Staffing Update

As you know Mrs Thom has resigned her post as Head Teacher here at Loirston School and Aberdeen City Council has begun the process of recruiting a new head teacher. The post will not be advertised until the start of the new school session. Previous experience has shown that limited interest is shown in posts advertised over the summer school holidays. Ms L. McIntosh, currently head teacher at St Machar Primary School will assume the role of Acting Head Teacher at the start of the school session and will remain in post until the new Head Teacher is appointed.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking everyone involved at Loirston School for making me feel welcome throughout my time here. I have been impressed with the hard work of staff and pupils at the school and wish you all success in the new school year.

Mrs Henley and Ms Aitken will be leaving Loirston School at the end of this term to take up new posts in other schools. I am sure you will join with me in thanking them for their hard work, dedication and commitment and to wish them all success in their new posts.

Road Safety Matters

Update on Crossing Patrol at Earns Heugh Road near the junction with Loirston Avenue

After consultation no change to the existing arrangements are presently being planned. Many thanks to those parents who responded.

Road Safety Matters In the interest of pupil and road user safety it has been proposed that the School Crossing Patroller who operates on Earns Heugh Road near the junction with Loirston Avenue be moved 20 yards away to make full use of the traffic lights on Earns Heugh Road.  Before making a decision on this it would be helpful to gather opinion from people who cross there. Please send any comments or suggestions to the School Office by Tuesday 27^th May. Parents will be given notice if or when any changes to the present arrangements are to be made.The school has been asked by the Road Safety Sergeant for Grampian Police to advise parents of the following dangerous occurrences.  Some parents are failing to ensure that their children are wearing seatbelts and/or sitting on the appropriate car seat for their weight, height and age. He also said that parents at many schools were dropping off children on the yellow zig-zag lines or parking in inconvenient and dangerous places. Thank you for your co-operation and support in ensuring the safety of our pupils and pedestrians.

 Parent Council At last month’s open meeting for parents interested in finding out more about setting up a Parent Council a small working group was established to draw up a constitution for it. Further information will be sent to parents as it becomes available. 

Electronic Communication We would like to ask you to let us know if you need to continue receiving paper copies of notes and newsletters. The home/ school communication blog/ website at http://loirstonconnect.edublogs.org/ has been in use for several months now. If you go to the website and subscribe in the email address box, you will receive an email telling you when there has been an update. Letters that need parental signatures will continue to be sent home in paper form. If we do not hear from you by Friday 31^st May, we will assume that you no longer wish to receive paper copies of letters. 

HMIe Report  Please find attached a summary sheet with information about the school’s plans to address the recommendations of the Inspection Report. 

Classes for next sessionAt present we are planning to have 5 nursery classes and 13 primary classes for next session. The numbers in each year group may change before August and this might result in changes to this structure. However meantime we are expecting to have the following pattern of classes – 2x P1, P1/2, P2, P3, P2/3, 2 X P4, P5, P5/6, P6 and 2 X P7 

RemindersPlease make sure that any dinner money is sent in an envelope with the child’s name clearly marked on the outside as well as how many tickets are required.  

Loirston School Newsletter                                April 2008

Reminders:

School will be closed to pupils on Monday April 21^st, Monday 5^th May and Friday 16^th May. Appointment times are being sent home today. If you want an appointment and have forgotten to return the slip please do so as soon as possible. Please return Parent Response sheet from your child’s report if you have not yet done so.

Don’t forget to check for information about the school on the school blog  loirstonconnect.edublogs.org Playground Rules and SanctionsFurther to information sent home in March Newsletter the following rules for playground behaviour have been agreed by pupils and staff 

• We will always be kind and considerate to everybody in the playground
• We will look after the playground, make sure it is always a nice place to be in and put litter in the litter bins
• Even if we are doing something exciting and important, we will stop and listen to any instruction a member of staff may give us. We will show respect to the staff working in the playground
• We will not bully other children and we will tell an adult if we see it happening
• We will play together and let other children join in with our games
• We will not fight or swear
• We will behave sensibly in the quiet areas
• We will share toys and games

 These rules will be followed up using the following 4 step set of sanctions

•  
  1. Verbal warning
  2. Yellow card
  3. 5 minutes time out
  4. Child will phones parents to let them know they have broken the rules

 Mrs. Watt, school cook, asks that you be reminded of this – A letter was sent in February from the Facilities Manager for Primary Schools.  It informed parents of an increase in the price of a school dinner but that ‘pink’ tickets would be accepted until Friday 2^nd May with an additional 15p per ticket. 

Loirston School Newsletter                               March 2008

Here we are at the end of another school term. Where does the time go? I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the children, parents and staff for making this term such a busy and productive one. The children have worked and played hard, made good progress and have achieved a great deal both personally and for the school as a whole. We all are ready for a well-earned rest and maybe the odd Easter Egg!  HMIe Report –A copy of the report is being sent home with this newsletter. As you will see Her Majesty’s Inspectors identified four key strengths of the school –

• Nursery children’s progress in key aspects of the curriculum
• The relationships between staff and children across the school and nursery
• The support given to pupils within the additional support needs base
• The innovative use of the school’s website to communicate with parents and develop homework activities

School staff have already begun the process of planning to meet the main points for action and will form the basis of this year’s School Improvement Plan. We will be working on

• Developing the leadership across the school and ensure effective teamworking at all levels
• Reviewing and developing curricular programmes to enrich pupils’ learning, ensure progression and raise attainment
• Developing effective planning which enables teachers to better meet the needs of all pupils
• Introducing effective self evaluation to improve the quality of learning and teaching across the school
• Developing a shared vision for the school which supports and improves all aspects of school practice

 On our In Service Day in February staff worked on a number of teambuilding exercises. We also agreed a set of values for Loirston School – (see box below). These will be shared with pupils in the near future and meantime we would welcome any comments from parents.

            
Staffing MattersMrs Thom continues to be absent from school on sick leave. Mrs Aitken, our P.E. teacher will be off until the end of term. We all wish them both a speedy recovery. Welcome back to Kath our school cook and many thanks to Linda for managing so well during Kath’s absence.  Other itemsStaff and pupils have been discussing and agreeing a set of playground rules and sanctions. This has been necessary to ensure we are all working together when managing children’s behaviour in the playground. So far we have discussed the matter of children bringing personal belongings like MP3 players, mobile phones and other games to school. Parents are requested to support the following advice. Personal property and belongings –  please leave all items of value at home. School cannot accept any responsibility for the loss or damage of such personal belongings. If personal belongings become the cause of disharmony or are used in bullying incidents, school staff will instruct pupils to leave them in the classroom.Mobile Phones – same advice as above and additionally if a phone is brought to school it must be switched off between 9.00 and 3.15. Children are currently being consulted about a set of rules. We have agreed a ‘sliding scale’ of sanctions. Staff working in the playground will be responsible for issuing these sanctions. They will also keep a weekly record. 1.        Verbal caution/warning2.       Being given a yellow card3.       Up to ten minutes time out 4.       Phone call to parentsTherefore if a child breaks the agreed rules once s/he will be given a verbal warning; twice s/he will have a yellow card; three times s/he will have up to ten minutes time out; four times will mean s/he will telephone parents during the school day! The children are convinced that this four-step set of sanctions will help children to manage their behaviour in the playground.Any more serious breaches of school discipline will of course continue to be dealt with appropriately by Mrs Pert, Mrs McPhee and Mrs Stewart.  Possible school closures and amalgamationsWe have received the following advice for parents of children who have already enrolled for nursery and primary 1.“If you have a child who has already been enrolled in a nursery or primary one class in schools which are not included by the proposed school closures, the only change will be that you will not receive a final formal offer of a place in the nursery or school of your choice until the beginning the May”Loirston School is not included in the proposed school closures. 

Loirston Connect

Please have a look at our blog/ website at http://loirstonconnect.edublogs.org/  Here you will find copies of all paper communications that go home , holiday dates, contact details and schools closure information. The site also contains links to the French homework blog, the monthly Radio Broadcast blog, Pupil council blog and some blogs/websites for individual classes.  We would welcome any feedback and hope to contact you, at a later date, in the hope that some parents may elect to use this electronic form of communication instead of receiving paper copies. Parental Involvement Act This took effect from August 2007 with the aim of

• helping parents become more involved with their child’s education and learning
• introducing a new system of Parent Forums/Parent Councils to replace School Boards

To help achieve these aims, all parents will now automatically be members of the Parent Forum at their child’s school. A Parent Council will need to be created and to help with this we have been advised to set up a working group. To that end on Thursday 17th April at 1.30 an open meeting for parents interested in finding out more or becoming part of the working group as well as members of the PTA has been arranged. Please complete the attached slip for (‘catering’ purposes!) and return it as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing you then. ********************************************************************************­­­­­­­­­­­­Parent Council Open EventI will attend the meeting on Thursday 17^th April at 1.30 Name: Child’s name/class

Click link below to access January’s Newsletter

january-08-newsletter.doc

November -

Loirston
School Newsletter 

The long, dark nights are with us again and there’s a nip in the air which signals the wintry weather. Inevitably there are more indoor breaks for the children which mean fewer opportunities to work off that youthful energy!  It would be helpful if you could provide your child with a few comics/puzzle books/quiet table-top game etc to keep them occupied during indoor intervals. There are also more sickness bugs about at this time so may I remind you that Grampian Health Board and Aberdeen City Council’s policy is that  anyone, pupil or staff, must have 48 hours clear of symptoms in cases of vomiting or diarrhoea.

REMINDER – SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED TO PUPILS ON MONDAY 19^TH NOVEMBER 

The school will be visited by HMIe for a full inspection throughout the week beginning 3^rd December 2007.  This will not affect the work of the school but some of the children will meet with members of the Inspection Team.  At the end of the visit, the Inspection Team will give the school a clear action plan to take the school forward over the next few years.  We know there is always room for improvement but hope we are already getting some things right.

Christmas preparations are under way and the school Christmas Fayre is almost upon us; a calendar of our Christmas events/activities is included overleaf for your information along with more important dates for your diary.  More information can be found by accessing our school blog on loirstonconnect.edublogs.org 

Used Stamps

Christmas is also a time for giving and the school is happy to collect used stamps from your mail; these will be passed on to help children in
China. Please remove the stamp from the envelope leaving a small border – approx. ½ cm – surrounding it.

Superclubs

As many of you will know, Mrs Campbell-Morgan has been running a computer club after school for a number of years and the children gain a lot from this activity in terms of learning and enjoyment.  We have received very generous financial support from the owner of Optima Solutions in supporting the continuation of the club and providing additional ICT resources to enhance the pupils’ learning.

Safety

If your child cycles to school, please ensure that they are aware of the school rules regarding safety – helmets must be worn, cyclists must dismount and walk their bikes through the playground and cycles should be locked to the rack for security.  Children who breach the rules will be banned from cycling. Your co-operation in this matter is appreciated.

Calendar of Events – November 13^th to December 20^th 2007 

Thursday 15^th November – Parent/Staff Meetings 3.30 – 5.30 p.m.

Monday 19^th November – In-Service Day – School closed to pupils

Friday 23^rd November – Live Wire – Bullying Themed Musical Production

Friday 23^rd November – delivery of items for School Fayre

Saturday 24^th November – Christmas Fayre

Monday 3^rd December – 7-9 p.m. – Kincorth Staff to talk to P7 Parents

Monday 10^th December  – p.m. – Nativity performance

Monday 10^th December – Evening – P7 parents and pupils – tour of

Kincorth
Academy

Tuesday 11^th December – a.m. – Nativity performance

Tuesday 11^th December – School Association Bingo Night

Wednesday 12^th December – p.m. – P3 + P4 Christmas Party

Thursday 13^th December – school Christmas lunch

Friday 14^th December – p.m. – P1 + P2 Christmas Party

Monday 17^th December – a.m. & p.m. – Nursery Parties

Wednesday 19^th December – P5-7 School Christmas Disco

Thursday 20^th December – Christmas Assembly

Friday 21^st December – school closes for two weeks

Monday 7^th January 2008 – School reopens for Term 3

MORAG THOM

Head Teacher