Safe Honesty Respect Healthy Teamwork

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back after what was a lovely summer, hopefully everyone has returned well rested. We extend a warm welcome to the children starting in Primary 1 and other classes across the school. We are delighted to welcome new families as they join in our school community. We operate an open-door policy and would encourage you to keep us informed of any changes that may impact on your child at school. Ideally concerns discussed promptly can often restore matters quickly and allow us to provide prompt support. It has been a very busy start to the year but already the new Primary 1 pupils have settled in well and already becoming familiar with the routines. We hope this will be an exciting and rewarding year for everyone at Anderston Primary.

From Monday 27th August, the Primary 1 pupils will be in school until 3pm. School Uniform

Children are strongly encouraged to wear school uniform. Wearing school uniform promotes a feeling of belonging to the school and pride in being a member of the school community.

Our uniform includes:

Black/Grey skirt/trousers White shirt / Anderston Tie Anderston Polo ShirtAnderston School Cardigan or Sweatshirt

P.E Kit: polo shirt /t-shirtshorts

Indoor shoes must be worn in school.

Staffing

We would like to welcome to our school, two new probationer teachers; Mrs Dunbar and Mr Terris who will be with us for this session. Congratulations to Miss O’Keeffe on her recent marriage. She will be using her married name and will be known as Mrs Cunningham. The classes are as follows:-

Anderston Primary SchoolAugust 2018

Primary 1 - Mrs McGloughlin

Primary 1/2 - Mrs Cunningham

Primary 2 - Mrs Cameron

Primary 3 - Mrs Dunbar

Primary 4 - Mrs Patterson

Primary 5/6 - Mr Terris

Primary 6/7 - Ms Cain

Nurture Teacher - Mrs McCann

Ms Tierney will be covering NCCT and support for learning while Mrs Chalmers is with us three days a week supporting children who have English as an Additional Language. Mrs Lockwood is on maternity leave and will return next year.

Communication

I have attached an information sheet again about the Groupcall Xpressions App which gives you information about how we will be communicating. This was set up last session, however, there were ‘teething’ problems which have now been rectified. As of week beginning 3rd September, we will be using this form of communication where you will receive texts and messages through this app. All letters and newsletters will also be emailed as attachments. Please ensure that you have given the office an updated mobile number and email address and

downloaded this app in order to receive any communication.

Attendance

If your child will not be attending school for any reason, please contact the attendance line on 0141-287-0039 before 9am. There is now a new online option for Parents/Carers to report a pupil’s absence. Please follow the link below to access this form.

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/pupilabsence

“Fuel Zone’ is the catering service provided in all Glasgow Primary and Secondary Schools. The service is provided by Cordia who are part of Glasgow City Council. All primary 1-4 children can enjoy a free lunch, while primaries 5-7 can receive a three course meal with a drink for £1.90. All pupils are entitled to free milk.

The menu can be accessed by the link on our school website www.anderston-pri.glasgow.sch.uk.

Cordia also run the Breakfast Club from 8am until 8.45am. The cost of the breakfast is £2.00.

Playtime Snacks

Please provide your child with a healthy playtime snack to eat at interval time. Fizzy juice and glass bottles are not allowed in school. Children are encouraged to drink plain water in class throughout the day, so please provide a labelled water bottle for this purpose. School water bottles can be purchased from the school office at a cost of £2.00. We would also request that children do not bring nut products into school to take account of pupils who have nut allergies.

Car Parks

Can I remind you that children should NOT be brought into school through either the lower or upper car parks? Due to the school having both a nurture training room and a base for Educational Psychologists, the car parks can be extremely busy with cars coming in and out at all times during the day. Children should enter through the gate in

Houldsworth Street.

Parking outside school

Can I also remind you that no cars should park immediately outside the school on the double yellow lines? This is illegal and there are regular wardens in the area that will be doing spot checks. It is also very dangerous and could put our children’s lives in danger.

Class Blogs

All classes are in the process of creating blogs for their new classes. This is an excellent way of finding out what your children are learning in school. Please look out for the links very shortly.

The school blog can be accessed by following the link below where you can keep up to date with current events in the school and community.

https://anderstonprimary.wordpress.com/

We also have a twitter account where regular updates are posted. Please follow us @AnderstonPS

P.E.

This session some of the classes are taking part in the ‘Daily Mile’. The children who are doing this will also receive 1 hour of P.E. per week. Those who are not participating in the daily mile will receive two hours of P.E. per week. However, there are times when we are given the opportunity to receive additional P.E. from experienced coaches and therefore we would ask that children bring in a change of t-shirt and shorts to be left in their classroom so that all children are prepared to participate in P.E at any time.

Outdoor Learning

The outdoor environment has massive potential for learning and we are very fortunate to have such a vast and varied school playground. We are developing further our outdoor learning and loose parts play

throughout the school and as such the children will be outdoors more often. Because of this we would ask that the children come to school with appropriate clothing – Jackets/outdoor shoes appropriate for walking on the grass and in our outdoor classroom.

For Primary 1 and Primary 2’s, we would ask that the children bring waterproofs/wellingtons and strong outdoor shoes that can be left in the school. They will be going outdoors every day, participating in a range of progressive and creative outdoor learning experiences linked to different areas of the curriculum.

Music

Primary 6/7 are currently receiving Ukelele lessons from Mrs Russell, a music specialist from Hillhead High School. She will continue to work with the children each week until the Christmas break.

Meet the Teacher

We have arranged a date for you to come to your child’s class on Wednesday 5th September from 3-4pm. This is an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, see their classroom and view some of the resources they will be using this year. We look forward to seeing you at this informal event. There will be a formal Parents’

Evening in October after the holiday break. Individual appointments will be given out and you will be able to speak to the teacher on a one to one basis. We look forward to seeing you.

Some parents have been very busy organising the Children’s Festival which will take place in the school grounds on Saturday 8th September from 11am until 2pm. This has been an extremely successful event in the past and we hope that you will come along and support us again this year. Please bring along your friends and family. We are having a non-uniform day

in return for children bringing in sweets/biscuits or a small gift to be donated to the children’s festival for the different stalls.

Parent Council

Further information on the parent council and how you can become involved will follow shortly.

School Choir

Sarah from the Salvation Army who ran our school choir has moved to continue her work in England. However, Martyn Bellshaw will continue to lead our choir which is open to all pupils from P4 – P7. The children will be escorted down to the Salvation Army Building on aTuesday lunchtime and will be brought back to school at 1pm.

If at any time you wish to speak to myself, please contact the office to make an appointment. Whatever the query, please do not worry quietly about it, as I am sure we can quickly resolve any concerns.

School Calendar

A calendar will be sent out each month with forthcoming events. I will try very hard to give you as much notice as possible of events in the school; however, unfortunately this is not always possible.

Dates for your Diary

Below is a list of important dates for August/ September.

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER DATES

DATE EVENT VENUE

Mon 27th Aug - Primary 1 pupils in school until 3pm every day

Thurs 16th Aug – Thurs 22nd Nov

(inclusive)

Primary 5 Boys - Swimming Whitehill Swimming Pool

Thurs 30th August Evening Times Photographer – all new Primary 1’s

Assembly Hall

Thurs 30th August Non Uniform Day – P5- P7

Frid 31st August Non Uniform Day – P1 - 4

Frid 31st August Primary 5/6 and Primary 6/7 – STEM event – Celebration of RAF 100 years

Science Centre

Tues 4th September

Whole School – Photographer to take individual and class photos

Wed 5th

SeptemberMeet the Teacher

3-4pmSchool classes

Sat. 8th Sept Children’s Festival11am – 2pm

School Grounds/ School Assembly Hall

Frid 14th Sept1.15pm

Mini Marathon Hall and School Grounds

Mon 17th Sept Fluoride VarnishP1 - 4

Medical Room

Frid 21st – Mon 24th

September incl.Holiday School Hall