It has been a busy few weeks in Heathery Knowe with many opportunities for the children to engage successfully in their learning. As always, they have been safe, kind, and ready to learn.
World Book Day Thursday 2nd March 2023
On Monday at assembly, we launched our exciting World Book Day activities planned for Thursday 2nd March. Activities include:
- Creating a cosy ‘Book Nook’ at home to enjoy reading a story. We would love to see your photos on twitter.
- Lunch time story sessions will take place on Thursday for P3 & P4, Friday for P5, 6 & 7, and P1 & P2 had their session on Monday this week.
- Buddy reading will take place.
- Children are invited to bring in a book as part of our ‘HK Book Swap’.
- Author’s Live events will be streamed online during the day.
- All children will receive a £1 book token.
- Primary 1 visited Waterstone’s on Monday, Room 6 will visit on Thursday and Room 3 will visit on Friday.
- We will be holding a ‘Parent / Carer Reading Café’ in the dining hall and school library from 3.15 to 4pm on Thursday. Please come along with your child and enjoy some tea & coffee, juice and biscuits. Younger siblings are more than welcome too. You can bring your own book or borrow one from the school.
- The children will be taking part in our ‘HK Readathon 2023’. Sponsor forms will be sent home on Thursday 2nd March and should be sent back to the school by the following week.
As a literacy loving school, we focus on the enjoyment of reading and listening to stories therefore we choose not to dress up on this day.
Parent Teacher Council
The Parent Teacher Council members met on Tuesday 28th February. They are URGENTLY looking for new parents to join and help support future events in school that are thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by the children such as discos, Summer, and Christmas Fayres. Without your help these events are not able to run. Please contact the school if you can help in any way.
There will be an informal PTC meeting on Tuesday 21st March at 3.15 to 3.45pm in the school hall with tea and coffee available. You may bring your children along as there will be things for them to do to keep them busy. The PTC will have a short presentation. Please do come along and let them know if you are able to help in any way. The next PTC meeting held in the evening will be on Tuesday 28th March at 7pm in the staffroom.
OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning
We are well underway with our playground developments in school. Thank you to all the parents and private companies who have donated resources to us for free. One man’s junk is another mans treasure as they say. Look out for our pleas on twitter to see if you can help us in anyway. The children are really enjoying and exploring the new areas such as:
- Reading hut
- Water wall
- Loose parts
- Social areas
- Construction and diggers
- Small world
- Playground games
- HK stage / drama area
- Music / dancing area
- Daily Mile
- Muddy Movers for P1 and P3
Future developments include building a large mud kitchen. If you are able to help with this, then please contact the school. We will be looking for pots and pans, old sinks etc. We will be developing a den building area and will require tarpaulin and other appropriate den building materials.
Please let the school know if you require waterproof clothing or footwear to support outdoor learning.
Extra-Curricular Clubs
Every day at break time there is the opportunity for all children to have taster sessions of different sports in the MUGA pitch with Mr Wilson, our janitor. The children enjoy rugby, basketball hockey, tennis, rounders and so on.
Football
There are two football leagues running every lunch time. Mr Wilson is the coach for the P5, 6 & 7 children. Mr Gow looks after the P3 & 4 league. Primary 2 will have the opportunity to play at break time under the supervision of Mr Gow starting on Thursday.
Badminton
Mr Gow is running a badminton club for Primary 5 children in 5-week blocks from now until the summer. Please return the permission slip if you wish your child to attend. You will be notified as to which block your child will attend.
Other clubs on offer each day are:
- Monday – Into Film Club
- Tuesday – Library club & Chess Club
- Wednesday – Debating Club
- Thursday – Netball club
- Friday – Library club
Active Sports Club
Craig Allardyce from Active Sports successfully ran an after-school sports club for Primary 2 children. They had taster sessions for many different sports. Craig was very impressed with their energy and stamina not to mention their excellent behaviour at each session. Primary 5 children are now attending the sessions after school every Thursday.
Outdoor Classroom Update
Our school community voted to use our participatory budget money to build an outdoor classroom in our playground. This space has the capacity to hold 55 children and the potential for its use is endless. In addition to this, a forest story house will be built that can hold an entire class of children. We will also have two large storage sheds built too. Work begins on Monday 20th March, and it will be finished during the Spring break. We will launch our new outdoor spaces on Monday 17th April. We invite all of our families to come along at the end of the school day to ‘Stay and Play’ with your children from 3.15 to 4pm. We hope to invite some VIPs too. There will be tea & coffee, juice, and biscuits for you to enjoy.
School Uniform
We are proud of our school and wearing a full school uniform each day creates a sense of school community and smartness. Please encourage your child to wear their uniform every day. It is getting to that time in the school year when uniforms have become well used and worn out. We will open a ‘Pop Up Uniform’ shop under the canopy at the main entrance week beginning 6th March which will have some new and pre-loved uniforms for you to help yourself to.
Lost Property
Lost property will be put on a table at the foyer on Friday 3rd March for you to have a look through. If items are not collected, then we will add them to the pop-up uniform shop.
Big Day Out
Parents / carers will have received a letter outlining the details for our summer ‘Big Day Out’. Each excursion will cost £12 per child and can be paid £1 weekly on parent pay between now and then.
P1 and P2 – Heads of Ayr Farm
P3 and P4 – Blairdrummond Safari Park
P5 – Summerlee
P6 – Culzean Castle
P7 – is still to be confirmed but it will take place during their celebration week.
Parent / Carer Calendar
A paper copy of the parent calendar was given to all families. This outlines all school events between now and the end of June. If you wish an electronic copy, then please contact the school to request one.
P7 Transitions
Primary 7 will attend a PE visit to Calderglen High School as part of their transition programme on Friday 10th March. They are very much looking forward to the event and meeting some of their future teachers.
School Reports
School reports will be sent home to parents / carers on Friday 24th March. Please contact the school if you wish an additional copy of your child’s report.
Love Autism Parent Workshops
The next session for parents will be held in Heathery Knowe school hall at 9.30am presented by Anne Love from Love Autism. The focus for the session will be ‘Coping with challenging behaviours at home’. Please come along if you are interested.
Potential Strike Days
The next potential strike days that will affect Heathery Knowe is Tuesday 28th March and Wednesday 29th March. A letter to confirm these dates will be sent home in due course.
The date for the next blog will be Friday 17th March 2023. Finally, I wish you all a lovely weekend and thank you sincerely for your continued support in my new role as Acting Head Teacher of Heathery Knowe Primary. A privilege and joy.
Kind Regards
Mrs French
