Coalsnaughton Primary School
Newsletter March/April
Well folks, it has been an extremely quick and busy term for us all. I cannot believe that we are at the end of the first week of the Easter holidays already!
Staff and our Families I want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to the staff in the school and our families. You have been amazing and are doing your upmost to keep our children and our community safe and sound.
Headteacher Awards Well done to:
February Awards
March Awards
P1 Liliana Gulbinska P2/3 Georgie Dunn P4/5 Anya Grant P5/6/7 Neeve Grant
P1 Tate Minty P2/3 Samuel Sherwood-Johnson P4/5 Lacey Martin P5/6/7 William Murphy
Parent Evenings/Consultations We traditionally have two Parent Evenings in November and two Parent Evenings in March. Unfortunately, due to COVID we have not been able to have these. In November, all P1 & P7 parents and parents who requested a meeting were given a telephone consultation. We have been carrying out virtual meetings with the parents of pupils who are on Staged Intervention this term and we only have a few of these to complete. Week beginning Monday 10th May we will be offering phone consultations to all parents. We will send a Google Form out to you for you to complete to request a 10 minute phone consultation with your child’s teacher or myself.
Primary 1 Transition Questionnaire Can all our current P1 parents please take the time to complete the Google Form that I have put on Class Dojo? Your feedback is extremely important to us. That will inform our P1 Transition process next term.
Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) This is additional funding which is allocated to schools and has to be used to close the poverty related attainment gap. The Scottish Government has committed to this funding as part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme for a few years now. Schools receive £1200 each pupil in Primary 1 – S3 who receive Free School Meals. The money is allocated according to how many pupils are eligible and are registered for free school meals. That is why it is so important that if you have a child who is eligible, please register in order that we receive our full entitlement as a school. Even if your child is in P1-3 and receives a free meal. If you register you are then entitled to a clothing grant and free breakfast club. Next session our school has been allocated £32,251. The funding is intended to allow schools to deliver activities, interventions or resources which are clearly additional to those which were already planned. The aim is to make improvements in Literacy, Numeracy and Health & Wellbeing for our children. We need to work with you, our children, cluster schools and our partners to plan how we are going to use the money that our school has been allocated. This will be discussed at the next Parent Council meeting.
COVID Update Just a wee reminder of the FACTS Campaign:
Face Coverings
Avoid Crowded Places
Clean your Hands Regularly
Two Metre Distance
Self- Isolate and book a test if you have symptoms.
Families may be entitled to a self- isolation payment if they are experiencing loss of earnings through self- isolation (this includes caring for a child who is self-isolating). In order to qualify, the family must present a copy (electronic preferred) of the selfisolation letter issued by schools. This letter must be personalised with the name of the child required too self- isolate. https://www.clacks.gov.uk/coronavirus/supportsicv/
Litter Picking
I have been out at breaks and lunchtimes with the younger children, and we have been doing a lot of litter picking in the school grounds over the past month. We have disposed of a lot of litter. During the holidays, my young litter apprentices, Callan and Jamie Munro, have been continuing with this so a HUGE big thank you to them. A HUGE thank you also goes to one of our Dad’s, David Budd and Aaliyah in P1. They have been supporting litter picking in the school grounds in the evenings for us.
The litter in the village is also a concern and seems to have increased over the past months. The pupils are looking to organise a Coalsnaughton Clean Up in the summer term and we would love it if you would all join in with this, even doing your own garden and street paths. More details to follow.
We are looking for some volunteers to help smarten up our school grounds. With the summer months approaching we were hoping to enlist some volunteers to help us.
Phase 1: The Nursery Entrance
We are looking for some volunteers to help us weed and sweep the area and to paint the wall. This would allow us to utilise the planting space and set up a gardening group.
We are also looking for some help to weed the main playground, dig the area at the front of the school, shown above and do a bit of planting. If you have a keen interest in gardening or could support us in any way, please contact Laura MacMillan our ELC Senior or myself.
Bikeability
Well done to our P5 pupils for completing their Level 1 Bikeability training!
Monday 19th April – PUPIL Return to school & ELC Thursday 29th April 1.30 p.m. Virtual New P1 Parent Transition Meeting Parent Council Meeting TBA Friday 30th April - Non-Uniform Day Monday 3rd May – Holiday Week Beginning Monday 10th May – Parent/Pupil Telephone Consultations Friday 25th June – Last Day of Term. School closes 1 p.m. May I take this opportunity to thank you all again for your continued support and for keeping all our children safe and sound! Enjoy the rest of the holiday with your families and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday 19th April. Kind regards
Colleen x
Colleen ClarkBurns (Headteacher)