Coalsnaughton Primary School
Newsletter September 2016
Welcome back! It has been a very busy and hectic start to our new term. The last three weeks have flown by. We have lots of exciting news to share! Standards and Quality Report 2015/2016 We have had a very productive year, lots to be proud of and I am confident that we will build on this throughout this new session. I have enclosed the Standards and Quality Report for you to read. This document is a legal requirement and it summarises the progress made by the school. Please feel free to return the tear off slip to the school with any comments. I will also put a copy at the front entrance and in the parents folder in the Nursery parents area. Questionnaires During last term we issued questionnaires to all our families, partner agencies and staff. These were very positive. It is evident from the responses that as a school community we are moving forward and that we are working hard to improve the outcomes for all our pupils. Thank you to all of the families that took the time to respond. The winners of our draw will receive a small gift and are as follows: School Questionnaire – Brandyn & Bruke Kane, Rachael Wallace & Katie Munro. Action Points to consider from the responses: 
More games in the playground and perhaps painted games on the tarmac.
More opportunities for Music and Art. More notice for letters and events.
Nursery Questionnaire - Cerys Murphy, Ross McNab & Zoe McLaren. Action Point to consider:
More time for feedback for children/parents.
Primary Seven Prom Many thanks to the parents, staff and the staff at the Village Hall in particular Nikki, Michelle and Maggie. We have now had three Proms and the children all had a great time. The children all looked fantastic! Leah, Elle, Josh, Nicholas, Charlene, Katie, Lee, Sean, Keiran, Josh Orr, Aimee and Kelly have all settled in well to Alva Academy and we wish them all the best! I am sure that they will all thrive.
Class of 201
Prom King Sean & Queen Elle
Our Children
Staffing We are saying a warm welcome to eight new staff members! Miss Sian Livingston is now a permanent member of our staff team and is our P1/2 class teacher this session. Miss Stella McLaughlin is our P3/4 class teacher and our Acting Principal Teacher Mrs Claire Stephen has moved on with the P5 class and is our P5/6/7 class teacher. Miss McGill has returned from maternity leave and is with us as an Attainment Teacher on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs Claire McDowell has joined us on a temporary basis until June 2017 and she is an Attainment Teacher and works Thursday and Friday. Both Attainment teachers will be instrumental in supporting raising attainment across the school in numeracy and literacy. We said a sad farewell to two of our Learning Assistants at the end of last term, Miss Emma Lindsay and Mrs Margo Breckenridge. Both ladies have settled well in their new schools. Taking over from the ladies we welcome Mrs Arlene Fraser and Mrs Jackie Bryne. Last Thursday we said hello to our new Support for Learning teacher Miss Karen Robinson. Miss Robinson will be with us every Thursday. Mrs Gwyneth Murchison joins our team as the new permanent Nursery Teacher. Mrs Melanie Wilton, Early Years Worker, remains on our team and now works full day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Miss Claire Dempster, Early Years Worker, joins us on a Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. We also are awaiting the arrival of Ms Denece Moffat who will be working in our Nursery to allow us to accommodate our Nursery children full day. Mrs Wilma Wilson continues five mornings a week as our Senior Early Years Worker and we welcome Miss Lorna Fulton as a new Senior Early Years Worker in the afternoons. Lorna will be starting with us after the October break. Nursery As many of you will be aware our Nursery/P1 shared area has undergone a transformation. We now have a dedicated changing area and a child friendly kitchen area. Many thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at the authority for project managing the project. Please pop in for a look. Music Lessons Two of our Primary Two pupils are learning the violin and are having weekly lessons with a visiting specialist, Miss Mairi Hunter.
Art and P.E Lessons We are lucky as a school to have a dedicated Art Specialist, Mrs Peden and a P.E. Specialist Mr Ward. Mrs Peden delivers an hour long session of art every week to all classes and Mr Ward helps us to deliver two hours of physical activity for every pupil every week. Bagpipes Mr Logan Tannock is our council bagpipes tutor and currently has space in his timetable. If any senior pupils (Primary Four – Seven) are interested please contact Mrs ClarkBurns for information.
Education City As many of you will be aware Education City is an online resource that is aligned to our core curriculum. We have subscribed to Education City for the next year and have bought in the components for Mathematics & Numeracy, English, French and Science. Miss McGill is organising log-ins for all our pupils and that will allow them unlimited access to educational games and resources. These can be personalised and differentiated to meet their individual needs. The children will be able to access this in class and at the homework club.
As well as being able to access this in school, we have set up home access for all the children. Teachers may set tasks or the children can use this resource independently to continue their learning anytime and anywhere. Studies have shown that this resource can improve children’s educational performance so we will be encouraging our children to use it regularly!
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.
Scottish Attainment Challenge We are entering our second year of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. As part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge all schools in Clackmannanshire are working hard to raise attainment and close the equity gap to give our children the highest quality learning experiences. In Coalsnaughton Primary we are working hard to improve attainment in reading, writing and numeracy. Our volunteer, Doreen Gauld works in our school two mornings a week and is helping us run the library and in taking forward children’s enjoyment in reading. All classes are timetabled for a library visit for 30 minutes once a week. The children in Primary One, Two and Three are all taking part in a school based Reading Challenge. We have registered the children in Primary Four to Seven to take part in the First Minister’s Reading Challenge. Children across the other primary stages have been identified and Miss McGill and Mrs McDowell will be working with them. They will be providing targeted support to close the gaps in numeracy and literacy. We are revisiting our Clasrroom Literacy Rich audits. All our classes are continuing to work on making improvements to all our learning environments. Our school is benefitting from taking part in the Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport initiative funded by the Attainment Challenge. Our children are benefitting from an increased involvement in Sporting activities and initiatives. Our pupils and staff work closely with the Active Schools co-ordinator, Alison Mackie, and our P.E. specialist, Mr Andy Ward, and I am extremely proud to announce that we have just achieved our GOLD SportsScotland Award!!!!! Further information about the Attainment Challenge in Clackmannanshire can be found at:
Twitter : @act_clacks
Email The Attainment Challenge Team: actclacks@glowschools.org.u
Clacksweb: https://t.co/0QHpnv1lWA
Twitter A reminder that we are on Twitter, So follow us and keep up to date with our latest news.
School Website
Miss McGill will be overseeing our website and you can access our website using the following web address. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/cl/coalsnaughton/ HMIE Update We worked hard last session on developing our curriculum with Mr Angus Black (Quality Improvement Officer) and Miss Debra Coan (Development Officer). We are implementing our core package for Numeracy and Literacy, our first year Strategic Curricular Overview and our Social Studies pathway this term. Mrs Carolyne McDaid continues to provide invaluable support and we will be working with Mrs Sally Kennedy in preparation for our return inspection in November this year. Our Education Scotland Action Plan is displayed in the school on the noticeboard at the bottom of the Headteacher’s staircase. I report on the Action Plan progress at the Parent Council Meetings. Please feel free to pop in and have a look. I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Parent Council All our parents provide invaluable support to our school. That support comes in many ways. We value all our parent body and this year we would really like to have more parents engage with the school. The current Parent Council will be surveying you shortly to see if you would be willing to take a more formal role within the school as a member of the Parent Council. They will also be asking for suggestions as to when and how we can arrange meetings to maximum attendance. The existing Parent Council will be meeting on Wednesday 21st September at 9.00 a.m. to prepare a questionnaire and organise the first meeting. Meet the Teacher This event took place last Wednesday. If you were unable to attend and would like to meet your child’s teacher please contact the school and we will arrange a meeting for you. The response from those who attended was positive. Developing the Young Workforce We have recently appointed a number of Senior Pupils as Pupil Administrators. They cover the school office at break times and lunch. They have been trained in answering the telephone, taking messages, answering the main door and in supporting visitors to the school. Please be patient with them as they are trying hard to carry out their duties to the best of their ability!
Sporting News Primary Seven - Skiing Primary Seven and I have been attending ski lessons at the Fir Park Ski centre on a Thursday morning. These are going extremely well and I am amazed at the group’s determination and perseverance. Fun Fours A number of our Primary Four and Five pupils attended the Fun Four Football festival last Friday. Cross Country A group of senior pupils are taking part in the county Cross Country league over the next three weeks after school. Many thanks to Alison Mackie, Andy Ward and our Active School Team. Without their support we would not be able to offer such a range of opportunities. 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.
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.
Dates for your Diary Friday 30th September – Non-Uniform Day Friday 30th September – 10 a.m. – 11.30 a.m. MacMillan Coffee Morning Thursday 6th October – 11.00 a.m. Harvest Assembly (Village Hall) Monday 10th – Friday 14th October – October Holiday
Kind regards
Colleen ClarkBurns (Headteacher)