrs Gallacher will be in touch to discuss the new processes.
Learning Journals
Electronic learning journals launch next week for Nursery, Room 1, Room 2, Room 6 and Room 10. If you are in a pilot class, please ensure you have completed the parent consent form for your child’s journal to be published. Learning Journals are not public. The journal can only be viewed by the parent / carer and provides an opportunity to see photographs and comments from your child’s teacher about learning in class.
You can find out more information about learning journals by visiting www.learningjournals.co.uk.
What’s on next week?
- PE timetable running for all classes
- Mon – Mrs Fernandez working in school
- Tues – Mrs Byrne working in school
- Fri – Mrs Fernandez working in school
Thank you for your continued support
Kind regards
Kirsty Duff
