Author: H. hknoweps

At this very busy time of year, I would like to thank parents and carers for supporting the school. We have had a number of events including the Christmas Fayre, Christmas shows, Christmas lunch and Christmas jumper day. Parents have been incredibly generous and supportive of all of these events. We are able to send another large donation to the East Kilbride Food Bank for those who need additional support.

Christmas Show

Thank you to all parents, carers and friends of Heathery Knowe PS who came along to support the pupils at the Christmas Show. The children thoroughly enjoyed preparing for the show and were very proud of their achievements. It was the first time we have worked together on a whole school performance for a number of years and the children did incredibly well supporting one another. The senior pupils were excellent leaders and helped younger pupils learn their words and songs. I hope that our audience enjoyed the show.

Christmas Fayre

The PTC organised our Christmas Fayre and I am pleased to let you know that it raised over £600. I am very grateful for the commitment of the PTC and all of our volunteers who work tirelessly to fundraise for the school. All of the money raised goes directly towards supporting learners at Heathery Knowe PS.

Christmas Shop

The Christmas shop is set up and ready to open from Monday 17th December. Pupils are welcome to come along and purchase a wrapped gift to bring home for a family member. All gifts cost £2 or £3.

Christmas Fundraising

The Christmas show tickets and hamper raffles raised over £900. This money will be banked in the School Fund and will be used to offset the cost of pupil experiences throughout the school year. Thank you for your continued support.

The Big Story

For the first time, we decided not to use a commercial pantomime company and booked the SLC librarians who performed, ‘The Big Story’. This was a very enjoyable performance for the pupils. Many of the pupils know the librarian from East Kilbride Central Library and it was a fabulous opportunity to strengthen our partnership. This experience cost a third of the commercial pantomime normally booked and the pupil feedback was that this would be their preferred option next year.

Playground Improvement Steering Group

The playground improvement steering group have been allocated £3500 to invest in the provision of engaging outdoor activities and experiences. We may need to allocate part of the fund towards the purchase of an outdoor storage container to ensure resources can be suitably stored. Pupils and parents will be consulted on the resources to be purchased and there will be some visits to neighbouring schools to get ideas.

This steering group runs alongside the anti-bullying strategy group as we are aware that some issues are arising in the playground when children are not actively engaged in play. We monitor  incidents involving pupils in the playground and are continuing to work towards reducing them.

What’s on next week?

• Monday – Primary 4 party
• Tuesday – Nursery nativity and P3 party
• Wednesday – P2 party
• Thursday – P1 party and Primary 7 treat
• Friday – Carol Concert with St Louise PS

Thank you for your continued support

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

This week our school choir have visited a local community group to sing for them. The pupils were excited to entertain service users and came back to school very proud of their achievements.  We have had opportunities this week for pupils to visit local churches to learn about the Christmas story. Primary 6 participated in Christmas Unwrapped and Primary 3 participated in Christmas Cracker.  Next week, all pupils will have an opportunity to watch a production of, ‘The Big Story’ led by South Lanarkshire Council librarians.

Scottish Attainment Challenge

Next week I will update the council on the progress we are making at Heathery Knowe PS using the money given to the school as part of the Pupil Equity Fund.  Our key targets are to:

• Improve attainment in literacy and numeracy using the additional teacher employed at the school.
• Improve children and young people’s health and wellbeing through the Skills Force experience in P7 and establishing nurturing approaches throughout the school.
• Improve attainment through the development of teacher learning communities.

We carefully monitor and track pupil progress at each stage to ensure that children are challenged and supported in their learning.

Talk 4 Writing

On Wednesday Mrs Kane and Miss Wharton will attend a course on ‘Talk 4 Writing’. Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally before reading and analysing it and then writing their own version. It builds on 3 key stages:

• Imitation
• Innovation
• Independent Application

The Talk 4 Writing approach will be used consistently across the school next session. This year, staff are participating in training and familiarising themselves with the approach.

You can find out more about Talk 4 Writing using the following link:

http://www.talk4writing.co.uk/

Attendance at School

Parents will be issued with a short guide to how the school promotes and monitors attendance at school.  The Senior Leadership Team monitor pupil attendance on a monthly basis. If a child’s attendance falls below 90% then the school will support them to improve their attendance using the following steps:

• A member of the Senior Leadership Team will contact the parent to discuss whether there is an underlying reason for the child’s absence and any support that may be required. We understand that pupil attendance is affected by a range of factors such as ill health, anxiety, bereavement, holiday etc.
• A letter will be sent to parents to let them know the child’s attendance rate and how many school days have been missed. We will also include a print out of the child’s attendance.
• Attendance will continue to be monitored each month. If the child’s attendance does not improve then we will meet together to write an Attendance Support Plan with agreed targets and supports.
• On some occasions, we need to seek support from partnership agencies (e.g. Social Work, SCRA) to identify ways to improve attendance at school. The school will always meet with parents to discuss this before this step is taken.

Educational Excursions

There has been a change to the school procedures for seeking permission for excursions. A letter will be issued to all parents before the end of term. Verbal permission or a note in the diary is not a sufficient way to give permission to attend an educational excursion. Moving forward, the correct (EV5) permission slip needs to be completed for each excursion. Without this, children will not be able to attend.

School Holidays

School holidays for 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 are now published and available on the South Lanarkshire Council website.

Adverse Weather Arrangements

Every effort will be made to ensure that Heathery Knowe PS remains open to pupils. However, in cases of severe weather conditions, there may be a need to open later, close earlier or be closed all day.

A parent guide to adverse weather arrangements will be sent home next week with guidelines on how we make decisions and share information.

What’s on next week?

• Monday – School show dress rehearsal
• Tuesday – School show 1.30pm
• Wednesday – Mrs Kane and Miss Wharton attending Talk 4 Writing
• Wednesday – School show 6.30pm
• Thursday – Christmas Lunch / Wear Something Festive / P6 Party
• Friday –  The Big Story / P5 Party

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

Pupils and staff have worked incredibly hard this week as we combine core learning activities with preparing for Christmas celebrations. The pupils (and staff) have coped admirably with changes to routines and some short notice rehearsals. Senior pupils have been patient and kind as they encourage younger pupils to learn their words, practise the songs and overcome stage fright. It is all coming together and we are looking forward to sharing the performance with you.

Student Teachers 

Schools are privileged to play a key role in the development of student teachers are they progress towards becoming fully qualified. This is a role we take very seriously as we contribute to the professional development of the next generation of teachers. Next week we welcome Ms Bryce and Ms Adam to Heathery Knowe PS. Both teachers will be with us next week and then back on the 7th January for a ten week placement. Whilst student teachers are in school, we will provide opportunities for them to be involved in all aspects of school life. Class Teachers have a key role in supporting the students each day and ensuring that the learning prepared is challenging and progressive and in line with the curriculum plan.  Mr Scott oversees all student placements.

Positive Playtime Steering Group

Mr Scott chaired the first meeting of the Positive Playtime Steering Group. The meeting was very well attended (Mr Scott always supplies high quality biscuits) and  it was good to see that pupils, parents and teachers are all working together to take forward school improvement in this area. The first task is to gather the views of parents and pupils and they will work on this before the next meeting in the new year.

Christmas Fair and Shop

The Christmas Fair will take place on Friday 7th December between 6.30-8.30pm.  There will be a wide range of stalls and activities on offer. Santa is coming along to see the children. Please come along and support the school. All funds raised are used to enhance pupil experiences.

The Christmas Shop will take place during the final week of school (17-21st December). Pupils have received a leaflet about this. All pupils are welcome to bring along £3 to purchase a gift which they can take home and place under the tree for someone else to receive.

SSPCA Visits 

Pupils will participate in workshops with the SSPCA on Monday. All classes will have an opportunity to engage in a discussion about the work of the charity and ways we care for animals.

Enrolment Week 

It may seem only a short while since we were welcoming our Primary Ones into school but it is now time to look forward to our pupils who will start with us in August 2019. Infant enrolment week is the week beginning 14th January.  On Wednesday 9th January, there will be an opportunity for parents to have a tour of the school and see our wonderful learning environment.  If you have friends or neighbours who have a child who will be 5 between 1st March 2019 and 28th February 2020 and they live in the catchment of Heathery Knowe PS then they would register with us or St Louise PS.

What’s on next week?

• 4th Year B.Ed students, Ellie Bryce and Kerry Adam, start at Heathery Knowe
• Friday – P6 – visit to church for Christmas Unwrapped
• Friday – P3 – visit to church for Christmas Cracker
• Friday – Christmas Fayre 6.30pm

Thank you for your continued support

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

It was short but very busy week for Heathery Knowe PS pupils. Primary 7 pupils visited Calderglen High School to participate in PE activities led by Sports Leaders. Mrs McGee, Miss Meek and Mrs French accompanied the pupils and were pleased that our pupils showed respect and an ability to work well with pupils from other schools.

Inset Day 

Rick Walsh (Educational Psychologist) led a session for staff on strategies to support learners, with a particular focus on Autistic Spectrum Disorder. As I carried out learning walks through the school this week, I could see that teachers were trying out some of the ideas and it was having a positive impact on learners. By focusing on using a wide range of strategies to ensure learners are calm and engaged, we will reduce anxiety and have increasingly settled behaviour in the classrooms.

Improving attainment in Numeracy 

The teaching staff have been focusing closely on improving attainment in Numeracy. Miss A. Harris is the Numeracy Co-ordinator and Miss Inglis is the lead practitioner for ‘Big Maths’. Big Maths is an approach used across the school to improve mental agility and quick recall of number facts.

We have made a significant investment in maths resources this year with the purchase of TeeJay maths. This will help support teachers develop a progressive framework for teaching maths and increased consistency across the school. Miss Harris will work alongside the Specialist Support Teacher to identify a suitable standardised assessment resource to enable teachers to target support to those who need it for numeracy.

Three members of staff have registered to participate in three day training on ‘Catch Up Numeracy’. This is a targeted programme to support learners  make accelerated progress in numeracy. Miss Harris, Mrs Robertson and Mrs Summers are looking forward to this.

Residential Experiences

We are reviewing the residential experiences offered to our pupils and there will be a parent survey available next to help us gather parent views. Currently, Primary 6 pupils have an opportunity to go to Ardentinny Outdoor Centre for 5 days and Primary 7 have an opportunity to go to Robinwood for 3 days. Our focus is ensuring that as many pupils as possible have the opportunity to enjoy a residential experience whilst making sure it is affordable for families.

Some of the options being considered by the school are:

• Only having a residential experience at Robinwood in Primary 7
• Using a closer outdoor centre in Primary 6 (e.g. Lockerbie Manor)
• Reducing the length of the Primary 6 residential experience to 3 days

Parental views will help us to plan ahead for the current Primary 4 and 5 children.

Pupil Wellbeing Survey 

The results of the pupil wellbeing survey have been analysed and 6 key areas have been identified as improvement priorities. The Junior Leadership Team will work alongside Mrs McGee to plan ways to improve. For each priority, there is a targeted improvement grade and all pupils will be asked to complete the survey again just before Spring break to measure the progress we are making.

Adverse Weather Planning 

On Wednesday 28th November at 9.15am, the Big Blether will focus on consulting parents on the adverse weather procedures. The guidelines will ensure that parents are fully aware the routes into school that will be cleared and gritted, procedures if the school needs to open late or close early and procedures to share information if the school is not able to open at all on a specific day. Whilst these decisions are often made at short notice and in response to rapidly changing weather conditions, a clear procedure and agreed communication should help with this.

Educational Excursions 

Primary 5 are visiting Calderglen High School on Wednesday to participate in a light and sound workshop with the Science Department. I am sure the pupils are really looking forward to their experience.

Room 4 are visiting Edinburgh Zoo as part of their Environmental Studies topic on Endangered Animals. We hope they have a lovely day with mild weather.

NSPCC Speak Out 

“Speak out, Stay safe” is a programme delivererd by the NSPCC to all South Lanarkshire schools. It aims to equip children with the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe from abuse and neglect. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline. Trained NSPCC volunteers and staff deliver an assembly and workshop with the help of our Speak out Stay safe mascot, Buddy the speech bubble.

This will take place in our school on Tuesday 27th November. 

The link below will provide more information about the programme and an information video for parents.

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/services/speak-out-stay-safe/

What’s on next week?

• Tuesday – Room 4 are visiting the zoo
• Wednesday – Big Blether parent meeting
• Wednesday – Primary 5 are visiting Calderglen High for a sicence workship
• Friday – Pupils are invited to wear something Scottish or tartan and bring a donation for the PTC Christmas Fayre tombola.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

As anti-bullying week comes to a close, we have very important messages to reflect on as we move forward. Thank you to pupils, parents and staff for engaging in conversations and sharing your views. Over the course of the week, 67 parents returned the parent surveys and 246 pupils completed the wellbeing questionnaire. The surveys will be completed again in May to measure the progress we are making.

Anti-bullying week marked the launch of our focus on kindness and respect and this is the start of the next part of the journey at Heathery Knowe PS to ensure that kindness and respect is the golden thread running through every aspect of school life.  This is a focus of school improvement that pupils and staff are undertaking with commitment and enthusiasm as we make short, medium and long term targets to promote positive relationships and behaviour and address any incidences of bullying or intolerance of others.

Wee Blether about Big Questions 

I have been working with senior classes to gather pupil views on aspects of school life. This week I had a ‘wee blether’ with Room 9 to gather their views on the question:

 “Are pupils at Heathery Knowe PS all treated fairly?”

 Initially most pupils defined fairness as everyone getting the same amount of the same thing but after discussing a range of scenarios we agreed that fairness at Heathery Knowe PS should be everyone getting the support they need rather than everyone getting the same. Room 9 will plan activities in small groups to share their views with other classes in school. This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to lead learning with others and to create a culture where we are improving together.

Next week I will visit Room 8 for another wee blether about a big question.

Big Blether 

Starting on Wednesday 28th November, there will be an opportunity for parents / carers to pop into school from 9.15-10.15am to have a ‘big blether’ in the staff room. This will provide a chance for parents to meet and chat with one another and also to share views on aspects of school improvement. This is a very informal weekly coffee session to meet and chat with other parents. If you need to discuss an aspect of your child’s experience at Heathery Knowe PS, please continue to make a separate appointment for this.

Cost of the School Day 

This week, South Lanarkshire Council Headteachers were challenged to reflect and reduce the costs associated with pupils attending school. For example, the cost of excursions, parties, shows, uniforms and residential trips.  This year, we issued information about Christmas events in advance to help families budget in advance.

Over the next few months we will be writing guidelines for our school. We will seek the views of parents to help with this.

Christmas Show 

Our Christmas show tickets are available to purchase from Tuesday 20th November from the school office. Tickets are limited to two per family. If we have additional tickets for sale then we will put them into a draw to ensure they are distributed fairly.

Inservice Day 

Rick Walsh (Educational Psychologist) will be leading staff in professional learning activities to extend the strategies used to support pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in school.  In the afternoon, teachers are reviewing the resources we use to teach numeracy and maths and developing the  way we use shared learning areas.

Primary 7 Changes

Parents of Primary 7 have already been informed that this large class will split into two smaller classes for the remainder of the school year. The ICT area is being used as a teaching area, now referred to as Room 11. Over the summer holidays, permanent adaptations are planned to reflect our increasing school roll and need for another class.

Computers have now been shared across the classes and a trolley of laptops will be used for whole class ICT lessons.

Room 11 will line up beside Room 6 and 7 each morning.

What’s on next week?

• Monday – Inservice day for staff
• Tuesday – I am meeting with St Louise Headteacher and ‘Champions for Change’ to discuss how the schools work to challenge sectarianism. This is a part of our golden thread of building a culture of respect and kindness.
• Wednesday – Managing Aggression and Potential Aggression (MAPA) training for the final group of staff

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

During session 2017/2018, Heathery Knowe PS community worked together to review the school vision, values and aims. This session, we are working to ensure that the values underpin everything we do at school. During session 2018/2019, the spotlight will be on kindness and respect. We aim to have a school culture and ethos where everyone is respected and diversity is celebrated. Next week is Anti- Bullying week and this a chance to promote choosing kindness and respect at all times.

Anti Bullying Week Parent Activities

During anti-bullying week, there will be a number of ways that you can engage with and support children learn about the importance of respecting others and celebrating diversity. Each day, pupils will be issued with a discussion prompt, question or short task to complete as part of their homework with a focus on choosing respect and kindness.

On Monday, a parent survey will be issued to gather views on the issues affecting Heathery Knowe PS, how well we are preventing issues arising and how well we are dealing with issues that do occur. The collated results of this will feed directly into the anti-bullying strategy for the school.

On Wednesday, Respect Me will run a parent workshop from 6.30-8.30om to which all parents are invited to attend. Please let us know if you plan to attend using the twitter link or tear off slip.

Prince William Award 

Primary 7 pupils are engaging with the Prince William Award. Through the Prince William Award young people build their character, resilience and confidence to empower them to “be their best”. There are five key themes:

• Personal Development: Building a foundation of inner strength
• Relationships: Looking at how individuals can be more effective by connecting with other people
• Working Together: Bringing people together to achieve a result that requires mental or physical strength
• Community: Helping young people to make a contribution to those around them
• Environment: Enabling young people to appreciate the world around them, so they can see a link with something beyond themselves.

This week, I am meeting with the area co-ordinator for the Prince William Award to evaluate the impact the wider achievement award is having on Primary 7 pupils.

Dynamic Youth Award

We are beginning to plan the implementation of Dynamic Youth Awards for Primary 6 and 7 pupils in the summer term. Youth Scotland’s Dynamic Youth Awards are a fun and engaging way to recognise and accredit young people’s achievements. Dynamic Youth awards are recognised by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The Awards follow a Plan-Do-Review process, which enables young people to more effectively recognise and articulate their learning and achievements within different contexts. This increases their self-esteem, improves motivation and keeps young people engaged with learning. Through self and peer assessment young people develop skills for learning, life and work. The Awards fully support the aims, values, purpose and implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.

Breakfast Club 

Breakfast Club runs from 8.15-8.45am each morning. At the moment, we rely on volunteers to ensure the breakfust club runs each day. If you are able to help, please contact the school to let us know. All volunteers need to have a Disclosure Scotland (PVG) check completed before they are able to supervise pupils in school.

21st Century Families: Play Club 

“21st Century Families is a registered charity in East Kilbride working with schools to promote happy, healthy children.  In previous sessions, Heathery Knowe PS has worked with 21st Century families to establish a play club  for children and their families to take part in activities like skipping, ball games, den building, arts and crafts, junk modelling, puppet making, storytelling, dressing up etc.

Unfortunately it has not been able to run so far this session. Mrs French will organise a meeting to explore the feasibility of restarting Play Club. We are aiming to relaunch this in January if there is enough interest and support from families.

You can find out more about the charity using the following link:

http://21stcenturyfamilies.org/

What’s on next week?

• Mrs French returns to work on Monday 12th November. We are all looking forward to welcoming her back to school.
• Anti Bullying week will run from 12-16th November
• Room 5 are leading our Children in Need charity events
• I will attend the curriculum conference on Tuesday with a focus on ‘Raising attainment for all’
• Co-operative Learning Consultants will meet with the SLT on Tuesday to discuss ways that we can promote collaboration in learning
• The third group of staff will participate in Managing Aggression and Potential Aggression (MAPA) training
• Respect Me parent workshop runs on Wednesday night from 6.30-8.30pm
• The school photographer will be in school on Friday  to take individual and family photographs. Pupils have been issued with a letter regarding this.

Thank you for your continued support

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

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

It was great to see everyone return after mid-term break feeling refreshed and ready to learn. After a brief chat about activities in the holiday week, all classes were full steam ahead with learning across the curriculum.

Christmas

Whilst it is very early to mention the ‘C’ word … pupils have been designing Christmas cards to bring home for you to consider placing an order with the print room to have them professionally produced. It is only 6 weeks now until our whole school Christmas show and classes will be beginning to prepare for this over the next couple of weeks. You should have received an information sheet via pupil post this week and in January we will ask you to provide feedback on our Christmas arrangements to help us prepare for next year. I am very mindful that it is an expensive time of year and we have tried to be careful about the cost of school events. Rather than a pantomime this year, South Lanarkshire Council libraries have organised a performance of ‘The Big Story’ and the cost of this will be covered by school fund.

Celebrating Wider Achievements 

Our pupils are always learning and we are delighted to be able to celebrate their success with them both within and outwith school. Our board in the waiting area is being redesigned to give visitors a flavour of the wider achievements and successes of pupils. Pupils have been invited to bring in a photograph of something they are proud to have achieved. It may be a photograph of a hobby or a personal target such as learning to ride their bike.

Attendance

As a school, our target attendance rate for this session is 95% and we are currently achieving 93%. A high levels of attendance at school is important for achievement and social development and many of the pupils have 100% attendance so far. If your child is going to be absent from school, please call and let us know why so that we can record the reason for absence. If we don’t hear from you then the office staff will text and telephone to check everything is ok.

Validated Self Evaluation (VSE)

On Wednesday and Thursday last week, a VSE team visited the school.  The purpose of a VSE is to provide feedback on the school’s improvement journey. We asked the team to visit all classes and provide feedback on pupil learning and engagement. The team visited each class twice to observe learning. In the next couple of weeks we will have the report and will be able to start planning the next step in the school’s journey.

Residential Experiences

The school has  offered a residential experience to  Primary 6 pupils (normally Ardentinny) for a number of years. There is also an option of attending Robinwood in Primary 7. These are both excellent experiences for pupils and develop team work and friendship in the senior stages.

The experiences be expensive and we are beginning to think about how we could support families to plan in advance for this. We are considering class fundraising at Primary 4 and 5 through enterprise activities  which would then reduce the cost for all pupils who would like to attend the Primary 6 residential experience.

Another option is to extend the payment plan using the school’s credit union system. Small payments throughout Primary 4 and 5 would be saved in the pupil’s individual credit union account to pay for the experience in Primary 6. If your child changed school or decided they did not want to attend, the money can be withdrawn from the credit union and used for any other purpose.

I will be in touch with Primary 4 and 5 parents over the next few weeks to provide more details of the ways we can support families plan for the experience

What’s on next week?

• The anti-bullying steering group will meet on 30th October.
• On 31st October, the first group of staff will participate in training on Managing Aggression and Potential Aggression (MAPA) as part of the work we are doing on promoting positive relationships and behaviour.
• Electives take on a halloween theme … please remember no masks in school.
• I will visit St Cuthbert’s to discuss curriculum planning and data analysis.
• The Halloween disco takes place on the 1st November.
• On Friday 2nd November, I will provide an interim report to the Council on the impact of the Pupil Equity Fund at Heathery Knowe PS.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

We have reached the October break which marks mid-term for everyone at the school.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone an enjoyable week off. School re-opens on Monday 22nd October at 9am.

Credit Union

This week I observed the Primary 6 and 7 pupils leading the credit union. I was delighted to see our Primary 7 pupils coaching the new credit union team and I am sure they are leaving it in safe hands. This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to develop skills for learning, life and work. The team showed professionalism and respect towards all our young savers, demonstrated confidence in numeracy and co-operation. If anyone would like to join the credit union then a form can be requested from the office. The credit union is open every Wednesday morning.

Twitter Update

We are continuing to use Twitter in place of Class Dojo to share information, news and learning updates. Some teachers have chosen to start their own class twitter feed and others are posting their class updates from the school account.

The following accounts are linked to Heathery Knowe PS:

• @knoweschool – Mrs Duff and the main school account
• @MrScott56294112 – Mr Scott (DHT)
• @HK_MrsHughes – Mrs Hughes – Flexible teacher
• @HK_MissDeans – Mrs Deans and Room 3
• @HK_MissHarris – Miss Harris and Room 5
• @HK_MissHouldsworth – Miss Houldsworth and Room 1
• @HK_MissInglis – Miss Inglis and Room 6
• @HK_MissWharton – Miss Wharton and Room 2

Teamwork and Friendship

Mrs Robertson is working hard with the senior football league to emphasise our values and promote teamwork and friendship. The pupils are designing logos and slogans to promote kindness and respect. This is an opportunity to work with our pupils to promote positive relationships and behaviour.

Harvest

Thank you to all pupils who donated items for our harvest table. The items will be delivered to the East Kilbride foodbank.

Nurture

Our nurture room is now set up and we look forward to welcoming children in to use it after the October break. Our photographs are on twitter. We are still looking for donations of fabric, toys and games to add to the resources in the room.

What’s on week beginning 22nd October?

• Teachers are participating in our Teacher Learning Communities to promote teaching and learning
• Our Validated Self Evaluation takes place on the 24th and 25th October. We look forward to welcoming the VSE team to Heathery Knowe PS.

Have a lovely holiday. Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff

The weeks are passing so quickly now and this was another very busy week at Heathery Knowe PS. We heard presentations from Primary 7 pupils standing for election as house captains and the voting will take place on Monday. A team of 16 Primary 6 pupils participated in sports leader training and will complete this training next week. Once they are trained, our young sports leaders will be organised into teams to offer sport experiences to our younger pupils in Primary 1-4. Our youngest pupils in the school now know their first six sounds and have revised them this week. It’s amazing to see how quickly they have settled and how confident they are with their learning.

Lunch Update

We have been planning ways to ensure lunch is a calm time for all pupils. Mr Scott has been working with the pupils to improve the lunch system and the revised system launched this week. Packed lunch box trolleys are now under the stairs or near classrooms so that pupils can drop off and pick up their lunch box at the same time as lining up. We hope this will help to make sure all lunch boxes go home every day.  Primary 1 and 7 are first sitting for lunch and come straight in. Primary 7 are then able to undertake leadership roles they have over lunch. Primary 2-3 are second sitting and line up outside straight away and come in as soon as Primary 1 and 7 are served. Primary 4-6 are third sitting so play first and line up when the bell rings at 12.45. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Scott and the pupils involved in the review. It all worked very smoothly this week.

Playground Update

We have now been operating a staggered morning interval for two weeks and are in a position to seek feedback from pupils, parents and staff about how well this is working. I supervise break time for older pupils and Mr Scott supervises the younger pupils. We have found the staggered break to be very helpful in ensuring there is time to speak with pupils and find out about their play activities along with being able to support and supervise pupils who find break times difficult. This minimises conflict in the playground as adults are able to intervene quickly to support young people to stay on track. I am not quite ready to play ‘buildy tig’ yet but I definitely understand the rules now!

Harvest

Room 10 have organised our harvest celebrations for Friday 12th October. Pupils are invited to wear autumn colours and bring a donation of a food item for our harvest table. All donations received will go to the East Kilbride  Foodbank.  This is a great opportunity for us to work with our pupils to raise awareness of local issues and to encourage our pupils to help others. This ties in with the wider themes of the school regarding citizenship and always ‘choosing kindness and respect’ for others.

School Improvement

The Senior Leadership Team have had a very busy week evaluating the school’s strengths and planning for improvement. We have had an opportunity to read each teacher’s forward plans, visit classes and analyse the attainment data available to use using Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

On the 24th and 25th October, the school will participate in Validated Self Evaluation (VSE). A VSE visit involves a team of people visiting our school to help us improve in a specific area. We have decided to focus on the theme of learning and teaching across the school. The VSE team is made up of two very experienced headteachers, our Quality Link Officer and me. Over the two days, we will visit each class at least once to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning. After the visit, we will have feedback and an action plan which will be used to improve teaching and learning.  I will share the key messages with parents following the visit. We are looking forward to participating in this process.

Scottish Attainment Fund 

This week I met with the Scottish Attainment Fund adviser for South Lanarkshire Council. Our school received £68, 000 to help us to close the attainment gap for pupils. The money we have received has been used to:

• Employ an additional teacher for the school. Miss Meek and Mr Loveday provide additional support to classes and individual pupils to improve attainment.
• Provide the Prince William award for Primary 7 pupils building wellbeing, teamwork, confidence and friendship
• Train two teachers as Tapestry leaders to improve approaches to teaching and learning across the school.
• Register for the nurturing school award, train two members of staff  and develop nurturing areas in all classrooms and open areas as well as converting the meeting room to a nurture room.
• Purchase a wide range of maths resources to promote numeracy and mathematics across the school.

Over the course of the year I will set up a consultative committee to focus on the way Scottish Attainment Fund money is allocated to priorities across the school. There will be an opportunity for parents to participate in this.  I will send more details after the October break.

Jotters Home 

For a number of years the school has sent jotters home twice a year for parents to look at and comment on. The way pupils learn in school is changing with an increasing focus on collaboration, active learning and discussion. In turn the way we record evidence of learning and progress has moved from recording in jotters towards photos, videos, teacher observation and group displays / presentations. In light of this we will be reviewing how we share your child’s learning journey with you. We will seek parent views on this as we review our process for recording each child’s progress in learning.

What’s on next week?

• I will attend the Headteacher meeting on Monday. The focus is School Improvement and the Scottish Attainment Fund.
• Pupils will elect house captains to work alongside the Junior Leadership Team.
• Harvest assembly takes place on 12th October. Pupils are invited to wear autumn colours and bring a donation to the food bank.
• Parent Consultation Evenings take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thank you for your continued support

Kind regards

Kirsty Duff