Coalsnaughton Primary School & Early Learning Centre
Newsletter
2020
Staffing
It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to our School Administrator. Mrs Laura Brown left us in November. Laura has taken up a post closer to home and we wish her well in her new role. An advert has gone out for the post and interviews are this week. Meanwhile, we have relief administrator cover and unfortunately, that means that the office is unmanned most of the time. Please leave a message on the answer phone, email or ask to speak with a member of staff and we will get back to you as soon as we can. (We are currently having issues with Class Dojo.)
I have interviewed and appointed a new Support for Learning teacher. Mrs Lynne Anderson will take up post in January. Lynne will work with us on a Wednesday.
Mrs Monk and Miss McLaughlin are both still absent and we are missing them both dearly.
A very warm welcome goes to Mrs Karen Smith, our new Early Intervention Team Worker. Karen works with groups of children in P1 & P2/3 on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Over the past term Jaki Reid, the local authority Health & Wellbeing PT has been working with us on Outdoor Learning on a Wednesday.
We have also been working with David Swain, one of the local authority PT’s for teaching & learning. David is helping us to develop Digital Literacy. David works with us on a Thursday and works in all our classes.
Our Virtual Halloween Costume Competition Winners It was a strange Halloween but we tried to make the most of it and the children enjoyed the Pumpkin Walk around the village.
Joint 1st Prize Rowan Davie P4/5 & Samuel Sherwood-Johnson (P2/3) Joint 2nd Prize Callan Munro (P1) & Jamie Munro (P2/3) 3rd Prize Millie Cameron (P1)
Our Virtual Pumpkin Competition Winners
1st Prize Aailyah Budd (P1) 2nd Prize Emily-Rose Aitchison (P2/3) Joint 3rd Prize Faith Forrester (P4/5) & Mr Gardiner
Thank you to everyone for all the lovely photos and the effort that you all made.
November Headteacher Awards Well done to: P1
- Amber Robertson P2/3 – Tyler Weir P4/5 – Zoe McLaren P5/6/7 – Kimberly Watt
December Headteacher Awards Well done to: P1 - Alexander Breingan P2/3 – Blake Nelson P4/5 – Mason Seath P5/6/7 – Logan Martin These children have demonstrated one or more of our school values: Ambition, Kindness, Respect, Perseverance and Responsibility. The children were invited to Tea with Mrs C!
Attendance
As many of you will be aware I monitor attendance regularly throughout the year. Regular attendance at school means that your child can make the most of their education and improve their chances in adult life. School can also help your child’s social skills such as making and developing friendships. A regular and punctual attendance pattern will help your child when they enter the world of work. The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear. The more a pupil is in school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential. Our school aim is to have attendance above 95%. Any child with an attendance below 90% is monitored monthly, letters are sent out and meetings are held. In extreme cases we do refer to the Children’s Reporter. In school we are encouraging good attendance and our local authority motto is ‘Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow’
Late Children Schools are legally required to take a register of pupils first thing in the morning and in the afternoon. Punctuality is important because if, for example, a child arrives 15 minutes late at school each day, they lose almost 2 weeks of education a year. If your child is late then they must report to myself. I ask why they are late and check that they have had breakfast. We are monitoring the late comers and will contact parents if children are persistently late.
Health Promotion and Nutrition-Guidance: Soft/Sugary drinks As part of a Health Promoting School community all staff have a responsibility to create a positive environment where children and young people learn about and adopt the benefits of healthy eating and drinking. The Scottish Government's aim of a Healthier Scotland, the Schools Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007, ensures that all schools contribute to this aim by focusing on the importance of diet and health promotion. https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/238187/0065394.pdf To comply with this legislation, we must encourage and help children to choose healthy food and drink and learn more about what being healthy means for them. At Coalsnaughton we want to ensure that our whole school community is familiar with this guidance and aware of the implications within the act, particularly in relation to sugary soft drinks. The guidance highlights the following:
sugary soft drinks provide little in nutritive value except calories from sugars
sugars can contribute to tooth decay.
the excess consumption of sugary soft drinks also imbalances the diet, which in turn may displace important nutrients in the diet or may contribute to weight gain.
consumption of sugar free varieties of drink (e.g. sugar-free/diet fizzy drinks and flavoured waters), can also contribute to tooth erosion because of the acid nature of these drinks (e.g. from acidic flavourings).
Energy drinks are not allowed.
All our children have access to drinking water during learning and teaching time. During class time children should only drink pure, fresh water. Diluting juice and flavoured waters are not be allowed. During break and lunch times we encourage our children to make positive choices. Please help us to make sure that all our children are aware of the importance of healthy eating and drinking. The leaflet, "Healthy at school, healthy for life", provides more information on the Health Promotion and Nutrition legislation https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/238187/0065394.pdf
Family Supports for Children and Young People
Some children may be suffering from anxiety and may be displaying more challenging behaviours. The link below will take you to the FLIPClacks.org parents’ mental health and wellbeing directory. https://sites.google.com/cl.glow.scot/health-and-wellbeing-directory/home It contains a range of information and resources about how to support your child with common mental health problems such as anxiety, as well as links to other organisations who might be able to offer support. The site is maintained and updated as new information becomes available so it is worth checking in on every so often. Support for People who are Self-Isolating Clackmannanshire Council can provide support for anyone who is told to self- isolate. There is a support grant of up to £500 for people on low incomes to help them selfisolate. You can find that information here - https://www.clacks.gov.uk/coronavirus/supportsicv/
Clackmannanshire Education Service - Counselling in Schools Service Clackmannanshire Education Service and Wellbeing Scotland are working in partnership to provide support for children and young people who are experiencing mental health and wellbeing issues. Counselling in Schools is a universal service available to all 10 – 18 year old pupils in Clackmannanshire and each Secondary School has the equivalent of one, full time counsellor on site. Counsellors are also available to support Primary Schools and ASN Settings. Counsellors are professionally qualified and registered offering focused, longer- term support for issues such as trauma, depression, anxiety, bereavement, loss and separation. They offer a confidential, one-to-one service in school or remotely, with the service being available during the school holidays. Referrals for counselling are made directly to Wellbeing Scotland by the school. At Coalsnaughton we are so lucky because we have our own dedicated counsellor, Margo Campbell. Margo is based in our school on a Friday and works with children across our
school from P1- P7. Parent Club Parent Club is a digital information resource, support hub and online community from the Scottish Government. From bedtime battles to teatime tantrums, you can tap into the best parenting tips from those who have done it all before. https://www.parentclub.scot/
Scottish Child Payment from the Scottish Government The Scottish Government are introducing a new Scottish Child Payment for low-income families with children under six. On 3 November 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People announced that Scottish Child Payment will open for applications from 9 November with the first payments beginning from the end of February 2021. The Tackling Child Poverty delivery plan set out a commitment to 'work towards introducing an income supplement within the lifetime of the delivery plan'. The Plan runs from 2018 to 2022. https://www.gov.scot/policies/social-security/scottish-child-payment/
A Huge Thanks I would like to say a HUGE thanks to staff, our families and our children. It has not been an easy term. We are continually reviewing our COVID Risk Assessment. Staff and the children have been amazing following the hygiene rules and protocols. This has contributed to our school remaining open and our school family remaining safe and healthy! Well done Team Coals!
Christmas Arrangements Due to COVID restrictions this year things are very different in the school and the Early Learning Centre.
Unfortunately there will be no Christmas Dinners we will be continuing with the normal menu.
We have asked that there is no exchanging of Christmas Cards to minimise the risk of any infection.
We are always over whelmed by your kindness at Christmas. This year we ask that rather than spend money on gifts for our staff you use the money to treat your families. The best gift that you can give us is that we all remain COVID free.
Instead of a Christmas Party the children will have a ‘Chill Christmas Day’ on the morning of Wednesday 23rd December. They will have juice, crisps and a sweet. The teachers are planning Christmas related activities.
The school will close on Wednesday 23rd December – 1.00 p.m. for P4/5 & P5/6/7 & 1.05 p.m. P1 & P2/3. The Early Learning Centre will close at 3.00 p.m.
Dates for Your Diary Wednesday 23rd December – School closes at 1.00 p.m. (P4/5 & P5/6/7) & 1.05 p.m. P1 & P2/3. Early Learning Centre closes at 3.00 p.m. Thursday 24th December 2020 – Thursday 7th January 2021 – Christmas Holidays Thursday 14th January – 6 p.m. Google Meet P1 Enrolment Session Details to follow! Friday 30th January – Non-uniform Day
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Have a safe and happy holiday. See you in the New Year! Kind regards and much love
Colleen x
Colleen ClarkBurns (Headteacher)