Coalsnaughton Primary School
Newsletter
August 2017 Welcome Back Everyone! I hope that you have all had a great summer. The weather has not been great over the summer but I am sure that you have all enjoyed the well-earned break. It is lovely to be back and a real delight to see all the children in their lovely new uniforms and keen to start the new school year. It is hard to believe we have completed our first week. We have had technical difficulties since returning on Monday - no internet access or phones and our printers have been off-line. Our school administrator, Mrs Duncan, is unfortunately absent due to ill health. We are really missing her and are trying hard to keep on top of the many jobs that she does for us. Please be patient with us as communication may be a little slower than normal! Staffing As you know our school is going from strength to strength and that is due to the commitment of the staff, our partner agencies, the children and yourselves! There are only a few minor changes to our staff team this session. We have a new cleaner/carertaker in school Annette Rae. Annette has worked exceptionally hard over the holidays and the school is sparkling! We can’t thank her enough! A big welcome back to Joan our cook. We all missed her greatly during her absence prior to the summer holidays and it is great to see her back with us. Many thanks to Pauline, Fiona and Caroline from Class Cuisine for holding the fort in Joan’s absence.
Our classes for this session are: Primary 1/2 – Miss Livingston Primary 3/4/5 - Miss McLaughlin Primary 6/7 – Miss McGill Ms Robinson our Support for Learning teacher has had a period of absence due to ill health. Mrs Seeruttun, however, will support us until Ms Robinson’s return. Our art teacher one day a week will continue to be Mrs Peden. We are awaiting the appointment of a P.E. Specialist. In the meantime, Mr Ward will continue to deliver P.E. to all three classes until the October holidays. There has been no change to our learning assistants. Mrs Hepburn, Mrs Fraser and Mrs Byrne remain with us. We welcome Kelsie McAlpine, an Early Years Intervention Team worker to the staff team. Kelsie will mainly work with Nursery to Primary three pupils but will also have a family support worker role. The Nursery team remains the same - Mrs Murchison (Nursery Teacher), Mrs Wilson (Senior Early Years Worker), Miss Fulton (Senior Early Years Worker), Mrs Wilton (Early Years Worker), Miss Dempster (Early Years Worker) and Mrs Moffat (Learning Assistant). Primary Seven Prom Many thanks to the parents and staff who made this event possible it was a great evening and the children thoroughly enjoyed it! As always, the hall looked amazing! Kate McLaren was crowned Prom Queen and Billy McLaren Prom King.
We wish Alex, Amy, Billy, Brandyn, Kate, Kane and Laura, all the best at High School. I am sure they will all do well!
Breakfast Club We are lucky to have our breakfast club in place doors open at 8.30 a.m. and the last breakfast served is 8.45 a.m. The cost of a breakfast is 85p and children who are entitled to free school lunches are entitled to a free breakfast. The club is well attended and it is a great start to the day for the children. Free School Meals and Clothing Grants If you are in receipt of child benefit and any other benefit you may be entitled to free school meals and a clothing grant. We have application forms and Kelsie our Family Worker can help anyone requiring support in their completion. Alternatively, you can access the application forms on the Clackmannanshire Council website. All Primary 1, 2 and 3 pupils automatically receive a free lunch but if the free school meals application is completed they can receive free breakfast and milk. Dinner Money Just a reminder that all dinner money needs to be paid on the day that the child is having lunch or in advance. A school meal costs ÂŁ2.00. Milk Money Cartons of milk are available to children. The cost of milk is ÂŁ1.05 a week and again milk needs to be paid in advance. Attendance Reminder If your child is absent from school please contact the school as early as possible on the first day of absence to advise us of this. If we do not hear from you before 9:30 we will contact you by telephone to ensure your child is safe and well. Thank you to all parents/carers who have telephoned the school to advise us of absences in the past. We appreciate your full co-operation. It is important that we improve our attendance and that all pupils arrive at school on time. Last session our attendance figures were below the acceptable average figures nationally and within Clackmannanshire. I will continue to monitor attendance monthly with the school attendance officer, Mrs Stalker. It is really important that children are in school as much as possible. If they are not in school we cannot teach them and make a difference to their attainment!
Procedures for Administering First Aid Should your child injure themselves during school hours and they require first aid from one of our first aiders, a small note will be completed and given to the child to take home to inform you of the injury and the treatment administered. The school will contact you immediately should a more serious injury occur. We will also contact you if your child has had a toileting accident. Medication We are only allowed to give medication to pupils who have been prescribed it from a doctor. If your child has been prescribed medication you will need to come into school and meet with our first aider to complete a consent form. We are not allowed to give any other medication e.g. cough mixture, paracetamol etc. If you have any issues or concerns please speak to our first aiders Mrs Hepburn or Mrs Wilson. Parent Council Our Parent Council continues to grow in strength and I would like to thank the parents who sat on the council last year for all their help and support. Everyone has worked hard to support our youngsters and allow us to provide experiences for them that we would be unable to do without the time, effort and support from the Parent Council. Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 7th September at 6.00 p.m. in the school. Come along and join us. We are looking for more parents to join our existing group. We have some parents who are unable to make the meetings but help out in the school or at events. If you are interested in doing this please pop in and see me or give me a ring. Nursery Garden Development We are planning to install a giant sandpit with a pulley system, sensory planting area, grass landscaping, develop our woodland area and create a willow den. Mrs Wilton has been busy securing funding for this and we have also been lucky to be accepted by Tesco Alloa initiative, Bags of Help.
We are one of three community groups in Clackmannanshire who have been shortlisted to receive a cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to
the store to vote for who they think should take away the top grant. Voting opens on Friday 1st September until Tuesday 31st October. We are looking for volunteers to help. We would like to tackle the nursery entrance and spruce it up a bit. We are looking for ideas! Mrs Wilton will be co-ordinating the tidy up and lots of tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided for our volunteers! Annual Calendar I am in the process of finalising dates with the staff and this will be with you shortly. Annual Questionnaires Many thanks to those of you who returned the annual questionnaire for our school and/or Nursery. The responses were very positive. The only issue to arise was developing the playground further for the children. The Lucky Dip Winners for the School Questionnaires: Summer, Heather Gillespie and Kirsty Macaulay. The Lucky Dip Winners for the Nursery Questionnaires: Claire McNab, Sarah Smith and Nicola Sharkey. Each of the lucky winners will receive a small surprise! Class Dojo All the classes are setting up Class Dojo. Class Dojo is a simple, free mobile app for iOS and Android mobiles – it can also be accessed from a computer at www.classdojo.com. The class teachers will be sending out letters to invite you to join Class Dojo. Class Dojo is the most popular classroom management app in the U.S.! It is safe and simple for everyone to use. It encourages important skills like working hard and participating. Class teachers can instantly share messages, updates and photos from the classroom.
You can learn more at www.classdojo.com/LearnMore.
Meet the Teacher You will have the opportunity to meet your child’s new teacher on Thursday 7 th September at 3.05 p.m. Please pop along.
Twitter A reminder that we are on Twitter @ Coalsnaughton PS, so follow us and keep up to date with our latest news.
Head Lice As the new term begins, a reminder to be vigilant and check your child’s hair. This is a common problem in every school and the only way we will keep these determined creatures at bay is to ensure that we check our child’s hair and ensure that long hair is tied up. Active Schools Programme We have a programme of Active Sports Clubs in place from now until December. On offer we have gymnastics, basketball, football, cross country, multi-sports, badminton, extreme dodgeball and tag/touch rugby. A flyer was issued at the start of term and a copy can be found on our Health & Wellbeing board. Dates for your Diary Thursday 7th September – 3.05 p.m. - Meet the Teacher Friday 29th September – Non-Uniform Day Friday 29th September – 10 a.m. – 11.30 a.m. MacMillan Coffee Morning Thursday 5th October – 11.00 a.m. Harvest Assembly (Village Hall) Monday 9th – Friday 13th October – October Holiday
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to give me a call or pop in. Kind regards
Colleen ClarkBurns (Headteacher)