The pupils and staff have enjoyed a busy week in school. Most classes are undertaking assessments of children’s progress at the mid – point of the year which will help teachers to plan for the remainder of the session. Teachers are also writing annual reports for parents and they will be issued on Friday 3rd April.<\/p>\n
The PTC kindly donated \u00a3300 to support the purchase of classroom resources. I would like to extend our thanks for the ongoing support from the PTC and parents who support fundraising events. Mrs Kane is organising a resource order with whiteboard pens for pupils at the top of the list.<\/p>\n
Monitoring during indoor breaks\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We have revised the procedures for indoor breaks in school in response to feedback from pupils and staff and monitoring incidents of unsettled behaviour. Pupils in Rooms 1-3 continue to be monitored by Primary 7 pupils with a supervising staff member working between Rooms 1-2. Classrooms 3-4, 6-7 and 8-9 are monitored by a member of staff working between each of the two neighbouring rooms. Classrooms 5 and 10 are monitored by a member of staff in the room.<\/p>\n We will review this once again at the Spring Break and seek both pupil and staff views about the new arrangements.<\/p>\n St Andrew’s First Aid\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Health and Wellbeing Working Group organised a first aid day for learners. St Andrew’s First Aid trained volunteers came into school and taught children how to respond in an emergency including putting someone in the recovery position, checking their breathing and providing CPR if required.<\/p>\n At Heathery Knowe, we are continuing to expand the curricular experiences offered to learners to incorporate life skills and develop confident citizens.<\/p>\n Thank you to St Andrew’s First Aiders for giving up their time to support our learners.<\/p>\n Walking Bus<\/span><\/p>\n “A Walking Bus is highly visible and supervised by trained adults, which reassures parents who are concerned about letting their child walk to school on their own. Parents will also find that they have extra time in their days as they don\u2019t have to do the \u2018school run\u2019.<\/p>\n The benefits of a Walking Bus are not only visible on our roads but also in our children \u2013 research has proven that they are more alert when they get to school and are more ready to learn after walking to school, there are great benefits to their health, they gain invaluable social experience by interacting with their peers on the journey to school and they also achieve a greater sense of citizenship and the community as they begin to look more closely at their environment. Not to mention the important road safety skills they learn by walking to school. It\u2019s also great fun – the list is endless.”<\/p>\n The Heathery Knowe PS Junior Road Safety Team have written a letter to parents:<\/p>\n D<\/strong>ear Parent\/ Carer,<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In an effort to ease congestion around both schools as well as improving pupil\u2019s fitness, we are considering setting up a \u2018Walking Bus\u2019.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A Walking Bus is a group of children walking together to school under the supervision of trained adults \u2013 a \u2018driver\u2019 and a \u2018conductor\u2019. The children are picked up at designated \u2018bus stops\u2019 along the route and walk to school together.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Routes will be established along those roads most used by our pupils, depending on the level of interest from parent\u2019s and also parent’s willingness to volunteer as drivers and conductors.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n We are trying to find out whether or not this suggestion has your support, so if you would be interested please complete the following online questionnaire.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n