It was another fun filled week at Heathery Knowe PS with Primary 1 visiting the fire station, Primary 5 visiting the wind farm and most pupils participating in Halloween electives and the disco. I am sure there are some very tired teachers and pupils having a restful weekend.
As another week ends, I have had the opportunity to review our progress to date.
How Good is Our School?
I received the draft VSE report from Jacqueline Wallace this week and this has guided our direction for school improvement. This will be shared with teaching staff on Tuesday night and then a summary will be issued to parents. A pupil friendly version will be produced so that pupils are fully involved in making Heathery Knowe PS an excellent place to learn and achieve.
One way to continue to improve is by visiting other schools to guide and challenge our thinking. Mrs Caldwell and Ms MacPherson have visited other nurseries as they begin to think about planning for pupils attending for full days. We have a number of other visits planned within our learning community and beyond, focusing on:
- Promoting positive relationships and behaviour
- Nurturing approaches in school
- Active Literacy (particularly writing)
- Numeracy progression and active learning approaches
Christmas Show
Our Christmas show is called, ‘The Magical Christmas Jigsaw’. In this traditional nativity, the Christmas story comes to life as a magical Christmas jigsaw is pieced together. All classes will participate in the show with both an afternoon and evening performance. I am sure this will be the highlight of the Christmas calendar.
Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 20th November. It will initially be limited to 2 tickets per family but you will have an option to request additional tickets through a ballot.
Scottish Attainment Fund
Through the additional money allocated to the school from the Scottish Attainment Fund, we plan to use it in the following ways:
- £30, 000 on literacy resources, including the purchase of group sets of novels. We hope this inspires our pupils to read for enjoyment along with developing higher order reading skills.
- £15,000 on numeracy resources. This will be invested in a progressive resource for teaching numeracy and maths across the school. This will ensure that there is consistency of approach and appropriate support / challenge for learners.
- £15,000 on health and wellbeing resources. This will include a playground equipment to promote physical fitness, nurture resources to promote emotional health and wellbeing and resources to promote kindness and respect across the school community.
- £7000 to purchase active learning resources. This will be invested in extending the breadth and depth of curricular experiences offered, ensuring pupils have opportunities for self led learning, personalisation and choice.
The remainder of this fund is used to employ an additional teacher at Heathery Knowe PS to ensure pupils who need it receive targeted teaching time in small groups.
In preparation for next session, the school will establish a Scottish Attainment Fund consultative committee. The purpose of this committee will be to ensure parents, staff and pupils are fully involved in planning to close the poverty related attainment gap.
Staffing
A letter will be issued to all parents on Monday to update them on the current staffing at Heathery Knowe PS. South Lanarkshire Council have made the decision that our school will have two DHTs for a period of time. This is a very supportive measure from the Education Resources who recognise the significant changes in the leadership team over the past few years and the need for stability for a period of time.
The leadership team is made up of:
Kirsty Duff – Headteacher (Permanent)
Laura French – Depute Headteacher (Permanent)
Graeme Scott – Acting Depute Headteacher (Temporary)
Karen McGee – Principal Teacher (Permanent)
What’s happening next week?
- Information session for Ardentinny on 6th November at 6pm
- The second group of staff will participate in Managing Aggression and Potential Aggression (MAPA) training
- Calderglen High School Information Evening for P7 parents on 8th November
Thank you for your continued support
Kind regards
Kirsty Duff
