Dear parent / carer,

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed the festive period. We certainly did here at

Windyknowe.

The lead up to Christmas was an incredibly busy time for all of us. The nursery started the

festivities off with their Christmas sing-a-long. It was lovely to have the opportunity to have

grandparents as well as parents come along to share the experience. The P1 Nativity was a

heart warming and impressive performance which really put us in the Christmas spirit. We

received many positive comments from those who came to witness this fantastic production.

The children certainly did us proud! The whole school pantomime certainly went down a treat

with the pupils. The Christmas parties all went well and the PSA Christmas Fayre was very

successful. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making these events a great success.

We have a great team here at Windyknowe; staff, pupils, parents, carers ,volunteers and the

wider community all working together to make everything we do at Windyknowe the best it can

be for our children.

We, at Windyknowe, will continue to work in partnership with you to provide high quality

learning experiences for our children. We look forward to working with you all in 2017 and all of

the successes it will bring.

Thank you everyone for your continued support.

Mrs Rita Angus

Windyknowe Primary

School

January 2017

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” – Zig Ziglar

Class Assemblies

Details of all classes which are leading assemblies this term are to be found at the end of this newsletter. Children and

teachers put a huge amount of hard work and effort into planning and preparing for their class assemblies and are

always delighted when parents / grandparents / families are able to support and enjoy them. Class assemblies

begin at 9.00am and afterwards there is an opportunity for you to join the children and their teachers for a cup

of tea or coffee.

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”

Joshua J. Marine

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

Our Vision

At Windyknowe Primary we strive to create a respectful and trusting community in which all contributions are valued.

We work in partnership to provide a safe, nurturing and supportive environment which encourages each individual to

develop to their full potential to become a healthy, valuable member of society.

Communication

E-mail: wlwindyknowe-ps@westlothian.org.uk

Website/Blog:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/windyknowe/

Facebook.com

Tel No: 01506 652083

Electronic Newsletter

If you would prefer to receive your copy of the newsletter electronically, please email

windyknowe-ps@westlothian.org.uk with your name, child's name and class. More

information can be found on the school website.

Page 2

Windyknowe Primary School

Weather

We have had some very wet and cold weather recently which is expected to

continue. Please ensure that your child is wrapped up warm and dressed

suitably for the weather. This includes appropriate footwear. Thank you.

GLOW learning for home and severe weather

With shorter days and cold winds, our thoughts remain with winter weather. In the event

of a school closure, we aim to be prepared for our pupils to continue with their learning

at home through Glow (an online community for Scottish schools). Glow offers a trusted

and safe environment for our staff and pupils to communicate and share learning

materials.

Over the next few weeks we will issue whole school home learning tasks, to help us

establish how many of our children can access Glow from home. The aim of this will be to

identify areas for improvement, so that in the unlikely event of a school closure, our

pupils can log in to Glow successfully. Full instructions will be provided and we thank you

in advance for supporting your child with this.

Snow days Information

In the event of severe weather conditions information can be obtained from:

The council website www.westlothian.gov.uk, which publishes up to date information on

weather, roads and schools

West Lothian Facebook page

Real Radio, Forth One and Galaxy

School email - windyknowe-ps@westlothian.org.uk

School blog - https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/windyknowe/ Facebook.com

Groupcall messages, where the office will send a message to mobile phones.

“Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibil-

ity on him, and to let him know that you trust him.”

Booker T. Washington

Page 3

Late/Early Arrivals

We have noticed an increase in the number of

latecomers recently. Please be reminded that school

starts at 8:45am and playground supervisors are in place

from 8:25am. We ask that children do not arrive at

school before 8:25am unless they are attending the

breakfast club which starts at 8:15am. P7 classroom

monitors should arrive for their duties in school

no earlier than 8:15am. Children arriving before

these times are at risk as there will not be

anyone available to supervise them.

Scots Poetry Recitations

Over the next two weeks children will be asked to learn a Scots poem for

class competitions. The best two recitations from each class will go

forward to the grand final which will be on Wednesday 25 January.

Mrs Malcolm and Mrs Simpson will join Mrs Angus on the judging panel

and will select the best 3 within 3 categories: Nursery – P1, P2-P4 and P5-

P7. Please encourage your child to participate.

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me

and I may remember; involve me

and I’ll understand.”

Chinese Proverb

Swimming Assessments

P5 Swimming Assessments will take place on the morning of

Wednesday 1st February. A bus will be provided to take the children to

Bathgate Sports Centre.

Pupil Council

We have a very active pupil council here at Windyknowe. The pupil council reps have been doing a fabulous

job of taking on board the ideas and suggestions from their peers and bringing these to meetings. They have

been working with Mr Barrowman to participate in the schools recent assessment for Level 2 Rights

Respecting Schools, sharing all the good work that goes on within our school. The reps have also been

working on updating the welcome booklet which is given to new pupils starting at Windyknowe. The children had been asked

to consider that information they would like if starting a new school and the booklet is being updated to include their

suggestions. As well as all the other tasks that the children have been involved in they have also been collating the suggestions

that their classes had for Golden Time games. This list has now been passed to the PSA who kindly offered to buy us new

games/toys.

St Andrew’s Day

As always, we marked St Andrew’s Day in various ways in the

school. Our main event was an inter-house Scottish Quiz.

Once again we were very impressed by the knowledge of our

pupils and on this occasion, the Birniehill team were the

champions. Congratulations to Jay P4, Kael P5, Charlotte P6

and Ethan H P7!

Staffing

We would like to welcome Mrs Webber and Mrs Gallagher to our staff team. Mrs Webber will be teaching Primary 7l alongside Mrs Welsh, whilst Mrs Gallagher will be teaching Primary 4b.

Attendance

If your child is going to be absent from

school the absence should be reported to

the school office before 9:30am. Failure to

do this will result in the absence being

registered as unauthorised. We must follow

the West Lothian Council policy. If we have

not been given a reason for your child’s

absence then a group call will be sent. If we

receive no response then the next step is to

contact the safe arrivals team.

Page 4

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 11 January—P3k, P3m and P3/2 National Youth Choir Workshops

Wednesday 18 January—P5a No Voice Beats Workshop

Friday 20 January—Lendrick Muir Coffee Morning (Class times to follow)

Monday 23 January—IEP week

Tuesday 24 January—P4 Handball at Armadale Community Centre

Wednesday 25 January—Scots Poetry Recitation Finals in school

Wednesday 25 January—Danceworld performances

Friday 27 January—P6b leading our assembly

Monday 30 January—SSPCA visiting the school

Wednesday 1 February—P5 swimming assessments

Thursday 2nd February—P7c and P7l Generation Science

Friday 3 February— P6c leading our assembly

Monday 6 February—P5a and P5h/s Generation Science

Tuesday 7 February—PSA Evening Meeting

Wednesday 8 February—P3k, P3m and P3/2 Generation Science

Wednesday 8 February —P6 Skiing

Thursday 9th February—P2h and P2m Generation Science

Thursday 9 February—P6 Skiing

Friday 10 February—Holiday for all

Monday 13 February—Holiday for all

Tuesday 14 February—Holiday for all

Wednesday 15 February—PSA Afternoon Meeting

Wednesday 22 February—P4b and P4h Generation Science

Friday 24 February—Procession Float Coffee Morning

Monday 27 February—P6b and P6c Generation Science

Tuesday 28 February—P1c, P1f and P1p Generation Science

Thursday 2 March—P2—P4 show

Friday 3 March - Primary 5a Assembly

Monday 6 March—P7 to Lendrickmuir

Tuesday 7 March—P3k, P3m and P3/2 Multi Sports at Armadale Community Centre

Tuesday 7 March—Parent Council

Friday 10 March—P5h/s assembly

Friday 17 March—Wider Achievement Assembly

Thursday 23 March—Parent Consultations

Friday 24 March—Special Golden Time

Wednesday 29 March—Voice Beats Performance at Howden Park Centre

Friday 31 March—Easter Assembly with Reverend Shaw

Friday 31 March—Easter holidays begin

Tuesday 18 April—All return

Advice from NHS

A number of children will be affected by the common cold. This will often involve a sore throat, slightly raised tempera-

ture, runny nose and possibly a cough. This can result in a short time off school. Most of the time, you can care for your

child by offering plenty of fluids, rest, and extra comfort

Occasionally it is a little more serious and your child may have the ‘Flu’. It's important to get medical attention immediately

if your child seems to be getting worse, is having any trouble breathing, has a high fever, has a bad headache, has a sore

throat, or seems confused. While even healthy kids can have complications of the flu, kids with certain medical conditions

e.g. Asthma, Diabetes and Cardiac Conditions are at more of a risk. However, these children should be offered a flu vaccine

at their local health centre. If you think your child might have the flu, contact your doctor.

Please remember to wrap up warm, get plenty of fresh air and regular exercise. It is important to continue to eat a healthy

diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables, which will provide you with the essential vitamins required to prevent or fight

infections.

Parents wishing to discuss concerns relating to the health and wellbeing of their child can contact the School Health Team

by telephoning:

The Department of Community Child Health

St John’s Hospital

Howden Road West

Livingston EH54 6PP

01506 524403.

“A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person

leaves a mark. “

Chinese Proverb

Windyknowe Primary School Christmas Fayre 2016

I am delighted to share that the total raised from the Christmas Fayre

last year was £2393.64! Many thanks to all of our parents, staff and

children for all of their hard work preparing for the event

and helping make it such a huge success.

Learn It! Log It! Blog It!

Every two or three weeks each class in school is taking time to reflect on their learning by posting an update on our

school blog. It really encourages the children when they see comments from parents in response to their post. It is easy

to write a response.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you

do not stop.” – Confucius

Windyknowe Primary School

“I would like to read

more about history.”

Reece P3k

“I want to make sure that everyone

knows the rules of the school.”

Charlie P6b

Some of our

aspirations for 2017

“ would like to read more

regularly and with more

confidence.”

Erinn 3k

“I would like to try to

use VCOP in my writing

more.”

Sehar P7c

“I want to get better at

Roblox.”

Louie P4h

“I would like to get

better at playing

football.”

Bailey P1c “ I would like to bake

more often”

Ali P3k

“I would like everyone to be

happy in our school”

Mya P6b

“I would like to get

better at my Maths.”

Struan P3m

Windknowe

Primary

School

Head Teacher

Mrs Rita Angus

Windyknowe Crescent

Bathgate

EH48 4BT

Phone: 01506 652083

E mail wlwindyknowe-ps@westlothian.org.uk

If you have any comments or suggestions to make about any-

thing you have read in this newsletter or about Windyknowe Pri-

mary in general, I am always keen to hear them. Please do not

hesitate to contact me .

Complaints Procedure

Schools in West Lothian have been advised of changes which have recently

been made to the West Lothian Complaints Procedure. To make a complaint to

Customer Care in West Lothian in writing it should be addressed to:

Customer Care Education Services West Lothian Council Civic Centre Howden Road South Livingston EH54 6FF 0800 328 5143